College of Arts, Sciences, and Education

Dear CASE students, faculty, and staff,

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that "the secret of education lies in respecting the pupil." In this month’s newsletter, you will encounter some examples of how our faculty have made respecting students a part of their daily educational praxis. Also, see the testimonial of our chemistry graduate students talking about their experience at S&T in this video clip.

Meanwhile, the good news concerning our college keeps pouring in. Here are a few examples:

Thanks,

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Ph.D.
Vice Provost and Dean
College of Arts, Sciences, and Education

Sutapa Bhattacharya, Harish Singh, and Santhoshkumar Sundaramoorthy, Chemistry Ph.D. students, presented their research at the American Chemical Society Spring 2023 meeting in Indianapolis.

Mehrzad Boroujerdi (CASE Dean) made a presentation at The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London on March 7 and took part in a virtual panel discussion on Iran at New York University.

Ryan Cheek (assistant professor, English and technical communication) published an article titled “Making a Case for Political Technical Communication (PxTC)” in Technical Communication Quarterly (vol. 32: no. 2, 2023).

Kathryn Dolan (associate professor, English and technical communication) published Breakfast Cereal: A Global History (University of Chicago Press). She also published a chapter in an edited collection, A Companion to American Agricultural History (2022). The book has been selected as one of the Best Historical Materials of 2022 by the Best Historical Materials Committee of the American Library Association's affiliate, Reference and User Services Association.

Kate Drowne (professor, English and technical communication) and V.A. Samaranayake (Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor emeritus, mathematics and statistics) were among the Honorary Knights of St. Patrick honored during the 115th annual St. Pat’s Celebration.

Shane Epting’s (assistant professor, philosophy) Urban Enlightenment: Multistakeholder Engagement and the City was published by Routledge on March 10, 2023.  

Shannon Fogg (professor of history and political science and interim associate dean in CASE) presented a paper and chaired a panel at the joint annual meeting of the Western Society for French History and the Society for French Historical Studies in Detroit.

Rainer Glaser (professor of chemistry and interim vice provost of graduate education) and Brian Jameson (Ph.D. candidate, chemistry) published articles in two peer-reviewed chemistry journals.

Beth Kania-Gosche (department chair and professor of teacher education and certification) and Mary Gillis (assistant teaching professor, teacher education and certification) presented their research regarding undergraduate provisional teachers in rural schools at the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation national conference in Indianapolis. The research findings will inform curriculum and practice in providing adequate support for teacher candidates as they transition from student to teacher. Beth also presented with colleagues from other Missouri institutions on using statewide data to inform policy.

Hyunsoo Kim (assistant professor, physics) co-authored an article in Cell Reports Physical Science. This research was featured in the newsletter of the Association of Korean Physicists in America (current, 34th edition).

Alanna Krolikowski (assistant professor of political science), was quoted on lunar governance in Nature. She also participated in a routable and gave a research presentation at the annual conference of the International Studies Association in Montreal, Canada.

The efforts of Alex Price (systems engineering doctoral student at S&T), his advisors, Casey Canfield (assistant professor, engineering management) and Clair Kueny (associate professor, psychological science), and undergraduate psychological science major Jadeyn Metcalf (FYRE and OURE student) were featured on NPR in St. Louis and S&T News. Alex has recently been hired as an assistant professor at University Hospitals affiliated with Case Western Reserve University.

Michelle Schwartze (assistant teaching professor, teacher education and certification) and Amanda Meek (State Specialist in Youth STEM Education and Engagement) presented “Getting Your Feet Wet: High School Field Trip Ideas for Geoscience Integration” at the National Science Teaching Association National Conference March 23 in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Kate Sheppard’s (associate professor, history and political science) book review of Empress of the Nile appeared in Science.

Austin Sigler and Sargun Kaur, Ph.D. students in Chemistry, presented their research at the Pittsburg Conference (PittCon) on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy in Philadelphia.

Savannah Stevens (philosophy major) has accepted an offer to join the Ph.D. program in Philosophy at the University of North Texas this fall with full funding for five years.   

Steven Achterberg is a Senior Research Specialist at Missouri S&T. He has worked with Professor Philip Whitefield and colleagues studying the exhaust emissions of jet engines for 26 years, 6 years as a student and 20 years as a staff member. Steven helps design, build, maintain, and transport state of the art equipment and systems such as the North American Reference System (NARS). His research group works with the EPA and FAA, as well manufacturers like Honeywell and other universities like MIT. The data Steven’s group collects are used for modeling exhaust as it exits the engine, to create and validate emissions standards, and validating measuring systems. When Steven is not working, he spends time coaching youth football and wrestling, farming, and pursuing knowledge. 

Hyunsoo Kim is an assistant professor of physics whose research is focused on the low-temperature investigation of quantum materials including superconducting and magnetic intermetallic compounds at the millikelvin scale. His work involves applying exotic matters such as topological phases to next-generation technology, including quantum computing and sensing devices. Hyunsoo joined the S&T 

Physics faculty in spring 2022. He holds his B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Pusan National University in South Korea where he graduated with honors and a Chair Award. He earned his Ph.D. degree in experimental condensed matter physics at Iowa State University in 2013. During his Ph.D. program, his work on a heavy fermion superconductor was recognized by the American Physical Society, and he received the APS Ovshinsky Award. His graduate research work on the low-temperature investigation of high-temperature superconductors was recognized by the Iowa State physics department and earned him the G. W. Fox Memorial Award for Outstanding Research. After the completion of his Ph.D. degree, he became a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland-College Park where his research was focused on the topological phases of matter including topological superconductors and semimetals. His work on novel topological superconductivity arising from a topological semimetal was recognized by APS and awarded the APS Division of Materials Physics Post-Doctoral Travel Awards. He later worked at Maryland Quantum Materials Center as a staff scientist and at Texas Tech University as a research assistant professor before joining the physics faculty at Missouri S&T in the Spring of 2022.

Halyna Hodovanets is an assistant professor of physics who joined S&T in January 2022. Born in a small town in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, she dreamed of becoming a teacher since elementary school. She applied to Drohobych State Pedagogical University, Ukraine, where she received her B.S. degree in physics with a minor in English language. Her B.S. thesis was devoted to developing 

conceptual physics problems that would help middle and high school students understand physics concepts better. Afterward, she taught physics and mathematics for one year in a medical college. Wanting to learn English better and continue her physics education, she applied to Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she received her M.S. degree in physics. For her M.S. thesis, she investigated the crystallization process of Nd-Fe-B Melt-spun ribbons. Being captivated by solid-state physics, Halyna continued her graduate education at Iowa State University, earning her Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics. There, she grew many single crystals of intermetallic compounds and studied their fascinating anisotropic properties. She did postdoctoral training and was promoted to assistant scientist at the Maryland Quantum Materials Center at the Department of Physics, University of Maryland. There, she oversaw the crystal growth laboratory, in addition to doing her research, mentoring undergraduate students’ research, and substituting lectures on electricity and magnetism. She became an assistant professor at Texas Tech University before coming to Missouri S&T.

Halyna's research focuses on the synthesis and discovery, characterization, and optimization of novel quantum materials (e.g., Weyl semimetals, superconductors, antiferro- and ferromagnets, magnetocaloric, and thermoelectric materials) in a single crystalline form. Her interest is in the exotic electronic and quantum states of matter that are realized in quantum materials and can be tuned with chemical substitution, magnetic field, or application of pressure.  

Teacher Education and Certification hosted high school students from Newburg, Dixon, Licking, Rolla, Belle, St. James, Cuba, Bourbon, Steeleville, and Salem on campus in March during the spring future teacher day. Beth Kania-Gosche, Mary Gillis and Michelle Schwartze worked collaboratively with the student chapter of MSTA to lead educational activities designed to demonstrate varied aspects of the teaching profession. The group included students from Newburg, Dixon, Steeleville, Belle, and Dixon who are enrolled in Mary’s dual enrollment course. The future teacher day and dual credit student tuition was funded by a DESE Teacher Recruitment and Retention grant.

The faculty of the Teacher Education and Certification department were well represented at the spring conference of the Missouri Association for Colleges of Teacher Education. Julia Alexander, Mary Gillis and Michelle Schwartze (all assistant teaching professors of teacher education and certification) presented on “Building More Meaning in Field Experiences.” Michelle also presented with a colleague on “STEM Thinking with Preservice Teachers.” Beth Kania-Gosche, past-president of the organization, presented two sessions with colleagues from across the state on “Are Our Data Equitable?” She also facilitated a session for education program leaders and co-led a feedback session on the revision of the Missouri Standards for Preparation of Educators.

College of Arts, Sciences, and Education

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri S&T Rolla, MO 65409
573-341-4111
1-800-522-0938
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