Pasquinelli\u2019s classes cover a range of topics such as computer-based modeling, sustainability and engineering thermodynamics. She\u2019s also the research team leader at the Laboratory of Multiscale Modeling from the Nanoscale. One of the lab\u2019s projects focuses on polymer degradation, or the breakdown of materials. The research has multiple applications, she says, such as removing plastic waste from oceans and landfills or creating outdoor seat cushions that last longer in the sun. She\u2019s also helping a colleague who makes medical textiles, such as sutures, to predict their degradation rates.<\/p>\n Accomplishing these goals requires educating new generations of textiles scientists and engineers who can apply their knowledge in other disciplines. Pasquinelli uses the strategy of \u201cactive learning.\u201d Students in her thermodynamics class are assigned an open-ended project in which they must choose a textile manufacturing process and then research ways to make it more sustainable. Pasquinelli monitors the projects in stages so she can keep track of them.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that helps them feel they can take risks and challenge themselves,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n These techniques mean that sometimes the professor becomes the student.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s amazing that even though I ask the same questions every year in my class, I get different answers, and it just helps me see differently,” she says. “When students ask a question you\u2019ve never thought of, you have think about what the answer is. That\u2019s a really great learning opportunity. I learn quite a bit from my students, and I think that\u2019s one of the reasons why I enjoy teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n A Longtime Love for Teaching<\/strong><\/p>\n Pasquinelli always wanted to be a teacher. As a little girl she tried to teach her dog the ABCs and assigned herself papers just so she could grade them.<\/p>\n She\u2019s also long been fascinated by science and knew she wanted to enter a STEM field. She graduated magna cum laude from Seton Hill University in 1996 with a degree in chemistry and earned her doctorate in theoretical chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University in 2002.<\/p>\n She pulls from her own experiences as a student now that she leads the classroom. A former professor who used male-based examples in his all-women chemistry class taught her the importance of knowing your audience. Her high school calculus teacher had students circle whether certain math statements are always, sometimes or never true, a tactic she uses in her thermodynamics class to challenge students\u2019 assumptions.<\/p>\n Her tactics have earned her other awards. She was recognized as an NC State University Outstanding Teacher in 2010 and was the College of Textiles nominee for the NC State University Board of Governor\u2019s award in 2012 and 2017.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/pasquinelli-400.jpg\")