The Awesome Friends Faculty Award
The Ann Simmons Alspaugh Faculty Award
The Edith Kinney Gaylord Faculty Award
The Awesome Men's Faculty Award
The OSSM Foundation Faculty Award
The McCasland Foundation Faculty Award
The Edna McDuffie Manning Faculty Award
The Devon Energy Faculty Award
Dr. Ann Dell has been with OSSM since 1991 and has taught Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular and Cell Biology to all OSSM graduating classes. Dr. Dell also coordinates all of OSSM's mentorship programs where she is responsible for finding professionals in the community who are willing to dedicate at least 4 hours a week to students. She also arranges busy schedules and provides transportation to and from mentor facilities. Dr. Dell has devoted much of her time and energy to OSSM students over the years and we are delighted to honor her as the first recipient of the Awesome Friends Faculty Award.
Professor Chengde Feng began his teaching career in 1964 at a junior/senior high school in Tianjin, China. While in China, he became an associate professor of mathematics at Hong Qiao Institute of Teachers’ Advanced Studies, Co-Founder of Tianjin Math Spare-Time School, and the Senior Coach of China's Mathematics Association Olympiad Committee. Prof. Feng came to the United States in 1990 and worked with Dr. Julian Stanley at Johns Hopkins University. Since 1991 Prof. Feng has taught Precalculus, Calculus, Multivariate Calculus, Number Theory, Special Advanced Problems, and Linear Algebra at OSSM.
Dr. Dorothy Dodd is a member of the Inaugural Faculty and teaches American Literature. During her tenure she has been awarded a State Stuperintendent Award for Arts Excellence and has been extremely pleased to see that 13 OSSM students have also received this award.
Prior to OSSM, Dr. Dodd was the State Administrator for Gifted and Talented Education and Coordinator for Oklahoma Arts for the Handicapped. She designed OSSM’s Fine Arts Program to foster students’ appreciation for the arts. Dr. Dodd hopes to gain community support to transform the old library space into the OSSM Art Gallery.
Dr. Fazlur Rahman has taught General and Organic Chemistry at OSSM since 1992. He received his MS degree in Organic Chemistry from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry from The Australian National University. Since coaching the Chemistry Olympiad at OSSM he has sent 10 students to the National Olympiad Team. Those teams went on to win the Gold Medal in 2002, Silver in 2001 and the Bronze in 2000 and 2002 at the International Chemistry Olympiad. He has coached OSSM students for the TEAM+S competitions since 2000. They have secured State Championships every year since that time. In addition, the Junior Varsity team ranked 1st and the Varsity 3rd in the nation in 2005.
Dr. Mark Y. Li teaches human biology courses at OSSM that include Anatomy & Physiology, Endocrinology, and Embryology. Prior to joining the OSSM faculty in 1994, Dr. Li had conducted teaching and research work at Iowa State University, University of Iowa, and Wayne State University. Dr. Li has a Ph.D. and an MS, both in physiology from Iowa State University, and a BS/DVM from Guangxi University in China. He has also been teaching physiology courses at the University of Oklahoma as an adjunct professor.
Dr. Xifan Liu has been teaching physics at OSSM since 1992. Under his teaching and coaching, eight OSSM students have progressed to compete internationally on the United States Physics Olympiad Team, one winning a gold medal in 1995.
Dr. Liu “moonlights” as a professional photographer for a daily newspaper on the sidelines of the University of Oklahoma football and basketball games. He spends his summers conquering mountain summits around the globe. He is also a husband and father. Dr. Liu brings all of his life experiences to the classroom, which enhances the education of OSSM students. Thanks to the generosity of the McCasland Foundation, and other organizations, corporations, and individuals, OSSM is able to attract and retain faculty of Dr. Liu's experience and caliber.
Professor Yunhua Feng moved to the United States from China in 1990, having taught mathematics for 26 years. While in China, she served as the Coordinator/Research Fellow of High School Mathematics Teaching and Improvement for ten years. Prior to coming to OSSM, Prof. Y. Feng worked with the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) at Johns Hopkins University and coached talented students for the MATHCOUNTS Competition and the American High School Mathematics Examination (AHSME). Prof. Y. Feng has been OSSM since 1994. She has taught Precalculus, Calculus, Multivariate Calculus, Number Theory, and Special Advanced Problems. She lived at the OSSM dormitory with her husband, OSSM math professor Chengde Feng, and was responsible for supervising various math contests and preparing students for AP Calculus examinations at OSSM.
Dr. Kurt Bachmann was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up in southern Indiana. His education was at Caltech and Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. in 1988 from Columbia in high energy neutrino physics. He has two postdoctoral positions in solar astronomy and is first-author on five papers among 25 total refereed professional journal publications. Dr. Bachmann has eight years experience as a college/university faculty member.
