Stewart Mader works with business, academic, and non-profit organizations to flatten structure and simplify project management, discover, gather and use the valuable knowledge they have, reduce unnecessary email, and improve morale and motivation. He is Wiki Evangelist for Atlassian, publishes Grow Your Wiki, and founded Wikipatterns.com.

He is the author of two books: Wikipatterns, a practical guide to improving productivity and collaboration in your organization and Using Wiki in Education, an online book on wiki use in education and research.

He has taught science both in the classroom and online, specializes in using social software and wiki technology in education, and has worked with faculty to apply and assess its impact on student learning.

Stewart has significant experience applying technology to teaching, research, and the “business side” of higher ed. He has consulted with numerous schools, and served as Senior Instructional Technologist for Life Sciences and Brown Medical School at Brown University, Educational Technologist at Emerson College, Instructional Designer and Interim Director of the Faculty Center for Learning Development at University of Hartford.

Stewart also collaborated with faculty at both the Long Island and New York City campuses of Long Island University on a series of teaching and learning projects.

He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from University of Hartford, and is pursuing an M.S. in Curriculum Development and Instructional Technology from University at Albany.

The Science of Spectroscopy

He is co-founder of The Science of Spectroscopy, a NASA-funded project which rethinks how science is taught by using a model that starts with real-world applications, gets students engaged and asking ‘how does it work?’ and then teaches techniques and theory.

Spectroscopy has something for everybody. Because it is the study of light interaction with matter, it is the science of seeing, whether with the naked eye or with highly precise instruments. It also relies on math to draw conclusions after data has been collected. For these reasons it can be very engaging or extremely challenging for different learners.

The Science of Spectroscopy was developed to engage students by first presenting a wide variety of applications, then leading to theory as the underlying explanation. From NASA projects to medical imaging, sunscreen chemistry, and microwaves, the applications are intended to appeal to the different interests of as many students as possible, and encourage them to understand how and why spectroscopy is used. This creates a learning environment in which theory and techniques can be taught with relevance and meaning.

The web site is a wiki, making it easy for users to quickly edit pages and contribute information using just a web browser. The project has been featured in the journals Science (PDF) and Chemistry International, is listed by the Royal Society of Chemistry and Intute, and was recently named a member of 33 Wikis, a showcase of the best in wiki-based collaboration.

Films

He has produced two films in collaboration with NASA. Seeing the Scientific Light and Skysight let students hear directly from scientists who use spectroscopy in their everyday work. The films have aired on PBS stations and are currently in retail distribution.

Seeing the Scientific Light

How do scientists understand the chemical composition of our universe, study its age and determine the reactive processes constantly taking place at temperatures reaching many million Kelvin? The answer is Spectroscopy. Spectroscopy is the measurement of the response of matter as it interacts with light, and its many uses extend beyond space science, to weather monitoring, medical diagnostics such as MRI, household conveniences like the microwave oven and countless other facets of everyday life.

Skysight: The Story of SOFIA, The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

It could be said that the sky comes alive at night. From Earth’s surface, the brief absence of the Sun brings a spectacle of lights - stars, galaxies, nebulae and planets - a window into the Universe. Explorers have looked through this window for hundreds of years - first from the ground, and now through ever more powerful telescopes that work at the edge of space. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) will take the largest and most versatile airborne telescope built to date aboard a modified Boeing 747SP 45,000 feet above Earth’s surface to study space.

Publications

Full list of Stewart’s publications in magazines, academic journals, and conference proceedings.