National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Todd Pagano, an associate professor and director of NTID’s Laboratory Science Technology program in NTID’s Science & Mathematics department, has been named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.

He is one of 213 scientists who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and made important contributions to the ACS, the world’s largest scientific society.

“This is a great honor, and I’m in pretty good company,” Pagano says. Several ACS Fellows have won Nobel Peace Prizes.

Pagano has served on the Rochester chapter of ACS’s executive board, the Chemists with Disabilities national joint-board, and has made scientific contributions in the field of fluorescence spectroscopy – a technique that uses light to analyze matter.

He has accompanied his research students as they made presentations at several national conferences; some have won awards for their research presentations.

Pagano, who lives in Chili, N.Y., first began teaching at RIT/NTID in 2002.

“There was never a doubt, it was always my plan to go into academia,” he says. “I love the interaction with students, the balance of being able to work in a research lab and advance the field of science, and getting my students involved in my research.”

“The award requires scientific contributions, service to the ACS and service to the community,” says Vince Daniele, chair of NTID’s Science & Mathematics department. “Todd has a tremendous work ethic. He spends untold hours every week in service to our students, to our college and to his profession.”