Max is Director of the CSTL and J. Lawrence Walkup Distinguished Professor of STEM Education here at NAU. He’s a graduate of Gorakhpur University in India where he earned his M.S. in Botany and the University of Iowa where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Science Education. He is involved in the development of multiple grants at NAU and he’s been published in multiple education journals like School Science Review and K-12 STEM Education. We’re pleased to highlight our fearless leader today!
How long have you been at the CSTL?
Almost 8 years!
What are you currently working on and why is it important?
I feel that there are 3 prongs of my work, so I’ll go over them one-by-one.
Class-side: Each spring semester I’m teaching Graduate Perspectives on Science SCI613, which is for MAST and MAT-S students and is about learning to understand the nature of science. What we get from textbooks and journals is a cleaned-up version of science; it looks objective, cut-and-dry, but there’s so much more that goes on in the world of science–it’s more rich, varied, and complicated than those resources would lead you to believe. This course is designed to help teachers and prospective teachers understand the “under-the-hood” aspects of science. This is a fully-online course now.
Research-side: Over this past 1 year or so, I’ve been collaborating with the chair of mechanical engineering to submit a grant proposal to NSF for improving the involvement of minorities (esp. Native American) in engineering programs. This wasn’t funded, but came back with great reviews and suggestions, which we are taking into account and revising into a new proposal for April 7, 2021. In Fall 2020, I submitted a grant proposal for improving the engineering education program, which we submitted in December 2020, and we’re looking forward to feedback sometime in June or July.
Administrative-side: There is a lot of work being done in the CSTL, like submitting curriculum revisions for NAUTeach. We moved to CoE in July 2020 and the transition process is continuing. There are a lot of administrative tasks being adjusted and tweaked as we make that transition. We are also physically moving into a new location: Building #19 the Science Annex, so there will be lots of packing to do!
Is a hot dog a sandwich and why or why not?
Based on the definition of a sandwich, yes it is a sandwich, because the meat is put between two slices of bread. However, it defies conventional understanding of a sandwich because it is such a unique form of cuisine that it forms its own category. You would not make a hot dog out of anything other than exactly what is in a hot dog. This reminds me of the discussion around Pluto’s classification as a planet: whether it is a planet depends on how you define a planet, but has nothing to do with Pluto itself.
But who cares?! As long as it tastes good, I’m happy.
If you could take 3 items to a remote island what would they be?
My bass guitar or another instrument I can play around with, my print Bible (if I had cellular access, I would take my phone with my Bible app loaded), some storage utensil to collect food and water.
What is your superpower?
My superpower is my ability to listen, understand, and empathize before acting and making decisions.
Thanks Max!
Interested in collaborating with Max on an upcoming project? Email him at pradeep.dass@nau.edu to connect.