Program Faculty and Staff
College Park Scholars
- Advocates for Children
- Arts
- Business, Society & the Economy
- Cultures of the Americas
- Earth, Life & Time
- Environmental Studies
- International Studies
- Life Sciences
- Media, Self & Society
- Public Leadership
- Science, Discovery & the Universe
- Science, Technology & Society
Dr. David Cooper
Faculty Director
cooperd@umd.edu
David Cooper is serving as Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and School Partnerships, and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education. He also co-directs Camp Attaway, a summer camp for children with emotional and behavioral disorders. He holds a Ph.D. in special education/developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina. David's research focuses on the effectiveness of collaborative teacher preparation and on the identification and treatment of children with reading disabilities in the early grades.
Dr. Brenda Jones Harden
Program Faculty
bjharden@umd.edu
Brenda Jones Harden is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development at the University of Maryland College Park. She was trained as a social worker and psychologist, and received her Master's in Social Work degree from New York University in 1980 and her PhD in Psychology in 1996 from Yale University. She has devoted her career to practice and research relevant to children at environmental risk. Much of her work has centered on children in the child welfare system, children exposed to violence, and children prenatally exposed to drugs. She has developed and evaluated interventions for these children and their families, including a Head Start violence prevention initiative and an Early Head Start infant mental health initiative. She is particularly interested in the evaluation of home visiting and early intervention programs, and using research to inform the development of policy and practice in these arenas.
Mr. Jim DeGeorge
Associate Director
jmdegeorge2@comcast.net
Jim De George received his masters degree from the University of Maryland, in 1970. He has worked with children and youth of all ages for over 40 years. He served as a teacher, counselor, school principal, and university lecturer. He has been a keynote speaker and group facilitator, at numerous conferences and meetings, throughout the country. Jim has worked primarily with "At-Risk" students and families, throught his career. And, has served as a consultant to many schools and school systems. He is most interested in providing experiential learning opportunities that coincide with academic classroom instruction.
Dr. Sangeeta Ray
Faculty Director
rays@umd.edu
Dr. Sangeeta Ray earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1991. She has authored En-Gendering India: Woman and Nation in Colonial and Postcolonial Narratives (Duke, 2000) and Edition: A Companion to Postcolonial Studies (with Henry Schwarz, 2000).
Dr. Ray is the author of numerous articles and reviews in such collections and journals as Gender and Studies, Ariel, and Genders. Her prizes and awards include a NEH summer grant from Brown University in 1994; a Lilly Teaching Fellowship from 1994 to 1995; the UM Woman of Color Award in 1997, and was nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Award by the College Park Association of Parents in 1992. She has been the director of the Asian-American Studies Certificate Program since 1997, and is an Editorial Consultant for Feminist Studies.
Ms. Nancy Comorau
Assistant Director
ncomorau@umd.edu
Nancy Comorau is a PhD candidate in the English Department writing on rereading the postcolonial novel and working with Dr. Sangeeta Ray. She has taught several courses for the department since 2003, including Introduction to Academic Writing, British Literature 1800-Present, and the Writing Center internship course. She earned her MA in English, from Villanova University.
Ms. Delores Phillips
Assistant Director
dbp@umd.edu
Delores Phillips is a PhD Candidate in English working on her dissertation under Dr. Ray's directorship. Her work focuses on biographical cookbooks written by members of the postcolonial diaspora and compares the writers' experiences to food images in postcolonial literature. She earned her M.A. in English at College Park, along with her Critical Theory Certificate. Her teaching experience includes work for the Department of English, where she taught First Year Composition, Shakespeare, and British Literature from 1800 to present, but also includes full-time teaching positions at Morgan State University and Anne Arundel Community College. Her full-time teaching has involved the use of multimedia and service learning as integral components of classroom instruction.
Dr. Peter Beicken
Faculty Director
beic@umd.edu
Peter Beicken joined the Arts Scholars Faculty in June 2003. Beicken received his Ph.D. in German Language and Literature at Stanford University (1971) and has been a Professor in the German Department since 1976 when he came to Maryland from Princeton University. Teaching Modern German literature, culture, and film, he has been a leading figure in Franz Kafka studies (four books) and Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann (two books). In addition, he has published a study on the films of Wim Wenders (with R. Ph. Kolker, 1993), and an introduction to film analysis (2004).
A Distinguished Scholar Teacher (2001-2002) and recent Lilly-Fellow (2005-2007), he has been accepted into the Academy For Teaching Excellence at the University of Maryland (2007). Offering University Honors, Humanities Honors, and CORE classes regularly, Beicken is committed to undergraduate teaching and enjoys directing the Arts Program tremendously because of the rewarding symbiosis with this living learning community. The Center for Teaching Excellence supported his film teaching with an instructional improvement grant. An award-winning poet and writer, Beicken was president of the Society For Contemporary American Literature in German (SCALG, 2003-2005) and the editor of its journal, TRANS-LIT. Aside from writing, Beicken also enjoys photography, music, theater, dance, opera, and the visual arts.
Dr. David Solomon
Faculty Co-Director
david@umd.edu
David Solomon has taught literature and writing courses in the Department of English at the University of Maryland. Within the Scholars program, Dr. Solomon teaches workshops in acting, musical theater and cartooning. He is the first recipient of the James Robinson Outstanding Teaching Award and he has also had his teaching recognized by the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Pan Hellenic Society and the Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Program. He worked as a political cartoonist for The Jewish Times in Philadelphia, PA for several years. His performances in area theaters have been reviewed favorably by the Washington Post. It was under Dr. Solomon's tenure in the Arts Program that the annual Arts Faire was created, the first of which, the College Park Scholars Arts Renaissance Faire, received the Public Leadership Giraffe Award.
Mr. Christopher Hartten
Assistant Director
harttenp@umd.edu
Christopher Hartten is a senior at the University of Maryland specializing in European history and music performance. A graduate of the College Park Scholars Arts Program in 2002, Christopher was the recipient of the CPS Arts Outstanding Achievement award and has since served as a teaching assistant to the program for the past two years.
As a performer, Chris has played string bass for nearly ten years and has been a member of the UMD Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Ensemble, and Collegium Musicum. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall with the All Eastern and National Honors Orchestras and enjoys composing music in his spare time.
Business, Society & the Economy
Dr. Mark Wellman
Faculty Director
mwellman@rhsmith.umd.edu
Mark Wellman is currently a Tyser Teaching Fellow at the Robert H. Smith School of Business and the director of the Business, Society & the Economy program of College Park Scholars. Dr. Wellman has received numerous outstanding awards including a faculty fellowship from the Graduate Management Admission Council Education Research Institute. His research is examining the impact of the MBA degree on career success outcomes. For his outstanding contribution to business education, he received the Alan Krowe Award for Teaching Excellence. He teaches in the area of global strategy, and organizational change. His research interests include human capital, career success, and strategic management. Dr. Wellman is a member of the Academy of Management. Before returning to the classroom in 2001, he served as the assistant dean of the MBA/MS programs at the Robert H. Smith School of Business from 1990-2001. During his tenure, he was part of an ambitious effort to enhance the reputation of the MBA program. Dr. Wellman also participated in a comprehensive renewal of the MBA and oversaw the program expansion. Full-time MBA enrollment increased by more than 100 percent and part-time enrollment increased nearly 175 percent. In addition, he assisted in the opening of three off campus locations for the MBA program. Prior to arriving at Maryland in 1990, he served as the director of graduate studies in business at Bowling Green State University. Dr. Wellman holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration with a focus on organizational behavior and development from the George Washington University School of Business Administration. In addition, he has an undergraduate and graduate degree from Bowling Green State University.
Mrs. Claudia Donnelly
Assistant Director
cdonnelly@rhsmith.umd.edu
Claudia Donnelly holds a Masters Degree in Sports Administration from Ohio University and a Bachelors Degree in Communication from Rutgers University. She is the Assistant Director of the Business, Society & the Economy program of College Park Scholars. She fulfills various administrative roles including helping the BSE faculty coordinate activities planned for the students each semester. In addition, she coordinates the communications between the BSE program and the students within the program. Before joining the Scholars program at the University of Maryland, Mrs. Donnelly worked on the political campaign of a candidate in Montgomery County.
Dr. Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Faculty Director
tholtz@umd.edu
Dr. Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. is a dinosaur paleontologist and member of the faculty in the Department of Geology. His primary research subject is the evolution and adaptations of the carnivorous dinosaurs, most especially the tyrant dinosaurs. He has also published on the effects of plate tectonics on the evolution of dinosaurs and their contemporaries, and on reconstructing the locomotion and predatory techniques of various fossil animals. For a more general audience, Dr. Holtz has written children's books on dinosaurs and was one of the primary consultants on the BBC/Discovery Channel TV series Walking with Dinosaurs.
Dr. Holtz has been with the Department of Geology since 1994, teaching classes on dinosaurs, invertebrate paleontology, and historical and environmental geology. He has received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the University Honors Program (in 1997) and the Celebrating Teachers Award from the Center for Teaching Excellence (in 2003). In the Fall of 1999 he and Associate Director Merck began the College Park Scholars Earth, Life and Time Program to promote the scientific understanding of the natural historical sciences among some of UMCP's most talented students. In addition to his background in the natural historical sciences, Dr. Holtz brings to ELT his love of the best in science fiction and his knowledge of the worst in the pseudosciences.
Dr. John W. Merck, Jr.
Associate Director
jmerck@umd.edu
Dr. John W. Merck, Jr., also a vertebrate paleontologist, has been with the Geology Department since 1999. Merck works a little farther back in time and farther down the tree of evolution than Holtz, studying the evolutionary relationships among the marine reptiles of the early Mesozoic, including ichthyosaurs, nothosaurs, placodonts and plesiosaurs. He is a committed undergraduate educator, whose philosophy is that curriculum should be structured so that students receive the maximum educational benefit for their effort. Merck's teaching experience spans geological and biological subjects including physical Geology, vertebrate evolution, and comparative anatomy. He has a special affection for the ELT curriculum, the one venue in which he truly is free to emphasize the meaningful connections between concepts of natural history that are usually obscured by the artificial divisions of academic bureaucracy.
Merck's teaching is also informed by his academic and professional experience with digital information technologies, enabling him to instruct ELT students in appropriate methods of presentation, including web sites and professional quality digital graphics.
Ms. Margaret Giblin
Faculty Director
mcgiblin@umd.edu
Ms. Giblin is a Lecturer in the Environmental Science and Policy Program, a university-wide program enrolling 220 students in eleven areas of concentration. She teaches ENSP 399A, Introduction to Environmental Law, and beginning in Spring 2007, she will be teaching ENSP 400, Capstone in Environmental Science and Policy. Ms. Giblin began her career at the University of Maryland as an undergraduate student, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in History. She continued her studies at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore, where she earned her Juris Doctor with a concentration in environmental law. She returned to the College Park campus to complete her Master in Community Planning, with a specialization in environmental planning.
Ms. Giblin's experience prior to rejoining the University of Maryland community as a faculty member includes work as: an associate attorney at the Baltimore office of DLA Piper; a rural area planner for the Baltimore County, Maryland Office of Planning; and a policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Progressive Reform. She has authored (and co-authored) numerous articles, reports and white papers on a broad range of environmental law and policy topics. She is a volunteer with The Orangutan Conservancy, where her work includes acting as Corporate Secretary, and for Friends of the National Zoo/Smithsonian National Zoological Park, where she serves as a primate interpreter. Her research interests include the role of land use planning and growth management in environmental quality, and the international protection of biodiversity.
Ms. Nicole Wynands
Assistant Director
nwynands@umd.edu
Nicole Wynands is a graduate student in the Urban Studies & Planning program with a specialty in Land Use and Environmental Planning. She graduated from the University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Germany with a Bachelor of Arts in International Political Management. Ms. Wynands spent a semester at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in South India, where she participated in the international Tsunami relief and rehabilitation effort in affected fishing villages along the coast of Tamil Nadu. After returning from India, she worked at the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Washington, DC. Her most recent work experience includes a research and administrative assistantship at the University of Applied Sciences Bremen, and work at the City and Transportation Planning Office Kaulen in Aachen, Germany, where she focused on non-motorized transportation planning. Ms. Wynands has volunteered for several causes including local and national election campaigns in the United States, Friends of the Earth, AIESEC, the German Red Cross, and has tutored international students in Bremen. She is interested in promoting growth management and green urbanism in the U.S. and abroad.
Mr. Benjamin Schapiro
Teaching Assistant
schapiro@umd.edu
Ben Schapiro is a graduate student working towards a joint MS/MPP degree in the College of Life Sciences and the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. He is an alumnus of College Park Scholars in Environmental Studies and received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Policy with a specialty in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2004. He worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua promoting sustainable agricultural practices. He is interested in international conservation efforts and sustainable development with a focus on Latin America.
Dr. James Glass
Faculty Director
jglass1@umd.edu
James M. Glass received his PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970. He is the recipient of the University's Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award (2002-2003), and in 2004 the Outstanding Faculty in the State of Maryland Award, given by the Maryland Association for Higher Education. He is the author of six books and dozens of articles and book chapters. His most recent research has been into the Holocaust; his book 'life unworthy of life': Racial Phobia and Mass Murder in Hitler's Germany, (1997), analyzed the psychological dynamics behind Germany's genocide of the Jews, particularly the links between the German professions and the moral and ethical acceptance of mass murder. His most recent book (2004): Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust: Moral Uses of Violence and Will examines the forces behind Jewish resistance to the German assault and their collaborators; it includes extensive interviews with resistance survivors, and a discussion of critical ethical issues that arise from resistance assumptions and perspectives. Professor Glass has taught and published in the areas of political psychology, international ethics, political theory and philosophy; he has been invited to deliver numerous lectures on his research both nationally and abroad.
Ms. Javiera Alarcon
Teaching Assistant
jalarcon@gvpt.umd.edu
Javiera Alarcon is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park with a B.A. in Government and Politics, and Criminology and Criminal Justice. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Government and Politics with a concentration in Comparative Politics. Her undergraduate honors thesis related the limitations of freedom of speech found in the current U.S. War on Terror in comparison to Chile's War on Communism during Augusto Pinochet's military regime. Having studied abroad in Chile for the Spring 2005 Semester, she has had the opportunity to visit other bordering South American countries, such as Bolivia and Argentina. Latin American politics is a primary interest of hers, but she also shares a curiosity for other areas of the world.
Mr. Tony Marcum
Teaching Assistant
amarcum@gvpt.umd.edu
Tony Marcum is a graduate student working towards his Ph.D. in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wright State University in 2003 and his Master of Arts in Political Science from Purdue University in 2005. His research interests focus on System and Structural Theories of International Relations, Realist approaches to International Politics, the Philosophy of Science, National and International Security, War and Conflict, Foreign Policy, and Methodology. His current project is an examination of the causes of preemption in the international state system.
Mr. Mike McDonald
Teaching Assistant
mmcdonald@gvpt.umd.edu
Mike McDonald is a graduate student working towards his Ph.D. in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Davidson College in 2003, and his research interests focus on Cooperation, Negotiation, and Bargaining, International Political Economy, American Foreign Policy, Trade Policy, and Formal & Game Theory.
Ms. Shana Marshall
Teaching Assistant
smarshall@gvpt.umd.edu
Shana Marshall is a phd student in the Department of Government and Politics specializing in international relations and comparative politics of the Middle East. Her dissertation research focuses on neoliberal economic reforms in Egypt and Syria. She received her BA in Political Science from Hanover College in 2003, speaks Arabic and has traveled extensively in the Middle East. Shana is also a researcher at the University�s Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development. She enjoys blogging and participating in the progressive politics movement in the US.
Dr. Lee Hellman
Faculty Director
Dr. Lee Hellman, a Professor of Entomology, is actively involved in both teaching and research. Lee teaches several undergraduate courses such as Insects (ENTN 100), Beekeeping (ENTN 111), and introduction to Entomology (ENTN 205). In addition, Lee teaches three graduate courses in Entomology. One of Lee's research interests is the development of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs for agriculture within the state of Maryland as well as urban landscapes. This research focuses on insect biological control utilizing insect pathogens, parasites, predators and cultural control methods as a substitute for pesticides. Some of the strategies studied in this project have been the use of turfgrass symbionts called "Enophytic Fungi" and the "New Biotech" transgenic corn plants. These corn plants produce a bacterial mycotoxin which is safe to man but deadly to certain insect pests. Another research project Lee is working on is the study of North and South American aquatic hydrochid or water beetles. This project is in conjunction with the Smithsonian Museum. Lee's research has taken him to Africa, South America, New Guinea, Indonesia, China, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Despite his busy schedule Lee still finds time to enjoy canoeing, white water rafting, fishing, lily ponds, and log cabin building in West Virginia.
Ms. Becky Zonies
Assistant Director
rzonies@umd.edu
Becky is a Terp-for-Life! She completed both her Bachelors Degree in Hearing and Speech Sciences and her Masters Degree in Counseling and Personnel Services from the University of Maryland. During graduate school, Becky was a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Resident life and was responsible for planning and implementing the "Overnight Stay Program" to introduce prospective student to the University. After graduation, Becky became the Internship Coordinator at the University Career Center where she was responsible for guiding students through their internship search. She assisted them as they identified areas of interest, searched for opportunities, crafted resumes, wrote cover letters, interviewed, and obtained excellent internship experiences. She also worked closely with employers who recruit and hire University of Maryland students.
During the Spring 2006 semester, Becky took time away from her role as Internship Coordinator to be a Resident Director on a Semester at Sea voyage. Becky traveled around the world on a ship with 750 college students and visited 10 ports of call along the way. Countries on the voyage included Brazil, South Africa, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, and China...just to name a few. Becky is excited to be the Assistant Director for the College Park Scholars - Life Sciences Program, and she looks forward to many more years at Maryland. Go Terps!
Dr. Kalyani Chadha
Faculty Director
kchadha@umd.edu
As a teacher and a researcher, Kalyani Chadha has focused on analyzing trends in international communication as well as television programming and its impact on society. The recipient of a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Maryland, College Park, she has published articles in several communication conferences, journals and books. She joined the Media, Self and Society program in 2000, and was recently appointed the program's director. She is presently working on a book project that examines the consumption of Hindi films by young Indian Americans. Prior to coming to the United States in 1992, she worked as a journalist in India.
Mr. Ken Joseph
Associate Director
kajoseph@umd.edu
He is the Associate Director of the Media, Self & Society program, where he serves in advising and administrative roles. And as the Admissions Coordinator, he helps to facilitate the Scholars admissions process. Ken earned bachelor's degrees in both Journalism and Political Science from Penn State in 1991. Although he is fanatical in his devotion to his alma mater, Ken has come to love the University of Maryland. In his spare time, Ken is an avid reader of works he describes as "junk -- novels with little or no redeeming social value."
Dr. David Crocker
Faculty Director
dcrocker@umd.edu
David A. Crocker is Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy and the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, USA. He specializes in sociopolitical philosophy, international development ethics, transitional justice, democracy and democratization, and the ethics of consumption. In the School's M.A. and Ph.D. development program, he teaches courses on ethics, development, foreign aid, democracy, and human rights. Crocker taught philosophy for twenty-five years at Colorado State University. He was a visiting professor at the University of Munich, twice a Fulbright Scholar the University of Costa Rica, and held the UNESCO Chair in Development at the University of Valencia (Spain). Currently an officer of the Human Development and Capability Association, he was founder and former president of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA). In the spring of 2007, he was named director of the undergraduate College Park Scholars-Public Leadership living-learning-service program.
Among his publications are Praxis and Democratic Socialism ; editor (with Toby Linden), Ethics of Consumption: The Good Life, Justice, and Global Stewardship ; Florecimiento humano y desarrollo internacional: La nueva etica de capacidades humanas ; editor (with Jesus Conill) ¿Republicanismo y educacion civica: Mas alla del liberalismo? , and Ethics of Global Development: Agency, Capability, and Deliberative Democracy (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). He is working on a book whose working title is Reckoning with Past Wrongs: Ends, Means, and Cases.
Ms. Stacy J. Kosko
Associate Director
sjkosko@umd.edu
Stacy Kosko comes to the University of Maryland from The Advocacy Project (AP), a DC-based human rights organization with which she consulted for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict and People Building Peace and worked as AP's Outreach and Fellowship Coordinator before becoming Deputy Director in 2006. She also spent a summer working for AP at the Dzeno Association, AP's Roma partner in the Czech Republic. Before graduating from Georgetown University with an MS in Foreign Service and a certificate in Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies, Stacy was a research assistant at the Institute for the Study of International Migration and interned at the Center for Democracy and the Third Sector. She has also taught in Brazil and in an urban night school in Massachusetts. She graduated as valedictorian from Syracuse University in 2000 with BAs in Television/Radio/Film, English and Textual Studies, and French. She is now starting her PhD in Public Policy with a concentration in international development and a special interest in human rights and international education policy.
Ms. Shana Sabbath
Assistant Director
ssabbath@umd.edu
Prior to her start at the University of Maryland, Shana worked at NARAL Pro-Choice America researching federal candidates, analyzing state legislation, and participating in fieldwork for federal and gubernatorial candidates. Shana earned a B.A. from Goucher College with a major in Sociology and minors in Communications and Spanish. She is a graduate student working towards an M.P.M. at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, with a specialization in Social Policy. As an undergraduate, Shana was very active in various community service projects and was co-president of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance.
Ms. Jennifer Littlefield
Instructor
jnlittle@umd.edu
Jennifer Littlefield is currently a Ph.D. student in The School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland focusing on leadership and nonprofits. Prior to coming to Maryland, she served as the Assistant Director of the Institute for Leadership Advancement in the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. In this role Jennifer assisted with all areas of the Institute including working with their two undergraduate leadership programs, planning and coordinating a study abroad program to Tanzania Africa, and working with various corporate and community partners of the ILA. Prior to working at the Institute, she served as the Development Director for UGA's School of Social Work and College of Education. Before working at UGA Jennifer held the role of Development Director at The Shelter and Advocacy Center for Abused Children in Augusta Georgia. Jennifer holds both a Bachelor and Master of Business Administration from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
Mr. Elliott Reed
Teaching Assistant
emr33@umd.edu
Elliott Reed is working towards his M.P.P. at the School of Public Policy . Immediately prior to coming to Maryland , he worked as a Real Estate Research Analyst for a firm specializing in affordable housing. Additionally, he was a licensed real estate agent in the DC Metro area and ran a 501(c)(3) housing placement and home rehabilitation firm. Around the same time, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University , with a formal concentration in Law and Society. As an undergraduate he researched the professions and stratification from an organizational behavior perspective. His current academic areas of interest are the automotive industry, housing policy, and government intervention.
Ms.
Maja Cholody
Project Coordinator and Teaching Assistant
mcholody@umd.edu
Maja Cholody is a Graduate Student at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy with a focus in International Development. She earned her Bachelors Degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Maryland in 2007. Before joining the Public Leadership team she worked as an intern for NPR, a news desk assistant for ABC Radio, and as an English language instructor in London . She is originally from Poland , but currently resides in Maryland . Her interests include travel, languages, foreign policy and reading.
Science, Discovery & the Universe
Dr. Stephen White
Faculty Co-Director
white@astro.umd.edu
Stephen White has been an astronomy researcher on campus and a resident in the local community for almost 20 years, since leaving graduate school in Australia. His main scientific interest is the Sun and the range of physical processes that occur in its atmosphere and in other stars like the Sun. To study these topics he mostly uses radio telescopes at different locations around he world, including the University's own shared facility in California. Like many Australians he is fanatical about sports, including the Terps soccer teams, and he has a personal interest in the College Park tornado.
Dr. Alan Peel
Faculty Co-Director
apeel@umd.edu
Alan Peel is a research associate and lecturer here at UM in the Astronomy Department, studying the dynamics of galaxies and galaxy clusters and determining what that can tell us about cosmology. He spent a "gap year" between degrees as an Environmental Scientist in Berkeley, California, doing field work for site remediation which somehow lasted seven years. After a PhD in physics (cosmology) at UC Davis, he spent two years at Cambridge working in Stephen Hawking's group on modeling galaxy cluster velocities. Married with three kids (two daughters growing up too fast and a very short, hairy son who looks remarkably like a beagle), Alan's other interests include, classical music, homebrewing, performing in the Revels, fencing and convincing people that anyone can learn physics.
Mr. Paul Romani
Program Associate
paul.romani@nasa.gov
Paul Romani teaches the freshmen colloquium for SDU and has coordinated companion programs with the Maryland Science Center and Global Climate Modeling. With degrees from the University of Michigan in both Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences, Dr. Romani currently works at NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Most of his recent research work involves atmospheric chemistry and cloud physics in the atmospheres of the outer, or giant, planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Currently he is focused on the infrared spectrometer on the NASA-ESA Cassini mission to the Saturn system both in uplink operations and science analysis. Another of his many interests is the cross-cultural and historical study of astronomy, and science in general.
Ms. Stephanie Smith
Assistant Director
steph1@umd.edu
Stephanie Smith is pursuing a master's degree in Education with an emphasis on College Student Personnel. She received her bachelor~@~Ys degree in Special Education from Temple University, which is located in her hometown, Philadelphia. Stephanie enjoys reading, watching soap operas, and engaging in physical activities. Stephanie is excited to work with the Science, Discovery, and Universe program because the position is extremely student-centered. She hopes to become a student affairs practitioner after she completes her degree.
Mr. Matthew Zagursky
Program Webmaster and Computer Practicum Instructor
mzagursk@umd.edu
Matthew Zagursky is a junior pursuing a Physical Sciences & Physics double major. A former SDU student himself, Matthew now instructs the sophomore web design and online communications course. He has eight years of web programming under his belt, and for the past two years, Matthew has been the webmaster of SDU's website and will continue to be for the coming terms. He is also an active undergraduate researcher in the Astronomy Department with two separate projects: mass modeling of galaxies and exploring Mercury's exosphere. In his free time, Matthew enjoys video games, watching TV, and going out with friends.
Dr. Betsy Mendelsohn
Faculty Director
bmendel@umd.edu
Betsy Mendelsohn is a historian of environment and technology who taught STS at the University of Virginia before becoming an instructor in the Scholars STS Program in 2004. She succeeded Prof. James Duncan as Director of this program and the University STS Certificate Program in June, 2007. Dr. Mendelsohn is an active participant in the Society for the History of Technology and the American Society for Environmental History, and teaches as an adjunct lecturer for the University of Maryland History Department. She has published essays on the historical importance of technology to environmental quality and the history of American environmental law. She earned a B.A. in history from Yale University (1983) and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1999). Dr. Mendelsohn's research focuses on the incorporation of science into the resolution of legal conflicts about sharing resources such as water, air, public roads, and ecological health.
Mr. William Evans
Instructor
William_C_Evans@mcpsmd.org
William C. Evans has taught choral music and been Music Department Chair at Sherwood High School in Montgomery County, Maryland since 1979. He received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Clarion University in Pennsylvania and a Master of Music in Voice from The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Bill directs three choral groups at Sherwood: Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, and Freshman Chorus. He teaches the popular Electronic Music and Recording Studio Techniques class. Bill has been Musical Director, Technical Supervisor and Creative Writer for Sherwood High School's original musical production "Rock 'n' Roll Revival," now in its 37th year. Bill has served as a choral adjudicator for the Annapolis Music Festival for fourteen years, as well as festivals in Delaware, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Bill is a Acting Director of the Music Technology Lab at the University of Maryland - College Park, where he teaches Music Technology. During spring 2003 he was a part-time faculty member and guest conductor of the Towson University Vocal Jazz Ensemble. He has also been a guest lecturer for the Music Department at the Catholic University of America.
Mr. Evans has received numerous honors and awards over the years, including the University of Maryland Outstanding Teachers Award from the Center for Teaching Excellence (2004), Sherwood PTSA Educator of the Year (2006) and (2000), Maryland State Computer Educator of the Year from the Maryland Instructional Computer Coordinators Association (1991), Outstanding Contribution to the Community (1989) and the Outstanding Contribution to Youth Award (1987) from the Greater Olney Civic Association.
Ms. Sabrina Liao
Instructor
sabrinaliao@gmail.com
For years, Sabrina Liao has been working as a creative director in a new media agency in Asia. Her clients include Coca-Cola Asia, Estee Lauder, HSBC and more. Her work and projects have won numerous awards including the prestigious "Click Award" in Asia between 2000-2002.
Sabrina holds a Master of Arts in Multimedia and Music from New York University (NY, USA) and a Bachelor of Education from University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada). She has also chaired at many international conferences such as CHI 2000-2003 (Computer Human Interaction), IDC2004 (International Design and Children) and CC2007 (Creativity & Cognition). She has published 5 computer books in Chinese, teaching people to use multimedia tools such as Flash, Photoshop and Dreamweaver in a creative and innovative way.
J. Rosser Matthews
Instructor
jrmatt3@umd.edu
Rosser Matthews graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1985 as a mathematics and philosophy double major. Subsequently, he earned a Master's and Ph.D. degree from Duke University where his research focus was on the history of science and medicine. He has taught a wide variety of courses in the history of science, history of medicine, STS, and general history survey courses at a number of institutions - including North Carolina State University, Duke University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the College of William and Mary, Christopher Newport University, and the STS program at Virginia Tech. This semester, in addition to being an instructor in the STS program at the University of Maryland, he is also an instructor in the George Washington University History Department.
His research focuses on the history of statistical reasoning as a way to illustrate the role of chance, uncertainty, and risk in both the scientific and public policy arenas. One product of this research was a book on the historical emergence of the clinical trial in contemporary medicine, which was published in 1995 by Princeton University Press under the title Quantification and the Quest for Medical Certainty. Since completing that project, Matthews has acquired additional expertise in the areas of contemporary public policy and public health analysis. He is particularly interested in using an "STS perspective" to analyze the reception of epidemiological studies in the legal and policy arenas. This research interest has resulted in a publication on the role of medical practice guidelines in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law and a 13-month appointment at the National Institutes of Health where he was a DeWitt Stetten Jr. Memorial Fellow in the History of Biomedical Sciences and Technology in 2001-2002. At present, Matthews is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University where he is collaborating with Alan I. Faden, a member of the medical school faculty, on a book that will use history as a way to illustrate the problems confronting contemporary American medicine.
