Tag: Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Miami Boat Show Was More Mindful of Manatees in 2022

In 2022, the Miami International Boat Show used manatee observers for the first time in its history. Under the direction of Halmos Professor and Researcher Amy C. Hirons, Ph.D., the observer team included 46 undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni from the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences.

Miami-Dade County issued the permit for the show with the stipulation that manatee safety was placed first. Observers were placed along the seawall and piers of the marina as well as every vessel in operation, including the five Water Taxis operating among boat show locations.

When a manatee was sighted, observers recorded location, time, movement, and physical traits of the animal. Boat captains, crews, and the public were made aware of the presence of the manatees. Observers educated the public and boating community about the biology and ecology of the marine mammal, state, and federal regulations, and how people can best assist in manatee conservation.

During the event, up to 18 manatees were sighted, many adult-sized and two mom-calf pairs were sighted.

Posted 07/17/22

Halmos Students Present Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration

Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration poster presentation: from left, Luzcarime Saco Vertiz, Santanu De, Monica Aguiar

At NSU’s Undergraduate Student Symposium in April 2022, Halmos students from the Department of Biological Sciences, co-mentored by Arthur Sikora, Ph.D., (Department of Chemistry and Physics) and Santanu De, Ph.D., (Department of Biological Sciences), jointly presented a poster on an interdisciplinary research collaboration.  The title of the presentation was “Substantiation and Validation of the Benefits of CUREs in STEM using a Combination of Self-Reported Gains and Alignment with Learning Objectives”.

Presentation of the poster was done by Monica Aguiar and Luzcarime Saco Vertiz.  Student co-authors of the collaboration power included Mina Ghali, Rachel Keating, Ane Mashiach, Rajin Persaud, Kayla Rubalsky, Akshata Sastry, Irene Stepensky, and Trisha Sudhakar.

Posted 07/17/22

Halmos Researchers Receive Three Scientific Grants

Halmos Professors Amy C. Hirons, Ph.D., and Dimitrios Giarikos, Ph.D., have recently been the recipients of three scientific grants for their combined research efforts.  Projects that received funding include: “Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals: Vault of Pollutant Records in the Hawaiian Islands”, “Persistent Organic Pollutant in Peruvian Fur Seals: A Toxic Link or Safety Valve?”, and “Assessing Relationships Between Cytokines and Persistent Organic Pollutants as a Proxy of Peruvian Pinniped Health.“

“Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals: Vault of Pollutant Records in the Hawaiian Islands” was funded for $5,000 by the Chicago Zoological Society Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Endangered Species Fund 2021.  The project is planned to examine elemental contaminant concentrations in Hawaiian monk seals and their potential marine prey (fish and invertebrates) in the Hawaiian archipelago. By analyzing over three decades of samples from both the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and the Main Hawaiian Islands, the project will assess elemental spatial contribution and concentration changes through time with increasing human development in the Main Hawaiian Islands where potential increase in contaminant concentrations is greater due to anthropogenic sources.

“Persistent Organic Pollutant in Peruvian Fur Seals: A Toxic Link or Safety Valve?”, was also funded for $5,000 by the Chicago Zoological Society Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Endangered Species Fund 2021.  The project aims to determine maternal transfer of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the vulnerable Peruvian fur seal population in Punta San Juan, Peru. Environmental contamination, from Peru’s growing mining and agricultural activities, may be preventing recovery of this species.  Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry will be used to analyze vibrissae (whiskers) serum/plasma and milk samples collected during the breeding season from dam/pup pairs.  Results will determine if females offload POPs via reproductive processes and may be applied to ecosystem-based management plans and local government regulations.

“Assessing Relationships Between Cytokines and Persistent Organic Pollutants as a Proxy of Peruvian Pinniped Health” was funded for $7,480 by the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV) Wild Animal Health Fund 2022.  The proposed project aims to determine concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) in biological tissues of South American sea lions and Peruvian fur seals in Punta San Juan, Peru as well as establish the relationship between contaminant loads and cytokine profiles.  As a result of the study, the immunotoxicology impacts of persistent organic pollutants in these two vulnerable species will be determined, contributing to existing management plans and policies for pinnipeds at the Punta San Juan Reserve.

Posted 07/17/22

Halmos Hosts National Chemistry Olympiad

In late April 2022, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry and Physics was host to a National Chemistry Olympiad competition.  Competing in the three-part contest were 11 students from local high schools with several teachers and parents accompanying. The event was conducted by Halmos’ own Venkatesh Shanbhag, Ph.D., who has served more than  20 years as the coordinator for the South Florida section of the American Chemical Society.

Shanbhag also coordinated the qualifier examination where nearly 400 high school students from 27 high schools participated.  The two-stage testing of the qualifier examination narrowed the field down to the 11 contestants competing on the national level. Along with the South Florida section of the contest, the American Chemical Society held similar national competitions across the country.

Based on the overall national results, 20 competitors are selected to undergo an intensive three-week training at the Airforce Academy in Colorado to select a national team of four to compete at the 51st International Chemistry Olympiad to be held in Tianjin China July 10-18.

The Parker / Panza Science Annex facility was utilized for the purpose of testing and the lab practical.  A light breakfast before testing and a following lunch at the Don Taft University Center was provided for each of the participants.

Posted 07/17/22

Halmos Faculty Presents at Women United Leadership Committee

McKay

Judith McKay, J.D., Ph.D., director of the doctoral program, and 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), presented at the Women United Leadership Committee of the United Way of Broward County on June 21, 2022. Her topic was “Women, Conflict, and Mental Health.”

McKay is the faculty adviser to the Social Justice Roundtable and works with students in the community through Community Resolution Services (CRS), a practicum and volunteer site for DCRS. CRS hosts Story Café, We Love our Families series, The Women’s Roundtable, and is involved in offering workshops for the county’s Crisis Intervention Teams, and other events for community groups and organizations. She is also the co-director of the NSU Council for Dialogue and Democracy housed in HCAS. For more information, please contact her at mckayj@nova.edu.

Posted 07/17/22

Student Receives Award at Meteorological Conference

Breanna Vanderplow

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) held its 35th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology in New Orleans, Louisiana in May 2022. This year Nova Southeastern University Ph.D. student Breanna Vanderplow from the Physical Oceanography Laboratory at the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences/Halmos College of Arts and Sciences was chosen for the Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award.

Vanderplow presented her work on the new research that may help predict hurricane intensification in the presence of natural (biological) or anthropogenic (oil spill, dispersants) surfactants. Vanderplow is the first author of the paper titled “Increased Sea Spray Generation Due to Surfactants: An Insight Into Tropical Cyclone Intensity?” a result of collaboration with scientists from the University of Hawaii, University of Miami, and University of Rhode Island.

The research involved laboratory experiments at the UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science SUSTAIN facility, a numerical model developed at NSU using the state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS Fluent, and NSU’s supercomputer.

The laboratory lead and the paper co-author Professor Alexander Soloviev, Ph.D., said that hurricane track forecasting has seen continuous improvement during the last half century.

“At the same time, prediction of hurricane intensity, especially rapid intensification, has seen only a little or no improvement,” he said. “Furthermore, hurricane researchers are still debating why rapid intensification happens. One hypothesis is that hurricane intensity can depend on the microphysics of the air-sea interface that has not yet been implemented in operational hurricane forecasting models.“

The Physical Oceanography Laboratory is currently working on a pioneering approach to implement microphysics of the air-sea interface in  hurricane forecasting models. Vanderplow has made an important contribution in this direction.

Vanderplow graduated from the NSU Honors College and was a recipient of the NSU President’s Scholarship. She received her MS Degree from the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and is now a Ph.D. student at the Physical Oceanography Laboratory. She considers it a great privilege to be able to present her work at this conference and any conferences where she can represent NSU.

Posted 07/17/22

NSU-Broward Program Works 24/7 to Keep Sea Turtles Safe

A loggerhead sea turtle hatchling

You might say that when Sierra Ciciarelli was a little girl she was as determined as the sea turtles that she works to protect.

“My dream was to be a marine biologist and work with them,” she said. “But from a young age, I was quickly told that I wouldn’t get a job in the marine biology field, let alone with sea turtles.”

Sierra Ciciarelli

Ciciarelli used those words as fuel for her future, inevitably graduating in 2020 with a Master of Professional Science in Marine Conservation from the University of Miami. While finishing up her master’s, the 24-year-old came to Nova Southeastern University where she has been realizing her dream as outreach manager and assistant field manager with the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program.

NSU’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences manages the program through a partnership with the county and a network of multiple community volunteer organizations. The challenge: to monitor all sea turtle nesting activities along more than 24 miles of Broward County beaches and effectively contribute to sea turtle conservation by providing thorough and relevant data to local, state, and federal conservation agencies, and active engagement with the community through outreach and education.

Ciciarelli has been with the program since 2020. This is her third Broward County nesting season, which starts each year on March 1 and ends October 31. There are three species of sea turtles on beaches she patrols: loggerhead, leatherback, and green sea turtles. Loggerheads make up about 95 percent of the nesting in Broward County. All told, there are about 140,000 hatchlings each season, Ciciarelli said.

Protecting sea turtles is a tireless, yet important, task, she said, adding that “many species take upwards of 25 years to become sexually mature. Only then can they breed and supplement their populations.”

Sea turtle nesting area

The sea turtle program relies on two crews who work seven days a week during nesting season.

“Our most visible crew is our Morning Crew. We begin our surveys a half hour before sunrise and follow the high tide line on the beach with the help of our ATVs,” she said. “If we spot a sea turtle crawl, we will follow her up the beach to determine whether she nested. Sea turtles nest about 50 percent of the time.”

If a sea turtle chooses not to nest, it’s likely the turtle didn’t like something about the spot. If that happens, the turtle eventually will return to find a more suitable nest.

Once a sea turtle nests, though, Ciciarelli and her crew kick into action.

“We collect data and establish a perimeter around the nest to protect to the eggs, we monitor the nest throughout the season, and document when the turtles hatch,” she said. “We allow the hatchlings to get out on their own and after three days, we will excavate or dig up the nest contents. During this process, we collect more data and get an idea of the hatching success of the nest.”

And if the crew find any stragglers in the nest, they release those turtles later in the evening.

Survival for the typical sea turtle is a difficult journey, fraught with a variety of predators, Ciciarelli explained.

Abby Nease, project manager for the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program, uncovers a sea turtle nest.

“First, the sea turtle mamas must find an adequate spot to nest and not be spooked by people or deterred by beach furniture and lighting. Once the nest is laid, the nest must withstand tides and storm events such as thunderstorms, tropical storms, and hurricanes,” she said. “Foxes are common land predators, digging up nests to feast on eggs, and raccoons are also common predators of eggs and hatchlings. Additionally, ghost crabs also can get the hatchlings as they try to make their way to the water.”

But the predators don’t end there.

As baby sea turtles make their way to the surf, sea birds – such as gulls, terns, and frigate birds – will can eat them. If they escape the birds, they must contend with reef fish, including snappers, groupers, and mahi mahi.

“Here in Broward, we have three reef tracts that the hatchlings must successfully navigate,” Ciciarelli said. “As sea turtles grow, their list of predators diminishes. As larger juveniles and adults, sharks are their primary predator.”

The largest threat, however, comes from human-related sources, including coastal development and beach erosion, beach furniture, by-catch and entanglement in fishing gear, marine debris and trash, light pollution, climate change, illegal poaching, boat strikes, and chemical pollution and oil spills.

Sierra Ciciarelli explains to onlookers sea turtle conservation efforts.

The Evening Crew is responsible for monitoring restraining cages that have been installed in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale nest areas, which have heavy light pollution. These cages safely hold hatchlings until surveyors can collect them and release them to the water, Ciciarelli says.

Without the cages, hatchlings can get disoriented, and head away from the ocean into unsafe places such as pools, storm drains, and roads. The Lighting Crew also works with the Evening Crew, counting and documenting the different light fixtures present on each property. This data is then reported to local code enforcement in an effort to make lights on properties sea turtle friendly.

When they are not physically rescuing sea turtles, crews working with the conservation program spend a considerable amount of time educating people on how their behavior can positively or negatively affect South Florida’s sea turtles.

Ciciarelli has some tips for vacationers and residents unfamiliar with sea turtle nesting habitat:

  • If staying in a beachfront hotel or condo, close your curtains at night and do your best to keep lights off to cut down on illumination.
  • If you are walking the beach at night, stay at least 50 feet away from sea turtles that are nesting or hatching.
  • Keep in mind that sea turtles are extremely sensitive to light, so avoid using flashlights.
  • Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints, keeping the surrounding beach as natural as possible.
  • Don’t litter. Marine life can often mistake debris for food, and it can cause stomach blockages and starvation.

“Small actions matter,” Ciciarelli said. “Those actions help to make people active stewards of the environment.”

The 24/7 Sea Turtle Emergency Line is 954-328-0508 and for more information, explore the Sea Turtle Conservation Program website.

Posted 07/03/22

Halmos Doctoral Student/Veteran Starts Consulting Firm

Baldo Bello, M.S.

Baldo Bello, 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), started Offset Consulting LLC, this year, which focuses on training public and private sector organizations on report narrative generation, leadership through adaptability and organizational conflict analysis

Bello is a 20-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps Reserves, during which he spent over 15 years in the infantry and retired as a Gunnery Sergeant. His last duty station was with Marine Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) in the capacity of a Force Integration Operations Chief. He would advise on policy, and its implementation on a force of about 80,000 Marines and Sailors.  Currently Bello is a full-time Intelligence Police Detective, and has been in law enforcement for approximately 18 years.  A native of Chicago, he also holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in Critical Incident Response and Threat Management.  In his spare time, he listens to audiobooks on audible, and spends time with his beautiful family.

Posted 07/05/22

Grad Student Publishes Article in Southern Discourse in the Center

Adara Cox

Adara Cox, NSU Writing and Communication Center (WCC) Graduate Assistant Coordinator, co-published “Black Tutor Perspectives on Trauma and Transformation: An Edited Transcript of the 2021 SWCA Keynote Panel” in the Fall 2021 issue of Southern Discourse in the Center. Cox is a Halmos College of Arts and Sciences MA student in the Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media program.

The article was co-authored with other Southeastern Writing Center Association 2021 Conference Keynote panelists: Talisha Haltiwanger Morrison, Ph.D.; LaKela Atkinson, Ph.D.; Chanara Andrews-Bickers; Micah Williams; and Genny Kennedy. The keynote panel elevated the experiences of Black writing center tutors. “Black Tutor Perspectives…” includes the edited transcript from the keynote with an introduction from Haltiwanger Morrison and Atkinson.

According to Cox, “Writing this article provided me with the opportunity to reflect upon the conversation we had while on the panel, discussing our experiences working in predominantly white spaces such as writing centers. Because this was my first time working on a transcript, I learned about what processes are involved with editing and revising a transcript from a recorded audio. This transcript shares our thoughts and suggestions of how to equip writing centers to support POC tutors and faculty; and what can be integrated into writing center praxis, so that centers are more proactive rather than reactive regarding diversity.”

To access the full issue of Southern Discourse in the Center, click here!

To access “Black Tutor Perspectives on Trauma and Transformation: An Edited Transcript of the 2021 SWCA Keynote Panel,” click here!

To learn more about the NSU Writing and Communication Center, visit https://www.nova.edu/wcc/.

Posted 07/03/22

Halmos Doctoral Candidate is Featured Speaker in Lecture Series

Jacqueline Ennis, M.S.

Jacqueline Ennis, M.S., Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), was the featured speaker on June 7, 2022, for the Conflict Analysis and Resolution Lecture Series. Ennis spoke on “Expanding the ‘Lens’ of Research on Adverse Childhood Experiences.”

Ennis has had a variety of senior level research and research administration positions during her career.  She was an Assistant Commissioner for Research and Evaluation for the state mental health departments in Oklahoma and Virginia.  She also established and chaired the Outcomes Research program at MedStar Health Research Institute.  Prior to entering the doctoral program, Ennis received a master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from NSU. She is passionate about research and social justice and is a strong proponent of the Scholarship of Engagement.

Posted 07/05/22

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