Rodney Austin attended a one-day Process Oriented Guided Inquiry (POGIL) workshop in 2009 and almost immediately began to use the approach in his chemistry and biochemistry courses. He has worked with biochemistry faculty from across the country in developing POGIL curriculum, including contributions to the POGIL book, Foundations of Biochemistry. Rodney has co-organized symposia related to biochemistry lecture instruction at four Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education (BCCE) meetings. The work with BCCE led to the book Biochemistry Education: From Theory to Practice, which he co-edited.

Rodney received the B.S. in chemistry at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and a Ph.D. in chemistry (biochemistry) from the University of Cincinnati. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry at Geneva College. He teaches courses in biochemistry and chemistry, including an interdisciplinary travel course focused on water issues.