Published: June 08, 2008 06:24 pm      

MSU professor very popular with students

Dr. Prabir K. Mandal is a humble, well-liked and dedicated professor, according to his students at Mountain State University in Beckley.

“Dr. Mandal has a way of making you think hard before you answer a question,” says Bill Adwell, a recent MSU graduate. “He is cool; I really like him.”

Student surveys have shown overwhelmingly that Mandal is very popular with students at MSU.

“Dr. Mandal has his own teaching style and what he brings to the class,” one student wrote. “Every class I have with him is different. He is one rare teacher, teachers like him are hard to find. Anything he teaches I will have to take it, he is the best.”

Mandal, a native of Calcutta, India, has been in the United States since 1997, and in that time he has continued to flourish in his researching and teaching profession.

“I hold a current position at Mountain State University as an associate professor of biology and plan to continue on here in hope that my active interest and pursuit of research can also be worked here in addition to my teaching,” he said.

Mandal currently is teaching a variety of biology courses at MSU, which includes everything from general biology to clinical pathophsyiology.

Mandal’s background is very impressive. He completed his B.S. and M.S. in zoology from the University of North Bengal, India, and a Ph.D. in genetics which he earned at Bhopal University, in India as well.

“This is the place where I finished my dissertation focusing around cytogenetic investigations that rounded human reproductive wastage and infertility,” he said.

His hard-earned Ph.D. in genetics was surrounded by detailed research and several publications and presentations. He has been honored by the Who’s Who in America 2007 edition. In addition to that honor, he has been awarded numerous grants for research activities in a variety of science fields.

Mandal has had several publications to be noted. A few that hold great interest in this community are, “The Epidemiology of Recurrent Miscarriages,” in 1995, and “Chromosomal Changes in Human Cancers,” in 1993.

“These are a few topics in which majority of this entire world have some interest in and subjects that are often discussed,” he said.

His publications continue even up to present day, along with a variety of formal presentations. The most recent scholarly presentation was in 2007, “Expression and localization of hepatopancreatic Sarco/Endoplasmic Reticulum.”

Mandal’s list of credentials continues to grow.

One is his book, published by Thompson and Outernet in 2006, titled, “Student’s Companion to Biology.”

“My prior students worked very hard, though I was not pushy with getting my notes published and they did,” he recalled. “They tried so hard because they believed in them and felt they would help more students with biology.”

Mandal was recently invited to sit on a global warming panel to discuss its depth at Oxford University.

“I was honored to be invited to sit on this panel,” he said.

Mandal’s career has taken him everywhere teaching and enriching young minds in America. From Kentucky to Hawaii, and then to Florida and presently here, in Beckley, Mandal has found a way to continue enlightening and encouraging students to do well.

“A teacher is like a candle,” Mandal said. “It consumes itself to light the way for others.”

Mandal says MSU’s biology department continue to grow.

“Students at MSU come from all areas of the world to study various subjects,” he said. “Though each student brings a different insight and goals, I must find a way to meet them where they are, and from there, help them learn.”

Mandal also finds ways to fill the shoes of husband, father, teacher, researcher and friend.

Mandal’s wife, Anita, has also completed her Ph.D. in genetics and is a active researcher.

Their son, Sunny, 12, is very intelligent, a straight-A student with the type of mind that seems to have a great anticipation of being a committed scientist just as his father is.

“This desire of research has been an interest that seems to carry on with each generation in my family,” Mandal says. “My father was a scientist and I love to be a scientist. This has been continued on from my father to me, and hopefully my son as well; that is the passion and interest for knowledge of the unknown and finding a simple way to explain that to the average person.”

Sunny recently was awarded special recognition from the president of Duke University for his placing in the top 50 of 17,000 students his age appearing for the SAT exam held there not too long ago.

Mandal says he loves Beckley, Mountain State University and its students.

“I love Beckley and the students here because they have interest to learn of biology and to keep continuing on in the various fields that biology has to offer worldwide,” he said.

Diversity is welcomed in his class as well as active participation and open discussions. Mandal respects his students as equals and professionals.

“My students are mostly biology students, but even in my biology classes I teach the non-science majors, somehow I see the classes growing,” he said. “The blending of teaching and researching is the best because not only are you discovering new images that can change the world, you are communicating them to the public community. Research alone is just research, but research along with the complement of teaching is a true service to society.”

He also says that “every human phenomenon has an explanation through DNA and in detail, each person should know how and exactly what is going on, this is what drives my passion for research.”

One student said in his survey of Mandal’s class, “His classes are not easy like you are walking through a park, you will hit stumps and when you do he is there helping explain to you why that stump was there and how to move over it, all the while gaining knowledge from the experience. He has his way of captivating your mind and drawing you into the core of the subject all the while encouraging you to learn.”

Mandal says biology is the center of the world.

“It is much like the human heart, because without we cannot survive,” he said. “It is simply essential for our existence. This is something that the every day person does not always see. If we just look at the way the wind blows, the way the grass grows, the way we walk and talk, this is all biology in some way, and this is why I love biology.”

Mandal has high expectations of his students.

“I hope to see more students wanting to not just earn the grade, but for my students to study for learning,” he said. “I sometimes tell them a ‘B’ is bad and they should always strive for an ‘A,’ which is much better.”

Mandal says the key is finding a way to successfully communicate information to the many different types of students that attend his class. He says he approaches his students “one mind at a time.”

“There are students that attend Mountain State University from all over the globe and they arrive here having a variety of educational background,” he said. “I try to keep discussions rolling with probing questions to keep them actively intrigued. A professor that can do this kindles the spark of interest in our future generations and from there gives this world a higher chance of successful survival.”

— Jessica Hammad-Arshad, an employee of The Register-Herald and a student at Mountain State University, contributed to this story.

— E-mail: fpace@register-herald.com