Category: Academics

CAHSS Faculty Publishes book, Working JuJu Representations of the Caribbean Fantastic

Andrea Shaw Nevins, Ph.D.

Andrea Shaw Nevins, Ph.D., Professor, Interim Chair, and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), has authored the book, Working JuJu Representations of the Caribbean Fantastic, by University of Georgia Press, November 2019. Working Juju examines how fantastical and unreal modes are deployed in portrayals of the Caribbean in popular and literary culture as well as in the visual arts.

Nevins teaches courses in international studies, literature, writing, and film, with a focus on the Caribbean and African Diaspora. She is also the author of The Embodiment of Disobedience: Fat Black Women’s Unruly Political Bodies (Lexington Press). For more information about Working JuJu, please go to https://ugapress.org/book/9780820356099/working-juju/

Andrea Shaw Nevins, Ph.D.

Chemistry Club has Banner Term

This fall has been a very active semester for the Chemistry Club, housed at Halmos College. In November, they celebrated National Chemistry Week with Chemistry Club members as well as Halmos College faculty and staff.

During that week, the students traveled to the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, where they made slime with the kids. On Tuesday, the American Chemical Society presented how chemistry is applied to everyday life with the Chemistry in a Box activity. This was followed by the most well-known day in chemistry: Mole Day!

Mole day, October 23, commemorates Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 1023), which is a basic quantity used in chemistry. Mole Day was created to foster interest in chemistry. Colleges and schools around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles. The Chemistry Club, in collaboration with Tri Beta (the Biology Honor Society), entertained all who walked by with fun activities, snacks and prizes.

The week wrapped up with a speaker event. The Chemistry Club was proud to present Halmos faculty member, Dimitrios Giarikos, Ph.D. to present his research in biometals. The title of the presentation was “Using Biomass Modified Algae for a Solution to Heavy Metal Pollution; an Example in the Alaskan Marine Environment”. This fit with this year’s National Chemistry Week theme of “Marvelous Metals”.  Students interested in joining Chemistry Club can contact Halmos faculty member Jessica Brown, Ph.D. at jbrown3@nova.edu.

Halmos College Chemistry faculty Jessica Brown, Ph.D. and Beatrix Aukszi, Ph.D. are the Chemistry club advisors.

 

 

NSU University School Students – Lending a Hand

Lending a hand has taken on an entirely new meaning in Alicia Anania and Micaile Smith’s science classes. The teachers have joined forces to teach their students about the human body. Their goal was to make it more relatable. The dynamic duo is now taking their lessons several steps farther.

Instead of just teaching anatomy from a book, they’ve incorporated 3-D printing at the NSU University School Media Center to show students how to produce prosthetic human hands. Students are learning about the movement and functionality of the hand while, at the same time, gaining a greater understanding and empathy for those who need prosthetics.

The USchool students will soon meet with military veterans who have faced a hand amputation following combat. Students are also working with e-NABLE to establish a donation pathway. They are determined to give back, providing prosthetic hands to veterans and children in underdeveloped countries around the world.

“Through this project, we’ve seen amazing growth in our students’ understanding of how locomotion happens,” said Smith. “We’re now starting to study legs and movement in animals like sea turtles.”

Anania pointed out, “They take great pride in knowing that someone’s life will change with these prosthetic hands. They’re looking at ways to cushion them to make them more comfortable, too.”

This is more than a lesson in anatomy. Smith explains that mastery in coding and other STEM-related skills is essential to creating hands that move on command. Both teachers and the NSU University School community are looking ahead to the development of limitless teaching opportunities at the school’s Center for Innovation now under development. For more information about the Center for Innovation kindly contact Dr. Susanne Marshall at 954-262-3014 or msusanne@nova.edu.

Halmos College Faculty Publishes Review on Plants and Animals ‘Gone Wild’

This fall, Halmos College Biology faculty member Eben Gering, Ph.D. was the lead author for the paper, “Getting Back to Nature: Feralization in Animals and Plants” in the highly respected and widely read journal, Trends in Ecology & Evolution. The article brings together experts in animal behavior, plant genetics, and evolutionary theory to examine how feral organisms evolve after escaping into the wild.

From weedy rice to feral hogs – formerly domesticated crops, pets, and livestock are now ubiquitous worldwide. Nonetheless, their evolution is poorly studied. The new article addresses this gap by synthesizing information from disparate species, and by outlining future research avenues. This work can ultimately illuminate adaptive evolution, while enhancing our understanding of domestic organisms we rely on for food, labor, and companionship. Included in the paper is a video showing the evolutionary forces that shape feral gene pools and traits, and featuring illustrations provided by teen artists at REACH, a community art center in Lansing, Michigan.

CAHSS Hosts Second Fall Au Café

The Department of Literature and Modern Languages in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) was delighted to host the second Au Café of the semester on November 4, 2019 at the UC lounge, 2nd floor. This Coffee and Conversation Hour provided a relaxed setting for French students and speakers to practice their language skills. Our French instructors, Maud Cassagnol and Shirley Santry, were present to help facilitate conversations. Speakers of all levels are welcome to Au Cafe! Coffee and pastries were provided.

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.

 

NSU University School Students Learn to Provide Medical Care Through NSU’s Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing

NSU University School Upper School students interested in the field of medicine had the opportunity to experience a day in the life of a nurse with Nova Southeastern University’s Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing. Students learned the principles of nursing care by participating in patient simulations in realistic clinical scenarios. They received wound care training, learned how to place an IV and catheter, and were taught how to wash their hands properly in a medical setting. USchool students consistently engage in various experiential learning opportunities with NSU, ensuring students are provided with the best possible educational experience.

College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Hosts 7th Annual High School Model United Nations Conference

NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) is delighted to announce that the 7th Annual NIRAMUN Conference, held on November 8, 2019 was a great success. The Nova International Relations Association (NIRA) welcomed more than 160 local high school students to campus for the conference. NIRA serves as NSU’s regional award-winning Model United Nations team.

The faculty advisor, Nelson Bass, J.D., Ph.D., was thrilled with the turnout for the event in its 7th year: “I essentially think of our annual high school conference as a mini-Shark Preview. Since 2012, we have hosted over 1000 area high school students at this event. Not only do the delegates work on valuable skills at the conference, but they get so see our beautiful campus and work with our own students.”

NIRAMUN 2019 was the largest conference held to date at NSU, and included students from 8 area schools including: Archimedean Upper Conservatory, Pine Crest School, West Broward, McFatter Technical, Fort Lauderdale High, St. Thomas Aquinas, University School, and West Boca Raton High School. The event was run by NIRA team members and directed by the NIRA executive leadership board. The board consists of NIRA President, Varsha Gopaulchan, an International Studies major, NIRA Vice-President Genesis Alvarez, a Legal Studies major, and NIRA Internal Affairs Director Kayre Alcantara Martinez, a Political Science major. During the conference, high school students act as UN delegates representing different countries and work together to solve pressing global issues while utilizing parliamentary procedure and learning valuable negotiation, writing, and public speaking skills.

For more information about NIRA, please contact Bass at nbass@nova.edu, and go to

https://cahss.nova.edu/departments/hps/community/un-competition.html

NIRA Executive Leadership 2019

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