Category: Academics

Lab Finds Differences between Port and Reef Sediments

Port Everglades

Marine ports can be very busy places. From the vantage point of NSU’s Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (GHOC), one can easily observe and be part of the boat traffic going in and out of Port Everglades Inlet (PEI). This includes small and large recreational vehicles, Coast Guard patrols, sleek and modern looking yachts, huge tankers, and cargo vessels, loaded with oil or other commodities, and of course cruise ships ferrying passengers to good times in the Caribbean.

All this activity contributes to PEI being one of the busiest ports in the SE United States, which started almost a century ago in 1928.  The human activities also set the port physically apart from nearby natural habitats, which our laboratory has corroborated by profiling the marine sediments from both port and nearby coral reef sites. Molecular microbiology analyses provide some stark contrasts.   “Although most of the sites are within a few kilometers from each other, and are connected by daily tidal flows, the port and reef microbial communities showed distinct characteristics which were statistically significant.”, says Jose (Joe) Lopez, Ph.D., a professor with a laboratory at the GHOC and the Department of Biological Sciences in Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS).

The study was analyzed and co-written by Lopez and affiliate NSU faculty, Lauren Krausfeldt, Ph.D., and published in the open access online journal PeerJ.  With the help of dedicated NSU students, like Catherine Bilodeau and Hyo Lee, and project initiation by former FL Dept of Environmental Protection manager, Shelby Casali, molecular microbiological methods, now routine in the field, were applied to uncover the details of which microbes live in nearshore or port sediments.  The universal gene used to identify bacteria, is called 16S rRNA, which has been previously used to characterize other samples ranging widely from shark and human teeth, octopus skin, sponge and anglerfish tissue in the GHOC molecular microbiology laboratory run by Lopez.

In the Port Everglades study, NSU researchers found that some photosynthetic cyanobacterial group abundances decreased in the reef sediments in 2021, which could indicate changing irradiance reaching sensitive corals and other symbiotic hosts that depend on sunlight.

The new PeerJ study on marine sediments has potential ramifications on local coral reef health, because routine dredging and other human activities can stir up port sediments that ultimately disperse and settle on nearby coral reef habitats.  This data, along with previous microbial research in the Lopez laboratory describing water quality provides useful baselines that can be used by local environmental managers.

Posted 04/23/23

Congresswoman Tours NSU Center for Collaborative Research

From left, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz; Jean Latimer, Ph.D., director of the AutoNation Institute for Breast Cancer Research and Care; Ken Dawson, NSU’s senior vice president for Research and Economic Development; and NSU Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Harry K. Moon.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz recently toured NSU’s Center for Collaborative Research. While on campus, she visited the AutoNation Institute for Breast Cancer Research and Care as well as the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine.

Posted 04/23/23

Doctor of Occupational Therapy Student Receives Scholarship

Arianna Sewell

Congratulations to Tampa Bay Regional campus third-year Doctor of Occupational Therapy student Arianna Sewell, by the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) to receive the Florence M. Stattel Endowed Scholarship.

AOTF is a charitable, scientific, and educational non-profit organization whose purpose is to advance the science of occupational therapy to support people’s full participation in meaningful life activities.

The foundation is governed by a board of trustees and awards grants for scientific research and scholarships. It also publishes a scientific Occupational Therapy Journal of Research (OTJR), Occupation, Participation and Health,[1] indexed by the National Library of Medicine and others. It sponsors the honor society Pi Theta Epsilon. It is based in Rockville, Maryland.

Arianna submitted an essay in which describes her qualifications to receive this award. Her academic performance at NSU qualifies her to receive Florence M. Stattel Endowed Scholarship, and in completing at least one year of occupational therapy specific coursework.

Arianna has a B.A. in psychology and worked as a research assistant in the HeartLAB of the University of South Florida.  As a current O.T.D. student, Arianna has earned an internship with the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), planning activities and events relative to the goals of the Developmental Disabilities Special Interest Section.

Posted 04/23/23

Halmos Faculty Presents at History Conference

Katy Doll, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, presented at the 2023 Organization of American Historians Conference in Los Angeles, Calif.

Katy Doll, Ph.D.

Doll presented “‘The only way outside of a bullet to probe the innards of a skull: Military and Media Practices in Psychological Warfare during the Korean War” as part of a panel titled “Realities and Opponents of the American Way of War.”

The Organization of American Historians Conference is one of the largest gatherings of professional historians annually in the United States. In addition to panels of scholarship in progress, the conference also featured workshops on teaching, digital humanities, and displays of the latest scholarly publications in the field.

Professor Doll specializes in U.S. history with a focus on culture, war, and society. She studies United States overt psychological warfare from the Korean War to the Vietnam War. Her presentation at the conference explored the connections between advertising and journalism methods and military propaganda campaigns.

Posted 04/23/23

University School Fourth-Graders Showcase Business Ideas

As part of their entrepreneurship unit, fourth-grade students showcased their creativity and entrepreneurial skills by developing an innovative product along with a business plan, marketing strategies, and a commercial. Students recently pitched their products and business ideas, in Shark Tank style, to teachers, classmates, and judges who selected the winning product.

This year’s fourth grade Shark Tank Jr. is Pet+ Paste founded by student entrepreneurs Nina and Kinley. To help pet owners save on vet costs, Nina and Kinley created Pet+ Paste, an emergency paste pet owners can have readily available that will save their pet’s life in case they eat/lick a poisonous toad or get into harmful chemicals.

During this year’s event, third- through fifth-grade students who were in attendance had the opportunity to hear from our keynote speaker Steve Greenberg, award-winning author, reporter, TV personality, game show host, and expert on innovation, new products, and technology.

We are incredibly proud of all our fourth-grade students for their creativity, teamwork, and hard work in developing their products and business skills.

Congratulations, Sharks!

Check out a recap video of this year’s Shark Tank presentations on our Instagram page: https://rb.gy/um7xft

Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool – Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu.

Posted 04/09/23

NSU Researchers Explore AI Use in Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

In a recent paper published in “Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience,” two Nova Southeastern University researchers compared traditional methods to diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease with the use of artificial intelligence with those methods. The paper — titled “Should artificial intelligence be used in conjunction with Neuroimaging in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease?” — is coauthored by NSU student Sophia Mirkin, from the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Dr. Benedict C. Albensi, Ph.D., BCMAS, CRQM, chair and professor of NSU’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy.

Among the pros of using artificial intelligence in diagnosing Alzheimer’s were an improvement of diagnostic accuracy, efficient data analysis, and a reduction in physician burnout. Among the cons were generalization and data shortage, skepticism by the medical community, and patient privacy concerns.

Get more details here.

Posted 04/09/23

University School Students Work on Innovation Challenges

First grade students have been working on various innovation challenges to prepare for Engineer It!, an annual engineering design competition for students in grades 1-12. As part of their innovation studies, students designed an egg drop container, built a bottle rocket, and used aluminum foil to make a boat that can float holding as many pennies as possible.

After finalizing their prototypes, students took their learning outdoors to put their designs to the test and enjoyed seeing all their hard work come to fruition.

Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool – Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu.

Posted 04/09/23

University School Students Visit NSU’s Neuroscience Lab

Students in our Psychology Internship visited Nova Southeastern University‘s Neuroscience Laboratory in the Center for Collaborative Research where they dissected a sheep brain. Led by NSU neuroscience faculty member Dr. James Muñoz, students learned how remarkably similar the anatomy of a sheep brain is to the human brain.

Using their knowledge gained in our AP psychology course, students were able to identify brain structures and functions in real time during the dissection. Students also learned about Dr. Muñoz’s exciting research on gene therapy and neural stem cells and their potential applications to cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool – Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu.

Posted 03/27/23

Honors Student Spreads Autism Awareness at Conference

Farquhar Honors College student Varun Kota presented his research spreading awareness of autism in black and brown communities at the 2023 Florida Undergraduate Research Conference (FURC). Completed as part of his honors thesis, the research focuses on the reasons for the underdiagnoses of autism in African American communities in South Florida and methods for increasing proper diagnoses.

Kota, a senior biology major, became interested in this research after learning about delayed diagnoses of autism and its impact on children and their families in the honors course Autism Today: The Individual and the Family. His research highlights how the lack of accessible resources and understanding plays a significant role in delayed diagnoses of autism and how education and advocacy are possible solutions.

“Heading a project such as the honors thesis was an opportunity to expand and hone my leadership and management skills,” said Kota. “My overall knowledge of ASD, the diagnostic process, services surrounding Autism, and its overall impact on African American families has grown tremendously. I have used this education to improve my professional writing, [research], and public speaking skills. Disseminating and presenting information regarding the project [also] enabled me to understand the publication process.”

Upon graduation, Kota plans on pursuing work in psychology and computational artificial intelligence to create a system to help people suffering from mental health issues receive the help they need.

Posted 03/27/23

USchool Students Take Top Awards at Fair

Science Fair Finalists

Science Fair FinalistsCongratulations to the following Middle School students who won 1st place and other top awards in the Broward Regional Science and Engineering Fair. All five 1st place winners will go on to compete in states in April.

1st place:

  • Adam Ginsburg: How Does Temperature Affect the Viability and Effectiveness of Sutures When Closing Wounds
  • Liliana Novak: How Moisturizers Affect a Swimmer’s Dry Skin
  • Samuel Mays: inSPECTRO Gadget
  • Nina Anderson: Building an Electromagnetic Model Mass Driver to Launch a Projectile
  • Brody Baum: Robot Insect Exterminator

2nd place:

  • Tomas Palacio: How Blue is Your Sports Drink?

3rd place:

  • Jayden Slingbaum: VEX Sensing Robot

Participant awards:

  • Nolan Arias: Photosynthesis to the Rescue: Using Biology to Repair the Ozone Layer
  • Anna Leffin: Does the Temperature Influence How Quickly Monarch Caterpillars Develop into Butterflies
  • Zachary Kopelman: Building and Playing a Theremin Instrument

Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool – Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu.

Posted 03/26/23

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