College of Arts, Sciences, and Education

Dear CASE Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and Students,

This month the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education received its first-ever donation by an emeritus professor to establish an endowed faculty chair. A generous gift from Curators' Distinguished Professor emeritus Dr. James O. Stoffer enables us to establish an endowed professorship in polymer chemistry. In addition to Jim, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the incredible individuals who have supported us through their generous donations. You can see the list of all our 2022 and 2023 (first six months) donors online. Thanks to the unwavering commitment of such donors and the trust they have placed in us, we have been able to provide exceptional educational experiences to our students.

We still have ambitious goals on our horizon, and we cannot achieve them without your continued support. Your contributions play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our college, allowing us to invest in cutting-edge facilities, enhance scholarship opportunities and attract the brightest minds to our academic programs. Your donation, no matter the size, has the power to make a significant impact and pave the way for a brighter tomorrow.

To donate or learn more about the various giving opportunities available, visit our website or contact our development officer Matt Lehmann. Let us unite our efforts and create a lasting impact on the lives of countless CASE students who will go on to shape our world.

Thank you for being an integral part of our journey. 

Warm regards,

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

Congratulations to the following faculty members who have been approved for promotion effective September 1, 2023: 

Congratulations to the following faculty on their retirements:

We also say goodbye to the following colleagues who will be leaving S&T:

CASE also thanks Dr. Shannon Fogg for her four years of service as the associate dean for academic affairs. She will resume her previous position as chair of the history and political science department. Dr. Klaus Woelk,  associate professor of chemistry, will be the college’s new associate dean starting July 1.

Dr. Clair Reynolds Kueny has been named chair of psychological science starting on July 3. 

Dr. Amy Belfi, assistant professor of psychological science, has been appointed as the new co-editor of the Division 10 Journal, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, starting Aug. 1.

Dr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, CASE Dean, delivered a lecture in Persian at the Iranische Kulturgemeinde in Österreich, in Vienna, Austria, on May 30, and took part in a congressional briefing related to the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran in June. He also did an interview with BBC Newsday Program on the war in Sudan.

Dr. Richard Dawes, adjunct professor of chemistry, received a $15,000 grant from the Department of Energy and a $10,000 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for a project titled, “28th Conference on the Dynamics of Molecular Collisions.” 

Biological sciences faculty Dr. Dave Duvernell, Dr. Andrea Scharf, and Dr. Dave Westenberg participated in the PULSE Midwest and Great Plains Regional Network Conference at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). During the workshop, departmental teams worked together to construct an action plan to make changes to their department that will enhance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Participants learned about strategies for departmental discussions on change, resources within PULSE to support departmental change related to DEI issues, and how to develop action plans to enhance programs within their department with respect to DEI. 

Dr. Garry Grubbs, associate professor of chemistry, co-authored an article in the Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy, vol. 395, May-June 2023.

Dr. Xiaoming He, professor of mathematics and statistics, received a new $157,956 grant DMS-2309733 from the National Science Foundation for a project titled “Collaborative Research: Models, algorithms, simulations and applications for dendritic solidifications of two-phase multi-component alloys in the mushy zone”. This is the third NSF research grant he has received since June 2021. The previous two are DMS-2152609 ($160,000) in 2022 and DMS-2111039 ($169,156) in 2021.

Dr. Ulrich Jentschura, professor of physics, received a $90,000 grant from NSF for a project titled “PM: Precision Low-Energy Quantum Electroynamic Theory and Fundamental Processes.”  

Dr. Alanna Krolikowski, assistant professor of history and political science, recently published a commentary titled “Time to protect scientific opportunity on the Moon” in Nature Astronomy. 

According to Research.com, the following four chemistry professors have been listed among the best in their discipline: Dr. Gary Long, emeritus professor; Dr. Fernande Grandjean, adjunct professor; Dr. Jay A. Switzer Curator’s Distinguished Professor emeritus; and Dr. Nuran Ercal, Vitek Endowed Professor of Biochemistry.

The latest book of Dr. John McManus, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of history and political science, titled To the End of the Earth: The U.S. Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945, continues to receive favorable reviews in such venues as Army University Press, New York Journal of Books, Wall Street Journal and Washington Free Beacon.

Dr. Vadym Mochalin, associate professor of chemistry, co-chaired an International Conference on New Diamond and Nano Carbons 2023 in East Lansing, Michigan. He also served as a co-editor of a book on “Diamond & Related Materials” published by Elsevier. Finally, Mochalin was invited to teach a condensed version of his graduate course on computational modeling in chemistry to a selected group of students in the "Nanoscience" program at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa.

Dr. Melanie Mormile, professor of biological sciences, received a $1,213 grant from Brookside Capital LLC for a project titled “Investigations into the use of Halanaerobium hydrogeniformans to produce industrially relevant fermentation products.” With this addition, the award totals $14,774. 

Dr. Dave Westenberg, Curator’s Distinguished Teaching Professor of biological sciences, presented some outreach activities in Houston, Texas, as part of a “Day of Science” hosted by the American Society of Microbiology during the recent annual ASMicrobe conference. He demonstrated how to identify what microbe matches an individual’s “personality” and an activity to observe bioluminescent bacteria and learn how and why they produce light. In addition, Westenberg gave a short presentation on how he uses storytelling, games and humor to help students draw connections to course materials.

Dr. Alexey Yamilov, professor of physics, and his research team published an article in Nature Physics on the Anderson localization of electromagnetic waves in three dimensions. See here for the significance of the research findings.

Dr. Yue-Wern Huang was invited to evaluate the performance of the National Taiwan University Biodiversity Research Center in May. National Taiwan University is ranked No. 77 in QS World University ranking in 2023 and has a rich history in biodiversity research. In the same trip, Huang also visited National Taiwan Normal University to recruit graduate students for the biological sciences department. He met with College of Science dean and chairs to discuss establishing a memorandum of understanding for research and education.

Elaina Manson was promoted to senior business support specialist for the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education. She will continue to ensure departments are in compliance with the university’s financial policies, and review and approve transactions within the college.

CASE has started its first billboard advertising campaign. Here is a picture from our billboard in St. Louis.

“There is no better place to learn about the history of modern architecture than Chicago. And there is no better way to experience architecture than in person. Painting and sculpture need to be seen to be appreciated. Music and poetry need to be heard, and architecture needs to be experienced. This was my guiding philosophy when I first thought about having a course in Chicago. The city itself, and its many historic and contemporary structures and spaces would be our text. This summer I took 12 students to Chicago May 15-27. Our lodging was Roosevelt University in the Loop. The views are amazing! 

The exact activities of each day varied but every day we were out exploring the city and taking tours of buildings, structures, parks, museums, historic homes, and other places and spaces. For example, we took the CTA green rail line out to Oak Park and toured the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio. Oak Park has a wealth of Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings including Unity Temple which we viewed from the outside. After lunch, we took the CTA back downtown then took the Metra electric rail line south to Hyde Park and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, the epitome of prairie style. The Robie house is adjacent to the University of Chicago campus, so we also walked around the campus and viewed some of the historic and contemporary architecture. A short stop at the location of the first nuclear chain reaction was also in order. 

We toured the Chicago History Museum, the Richardsonian Gelsner house, Mies van der Rohe’s amazing Farnsworth house, Millennium Park, and many other locations. One highlight of the trip was the river tour from the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The CAF runs a visitor center, several walking tours, and the famous river tour. Just make sure you bring sunscreen if you go!

We also were able to meet a couple of S&T alumni and former students of mine. One recent graduate, Sophie Holle, 2022, showed us around Cannon Design on North Michigan Avenue where she works as a lighting designer and the other alumnus, Tom Laudadio, 2015, was able to get us a tour of the recently renovated Tribune Tower. It is always great to see alumni out in the world and successful at their careers. The father of a student coordinated a special treat – he was able to get us a tour of the recently renovated old post office which is now multi-use office space. As an extra bonus, the class rang the closing bell at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. A great opportunity for the students and a history lesson too. Chicago would not be Chicago without the influence of the Chicago Board of Trade and commodities trading. 

While the main objective of the course is to learn about the history of Chicago and modern architecture, another goal of mine was to expose students to an urban living and learning experience. For all but one day we used public transit to explore the city. We took CTA buses and trains and Metra trains. You cannot understand Chicago without understanding the role of the railroads in creating and maintaining the city. We ate in many great restaurants and some that were not so great. By the end of the two weeks, the students, while not exactly native Chicagoans, were much more comfortable navigating the city. Some even went to a Cubs game! I do plan to offer the course in the future and am always looking for alumni in the Chicago area who may be able to add something special to the course.”

– Dr. Jeff Schramm, associate professor of history and political science

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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