NSU’s focus on the workplace and preparing students for success after graduation was recognized by the Carnegie Foundation through an Opportunity College and Universities designation.
This new designation is based on the measurement of whether the institution’s enrollment of students is reflective of the communities they serve and how the earnings of those students compare to their peers in the region.
Provost Ronald J. Chenail
“This designation further demonstrates to current and prospective students that at NSU, our job is your career,” said NSU President and CEO Harry K. Moon.
This significant recognition comes on the heels of NSU reaching the elite status as an R-1 Research University, further cementing NSU’s commitment to research and innovation.
“NSU is recognized as an institution that can serve as a role model for studying how campuses can foster student success,” said Provost Ronald J. Chenail. “The designation of an Opportunity College and University highlights the diligent and successful efforts of the NSU faculty, staff, and students, along with our impressive alumni and inspiring donors.”
The designation is part of a newly developed Student Access and Earnings Classification published in April by the Carnegie Foundation and the American Council on Education. In 2025, only 479 institutions nationally received the classification, representing about 16 percent of the total number of U.S. colleges and universities within the Student Access and Earnings Classification.
NSU is one of only 21 universities in the nation, and one of only two private universities in the nation, to be designated as both an R-1 research institution and an Opportunity College and University by the Carnegie Foundation.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush addresses the commencement crowd.
Commencement season got underway at Nova Southeastern University on Monday, May 5, with a graduation ceremony for the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center. The graduates were among some 6,000 who will have their degrees conferred this year from NSU’s 14 colleges.
Keynote speaker, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, told the Class of 2025 to dream big and stay determined.
“Remember it’s doing the little things with persistence that will make the difference,” he said.
In front of a packed house, graduates walked the stage and turned their tassels at the Rick Case Arena. For some, it was the first time participating in commencement traditions.
“I graduated high school in 2020, so I haven’t had an actual graduation… due to the pandemic,” graduate Marlon Matute said. “This will be the first time getting to walk.”
Delivering his inaugural commencement address, NSU President Harry K. Moon recounted how the Class of ’25 adapted to distance learning and isolation during the pandemic and resiliently returned to the classroom setting for in-person education.
“Not only did you come [back to campus], you thrived,” he said.
Moon will participate in multiple graduation ceremonies running through August 2025. The commencement website provides more information.
Nova Southeastern University kept busy with activities for Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard members during Fleet Week 2025, April 22 to April 29.
Among the week’s highlights was an all-day shark-tagging excursion hosted by NSU research scientist Derek Burkholder. The trip included detailed training of how to tag and get samples of sharks in a safe and humane way. There were about 20 military participants, and they were able to catch, tag, measure, sample, and release three sharks: an 8.5-foot tiger shark, an 11.1-foot tiger shark, and a 7.5-foot bull shark.
Nursing students onboard the USS New York
Another activity involved students and faculty from the Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing, who took a behind-the-scenes tour of the USS New York and its medical unit. Led by the ship’s medical staff, the tour included a walk-through of the triage, surgical, and intensive care areas of the ship. The medical staff also provided insights into their duties as they guided the group onto the landing platform and throughout the amphibious dock vessel, explaining the differences between providing patient care on a military ship versus in a traditional clinical setting.
“Seeing this obviously opens up my mind about potential careers down the road in the military,” said Bryce Strzelczyk, an NSU nursing student on the tour. “It was really cool to see a medical staff on an operational Navy ship.”
During Fleet Week, military guests were invited to visit NSU’s Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach and the military reciprocated by offering tours of the USS New York; the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer; and the USS New Hampshire, a submarine.
Additional activities included a visit to NSU by top Navy officers, a student panel on NSU’s Davie/Fort Lauderdale Campus, and a VIP lunch onboard one of the U.S. Navy’s vessels.
The Fleet Week events were prime examples of NSU’s longstanding dedication to the military. In addition to educational opportunities through its Office of Military Affairs, NSU provides many services through its veteran benefits, the ROTC program, and community partnerships.
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is revolutionizing campus dining with the launch of Starship Technologies’ delivery robots.
Since March, students, faculty, and staff have had the convenience of ordering food and beverages from their favorite on-campus dining locations and having them delivered by Starship’s fleet of robots.
NSU is the first university in South Florida to introduce this advanced technology, further enhancing the student experience with fast, reliable, and contactless food delivery. The Starship robots operate across campus, providing an innovative solution to meet the growing demand for efficiency and convenience in dining services.
Here’s how it works:
Customers can place orders through the Grubhub app.
Once an order is placed, a robot is dispatched to the restaurant, picks up the meal, and navigates its way to the designated drop-off location using AI and GPS mapping.
Customers can track their order and unlock the robot upon arrival with the app.
Additional features of the robots include autonomous navigation, secure delivery, and sustainability. They use advanced sensors and AI to maneuver around campus. Orders are locked inside the robot and accessible only by the recipient, while their electric power contributes to a greener campus by reducing carbon emissions. Delivery times are optimized to ensure quick and efficient service.
“The launch of Starship robots is a game-changer for campus dining at NSU,” said Mike Alkurdi, resident district manager for Shark Dining. “This innovation aligns with our mission to provide high-quality, convenient, and forward-thinking dining solutions.”
Marc Crocquet, the vice president of business services for NSU, welcomes the bold dining innovation.
“We are proud to be the first university in South Florida to offer autonomous food delivery—making campus life even more convenient,” he said. “Innovation is what we do at NSU, so get ready Sharks, Starship is here. Using the Grubhub app to order food has been made fast, easy, and convenient.”
In 2011, when future NSU alum Julius Thomas left Portland State University for the National Football League, he was on top of the world. The 6’5,” 250-pounder was the fourth-round pick in the draft as a tight end for the Denver Broncos.
Thomas played for one of most potent offenses in the league, led by Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. He competed against players he idolized and picked on his John Madden videogame teams. He also started his journey to become one of the best tight ends in the sport.
“Football was a surreal experience for me, because overall it was such a long shot,” he said. “I came out of college playing basketball, saying, ‘I think I can play in the NFL.’ It was crazy that I pulled it off.”
But as Thomas would soon find out, there would be struggles beneath all the stardom and glitz. There was something missing, he said, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
As Thomas now reflects on his past, he says he found what was missing at Nova Southeastern University.
“I had this really challenging experience with sports,” Thomas recalls. “I had coaches say to me, ‘You know Julius, I don’t think you love the game enough.’ I liked the game, but I didn’t love it.”
Thomas began soul searching, asking himself what he was supposed to do, and who he was.
“I recognized I was very emotionally cold. I started to notice that I was suffering internally – mentally and emotionally. And then I noticed that it wasn’t just me, that people around me were also suffering,” he said. “Then I thought, ‘Somebody should help these people, and maybe I am that person.’”
In 2017, Thomas found himself on the field at the Miami Dolphins practice facility on NSU’s campus. (It has since been relocated to space adjacent to Hard Rock Stadium.)
“Every day that I would drive to practice I would pass the Nova campus,” he said. “One day a curious thought came to mind: ‘I wonder if NSU has a psychology program.’”
Thomas reached out to the Dolphins’ director of player engagement with his inquiry, and he was connected to Dean Karen Grosby with the College of Psychology. It was a connection that would change Thomas’ life.
“Dean Grosby is amazing and has been so instrumental in my life,” he said. “I’m eternally grateful for her.”
Dean Grosby and Professor Robert Seifer gave Thomas a tour of the college.
“Julius has always had a natural curiosity and appetite for knowledge,” Grosby said. “He was open to learning and new ideas, demonstrated a deep respect and compassion for those with whom he met or worked, and communicated easily with people from all backgrounds. No doubt he will do great things as a psychologist.”
Thomas says he was intrigued by the tour, adding that Dr. Seifer asked, “Are you sure you’re really ready to retire from football? If you’ve got nothing to do, you can come sit in on my doctoral classes some time.”
Thomas took Professor Seifer up on his offer. One day when Thomas was sitting in on a class, the professor asked him if he had ever been interested in getting a doctorate.
“My first answer was ‘No, I never thought about it,’” Thomas said.
Before he knew it, Thomas found himself in the classroom, working on his doctorate degree. But it wouldn’t be easy.
“So here I am stepping into a doctoral program saying to myself ‘Do I belong here? Can I do this? Can I keep up? Can I learn this?’” he said. “As a kid from Stockton, Calif., who graduated high school with a 2.7 GPA, there was a high opportunity for failure. I also felt out of place at first – in age, with different lives, and different problems than other students. I had to put in so much time at home on weekends to catch up.”
During his studies, Thomas had the opportunity to work with Dr. Jaime Tartar, the head of the Department for Neuroscience. She helped Thomas learn about behavioral neuroscience and introduced him to scientific research. Thomas learned about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a form of therapy that helps people increase their psychological flexibility by developing a more mindful relationship with their thoughts and feelings, and by committing to actions that align with their values.
“From the very first moment I met Julius,” Tartar said, “it was clear that he possessed an intense passion for learning and an authentic curiosity about the human mind and body. It was clear that he wasn’t just looking for a degree; he was seeking the knowledge and skills to make a meaningful impact in the world.”
While in school, Thomas developed his own company, Optimal Performance, which uses science to leverage the gap between performance and wellbeing and helps others maximize on both. Thomas says it allows him to get in front of people and work with them before things cave in emotionally and mentally.
“I feel like over the years I’ve been able to build myself from the inside out,” he said. “I try to help others create the same resilience.”
Thomas says his education at NSU has been life changing. He has worked with patients from age 10 to 70. He has received about 4,000 hours in clinical training. And he has spent thousands of hours in the classroom reading books and taking exams.
“This training is helping me be as prepared as I can possibly be to help people regardless of what they’re experiencing,” he said. “And it’s been fun to do that and learn how to teach and how to effectively provide beneficial information.”
In June, Thomas will have begun yet another career – this one in academia. He plans to take what he has learned at NSU on the road to continue his business.
“When you pursue your calling, there are a lot of things you might have to give up – such as status, fame, and money,” he said. “But there comes a time where you must decide if you want to fall into the trappings of the world or if you want to do what you’re aligned to do. I really wanted to chase a journey of service. I wanted to help people. But I didn’t know how. And that’s how I found Nova.”
Adithya Chandregowda, Ph.D., associate professor from the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at NSU’s Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences presented a research poster titled “Exploring the link between neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities and neurodegenerative manifestations” at the 19th World Congress on Controversies in Neurology in Prague, Czech Republic.
Of the 170 research abstracts accepted for poster presentations at the congress, 9 were awarded the best ePoster award under 9 topic areas. Under the category of “Neurodegenerative Diseases” Prof. Chandregowda received the best ePoster award. About 1000 delegates from across 56 countries attended this congress.
Prof. Chandregowda presenting his ePoster at the 19th World Congress on Controversies in Neurology, Prague, Czech Republic
Prof. Chandregowda also presented a 2-hour lecture on primary progressive aphasia (also referred to as “language-led dementia”) to the faculty and students of speech-language pathology at Semmelweis University, Budapest. In Hungary, Semmelweis University is the oldest medical university and the first to offer a Bachelor of Science program in voice, speech and swallowing therapy for health science students. Prof. Chandregowda’s lecture covered primary progressive aphasia definition, classification, differential diagnosis, risk factors, counseling and management. His lecture was very well received, and he appreciated the kind gestures from the event organizer and the attendees.
Prof. Chandregowda presents at Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
“I tell people all the time I am obsessed with mental health, I will continue to do this, and I will do it for free,” says NSU alum Nicole Laing.
Nicole Laing fulfills what she calls her “true calling” – improving mental health – as both a 2023 graduate of NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and an assistant professor at NSU’s College of Nursing.
Hailing from Jamaica, Laing’s family stressed that an education was critical to her future.
“It’s one thing that they ingrained in me; getting an education was not negotiable,” she said.
Laing first pursued a biology degree at Southern Connecticut State University with the goal of becoming a physician. However, her long-held desire was to practice nursing, the profession she was drawn to after caring for her grandparents as a child.
“I have to love what I’m doing,” she said.
After she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing while working at Howard University, Laing worked at Yale New Haven Hospital in the psychiatric unit. She loved it, so much so, that she pursued a master’s in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing at Yale. Later, while working at NSU as the director for the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program, she earned a second master’s degree in Marriage and Family therapy.
“I tell people all the time I am obsessed with mental health, I will continue to do this, and I will do it for free. I have so much of a passion and love for it,” she said.
Laing has dedicated her career to mental health, both as a therapist and teaching the next generation of health professionals.
“I’ve been a practitioner since 2002, and I’ve seen clients come in at their worst and leave at their best,” she said. “That’s one of the things I value most, knowing I was part of their journey.”
At the same time, Laing says working as a provider also exposed cynicism at how some people working in this field treat their patients.
“I saw people who really shouldn’t be in mental health,” she said. “But I also saw people who I believed would respond to teachable moments.”
For Laing, that belief translated into academia – catching students early into her field and teaching them the importance of being humble.
“There’s an African proverb Ubuntu that says ‘When I uplift you, I uplift myself. When I dehumanize you, I dehumanize myself,’” she said. “I want my students to understand that out the gate. I tell them that if this is the kind of work that you’re going to do, this is who you’re going to be around, and you need to practice with a level of humility and respect.”
Laing is committed to guiding her students for success. “If you’re going to do this work, you’re going to do it right – that’s what I tell all my students. You’re not leaving Dr. Laing’s class not knowing what you need to know.”
Laing also finds inspiration in her work through her faith. “I’m doing what God asked me to do,” she said. “I measure success by the lives I impact.”
Through her efforts in mental health, Laing’s impact continues to be notable.
“As a practitioner and especially as an educator, your role is to support and encourage and strengthen individuals,” she said. “I look at all of my students as a flicker of light, and if I can do anything to make that light become a bonfire, I’m going to absolutely do it. Absolutely.”
With a background as a physician, pediatric surgeon, and health care executive, Dr. Chad Perlyn knows the hard work and dedication needed to earn a medical degree and serve the community.
He joined Nova Southeastern University (NSU) as executive vice president and chief medical officer in December 2024, and recently was named dean of the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine. Dr. Perlyn is applying his specialized training, industry knowledge, and experience to drive the university’s health care initiatives into the future.
“How would I describe my tenure at NSU? One word – extraordinary,” said Dr. Perlyn. “It is truly an extraordinary organization, and it is driven by an incredible core of people – faculty, staff, and of course, students.”
Much of Dr. Perlyn’s attention has been focused on faculty, staff, and students connected to NSU Health.
“NSU is the preeminent doctoral private university in Florida,” he said. “Our philosophy related to our health care programs is really around the mission to integrate our strengths as a university – teaching, research, and clinical care.”
TEACHING
“My vision for NSU is to be recognized as the leader of academic health care in Florida,” said Dr. Perlyn, “and I think this is a very, very achievable goal.”
Dr. Perlyn aspires to leverage and enhance the variety and quality of NSU’s health care programs, specifically its advanced degrees, and strengthen the university’s health care reputation as a leading regional and national educator of health care professionals.
Further bolstering these efforts is the introduction of NSU’s new accelerated programs where students receive doctorate or professional degrees in as little as six years. These options can reduce the time and investment of obtaining advanced degrees while providing the exceptional education and high-quality training of NSU’s traditional academic tracks. Pilot programs for D.O. and M.D. programs start in fall 2025, with other programs to start in the coming months.
RESEARCH
Dr. Perlyn knows continued investment will be key in maintaining the university’s high-level research programs, which have earned NSU the designation as a Research 1 university.
“The R1 designation (which goes to the nation’s top-tier research institutions) is a measure of our excellence,” said Dr. Perlyn. “Not only are we delivering world-class care and teaching about that care, we are the ones to discover that care.”
Attracting support through gifts, funding, and partnerships, Dr. Perlyn will lead NSU as it strengthens its commitment to finding advancements in patient treatment and outcomes. These investments are also critical to providing NSU researchers, faculty, and students access to advanced facilities and programs that provide experiential learning opportunities not available at other universities.
CLINICAL CARE
“We have many goals for NSU Health,” he said. “They are focused around growing NSU Health into the entity that will represent all of the elements of the finest health care delivery – education, research, and most of all, clinical care.”
NSU Health’s clinical care is known for providing much-needed services to the South Florida community, among them women’s health, geriatrics, vision care, pediatrics, mental health, dental care, and pharmacy services. And now, under Dr Perlyn’s vision, NSU Health’s physical footprint will strengthen as another avenue for educating students and advancing research.
“Our goal is to teach the clinicians of the future,” he said. “We will do that by providing the best care possible, to teach the best care possible.”
FUTURE GOALS
Dr. Perlyn wants to move NSU Health and the university into a new chapter of organizational success.
“We all have one purpose,” he said, “to move this organization forward, which means moving our students forward, which means moving the community forward.”
Building on past progress and prioritizing innovation, Dr. Perlyn is excited about the future of NSU Health.
“If we are doing the best medicine, we are teaching the best medicine,” he said, “and that is taking knowledge from the classroom, to the clinic, to the community.”
In Florida, the ocean economy accounts for more than $800 billion in economic impact, or almost 80 percent of the state’s gross domestic product. That includes everything from fisheries and boating industries to tourism, transportation, environmental safety, and research.
Nova Southeastern University is committed to the ocean economy, defined as the sustainable use of ocean resources for healthier communities, economic growth, improved livelihoods, and workforce development, while preserving the natural balance of inland waterways, as well as coastal and marine ecosystems.
John Englander
As the university continues to connect the dots on preparing the world to better understand, plan, and adapt to our changing coastlines, it welcomes globally renowned sea level rise expert John Englander. Englander is the director of the Rising Seas Institute and possesses a broad marine science background coupled with explorations to Greenland and Antarctica, allowing him to see the big picture of sea level rise and its societal impacts.
“Sea level rise is going to change things such as real estate, finance, economics and national security, because the boundaries are going to change as the shoreline is compromised,” he said.
Through his in-depth experience as an industry scientist and entrepreneur, Englander is building a consensus around the many disciplines at NSU – such as oceanography, physics, engineering, business, and psychology – about sea level rise and its inherent connection to various industries and environmental issues.
Given that Florida’s coastline grosses more than $400 billion annually, NSU’s ocean economy work is critical to the state’s future.
When friends Lili Demm and Jack Sardina were freshmen at Nova Southeastern University, they quickly realized college life was more than just classes and exams. Adjusting to independent living for the first time, the two often felt overwhelmed.
“I remember sitting in my room, swamped with laundry, dishes, and deadlines,” said Lili, a Huizenga Business Innovation Academy (HBIA) member and Farquhar Honors College student. “That’s when Jack asked, ‘What if there was an app where college students could help each other with tasks — for money?’”
Student entrepreneurs Jack Sardina and Lili Demm
That concept evolved into CampusRun, a student-to-student task platform where “posters” submit chores and errands, and “runners” can earn money by carrying out those tasks. From picking up food to cleaning rooms to assembling furniture and laundry help, CampusRun was designed to ease the lives of busy students and give other students a flexible way to make money, Lili says.
Once the two hatched the idea, they sought the support of the HBIA, which helped them fine-tune their business model. They also partnered with the NSU Law Clinic, where professors and students helped them build a strong foundation, such as drafting operating agreements, terms of service, employment contracts, and privacy policies.
“They really helped us build a legal moat around our business,” said Jack, also an HBIA member and student at the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship. “They cared deeply about our success and helped us navigate the parts of business we didn’t even know we needed yet.”
With support from the Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation’s Incubator Program, the pair gained access to mentors, pitch training, and entrepreneurial workshops. Their added knowledge paid off when they received grant funding from the HBIA Pitch Competition in spring 2024. The money allowed them to hire a professional development team based in the Brickell neighborhood in Miami which built out the app for iPhones.
CampusRun officially launched in fall 2024 and had more than 200 users by year’s end. The app operates on a familiar model — CampusRun collects a 20 percent service fee from runners, which is significantly lower than mainstream platforms such as Uber or DoorDash, which often collect 50 percent or more.
To promote their platform, Lili and Jack have used hands-on grassroots marketing.
“We’ve held events with on-campus businesses and handed out free samples to encourage downloads,” Lili said. “We’ve walked students through the app, gaining users one by one.”
Lili, the current Miss Brickell USA, is competing in Miss Florida 2025. She has been using her competition platform to raise additional awareness about CampusRun, as well.
To ensure trust in the app, Lili and Jack established background checks, worked with campus IT on email verification, and implemented ratings and review systems to ensure safe, high-quality interactions. They also added referral programs and voucher incentives and are constantly tweaking the app based on student feedback.
“One of the things we’ve worked on is quality control,” Lili said. “Vetting who is on the platform is highly important.”
Next steps are to expand the app into other South Florida schools, including the University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, and Lynn University, while also preparing for national growth.
Jack has a philosophy when it comes to entrepreneurship: “Crawl, then walk, then run.”
“We were at the crawl stage — starting at our school, listening to feedback, fixing bugs, and making improvements,” he said. “Now, we are at the walk stage, heading to eMerge Americas – Florida’s largest tech conference – where we’ll pitch, network with schools and investors, and plan to expand throughout South Florida. By the end of this year, we hope to be running and dominating nationally.”
With their passion for innovation, teamwork, and helping others, Lili and Jack are determined to make CampusRun not just a successful app, but a student-powered movement and long-term business endeavor. The duo will graduate with finance degrees this semester.
“We’re very committed to CampusRun,” Lili said. “We want it to be our full-time job when we graduate in May.”
