About Me: The Instructor

I am MuRim Martin Kang, HVAC-R Teaching Faculty at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC): Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Program in the Woodbridge Campus. You may contact me via email: mkang@nvcc.edu.

I am very interested in all aspects of the trade of HVAC-R, especially Refrigeration. My area of expertise is Commercial & Supermarket Refrigeration. I have worked on installation, maintenance & service of numerous supermarkets in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area. JCI HVAC Equipment

I am a proponent & an advocate of the usage of Sciences, Technologies, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) on a daily basis. HVAC-R is a part of the STEM paradigm that we use every day: It is an Applied Science that requires education.

My Résumé:

Education: I graduated from Northern Virginia Community College with an Associate of Applied Science in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration. I, also, hold a B.A. from George Mason University, Fairfax VA.

I am a Microsoft Certified Faculty Fellow, certified from the College of William and Mary in March of 2013. I attended the Google Certified Educator Level 1 training in August of 2016. Ergo, I often integrate technology into my classes to present the subject-matter/material to my students in a more current and interesting way. In May 2017, I became a Hybrid-Certified Instructor in Blackboard through the Virginia Community College System (VCCS).

Trade Licensures: In the past, I’ve held a Master Plumbing License from the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) as well as the Maryland Master HVAC-R Contractor’s License & Maryland Master Electrician License. Currently, I hold a Virginia Tradesman Master License in all-fields: HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing & Gas Fitting. I am a CFC, Universal certified technician. Also, I am the designated-person that hold a Class-A Contractor’s license from Virginia’s DPOR, with all the specialties mentioned above including Residential & Commercial Building.

Trade Experience: I have been in the fields of HVAC, electrical, plumbing, gas fitting & construction (Full-Time) since the year 2000. I have done residential and commercial, sales, installation, maintenance, and repairs for all trades. I have worked on Air Conditioning from 1 ton to 100 tons, Heat Pumps (traditional to Geothermal), Heating (Natural Gas, Oil & Electrical). I have done work from a single door cooler: one compressor, 1/6 horse-power systems to a 150 horse-power: supermarket rack, 7-compressors systems. I have done several years of property management as the Chief Engineer as well.

Educational Experience: In the K-12 Education Setting: I was a VA-Licensed Educator and I’ve taught in the High School level, as a full-time Spanish Teacher with Prince William County Schools (PWCS). Prior to that, I was an Instructional Assistant with Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

For two years, I’ve taught HVAC classes for adults at a non-profit organization in the Employment Skills Training Section of the Korean-American Association of Nothern Virginia. It was attached to FCPS, located in Falls Church, VA and also it was an approved DPOR educational entity of HVAC, Plumbing & Electricity. The mode of instruction conducted there was in a Bilingual Hybrid Format of English & Korean.

In the College Ranks, I’ve taught in Montgomery College (Rockville Campus) in the State of Maryland, among these classes: Section 608-CFC Certification of the Clean Air Act (EPA Certification class), Plumbing Fundamentals, HVAC Fundamentals, HVAC Electricity, HVAC Heating, Air Conditioning & Heat Pumps, HVAC Technician Development & Residential HVAC System Design.

I have taught at Northern Virginia Community College (Woodbridge Campus) from August of 2012 to the present. I’ve transitioned from the Adjunct rank to a Full-Time Teaching & even acted as Program Head. I have experience teaching Dual Enrollment classes with PWCS’ High School students mixed with regular College Students. I taught a variety of classes in the past such as:

My Educational Philosophy and Technology in the Classroom

With the internet at our fingertips, the World has changed: The educational settings should also follow to that particular change.

I like to use technological tools in the classroom such as Blackboard, Canvas, Padlet, and Kahoot. Email usage during my semester is a must, also the best way to communicate. I encourage and give students assignments with the use of the technology: MS Word is used to computer typed Lab reports and other assignments.

I can do blackboard IM, Blackboard Collaborate if the need arrives. I do believe that we, as students and faculty, need to use better tools to do a better job. There should be an improvement in education as times change and as new tools keep coming out. We must stay on top of the ever-changing technology of the day, both in the HVAC field and the computer technology field.

Lastly, to provide a World-Class education to My Community for the collective’s Pursuit of Happiness and for Equal-Opportunity for everyone: to continue with “Mr. Jefferson’s Dream” in education.

My Next Challenges are…

  • First, provide guidance, mentorship, and counseling to new hired Part-Time and Full-Time Teaching Faculty.
  • Second, work with current Mechanical Contractors and other HVAC-R professional to shape our curriculum and to satisfy the requirement of our HVAC Excellence Accreditation.
  • Third, maintain a highly effective HVAC-R Program that can help our current students succeed once they are hired in the field.