Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Criterion 3

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Preparation through participation in professional societies

My efforts at self-preparation aim towards becoming the best educator and chemist I can be. In order to stay abreast of research and educational topics, I am a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), American Society for Nutrition (ASN), and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB). I am active at the local, regional, and national levels of ACS, and I am active at the national level in ASN and ASBMB. ACS is an excellent society for both students and professionals, and I have utilized several of their conferences and presentations for both my own learning and for the learning of my students. One specific example is the series of webinars on the ‘Chemistry of Beer’ that I utilized in both my teaching and my research in order to bring a societally and economically relevant aspect to my teaching and research. Until recently, I simply retained membership in ASBMB so that my students have the option of attending and presenting at the Experimental Biology conferences. However, I am interested in pursuing accreditation for our Biochemistry program through ASBMB and I attended a conference specializing in undergraduate biochemistry education in 2015. My membership in ASN is purely in support of my research, as I hope to more specifically work in nutraceuticals and dietary supplements in the future.

My memberships allow me to attend national conferences at a discount. In 2013, I attended the ACS national conference in New Orleans, LA with 5 students. I took in several lectures on natural products synthesis, structure, and function. I did not like the format of the conference because the talks were at several locations, some with 20 minute bus rides between them, which made it impossible to see and hear everything. I sent students to Experimental Biology 2014 and 2015, and I will send students to Experimental Biology 2016 this spring as well. I attended Experimental Biology in 2015 and will present my own research, hopefully as an oral presentation, at the conference this spring. I will go back to an ACS meeting within the next 4 years, but as a biochemist, I feel I must try to stay up-to-date in both arenas of my expertise.

My research specializes in the synthesis of isoprenoid molecules. The isoprenoid community has their own conference that occurs biennially at a unique location. In 2013, I was invited to speak at this conference and enjoyed my weeklong immersion with the best scientists in my field. This conference hosts <300 individuals, which allows for ease of networking during the event.
Researchers come from all over the world, and one of my favorite aspects is interacting with the graduate students and postdocs from Europe. The European academic model is different enough from the US academic model that they are very confused about me and my role in academia. One of these students from the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany actually pursued postdoctoral experience in the USA and, upon hearing that I could not host him, initiated a collaboration with me through his current mentor. We plan to write an updated review of the field this year together, which will be a nice stepping stone for both of us. I attended this conference in 2015, but I did not present.

Preparation through continued studies

I am continually reading, studying, listening, and searching for new information to bring into my classroom and research labs. For example, I continually utilize small pieces of information from the literature or medical case studies for my main teaching assignments in biochemistry. I am also always searching for new techniques or reagents to use in my biochemistry labs to drive down costs or make experiments more efficient. The most effort was put into my advanced elective, CHEM439, and my graduate course, PSM602. These courses did not follow textbooks and required considerable accumulation of materials. For example, for CHEM439, I reviewed four books prior to choosing two books from which to base my materials. As both of these books required some fluency in topics prior to discussion, I then assembled more basic explanations of drug pathways and the mechanisms by which drugs worked to supplement the discussion. I wanted to provide a rigorous class, and as this topic was slightly tangential to my own personal knowledge, I performed significant research to prepare for the class.

PSM602 was my graduate level ethics course and also required some extra preparation. However, I have been fortunate to take the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) course previously, and I had some idea of what the course should entail. The ORI has a handbook for scientific ethics, however, it is written in a style more appropriate for children than scientists. It lacks grit and realism. My training course supplemented with case studies that demonstrated the ‘grey area’ of scientific ethics, and I designed PSM602 to mimic that style. I also felt strongly that our PSM students should have the opportunity to interact with industry representatives, so I worked outside of my comfort zone to make connections with those people. I first organized the topics from the ORI manual into five distinct topics, and I then found supplementary news articles and case studies to help students learn. I also made connections with area experts and industry representatives and asked them to contribute any material they found useful. Some experts were awesome. For example, the HR director from Benchmark Electronics was a wealth of expertise and very candid. The IT director from Mayo Clinic was also very helpful. Some were less helpful, but if I teach this course again I will take the opportunity to refine my educational components further.

When I started teaching OR100, I have learned much about the student experience at WSU through various speakers that I have invited to my class. I don’t usually invite many speakers, but I make sure to invite someone from Access Services, the tutoring center, and financial aid and I am then continually up-to-date with changes provided by these important offices on campus. I bring in students to talk to the freshmen about housing and general academic success. The freshmen prefer the candor of our juniors and seniors, and I learn about their greatest challenges and concerns during their college careers. Finally, I ask the freshmen to write anonymous questions at the beginning of each class, and I provide the answers in weekly FAQs that are e-mailed to the class. I often do not know the answers to their questions, but I ask questions of my colleagues or of the appropriate office on campus and find out the answer. In this way, I am educating myself as well as my students!

My final example of continuing preparation involves admitting a weakness; when I took this position, I was not familiar with formal assessment techniques in my field. My colleagues in Chemistry largely use the ACS-designed exams to assess their student’s standing in their respective subfields. I am a trained biochemist and received both of my degrees in biochemistry from large state schools with respected biochemistry programs and I had never seen this exam! I obtained a copy from my chair, but upon reading through it I found it completely inappropriate for the mix of biology and chemistry majors that I have in my classroom. I wondered how many of my peers at different institutions use these exams…and then I wondered how my peers assess their students and their own teaching. A vision was born! I looked up every school offering a biochemistry degree within a 7-state area that I roughly defined the ‘upper midwest’ (i.e. Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) and designed a survey to determine how my peers run their programs, assess their students, assess their prowess as an instructor, and rank their feelings on assessment in general. I was pleased to receive several e-mails asking specifically for the outcomes of this survey. Of the 30 schools I surveyed, 19 started the survey and 14 completed it to the end (the branching style of the survey ended earlier when specific parameters are selected). I have created an infographic and short report to summarize the survey results and have made the raw data available for any of the schools I contacted. I felt that this was a great way to make connections with area schools and learn about the techniques used in their classrooms. I presented this information at a regional ASBMB conference in summer 2015. The conference focused on “Transforming Undergraduate Education in Molecular Life Science” and allowed me to network with other life scientists. It was hosted by ASBMB, thus demonstrating yet another benefit of my affiliation with that professional society. In the future, I hope to move our program towards ASBMB accreditation, which is a merit-based certification. ASBMB also has a formal assessment test, but it focuses on concepts rather than rote memorization. I’d like to see how our majors stack up against those from larger and/or more prestigious schools.

Preparation through additional training

At WSU, I have taken advantage of the variety of training sessions provided during the academic year. I have participated in several training workshops including two sessions on designing online courses for Quality Matters certification, a session on the status of academic integrity in higher education, and the notable visits of Eric Mazur and Jim Middleton. I have also participated in various professional development sessions including preparation for advising, PDP/PDR paperwork, and promotion and tenure applications. I have participated in the mid-semester assessment experience, but I found it took up entirely too much class time for the feedback I received. My only regret is that I would like to attend more TLT and IT training sessions, however, these are inevitably during the times I teach.

The most useful of workshops was put on by Dr. Mazur. I enjoyed his candor, and I am enjoying that my colleagues are trying new, interactive teaching methods in their classrooms. I have noticed students are more receptive to my classroom activities this year, and I am hoping this trend continues. In previous years, I have had many students demand to know ‘the point’ of the activity and/or spend the entirety of their time on social media sites during the activity and then whine when they are denied points or do poorly on the assessment. This hasn’t happened as much in the last year or so, and I am hoping this trend continues. One specific item I used from Dr. Mazur’s talks was the implementation of Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) in my CHEM400 labs this year. I had spoken with Ken Graetz in TLT over the course of the year and we had hoped the tool would be available online, however, it seems that was not possible this year. In the future, we hope to transfer our on-paper peer review system online and save time in our classes.

 As a recent addition to the Credit for Prior Learning committee, I attended a webinar on Prior Learning Assessment Costs and Pricing put on by the Council on Adult Education and Learning (CAEL). I understand that these webinars are common and I hope to slowly accumulate more information on national norms regarding Prior Learning Assessment and bring this knowledge to others at WSU.
I will continue to attend training sessions as I have time and interest. This year I will be attending the ACS Leadership Institute in Dallas, TX to gain some leadership experience and insights on how to better steer our local section of the ACS.

Preparation At-A-Glance

All activities are since the start of my appointment in August 2011
For a full list of all scholarly activities, see my CV

Professional affiliations

  • American Chemical Society
  • American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • American Society for Nutrition

Conferences attended

  • 2013 ACS National Meeting New Orleans, LA
  • 2013 TERPNET Kolymvari, Crete, Greece 
  • 2013 Midbrains Neuroscience Meeting Northfield, MN
  • 2015 Experimental Biology Boston, MA
  • 2015 TERPNET Vancouver, BC, CA
  • 2015 ASBMB "Transforming Undergraduate Education in Molecular Life Sciences" St. Joseph, MO
  • 2016 ACS Leadership Institute, Dallas, TX (Jan 22-24)
  • 2016 Experimental Biology San Diego, CA (Apr 2-6)

Workshops and inservice meetings attended

  • Academic advising workshop
  • PDP/PDR FAQs (with Dean Ornes)
  • Promotion and Tenure
  • Quality Matters training
  • Quality Matters training II
  • Academic integrity
  • Active learning w/ Prof. Eric Mazur (morning and afternoon sessions)
  • Biannual OR100 required training
  • Midsemester Assessment Spring 2013
  • Student motivation with Jim Middleton
  • Prior Learning Assessment Costs and Pricing webinar (CAEL)

Books read
1801 home remedies: Trustworthy treatments for everyday health problems. (2007). Ultimo, N.S.W.: Reader's Digest. 

Avorn, J. (2004). Powerful medicines: The benefits, risks, and costs of prescription drugs. New York: Knopf. 

Corey, E. (2007). Molecules and medicine. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. 

Emmaus, P. (2009). The doctors book of home remedies: Quick fixes, clever techniques, and uncommon cures to get you feeling better fast (20th anniv. ed.). New York: Rodale Press.


Estabrook, B. (2011). Tomatoland: How modern industrial agriculture destroyed our most alluring fruit. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel.

Katz, S. (2003). Wild fermentation: The flavor, nutrition, and craft of live-culture foods. White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green Pub.

McMillan, T. (2012). The American way of eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, farm fields, and the dinner table. New York: Scribner.

Skloot, R. (2010). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown. 

Stockwell, B. (2011). The quest for the cure: The science and stories behind the next generation of medicines. New York: Columbia University Press. 

Werth, B. (1994). The billion-dollar molecule: One company's quest for the perfect drug. New York: Simon & Schuster. 

White, M. (1997). Traditional home remedies: Time-tested methods for staying well--the natural way. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books. 

Software proficiencies learned and/or utilized

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