Month: December 2019

Guy Harvey Research Institute Celebrates 20 Years

Halmos Faculty Member Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D. and Guy Harvey, Ph.D.

During November, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF) celebrated the 20th anniversary of the NSU Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI). Housed in the Halmos College of Natural Science and Oceanography, GHRI specializes in pelagic fish conservation, or large open-ocean fish such as sharks, marlin and tuna. Their recent work focuses on satellite tagging and tracking, as well as genetic research, among other topics. They also led a team that has successfully decoded the White Shark genome, which could potentially have applications for human health research due to their low incidences of cancer and rapid wound healing.

“The work that’s being done at the GHRI is very cutting-edge, very high-level scientific research that’s had some tremendous results for the conservation of our oceans and the big animals that live there,” said Greg Jacoski, executive director of the GHOF. “I know there’s a lot of great research that the university turns out as a whole, but I think the work that is being done out of the Oceanographic Center and the Guy Harvey Research Institute specifically is some of the best going on in the world right now, and [NSU] should be proud of the work that’s being done there.”

NSU University School Students Accepted Into Prestigious Statewide Honor Bands

NSU University School is proud to congratulate several students in our Band program who have received acceptances into statewide Honor Bands, which are off-campus ensembles consisting of the most talented instrumentalists in a particular area or state. Selected from hundreds of applicants, these students will be able to work directly with college professors and other accomplished conductors in rehearsals and masterclasses to prepare for an annual concert in which they will have the rewarding opportunity to participate in.

Congratulations to these students for this outstanding achievement:

Broward All-County Middle School Honor Band:

Mikey Guerdon

Amanda Stewart

Florida All-State Middle School Honor Band:

Mikey Guerdon

Florida All-State High School Honor Band:

Peter Koltis

Florida State University Tri-State Honor Band:

Alexandria Uchuya

University of Miami Frost Honor Band:

Peter Koltis

Liberty Lapayowker

Breyanna Lehrer

Alexandria Uchuya

Brian Zhi

AAUW-NSU, Halmos College, and MEEC Team Up to Build PACE E-STEAM

Eight students from the PACE Center for Girls visited NSU for a session of the “E-STEAM (Exploring – Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) Project for Girls”. This experiential learning initiative is dedicated to encouraging girls to pursue higher education and STEAM careers by way of mentorship, interactive activities, and academic success workshops. They started their day at the Marine Environmental Education Center (MEEC). There they built enrichment toys for Captain, the resident green sea turtle. Also participating in this event were NSU-AAUW volunteers Maureen McDermott Ed.D., and undergraduate students Haley Perkins and Nafisa Nazir.

In the afternoon they went to Halmos College Oceanographic Campus. Led by NSU-AAUW volunteer Melissa Dore, Ed.D., they visited the library, where librarian Jaime Goldman talked to them about 3D scanning and other technologies available in the library. Following this, they looked at deep sea fishes with Halmos College alumna Nina Pruzinsky and current MS student Natalie Slayden. After this, they learned about shark tracking from MS student Sydney Harned and corals from MS student Kyle Pisano.

The Nova Southeastern University branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW-NSU) has been collaborating with the Alvin Sherman Library and Broward’s PACE Center for Girls, a delinquency prevention/intervention program for adolescent girls ages 12-18 since 2008. Anyone interested in joining NSU AAUW or participating in the E-STEAM Project for Girls should contact Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D. (jg1511@nova.edu).

Halmos Graduate Student

In early November, Halmos College marine biology master’s student Jessica Schieber travelled participated in the 20th Anniversary Great White Shark Expedition in Guadalupe Island, Mexico. There the group used shark cages submersibles to view and take identification photos of the sharks. In the first day they saw 16 different white sharks, three of them that had never been photo-identified.

Ms. Schieber was one of two winners of the female student research opportunity funded by the host: Marine Conservation Science Institute (MarineCSI). Applicants for the trip needed to demonstrate understanding MarineCSI’s research techniques and how this trip would propel her career forward. MarineCSI offered this opportunity because “we feel women are under-represented in shark research. How many women in leading scientific roles have you seen on Shark Week or Shark Fest?”

Ms. Schieber is conducting her thesis research on the age and growth of yellow stingray with Halmos College faculty member David Kerstetter, Ph.D.

The Marine Conservation Science Institute (MCSI) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded on the belief that focused research can make a difference in how we view and manage our marine resources.  MCSI is committed to promoting important issues in marine biology and fisheries and is currently involved in research projects around the globe dedicated to protecting and conserving marine resources.

 

Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine Class of 2023 Raises More Than $9,000 for Men’s Health

The Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine class of 2023 at the Fort Lauderdale/Davie and Tampa Bay Regional campuses brought out their mustaches as they participated in the month long Movember fundraising campaign.

Held every November, the organization that began in 2003 in Australia has become the leading charity for men’s health, with the goal of reducing the number of men dying prematurely by 25 percent by the year 2030. The Big Moustache on Campus competition aims to continue the efforts in the United States as college students participate in a fun and competitive way for the cause.

The first-year D.O. students got involved as they took to social media, where they posted photos with grown-out or fake mustaches, followed with a caption that included statistics and facts covering the main issues affecting men, such as mental health, suicide prevention, and testicular and prostate cancer. Through social media, contests, and support from the KPCOM Student Government Association, the college raised $9,224, ranking 16 out of 733 university teams and first in Florida.

Halmos College Hosts Tiger Talk

On Friday, November 22, 2019, Halmos College hosted the talk, “Tigers of the World: Genomics and Conservation” by visiting scholar Shu Jin Luo, Ph.D. from Peking University, China. Of all the big cats, or perhaps of all the endangered wildlife, the tiger may be both the most charismatic and most well-recognized flagship species in the world. Using first-handed data from the speaker’s own research over the past 20 years, an overview will be given on how applications of molecular genomic tools have advanced our understanding of the tiger’s ancestral roots, natural history, morphological diversity, and provides a scientific foundation for conservation strategic planning and management actions for this charismatic megafauna both in situ and ex situ.

Dr. Luo’s research field is in genomic diversity and evolution. She has been based at Peking University since 2009, after receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and completing a postdoc fellowship at the NIH-National Cancer Institute in Maryland. Dr. Luo is broadly interested in applying molecular genomics methods to problems about mammalian evolution, adaptation and systematic relationship, with a particular focus in the family Felidae. Her genomic study in the tiger offered the strongest-ever evidence for subspecies differentiation and local adaptation. Applying whole genome sequencing and computational tools, we illuminated the genetic causes of the white tiger, and elucidated the demographic and evolutionary histories of multiple Asian felids such as the leopard cat and the Chinese mountain cat.  She is a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group since 2005 and an expert member of the IUCN Cat Classification Task Force (CCTF). She is also an associate editor for the Journal of Heredity since 2016 and an editorial board member for Integrative Zoology since 2015.

Halmos College Presented Last Math Symposium for Fall 2019

Edgar Pereia, Ph.D.

On Friday, November 15, at 12pm, Edgar Pereia, Ph.D. presented his lecture entitled, “Minimal Rank Completions of Partial Matrices?”. Pereia is a professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.

His lecture discussed Completion problems for partial matrices are defined and partial matrices are associated to bipartite graphs. Minimal ranks for scalar and block partial matrices with simple structures are presented. Calculating the minimal rank is classified as an NP-hard problem, what means that in general it is very difficult to calculate the minimal rank of an unstructured block (scalar) partial matrix. A conjecture states that the minimal rank of a partial matrix has an exact formula if and only if the associated bipartite graph is chordal. We present some upper estimates for the case that the associated bipartite graph is a single cycle, the most simple non-chordal case. The symmetric cyclic case is also treated.

Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography department of mathematics hosts the mathematics colloquium series in Parker Building, Room 338. For more information about the math colloquium series, please contact mathematics faculty member Jing Chen, Ph.D. jchen1@nova.edu or Evan Haskell haskell@nova.edu.

 

Halmos Faculty Questioned on Airline Drinking Water

Robert Smith, Ph.D.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, CBS4 Miami broadcasted a story about the quality of water on commercial airliners. This was prompted by a recent airline water quality study conducted by DietDetective.com, along with Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, who rated US airlines on how their onboard tap water measures up to Aircraft Drinking Water Rules.

Halmos faculty member Robert Smith, Ph.D. was interviewed for the story, explaining the concerns of finding coliform bacteria. “They exist naturally in the environment, you can find them in soils, you can find them in water, but what they’re really worried about is that they’re often associated with poop from humans,” Smith explained. “So they’re concerned the water has been contaminated with human feces.”

That being said, he noted water quality onboard aircraft has been getting better over the years.

“For me, this is not a cause of massive concern,” Smith said. “I think since the federal regulations have been developed, the amount of these violations or amount of time coliform bacteria have been detected inside water sources has decreased substantially.”

The study recommends passengers only drink bottled water on aircraft, avoid coffee or tea and don’t wash your hands in the bathroom, use sanitizer instead. Smith agrees you should drink only bottled water but feels the coffee and tea are okay to drink and recommends washing your hands and then using sanitizer if you’re concerned.

 

Office of Regional Campuses Alphabet Soup: The ABCs of ESE

David Griffin, Ed.D., BCBA-D, associate professor takes a fast-paced look at the historical perspectives of exceptional student education (ESE) and current trends and issues in identifying those with special needs with Nova Southeastern Universityon Saturday, February 22, 2020 from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Tampa Bay Regional Campus.

Attend to:

  • history of special education in the United States
  • legislation that addresses programs for students with special needs
  • special focus on diagnosing intellectual delay, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

RSVP at nova.edu/tampabay/events.

Last day to Submit Nominations for the 22nd Annual Student Life Achievement Awards, Jan. 13

Nominations for the 22nd Annual Student Life Achievement Awards, affectionately known as the STUEY’s, are now open. All NSU students, faculty, and staff members are invited to nominate candidates of their choice for recognition. Click here for more information about making your nominations.

Nominations are being accepted now through January 13, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. If you have any questions, please contact the Nomination Committee Representative for your department/school/center.

For more information, please contact the NSU Office of Campus Life and Student Engagement at stueys@nova.edu .

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