Tag: Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Halmos Alumna Named Finalist for Teacher of the Year

Elizabeth Fahy

Broward County Public Schools annually recognizes teachers for outstanding service in education, and this year, Halmos alumna Elizabeth Fahy was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Teach of the Year award. Fahy has been employed at New River Middle School for the past 17 years and is the head of the school’s marine science department.

While at NSU, Fahy worked as a graduate research assistant at the National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI) on the Oceanographic Campus.  Her research with the NCRI took her to Belize and the Galapagos as well as numerous places in between.  Fahy uses experiences gained in these research opportunities to help foster and develop the next generation of ocean conservationists.

Posted 04/27/22

Honors Student Presents Research on Lung Chemistry

Valentina Guidi at the American Chemical Society Annual Meeting

On March 21, Farquhar Honors College student Valentina Guidi presented research at the American Chemical Society Annual Meeting. Her research, completed as part of her Honors thesis titled “Investigating the specific phosphorylation sites of the human mineralocorticoid receptor using phospho-mapping,” explores the occurrence and location of a chemical process that could help protect the lungs from the adverse effects of e-cigarette vapors.

“It feels incredibly rewarding to have my research recognized in this capacity,” said Guidi, a senior chemistry major. “We have been working on this project since August 2020, but have faced many challenges due to COVID restrictions. However, we managed to push through the hardships. Now it feels surreal to be finalizing the project and presenting my results in various ways.“

Guidi remarks that she has gained valuable experience through the research process including using chemical techniques, applying critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and being patient—all of which will be helpful when she pursues a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry. She will begin her Ph.D. program this fall at Vanderbilt University, where she plans to further pursue her research interests in the hope of becoming an organic synthetic chemist.

“I am grateful to the Honors College for providing me with the opportunity to complete my Honors thesis and preparing me for my future,” said Guidi. “I now understand the process of writing and defending a thesis. I believe this will give me confidence in writing my Ph.D. thesis.”

She completed the research with the help of her thesis adviser Beatrix Aukszi, Ph.D., associate professor in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, who inspired her to pursue chemistry.

“Valentina stood out from many of my prior research students in her level of self-motivation and independence in carrying out all aspects of the project from reading and researching methods, to running the experiments and analyzing the results,” said Aukszi. “Presenting our results at the prestigious annual meeting of the American Chemical Society showed her that this is the community where she belongs. There was an excellent turnout of peers from the field showing interest in our project, and she truly shined while presenting the results and explaining all the details. I couldn’t be more proud of her!”

Posted 04/27/22

Professor Discusses Mysterious Migration of Great White Sharks

Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D.

Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and the Save Our Seas Shark Research Center, was featured recently in a story about the migratory patterns of great white sharks and their rare sightings in South Florida.

The focus of Professor Shivji’s lab research is developing and using integrative approaches to investigate various aspects of the ecology, conservation, evolution and management of marine organisms, with an emphasis on elasmobranchs (sharks and rays), billfishes and coral reef biota.

Posted 04/21/22

Humanities Hosts Crossroads Student Humanities Conference

On Saturday, March 26, 2022, the NSU Center for the Humanities hosted the 4th annual Crossroads Student Humanities Conference.  Housed in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences the Center for the Humanities showcases undergraduate and graduate student research in the humanities through this conference.  This year’s Crossroads theme, “Rebirth, Renewal, Reboot,” explored how the humanities helps navigate trauma, tragedy, and loss.  Paper topics ranged from the cultural renewal of Germany after World War II to Civil War poetry reflecting mass death trauma.  Research was presented by students from NSU, University of Miami, University of Central Florida, and University of Florida. The conference also offered panels on humanities-based skillsets in the workplace and digital humanities strategies for textual analysis.

The conference’s opening plenary speaker was Janet Roseman, Ph.D., from NSU’s Kirin C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine; Roseman’s talk, which derived from her recent book, “If Joan of Arc Had Cancer,” focused on applications of historical inspiration for female patient therapy.  The event’s keynote speaker, made possible by the Stolzenberg-Doan fund in the Department of Humanities and Politics, was internationally acclaimed author, scholar, and activist Azar Nafisi, who shared a powerful message regarding the role of literature in times of social and political repression.   See a video of Nafisi’s talk and a photo gallery of the event.

The NSU Center for the Humanities champions core academic disciplines in the humanities, such as history, literature and languages, philosophy, religion, politics, and film, particularly the way in which these disciplines may be applied to engage and promote positive action involving local and global human issues and concerns.  The Center aims to demonstrate the relevance of the humanities as a complement to the core STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) and the social sciences, with a view toward encouraging students and scholars in those disciplines to explore these connections.

Posted 04/10/22

Interdisciplinary Effort Merges Strengths on Arts and Sciences

For the past five years, the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences faculty has been engaged in interdisciplinary efforts to combine science and art at NSU through a program where undergraduate art students visit the microbiology lab to learn how to use bacteria as “paint” and agar plates as their “canvas” to create art.

In March 2022, Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., and Katie Crump, Ph.D., from the Department of Biological Sciences, Kandy Lopez Moreno, M.F.A. from the Department of Art + Design, and former NSU visiting Professor Véronique Côté, M.F.A., published an article titled “Creating an Interdisciplinary Curriculum within the Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Through Agar Art,” in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education.  In their article, they shared the agar art curriculum including learning outcomes and assessment tools and discussed the benefits of integrating science into the arts.

Check out the full article.

Posted 04/10/22

TriBeta Holds Its 20th Annual Induction Ceremony

On March 28, 2022, The NSU Chapter (Rho Rho) of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society (TriBeta) held its 20th annual induction ceremony. TriBeta is dedicated to improving the understanding and appreciation of biological study and extending boundaries of human knowledge through scientific research. The Chapter had the honor of inducting the 2022 new members virtually via Zoom. The Society inducted 111 regular members at this year’s event. The ceremony was conducted by the 2021-2022 executive board members including Naziba Akther Nuha as President, Anjana Reddy as Secretary, Harsh Chheda as Treasurer, and Grace Waldron as Historian. The event was introduced by the TriBeta faculty advisor Dr. Katie Crump, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Emily Schmitt Lavin, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, also gave a brief history of TriBeta at NSU for the new members.

The induction ceremony guest speaker was Dr. Robert Smith, an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. He engaged the audience in a moving and inspirational speech about the importance of overcoming “Imposter Syndrome” to continuously believe in yourself, your abilities and accomplishments. The event was very well attended by students. All members recited TriBeta’s membership pledge. New members signed their names in a virtual membership book. New members also received a certificate and honors cords to wear at graduation.

Congratulations and welcome to all our new members of TriBeta!

Posted 04/10/22

Halmos Faculty Members Publish Viral Genome

Halmos faculty members Katie Crump, Ph.D., and Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., in the research laboratory for HHMI SEA Phage Discovery Training.

Halmos College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biological Sciences faculty members Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., and Katie Crump, Ph.D., recently participated in the 2021 Faculty Phage Genomics Workshop as part of the HHMI SEA-PHAGES program at NSU. During their training, Crump and Garcia worked on a team to annotate the genome of a Mycobacterium phage called Madiba. The complete genome was published in GenBank, a comprehensive public database: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/2180079159

PHAGES, or Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science, is a program where students collect soil samples in hopes of finding new viruses, called phages, that attack bacteria. Once the phages are isolated from the soil, they are identified using a genetic approach. These newly identified phages could potentially be used in the future to treat antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.

Students interested in participating in this research can sign up for BIOL 1000 and BIOL 1001 Introduction to Biological Research I and II. These three-credit courses are open to freshman and sophomore students with any major.

Posted 04/10/22

Halmos Mathematics Talk Focuses on Slender Body Theory

William Mitchell, Ph.D.

The Halmos College of Arts and Sciences Department of Mathematics will host guest speaker William Mitchell, Ph.D., as part of their Mathematics Colloquium Series.  Mitchell will be discussing the “Slender Body Theory” – a widely used modeling tool applied to the mechanical movement of tiny, tubular, biological structures.  Because of ease and simplicity, bacterial flagella and similar long, thin forms are often modeled as one-dimensional curves rather than as more complicated objects with volume and surface area.  New evidence, however, suggests doing so would make a poor approximation in some circumstances.

Mitchell is an assistant professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. As an undergraduate, he mainly studied theoretical mathematics. After teaching at the junior high level in Guinea and Burkina Faso, he decided to move in a more applied direction and studied fluid mechanics, earning an M.S. from the University of Alaska – Fairbanks and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Calculus, computational linear algebra, differential equations, and modeling are his favorite courses to teach.

“Modeling and Simulation of Microscopic Fibers in a Viscous Fluid”, will take place on Thursday, April 14thfrom 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. on Zoom.  The entire NSU community, including students at all levels of mathematics, is invited and encouraged to attend.

Posted 03/31/22

Halmos Student Wins Esteemed NAEP Award

Amber Orr

Amber Orr, a student in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, has been selected as the 21st recipient of the Charles F. Zirzow Memorial Student Award presented by the National Associate of Environmental Professionals (NAEP).  The award is given to a current college student or recent graduate who has been recognized for outstanding academic achievement, and this is the first time a Nova Southeastern University student has received this award.

Per NAEP’s website, the organization is “a multi-disciplinary association for professionals dedicated to the advancement of the environmental professions, a forum for state-of-the-art information on environmental planning, research and management, and a network of professional contacts and exchange of information among colleagues in industry, government, academia, and the private sector.”

Orr was nominated by Halmos Department of Biological Sciences faculty member Paul Arena, Ph.D. and will receive the award at the National Association of Environmental Professionals’ Annual Conference, held May 16-19, 2022.

Posted 03/25/22

Halmos Invites You to Farmworker Rights and Fair Food Event on March 28

The Department of Humanities and Politics (DHP) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) are co-sponsoring to a special event entitled, Farmworker Rights and Fair Food on Monday, March 28, 2022 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in the Mailman Auditorium (2nd floor) in the Mailman Hollywood Building.

Do you know where your food comes from? Do you know that some of the workers picking those fruits and vegetables may be working under involuntary servitude? Come and learn more from the featured speakers from the CIW and its partner organization, the Alliance for Fair Food (AFF). The event is free.

For more information, please contact Yvette Fuentes, Ph.D., faculty in DHP at yf60@nova.edu

Posted 03/21/22

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