Department News

2024:

Drs. Boyd, Davenport and Fenner, CSU Alumni, who have recently recieved their PhDs in Chemistry and Physics from Louisiana State University, Georgia Tech, and the University of Texas - San Antonio.
Dr. Garcia-Solis who has been elected a 2024 Fellow of the American Physical Society:
For outstanding efforts in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in the field of physics, advocating for physicists from underrepresented backgrounds, and providing global research opportunities for undergraduate students.
Drs. Harton and Peters for their induction into the Sigma Pi Sigma National Physics Honor Society!
Chemistry Learning Assistants (LAs) co-author article with Dr. Van Duzor on "Supporting Chemistry Students with the Learning
Assistant Mode" for the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society Newsletter
CPE congratulates all the Chemistry and Physics Majors who were acknowledged at the 2024 CSU Honors Convocation as well as all the University awardees!
CSU Faculty attend the 2024 Chicago Excellence in Math and Science Symposium at Loyola University to hear about best practices in the teaching and learning of STEM.
SPS and NSBE organize the Solar Extravaganza event to observe the 2024 solar eclipse. About 200 people attended from the campus and the community came out, enjoyed great weather, experienced 94% totality, and shared protective glasses!
Chicago State SPS attend the 2024 SPS Zone 9 Meeting held at Illinois Tech. At the Meeting we met math and physics majors from a bunch of schools in the region. Special thanks to the organizers at IIT.
Students and Faculty from CSU Chemistry and Physics attend the April and March American Physical Society Meetings in Sacramento and Minneapolis.
Lhota had paper accepted into Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, Mist-control of polyalphaolefin (PAO) lubricants using long pairwise end-associative polymers (preprint).
Mardis published a paper in Chemical Science, Decorrelated singlet and triplet exciton delocalization in acetylene-bridged Zn-porphyrin dimers, Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 1736-1751.
Sabella appointed vice chair of the American Association of Physics Teachers Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.
Cox (CSU Biology major and LA), Van Duzor, and Sabella conduct workshop on the LA Model at the University of Illinois - Springfield.
CSU Physics majors, Thomas Sieka and Xavier McGowan awarded the ComEd Scholarship at the February Award Ceremony.
Mardis and Gana awarded year two Sloan grant to continue Inclusive Mentoring Project.
Van Duzor participates in POGIL podcast with Laurie Langdon and Valarie Otero (from CU- Boulder) to discuss using Learning Assistants with POGIL.
CSU Alumni, Greg Curry, Jamia Whitehorn, Ember Smith, and Mel Sabella, with colleague Angie Little from Michigan State University, publish a paper in the Physics Teacher Magazine.
CSU Chemistry, Physics and Engineering Studies host dinner and discussion with physics and biology alumni teaching High School Physics.

2023:

Dr. Geradline Cochran, Associate Professor of Physics at Ohio State University and CSU Physics Alumni, talked to CSU students about her STEM pathway, her career, and her research in STEM Education.
CSU Chemistry, Physics and Engineering Studies students and faculty host science fair preparation workshop with over 50 middle school students (Grades 5-8).
Dr. Vand Duzor, with her colleague at DePaul University, present session on "Visible Teaching in Chemistry - Sharing Learning Objects and and Professional Development through IONiC/VIPEr" at Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science:
Research and Practice.
Dr. Valerie Goss was selected as the 2023 Crain's Chicago Business Notable Women in STEM for her efforts in increasing access to STEM opportunities for underrepresented students. 2023 Crain's Notable Women in STEM.
The Chicago State University (CSU) NSBE Team "BEAST XLR8" wins the 2022-2023 Ten80 STEM Challenge Points Race. The CSU Team, coached by Marnie Boyd at Chicago State University, retained their title of Ten80 Points Race Champions. The team has claimed the top award for many years, and it is a direct reflection of the dedication and high expectations of their coach, Marnie Boyd.
Gabriel Brown (physics major) receives TEAM-UP Together Scholarship (2022) from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), American Astronomical Society (AAS), American Institute of Physics (AIP), American Physical Society (APS), and the Society of Physics Students (SPS). https://www.teamuptogether.org/scholarship-recipients.
Jose Savin (physics major) won best oral presentation in Physics at the 2023 ILSAMP Symposium. Savin presented on the research he conducted at the University of Arkansas in the Summer 2022.
Dr. Mardis was featured on a POGIL podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/thepogilpodcast/ What Do You Do in Your Classroom? Talking With Others About POGIL.
Dr. Van Duzor had a reflection essay "Shh...don't tell anyone. I'm not an inorganic chemist!" posted to the VIPEr website as part of her professional development as a Cohort-2 VIPEr Fellow
Dr. Sabella gave invited presentations at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, the University of Kansas, and the 2023 Organization for Physics at Two Year Colleges (OPTYCs) TEAM-UP Together and TYCs workshop focusing on building inclusive physics and STEM learning spaces that leverage student expertise and voice.
Joann Roberts (CSU Physics alumna) and Dr. Sabella had a paper published in the Physics Teacher Magazine focusing on "Creative Astronomy: Broadening the Scope of an Online General Education Course by Leveraging an Authentic Collaboration between Learning Assistant and Instructor" 61, 43 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0080890

2022:

Drs. Mardis and Gana receive grant from the Sloan Foundation to the Chicago State Foundation to establish a joint mentoring program that aims to reduce barriers to graduate education and facilitate systemic change across Chicago State and Purdue Universities.
Dr. Goss attends the White House National Quantum Initiative Centers Summit, held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Dr. Goss participated in a roundtable discussion on Quantum Workforce and Outreach.
CSU Pre-Freshman Engineering program Scholars share their invention "Ambrosia Auto" on PBS NewsHour.
Drs. Goss and Peters presented at the NSF QuBBE Quantum Academy Symposium - attendees were CPS Science HS Teachers for a discussion on CSU research and teaching at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Van Duzor coleads workshop with colleagues from Tufts University on "Teaming up with undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) to foster active and inclusive chemistry learning environments" at the Biannual Conference on Chemistry Education.
Paul Agyebo-Gilberts joins the CSU team as laboratory manager and recruiter for the NSF QuBBE - Quantum sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering.
CSU Chemistry major Adriana Benford wins the Fran Seabright Award from the Women’s Chemistry Symposium.
Dr. Mardis is co-author on a manuscript with collaborators at Argonne National Lab entitled: "Electronic Structure of Molecular Cobalt Catalysts for H2 Production Revealed by Multi-frequency EPR".
Mya Powers-Nash, Andrea Van Duzor and Mel Sabella led a full-day virtual workshop on the Learning Assistant Model for the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania including three institutions: Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield universities.
The PREP Program was recognized by the (National Society of Black Engineers) as the Pre-College Program of the Year!
Marnie Boyd, Assistant Director for the Engineering Studies Program, is the honoree for the 2022 National Society of Black Engineers Golden Torch Award for the Pre-College Initiative Director of the Year Category. She was honored at the NS
BE National Conference in Anaheim, CA.
Physics Professor Edmundo Garcia and CSU Physics Major Olessen Cesalien, with colleagues from Dominican University and La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, traveled to Mexico to map archaeological pyramid structures at the El Castillo pyramid in Mexico!
Chemistry Professor, Kristy Mardis was the co-author on the published manuscript with collaborators at Argonne National Lab titled: "Electronic Structure of Molecular Cobalt Catalysts for H2 Production Revealed by Multi-frequency EPR."

Older News

2021:

The PREP program sponsored two teams during the 2020-21 Ten80 Education Competition season. Ten80 is a student race competition where students use 1:10 scale RC cars to learn STEM. The teams competed during the NSBE National Convention. During the match, both teams won special awards: MicroBeast won the 1
st place awards; BEAST XLR8 won the 2nd place award during the NSBE Ten80 Education competition. The students competed against 25 teams.
Dr. Valerie Goss published a paper on ceramic nanofiber materials in the journal Physical Review Accelerators and Beams with colleagues from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Dr. Archie Peters and recent physics graduate Orelle Bulgin published a paper on excitons in CsPbBr3 Halide Perovskite in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters with colleagues at Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University.
Dr. Valerie Goss and Dr. Archie Peters, along with collaborators at University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Harvard University were awarded a National Science Foundation grant for the Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Sensing in Biophysics and Bioengineering. Over 2 million dollars will be used at CSU to fund basic research and workforce development.
CSU students, who participate as Learning Assistants, Christopher Chaney (psychology), Andrew Stephens (computer science), Nisrein Khawaled (math), Mya Powers-Nash (chemistry) and faculty Jacquelyn Benchik-Osborne (education), Jubilee Dickson (psychology), Joni Jackson (business), Elaina Khasawneh (math), Natalie Szabo (music), Michael Wannah (education), Andrea Van Duzor (chemistry), Mel Sabella (physics) presented at the 2021 International Learning Assistant Alliance Conference on interdisciplinary education work at CSU using the Learning Assistant Model.

2020:

2020 CSU graduate Ashley Walker was part of the BlackInChem team awarded the Inclusivity and Diversity Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Congratulations! Additionally, her organization Black In Astro is hosting https://www.blackinastro.com/ Week.
Dr. Edmundo Garcia and Dr. Austin Harton, with collaborators from Domincan University, received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to map archaeological pyramid structures in Mexico using muon detection. Symmetry Magazine has published an article entitled "Seeing Through Walls and Breaking Down Barriers" outlining their new project."
Drs. Van Duzor and Sabella with colleagues through the Learning Assistant Alliance published a paper in the Journal of Chemical Education on utilizing LAs in remote learning.

2019:

Physics Professor Mel Sabella was selected as a 2019 Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Chemistry major Candace Young was featured in an article on Project SYNCERE which seeks to encourage underrepresented Chicago youth into engineering.
Recent Physics alumnae Felicia Davenport, who is currently a doctoral student Georgia Institute of Technology, was featured in the Chicago's Black Women in STEAM Series at Adler Planetarium.
Ashley Walker, chemistry major with a focus on astro-chemistry, has also been profiled in the STEAM Series at Adler Planetarium.

Dr. Valerie Goss, Dr. Kristy Mardis, and Dr. Archie Peters participated in a 4-week intensive online course through the Gardner Institute "High-Impact Online Teaching and Learning Practices for Faculty at HBCUs"

The students in the PREP/NSBE, Jr. Program created a website about their program: csunsbe.weebly.com. A STEAM Program designed to educate, motivate and encourage pre-college students into selecting careers in engineering.

Felicia Davenport (pictured) and Prof. Mel Sabella were appointed to the nine member Learning Assistant Alliance Leadership Council, which includes faculty and staff from colleges and universities around the country. In November, they attended 2017 International Learning Assistant Conference at the University of Colorado Boulder. Felicia served on two panels at the conference, co-presented a session on LA Weekly Preparation, presented a poster at the conference, and met with the Alliance NSF Grant Advisory Board.

Drs. Pittman, Harton, Peters, Sabella, and Akujieze were awarded a National Science Foundation grant for their project Connecting Physics and Engineering through a Modernization of the Advanced Laboratory Curriculum.The grant will provide $298,727.00 to implement student-centered experiments and activities that integrate physics and engineering.

Dr. Sabella, Dr. Van Duzor, and physics major Felicia Davenport received a Notable Paper award from the Physics Education Leadership Organizing Council for the 2016 Physics Education Research Conference (PERC) Proceedings. Only four of the 98 proceeding papers were awarded the title notable. The paper titled "Leveraging the expertise of the urban STEM student in developing an effective LA Program: LA and Instructor Partnerships" was recognized for its characterization of the relationships between Learning Assistants and faculty, and was cited as an important contribution to understanding the factors that promote effective LA programs.