Batten Professor of Biology Dr. Maynard Schaus recognized for his work in the field of biology both in and outside of the classroom.
By Tara Kinard '08
Dr Maynard Schaus, Batten Professor of Biology at
Virginia Wesleyan College.
Virginia Wesleyan College's Batten Professor of Biology and Special Coordinator of Undergraduate Research, Dr. Maynard Schaus, is the recipient of the 2008 Batten Scholar Award. This honor recognizes professors who perform excellently within the classroom and also in their academic fields.
"I was a little surprised," said Schaus, when describing his reaction to receiving the award at the 2008 Commencement ceremonies. "There were several outstanding nominees," he said. "I had done a lot of good work, but so had they, so it was certainly an honor."
Schaus, who began teaching at Virginia Wesleyan in 1998, is an active scholar in several areas within the field of biology.
A recipient of three grants from the St. John's River Water Management District, Schaus has taken students to Florida for the past four years to study the effects of a large-scale fish removal on the nutrient cycles in Lake Apopka. His research on the role of fish in lake nutrient cycles has also been published in several peer reviewed journals including Ecology, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, and Limnology and Oceanography.
Schaus describes the research experience for students in Florida as "a lot of experiments and long hours, but the students got to see all aspects of the scientific process," he said.
For Schaus, the field of science is a process in which students must be willing to learn.
"If you really want to learn science, you have to DO science," he said. "Facts are important and we have to know about terms to fully understand concepts; however, at its core, science is a process of learning new things, not a list of things to learn."
In addition to researching fish and nutrient cycles, Schaus is one of three faculty members at the College involved in the campus green roof project, for which he received funding from the EPA (Environmental Projection Agency). For this project, Schaus and Virginia Wesleyan students work closely together to examine the effects of green roofs on the nutrient content of runoff water. >>Read More
As special coordinator of undergraduate research at Virginia Wesleyan, Schaus also oversees research projects that students conduct with the guidance of faculty members. In his own research, he was worked with students on applied ecology projects examining the use of nest boxes by wood ducks and the use of highway undercrossings by mammals.
"I try to find something both the students and I can be interested in," said Schaus of his research topics. "Through undergraduate research I am able to engage undergraduates in this unique type of learning and challenge them to take their learning to the next level."
Schaus received his B.S. in Biology from California Lutheran University and his Ph.D. in Zoology from Miami University (Ohio). At Virginia Wesleyan, he teaches courses ranging from Introduction to Biology to General Ecology. In all the courses he teaches, Schaus stresses to his students the importance of strong writing skills.
"Writing is important in the classroom, and as a critical component of the biology field," he said. "Writing for the ecology course includes lab reports and scholarly articles which are assessed according to an in-depth process involving four specific phases (submit, edit, revise, re-submit), before the final assignment is prepared and the student presents the material to the entire class."
In the spring of 2008, Schaus accepted an invitation to be an associate editor of the Freshwater Systems Domain of TheScientificWorldJOURNAL, which publishes peer-reviewed journals for biomedical, life and environmental sciences. He has also received funding from the National Science Foundation for his research on improving course, curriculum, and laboratory experiments in the Environmental Science curriculum.
In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with wife, Kathy, and his three children, and fishing.
07.30.08