2008 Distinguished Award for Innovative College Science Teaching - Dr. Songwen Xie
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Department of Natural, Information, and Mathematical Sciences at Indiana University, Kokomo, Indiana

Dr. Songwen Xie received her B. Sc. degree in Chemistry from Peking University in Beijing, China.  After earning her Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, she accepted an Assistant Professor position at Indiana University Kokomo in 2005.  Songwen teaches mainly organic chemistry, and uses team-based learning (TBL) in most of her classes. She applies specific principles to form diverse student learning teams and to design appropriate team assignments. TBL emphasizes the importance of individual student preparation for class to build their accountability for the team, extends student ability to apply the concepts to solve problems, and provides in-prompt feedback so that students know how they performed in the test. At the same, students develop interpersonal skills. It turns out that students learn better with TBL.  Songwen also encourages undergraduate students to start doing research early in their college lives, and brings undergrads to attend local and national scientific meetings to broaden their eyes in research environment. Songwen is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Sigma Xi, and Indiana Academy of Science.

“The ‘architecture’ of constructing organic compounds intrigues me as both an exact science and a fine art. Organic chemists design the structure of molecules, just like fashion designers design the style of clothes. I hope my students will experience the fun of organic chemistry and enjoy the moment with successful molecular design and construction.”

2006 Distinguished Award For Innovative College Science Teaching Recipient - Susan McDowell

Susan McDowell, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN Dr. Susan McDowell joined the Biology Department faculty at Ball State University as an assistant professor in 2003. Prior to her service at Ball State, Susan was a postdoctoral fellow at Eli Lilly, completing her doctoral degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2001. From 1988 – 2001, Susan had worked as a research assistant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and attended graduate classes as a part time student starting in 1996. As the instructor for 5 of the 7 Biotechnology courses at Ball State, Susan draws heavily from this work experience to create a learning environment that enables students to transition from the biology classroom to the research lab. Since 2003, Susan has been awarded over $300,000 in extramural grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, LI-COR Biosciences, the Indiana Academy of Science and Cancer Services of Delaware County. She has over 20, peer-reviewed publications and has been a presenter at both national and international scientific meetings. “I remember too clearly my first weeks working at Cincinnati Children’s when I struggled to translate my biology classes into real world applications. I felt stupid and inept. My goal is that my students are confident in their intellectual and technical abilities and never feel the way I felt in those first weeks.