Here is a little bit of information about other service projects that I have been involved with.

Society Memberships

I am a member of several different professional or honor societies. Here are a few that I am currently involved in.

  • American Society for Microbiology – I have been an active member since 1986.

  • Michigan Branch of the ASM – I was also the newsletter editor for one year.

  • Beta Beta Beta – I was the charter faculty advisor for the Ferris State University chapter, and became a graduate member in 2018.

  • Sigma Xi – I was a founding member of the Ferris State University and served as president in 2018.

  • Council of Undergraduate Research – I have been a member at Ferris State University since 2009.

  • Michigan State Extension Master Gardener – I am still technically a trainee until I complete 40 hours of service. Master Gardeners provide information and training to others concerning best practices for sustainable gardening in Michigan.

  • United States Chess Federation – I have been a member since 2018, but have not played any rated games as of yet.

  • The Rotary Club – I am currently in the process of joining the Big Rapids club.

Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, Big Rapids

I was a deacon at from 2014 to 2017 and was also the chair of the deacons in 2016 and 2017. In this capacity, I oversaw the church budget and expenditures, managed benevolence petitions, and addressed any financial requests of church members.

Higher Learning Commission

In 2016, I completed the training to become a Higher Learning Commission peer reviewer. Members of the Peer Corps serve as agents of HLC in its evaluation and decision-making processes. Peer reviewers may conduct multiple types of reviews, ranging from evaluations that involve teams of reviewers visiting the institution in person to online panels evaluating institutional reports or other materials. In addition, peer reviewers may serve as members of HLC decision-making bodies. Further, they may be invited to serve as speakers, trainers and mentors for HLC programs or as members of HLC task forces and advisory teams. I have been on one site visit so far.

Open Science Framework

In 2016, I completed training to become an ambassador for the Open Science Framework (OSF). I am using this platform to promote the practices of open and reproducible research at Ferris and elsewhere. I have been working with our IT folks to make Ferris an institutional partner to OSF too. I am using OSF to publish my own research, support student learning, and to publicize our General Education assessment results.

The Carpentries

In 2018, I completed the training to become an instructor for the Carpentries project. This project comprises Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry, communities of Instructors, Trainers, Maintainers, helpers, and supporters who share a mission to teach foundational computational and data science skills to researchers. I plan to use this training to teach data science principles to our Biology majors and other interested groups at Ferris and the surrounding area.

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