Cross-campus faculty and curriculum integration and advancement is vital to developing competitive, world-class education at Illinois Institute of Technology. The Coleman Faculty Fellows program engages non-business and business faculty to spend focused time on entrepreneurship activities across campus and in the community. Faculty that are selected to be Coleman Faculty Fellows are expected to advance the Coleman Foundation’s definition of entrepreneurship; namely, self-employment through business ownership which has significant elements of risk, control and reward. Coleman Faculty Fellows will thus engage in the following activities during the 2009-10 school year:
• Creating and teaching an entrepreneurship class within their discipline or modifying an existing course to incorporate elements of self employment
• Sponsoring, advising, and supervising a student-led Entrepreneurship educational effort such as a new student business
• Developing experiential entrepreneurship education programs within their department
• Attending the CEO or SEA Annual Conferences during and after the Fellows year.
Fellowships of up to $5,000 will be provided to each Coleman Faculty Fellow as a monetary incentive, with a focus on tangible output and deliverables that can be used to build thought leadership and a body of knowledge. The Coleman Faculty Fellows program provides an excellent opportunity for cross-campus collaboration. Additionally, this program serves as a method of implementing strategic growth and change in line with IIT’s Many Voices, One Vision strategic plan.
2009-10 Coleman Faculty Fellows
Dr. David Gatchell is a Senior Lecturer in the Biomedical Engineering department and the assistant director of the Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science. He received an AB in physics from Bowdoin College and his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Boston University. After finishing his dissertation, he spent four years as a research associate at Northwestern University as a member of the VaNTH Engineering Research Center. He joined IIT's Biomedical Engineering department in 2007; his interests include problems associated with molecular and cellular engineering and the computational modeling of cellular migration. Gatchell is a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).
Dr. Mark Snyder is a Senior Lecturer and an undergraduate advisor in the Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department. He holds a doctorate in Applied Physics from Texas Tech University, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Illinois Institute of Engineering, and Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics from Creighton University. He served as a United States Air Force officer for 21 years and performed engineering, research, and testing on topics including semiconductor device failure, space-based sensors, stealth aircraft technology, and underground nuclear testing.
Dr. Haizhi Wang is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Stuart School of Business. His research focuses on entrepreneurial finance, financial institutions, and corporate finance. He has received a research grant from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and three research grants from the Kauffman Foundation and Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stern School of Business, NYU. Dr. Wang earned his Ph.D. from Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; his research has been published in academic journals including The Financial Review, Small Business Economics, and Managerial Finance.
2008-09 Coleman Faculty Fellows
Dr. David Gidalevitz is an Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department. Dr. Gidalevitz holds a M.Sc. in Applied Physics from Urals Technical University, Russia and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. His current research is focused on biomimetic membrane design, structure determination and investigation of fundamental properties of plasma cell membranes, and peptide/protein/polymer interactions with cell membranes. Dr. Gidalevitz is also actively involved in collaborative research projects with Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, and Israel Institute of Technology.
Professor Thomas Hill is a Visiting Professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. He has senior level experience with corporate and commercial matters, especially internationally, including M&A, joint ventures, start-ups, IP licensing, project finance, litigation/arbitration management, regulatory/compliance matters, corporate governance, employment issues, and all other types of corporate transactions. Professor Hill earned his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his LL.M. from Columbia University School of Law.
2007-08 Coleman Faculty Fellows
Dr. Eric Brey is an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department. Dr. Brey holds a B.S. and a M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from University of Louisville, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Rice University. He is a NIH post-doctoral fellow at the Loyola University Medical Center Department of Surgery Dr. Brey’s research interests include angiogenesis, tissue engineering, endothelial cell-tumor interactions, and microvascular imaging. He is the recipient of a NIH Biotechnology Training Grant, a NIH fellowship, and the International Society of Applied Cardiovascular Biology Young Investigator Award.
Professor Frank Flury is an Assistant Professor in the College of Architecture. He earned his M.Arch. degree from Universität Karlsruhe (Germany). Professor Flury specializes in architectural design and design/build architecture, which encourages students to explore the synergistic relationship between the mind that conceptualizes and the hands that make things. His recent projects include a design/build island sculpture pavilion, a rural housing project for the disadvantaged in Alabama, and, with a team of IIT students, rebuilding the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center following Hurricane Katrina.
2006-07 Coleman Faculty Fellows
Dr. Victor Pérez-Luna is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. He holds a B.S. in Chemical an a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad de Guadalajara and a Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington. Professor Pérez-Luna's research interests are in the areas of surface analysis and modification, biomaterials, biosensors and tissue engineering. His current projects include work with biosensors, hydrogels for biomedical applications and metallic nanoparticles. He is one of the team of research scientists that have developed the IIT ChemArray, which can detect and measure the presence of toxic agents in air, water and food.
Francisco Ruiz is an Associate Professor of Materials, Mechanical, and Aerospace Engineering and the Director of the IIT Invention Center. He holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is the recipient of the MMAE Excellence in Teaching Award and the B.F. Goodrich Invention Award. Professor Ruiz specializes in thermal sciences; his research includes work with Mach number effects, diesel regenerative cycles and the fundamental mechanisms of atomization.