Posted 7:35 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014
This is the third time in the last four years that a UW-L professor has been named Wisconsin Professor of the year.
[caption id="attachment_37799" align="alignleft" width="350"]
UW-L Biology Professor Scott Cooper pictured with student Rachel Schoone.[/caption]
Biology Professor Scott Cooper says the best part about being a scientist is the moment of discovery.
As a teacher and mentor to hundreds of UW-L students every year, Cooper experiences that thrill vicariously every day.
“When students start to take ownership in a project, start looking up papers or reasons why an experiment didn’t work, you know they are starting to get it. They’re taking that next step,” he says. “I’d compare it to a coach watching the team win or conductor getting the whole orchestra in tune.”
Cooper’s dedication to teaching is not only evident from his words, but also from the national recognition he is receiving in Washington D.C. this November. Cooper is 2014 Wisconsin Professor of the Year. He was honored at a ceremony Nov. 20 in Washington, D.C. The recognition comes from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Cooper was selected from nearly 400 top professors in the U.S. This year, a state Professor of the Year was recognized in 31 states.
This is the third time in the last four years that a UW-L professor has been named Wisconsin Professor of the year. History Professor Greg Wegner won the award in 2011 and History Professor Victor M. Macías-González won the award in 2013.
Cooper is a long-time UW-L biology professor of nearly 20 years, but he’s also well known for his science lab — a comfy place where coffee is brewing and students congregate. Anywhere from 20-30 students partner with him in research each semester.
Junior Sarah Lloyd joined Cooper’s lab her freshman year. She recalls feeling intimidated asking to be part of the lab, but that apprehension quickly faded when Cooper welcomed her in with a smile. Cooper says his default answer when students ask to do research with him is “yes.”
In the lab, students work on teams to answer different facets of the primary research question: How do ground squirrels stop their blood from clotting when their bodies cool down and their blood slows down during hibernation. Answers could help advance treatment of human heart conditions and bleeding disorders. His research has been funded by National Institutes of Health grants over the last 15 years.
“It’s exciting because we’re working on real-world problems no one has figured out yet,” says Lloyd.
Lloyd says Cooper’s lab has taught her that the difficult and sometimes tedious problems she solved in general chemistry — like dilution problems — were well worth the effort. She uses those problem-solving skills constantly in lab. “I’ve learned a lot of complex stuff, but Dr. Cooper teaches it in a really fun way,” she says.
Cooper tries to show students the reality of science — that answers are not always cut and dry. Instead, they involve combining information from different sources, analyzing it and troubleshooting.
UW-L Senior Rachel Schoone has learned a lot in Cooper’s molecular biology class. “We’re not memorizing random facts that we’ll never use again,” she says. “With in-class problems, he makes sure we get it and can apply it.”
Biology Professor Scott Cooper[/caption]
Because of Cooper’s extensive experience mentoring student researchers in his classroom and lab, it was only natural that he applied for the position of UW-L’s director of Undergraduate Research & Creativity when it opened. He took a half-time appointment as the center’s director in January 2011, providing UW-L support for research ever since. He is also chair of the Wisconsin System Council on Undergraduate Research, which brings together directors of undergraduate research from all of the UW System campuses to advance and expand undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activities across the system.
Cooper also inspires collaboration within his department. He helped launch a teaching model where faculty experts in each discipline share their “best stories” and examples with those teaching introductory biology courses. The idea is to tap expertise to make the broad curriculum covered in introductory biology more robust and engage students through the best examples and stories.
“As a department chair, I appreciated that his leadership in cooperative teaching made the department a more cohesive and collegial unit and added markedly to the excellence of one of the largest majors on campus,” says colleague Mark Sandheinrich in a nomination letter.
Cooper loves working with college-aged students who are just beginning to figure out what they want to do with their life. He has dedicated his professional career to trying to make the transition from college to career smoother.
The majority of Cooper’s students go on to earn advanced degrees or quickly find work in labs, he notes. UW-L Elle (Kielar) Grevstad is director of a UW-Madison research facility where faculty from throughout the UW System use state-of-the-art microscopes to study and solve biological problems.
“The great thing about UW-L is that I was able to have a very personal relationship with not only Dr. Cooper, but also with a number of other faculty members,” she says. “Those relationships helped me choose what I wanted to do with my life after college.”
Grevstad liked that the research she did in Cooper’s lab directly added to understanding about human diseases. On her career path, she’s still adding to that understanding.
“Every day I get to help researchers solve research problems that a few years ago were thought impossible,” says Grevstad. “Through this, science and the advancement of treatments for human diseases moves forward.”
UW-L Biology Professor Scott Cooper pictured with student Rachel Schoone.[/caption]
Biology Professor Scott Cooper says the best part about being a scientist is the moment of discovery.
As a teacher and mentor to hundreds of UW-L students every year, Cooper experiences that thrill vicariously every day.
“When students start to take ownership in a project, start looking up papers or reasons why an experiment didn’t work, you know they are starting to get it. They’re taking that next step,” he says. “I’d compare it to a coach watching the team win or conductor getting the whole orchestra in tune.”
Cooper’s dedication to teaching is not only evident from his words, but also from the national recognition he is receiving in Washington D.C. this November. Cooper is 2014 Wisconsin Professor of the Year. He was honored at a ceremony Nov. 20 in Washington, D.C. The recognition comes from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Cooper was selected from nearly 400 top professors in the U.S. This year, a state Professor of the Year was recognized in 31 states.
This is the third time in the last four years that a UW-L professor has been named Wisconsin Professor of the year. History Professor Greg Wegner won the award in 2011 and History Professor Victor M. Macías-González won the award in 2013.
Cooper is a long-time UW-L biology professor of nearly 20 years, but he’s also well known for his science lab — a comfy place where coffee is brewing and students congregate. Anywhere from 20-30 students partner with him in research each semester.
Junior Sarah Lloyd joined Cooper’s lab her freshman year. She recalls feeling intimidated asking to be part of the lab, but that apprehension quickly faded when Cooper welcomed her in with a smile. Cooper says his default answer when students ask to do research with him is “yes.”
In the lab, students work on teams to answer different facets of the primary research question: How do ground squirrels stop their blood from clotting when their bodies cool down and their blood slows down during hibernation. Answers could help advance treatment of human heart conditions and bleeding disorders. His research has been funded by National Institutes of Health grants over the last 15 years.
“It’s exciting because we’re working on real-world problems no one has figured out yet,” says Lloyd.
Lloyd says Cooper’s lab has taught her that the difficult and sometimes tedious problems she solved in general chemistry — like dilution problems — were well worth the effort. She uses those problem-solving skills constantly in lab. “I’ve learned a lot of complex stuff, but Dr. Cooper teaches it in a really fun way,” she says.
Cooper tries to show students the reality of science — that answers are not always cut and dry. Instead, they involve combining information from different sources, analyzing it and troubleshooting.
UW-L Senior Rachel Schoone has learned a lot in Cooper’s molecular biology class. “We’re not memorizing random facts that we’ll never use again,” she says. “With in-class problems, he makes sure we get it and can apply it.”
UW-L’s director of Undergraduate Research & Creativity
[caption id="attachment_37807" align="alignright" width="250"] Biology Professor Scott Cooper[/caption]
Because of Cooper’s extensive experience mentoring student researchers in his classroom and lab, it was only natural that he applied for the position of UW-L’s director of Undergraduate Research & Creativity when it opened. He took a half-time appointment as the center’s director in January 2011, providing UW-L support for research ever since. He is also chair of the Wisconsin System Council on Undergraduate Research, which brings together directors of undergraduate research from all of the UW System campuses to advance and expand undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activities across the system.
Cooper also inspires collaboration within his department. He helped launch a teaching model where faculty experts in each discipline share their “best stories” and examples with those teaching introductory biology courses. The idea is to tap expertise to make the broad curriculum covered in introductory biology more robust and engage students through the best examples and stories.
“As a department chair, I appreciated that his leadership in cooperative teaching made the department a more cohesive and collegial unit and added markedly to the excellence of one of the largest majors on campus,” says colleague Mark Sandheinrich in a nomination letter.
Cooper loves working with college-aged students who are just beginning to figure out what they want to do with their life. He has dedicated his professional career to trying to make the transition from college to career smoother.
The majority of Cooper’s students go on to earn advanced degrees or quickly find work in labs, he notes. UW-L Elle (Kielar) Grevstad is director of a UW-Madison research facility where faculty from throughout the UW System use state-of-the-art microscopes to study and solve biological problems.
“The great thing about UW-L is that I was able to have a very personal relationship with not only Dr. Cooper, but also with a number of other faculty members,” she says. “Those relationships helped me choose what I wanted to do with my life after college.”
Grevstad liked that the research she did in Cooper’s lab directly added to understanding about human diseases. On her career path, she’s still adding to that understanding.
“Every day I get to help researchers solve research problems that a few years ago were thought impossible,” says Grevstad. “Through this, science and the advancement of treatments for human diseases moves forward.”