Mathematics and Sciences Faculty
Elizabeth Lucyszyn, Ph.D
Professor and Chair, Mathematics and Sciences Department
Dr. Elizabeth Lucyszyn (blucyszyn@medaille.edu) has taught Biology at Medaille since 1990. As chair of the Department of Mathematics and Sciences, she has created new courses for the biology major and helped develop the curricula for other proposed majors and courses. She earned a Ph.D. in biology from Saint Bonaventure University. Her courses include Comparative Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology and she works with the Veterinary Technology program as a faculty advisor.
Jadwiga (Hettie) Domino, M.Ed.
Assistant Professor
Jadwiga (Hettie) Domino (jdomino@medaille.edu) has taught Mathematics and Science at Medaille since 2001. She earned a master's degree in mathematics education from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1999 and is currently working towards her doctorate in mathematics education from the University at Buffalo. Her current research interests center on effective and ineffective teaching of mathematics and on how teachers influence students to change their attitudes toward mathematics. She has also done research on how future elementary teachers of mathematics understand mathematics, math anxiety, and how teachers can help their students overcome math anxiety. Hettie Domino teaches Introduction to Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, Statistics and Society, Concepts in Mathematics, and Operations Analysis and Modeling.
Brenda Fredette, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dr. Brenda Fredette (bfredette@medaille.edu) has taught chemistry courses at Medaille College since 1996. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from SUNY Buffalo, Roswell Park Division in 2001. Upon completion of her Ph.D., Dr. Fredette joined Medaille College as a full time assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2006. Dr. Fredette is committed to providing a student-centered active learning environment. She continually develops her teaching methods through ongoing education and attendance at conferences and workshops that focus on the scholarship of teaching. Dr. Fredette was awarded an advanced certificate in educational technology in February 2005 and completed her master’s degree in chemistry education in 2006. She also remains active in research and encourages student participation in research projects. Dr. Fredette currently teaches biochemistry, organic chemistry, chemistry for the health sciences, and scientific discovery. She also serves as faculty advisor to the Life Sciences Club.
James Garrity, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dr. James Garrity (jdg56@medaille.edu) earned a B.S. in secondary education from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and was a high school science teacher in southwest Ohio for eight years prior to returning to Miami University to earn a Ph.D. in bioinorganic chemistry. His research focused on the structure and function of metallo-proteins and their roles in bacterial antibiotic resistance. He continued his training as a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at SUNY Buffalo, where he was the assistant director of the Proteomics Core Research Facility. Dr. Garrity joined the faculty of Medaille in 2006 as an assistant professor and teaches General Chemistry I & II and Chemistry for the Health Sciences.
Richard Gerber, M.Ed.
Assistant Professor
Richard Gerber (rgerber@medaille.edu) has taught math and science courses at Medaille since 1997, and became an assistant professor in the Mathematics and Science Department in 2002. He earned a master's of education in secondary mathematics from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and is currently working towards a Ph.D. in secondary mathematics education. Gerber has previous experience teaching high school mathematics, and he has planned and delivered pre-K mathematics professional development training. His academic interests include the role of representation in algebra education and the effects of written assignments on the transfer of algebraic concepts.
Vincenzo Isaia, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dr. Vincenzo Isaia (vmi23@medaille.edu) earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Wyoming, and an M.S. in structural engineering from Manhattan College. He previously taught at the University of Wyoming, Alfred State College, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. His research has covered Renormalization Group (RG), a physics topic, and Mathematical Finance. He has strong skills as a scientific programmer, with experience in many technical computing languages.
Dr. Isaia was selected to Who's Who Among America's Teachers in 2005, and his courses currently include Intermediate Algebra and Precalculus.
Robert Johnson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dr. Robert H. Johnson (robertj@medaille.edu) received an M.S. in plant biology from Western Carolina University and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina with concentrations in ecology and biochemistry. Dr. Johnson continued his training as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and as a research associate at SUNY-Buffalo. Prior to coming to Medaille, Dr. Johnson was an assistant professor of botany at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. He is currently an associate professor at Medaille and teaches Ecology, Botany and Epidemiology/Biostatistics. Dr. Johnson is the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant to research the biochemistry of invasive goldenrod plants; he feels fortunate to involve Medaille biology students in this research. Dr. Johnson is a regular presenter at national and international scientific meetings. In June 2006, he coauthored three presentations made to the Society for the Study of Evolution – American Society of Naturalists joint annual meeting at Stony Brook, NY. His two most recent papers were published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology and Biochemical Systematics and Ecology.
Dr. Johnson will be taking a sabbatical for the 2007-08 academic year at Cornell University studying plant-plant communication and chemical defense against herbivores.
Vochita Mihai, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dr. Vochita Mihai (vmihai@medaille.edu) is an assistant professor of mathematics and sciences, and has been teaching at Medaille since 2005. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Louisiana State University.
Glenn Morrow, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dr. Glenn Morrow (gmorrow@medaille.edu) began his teaching career in 1995 when he accepted an offer to join the University of South Florida as a visiting assistant professor. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of British Columbia School of Medicine, Department of Physiology in Vancouver, Canada. His research focused predominantly on the use of molecular genetic techniques to explore the structure/function relationship of a protein that triggers insulin release. In 1994-1995 he accepted a post-doctoral position whose focus was the study of the gut protein motilin.
Dr. Morrow’s courses included General Genetics, Organic Evolution and Human Physiology. He joined Medaille in 1997 and has enjoyed watching the Department of Math and Sciences grow from a service department to one that houses a full-fledged biology major. He teaches a variety of courses in the Biology program including Advanced Vertebrate Physiology, Cell Biology, Genetics and Evolution. In addition, he has taught graduate- and undergraduate-level courses for the Psychology program including the Biological Basis of Behavior and Biopsychology.
Charles Sun, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dr. Charles Sun (csun@medaille.edu) received a B.S. degree in applied physics from Dalian University of Technology in China, and earned a master's and a Ph.D. in experimental atomic physics from the University of Kentucky (Lexington). Dr. Sun joined Medaille College as an assistant professor in 2002. His primary teaching assignments are the Principles of Physics and the Physical Science courses. Dr. Sun has been constantly reexamining and improving his methods in teaching. He uses various student-centered active learning methods to replace the traditional lecture oriented method, and a concept-driven approach to replace the formula driven process in his math, physics, and physical science courses. Dr. Sun’s research focused predominantly on the interaction of highly excited (Rydberg-state) sodium atoms with charged particles and electric fields, and precision fine-structure spectroscopy of highly excited states for sodium atoms. Dr. Sun is a member of the American Physical Society, Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, and a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
