Biography

Education:
BS (Physics), University of Virginia, Charlottesville
MS (Physics), University of Wisconsin-Madison
PhD (Physics), University of Wisconsin-Madison
Postdoctoral (Physics), University of Delaware, Bartol Research Institute

Research Expertise:

Physics education | Cometary atmospheres | Infrared Spectroscopy

Before retiring, Dr. Sauer was actively involved in helping Rowan create a national model in the recruitment, training, and mentoring of future high school physics teachers with efforts funded by the PhysTEC program. She helped lead the Physics Department’s efforts in running a Rowan Area Physics Teacher (RAPT) network providing professional development for area high school physics teachers as part of the PhysTEC efforts. She also was part of an NSF funded national project, “Get the Facts Out: Changing the Conversation of High School STEM Teaching,” where she worked to help change common student and faculty misperceptions of high school STEM teaching as a career. She was dedicated to increasing the participation of women and under-represented minorities in physics and other STEM fields. She served on the American Physics Society’s Committee on Education, Education Policy Committee (Chair), and am the Education Advisor to the Physics Policy Committee of the APS.

Prior to serving as the Dean of the College of Science & Mathematics and School of Health Professions (2014–2018), her research field was in planetary sciences studying the composition of comets through high spectral resolution spectroscopy. She collaborated with scientists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for over 20 years studying the composition and behavior of comets through observations of infrared emission of cometary molecules primarily using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the W.M. Keck II telescope atop of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The International Astronomical Union's Committee for Small Body Nomenclature named an asteroid in her honor, 15632 Magee-Sauer, for advancing the understanding of the chemistry of comets.

Honors and Awards:
Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, 2007
PhysTEC Comprehensive Site Award: Recruiting and Training of High School Physics Teachers

Member of:
American Physical Society (APS), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Association of Physics Teachers (APPT), NJAAPT, and the International Astronomical Union (IAU).