PLATTSBURGH - A SUNY Plattsburgh professor is the recipient of a prestigious teaching award from President Barack Obama.
Obama awarded Nancy Elwess the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Elwess will be honored at a White House reception this fall. She is one of a handful of college faculty from across the country to receive this award.
The award is designed to recognize the role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science or engineering and who belong to minorities that are underrepresented in those fields.
"By offering their time, encouragement and expertise to these students, mentors help ensure that the next generation of scientists and engineers will better reflect the diversity of the United States," the White House said in a prepared statement.
"During her time at SUNY Plattsburgh, Elwess has developed a reputation for her advanced work with undergraduate students as she helps them conduct DNA research," said SUNY Plattsburgh President John Ettling. "Nearly 100 of her students have given presentations at national and international conferences, and many have brought home top honors. Scientists and faculty from other institutions are amazed at the high-level, quality work these undergraduates are doing."
Before coming to SUNY Plattsburgh, Elwess served as a senior research fellow in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Prior to that, she was a junior high science teacher in Lansing, Ill. She has been the recipient of many awards including the 2008-2009 Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher Award by the Society for College Science Teachers, the National Association of Biology Teachers' National College Research/Teaching Award, a State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and alumni achievement awards from both Purdue and the University of Vermont. She was also named to Who's Who Among American Teachers and Educators in 2007.
Elwess also serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation on Minority Post Doctoral Grants to the Biological Sciences, is a member of the board of directors of alumni associations at the Mayo Clinic and Eastern Illinois University, and is once again training for the Ironman in Lake Placid. She has a doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Vermont; a master's in molecular biology from Purdue University and a master's in science education from Governors State University, as well as bachelor's from Eastern Illinois University.
Elwess's students have been working to unlock the mysteries of the past as they analyze the DNA from skeletons of ancient Maya. Her students are also working to unlock mysteries of the present, studying a recently found gene that exists in paramecium (single-celled organisms) that may tell them more about evolution. Others have just completed a joint project, working with Elwess, Adjunct Lecturer Sandra Latourelle and members of the college's psychology department - SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Jeanne Ryan and professor William Tooke. They searched for links between an individual's genes, aggressive behavior and the ratio of one finger to another. Their results will be released soon.
This sort of work has led to SUNY Plattsburgh undergraduates winning top honors for poster presentations at both the National Association of Biology Teachers and International Sigma Xi conferences four years in a row. In addition, many of Elwess's students have also gone on to pursue higher degrees in the field, being accepted into schools like Yale and the University of Oregon. And Elwess is committed to providing these opportunities for a wide-range of students.
"I don't want to deny any student an opportunity, and I try my hardest to find funding for them to have an opportunity, whether it's for travel or for a meaningful research project - one that clearly has never been done before," Elwess said.
In offering this award, President Obama stressed the importance of their work.
"There is no higher calling than furthering the educational advancement of our nation's young people and encouraging and inspiring our next generation of leaders," Obama said. "These awards represent a heartfelt salute of appreciation to a remarkable group of individuals who have devoted their lives and careers to helping others and in doing so have helped us all."
"Our faculty are here because they love to teach, and Dr. Elwess is certainly one of my best," said Dr. Kathy Lavoie, the college's dean of arts and sciences, who nominated Elwess for the award. "She is creative and energetic, and has really launched many of our graduates into careers as teachers, physicians, and researchers. She models enthusiasm and an active style of teaching that we want to see our students use, whether they are formal classroom teachers or informal teachers of their own children. Science is fun, and that is sometimes lost in all the jargon and details unless you have an exceptional teacher like Nancy Elwess."
