If one judges a professor by his or her students’ success, then Dr. Thayaparan Paramanathan must be doing something very right.
The assistant professor of physics, known to all as “Thaya,” joined Bridgewater in the fall of 2014. Already, he’s had a hand in helping students make giant strides in their research and education.
His philosophy is key to the results he gets.
“Students learn the best when they are motivated and engaged. I truly believe that one such motivator is the relationship between the student and the teacher,” he said. “Working on research projects outside the class provides the opportunities to show that we really care about their success, the smallest gestures often make the biggest difference. This brings the students closer to us and they feel comfortable in interacting with us, which makes the learning very effective.”
He can often be found working in the single molecule biophysics lab. There, Professor Paramanathan and his students are in the process of building an optical tweezers set-up. This instrument is used to trap single DNA molecules so they can be studied as they interact with prospective cancer drugs. This has enabled student researchers at BSU to do some high-level work.
Using this device (and a similar one at Northeastern University, where Professor Paramanathan has a relationship), Nicholas Bryden was able to present his research on the effects of handedness of DNA threading intercalators at the National Collegiate Research Conference, held at Harvard in January 2016. He was one of about 100 undergraduates selected for the very prestige conference.
In addition to Mr. Bryden, Dr. Paramanathan has also mentored the following students who have gone on to impressive academic and professional careers: Jon del’Etoile, who has been accepted to the biophysics PhD program at Ohio State University, one of the top ten programs of its kind in the U.S.; Erin McLaughlin, who has been accepted to the biomedical science PhD program at the University of Virginia; and Devon West-Coates, who has been offered a position at Plymouth Grating Laboratories.
“I would say that Dr. Thaya has been one of the most influential faculty members I have interacted with,” Jon del’Etoile said. “His work ethic is incredible. He’s the type of professor that makes you want to work harder just because you know he’s putting everything into it himself.”
Dr. Paramanathan’s current students are now working on building their own research portfolios. In addition to Mr. Bryden, Brian Daudelin and Eric Grotzke are continuing their work on the optical tweezers.
These students, along with Jon del’Etoile, presented their research at the American Physical Society National meeting held last month at Baltimore.
Dr. Paramanathan’s own research has recently been published in high impact journals, such as Nature Communications and Nucleic Acids Research, and he has been invited to give presentations at multiple international conferences.
These are impressive markers of success, but the bottom line is all about the young people he sees in the lab and classroom each day.
“The biggest joy of teaching is when we see our students doing well in their lives,” he said. “I have experienced this during my past teaching experience and strive to carry on in changing many lives in the future.” (Story by John Winters, G ’11, University News & Media)
