{"id":78533,"date":"2021-08-12T12:08:21","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T16:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=78533"},"modified":"2025-09-30T09:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T13:59:16","slug":"interim-science-dean-big-picture","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/interim-science-dean-big-picture\/","title":{"rendered":"Interim Science Dean Focused on Safe Return to Campus and Big-Picture Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Interim Science Dean Focused on Safe Return to Campus and Big-Picture Goals\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

As a mid-career scientist and teacher, Carleton University Chemistry<\/a> Prof. Maria DeRosa<\/a> has her hands full in the lab and classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s built a successful research program, exploring, among other areas, the use of short DNA sequences called aptamers to address Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a> and in smart fertilizers<\/a> that release nutrients at critical growing times. She\u2019s also supporting and mentoring dozens of students, from undergraduates to post-docs, and is halfway through a two-year term as chair of the Department of Chemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when Faculty of Science<\/a> Dean Chuck Macdonald decided to return to his hometown of Halifax, to take on the same role at Dalhousie University, DeRosa didn\u2019t shy away when asked to serve as interim dean<\/a> until June 30, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Interim
Interim Science Dean Maria DeRosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s challenging but exciting,\u201d says DeRosa, who began her new role on August 1. She previously served as the faculty\u2019s associate dean (Recruitment and Retention) from 2018 to 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI have a deep sense of belonging in the faculty and felt a responsibility to our students and to Chuck\u2019s vision. But I\u2019m also interested in seeing how everything ticks, how everybody works together, and how decisions are made.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

DeRosa, who completed both her undergraduate degree and PhD in chemistry at Carleton, left for an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology in 2003 and then came back two years later as a faculty member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s the principal investigator of Carleton\u2019s Laboratory for Aptamer Discovery and Development of Emerging Research<\/a> (LADDER), a facility funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund, and has received several awards for her teaching and research, including the John Charles Polanyi Research Award and an Ontario Early Researcher Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Interim Science Dean DeRosa with Laboratory for Aptamer Discovery and Development of Emerging Research (LADDER) group members.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After getting up to speed, her focus as dean will be the safe return to campus this September for students, faculty and staff\u2014and the important return of face-to-face instruction\u2014as well as the \u201cregular business\u201d of onboarding new professors and establishing new programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And she\u2019ll continue working toward the goals that were central to Macdonald\u2019s mandate, such as increasing enrolment, improving the sustainability\u2014both environmental and financial\u2014of the faculty, and enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion within the sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI didn\u2019t want to see the momentum we\u2019ve built up disappear,\u201d says DeRosa, who worked closely with Macdonald since his arrival three years ago.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI want to keep things on track until the next dean arrives and to do as much as I can for the faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Chemistry<\/figure>\n\n\n

Academic Balancing Act<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Academics are accustomed to balancing several different roles, according to DeRosa, who plans to maintain her research projects over the next year, with an NSERC grant recently renewed<\/a> and another grant<\/a> recently received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reality, as a professor, is that you wear at least three hats,\u201d she says. \u201cIn addition to teaching and research, there is also a service role\u2014you give back to your institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Maria<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of the bigger picture,\u201d DeRosa says about the latter, \u201cbeyond what\u2019s happening in your lab and in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of her motivation in accepting the interim position is showing her students how one can successfully manage multiple priorities\u2014and showing that a woman can balance these rewarding yet challenging demands.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen I was I student and looked around, I didn\u2019t always see other women doing research or in leadership positions,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI want today\u2019s students to see themselves reflected in these types of roles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a participant in the Carleton Leader<\/a> program, DeRosa learned about the \u201cpacesetter\u201d style of leadership: look at me and try to keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the opposite of what I want to do,\u201d she says. \u201cI want people to see how one must constantly navigate through challenges\u2014and make mistakes\u2014to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mentors and Explosive Moments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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DeRosa, who was born and raised in Ottawa, considers herself blessed to have found a home at Carleton, to be able to spend so much time at one school while constantly growing and learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was drawn to science by supportive mentors and teachers, including one in high school who blew something up in a chemistry lab\u2014the explosive moment that attracts so many students to this field.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cDeep down, science is about trying to understand things that we don\u2019t understand,\u201d says DeRosa, \u201cand asking questions that haven\u2019t been asked.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Chemistry research, to her, is about developing new materials with new properties, as well as the process that leads to these discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Experimenting with DNA is a little bit like playing with clay in this regard. The aptamers she\u2019s working with have applications in agriculture and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson\u2019s, but they could also lead research into unexpected directions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe excitement of discovering new things is the feeling I\u2019ve been chasing since high school,\u201d says DeRosa.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know what these discoveries are going to be, which means sometimes you have to take a chance and see where things will go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As a mid-career scientist and teacher, Carleton University Chemistry Prof. Maria DeRosa has her hands full in the lab and classroom. She\u2019s built a successful research program, exploring, among other areas, the use of short DNA sequences called aptamers to address Parkinson\u2019s disease and in smart fertilizers that release nutrients at critical growing times. She\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":48398,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28],"cu_story_tag":[1919],"class_list":["post-78533","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/78533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/78533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97358,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/78533\/revisions\/97358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=78533"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=78533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}