Tag: Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Conflict Resolution Alumni is a City Commissioner in the City of Weston

Margaret Brown, M.S., is a graduate of the master’s program in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS). Brown serves as a City Commissioner in the City of Weston. Elected in 2016, she was also appointed by the commission to serve as the Director for the 2018-1919 Broward League of Cities Board of Directors. She has served on a number of boards and committees including the Broward Council on Aging and the United Way of Broward County-Women United.

Brown received her B.A. in psychology from Connecticut College, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Psi Chi.

CAHSS Doctoral Student Named First Full-time Ombudsman at University of Alabama at Birmingham

Alicia Booker, M.A.

Alicia Booker, M.A., doctoral candidate in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) was named the first full-time University Ombudsman at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In her position, Booker works with faculty, staff, mentored graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Previously, Booker served as the Associate Ombudsperson at University of Cincinnati.

Prior to coming to NSU to earn her doctoral degree, Booker earned her master’s degree in Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management from Southern Methodist University where she is also adjunct faculty. She is a member of the International Ombudsman Association and the International Facilitators Association.

Halmos Mathematics Student Accepted into Ph.D. Program

Halmos College Mathematics and Chemistry double major, Nikhil Nagabandi will head this fall to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he has been accepted with funding to pursue his Ph.D. in mathematics at one of the top graduate programs in the nation.

Nikhil has worked under the mentorship of Mathematics faculty member Ricardo Carrera, Ph.D. (first as Razor’s mentor and now as the Honors in Major mentor). He is graduating this May. He was accepted to Ph.D. programs at Louisiana State University and the University of Pittsburgh. Halmos College is always proud of our graduates and we feel we have prepared them well for a successful future.

Ocean Glider Found After Being Lost at Sea

The ocean circulation on the Southeast Florida shelf is complex due to the Gulf Stream. Oceanographic measurements have always been a challenge in this area. The currents can be so strong that even the National Data Buoy Center does not take a risk deploying their buoys in the Gulf Stream. As a result, the South Florida shelf is still a “desert” for oceanographic observations.  At the same time, this is the area of significant commercial and recreational activities. To address this situation, NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography has been developing observational capabilities in the Straits of Florida employing state-of-the-art technologies including robotic instrumentation.

This spring, Halmos College became a center of robotic oceanography. In cooperation with Teledyne Webb Research (TWR), the Halmos College Physical Oceanography Laboratory pioneered the application of the new family of ocean gliders that, for the first time, could operate in strong currents like the Gulf Stream. These robotic instruments provide an unprecedented spatial resolution and report data through a satellite.

The Halmos College is now operating two gliders on the Ft. Lauderdale-Miami coastal area. Physical Oceanography Lab Senior Ocean Engineer Geoffrey Morrison said, “Gliders operate in the area of intense ship traffic and small recreational and fishing boat activities. Gliders show up on the surface for a few minutes to transmit the data through satellite and then dive for the next mission. We have had a case where a glider surfaced near a fishing boat and good Samaritans tried to keep it on the surface thinking that the instrument was in distress. After reading the contact information on the glider, they called us. We asked them to release it and this robotic instrument then went underwater for the next mission.”

While out on a cruise last week, the glider had what appeared to be fishing line tangled around its propeller. “The fishing line was probably tangled around one of the subsurface buoys,” said Halmos College Ph.D. student John A. Kluge who facilitates this project. “After dropping the emergency ballast, the glider surfaced around 4 am on Monday, April 20 and started sending telemetry. The folks from Teledyne kept the glider on the surface and guided the researchers until they found it. This glider is OK and will continue operation. We are reading telemetry and we will soon have a better idea of what really happened.”

Halmos faculty member and primary investigator Alexander Soloviev, Ph.D. said, “An important function of the Physical Oceanography Lab is to prepare the new generation of oceanographers who are proficient with new ocean technologies. Student involvement in field projects is a way to achieve this goal.”

Halmos Researcher Chimes In On Field Research and Social Distancing

Summer is the field research season. This year, CONVID 19 has stopped the season in its tracks. For more senior academic researchers, this cancellation is disappointing, summer is the main time they get to do it. For graduate students who may only get one or two field seasons to collect all the data they need for their thesis research, the loss of a summer field season can be a disaster, adding even more trouble to an incredibly stressful time.

This month, the American Scientist published an article discussing the subject. Entitled “Data Collection During Social Distancing”, Halmos College faculty member David Kerstetter, Ph.D. was interviewed. If graduate students aren’t able to collect or analyze data, one of the main goals of graduate school isn’t achieved.

“Especially in fisheries biology, there’s a strong component of professional training that goes beyond the required graduate-level coursework, including field techniques and data analysis,” said Kerstetter. “Not having data means fewer publications, the currency of academia, which also affects future placement into doctoral programs. Not having field data collection experience would be a caution flag for any potential employee or prospective doctoral student in a position that would involve extensive fieldwork, even if that lack was due to something beyond everyone’s control.”

The article continues with giving potential solutions.

CAHSS Doctoral Candidates featured in Forbes article “13 Doctoral Women of Color: Thriving Amid Missing Graduation Due to Covid-19”

 

Porshia Cunningham and Stephane Louis, doctoral candidates in the Department of Family Therapy (DFT) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) were featured in Forbes in an article entitled, “13 Doctoral Women of Color: Thriving Amid Missing Graduation Due to Covid-19. ” The article focuses on the significant contributions to research made by a number of women of color during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cunningham’s dissertation is entitled, An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of White Marriage and Family Therapy Students’ Experiences in Diversity Courses.

Louis’ dissertation is entitled, The Conundrum of Both/And in a World of Either/Or: Resilience And Intersecting Identities In Queer Women Of Afro-Caribbean Descent.

To access the article, please go to https://www.forbes.com/sites/brittanychambers/2020/04/14/13-doctoral-women-of-color-thriving-amid-missing-graduation-due-to-covid-19/#5fc0451c79c6

 Halmos Undergraduate Co-Author of Chronic Fatigue Journal Article

This spring, Halmos undergraduate biology major Mina Bekheit was a co-author of the publication with Dr. Lubov Nathanson from the Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine (Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine). The article is entitled “Unravelling myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): Gender‐specific changes in the microRNA expression profiling in ME/CFS” and was published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. In addition to Mina Bekheit, who significantly assisted in the data analysis, other Halmos undergraduates worked on the project. Leah Orton and Anna Movila participated in the literature search and analysis, Kenza Schreiber and Angelica Darmenko helped with the data input and analysis. Leah, Anna, Kenza and Angelica are acknowledged in the publication.

The articles abstract states: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a multisystem illness characterized by medically unexplained debilitating fatigue with suggested altered immunological state. Our study aimed to explore peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for microRNAs (miRNAs) expression in ME/CFS subjects under an exercise challenge. The findings highlight the immune response and inflammation links to differential miRNA expression in ME/CFS. The present study is particularly important in being the first to uncover the differences that exist in miRNA expression patterns in males and females with ME/CFS in response to exercise. This provides new evidence for the understanding of differential miRNA expression patterns and post‐exertional malaise in ME/CFS. We also report miRNA expression pattern differences associating with the nutritional status in individuals with ME/CFS, highlighting the effect of subjects’ metabolic state on molecular changes to be considered in clinical research within the NINDS/CDC ME/CFS Common Data Elements. The identification of gender‐based miRNAs importantly provides new insights into gender‐specific ME/CFS susceptibility and demands exploration of sex‐suited ME/CFS therapeutics.

Halmos Student and Faculty Publish Sea Grass Article in Conjunction with USGS

This spring, Halmos Graduate student Erin M. Smith, with principle investigator (PI) Amy Hirons, Ph.D., co-PIs Dimitrios Giarikos, Ph.D. and Andre Daniels published an article entitled, “Heavy Metal Accumulation in Seagrasses in Southeastern Florida” in the Journal of Marine Biology and Oceanography.

Seagrass beds are among the most ecologically important systems in the marine environment. Seagrass environments also serve as critical habitat at some point in the life cycle of many species targeted for recreational and commercial fishing, as well as a major food source in the coastal ecosystem, with over 154 marine species known to feed on living seagrass. This provides a pathway for contaminants in the seagrasses to enter the marine food web. This study assessed the heavy metal concentrations in the three main seagrass species found in southeastern Florida seagrass beds.

The results show that the seagrasses in southeastern Florida waters do contain various concentrations of heavy metals. Higher concentrations of heavy metals were found during the wet season, while Zinc in seagrasses was at significantly higher concentrations during the dry season. The research detected that heavy metals were highest in leaves with attached epiphytes. Epiphytes in marine systems are species of algae, bacteria, fungi, sponges, and any other sessile organism that grows on the surface of a plant, typically seagrasses or algae. These epiphytes on southeastern Florida seagrasses contribute to heavy metals.

Seagrass beds provide important habitat for a wide range of marine species. Especially important in south Florida is the impact these beds have on sea turtles and manatees.

Hirons and Giarikos are faculty with Halmos College. Daniels is with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) which is located in the NSU Center for Collaborative Research on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie campus.

Halmos Faculty Publishes Nature Article: Evolving Postdocs Important to Academics

Postdoctoral scholars comprise an invaluable component of global research communities, yet their support and training systems are poorly aligned with today’s job market. These issues are widely discussed in academia and in lengthy reports and op-eds; still, there is glaring lack of succinct, data-driven publications that provide clear and feasible corrective steps.

To address this deficiency, a team of 13 current and former Michigan State University (MSU) postdoctoral researchers co-authored the paper entitled “Academic ecosystems must evolve to support a sustainable postdoc workforce”. It was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution and outlines strategic reforms to better support the world’s growing postdoctoral workforce.

“The project sprang from several informal meetings among the study co-authors during overlapping postdoctoral appointments,” said Eben Gering, Ph.D. a former MSU postdoctoral researcher who is now an assistant professor in Halmos College and senior author of the paper. “From there, it continued to gain momentum as interest grew around the issue.”

Following intensive analyses of relevant literature, data and personal experiences, the group identified five overarching goals:

  • Align career development with job markets
  • Sustain wellness and work-life balance
  • Enhance mentoring
  • Develop administrative support
  • Increase broader support.

To achieve these goals, the group recommended progressive changes that target levels of organization ranging from principle investigators to broader communities that fund and support postdoctoral positions.

About half of the paper’s co-authors have moved on to diverse jobs around the globe. According to the team, the publication’s fruition illustrates two important points.

First, all stakeholders in postdoctoral success (including postdocs themselves) can advocate for reform to enhance the quality and productivity of shared workplaces.

Second, the authors note, progressive aspects of their home institutions ultimately facilitated their success in a collaborative research and writing process.

In addition to facilitating a high-profile publication, the supportive climate appears to have fostered an enduring network of interdisciplinary scholars. The team recently met again on Zoom to toast the final acceptance of the manuscript.

MEEC Celebrates Earth Day With Sustainability Live-Stream Event, April 22

On Wednesday, April 22 at 1:00 p.m. the Marine Environmental Education Center (MEEC) will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with a live stream broadcast on Facebook. Created on April 22, 1970, the purpose of Earth Day is to celebrate the planet’s environment and raise public awareness about pollution. Join us for a webinar about sustainability and how we can become better stewards for our planet!

The MEEC was fostered from a partnership between Broward County Parks and Recreation and Nova Southeastern University. The facility is located on the historic grounds of the Carpenter House at Hollywood North Beach Park in Hollywood, Florida.

The site features our very own green turtle, as well as an interactive Interpretive Center with displays on topics from sea turtle conservation to marine debris. As well as offering live-streaming events on Facebook during this CONVID-19 period, they have a YouTube channel where children of all ages can learn about the marine environment of South Florida.

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