Hans-Conrad zur Loye
Past President
U. of South Carolina
803-777-6916
Dr. zur Loye is the David W. Robinson Palmetto Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree at Brown University in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. He spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University before starting as an assistant professor in the Chemistry Department of MIT in 1989. In 1996 he moved to the University of South Carolina where his research interests focus on the area of inorganic materials chemistry, in particular the synthesis of inorganic/organic coordination polymers, the crystal growth of new oxide materials and, more recently, the preparation of polymer nanocomposites. He has published over 250 papers and reviews. He received the Exxon Award in Solid State Chemistry in 1994 and is currently an associate editor for the Journal of Solid State Chemistry and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Alloys and Compound.
Dr. zur Loye has been a member of the South Carolina Academy of Sciences since 2000, when he started his involvement as a councilor. He became president in 2005 and is currently the editor for the Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Sciences.
In his free time he enjoys white water kayaking and scuba diving.
Justin Wyatt
Vice-President
College of Charleston
843-953-6587
Justin Wyatt earned is Bachelor's degree from Oregon State University and then went on to earn his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in the area of organic chemistry. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the College of Charleston where he enjoys working with undergraduates in both teaching and research. His research is focused in the areas of antibiotic synthesis, microwave enhanced reactions, and synthesis of tetrahydrofolate derivatives.
Justin presently serves as
the Vice President of the South Carolina Academy of Sciences.
This position involves coordinating the 2010 Annual Meeting
which will be held in Justin's hometown of Charleston next year.
He also serves on the 2009 Annual Meeting Committee, helping to
coordinate the SC Science, Technology and Health Conference.
Dave Gangemi
Immediate Past-President
Clemson University
864-723-1041
A graduate of Clemson University and devout Tiger fan, Dave Gangemi earned his B.S. in Microbiology. He acquired his PhD. in Virology/Immunology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in 1973. After completing a post-doc at the University of West Virginia, Dave began a career of teaching. He began his teaching career at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, where he would later tenure and be awarded “Professor of the Year for Teaching Excellence” by his students twice, once in 1983 and again 1985. He received the “Faculty Member of the Year” in 1987 at the School of Medicine. Continuing to be a favorite of the students, Dave was awarded the O'Neill Barrett Teaching Excellence Award (this award is given to the faculty member who has had the most signifi¬cant impact on a class during the entire four years of medical school) in 1991-1992. Throughout his career, Dave has taught as a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, University of South Carolina School of Public Health, Clemson University, Medical University of South Carolina as well as the School of Dental Medicine at MUSC.
At the same time he began his teaching career, Dave also began his career in the US Army Reserves, working as a researcher in the Dept. of Virus Diseases at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research. His areas of interest included viral pathogenesis, antiviral chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Dave was awarded the Department of the Army Commendation Medal during his first year of service. In 2005 he was appointed as a Senior Science Fellow and Assistant Secretary for Defense for Health Affairs. In addition to his work as a researcher and professor, Dave has held consultant appointments with Marion Laboratories, Charles Pfizer and Ciba-Geigy in Basel Switzerland. He has served as a board member with the South Carolina Research Authority, Defense for Health Affairs, Iowa State Botanical Center and the Drug Innovation and Design Corporation. Dave has had a long career with the South Carolina Academy of Science and served as the Academy’s president in the 2008-2009 year, helping to plan the largest Conference the Academy has ever taken part in. He now serves as the Immediate Past President, helping to orient our new leadership and secure funding for the operations of the Academy.
James Powell
Business Manager
USC School of Medicine
803-873-2098
James earned his bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College, in Pennsylvania. There, he doubled majored in Business Management and Biology. During his time at Gettysburg, he also studied overseas at the Institute d'American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France, in an International Business program. After graduating, he moved to, and worked in Geneva, Switzerland for a year.
Returning to the United States, James moved to Columbia, South Carolina to pursue his M.S. degree in Biomedical Science at the U. South Carolina School of Medicine.
James' thesis work is in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. The work is focused around the arterial disease, restenosis, which is neointimal hyperplasia growth in arteries of patients who have undergone translumenal angioplasty. His specific project deals with characterizing the role of CPLA-2, and its putative effects on smooth muscle cell migration in the progression of the disease.
Next year, James will be starting school at USC School of Medicine as a medical student, on track to achieve his M.D. with the class of 2014. James has been taking on the role of the Business Manager for the Academy, heavily immersing himself in the Academy's new website, newsletter, planning and preparation for Workshops as well as the Annual Meeting.
In his spare time, James enjoys backpacking
the Appalachian Trail, rock climbing, cycling, running, diving and traveling.
James Privett
USC Sumter
803-938-3758
Dr. James E. Privett is Professor of Chemistry and Physics and Chair of the Division of Science, Mathematics and Engineering at USC Sumter. He won the South Carolina Governor’s Professor of the Year Award for 2005-2006 for two-year campuses. In addition he has won the USC Sumter Student Government Association Teacher of the Year Award at USC Sumter seven times (1990-91, 1991-92, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1998-99, 2001-02, and 2003-04). Also, he won the Distinguished Teaching Award for South Carolina Regional Campuses twice (1990-91, 1991-92) before it was discontinued after 1992. He was presented with the Hugh T. Stoddard, Sr., Award in 1991 for distinguished services to USC Sumter. In 1994, his outstanding teaching was recognized with a certificate from the South Carolina House of Representatives. In November, 2005, the South Carolina Science Council honored him with the Dori Helms Award which is given to the individual who has made significant and lasting contributions to the education of science teachers in the state of South Carolina.
Dr. Privett has performed extensive public service through his work with the South Carolina Academy of Science (SCAS), the South Carolina Jr. Academy of Science (SCJAS) and the Middle Elementary School Academy of Science (MESAS). He became the State Judging Coordinator for the South Carolina Jr. Academy of Science in 1992 and served in that role until 2003. He resumed the role of State Judging Coordinator in 2007. As Judging Coordinator for the SCJAS, he has developed a highly qualified program for recognizing outstanding research by high school students in this state. In 1998, Dr. Privett received the Michener Service Award for outstanding service to the SCJAS. In 2001, he received special recognition and a plaque from SCAS for outstanding dedication and service as Judging Coordinator for SCJAS. Dr. Privett was elected to the Board of SCAS and has served in that role for over 12 years. He was elected as Vice President of SCAS in 2003, became President-Elect in 2004, and President in 2005.
Pearl Fernandes
Publicity Committee Chair
USC Sumter
803-938-3725
A native of Bombay, India, Pearl Fernandes earned her BS degree in Life Sciences and her MS degree in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics from Bombay University, India. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of South Carolina Columbia.
Pearl is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of South Carolina Sumter and an Affiliate Faculty in Women’s Studies at the University of South Carolina Columbia. At USC Sumter, she has won the Teacher of the Year award twice and received the Outstanding Faculty Award. Her research with undergraduates focuses on water quality issues in wetlands in Sumter County and using molecular and cellular methods to identify field Peromyscus species.
Pearl has served nationally on the American Society for Cell Biology Minority Affairs Committee and is on the Leadership Council for the South Centers of Innovation. She has been active in the South Carolina Junior Academy of Sciences and Region II Science Fair for several years, and recently joined the South Carolina Academy of Sciences Board where she chairs the Publicity Committee. Her spare time is spent traveling locally and internationally, expanding her interest in nutrition to sample and cook ethnic food, and hiking in the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Radman M. Ali
Morris College
803-934-3266
Dr. Radman M. Ali is the Chairman of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Morris College, Sumter, South Carolina. He obtained his BS degree in Zoology and MS degree in microbiology both from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
After teaching for four years at Morris College, he moved to Clemson where he earned his doctorate in animal physiology. Dr. Ali continues to teach and administer, and to implement federally-funded projects such as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), and the Louis Stokes- South Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-SCAMP) program.
Dr. Ali has served the South Carolina Academy of Science both as Chairman of the “South Carolina Teacher of the Year” Committee and as a councilor since the 1980s. He is a lifetime member of the Academy. He involves his students in the activities of the Academy, especially by attending and presenting at the annual meetings.
Brianna Timmerman
U. South Carolina
803-777-0822
Dr. Timmerman's background is in both biology (MS and PhD in fungal population biology from the University of Washington) and science educational research (PhD from Curtin University). Her current research focuses on the mechanisms by which students develop scientific reasoning skills and the effect of peer review on student scientific writing. Recently funded work also includes investigating the means by which science, engineering and math graduate students develop both research and teaching skills.
As an Associate Dean in the SC Honors College, she is responsible for facilitating and encouraging undergraduate research across a wide variety of disciplines. She is relatively new to the Academy, but looking forward to contributing to both the online journal and the general mission of increasing student participation in research at all levels.
Karin Beaty
Midlands Technical College
803-822-3445
Kari Beaty graduated
Summa Cum Laude from North Carolina State University with a
BS in Mathematics Education. She got her Master's Degree
from Winthrop University and did her doctoral work in
Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Mathematics
Education at Virginia Tech.
While at Virginia Tech, Kari had the privilege of working
with several of her professors on an NSF grant relating to
how teachers learn to teach mathematics. She had her first
experience speaking at an international conference. Now
Kari teaches for the mathematics department at Midlands
Technical College where she is site co-coordinator for the
Diverse Pathways to Teacher Quality grant.
Kari has served as a councilor to the South Carolina Academy
of Science for more than 10 years. Kari currently chairs
the Necrology committee and often speaks, writes, or judges
math events for SCJAS. For many years Kari was chair of the
two-year college committee.
Few people know that when Kari is not busy in her role as
math teacher, she enjoys acting, especially doing character
value education for children.
Tammy Taylor
SCJAS Program Director
Midlands Technical College
803-822-3356
Tammy earned her Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Clemson University in 1981 and a Master’s degree in Microbiology in 1983. After graduation she moved to Chattanooga, TN and worked in Quality Control for Dr. Scholl’s Company. In 1984 she moved to Columbia and worked for DHEC in the Bureau of Laboratories for six years as a microbiologist. She is currently a Biology Professor at Midlands Technical College teaching Anatomy and Physiology and many other courses to health care students. In November she became involved with SC Academy of Science and currently serves at the SCJAS Program Director.
Personally she has been married for 23 years and has eighteen year old twins starting college in the Fall. In her spare time or many weekends, she attends cheerleading competitions with her daughter and cross country meets with her son. She enjoys traveling out west to snow ski and spending time at Surfside Beach, SC. Tammy and her family, in the last five years, have visited and hiked in most of the National Parks in the US. Her favorite past times at home are cooking and watching HGTV.
Dave Stroup
Francis Marion University
Dr. David J. Stroup is Palmetto Professor of Biology, a plant biologist, and a member of the Department of Biology at Francis Marion University. Dr. Stroup received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. Dr. Stroup has authored over 50 publications, he is the author of several books and lab manuals, including the National Association of Biology Teachers Monograph, Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Biology. Dr. Stroup has also taught the National Science Foundation sponsored Chautauqua Short Course, Critical Thinking in Science Teaching.
He has served on the Board of The South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. In 1992 he received the SCJAS Service Award. Dave has served the South Carolina Academy of Science as Councilor, Secretary, Vice President, and President. He conducted the SCAS Annual Meeting in Charleston, SC. As a result of his teaching, research and service, Dr. Stroup received the 2004 Governor's Award for Excellence in Science.
Lucia Pirisi-Creek
President
lucia.pirisi-creek@uscmed.sc.edu
Lucia Pirisi-Creek, born in Italy 53 years ago, married and the mother of two, is Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. She received her M.D. degree in Italy in 1983 and moved to the USA in 1985 as an NIH Fogarty Visiting Scientist, to conduct basic cancer research at the National Cancer Institute. She moved to South Carolina in 1987, to become Assistant Professor of Pathology at the USC School of Medicine in 1988. She is the author or co-author of 56 scientific publications, and has mentored numerous Ph.D., Master, and Undergraduate students in research. Dr. Pirisi-Creek co-directs with her husband and collaborator, Dr. Kim E. Creek, an active, extramurally-funded research program focusing on cervical cancer and its major causative agent, human papillomavirus (HPV). In 2004, she became Senior Faculty Associate for Biomedical Research with the Vice President for Research at USC, and in that capacity, served as Interim Deputy Director of the Research Division of the South Carolina Cancer Center for two years. She currently directs the SC INBRE program, a $ 17.3 million state-wide program funded by the National Institute for Research Resources to support biomedical research infrastructure and training at primarily undergraduate institutions in South Carolina. Dr. Pirisi-Creek is a founding member, and the Secretary/Treasurer of the International Papillomavirus Society. She was head-organizer of the 17th International Papillomavirus Conference, the major annual meeting in her main research field, in Charleston, SC, in 1999 (with Drs. Kim Creek, Thomas R. Broker and Louise Chow). She also has a research interest in the breast cancer field. Dr. Pirisi-Creek is President Elect of the South Carolina Academy of Science.
Among Dr. Pirisi-Creek’s interests outside of science are music (piano), poetry (her first collection of poems, entitled “The Nature of Things”, was recently published) and dance. In 2003, she spearheaded the formation of the South Carolina Multicultural Arts Center, Inc., (SC McAC: on the web at www.scmcac.org) of which she is President. Through the SC McAC, she has organized and directs “Artists Against Breast Cancer”, a research, education and outreach program that uses the arts to promote breast cancer awareness. In the Spring, 2008, the SC McAC and Vibrations Dance Company organized the first “South Carolina Contemporary Dance Festival” a very successful series of contemporary dance master classes, workshops and performances attended by over 80 students from all over the Midlands, and featuring three nationally-known dance masters alongside the very best that SC has to offer in terms of contemporary dance (www.sccdancefestival.com).
Tom Reeves
Past President
SCJAS Executive Director
Tom Reeves attended the University of South Carolina where he received his BS and MS in Biology and later a PhD in Science Education. He taught science for ten years at Brookland-Cayce High School and for the past nineteen years has taught biology at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, S.C. while also serving as an adjunct professor of biology at the University of South Carolina. His research interests have included taxonomic botany as well as innovative approaches in science education. As a high school biology teacher, Tom served as mentor to more than 100 student research projects, most of which were then presented at the SCJAS annual meetings. At Midlands Technical College, Tom developed Biology 290 the first science research internship offered in the technical college system.
Tom served as Executive Director of the South Carolina Junior Academy of Science for six years and President of the SCAS in 2007. He has been a member of the SCAS for more than 25 years. Over the years, Tom has received the Governor’s Distinguished Professor Award from Midlands Technical College, the Helms Citation of Excellence from the South Carolina Science Council, and the Governor’s Award for Science Awareness from the South Carolina Academy of Science.
In his spare time, Tom enjoys trying to keep up with his daughters, three-year old Brantley and one-year old Colbey and playing guitar, keyboards, and harmonica.
Vivian Counts
Benedict College
Vivian earned her BA in Chemistry from Fisk University in 1976. She later went on to graduate Cum Laude with an MS in Chemistry from Howard University in 1981. She performed additional study at New York University, University of South Carolina and the University of Florida. She has been employed at Benedict College as a chemistry faculty, Director and Coordinator, South Carolina AMP Program . Program Coordinator Benedict College Health Careers Opportunity Program, Director of Xerox Educational Assistance Scholarship Program, Director of the J.S. Scott Middle School Summer Laboratory Science and Mathematics Enrichment Program Organizations - SC. Academy of Science, American Chemical Society, National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, Beta Kappa Chi.