Featured Faculty
Todd Pagano
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Cutting-edge chemical research
TODD PAGANO IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE & MATHEMATICS AND DIRECTOR OF THE LABORATORY SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. HE CONDUCTS RESEARCH IN PHYSICAL, ANALYTICAL, AND ENVIRON- MENTAL CHEMISTRY- INVOLVING SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS OF EARLY UNDERGRADU- ATE AND DEAF/HARD-OF-HEARING STUDENTS IN HIS RESEARCH INITIATIVES.
Dr. Pagano’s research group investigates, at a molecular level, the potential effect of climate change on natural water using multidimensional fluorescence spectroscopy and advanced chemometric methods. He has additional ongoing research projects related to energy transfer in fluorescence spectroscopy, developing spectroscopic instrumentation, characterization of nutrients in wild fruits & natural products, and carcinogen deposition in lungs from cigarette smoking. He is also involved in pedagogical projects that pertain to enhancing the student experience in the science classroom, improving student learning in science, and encouraging students into scientific careers.
For mentoring large numbers of students at the associate degree level and deaf and hard-of-hearing students, Dr. Pagano is recognized as a leader in involving under-represented students in research and has published book chapters on strategies for broadening participation in scientific research. He is a strong proponent of students being involved in the dissemination of experimental results, and has obtained external funding for numerous students to present at national symposia.
His balanced research and teaching initiatives led him to being named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and recipient of the American Chemical Society’s National Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Science (sponsored by the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation), both in 2011. Also demonstrating his dual emphasis on chemical research and pedagogy, he published two peer-reviewed articles in 2011; one on the analysis of the phenolic content of dissolved organic carbon in environmental samples and another on teaching science to deaf and hard-of-hearing post-secondary degree level students. This year he has also given several invited presentations on these scholarship endeavors.
Dr. Pagano was awarded the 2011 NTID Faculty Scholarship Award, is a reviewer for several journals, and is co-editor of the Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities.