Ken Frieden and Gwendolyn Pough

The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) has announced the consecutive appointments of two highly regarded and esteemed faculty members to the title of William P. Tolley Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities. Ken Frieden will hold the appointment for the 2018-2020 term while fellow A&S colleague Gwendolyn Pough will step into the two-year professorship beginning in 2020.

“The selections of professors Frieden and Pough to represent the highest levels of teaching in the humanities truly speaks to both their commitment to educational excellence, innovative research, and discovery,” says Karin Ruhlandt, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The importance of robust scholarship in the humanities cannot be understated when it comes to preparing students to live in a world of diverse languages, histories and cultures.”

, professor of Religion, English, and Languages, Literatures and Linguistics (LLL), is a renowned expert in the study of European and American Judaic literature. Most recently, his research has focused on the cultural impact of Yiddish and Hebrew narratives through the lens of emerging modern literature and travel narratives in the eighteenth century. His latest book, “Travels in Translation: Sea Tales at the Source of Jewish Fiction” (Syracuse University Press, 2016), was the recipient of the Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Award in the department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics this past year. Additionally, Frieden has served as the B.G. Rudolph Professor of Judaic Studies at Syracuse University since his arrival on campus in 1993.

As a launch to the academic year, Frieden plans to use the professorship initially to bring in a series of speakers that fit the theme of TRAVEL/TRANSLATION/NARRATIVE, inspired in part by his recent book. Frieden also has his sights on programing that might bolster mentoring relationships between younger and more seasoned faculty members throughout the college.

“I am delighted and honored to be chosen as a William P. Tolley Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities,” says Frieden. “I am looking forward to meeting the challenge of scheduling events that will be stimulating for professors at every academic level in every area of the humanities and beyond.”

will succeed Frieden, taking the helm of the Tolley Professorship in 2020. Pough is currently professor and chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department and Dean’s Professor of the Humanities. A renowned scholar of hip-hop studies, black feminism and black popular culture, she envisions using the Tolley Professorship platform to help faculty become more cognizant of the challenges involved in teaching in the age of social media; and how that impacts classrooms dealing with issues of diversity, inclusion, social justice and activism.

“People may not know that I am a bit of a pedagogy geek. I love to talk about, think about and theorize about teaching. And it is the one thing that we as professors do not get to do a lot of because we are often too busy teaching and doing our scholarly work,” explains Pough, who arrived at Syracuse in 2004. “To be selected to help shape a conversation about teaching and best practices in the humanities classroom, and to join this group of distinguished SU professors is an honor. To be the first black woman to hold this position is also an honor.”

Pough’s research positions at the apex of feminist theory, African American rhetoric, women’s studies and hip-hop culture—and has published extensively in these areas. In addition to her scholarly accolades, she has been repeatedly recognized for her outstanding teaching skills and ability to create learning environments in which students are fully engaged while building critical thinking skills. Equally celebrated is her willingness and adroitness in mentoring junior faculty members as they navigate academic spaces through the early stages of their university careers.

As the Syracuse community turns the page on a fresh academic year, Frieden and Pough have already begun discussions of a possible collaboration within the span of the Tolley appointments—by way of exploring how issues of diversity, inclusion, race, ethnicity and social justice play vital roles in the study of the humanities.

“Professors Pough and Frieden exemplify the central objectives of a liberal arts education by their substantial contributions to humanities scholarship at Syracuse University,” says Gerald Greenberg, senior associate dean for academic affairs; humanities; curriculum, instruction, and programs. “I am looking forward to the advancements they will help lead for our faculty, staff and students in the college.”

The Tolley Professorship was established in 1995 to support the enhancement of pedagogical experience at Syracuse and to maximize effectiveness in the classroom. Underwritten by private donors and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the professorship has benefited hundreds of tenured and nontenured faculty members. The two-year appointment was named to honor Chancellor Emeritus William P. Tolley, who served as Chancellor of Syracuse University from 1942 until 1969.

Steven Schaffling

Schaffling comes to Syracuse from Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he served in multiple leadership positions—most recently as director of university advising in the Office of Enrollment Management and Student Success. At Syracuse, he will report to Deans Karin Ruhlandt and David Van Slyke, in A&S and Maxwell respectively, and will be responsible for leading the newly restructured Advising and Career Services unit serving undergraduates, ensuring exceptional student outcomes from their first year through to graduation.

“I am delighted to welcome Steven to our leadership team. His exemplary track record of innovation and strategic planning, in regards to student advisement and retention, is well-known,” says Dean Ruhlandt. “I am especially excited to work with Steven, as he is tasked to spearhead new initiatives aimed at strengthening student success, including the implementation of innovative practices for career guidance.”

Maxwell Dean David Van Slyke agrees: “Steven understands and appreciates the diversity, strengths and opportunities of a rigorous liberal arts education and the corresponding range of experiential learning possibilities. His vision, research and experiences demonstrate how high-quality academic and career advising is critical for student success. I am very much looking forward to working with him and the new team of professionals.”

As assistant dean of student success, Schaffling will oversee the advising staff and closely collaborate with academic faculty to more closely assess student support and service needs. In doing so, he will also facilitate new cross training for college advisors on academic programs, career guidance, financial aid, learning support, student services and other core institutional support services.

“I am motivated by the investment that the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School are making in the student experience. It is clear how much they value the quality and consistency of academic, career and pre-health advising—ultimately appreciating how large of an impact great advising has on student success at Syracuse,” explains Schaffling. “The College is unmistakably viewing advising as the ‘hub of the wheel’ when it comes to the student experience, and I’m excited to lead that initiative.”

Beginning his career as an academic advisor, Schaffling has spent the past decade advocating for students, creating several modern programs aimed at bolstering retention rates of at-risk students. Most recently, he led the development of a standardized academic probation process that directly contributed to the highest freshman retention rate in Drexel University’s history. Additionally, he has been invited to present at several symposiums, including the annual John Gardner Gateway Institute and the Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA) international conferences.

Schaffling earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Villanova University and an Ed.D. in higher education administration at Northeastern University.

Holly Root-Gutteridge

has always been a good listener–a trait that has served her very well in her bioacoustics research of mammals, both aquatic and landlocked. Most recently her ears have tuned-in to the vocal stylings of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered species of whales on earth.

Root-Gutteridge’s newest investigation “,” a collaborative research project with researchers from Syracuse University, Cornell University, Duke University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northeast fisheries office, was recently published in the March edition of the journal Animal Behaviour. The paper is based on work that was done while she was a researcher in the lab of Associate Professor .

Through extensive listening and analysis of whale calls—which were recorded by a large collaboration of scientists over the past two decades—she was able to pick up the slow gradual changes in sound production in the marine giants as they age. By careful analysis of the sounds, the research team could see the progression of vocal characteristics of the animals as they matured from young calves to adulthood.

The whales produced clearer, longer calls with age, a trend that did not end when they reached physical maturity, but continued to improve through time, even in adults.

“We’re learning that these right whales have control of their voices,” explains the researcher. “That means they may be sending more complex information than we previously thought.”

North American right whale mother-calf swimming near Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts. Photographer: Dana Cusano. Permit # NMFS 775-1875-02

Through continued study, Root-Gutteridge believes that scientists will be able to better understand how whales communicate in the wild, which can lead to stronger worldwide conservation efforts of these endangered mammals.

While still at Syracuse, Root-Gutteridge turned heads around the world with her wolf dialect research back in 2016. , the biologist discovered that wolves, much like people, have regional vocalization patterns, or dialects, depending on their locale.

“I learned a lot at Syracuse as I’d never studied marine mammals before. I know a lot more about whales and their songs and have developed some great skills in analyzing animal sound,” says Root-Gutteridge. “I also have a much better understanding of how tough it is to study marine mammals as their home ranges are just so big. When I studied wolves, I thought 25 square miles was a lot of territory to cover, but the whales swim all the way up and down the East Coast!”

Since finishing at Syracuse, her work has literally gone to the dogs. Root-Gutteridge is currently at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom where her next bioacoustics project, “How Dogs Hear Us: Human speech perception by domestic dogs,” explores what animals of the canine persuasion hear when humans speak.

About Syracuse University

Founded in 1870, Syracuse University is a private international research university dedicated to advancing knowledge and fostering student success through teaching excellence, rigorous scholarship and interdisciplinary research. Comprising 11 academic schools and colleges, the University has a long legacy of excellence in the liberal arts, sciences ���Ի���professional disciplines that prepares students for the complex challenges and emerging opportunities of a rapidly changing world. Students enjoy the resources of a 270-acre main campus ���Ի���extended campus venues in major national metropolitan hubs and across three continents. Syracuse’s student body is among the most diverse for an institution of its kind across multiple dimensions, and students typically represent all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Syracuse also has a long legacy of supporting veterans and is home to the nationally recognized Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the first university-based institute in the U.S. focused on addressing the unique needs of veterans and their families.

Geraldine Richmond

Both events are free and open to the public, and are sponsored by the Department of Chemistry in the . For more information, call Beth Molloy at 315.443.2851.

Richmond’s lecture, “Mulling Over Emulsions: Molecular Assembly at Complex Liquid Surfaces,” will focus on her team’s most recent research regarding the molecular structure of the oil-water interface and the unique environment it provides for adsorption of molecules, surfactants and macromolecules at both the surface and oil-in-water emulsions. The studies are a combination of spectroscopic and thermodynamic measurements coupled with theoretical simulations.

According to Richmond, data gained from these analyses have direct relevance to understanding a host of important global issues, including the interaction of water with soils, metal ion transport across membranes, toxic metal complexation and oil spill remediation.

Highly regarded in her field, Richmond is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Science Board. Most recently she was awarded the National Medal of Science, the highest scientific honor bestowed by the United States, by President Barack Obama for her pioneering work in molecular interaction.

Richmond is also the founding and current director of COACh, a grass-roots organization that has helped in the career advancement of over 20,000 women scientists and engineers in the United States as well as over 20 developing countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The Prins Lecture is named in memory of Willem Prins, professor of chemistry at Syracuse University. A much beloved teacher and dedicated researcher, Prins died on July 20, 1974, as the result of a boating accident. In his lifetime, Prins published more than 90 papers and lectured widely on his research in physical chemistry.

About Syracuse University

Founded in 1870, Syracuse University is a private international research university dedicated to advancing knowledge and fostering student success through teaching excellence, rigorous scholarship and interdisciplinary research. Comprising 11 academic schools and colleges, the University has a long legacy of excellence in the liberal arts, sciences ���Ի���professional disciplines that prepares students for the complex challenges and emerging opportunities of a rapidly changing world. Students enjoy the resources of a 270-acre main campus ���Ի���extended campus venues in major national metropolitan hubs and across three continents. Syracuse’s student body is among the most diverse for an institution of its kind across multiple dimensions, and students typically represent all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Syracuse also has a long legacy of supporting veterans and is home to the nationally recognized Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the first university-based institute in the U.S. focused on addressing the unique needs of veterans and their families.

Kalyn Des Jardins

When Kalyn Des Jardins began her journey as an advertising major in the , her focus centered on learning the tenets of creating winning advertising campaigns. The art and science of crafting and delivering a message to a specific audience fascinated her and spoke to her desire to connect with people.

However, in her second year at Syracuse University, unanticipated advice from a professor inspired her to lay the groundwork for a congruent academic path.  Following that advice, Des Jardins is now working on completing her dual degrees, in ���������ٳ�� ���Ի����ٳ�� ���Ի��� in Newhouse this December.

We caught up with the Chicago area native to hear her thoughts on why these two areas of study work together so well for her, and what sage advice she would pass along to the next generation of Syracuse University students.

About Syracuse University

Founded in 1870, Syracuse University is a private international research university dedicated to advancing knowledge and fostering student success through teaching excellence, rigorous scholarship and interdisciplinary research. Comprising 11 academic schools and colleges, the University has a long legacy of excellence in the liberal arts, sciences ���Ի���professional disciplines that prepares students for the complex challenges and emerging opportunities of a rapidly changing world. Students enjoy the resources of a 270-acre main campus ���Ի���extended campus venues in major national metropolitan hubs and across three continents. Syracuse’s student body is among the most diverse for an institution of its kind across multiple dimensions, and students typically represent all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Syracuse also has a long legacy of supporting veterans and is home to the nationally recognized Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the first university-based institute in the U.S. focused on addressing the unique needs of veterans and their families.

Scott Ely

Ely was recently honored at the U.S. Large Hadron Collider Users (US LHC) Association Meeting this past fall for his winning “Lightning Round” talk. During the US LHC meeting, young scientists are given the opportunity to discuss their research in several quick-fire sessions. The presentations, which must be under 10 minutes, cover a wide range of topics, from physics analyses to computational developments and hardware improvements. When the smoke cleared, Ely was named among the top presenters at the international conference.

Having been intimately involved in the development of specialized silicon sensors for a new tracking sub-detector that will be installed in the LHC Beauty experiment next year, Ely was uniquely equipped to succinctly discuss this area of research in progress at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN.

The Large Hadron Collider is a powerful particle accelerator used to study the fundamental particles of matter. Using 17 miles of tunnels and a series of formidable magnets, the machine creates super-speed, particle-sized collisions, allowing physicists to gather more clues about the properties and forces that impact matter—and leading to even bigger questions, such as how the universe was formed.

Ely earned his undergraduate degree in applied physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, prior to his arrival at Syracuse. The San Francisco Bay area native hopes to defend his doctoral dissertation in experimental high energy physics in 2019.

A&S News caught up with Ely prior to winter break to learn more about his research and his reaction to being recognized at the conference.

Eileen Schell, professor of writing and rhetoric in the and Ivy Kleinbart, part-time writing instructor, co-lead the monthly sessions by providing writing prompts and guidance to each participant through the process of drafting their nonfiction prose. The meetings are free and are open to Veterans of all ages and branches of the military. Family members are also welcome.

For more information, visit : .

Michelle Zaso

Zaso’s primary sponsor of the fellowship, Aesoon Park, associate professor of psychology, notes that some people carry variants in alcohol metabolism genes that delay the breakdown of alcohol into a harmless substance; if individuals carrying these genetic variants drink alcohol a lot, they are more likely to develop cancer due to extended exposure to harmful alcohol metabolites.

“Thus, her project is highly important not only to inform the mechanisms underlying problematic drinking in adolescents, but also to prevent long-term serious health consequences like cancer,” says Park.

Co-sponsors of her research include Stephen Maisto, professor of psychology at Syracuse University, and Stephen Glatt, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Hailing from Batavia, New York, Zaso received a B.S. in biological sciences with a concentration in neuroscience from the University of Rochester. Currently she is working on her graduate degree in clinical psychology, with an expected completion in May 2019.

“We hope findings can advance our understanding of the multifaceted contributors to accelerations in drinking over the critical adolescent period and eventually aid in prevention and intervention efforts,” explains Zaso.

A&S news caught up with Zaso for a series of questions about her most recent honor.

William Lewis Bulkley, who, in 1893, became the first person of African descent to earn a Ph.D. from Syracuse University

Ronnick, a professor of classical and modern languages, literatures and cultures, at Wayne State University is also the creator of “14 Black Classicists,” an exhibition that has traveled to 48 schools, museums and libraries across the country and is currently on view at the  (CFAC) through November. The installation includes homage to Latinist and civil rights activist William Lewis Bulkley, who, in 1893, became the first person of African descent to earn a Ph.D. from Syracuse University. The exhibition was funded by a grant from Harvard University’s James Loeb Classical Library Foundation.

Thorough her groundbreaking research, Ronnick illuminates the under-examined history of Black engagement in classical studies.  Her most notable publications include “The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough: An American Journey from Slavery to Scholarship” (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005) and “The Works of William Sanders Scarborough: Black Classicist and Race Leader” (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

The Ronnick event is co-sponsored by Syracuse University Humanities Center, the department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics’ Classics Program and the departments of English, history and religion.

On Nov. 2, Syracuse University’s role in the history of Black classicism will be featured in another talk, “The Education of William Bulkley: From Freedman’s School to the Hall of Languages.” This presentation by Bulkley’s biographer, independent researcher Peggy Norris, begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Community Folk Art Center.  It is also free and open to the public.

For more information on either event call 315.443.4302 or email aas@syr.edu.

PRIDE participants and graduate student mentors take a break from research at Destiny USA.

Celebrating its 10th year, the highly competitive Program PRIDE (Psychology Research Initiative for Diversity Enhancement) program brings together Syracuse University undergraduates from underrepresented groups and invites them to develop an original independent psychology summer research project over the course of seven weeks.

The program is sponsored by the Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Program.

The five 2017 scholars presented their work to fellow students and psychology faculty during the annual PRIDE symposium this past June.

In addition to 15 to 20 hours of mentorship each week, students are also offered a chance to participate in several sessions of professional development, designed to help each of them build the skills needed to apply and succeed in graduate school.

This year’s PRIDE participants were Jeffrey Albelo ‘18, Khemiah Burke ‘19 , Shatira Woods ‘19, Hector Benitez Jr. ‘18, ���Ի���Tylah Worrell ’18.

Jeffery Albelo ‘18
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Caguas, Puerto Rico
PRIDE Project:
“Predicting Stimulant Misuse in College Freshmen” under the supervision of Dr.  Kevin Antshel.

Jeffery Albelo

The basis of the presentation was trying to find alternate variables, besides the already existing analyzed variables (such as alcohol and marijuana consumption), and how those variables could predict stimulant misuse. My inspiration for this project was because of my very own interest on the effects that drugs have on the human brain, and how said drugs alter one’s own behavior.

What drew you to the study of psychology at Syracuse University?

My interest towards psychology officially began when I took Psychology 205 during my freshman year. The diverse topics presented during that class exposed me to a whole field of ideas and interests that combined with my very own ideas of helping others’ emotional and mental states. After that it didn’t take long for me to officially declare a major in psychology, and explore the amount of classes that the university had to offer.

What do you think you gained most from participating?

After having completed the program, I gained an insight into the amount of work and effort that goes into conducting psychological research in the different fields, whether it be clinical, developmental, cognitive, etc. As a result, I understood the amount of work that I would need to conduct in order to establish a psychological-based career.

What are your plans for after graduation?

My plans, for now, after graduation would hopefully be to take the MCAT and take subsequent year off applying for medical school. I would also like to participate in an internship or research program that allows me to further gain experience that could prove helpful going into medical school.

Hector Benitez Jr. ‘18
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Los Angeles
PRIDE Project:
“Conflict Response Strategies: Examining the effects of repeated transformation of motivation over time” under the supervision of Dr.  Laura VanderDrift.

Hector Benitez

Oriented around close relationships and how these relationships develop conflict response strategies and the effect of repeated transformation of motivation over time.

What drew you to the study of psychology at Syracuse University?

Psychology 274. This Social Psychology class within the first 10 minutes addressed all the unanswered questions. I was sold and knew I had to commit wholeheartedly to psychology indefinitely.

What do you think you gained most from participating?

After completing this summer program, what I gained the most from participating was my confidence. I was unsure as to how well I had been doing in Dr. VanderDrift’s lab. I felt I was able to obtain and expand on theories when given to me as well as adding onto the study; however, there was constant doubt Laura and Kathleen (graduate student) were being kind to me as to not discourage me. They reassured me, my assistance and input was worthy and greatly appreciated, of course making me feel as though I had found my passion, social psychology.

What are your plans for after graduation?

I plan to apply to Ph.D. programs focusing on social psychology. Id like to be an industrial-organizational psychologist back home, in LA.

Khemiah Burke ‘19
Major: Neuroscience/ Psychology
Hometown: Atlanta via London, England
PRIDE Project:
“Open Field Assessment of the Effect of Maternal Separation on Anxiety Levels in CD-1 Mice” under the supervision of Dr.  Catherine Cornwell.

Khemiah Burke

My project used the open field apparatus to test levels of anxiety in CD-1 mice that had been maternally separated and then reared in either standard or enriched cages and compared these results to non-treated control animals. We tested to see if maternal separation and standard rearing would cause the mice to exhibit increased anxiety levels and if environmental enrichment would prevent this. My project was just an analysis of the data we collected during the program, but focused on the open field assessment.

What drew you to the study of psychology at Syracuse University?

I decided that I wanted to study psychology because of how much I enjoyed my high school AP psychology class. I love learning about the mind and behavior, but I was also especially drawn to the fact that I could pair it with my neuroscience ILM.

What did you gain most from participating?

The most valuable thing I gained this summer was the hands-on experience that I got with research and the guidance that I got about taking the next steps in my academic career.

What are your plans for after graduation?

After graduation, I hope to matriculate into an MD/Ph.D. program and become a doctor and medical researcher.

Shatira Woods ‘19
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Hometown: Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania
PRIDE Project:
“Effects of Features on Recognition and Categorization” under the supervision of Dr.  Mike Kalish.

Shatira Woods

What my project explored was the relationships among “individuating features,” recognition and categorization. An example of a feature used in the experiment is a scratch mark on a marble as opposed to unscratched marbles. The experiment had two phases: a study phase and a test phase. One of my hypotheses was that adding a feature to more items during the test phase (which were not present during the study phase) would result in subjects identifying items with features as old less often because the feature would not be a useful cue. Our results demonstrated the opposite: subjects tended to call the new items that had a feature during test old more often when there were more items marked with features. While we did not have enough time to analyze the categorization program during the program, the recognition data showed some interesting patterns. My inspiration for taking on the project was the fact that recognizing the items that we created for the experiment is similar to recognizing, for example, a face with a scar in a line-up. I am interested in many aspects of the justice system, including wrongful convictions due to incorrect identification by witnesses. If there is only one person with a scar in the line-up and five others without a scar, and that person is not the one who committed the crime, witnesses would still be likely to call that man guilty because the scar is a useful cue since no one else has one. The results of my experiment and experiments to come have implications for many fields, including law enforcement as it pertains to police line-ups and the credibility of eyewitness testimonies.

What drew you to the study of psychology?

I have always been interested in how the mind works and how people think. There are many issues and injustices that occur during life and I believe that understanding human nature is the first step to understanding why these things happen and how to correct them.

What do you think you gained most from PRIDE?

The most valuable asset I gained during the PRIDE program was completing an independent research project. My lab was relatively hands-off for certain aspects of the experiment such as analyzing data and running subjects. They guided me in the right direction while allowing me to find answers on my own and to really understand what I was doing. I liked how I had the opportunity to at least help do most of the work throughout the entire project. I gained a lot of experience and knowledge that will be useful to me for the rest of my education and career.

What are your plans for after graduation?

I plan to attend graduate school to become a cognitive psychologist. I am particularly interested in a lab at Johns Hopkins University that studies the cognitive psychology of the courtroom and the justice system.

Tylah Worrell ‘18
Major(s): Forensic Science and Psychology
Hometown: Syracuse
PRIDE Project:
“Work Environment and Stress on Professional Drivers” under the supervision of Dr.  Sarah Woolf-King.

Tylah Worrell

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the work environment of professional drivers and stress. I work for a transportation company, CENTRO, in the city, and so I was interested in investigating whether professional drivers experience more stress and stress-related health issues than non-drivers. I was also interested in investigating whether bus drivers were at a higher risk of experiencing stress and other stress-related health issues than other professional drivers.

What drew you to the study of psychology at Syracuse University?

I chose to study in the field of psychology because I wanted to be able to understand people better. I wanted to know why they do the things that they do.  I also wanted to be better at communicating with others.

What did you gain most from participating?

I think that gained the most insight that I’ve ever received about graduate school. This experience gave me more direction for my path post-graduation.

What are your plans for after graduation?

After I graduate, I plan to take at least one year off from school. During this time I will really try to figure which graduate program I’d like to apply for and become well prepared for it.

Jordan Barrett

Jordan Barrett ’18, a rising senior studying physics and mathematics, has just been named a 2017-2018 recipient of the award.

Barrett worked with the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) to prepare his Astronaut Scholar application.  CFSA helps undergraduates, graduate students and alumni explore nationally competitive scholarship opportunities and assists them through all stages of the application process.

Originally created by the Mercury 7 astronauts, the ASF is a nonprofit organization backed by more than 100 of America’s space pioneers from Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs. The organization’s mission is to provide scholarships and support to the brightest students in the country pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as the STEM disciplines.

As a part of this honor, Barrett will receive a $10,000 scholarship, mentoring by a scholar alumni or astronaut, an opportunity to participate in a professional development program sponsored by RBC Capital Markets and membership in the Astronaut Scholar Honor Society.

This year’s class of 45 Astronaut Scholars will receive their awards at the inaugural Innovators Gala featuring the Neil Armstrong Award of Excellence. The celebration will be held in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16.

Barrett, a native of South Paris, Maine, has already made a measurable impact at Syracuse University, having just been awarded a prestigious this spring.

The student is also working toward his senior capstone project in mathematics, while remaining active as an officer in both the Phi Mu Epsilon Mathematics honor Society and the Society of Physics Students.

“To have my name added to a relatively short list of exemplary astronaut scholars is a tremendous honor. This is an affirmation that I choose the correct academic path and it is extremely encouraging to think that my work might actually effect positive change someday,” explains Barrett.

His latest accolade is no surprise to his faculty mentors, who enthusiastically nominated him for the elite recognition.

“Jordan is a truly outstanding student and one of the best undergraduate students I have worked with at Syracuse University,” wrote associate professor of mathematics, to the nomination committee. “I am certain he has a bright future ahead of him.”

, associate professor of physics shared those sentiments in his own glowing recommendation.

“Jordan continuously challenges himself,” boasts Hubisz. “He remains heavily engaged in his research at Syracuse, and is pursuing classwork that will put him well above his peers when he begins his graduate work.”

Upon graduation next fall, Barrett has his sights on extending his academic career on to a Ph.D. in mathematical physics, and eventually becoming a professor and research scientist. But for now he is spending time reflecting on this time in the College of Arts and Sciences and looks forward to another incredible year.

Susan Parks

, assistant professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed to the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment.

As part of the National Academies’ Ocean Studies Board and Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, the 15-person standing committee is tasked to provide ongoing assistance to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in its efforts to manage the development of the nation’s offshore energy resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. Members of the committee represent a broad range of experts from around the country, including top marine researchers, geologists, conservationists and policy makers.

“This a great honor and an excellent testament of the great amount of respect held for Susan by colleagues in her field,” says Ramesh Raina, professor and chair of the Department of Biology. “I am confident that her expertise and perspectives will be of tremendous benefit to the Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment.”

At Syracuse University, research in Parks’ lab centers on the behavioral functions of sound production by marine organisms and the evolution of acoustic signaling. For the greater part of two decades, Parks has focused her principal research on the North Atlantic right whale, a species that has been nearly hunted to extinction—with just about 500 remaining in the world.

Right whales communicate using low-frequency sounds that can travel great distances across the ocean depths. However, with ever-increasing ship traffic and other man-made sound pollution, the oceans can actually be quite noisy. Part of Parks’ research surrounds investigating how these ocean noises can impact the behavior of these already endangered animals.

Parks is a member of the Acoustical Society of America, the Animal Behavior Society and the Society for Marine Mammalogy. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the U.S. government’s highest honor for scientists and engineers.

Joseph Paulsen

The project, titled “Ultrathin sheets on curved liquid surfaces: Stress focusing and interfacial assembly,” looks to investigate so-called “geometric frustration” in a class of extremely bendable materials. The effects of mismatched geometries are familiar: flat bandages don’t stick so well to curved knuckles or elbows, and automotive metal must be laboriously stamped or forged to make a fender. Paulsen’s team aims to get something useful out of all this frustration. They will study how ultrathin polymer films (a thousand times thinner than a human hair) can be guided along curved liquid surfaces in predictable ways. The hope is that these studies will uncover new ways for controlling liquids, whether it is containing toxic or corrosive substances or a new way of delivering medicine to where it is most needed in the body.

In addition to funding the research, the grant allows for several outreach components beyond the Syracuse University campus. The grant will support two . Lab members will be trained to work with local high school students interested in learning more about soft matter research. High school teachers will also be invited to conduct research internships, and a laboratory YouTube channel will be created with the potential of reaching a worldwide audience.

Young scientists from all over Upstate New York will also be able to get hands-on experience with the physical science with an installation on wrinkling currently being developed for the (The MOST) in downtown Syracuse.

A circular polystyrene sheet wrapping a water drop immersed in silicone oil. The sheet is 39 nm thick and 3.0 mm in diameter.

“Having the resources to share and expand this research into the greater community and beyond is really wonderful,” says Paulsen. “The field of soft matter physics is strong at Syracuse University, and this award will allow us to perhaps reach the next generation of physicists.”

Paulsen joined the Syracuse physics department in 2015 after spending two years at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as a postdoctoral research associate. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago, and is a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society.

The Faculty Early Career Development Program is one of the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.

A. Alan Middleton

, professor and chair of the physics department in the , was recently elected a 2016 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The honor recognizes an individual’s distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications through innovation, education and leadership. Middleton will be recognized this coming February during the AAAS’s annual meeting in Boston.

“I was pleasantly surprised and grateful to have received this recognition by my peers,” says Middleton, who joined the Syracuse physics faculty in 1995. “I am lucky to have the opportunities to carry out my research work with the full support of an outstanding group of Syracuse University faculty and student colleagues over the years.“

Middleton, whose own research surrounds condensed matter and disordered materials, has been at the helm of the physics department through several high-profile breakthroughs in recent years—including the historic gravitational waves discovery shared by members of the , and the by a research team lead by professors Tomasz Skwarnicki and Sheldon Stone.

Karin Ruhlandt, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, was delighted when she learned of Middleton’s recent honor.

“The election of Alan Middleton as an AAAS fellow is a wonderful reflection of his dedication and impact as a leader in our cutting-edge physics department,” says Ruhlandt. “I am very proud to see his work recognized on a national level”

Founded over 150 years ago, the American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, operating with the belief that science, technology, engineering and mathematics can help solve many of the challenges the world faces today.

Diethard Struelens G’17

Sitting casually in the expansive Grand Hall of the Whitman School, Diethard Struelens leans in when asked about his background.

“I’ve always said I’m an ordinary guy with extraordinary ambitions.”

Lucky for Syracuse University, those ambitions have landed the international student right in the heart of the , where he recently began coursework in the this July.

Born in Belgium, Struelens says he was drawn to the arts from an early age. In 2015, he completed his undergraduate degree in classical cello performance and chamber music at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Maastricht, Netherlands. But just a few short years prior to graduation, he tried his hand at business—starting his own company to help promote live music and young artists across Holland, Belgium and Germany. He ran the venture for two years before refocusing and completing his own music degree. Still, it was that brief time as the boss that forever changed his outlook on his future career.

“My first business let me discover I really wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Struelens remembers. “Visual arts, performing arts, architecture, graphic design—I have a lot of passion for all of it. But then the goals got bigger.”

So after graduation he did what any young aspiring impresario would do … he hit the Internet.

What Struelens found in his web search was the Whitman School of Management’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, which is held each fall. Soon he was making the 3,700-mile trip from Maastricht to New York to begin the rigorous weekend education sessions.

While exploring the autumn views on the Syracuse University campus at the end of the bootcamp program, fate stepped in again. By chance, he wandered into Bowne Hall and struck up a causal conversation with Christine Conroy, program coordinator for the Janklow Arts leadership program.

“You need to meet our director!” Conroy told him.

The very next day, Struelens met with the program’s founding director, Mark Nerenhausen. The rest, as they say, is history.

“We had such a vivid and passionate conversation. There are so many parallels between us,” remarked Struelens. “We starting talking about the Janklow program and I was straightaway interested. I never thought I would go to school again.”

Struelens gathered with his fellow Janklow classmates and Program Director, Mark Nerenhausen

The Janklow Program, housed in the department of art and music histories in A&S, operates at the intersection of arts administration and social entrepreneurship. Students in the program are able to earn a master’s degree in arts leadership across 15-months of concentrated, interdisciplinary coursework and immersion experiences.

Janklow students are also encouraged to become closely involved in the regional art community as volunteers. For Struelens, that opportunity appeared as a board member of , an organization that has a long and esteemed history of supporting weekly live classical music performances across Central New York.

“Immediately I found it to be a very interesting organization. I’m now at the core of a nonprofit organization that has been in existence since 1890. And they are still here. And they do it very well,” he says. “They are amazing people who are true ambassadors for music.”

Not one to slow down, Struelens is already laying the groundwork for his next chapter after graduation—a startup business called , with goals to help young artists better connect with their audience and begin collaborations with other artists.

The whirlwind aspect of the last year is also not lost on him. He recognizes that there may have been entrepreneurial programs much closer to home. Regardless, he feels strongly that what he has found in Syracuse is his perfect match.

In the Netherlands it would be referred to as “naald in de hooiberg”. Stateside, we call it the “needle in the haystack.”

“I’m not searching for the American experience. I’m looking for the best experience,” Struelens asserts. “This is a very unique program and I’m grateful that I got to discover it.”

CFSA Mentor of the Year Kari Segraves holds up her award with, from left to right, Goldwater winner Jessica Toothaker ’17, CFSA Director Jolynn Parker and Fulbright recipient Kait Hobson ’16.

, an associate professor of biology, was named Mentor of the Year at a special ceremony this spring, hosted by Dr. Ruth Chen at the Chancellor’s House.

Segraves is the inaugural winner of the award, created to distinguish the yearlong work of faculty members who inspire and mentor Syracuse students applying for national scholarships, many of which can enormously influence the academic path of a student.

The recognition is also a reflection of her exemplary dedication to her students, through the establishment of multifaceted research opportunities for undergraduates, and her invaluable participation in numerous mock interviews in support of potential scholarships.

In addition to the ceremonial recognition, Segraves’ name will be engraved on the newly created Mentor of the Year plaque that will hang in the Honors Program office at 306 Bowne Hall.

An evolutionary ecologist, Segraves conducts biology research that focuses on understanding how species interactions increase biodiversity. Most recently, she and her colleague David Althoff, assistant professor of biology, were awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation designated to support their research on how interactions between species can cause new species to form.

A&S News caught up with Segraves this summer to garner some of her thoughts on being recognized as mentor of the year

What was your reaction to being named the inaugural Mentor of the Year by CFSA?

I was deeply moved and honored when I heard about receiving the award. As a mentor, one of your hopes is that you make a positive impression on your mentees with the advice and help you give. I work with an amazingly talented group of students, and it was touching to hear how I had made a difference in their lives.

What’s involved in being a good mentor to students?

First and foremost, I think that you need to gain your students’ respect to build a trusting, working relationship. Students share a lot about themselves and their dreams, meaning that they need to trust their mentor not to judge. I also think that part of being respectful is remembering that it’s their lives and their decisions to make. My role is to be a good listener—to understand the issues and then offer them the best advice I can. Sometimes the best advice is in asking the right questions to get them thinking about what they really want. Ultimately, I believe that the students are the ones who should take control. I trust my students to make the right decisions for themselves.

What has your philosophy been when working with students to help them succeed and achieve these remarkable accomplishments?

Kari Segraves in the greenhouse above the Life Sciences Complex

I tell students to follow their hearts and discover what is going to make them happy in life.  You’re only going to work hard and put in the effort for something that you think is important. Many of my mentees have the talents and abilities to do anything they set their sights on, and helping them figure out what they really want is a big part of my role. I also try and teach students to work within their limitations and not try and do everything. Doing too much can be just as much of an issue as doing too little. Students need to find the right balance between academics; extracurricular activities and career-building to feel like they can make accomplishments in their lives.

Has there been one student, or experience, in your role as a faculty mentor that stands out?

It’s very difficult to pick just one as there are many! In thinking back, I had one student when I first started at SU who was bright and hard working but unsure about what she wanted to do in life. She didn’t have the right life balance or motivation because of it, and nearly dropped her major and all hope of having a career in biology. In the end, she just needed a little encouragement and someone to ask her the right questions. She started gaining in confidence and decided to continue on in biology, much to my relief. After getting to know her better, I suggested a potential profession for her that turned out to be a good fit. She is now successful, confident and excelling in her career. The key was working with her to find a path that she felt was going to make her happy. It has been particularly rewarding to see her mature and grow over the years after she left SU. This has been a recurring story for many of my mentees. Sometimes the most difficult step is identifying what you really want to do with your life.

What advice do you think is most important to impart to students as they move through their academic career here at Syracuse?

As a graduate student, my research mentor gave me one piece of advice that resonated with me and is something I try and impart to all of my mentees who are struggling with career decisions. My advisor believed that life is too short to spend it working in a job that you don’t love. If you love your job, then going to work is something to enjoy. College is a fantastic time to explore your options and find the pathway that’s right for you. You need to identify that “thing” that gets you excited about going to class and learning more on your own. When you realize that you’ve just spent your Saturday evening doing research on a particular subject when it wasn’t for class, then you know you’ve found a potential career path.

Frederick (Rick) Cieri

Casually checking his email, one message instantly stood out—an email that would dramatically change the course of his academic life.

Cieri had been named a recipient of a 2016 Boren Scholarship. The highly competitive award will allow the international relations and modern foreign languages major spend his entire senior year studying Portuguese and Brazilian Studies in São Paulo, Brazil.

Funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), provide exceptional undergraduates the opportunity to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. Following their cultural immersion, scholars then agree to work in a qualifying national security position within the United States federal government for at least one year.

“During my first semester, I will take courses about Brazil and develop a proficiency in Portuguese,” explains Cieri, who also speaks French, Spanish and Italian. “In the second semester, I intend to enroll directly in the university in São Paulo, taking all my coursework in Portuguese.”

The Communication team caught up with Cieri, before he heads south of the equator to begin his yearlong adventure, and asked him a few questions about his experience here at SU and his outlook for the future.

What are you most looking forward to during the upcoming year abroad?

I am very excited to acquire another language and to experience a culture that I have never been able to explore, academically or otherwise. I am also eager to see how the 2016 Summer Olympics will reshape Brazil and how the current political changes will affect this developing country long term.

What inspired you to follow this particular area of academic study?

I became interested in foreign languages when I started learning Spanish in school eight years ago. I found my passion for acquiring new languages and soon began taking courses in French and Spanish concurrently.

I also wanted to find a way to better the world. During my freshman year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, I gained an interest in minority studies and a concern for minority groups’ rights. This interest soon transformed into a concern for human rights protection, particularly the law around human rights on a global level. When I transferred to Syracuse University for my sophomore year, I picked up my international relations major, and I have truly enjoyed the curriculum since.

Was there a specific faculty member(s) that made an impact your academic career during your time at Syracuse University?

After I transferred to Syracuse University at the beginning of my sophomore year, I took my first Spanish course at SU with Professor . She has been such a great help to me in my years at SU and a wonderful professor with whom to learn Spanish. Additionally, Associate Professor of the international relations department has been especially supportive of me in my research and career goals. I look up to both of these strong and intelligent women as my academic role models.

What other activities are you involved in while at Syracuse University?

I work as a global ambassador for SU Abroad, representing programs in Strasbourg, France, and Madrid, Spain. Through SU Abroad, I have taken a position as a student representative on the faculty-led Working Group for the Internationalization of Curriculum. I am also the student representative on the SU faculty senate’s LGBT Concerns Committee, and I have served as a Dean’s Team member for the College of Arts and Sciences. Lastly, I was a member of the Spring 2016 Model United Nations team that traveled to NYC for the 2016 NMUN Conference, and I am a newly inducted member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

What are your career/research plans after graduation?  

At Syracuse University, I have focused my international relations studies on international law and organization (ILO), and more specifically, human rights law. I am currently in the process of applying for a Fulbright ETA Scholarship. Hopefully, if I receive this Fulbright, I will be in Spain for the year following graduation, as a teaching assistant in a high school English language classes and perhaps leading a Model United Nations project. Nevertheless, I plan to attend graduate school. Eventually, I will be fulfilling my Boren Award service requirement with a one-year job placement in the federal government. I am hoping to branch out further in the US government with a job in foreign service, with the Department of Defense or with the state department.

What advice would you impart to future students studying modern foreign languages?

My advice would be to study abroad as much as you can. Being able to live in French-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries truly allowed me to enhance my language skills, and with such immersions, I have developed my global competencies. I would definitely recommend studying abroad for at least a semester and a summer, if not two full semesters.

What role do you think a liberal arts education plays in achieving career success?

I think a liberal arts education permits undergraduate students to study a topic that they would not normally consider. This is a very valuable opportunity. For example, I had to take a nutrition course (NSD 225) to fulfill my last science requirement. I never expected to develop such an interest in the field of nutrition, particularly in the context of my major in international relations. I am now eager to study more about nutrition and food availability in the world as a type of human rights concern.

Sharon Glotzer, professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan, will be the featured speaker on June 21.

The breathtaking intersection of science and art will be celebrated this month at Syracuse University as part of a unique international conference.

The four-day event, titled “” will bring together researchers from around the world to discuss the current work being done in the field of soft and active matter. The symposium will take place from June 20-23.

The field of active and smart matter seeks to understand collective and programmable effects in nature and in engineered systems, such as spherical rafts of fire ants, chromatin inside the cell nucleus, collections of microbots and chemical reactions of suspended molecules. The field combines theoretical physics with powerful algorithms and fast computers to discover and design the materials of the future.

Registered participants in the conference will engage in a series of invited and contributed talks, poster sessions, and discussions.

Also included in the conference are two special events open to the public that will showcase the function and rhythm of these new materials.

On Tuesday, June 21, , professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, will present a lecture titled “Rise of the Colloidal Machines.” The lecture is free and open to the public, and will take place at 7:30 p.m. in room 001 of the Life Sciences Complex.

“In this talk, I’ll discuss the exciting possibilities of using nano- and micron-sized colloidal particles in the design and fabrication of functional elements for robot-like machines, such as colloidal muscles, digital colloidal bits, bionic colloidal assemblies and colloidal swarms,” says Glotzer, who is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading computational scientists. “These functional colloidal elements could allow researchers to make smart, shape-shifting materials, like the Microbots in (the movie) ‘Big Hero 6’ and the liquid metal comprising the Terminator T-1000.”

JACK Quartet will perform an original string piece on June 22.

The conference will culminate on Wednesday, June 22, with the premiere of a new music piece titled “Hexacorda Mollia.” The composition is inspired by the theme “Order from Disorder” that permeates the field of soft matter physics. Composed by Andrew Waggoner, chair of composition in the Setnor School of Music, the piece will be performed by the .

Deemed “superheroes of the new music world” by David Weininger of the Boston Globe, JACK has garnered international acclaim for its electrifying approach to the performance of contemporary classical music.

The free concert, sponsored by the , begins at 8 p.m. in the Milton Atrium of the Life Sciences Complex. Immediately following the concert there will be a discussion and Q&A session with the composer, along with Mark Bowick, professor of physics and director of the Syracuse Soft Matter Program, on the role of science and the natural world in inspiring music and the arts.

Free parking for both events is available after 5 p.m. in the following lots: Q4 (to the right of Life Sciences Complex), Q3 (between Bowne Hall and Carnegie Library), and at the Women’s Building. Metered and non-metered parking spaces are also available throughout the campus on a first come, first served basis.

Organizing the entire event are M. Cristina Marchetti, the William R. Kenan Professor of Physics; James Henderson, associate professor in the department of biomedical and chemical engineering; Joseph Paulsen, assistant professor of physics; Ashok Sangani, professor of biomedical and chemical engineering; and Jen Schwarz, associate professor of physics.

The 2016 Active and Smart Matter conference is sponsored by the , the National Science Foundation, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Research and the Syracuse Soft Matter Program.

More information about the entire conference can be found at .

Kassidy Lundy

Over 200 students representing more than 40 colleges and universities across New York State presented their research during the daylong symposium. Lundy’s poster, “Exploring Kupffer’s Vesicle through Self Propelled Particle Simulations” stood out among the ranks, earning her top honors in the engineering, material science and physical science category.

Through her poster and oral presentation, Lundy was able to successfully showcase her research, which seeks to explain shape changes observed in vital developmental organs within Zebrafish embryos, using the self-propelled particle model’s use of velocity, confinement and the dynamics of particle interactions.

, associate professor of physics and Lundy’s faculty mentor, says that the award is true reflection of the cutting-edge research she has done as an exceptional undergraduate.

“Kassidy is an outstanding researcher who is using tools from physics to understand problems in biology, specifically the origins of congenital disease,” says Manning, who uses physics-based statistical mechanics models to study non-equilibrium collective behavior in both biological and non-biological systems. “She is very smart, and also very good at knowing when to forge ahead on her own and when to pause and ask for help. I think those skills will help her be successful in her future endeavors.”

Founded in 1986, CSTEP prepares students for successful careers in medicine, law, education, technology, engineering, healthcare, accounting and more. CSTEP is active in more than 50 colleges and universities across New York State, and supports students who are among underrepresented populations in STEM and pre-licensure fields. At Syracuse, CSTEP is housed in the School of Education.

The communications team caught up with Lundy just after Commencement to get her reflections on the experience.

What inspired you to follow this particular area of research?

I was inspired to pursue biophysics after attending a Syracuse University colloquium given by my current research advisor, Lisa Manning. With my prior interest in organic systems I was intrigued by Dr. Manning’s simulation of biological systems by way of physical models. I was further inspired to follow this area of research through the course exposure I acquired as a biophysics major.

What was your reaction when you were announced the winner?

Kassidy Lundy with her poster, “Exploring Kupffer’s Vesicle through Self Propelled Particle Simulations,” at the CSTEP Statewide Conference

When I was announced the winner of the statewide competition, I felt very honored to be recognized for my dedication to my research. I appreciated realizing that my hard work and devotion could be celebrated by judges that I had never met before.

What are your plans after graduation?

In the fall I will begin working with in the “Bridge to the Ph.D.” program at Columbia University. I aim to continue studying and researching biophysics on my way to hopefully earning a Ph.D. in the field and pursuing a career in academia.

What advice would you impart to future students working to earn a degree in biophysics?

I would advise students to not be afraid to explore biophysics outside of their classroom. Being that this discipline is a relatively novel approach to science, I believe that if students rely on their biology and physics textbooks to understand biophysics, they will not fully understand how the two sciences meet. Seeking interesting research opportunities that marry the two fields is always the best first step.

Jason Fridley

, associate professor of biology and co-founder of the Climate Change Garden at the University, is part of an international research project that has been examining the effects of warming climate on plant life in Northern England for more than 20 years.

Newly published in the cutting-edge journal Nature Climate Change, their research paper titled “Longer growing seasons shift grassland vegetation toward more productive species” (May 2016) offers insight into how various species of plant life may overtake others in a community because of changing global temperatures.

“We wanted to know whether longer growing seasons associated with global warming would create conditions favored by more aggressive, productive species,” explains Fridley, who helped lead Syracuse University into the project in 2007 through a National Science Foundation grant. “This is important because these grasslands are the basis for much of northern Europe’s agricultural sector, particularly sheep and dairy, and are where many of their rare plant and animal species occur.”

Josh Lynn

The team collected 24 species of plants from the Buxton Climate Change Impacts Laboratory (BCCIL) located in Derbyshire, England. The site is set up to experimentally manipulate different aspects of climate, e.g., temperature and precipitation, and track changes in vegetation and ecosystem properties. Those samples were then propagated and tested on site at the greenhouse facilities located within Syracuse University’s Life Sciences Complex by biology undergraduate Joshua Lynn ’13.

The research paper is additionally co-authored by Lynn, site manager Andrew Askew and renowned plant ecologist , a professor emeritus at the University of Sheffield who was part of the initial team that founded BCCIL nearly 30 years ago.

Lynn, who is now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Mexico, is continuing his ecological research in the southern Colorado Rockies. A standout at Syracuse from the start, he began his involvement in the project as a student working in Fridley’s lab.

“Josh was able to grow 24 species in our state-of-the-art Syracuse greenhouse facility and subject them to a series of tests that allowed us to quantify their attributes related to competitive ability and stress tolerance behaviors,” says Fridley. “Josh was basically working at a graduate level and he was only a junior at the time.“

Although Lynn’s part in the study never brought him to the English site, he believes the exposure to this type of long-range research at Syracuse was invaluable to his academic and postgraduate goals.

Buxton Climate Change Impacts Laboratory (BCCIL) in Derbyshire, England

“My time at Syracuse was beyond expectation. I sought out research opportunities and the first major project I had the fortune to work on was this study. In the Fridley lab, I learned many of the concepts and tools that I still use today,” says Lynn.

This summer, Fridley and his research team will conduct further investigations while continuing their longtime collaboration with UK research teams at Lancaster University and the University of Liverpool. The biologists hope to better understand how plant species adapt to warmer and drier conditions, and whether climate change has an effect on the plants’ genetic diversity.

“Because climate change effects continue to evolve in our study system, even after 23 years, this project is a reminder that long-term monitoring is essential to fully understand how plants and animals respond to a changing environment,” clarifies Fridley. “Most studies, if funded at all, are supported for three to five years, which is a tiny slice of the lifetime of most of these plants.”

Emily Baker

Emily Baker, a geology graduate student working in Associate Professor Laura Lautz’s lab, was positioned first among several candidates for the honor and was presented with $1,000 to assist in the presentation and continuation of her international water quality research.

In just her first year of graduate studies at Syracuse, Baker has shown significant progress in her research—living and working in the remote mountain areas of Peru at over 15,000 feet in elevation to collect the necessary data. Her resulting effort, titled, “Infrared Imaging and Modeling of Proglacial Stream Temperature in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru,” was what caught the eye of the CNYAPG grant committee, as well has her faculty sponsor, Professor Lautz.

“Emily is working on a really challenging project that has required her to engage in very challenging field work,” explains Lautz, whose hydrogeology research centers on water quality and movement through watersheds. “She is very deserving of this award, which recognizers her significant research accomplishments so early in her academic career.”

Earning her undergraduate geology degree at Mount Holyoke College, Baker is looking forward to pursuing her Ph.D. at Syracuse University, with a focus on a future career in hydrologic research.

Additionally she is a member of the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship Education Model Program on Water-Energy Research (EMPOWER). Co-founded by nine Syracuse University interdisciplinary faculty members, including Lautz, EMPOWER prepares graduate students for professional opportunities at the nexus of water and energy.

Baker taking data measurements of a mountain stream in Cordillera Blanca, Peru

“I am very grateful for receiving the CNYAPG grant because it will help cover some of the costs associated with my research and conference travel,” says Baker who originally hails from Ellington, Conn. “I look forward to continuing my research on infrared imaging and stream temperature modeling in the Lautz Lab.”

The CNYAPG Grant for Student Research was established in 2015 to provide assistance to Central New York Earth Science students for research and to help disseminate the results of that research through conference travel. To learn more about CNYAPG and the CNYAPG Grant for Student research, visit .

Samantha Skaller ’17 led the development and implementation of the display at Syracuse. She is one of 17 members of the national It’s On Us Student Advisory Committee, in addition to her with work as a peer educator at Syracuse. The display is the capping event of the “It’s on US Week of Action” held this April during national Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

In a spontaneous collaboration, ROTC students on the quad suspended their daily conditioning exercises and eagerly jumped in to lend a hand; helping fill cups with sand and assisting organizers with the placement of the visual display.

Lope de Vega

The program, which is free and open to the public, begins with a breakfast reception at 8:30 a.m. For more information, contact Alejandro García-Reidy at agarci07@syr.edu.

The symposium is presented by the Department of in the in honor of the 70^th anniversary of the journal Symposium: A Quarterly Journal y Modern Literatures and of the contributions to LLL by Professor Emeritus of Spanish.

, event organizer and assistant professor of Spanish, says re-examining Lope reveals how he helped set the stage, so to speak, for modern theater.

“His writing is very contemporary in the themes it presents. A number of his plays focus on issues of gender and class because he was interested in portraying strong female lead characters and granting a voice to everyday individuals on the stage,” says García-Reidy, who discovered a lost play of Lope’s in 2013.  “His poetry includes some of the most passionate love poems ever written, as well as playful and irreverent texts.”

The timing of the symposium coincides with worldwide celebrations of two of Lope’s contemporaries: William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.

Lope’s death in 1635 was mourned throughout Spain. A prolific and exalted writer, he penned nearly 600 plays and hundreds of poems, novels and short stories.

“Students interested in any aspect of theater surely cannot miss reading some of Lope’s key plays,” García-Reidy says. “They are as important as Shakespeare’s in the history of Western literature, and are usually more dynamic.”

In addition to Garía-Reidy, the presenters are:

, assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Denver;
, author and professor of Spanish at Colgate University;
, professor of Spanish literature at the University of Montréal; and
, associate professor of Spanish at Franklin and Marshall College.

In addition to opening and closing remarks (at 8:30 a.m. and 3:40 p.m., respectively) the program includes formal presentations between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.

M. Lisa Manning

A physicist in the  College of Arts and Sciences has been selected to receive the prestigious by the Commission on Statistical Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics ().

, associate professor of physics, will accept the award at the IUPAP International Conference on Statistical Physics on Tuesday, July 26, in Lyon, France. She is the first woman and first American to receive the award.

In recognition of her “outstanding statistical physics contributions to the fields of granular materials, jamming, and biological cell dynamics,” Manning will receive an honorary medal, a certificate and a cash prize of 1,000 Euros. She also will present a seminar about her current research at the conference.

Conferred every three years, the Young Scientist Award recognizes international scholars who are no more than eight years past their terminal degree, and display significant achievement and exceptional promise in experimental or theoretical statistical physics.

“I really wouldn’t have been able to do this without having great childcare, great peer mentors, a supportive department and the support of my partner,” says Manning, whose research centers on the emergent behavior of large groups of strongly interacting objects, including biological cells, atoms, and droplets, at high densities. “The scientists on the Statistical Physics Commission of the IUPAP made a choice to look at the quality of my publications, not just the quantity, which allowed someone like me with a young family to compete with other people in my field.”

, a theoretical biophysicist at the University of Paris-Sud, is a co-recipient of the award. Manning remarks that the recognition of two scientists working at the interface of statistical physics and biology confirms that this type of interdisciplinary work is being taken seriously in the physics community.

“I’m excited for the future because an award like this highlights the work being done by the world-class soft matter physics group here at Syracuse,” Manning says. “It also will help attract the best students and researchers and give me the opportunity to continue with high-risk, high-reward projects related to diseases like cancer and congenital disease.”

Manning earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton, she joined the Syracuse faculty in 2011.

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

In a lecture titled, “Rising from the Rubble: Creating POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw,” Kirshenblatt-Gimblett will discuss her role as the chief curator of the core exhibition of the new cultural center, and her reflections on the process of creating a physical space to honor the rich thousand-year history of Jewish heritage in Poland. The stands in what was once the heart of Jewish Warsaw—an area that the Nazis turned into the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is also a professor emerita of performance studies at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She also is an affiliated professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies in its Graduate School of Arts and Science. Her scholarship reflects the intersection of Jewish studies, performance studies and museum and memory studies.

Her many books include “Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage”; “Image before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 1864–1939” (with Lucjan Dobroszycki); “They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust” (with Mayer Kirshenblatt), “The Art of Being Jewish in Modern Times” (with Jonathan Karp), and “Anne Frank Unbound: Media, Imagination, Memory” (with Jeffrey Shandler).

Throughout her illustrious career, the Canadian native has been recognized countless times for interdisciplinary contributions to Jewish studies, as well having been highly sought for her expertise in the realm of museum and exhibition projects.

Prior to her work at the Warsaw museum, Kirshenblatt-Gimblett served as president of the American Folklore Society and, most recently, was decorated with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by President Andrzej Duda for her contribution to POLIN Museum.

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett’s presentation is a part of the B.G. Rudolph Lecture series that was created in 1973 by Bernard G. Rudolph in order to bring distinguished Judaic studies scholars to SU’s campus. For more information on the program or the lecture series, contact , Jewish studies program director, at 315-443-5719.

from on .

Research associate Julia Snyder training a new class of biology peer leaders.

Their findings are the subject of a newly published article in the widely-read journal (Public Library of Science) titled “Peer-Led Team Learning Helps Minority Students Succeed.”

The article is co-authored by Julia Snyder, post doctorial research associate; Jeremy Sloane and Ryan Dunk, both biology graduate students; and , associate professor of biology.

Since 2011, peer-led team learning (PLTL) has been researched at Syracuse University with introductory biology classes functioning as the lab. Through the program, students who have successfully completed the class are invited back the following year to act as peer leaders for incoming students. This cycle of student partnerships has revealed impressive results among the participants, with marked improvements in students’ grade performance and course completion in gateway courses, which is critical when trying to retain more students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors.

“Simply put, active learning puts the responsibility for learning on the learners,” explains Wiles, who also holds appointments in the departments of science teaching and Earth sciences. “The peer leader is not a teacher nor a tutor. Rather, they are an integral member of the student team with a responsibility for facilitating the group effort toward solving problem sets to which they have not been given the answers.”

The recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minority students into the STEM fields has become a growing priority across many college campuses in the United States. Reflecting on that goal, the researchers hope that the promising results of this multiyear study will encourage the peer-led model to become more widely implemented among first-year students, ultimately broadening participation in STEM fields and diversifying the scientific community.

“There are many challenges to adopting this model in large courses across disciplines, but the data clearly support efforts to overcome obstacles and make it happen here and elsewhere” says Wiles. “We have had great success with PLTL in Biology at SU, and we are looking to expand that success.”

The study was funded by a National Science Foundation EAGER (Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research) grant. The published journal article is open access and can be read in its entirety

Supported by the college’s new Science Equipment Excellence Fund (), both undergraduates and graduate students in PSY 400/600 can explore the methodologies of cognitive science using robots of varying complexities.

Because robots are much more predicable than humans and animals, they are the perfect case study for students learning about information processing, the foundation of cognitive research.

Established in 2014 by an anonymous donor, and cultivated by Dean Karin Ruhlandt, the SEEF helps promote scientific literacy, which is central to a liberal arts education, regardless of one’s major or career path.

Hear more about the robots used in the “Understanding Cognitive Science” class in the video below.

In this model, two black holes orbit each other, generating gravitational waves.

Scientists in the Department of Physics in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences have been instrumental in the discovery of gravitational waves, confirming a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity. They include Peter Saulson, the Martin A. Pomerantz ’37 Professor of Physics; Duncan Brown, the Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics; Stefan Ballmer, assistant professor of physics; and a group of nearly two dozen students and research scientists.

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Inspired by a series of essays by social activist Gloria Jean Watkins (whose nom de plume is bell hooks), the concert will take place on  Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Folk Art Center’s Black Box Theater (‪805 E. Genesee St.). The event is free and open to the public, and coincides with CFAC’s fall exhibition, “Resistance,” featuring works by Najee Dorsey. For more information about both events, visit CFAC at .

James Gordon Williams

A pianist, composer and assistant professor of African American studies, Williams will be joined by New York guitarist Marvin J. Sewell; bassist and Syracuse native Ian Stewart; and drummer Joshua Dekaney, also an instructor in the ’ Setnor School of Music.

The concert is co-sponsored by the Department of African American Studies, the Humanities Center and the Department of Art and Music Histories, all in Arts and Sciences.

“Outlaw Culture Music” is inspired by hooks’ “Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations” (Routledge, 2006). The book’s mix of essays and personal dialogues sheds new light on racism at the intersection of sexism and popular media.

Williams says his program of original music is in conversation with hooks’ work and seeks to examine the “critical thinking process behind deconstructing representations of oppression, liberation and resistance.”

“An ‘outlaw’ usually refers to someone who has broken the law,” he says. “In this context, it alludes to someone whose life has not been valued the same way within the law. Historically, certain communities have been considered outside the concern of the law.”

Williams adds that Dorsey’s exhibition, which uses mixed media to explore the legacy of African American resistance and the oppression that has spawned it, provides the ideal backdrop for the concert.

“As an artist and scholar, I am hoping that the audience will gain a deeper understanding of how critical thought can be directly related to composition and improvised musical texts,” Williams says. “I believe people can be thrilled by musical sounds, and encouraged to think critically about what that sound represents.”

Williams joined the faculty in 2014. His research interests include practices of resistance in Afro-diasporic improvisation and composition, performance of racial identity through music technology, and the epistemologies of African American music.

A native of Los Angeles, Williams has worked with some of the biggest names in modern jazz, including drummers Charli Persip and Peter Erskine, saxophonists Greg Tardy and Greg Osby, and bassist Mark Dresser. His performances have taken him all over the world, including France, Italy, Switzerland and Malta.

“Music is always more fun and meaningful when it’s rooted in powerful ideas that lift people up, instead of tearing them down,” he says. “Performing at CFAC is to perform in a very special place with allies who have been doing this kind of critical work in various formations for decades. I am proud to be a part of its history.”

Attendees are encouraged to share their voice by using #OutlawCultureMusic on Twitter, during and after the concert.

The panel will discuss “Glamour and Damage: Women, Scandal, and Social Media Networks,” using Steve Martin’s “The Underpants,” above, as a launchpad. (Photo by Michael Davis)

Syracuse Symposium^TM continues its “Networks” theme with a panel discussion on the media’s portrayal of women—from gossip circles in the early 20^th century to modern-day social networks—and its ensuing impact on gender bias.

Titled “Glamour and Damage: Women, Scandal, and Social Media Networks,” the event will take place on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 4 p.m. at Syracuse Stage (820 E. Genesee St.), immediately following the matinee performance of .”

The discussion, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by Syracuse Stage and the Humanities Center, based in the . For more information, call 315-443-7192 or visit .

Using “The Underpants” as a launchpad, the discussion will explore how women have been characterized, victimized, shamed and sensualized throughout history.

Kal Alston, professor of cultural foundations of education in the and Syracuse’s senior vice president for human capital development; , associate professor of magazine journalism in the ; ���Ի���, assistant professor of communication studies at SUNY Oswego.

Running through Nov. 8, “The Underpants” is a witty commentary on gender politics and instant celebrity. Adapted from Carl Sternheim’s 1911 work “Die Hose,” the play is set in early 20th-century Germany, and follows one woman’s “very public wardrobe malfunction.”

Show tickets may be purchased by calling 315-443-3275 or visiting .

Noshir Contractor

Contractor will deliver the annual Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture in the Sciences and Humanities on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 4 p.m. in the Dr. Paul and Natalie Strasser Legacy Room, 220 Eggers Hall. Titled “Leveraging Computational Social Science to Address Grand Societal Challenges,” the event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Humanities Center at 315-443-7192, or visit .

The Wali Lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Physics and the Humanities Center, both in the . ^TM is organized and presented annually by the Humanities Center.

Contractor is the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University, where he is also director of the Science of Networks in Communities Research Group. Drawing on his ongoing study of networks, he will discuss how social scientists and social network scholars use big data to monitor, anticipate and design interventions that engage wider communities of practice to address complex social challenges.

A prolific teacher, scholar and author, Contractor has authored over 250 research papers focusing on communicating and organizing, and also two books: “Predicting Real World Behaviors from Virtual World Data” (Springer, 2014), which he co-edited, and “Theories of Communication Networks” (Oxford University Press, 2003), which he co-authored and was named Book of the Year by the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association.

Contractor developed some of the first “virtual” college courses on emerging technologies in the workplace and has been lead developer of several major software projects. He earned a Ph.D. and M.A., both in communication, from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai (India).

Christopher Warren

, associate professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, and , associate professor of English at Georgetown University, will discuss “Networks and Digital Humanities: Six Degrees of Francis Bacon” on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 5 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (Room 114) in Bird Library. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Warren and Shore are co-founders of ,” a collaborative digital project that attempts to reconstruct Great Britain’s Early Modern social network. Drawing on the name of the popular party game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” the open-source project was launched in 2012 with support from a Google Faculty Research Award. The idea is for scholars and students to curate a dataset of more than 13,000 people and nearly 200,000 relationships from the 1500s to 1700s.

Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center and a professor of women’s and gender studies, considers Six Degrees an innovative model of collaborative scholarly practice.

Daniel Shore

“People from all over the world have contributed to the project, using data mining to pull associative information from manuscripts, letters and other written documents,” she says. “The end goal is to connect the dots and create an ever-evolving database that helps students and scholars, alike, gain a better understanding of Early Modern social relations among writers and thinkers of the period.”

For more information about the event, call the Syracuse University Humanities Center at 315-443-7192 or visit .

Warren and Shore’s visit is co-sponsored by the Department of Art & Music Histories and the Writing Program, both in the , and by Syracuse University Libraries. Syracuse Symposium^TM is organized and presented by the Humanities Center, based in Arts and Sciences.

Bowne Hall, home of the Renee Crown Honors Program

Integral to the program’s success is its attributes-based curriculum, providing students with a comprehensive and customizable academic experience, which culminates with a rigorous capstone project. The capstone is a two-year project designed to reflect the core of each student’s honors experience. Capstones, in fact, often have a life beyond the University, as many students publish, perform or present them after graduation.

“The Honors Program at Syracuse gives each student the opportunity to chart the course of his or her own interests,” says director  . “A capstone project is a personal reflection of curiosity and true diligence. The outcome is invested scholarship.”

While numerous students enroll in the Honors Program straight out of high school, a surprisingly large number enter as first- or second-year students or as external transfers. That the program is open to undergraduates from all schools and colleges on campus truly makes it an institutional success story.

On average, about half of the incoming Honors students have applied to the program midway through their first academic year. In addition, some rising sophomores opt to apply to the Honors program in June, seeking admission in the fall. For those students, it’s strongly advised that they meet with Associate Deputy Director before applying, just to make sure they’ll have time to complete the multi-layered program.

The application deadline for Spring Semester (2016) is Tuesday, Dec. 15. For more information, visit: .

The event also included the presentations of two exchange students hailing from Graz University of Technology, Austria.

, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, says this event is a true celebration of science and engineering at the University.

“For many of these undergraduate students, this is the first time they have ever done extended research with a faculty member,” explains Ruhlandt. “ It allows them to get a taste of what graduate-level research would be like.”

A Warrior Scholar Project participant buckles down in the classroom.

The University’s long tradition of service to the nation’s veterans and military service members continues in the classrooms of the . In July, Arts and Sciences faculty and staff hosted approximately a dozen military veterans for an intense week of academic workshops through the .

The program is designed to help enlisted men and women make successful transitions from the military to campus life. Students are guided through five days of analytical reading and writing courses, along with mentorship to help build confidence as they make a move toward their academic future.

Jason Fridley works in the Climate Change Garden with biology undergraduate Paige Armas.

, associate professor of biology in the , has co-authored a paper on the subject in Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2015), the world’s leading journal for original scientific research.

Fridley is part of an international research effort, led by , a community and ecosystem ecologist at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada. The team’s findings point to a link between plant biomass and species richness in grassland ecosystems. The results of these findings have global ramifications for the management and conservation of biodiversity.

For their paper, Fraser and colleagues designed an experiment, involving over 60 scientists from 19 countries on six continents. He describes the effort of collecting and analyzing the data as “Herculean.” This project is part of HerbDivNet, a network of scientists who study relationships between plant biomass production and species diversity.

Fridley, a plant ecologist who helped design Syracuse’s new , says implications of this study may be seen amid the rolling pastures of Central New York. He offers up the example of a dairy farmer, for whom managing a pasture is no easy chore, between maintaining high plant production for one’s cows and high biodiversity of plants in the field.

“You can have one or the other,” he says. “If you keep the pasture at relatively low yields, you support fewer cows, but potentially many species of plants and their consumers, like insects. But if you use fertilizer to increase your herd, you’re left with weedy, fast-growing, high-yield invasive plants that often crowd out rare, native vegetation.”

Managing ecosystem productivity is one possible solution to regulating diversity, but it has long been a subject of debate. This new research is groundbreaking, in that it reaffirms a previously held theory of biodiversity, but it also challenges a four-year-old article in Science that all but disproved it.

“The danger in the earlier paper was that it said there were no patterns,” says Fraser, alluding to factors, such as chance, history and necessity, which regulate species diversity. “That could have thrown us off, and led us down a rabbit hole. We wouldn’t have come any closer to understanding biodiversity.”

Samantha Usman

Samantha Usman ’16, a double major in physics and mathematics, has just been named a recipient of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s (ASF) award. She will use the $10,000 prize to continue her research on gravitational waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) group at Syracuse.

Originally created by the Mercury 7 astronauts, the ASF is a nonprofit organization backed by more than 100 of America’s space pioneers from Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs. The organization’s mission is to provide scholarships and support to the brightest students in the country pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, otherwise known as the STEM disciplines.

According to her faculty mentors in the Department of Physics, it was practically written in the heavens that Usman would find success in her academic career.

“I’m thrilled that Samantha has been recognized with an Astronaut Scholarship. Through her undergraduate research project, Sam has already made important contributions to the way that LIGO searches for colliding neutron stars and black holes. These contributions have been broadly recognized,” says Duncan Brown, associate professor of physics. “Sam has tremendous potential and I’m sure that she will soon be a leader in the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics.”

Usman learned of her award during her summer internship on the West Coast. She is currently working at California Institute of Technology, studying the use of gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars to understand the physics of matter at very high densities. When she returns to Syracuse in the fall, she will continue this work for her capstone thesis as part of the Renée Crown University Honors program.

“I’ve always loved mathematics, but I find it particularly beautiful when it describes nature,” explains Usman, who is also minoring in French. “I feel fortunate that I have worked with Professor Brown since my freshman year. I’ve learned so much and have accomplished more than I have ever thought possible.”

Upon graduation next May, Usman will begin her pursuit of a doctorate in physics.

“I plan on applying for a Fulbright or Marshall scholarship to study abroad for one year before returning to the United States to complete my Ph.D. in physics,” says the Pittsburgh native. “Following that, I hope to continue my research as a post-doctoral researcher and eventually as a professor at a university in the U.S.”

Amy Massoud

Amy Massoud G‘15, who just recently earned a Ph.D. in philosophy, has received notification that her most recent paper will be published in a forthcoming edition of the highly prestigious journal . Her essay, “Moral Worth and Supererogation” offers a novel account of the moral praiseworthiness of actions, which enables a plausible, positive account of morally supererogatory actions, i.e. actions that are morally praiseworthy, but that lie beyond the scope of duty.

According to , the Allan and Anita Sutton Distinguished Chair of Philosophy, only five percent of all submissions make it into the journal for publication.

“What Amy has done is truly remarkable for a graduate student. Ethics is the most prestigious ethics journal in the world, with a very rigorous evaluation procedure,” explains Bradley. “The department is ecstatic about this achievement. Her paper and her recently completed dissertation make an important contribution to philosophical debates about moral worth.”

Originally from Huntington Beach, Calif., Massoud earned degrees in philosophy from Golden West Community College, San Diego State University and Cal State University, Long Beach, before pursuing her doctorate at Syracuse.

The philosophy scholar says her interest in moral theory was piqued while completing her master’s degree.  However, it was during her third year in an independent study class at Syracuse that Massoud began exploring the deeper concepts of supererogation and its relationship to ethical merit.

Massoud credits Professor Bradley and Professor , director of graduate studies in the , with the crucial feedback and encouragement she received during the editing and submission process.

“The faculty members in the philosophy department are extremely supportive of its graduate students,” says Massoud. “I’m so thankful I ended up in this particular program.”

Just ask Professor Robert Doyle, who has been leading a team of interdisciplinary scientists in the search for more effective ways of delivering critical medicines into the body by way of vitamin B12.

Their findings are the subject of a groundbreaking article in the journal Endocrinology. Much of the piece, which is co-written by Doyle with his collaborator Christian Roth at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, looks at how B12 interacts with a gut hormone known as YY3-36.

Produced in the intestines, YY3-36 has the distinction of being able to “switch off” hunger by activating a hypothalamic pathway in the brain. It’s for this reason that Doyle and others think YY3-36 could be the magic bullet for anti-obesity medication, if not for the fact it’s unstable in blood and degrades rapidly in the stomach.

Enter B12. When Doyle combined the nutrient with YY3-36, he found that it didn’t just carry the peptide through the gastrointestinal tract; it enabled YY3-36 to send messages from there, telling the brain it was full.

“These findings demonstrate a stronger, more consistent and longer inhibition of food intake, following injections of the peptide YY3–36 bonded with vitamin B12,” says Doyle, whose research draws on chemistry and biology. “The work also shows a greater reduction in body weight gain, over the first three days the new drug was administered.”

Doyle’s research is funded by a major grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

The program included presentations from select faculty within the Syracuse University Interdisciplinary Neuroscience program, a research poster session, and a keynote address by renowned cognitive neuroscientist Sue Becker.

Becker, a professor of psychology, neuroscience, and behavior at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, discussed her most recent research, “Linking the Cognitive and Emotional Benefits of Exercise.”

Neuroscience Research Day 2015 was co-sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program and the Department of Exercise Science, the latter of which is in the .

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Bryce Renninger

When Bryce Renninger left Syracuse University with a dual degree in English and textual studies in the and Television, Radio and Film in the , he had already laid out solid a path to a cinematic career.

On Thursday, April 16, Renninger returns to campus for a public screening of his latest film, “Hotline.” The screening will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Watson Theater at the Robert B. Menschel Media Center.

The free event is co-sponsored by Office of Career Services, Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Immediately following the documentary, Stephen M. DiDomenico, visiting assistant professor of communication and rhetorical studies, will join Renninger for a question-and-answer session. DiDomenico currently teaches in the and is a doctoral candidate, along with Renninger, at Rutgers University.

According to producers, the documentary is an intimate look at how a seemly obsolete technology still finds a robust life, with record numbers of people calling into various types of telephone hotlines; from suicide helplines to psychic advice. The film showcases the people who call and the people who answer—and the ways human conversation and contact can fight isolation and alienation in an increasingly digital world.

Invited to return to Syracuse by his former professors—Roger Hallas, associate professor of English and Tula Goenka, associate professor of Television, Radio and Film—Renninger has successfully pursued a career that draws from the strengths of both of his majors. Hallas notes, “Bryce exemplifies the best qualities of our ETS/TRF dual majors, whose rigorous scholarly and professional training at Syracuse allows them to pursue rich and rewarding careers that combine media production and critical studies.”

In addition to producing films, Renninger is a film programmer, writer and educator.  He is currently the director of programming at the Brooklyn Film Festival and previously served as the director of programming at NewFest: New York’s LGBT Film Festival and the managing director for the South Asian International Film Festival. After serving on the editorial team of the online publication Indiewire until 2013, he is now finishing his dissertation on non-normative sexual politics and digital media technologies at Rutgers.

Associate Professor Kate Lewis adjusts a microscope for eighth- and ninth-graders during the annual High School Biology Apprenticeship Day.

The students wasted no time in sizing up their subjects. The fish, staring back at them, had no comment.

Normally found in ponds and streams in India, the fish in question—zebrafish, or Danio rerio—have become popular among aquarium enthusiasts all over the world. But on this day, they were stars of the University’s annual High School Biology Apprenticeship Day.

in the , has led the outreach program for the past four years, hosting dozens of high school students from the city of Syracuse and Central New York. Two years ago, Lewis was awarded a National Science Foundation grant for her research work to identify the key regulatory genes that instruct cells to grow into a particular population of spinal cord nerve cells. A component of that NSF grant has partially funded the yearly High School Biology Apprenticeship Day program, and empowered her to help more young women and underrepresented minority students participate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) projects.

“Students get to do some real hands-on work, which hopefully expands and deepens their biological knowledge,” says Lewis, who uses zebrafish to better understand the role of neurons in the central nervous system. “We hope this experience gets them even more excited about science—especially, biology—and inspires them to pursue it in college.”

Aided by a team of graduate and undergraduate biologists, Lewis spent the afternoon guiding the students through a series of experiments, demonstrating how a microscopic fish embryo evolves from a simple cell cluster into a complex system of fins and gills. In the process, students received hands-on training in cell biology, sexual characteristics, mutations, phenotypes and nerve-cell development.

“Female zebrafish can lay hundreds of eggs in a single day,” she says. “The surrounding ‘chorion,’ or egg shell, of each embryo is highly transparent, making the species an excellent subject for genetic studies.”

Lewis says students particularly enjoyed viewing green florescent protein with a UV light under a microscope. “These glowing cells allow us to see, in detail, how embryonic circulatory systems function,” she adds.

At the end of the day, each student received a special certificate—a souvenir of an unforgettable day at Syracuse and, for many, the passport to further scientific adventures.

Himika Bhattacharya

Assistant Professor is in high demand in India, evidenced by her recent invited talk at the Center for South Asian Studies at Calcutta University; her facilitating an ethnography workshop at Ambedkar University in Delhi; and her work as a feminist pedagogies educator 
for E-QUAL (Enhancing Quality, Access and Governance of Undergraduate Education in India), an international collaborative funded by the European Union. She also has an article on the politics of memory forthcoming in the journal Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism.

Pedrp DiPietro

Assistant Professor is a consultant at the Latin American Social Sciences Institute (also known as FLASCO) in Argentina, where he developed a multimedia workshop on feminist pedagogies in digital environments. He recently co-authored an article with members of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in the journal Cuadernos del Área de Género, Sociedad, y Política (FLACSO-Buenos Aires 2014) and has an article forthcoming in the feminist geography journal Gender, Place, and Culture. He also gave an invited talk at SUNY Oneonta on Latina feminisms, as part of the Dr. Ralph R. Watkins Speaker Series.

Vivian May

The inaugural recipient of the LGBT Resource Center’s Social Justice Recognition Award, is recent author of “Pursuing Intersectionality, Unsettling Dominant Imaginaries” (Routledge, 2015); a chapter on Anna Julia Cooper in “North Carolina Women: Their Lives and Times” (University of Georgia Press, 2014); an article on Harriet Tubman in the journal Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism; and an article about intersectionality in the journal Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty

Distinguished Professor , currently serves as co-principal investigator with (associate professor, African American studies) on a $500,000 Mellon Foundation grant: they also have a co-authored book chapter forthcoming in the “Oxford Handbook on Transnational Feminist Movements.” Mohanty recently participated in Skidmore College’s Karen Levin Coburn ’63 Lecture Series. Her address, “Transnational Feminist Dialogues on Neoliberalism and Radical Praxis,” was part of Skidmore’s ongoing efforts to promote the importance of gender studies. Mohanty also contributed a chapter to “The Truly Diverse Faculty: New Dialogues in American Higher Education” (Palgrave, 2014).

Dana Olwan

In recent months, Assistant Professor has received multiple recognitions for her work in transnational feminist theories of race, gender and religion. She received a fellowship from the Palestinian American Research Council, underwriting her study of gender violence and “honor crimes,” and was awarded the Lilian Robinson Scholar Award from the Simone de Beauvoir Institute of Concordia University in Montreal. Olwan also recently published two book chapters (one in “Muslim Women, Transnational Feminism and the Ethics of Pedagogy” [Routledge, 2014] and another in “In the Name of ‘Honor’: Responding to Violence against Women From Socio-legal and Policing Perspectives” [Palgrave, 2014]), and she has an article forthcoming in “Feral Feminisms” and a co-authored article forthcoming in “Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice.” Lastly, with co-author Tamara Lea Spira, she has just completed an extensive report to the Association for Women’s Rights in Development titled “Decolonizing Funding for Indigenous Women’s Organizations.”

Gwendolyn Pugh

Associate Professor and her co-editor Elaine Richardson (Ohio State University), have been working on a forthcoming issue of Social Identities focused on hip-hop literacies. Pough was recently elected to a five-year term on the executive committee of the Modern Language Association’s Division on Popular Culture: she was also elected to the advisory board for the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition. In Fall 2014, Pough gave a plenary address titled “Bad Rhetorician” at the annual Cultural Rhetorics Conference at Michigan State University, and an interview with Pough about her work was published in Composition Forum.

Assistant Professor published an essay, “Race, Gender and Rescue: Reading News about Palestine, Iraq, and Syria,” in the Middle East Women’s Studies Newsletter that draws on her acclaimed book, “Depicting the Veil” (Palgrave, 2013). Riley also was invited to speak from her book and larger body of research on the politics of representation at SUNY Oswego’s Ernest & Young Lecture Series on “Gender Equity in the Workplace.”

“Realizing a more just world, whether in one’s research, teaching or service, is at the heart of what feminist scholar-educators do,” says May, who also currently serves as president of the National Women’s Studies Association. “Here at Syracuse, I am truly honored to work with such a dynamic faculty. They are gifted scholars, passionate educators and committed activists.”

E. Patrick Johnson

On March 18, Johnson will present his acclaimed one-man show, “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales,” at 7 p.m. at the Community Folk Art Center (805 E. Genesee St.). The show is based on his bestselling book “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South” (University of North Carolina Press, 2008). He is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of African American Studies and Performance Studies at Northwestern.

The following day, Johnson will join McCune, associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies and of performing arts at Wash U., for a breakfast seminar on queer methodology and professionalization at 9:30 a.m. in 304 Tolley. Registration is required. To R.S.V.P., email ejrand@syr.edu.

That evening, McCune will discuss his book “Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing” (University of Chicago Press, 2014) at 5:30 p.m. in 123 Sims Hall. The book is a critical analysis of the “down-low” phenomenon, in which African American men have sex with men but maintain an outwardly heterosexual lifestyle.

Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr.

“Performing Black Masculinities and Same-Sex Desires” is co-sponsored by the departments of African American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, the Democratizing Knowledge Collective and the Community Folk Art Center, all in the ; the departments of history and sociology in the ; and the Wendy H. Cohen Fund for Cultural and Artistic Enrichment, administered by the Department of Drama in the (VPA).

The program is co-presented by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program in A&S and the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in VPA.

Events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact 315-443-1011.

Biboti Ouikahilo demonstrates African drumming for students in Carol Babiracki’s “Intro to Word Music” course.

Babiracki, associate professor of ethnomusicology in the Department of Art and Music Histories in the , invited Ouikahilo and a few other professional percussionists to her class to help students bridge the gap between the abstract musical concepts they have been studying and the complex cross-rhythms of live drumming.

“If I had the money, I would teach my entire ‘World Music’ class through this kind of workshop and performance experience,” Babiracki explains. “It’s a powerful way to break down cultural and conceptual barriers between our own communities and those we casually think of as ‘other.'”

Ouikahilo is from the Ivory Coast, where he was a lead performer and teacher with the Cote d’Ivoire National Dance Company. After moving to the United States in 1997, he spent six years teaching at the renowned Djoniba Dance and Drum Center in New York City. In the early 2000s, he toured the country with Jimmy Buffet and appeared in the film “Tears of the Sun” with Bruce Willis.

Ouikahilo eventually landed in Syracuse and, in 2009, co-founded Wacheva, a center for multicultural dance, drumming and fitness in the One Village dance studio building in the Westcott area.

As curious onlookers gathered outside the HL classroom door, students inside surrendered to the music, actively participating with Ouikahilo’s infectious and improvised compositions. The majority of them were out of their seats, taking turns playing the various African instruments.

“Many students came up to me afterwards with excited observations about similarities between Biboti’s West African music and dance and their own African-American genres, like hip-hop and krumping,” exclaimed Babiracki. “It was enlightening!”

Elizabeth Droge-Young in the laboratory where she works with flour beetles

Research by Elizabeth Droge-Young, a Ph.D. student in biology in the , has caught the attention of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). This past fall, she received AAUW’s annual American Dissertation Fellowship for her continuing work with the evolving reproductive traits of flour beetles.

Here is a transcript of the attached video.

So right here we are looking at female reproductive tracks of females who where mated to two different males. So this area here is called the bursa. It’s where sperm comes in and also where eggs will come down this little tube to be fertilized.

My name is Liz Droge-Young and I am a Biology Ph.D. Candidate. And I study the evolution of reproductive traits and I use Flour beetles as my model system.

Flour beetles are a grain pest. They can be found all over the world; anyplace that humans store grain.

They are incredible promiscuous. They can mate multiple times in an hour. So that is something really interesting that I am looking at …why they are so promiscuous. They also, or I should say, we have special lines that we have created in collaboration with John Belote, who is a geneticist in the department, that have red or green fluorescently tagged sperm. We are able to mate a female to a red male and a green male and then see how those different sperm perform; and not as a question of red verses green. You can look at it correlated to other male traits. So say, your red males are larger than your green males. Then you can look and see, well, do if larger beetles have some sort of advantage over smaller beetles?

One of the main goals is to understand how it impacts biodiversity. So we are trying to figure out, why is it that they mate so much? Are there environmental reasons? And what are the downstream consequences of this extreme promiscuity?

I was awarded a dissertation writing fellowship from the American Association of University Women. It’s a grant that pays just for my living essentially. It means that I have an entire year that I can entirely focus on research and not have to worry about teaching, which is great in it’s own right, but definitely takes a lot of time out of the research that you are trying to get together as a Ph.D. student. So I have just the financial support and the freedom to just work on my research.

I actually didn’t realize how competitive the award was until I was awarded it. It was given to about 50 women this year across the united states in every field of research, whether that is science, whether that is the humanities…anything whatsoever.

“So what are you guys…what is the experiment you are doing today?”

I feel like I completely lucked out in landing a Ph.D. position in this department; and particularly in this lab. I have just the most fantastic collogues. We all study slightly different systems, but we are able to really support each other and collaborate and help each other out on experiments. On experiment days we just get everyone in the lab together to watch whatever insect is mating that day. In the department in general, I have been given good support for traveling for conferences and encouraged to really get my research out there and communicate with other scientists about that in other departments.

Ramesh Raina:

It’s a great joy for us to see our students recognized, nationally and internationally with these types of awards and prizes. So it’s a big honor and a great joy to the whole department. It also motivates students. Other students… it sort of energizes them that they should apply for these types of things.

Liz:

Its wonderful. It’s a great time. I feel like I am cheating.

Two humpback whales feeding. SBNMS file photo by Susan Parks, Syracuse University, taken under NOAA Fisheries Permit #605-1904

Humpback whales have a trick or two when it comes to finding a quick snack at the bottom of the ocean. But how they pinpoint that meal at night, with little or no available light, remains a mystery.

Susan Parks, assistant professor of biology in the , in collaboration with a consortium of other researchers, has been studying these unique feeding behaviors. Her research emphasizes the importance of specific auditory cues that these mammoth creatures emit as they search the deep ocean for their prey.

Her findings are the subject of an article in the December issue of Scientific Reports (“Evidence for acoustic communication among bottom foraging humpback whales,” 2014), co-authored by researchers at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Oregon State University, Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the Whale Center of New England.

“Humpback whales are known to cooperate with others to corral prey near the surface,” says Parks, who studies marine science and acoustic communication. “Recent studies suggest they may cooperate [with each other], when feeding on bottom prey, as well.”

Susan Parks, Associate Professor of Biology

Parks was part of a collaborative multi-institutional consortium that has spent a decade monitoring humpback feeding behaviors in the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Massachusetts. Whales were tagged with special underwater recording devices so Parks could determine how specific acoustic sounds correlated with successful seafloor feeding.

The investigation revealed that whales make “tick-tock” noises while hunting together at night in deep, pitch-black water, but are silent when hunting alone.

On the menu? Mostly sand lance—eel-like fish known to bury themselves in the sand of the ocean floor. Parks suggests that whales’ vocal sounds may help flush the sand lance out of hiding to where they’re scooped up and eaten.

The clock-like sounds created by whales may also serve as a dinner bell of sorts for other nearby whales during late-night feedings.

“Hints of behavior suggest that other whales who overhear the sounds are attracted to them and may eavesdrop on other whales hunting for food,” Parks adds.

Prior to joining Syracuse’s faculty in 2011, Parks held various appointments at Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the U.S. government’s highest honor for scientists and engineers.