John J. Stankus, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Dr. John Stankus jointed the Department of Chemistry at the University of the Incarnate Word in August of 2006.  Dr. Stankus earned a B.S. in Chemistry with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Stanford University in 1993.

Prior to joining UIW, Dr. Stankus had an extensive industrial career.  He worked on developing photorefractive optical storage materials at IBM Almaden Research Center in the research group led by Dr. W.E. Moerner (2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner).  At Motorola Semiconductor Product Sector, in both the Advanced Materials group of the Materials Research and Strategic Technology (MRST) group and Advanced Products Research and Development Laboratory (APRDL), he worked on dielectrics for high speed semiconductor chips, back end chip interconnects and optical interconnect technologies.  At Nortel Networks’ Advanced Technology group he helped develop wide ranging technologies from optical switching to mesh networking systems.

Dr. Stankus has been very active in shared governance of the University leading many task forces and committees, most notably serving as the Faculty Senate President and Board of Trustees member 2017-2019.

Contact Information

  • Office Location: Bonilla Science Hall 108
  • Phone Number: (210) 832-2108
  • Email: stankus@uiwtx.edu

  • 1993 - STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Stanford, CA - Ph.D., Chemistry (Physical Chemistry) - Dynamics of Simple and Ordered Liquids, Optical Holographic Techniques/Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Thesis Advisor: M. D. Fayer

  • 1987 - UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, Austin, TX - BS, Chemistry with Honors, College of Natural Sciences Dean’s Scholars Program

  • 1992-1994 - IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA - Visiting Scientist (post-doctoral researcher) Advisor:  W.E. Moerner (2014 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry)

  • 2006 – Present - The University of the Incarnate Word: Department of Chemistry – School of Math, Science and Engineering, Assistant Professor of Chemistry 2006 - 2011, Associate Professor of Chemistry 2011 – 2017, Professor of Chemistry 2017 – Present

  • Summer 2008, Summer 2009 - The University of Texas at Austin: Department of Chemistry – Holliday Research Group, American Chemical Society – Petroleum Research Fund Fellowship (2008)

  • Spring 2006 - Collin County Community College: Mathematics and Natural Sciences Division – Associate Faculty Member

  • 2000 - 2005 - NORTEL, Richardson, TX: Advanced Technology Group - Project Manager - Advanced Optical Technologies

  • 1994 – 2000 - MOTOROLA, INC., Austin, TX: Advanced Products Research and Development Laboratory, Advanced Process Development Group, Materials Research & Strategic Technology, Advanced Materials Group - Senior Staff Scientist

  • 1993 – 1994 - IBM CORPORATION, Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA

Primary Teaching Assignment:

  • CHEM1301          Chemical Principles I

  • CHEM 4331         Physical Chemistry (Thermodynamics)   

  • CHEM4231          Physical Chemistry (Thermodynamics) Lab

Other Courses Taught:

  • CHEM1101          Chemical Principles I Lab              

  • CHEM1302          Chemical Principles II

  • CHEM1203          General Chemistry Laboratory

  • CHEM1102          Chemical Principles II Lab

  • CHEM4322          Instrumental Analysis

  • CHEM4222          Instrumental Analysis Lab

  • CHEM4432          Physical Chemistry (Quantum Mechanics) and Lab

Dr. Stankus’ research interests include Chemical Education, particularly developing new laboratory experiments to assist students’ understanding of new areas of physical chemistry.  He also has interests in liquid dynamics, spectroscopy and hydrogen bonding.

  • John J. Stankus, ,“ Identifying preparation gaps in the flipped classroom to enable effective micro-lectures and other interventions.”, 25th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Notre Dame, IN, July 29-August 2, 2018; Division of Chemical Education, American Chemical Society: Washington, DC; Oral Presentation 911.
  • John J. Stankus “To Flip or Not to Flip” UIW Center for Teaching and Learning Workshops – Presented twice January 30, 2018 and, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX.
  • John J. Stankus, Robert Garner, Sara Tallarovic, Angela Guadian-Mendez,“Bridge to success: CHEM-Start summer program for chemistry preparation at a Hispanic Serving Institution”, ALEKS Chemistry Symposium, Austin TX, February 2-4, 2017, Invited Talk.
  • Michael DeLomba, Michael Hernandez, John Stankus, “Speed of sound in gases measured by in-situ generated white noise”, Journal of Chemical Education 2016, 93 (11), pp 1961–1964.
  • John J. Stankus, Robert Garner, Sara Tallarovic, Angela Guadian-Mendez,“Bridge to success: CHEM-Start summer program for chemistry preparation at a Hispanic Serving Institution”, 24th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Greeley, CO, July 31-August 4, 2016; Division of Chemical Education, American Chemical Society: Washington, DC; Oral Presentation P708.
  • Harvey A. Schwertner, John J. Stankus “Characterization of the fluorescent spectra and intensities of Dabigatran and Dabigatran Etexilate: Application to HPLC analysis with fluorescent detection” Journal of Chromatographic Science. 2016, 54 (9) 1648-1651., doi: 10.1093/chromsci/bmw122
  • Brian McBurnett, John Stankus, Sara Tallarovic, Angela Guadian-Mendez “Assessment of student learning outcomes after implementation of a response-adaptive online homework system”, 251st ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 13-17, 2016; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC; Oral Presentation CHED-1799.
  • Sara Tallarovic, Angela Guadian-Mendez, John J. Stankus, Gilivaldo Castaneda “Bridge to Success: Summer Programs for Mathematics Remediation and Science Preparation” HACU 29th Annual Conference, Miami Beach, FL, October 10-12, 2015, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, San Antonio, TX, Workshop presentation
  • J. J. Stankus, S. M. Silence, W. E. Moerner, G. C. Bjorklund, "Electric field switchable stratified volume holograms in photorefractive polymers." Optics Letters 19 (1994) 1480.
  • John J. Stankus, Renato Torre, M. D. Fayer,  "The influence of local liquid structure on orientational dynamics: The isotropic phase of liquid crystals." Journal of Physical Chemistry, 97 (1993) 9478.

Representative Patents:

  • 7,787,628     R. Kuang, G. Q. Wang, John J. Stankus, Double phase encoding quantum key distribution.
  • 6,417,077     John J. Stankus, Edge growth heteroepitaxy processes with reduced lattice mismatch strain between a deposited semiconductor material and a semiconductor substrate. 
  • 6,411,758     John J. Stankus, Method and apparatus for aligning a waveguide to a device  (also Chinese patent CN1319770, and Japanese patent JP2001235661).
  • 6,150,190     John J. Stankus, B. Fowler, Method of formation of buried mirror semiconductive device.