Participating U-M Faculty, Courses, & Prompts

Pete Bodary is a clinical assistant professor of Applied Exercise Science and Movement Science and director of Innovative Teaching and Learning at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. Prior to his time at U-M, Dr. Bodary was an assistant professor at Wayne State University after completing his PhD in Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Mitchell Dudley teaches in the department of economics; industrial organization; and environmental and resource economics. His interests lie in economics education, as well as the policy and economics of environmental and natural resource topics. He specializes in introductory courses, including principles of microeconomics, principles of macroeconomics, and environmental and resource economics. Dr. Dudley’s research focuses on fisheries and other marine resource topics.

Megan Eagle, a clinical instructor in the department of health behavior and biological sciences, has been a Family Nurse Practitioner in primary care, working with uninsured and other vulnerable families, since 1995. She received her MS in Nursing from UCSF, and her MPH in Epidemiology from UM School of Public Health She has been a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Nursing since 2000. She currently teaches in the primary care nurse practitioner programs at the graduate level and undergraduate elective courses in Global Health, including N420 Introduction to Global Health. Her research and clinical interests center around community-based interventions to improve maternal health and chronic disease prevention. She also serves as deputy director of the PAHO/WHO collaborating center, where she facilitates the work of various UMSN faculty members in helping PAHO and the WHO strengthen nursing and midwifery throughout the region.

Barbara Koremenos, professor in the department of political science at the University of Michigan, completed her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Koremenos received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for her research—the first such winner to study international relations and law. She focuses on the tens of thousands of international agreements that states negotiate, conclude, sign, and implement.

Kristin Koutmou, Seyhan N. Ege Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Gavin LaRose is Karen Rhea Collegiate Lecturer and instructional technology program manager in the department of mathematics at the University of Michigan. He completed his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Northwestern University, and taught at Nebraska Wesleyan University before moving to Michigan. He is involved in many aspects of the educational program in the Michigan Department of Mathematics, including use of MWrite in Math 216, the integration of mastery assessment in the Department's Introductory Program courses, and the Department’s new instructor training program for all new graduate students and (primarily postdoctoral) faculty.

Professor McKay is a data scientist, drawing inference from large data sets, and has conducted research in two main areas: observational cosmology and higher education. He is a professor in the physics department and has also been an academic administrator in the University of Michigan (UM) College of Literature Science and the Arts, leading the 1800 student honors program from 2008-2016, becoming Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in 2019. In astrophysics, McKay's main research tools have been the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Dark Energy Survey, and the simulations which support them both. His team used these tools to probe the growth and nature of cosmic structure as well as the expansion history of the Universe, especially through studies of galaxy clusters and gravitational lensing. He has also studied astrophysical transients, including gamma-ray bursts, as part of the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment. In education research, he leads the ECoach project, a Co-I of the Mellon College and Beyond II project, and PI of the Sloan Equity and Inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses or SEISMIC project.

Dr. Jack Miller is a Statistics Education Specialist who joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in Fall 2013. Prior to the University of Michigan, Dr. Miller was a Statistics Education Specialist at The Ohio State University (2003-2013) and was on the faculty of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Drury University (2000-2003). Dr. Miller is interested in the teaching of statistics and in training future teachers of statistics and is particularly interested in leveraging technology for student learning and understanding. Dr. Miller was awarded an EAGER grant from the National Science Foundation for “Researching the HyFlex+ Instructional Model of Blended Learning” (NSF DUE 15-44337).

Dr. Olsen is a professor in the department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Her research focuses on the assembly of peroxisomes, which are small organelles present in all eukaryotes. A combination of cell biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology are used to investigate the mechanisms of protein transport into peroxisomes. Recent projects have included the development of an in vitro assay to reconstitute import, characterization of the energetics and chaperones involved in the process, and studies on the molecular mechanisms responsible for import of proteins along different import pathways. Most recently, the Olsen lab has begun a collaborative project to define the proteome of plant peroxisomes and to investigate the novel proteins discovered with this approach. In addition to being an intrinsically interesting basic biological problem, an understanding of protein trafficking in cells is critical as scientists design strategies to genetically engineer crop plants. It also provides an experimental vehicle to investigate the mistargeting of peroxisomal proteins, which is the cause of many severe neurological disorders in humans. Dr. Olsen’s research lab has closed as she became involved in other administrative activities, including directing the Michigan Research and Discovery Scholars living-learning community.

Alicia Romero is a lecturer in the statistics department. She completed her Ph.D. at Arizona State University. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Alicia was a faculty member in the Mathematics Department at Ithaca College in New York. Her interests are in Statistical Education focusing on the use of technology to enhance teaching and the learning process.

Perry Samson is professor of atmospheric science in the College of Engineering and professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Prof. Samson has been awarded an Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship for his contributions to undergraduate education and has been previously named Professor of the Year in the State of Michigan. Prof. Samson is an innovator of classroom technologies and is co-founder of The Weather Underground, a global website for weather information, and LectureTools, a technology for interactive student engagement.

Ginger Shultz, Co-PI for MWrite, is an assistant professor of chemistry. Her research is aimed at understanding the teaching and learning of college level chemistry. A current area of interest is understanding the ways in which writing contributes to learning in science.

Professor Violi is a professor of mechanical, chemical, biomedical engineering, macromolecular science and engineering, applied physics, and biophysics. Her research group uses computer simulations to discover the fundamental principles that drive the interactions of nanomaterials and biological systems and how to engineer new materials to guide these interactions. Examples of applications include the development of models to predict the formation of nanomaterials in plasma conditions and the development of new nanomaterials to fight antimicrobial resistance. She uses molecular dynamic simulations, statistical mechanics, Monte Carlo methods and machine learning approaches as tools of investigation.