Keynote Speakers
On Friday
and Saturday, two of James Madison University's distinguished faculty
members will offer their perspectives on research.
Friday, March 31, 2006
6 - 7:45 p.m.
"A 2020 Vision: The Future of Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math"
Festival Conference and Student Center, Ballroom
Dr. Ronald G. Kander
Professor & Department Head, Integrated Science & Technology Department
Professor
Kander is Department Head of Integrated Science & Technology (ISAT) at
James Madison University (JMU), where he teaches and does research in the area
of polymer processing, manufacturability, and rapid prototyping/tooling
technologies. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon
University in 1980, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of
Delaware in 1987.
Before becoming ISAT Department Head at JMU, Professor Kander was a faculty
member in the Materials Science & Engineering Department at Virginia Tech
for 11 years. While at Virginia Tech, he was also Director of the College of
Engineering’s “Green Engineering” program for 3 years. Before joining academia,
he was employed for 5½ years by E. I. DuPont as a Senior Engineer in the
Advanced Composites Division of the Fibers Department and in the Polymer
Physics Group of the Central Research Department.
Professor Kander has taught a wide range of courses, including several sections
each of a Freshman “Engineering Fundamentals” course, a Freshman “Materials in
Our World” course, a Sophomore “Elements of Materials Engineering” course, a
Sophomore “Analytical Methods” course, a Sophomore “Life Cycle Assessment”
course, a Senior/Graduate “Polymer Engineering” course and it’s associated
“Polymer Engineering Laboratory” lab, a Graduate “Polymer Deformation and
Fracture” course, and a Graduate “Engineering Mathematics” course. He has
received several awards for teaching excellence, including the 1993 College of
Engineering “Sporn Award”, the 1997 “Dean’s Teaching Award”, and the 1998
“William E. Wine Award”. He was also inducted into the Virginia Tech “Academy
of Teaching Excellence” in 1998 and named a “Diggs Teaching Scholar” in 1999.
Professor Kander has supervised 9 PhD and 12 MS students, published more than
45 refereed papers, and presented more than 50 conference papers (including two
invited Gordon Conference presentations). According to the ISI Science Citation
Index, his papers have been cited more than 100 times since 1990.
Professor Kander has secured in excess of 3 million dollars in funded research,
more than half of which is from industrial sources. In addition to his academic
teaching and research responsibilities, he is active in industrial consulting
and in teaching industrial short courses. Professor Kander was recently awarded
a grant from the Commonwealth Technology Research Fund (CTRF), along with
colleagues at Virginia Tech, for the formation of a “Center for High
Performance Manufacturing” (CHPM). The goal of CHPM is to strengthen and
coordinate the ties between Virginia’s manufacturing industries and the
technical resources that exist at Virginia Tech and James Madison University.
Saturday, April 1, 2006
11:10 a.m. - noon
"The Obvious and Subtle Benefits of Undergraduate Scholarship"
ISAT/CS Building room 159
Dr. Gina MacDonald
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Gina MacDonald is an associate professor of chemistry at James Madison
University. Gina received her B.S. in Biophysics from the University of
Connecticut and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, and Biophysics
from the University of Minnesota. She did postdoctoral work at Los Alamos
National Laboratory before starting as a faculty member at James Madison
University in 1996. Her current research uses infrared spectroscopy to study
nucleotide-induced structural changes in proteins in order to better understand
motor proteins and proteins involved in DNA repair and metabolism. At JMU, she
has taught various biochemistry courses and laboratories and has worked to
develop a general science course that interests non-majors and highlights how
the integration of basic research in multiple scientific disciplines leads to
major breakthroughs in science and medicine. She has conducted research with
K-12 teachers and nearly 40 undergraduate research students, some of whom are
co-authors on publications in Biochemistry, the Journal of Physical Chemistry,
Biophysical Journal and the Journal of Chemical Education. She initiated a
program that includes deaf students (from Gallaudet and RIT), interpreting
students (JMU) and their advisor (Dr. Brenda Seal, JMU CSD) that has now been
expanded and integrated into the NSF-REU programs in chemistry she co-directs
with her chemistry colleague, Dr. Dan Downey. She received the NSF Presidential
Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (1998), the Margaret Oakley
Dayhoff Memorial Award in Biophysics (2002) and was selected as a Henry Dreyfus
Distinguished Teacher-Scholar in 2003. She participated in an ACS workshop to
rewrite the handbook "Teaching Chemistry to Students with Disabilities," along
with NSF-sponsored workshops to enhance vibrancy of research programs at PUI's
and determine "Science Drivers for the Molecular Basis of Life Processes". Gina
has served on numerous NSF panels, including the Distinguished Teacher/Scholar
Award and the Undergraduate Research Program sites, serves on the education
committee for the Biophysical Society and is a councilor for the Council on
Undergraduate Research (CUR).
