Dr. Matthew Ward
Dr. Matthew Ward, director of the Daemen College Honors Program and associate professor of chemistry, has been elected to a two-year term as a faculty representative for the Northeast Regional Honors Council (NRHC) Executive Board. In this capacity, he will attend National Collegiate Honors Council and Northeast Regional Honors Council meetings, and help organize the NRHC conference.
Joining Daemen’s faculty in 2003, Ward collaborates with researchers at Sam Houston State University and the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility studying human decomposition to determine new time of death estimates in criminal investigations.
Ward graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Hiram College, and went on to receive a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. As a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow at Furman University in South Carolina, he investigated DNA free radicals using matrix isolation electron spin resonance spectroscopy.
A graduate of a small liberal arts college with a strong background in undergraduate research, Ward hopes to provide Daemen students with the foundation to pursue goals beyond their initial expectations. He continues to infuse the classroom environment with the benefits of inquiry based learning and the joys of discovery. His student researchers have presented their results at regional and national meetings of the American Chemical Society.