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  • School of Science Welcomes New Faculty

    Dr. Kevin Dillon has returned to the Biology Department as a Lecturer. Dr. Dillon graduated from the School of Science and Honors School at Monmouth University in 2015 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. After MU, Dr. Dillon attended Rutgers University and earned his Ph.D. in Microbial Biology. After earning his doctorate, he was funded by the National Institutes of Health for his post-doctoral research at Rutgers University. His doctoral and post-doctoral research focused on the diversity and metabolic activity of airborne microbes in indoor and outdoor air. His interests include microbiology, bioinformatics, environmental science, and science education. He is teaching Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology and Microbiology in Health and Disease. Prof. Dillion joins our faculty as a Lecturer in the Biology Department.

    Prof. Jack Giannattasio earned his master’s degrees at Pacific Western University and Monmouth University. He  taught high-school physics and chemistry for 32 years and as an adjunct professor at MU for the past 23 years.  I retired from the NJ public schools in 2022 and asserts “I am fortunate to join Monmouth as a full-time physics faculty member.   Through the Governor’s Teacher recognition program, I was named district teacher of the year in 2002 and county teacher of the year in 2010.  I am passionate about science education and inquiry learning as well as reading and enjoying time outdoors – especially the beach.” Prof. Giannattasio joins our faculty as an instructor in the Chemistry and Physics Department

    Dr. Weihao Qu received his Ph.D of Computer Science from Boston University in 2022, his research interest involves the concept of programming languages, formal verification of programs and logics. He worked at Meta as a research scientist focusing on the application of programming language techniques to guarantee security in Meta’s products. He is interested in teaching logics and programming languages, in particular functional programming languages, and security.  Professor Qu joins our faculty as an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Software Engineering.

    Dr. Kevin Dillon
    Prof. Jack Gianattasio
    Dr. Weihao Qu

  • Inclusive STEM Teaching

    The School of Science commitment to inclusive teaching was embodied this year as 17 faculty and 2 administrators participated in a faculty learning community dedicated to inclusive teaching. The learning community was supported partially by a grant from the Monmouth Intercultural Center. The community was centered around and online course on inclusive STEM teaching funded by the National Science Foundation on Inclusive STEM teaching and included other meetings for faculty to share their experiences.

    Faculty reported that the course helped them connect with more of their students and be confident in using more inclusive teaching techniques.  The  School of Science also instituted a teaching award for both as single class and  for whole courses or syllabi that had been modified for inclusive and equitable teaching.  Drs. Sean Sterrett of Biology and Nikita Burrows of Chemistry were winners in the entire course category and Dr. Madeline Balman in the single class meeting category.

    Dr. Nikita Burrows presenting on her award winning Chemistry curriculum.
    Bearded professor speaking
    Dr. Sean Sterrett presenting on his award winning Biology curriculum.

  • Biology Professor Receives NSF Grant

    The scientific workforce faces two major challenges – how to best mitigate the negative impacts of large-scale global change and how to best train and support a diverse generation of scientists. A collaborative research network of scientists from five universities received a $3.0 million Research and Mentoring for Postbaccalaureates in Biological Sciences (RaMP) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to tackle these broad challenges. 

    Monmouth University is partnering with four other universities to create a postbaccalaureate research and mentoring network integrated within the existing Salamander Population and Adaptation Research Collaboration Network (SPARCnet). The four-year project will be overseen by principal investigator Dr. M. Caitlin Fisher-Reid, an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Bridgewater State University. The co-principal investigators include Dr. David A.W. Miller, Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Alexa R. Warwick, Outreach Specialist at Michigan State University, Dr. Sean Sterrett, Assistant Professor at Monmouth University, and Dr. Tanya Hawley Matlaga, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Susquehanna University.

    The SPARCnet RaMP program will recruit recent college graduates with limited research experiences to participate in a one-year, paid, mentored research position at SPARCnet sites in the eastern United States. Mentors will be trained in mentoring best practices and postbaccalaureate mentees will be trained in a variety of research methods and vital professional development skills. The grant will support 30 postbaccalaureate mentees over three years, preparing them to successfully enter the STEM workforce and postgraduate education programs.

    Postbaccalaureate mentees will join an intellectually and geographically distributed network, SPARCnet, that brings together a diverse group of scientists, educators, university, federal, state, and non-profit partners to use terrestrial salamanders as a model for understanding how species respond to global change.  Each year’s mentee cohort will complete a collaborative core project using the network-wide, 10-year data set on salamander populations, and each individual mentee will complete a tailored independent project with their mentor(s). Not only will the projects expose mentees to basic hypothesis-driven, ecological research, but they will uncover patterns and mechanisms of change and model those changes with aims to impact policy and management. Mentors will also be able to bring their mentoring best practices back to their home institutions to broaden the program’s impact. This grant was one of 10 awarded this year.

    Dr. Sean Sterrett takes data on the eastern red-backed salamander.
    The focal study species of SPARCnet is the eastern red-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus, which is often abundant in Eastern deciduous forests. It comes in two predominant colors – striped (above) and unstriped.
    Monmouth University students working at a local study site.

  • 15th Annual Summer Research Program Symposium

    On August 10th 25 groups of student researchers presented their faculty sponsored research in the School of Science’s 15th Annual Summer Research Program Symposium. A complete list of the the presenters and abstracts of their projects can be found in the 2023 Summer Research Program Abstract Book.