Robin Herlands Cresiski

Associate ProfessorBiology

Robin Herlands Cresiski is the Director of the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching (CAST) and an Associate Professor of Biology at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. The CAST supports faculty in their goals of being the most inspiring, effective, and inclusive professors they can be for our Goucher students.  She provides workshops, observations, and consultations to faculty, helping them design and redesign courses, assignments, and classroom approaches to enhance student success. She will also teach courses in biology, and looks forward to teaching a Center Exploration course called Disease and Discrimination. Prior to her arrival at Goucher in 2017, she was a faculty member, department chair, vice provost and interim provost at Nevada State College, a small public access college outside of Las Vegas.  She completed her doctorate in Immunobiology at Yale University in 2007 and her bachelor’s degree in Biology at Haverford College in 2001.  

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Research, Scholarship, Creative Work in Progress

Dr. Cresiski’s research interests have evolved over her career.  Her previous interests included studying the role of T cells in autoimmune disease, exploring the possibility of adaptive immunity in insects, and the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in household pests. More recently, her research has shifted to an examination of what factors influence student success. In particular, she has focused on understanding which high impact practices help reduce equity gaps between historically advantaged and disadvantaged populations.  

Publications

Sharp, G., Cresiski, R.H., Benson, W., Barber, D., & Round, J. (In Preparation). Undergraduate perceptions of graduate school admissions criteria. 

Cresiski, R.H., Yao, R., & Naumann, L. (In Preparation). Empowering students and enacting campus change through institutional research.

Hignite, L., Yao, R., Brautbar, S., & Cresiski, R.H. Designing and implementing an effective college internship program. (2015). In Dominguez, N. & Gandert, Y. (Eds.). 7th Annual Mentoring Conference Proceedings: Developmental Networks: Mentoring & Coaching at Work. University of New Mexico.

Cresiski, R.H. (2014). Undergraduate bioinformatics workshops provide perceived skills. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, 15(2): 292-294

Sharp, G., Yao, R., Hahn, K., & Cresiski, R.H. (2013). Boundary issues in undergraduate psychology field experience courses. Psychology Learning and Teaching. 12(13): 266-74.

Cresiski, R.H. (2013). Two virtual labs to study genetic inheritance in the fruit fly. Journal Of Microbiology & Biology Education, 14(1): 141-142.

Herlands, R.A., Christensen S.R. & Shlomchik, M.J. (2008). The roles of T cells and toll-like Receptors in autospecific B cell activation and auto-antibody secretion in the AM14 model of lupus. Immunity. 29(2): 249-60.

Herlands, R.A., William, J., Hershberg, U., & Shlomchik, M.J. (2007). Anti-chromatin immune complexes drive in vivo antigen specific activation and somatic hypermutation of rheumatoid factor B cells at extrafollicular sites. European Journal of Immunology. 37(12): 3339-51.

Wahl, M.L., Owen, J.A., Burd, R., Herlands, R.A., Nogami, S.S., Rodeck, U., Berd, D., Leeper, D.B., & Owen, C.S. (2002). Regulation of intracellular pH in human melanoma: potential therapeutic implications.  Molecular Cancer Therapeautics.1(8): 617-28.

External Awards, Honors, Grants

2016: Nevada State College iTeach award in Heritage for work on the inaugural Climate Survey

2015: Western Academic Leadership Academy, selected by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Boulder, Colorado.

2014: Nevada Women of Distinction Award - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Nevada Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners

2013: Nevada State College iTeach award in Economic Development for work to expand science industry in NV and build STEM career preparedness among NSC students.

2013 and 2012: Nevada State College Technology Fellowship Institute awardee, selected for incorporation of technology into gateway courses to improve learning and retention.

2012: Project Kaleidoscope Summer Leadership Institute, selected by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Baca, Colorado.

2001: NCAA Postgraduate Fellowship Award

2001: Phi Beta Kappa

Funded Grant Proposals Authored or Co-Authored (totaling $1,964,516 in external funds):

2016: State of Nevada STEM Workforce Challenge Grant. $54,476 “Horticulture Science Certificate Development through Experiential Learning on a Nevada.” Author: Robin Cresiski. PI: Gwen Sharp, Associate Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Nevada State College.

2015-2020: U.S. Department of Education Regular Student Support Services proposal. $1,100,000 over 5 years. Co-authors:  Robin Cresiski and Tony Scinta, Nevada State College. Grant scored 105.33 out of 106 possible points.

2015-2016: State of Nevada STEM Workforce Challenge Grant. $36,540. “Preparing STEM Teachers for Northern Nevada: A collaboration between Nevada State College and Western Nevada College.” Author: Robin Cresiski. PI: Dennis Potthoff, Dean of Education, Nevada State College.

2012-2015: Subaward Principal Investigator, Nevada Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (NV-INBRE) grant from the National Institutes of Health-National Center for Research Resources (NIH-NCRR, 5P20RR016464-11) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (8 P20 GM103440-11). Nevada State College received increasing awards, starting from $30,000 per year and increasing to $353,000 in 2015 to support supervision of undergraduate research. Grant PI: Jim Kenyon, University of Nevada, Reno. Site/Subaward PI: Robin Herlands Cresiski, Nevada State College.

2014: Subaward Principal Investigator, NSF Nevada EPSCoR Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (IIA-1301726). Nevada State College was awarded $25,500 to support 5 undergraduate students in biology and chemistry research and their 3 faculty mentors.  PI: Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor’s Office Site/Subaward PI: Robin Herlands Cresiski, Nevada State College.

Conference Papers & Panel Participation

Cresiski, R., Scinta, T., Thanki, S., Shi, Q., Haney, M., Yao, R., & Le-Nguyen, J. (2017, January). Undergraduate research: Not just for research universities. Paper and oral presentation at the annual meeting of Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE). Honolulu, HI. 

Haney, M., Thanki, S., Shi, Q., Cresiski, R., & Le-Nguyen, J. (2017, January). Does financial aid matter? An examination of Pell Grants and underrepresented students’ performance. Paper and oral presentation at the annual meeting of Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE). Honolulu, HI. 

Shi, Q., LeMaistre, T., Cresiski, R., Thanki, S. (submitted July 2016). Making connections to student success: big data at a small college library. Submitted for peer review for the American Educational Research Association National Conference. Washington, D.C.

Shi, Q., Cresiski, R., Scinta, T., Le, J., & Thanki, S. (submitted July 2016). Underrepresented seniors’ participation in high-impact practices and student success. Submitted for peer review for the American Educational Research Association National Conference. Washington, D.C.

Beck, E., Thanki, S., Scinta, T., Cresiski, R., & Shi, Q.  (2016, April). Closing equity gaps: student support services that matter. Oral presentation at the American Educational Research Association National Conference. Washington, D.C.

Beck, E., Scinta, T., Thanki, S. Cresiski, R., Shi, Q., and Le, J. (2016, January). Senior student overall satisfaction and its relationships with engagement and perceived gains: an examination of NSSE 2013.  Paper and oral presentation accepted for the Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
Qadir, A., Villa, J., Law, Q., and Cresiski, R.H.  (2013, May). Characterization of the Periplaneta americana immune response using image-based flow cytometry. Poster presented at the American Association of Immunologists National Conference. Honolulu, HI.

Cresiski, R.H. (2013, April). Creating a technologically prepared workforce. Oral presentation at the Southern Nevada Biology and Technology Entrepreneurs Event, Las Vegas, NV.

Herlands, R.A., Wing, H.J. (2010, April). Differential localization of IcsP and IcsA in the outer membrane of Shigella flexneri. Poster presented at the Regional American Society of Microbiologist Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

Shlomchik, M.J., Herlands, R.A., Sweet, R.A., Giles, J., Christensen, S.R., Flavell, R., and Dillon, S. (2010, January). How autoreactive B cells are activated. Oral presentation delivered at the Midwinter Conference of Immunologists, Asilomar, CA.

Shlomchick , M.J., Nickerson, K., Sweet, R.A., Christensen, S.R., Herlands, R.A. (2009, December). Toll-like receptors and autoimmunity. Poster presented at the 51st American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, New Orleans, LA.

Herlands, R.A. (2009, February). Role of toll-like receptors in the activation and differentiation of autoreactive B cells in a murine model of SLE. Poster presented at the Keystone Symposia: B Cells in Context. Taos, NM.

Invited Talks

Cresiski, R., Scinta, T., Thanki, S., Shi, Q., Haney, M., Yao, R., & Le-Nguyen, J. (2017, January). Undergraduate research: Not just for research universities. Paper and oral presentation at the annual meeting of Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE). Honolulu, HI. 

Haney, M., Thanki, S., Shi, Q., Cresiski, R., & Le-Nguyen, J. (2017, January). Does financial aid matter? An examination of Pell Grants and underrepresented students’ performance. Paper and oral presentation at the annual meeting of Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE). Honolulu, HI. 

Cresiski, R.H., Mason, T., Heavey, C.L, Gonzalez, F., Harper, L. (2016, March). Education: the common denominator. Panel Presentation at the Convene for Green Sustainability Summit. Las Vegas, NV.

Beck, E., Scinta, T., Thanki, S. Cresiski, R., Shi, Q., and Le, J. (2016, January). Senior student overall satisfaction and its relationships with engagement and perceived gains: an examination of NSSE 2013.  Paper and oral presentation accepted for the Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI

Thanki, S. & Cresiski, R. H. (2015, October). SQL, Tableau and Student Success. Oral presentation at Rocky Mountain Association for Institutional Research. Las Vegas, NV.

Cresiski, R.H. & Porter, T. (2015, January). Why science education is important and changing southern Nevada. Oral presentation at the Nevada Biotechnology and Health Sciences Consortium, Las Vegas, NV.

Cresiski, R.H. (2013, April). Creating a technologically prepared workforce. Oral presentation at the Southern Nevada Biology and Technology Entrepreneurs Event, Las Vegas, NV.

Kebede, K., Herlands, R.A. (2011, July). Rheumatic Disease and Complications in Surgical Treatment. Oral presentation at the Surgical Implant Generation Network Conference. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Thomson, G. Brommel, A., Robinson, G., Herlands, R.A., and Kebede, K. (2011, June) Strategic planning in Faculty Senate: An adaptation of the balanced scorecard to promote shared governance. Oral presentation at the AAUP Conference on the State of Higher Education, Washington, DC.