2005_vprdoc PSpreads2.qxp - University of Akron

Todd Stumpf is a graduate student in The
University of Akron School of Communication,
where his emphasis is on print
journalism. He earned a bachelor's degree in
business and organizational communication
from the University, after which he began a
career in journalism.
During his professional career he has been
a writer and columnist at a daily newspaper,
a regional editor for a national Web site,
managing editor of a trade magazine and he
also has written for more than 30 publications nationwide. He has
won more than 60 awards for his writing, including three state writer
of the year awards in Ohio.
Todd returned to The University of Akron in the summer of 2004 to get
his master's degree en route to the pursuit of a Ph.D. degree in either
communication or journalism. His goal is to one day be a journalism
or communication professor.
During the course of this project, Todd conducted countless interviews
with research faculty whose names were suggested by their respective
college deans as well as with graduate students and alumni.
He then compiled these stories and took the photographs that
accompany each profile.
photo: Dolli Quattrocchi Gold
December 2004

a message from
George R. Newkome
Since my arrival on The University of Akron campus in January 2001, I
have seen a great deal of activity here and I have to admit that I’m proud to be a
part of it. Not only has the University completed the New Landscape for Learning
campus enhancement program, but our faculty and students are branching out into innovative
areas that enable us to move forward as the public research university in northern Ohio.
I find that I am continually impressed by the quality, quantity, and novelty of the research being
conducted here. And, true to the University’s objective to document excellence, we wanted this
report to start to annually highlight some of the university community — faculty, graduate, and
undergraduate students — who may not always have an opportunity to step into the spotlight.
So at my request, each academic dean provided us with the names of faculty within their colleges
who they believe are “top researchers” within their respective fields — either in the quantity of
research they produce or the inventive fields in which they work.
The deans were also asked to nominate faculty who worked closely with graduate and
undergraduate students as it is those kinds of relationships that do much to promote
discovery and further the culture of research. We wish that this report could have
offered even more faculty highlights — there are so many exceptional researchers and
students at The University of Akron that it was difficult to make the selections —
but time and space prevailed.
In this “business,” we know that our students will become the lifeblood of our
future educational, industrial, and governmental systems. The faculty/student
relationships forged through one-on-one interactions — in the classrooms
and research laboratories, such as those described in the following
pages — are the critical educational components toward the
development of the next generation of scholars and community
leaders. Since excellence begets excellence, a pattern emerges
that contributes to the economic development and
technological growth of our region and country.
We enjoyed learning more about our colleagues; we
hope you enjoy their stories. Also included are the
research reports for fiscal year 2004-2005 that,
again, reflect the research productivity of
our faculty at The University of Akron.

Coleen Pugh
—fashioning polymers
Like Dr. Coleen Pugh, Anirudha Singh
chose to work in synthetic chemistry
despite a background in another discipline.
“She believed in my ability to perform
well,” Singh says of Pugh. “Her approach
to the work is well defined; she considers
all the aspects of a problem like economy,
time — and definitely — quality,
2
which makes me think effectively to solve
my problems.”
Singh and Marta Paz-Pazos, another
student of Pugh’s, say their mentor’s
strict nature, coupled with her accessibility
and willingness to help them through
problems, are what set her apart as
an instructor.
“She has incredibly broad knowledge,
enthusiasm and a willingness to speak to
you when you need her,” Paz-Pazos says.
“She is very critical with someone’s work,
which teaches you not to settle for the first
thing you get. There is always room for
improvement. I have learned from her to
read, interpret and relate concepts from
any scientific document.”

The road that led Dr. Coleen Pugh from California to
Akron is not quite a rags-to-riches story. Then again, it’s exactly
a rags-to-riches story. Pugh never set out to be a synthetic
polymer chemist. To hear her tell it, she hated chemistry. She
loved couture and she envisioned a career in the fashion
industry. Funny how these things work out.
While she was determined to pursue her dream, Pugh — who
supported herself at one time by sewing wedding dresses as
well as Western wear for horse shows and costumes for a local
ice show — also wanted to attend a four-year college. She
picked the University of California, Davis because it was the only
UC school that offered a fashion program.
She quickly learned that the fashion industry was quite cutthroat,
and that aspect did not appeal to her. So Pugh switched
to textiles.
“I said I would never take chemistry in college,” Pugh recalls
with a laugh. “The (textile) department required that I take
chemistry and I found that it was much different than what I had
in high school. I really liked my chemistry teacher. It was a class
that was very challenging and much more difficult than the other
classes I had taken.”
You can see where this story is going now. She changed her
original path of textiles and clothing and wound up with a second
major: chemistry, “and kind of the combination of textiles
and chemistry that brings synthesizing polymers into the
picture,” she explains.
Pugh went on to earn a master’s and a doctorate at Case
Western Reserve University, initially leaving the West Coast
because there wasn’t much going on there in the area of polymer
research. Her trail, which included postdoctoral work at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ultimately led her to the
center of the polymer universe: Akron, Ohio.
completely change the order in a liquid
crystal. We’ve demonstrated that you could
convert a nematic liquid crystal to a smectic
liquid crystal using immiscible components.”
Pugh
In layman’s terms, she compares it to logs in a dam. “When the
logs are forced to be in order, it’s like their trunks are all next to
each other,” Pugh says. “We demonstrated that you could force
something where the chemical structure of the rod had no
tendency to form layers. We have forced the center of the
molecule to organize in that layered type of arrangement.”
Not exactly stitching darts and binding seams, but Pugh’s current
efforts are just as satisfying.
Pugh is now working in an area of research that looks at
intermolecular interaction and reactions of aromatic
hydrocarbons and aromatic fluorocarbons. “We’re also trying to
develop some new chemistry that hasn’t been done before based
on that,” she says.
Much of Pugh’s research is done with the students doing the
work with her at their sides for moral and scientific support. She
guides them through the various processes and sees the light
bulbs flicker above their heads, as curiosity and confusion morph
into comprehension.
“The most rewarding part of working with students is seeing
their development,” Pugh says. “You go from someone who
hasn’t done anything and they grow into someone who makes
dreams come true. I tend to get much more excited about that.
Usually, something they produce is something we’ve been
thinking about for years. You get a student with no experience
who may flounder for a couple of years and finally they start
producing. I like discovering new things, and I like seeing them
discover new things.”
Having turned in her Singer for a round-bottom flask, Pugh is
now designing new molecules to answer either theoretical
questions or controversies in existing literature.
“We do a lot of work on intermolecular reactions, as driving
forces for performing certain things,” she explains. “One of the
things we’ve been very successful at is demonstrating you can
Paz-Pazos
Singh
Pugh holds her students to the same lofty
standards to which she holds herself.
Satisfactory work is not satisfactory;
exemplary work is.
The lesson that may be most important to
Pugh’s students is that the means to the
end may be as important as the result itself.
As Singh says, “Research and its management
are equally important. I mean, what
we do is important, but how we do it
matters a lot, too.”
Singh says their work is subject to intense
scrutiny from Pugh, but you get the feeling
the students wouldn’t have it any
other way. Science may not always be
exact, but that doesn’t mean one can’t
at least strive for it.
“She scrutinizes (our work), but she also
gives us direction to the work and to solve
our problems,” Singh says. “She makes us
prepare in such a manner that, within a
short frame of time, we know how we
should proceed and how we should
overcome our mistakes. In essence, I’m
learning how to optimize the factors ...
that make professional life successful.”
3

Dr. Stephanie J. Woods, associate professor of
nursing, began her career as an emergency room nurse. Her
observations of the effects of all types of trauma in the E.R. and
the challenges posed for patients, families and health care
professionals, was the driving force in her returning to school.
She wanted to learn more about how to help people heal.
Woods says her research success can be
attributed to teamwork. She does not do it
alone, and says having a good relationship
with colleagues has allowed her to
discover things that might otherwise
not have been found.
Woods
"For me, it was all about being able to care for people," Woods
says of her nursing career. After completing a master’s degree at
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, she came to The University
of Akron to teach. While teaching, she pursued part-time studies
for a Ph.D. in nursing at Wayne State University. Her dissertation
research provided the first opportunity for examining women’s
experiences of trauma.
Woods now focuses her research efforts on the effects of
violence on women. She recently received a Mentored Patient-
Oriented Research Career Developmental Award (K-23) from the
National Institutes of Nursing Research — an award bestowed
upon researchers who are new investigators.
Woods' particular study examines the complicated relationships
between the psychosocial and physiological responses of
women to childhood trauma and intimate partner violence. She is
specifically looking at the relationship of intimate partner
violence, to trauma history, posttraumatic stress disorder, diurnal
cortisol patterns and immune status in women.
"I've always wanted to understand the effects of trauma on the
whole person," she explains. “And this research is one of the first
times that the psychosocial, physiologic and immune parameters
have been studied simultaneously in women by an interdisciplinary
team.” This team consists of colleagues at UA,
Summa Health System and Johns Hopkins University.
While at Wayne State, Woods had the opportunity to work with
Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell, now at Johns Hopkins University, who is
an expert in the field of intimate partner violence. Woods had no
research topic at the time and it was Campbell who pointed her
in the direction she continues to follow.
"I have always had an interest in trauma," Woods recalls. "Dr.
Campbell’s work was with battered women, and she and I work
well together. She guided me through my coursework and the
Ph.D. qualifying exam process; she co-mentored my NIMH predoctoral
fellowship and was co-sponsor of this NINR K23 award.
Through this mentoring relationship, she introduced me to other
scientists who have helped advance this research."
The result of Woods' research has demonstrated that women
experience serious short- and long-term physical and mental
health consequences, including posttraumatic stress disorder, as
a result of violence as a child or adult. Battered women also
experience altered diurnal cortisol rhythms and decreased
immune function that may have lasting effects on their physical
health. The results of this research may guide assessments and
early interventions by health care professionals to minimize the
consequences of violence. It is research that Woods describes
as "exciting and heartbreaking at the same time."
With one out of three women experiencing some form of
violence from a family member or intimate partner during their
lifetime, there are many women who may ultimately benefit from
Woods' work.
Puckett
Thoman
"I am continuing this program of research to examine the longitudinal
changes in physiologic stress and immune responses in
women experiencing posttraumatic stress," Woods says of her
future objectives. "This work will provide the foundation for the
next generation of studies aimed at testing the efficacy of
complementary therapies in alleviating the long-term consequences
of violence for the mind, body and spirit of women.”
There is perhaps no greater endorsement
than having protégés follow in one's footsteps.
With that in mind, Dr. Stephanie
Woods must feel as if she's one step
ahead of a stampede. Doctoral students
Joan Thoman and Theresa Puckett are
blazing their own trails, to be certain, but
each is sticking closely to the course
charted by Woods.
4
The two Ph.D. candidates speak highly of
the profound impact that Woods’ teachings
have had on their own careers as
researchers, each pointing out that without
Woods’ tutelage, they probably wouldn’t be
where they are.
“Dr. Woods has exceptional knowledge of
research that is consistently delivered to
her graduate students,” Thoman says. “She
has a strong mastery of research
methodology. She institutes a variety of
learning experiences into her courses that
bring alive course material.”
Admitting that Woods had an immediate
impact on her in the classroom, Puckett
wasn't quite clued in to exactly with whom

Stephanie J. Woods
—compassionate research
she was working until she stumbled across
an article in an issue of Nursing Science
Quarterly that was written by Woods.
“At that moment I felt so grateful to be
in her class,” Puckett recalls. “Now as a
doctoral student I have gotten to know
her better and have gained an even deeper
understanding of her work. She is a
brilliant methodologist.”
Thoman and Puckett also praised Woods'
many virtues as a researcher and professor.
Each used the term “mentor” in describing
their relationships, but Puckett took that a
step further — because of her work with
Woods, a generational mentorship of sorts
has formed.
“She understands the individualistic nature
of the doctoral journey of scholarship and
is able to provide the appropriate
evaluation mechanisms for each student,”
Puckett says. “But most of all, she is
teaching me how to be a great mentor. It is
her excellent example that I hope to be
able to show to my students someday.”
5

Just months shy of earning a bachelor’s
degree in biology, Sylvia Shabaya has her
sights — long-term and short-term —
firmly set. Much of that is attributable to
the McNair Scholars Program headed by
Ms. Billi Copeland.
Shabaya, who was in the process of
interviewing for Ph.D. programs as
her undergraduate days wound
6
down, credits the program with not only
preparing her for graduate school, but for
getting ahead of the game in terms of
knowing how to conduct research and the
importance of doing so.
Without the program, Shabaya might have
stopped at a master’s degree instead of
setting her sites higher. “I’ve learned I
don’t need a master’s to go on for my
Ph.D. I’ll be starting my Ph.D. program
right away,” she says. “Being in the McNair
Program has really prepared me for
graduate school. But even before that, I
learned how to do research, how to write
papers, how to prepare for the GRE and
things like that.”
Being a McNair Scholar has also afforded
students like Shabaya the opportunity to

Billi F. Copeland
—cultivating research scholars
Looking at and listening to Billi F. Copeland,
assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program, it may not
immediately occur to you exactly what a mover and shaker she
is in The University of Akron’s research community. Her youthful
appearance and soft voice, with its slight North Carolina
inflection, belie her influence on campus.
Recently, a sigh of relief might have been heard when Copeland
eschewed a chance to move on, deciding instead to maintain her
position with the McNair Scholars Program. “I’m so committed to
the students,” Copeland says of why she chose to remain at the
University where she earned a master’s degree in public
administration, a Juris Doctor, and where she is well on her way
to being awarded a Ph.D. in urban studies. When Copeland first
assumed her position with the program, she found that the
students were not served at the level she believed would fully
enhance their opportunity to enter graduate school. “I had a
heart for those students,” she says. “There was a lack of
opportunities for them and I wanted to make sure they had the
best opportunities possible.”
Copeland says she felt the program’s mission — which is to get
economically disadvantage students who are high achievers in
the classroom started in the culture of research and launched
into academic careers that, hopefully, end at the doctoral level
— wasn’t fully understood by prior participants.
Applying some of what she learned while working as a
representative for a prominent retail establishment, one known
as a paragon of customer service, Copeland became a devoted
advocate for her “customers” — the students in the McNair
Scholars program.
“I look at these students as my customers and I work for them,”
Copeland says. “If I give them the best opportunity available, my
bosses will be satisfied as well because I’m developing positive
relationships with those students. I would be remiss not to
mention the two most crucial elements of the
program, and those are the committed
students and the committed faculty members.
I have to build those relationships.”
Copeland
Calling herself an advocate for undergraduate research,
Copeland says the programs and projects with which she is
involved all “center around undergraduate research and
exposing students to the pedagogy of undergraduate research
and the benefits that come from conducting research early in
their academic careers.”
It’s not always an easy sell. Since the students in the McNair
Scholars program come from modest economic backgrounds,
they often are first-generation college students. They haven’t
been introduced to the concept of advanced degrees, research
or even the possibility of being doctoral students one day.
However, for those who do “buy into” the program, the benefits
are endless.
Working with less-advantaged students, Copeland takes great
pride in their achievements and beams at the thought of their
future successes. “The advantage to getting involved is you get a
one-on-one mentoring relationship,” Copeland says. “We teach
you the fundamentals of research and the process of inquiry. We
also teach you how to write well and about the politics of
academia. Some of the students don’t know about any of that.
They’re first-generation and they don’t have the culture of
college in their families. When you teach them the benefits of
going to college, that’s the ‘gift that keeps on giving.’”
Copeland, herself, comes from a family of doctors and lawyers,
so this educational environment is ingrained. But she has seen
the other side — her grandfather didn’t attend high school, yet
learned to speak five languages on his own. He was a profound
influence in her life, and encouraged her to read the dictionary
while growing up. In fact, her family still participates in a raucous
game of Scrabble® from time to time.
attend conferences, present research,
network and learn about academia outside
the classroom. The program has opened
doors that would not otherwise have been
opened, and Shabaya credits Copeland for
holding the door.
“Billi is one of the smartest, most caring
individuals that I know,” she says. “She
really cares for us and would really like to
see us succeed. If we ever need anything,
we know she’s there.”
Being a McNair scholar has led Shabaya to
pursue an M.D.-Ph.D., rather than an M.D.
alone. “Before the program I just wanted
to be a doctor,” she says. “After the
program I realized how much I love
to do research. It’s really become a
part of me now.”
Shabaya
7

Roberta A. DePompei
—re-training the brain
After working as a speech-language
pathologist, the last thing on Dr. Roberta A. DePompei’s mind
was earning a doctorate, let alone a degree in counseling. But
work along the way led her down that path, which ended — and
restarted — when she earned a Ph.D. in counseling at The
University of Akron.
Still true to her roots as a professor of speech-language
pathology and director of the School of Speech-Language
Pathology and Audiology at the University, she has become one
of the nation’s leading authorities on individuals with traumatic
brain injuries (TBI) and their rehabilitation and reintegration to
home, school and community.
“I worked in a number of settings — hospitals, rehabilitation
centers, freestanding speech and hearing centers, public
schools — and I found that I was really interested in people with
traumatic brain injuries,” DePompei recalls. “They aren’t born
with disabilities, but because of a particular experience, they
have altered cognitive functioning. And I just found that the
general public wasn’t understanding this segment very well, and
their rehabilitation and their integration back into the community
and home and school was very, very poor.”
DePompei's interest — along with her perception of the general
public’s lack thereof — drove her to do research in that area
while working toward a doctorate. Particularly, she noted a
family’s responses after the traumatic brain injury of one of its
members, and she began writing and researching in that area.
That research led her to write a book and publish numerous
articles on the topic, thus gaining a national reputation along the
way. The reputation has earned DePompei some very prestigious
accolades, but more importantly, has helped her obtain some
large state and federal grants to fund her endeavors.
Among her prized possessions, as a result of
her work, are two awards. First, she received
the Brain Injury Association of America’s
Sheldon Berrol M.D. Clinical Service Award,
DePompei
given to an individual who works to improve
the quality of care for people with traumatic brain injuries.
Honored in 2002, DePompei was only the second woman to
receive this award, and the first as one who works primarily with
children. Then in 2004, she received the Robert L. Moody Prize
for distinguished initiatives in brain injury research and
rehabilitation, an international award.
Of the Moody Prize, DePompei says, “I’m proudest of that one,
not only for research, but for my national advocacy for kids.
Neither of those awards are given lightly and there was a huge
competition for them. I was very proud to receive them.”
The awards are stellar moments in a career that has seen
DePompei receive, among other things, a five-year $1.5 million
grant from the National Institute for Developmental Research and
Rehabilitation to look at specific technology for children and
adults with cognitive problems due to mental retardation or
traumatic brain injury. This grant is a collaboration with
Spaulding Rehabilitation Center at Harvard, Temple University
and the Brain Injury Association of America and is co-directed
with Dr. Yvonne Gillette, an associate professor of speechlanguage
pathology and audiology at UA. That research is
currently in its third year. DePompei also has received a
subcontract funded through the federal government’s Health
Resources and Services Administration to look at systems
change for persons with TBI.
Clinically, DePompei prepares graduate students looking to work
with people with aphasia, cognitive-communicative disorders,
and other neurogenically based communication disorders.
“I like working with the students,” she says. “I would like them to
be good problem solvers and to know that when they graduate,
they don’t have to know everything. They just have to know
where to look to find it. At that level, graduate students mostly
know what they want to do and are very interested in what I
have to say. I find that very rewarding.”
8
Uhl
Prior to working with Dr. Rita DePompei,
current UA graduate student Laura Uhl
never gave a thought to doing research.
Now it’s among the focal points as Uhl
prepares for her professional life. “It was
not an area where I felt knowledgeable,”
Uhl says. “Now I feel my experiences have
taught me a great deal about what research
is and how it is conducted.”
Along with enabling her to consider future
research opportunities, Uhl’s work with

DePompei has contributed to her interest
in research being done by others in the
field. DePompei’s guidance also provided
Uhl with a solid foundation regarding the
key elements of successful research.
“I learned to be orderly, organized and
systematic,” she says. “Answer the
questions and note interesting results.”
All the while, DePompei’s guidance has
helped shape a soon-to-be professional,
teaching Uhl “to be professional in my
dealings with others, to be compassionate
and informed, to pursue opportunities
that interest me and to keep growing
my knowledge.”
9

Andrew S. Rancer
—D.J. Rock, Ph.D.
Carol Savery and Rita Nmai know a bit
about learning to communicate. Savery is
from Canada, Nmai from Ghana. Their
accents fade into obscurity when the
subjects of Dr. Andrew Rancer and
research arise.
10
Each is working with Rancer as
they pursue master’s degrees, and
each credits the communication professor
for spurring their efforts.
“Dr. Rancer is curious about and interested
in life,” says Savery, who has Rancer
among her thesis committee members.
“When he talks about research it is clear
how important it is to him. His enthusiasm
about the communication discipline is
contagious and his great sense of humor
helps dispel any anxiety that non-math
majors have about digging into statistical
research. I learned to appreciate the
research steps needed to understand
communication theories.”
Nmai not only has cultural and language
hurdles to clear en route to her master’s
degree, but the specter of the quantitative

If you see Dr. Andrew S. Rancer, professor of
communication, walking around campus, he may appear to be
talking to himself. That may be true, but it’s with a bigger
audience in mind. You see, once upon a time, Rancer, a radio
buff, fancied a career as a Top 40 disc jockey.
His career took a turn toward academia when he began his
master of arts program and found that he also enjoyed teaching.
Now, he has the best of both worlds, with the emphasis on the
teaching part, of course.
Those fortunate enough to have taken his communication
classes (even those within earshot in an adjacent classroom!)
have experienced both “Dr. Rancer,” along with “Dr. Rock,” or
whatever he might have chosen to call himself — had the DJ
career panned out.
Rancer, with his mentor, Dr. Dominic Infante, has been a pioneer
in the study of aggressive communication. He likes to think of
himself as part researcher and part entertainer, trying to make
research and theory accessible to both graduate and undergraduate
students. A few years ago, his efforts at studying the
aggressive communication traits of argumentativeness and
verbal aggressiveness among adolescents was featured on a
segment of ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
His lighter side in the classroom is in sharp contrast with his
area of research, where Rancer has studied aggressive communication
for more than 20 years. The goals of this research
program include training youth to enhance their motivation and
skill in argumentative communication, while attempting to
decrease their tendency to engage in verbal aggression.
Rancer often teaches the “Empirical Research in Communication”
class, a pivotal section in the academic career of master’s
degree students. It is in that class that
students sometimes choose an area of
research for their theses and often when they
attempt their first significant research
Rancer
endeavors. And because of his demeanor and
overall personality, Rancer is a popular choice when it comes
time for a communication graduate student to choose a mentor
or member of their thesis or project committee.
“It is extremely gratifying to see master’s students embrace
communication research,” Rancer says. “I get a great deal of
satisfaction when I observe their excitement as they select
topics for a study, design a methodology to test their hypotheses
and research questions, create or select items for the survey and
questionnaires, engage in data-gathering efforts and then
conduct data analysis.”
Rancer reports that master’s candidates in the School of
Communication at The University of Akron often do “exceptional
and sometimes even groundbreaking work here.” It’s with that in
mind that Rancer enjoys working with the graduate students so
much. “I enjoy helping graduate students be able to use their
research skills, primarily — in my case — their quantitative
skills, to answer questions they have about communication
behavior,” he says. “Of course, I am thrilled with my students
when they decide to go on for further training at the Ph.D. level. I
am also thrilled when my graduate students get full-time
positions in the training and development profession.”
Currently in the midst of finishing his third book, Rancer relishes
his time with the students, whether on a thesis committee or
just in front of them in a classroom — spinning tunes and
molding minds.
Nmai
Savery
research she would need to do along the
way. Rancer’s work with Nmai in a
statistics-laden empirical research class
helped ease the stress of it all.
“He made research seem so easy,” she says.
“From what I learned in that class, I can
now confidently embark on a research
project ... and easily interpret my findings.”
Savery complimented Rancer’s willingness
and ability to be a mentor, and that he
doesn’t talk down to students. Questions
are always good questions. She says he
makes her feel her research is important to
the world and not just to her.
Both students laud Rancer for making
himself available, despite being involved in
his own projects, to talk about theirs on a
moment’s notice. And when he talks, there
is always a point to be absorbed.
“His advice is always direct, nonjudgmental,
and well thought out,” Savery says.
“Dr. Rancer makes learning enjoyable —
no small feat.”
11

Iqbal Husain
—catching a “brake”
When it comes to research, particularly in the world
of electric motors, Dr. Iqbal Husain brakes for no one — and
everyone. Husain, professor of electrical and computer
engineering, has done groundbreaking research in the area of
electric and hybrid motors, along with antilock braking systems,
since his arrival at The University of Akron in 1999.
His research focus has involved electric brake calipers, massproduced
motors and paramagnetic rotor bars; however, the
source of his fascination is not a big secret — it was just a
matter of looking around. “You see applications all around
you that need motors,” Husain says. “That’s how I got into
the program.”
After earning a Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, Husain did some
work in the automotive industry and still maintains ties in that
field. But dating back to his undergraduate days in Bangladesh,
he had a yearning for teaching and research. “I like the area
where it was a little bit applied, but also had some fundamental
research in the area of motor control and power electronics,”
Husain says.
Now, with the world searching for more fuel-efficient modes of
personal transportation, his research is not only groundbreaking,
but necessary. “The trend for alternative vehicles leads to the
area of research on hybrid vehicles,” he says. “So that attracted
me. Research on the electric part of these vehicles is what I’m
drawn toward.”
Husain is most proud of his work on an
antilock brake system for conventional cars.
The system uses a motor-driven technology
that he has been working on for some time.
Husain
The system did not get accepted into the motor industry, but the
research enabled its motor technology to be applied for a
different antilock brake system.
Husain’s work has earned him recognition from the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the form of the 2000
Third Millenium Medal and the 1998 Outstanding Young Member
Award 1998. His research projects have generated more than
$670,000 in outside funding and earned four patents and/or
invention disclosures.
Still busy trying to figure out ways to power vehicles, Husain
gets a lot of his own energy from his students, who fuel his
enthusiasm. “The students are really a source of encouragement
for me,” he says. “I give them some tests to do and they come up
with their own ideas. I enjoy working with them and interacting
with them, giving them guidance, teaching them new things.
There is a lot to learn from everybody.”
With many years of research behind him, Husain looks forward
to the day when he can see people using things he has created,
or helped to create, in their everyday lives. He believes it’s only a
matter of time until that day comes. “Eventually,” he says,
“industries will have to change and there will have to be a
technology transfer.”
Husain credits The University of Akron and the research
environment in which he works with helping him be a successful
researcher. “The department, as well as the college, has been
very helpful,” he says. “It’s a very friendly department here. If I
have to ask for something, the department and college have
been very accommodating.”
Underwood
As Samuel Underwood completes work
on his advanced degrees in the world of
engineering, he will look back to his days
with Dr. Iqbal Husain, acknowledging the
profound influence the professor
had on his development.
12
“Dr. Husain gave me a more global view
on the projects we wanted to develop,”
says Underwood, a student of Husain’s.
“He is very methodical in setting up a
research project and validating experimental
results. Those things are often
overlooked by researchers.”
Underwood credits Husain’s work as both
teacher and Ph.D. adviser. What opened
the student’s eyes was actually learning how
much he didn’t know, particularly about
current research trends. Underwood also
acknowledges Husain’s contributions in

terms of teaching him how to research
and maintain focus on a project and its
associated issues.
Beyond the X’s and O’s of the classroom
and laboratory, Underwood hopes
he someday can mimic his mentor’s
meticulousness. “I guess I would try to
take his rigor, the fact that he will always
try to relate the results we find with
theoretical explanations,” Underwood
says. “It is sometimes very helpful to
force one’s self to find explanations and
causes to problems, since it makes it much
easier to solve them.”
13

Stephanie T. Lopina
—choosing the academic life
Dr. Stephanie Lopina has worked with a
variety of students on a multiplicity of
subject matters and research foci. But talk
to enough of the students and they start to
sound alike. Which, of course, is a good
thing when you listen to what they have to
say about their mentor.
14
The same words consistently emerge in
these discussions and none more commonly
than “knowledge.” All are in relative
awe of Lopina’s wealth of knowledge.
“Her versatility of knowledge and her
approach to dealing with individual
situations and technical problems has
provided me with an altogether different
outlook on how to deal with such
problems,” says Parth Shah, one
of her students.
“Also, due to the expanse of her
knowledge, she has been able to guide me
through some difficult times. Besides her

In sixth grade, Dr. Stephanie T. Lopina, associate
professor of chemical and biomengineering and associate
professor of biomedical engineering, felt her interest in
chemistry beginning to bud. That initial interest eventually
fully blossomed, to say the least. Likewise, an early fascination
with academia (though a few years after primary school) also
grew over time. The two aspects converged during Lopina’s
quest for higher education and she is now a leader in the
field of biochemical engineering.
“Polymers, in particular, and medicine were always interests of
mine,” says Lopina, who has since gone on to conduct some of
the most groundbreaking and fascinating scientific research The
University of Akron has ever seen.
Her move to academia wasn’t immediate, though it was her goal
early on during her days as an undergraduate student at Notre
Dame University, where she earned a degree in chemical
engineering. Seeing her peers heading into various industry jobs,
and realizing that many members in her academic field do the
same, Lopina decided to give that a whirl.
“I made it a specific goal of mine, after I finished my B.S., to go
into industry and see, ‘what does a B.S. chemical engineer do’,”
she recalls. “So I did that — and loved it, absolutely loved it —
with the intention of going on to a graduate school.”
Eventually, Lopina reached a decision. She chose academics,
knowing she could always return to industry, and headed to
graduate school. She earned a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral work at Princeton
University. It was at M.I.T. that Lopina did her first work with
artificial livers.
The benefit of that experience was two-fold. First, it got Lopina
started down a path of research on which she has remained, and
it enabled her to peer into a window of how things work in the
academic world. Lopina was her graduate adviser’s initial
student. “It was a very good learning experience,” she says.
Drawn to Akron by its reputation for
innovative polymer research, Lopina felt
she had come to a place where she could
not only teach, but continue her polymer
medicine-based research.
Lopina
Her research at Akron focuses on developing novel biomaterials,
which are primarily polymeric. She also is exploring new
platforms for tissue engineering or drug delivery. Some of that
involves developing new polymers.
“The idea is to take a polymer that induces bone growth, put
bone cells on it, and plant that into a bone defect,” Lopina says.
“The bone cells take over the polymer, grow, and eventually you
have bone, instead of a titanium rod or steel screws or
something like that. We’re trying to take natural building blocks
— amino acids — and make polymers out of those. We’re doing
interesting chemistry.”
Another area of focus involves drug delivery. Specifically, Lopina
is interested in developing new polymers or new forms of
polymers to meet drug delivery controlled release, extended
release, targeted release applications and tissue engineering.
Lopina enjoys all aspects of research and teaching, but she
particularly enjoys when the two are combined and she can
collaborate with students in a research environment.
“What’s really nice and interesting about research, as opposed
to a classroom, is we have ideas and we see if they work. In the
classroom, the problem is set up so it has an answer,” Lopina
says. “We don’t have an answer. We have to explore why things
don’t work. It’s very nice to see Ph.D. students getting used to
working that way, with inquiry-based learning. Most graduate
students and undergraduate students have never thought that
way. It’s very eye-opening. And we use their ideas, too; not just
my ideas.”
Lopina went to Princeton planning to focus on polymers. Her
emphasis then was looking at putting cells onto the polymers,
rather than polymers onto the cells. “I’m looking at the cell
interaction and how I modify the polymers, rather than studying
the interbiological pathways within the organs,” she says.
Shah
Kanjickal
knowledge, she is always keen on listening
to our comments and feedback and ideas,
and fusing them together to provide a new
research direction, thus giving our research
a diverse outlook,” Shah continued.
Ph.D. student Deenu Kanjickal credits
Lopina for letting students conduct
research independently, but also for being
there when they need her.
“She encourages the student to pursue
ideas and activities that foster innovative
thinking” Kanjickal says. “She also
encourages students to present their
work at conferences, giving them the
opportunity to interact with professionals
from the industry.”
15

While growing up in China, Dr. Pizhong Qiao,
associate professor of civil engineering, learned the value of
higher education at an early age. It was heavily emphasized
during his upbringing and ultimately led to his undertaking a
career in academia. During his formative years, he developed an
interest in mathematics and physics that lasts to this day. “I
wanted to become a scientist,” Qiao says. “Here, I have an
opportunity to be a scientist.”
With a concentration on civil engineering and working with
materials and applications, among Qiao’s quests is to see lighter,
stronger, more durable materials used in the building of civil
infrastructure (e.g., bridges). He envisions a day when the
bridges we know — the ones built with such conventional
materials as concrete and steel — are things of the past.
“Today, most materials like polymers are being made better,”
Qiao says. “These (materials) are being used in highway construction
right now. We want to make the structures more intelligent.
My main focus is to apply those technologies of material
science and information technology into structural applications.”
Along with bridges, Qiao is looking into building a team of
researchers at The University of Akron whose sole purpose
would be to work in Qiao’s area of research, focusing on new
materials for structures. “Hopefully, in the next few years with
some hard work, we can be a nationally recognized university
in this area,” says Qiao, who has had more than 60 papers
published in journals.
Qiao’s research also has netted him a host of awards, including
The University of Akron’s Excellence Award in 2001, recognizing
his accomplishments and overall productivity in the
areas of advanced materials and mechanics in the Department
of Civil Engineering.
Among his other honors are the Excellence in
Teaching Award, 1999, West Virginia
University; the 1999 Overall Best Paper Award,
presented by the Composites Institute, Society
Qiao
of Plastics Industry, in Cincinnati; the Best
Research Paper Award, presented by the Materials
Engineering Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers;
and the 1998 Outstanding Young Researcher of the Year Award
from the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West
Virginia University.
Most recently, Qiao was recognized as the 2005 Outstanding
Researcher of the Year by the College of Engineering at The
University of Akron. This honor is bestowed upon those faculty
who conduct creative research that continually attracts outside
funding, educate students and peers by authoring journal
publications and textbooks, and receive other awards for
exemplary research work.
Qiao attributes much of that success to his relationship with
Dr. Julio Davalos, Qiao’s mentor in the civil and environmental
engineering department at West Virginia University. “He taught
me a lot about how to be successful,” Qiao says of Davalos. “He
was my mentor.”
Qiao now oversees a Ph.D. candidate of his own and beams with
pride when speaking of that relationship. He reflects on some of
the lessons learned from Davalos when it comes to dealing with
his own students. He stresses the importance of offering guidance
and leadership to the students, setting an example for them
and giving them a path to follow, whether that’s toward
academics or the professional world.
Qiao emphasized the importance of passion for the subject
matter and being able to inject that passion and energy into
everything. “What I’m doing most of the time, besides educating
people, is encouraging people to do what they want to do,” says
Qiao, whose first Ph.D. student graduated in 2003 and is now
working as a faculty member at North Dakota State University.
“They have to follow their hearts and not have people push them.
You must put your energy and your heart into things. This is what
I most often say to encourage my students.”
Yang
Shan
Sometime down the road, when Mijia
Yang and Luyang Shan are professors or
research scientists, Dr. Pizhong Qiao will
be guiding them, in an Obi Wan Kenobi sort
of way. The experience of having spent a
great deal of time under Qiao’s tutelage
will be with them.
16
Qiao’s mastery goes far beyond
what is offered via textbooks,
classrooms and labs. He has been able to
reach his students on a personal level, and
the open channels of communiction
benefit the up-and-comers invaluably.
“Dr. Qiao’s attitude toward life and
research will benefit me a lot,” Yang says.
“He is like a friend to all the students in
the department. Whenever you have
questions, he will be there to help you. He
is the role model I always want to be.”
Shan praises Qiao’s quest to better advise
students and his ability to differentiate
individuals based on their personalities,
strengths and weaknesses. “He figures
them out very quickly and offers us
suggestions aimed at promoting our
maximum capacity,” she says.

Pizhong Qiao
—better bridges with polymers
“He helps us compensate for our
weaknesses. He thinks, as good researchers,
we must have the comprehensive
ability to conduct research and be
capable of performing the physical
experiment ourselves.”
Shan says Qiao tries to cultivate a culture,
rather than simply teach, by nurturing
students in all aspects: theoretical,
numerical and experimental. She believe
Qiao goes the extra mile to ensure that
students’ work is of the highest caliber so
they are well prepared to get to the next
point in their careers.
“He wipes off the fog ahead of me very
quickly and leads me back to the correct
way,” Shan says. “When I write research
papers, he always directs me to establish a
clear organization with high standards,
points out what my weaknesses are, and
then thoroughly edits my writings several
times before they reach the final form.
Such a rigorous research attitude influences
and inspires me every day.”
17

Most professors will tell you that teaching is
learning. For Dr. Francis S. Broadway, teaching and learning
seem to be compounding themselves. Broadway, an associate
professor of education in the Department of Curricular and
Instructional Studies, has found that he also continues to be
somewhat of a student as well.
Lately that compounding factor has become even more evident
as Broadway’s research has led him to work with The University
of Akron chemical engineering faculty. For the last three years or
so, he’s been part of a design project that looks at learning about
engineering and teams.
“That work is really fun because I’m working with engineers in
that field,” Broadway says. “I’m not very much of a chemical
engineer, but I’m learning.” Not just because he wants to, but
because he has to. Broadway’s specialty is science education.
“These days, science evolves more quickly than life itself. You
have to keep up.”
With that in mind, Broadway makes sure to incorporate his
research into his teaching, particularly at the graduate level,
though he says he’s begun to do that in undergraduate courses
as well. “My approach to doing research is it’s a way of teaching
and a way of learning,” he says. “In science education, probably
the most popular buzzword right now is ‘inquiry-based
instruction.’ I’m a proponent of open-inquiry: having to pose
questions through structure.”
Broadway likens research to learning to walk, an analogy he
shares with his students. Children, after all, begin learning before
they ever attend a school. They learn to walk, as Broadway
explains it, “without a syllabus saying a certain thing will happen
on a certain day. “They finally learn how to walk,” he adds. “I
find what I get to do is, ask the questions without knowing the
answers. I get to develop
the answers I already
have; to add to the
knowledge base without
simply rehashing it.”
Broadway
Broadway is among the few science
educators using queer theory and critical race
theory as frameworks for understanding
science teaching in the instruction of learning.
With the “No Child Left Behind” policies
mandating more work on reading and
mathematics, Broadway’s goal has been to
incorporate those skill areas into science
classes. “I have to find some way of taking
science teachers and get them to integrate
instruction,” he says. “So, I have decided to
look at science instruction and reading and
how they complement each other, or don’t.”
The ultimate goal is to have primary and early
childhood teachers really understand how to
do quality science instruction and have quality
reading instruction built in. Broadway’s hope
is to create a research base that says that
quality science instruction does demand
quality reading instruction.
Broadway likes to incorporate his students in
his research — for their benefit, not his. He
has found that the more students are involved
in research, the more they will use research
when they finish their educations. “I really like
to have them involved in quality research,” he says.
“I would say what I like the most about working with students in
terms of research is that it gets back to very close to innate
learning,” Broadway says. “As a teacher educator who’s trying
to teach people how to teach, I want people who want to learn.
Research allows me to actually show students how to inquire.”
Halasa
Freeman
Ph.D. candidates Katrina Halasa and
Ramona Freeman have had the benefit of
forging an unparalleled learning
environment with their research adviser,
Dr. Francis Broadway, particularly in this
critical time when they are cutting their
own research teeth.
18
“He thinks of you as a colleague,”
says Halasa. I think the thing with
Dr. Broadway is he’s willing to show you
the ropes of how to be a successful
researcher, how to network, how to build
yourself a solid line as a researching
individual, to take you to the next step
from the classroom.”
And it’s in the classroom, says Halasa,
where Broadway encourages his students
to do their research. “We need to do
more classroom research,” she says. “He
helped push me in a different direction
so my classroom work could cross over
into the research.”
From Freeman’s point of view, Broadway’s
instruction is at its best when he
encourages his students to think on their

Francis S. Broadway
—ever-inquiring mind
own, a skill that will prove invaluable in the
world of research. Sometimes this means
playing the devil’s advocate, if for no other
reason than to spur more thought.
“He’s an innovative thinker and as such,
encouraged some of my strengths during
dialogues with others,” Freeman says.
“With a certain amount of very delicate
tension that very few colleagues employ
when thinking critically, I believe ultimately,
he moves policy forward,” Freeman
continues. “We have discussions and we
are clear about some things, but we both
understand our thinking is a process.”
“It’s like two sides of a coin,” says
Freeman of her interactions with
Broadway. “He is positively adamant about
things — they seem to be dichotomies —
but they aren’t. He is a very complex
person and a very complex thinker.”
19

Katharine D. Owens
—bound for Africa
Forgive Dr. Katharine D. Owens for beaming a little
bit as shares her memories. During the fall of 2004, Owens,
associate professor of education in the Department of Curricular
and Instructional Studies, found herself getting ready for the trip
of a lifetime. A researcher in the study of multicultural education
as applied to the teaching of mathematics, Owens was about to
embark on a journey where she would represent the counterculture.
It signified a chance to do the research firsthand and
see the potential outcomes right before her eyes, rather than
merely theorize about them.
“It was an opportunity to do something special,” Owens said of
the spring 2005 trip to Nigeria, where she was accompanied by a
University of Akron doctoral student, along with other American
and African teachers and students. “But it was also an
opportunity to learn.”
Teaching, Owens says, is learning — a common theme in the
College of Education. You can’t do one without doing the other at
the same time. The more she learns, the more she teaches, and
the cycle is endless. In Africa, there is plenty to be learned from
teachers who work hard to teach their students under conditions
that are far different from what we have here in America.
Owens’ mission was not to teach Nigerian teachers, but to learn
from them what might help teachers of African-American
students. Despite the oceans separating the continents, the
language barriers, and the technological differences, the means
to an end are very similar. Two plus two equals four in any
language and on any continent. It’s merely a matter of bridging
the divides.
Owens’ research has focused on the bridging of the divides as
well as the composition of the divides themselves. She has
studied and written about intercultural education in many areas,
including Native American cultures. “It’s a learner-focused
approach rather than a dogmatic, curriculumfocused
approach,” Owens says of her
research, and her teaching philosophy
in general.
Owens
Her work has led to Owens being a University of Akron Teacher-
Researcher Award nominee in 2003. She also has received the
College of Education’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2001) and
Excellence in Service Award (2000). Her litany of honors dates to
1985, when she was named Pascagoula, Mississippi’s Junior
High Teacher of the Year.
Research and awards aside, it’s teaching, and talking about
teaching, that puts a glint in Owens’ eye. Where teaching is
concerned, she practices what she preaches, which is
“enthusiasm.”
“Teaching is selling,” she says. “If you’re not enthusiastic and
confident about what you do, and can’t inspire that in the people
you work with, you’re lost. If you don’t leave your students like I
try to leave mine, with an excitement for learning and a desire to
keep learning in the area — if you turn them off, in other words
— you’re sunk.
“If someone shuts the book and says, ‘I never want to do this
again in my life,’ you’re sunk!”
Clearly, Owens will not reach that point, or even come close to it.
She’s nearing the end of her fourth decade in the teaching
profession — a career which began as a junior high teacher in
Rochester, N.Y., and has progressed to her current position —
and seems to be picking up steam.
“Give me about 50 more years of doing this because I’m not
at all ready to quit,” she says, her passion for the work
flowing as always. “There’s too much still to do and to learn.
It’s too exciting!”
20
Laipply
Dr. Richelle Laipply
makes no bones
about the influence
Dr. Katharine Owens
has had on her.
Laipply was determined
to earn a
Ph.D. and she credits Owens
for giving her the necessary
“shoves” to see it through. More than
that, though, Laipply says it was Owens’
mentoring that made the entire process
a much smoother ride.
“She taught me to think about things as
the research progressed that I should look
into,” says Laipply, who maintains a
position as associate professor in the
Summit College Department of Allied
Health Technology. “Things emerge and
come up when you’re doing (qualitative)
research. You’re doing a lot of one-on-one,
and you can miss things if you’re not alert.
She would often say, ‘Have you ever
thought about asking a student this ... ’
She wouldn’t tell me what to look for, but
she would help me ask the right question.”

Laipply credits Owens, her dissertation
adviser, with guiding her through the entire
research process. Where educational
research is concerned, she found herself
better able to read and evaluate research
as a result of Owens’ methods
and the ways in which she led Laipply
to think about research.
“It’s also sort of a situation where you can
evaluate the benefits versus the outcomes
of certain types of research, whether it’s
for the betterment of students or a
disadvantage of student,” Laipply says.
“Several doctoral students who were
unsure about their dissertation adviser are
glad they chose her for their adviser. She’s
very easy to work with. She’s always
upbeat. When you’re ready to throw in
the towel, she keeps you going.
“She’s definitely a mentor of mine.
She’s definitely a star in the College
of Education.”
21

Dr. Liping Liu’s influence on his students
is a profound one, if his influence on his
former students tells any kind of story.
Drs. Qingxiong Ma and Elizabeth
Grandon both studied under Liu at
former stops on the UA professor’s career.
Both are now blazing trails of their own as
professors in the world of
information systems.
22
For Ma, who has ongoing projects that
involve Liu, there were many crucial
lessons to be learned. Among them —
how to think critically, be dedicated and
work hard.
“Love students and try to be the best
teacher,” is the philosophy Ma, professor
of management information
systems at Central Missouri State
University, gleaned during his mentorstudent
relationship with Liu.
For Grandon, it was that and more. In
addition to her role as an assistant professor
in the accounting and computer
information systems department at
Emporia State University in Kansas,

Liping Liu
—curiosity and exploration
There may be a “shy” side to Dr. Liping Liu,
associate professor of management and information
systems, but he has plenty of students who would be willing
to do the talking for him. And if they don’t, maybe he’ll just
invent something to do it. In a way, he already has. Part of
the research being conducted by Liu at The University of
Akron involves artificial intelligence — systems that will
actually help people make better business decisions.
“Something I’m proud of is working on how to build a model
where a computer can make decisions as if a human being
were making the decisions,” Liu says. “It involves complex
choices and situations, and in many cases, how to make
approximations. The theory has been published in premier
journals and taught in the top Ph.D. programs in the nation.”
Liu is hoping his theory will reach more people with the
advent of an expert system that implements his theory. A
group of professors and students from five universities
is currently working to build such a system. He also is
often invited to deliver plenary speeches, colloquia and
seminars on his theory at international conferences and
research institutes.
Change is a forte for Liu, as evidenced by his prior work, the
influence of which is still felt years later. During his time at
Southern Illinois University, he redesigned that school’s
management information systems for the undergraduate
curriculum. Prior to that, he re-engineered the information
systems courses at Susquehanna University, which he says
generated a great deal of student marketability there.
published 32 articles in refereed journals
and 25 papers in books and proceedings.
He has served as a guest editor for
International Journal of Intelligent
Liu
Systems and a co-editor for Classic
Works on Dempster-Shafer Theory of Belief Functions.
He is currently serving on editorial boards and program
committees of many international journals and conferences.
Liu graduated early from his undergraduate program in
China and was one of just two recipients of the University
Merit Scholar award at Huazhong University of Science
and Technology. Additionally, he was the first crossuniversity
double-major scholar in China, attending
Wuhan University as well.
His successes are a product of finding questions rather
than finding answers. “It’s all based on curiosity,” Liu says.
“There are many questions to ask. Some questions make
you want to explore more. People ask questions and you
want to provide answers to them.”
And provide them, he has. For his students, Liu has inspired
them to chase and accomplish great things.
Liu joined The University of Akron in 2001. He has won many
teaching and research awards, including the Tip of the Hat
Award by students at Southern Illinois University. He has
Grandon
Ma
Grandon has the dual-role of wife and
mother at home, both of which she also
enjoyed while en route to earning a Ph.D.
Grandon explains, “Dr. Liu was the first
professor I worked with while studying for
my doctoral degree at Southern Illinois
University ... this (experience) had a
tremendous impact on my future career.
“It is not easy to be a doctoral student and
manage school tasks when someone has a
family, husband and kids,” she says. “By
working with Dr. Liu and observing him, I
learned how to manage my time wisely and
take care of my family at the same time.
Dr. Liu set a great example in my life.
“Working with him as a teacher and
research assistant was a rewarding
experience. I will never forget when he
said, ‘As researchers, we always need to be
thinking about research questions and
investigating different phenomena,’ I have
definitely taken his words with me.”
23

When students are asked to describe
Dr. Harridutt Ramcharran, words like
“passionate,” “sincere,” “professional,”
“honest” and “fair” are used with
regularity.
Amalia Coman is one who admires
Ramcharran and believes that her
24
graduate studies with him will pay off twofold.
Initially, she wants to work in a bank
and she knows that everything she has
learned in his classes will assist her in that
pursuit. However, her long-term goal is to
be at the head of a classroom teaching
others, and his influence in that area has
been profound.
“That (international business finance) class
with Dr. Ramcharran is actually the reason
why my M.B.A. concentration is finance,”
says Coman, who took the class as an
undergraduate student. “We are here to
learn and I appreciate that he is challenging
us. Real-life situations are not easy and I
think he is preparing us better for such

Harridutt
Ramcharran
—a worldly view of money
Dr. Harridutt Ramcharran is a prime example of
someone whose love and enthusiasm for his line of research
comes through in his conversations about it. Ramcharran speaks
with a smile on his face and excitement to his voice. An expert
in the realms of international business finance, international
banking, financial analysis and multinational corporate finance,
he enjoys digging into the money-driven world of big business.
Some of his recent publications include examining the impact of
political and economic risks on foreign investments and international
bank lending. Ramcharran’s current research interest is
analyzing the performance of emerging capital markets in terms
of the benefits of international portfolio diversification and the
quest of developing countries to find deepening domestic capital
markets. Country risk factors, volatility in capital flows and
contagion effects intrigue Ramcharran’s research investigations.
Most recently, Ramcharran, professor of finance and
international business, was nominated for The University of
Akron outstanding researcher award and was invited to
participate at the Oxford Roundtable Conference at Oxford
University. He is a two-time winner of the Finance Advisory
Board Faculty Research Excellence Award. In the late 1990s, he
was given the College of Business Administration’s Dean
Research Incentive Award three consecutive times.
Research Conference in Las Vegas. That
same year he was selected for Who’s Who In
Business Higher Education. And while those
Ramcharran
distinctions, particularly the Best Paper Award are, no doubt,
sources of pride, Ramcharran says that nothing quite compares
to being cited by other scholars. Recognition by peers, after all,
is the ultimate honor.
Perhaps Ramcharran has achieved an even more gratifying level
of recognition. It comes from his students, who rave about his
effectiveness, encouragement, and the way he is able to impart
this very complex area of study to them.
Sharing his wealth of knowledge is paramount among those
things Ramcharran lists as the best parts of teaching. And, in
return, he is gratified by the feedback he receives from his
students; he learns from them while they learn from him.
Motivating young people to achieve, then seeing them do it,
is his ultimate reward.
Ramcharran’s work, “Estimating Efficiency in the Foreign
Operations of the USA Legal Services Industry,” earned the Best
Paper Award at the 2003 International Business and Economics
Coman
Jurasek
situations. I hope I will be able to do just
as good of a job when I am a teacher.”
Denise Jurasek, another current graduate
student, believes that Ramcharran’s use of
real-life examples in the classroom to
illustrate his points is part of what makes
his teaching so effective. His vast body of
research in the world of finance, banking
international business provides him with
many examples from which to choose. “As
a student of finance, I better realize how
everything works together in the global
sense,” Jurasek says. “He was able to tie up
all the loose ends of how finance actually
works all over the world.” She also is
impressed with his level of commitment to
his students, adding “What I respected the
most was the time and effort he put in to
help his students out ... he was willing to
back up any student who worked hard in
his class.”
25

If you aren’t impressed by the work of Dr.
Constance Brittain Bouchard , she might just “get medieval” on
you. She feels that strongly about her field of study. For more
than a quarter of a century Bouchard, distinguished professor of
history and recently appointed department chair, has immersed
herself in the study of medieval Europe, even spending time in
archives throughout Europe, thus becoming a leading,
internationally renowned scholar of medieval history. For 15
years she has imparted that knowledge to students at The
University of Akron.
In her office, she pulls out a copy of an ancient parchment and
glows when talking about it. “You hold 12th century documents in
your hand ... just look at that,” she says enthusiastically. “Doesn’t
that make you want to be a medievalist This is something that
was written by somebody 850 years ago. You can hold it in your
hand! They want somebody to hear them and you hear them.
They’re dead; they can’t speak for themselves, you have to speak
for them. They have thousands of things that they want to say.
You’re the only one who can give them voice. You figure out
what they were trying to say and you put it in ways that people
now can understand.”
She is proud of her subject and of her department. Prior to
becoming the chair, Bouchard was the director of the graduate
program. “I had a chance to move on. I turned it down because
this is such a good department,” she says. “We can attract good
students. Our Ph.D.s since I’ve been graduate director have all
gotten honest-to-goodness real jobs in the field. So, they’re doing
better than I was doing when I was their age.”
Previous department chair, Dr. Stephen Harp, returns the good
will. ”Each year, Dr. Bouchard teaches an array of classes, from
advanced graduate to undergraduate general education courses,
bringing her unbridled enthusiasm for medieval history to UA
students at all levels,” Harp says.
Bouchard has been enamored with medieval history since she
followed her father on sabbatical to Europe during her senior
year of high school. “Just looking at the castles and the history,
I said, ‘This would be a good thing to be interested in,’”
Bouchard recalls. “I was a history major as an under-graduate.
I went to graduate school and now I can’t imagine not doing
medieval history.”
Upon graduating from the University of Chicago, where she
earned a master’s and a Ph.D. degree, Bouchard spent 14 years
bouncing through adjunct teaching jobs. By the time she joined
the University, she had already completed five books and was
promoted to full professor a mere six weeks later. Since coming
to Akron, her book output continues to increase, with an 11th
on the way.
Her current project involves tracking memory between the sixth
and ninth centuries and then illustrating how people in those
times remember and reshaped their own pasts. “The past
doesn’t stay there,” Bouchard says. “You keep re-imagining the
past to create the present day. It’s about the construction of the
useful past. It’s the sixth century re-imagining the fourth.”
The new book will add to a lengthy list of accomplishments for
Bouchard that includes being named a Fellow in the Medieval
Academy of America — a distinction shared by only 2 percent of
medievalists in North America — and being the first female
distinguished professor at The University of Akron. Bouchard is
also a Guggenheim Fellow and held a year-long membership at
the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.
But among all the honors and accolades, there’s something else
that stands out in Bouchard’s mind when it comes to her career.
“I’m most proud of the fact that I didn’t give
up in the 14 years that I didn’t have a real
job,” she says. “I didn’t give up and go to law
school or get a job in insurance. I love
medieval history. And I’ll keep doing medieval
history ‘til I keel over.”
Bouchard
Constance Brittain
Bouchard
—medieval memories
While Dr. Constance Bouchard may hold
medieval history in as high a regard as one
might imagine, her students appear to hold
her in even higher regard.
Patricia Turning is one of her
former students. Currently a
26
doctoral student completing her dissertation
at the University of California, Davis,
Turning feels Bouchard’s impact most
strongly as she considers her own level of
preparedness and compares herself with
the students around her who did not have
the benefit of learning under Bouchard.
“I feel as though I was substantially more
prepared for my graduate experience at
Davis than all of my colleagues because of

Dr. Bouchard,” Turning says. “I took my
qualifying exams and had my dissertation
prospectus approved about a year ahead of
my colleagues.”
Turning’s efforts are already paying off: she
was recently awarded the Birgit Baldwin
Fellowship, a one-year renewable
fellowship from the Medieval Academy of
America that supports research on
medieval French history in French archives
and libraries.
Turning 27

John C. Green
—mixes politics and religion
Roger Sommer refers to his studies with
Dr. John Green as a “work in progress.”
That’s fitting, since Green himself views his
research in that manner: a project he started
in 1980 will continue as long as elections
are held in the United States.
28
Sommer’s current research activities
compare the strength of state political
parties to those on the federal level.
“I would say that his mastery of the
different forces affecting the electoral
process has influenced me to make a more
strategic, rather than tactical, examination
of American politics; to search for the
answers behind the surface numbers and
data,” Sommer says.
He pointed to Green’s openness and
generosity as his mentor’s best attributes.

For Dr. John C. Green, director of The University
of Akron Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics and
distinguished professor of political science, the 2004 election
year could not have gone any better. And that has nothing to
do with who won or lost. While Green may have had a favorite,
it was the race, not the outcome, that was his focus.
Green is considered by many to be not only a fine political
scientist, but something of an election guru as well.
Religion and politics became a major focal point in Green’s
research in 1980 when he was working in South Carolina. One of
the United States’ most eagerly anticipated elections was taking
place — an election that featured a twist similar to what we
experienced in the 2004 campaign.
“One of the salient features that occurred in the 1980 election
was the rise of the ‘Moral Majority,’” the soft-spoken Green says.
“We were living in the south, arguably in the ‘buckle of the Bible
belt.’ We thought we ought to write a paper about it and do it
really quick, because everybody knows that religion doesn’t
matter in politics. Twenty-four years later, we’re still studying it.”
Ever since that 1980 campaign, Green has followed the Christian
right in detail. He surveys religious activists and his work has
included major studies of religion and politics. “There’s a
practical element to that,” he says. “Religion actually turns out to
be an extremely important part of what goes on in elections.”
Green compares himself — a professional political scientist who
studies the election process in a scientific fashion — to anyone
else who tracks things in a methodical manner, whether as
economists, sociologists or psychologists. However, Green
describes his teaching at the Bliss Institute as going beyond the
theoretical, dedicated study of the “nuts and bolts of grassroots
politics.” The idea behind his teaching is to bridge the gap
between the theoretical work of political scientists and the
practical concerns of politicians.
Green
Green wants his students to be able to bridge
that gap as well. And by his students, he means everyone. “I
think of everyone in the world as a potential student,” says
Green, the subject of frequent media requests for interviews.
“Some of them just happen to be enrolled in my classes. Some of
them are graduate students that I do research with. I think of the
broader public and journalists, and even politicians them-selves,
as potential students.”
Green lists two keys to being a successful teacher. One is “liking
folks,” a trait he clearly exhibits. The other is loving the subject
matter so much that “you can barely wait — you can barely
contain yourself — to tell people what you know. That’s how it is
with me.” Green’s efforts are appreciated — Dr. David Louscher,
chair of political science, reports that, not only is Green one of
the most prolific scholars in the college, he receives among the
highest teacher evaluation scores in the department as well.
As for his current students, Green enjoys sharing his research
efforts and refers to them as “junior colleagues.” He says that
while they collect the basic data, he wants them “to take
ownership of the project. I’m always open to their insights.
Research is much better if the people actually doing the work
have a commitment to the project.”
Green believes his students leave his program with an unparalleled
skill set. The department of political science offers a
master’s degree in applied politics, which is only available in a
handful of places nationwide. “At the risk of sounding arrogant,
the Bliss Institute is one of the unique things at The University of
Akron,” he says. “And I’m very proud of that. Very few universities
do what we do.”
Sommer
Perhaps he might want to add trust to that
list as well. Green allows his graduate
students a great deal of autonomy in
pursuing their research. Green doesn’t give
his graduate assistants rigid guidelines for
pursuing their research but works with
them to develop a schedule that helps them
achieve their goals.
“It was a great experience that I will be able
to apply to other areas of research,”
Sommer says.
Sommer reports that one of his greatest
lessons from Green is one rarely found in
the political world in which they are
immersed: humility.
“Dr. Green is always quick to point out
when an election fooled him or a prediction
did not pan out. He taught me that no
matter how well I know a particular subject,
there is always more to learn, to remember
to be humble and that we can
never know everything.”
29

Teaching and research may not always seem like fun
and games, but Dr. Lisa Park is working on it. In conjunction with
the Paleontological Council, Park is developing a game for
budding paleontologists. The game is part of a junior paleontologist
program that will allow children to venture into the field
of fossils in a fun and interesting way. However, Park, associate
professor of geology, still deals mostly with “big kids;” keeping it
fresh, fun and interesting for them is among her main objectives.
“I like when students get excited about what I’m excited about,”
Park says. “I like their enthusiasm and energy. Also, I learn
things when I teach. They might give me some insight. I’m always
learning, right there next to them.” Among Park’s projects have
been two books, with a third on the way. The project, “Lake
Faunas Through Time” involves creating a data base of all lake
deposits throughout history.
But when Park gets a gleam in her eye, literally, she’s talking
about the University’s acquisition of a Quanta 200 environmental
scanning electron microscope, as well as the joint creation of
the Center for Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy.
The learning tool was a product of a $250,000 grant secured by
Park and her colleague, Dr. David Black, one of two six-figure
grants she has landed. “Science, in general, is an area of
discovery,” Park says, adding that the microscope enables new
levels to be achieved. “It’s easy to study and get excited about it.
You learn and find new things every day.”
Funny she began learning these things at all. Park didn’t set out
to become a great researcher or paleontologist, necessarily. It
wasn’t until she spent a year abroad in Scotland that she learned
she had a lot of questions about life in
general, questions that could be answered
through paleontology.
Park
“I was always asking myself, ‘Who are we
Why are we here’,” Park recalls. “I went to visit a colleague at
the Natural History Museum in London and she showed me all
these fossils. In college, you struggle with ideas and things like,
how did the diversity of life originate ‘Part of this can be
answered,’ my colleague said. ‘You could spend your entire life
studying them.’”
The rest, as they say, was history. Or at least a form of it. Park
began a path that took her to the University of Arizona, where
she earned a doctorate. She is now in her 10th year at Akron and
says she learns things every day.
She has co-hosted an international paleontology conference
with experts from half a dozen countries attending, and has been
published more than 50 times. Geology department chair, Dr.
John Szabo, reports that she recently organized the best
colloquium series he’s seen during his 30 years in the
department. As one of the founding members of the
Palaeolimnology Division of the Geological Society of America,
Park is well-known in the geologic research community.
Of working at UA, Park says, “Our department has really had a
tremendous run this past six or seven years that I’ve been here.
The faculty is energized and doing great things. I’m happy to be
amid them and working with them.”
Szabo is equally pleased to have Park at The University of Akron.
He particularly notes Park’s involvement with both undergraduate
and graduate students — she has led several field
trips, including a much-attended trip to San Salvador Island in
the Bahamas, as well as visits to view rocks deposited in
lacustrine environments in the West.
“Teaching and research — I think they are things where you can
do a lot of work, individually and together,” Park says. “Colleges
keep things fresh. Students keep things fresh.”
Fox
Adams
For Phil Fox and Heather Adams,
working with Dr. Lisa Park has been about
more than studying and learning, but about
relationships and friendships.
Fox, who trades barbs with Park upon
stumbling across his mentor in a hallway,
says learning from Park meant
learning more than things about
30
invertebrate fossils, but about life lessons.
“I learned that when the chips are down
and your back is against the wall, you will
always have good friends such as her to
help you out,” he says.
Adams, also a student of Park’s, invokes
the term “friend” as well when speaking
of their student-teacher relationship.
“Dr. Park taught me that the two most
important things I can do are to keep
things in perspective and to balance
priorities,” she says. “She also gave me her
friendship, and that is something I will
cherish for many years.”
But it goes beyond that for both. Fox says
Park’s influence and knowledge of science

Lisa E. Park
—fun with fossils
are what led him to graduate school in the
first place. He also acknowledges Park’s
work ethic as something he wants to take
into his professional life.
Adams also says Park’s influence gave her
the confidence to further her education in
the field, adding that the personal attention
of her mentor enabled students to know
they were actually learning rather than
merely being taught.
“In addition to invaluable scientific
knowledge, Dr. Park has taught me that
compassion, patience and integrity are
virtues to live by,” Adams says.
Fox sums up the relationship between Park
and her students this way: “Her influence
on me and to anyone that has met her has
undoubtedly been positive.”
31

Stephen C. Weeks
—no fish story
Sadie Reed and Tom Sanderson are at
different levels of study, have different
academic goals and most likely will do
different things with their lives. However,
when it comes to detailing their time spent
working with Dr. Stephen Weeks, they
speak with a similar voice.
32
Both Reed, a Ph.D. candidate, and
Sanderson, a master’s student,
attribute much of their success as students
of science to Weeks.
“He helped me become a better writer,
deepened my understanding of the
scientific method and allowed me to
become a better biologist,” Sanderson says.
“He is always willing to work with me until
I understand something. He has saved me
several times from making mistakes by just
telling me that he has tried that before and
it didn’t work. I believe I gained a greater
understanding of the scientific process
from him.”
Reed takes things a few steps further. She
marvels at Weeks’ body of research, along
with his enthusiasm for the area of study.
She shares the latter and hopes to one day
emulate the former.

In the most basic of terms, all Dr. Stephen C. Weeks
wanted to do was to “swim with the fishes.” “Initially, I wanted
to be a ‘Jacques Cousteau’ kind of guy,” Weeks muses.
Translation A marine biologist.
You may surmise, based on his current locale of Akron, Ohio, that
the goal didn’t quite pan out. Yes, and no. There aren’t a boatload
of jobs in marine biology available, at least not the kind that
garner for you television specials on premium cable channels.
Weeks, professor of biology, found a different path and jumped
on it. The academic world, rather than the undersea world,
provides him with the opportunity, not only to teach aquatic
biology, but study it in depth, and he has done some groundbreaking
work in that area. In fact, Dr. Jerry Stinner, former chair
of the Department of Biology, reports that Weeks is known
internationally for his work in evolutionary ecology and
carcinology, and is emerging as one of the most prominent
researchers on large branchiopod crustaceans.
Weeks’ current work deals with hermaphroditic shrimp that live
in the desert. He actually began studying the evolution of marine
animals during his days as an undergraduate student at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. When he moved on to
UC, Riverside to work on a master’s degree, Weeks shifted to
fresh water, which represented a quantum leap for him.
“Before then, as an undergrad I wanted to deal with fish and
inter-tidal marine research. I didn’t really care what it was,” he
recalls. “I wanted to be near the beach. But you can’t really get a
job just doing that. Riverside was where I really started to
concentrate on questions, rather than on being a marine person
who just wanted to swim with the fishes.”
hermaphrodites and males amidst their
population in a rare mating system termed
“androdioecy.”
“We’re trying to understand what is it about
Weeks
these shrimp that allows them to do this,” he
said, alluding to the self-reproductive capability. It’s this kind of
question-and-answer, and discovery, that Weeks loves sharing
with his students.
“I’ve always liked working with things like this,” he says. “I like
the teaching more than I probably thought I would. I like
interacting with students a lot. The research itself is an everunfolding
series of mysteries. You make some inroads in some
areas, then open other holes and questions in other areas.
“Intellectually, it’s challenging and ongoing. That’s probably the
main thing — feeling like I had something to do with general
knowledge of (students).”
Weeks implores his students to stay focused on what they want
to do and keeping after it. He realized this in his own life. He
didn’t get to do exactly what he hoped to do, but that may have
turned out to be a blessing as his research led Weeks to
collaborate with colleagues in Japan, Taiwan, India, Australia,
Italy and Venezuela, and has him published in numerous
international journals.
“I guess I’ve carved out a niche and I’m a part of one of maybe
two or three groups that are working on androdioecious species
and who study the larger question of why hermaphrodites and
males co-exist,” he says. “It’s a big question.”
Once Weeks had his direction, he began studying shrimp.
Through the research, it was discovered that the various species
of this more than 250 million-year-old sea creature have
Reed
Sanderson
“His work ethic is evident in his prolific
research and writing, and he serves as an
excellent example for what I would like to
accomplish in this field,” she says. “His
enthusiasm for his research area is contagious
and by simply talking with him about
it, I find myself highly motivated to be
involved in the variety of projects he
undertakes. Not only is he an exemplary
role model of a scientist at this University,
but his activity in the science community
throughout the world has shown me the
myriad of possibilities open to me in
the future.”
Reed praises Weeks for his willingness to
allow student involvement in his highprofile
research projects, along with his
openness to students’ ideas. Weeks has
introduced her to influential people in the
field and accompanied her to Australia last
summer for a meeting.
“The role of an adviser is extremely
important in developing relationships
with others in the scientific community,”
Reed says. “I know I will be very well
trained to move on to the next
step of my career when I am
done with this program.”
33

Intellectual Property
In fiscal year 2004-2005, the following U.S. patents were issued to The University of Akron, bringing UA's total number of
patents issued to 241. More than $582,553 was received during that same period in licensing revenue from UA patents.
Catalytic Fixed Bed Reactor Systems for the Destruction of Contaminants in Water by Hydrogen Peroxide and Ozone
issued July 27, 2004, to Christopher M. Miller
Supramolecular Structures and Process for Making the Same
issued September 21, 2004, to Wiley J. Youngs, Claire A. Tessier, Peter L. Rinaldi, and Yanhui Niu
Sensorless Control of Switched Reluctance Electric Machines
issued October 5, 2004, to Iqbal Husain, Mohammad S. Islam, Sayeed A. Mir, and Tomy Sebastian
Photonic Processors and Optical Guiding Structures for Lightwave Applications, Systems, and Techniques
issued October 12, 2004, to George C. Giakos
Electrically Tunable Microlens Array Formed by Pattern Polymerization of
Photopolymerizable Mixtures Containing Liquid Crystals
issued November 9, 2004, to Thein Kyu and Domasius Nwabunma
Preservation of Biological Materials Using Fiber-Forming Techniques
issued November 23, 2004, to Daniel J. Smith, Woraphon Kataphinan, Darrell H. Reneker, and Sally Dabney
Addition of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons to Poly(Vinyl Chloride) and Functionalization Thereof
issued December 14, 2004, to Joseph P. Kennedy and Zhengjie Pi
Block Copolymers of Lactone and Lactam, Compatabilizing Agents, and Compatibilized Polymer Blends
issued December 28, 2004, to James L. White and Byong-Jun Kim
Polymerization, Compatibilized Blending, and Particle Size Control of Power Coatings In a Supercritical Fluid
issued February 1, 2005, to Sunggyu Lee, H. Bryan Lanterman, Paul Pettit, Jr., and Kathy L. Fullerton
Star Block Copolymers and Related Synthetic Methods
issued February 8, 2005, to Joseph P. Kennedy, Ralf M. Peetz, and Ahmed F. Moustafa
Nitric Oxide-Modified Linear Poly(Ethylenimine) Fibers and Uses Therefor
issued February 15, 2005, to Darrell H. Reneker and Daniel J. Smith
Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocomposites by Emulsion Polymerization
issued May 31, 2005, to William J. Brittain and Xinyu Huang
59
56
39
40
39
35
36
23
26
23
26
24
17
17
23
Disclosures Received
Total U.S. Patent Filed
New U.S. Patents Filed
U.S. Patents Issued
12
11
12
10
12
34
FY 2001 FY 2002 FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2005
Source: AUTM Licensing Surveys

Facts and Figures
Fiscal Years 2001-2005 Grants and Contracts
Total Federal S tate P ri vate/Local
FY 2005 $27, 537, 869 $14,249,194 $5,947,802 $7,340,873
FY 2004 $30, 474, 903 $15,747,614 $4,935,152 $9,792,137
FY 2003 $29, 287, 108 $12,664,633 $4,856,926 $11,765,549
FY 2002 $29, 188, 634 $14,780,204 $6,957,284 $7,451,146
FY 2001 $23, 775, 191 $13,265,050 $5,144,272 $5,365,869
FY 2005
FY 2004
FY 2003
Federal
Private/Local
State
FY 2002
FY 2001
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
2004-2005 Sources of Funding
State 22%
2004-2005 Federal Funding
Local/Private 27%
$4,500,000
$4,000,000
$3,500,000
29.0%
$3,000,000
$2,500,000
16.3%
Federal 52%
$2,000,000
$1,500,000
12.5%
11.8%
10.5%
$1,000,000
6.6%
5.8%
$500,000
2.8%
2.8%
1.9%
$0
NSF DoED Federal passthrough
NASA DoL DHHS DoE DoD HUD Other
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Department of Education (DoED)
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
Department of Labor (DoL)
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
Department of Energy (DoE)
Department of Defense (DoD)
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Other: Departments of Commerce and the Interior;
National Endowment for the Humanities; Appalachian Regional Commission
35

2001-2005 Recipients
of The University of Akron
Outstanding Researcher Award
2005
Dr. Sonia Alemagno
Associate Professor,
Public Administration and Urban Studies
Dr. Rex D. Ramsier
Professor, Physics and Chemistry
2004
Dr. Mark D. Foster
Professor, Polymer Science
Dr. Chrys Wesdemiotis
Professor, Chemistry
2003
Dr. Shelley O. Baranowski
Professor, History
Dr. Paul C. D. Han
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich Endowed Professor,
Polymer Engineering
2002
Dr. Kathleen L. Endres
Distinguished Professor, Communication
Dr. Darrell H. Reneker
Professor, Polymer Science
2001
Dr. William J. Brittain
Professor, Polymer Science
Dr. Brian F. Pendleton
Professor, Sociology
36

The University of Akron
Office of the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School
Goodyear Polymer Center
170 University Circle, Room 530
Akron, Ohio 44325-4717
330-972-6458 phone
330-972-2413 fax
http://www.uakron.edu/research
The University of Akron is the public research
university for Northern Ohio. Founded in 1870, it
is the only public university in Ohio with a
science and engineering program ranked in the
top five nationally by U.S. News & World Report.
The University of Akron excels in such areas as
polymer science, global business, marketing and
intellectual property law.
Approximately 187 U.S. patents were issued to
The University of Akron between 1990 and 2005.
UA is ranked second in Ohio and in the top 10
nationally for the number of patent disclosures
produced per $10 million in total research
funding, according to a survey of higher learning
institutions conducted by the Association of
University Technology Managers.
Research and other sponsored program awards
exceeded $30 million in fiscal 2004, with active
inquiries pursued in all 10 of the University’s
degree-granting colleges. The National Science
Foundation ranks Akron among the top 50
institutions doing chemical research in terms of
research and development spending. UA’s
College of Polymer Science and Polymer
Engineering is the nation’s largest single center
of polymer education, serving more than 300
graduate students.
In addition to creating new knowledge, The
University of Akron is committed to programs
that foster the protection and management of
research results. The School of Law is home to
the Intellectual Property and Technology Center,
one of approximately 14 such centers in
the nation, and lead by internationally recognized
faculty and advisers. UA’s College of
Business Administration is included in the 2005
edition of The Princeton Review’s Best 143
Business Schools.
Approximately 3,800 graduate and 16,200
undergraduate students enrolled at The
University of Akron in 2004. The University offers
more than 350 associate, bachelor’s, master’s,
doctoral and law degree programs and 100
certificate programs at sites in Summit, Wayne,
Medina and Holmes counties.
In 2004, The University of Akron completed its
$300 million New Landscape for Learning
campus enhancement program with 9 new
buildings, 14 major renovations and 30 additional
acres of green space. The new facilities include
two classroom buildings, an Honors Complex, a
Student Union, a Student Recreation and
Wellness Center and an Athletic Field House.
For more information, visit www.uakron.edu.
George R. Newkome, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research and Dean, Graduate School
Oelschlager Professor of Science and Technology
Professor of Polymer Science and Chemistry
Dolli Quattrocchi Gold, M.A.Ed.
Assistant to the Vice President for Research and Dean, Graduate School
Graphic Design and Layout, Editor
Todd Stumpf, B.A.
Graduate Student, School of Communication
Writer and Photographer
The University of Akron is an Equal Education and Employment Institution
© 2005 by The University of Akron