Vivian Ballenger Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Dr. Dave Crisostomo is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Earning his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame in 2010 and his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2016, Dave has been teaching at Auburn since 2017. Dr. Crisostomo is an avid player of tabletop and boardgames and shares this passion by not only incorporating gamification in his active learning classrooms but also organizing gaming events both in and outside of Auburn.

Mathematics and Statistics

Heather Haskell is a Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Heather received her undergraduate degree in mathematics education from the University of Georgia, a master's degree in mathematics education from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA, and a second master's degree in applied statistics from the University of South Carolina.  Heather began teaching at Auburn in 2019 but has been teaching for more than 33 years.  During her teaching tenure, she has taught at the high school, community college, and university levels. Focusing on improving teaching for the success of students has always been her passion.  When Heather is not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren, as well as playing her bagpipes and watching SEC football.

Mathematics and Statistics

Melinda Lanius is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Auburn University.  She received an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include undergraduate student's psychological stress - math anxiety, academic distress - in the math classroom and teaching-oriented professional development for graduate teaching assistants and faculty. In her spare time, she enjoys outdoor adventures with her dog Johnny and long-distance running. 

Mathematics and Statistics

Dr. Luke Oeding is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics. He joined Auburn in 2013. His research in sits in the divide between pure and applied mathematics. More specifically, he studies applications of Algebraic Geometry and Representation Theory to Computer Vision, Quantum Information Theory, Signal Processing, Algebraic Statistics, and Foundations of Machine Learning. In addition to his passion for research and teaching in mathematics, he enjoys travel and playing golf.

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Dr. Filip Pawlowski, originally from Poland, received his PhD in theoretical chemistry from Aarhus University, Denmark. He joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as an Assistant Research Professor in 2017. His research focuses on method development in quantum chemistry. He is passionate about both research and teaching, and loves combining both: He brings the forefront of his research into the classroom, where, in turn, he always learns new perspectives on the subject from his students. As a complete-beginner electric guitar player, he does realize that there is no "one-fits-all"  path to learning new things.

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Dr. J. Rachel Prado is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Auburn University, where she has been teaching since 2019. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed a teaching postdoc at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Prado specializes in teaching large lecture sections of general and organic chemistry in a flipped classroom style, with a focus on scaffolding and group work to foster a sense of belonging among her students. She is passionate about promoting inclusion and belonging both in and outside of the classroom to help her students build confidence in their STEM abilities. When she's not teaching, Dr. Prado enjoys spending time with her husband, three boys, and dog Cooper.

Biological Sciences

Dr. Min Zhong is a senior lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences, where she received her Ph.D. and has been teaching undergraduates at multiple year levels for over 13 years. She has extensive experience in teaching biology core courses, Marine Biology and Pedagogy of Peer-Led Instruction courses in the active learning environment and online classes. She is one of the leaders who utilize student-centered innovative teaching strategies in the DBS.  Her recent interest is to accelerate curriculum transformation and high-impact practices (HIPs) in the STEM field through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). In addition to teaching, she has worked as a Faculty Fellow and SoTL specialist in the Biggio Center and is currently serving as the Lead Coordinator of the Auburn University Learning Assistant Program (AULAP). Her goal is to catalyze pedagogical change in science teaching through a SoTL lens. When she is not teaching, she enjoys cooking and traveling. 

Mathematics and Statistics

Dr. Samir Raouafi is a Lecturer and the Business Calculus Coordinator at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Auburn University. He joined in 2017. He earned his B.S. in mathematics from the University Tunis El Manar, Tunisia, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in mathematics from Laval University, Quebec, Canada. Following this, he completed a postdoc at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Currently, Dr. Raouafi teaches large sections of business calculus and Introductory Statistics. His research focuses on spectral theory and matrix theory. Outside of his teaching responsibilities, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his family and friends.