Category: SharkBytes

Pictured from left to right: NSU AT Students Juan Aquino, Shannon Stowe, NSU AT Faculty Member Kelley Henderson, and NSU AT Students Alex D’Innocenzo and Katie Tallman

In February 2020, four athletic training (AT) students from NSU, along with AT faculty member Kelley Henderson, Ed.D., Assistant Professor and Clinical Education Director, traveled to Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, PA to provide medical care for the 2020 Special Olympics Pennsylvania Winter Games.

Special Olympics provides year-round training and competitions for individuals with intellectual disabilities and athletes can range in age from 8 to 80.  This joint venture was coordinated with Sarah Manspeaker, Ph.D., an AT faculty member from Duquesne University, and included other AT students from Duquesne University and California University of Pennsylvania as well other licensed athletic trainers and physicians from Pennsylvania. Manspeaker, one of the medical coordinators for the event, stated “the contribution of certified athletic trainers and athletic training students is vital to the success of our State Winter Games.

Through their interprofessional collaboration with physicians, ski patrol members, and EMS, we are able to provide these athletes with thorough medical care throughout the course of competition.” The students were able to provide care for the athletes competing in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowshoe.  Each student was given an opportunity to rotate between each event to experience sport and weather conditions at different venues.  Senior athletic training student, Alex D’Innocenzo said, “To be able to attend the Special Olympics winter Games in Pennsylvania was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Being from Florida, the types of sports at the games were different from what I am used to but working with individuals with intellectual disabilities is not. I will forever be grateful for such an inspiring trip and cannot wait to continue impacting the lives of individuals in this population.”

David Kilroy. Ph.D.

David Kilroy. Ph.D., faculty and chair in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), has written a book chapter, “An Example for Other Small Nations to Follow: John F. Kennedy, Ireland, and Decolonization.” It appears in the book, Globalizing the US Presidency: Postcolonial Views of John F. Kennedy, edited by Cyrus Schayegh, Ph.D and published by Bloomsbury Press (2020). The book was developed from a conference on Kennedy and Colonialism held at Princeton University in 2018.

Kilroy’s teaching and research interests include U.S. political and cultural engagement on the world stage.  A major theme of his research is the correlation between U.S. foreign policy and issues of domestic American cultural and political identity, and he has a particular interest in U.S. engagement in West Africa, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

For more information about his chapter, please see https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/globalizing-the-us-presidency-9781350118508/

In February, Halmos College biology faculty members Matthew Johnston, Ph.D. and Tracey Sutton, Ph.D. were two of the authors for a Frontiers in Marine Science article, “Oceanographic Structure and Light Levels Drive Patterns of Sound Scattering Layers in a Low-Latitude Oceanic System”.

The oceanic biome is approximately 71% of the planet’s area and much more of the planet’s living space by volume, yet it remains vastly understudied. This paper discusses the research looking at one of the most conspicuous features of this biome: the persistent and ubiquitous sound scattering layers formed by zooplankton and micronekton.

These organisms are responsible for the Earth’s largest animal migration, a process known as diel vertical migration. This paper looks at several factors have been reported to structure the spatial and temporal patterns of sound scattering layers, including temperature, oxygen, salinity, light, and physical oceanographic conditions. Results indicate correlations in the vertical position and acoustic backscatter intensity of sound scattering layers with oceanographic conditions and light intensity. The importance of biotic (primary productivity) and abiotic (sea surface temperature, salinity) factors varied across oceanographic conditions and depth intervals, suggesting that the patterns in distribution and behavior of mesopelagic assemblages in low-latitude, oligotrophic ecosystems can be highly dynamic.

Bill J. Adams, D.M.A., associate professor in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), and Melissa Morris, M.S.N., R.N., Director of Simulation and Interactive Technology in NSU’s Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, are team-teaching the first-ever Healthcare Theatre course at NSU. Members of the class recently participated as standardized patients for Reach Day, an event at HPD where nearly 3,000 students had the opportunity to recognize the points of interprofessional intersection among health professionals from different programs. Undergraduates may register for THEA 2500 Healthcare Theatre each semester and, starting this fall, earn ExEL credit for taking the class.

This February, Halmos faculty member Matthew Johnston, Ph.D. co-authored the journal article, “Comparative Population Genomics and Biophysical Modeling of Shrimp Migration in the Gulf of Mexico Reveals Current-Mediated Connectivity” in Frontiers in Marine Science.

The article discusses their integrated study of comparative population genomics and biophysical oceanography. They analyzed genetic diversity and population connectivity of three species of mesopelagic shrimp common to the Gulf of Mexico, using them as proxies for species health and resilience, respectively. They simulated a range of vertical migratory behaviors for the shrimp to infer the relationship between diel vertical migration and horizontal transmission between the Gulf of Mexico and the greater Atlantic Ocean. This study aims to establish biological baselines and characterize these values in terms of the prevailing oceanographic feature of the midwater: the Gulf Loop Current.