Dr. Danica Nowosielski, professor at Hudson Valley Community College, knew she wanted to become a teacher for as long as she can remember, and was heavily influenced by her teachers at Colonie Central High School. Her teachers influenced her teaching style and helped her communicate with her students, she said.
While at CCHS, from 1988 to 1992, she had many favorite teachers. One memorable teacher she had was her Precalculus and AP Calculus teacher Mr. Outman. He was tough, she recalls, but he had a way of making math “personable to the whole class.”
Another memorable teacher was her Spanish teacher, Senorita Paulding, who advised both her Spanish and Future Teachers of America clubs. According to Nowosielski, Paulding had a philosophy of “es mas importante para communicar” or “it’s more important to be able to communicate” allowing Nowosielski to be able to hold a conversation in Spanish today.
Nowosielski also credits Colonie for helping her with her college experience.
“Colonie gave me an excellent educational foundation upon which to build,” she said.
She remembers her high school class being very competitive, and notes that her chemistry teacher was especially tough, but students learned a lot from the class due to its demanding expectations.
“We all pushed each other academically in an encouraging way,” she said. “That environment helped me navigate my higher education and continue to do well.”
After Nowosielski graduated in 1992, she went on to Russell Sage College in Troy, NY. She enjoyed both math and science in school, so majoring in both “made sense,” she said. She first wanted to teach high school, so she also decided to major in secondary education. However, her plans changed, and she decided to get a PhD instead to teach at the college level.
Before graduating from Russell Sage in 1996, Nowosielski had a summer internship at General Electric Corporate Research and Design Center during 1994 and 1995.
She then went on to get her master’s degree and PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. There, she trained in the use of “Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.”
After finishing her education, Nowosielski had various teaching jobs in chemistry. For her first job, from September 2001 to May 2004, she was a visiting assistant professor of chemistry at Siena College. While at Siena, she taught Physical Chemistry, General Chemistry, and Concepts of Environmental Chemistry.
After Siena College, she became a professor at Hudson Valley Community College where she has been ever since. During the summers of 2003 and 2004 she started out as an adjunct instructor. She then went on to be a chemistry instructor from 2004 to 2009, an assistant professor of chemistry from 2009 to 2016, and an associate professor of Chemistry from 2016 to 2023.
She is currently a full-time Professor of Chemistry teaching both the lectures and labs for Calculus-based General Chemistry, General Chemistry, Principles of Physical Chemistry and Essentials of Chemistry.
Nowosielski has also published articles such as “Who’s that Scientist? A Scientist Report Writing Assignment for General Chemistry Students” in the Journal of Chemical Education ( 2023) and “A Change Ringing: A Connection Between Math and Music,” in the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal (Fall 1997), which won her an Andree Award.
She is still involved with the Colonie community. She has been back to speak to the STEM Club, most recently in June 2021 for a presentation called “Chemistry in the Time of the Pharaohs”.
Nowosielski has known Michele Famoso, a science teacher at Colonie who organizes the Greater Capital Regional STEAM Exposition each spring at the high school, since the third grade, and they graduated together from Colonie. Nowosielski has been a judge at the STEAM Exposition in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2023.
She says that many Colonie alumni are happy to be invited to come back and serve as judges for the exposition, which shows how Colonie has had a positive impact on its students before and after they graduate.
About the author:
Evelyn Desnoyers is a junior at CCHS and is excited to be writing for her school newspaper. She enjoys studying all sciences and hopes to pursue higher education in chemistry in the near future. She is a proud member of the executive club for her grade and debate club. Her favorite activities outside of school are going on hikes with her family and rereading her favorite books.
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