Congratulations to our Educational Recognition Award Winning Faculty!

The Educational Recognition Awards are an annual tradition at UMass Chan that celebrates “the dedication, passion and creativity of faculty.” Recipients are nominated and chosen by their fellow faculty, and students also help determine the awardees each year. We are honored to have three of the awardees this year be from the BMB department. To celebrate their achievements, we conducted brief interviews of each of our 2023 awardees.

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Nick Rhind, PhD – “Educational Service Award” 

(co-awardee with Allison Keeler-Klunk, PhD)

This award “recognizes the faculty member or members whose committed service has positively impacted the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences learning environment.”

What specific works/policies/projects are you being recognized for?
I am not really sure.  I run the Cell Cycle class, and have done so for over 10 years, but that is not really more than a lot of other faculty do.  The email cited my “willingness to go the extra mile for your students, your one-on-one approach and otherwise being actively engaged both inside and out of the classroom”.
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Why is mentoring/education so important to you?
Figuring out stuff, which is what we are all here to do, is only useful if you can explain it to others. Teaching is a critical and very satisfying way to share discoveries, mostly those of others, but also occasionally one’s own.
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Do you have previous mentors that you try to emulate in your work today?
I had great teachers in grad school, in particular Jasper Rine and Kathryn Anderson.
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Any acknowledgements?
All of the other faculty who teach in Cell Cycle, including fellow BMBer Peter Pryciak.

Sean Ryder, PhD – “Faculty Award”

This award recognizes “outstanding contributions in the lecture and classroom settings.”

What specific works/policies/projects are you being recognized for?

I’ve been notified that I will receive the “Faculty Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Lecture and Classroom Setting”.  I’m not sure who nominated me or for what teaching activities I am being recognized. During my time at UMass Chan, I’ve been involved in the teaching of 13 different courses. Last year these include SIBR and Cellular Biochemistry for graduate students and Building Working Cells & Tissues for medical students.

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Why is mentoring/education so important to you?

I love to teach. I love brainstorming with students. Many times students will ask me questions that I hadn’t considered, or notice details that I had overlooked. I love the back and forth of teaching, working on problems together, and coming up with new and interesting hypotheses. It’s also fun to share the history and context of a scientific discovery, because every major new finding seems to come from a moment of surprise.

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Do you have previous mentors that you try to emulate in your work today?

I’ve been blessed to have many wonderful teachers in the past, many of whom I admire. Having said that, when I teach I find I am most effective when I am 100% honest with myself and with the students. I try to just be myself and hope I can convey information clearly.

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Any acknowledgements?

Thanks to all of the amazing students I’ve worked with over the years, the faculty I’ve co-taught with who have inspired me through their creativity and craft, and the family that inspired curiosity in me as a young boy.

Brian Kelch, PhD – “Faculty Award”

This award recognizes “outstanding research mentoring and commitment to student professional advancement.”

What specific works/policies/projects are you being recognized for?

I received the Faculty Award for outstanding research mentoring and commitment to student professional development. I was nominated by faculty, students and postdocs (apparently). 

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Why is mentoring/education so important to you?

I love the process of training and mentoring scientists. I particularly enjoy the process of watching them develop their scientific and critical thinking skills. This becomes extremely gratifying when you observe a student make their first major discovery and their face lights up with the realization that they have extended the limits of human knowledge. Pure gold. 

I also aim to mentor the trainee as a whole learner, not just in the scientific skills, but also professional skills such as communication, the business of science etc. These skills are often overlooked but are extremely important for someone to develop into a scientist and citizen who is well-rounded and thoughtful. 

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Do you have previous mentors that you try to emulate in your work today?

I have benefited from having wonderful mentors in the past: 

·      My undergrad mentor (Dr. Martin Bollinger; PSU) showed me that I shouldn’t try to curb my enthusiasm for science. Lean into the enthusiasm. 

·      My graduate advisor (Dr. David Agard; UCSF) exhibited a fearlessness in tackling a variety of new and difficult projects that I try to emulate with my trainees. 

·      My postdoc advisor (Dr. John Kuriyan; UC Berkeley now Vanderbilt) exhibited a remarkable ability to see the “hidden” aspects of science, the things that others missed. I find myself repeating many of his adages and policies to my trainees, because they have been so impactful to my development. 

I also frequently learn from my colleagues and I deeply value their advice. Sean Ryder and Celia Schiffer stand out as investigators whose approach to mentoring has been impactful to me.

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Any acknowledgements?

I want to thank the wonderful group of students, postdocs and other trainees with whom I’ve had the honor and pleasure to work with. They have inspired me and challenged me to be a better mentor all the time. I’m frequently shocked at how lucky I am to work with such amazing colleagues.