Author: iharrell

Halmos Faculty Provides Training on Verbal De-escalation

Judith McKay, J.D., Ph.D.

Judith McKay, J.D., Ph.D., director of the doctoral program, and associate professor in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), provided training to therapeutic staff at the Jewish Community Services of South Florida, Miami. McKay was invited to provide virtual training in July on verbal de-escalation. She focused on skills, strategies, and responses, particularly when dealing with clients and others in high conflict and crisis.

McKay is the faculty adviser to the Social Justice Roundtable and works with students in the community through Community Resolution Services, a practicum and volunteer site for DCRS. Conflict resolution Studies hosts Story Café, We Love our Families series, The Women’s Roundtable, and is involved in offering workshops, training for the county’s Crisis Intervention Teams, and other events for community groups and organizations.

McKay’s scholarly interests include conflict coaching, strategic community planning, and prevention and intervention in family, neighborhood, and organizational conflict and violence.  For more information about Conflict Resolution Studies events and how we can partner with your group, free to contact McKay at mckayj@nova.edu.

 

Halmos Researcher’s Efforts Focus on Visualizing Virus Variants

Associate Professor Louis R. Nemzer, Ph.D.

NSU Associate Professor Louis R. Nemzer, Ph.D., in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, developed a new method for visualizing amino acid substitutions in which changes in the physical and chemical properties are represented by vectors in a 3D space. While applicable to a wide range of biological applications, such as rational protein design, this work is particularly useful for understanding the behavior of COVID-19 variants and even predicting future threats.

Proteins are long chains of amino acids, and the most infamous today is certainly the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Random mutations cause changes to its amino acid sequence, which leads to variants that may spread more easily or more effectively evade the human immune system.

As part of his research on amino acid properties, Nemzer created a new way to visualize changes in novel variants, utilizing recently available data on SARS-CoV-2 immune escape, which measures how well they can hide from the host’s antibodies. In addition, results were used from site-saturation mutagenesis experiments, in which all possible amino acid substitutions at a particular site in the spike protein were tested for their impact on binding affinity with ACE2 receptors.

“We live in the era of big data in biology, and the key now is finding new ways to visualize this vast amount of information to make the best use of it,” Nemzer said.

In some diagrams, the colors of the vectors show the impact of the substitution, while dashed lines indicate changes that require at least two nucleotide mutations to happen. He showed that sometimes clusters of chemically similar amino acids can have similar effects, but in other situations, only a specific change – such as swapping a charged amino acid in place of a neutral one – significantly reduces the virulence. The work is available now as a bioRxiv preprint.

REFERENCES:

Nemzer, Louis R. “Visualizing Amino Acid Substitutions in a Physicochemical Vector Space.” bioRxiv (2021).

Fischler Spotlights Alumnus/Marymount Athletic Director

Marymount California University (MCU) has announced Jonathan Harper, a seasoned collegiate athletics administrator, as its new athletic director. Jonathan graduated in 2003 from the Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice with his master’s in education with a specialization in sports management.

Jonathan Harper

Harper joins Marymount at a pivotal time as MCU reinvigorates its athletics program after having suspended the spring season because of COVID-19 and as it make plans to become a part of Saint Leo University. Harper has a vision, the experience and the passion needed to lead the MCU athletics program in a new era, continuing its proud traditions on and off the field and driving the university to even greater accomplishments.

Harper was the former director of athletics at Newbury College in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he supervised 14 NCAA Division III sports and won three conference championships in men’s soccer and men’s and women’s track and field before the school permanently closed in 2019. While there, he led fundraising for the Chawla Fitness Center and the Connolly Family Sport Court. He also chaired the New England Collegiate Conference Athletic Directors’ Council and the NCAA Division III Membership Committee.

Before working at Newbury, Harper served as the assistant commissioner at the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (NCAA Division II) and commissioner of the Little East Conference (NCAA Division III), launching its official video stream website. Other roles include commissioner of the East Coast Conference (NCAA Division II) and associate commissioner of the Northeast-10 Conference (NCAA Division II).

Additionally, Harper has worked for media company Penn Atlantic, securing partnerships with NCAA member conferences and institutions and professional sports organizations to facilitate live internet video streaming of athletic events to broadband pay-per-view viewers.

Harper currently lives in Hermosa Beach with his wife Heather and their three children: Clayton, Skyler and Brooklyn.

Fischler Professors Collaborate on Book Chapter

Professor David B. Ross, Ed.D.. and Associate Professor Gina Peyton, Ed.D., at NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice coauthored the chapter, “The Never-Ending Intellectual Theft of Truth: How the Mainstream Media Cartel Dismembers the Facts.” In R. Blankenship (Ed.), “Deep Fakes, Fake News, and Misinformation in Online Teaching and Learning Technologies” (pp. 39-68). The abstract of the book chapter is listed below:

The purpose of this chapter is to examine how the fake news has originated. This term has been in existence for decades, since the evolution of the printing press, which also disseminated false information. The mainstream media and non-mainstream media or just individuals in general have their own biases and agendas, so misinformation, disinformation, exaggerations, and deceptions will exist. This chapter will provide individuals from any political perspective or other beliefs evidence to make their own judgments. Digital citizenship and literacy will be explored using various examples of obtaining information and use of devices. In addition, this chapter will consider how researchers should take risks to explore controversial topics such as fake news to inform an audience using research.

For more information, please click here.

Speech-Language Pathology Alumna Starts Publishing Firm

Flo Davis, SLP.D, CCC/SLP

Flo Davis, SLP.D, CCC/SLP, a 2015 graduate of the doctoral program in Speech- Language Pathology in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, is excited about her venture and launch of a female-led, minority-owned indie publishing company.

She and business partner Shawanna Bowens have joined forces to create Aces Destiny publishing company, which is set to debut its first novel, Bloodstone’s Jinx, Book 1 in the Blacku Magic Series, this upcoming Fall of 2021. Davis is currently working on her first solo novel, which is an African American, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Urban Fiction tale.

Talented Trio Receives Dean’s Awards of Excellence

On July 29, during her virtual dean’s address to the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine’s faculty and staff members, Elaine M. Wallace, D.O., M.S.s, presented her annual Dean’s Awards of Excellence to three colleagues who showcased exceptional qualities in the staff, director/manager, and faculty categories. The Faculty Member of the Year honor went to Farzanna Haffizulla, M.D., FACP, FAMWA, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. The Director/Manager of the Year accolade went to Odessa Pemberton, M.B.A., employee services consultant II. The Staff Member of the Year honor went to Angela DiPalermo, B.S., instructional technology specialist I.

NSU Plans to Host Special 9/11 Memorial Ceremony via Campus/Zoom

Nova Southeastern University will host a 20th Anniversary 9/11 Memorial Ceremony on Saturday, September 11, starting promptly at 9 a.m. on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus and streaming live via Zoom.

The memorial ceremony will pay tribute to the victims and their families, as well as honor the sacrifices and rescue efforts made by first responders, police, firefighters, sanitation workers, military, and citizens whose lives were forever changed that day.

For more information.

Storytelling Workshop Features Author Corey Rosen, Sept. 18

Learn the art of telling stories and make the sale, land the client, propose a toast, or impress a date. Corey Rosen is an Emmy-award winning writer and actor with years of experience as a skilled storytelling coach. His book, “Your Story, Well Told,” is jam-packed with some of the best storytelling strategies out there.

Rosen will be holding a Zoom workshop on Saturday, September 18, from 2-3 p.m.

Rosen is an actor, writer, and visual effects producer who lives in San Francisco. He is a regular host of The Moth StorySlam series in the Bay Area, and his stories have been featured on The Moth Radio Hour. Corey began his career writing for Jim Henson Productions, Comedy Central, and Lucasfilm. Corey performs at BATS Improv in San Francisco. His film credits (as a VFX Artist) include Iron Man, Grindhouse, Ted, and several Star Wars movies. His first book is called “Your Story, Well Told: Creative Strategies to Develop and Perform Stories that Wow an Audience.” www.coreyrosen.com.

Registration is required for this Zoom workshop.

The video will be available for on-demand viewing September 19 – October 1, 2021.

3 Grants Target Students with Innovative Oceanic Solutions

Ocean Exchange™ is looking for undergraduate and graduate students who are adept in developing innovative solutions that have a beneficial impact on the ocean. The organization – which is affiliated with the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation – is offering three monetary awards this year.

The Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award 2021 will give a $25,000 grant to a solution that advances the decarbonization of the maritime shipping industry, either while underway or while in port. The solution should be globally scalable and applicable to any segment, including commercial ocean carriers, ferries, and coastal transportation, large recreational yachts, towing and barge vessels, the cruise industry, and defense/security maritime sectors.

The Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation Award 2021 will give a $10,000 grant to a solution that advances our understanding of the ocean and that helps minimize our impact on these resources, resulting in more resilient bodies of water including healthy marine life and coastlines.

The Broward College Innovation Award 2021 will give a $10,000 grant to a solution that advances our understanding of the ocean and that helps minimize our impact on these resources, resulting in more resilient bodies of water including healthy marine life and coastlines.

Eligibility requirements

  • Teams or individual innovators are invited to register
  • Applicants must be undergraduate or graduate student with active student status within one year
  • Solution must be student-led.
  • Teams must pitch in person
  • Delegates representing business, academia, government, and non-profits will select winners at the event in Fort Lauderdale

Important Dates

  • Submit registrations by 11:59 p.m. GMT Monday September 20, 2021
  • Finalists will be selected by our Solutions Review Team to travel to Fort Lauderdale (expenses paid) to present at Ocean Exchange Oct 24-26, 2021
  • Collegiate pitches will be conducted Sunday, Oct 24 and Monday Oct 25

Ocean Exchange™ is an international platform for accelerating the adoption of and the transfer of solutions across industries that positively impact environments, economies and health while respecting cultures around the world.

Students can register their solutions here.

1 … 113 114 115 116 117 … 124