To receive an Excellent rating, a faculty member should demonstrate leadership in non-traditional learning experiences and activities, e.g. honors research, independent study, class projects, field teaching, etc.
I have engaged in many non-traditional learning activities with students, including advising and co-advising ISAT senior capstone projects, serving on committees for Master’s theses in ISAT and SERM, advising service learning projects through the Honors Program, leading independent study courses, and serving as a mentor for National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and Co-Op Engineering programs at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The outcomes from each of these efforts are listed below. During the 2014-2015 academic year, I will also co-advise my first Honors Capstone for Cassidy Moellers, Robert Spinoza, and Dylan Chance, exploring the boundaries between science, technology and participative art. We will be prototyping an interactive rave dome that dynamically responds to its participants. This will involve user interface design and development, software development leveraging wireless sensors and telecom skills, and algorithm development to control sound and light shows.
Senior Capstone Projects – I have supervised or co-supervised 27 ISAT seniors who have completed 11 capstone projects since 2010:
- 2014 – “Improving Product and Process Quality at Cross Keys Vineyards,” Gordon Heil, Tessa Heydinger, Andrew Lucchesi; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2014 – “An Analysis of Foam Quality in Starr Hill and Three Brothers Products,” Michael Carr; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2014 – “Improving Inventory Ordering Strategies to Reduce Holding Costs for Angler’s Choice Marine,” Ian Loganadan, Kevin Rakaric; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2014 – “Analysis of the Relationship between Beaver Creek Reservoir Water Quality and Starr Hill Brewery Product Quality,” Elizabeth Wronko, Bastiana Rodebaugh; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2013 – “Analysis of the Relationship between Beaver Creek Reservoir Water Quality and Starr Hill Brewery Product Quality,” Emily Northup; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2013 – “Analysis of the Relationship between Beaver Creek Reservoir Water Quality and Starr Hill Brewery Product Quality: A Pilot Project,” Mandy Jenkins, Calla Feucht, James Boley; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2013 – “Determining Good and Bad Batches of Beer using Classifiers for Starr Hill Brewery,” Hugh Blanchetti, Kurt Valentiner, Adam Hall; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2013 – “Influential Resources, Key Themes and Emerging Trends in Technology Management,” Thao Virginia Thai; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2013 – “SmartClickR: Modern Audience Response System,” Jimmy Dempsey, Brad Fischer, Billy Godfrey, and Daniel To, B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU (Co-advising with Morgan Benton and Emil Salib)
- 2012 – “Exploratory Analysis of 2010 Starr Hill Brewing Company Production Data,” Sean McMillin, Andy Duong, Nick Kerschl, Jan Smith, John Turner, Blake Jenkins; B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2011 – “An Expert System for the Quality Systems Development Roadmap (QSDR),” Doug Jin, B.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
MS ISAT/SERM Committee Participation – I have served on the thesis committees for 2 MS ISAT graduates, and I am currently serving on the committees for 1 remaining MS ISAT and 1 MS SERM student:
- 2014 – “Assessing Perception and Tourism Impacts of Offshore Wind Energy Installations in Virginia,” Bryan Ogden, M.S. in SERM at JMU
- 2014 – “The Impact of Open-Source Data and Activity-Based Intelligence on the Mapping of Human Domain,” Ken Sydnor, M.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2012 – “Exploring More Efficient Business Models for Electric Power Distributors,” Brooks Taylor, M.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
- 2010 – “Simulating Business Team Assembly with Network Models,” Kevin Zdancewicz, M.S. in Integrated Science and Technology at JMU
Service Learning for the Honors Program – As part of the HON 300/ISAT 680 course I developed with Rebecca Simmons of the College of Business (which has also been adapted for the JMU MBA program) I advised many projects that provided students with practical consulting experience in our local area:
- Small Business Development Center (Harrisonburg, VA): Reducing average time to prepare reports. Description: By applying Pareto analysis and Nominal Group Technique (NGT), we helped SBDC reduce their average time to prepare reports from 60+ days to 14 days, and prequalified processes and systems to help them connect businesses with university faculty and student groups
- Harrisonburg Department of Social Services (Harrisonburg, VA): Purchase Order Process Improvement. Description: Using Monte Carlo Simulation, a student identified a time-in-system improvement of 22.3% for more rapidly delivering services to children who are monitored by social services.
- Harrisonburg Community Services Act (CSA) Office (Harrisonburg, VA): Child Services Case Processing. Description: By examining the current process and investigating a proposed process for streamlining paperwork processing for handing childrens’ social services cases in Harrisonburg, students identified that a total time-in-system improvement of 14% could be realized if each vendor improved their processing time by only one day out of an average of 16.
- CMC Howell Metal (New Market, VA): Identifying the Most Profitable Product Mix. Description: Students identified a way for CMC to save $3.1M annually by shifting their mix of raw materials sourced by suppliers and copper piping output.
- CMC Howell Metal (New Market, VA): Determining the Optimal Number of Dies and Mandrels in Rotation. Description: Using Monte Carlo simulation, students identified how variations in temperature in machinery used to produce copper piping impact reliability and failure rates.
- Shenandoah Caverns (New Market, VA): Enhancing marketing efforts. Description: Using a consensus technique, we analyzed several possibilities for improving the marketing approach for Summer 2012, and determined that the highest impact outcome would be reducing the time to process and mail brochures requested by potential visitors. Using Discrete-Event Simulation (DES), we helped Shenandoah Caverns reduce their brochure distribution time from 3 weeks to 6 days.
- Tony Britt Spotter Charts (Harrisonburg, VA): Analysis of Chart Production Process. Description: Using a combination of Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) and Monte Carlo Simulation, students identified that expanding the product offering to include customizations of spotter charts would not ultimately be profitable. [Co-advised by Morgan Benton]
Special Topics/Independent Study Courses – I have helped students meet their graduation requirements and pursue their special interests by supporting several independent studies since 2011. These include:
Spring 2014
- ISAT 480 – Statistical Computing (3 cr.) – Alex Paullin, Geography
- ISAT 480 – Statistical Analysis & Research Writing (1 cr.) – Liz Wronko & Bastiana Rodebaugh, ISAT
Fall 2013
- ISAT 341 – Simulation & Modeling (3 cr.) – Cassidy Moellers, ISAT
Spring 2013
- ISAT 480 – Advanced Simulation and Modeling (3 cr.) – Brent Barbachem, CS
- ISAT 480 – Social Media Data Acquisition (1 cr.) – Virginia Thai, ISAT
Spring 2011
- GSCI 162 – Science of the Planets (2 cr.) – Kyle Clerico, ISAT
National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and Co-Op Engineering programs at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) – From 2003 through 2008 I supervised 4 undergraduates and 1 graduate student as they completed practical, hands-on research to advance astronomical instrumentation. The following publications and conference proceedings resulted from these projects:
DuPlain, R., Radziwill, N.M., & Shelton, A., 2007: A Rule-Based Data Quality Startup Using PyCLIPS. ADASS XVII, London UK, September 2007.
DuPlain, R. F. and N.M. Radziwill, 2006: Autonomous Quality Assurance and Troubleshooting. SPIE, Orlando FL, May 25-31.
Radziwill, N.M. and R. DuPlain, 2005: A Framework for Telescope Data Quality Management. Proc. SPIE, Madrid, Spain, October 2-5, 2005.
Cowan, A. W., N. Radziwill, D. Fleming and E. Sessoms, 2004: Enhancing the Portability of GBT Data, AAS 203rd Meeting, Seattle, WA, January 2004.