Clinical Assistant Professor, Chemistry Department
Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs

Dr. Michael A. Edwards received a M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota, a M.S. degree in Medicinal Chemistry/Pharmacognosy from University of the Sciences of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a B.A. Degree in Biology from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.

Professor Edwards has a joint appointment between the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Department of Chemistry on the IUB campus. Dr. Edwards teaches undergraduate courses in environmental science, environment and people, techniques in environmental sciences, a graduate course in environmental chemistry and general chemistry. He is also a member of the American Chemical Society.

Activities

Dr. Edwards is committed in assisting the chemistry department with its outreach efforts in the recruitment, retention and graduation of traditionally under-represented graduate students admitted into the Ph.D. program. In order to promote the success of his effort, an infrastructure must be in place to attain the desired result; therefore, Dr. Edwards and Dr. Mindiola established a branch National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemist and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) chapter in the department. The chapter provides a support system for traditionally under-represented graduate and undergraduate students. In addition to assisting in the establishment of the NOBCChE chapter, Dr. Edwards spearheaded the enrollment of Indiana University to be a GEM participating university. GEM stands for Graduate Engineering and Science Fellowship for Minority. He is currently a national GEM board member and represents the STEM disciplines of IUB at the national GEM consortium.

• Dr. Edwards outreach effort also includes increasing the population of traditionally under-represented students’ enrollment in the general chemistry course (C101) that he teaches each semester. He does this by providing and promoting a positive learning environment via a program he created via collaboration called Project CARE: Chemistry Taking Action to Research and Enhance Achievement. Project Care is a data driven mentoring/tutoring program that is financially supported by the Chemistry Department, a grant from Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) and the administration of Diversity Equity Multicultural Affairs (DEMA).

Development of Project CARE

In April of 2006, the first public version of the program was unveiled in a proposal to the Dean of the Faculty’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant Competition. The proposal documented the efforts of the Chemistry Department to recruit and support undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented populations and to create a learning environment with extra attention and care provided to students beginning their study of chemistry. The program is a data and research driven initiative designed to enhance student recruitment, retention, and persistence and at the same time make significant contributions to the understanding of best practice in the fields of chemical education, mentoring, evaluation, and student support.

To achieve program goals and impact, the Learning and Study Skills Inventory, LASSI for short (Weinstein, Palmer, and Shulte, 2002), has been used to create a profile of each C101 class and at the same time identify individual students who would most benefit from a combination of focused mentoring and tutorial support. In this manner, all students are served as Dr. Edwards adjusts his instruction to meet the specific profile of each of his classes. Simultaneously, an individualized academic and mentoring support system is created for students most in need of assistance to maximize their learning and achievement in C101. In this manner, implementation and impact have been brought into productive synergy with program goals.

Publications

Awards

Highlights