Mel Sabella (he|him|his)
Professor of Physics
Contact Information |
Phone: (773) 995-2172 |
Email: msabella@csu.edu |
Office: SCI-220C |
|
Education |
B.S., State University of New York at Binghamton |
Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park |
Postdoctoral, University of Washington, Seattle |
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Hobbies and Interests |
Biking, frying fish, building furniture |
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Research Interests
My work in Physics Education and Physics Education Research involves systematic studies
of the effectiveness of innovative learning spaces. I'm interested in the resources
that students from urban institutions bring to the STEM classroom. One way to create
innovative learning spaces is to leverage the experience and expertise of peer mentors.
Part of my research focuses on how peer mentors can be collaborative partners in education
reform and curriculum development.
Representative Presentations & Publications
Publications
- Little, A. J., Curry, G., Smith, E., Whitehorn, J., & Sabella, M. S. (2024). Designing
for Proudness. The Physics Teacher, 62(3), 168-173.
- Sabella, M.S. and Roberts, J., Creative Astronomy: Broadening the scope of an online
general education course by leveraging an authentic collaboration between Learning
Assistant and Instructor (The Physics Teacher, 2023 61(1), 43-48) https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0080890
- Emenike, M. E., Schick, C. P., Van Duzor, A. G., Sabella, M. S., Hendrickson, S. M.,
& Langdon, L. S. (2020). Leveraging Undergraduate Learning Assistants to Engage Students
during Remote Instruction: Strategies and Lessons Learned from Four Institutions.
Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 2502-2511.
- Price, E., Van Duzor, A. G., deLeone, C., Sabella, M.S (2019). Faculty-driven two-year
college and four-year institution partnerships, Journal of College Science Teaching,
48 (6), 20-27
- Sabella, M.S., Mardis K. L., Sanders, N., & Little, A. (2017). The Chi-Sci Scholars
Program: Developing Community and Challenging Racially Inequitable Measures of Success
at a Minority-Serving Institution on Chicago’s Southside. The Physics Teacher, 55(6),
350-355.
- Davenport, F., Amezcua, F., X Sabella, M.S., and Van Duzor, A. G., Exploring the Underlying
Factors in Learning Assistant - Faculty Partnerships, 2017 PERC Proceedings [Cincinnati,
OH, July 26-27, 2017], edited by L. Ding, A. Traxler, and Y. Cao, doi:10.1119/perc.2017.pr.021.
Presentations
- Mel Sabella (2024, April), Leveraging the LA Model to build inclusive physics and
STEM learning spaces that leverage student expertise and voice, presented virtually
to the Physics Faculty Online Learning Community (FOLC)
- Mel Sabella, Laurie Langdon, Mary Emenike, Andrea Van Duzor (2023, June), Leveraging
student expertise through the Learning Assistant Model to build inclusive STEM learning
spaces, Invited Keynote at the 2023 LSAMP PI/PD Conference, Washington DC
- Mel Sabella, (2023, April), Building inclusive physics and STEM learning spaces that
leverage community expertise, University of Kansas (Virtual, Invited Physics Colloquium)
- Mel Sabella, (2023, March), Building inclusive physics and STEM learning spaces that
leverage student expertise and voice, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis
(Invited Physics Colloquium)
- Anthony Escuadro and Mel Sabella (2023, March), Leveraging the TEAM UP factors to
support students through instructional partnerships and transitions, The Organization
for Physics at Two Year Colleges March Workshop.
Memberships
- Member of American Association of Physics Teachers Exec. Board; AAPT Past President
- Vice Chair of AAPT DEI Council
- Member of American Physical Society
- Fellow of the American Physical Society
- Member of National Society of Black Physicists
- Past President, Chicago Section of the AAPT
- Member of Planning Committee for Chicago Symposium Series on Excellence in Teaching
Mathematics and Science
Representative Grants & Funding
- 2021 REsiliency and Capacity Expansion for Student Success (RECESS), Department of
Education, Personnel, $587,729.
- 2021 Catalyst: Leveraging the community of learners to envision and support innovative
and engaging instructional spaces, Partnership for College Completion, PI, $12,000.
- 2019 Louis Stokes STEM Pathways and Research Alliances: The Illinois LSAMP STEM Pathway
and Research Alliance (ILSPRA), NSF (Senior Personnel)
- 2017 Connecting Physics and Engineering through a Modernization of the Advanced Laboratory
Curriculum (CPE-MALC), NSF-IUSE, $298,727
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