Newsletter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Welcome Jeanne Small and Leyla Conrad

• Save the Date

• Upward Bound Partnership

• GPAC Update

• Thanks to Glen Shen

• A Few Moments With...
Ann Mescher

• Recent Publications

• REU Program Wrap-up

CMDITR Welcomes Jeanne Small and Leyla Conrad

CMDITR warmly welcomes two new additions to the administrative staff roster, Jeanne Small and Leyla Conrad. Jeanne Small joins the Center as Program Director, taking over the challenging task of managing the Center from Glen Shen. As Education Director, Leyla Conrad will be responsible for the development and coordination of all Center-wide educational activities.

Jeanne Small (pictured right) joins the CMDITR after a two-year rotation in the Division of Undergraduate Education at NSF’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources. In this position she worked on undergraduate course, curriculum and laboratory improvement, K-12 teacher preparation, and technologist preparation through the Advanced Technological Education program. Jeanne came to NSF from Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA, where she was a Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry specializing in teaching chemistry to non-science majors. Her research concerned biophotonics and biophysics, using optical and acoustic techniques to understand biological molecules and structures. She is a recipient of the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff award of the Biophysical Society.

Jeanne completed her B.S. in Chemistry at Trinity University, Texas in 1980, and received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University in 1985. She did postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins University. In addition to her academic work, Jeanne is an officer and co-owner of Quantum Northwest, Inc., a scientific optical equipment company based in Spokane, WA that was founded in 1993 by her husband and fellow biophysicist, Enoch Small. Jeanne, her husband and two teenage daughters are delighted to be in the Puget Sound area, where they plan to spend lots of time on their 38-foot sailboat, “Light Wave.”

Leyla Conrad (pictured right) has been involved in the design and implementation of science education programs since 1994, when she joined Clark Atlanta University as both Assistant Professor of Physics and Director of the Educational Outreach Program for the NSF Center for Theoretical Physics (CTSPS). After receiving her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1990, she took a postdoctoral position at Rice University. She came to Atlanta as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Physics. In 1998, after four years at Clark Atlanta, Leyla re-joined Georgia Tech through the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Until July 2005 she served as the Associate Director of the Microsystems Packaging Research Center (NSF Engineering Research Center) where she developed, led and managed the comprehensive educational programs of the Center.

Since 2005, Leyla has developed and implemented educational outreach programs for the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) at Georgia Tech. In this position she focused on programs for women and minority students in support of the ECE’s undergraduate recruitment efforts. She has published and presented numerous papers and serves on IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) Education Committee. The Center is excited to be working with such talented and experienced individuals.

Save the Date

GPAC Fall Meeting
22 September 2006 - University of Washington

Mentorship Training
16 November 2006 - Norfolk State University

NSU PhD Recruitment Workshop
17 November 2006 - Norfolk State University

Hands-On FutureTech
18 November 2006 - Norfolk State University

2007 Annual Retreat
18-20 February 2007 - University of Washington

2007 Industrial Affiliate Expo
21 February 2007 - University of Washington