MARGI G. FLOOD

MARGI G. FLOOD is an Instructor of Biology at Gainesville State College. She holds a Master’s Degree in Biology from the Warnell School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia and has completed course work toward a Ph.D. in Freshwater Ecology at the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia. She is interested in how community structure in freshwater streams changes in response to changing land use patterns. She has taught Environmental Science and is currently teaching Introductory Biology (BIOL 1101) and Introductory Ecology (BIOL 1102) for non-majors at Gainesville State College.

JON D. HOEKSTRA

JON D. HOEKSTRA is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Gainesville State College. Dr. Hoekstra earned a B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Entomology from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in Ecology, Ethnology and Evolution from the University of Illinois. Dr. Hoekstra is broadly trained in the ecology and conservation of freshwater ecosystems with a focus on aquatic invertebrates. He has explored the factors influencing invertebrate communities using a diverse set of tools including comparative field surveys, randomized field experiments, and analysis of large bioassessment datasets. For his Master's thesis, Dr. Hoekstra investigated the taxonomy, behavior, distribution, and habitat ecology of a rare damselfly in an Arizona stream. In the course of this research, he also studied an emerging threat to the biotic integrity of Arizona's streams, exotic crayfish. Dr. Hoekstra's Ph.D. research focused on the effects of crayfish as key consumers and ecosystem engineers in Midwestern streams. Currently, Dr. Hoekstra is teaching non-major's introductory ecology (BIOL 1102) at Gainesville State College and is coordinating an effort to monitor the effectiveness of a stream restoration project in northern Hall County.

TIMOTHY J. HOWELL

TIMOTHY J. HOWELL is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Gainesville State College, teaching courses in all areas of chemistry, including Organic Chemistry. Dr. Howell received his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry, Villanova University in 1998. His dissertation was entitled “The Development of Instrumentation and Analytical Methods for the Testing of Environmental Samples for Chromium: The Oxidation of Chromium by μ-O-Manganese Compounds.” He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry (with a minor in Physics, Mathematics, and Biology) at Western Michigan University in 1982. Dr. Howell has worked on several collaborative projects dealing with various health and environmental issues, interfaced instrumentation with a personal computer, and helped develop data acquisition software. He has also used computer modeling software to predict the chemistry of certain manganese compounds. Additional educational courses include Pharmaceuticals in the Environment from Brenau University (Spring 2003) and a NSF Workshop on Environmental Chemistry from Georgia State University (Summer 2002).

MARY C. MAYHEW

MARY C. MAYHEW is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Gainesville State College. She holds a B.S. degree in Zoology and a M.S. in Limnology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her Master’s thesis research was a study of the phytoplankton and zooplankton of the neuston layer in Lake Michigan and several smaller Wisconsin lakes. Ms. Mayhew has completed the course work and preliminary examinations for the Ph.D. in Hydrology - Environmental Systems at the Warnell School of Forestry at UGA. Her dissertation research is focused on trends in water quality parameters, particularly phosphorus, chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen, and trophic status in Lake Lanier.

KATAYOUN MOBASHER

Katayoun Mobasher is an Assistant Professor of Geology at Gainesville State College. Dr. Mobasher earned her B.S. in Geology from Shahid Beheshti University , Tehran , Iran , an M.S. in Petrology from Azad University , Tehran , Iran , and a Ph.D. in Geochemistry and Structural Geology from Georgia State University , Atlanta , Georgia . Her research during her undergraduate and graduate studies were directed toward geochemical and petrological studies of ophiolite complexes, bimodal volcanism and magma mixing associated with Tertiary volcanic rocks in Iran. As part of her research at Georgia State University , she combined her knowledge of geochemistry, petrology, and ophiolites, as well as remote sensing and GIS, to study the Khoy ophiolites of Iran .  Her Ph.D. dissertation, ‘Kinematic and Tectonic Significance of the Fold and Fault Related Fracture Systems in the Zagros Mountains, Southern Iran’ applied various remote sensing and GIS techniques to identify and map diverse sets of tectonic fractures/faults in a structurally complex area of the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt in southwest Iran. Her research and teaching interests are focused on combining structural geology, mineralogy, and petrology with remote sensing and GIS. She teaches Physical and Historical geology courses. Dr. Mobasher has published several articles in scientific journals, presented her research at geological conferences, and received grants from both the Geological Society of America (GSA) and Georgia State University.

PAULA NOLIBOS

PAULA NOLIBOS, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Gainesville State College, is currently teaching majors as well as non-majors chemistry courses. Dr. Nolibos earned her M.S and Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 2001 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her dissertation was entitled “Analytical Chemistry of Organoselenium Compounds by Gas Chromatography Atomic Emission Detection.” Her graduate coursework includes analytical, organic, physical and food chemistry and data treatment. Dr. Nolibos has worked with several analytical instruments such as GC, HPLC and UV-vis spectrometer and extraction procedures. Additional educational courses include Pharmaceuticals in the Environment from Brenau University (Spring 2003) and a NSF Workshop on Environmental Chemistry from Georgia State University (Summer 2002).

SUDHANSHU S. PANDA

Sudhanshu S Panda is an Assistant Professor of GIS and Environmental Science at Gainesville State College. Dr. Panda earned his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, India, an M.S. in Environmental Remote Sensing for Geo-information Development from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from North Dakota State University, North Dakota, USA. His Ph.D. dissertation was ‘Development of Data Mining Techniques for Production Management of Crop.’ His core research and teaching area are geotechnology (GIS, remote sensing, and GPS) application in natural resources and environmental management. He teaches online Introduction to GIS, Application Development in GIS (Programming with ArcObjects), Special Topics in GIS, GIS Service Learning, Internship, Soils and Hydrology, and Watershed Characterization courses. His expertise is in geotechnology, artificial intelligence (neural networks) application in environmental management, decision support system (DSS) development, data mining, geo-spatial modeling, application development in GIS, and information technology application for GIS. Dr. Panda has a wide range of research experiences in soil conservation planning, geospatial modeling for social and spatial dynamics, crop yield and water use prediction modeling, soil nutrient zoning with remote sensing, watershed management, water quality modeling, non-point source (NPS) pollution study, rangeland health management, forest stewardship planning, etc. He has developed a GIS-based DSS for Beaver Lake watershed management.  He has also developed the NPS pollution based watershed prioritization map for Arkansas State. The forest stewardship map for the state of Idaho is developed by him. He has worked with grants from NASA, Soil and Water Conservation Commission, EPA, Department of Land, etc. Dr. Panda has several book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference proceedings, presentations, and posters to his credit.

CHRISTOPHER J. SEMERJIAN

CHRISTOPHER SEMERJIAN is an Assistant Professor of GIS and Geography at Gainesville State College, currently teaching all GIS courses as well as GEOG 1111/1111L and GEOG 1112/1112L. He received his M.S. degree from Georgia State University in Geography/GIS in 1999 and his B.S. degree from the University of Georgia in Geology in 1994. Professional development coursework includes GIS/Image Processing from Foothills Community College (1998) in San Jose, California, and Field Studies in Hydrology and Watershed Characterization from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (1999). In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mr. Semerjian administers the Gainesville State College Certificate in Geographic Information Science, manages service-learning projects, and arranges internships for students completing the certificate program. He also co-authored and published a report entitled GPS Applications in Support of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s Well-head Protection Program, which was presented at the 1995 Georgia Water Resources Conference. He was also responsible for the Integration of GIS into the physics curriculum, the establishment of GIS Articulation Agreements, and served as the campus Phi Theta Kappa Resource contact for a mentorship grant for the development of introductory GIS curricula. The success of the GIS program prompted Phi Theta Kappa to select Gainesville State College as a GIS “success story” for the 1998 round of grant recipients. In June, 2003, Mr. Semerjian traveled to Santa Fe Community College to assist in the preliminary design of their GIS laboratory and curricula. He received an NSF/ATE grant in 2001 in GIS training for teachers and worked with the Forsyth County Board of Education to develop a GIS curriculum and establish an articulation agreement.

J. B. SHARMA

J.B. SHARMA is a Professor of Physics at Gainesville State College. He received his B.S in physics from Jacksonville State University in Alabama in 1982. He earned a M.S. degree in physics from UGA in 1985. He completed graduate coursework in nuclear engineering at Georgia Tech from 1988-90. He was a faculty member in physics at Gordon College from 1984 to 1988. He has been at Gainesville State College from 1988 to the present. J. B. has taught physics, mathematics and remote sensing courses at Gainesville State College. He is also active with training and education grants and committee service related to both physics and remote sensing. Additionally, he is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia, where he has completed the coursework toward his Ph.D. in the remote sensing of the environment. His research interests are in physics education and the modeling of physical processes on the surface of the Earth. He is currently working on his dissertation project which involves the modeling of erosion and sedimentation processes in the Lake Lanier Watershed. This research involves both remote sensing and GIS techniques.

H. JEFF TURK

JEFF TURK is an Assistant Professor and the Coordinator of Engineering at Gainesville State College. He also serves as the Hazardous Materials Coordinator and Regents’ Engineering Transfer Program Coordinator for Gainesville State College. He is a member of the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Georgia where he regularly teaches Fluid Mechanics. Mr. Turk received a Bachelor of Science degree in Ocean Engineering and a Master of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University. There his work included additional courses in hydrogeology, environmental engineering and aquatic pollution, hazardous waste regulation, etc. Mr. Turk has several years experience as an engineer and has recently completed the required courses toward a Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from the University of Georgia. There he is currently researching ecological systems theory, design theory, and the network analysis of ecological systems toward an understanding and formulation of a theory of self-organization for natural systems.

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