Author: iharrell

NSU’s Graduate and Online Programs Shine in Latest National Rankings

The 2023 U.S. News & World Report higher education rankings are out, and Nova Southeastern University continues to be ranked among the nation’s best in several important categories.

The “Best Graduate Schools” category includes NSU’s highly ranked physician assistant program (M.M.S. in Physician Assistant) offered in Fort Lauderdale through the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences.

NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law topped the U.S. News & World Report “Best Law Schools” list for its highly regarded “Health Care Law,” “Legal Writing,” and “Trial Advocacy” programs, and both the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine and Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine were recognized as national leaders in “Diversity” among the “Best Medical Schools.”

The “Best Online Programs” category features NSU’s information technology program (M.S. in Information Technology) offered through the College of Computing and Engineering, and nursing (M.S.N.) program offered through the Ron & Kathy Assaf College of Nursing, which earned high national rankings.

“As NSU continues to forge ahead in its path to preeminence, such national recognitions are a product of a culture dedicated to providing top-notch educational opportunities and innovative academic and research programs on its many campuses,” said NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D.

U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower consumers, business leaders and policy officials to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives and communities. By collecting school data annually, U.S. News & World Report presents the most current figures on enrollment, job placement, faculty and other critical quality indicators that help prospective students make informed decisions.

NSU routinely has been ranked among the best by U.S. News & World Report. University-wide, in 2022-2023, NSU was recognized as a top “National University,” a “Best Value School,” and among the best colleges for “Social Mobility.”

Education Alum Starts Educational Consulting Business

Kisha Bellande-Francis, Ed.D.

A doctoral graduate of the Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice has opened her own educational consulting business.

Kisha Bellande-Francis earned her Ed.D. in Instructional Leadership from NSU in 2018 and has worked in a number of educational roles. She initially began her career as a Speech Language Pathologist before working as a teacher, administrator, and instructional consultant.

“As an administrator, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m making an impact in the whole school. It’s so wonderful. But when I became a consultant, and I was able to travel to different districts in different states, I felt like ‘Oh my Goodness, now I am making a national impact!”

Bellande-Francis now leads her own consulting business, she helps schools and organizations evaluate instructional practices and recommends areas for improvement. She has been consulting since 2015, but started her own business in 2022 and expressed that the feeling of being on her own has been liberating.

“It’s just been a pleasure because I really get to bring my vision to my practice. I have closer relationships with district and school leaders, and nothing beats that.

Bellande-Francis said her degree from Nova helped prepare her for this role by extending her capabilities through using research as a meaningful way to help her clients.

“It’s opened my eyes to look at challenges in a way of questioning, investigating, and collecting data to leverage the results towards growth and impact.”

When it comes to the future, Bellande-Francis is open to a variety of possibilities, however, there is an ultimate goal that she does dream about: opening her own school, and she has even collaborated with FCE&SCJ Dean Kimberly Durham about it.

“I started the process and was on my way to establishing my own school in 2020 but when COVID hit everything halted. The dream is still in my heart and something that I hope to achieve one day. I have reimagined what schools can look like. I want to implement my vision of a competency-based school that removes “grade level” barriers and allows each individual student the opportunity to excel at their own pace and reach their absolute fullest potential, especially in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) aspects.  I want to apply my experience and talents in my own school and allow all of the best teaching practices to blossom in one place.”

Posted 05/08/23

NSU Florida Gets New Address on University Drive

Nearly 60 years after then-Nova University moved from downtown Fort Lauderdale to Davie, our new address now reflects our roots: 3300 S. University Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33328-2004. This new address will replace our current mailing address, 3300 S. University Drive.

What You Need To Know:

  • The new address should be used effective immediately for all mail and deliveries to Broward County locations.
  • Building-specific addresses (or links to Google and Apple Maps) should only be used for point-to-point directions for events, clinical/medical appointments, athletics games, etc. Individual building addresses are never to be used as the official return address. The Facilities and PR & Marketing teams will be working in the coming months on updating mapping solutions on both Google and Apple Maps.
  • The PR and Marketing team in collaboration with OIIT will coordinate address changes on the nova.edu website.
  • Mail sent to the old address will continue to be delivered for the immediate future.
  • Colleges/Units should work with Business Services to phase out existing stationery, letterhead, business cards, collateral with the old address. Consult with Business Services to evaluate your current inventory and make plans to change over to the new address.
  • Who to contact for questions: bsv@nova.edu.

This transition will take time to roll out and we appreciate everyone’s cooperation in making it a success.

GO SHARKS!

Posted 05/08/23

Halmos Interdisciplinary Collaboration Produces Research Article

Santanu De, Ph.D.

The Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), engaged in an interdisciplinary STEM research collaboration between Arthur Sikora, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry and Physics, and Santanu De, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, along with multiple student-mentees. This collaboration resulted in an original research article published in April, 2023 by the Florida Distance Learning Association (FDLA) Journal.  The project was based on the Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Lab (BASIL) model for a Course-based Undergraduate Student Experience (CURE):

Kapil, Ambika; Gonzalez Isoba, Luis C.; Pathak, Niraj; Sikora, Arthur; and De, Santanu (2023) “Analysis of Attitudinal Student Learning Benefits from a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Adapted for Online Format”, FDLA Journal: Vol. 7, Article 2. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/fdla-journal/vol7/iss1/2

Posted 05/08/23

Halmos M.S. Biological Sciences Students Visit Cadaver Lab

Students in the M.S. Biological Sciences program and in the Health Studies Concentration in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic research Center (HCAS) visited the NSU MD cadaver lab along with their faculty, Reza Razeghifard, Ph.D.

Students in the program aspire to various fields in health care ranging from optometry to medicine. Being able to tour the lab was a meaningful experience for them as they near completion of their program. Members of the graduating class will be attending a variety of professional school programs including NSU’s College of Dental Medicine.

One of the alumni of the program, Adrian Monteagudo, is currently an adjunct faculty member for NSU and works in the Lab. This program is one of three concentrations offered by the Masters in Biological Sciences.

Posted 05/08/23

NSU Team Presents at Seattle Molecular Biology Conference

A team of 13 NSU delegates representing the  Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) Chemistry, and Marine Biology majors, and the College of Psychology Neuroscience Major traveled together to present their research as part of the NSU Chapter of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) https://www.asbmb.org/ at the Discover Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2023 Conference. They joined thousands of presenters from around the world https://discoverbmb.asbmb.org/in Seattle, Washington from March 24-28, 2023. Six posters describing protein modeling research projects and innovations in course based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) were presented at a variety of poster sessions. HCAS Biology Major, Pujita Julakanti received the ASBMB Society Travel Award. Eight members of the team received the PANSGA Professional Development Grant and 3 received the Biology Student Award. Projects were funded by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative through the Connecting Researchers Students and Teachers (CREST) Program. The team also presented the Master of Science in Biological Sciences Health Studies, Research, and Bioinformatics Concentrations at graduate program fairs held by the ASBMB https://hcas.nova.edu/degrees/masters/biological-sciences.html

The projects presented by the team were the following:

  • Akhil Godbole, Pranav Neravetla, Nikhila Paleati, Emily Schmitt Lavin and Arthur Sikora: Comparing Effectiveness of Two Antibodies (Aducanumab and Gantenerumab) on Reducing Amyloid-Beta Plaques.
  • Pranav Madadi, Juhi Dalal, Shreya Averineni, Arthur K. Sikora, and Emily F. Schmitt Lavin: Modeling binding of the BACE1 inhibitor aminoquinoline (68K) for the possible treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).
  • Serena Sha, Sophie Welch, Ashley Guillen-Tapia, Emily Schmitt Lavin, and Arthur Sikora: Modeling the binding of ω-conotoxin to an N-type voltage-gated calcium channel.
  • Bhavya Soni, Pritika Vemulapalli, Emily Schmitt Lavin and Arthur Sikora: Exploring structural differences between antagonistic peptides for the development of orally bioavailable PCSK9 inhibitors.
  • Lyla Abbas, Jordan Nichole Carreras, Pujita Julakanti, Sanjana Likki, Ryan Luib, Isadora Rocha De Abreu, Emily Schmitt Lavin and Arthur Sikora: Facilitating the collaborative scientific process through an interdisciplinary undergraduate protein modeling course.
  • Arthur K. Sikora: Quantification of Learning Advances in a Science CURE: Providing Leaning Objective to Corroborate and Validate the Advantages of Experiential Education.

Posted 05/08/23

Graduate Student Awarded ‘Changing Lives Scholarship’

Ashley Turner, 2023 winner of the “Make the Most of the Dash” and Ashley Hess legacy scholarship.

Many people knew and loved Ashley Kaye Hess, a cheerleader, dancer, teacher, and NSU speech-language pathology master’s candidate, before she was killed in a tragic car accident on May 14, 2016, at the age of 28.

On May 14, 2023, Ashley Turner, B.A., shall be awarded the 2023 “Make the Most of the Dash and Ashley Kaye Hess Changing Lives Scholarship.”

Ashley Turner is currently a graduate student at Nova Southeastern University pursuing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology. She is the current NSU SLP NSSLHA chapter president.

She received her bachelor’s degree from University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Fla., in Pre-K Primary Education (Age 3- Grade 3). She worked for Broward County Public Schools for 10 years ending in June 2022 so she can complete her SLP clinical rotations.

Ashley has a special interest in working in augmentative and alternative communication especially with children with autism and adults with ALS.

Posted 05/07/23

Students Learn from Virtual Interprofessional Education Event

Rebecca Simon, B.S., a graduate assistant at the NSU clinic for the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, preparing materials for the IPE event.

EXSC 4100 Adapted Physical Activity students from NSU’s Exercise and Sport Science major enjoyed a virtual interprofessional practice education (IPE) event on April 13, 2023.

The speech-language pathology students in SLP 6015, Clinical Processes worked with their instructor Jillian Yaw Ching, M.S., CCC-SLP, and associate professor, Tambi Braun, SLP.D., CCC-SLP, to review a clinical case and different diagnoses that SLPs treat.

The students worked in teams, and they also were able to share how they would create an intervention plan for functional activities for the hypothetical patient. Georgia Monique Mokha, Ph.D., LAT, ATC, CPSS, CSCS, professor, emphasized to all students the value of working as a team for future patients and clients.

Posted 05/07/23

Speech Language Pathology Clinic Introduces Listen & Talk Lab

The Nova Southeastern University Speech Language Pathology Clinic’s Listen & Talk Lab is currently accepting patients.

The clinic’s hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The lab offers services in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language (ASL). Among the services being offered are hearing screenings, speech and language evaluations, speech and language therapy, and family support.

Daniela Berrios, MA CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVEd, is an experienced bilingual speech language pathologist who specializes in working with individuals with hearing loss to achieve functional communication outcomes.

Posted 05/07/23

NSU Faculty Members Receive Grant for Alzheimer’s Research

Benedict C. Albensi, Ph.D.

Nova Southeastern University researchers Benedict C. Albensi, Ph.D., BCMAS, CRQM; and Lisa Robison, Ph.D.; recently received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for their research on Alzheimer’s disease.

They will receive $616,000 over a period of four years for their project titled “Sex-based differences of a high fat diet in Alzheimer’s disease (AD): Can nilotinib reverse bioenergetic and neuropathological deficits?” The grant was given under the NIH Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Professor Albensi – the principal investigator of the project – is the chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences with the Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy. Robison – the co-investigator – is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at NSU’s College of Psychology.

“This grant specifically looks at a couple key features of Alzheimer’s disease that I have been studying for several years,” Albensi said.

  1. Sex differences: About two thirds of women get AD and we do not exactly know why that is the case. Longevity alone does not explain why. This study will look at sex differences with an emphasis on brain metabolism.
  2. Diet and exercise have a tremendous effect on our health and specifically on brain metabolism. Some scientists estimate we can reduce both AD and cancer by 40-50% with better nutrition and optimal exercise. This study will look at the effects of high fat diets, especially fats that are not healthy for us.
  3. In this study we will look at ways to reverse the negative effects of a high fat diet.

“So overall I have been studying and publishing on sex differences, memory dysfunction, brain metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction, nutritional interventions, in AD,” Albensi said. “My co-investigator, Lisa Robison, has also been studying sex differences in AD and memory changes in AD.”

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R16NS134540. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Posted 05/07/23

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