2026 Champion: Reynolds, Christy
Biography
Dr. Reynolds is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology in the College of Arts & Sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide and has more than twenty years of experience in astrophysical and medical research. She holds a B.A. in astrophysics with honors and mathematics from Williams College, an M.A. in software engineering from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from University College London (UK), and her research has included telescope mirror fabrication and medical data analysis, including developing robotic fabrication techniques for the European Extremely Large Telescope and serving as project manager for optics fabrication and verification for NASA’s IRIS space telescope. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neurology and clinical research methods at Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, worked as a clinical research analyst at Providence Medical Research Center studying chronic kidney disease in at-risk populations, and has taught at Montana State University, Bennington College, Marian University, and the University of Wisconsin system while mentoring undergraduate, M.D., and Ph.D. students.
Campus
WorldWide
Position
Assistant Professor of the Practice
Courses Impacted
PHYS 253: Physics Laboratory for Engineers
2026 Champion: Reynolds, Christy
Comments
Nomination Comments:
"In order to have costs covered, USNCC-funded students must purchase books and materials through Follett. 3rd-party lab kits have been unavailable for purchase through them on numerous occasions. Students have to purchase out of pocket or drop courses when that situation occurs. At last check, those costs were over $225.00. ERAu's contract with USNCC includes this obligation: "In the event that materials, support or resources are inaccessible to students in limited bandwidth environments or are inaccessible from a service platform, the Contractor (ERAU) shall provide a plan for utilization of cost-effective alternatives wherever possible." By creating MATLAB codes that will do many sims by lab, while maintaining a much lower-priced lab kit, Christy made the PHYS 253 course materials much more affordable, which helps ERAU remain contractually compliant. This latter item is of particular importance as we rebid the USNCC contract, which currently includes 1200+ students. Christy's innovations will reduce costs while providing students with a rigorous, customized PHYS 253 course."
"Christy took on a redevelopment project for our PHYS 253, and part of the identified need of that project was that the existing lab kit was so expensive ( over $400, so expensive that many students on military contract were having issues as it was above the allocation ). The initial task of the project was to locate a lower priced lab kit, but Christy did not locate what she felt was an acceptable kit. Instead of taking the easy way out and just going with a not so perfect kit, she truly innovated. Christy created custom labs using simulations, and wrote Matlab scripts for each of the labs ( 3 to 4 per week for a 9 module kit ), but we had to maintain some presence of a "physical kit" as it is encouraged by ABET. This is where the next level of innovation came it: in addition all of the simulations she was able to obtain an arduino board that students could do some experiments on, such as circuits, that not only connected perfectly with the simulations but was also a low cost product that was readily available so would avoid the prior issues of shipping delays. Overall, this project was an amazing example of problem solving to truly meet the students needs; in addition, she took on 99% of the work herself independently using her own knowledge, skills and time; IDD helped after the course shell was created to take that and put it in the desired template format. I am truly honored to have been part of overseeing this project and motivating Christy to keep pushing it forward, and while this project is not a "textbook," I hope it can be consider for recognition as it is amazing work!"