Biography
Professor Hewlett is a Pre-med graduate of Bucknell University (B.S. in Biology) and the University of Connecticut (M.S. in Physiology/Marine Science). After graduating from the University of Connecticut, he entered a doctoral training program within the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Rochester where he worked on adenoviral vectors for gene therapy. He currently serves as the Director of Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing at Finger Lakes Community College. Since 2005, he has been acting as the Executive Director of the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative. In addition, he serves as a Co-PI on InnovATE BIO National Biotechnology Education Center and is the President and CEO of STEMsolutions, LLC, a New York based consulting firm specialized in developing customized higher education solutions to STEM curriculum reform efforts.
Professor Hewlett serves on the Editorial Board of The American Society of Cell Biology’s CBE Life Sciences Education journal. He serves on the Advisory Board for Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for Bioscience Education and Technology (CBET) and is a member of the Steering Committee for the University of Georgia’s RCN-UBE Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences Network (CUREnet).
His educational research interests include the use of the Case Study Method of teaching science, and the employment of problem-based learning strategies to connect student research to classroom theory. His scientific research interests include the study of molecular indicators of stress in corals and the use of biomarkers for the early detection of symbiotic breakdown, the employment of non-invasive DNA-based mark and recapture methods in eastern red-tail hawk, North American black bear, and New York River Otter population studies, and the study of macro-level indicators of stress in tropical coral reef ecosystems.