University of Toledo

University of Toledo

IDEAL Change Leader Team Year Two

2010-2011

Penny Poplin Gosetti
IDEAL Co-Director

Penny Poplin Gosetti currently serves as Vice Provost for Academic Innovation at the University of Toledo. While maintaining her active role as a tenured faculty member in the Higher Education Program at the University, she has also served as Interim Vice President for Student Life and Executive Assistant to the President. As Executive Assistant to two presidents, she was actively involved in coordinating merger activities between the University of Toledo and the former Medical University of Ohio. Previously, Poplin Gosetti held a variety of administrative positions at institutions including the University of Oregon, Pacific University, and South Dakota State University. Her long standing areas for research and teaching include women in higher education and campus culture. Poplin Gosetti received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from UCLA, her master’s in counseling from California State University, Long Beach, and her Ph.D. in instructional leadership from the University of Oregon. Dr. Poplin Gosetti is the Co-Director for the IDEAL program at the University of Toledo.

Maria R. Coleman

Maria R. Coleman, Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Engineering Materials (ISEM), received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1987. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas in 1992. She was named a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow in 1995 to support her work in analysis of impact of polymer structure and post formation modification on resulting physical and transport properties. She joined the faculty at the University of Toledo in 1998.

Dr. Coleman’s research interest focus primarily in two areas associated with developing novel polymers for targeted applications: (i) design, synthesis and processing of functional nanofiber network composites and (ii) sustainable development of bio-derived polymers. These are highly collaborative projects that have led to the recent formation of ISEM. She has been involved with mentoring both students and young faculty over the past several years. This includes acting as an official mentor to untenured faculty within the College of Engineering and participating in outreach programs to encourage students to pursue STEM fields. Dr. Coleman is a member of the University of Toledo IDEAL team for 2010-2011.

Isabel Escobar

Dr. Isabel Escobar is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Toledo, Ohio. She received her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Central Florida in 2000. As lead investigator she has received over $1million in research funding from federal and state sources and currently holds one patent. In 2009she became the Associate Editor of Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy Journal, a quarterly publication of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and she edited, with Andrea Schaefer, the book Sustainable Water for the Future—Water Recycling versus Desalination. Elsevier Science, The Netherlands: 2009.

In July 2010, she was appointed to be the first College of Engineering Interim Assistant Dean for Research Development and Outreach. This new position, created for her as a result of her consistent efforts in both areas, charges Dr Escobar with organizing and coordinating multi-investigator and interdisciplinary grant proposals, working with funding agencies to identify opportunities, and the development of young faculty. Her charge will also include enhancing geographical and ethnical diversity within the College of Engineering by developing a broad impact plan for outreach and engagement.

In August 2010, she also became the Acting Director of the UT Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women. The Center’s most recent efforts have included Women In STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Medicine) Excelling (WISE) mentor program which is aimed at increasing the number of undergraduate women majoring in STEMM, and Forward to Professor Grant in support of increasing the diversity of women faculty in STEMM. Dr. Escobar is a member of the UT IDEAL team for 2010-2011.

Cyndee L. Gruden

Cyndee L. Gruden, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Toledo, received her B.S. in Civil Engineering (Environmental Option) in 1991 and her M.S. in Civil Engineering in 1993, both from the University of New Hampshire. Subsequently, she spent 3 years working as a Project Engineer for Stearns & Wheler, LLC, an environmental consultant, and acquired her professional engineering (PE) license. In 1996, she returned to graduate school to pursue her Ph.D. in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, which she completed in 2000. She was a postdoctoral researcher from 2001-2003 in Environmental Water Resources Engineering at the University of Michigan before joining the faculty at the University of Toledo in 2003.

Dr. Gruden’s research interests are in the field of applied environmental microbiology with an emphasis on complex environmental matrices such as sediments. In addition to numerous service commitments to her university, her community, and her profession, she serves as the undergraduate program director for her department. She was elected the chair of the membership committee for the Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) in 2005. Dr. Gruden has a keen interest in community outreach and currently serves as the lead co-investigator of an NSF GK-12 grant focused on establishing an environmental science learning community in Northwest Ohio comprised of UT faculty, researchers, and graduate students, Toledo area high school teachers and students, community members, and local government. Dr. Gruden is a member of the UT IDEAL team for 2010-2011.

Brian W. Randolph

Brian W. Randolph, Professor of Civil Engineering, has served as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Director of the Engineering Honors Program since 2002. He received a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1982 and 1983, respectively. He performed research on hazardous waste containment for the USEPA and on failure of earthen structures for the Ohio Department of Transportation before completing his Ph.D. at The Ohio State University in 1989. Dr. Randolph joined the University of Toledo faculty in 1987, founding the Environmental Geotechnology Laboratory and ultimately serving five years as department chair. In his current position, he oversees 2,700 engineering students in eleven degree programs, including 340 in the University Honors Program. His office is responsible for college-based recruiting, retention, student progress, scholarships and academic elements of the mandatory co-operative education program.

Dr. Randolph has been actively engaged in the promotion of STEMM fields to underrepresented students. He was instrumental in the creation of an Introduction to Engineering course offered for college credit to young women from St. Ursula Academy since 2006 and has consulted with Notre Dame Academy and Whitmer High School regarding their pre-engineering offerings. His current research is supported by the National Science Foundation to promote the success of entering engineering students in mathematics and he is co-investigator on two Choose Ohio First Scholarship Programs from the Ohio Board of Regents that award over 150 half-tuition scholarships to STEMM students annually at multiple institutions. As a result, he has received recognition from the Center for Capacity Building in the Construction Industry, the UT President’s Commission on Student-Centeredness and the Division of Enrollment Services. Dr. Randolph is a member of the UT IDEAL team for 2010-2011.

University of Toledo

IDEAL Change Leader Team Year One

2009-2010

Karen S. Bjorkman

Karen S. Bjorkman, Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy and Chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Toledo, received her B.S. in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1979. She then spent several years working as a Systems Engineer with Martin Marietta Aerospace Corporation before starting her graduate studies. She received her M.S. in Astrophysics in 1984 and her Ph.D. in Astrophysics in 1989, both from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Following that, she worked as a staff scientist at the Space Astronomy Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a number of years, during which she was a Co-Investigator for the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE), one of three ultraviolet telescopes flown as part of the Astro Observatory platform on two NASA space shuttle missions, STS-35 in 1990 and STS-67 in 1995. In 1996, she joined the faculty at the University of Toledo (UT).

Dr. Bjorkman’s research interests are in understanding the nature of circumstellar disks, which may be precursors of planetary system formation, and she uses observational data from both space-based telescopes and ground-based telescopes around the world to study these objects. In addition to numerous service activities for both the university and her profession, she is a co-founder of the Northwest Ohio chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) at UT. She was elected to a term as Councilor of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), and also has served on the Publications Board of the AAS. In 2008, she became the first female chair of her department, and in 2009 she was named a Distinguished University Professor. Dr. Bjorkman is a member of the University of Toledo IDEAL team for 2009-10.

Nancy Collins

Nancy H. Collins, Chair of the Women’s Programs Initiative (WPI) of the Health Science Campus, is a member of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology of the College of Medicine of the UT Health Science Campus (UT HSC). She received a BS cum laude from the University of Toledo Honors Program in 1969 and participated in the first joint graduate program between the Medical College of Ohio (now the UT Health Science Campus) Department of Microbiology and UT, receiving an MS in 1974. She received her PhD from the University of Rochester in 1977 in microbiology and immunology, and was an NIH post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. After becoming allergic to every lab animal she encountered, she joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) to study immunodeficiency in humans in 1980. Dr. Collins was Laboratory Director of the Cytotherapy Laboratory at MSKCC until 2007, performing translational research to produce stem cell grafts and other forms of cellular therapy for the allogeneic and autologous hematopoietic stem cell clinical transplantation programs. Her major research interest was in the translation of cellular therapies from the research laboratory into clinical application, elimination of graft-vs- host disease, and prevention of relapse. Dr. Collins was co-founder of the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) to promote the establishment of professional standards, education in the field of cellular therapy, and accreditation of clinical programs. In her various leadership positions with ISCT, FACT, the National Marrow Donor Program, and the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, Dr. Collins worked closely with the transplantation community and with the FDA and NHLBI to establish quality practices in regenerative medicine. She joined UT in 2007 to establish a cellular therapy laboratory to support orthopedic, cardiac and vascular cellular therapy clinical trials.

Dr. Collins has a long standing interest in the promotion of women in science. In 1974 she helped found a chapter of Graduate Women in Science and organized a seminar series highlighting women faculty. She participated in the activities of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Office for Women Faculty. In 2007 she was named Chair of the WPI of UT HSC by Dr. Jeffrey Gold, provost of HSC and Dean of the College of Medicine, to work with thought leaders at UTMC post the merger with UT main campus, to establish women’s programming, catalyze discussion about the status of women faculty at UT HSC, and establish links with existing women’s groups on the UT Main Campus. Dr. Collins is a member of the Northwest Ohio chapter of AWIS, the UT Women’s Leadership Forum/Council, College of Arts and Science Advisory Board, the UT NSF ADVANCE grant writing team, and is the UT HSC representative to the Ohio network for the Office of Women in Higher Education for the American Council on Education. She is a member of the UT IDEAL team for 2009-2010.

Timothy Fisher

Timothy Fisher, a Professor of Geology and past Associate Chair in the Department of Environmental Sciences, received his B.Sc. (hons) from the University of Alberta and majoring in Physical Geography. He received a M.Sc. degree from Queen’s University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary in 1993. He worked at Indiana University NW for nine years and as department chair for two years, before joining the University of Toledo in 2003.

Dr. Fisher’s current research interests include: 1) reconstructing the paleogeography of past meltwater delivery to oceans at the end of the last ice age, and its effects on global cooling; 2) determining what triggers mobility of coastal sand dunes along the Great Lakes during the past 6000 years; and 3) reconstructing past high and low water levels in the Great Lakes since deglaciation (past ~18,000 years). Dr. Fisher serves as an associate editor for the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences and the Journal of Maps. He is a member of the University of Toledo IDEAL team for 2009–2010.

University of Toledo

IDEAL Change Leader Team Year Three

2011-2012

1

University of Toledo Change Leaders