Author: iharrell

Conservation Crews Work Around the Clock Saving Sea Turtles

Nesting dig

Morning crew member Mikayla Twiss excavates a sea turtle nest on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

More than 140,000 sea turtle hatchlings come to life each year in Broward County, beginning a journey for survival that has a major impact on the health and economic vitality of our coastal communities and ecosystems. This year’s nesting will end in October, marking another successful season of partnership between NSU and Broward County to protect sea turtle habitats, educate and involve the public, and contribute to the sustainability of our ocean resources.

Sierra Ciciarelli

Sierra Ciciarelli, outreach and assistant field manager of Broward County, explains to onlookers sea turtle nesting and the importance of being eco-friendly.

Sea turtle conservation efforts are critical to NSU’s support and leadership in the “blue economy,” which ties the health of our oceans to the health of our economy.

As a hub for research and education, NSU helps communities make the connection between the sustainable use of ocean resources, economic growth, and quality of life. In Florida alone, it is estimated that ocean-related activities and businesses generate billions of dollars in economic value and support thousands of jobs. Sea turtle conservation is one of several NSU focus areas aligning with the blue economy. Among others: coral restoration, shark research, and marine biodiversity.

Sierra Ciciarelli, outreach and assistant field manager of Broward County, has been working with NSU teams to monitor sea turtle nesting activity along 24 miles of beaches for five seasons. Ciciarelli says turtles are an essential component of ocean health and advises the public to avoid exposing the turtles to light, keep beaches clean, and above all, avoid nesting areas.

“When hatchlings disorient,” she says, “they can find their way into unsafe places such as pools, storm drains, and roads rather than the ocean.”

NSU’s work with sea turtles is just one of many collaborative research and conservation initiatives that help support the economic and social vitality of ocean-related communities. Other areas of research and education include sea-level rise, erosion, and water quality; coral reef science and conservation; and sustainable marine practices. To learn more, visit: https://www.nova.edu/ghoc/index.html.

A Day for Children Offers Entertainment, Health Services for Families

For more than 20 years, some 100,000 residents have attended the university’s Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital – A Day for Children. Crowds returned this year for the event, which offered free and low-cost health and wellness services, education for vision, medical, speech, behavioral, and dental health, as well as physical and occupational therapy.

It’s part of NSU’s comprehensive and longstanding commitment to research, education, and community outreach efforts that recognize healthy children are more likely to grow into healthy adults.

Demonstrating this commitment to children is NSU Health, connecting families to the care they need through a single integrated, coordinated network. NSU Health specializes in pediatric services, providing centers for children’s dental care, eye care, mental health, osteopathic manipulative medicine, and hearing care. Learn more.

Among this year’s participating partners were Broward County Libraries, Boys & Girls Club of Broward County, Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program, Broward Healthy Start Coalition, Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Flamingo Gardens, Florida Children’s Theatre, Hungry Howie’s Pizza, and South Florida Cloggers.

President-Elect Inducted into Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Dr. Moon

Dr. Moon in Edinburgh, Scotland

For Dr. Harry K. Moon, being named Fellow ad hominem of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCSEd) was a capstone to a pre-eminent career of healing and helping people.

The Royal College, founded five centuries ago under a royal charter from King James IV, is the oldest surgical college in the world and now has more than 32,000 members in more than 140 countries. Dr. Moon was inducted into the college, an institution that includes the world’s most renowned surgeons, on Sept. 6.

In his acceptance remarks, Dr. Moon, Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) president-elect, executive vice president, and chief operating officer, called his induction “the honor of a lifetime.”

Dr. Moon, an internationally renowned reconstructive and plastic surgeon, has had a distinguished medical career and has been instrumental in the development of medical, research, and educational programs in South Florida for the past quarter century.

“For me, the greatest joy of medicine is taking care of the patient,” he said. “Second is the joy of expanding the perspective and horizons of young surgeons still forging their paths forward.”

Dr. Moon also addressed the graduates of the college in the ceremony’s closing speech.

“You are the future of surgery, of health care,” he said. “Outside of our care for the patient, our commitment to those who come next is and always has been critical to the progression and future of our profession.”

Royal College Fellows are expected to champion the highest standards of surgical and dental practice while also fostering the development and use of advanced technology such as virtual reality, robotics, and simulation. Certification as a Royal College of Surgeons Fellow is reserved exclusively for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Royal College of Surgeons of England, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

Dr. Moon has led the integration of NSU’s clinical practices to create NSU Health, a university-affiliated health care network. He has been a clinical associate professor of surgery in NSU’s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine since 2008 and is now also a professor of anatomy at NSU’s Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences.

Dr. Moon will begin his tenure as NSU’s seventh president in January 2025. View his full bio here.

NSU Coral Researchers’ Efforts Featured in Media Worldwide

Shane Wever

NSU researcher Shane Wever works with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researcher Keisha Bahr to transfer corals from NSU’s onshore coral nursery in Dania Beach.

NSU drew worldwide media attention in September for its leadership in coral research. when NSU scientists transferred about 300 corals to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. (TAMU-CC) from its coral nursery in Dania Beach, Fla.

Coral

One of the transferred corals

This transfer, which will support coral research and restoration, was one of the largest out-of-state coral transfers by NSU’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences.

The National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) – housed at the NSU Oceanographic Center – is a vital national resource and collaborative research hub for coral reef science, education, management, and conservation. Coral reefs are a mainstay of the “blue economy,” which includes tourism, fisheries, biotechnology, and coastal protection.  Almost half a billion people live within 100 miles of a coral reef and many countries are highly dependent on coral reefs for their livelihoods.Research Associate Shane Wever was NSU’s point person on the coral transfer, coordinating with TAMU-CC researcher Keisha Bahr, the chair for Coral Reef and Ocean Health at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at TAMU-CC on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

The successful transfer attracted media from around the globe, with the story garnering millions of views. Here are a few of the stories that made the headlines:

NSU Alum Takes His Education to Health Care Heights

Remart clinic

Jean Louis gives patient Daniel Fils-Aime a checkup.

Step into the office of Renaud Jean Louis, and you’ll find a wall dominated by NSU degrees – a bachelor’s in nursing, a master’s in public administration, a second master’s in nursing, and a graduate certificate in adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner.

With the education and knowledge accumulated over the years, Jean Louis has built a successful health care business dedicated to helping underserved populations learn about and benefit from preventive health care. Many of his patients are from the Haitian community.

“One of my instructors told me, ‘Don’t just come to NSU and take the diploma and hang it at your house. Go out there and make a difference in your community,’” he said. “It’s a statement that I never forgot.”

Since 2020, the Remart Medical Clinic in Hollywood, Fla., has provided a spectrum of services, from immunizations and annual physicals to treatments for addiction and mental health diagnoses.

Jean Louis operates the clinic with business partner Martine Phillips, also an NSU graduate. With their combined dual certification in nursing and psychiatry, the clinic focuses on medical and mental health issues.

“We both saw the struggle of working families when it comes to seeing health care providers, because many don’t have insurance or fail to get annual checkups,” said Jean Louis. To help with accessibility, the Remart Clinic is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., six days a week.

Despite his academic achievements, education did not come easy to Jean Louis. Raised in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, he was one of seven children raised by a single mother.

“She was my role model, my inspiration and my hero,” said Jean Louis. “One thing she believed was that a proper education could open any door for us.”

Jean Louis studied economics in Haiti before coming to the United States, where he earned degrees from Miami Dade Community College and Florida International University, then NSU.

“I can sincerely say that NSU is my backbone and made me who I am today,” he said. “Do not be afraid to use your knowledge in any community that you will find yourself in in the future.”

Shark Dining Provides Delicious Options Across Campus

When it comes to campus dining at NSU, faculty, staff, and students will notice a major upgrade this year.

Grubhub is now the official mobile ordering platform at NSU. Students, faculty, and staff can use their declining balance, credit, or debit cards to place orders in advance and skip the lines.

Here’s a breakdown of dining options by location:

  • Rosenthal Building
    • The Shark Club introduced a new fall menu on Sept. 23.
  • The Reef in the University Center
    • Sushi Maki has added hibachi and spicy lava rolls to its menu.
    • Qdoba is featuring habanero lime steak and Mexican street corn for a limited time.
    • Starbucks’ pumpkin spice promotion has returned for the fall.
    • Chick-fil-A is now open six days a week.
  • Carl DeSantis Building
    • Einstein Bros Bagels is now available for mobile ordering via Grubhub.
  • Alvin Sherman Library
    • West End Deli has added empanadas and other bakery items to its offerings.
  • Parker Building
    • The Parker Kiosk has added empanadas and other bakery items.
  • College of Law
    • Supreme Court Café expanded its menu to include empanadas and additional bakery items.
  • Health Professions Division, Terry Building
    • The Intensive Culinary Unit (ICU) is now operational, providing various dining options during the HPD renovation:
      • New Sambazon Kiosk,
      • HPD Express offering the Chef’s Table menu,
      • Expanded menu at the HPD Kiosk, including baked goods and build-your-own salads,
      • A pop-up Market Cart with quick snacks and bottled beverages.
      • Daily rotating menus from local food truck vendors.
    • For detailed information about the ICU and post-renovation dining spaces, visit HPD Construction Details.

Shark Dining also has announced the return of Joyful, its Farmers Market series. These events at the Library Quad bring local farmers, crafters, and vendors to NSU every other Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Shark Dining also hosts engaging activities, such as a free ice cream bar at its market tent.. Upcoming Joyful dates are Oct. 23, Nov. 6, and Nov. 20.

EMSAA Launches CommunityNet Intranet Site

EMSAA

NSU’s Enrollment Management, Student Affairs, and Athletics (EMSAA) division has launched its intranet site, EMSAA CommunityNet. This digital resource center, designed for our faculty and staff community, introduces the division’s six pillars, providing insight into each of their departmental operations and the resources they offer. The key purpose of this site is to serve as a go-to hub for faculty and staff to learn more about the division, have “at your fingertips” access to its resources and contacts as well as keep the community abreast of scheduled events and programs that provide for student engagement and university-wide collaboration opportunities.

We are excited to introduce EMSAA CommunityNet and are committed to making sure this site provides NSU’s faculty and staff with informative and relevant EMSAA-related content, while ongoingly managing site improvements and content renewing efforts. To help us know what the community’s interests and needs are, we want to hear from you.  If there is content you consider to be a beneficial community resource, please email the details to: emsaacommunitynet@nova.edu.

To learn more about EMSAA CommunityNet, visit https://www.nova.edu/emsaacommunitynet and log in using your NSU login credentials.

Former Grad Student’s Study Published in Biology Journal

mangrove tree crab

Mangrove tree crab

Tamara Frank, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, and her former graduate student, Ruchao Qian who is working on his Ph.D. at Florida International University, published Ruchao’s master’s thesis work in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

The work is titled, “Comparative study of spectral sensitivity, irradiance sensitivity, spatial resolution and temporal resolution in the visual systems of Ocypode quadrata and Aratus pisonii” (JEB 227: doi:10.1242/jeb.246813). Journal editors were so impressed with Ruchao’s picture of A. pisonii  (our local mangrove tree crab) that they are planning to use it in their 2025 calendar.

Professor Picked as Fellow for Hispanic Universities Association

Kevin Dvorak

Kevin Dvorak

DvorakNSU Professor Kevin Dvorak, Ph.D., has been selected by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities as one of its 45 fellows who will make up the sixth cohort of its Leadership Academy/La Academia de Liderazgo. Dvorak is the director of NSU’s Writing & Communication Center.

The program is designed to increase diverse representation in executive and senior-level positions in higher education. Fellows participate in an array of leadership development activities preparing them for leadership roles in the full spectrum of institutions of higher learning, with an emphasis on Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Emerging HSIs.

The one-year fellowship program includes webinars and three seminars, with the first seminar in October in conjunction with HACU’s 38th Annual Conference in Aurora, Colo. The second seminar will be held in Washington, D.C., in April 2025, at HACU’s National Capitol Forum. The third seminar will take place at a still to be determined international location.

The Leadership Academy faculty consists of current and former presidents, chancellors and senior administrators and brings over 100 years of combined experience in serving various sectors of higher education, including private/public universities, community colleges and faith-based institutions.

Student Dental Association Honors Assistant Professor

Amini

Dr. Aryia Amini

Dr. Aryia Amini, assistant professor at NSU’s College of Dental Medicine, received the 2024 American Student Dental Association’s (ASDA) Advocate Award.

The ASDA is a national student-run organization that protects and advances the rights, interests, and welfare of dental students.

The Advocate Award recognizes faculty or school administrators who have shown a commitment to dental students and provide leadership and direction in addition to commitment to organized dentistry.

This is the second consecutive year that Dr. Amini has received the award.

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