Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)

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Left to Right: Zhou Haiyun (SWU), Bill Lamberts (CSB+SJU Biology Professor), and Caitlin Walsh (CSB '08). From the 2007 Program.
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Henry Jakubowski Named a Visting Professor at SWU (2010) 

Summer Science Research Exchange Program

Professor Henry Jakubowski developed and ran the first Summer Science Research Exchange Program between CSB+SJU and SWU in 2006. This was one of the first US liberal arts college science-based exchange programs with China. In 2010, Jakubowski was named a visiting professor of Chemistry at SWU. Throughout the years, the program expanded to include exchanges in humanities, fine arts, and social sciences.

Jianping Xie was the SWU professor who participated in the 2006 program. The program ran again in May 2007, when eight CSB+SJU students went to SWU to conduct research with fellow undergraduate students from SWU. All students were in the biology, chemistry, and/or physic departments. Their research projects included isolating bacteria with novel pesticide-degrading properties and computer modeling electronic properties of crystals. Six weeks later, all the students (including the eight SWU students) came to CSB+SJU and started new projects, ranging from laser optics to genetic engineering. 2006 was the first-time students from SWU came to CSB+SJU. It was truly the first reciprocal program. The program was last offered in the Summer of 2018.

Henry Jakubowski, PhD

Henry Jakubowski was a professor of Chemistry at CSB+SJU from 1988-2020. Jakubowski received his B.S. in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Albany in 1975 and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1986. He held a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Mayo Clinic/foundation. Jakubowski was the Chair of Chemistry department in 2000-2001. In 2001, he received the first Tom Creed Memorial Award for Effective Electronic Pedagogy. He received this award as he created a website for his biochemistry class, which he kept up to date with forthcoming technology. Jakubowski played a big role in starting the Biochemistry major, which was implemented the following year.

Since 1997, the first time Jakubowski visited Southwest University, he believed that SWU and CSB+SJU would benefit from a summer exchange program with science majors. Before establishing the program, Jakubowski co-directed a J-term trip to visit medical sites in China and in October 2003, he co-directed a tour of “Comparative Medicine in China.” In 2006, Jakubowski ran the first Summer Science Research Exchange Program between CSB+SJU and SWU. He led 8 students to conduct research with SWU students and faculty for 6 weeks. The 8 SWU participants then visited CSB+SJU for 6 weeks to continue the joint research projects. He wanted SWU to be able to send students here and he wanted to give science majors a chance to study abroad, without making it more difficult to finish in four years. Throughout the years, the program expanded to include humanities, fine arts, and social sciences. In 2010, Jakubowski was named a visiting professor of Chemistry at SWU. Jakubowski was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2021, partly due to his online textbook of biomolecular visualization images, a book which he has now made free for the world.

CSB and SJU Go To China!
Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)