BDIC Fall 2008 Newsletter

Meet BDIC's Newest Faculty Supervisors

Dan Gerber, Health
By Debora Dechtiar

The BDIC office is excited to welcome Dan Gerber as one of our new faculty supervisors. The Gerber brothers, Dan and John, are known all over campus for their dedication to students. We are now lucky enough to have one of these brothers as part of the BDIC advisory staff.

Dr. Gerber is Director of the new undergraduate Public Health Sciences Program. In addition to teaching at UMass Amherst, Professor Gerber has over thirty years of experience planning and managing health education programs around the world. One of his most noteworthy achievements was in receiving the Distinguished Academic Outreach Teaching Award on April, 2007. . His expertise is in: health education: (child survival, HIV/AIDS prevention, family planning, maternal and child health, water and sanitation, and nutrition education), empowerment training and the evaluation of health programs around the world.

I was a student in Professor Gerber’s Health Training and Popular Education course lastyear and am lucky enough to have him as my faculty sponsor for my BDIC major.

David Kastor, Sustainability and Natural Science
By Danielle Pourbaix

This academic year we are proud to welcome Dr. David Kastor of the Physics department as a new faculty supervisor focusing in sustainability and natural sciences. While his research interests include classical and quantum gravity, he also teaches modern energy solutions for today’s society and the physics of energy.

Dr. Kastor is an Amherst resident and has been here at UMass since 1993. He is excited to be involved in the BDIC program and says he enjoys “meeting both faculty and students from other parts of the University.” He hopes that someday “sustainability studies can be turned into a minor or even a major” at UMass. Dr. Kastor is interested in helping students out who are looking to get into sustainability and dealing with development issues. He looks forward to meeting with students to share his own knowledge of this growing field.

M.J. Alhabeeb, Business and Law
By Chris Hamel

M.J. Alhabeeb, of the Resource Economics department, is a welcome new member to our team of BDIC faculty supervisors. Commenting on his philosophy of teaching he says, “One of my favorite pedagogical approaches is problem solving, which is not typically a list of solutions to selected and generic problems.

In contrast, it is a methodology to create specific and genuine solutions to any problem, and to learn how to devise ways and draw strategies to make efficient choices.” Professor Alhabeeb’s open minded approach to learning is a perfect fit with BDIC, and his experience in resource economics will be a crucial asset to many of our students focusing in economics, business, and management. He has won several awards for his outstanding teaching abilities, including the 2004 Outstanding Teaching Award for Innovative and Creative Teaching: A national award given by The Academy of Educational Leadership, Allied Academies. His passions also include Arabic calligraphy and painting. We look forward to a bright future with him!