Kevin Du

It’s a mentality that has served Du, an electrical engineering and computer science professor in the , well as he has carved out a decorated career as a global cybersecurity expert. His labs have been used by more than 1,100 institutions and universities across the world, and it all started with the launch of the , which developed hands-on instructional laboratory exercises known as SEED labs for cybersecurity education.

But at the time of its creation in 2002, the experiences Du wanted to provide to his students around cybersecurity education didn’t exist in a practical fashion. He set out to create a virtual training tool that could help prepare cybersecurity experts on how to handle the pressing issues they would face in the future.

The initiative launched thanks to $1.3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The SEED project’s objectives are to develop an instructional laboratory environment and accompanying laboratory exercises that help students comprehend the practical security principles, concepts and technologies associated with cybersecurity issues; apply those principles to designing and implementing security mechanisms that can counter cybersecurity attacks; analyze and test computer systems for potential security issues; and apply these security principles to resolving real-world cybersecurity problems.

“I designed the SEED project so students can actually walk through those attacks by themselves on their computer,” says Du, who is a fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery. “Not just talk about the attack, but now they can actually see the attack and think about what they would need to do to stop the attack.”

Since its founding, the open-source (software that is made freely available to interested parties) SEED project, which operates by having the students access the lab work through virtual machines, has accomplished the following:

• Developed more than 40 labs exploring computer and information security topics like software security, network security, web security, operating system security and mobile app security, and
• through its SEED emulator, users can replicate the internet on a single computer, introducing students to hands-on cybersecurity research activities related to the internet, Border Gateway Protocols (the internet’s routing protocol), Domain Name System (the internet’s directory), and Blockchain, Botnet, the Dark-net and more.

“We are not teaching students to carry out these attacks, but if you don’t know what’s happening behind the attack, you won’t know what to do when you encounter an attack,” Du says.

Kevin Du (second from right) has carved out a decorated career as a global cybersecurity expert. His labs have been used by more than 1,100 institutions and universities across the world. (Photo by Jeremy Brinn)

A Safe, Hands-On Environment for Resolving Cybersecurity Attacks

Before Du created these virtual labs, cyberattacks would be explored on paper, with professors describing how a theoretical cyberattack could be carried out. While it is important for students to understand the theoretical workings of cyberattacks, Du says this approach leaves out the equally important practical application, the actual stopping of a cyberattack as it is happening or once it has happened.

Professors would discuss cyberattacks in theory, but gaining hands-on, practical experience was very limited, for one very good reason, according to Du. Working through cyberattacks represents a security threat, one that can’t be tackled on a normal University-issued computer, because some of the cyberattacks being studied could bring down the entire internet if they were successfully carried out.

The solution, according to Du, was to build virtual machine technology that would allow ���ϲ����� students—and students in classrooms all across the country—to access and run the cybersecurity software on their own personal computers.

At the time, virtual machine technology was still relatively new on college campuses. Du fine-tuned the project’s goals and objectives, focusing on educating students about the dangers of the different kinds of attacks while emphasizing ways to keep these attacks from happening.

“There was a huge gap between the theory and the practice of a cybersecurity attack. We needed to fill that gap,” Du says. “The big achievement with the SEED lab is we brought the ideas that students were learning about in their research and we simplified those ideas and made this hands-on component that compliments the theoretical teachings.”

Becoming a Global Leader in Cybersecurity

Since starting as a professor at the University in 2001, Du’s research papers have been cited 17,800 times, and he has won two ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security Test-of-Time Awards.

In 2015, Du, who was always interested in hands-on learning, began offering training workshops funded through a $1 million NSF grant for interested cybersecurity educators at colleges and universities across the country. Each summer, approximately 80 instructors converge on Link Hall for a weeklong intensive training workshop where they learn the ins and outs of Du’s open-source software. Since offering the sessions, Du estimates that more than 400 college professors were trained on the software and are now teaching their students many of the same cybersecurity awareness and prevention lessons Du teaches through his labs.

“I’ve found that many instructors share my teaching philosophy that they want to have hands-on practice with their classes, but they’re finding there weren’t many opportunities,” Du says. “Now, my SEED lab can fill that gap and it’s very easy for the instructors to use. Because I put a lot of thought into designing this SEED lab, it makes it easier for other professors to bring the teachings back to their campuses.”

Du has also written a textbook based on the SEED labs, “Computer and Internet Security: A Hands-on Approach,” that is used by nearly 300 universities. Knowing the source material can be a bit dry when digested only in a textbook, Du built a recording studio in his basement and produces video lessons complete with hands-on demonstrations to accompany his lectures. The videos are posted online and available at a cost of $10 per class.

“The videos certainly help enhance the teachings through demonstrations of the attacks or the lessons we’re learning and have helped more people benefit from my SEED labs,” says Du, who hopes to one day introduce artificial intelligence topics into his SEED labs’ educational environment.

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” Jason Davis and Jenny Stromer-Galley offer up tips and tools you can use to help spot misinformation, share advice to help us be better-informed consumers of information and social media, and analyze the latest research on misinformation trends in the upcoming presidential election.

With the increase of misinformation and disinformation on the internet and social media, our brains struggle to process what we’re seeing and whether an image, a video clip or a story is real or not.

Faculty members and have studied the trends and created tools to help discern what’s real and what is synthetic when it comes to content posted online and on social media.

Stromer-Galley is an expert in political campaigns and misinformation and is a professor in the ; Davis is an expert on misinformation and disinformation detection. He is a research professor with the Office of Research and Creative Activity in the , and is also co-director of the .

“Depending on where people are getting their information, the quality and credibility of that information could be quite low,” Stromer-Galley says. “It leaves the public more vulnerable to state actors who are trying to engage in disinformation campaigns or U.S.-based malignant actors who are trying to manipulate the public for their own ends.”

“Our brains have not evolved as fast as the technology, and so we are still as vulnerable as we ever were to the same sorts of approaches at being deceived, intentionally or unintentionally,” Davis says. “With this new digital landscape and digital speed and scale, we need digital tools to help us protect ourselves from ourselves sometimes, and sometimes from that malicious information ecosystem.”

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” Stromer-Galley and Davis offer up tips and tools you can use to help spot misinformation, share advice to help us be better-informed consumers of information and social media, and analyze the latest research on misinformation trends in the upcoming presidential election.

Check out featuring Davis and Stromer-Galley. A transcript [PDF]��is also available.

Semantic Forensics Helping Detect What’s Real and What’s Fake

Davis is involved with the Semantic Forensics program, whose work is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Through his efforts with DARPA, Davis is helping to advance research into the detection of disinformation and misinformation in the media.

Jason Davis

Semantic forensics is the understanding of not just whether something is real or fake, Davis says, but also delves into the why. What was the intent? Who was the target?

In its fourth year of concentrating on this research area, Davis has been developing digital tools that identify synthetic, manipulated media. The program evaluates the detectors being used, striving to understand what they can and can’t do when it comes to identifying synthetic media, as well as how effective they are at spotting real or synthetic content.

“We can say with confidence that this detector works for detecting these kinds of fake, synthetic images at a 98% accuracy, and it is capable of doing this but not being able to do that. They’re not a panacea, but here’s what they can do, so we learn how to use these detection devices properly and use them appropriately,” Davis says. “Then there’s the development of the tools and the modeling of the threat landscape. How do we create controlled versions of what we know is going on out there in the wild so that we can study, train and better understand our capabilities.”

Investigating Social Media Spending Trends and Messaging Behind Political Ads

Stromer-Galley, who leads the University’s ��team, has studied misinformation trends in this presidential race and other top 2024 contests.

Jenny Stromer-Galley

After the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the summer, the ElectionGraph team explored the money being spent by the candidates, political action committees, political parties and unknown actors that mentioned presidential candidates in advertisements on both Facebook and Instagram.

The aim was to “visualize the firehose of information and misinformation coming at voters from groups with a jumble of motives, ties and trustworthiness ahead of the 2024 elections,” Stromer-Galley says.

The findings showed that:

• negative social media advertising in the presidential race increased after the assassination attempt;
• nearly 3,500 Facebook pages from outside organizations spent $55 million over the past year in an effort to influence the public this election season; and
• there was a pattern of “coordinated inauthentic behavior” among some outside organizations, including a large network of Facebook pages running ads (costing an estimated $5 million) aimed at scamming the public under the guise of supporting a presidential candidate’s campaign that garnered roughly 234 million impressions.

“To our surprise, there was a large network of individuals and organizations that we didn’t know who was behind this that were running scam ads targeted to people who are activated and excited about the presidential election. They were capitalizing on their enthusiasm by turning over their credit cards and then they’re getting scammed,” Stromer-Galley says. “While Facebook is trying to take down those pages, the scammers continue to stay a step ahead.”

Tips to Ward Off Misinformation

When you find yourself aimlessly scrolling through social media without thinking about the validity of what you just saw, that act makes you fully engaged in the platform and susceptible to misinformation or disinformation.

Users are encouraged to embrace cognitive friction when scrolling, because, according to both Davis and Stromer-Galley, the social media apps are designed for you to absorb content at face value, without applying deeper thought to who was behind the post or what their intent might be. By increasing friction, you take the proactive step of slowing down and contemplating the legitimacy of a post.

Both Davis and Stromer-Galley say that the best defense to misinformation and disinformation campaigns is knowledge, urging people to get their news from a wide-range of diverse, traditional media outlets, and to not solely rely on social media as a reliable news source.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a private, nonprofit grantmaking organization, started its to begin to answer some of them. The program’s stated goal is “To sharpen our scientific understanding of the physical principles and mechanisms that distinguish living systems from inanimate matter, and to explore the conditions under which physical principles and mechanisms guide the complexification of matter towards life.”

To that end, the program awarded (left) and (right), professors in the in the and members of the BioInspired Institute, a three-year grant to explore what they’ve described as a fundamental unanswered question about the functionality of cells and the energy and entropy landscape of cell interiors.

Jennifer Ross (left) and Jennifer Schwarz, professors in the Department of Physics, received a three-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Matter to Life program.

“There is a lack of quantitative understanding of the principles governing the non-equilibrium control knobs inside the cell,” Ross and Schwarz explained in their proposal. “Without this knowledge, we will never understand how cells work, or how we can replicate them in synthetic materials systems.”

They’ve chosen to focus their work on one very particular aspect of the biology of cells, the concentrations of protein molecules within them known as protein condensates, and specifically their liquid-liquid phase separation, which they describe as the “killer app” for the sculpting of energy and entropy in the cell.

“Liquid-liquid phase separation is when two liquids separate, like oil and water,” Ross says. “The proteins separate out [into droplets] and make what we think of as membrane-less organelles. We’re interested in how both energy-using systems and entropy-controlling systems can help to shape those organelles.”

They’re hoping to gain an understanding of how cells self-organize without a “manager”—in this case, a membrane to act as a physical containment system—as well as how they react and adapt to their environment.

“This droplet formation is so sensitive to temperature and its surroundings,” says Schwarz. “The cell knows, ‘A ha!’ The temperature is increasing, so the environment is slightly different. So…I’m going to adapt.”

Ross is serving as principal investigator, and with graduate student assistance, will be performing reconstitution experiments to explore these processes, while co-principal investigator Schwarz and her team will be delving into the theoretical side of the science using predictive simulations. The three-year grant will also fund a paid undergraduate and two local high school students through summer programs.

The hope is that a better understanding of cell behavior at this level could ultimately lead to breakthroughs in the development of smart synthetic materials. “Imagine a road-paving material that could identify when a pothole develops and heal itself,” Ross says.

It’s just one example of countless possibilities for learning from biological systems.

Story by Laura Wallis

Buzard and her longtime research partners— (associate professor of economics at Tufts University) and (associate professor of economics at Brigham Young University)—received word this summer that they had been selected by the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute to conduct research as visiting scholars at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

They will spend two weeks furthering their studies on how women carry a disproportionate share of the mental load, but the exact dates for their residency were held up over child care concerns for Gee and Stoddard. The trio expects to convene at the Federal Reserve in the spring or early summer of 2025.

When it comes to these invisible tasks—which can include scheduling medical appointments, arranging child care and carpools and planning for other child-related extracurricular activities—this is par for the course, according to the preliminary findings of their research proposal.

Kristy Buzard

“There have been several times when one of my co-authors has been presenting the paper and they have to pause because their child’s school is calling and they have to stop what they’re doing to take the call,” says Buzard, a Melvin A. Eggers Economics Faculty Scholar and senior research associate for the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

“Our research strives to understand the disproportionate burden of the mental load that it seems women bear, but we’re also planning on going deeper to understand why that happens, and what the impacts are. Hopefully, this may help us better understand the wage gap between men and women.”

To study the inequality in external demands placed on women, Buzard, Gee and Stoddard ran a large, randomized control trial where they sent emails from fictitious parents in heterosexual relationships to school principals asking them to contact one of the parents. Recording which parent the principal contacted and their reaction to different messages parents might send, Buzard says the group set out to quantify why principals would insist on calling the woman even if she says she’s busy, while respecting the man’s stance that he was unavailable.

The research revealed that mothers are 1.4 times more likely to be contacted by their child’s school than fathers and that parents had a relatively difficult time getting schools, doctors’ offices, day care facilities, places of worship and other organizations to respect their wishes when it comes to which parent should be contacted when issues arise.

“These principals responded less strongly to the signals the moms were sending about being unavailable while largely not calling the men who say they’re unavailable,” says Buzard. “This asymmetry in how the principals behaved led us to ask about the mental load and why mothers end up taking on more of the responsibility when there are more external demands being asked of them?”

Buzard sat down with SU News to discuss the goals of this research, how being a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will advance their efforts and why women have a larger parenting burden placed on them than men.

How will this residency help advance your research?

We’re hoping the Federal Reserve has data they can share that will shed light on our research. The Fed is not a monolith; there’s the Federal Reserve Board at the center as well as the twelve Reserve Banks and all their branches. There are research departments and community development departments. There are economists and people who are more policy and outreach focused who are also interested in these same issues. The more that we as academics, specifically economists, can do to be in touch with people on the policy front lines, the better our research is going to be. We need to be in touch with the policy landscape and I’m excited to connect with the Federal Reserve’s network.

How are you and your team incorporating the data you’ve collected and interpreting what it says about why women have a larger burden placed on them than men?

One of the early pieces of data we’re working with is taking transcripts from the voicemails that were left for us from principals—about 17,000 voicemails (out of the 80,000 principals we called)—and doing a sentiment analysis to quantify how nice or mean or happy the principals were in the voicemail. That is, we’re studying what sentiment was embodied in the way these people are talking when they leave the message.

We’re in the very early stage, but what we expect is that if the email sends a signal that says the mother’s unavailable—which goes against the social norm—and if there is pressure on women to always be available as parents, we’d see more negative sentiment from principals when the mother said she was unavailable. If that response is going to be judged negatively, we would hope we could pick that up in these voicemails. If the father is not available, our guess is that’s not really an issue for the principal.

There are these subtle and not-so-subtle social cues that tell women that this [always being available for your child] is your job and you’re bad if you don’t do it. Where does this come from? Why do women do more of this work? If the mother lets something fall through the cracks, is she treated differently than if dad lets something fall through the cracks? These are some of the questions we want to explore.

Why have we seen a slowdown in the closing of the wage gap between men and women?

It closed over time and now it’s kind of stubbornly sitting there, but we’re a bit puzzled at this point as a profession in being able to explain exactly why we don’t seem to be able to [fully] close the wage gap. I’m not sure we can say it has stopped closing, but if you look from the 1980s on, there was a big closing of the gap as more women came into the workforce and we shifted to dual-earner families.

It seems like we’ve hit some kind of limit and we’re not seeing the gap close at any appreciable rate and at this point, a big part of the gap can be explained by motherhood. There’s also a path dependency because child care is so expensive that unless you have two people who are both super-high earners, there is an economic incentive for one of them to step out of the labor force to take care of children when they’re young. Because historically women have made less than men, oftentimes the calculus says it’s better for the family if the mother is the one who steps out of the workforce. But none of this is in isolation—these are norms that developed over time and we’re kind of just stuck now.

What are some of the other intended or unintended results of this research as it pertains to the wage gap between men and women?

If we really want to understand the gender wage gap, we need to think about the ways that the anticipation of this gap has people making career decisions from very early on. We conducted a survey asking a range of questions, thinking about the fact that you might have extra demands coming from parenthood and how that might affect your choice of a college major.

We see twice as many women as men saying they thought hard about this when they chose their college major. We see a lot more people saying they chose to stay at home for some portion of the time [since becoming a mother versus becoming a father]. We see people saying they chose more flexible arrangements, or they might take less money in exchange for more flexibility. The reason all of this is important, aside from people’s health and happiness, is that this can place women at a real disadvantage in terms of long-term outcomes in the labor market.

Larsen, Chair of the Department of Public Health in ���ϲ�����’s , was invited to present to a panel of scientists, policymakers and policy implementers at an information-gathering event called the “White House Roundtable on Emerging Technologies for Preventing Health Emergencies.” At the onset of COVID in 2020, Larsen spearheaded an interdisciplinary team of experts in coordination with the New York State Department of Health to create a wastewater surveillance system throughout New York State.

David Larsen presents his “lightning talk” at the White House.

As one of many presenters during the three-hour roundtable, Larsen was given two minutes to discuss the merits of testing wastewater for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

“It was quite humbling to receive the invitation,” Larsen says. “I always hope that my work can influence public health, and since COVID-19, I’ve been trying to support the improvement of our infectious disease surveillance systems in New York State and this country.”

Today, the����is testing for COVID in at least one wastewater treatment plant in all 62 of the state’s counties, covering a population of 15.4 million. The����provides the most recent statistics regarding the network.

Days before Larsen’s trip to Washington, D.C., the (CDC) named the New York State Department of Health Wastewater Surveillance Program as a new in the National Wastewater Surveillance System. New York’s system was recognized by the CDC for its exemplary performance in the early detection and monitoring of communicable diseases such as COVID-19, polio, influenza and more.

This past spring, Larsen received a prestigious to teach and continue his wastewater surveillance research at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria.

Larsen is clearly a leading expert in this field and he received the invitation to speak at the White House from Nicole Fehrenbach, the Branch Chief of the Rapid Response Research and Surveillance Branch of the CDC. The CDC is intimately familiar with Larsen’s work as the New York State Wastewater Surveillance Network is a part of the CDC’s .

Larsen had visited Washington, D.C., before Aug. 27 and saw the White House from the outside, but he had never been in the complex until he attended the roundtable hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

“Walking into the Eisenhower Office Building and seeing the offices of the Chief of Staff and other executive officials and the west wing of the White House was a bit surreal,” Larsen says. “It was the culmination of a lot of hard work since March of 2020.”

During his “lightning talk,” Larsen says he emphasized that the functions of infectious disease surveillance are two-fold. First, they need to alert us when a community is at increased risk,” he told the panel. “And second, they need to confirm a community is no longer at risk.”

David Larsen at the White House with the Washington Monument in the background.

“The Covid-19 pandemic showed how inadequately our systems performed in these two functions,” he added. “So, improvements are needed. Wastewater is a great way for both of these, and perhaps one of the most cost-effective ways to confirm a community is not at risk.”

Larsen says his remarks were “well received,” although he can’t share specific reactions because of the privacy guidelines for the roundtable. He’s encouraged that panelists were responsive because of the looming funding needs for wastewater surveillance.

“Right now, wastewater surveillance in the U.S. is largely being funded by COVID-19 emergency funds,” Larsen says. “As the emergency is over, those funds will expire. I hope that future funding will be made available to continue these efforts.”

Those efforts, which started on the campus of ���ϲ����� and now extend worldwide, will continue at ���ϲ����� with Larsen leading the way.

“Right now, my team at ���ϲ����� is focused on transitioning the operations of the program we’ve built in New York over to the State Department of Health,” he says. “That will allow us to dive deeper into the science and maximize the benefits of the systems.

“With the newly awarded Center of Excellence, we will support other states in the region, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” he adds. “And then globally, the Europeans are leading an effort to coordinate global wastewater surveillance and we’ll continue to support those efforts.”

Scott Landes

Earlier this month, Associate Professor of Sociology published a new study entitled “” in the��August edition of Health Affairs journal.

The report is the first of its kind to address the substantial knowledge gap on health disparities in the United States between disabled people and non-disabled people. Landes answered questions from SU News about his latest research.

Tell me about the new research that you just published.

Between 2008 and 2019, all-cause mortality risk was nearly two times higher for disabled than nondisabled adults. This mortality disparity was not just present for some disabled people, but persisted for disabled people across age, gender, race-ethnicity, socioeconomic status and health status groups.

Additionally, a mortality disparity was present for all of the 28 disability status combinations examined in the study (e.g., vision only; vision, hearing and mobility; etc.). While all disability status combinations were associated with a higher mortality risk compared to nondisabled adults, the degree of this disparity was more severe for people with a self-care (activities of daily living) disability.

In finding that disabled adults have a mortality rate that is twice as high as nondisabled adults, what does that tell you about the state of healthcare for people with disabilities?

Research provides substantial evidence that disabled people experience ongoing barriers to accessing quality care, ranging from problems with reliable transportation to challenges accessing often inaccessible physicians’ offices or medical settings. In addition, research from Dr. Lisa Iezzoni reveals that even when disabled people are able to access health care, physicians are biased in thinking that they will necessarily be less healthy than non-disabled people. This bias likely impacts course of treatment and care. So whether via challenges accessing care or challenges receiving the best care once accessed, medical care persists as an area of disparity for disabled people.

This research is the first time that mortality rates of disabled adults as compared to non-disabled was investigated. What led you to explore this issue?

At the 64th Meeting of the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) on Sept. 1, 2023, a working group examining health disparities recommended that the “entire disabilities population NOT [emphasis added] . Fortunately, and largely in response to continued advocacy from the U.S. disability community, the NIMHD Director did not heed this advice, instead designating disabled people as a health disparities population on Sept. 26, 2023.

When making their recommendation to not designate disabled people as a health disparities population, the working group expressed concern, with no supporting evidence, that disabled people may have higher prevalence of all-cause mortality, but that they were not sure that all disabled people experience this and other health disparities. The dangerous precedent set here is assuming health disparities do not exist among a minority population known to experience a multiplicity of inequities. Fortunately, the Director of the NIMHD did not heed the advice of this working group, .

After hearing the working group’s suggestion to not designate due to insufficient evidence of disparities among disabled people, I decided to examine whether a mortality disparity was present among disabled adults in the U.S., and if present, whether it persisted across the disabled population.

What are the big takeaways from this research, and who needs to know about it (public policy officials, medical professionals, etc.)?

In sum, disabled people experience a substantial mortality disparity that extends across this population. This really needs to be an all-hands-on-deck moment, especially as we know that disabled people were also more likely to experience more severe COVID-19 outcomes during the height of the pandemic. All medical providers need to be aware of the increased risk of mortality among disabled people, but in being aware, should not assume that this is simply an inherent outcome of disability. Instead, it needs to be viewed as a disparity that can likely be reduced with higher quality care, both preventive and emergent care. In addition, policymakers need to continue working to ensure accessibility among medical providers, a goal that will be more enforceable in light of the recent Final Rule Implementing .

What is next? Does this research lead to more questions that need to be investigated?

The most pressing questions that remain are what are the exact mechanisms informing the disability mortality disparity, specifically how much of this disparity is due to health care access, socio-economic status, bias among health care providers as well as structural ableism. We need to know more about these exact mechanisms in order to better target interventions aimed at reducing this disparity.

, professor of physics in the , was recently awarded a grant from NASA for his project entitled, “Extragalactic Outbursts and Repeating Nuclear Flares From Tidal Disruption Events.” The three-year, $346,000 award will support his research on tidal disruption events (TDEs)­—one of the cosmos’ most extreme occurrences where a star is completely or partially destroyed by the gravitational field of a supermassive black hole (SMBH).

Eric Coughlin

By examining the formation of accretion flares—the very hot, bright shredded stellar material that falls into the black hole during a TDE— astrophysicists can gain novel insights about the evolution of SMBHs, including such demographics as their mass and spin distributions. With improvements in technology like NASA’s NICER telescope, scientists have been able to detect more TDEs than ever. While these telescopes allow scientists to make direct observations of TDEs, theoretical models are necessary to relate observations to the physical properties of the disrupted star (e.g., its mass) and the disrupting black hole (e.g., its mass).

With this grant, Coughlin will work to advance TDE theory and modeling, so they are accurate and in agreement with observations. Specifically, he will numerically simulate TDEs of individual stars to generate a repository of accretion rates, which can then be used to compare to observations and infer the physical properties of black holes.

An artist’s concept of a tidal disruption event that happens when a star passes fatally close to a supermassive black hole, which reacts by launching a relativistic jet. (Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA)

Part of the project will also be dedicated to understanding the production of repeating partial TDEs. A partial TDE occurs when a star is stripped of some of its mass by a SMBH but is not completely destroyed, while a repeating partial TDE is one in which the star orbits the black hole (similar to the Earth orbiting the Sun) and is stripped of mass—and fuels an electromagnetic outburst—once per orbit.

Coughlin notes that this aspect of his research shows specific promise for measuring quantities that normal tidal disruption events cannot. For example, in a TDE, there is an amount of time that passes after the star is partially disrupted and when accretion begins, known as the fallback time, and this period is “dark”, meaning no observable emission is produced before debris rains down onto the black hole. TDEs that generate only one accretion flare cannot be used to measure this timescale.

Repeating partial TDEs, on the other hand, enables a direct detection of the fallback time through the electromagnetic disturbances that arise as the star orbits the SMBH. The fallback time can also be reliably measured from simulations, but its value changes as a function of the star’s and the black hole’s mass, meaning that repeating partial TDEs provide a unique test of the theoretical understanding of strong tides and probe the properties of black holes (and stars in distant galaxies).

“Our goal is to develop an enhanced understanding of the variability in the accretion rates onto black holes that can be generated by tidal disruption events, ultimately to better inform our physical modeling of observations,” says Coughlin. “Our results will support the mission of NASA’s Physics of the Cosmos program: to understand the behavior of matter in extreme environments and the evolution of the Universe.”

This is the second NASA grant currently held by Coughlin, with his other entitled, “Continued Swift Monitoring of Repeating Stellar Tidal Disruption Events: Towards a Legacy Dataset.” This proposal uses data from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (an optical-UV+X-ray telescope) to probe the properties of repeating partial TDEs. His research is also funded by a $330,000 National Science Foundation grant for a project entitled, “Understanding the long-term evolution of tidal disruption events.”

“Closing the Racial Wealth Gap: Public, Private and Philanthropic Collaborations” centered on how a plan of targeted, intentional philanthropy can help bridge racial wealth disparities and lead to the practical implementation of economic equity. Taking part in the discussion were ���ϲ����� faculty members who have been studying the causes of and solutions to the racial wealth gap in America, Lender Center leaders and MetLife Foundation officials. Also involved were several local business leaders who have supported the Atlanta community by investing in innovation and startup businesses, neighborhood revitalization and historic preservation.

Villaneuva discussed the need for reparations to Black and Native American communities and efforts by his to create racial equity through education and “radical reparative giving.” The discussion was led by alumna ’78,��director of operations for the National Association of Black Journalists. ��

A roundtable discussion featuring community leaders followed. Participating were alumnus ’83 of ; , an Atlanta housing commissioner and founder of ��; , president and CEO of ; and , ombudsman for neighborhoods for the City of Atlanta. Additional participants were ���ϲ����� Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives and Lender Center Interim Director . Closing remarks were provided by , policy advisor for neighborhoods for the City of Atlanta and director of the Center for Urban Research at Georgia Tech University.

The event was part of an ongoing initiative of the Lender Center to examine the racial wealth gap in America and identify solutions to mitigate its impact. In nearly two years, the work has resulted in symposia and community conversations in ���ϲ�����, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta; funding for nine faculty research projects; and the creation of three postdoctoral fellowships. The center also formed a racial wealth gap composed of 15 notable business and community leaders and scholars from universities across the U.S. Those steps have been made possible by a $2.7 million grant from MetLife Foundation that was awarded in fall 2022.��

Kira Reed, senior research associate at the Lender Center for Social Justice, left, greets guest speaker Edgar Villaneuva for the Atlanta convening of a conversation about the racial wealth gap in America. Villaneuva advocates for the use of intentional philanthropy to provide economic racial equity.

Kendall Phillips, far left, interim director of the Lender Center, hosts the group of roundtable panelists for a question-answer segment.

A large audience gathered for the third conversation hosted by the Lender Center for Social Justice and supported by MetLife Foundation to discuss causes of and potential solutions for the racial wealth gap in America. The event was held at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. Roundtable panelists (at left) were Brendan Doherty, an Atlanta housing commissioner and founder of The Same House; Jodi Merriday, ombudsman for neighborhoods for the City of Atlanta; Angela Y. Robinson ’78, of the National Association of Black Journalists; Cheneé Joseph, president and CEO of Historic District Development Corporation; and Thomas R. Boyle ’83 of Atlanta community group Fourth Ward Neighbors.

Robinson, left, hosts Villaneuva’s talk with the audience.

Roundtable panelists included Atlanta investors, business leaders and neighborhood advocates, from left, Brendan Doherty, Jodi Merriday, Cheneé Joseph, Thomas R. Boyle ’83 and David Edwards.

A number of alumni participated in and attended the racial wealth gap conversation. Thomas R. Boyle ’83, center, was a roundtable panelist. He is involved in the Atlanta historic preservation association Fourth Ward Neighbors.

Charlie Pettigrew, right, MetLife Foundation representative, chats with guests at the event reception. They include Vicki Brackens (left), president of Brackens Financial Solutions Network, LLC of ���ϲ�����; and University staff members Peter Cronin (second from left) vice president in Advancement and External Affairs; Stephanie Walgamott (center), director of regional development/South; and Rachel Vassel (right), associate vice president, multicultural advancement. A MetLife Foundation grant supports the racial wealth gap community conversations and other research initiatives.

Alumnus Jonathan Olens ’15, center, was among the attendees.

Alumnus Jonathan Olens ’15, center, was among the attendees.

Faculty who have received Lender Center Racial Wealth Gap research grants also were present. At left is Willie Reddic, Whitman School of Management; and at right, Laverne Gray, School of Information Studies. At center is Kristen Barnes, of the College of Law, a member of the Racial Wealth Gap initiative’s thought leader advisory group.

Lender Center for Social Justice Thought Leader Advisory Group members Pablo Mitnik (left), of the University of Michigan Center for Inequality Dynamics, and Gregory Price (right), minority and emerging business faculty member in the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of New Orleans are joined by Hannibal Newsom (center), assistant professor in ���ϲ�����’s School of Architecture and Lender Center research project grantee.

The Lender Center Racial Wealth Gap initiative’s three postdoctoral associates also attended. From left are Yvonne Christophe, Mauricio Mercado and J Coley.

A LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) from the U.S. Coast Guard-manned USS Samuel Chase disembarks troops of the U.S. Army’s First Division on the morning of June 6, 1944, (D-Day) at Omaha Beach, France. (Photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate (CPHOM) Robert F. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard)

Eighty years ago this week the epic invasion of Allied air and ground forces swept across the Normandy peninsula to help defeat Adolf Hitler and his German war machine during World War II.

A battle of more than 150,000 Allied troops, who fought on the beaches and in the hedgerows, D-Day launched June 6, 1944, and remains immortalized in books, movies and television shows—and in the sacred cemeteries on the French coast.

Alan Allport

For all its magnitude, the battle didn’t decide the outcome of the war, as German forces were already weakening in the face of the Soviet army on the Eastern Front, says Professor Alan Allport, the Dr. Walter Montgomery and Marian Gruber Professor of History in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

However, D-Day and its strategic importance finally gained Allied forces their footing in Europe and had long-lasting implications for a Western Europe free from communism and enduring American international diplomacy, says Allport, who is the author of “Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War 1938-1941” (Knopf, North America).

In this Q&A with SU News, Allport further explains the significance of D-Day and its impact generations later. For any media who wish to schedule an interview with Allport, please reach out to Vanessa Marquette, media relations specialist, at vrmarque@syr.edu.

The at ���ϲ����� has long partnered with the to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental workings of the universe. In 2015, the ���ϲ����� Gravitational Wave Group played a leading role in a discovery that confirmed Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, with the first detection of gravitational waves. Since then, physicists from the have continued to advance this body of knowledge.

Collin Capano

Among these physicists, Professor has been awarded a from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for two of his projects which began in January of 2024 and are scheduled to be completed by fall of 2026. Capano is also the director of the , which is the University’s central information hub for using open-source software (code that anyone can inspect, modify and enhance).

Einstein’s prediction posited that gravitational waves emitted by black holes would have specific frequencies, akin to a chorus with people singing at various pitches. Capano’s first project, “Development of Efficient Black Hole Spectroscopy,” aims to explore Einstein’s theory by testing it in extreme conditions near black holes. Using data from the LIGO detector, researchers will examine whether these waves match Einstein’s predictions or reveal unexpected patterns, potentially uncovering new insights into physics.

The second project, “A Desktop Cluster for Detecting Compact Binary Mergers,” involves creating a network of computers to accelerate the search for gravitational waves in data produced in LIGO data. This innovation could significantly speed up the process and reduce costs, enabling more universities and colleges, particularly those with fewer resources, to participate in gravitational wave astronomy. Grant money from this award will be used to fund the construction, software development and testing of a cluster of processors.

The project also supports students, offering them opportunities to gain valuable data science skills, which are in high demand nationwide. Overall, this project not only pushes the boundaries of scientific knowledge but also promotes accessibility and diversity in STEM research.

Johanna Dunaway, professor of political science in the and research director of the ���ϲ����� (IDJC), has been named a 2024 Carnegie Fellow. She is one of 28 distinguished scholars and writers selected as a Carnegie Fellow to study political polarization.

“We are incredibly proud of Professor Dunaway and her work,” says David M. Van Slyke, dean of the Maxwell School. “Her research, teaching and scholarly leadership on this issue have already brought great benefit to our understanding of the impact of changing news coverage and consumption on our democracy. This fellowship will expand that already important work and benefit our society at large.”

Johanna Dunaway

As recipients of the so-called “brainy award,” Carnegie Fellows will receive a grant of up to $200,000 for research seeking to understand the causes of polarization in our society and what can be done to address this challenge. The award is for up to two years, with fellows typically working on a book or major study.

Dunaway will use her award to further her research on the relationship between changing news focus and political polarization. The project will specifically examine the roots and consequences of affective polarization, with a focus on the role of changing media environments, and how both are tied to anti-democratic behaviors.

“I am honored to receive this fellowship and look forward to conducting the research,” says Dunaway. “By helping us better understand the conditions under which the news environment fuels the influence of affective polarization on political reasoning and behavior, I am hopeful this project will address a critical gap in our ability to understand it as a threat to democracy.”

Dunaway’s Carnegie project builds on earlier polarization and media examinations. In 2018 she and two other scholars, including Associate Professor of Communications Josh P. Darr, studied voting patterns in communities with shuttered newspapers. Their work was published in the Journal of Communication and was followed by a book co-authored with Darr based on new research related to the impact of the original findings, “Home Style Opinion: How Local Newspapers Can Slow Polarization” (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

The Carnegie Corporation of New York selected this year’s fellows from over 360 applicants—a record number for the program. Founded in 2015, the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program provides the most generous stipend of its kind for research in the humanities and social sciences.

Dunaway joins a growing list of Maxwell faculty who have earned this prestigious award, including Shana Gadarian, professor of political science and associate dean for research, in 2021; Thomas Keck, professor of political science and the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, in 2019; and Jennifer Karas Montez, University Professor, professor of sociology and the Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, in 2018.

Ben Samadi

As ���ϲ�����’s largest school with over 300 faculty spanning the sciences, mathematics and humanities, the is a key contributor to the University’s R1 Carnegie designation, signifying very high research activity. In 2023 alone, A&S’ research and related expenditures exceeded $19 million. While funded research keeps faculty on the cutting edge of their fields, there are many administrative duties related to managing their grant awards. To support A&S researchers in the fulfillment of these duties, the College has named Behrang (Ben) Samadi as the inaugural director of research administration.

According to A&S Associate Dean for Research��, by assisting faculty throughout the grant process, this new position aims to reduce some of the faculty’s non-research activity, allowing more time and resources to focus on their research or scholarship.

“There are many administrative aspects both in applying for research funding and in managing awards,” says Maisto. “Ben will assist A&S faculty in all phases of pre- and post-award project administration and management.”

Samadi will work closely with faculty to bring their research ideas to fruition and effectively execute their sponsored projects by:

• partnering with principal investigators to anticipate and resolve any administrative challenges that may arise throughout grant lifecycles to ensure compliance with funder and other requirements and maximize efficiency in grant operations;
• partnering with the Office of Sponsored Programs on faculty grant proposals to ensure complete and on-time submission; and
• overseeing fiscal administration and financial reporting of research grants in concert with College budget staff and the Office of Sponsored Accounting.

Samadi, who started on April 15, comes to A&S from Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, one of Malaysia’s highest-rated private universities, where he was a project manager, program leader and associate professor of marketing and management. Through his dual roles as a project manager and professor, he is versed in both the business and academic aspects of higher education. In addition to his background in business analysis, stakeholder management and strategic planning, Samadi also has expertise in securing research funding, leading research teams and publishing work in high-impact journals – skills that will serve him well in this new position, notes Maisto.

“Based on his extensive experience working in a similar role at other universities and the high level of praise for the quality of his work, Ben will be a major asset for our faculty,” says Maisto.

Samadi’s addition affirms A&S’ commitment to supporting faculty and student research. Together with Melissa Whipps and Sarah Workman, directors of proposal development in A&S and the University’s Office of Research, their efforts will continue to further the research mission of the College and University by increasing the volume, scope, success and management of grants.

Learn more about��.

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Kasey Laurant (left) and student Cody Van Nostrand ’24 running an experiment in the water channel lab.

Boasting an impressive wingspan of over seven feet, the golden eagle is one of the largest birds of prey in North America. In addition to being cunning, skilled hunters and their ability to soar effortlessly for hours, golden eagles might also utilize strong gusts of wind to assist their flight – an ability that piqued the interest of , an aerospace and mechanical engineering professor in the .

During her Ph.D. studies at Cornell University, Laurent conducted research on golden eagles by recording their acceleration as they flew, and the study formed the foundation for her dissertation on bird and drone flight. She also participated in Cornell’s Raptor Program, which provides a home for injured or non-releasable birds for research, training and rehabilitation. This experience gave her valuable insights into bird flight and behavior.

“Slowly throughout my Ph.D., I became more of a bird person. That’s what motivates my research here at ���ϲ�����,” Lauren says.

Laurent’s research aims to enhance flight and aerodynamics by measuring wind speeds and unsteadiness within air flows. Her work’s interdisciplinary nature also enables collaboration with biologists to explore ideas for improving aerodynamics by learning from nature.

“If you step outside on a windy day, you’ll feel the wind coming from various directions and at varying strengths at random intervals,” says Laurent. “If we measure the wind at a single point in time, that value will be random, but if we measure the wind over a long period of time and evaluate the statistics of how the wind changes over time, we’ll find patterns.��My research looks at how these patterns, or signatures, may be deduced by looking at the locomotion of animals in turbulent environments. Will a bird fly a certain way in the turbulent atmosphere?”

Kasey Laurant (left) and Cody Van Nostrand ’24 conducting an experiment in the lab.

As Laurent puts together a proposal for gust soaring seen with golden eagles, she’s also interested in gathering data from crows, goshawks, and turkey vultures, large birds that also use strong wind gusts to aid their flight.

“Goshawks fly through the forest and can maneuver very fast in different environments.�� When flying close to treetops, turkey vultures’ wings have an angle to them, allowing them to restabilize. It would be difficult to replicate this in man-made vehicles since they’re not flexible and don’t have joints like birds, but there’s still much we can learn.”

Studying how birds utilize wind and atmosphere to aid their flight would assist in improving the flight of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs.) Smaller aircraft often face issues when encountering wind gusts, causing them to lose control and potentially crash. Understanding how to maneuver around gusts could open up new possibilities for aircraft to fly in without sustaining damage from wind gusts and even utilize gusts to their advantage, similar to birds.

This research can be useful in creating smaller and lighter UAVs for various applications, including search and rescue missions. The main challenge with drones is that they have a limited range, which requires them to return to a base to change batteries and repeat the process. If the drones have a longer lifespan, they can continue with their search without the need to land or replace the battery.

“If we find a way to let the gusts move aircraft around, power won’t be an issue. We’ll just need to know how to maintain stability in that gust,” Laurent says. “Most research looking at flight in turbulence aims to develop methods to reject gusts, but it seems, according to the eagles, that may not be the best approach. We can learn a lot from nature to improve aerodynamics and locomotion.”

Master’s and doctoral students from across the College of Engineering and Computer Science presented their research at the 2024 ECS Research Day.

Master’s and doctoral students from across the (ECS) presented their research during the 2024 ECS Research Day, held at the National Veterans Resource Center. From fundamental studies to prototype development, a total of 113 posters and 20 oral presentations highlighted the broad research activities across the college.

A keynote address, “The Crucial Role of Strategic Decision-Making in Career Progression: A Personal Journey” was delivered by Melur K. “Ram” Ramasubramanian G’87, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the State University of New York (SUNY) and the President of the SUNY Research Foundation. Ramasubramanian, who earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from ���ϲ�����, shared his experience and insightful career advice with the attendees.

“ECS Research Day is a signature event that we organize every year to celebrate graduate research in our college. This year is particularly exciting with record participation and high-quality research presented. It showcases the strong scholarly work in many areas.” said Dacheng Ren, associate dean for research in ECS.

Below is a list of awards handed out during ECS Research Day:

ORAL PRESENTATION AWARDS

Communications and Security

First Place: Feng Wang. “Maximum Knowledge Orthogonality Reconstruction with Gradients in Federated Learning.” Advisor: Dr. M. Cenk Gursoy.

Second Place: Nandan Sriranga. “Detection of Temporally Correlated Signals in Distributed Sensor Networks.” Advisor: Dr. Pramod Varshney.

Energy, Environment and Smart Materials

First Place: Johnson Agyapong. “The Formation of Deterministic Wrinkle Morphologies via 4D Printing of Shape Memory Polymer Substrates.” Advisor: Dr. James Henderson.

Second Place: Ashok Thapa. “Passive Oscillating Heat Pipes for High-Heat Dissipation.” Advisor: Dr. Shalabh Maroo.

Health and Well-Being

First Place: Yikang Xu. “A New Anti-Fouling Indwelling Urinary Catheter with Embedded Active Topography.” Advisor: Dr. Dacheng Ren.

Second Place: Natalie Petryk. “Hydrolytic and Oxidative Degradation of Polyurethane Foams for Traumatic Wound Healing.” Advisor: Dr. Mary Beth Monroe.

Sensors, Robotics and Smart Systems

First Place: Yasser Alqaham. “Energetic Analysis on All Possible Bounding Gaits of Quadrupedal.” Advisor: Dr Zhenyu Gan.

Second Place: Zachary Geffert. “Multipath Projection Stereolithography for Rapid 3D Printing of Multiscale Devices.” Advisor: Dr. Pranav Soman.

POSTER PRESENTATION AWARDS

First Place: Omkar Desai. “A Caching System for Concurrent DNN Model Training.” Advisor: Dr. Bryan Kim.

Second Place (tied): Zifan Wang. “Catch You if Pay Attention: Temporal Sensor Attack Diagnosis Using Attention Mechanisms for Cyber-Physical Systems.” Advisor: Dr. Qinru Qiu.

Second Place (tied): Shreyas Aralumallige. “Chandregowda. Exploring the Role of Bio-Flocculant Interactions with Clay Minerals in Addressing Mining Industry Challenges.” Advisor: Dr. Shobha K Bhatia.

Third Place (tied): Matthew Qualters. “Experimental Flow Control Techniques on a Supersonic Multi-Stream Rectangular Jet Flow.” Advisor: Dr. Fernando Zigunov.

Third Place (tied): Pardha Nayani. “Unleashing Bandwidth: Passive Highly Dispersive Matching Network.” Advisor: Dr. Younes Ra’di.

Honorable Mention:�� Ziyang Jiao. “The Design and Implementation of a Capacity-Variant Storage System.” Advisor: Dr. Bryan Kim.

Honorable Mention:�� Ratnakshi Mandal. “The Dance of DNA and Histone Proteins: Molecular Insights Into Chromosome Formation.” Advisor: Dr. Shikha Nangia.

A suction cup sound and movement tag being deployed on the back of a humpback whale in Massachusetts. These tags allow researchers to track movement and audio of individual whales.

A major example of this is passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), which records audio via a microphone in one location, usually a stationary or moving platform in the ocean. While this method allows researchers to gather acoustic data over a long period, it is difficult to extrapolate fine-scale information like which animal is producing which call because the incoming audio signals could be from any number of animals within range.

The study’s lead author, Julia Zeh, left, and Valeria Perez, a co-author, during a field research trip off the coast of Massachusetts. (Photo courtesy of Julia Zeh)

“This information can give us insight into how whales coordinate behaviors, how their calls relate to what they’re doing, what types of calls they use and what information they might exchange in group communication,” says Zeh. “Understanding acoustic sequences within and between individuals also gives us insight into the complexity of the humpback whale communication system.”

If researchers know who is calling, they can associate vocal behavior with individual age, sex or the behavioral context of the calls. This data can also be used to enhance PAM studies, which are commonly used for species’ presence/absence verification and population counts.

“Having information from tag data about call rates and timing can improve count estimates,” says Zeh. “For example, having 10 calls doesn’t necessarily mean there are 10 whales, but potentially two whales calling back and forth, or one whale producing sequential calls.”

While previous studies have linked caller identity to acoustic tag data, this is the first robust method for studying large baleen whales, like humpback whales. The team’s efforts to enhance caller identification through simultaneous tagging provide a new resource for researchers to better understand animal behavior and advance wildlife conservation efforts.

The team’s work was supported by the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Program, the Office of Naval Research, the ACCURATE Project, the Cetacean Caller-ID project and the U.S. Navy Living Marine Resources Program.

“This eclipse will be a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime event in the sky that will bring us all together,” says Walter Freeman, an associate teaching professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. (Photo by Angela Ryan)

“Introduction to Astronomy” classes always end the same way they began, with Freeman advising his students that, ultimately, “we look at the stars because they are pretty and they illuminate who we are as humanity.”

That humanity will be on full display at 3:23 p.m. on Monday, April 8, when the University campus community and Central New York will experience a total solar eclipse—a naturally occurring phenomenon when a new moon finds itself precisely between the Earth and the sun—creating nearly 90 seconds of pure darkness during the middle of the afternoon.

The philosophy Freeman instills in class varies greatly from when humanity’s first encounters with solar eclipses, when people believed the sun powered their lives, and the events in the sky were closely associated with religion and mythology. Since the timing of the sun, moon and stars’ motions were documented to both keep time and navigate, anything that led to the sun’s disappearance, even for a few seconds, “served as harbingers of doom and gloom, an omen of terror,” says Freeman, an associate teaching professor of physics in the .

Walter Freeman

Freeman uses stargazing and phenomenon like the upcoming solar eclipse to demonstrate to his students how the advancement of astronomy over time teaches us a valuable lesson on “the development of our capabilities as people,” Freeman says. As scientific advances are made, society has come to comprehend the sheer brilliance on display during a total solar eclipse.

“This will be a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime event in the sky. Science gives us a means to predict and understand eclipses. But beyond that, physics takes a back seat here. The eclipse isn’t a scientific event as much as it is a human event. Everyone will be able to appreciate what happens in a poetic and artistic way. That will be beautiful, and it will bring us all together,” Freeman says.

Campus community members are invited to participate in this rare occasion—the next total solar eclipse in ���ϲ����� isn’t predicted to happen for another 375 years—through a series of on-campus events.

The Department of Physics, in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences, is hosting various on the Quad from 1:30-4 p.m. Physics students will lead assorted make-and-take projects and demonstrations across different locations. Telescopes will be available by Carnegie Library, and guided and eclipse-related presentations are being offered in the Stolkin Auditorium. Be sure to visit the for more helpful information.

Additionally, join the Barnes Center at The Arch and Hendricks Chapel on the Quad from 2:30-4 p.m. for an featuring a sound bathing experience and guided meditation, a viewing of the total solar eclipse, and a celebration of Buddha’s birthday ritual with the Buddhist chaplaincy.

Leading up to the eclipse, Freeman spoke with SU News about what makes this total solar eclipse different, where the optimal viewing areas are for experiencing maximum totality and why people should focus on who they’re watching the eclipse with instead of striving for that perfect social media post.

While fingerprint powder and microscopes are very important tools in forensics, machine learning is becoming one of the fastest emerging technologies in the field. This involves the use of algorithms and computing to perform efficient and effective investigations by analyzing large and complex sets of data. The College of Arts and Sciences’ (FNSSI) offers customized courses designed to equip students with the skills to examine these problems using computational methods and algorithms.

One specific course, titled “Computational Forensics,” introduces students to coding, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Taught by , courtesy research professor and a leading expert in digital forensics, the curriculum teaches students how machine learning and AI are utilized in the field. A highlight for students taking this course is the final project, where they select a real-world problem that they are passionate about and solve it using computational techniques learned in class. The assignment culminates with a presentation where they share their solution to the chosen problem.

Brianna Cardillo

Brianna Cardillo, a graduate student in forensics, focused her work on one of her favorite hobbies – reading. Her project, “What to Read Next? Using Historical Reader Preferences to Promote Books from Marginalized Authors,” aimed to develop a machine learning algorithm that could suggest books, with a specific focus on promoting works by underrepresented writers.

“I’ve been in social media spaces surrounding reading and creatively writing books for a long time now, and I really became aware of just how much diversity people’s reading preferences lacked,” says Cardillo. “I have read so many books from authors like that had such incredible world-building and portrayed such important themes, books that deserved more praise than they got.”

To address this inequity, Cardillo developed an algorithm which suggests books based upon readers’ interests. It takes into account information like genre, length, average rating on the book recommendation site Goodreads, and authors’ race, which she gathered from personal interviews, blog posts and book jackets. She organized this data into Excel spreadsheets and input the information into a machine learning algorithm. Simply put, the algorithm is a content-based filtering system which considers what readers enjoy and calculates whether they will enjoy other books by underrepresented authors based on those interests.

Filipe Augusto da Luz Lemos

“Increasing awareness of marginalized authors requires readers to actively choose and promote diverse stories, especially since we have so much influence over publishing with how we use our dollars,” says Cardillo. “That’s why I wanted to make the algorithm in the first place, with the hope that this could be part of that first step.”

While she primarily focused on race when developing this version of the algorithm, Cardillo would like to one day expand it to include multiple categories of marginalization alongside race, like sexuality or disability status.

“I would love to include authors of many different identities so that everyone can find books where they feel represented,” she says.

The awards are funded by a 2022 grant that supports research and community programming over three years to examine the racial wealth gap’s root causes and ideas that may resolve its economic and social inequalities, says , Lender Center interim director. The awards are part of the Lender Center for Social Justice initiative led by the

The racial wealth gap is an ongoing issue that undermines potential economic and social progress and opportunities for members of underserved and underrepresented communities, according to , Lender Center senior research associate and associate professor in the Whitman School of Management.

“These research projects are noteworthy because of their unique courses of inquiry, their highly inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional nature and their close engagements with ���ϲ����� community members and organizations,” says Phillips.

Projects receiving the one-year grants and involved faculty are:

“Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap Through Increasing Decennial Census Self-Response Rates in Marginalized Communities”

Leonard Lopoo

This project will test mechanisms to try to increase self-response rates for the 2030 federal census in undercounted communities in New York State. Successful efforts could offset census undercounts that might otherwise reduce federal funding for education, health care, housing, infrastructure and other vital services.

• , , principal investigator
• ,

Brice Nordquist

“���ϲ����� Futures”

This study looks at ���ϲ�����’s arts and humanities infrastructure and how universities and community organizations can partner in offering arts and humanities programming and college and career support to historically marginalized communities.�� Led by the ’ , the effort involves multiple South Side organizations.

• , College of Arts and Sciences, principal investigator.
• ,
• ,

“Does Military Service Mitigate the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap? Overlooked Pathways for��Underrepresented Minorities in Public Service”

Arielle Newman

Corri Zoli

This project explores how military service intersects with racial wealth disparities. Researchers will look at military service as a means of economic advancement and a way to overcome social barriers that may hinder underrepresented minorities who are pursuing post-service career advancement and entrepreneurship.

• , , and , Whitman School, principal investigators
• , (IVMF)
• ,
• , Maxwell School
• , IVMF
• , Lender Center for Social Justice
• , University of Pittsburgh

“From Highways to High-Speed Internet: Leveraging Equitable Infrastructure for the Data Economy”��

LaVerne Gray

Researchers are determining whether access to first-class digital information, services, assets and increased technology training can reduce the racial wealth gap by lessening barriers to digital networks, critical information and data literacy skills. Skills-training workshops are planned with community members.����

• and , (iSchool), principal investigators
• , iSchool
• , iSchool
  

  Beth Patin

• iSchool
• , College of Arts and Sciences/
• , , Whitman School

“Opportunity Design: Engaging Public Health in Low-Income Communities”

Hannibal Newsom

This study leverages interest in ongoing energy retrofit work at 418 Fabius Street in the James Geddes Housing development in ���ϲ����� to generate a more comprehensive examination of social determinants of health through the process of opportunity mapping.

• , , principal investigator
• , College of Visual and Performing Arts, co-principal investigator
• , School of Architecture, co-investigator

“Nourishing Families: Parents as Partners in the Alignment of a Mindful Eating Intervention to Meet the Needs of Low-Income and Marginalized Families With Young Children”

Lynn Brann

Parent and teacher workshops that include mindful yoga and mindful eating lessons for children are planned to address the nutrition needs of low-income, underrepresented families in ���ϲ�����. Research will explore if better nutrition for vulnerable populations can mean better health for families and more opportunities for their gainful employment, lessening the racial wealth gap.

• , , principal investigator
• , Falk College
• , Falk College

“Addressing Obesity and Hypertension in Refugees through Culturally Relevant Meal Interventions”��

Miriam Mutambudzi

This project looks at obesity and hypertension in diaspora populations and works with African immigrants on post-immigration diets to introduce healthy adaptations while preserving culinary heritage. The goal is to assess whether healthier eating can reduce health issues and boost labor force participation, generating improved socioeconomic status.

• , Falk College, principal investigator
• , Falk College

“Disability as a Critical Element in Exploring the Racial Wealth Gap”

Nannette Goodman

Researchers will identify challenges faced by Black, Indigenous and People of Color individuals with��disabilities and will examine the role of disability in the racial wealth gap. They plan to develop recommendations regarding policies and practices that limit economic inclusion and trap people with disabilities into poverty.

• , College of Law, principal investigator
• , College of Law

“Optimizing Corporate Supplier Diversity Programs and Corporate-Facing Regulations for Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap”��

Karca Aral

This initiative examines diversity interactions and legislative interventions in business-to-business aspects of wealth distribution and corporate supplier diversity programs. Researchers will develop guidance on diversity programs and diversity initiatives while enhancing those programs’ potential to level the racial wealth gap.

• , Whitman School, faculty lead
• , Whitman School
• ., Whitman School

Mechanical and aerospace engineering students Kendra Miller (left), Elan Fullmer (center) and Sydney Florence Jud were awarded first place at the New York State Green Building Conference student poster competition.

Kendra Miller, Elan Fullmer and Sydney Florence Jud, students in the mechanical and aerospace engineering program, claimed first place for their poster presentation at the New York State Green Building Conference competition, held Feb. 29 and March 1.

Titled, “Generating Renewable Electrical Energy,” their project was��sponsored by Aerovec, a startup company focused on developing small-scale, modular wind turbines for remote applications and microgrids. Aerovec is one of 19 industry-sponsored capstone projects that mechanical and aerospace seniors are working on this year. Aerovec is looking into multiple installation locations, such as commercial building rooftops, construction sites, and sites that need natural disaster relief assistance. This senior design project is primarily focused on the feasibility of an array of wind turbines on commercial rooftops for local energy generation.

The student team was advised by professor Jackie Anderson.

By wiggling its flexible foot underwater, an apple snail can create a flow that brings floating food particles to itself, a process known as “pedal foot collection,” by biologists. Fascinated by the snail’s unique ability, this would inspire the latest research conducted by , a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor in the . Pandey’s findings were published in the high-impact science journal .

Anupam Pandey

“One of my research interests is understanding how soft, highly deformable, solid materials interact with adjacent liquid flow,” Pandey says. “Organisms that live underwater exploit this interaction for locomotion and feeding. Apple snails have evolved to leverage their proximity to the water-air interface to transport or pump liquids.”

To understand the process behind pedal foot collection, Pandey designed a robot the size of a centimeter that oscillates rhythmically and mimicked the apple snail’s motion. He then placed the robot underwater in a tank and sprinkled Styrofoam particles on the surface to see if it could collect it, discovering that the robot functioned similarly to a pump.

“We found that our bio-inspired robot was able to drag particles from distances that are five times its size. But more interestingly, we found an optimal speed at which pumping maximizes,” explains Pandey. “This optimal speed seemed to depend on robot geometry as well as the properties of the liquid it’s submerged in. Combining experiments and modeling, we predicted the optimal conditions under which the robot pumps the most liquid.”

In addition to understanding the role speed and liquid play in how the robot collects small objects and pumps liquid, Pandey also tracked the pattern of Styrofoam particle movement through long exposure photography, which he color-coded to make it easier to see how the particles moved.

While the small, oscillating robots have the potential for numerous applications, one notable benefit is as a collection device. Pandey believes that they could help address issues involving the collection of microplastics in oceans, which tend to remain at the water’s surface due to their small size.

Most plastic collection devices create strong disturbances at the water surface and cause microparticles to mix in the water. These microplastics travel to other water bodies, causing more plastic pollution which harms plants and animals and inevitably ends up in our food chain. However, devices like the undulating robot operate near the water’s surface with minimal interference and could potentially provide a solution to this problem.

“What’s great about this research is how interdisciplinary it is. Biologists may be interested in this, and it has several potential applications in engineering liquid flows at small scales, sensing and actuation of floating objects or even microplastics in water bodies,” Pandey says. “It will not only advance understanding of liquid transport near surfaces but lay the groundwork for future research as well.”

Building America works closely with industry, academia and community-based organizations to advance commercial building and residential housing performance solutions. Following a request for proposals from DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), awards were granted to nine teams of experts from around the country to develop, scale and implement solutions that advance energy efficiency in residential buildings.

The “Reducing Applied Losses in Heat Pumps” project is led by Principal Investigator , a professor of practice in mechanical and aerospace engineering and the associate director of building science and community programs. “Our focus will be on reducing what we call applied energy losses in heat pumps,” says Shapiro. “We believe that we can substantially reduce energy use just by helping people make better choices in installation and operation. If this hypothesis is correct, it will help people in affordable housing reduce energy costs, reduce carbon emissions, and reduce the impact of electrification on the electric grid.”

This project will focus on improving efficiencies in air-source heat pumps by reducing applied losses. With ���ϲ�����CoE as the team lead, project stakeholders also include the ��(ECS), the�� (AEA) based in New York City, and�� based in Ithaca, New York. This retrofit solutions team will receive $1 million in funding over five years.

Professor Ian Shapiro doing a baseline site visit of a heat pump installation at a residential home with two PhD students. (Left to right: Ji Zhou, Ian Shapiro, Wenfeng Huang, and Stan Linhorst)

In addition to Shapiro, affiliated faculty will include Professors ��and��. Zhang is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at ECS and the executive director of ���ϲ�����CoE. Dong is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at ECS and ���ϲ�����CoE’s associate director of Grid-Interactive Buildings. The team will leverage local partnerships and access to ���ϲ�����CoE’s to refine heat pump technology and operation and expand their application in underserved communities. “The DOE Building America Program has profoundly impacted the advancement of housing technologies and practices for new construction. ���ϲ�����CoE is proud to host and support the project with state-of-the-art facilities and contribute to improving energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality through effective retrofitting solutions for existing buildings,” says Zhang.

Each of the nine selected awardees is given a period of one to five years to scale and implement their proposed retrofit solution appropriately. A is available from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

The University’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment was recently created through a merger of the Office of Institutional Research and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment.

���ϲ�����’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) was recently created through a merger of the Office of Institutional Research and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment. The streamlined operation, located at 400 Ostrom Avenue, serves all members of the University community. The office is comprised of two departments: , overseen by Assistant Vice President , and , overseen by Senior Assistant Provost .

In this Q&A, Ovadia and Edmonds discuss the new OIRA and how the merger brings together valuable services for the University community.

Gabriela Kirk

Kirk-Werner and her counterparts have created the to study so-called “pay-to-stay” statutes that leave millions of incarcerated individuals subject to the partial or total cost of their imprisonment.

The controversial practice contributes to widening inequalities in American society, according to Kirk-Werner and longtime collaborators Brittany Friedman, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Southern California, and April D. Fernandes, associate professor of sociology at North Carolina State University.

Arnold Ventures is a philanthropic organization that supports policy research projects addressing inequities and injustices in American society. Its five-year funding pledge supports the lab’s mission to advance research, policy and advocacy around the political economy of punishment.

Kirk-Werner first became interested in pay-to-stay policies in 2016 as a graduate student at Northwestern University. Friedman, a fellow graduate student, had discovered a little-known Illinois statute allowing the state’s attorney general to sue incarcerated people for their prison stay. She submitted a Freedom of Information Act request asking for records on the practice and, intrigued by what she found, joined Fernandes and Kirk-Werner in launching the first in-depth study of states’ pay-to-stay policies, specifically the use of civil lawsuits to recoup money.

“We found that states largely enforce pay-to-stay unevenly, often imposing these laws amid financial turmoil as a means to boost the state’s balance sheet,” says Kirk-Werner.

The researchers witnessed cash-strapped states using pay-to-stay laws, a practice first employed during the Great Depression, to seize stimulus checks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “States increase their reliance on these laws at will, most likely when prompted by financial hardships and budget shortfalls,” Fernandes explains. “So incarcerated people could be subject to the seizure and collection efforts of the state through pay-to-stay.”

Read the complete story, written by the Maxwell School’s Jessica Youngman with the University of Southern California’s Daniel P. Smith, on the .

Catherine Herrold.

Using the $10,000 grant, Herrold will pursue a research project titled “Civil Society Thrives in the Kafana: Locally Led Development and Grassroots Civic Engagement in Serbia.” The award will fund her summer 2024 fieldwork in Serbia as she continues to investigate how grassroots groups and philanthropic entities outside of professional Non-Governmental Organizations mobilize and sustain initiatives for social change.

The project is based on research Herrold began in 2023 on Serbians’ local initiatives, such as sustainable agriculture, cultural festivals and community development projects. Supported by a U.S. State Department Fulbright Scholar award, she lived, worked and interacted with residents, spoke with staff of foundations and government agencies, and collaborated with scholars at the University of Belgrade’s Laboratory for Philanthropy, Solidarity and Care Studies.

Herrold spent five years doing similar research in Egypt and Palestine for her award-winning book “Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond.”

Each year, ARNOVA’s annual conference presents 13 awards and six scholarships for achievements in nonprofit, philanthropic and voluntary action research.

Herrold is a senior research associate for the Middle Eastern Studies program and the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration. Her research focuses on global civil society, international development, democracy promotion and nonprofit management. She received a Ph.D. from Duke University in 2013.

The number of attempts beyond the arc had increased in each of the previous 10 seasons, from 22.2% in 2010-11 to 39.2% in 2020-21, and it had been nearly five years since a team won a game without making at least one 3-pointer (that streak is now up to eight years). Led by 3-point specialists Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors had won three of the previous seven NBA titles and were about to win a fourth in 2022.

It appeared the 3-point revolution would never end. But a recent study by sport analytics professor and associate professor shows that while the number of 3-point shots continues to increase, the average expected value of 3-pointers has become less than 2-pointers since the 2017-18 season.

Justin Ehrlich

“When taking fouled shots and made free throws into consideration, we found that what had long been a premium for the 3-point shot started to become a dispremium in the 2017-18 season and that trend is continuing,” Ehrlich says. “The implication of these findings is enormous in terms of potential impact on roster construction and offensive philosophies.”

The from Sanders and Ehrlich, “Estimating NBA Team Shot Selection Efficiency from Aggregations of True, Continuous Shot Charts: A Generalized Additive Model Approach,” is available through the Social Science Research Network website. Sanders and Ehrlich will present their paper as one of seven finalists in the research competition at the NBA-centric March 1-2 in Boston, Massachusetts.

“In past conferences, there has been a lot of discussion among NBA executives about how basketball analytics created the 3-point ‘moneyball’ era of basketball and how this has impacted the popularity of the game,” Sanders says. “Perhaps ironically, our research uses basketball analytics, along with a fully specified team offensive objective function, to say there is now too much 3-point shooting for a point-maximizing offense.”

To conduct their research, Sanders and Ehrlich developed a new shot chart that uses a generalized additive model to estimate total shot proficiency continuously in the half-court. Their shot chart incorporates missed shots that draw a shooting foul—and shot-pursuant free throw scoring—to determine total scoring yield following a shot decision.

Current expected value formulas fall short by not including this additional information, which, when combined with the outcome of the initial shot attempt, results in what Sanders and Ehrlich call the “true point value” of a shot.

• True Value from 2-point shot attempts=1.181
• True Value from 3-point shot attempts=1.094

(2022-23 NBA season)

And even when not factoring in free throws, the researchers found that the expected value from 3-point shots are now worth less than 2-point shots:

• Expected value from 2P field goal attempt=2P% * 2 = .548 * 2= 1.096
• Expected value from 3P field goal attempt=3P% * 3 = .361 * 3= 1.083

(2022-23 NBA season)

Shane Sanders

The true value data can be found in , and the graph below shows the expected and true values of 2- and 3-point shots from 2016-22.

According to this research, the expected value from average 2-point field goal attempts (FGA) is now worth 0.013 points more than average 3-point FGA, even before factoring in shot-pursuant free throw scoring. In other words, if you multiply the probability of making a 3-point FGA times the value of a 3-point FGA, it’s worth less than if you multiple a 2-point FGA times the value of a 2-point FGA.

When discussing true point value, the researchers use the term “shot attempts” instead of “field goal attempts” because their formula includes missed shots when a player is fouled, which is not included in standard field-goal attempt statistics. So, when including made and missed free throws, the disparity based on this new true value metric is even greater as average 2-point shot attempts are now worth 0.087 more points than 3-point shot attempts.

Officials from NBA teams and the league have discussed moving the 3-point line back from its current distance of 23 feet, 9 inches (22 feet in the corners). But as this study shows, the value of a 3-pointer is decreasing at the current distance, and teams are already starting to alter their shot selection to emphasize more high-percentage 2-point shots.

“These research findings do not coincide completely with the unresearched musings of NBA analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal,” Sanders says. “For example, our findings do not suggest that such perimeter stars as Stephen Curry or Damian Lillard should not shoot a lot of threes. It means marginal stretch fours and other marginal outside shooters should not pull up for a 3 as often and that some marginal outside shooters should not extend their range to 25-26 feet or more. Players can still achieve the offensive spacing benefits of positioning on the perimeter without some players shooting from there quite as often.”

Founded in 1999, the program supports the recruitment, persistence and advancement of underrepresented scholars in STEM on the ���ϲ����� campus. The group continues to build a pipeline of scientists and engineers through its key goals to increase retention and representation, highlight scholars and establish an advising and mentoring network. These initiatives create a platform for students and faculty to exchange ideas and celebrate each other’s achievements.

Sadie Novak

Sadie Novak, a fifth-year chemistry student, is one of the many WiSE participants who is following her passion of scientific research. She remembers connecting with organic chemistry as an undergrad and credits a noteworthy professor and the lab she worked in as promoting a community of belonging.

“The professor did an amazing job of showing how organic chemistry is applied beyond [the field of] chemistry. It made me realize there are so many opportunities to do with chemistry,” says Novak.

Continuing her work at ���ϲ�����, Novak has found support and community within the WiSE monthly peer chat gatherings and networking events. “This has definitely opened a lot of doors and created a lot of community for women and other scholars in STEM here at ���ϲ�����,” says Novak.

Kate Lewis

Program co-directors and say opportunities via informal mentorship and collaboration across science and engineering disciplines are crucial in providing support to University women and other scholars in the STEM fields and ensuring they have a shared space to build academic relationships.

“Having the opportunity to network with other women and scholars in STEM and obtain specific mentoring, training and coaching relevant to being a woman in STEM is really valuable,” says Lewis, biology professor and the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence in the College of Arts & Sciences. “It enables women to find different strategies to succeed and thrive and the networking also helps them to build their resilience.”

Shobha Bhatia

“WiSE provides a network and collaboration, mentoring and connections for different groups,” says Bhatia, civil and environmental engineering professor and the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “That is unique and if WiSE was not there, it’s not that people would not do well. But if you talk to any of them individually, they will find that the peer support has been extremely supportive.”

While women only hold about in the U.S., the landscape is shifting. Organizations like WiSE play a crucial role in this change. With a spotlight on women and girls in science in February, Novak says creating spaces where students can see themselves in professors and other STEM academics makes all the difference.

“If you don’t see other people who have done it [like role models] it’s even harder for you to imagine yourself there,” says Novak. “I think days like [Feb. 11] where we highlight people who are in the field are super important.”

Story by Daryl Lovell and Keith Kobland, members of the University’s central media relations team

“Bringing these already strong offices together creates an even stronger operation,” Provost Ritter says. “This is an important step that enhances our ability to produce data-driven decision making that supports students and faculty.”

Jerry Edmonds

OIRA serves all members of the University community. Its services span quantitative data, qualitative research, systems and processes, and helps to advance evidence-based decision making across campus. To that end, a new data request tool, accessible to all, will be available soon on the OIRA website.

The office is comprised of two aligned and integrated departments: Institutional Research and Institutional Effectiveness. Senior Assistant Provost Gerald Edmonds oversees the Institutional Effectiveness department, reporting to Steven Bennett, senior vice president, and Lois Agnew, associate provost for academic programs. Seth Ovadia, formerly the interim director of OIR, has been promoted to assistant vice president and oversees the Institutional Research department, reporting to Bennett.

Seth Ovadia

“While we have outstanding professionals in both institutional research and institutional effectiveness and assessment, they have not been able to leverage each other’s strengths. This combined office aligns the deep relationships and qualitative expertise of institutional effectiveness with the data analytics and practices of institutional research,” Bennett says.

He notes that OIRA provides services to all schools and colleges and many departments across multiple divisions, including budget, student experience, government affairs, legal, compliance, faculty affairs, public safety and others. It supports key activities such as the Middle States accreditation process, school and college accreditation data requests and reporting, faculty development, and curriculum planning and course development, as well as surveys of faculty, staff and students on matters ranging from diversity and inclusion to student wellness to project effectiveness.

AAG recognized 17 geographers in various practice areas for their contributions to geographic research and advancement of practice, and careers devoted to strengthening the field of geography, including teaching and mentoring. The honorary title of AAG Fellow is conferred for life.

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern

Minkoff-Zern is an affiliated faculty member in the in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; in the College of Arts and Sciences; in Maxwell; and the in Maxwell.

“It’s a huge honor to be recognized for my work in my home discipline of geography,” Minkoff-Zern says. “As an interdisciplinary scholar, I work across academic fields, looking at food systems with a geographic perspective, focusing on the migration of people and their agrarian knowledge and practices. This honor acknowledges not only my work but the growing impact of food systems research on the broader discipline.”

address, contribute to and at times create initiatives to advance the discipline. Fellows also advise AAG on strategic directions and challenges, and mentor early- and mid-career faculty.

“Being named an AAG Fellow means I will join others in setting strategic initiatives and decisions for the organization, including taking part in committees, helping with broadening services and membership, and mentoring early-career geographers,” Minkoff-Zern says. “In recent years, the AAG has been strengthening its focus on accessibility and equity in the discipline through teaching and mentorship and advancing climate change research through interdisciplinary approaches. I hope to engage in reinforcing these efforts.”

The AAG Fellows Selection Committee chose the 2024 class of Fellows. The complete list of Fellows with their citations is available on the .

“The breadth and depth of experience among this year’s AAG Fellows is a tribute to their commitment and to the breadth of the discipline of geography,” says Gary Langham, executive director of AAG. “We are grateful for their insights and leadership in advancing AAG and the field.”

With her faculty affiliations in Falk College and the Maxwell School, Minkoff-Zern is at the forefront of bridging the disciplines of food studies and geography and has emerged as “a leader in a growing group of geographers who focus on issues of labor, race, and class within agriculture and food systems,” according to an AAG news release announcing the 2024 Fellows.

Minkoff-Zern is currently working on a funded research project sponsored through the Lender Center for Social Justice with , associate professor of geography,��called “Food Policy Councils as a Vehicle to Address the Racial Wealth Gap in Food System.”

“This project looks at the role of Food Policy Councils in advancing labor justice for front-line workers across the food chain, including living wage initiatives, support for unionization, and improved health and safety standards and enforcement,” Minkoff-Zern says.

Beyond her notable research, Minkoff-Zern is a leader in the subfield of food and agriculture, having served as chair and in many other roles in the . In this position, she helped steward the group toward new programs such as a scholarship for community food and agriculture partnership research.

Minkoff-Zern is the author of two books. “” tells the story of Mexican and Central American immigrants who are reshaping American farming by drawing on agricultural knowledge and practices from their home countries. Her second book, “Will Work for Food: Labor Across the Food Chain,” co-authored with Teresa Mares, looks at labor across the food chain from farms to food processing and into the home and explores the intersections between sustainability movements and labor organizing. This book will be published by the University of California Press in 2025.

Thomas Pearson

, assistant professor of economics in the , is part of a team of scholars who have been awarded $195,000 from the Russell Sage Foundation to study the exclusion and expulsion of minority groups from U.S. towns and cities between 1850 and 1950.

Their project, “The Geography of Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Uncovering a Hidden History of Expulsion and Exclusion,” will result in a nationwide dataset detailing the expulsion and exclusion of minority groups that occurred locally, even if illegal at the federal level.

The team aims to identify understudied forms of exclusion such as “sundown towns” to characterize both the causes of racial/ethnic exclusion and its consequences for affected groups and places. They hope to identify systematic factors driving these events and impacts on affected populations. They also seek to reveal demographic, cultural and economic changes in the identified places, with a focus on African Americans, Chinese and Mexicans who were most affected.

The funding is awarded by the Russell Sage Foundation’s program on Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration, which supports innovative research that examines the roles of race, ethnicity, nativity, legal status—and their interactions with each other and other social categories—in the social, economic, and political outcomes for immigrants, U.S.-born racial and ethnic minorities, and native-born whites.

In addition to Pearson, the team includes Samuel Bazzi of the University of California at San Diego; Eric Chyn of the University of Texas at Austin; Andreas Ferrara of the University of Pittsburgh; Martin Fiszbein of Boston University; and Patrick Testa of Tulane University. Bazzi is leading the project.

Pearson previously collaborated with teammates Bazzi, Ferrara, Fiszbein and Testa. “The Other Great Migration: Southern Whites and the New Right” was published in the August 2023 issue of Quarterly Journal of Economics, while “Sundown Towns and Racial Exclusion: The Southern White Diaspora and the ‘Great Retreat’” appeared in the American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings in May 2022.

Before joining Maxwell in 2022, Pearson served as an instructor, teaching fellow and research assistant at Boston University and as a research associate in Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. He also served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua. He earned a Ph.D. from Boston University in May 2022.

Alexis Peña ’16 (Photo courtesy of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine)

Despite the dominance of cheap, quick clothing production among modern retailers, ���ϲ����� biomedical engineering alumna Alexis Peña ’16, and her colleague, Lauren Blake, are determined to revolutionize the textile industry with their start-up, Good Fibes.

“Since summer 2022, Lauren and I have embarked on understanding the fashion industry ecosystem to provide innovative solutions for the current challenges,” says Peña. “At Good Fibes, we’re developing methods for biomanufacturing natural textile fibers using biological building blocks. Our mission is to enable a circular textile economy through material innovation.”

The biotech startup aims to produce lab-grown fibers through cellular agriculture and use engineered molecules to create renewable, biodegradable and non-toxic fibers. They hope this will offer alternatives to synthetic fibers such as polyester, which currently make up over 50% of clothing material. Synthetic fibers can also take hundreds of years to degrade and shed microplastics and chemical pollutants into the environment.

Though fibers like cotton, silk or wool are natural fibers, their production processes don’t align with sustainability goals or meet the industry’s needs. Cotton processing demands extensive amounts of water and silk production requires a considerable amount of energy. Wool products may also contain harsh chemicals and dyes that make them less biodegradable.

Alexis Peña ’16 and Lauren Blake present a pitch for Chain Reaction Innovations (Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory)

Natural materials can also be unpredictable in supply due to weather, humidity, animal diet or plant soil, which can cause variations in harvest seasons and batch-to-batch quality. Additionally, the industry faces challenges related to performance criteria and variability in quality, which ultimately leads to a reliance on synthetic fibers.

Good Fibes’ bioengineered fibers solve these issues by providing environmentally conscious production and better-quality materials compared to current synthetic textiles.

“The lack of reliable alternatives to synthetic fibers is a major pain point in the textile industry. Our bioengineered fibers not only provide an alternative to petroleum-based fibers, but also address limitations of cotton, silk and wool by having year-round production and tunable properties such as elasticity, tensile strength and dye affinity” says Peña.

Peña and Blake recently completed their Ph.D.s in May 2023 at Johns Hopkins University. The co-founders also taught a course called “Future Fashion Innovation” to material scientists and engineering undergraduates at Johns Hopkins during intersession and adapted the course into a webinar for Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni during Earth Week in 2023.

Additionally, Good Fibes has been selected as a participant in a lab-embedded entrepreneurship program (LEEP), Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI) program at Argonne National Laboratory.��The CRI program is designed to support entrepreneurs and their innovative research with a focus on clean energy.

“Fashion should allow people to feel good about their clothing, but also feel good about what happens to their clothing after they wear it,” says Peña. “We believe this can truly innovate the textile industry and bring a much-needed change to fashion’s monolithic infrastructure.”

Nearly 30 million people in the United States struggle with alcohol use disorder (AUD), which is characterized by impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. Of that 30 million, less than 10% receive treatment, according to the . Among the barriers to care are cost, stigma and presence of co-occurring psychological symptoms or conditions, including anxiety, depression and trauma.

Sarah Woolf-King (left), associate professor of psychology, and Fatima Dobani, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology, were each recently awarded prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Through the development of novel intervention strategies, members of the College of Arts and Sciences’ are dedicated to advancing treatment for individuals suffering from AUD. This is another example of cutting-edge research at ���ϲ����� that contributes to human thriving, a key pillar of the University’s new . In support of that work, a psychologist and graduate student in psychology were recently awarded grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

, associate professor of psychology, received a (major NIH research grant awarded to individual investigator teams) to test the efficacy of a novel approach to decrease alcohol use and improve co-existing psychological symptoms among people with HIV.

A second NIH award—an —was obtained by , a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology. The prestigious F31 award will support her work to generate a way to measure how discrimination against Multiracial young adults contributes to alcohol misuse among that population. Her study will develop a discrimination scale to help inform culturally sensitive intervention strategies.

Learn more about these .

]]> /blog/2023/11/29/new-research-on-veterans-with-less-than-honorable-discharges/ Wed, 29 Nov 2023 18:50:30 +0000 /?p=194495

More than one in seven veterans discharged between 2002 and 2013 received a less than “Honorable” discharge, according to new research out of ���ϲ�����. The “” research brief describes how service members with behavioral or mental health challenges, ethnoracial minorities, members of the LGBTQ community, and women are at the greatest risk for receiving a less than “Honorable” discharge—which, in turn, has veterans experiencing lifelong negative consequences associated with their discharge status

Mariah Brennan and Emily Graham, the authors of this brief, said, “It is critical that we raise awareness surrounding the challenges that veterans face when they leave military service with a discharge that is less than ‘Honorable’. Transitioning from service can be challenging enough, but the added consequences associated with less than ‘Honorable’ discharges are severe, lifelong, and put this group of veterans at greater risk for poor health outcomes and homelessness. It’s important that resources and support upon separation are available to those in greatest need.”

If you’d like to learn more about this research and/or schedule an interview with the authors, please reach out to Vanessa Marquette, media relations specialist, at vrmarque@syr.edu.

Asif Salekin (left) and Brian Testa (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

Whether you’re looking to try a new recipe, dimming the lights in your living room, or curious about the species of bacteria living inside your mouth, Amazon Alexa has got you covered. With a simple voice command, Alexa’s ability to perform various tasks or answer questions has made it widely popular, with over 40 million users in the United States alone. Despite the convenience smart speakers like Alexa offer, these devices have also raised some privacy concerns.

Amazon has been known to collect data on users, which includes their shopping habits, preferences and even their location for personalized marketing. But that’s not all. When using waking words such as “Hey Alexa” to activate smart speakers, the audio of your voice command is also recorded and stored, becoming Amazon’s property. This means that Amazon owns your voice audio and can do whatever they want with it.��“Big tech companies are using our personal information. We’re less like customers and more like their product,” says graduate student Brian Testa ’24. “I’ve always been sensitive to that. I don’t use a lot of technology at home for that reason.”

Using voice data, companies like Amazon and Google have now developed technology that poses even more threats to privacy: AI and machine learning that can determine people’s emotional state or mood from their voice. This patented technology can even pick up on feelings from emotionally neutral phrases like “What’s the weather?” Since there are no laws in place to prevent this, there’s no protection against it.��“In the U.S. for the last five to 10 years, lots of researchers have been working on how they can use voice to infer emotions, mood or even mental health,” says assistant professor in electrical engineering and computer science, Asif Salekin. “In my own lab, we have previous works on tech that can infer mental disorders like depression, social anxiety, manic disorder and even suicidal tendencies from one’s voice.”

While this technology can be useful in certain circumstances, most users, if not all, have not consented to having their emotions detected by smart speakers. These privacy concerns led Testa, Professor Salekin, graduate students Harshit Sharma ’26 and Yi Xiao ’26, and undergraduate student Avery Gump ’24 to begin researching ways to protect users’ privacy from smart speakers.��“Consent is key,” Salekin says. “We’d still like to use smart speakers since they’re quite useful–I have them in my own home. This project was about finding a way to use these devices without giving companies the power to exploit us.”

Led by Testa, the group conducted extensive research and developed a device that can be attached to a smart speaker or downloaded as software onto a laptop. This device emits a mild noise that only the smart speaker can hear and masks the emotional tone in your voice, providing a new level of privacy protection for concerned users. “Through the use of a speech emotion recognition (SER) classifier, a smart speaker can analyze how people are feeling based on how they sound. We created a microphone device that listens for the wake word ‘Hey Alexa,’” Testa says. “When the smart speaker activates, our device activates too and begins to emit a noise that disrupts the smart speaker from detecting your emotions. However, only the smart speaker hears this noise.”

Currently, their device masks your emotional state by presenting it as a completely different emotion. When you speak, the smart speaker may detect from your voice that you’re sad, angry or frustrated when you’re not feeling any of these emotions. This unpredictability makes it difficult for smart speakers to accurately determine your true emotions or mood and also prevents machine learning from picking up on any patterns and mood correlations. The group hopes to improve the device’s functionality by making it mask your emotions as neutral rather than presenting them as a different emotion. “To create the mild noise our device emits, we utilized genetic programming to identify a combination of specific frequencies that disrupt the smart speaker from determining a person’s mood,” Salekin says. “Only the speaker hears this noise, but it can hear your speech commands clearly, so the utility of the smart speaker remains intact.”

Though the sound is only detected by the smart speaker, the group wanted to see how loud it would be when the device is used. Testa played the sound in the lab when Professor Salekin was having a meeting and Salekin didn’t even realize it was playing, which showed that the noise wasn’t disruptive. Additionally, they also conducted a survey with others to see if the noise was loud enough to be disruptive.

Testa, Salekin, Sharma, Xiao and Gump are currently working on patent submissions, form factors and speaking with companies about commercializing their device. What sets their patent apart from similar concepts is that while past technology focused on determining people’s moods or emotions, their technology is all about protecting them. This unique approach makes their device the first of its kind. “It was a fun project,” Testa says. “This paper was published by me and as the first listed author, I’m excited about it. I’ve been working towards my Ph.D., and this is another step towards that goal.”

“Working with the students in real-world applications and research with real results was exciting,” Salekin says. “This research has many components and the collaboration between us was great. We’re excited to see what the future for this tech holds.”

Stephen Maisto

, research professor and professor emeritus of psychology, has been named the College of Arts and Sciences’ (A&S) associate dean of research. In that role, he will help advance the mission of the college by working with faculty to increase grant funding and research expenditures. Maisto will also ensure that research activities in the college align with the University’s new Academic Strategic Plan (ASP) and A&S’ forthcoming ASP. With faculty spanning the humanities, STEM and social science disciplines, the scholarly contributions made by A&S professors play a significant role in the University’s R1 Carnegie Classification, signifying high research activity levels.

Behzad Mortazavi, dean of A&S, is thrilled to welcome Maisto to the college’s leadership team.

“I look forward to Professor Maisto carrying on the positive momentum set in place by former associate dean of research Alan Middleton,” says Mortazavi. “With his proven track record of proposal development and high-impact research publications, Professor Maisto is the perfect fit for this role moving forward.”

Maisto, whose appointment as associate dean began Oct. 16, will work closely with Mortazavi and A&S leadership to enhance the college’s research standing and increase the volume, scope and success of grant proposals. He will oversee A&S’ Research Administration team in collaboration with the Office of Research and will provide strategic oversight for the Office of Research Development staff assigned to support the college.

“I look forward to accelerating the college faculty’s positive trajectory of receiving external support for their research. Within that overall goal, I’m especially excited about the prospect of working with individual faculty to reach their research goals and for mentoring junior faculty as part of that process,” says Maisto.

Since joining the ���ϲ����� faculty in 1994, Maisto has focused much of his research on the assessment and treatment of alcohol and drug use disorders. His cutting-edge work also extends to HIV prevention and intervention.

He has authored or co-authored more than 300 publications and was recently part of a seminal study where he and ���ϲ����� researchers looked at the��pain-relieving effects of cannabidiol (or CBD). The team’s noteworthy results revealed that CBD and expectancies for receiving CBD do not appear to reduce pain intensity but do make the pain feel less unpleasant. Their findings, which received significant media attention, shed important light on the actual effectiveness of CBD.

Throughout his career, Maisto has secured over $50 million in research funding. A testament to his proficiency with proposal development, he and fellow psychology professor Sarah Woolf-King earned a rare�� on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant application in 2017–the highest score possible. Recently, Maisto was among the leaders of two research teams who received over $5 million in funding from the NIH for ��focused on HIV prevention and alcohol use disorder recovery, respectively.

Maisto has held a variety of leadership positions at ���ϲ�����, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) centers and other professional organizations. With the Department of Psychology in A&S, he served as director of clinical training and interim department chair. With the VA Center for Integrated Health Care (Upstate New York), he served as director of research and executive director. He also held leadership roles with Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island; the VA Medical Center in Brockton, Massachusetts; and the VA Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

An accomplished professor, mentor and researcher during his nearly three decades at the University, Maisto was honored with the Chancellor’s Citation Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018 and was awarded emeritus status in 2020. Prior to joining the University faculty in 1994, Maisto taught at Vanderbilt University, Brown University Medical School and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in experimental psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and completed a postdoctoral respecialization in clinical psychology in 1985 at George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Maisto also is board certified in clinical psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Resettled refugees, also called new Americans, encounter myriad challenges from being displaced, ranging from financial stress to difficulties finding employment to lack of access to resources. These hurdles are magnified for new Americans who, in addition to possibly learning a new language, require speech, language and hearing services.

As the rate of asylum seekers arriving in the United States surges, ���ϲ����� in particular is one of the highest intake cities in the United States, welcoming over 7,000 refugees in the past decade alone. To help ease the language barriers faced by new Americans, communication sciences professionals must be prepared to provide culturally responsive, human-centered, trauma-informed services for refugees who have complex educational and health care needs.

In response to this growing challenge, the College of Arts and Sciences’ (CSD) has launched a new training program called Supporting Outcomes and Healthcare Access for Refugees (SOAR).

A first of its kind in the United States, SOAR provides the next generation of speech-language pathologists and audiologists with training in promoting health equity, interprofessional collaboration and experiential learning opportunities. CSD professors Jamie Desjardins and Stephanie McMillen lead the program, which received a $10,000 grant from the American Speech Language Hearing Association’s multicultural board in 2022 to support the project.

According to Desjardins, SOAR was established in part to respond to a recent report revealing that CSD clinicians nationwide are feeling underprepared and lacking confidence in servicing U.S. refugee populations.

“It is our responsibility, as a CSD higher-education program, to improve pre-professional training to better prepare our students for working with new Americans. We started SOAR to meet these needs in our community and profession.” – Jamie Desjardins

During the Fall 2023 semester, 19 CSD undergraduate and graduate students are participating in tailored classroom instruction and experiential learning activities. Together, these experiences allow students to learn about the needs and challenges that new Americans encounter when it comes to access to health care services.

CSD students attended a seminar where they learned about trauma-informed care.

At an event in early October, students learned how to work with an interpreter to provide linguistically and culturally sensitive clinical services for patients learning English as a new language. They interacted with in-person and virtual interpreters in scripted, live-action clinical scenarios with an actor, who portrayed a patient with limited English proficiency.

Li, a health economist who is part of the public administration and international affairs department in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, wanted to see if Medicare’s Quality of Patient Care home health star ratings have an impact on patient care.

Critics have argued that these ratings are inaccurate. But since Medicare’s ratings provide the only source of systematically and publicly available information on home health agency quality, it is important for patients to have access to valid ratings in order to find high-quality care.

In the paper “” and published in the journal Medical Care, Li studied more than 1.8 million Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who used home health care from July 2015 to July 2016 in the United States and evaluated whether patients treated by higher-rate agencies had better health outcomes.

Li looked at how many days patients were able to live independently at home after receiving home health care as well as if they needed hospitalization, visited an emergency department, had to be institutionalized, or died in the short-term.

In the study, Li found that patients treated by higher-rate agencies did better both in the short-term and long-term outcomes.

“Rates of hospitalization, emergency department use, institutionalization generally decreased,” said Li. “Patients treated by higher-rate agencies spent more time at home.”

With these findings, policymakers should work to increase awareness and use of the ratings by patients and their caregivers said Li.

The star rating was created in 2015 with the aim of distinguishing high from low-quality home health agencies. Home health care plays an important role in caring for the elderly. For both the government and patients, Medicare’s home health visits are one of the least expensive ways to provide care, but assessing quality is often challenging for patients and their doctors, who must select an agency, often just as patients are leaving the hospital. Furthermore, many people tend to be less familiar with the reputation of home health agencies than they are with hospitals and other institutions within their communities.

While the rating system works, there are still issues with patients in rural areas who don’t live near highly-rated agencies.

“While this study shows that the rating systems helps connect patients with effective home health agencies, there are still issues for some patients in accessing high-quality home health care, especially in rural settings,” said Li. “For example, 15% of patients live in zip codes where the best-rated home health options was only average. Knowing that the star ratings provide valuable signals of quality only means that we need to work harder at making sure that all people have access to high-quality care.”

One of the visible examples of how the University is leading the way in research excellence is the , an interdisciplinary institute whose members examine complex biological systems, developing and designing programmable smart materials to address global challenges in health, medicine and materials innovation.

BioInspired serves as a framework for ���ϲ�����’s talented faculty and student researchers, supporting researchers from such disciplines as life sciences, engineering, physics and chemistry. It collaborates with both industry partners and other academic institutions, including , and others.

Helping the current and next generation of ���ϲ����� researchers achieve their goals fuels , who served as BioInspired’s founding director beginning in April 2019, and , who took over as director on July 1. The two have frequently collaborated to provide a roadmap for successful research endeavors on campus.

Lisa Manning

“BioInspired is at the intersection of materials and living systems. The idea is there’s types of materials called biomaterials that interact with living systems, and there are types of materials that are bioinspired, which means they have features or functions or can execute tasks like intelligent new types of materials that act like living systems,” says Manning, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. “There’s this idea that organisms are actually secretly a material. By thinking about living systems as materials or having mechanical interactions, we can come up with new hypotheses that might even someday drive treatments for a disease.”

Jay Henderson

“We’re trying to figure out ways to solve really big problems like antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics or how we can better treat injuries when they occur,” says Henderson, professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “How can we use materials to try to do those things? Some of the biggest challenges facing our society might have solutions rooted in the materials we could use to address them, whether it’s treating an injury or a disease, or capturing energy in some way that it can’t currently be captured to address things like global warming or combating COVID. These are problems we’re going to continue to face in the future.”

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” Henderson and Manning share how BioInspired embraces an interdisciplinary approach to research, discuss the importance of introducing students to research opportunities early in their academic careers and explain how BioInspired and ���ϲ����� are helping more women and students from underrepresented populations get involved in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

They also explore the Cluster Hires Initiative—a key part of the intended to significantly invest in faculty recruitment and retention in areas of distinction for the University—preview the second annual BioInspired Symposium, scheduled for Oct. 19-20, and explain how they became passionate about research.

Check out featuring Henderson and Manning. A transcript [PDF]��is also available.

Jay Henderson and Lisa Manning discuss BioInspired’s interdisciplinary approach to research, the importance of introducing students to research opportunities early in their academic careers and what BioInspired and ���ϲ����� are doing to get more women and students from underrepresented populations into STEM fields.

Kishi Animashaun Ducre (left) and Alan Middleton

A welcoming community where students of varying backgrounds thrive. An infrastructure that nurtures top-tier research and academics. These are two cornerstones of the (A&S) experience. Over the past six years, A&S has shown important strides in these areas, and that success can be attributed largely to the efforts of associate deans����and��, who returned to the faculty this fall.

According to Behzad Mortazavi, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Ducre and Middleton were forward-thinking leaders focused on elevating the standing of the college.

“I applaud Professor Middleton and Professor Ducre on their thoughtfulness and dedication to the college,” says Mortazavi. “Alan’s steadfast commitment to advancing research has been key to raising the profile of the college and the University. Likewise, Kishi’s work as A&S’ inaugural associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has strengthened the college’s reputation and improved the experience for our faculty, staff and students.”

Ducre, a leading scholar in gender, race and environmental justice, joined the African American studies faculty in 2005. She is an environmental sociologist examining the intersection of the geographies of race and gender within the field of environmental justice, from a Black feminist perspective. Her work has appeared in edited books and journals, including Environmental Sociology.��Ducre is also author of “A Place We Call Home: Gender, Race and Justice in ���ϲ�����” (���ϲ����� Press, 2013) and co-editor of “Addressing Environmental and Food Justice toward Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline Poisoning and Imprisoning Youth” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Ducre led several key initiatives during her time as associate dean of DEI for A&S. She successfully campaigned for the establishment of the A&S | Maxwell Diversity Council written as an amendment to the college’s by-laws and led a robust series of professional development workshops on unconscious bias within the promotion and tenure review process; bystander intervention; and best practices in inclusive hiring. She also organized the , created to help viewers consider the factors and implications surrounding the May 2020 killing of George Floyd—and the subsequent trial of police officer Derek Chauvin in spring 2021.

A testament to her work with social justice initiatives, last year Ducre was appointed to the 400 Years of African American History Commission by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul. Through research, events and activities, the commission is charged with sparking community dialogue about the history of racism in America and will recognize and highlight the resilience and contributions of African Americans since 1619.

, professor and chair of African American studies, is excited for Ducre to rejoin the department full time following her term as associate dean.

“The department would like to extend their gratitude to Professor Ducre for her inspired leadership over the last five years, and we cannot wait to see her in Sims Hall again,” says Dima. “This fall, Professor Ducre is teaching AAS 112 (Introduction to African American Studies) and a special topics seminar, AAS 400/600 (Black Feminist Geographies), which stems from her main area of expertise, environmental justice. The faculty, students and staff of AAS are looking forward to Professor Ducre’s return.”

Middleton has been a faculty member in the Department of Physics since 1995. He was promoted to full professor in 2008 and served as chair of physics from 2013-17. He also served as the director of undergraduate studies for physics from 2000-07 and was a core faculty member of the from 2009-15.

An expert in the application of advanced algorithms to the study of structurally disordered materials, Middleton is interested in developing best teaching practices and innovative coursework. His popular class, Seeing Light, explores theories of light and vision from Lucretius through Einstein, using hands-on experiments to learn about optics and color theory. During his time at ���ϲ�����, he has been principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on National Science Foundation grants totaling over $3 million and has authored or co-authored nearly 50 research publications. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

As associate dean of research, he helped lead the college through significant gains in funding and research output, a key contributor to the University’s R1 Carnegie Classification, the top tier signifying high research activity levels. During his tenure, Middleton oversaw the hiring of two inaugural directors of proposal development: one in the sciences and mathematics and another in the humanities. Each of those new positions helped advance the research mission of the college as they worked with faculty to increase the volume, scope and success of grant proposals.

Under Middleton’s leadership, A&S had a record $23.4 million in research awards in 2022. Over the past year, the college also set a new record for funded research with $19.7 million in expenditures, which is the amount spent on research in A&S.

, professor and department chair of physics, is thrilled to have Middleton rejoin the physics department full time where he will help advance its teaching and research missions.

“I have known Alan Middleton for many years, and I have always enjoyed our discussions of best practices and gaining efficiencies in academic administration,” Ross says. “Alan’s research in statistical mechanics is highly versatile and will be a welcome addition to many subfields in physics, including my own. I am also excited to have Alan’s experience as an educator back on the faculty as we implement new courses to enhance student experiential learning.”

Ducre and Middleton helped create a strong foundation for the college, Mortazavi notes. “As they return to their respective departments, I am honored to help celebrate their exemplary service, for which I am profoundly grateful. Thank you, Kishi and Alan!”

As the college finalizes its Academic Strategic Plan, Dean Mortazavi will identify ways to continue the work of these outstanding faculty members.

Heather C. Fischer

Heather C. Fischer, a graduate student in the executive master’s in international relations (E.M.I.R.) program in Washington, D.C., has been named a 2023 Eisenhower USA Fellow. One of 11 recipients of the honor by the organization Eisenhower Fellowships, she was selected for her work fighting human trafficking and other human rights crimes in the national security space.

Named after the U.S.’s 34th president, Eisenhower Fellowships was founded in 1953 to provide mid-career leaders from around the world the opportunity to travel to different countries to connect with fellow professionals of their respective fields.

Fischer works as the senior advisor for human rights crimes at Thomson Reuters Special Services, a D.C-based data and technology company. As a contractor for the federal government, she helps inform the company strategy to combat human trafficking, safeguard children from online sexual exploitation, pursue human rights violators, and promote women, peace and security.

The fellowship supported Fischer’s recent travel to Malaysia and Thailand to study best practices to address forced labor in global supply chains and develop a U.S. public awareness campaign to educate consumers about making ethical purchasing decisions for goods and services free of forced labor. Her academic research work during the fellowship was supervised and supported by Jay Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance and director of the Dynamic Sustainability Lab.

Heather C. Fischer is shown with, from left, Ekachai Pinkaew of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner, and human rights activist Sompong Srakaew of the Labor Rights Promotion Network, on a tour of a migrant Burmese community outside of Bangkok, Thailand. During the tour, Fischer spoke with workers about conditions in seafood processing factories.

“Heather and I are working with Thomson Reuters to develop a technical bulletin to educate multi-national corporations, governments and NGOs as well as consumers on the important issues of forced labor in supply chains,” says Golden. “A key component of our work is to provide both public policy and business strategies to assist in identifying and eliminating products that are derived from forced labor around the globe.”

Before joining Thomson Reuters, Fischer worked for the McCain Institute, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House. She was a special advisor for human trafficking and the inaugural human trafficking czar during the Trump administration.

Fischer enrolled in the E.M.I.R. program in August 2021 to enhance her policy-based perspective in support of her work.

“Obviously, my time in government provided valuable public affairs experience, but I was really thrown into the deep end of the pool,” she said in a . “When I saw ���ϲ����� was offering an executive master’s program in conjunction with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, I knew this would be a great opportunity to work on the theory around the intersection of national security and human rights.”

Story by Sophia Moore

The lead researchers — Professors Brendan Nyhan from Dartmouth University, Jaime Settle from William & Mary, Emily Thorson from ���ϲ����� and Magdalena Wojcieszak from University of California, Davis – ran a study for three months in 2020 that reduced the volume of content from politically like-minded sources in the Feeds of consenting participants.

The researchers found that the majority of Facebook users’ News Feeds consists of posts from politically like-minded sources, while political information and news represent only a small fraction of their feeds.

In addition to decreasing exposure to content from like-minded sources, the experimental intervention also resulted in a decrease in exposure to uncivil language and an increase in exposure to posts from sources with politically dissimilar views.

However, the researchers found that these changes to a person’s Facebook feed had no impact on a variety of beliefs and attitudes, including affective polarization, ideological extremity, and beliefs in false claims.

“These results underscore how hard it is to change political opinions,” said Emily Thorson, an assistant professor of political science in the Maxwell School at ���ϲ�����. “In addition, it’s important to emphasize that social media still comprises a relatively small part of most people’s information diets. As a result, even drastic changes to what they see on platforms may not have downstream effects on their attitudes.” Thorson’s research focuses on political misperceptions and political knowledge.

These findings are part of a broader research project examining the role of social media in U.S. democracy. Known as the, the project is the first of its kind providing social media scientists with access to social media data that previously has been largely inaccessible.

Seventeen academics from U.S. colleges and universities, including ���ϲ�����, teamed up with Meta to conduct independent research on what people see on social media and how it affects them. The project built in several safeguards to protect the researchers’ independence. All the studies were preregistered, and eta could not restrict or censor the findings. The academic lead authors had final authority on all writing and research decisions.

The research for “” was divided into two parts.

From June to September 2020, the researchers measured how often all adult Facebook users saw content from politically aligned sources. The results showed that for the median Facebook user, slightly over half the content they saw was from politically like-minded sources, and just 14.7% was from sources with different political leanings.

In September to December 2020, the researchers conducted a multi-wave experiment with 23,377 consenting adult users of Facebook in the US. The study reduced the volume of content from like-minded sources to gauge the effect on political attitudes. People in the treatment group saw about one-third less content from like-minded sources. In the treatment group,�� total engagement with content from like-minded sources decreased, but their rate of engagement increased: when they did see content from like-minded sources, they were more likely to click on it. This pattern illustrates human behavior compensating for algorithmic changes.

Additional studies that are part of this project are “,” “,” and “,”

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