 | |||||||||
  
|
Friday, 6:30 - over dessert Previous winners & nominees Organizer: Mark Niedringhaus The IPN Junior Faculty Educator Award will be presented to the junior IPN faculty member who stands out in the program as an exceptional over-all educator and who has gone out of their way to encourage and support the students in the IPN. This reflects any and all types of educating, training, and/or mentoring (personal and professional) and is NOT limited solely to formal classroom teaching. 2009 Junior Faculty Award Nominees: 1. Dr. Rhonda Dzakpasu Dr. Dzakpasu is an excellent scientist. With the aid of her background in physics and network dynamics she has dived nose first into the world of neuroscience. Utilizing a novel technology, the multi-electrode array, she has developed new experimental paradigms that are relevant both to the fields of physics and biomedical research. Nonetheless, the reason for nominating her is not because of her great scientific skills but, despite a heavy teaching schedule, her amazing mentoring effort and ability. Dr. Dzakpasu's lab mainly consists of students: three at the graduate level, an undergraduate, and a high school senior. Her tenure at Georgetown is still in its dawn nonetheless she has taken the responsibility of mentoring and teaching in full stride. With each and every one of her students she is generous with her projects, time, knowledge, and friendship. 2. Dr. Kathy Maguire-Zeiss Dr. Maguire-Zeiss is an active member of the IPN community. In addition to her role as a thesis mentor, she is also involved in the time consuming process of new student recruitment as a member of the admissions committee. This past year she took over as director of the motor systems module in the IPN core course and was present at each lecture. This dedication was greatly appreciated by the students as it ensured a cohesive module that flowed logically from topic to topic. Off campus, the story remains the same as Kathy is an integral part of the Myoclonic Jerks softball team and helped lead the team to an NL West division championship in the spring. Her involvement in each of these different areas shows a strong dedication to both the program as a whole and the students. 3. Dr. Andrei Medvedev Dr. Andrei Medvedev is an exceptional researcher and mentor. He is head of the EEG and Optical Imaging Lab in CFMI, and his great enthusiasm and willingness to teach about these technologies is steadily drawing more and more interest from the IPN student body. He is well versed in both the computational and the neurophysiological aspects of neuroscience and generously gives his time guiding students interested in both areas. Dr. Medvedev has also been a great resource helping with our grant writing workshop, teaching the Survey and Summer Neurofest courses, and mentoring rotation students. And he always does it with a smile. His patience and constant upbeat demeanor make him a pleasure to work with while his wealth of knowledge makes him a valuable member of the IPN faculty. 4. Dr. Daniel Pak Dr. Daniel Pak’s commitment to students is exceptional as evident through his roles in the classrooom, laboratory and beyond. He provides first year students with a look into the molecular level world of LTP and LTD through his instruction in Core Module 2, serves as course director for ‘Applied Statistical Principles in Pharmacology’ and demonstrates his support of student development and achievement by attending student presentations and student-faculty Journal Clubs. Dr. Pak serves on many student evaluation committees, advises students through participation on a number of thesis committees and hosts a growing number of students for research rotations, always personally involved in their experience in the lab. Dr. Daniel Pak is a brilliant scientist who combines enthusiasm for the field with a practical and systematic approach to scientific research; always asking innovative, important questions, Dr. Pak then finds sound techniques through which to investigate an answer. As a mentor of postdocs and PhD, master and undergraduate students, Dan takes a hands-on approach to training in his lab. He is a productive researcher from whom students receive direct training, concurrently developing laboratory techniques and the ability to think creatively and strategically through execution of research. Dr. Pak takes the time to have daily contact with students and individual weekly meetings in which to examine progress and discuss future directions. Overall, he is remarkably commited to students’ development as scientists and takes an active approach to training both in the classroom and laboratory. 5. Dr. Baoji Xu Dr. Baoji Xu’s dedication to excellence is evident in all his professional and academic endeavours, including his impressive commitment to students. He has served on the Department of Pharmacology’s Graduate Admission Committee, the IPN Executive Committee and the IPN Curriculum Committee. He teaches IPN Core Neuroscience, Graduate Pharmacology, Advanced Pharmacology, and organizes the Department of Pharmacology journal club. Baoji has committed his time to 11 thesis committees, and even more oral exam committees. His dedication to the admissions process is evident in his participation in interviewing numerous IPN and Pharmacology program candidates. Dr. Baoji Xu’s approach to science and vast knowledge base has enabled those he works with to ask rigorous and demanding questions. Remarkably he has already mentored 6 post-doctoral fellows, 4 PhD students, 2 masters students, and numerous rotation students and undergraduates. As a testament to Baoji’s mentoring abilities, 3 of his graduate students currently have NRSA fellowships. Dr. Xu allows his students to become familiar with the review process by encouraging student input on grant applications, research papers and review articles. He is always available to listen to students’ questions and provide valuable feedback and direction, though ultimately leaves the decisions up to them, which results in an amazing learning experience. His role as a mentor extends well beyond the scope of his lab, engaging and guiding students from both the IPN and Pharmacology programs. Dr. Baoji Xu is a truly inspirational teacher, mentor, and scientist.Previous years winners and nominees 2008 2006 |
||||||||
