Curriculum Vitae – Robin L. McCarley - LSU Department of ...

Robin L. McCarley September 2011
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS, UNIVERSITY SERVICE, AND EXTERNAL
SERVICE
Service Overview
I have a strong belief that service is an important component of being an outstanding academician. I
have been associated with more than twenty five committees or projects that have had a great impact on
both the Chemistry Department and The University. In addition, I have been an active citizen with the
American Chemical Society, the Electrochemical Society, and the citizens of the State of Louisiana.
Below I discuss a sampling of these projects and their significance.
Director of Materials Initiatives and Co-Director, Center for Biomodular Multi-scale Systems
I am Center Co-Director and Director of Materials Initiatives for the Center for Biomodular Multiscale
Systems (CBMM), positions that place me in an advantageous situation to assist in the
interdisciplinary training of students across the LSU campus, as well as other universities in Louisiana.
This large, multi-disciplinary center was initially funded through an infrastructure grant from the
National Science Foundation, the State of Louisiana (Board of Regents), and LSU to the tune of $13 M;
this has recently been renewed. More than 20 faculty investigators with greater than $60 M in funding
are involved in this center that has as its focus the making of portable medical testing kits (diagnostic
assays or devices). The heart of the Center is the making of exceedingly small vias and compartments in
devices wherein biological and chemical tests can be made to occur. As a result of the size of the devices
(about the size of a US 25-cent piece), the tests can be performed rapidly, at the point of care for the
patient, and at a cost that is much less than offered by current testing methods.
My role is that of building a team of researchers with a focus on integration of materials of different
composition into the medical testing devices so as to improve, or revolutionize, their capabilities. This
building of a materials science/engineering research team not only entails the nuts and bolts of research
in the laboratory, but also the education of students and postdoctoral fellows in a highly interdisciplinary
learning environment. Assembling the correct environment for the students requires interfacing with
faculty across several colleges and universities, as well as the Louisiana Board of Regents, the LSU
Board of Supervisors (at whose meeting I presented on October 28, 2005 and successfully advocated for
official LSU “Center” status, see November 4, 2005 issue of LSU Today), and the National Science
Foundation.
As a result of my interactions in this center which resulted from efforts initiated some 7 years ago
between me, Steve Soper of Chemistry, and Mike Murphy of Mechanical Engineering I have
interfaced with faculty and students in multiple colleges, ranging from the School of Design, the College
of Engineering, and Basic Sciences. I have served on more than 20 PhD and MS student committees
from these colleges as a result. More important to me as an educator is that I routinely collaborate on
research projects with students at LSU from chemical, mechanical and electrical & computer
engineering, as well as physics, biological sciences, and biological engineering (Ag School). These
collaborations are very rewarding to me because I love learning new things, and I also get a feeling of
great satisfaction when I am able to teach students and faculty from other disciplines about chemistry
and materials science issues of importance to their research. Thus, my positions associated with the
Center for Biomodular Multi-scale Systems have placed me in roles that have resulted in an expansion
of my mentoring duties for students and faculty, as well as service to the colleges and departments that
are associated with the Center for Biomodular Multi-scale Systems.
Information Technology Initiative (Now Center for Computation and Technology, CCT)
I was selected by the LSU upper administration to solely plan, prepare and present a talk to an
external advisory group in November 2001 that was evaluating the distribution of state funds for a new
program at LSU in information technology (IT as it was called then, now called CCT), particularly as it
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