Vanessa Quinn, professor of biological sciences, has been elected as the new chairwoman of the Faculty Research Board.

Quinn saw firsthand what research can mean for students when she was a member of the board last year. At the Westville campus, she completed research on humans’ influence on endangered species. After she received a doctoral degree in evolution and physiology from Indiana State University in 2001, she spent four years researching the effect climate change has on northern forests in Wisconsin for the U.S. Forest Service.

She is now researching how to adapt a course that Purdue West Lafayette uses to prepare students to attend professional meetings in their disciplines.

“Students often find those meetings very intimidating,” she said.

She is also the director of the Student Research Office and associate dean for research and assessment at the Honors College. She teaches a course in which students go to the Great Smoky Mountains for a week in August to contribute research to a citizen science project. She developed this project with some graduate students as they considered ways to do authentic research. She likes how this project shows research can be ongoing as new data is added to the collection.

“I think sometimes students think research is this short-term thing,” she said. “They get a long-term scope of what research can mean.”

She said her goals for the Faculty Research Board mostly coincide with what the board has done in the past. The board, which has nine voting members, will review internal faculty research grants and plan and prepare for the Days of Discovery and Creativity on April 3 on the Westville campus and April 4 on the Hammond campus.

The board is also reviewing the university’s various research centers, like the Center for Innovation through Visualization and Stimulation, to provide an update to Provost Ralph Mueller.

She would like to see increasing funding for research.

“One of the important parts of faculty doing research is it keeps them current in their field,” she said.

Quinn said students find jobs while doing research or receive experience that will help them look for jobs.

“They’re able to get this hands-on experience that is related to what they are doing in the classroom,” she said. She said that when students work on research with their instructors, the students receive mentoring in the field. “It’s very difficult to create [this experience] in the classroom,” Quinn said.

She said her personal goal is to become better at working with researchers from outside the science, engineering, technology and mathematics fields. These researchers must look harder to find grants and must have well-planned proposals.

“They don’t have the grants available that the STEM disciples do,” she said.

Quinn has taught at the Westville campus since 2006 and was once an adjunct professor at Wabash College.

John Rowan, Honors College dean and nonvoting member of the Faculty Research Board said Quinn’s leadership on the board will be a great benefit to PNW.

“She has an outstanding grasp of sponsored research and is dedicated to ensuring that faculty in all disciplines– from the humanities to the sciences to business and everything in between–have opportunities to pursue new knowledge in their areas,” he said.

Because of her work at the Honors College and the Student Research Office, Rowan said Quinn has a thorough understanding of PNW’s needs and opportunities.

“She is also a wonderful person to work with, as students and faculty and students at PNW already know. We are truly fortunate to have her serving in this capacity,” he said.