Tag: Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Halmos Faculty Publishes Op-Ed in Sun Sentinel on ChatGPT

Jeremy Weissman, Ph.D.

Jeremy Weissman, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Humanities and Politics in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), published an op-ed in the Sun Sentinel on the challenges posed to higher education by the public release of ChatGPT, a breakthrough AI program. Amongst ChatGPT’s numerous stunning capacities, it is capable of writing quality college-level essays as well as accurately answering take-home exam questions by simply entering questions or writing prompts into the system.

In the essay, Weissman argues that the threat this software poses to age-old institutions such as the college essay will be replicated across a myriad of professions as ChatGPT is already capable of computer coding, medical diagnoses, and is poised to rapidly become much more powerful and accurate in coming iterations just around the corner. With this developing AI-dominated world in mind, Weissman suggests doubling down on a humanistic orientation to education in the classroom, focusing on teaching students how to better human society and lead meaningful and flourishing lives in a world where many existing job skills are at risk of being replaced by machines.

You can read the full article here with a subscription to the Sun Sentinel.

Posted 01/22/23

Halmos Faculty, Alumna Present on Indigenous Conflict Resolution

Ismael Muvingi, Ph.D.

Ismael Muvingi, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) and Kimberly Hamilton-Wright, Ph.D., doctoral graduate of DCRS, presented at the 2022 Association for Conflict Resolution Annual Conference held in Orlando and virtually. The theme of the conference was Evolving Horizons in Conflict Resolution.  The presentation was entitled, “Uncustomary Connections: Mainstreaming Indigenous Conflict Resolution Practices.”

Muvingi is the faculty advisor to the African Working Group. His academic interests include human rights, African politics, and transitional justice with a special focus on Africa.

Kimberly Hamilton-Wright, Ph.D.

In addition to her NSU degree, Hamilton-Wright holds an M.P.A. from Webster University, and a B.S. in Journalism from Kansas State University. She is a conflict analysis and resolution researcher, practitioner, and curriculum developer with expertise in womenwarography, gender, veterans, and military community issues. Her research interests also include mainstreaming of indigenous conflict resolution practices. Hamilton-Wright is developing a womenwarography course and outreach program. Additionally, she developed the graduate course, Conflict and Peace Connections: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Women in U.S. Military Communities, as well as the undergraduate course, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: U.S. Domestic and Global Perspectives. As a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) certified practitioner, she provides workplace and group dynamics consulting and workshops.

Posted 01/22/23

Halmos Director Named Education Chair of Resilience Association

Melissa Dore, Ed.D.

In a world full of distractions, it can be difficult to cope with change or being alone with your thoughts. Resilience is related to students’ well-being and academic success. Academic Resilience can be broadly defined in terms of capacities such as persistence, creativity, emotional intelligence, grit, thriving, cognitive flexibility, agency, flourishing, adaptation, addressing social justice and equity, learning from failure and success, and overcoming adversity.

Melissa Dore, Ed.D., Director of Academic Support and Administration of Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) has been elected to be the Education Chair of the Academic Resilience Consortium (ARC) for the next two years. A member of the steering committee, Dore will work closely with the leadership council and working groups to promote a collaborative and consensus-oriented process and culture, providing members educational opportunities to help college students learn, grow, and reach their goals.

The ARC is an association of faculty, staff, and students in higher education who are dedicated to understanding and promoting student resilience.  Members represent many functions in higher education, such as learning services, counseling services, advising programs, academic departments, and bridge programs.  The consortium currently includes 600+ members from 360+ schools in 45 US states and 17 countries.

As an institutional member, all NSU faculty, staff, and students have a free membership and access to all of ARCs resources. https://academicresilience.org/

Posted 01/22/23

Halmos Seminar Addresses Future for Women in Science

The Halmos College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology presents “The Dynamics of Scientific Publication Ethics and the Challenge and Future for Women in Science,” a distinguished speaker seminar.

The seminar will be presented by Laurie Goodman, Ph.D., founder of GigaScience Press on Friday, January 27, at noon at the Knight Auditorium or via Zoom.

Posted 01/18/23

Halmos Faculty, Students Publish Bacteriophages Discoveries

Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D.

Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., and Katie Crump, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS)  co-teach a two-semester, 3-credit biology research course open to freshman and sophomore students of any major, known as BIOL1000 and BIOL1001, Introduction to Biology Research I and II. This course is part of a national CURE (course based undergraduate research experience) known as SEA-PHAGES, or Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science. In the course, students take ownership of a research project that aims to isolate and characterize undiscovered bacteriophages (known as phage) from the soil that infect and kill bacteria. Any new phages identified could potentially be used in the future as alternative therapeutics to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.

 

 

Katie Crump Ph.D.

Recently, Garcia and Crump along with nine NSU undergraduate students, published their findings from the 2021-2022 BIOL1000 and BIOL1001 course in Microbiology Resource Announcements (https://journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10.1128/mra.00973-22). The article highlights the discovery and characterization of two new Gordonia rubripertincta bacteriophages, Genamy16 and NovaSharks, that the NSU undergraduate researchers identified using microbiology and genetic approaches. In addition to the journal article publication, the genome sequences of Genamy16 and NovaSharks were also published in GenBank, a comprehensive public database: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/2288522742 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/2288522955

The NSU undergraduate research team includes Sarah Ballarin, Samia Callabero, Joshua Chan, Bhavya Soni, Maria Paula Farez, Ashley Guillen-Tapia, Nashrah Pierre-Louis, Victoria Polishuk, and Melissa Bell.

Please see: https://journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10.1128/mra.00973-22

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/2288522742

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/2288522955

Posted 01/08/23

Honors Course Reunion Celebrates Alumni and Ancestry

Former and current students connect at course reunion.

On Saturday, December 10, 2022, the Farquhar Honors College Genetics and Genealogy course hosted its second reunion to celebrate the generations of students who have taken the course. Alumni, current students, and faculty shared their family histories, cultural foods and traditions, and favorite memories from the course at the reunion.

Alumni couples who met through the course

Funded by the Honors College, the reunion allowed former and current students to connect with each other and course instructors Emily Schmitt Lavin, Ph.D., chair and professor in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences (HCAS), and James Doan, Ph.D., professor in HCAS. Attendees brought their families, dishes from their culture, and family trees to commemorate their lineage and time with the course.

Lavin and Doan have been teaching this interdisciplinary course since 2007. The course has been a favorite among students over the years as they get to create a family tree and explore their ancestry in the context of human evolution.

The nature of the work carried out through the course allows students to form close bonds with each other as they learn about their personal histories and their peers’. Amid this personalized learning environment, two couples have emerged from the course, one of which has married and started a family together — merging the family trees they created in the class.

Learn more about the Genetics and Genealogy course.

Posted 01/08/23

Halmos Faculty and Student Present at Conference in Orlando

Katz

Faculty member Neil Katz, Ph.D., nd Terry Savage, Ph.D. faculty/chair, and Michael Wahlgren, M.S., doctoral student in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), presented at the 2022 Association for Conflict Resolution Annual Conference held in Orlando and virtually. The theme of the conference was Evolving Horizons in Conflict Resolution. Their presentation was titled, Frames and Reframing: Tools for Enhancing Organizational Consulting Effectiveness.

Katz’ areas of teaching and research interests include negotiation theory and practice, group dynamics, and organizational conflict.

Savage

Savage’s areas of teaching and research interests include restorative and transitional justice, human rights, and peacebuilding.

Wahlgren is pursuing a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in DCRS. He also holds an M.S. in Administration from Central Michigan University, and a B.S. In Communication from Florida Institute of Technology.

Posted 12/12/22

LEC Conference Connects, Engages, And Inspires

NSU’s Learning and Educational Center (LEC), under the direction LEC’s executive director, Diane Lippe, Ed.S., hosted a two-day virtual conference that showcased a variety of NSU educators presenting on a wide array of topics. The theme for the conference was, “Connect, Engage, Inspire,” and it gave NSU faculty and staff an opportunity to share their knowledge and practices with other educators at the university. Presentations covered teaching strategies, technology tools, BEDI (belonging, equity, diversity, and inclusion) practices, student engagement, and more. Some sample presentation titles were: “That’s Debatable: How to Create Better Writers Using Micro-Debates,” “Developing and Using Vision Statements to Enhance Course Design and Improve Student Outcomes,” and, “Connecting Faculty and Student (Re)Engagement with Relationship-Rich Education.”

Presenters represented the Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice, the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, as  well as the Writing and Communication Center and the Learning and Educational Center. The conference also included two highly engaging presentations by Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, Ron Chenail. According to conference organizer Marti Snyder, Ph.D., “Opportunities such as this year’s virtual conference facilitate sharing of teaching and learning best practices across NSU. We were thrilled to have 250 registered attendees representing all NSU colleges and many offices. We are grateful to our attendees, presenters, LEC staff, and the LEC Advisory Council for their contributions to this successful event.”

Congratulations to the Learning and Educational Center for organizing and hosting the 2022 Teaching and Learning Conference!    To watch the video recordings of the conference presentations, please visit the conference playlist here. You can also visit the Learning and Educational Center’s website here.

Posted 12/11/22

International Relations Association Gets Several Awards

The Nova International Relations Association (NIRA) housed in the Department of Humanities and Politics (DHP) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) participated in the 17th Annual Florida Model United Nations Conference (FMUN) in Gainesville, FL.  NSU received eight awards, the highest they have ever won at this conference.

Eighteen undergraduates (16 members of the POLS 2400 class and two returning members including NIRA President Mohammed Husain). At the conference they competed against other universities from across Florida and Georgia. Despite being the smallest group of returning delegates, just 2, and the rest being first time participants, they won 8 awards!

NSU swept the highest award category – Outstanding Delegation for Meroshah Khan and Alexis Lass (Australia) and Paula Rey and Ivanna Cortez (Colombia).  Rey also won an Outstanding Delegate award for her work marking her as the best delegate in her committee.

Hailee Delgado and Olivia Jones won a third-place award (Honorable Award) for their representation of New Zealand. There were also numerous individual awards: Jordan Parris, Kiara Colman, and Emily Velazquez won awards for their position papers, and Alexander Trofimov won the award for most improved delegate in his committee.

For more information, please contact advisor, G. Nelson Bass, Ph.D. at nbass@nova.edu

Posted 12/11/22

Halmos Biological Sciences Team Shares STEM Innovations

From left, Emily Schmitt Lavin, Ph.D.; Alexander Lavin; Valentina Ramirez; Sophia Nguyen; Carol Manikkuttiyil; and Thuy Pham.

The Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS) Department of Biological Sciences Team shared innovations in undergraduate STEM education at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) 2022 Transforming STEM Higher Education Conference,  https://www.aacu.org/event/2022-stem

The presentation highlighted STEM education outreach work that is a partnership between NSU’s Department of Biological Sciences, Broward County Public Schools, and the non-profit, Science Alive www.sciencealivefl.org.  Additional funding came from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society (https://www.sigmaxi.org/) . The team included students and faculty from NSU, University of Central Florida (UCF), and Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School, Broward County Public Schools. The work presented was by: Emily Schmitt Lavin, Carol Manikkuttiyil, Alina Poothurail, Alexander Lavin, Philopatier Ibrahim, Aleessa Celestin, Michele Parsons, and Aarti Raja and was titled, Science Buddies: A sustainable, scalable, and relatable afterschool STEM program led by college students.

Current and alumni team members were able to share experiences through the meeting of the NSU Biology Alumni and Community Advisory Group while at the conference in D.C. Specifically, current undergraduate students were able to collaborate with our alumni (BS Biology Class of 2018) Valentina Ramirez, M.D., Uniformed Services University (Class of 2022) and currently a Navy Orthopedic Surgeon in Training and Sophia Nguyen, soon to be D.O. from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Georgia (Class of 2023).

Posted 12/11/22

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