Headlines and Deadlines from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Annual Research Conference Update

The Research Conference committee sincerely thanks the entire faculty and their students who submitted their work for the April 10, 2013 Research Conference, our tenth annual conference. Thanks to the dedication of our faculty co-chairs, Drs. Kate Fiori and Chris Storm, each year the conference involves more and more faculty advisers and reviewers. There were a total of 179 student presenters (including second, third, etc. authors) and 4oo registrants. Each year, the conference is more exciting because of all the wonderful faculty support. This year our luncheon speaker was Dr. Tyrone Hayes, professor, Integrative Biology at University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Hayes’ talk on the process of research in general, and this journey in particular, was dynamic and underlined the spirit of the conference. For more see https://academics.adelphi.edu/aurc/.

First Annual Robotics Challenge

Spearheaded by our Science Advancement Program for local middle and high school students, and sponsored in part by Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union, the university held its first annual Lego Robotics Challenge for middle and high school students. Nine middle school teams and eleven high school teams participated in the Challenge, which was judged by Adelphi faculty from physics and computer science, in addition to external science educators. For more information, contact Sabita Nayak, Director of SAP at snayak@adelphi.edu and visit http:// academics.adelphi.edu/science-advancement/robotics.php.

Research and Scholarship

Adelphi faculty continue to be active in submitting grants to the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, the EPA, as well as New York State agencies and private foundations.

Dr. Beth Christensen and colleagues from Stony Brook and Queens College received a RAPID grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the impact of Superstorm Sandy on the coastline and sediment of the western bays of Nassau and Jamaica Bay. This work resulted in sea floor mapping, sediment sampling, and debris floor mapping.

Dr. Douglas London received a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Engaged Anthropology. Dr. London will disseminate his findings that the traditional diets of the Waorani appear to reduce chronic and infectious disease in these communities. He will travel to these isolated communities to communicate his findings and host a conference for local policy makers and stakeholders.

Dr. Anagnotis Agelerakis received a grant from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory to clean and consolidate the dry anthropological remains recovered from the formal Neolithic burial ground of Aposelemis in Crete. This project will continue Dr. Agelarakis’ work in skeletal biology, forensics, demographic issues and paleopathology profiles of population samples.

Submitted and waiting for agency feedback:

Dr. Eugenia Villa Cuesta submitted a proposal to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. Dr. Villa Cuesta has pilot data that indicate succinate dehydrogenase deficiency disease (SDH) activity is increased in the mitochondria of flies that were fed the drug rapamycin. Rapamycin is currently being used in organ transplant patients to prevent rejection. Her work will test the hypothesis that rapamycin can protect from the pathology induced by SDH deficiency, using D. melanogaster as a genetic model.

Dr. Sean Bentley submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to continue and expand his work with school districts to create collaborative, museum-based experiential learning opportunities for students and teachers.

Dr. James Dooley is seeking a Geddes Visiting Collection Fellowship to the Australian Museum to examine 200 lots of AM tilefishes, photograph, collect tissue samples and skeletal material. He also proposed travel to Western Australia to observe malacanthid distribution, behavior and present mound-building evidence.

Dr. Brian Stockman proposed to conduct hands-on research involving undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry students using the department’s multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. Understanding the effects on structure/function relationships imposed by molecular crowding may be relevant to renewable energy research.

Dr. Aaren Freeman submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to study the effects of invasive green crabs on native flora and fauna and examine how local tidal flows influence the predator impacts.

Fulbright Highlights

Adelphi faculty continue to receive prestigious Fulbright awards. Professor Gita Surie was awarded a Research grant to India. She will use this award to continue her work on the commercialization of renewable energy at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Just a reminder that the traditional Fulbright application is due no later than August 1, 2013 and that the Senior Specialist have rolling deadlines.
FDA Research Highlights

The university’s internal faculty grants have enabled faculty to conduct research, publish, and create works of art. The following faculty are recipients of this year’s grants.

A&S

Sean Bentley, Physics, Physical Analysis of Bone Wounds from Ancient Greece

Peggy Cassidy, Communication, Printed Poison, Pernicious Stuff and Other Terrible Temptations: Historical Perspectives on Media in the Lives of American Children

Jessica Dutton, Environmental Studies, Metal Levels in Shark Fin Soup and the Risk to Human Health

Heather Liwanag, The effects of tagging methods on fur seal thermoregulation

Douglas London, Anthropology, Diet as a double-edged sword: The Pharmaceutical Properties of Food Among Waorani Hunter-gatherers of Amazonian Ecuador

Maya Muratov, Art & Art History, On the Edge of the Oikoumene: Ancient Pantikapion and the Key Questions of the Greek Colonization

Edward Reno, History, The Digital Decretals

Melissa VanAlstine, Chemistry, Synthesis of Fluorinated ATP derivatives for F NMR Experiments

Eugenia Villa-Cuesta, Biology, Rapamycin as potential treatment for SDH deficiency in Drosophila melanogaster

Business

Monica Yang, Institutional Distance and Firm Performance in cross-border mergers and acquisition: How do emerging market firms overcome competitive disadvantages in developed markets

Derner

Francine Conway, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Treatment in ADHD Children

Jairo Fuertes, Personality, adherence and well-being in dialysis patient treatment

Education

Kadi Bliss, Health Educators and Health Care Policy Advocacy in a Changing Climate

Renee Fabus, The use of electropalatography in intervention with children diagnosed with speech sound disorders

Kevin Mercier, The Impact of Annual Personnel Performance Review (APPR) on Secondary Physical Education

Meredith Whitley, On the ground in Uganda: Exploring the role of sport and physical activity in promoting gender equality and female empowerment

Nursing

Elizabeth Lee, The experience of Chinese Victims of Domestic Violence: A Qualitative Investigation

Thomas Virgona, EMT First Responders: An Information Technology Assessment
Social Work

Roni Berger, The experience of young adults who leave an insular community: From Ultra- Orthodox Judaism to secular life

Carol Ann Daniel, Efficacy of a community health worker-delivered HIV/STI Prevention Intervention for Internally Displaced Women in Leogane Haiti: A 12 Month Follow-up of a N-of-1 Pilot Study

Mary Cortina
Director
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

This piece is from the Spring 2013 Issue No. 18 of the FCPE Newsletter.