How long have your worked at Buffalo State College and if applicable what other areas have you worked/positions have you served in at Buffalo State College?
I started as an assistant professor in Chemistry in September 2017. I have served as the coordinator of the chemistry/physics seminar series between 2017-2021. Currently, I am serving as a chair of the chemistry safety committee, members of the radiation safety committee, forensic science graduate committee, and pre-health committee. In addition, I am currently serving as the director (symposium committee) and Member-At-Large of the Western New York-American Chemical Society.
What motivates you to provide excellent services for your colleagues, students, and supervisor?
The student’s perception of science, growth in critical thinking ability, seamless maturity, and most importantly their innocuous mistakes and unconditional thankfulness make me intrigued by how valuable my duty is to create a worthy citizen. I believe that every step is paved with opportunities, and even one door closes a thousand open. I am blessed to have wonderful seniors in my department, who supported me throughout my tenure and acknowledged my duties. Now I can feel that responsibility upon my shoulder to hand over to my new colleagues. Since my appointment at Buffalo State, I have worked with over 15 different students (undergraduate and graduate) on different research projects. It is intriguing to see after graduation how the students grow independence and pursue graduate school or, industrial jobs. This has been a great personal satisfaction.
What personal philosophy about working with others guides your day-to-day work?
Our college is very diverse; there is a whole package of teachings from each teacher, administrator, and student. For me, everyone is special in their unique way. We all try to be perfect, though we always remain imperfect. This conflict within ourselves always keeps us driving forward through mutual support, teaching, and understanding. Therefore, my philosophy is to learn while I am teaching or helping.
What do you do when you are not working?
I love listening to music of all kinds. I often do high breathing exercises at around 4 am, followed by a meditation that leads me to deep sleep. I love cooking and spending time with my 12 years old son, who sees me as his best friend.
Dr. Suwal demonstrates "Acts of Kindness" by continuously meeting with students in need of help. Organic chemistry is a challenging field and requires a lot of practice in order to perfect an understanding of the reactions and other material. This results in students frequently needing help when they're stuck, and Dr. Suwal makes it a point to his students that he is always available to meet with and help them. I work in his research lab, and I see him spending countless hours helping students by going over the fundamentals of what is happening within the course in order to help confused students. Dr. Suwal sees the potential in every person within his classes, and has no problem meeting with any student on any day, even Saturdays, in order to further their understanding about the course material. He could direct students to a tutor, or have very short meeting times, but he welcomes any and all students to ask him questions and will go over any meeting length to help them. He does this because he loves seeing students' brains light up when they finally put the pieces of the puzzle that is organic chemistry together.
Dr. Suwal demonstrates "Student-Centered Service" by always being available to help students, and by instilling within them the belief that they can be successful. Dr. Suwal is on the campus nearly 60 hours a week, and he spends that time aiding students both within the class and the lab. When students feel confused, lost, or unconfident in their abilities come to him, he is able to help them and restore their confidence. In Fall 2019, when I was not doing well in his organic chemistry course, I came to him for advice. He sat with me for 10 minutes and changed my life. He saw the jump between my two test scores and urged me to keep trying. He was patient, calm and understanding. Now, I work in his research lab. Between juggling having a family, teaching, and doing research, he always makes time to answer my questions, and is genuinely interested in my future. He deeply cares about students and will move Heaven and Earth to help them. His patient and positive demeanor that is expressed while helping students makes all of them, including me, very comfortable. He is never rude, harsh, or unprofessional when dealing with any student, because he respects them and sees their potential. Most importantly, he builds their confidence by telling them that he believes in them. Without Dr. Suwal's guidance, I would have never been able to acquire the confidence to do well in his courses, or to apply for a Ph.D. program.
The most acts of kindness that I judge necessary if not imperative in the academic setting is the ability to be patient and give a chance to students that don't even realize that they need that opportunity to build a future. Dr. Suwal has given chances and opportunity to many students who take his classes to learn and develop their scientific capacity. He will bring them in lab and show them what they are learning in class. He goes that extra mile to make sure that science was fun and part of everyday life. He also makes himself available to students, he is office is always open when he is not teaching. He is on campus Monday to Saturday. Dr. Suwal is always looking for opportunity for students to present their work by taking them to different scientific conference for undergraduate in the area. He spends days helping students to design their posters, and other countless hours practicing with them their oral presentation, so they are more confident. He goes beyond what is expected from a faculty by creating opportunity for students to learn, but also guides them step by step in the journey that in unknown to many students.
Dr. Suwal is always looking for opportunity to represent Buffalo State in attending conferences and presenting his lab work in those conferences. He also attend collaborative conferences and meetings which shine the light on the work that is done by mostly undergraduate students in his lab. For his campus engagement, he has been highly involved in hiring committee of different staff and faculty. He also invites different scientists to give seminar to students, some of these scientists are very known if their field and have many publications to support their work. During the lack-down and the period of virtual learning, someone has to check on all the instruments in chemistry department periodically. Dr. Suwal volunteered himself for that. He will come to fill the NMR nitrogen tank once a week or once every 2 weeks. This task required lot of physical effort to push the tank where it has been delivered. Dr. Suwal did that faithfully without ever complaining.
If one has time to stop in Dr. Suwal's lab, there is a remarkable diversity in the students that work in his lab. He thrives to push more female in STEM field by giving them an opportunity and teaching them step by step what to do ( I am the perfect example). His lab represent what the campus is all about. You will find christian working along muslims; female and male working on the same project; white, black, asian, and immigrant having the same goal, to bring science alive and make a significant contribution. His devotion to students' learning, gives them an opportunity work along well trained scientist at Roswell Park Cancer Institute as well as UB Clinical and Translational Research Center.
Dr. Suwal is always looking for collaborations, either here in Buffalo or outside Buffalo. For instance he is collaborating with two MD/PhD professors at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and UB. He also continue to collaborate with a student who graduated from Buffalo State last year who is pursuing his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. He is welcoming in the department, always ready to assist new faculty members that join the chemistry and physics department.
One thing that I find intriguing about Dr. Suwal, is his ability to manage students, knowing when to push you to work hard, and giving you time to figure things out. He is extremely patient and very polite with staff and faculty, but also with students. He answers his emails, and will work with students to meet them at hours that work for them. He is even available Saturday morning. For those who work in his lab, he will even come Sunday and holiday to supervise the work, so students can catch up on their projects. He is available for students and care deeply about their success.
With Covid, we all have to learn how to adapt and be flexible with ourselves and work. Over the past 2 years, I observed how Dr. Suwal adjusted to this changes. Teaching organic chemistry virtually wasn't easy, but he adapted, he found away to make sure that students were learning and that they understood very well the lesson. He recorded his video and posted them so students can go back. Since blackboard wasn't an ideal tool to teach science, he found other website that would allow him to deliver the best of his teaching. I saw him spending countless hours figuring out how to use all these tools, all that time, I never heard him complain. He was subjected to a problem and he worked to find out a solution, that's the kind of person he is.
