Chenoa Summers

I am a first-generation college graduate born in Newport, AR. I graduated from Cedar Ridge High School, where I developed my love of music and art thanks to band director Billy Madison. In my undergraduate studies, I struggled to pick just one subject I was passionate about because I was interested in everything! I was both a music and art major before settling on physics.

I went to Arkansas Tech University for four years, where I met my husband, Steven, and further cemented my love of physics (he’s also a physicist). After we married, we moved to Jonesboro, AR where I finished my B.S. Physics at Arkansas State University.

From 2012-2014, I worked on and successfully completed my M.S. Environmental Science with a focus on materials science, true to my little physics heart. I was accepted into the physics Ph. D. program at Ole Miss; however, my mother became sick and I had to leave the program to help take care of her until her passing in 2017.

I spent 2015-2020 teaching physical science, physics, environmental geology, and 2D CAD at Arkansas State University – Newport. I also accepted the position of Director of the Student Success Center at University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville, where I ran their tutoring centering for a year before deciding to return to school. It was during this time I realized that my true passion lies in teaching, and my husband and I were experiencing what we in physics call the Two Body Problem; it is indeed a real physical phenomenon but is also given as a label for two married people who are in the same field but one finds a reliable job and the other struggles to find reliable work. Because of this, I decided to quit my job at UACCB and return to school. At this point I had no direction; I knew I still wanted to teach college, but I needed to have experience in a different study area. I started taking undergraduate chemistry and computer science classes during this time.

At the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, I began dabbling in gardening and found a new passion: gardening and plants. I finished my B.S. Botany at Arkansas State University in 2023. In January 2024, I started my first semester of the environmental science Ph. D. program.

Below is a list of subjects that I have graduate hours in as of Fall 2024.

Below is a list of college courses taught and courses TA’ed.

Below is a list of conferences I have either presented an oral (denoted *) or poster presentation at.

• Arkansas State University Create @state 2012*, won 2nd place
  • Gluons from Color Glass Condensate
• Arkansas State University Business Plan Competition 2013*, won first place in graduate category and Innovation Award
  • Tethystructure TiO2 Nanotubes for Environmental Filtration of Water
• Donald W. Reynolds Business Plan Competition 2014*, semi-finals
  • Tethystructure TiO2 Nanotubes for Environmental Filtration of Water
• Arkansas State University Create @state 2014*
  • Environmental Filtration of Water Using TiO2 Nanotubes
• Department of Homeland Security Research Conference 2016
  • Emerging New Pseudobinary and Ternary Halides as Scintillators for Radiation Detection
• Arkansas State University Create @state 2022*
  • Effects of soil microbe activity, phylogenetic diversity, and water availability on biomass production in tallgrass prairies
• Arkansas State University Create @state 2024
  • Beyond Birds: An Argument for the Preservation and Enhancement of the Sustainability of the Campus Bird Observatory
  • The role of phylogenetic relatedness on community assembly in the undisturbed Cherokee Prairie