Young Faculty Forum Panel Discussion

Panelists: Suzie H. Pun (University of Washington) Priscilla J. Hill (Mississippi State University) Jason M. Keith (Michigan Technological University) Allen Hersel (Tri-State University) Jayne Wu (University of Tennessee) Surita Bhatia (University of Massachusetts)

Suzie H. Pun, University of Washington Suzie H. Pun is an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington. She received her BS degree in chemical engineering at Stanford University. For her graduate work, she developed polymeric materials for gene delivery and obtained her PhD degree in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology under the guidance of Mark E. Davis in 2000. She then worked at Insert Therapeutics Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.) as a senior scientist before joining the faculty at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on synthetic gene and drug delivery systems. Pun is the recipient of a Career Development Award from the National Hemophilia Foundation (2004), a Young Investigator Award from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (2005), and an NSF CAREER Award (2005). Dr. Pun will briefly comment on effective techniques to secure foundation / NIH Money. -or- Relations with graduate students

Priscilla J. Hill,

Mississippi State University Priscilla J. Hill received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from Clemson University and her Ph.D. degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University. Her research interests include solids processing, crystallization, and particle technology. Priscilla Hill received an NSF CAREER award in 2005. Mississippi State University is a public, land-grant, doctoral, research university classified as Doctoral/Research-Extensive by the Carnegie Foundation. As one of two land-grant institutions in the state, Mississippi State University views research in science and engineering to be an integral part of it's mission Dr. Hill will briefly comment on effective techniques to secure NSF money.

Jason M. Keith,

Michigan Technological University Jason M. Keith is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Michigan Technological University. He received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron and his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. Professor Keith has an active research program in the area of heat and mass transfer applied to reactor design and materials synthesis. He has also been extremely active in teaching and educational scholarship. Most notably, he worked with some of his students to create the Alternative Fuels Group enterprise, focused on research and development in the area of alternative fuels and fuel cells. Dr. Keith will briefly comment on documenting and preparing a well-organized tenure packet.

Allen Hersel,

Tri-State University Dr. Allen Hersel is an Assistant Professor in the chemical engineering department at Tri-State University. Dr. Hersel received his BS in chemical engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla. He has 10 years experience working as a process engineer for Koch Industries and Kellogg Brown & Root. He then went back to school and received his MS and PhD in chemical engineering from Yale University in the area of bioseparations. Tri-State University is located in the northeast corner of Indiana. (Due east of Norte Dame appox. 80 miles) Tri-State University is a small private university with an enrollment of 1200 students with about half seeking and undergraduate engineering degree. Currently there are no graduate programs in engineering so all teaching in engineering is at the undergraduate level. Dr. Hersel will briefly comment on teaching new courses and maintaining undergraduate standards.

Jayne Wu,

University of Tennessee Dr. Jayne Wu is an assistant professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Tennessee. She was awarded a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from University of Notre Dame in 2004 and she was previously awarded another Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999. From August 2003 to July 2004, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Microfludics and Medical Diagnostics, Dept. of Chemical and Bio- molecular engineering, University of Notre Dame. Dr. Wu is a recipient of 2005 NSF Career Award ?CAREER: Developing Asymmetric-Polarization AC Electroosmosis for Lab-on-a-Chip,? and her research interests are solid-state device physics, bio-MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), microfluidic sensors, and actuators. Dr. Wu will briefly comment on preparing and earning an NSF CAREER Award

Surita Bhatia,

Surita Bhatia is currently in her fifth year as an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Surita received her B.Ch.E. from the University of Delaware and her Ph.D. from Princeton University under the direction of William Russel. Her research interests include the structure and rheology of polymeric gels and biomaterials. Surita has received an NSF CAREER Award, a Dupont Young Professor Award, and a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award. She is currently Past Chair of the Women's Initiatives Committee of AIChE and served as Chair in 2003-2004, and she has participated in organizing sessions and symposia at AIChE, ACS, and MRS.

Dr. Bhatia will briefly comment on making the most out of attending meetings / volunteering for groups & divisions at AIChE

Donald P. Visco

Tennessee Technological University Dr. Visco graduated from the University at Buffalo with his B.S. in 1992 and from that same institution in 1999 with his Ph. D. (with a stint in the US Navy in between). After receiving his Ph. D., Dr. Visco was hired as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University. Currently, Dr. Visco is an Associate Professor with Tenure at Tennessee Tech and serves as the Department's Undergraduate Program Coordinator.

Dr. Visco has won the ASEE-SE Section New Faculty Research Award in 2005 and a Department of Energy PECASE award in 2003 for his work on the solution of inverse design problems. He has received funding for his research from NSF, DOE and ACS. Dr. Visco is also active in the education arena at both the local, regional and national levels.

Dr. Visco will briefly comment on important issues concerning promotion & tenure (Teaching / Research / Focusing Service).