Honoring Innovation

The Resource Development Office presented the 2009 Grants Excellence Award at its Spring Recognition Luncheon to Dr. Richard Jarman, associate professor of chemistry; Dr. Branislav Rosul, professor of electronics technology, electromechanical technology and integrated engineering technology; and Dr. Thomas Carter, professor of physics, in recognition of outstanding National Science Foundation (NSF) grant development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Innovative, student-centered grant programs led by Drs. Carter, Jarman and Rosul have strengthened College of DuPage. Rigorous initiatives incorporated exemplary educational models with outstanding industry and educational partnerships. Significant curriculum enhancements and applied research opportunities continue to prepare C.O.D. students for education and careers in science and technology. The National Science Foundation awarded $674,485 to support their proposals.

From left to right: Karen Randall, dean, Business and Technology, celebrates the accomplishments of the 2009 Grants Excellence Award honorees, Drs. Richard Jarman, Branislav Rosul and Tom Carter, along with Tom Cameron, dean, Health and Sciences, and C.O.D. President Robert L. Breuder. (Photo by Rich Malec/College of DuPage)


Dr. Jarman’s initiatives have provided C.O.D. students with opportunities to conduct hands-on research experiments in Argonne National Laboratory’s Department of Energy facility. NSF’s Undergraduate Research Collaboratives (URC) funded a five-year project, Exploring New Models of Authentic Undergraduate Research with Two-Year College Students, with provisions for up to four C.O.D. students per semester to engage in research activities, as well as two students to participate full-time each summer. He also successfully applied for a Faculty and Student Team (FaST) at Argonne, giving C.O.D. the distinction of being the only FaST team from a community college.

An NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) award for Integrated Engineering Technology (InET) placed C.O.D. in a position of respect for an innovative program that promotes improvements in technological education through development of curriculum that can quickly produce qualified technicians for this nation’s rapidly evolving workforce. Dr. Rosul led this project as well as a South Carolina ATE-funded Building for Tomorrow robotics workshop and competition. He also collaborated with the New Jersey ATE Center on the National Engineering Technology Education Clearinghouse initiative and will take the lead on NSF SBIR Phase IICC: Wavelength Selective Lasers for Photonic Integrated Circuits, providing students with access to research and hands-on experience in the final design and wiring of a real-world application incorporating high-powered semiconductor laser diodes.

NSF’s Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) division supported Dr. Carter’s initiative, Implementation of an Education Research-Based Online Physics Tutoring System at a Two-Year College as well as Creating Research-Based Single-Concept Question Sequences for In-Class Polling Systems. These projects served not only to improve existing research-based educational techniques in order to maximize knowledge gains for students, but also formed collaborative partnerships with University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ohio State University and Chicago State University.

 

About the Project Directors

Thomas Carter has been a faculty member at College of DuPage for 10 years. He holds a Ph.D. in particle physics from Duke University and bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and math from the University of Missouri and Drury University, respectively. Upon graduation from Duke, Dr. Carter joined Fermilab as a postdoctoral researcher and later served as a computing division staff member. He also worked for Lucent Technologies on a new product introduction team, installing and repairing network-switching equipment in locations from Austin, Texas, to Jakarta, Indonesia. Over the past decade, Dr. Carter’s momentum for educational research has intensified. A 1999 project to assess how changes in teaching methods could improve the education and retention of female students in physics classes sparked his continuing interest in education research, leading to an award in 2000 as a subcontractor on a Department of Education grant to reform the teaching of applied quantum mechanics. He has since presented results from his work in education research at both national and local meetings of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Along with his experience in education research, Dr. Carter has been involved in several particle physics research experiments. He is either the author or co-author on numerous papers in this area and has been an invited speaker at international conferences in particle physics. He holds numerous awards, including a 2008 Award of Excellence from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, the 2007 Natural Science Division Faculty Member of the Year, a 1999 Gold Award from Lucent Technologies and a Meritorious Service Medal for his command of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25. Currently, he is involved in cosmology research with the Dark Energy Survey group at Fermilab.

 

Dr. Richard Jarman joined College of DuPage in 1998. He holds a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Oxford University and a B.A. and M.A. in chemistry from the same institution. While president of Spectragen Inc. in 1996, Dr. Jarman initiated his association with NSF research funding through receipt of an award for the development of new optical materials for ultra-miniature solid-state lasers, high-power mid-IR lasers, high-efficiency, compact tunable lasers and eye-safe laser radar. Subsequent projects received funding from the State of Illinois and Department of Defense. He has introduced honors classes in the Chemistry 1551 and 1552 Principles of Chemistry courses, replacing traditional lab experiments at C.O.D. with experiments involving advanced instrumentation at Argonne National Laboratory. He recently developed a new introductory, multidisciplinary course in nanoscience and has extensively revised and modernized the non-science majors class Contemporary Chemistry to focus learning on global issues. Dr. Jarman has been a campus leader in the application of technology in teaching, using classroom response systems (clickers), podcasts and interactive web pages, and he has been a department leader in undergraduate research at C.O.D.

 

Dr. Branislav Rosul has been a faculty member at College of  DuPage since 1992. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois and a B.S. in control systems from University of Belgrade. He gained skill and knowledge in the technological development of industrial processes ranging from food to petrochemical while an Instrumentation Engineer in Teleoptic, Belgrade. Upon relocating to the United States, he continued work in the area of controls and robotics at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Since joining C.O.D., Dr. Rosul has served as an instructor in electro-mechanical technology and manufacturing technology and as a coordinator in electronics technology. He has performed consulting for various institutions and organizations, currently as an ABET evaluator for IEEE society, and has been a member and evaluator of several NSF grant related National Visiting Committees.

To learn more about College of DuPage project directors honored in FY2009, read the Honoring Innovation Grants Recognition Luncheon booklet (1.5MB PDF File).


View FY2008 booklet (2MB PDF File)
View FY2007 booklet (992KB PDF File)
View FY2006 booklet (700KB PDF File)