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THE JESS AND MILDRED FISHER COLLEGE OF
SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
The Fisher
College —
Inspiring Student
Exploration in
Science and
Mathematics for
the 21st Century
In This Issue
Chemistry Student
Research
Highlights
Global
Accessibility
Awareness Day
Mathematics
Student Awardees
at the 25th Annual
FCSM Honors
Convocation
iSTEM
Instructional
Leadership
Program
Memorial Gifts… from the Development Office - Gifts benefiting The Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics or any of the departments mentioned in this newsletter, may be made to Towson University Foundation in honor of a birthday, anniversary or other special occasion, or simply as a thank you for a special favor. Gift acknowledgements will be sent to the donor as well as the individual being honored. For more information, contact the Towson University Development Office at 410-704-3375 or 1‑866-301-3375 or write to the Towson University Foundation, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001.
A Message from the Dean
The Fisher College held its 25th Honors
Convocation in April, followed by TU’s 150th
Commencement in May. We celebrate the accomplishments of all FCSM majors and, indeed, all TU students. With few exceptions, every TU undergraduate student is blessed with one or more courses offered by the Fisher College!
Fisher College representatives attended celebrations this spring with a number of long-time partners, including Building STEPS www.buildingsteps.org, the Middle Grades Partnership www.middlegradespartnership.org, the Ingenuity Project www.ingenuityproject.org, the Northeast Maryland Tech Council
www.nmtc.org, and the Maryland Science Center www.mdsci.org. Check these organizations out – our partnership with them provide many valuable opportunities for our faculty and students.
This year’s Dean’s Recognition Award went to Dr. Jeffrey C. Miller, D.D.S. ‘1978. Dr. Miller is a renowned orthodontist who has supported the FCSM and, especially, biology and pre-professional students. I would also like to mention a recent major gift from Dr. Michele Cooper, M.D. ‘1991, in support of her named scholarship. Congratulations and thanks to Drs. Miller and Cooper! Please have a great summer and we’ll be back in touch this fall.
Sincerely,
David A. Vanko Dean
Newsletter April / May 2015
2
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
C H A I R P E R S O N : D R . VO N N I E S H I E L D S
Peer-Reviewed Research Publications
Harald Beck and his international graduate student, Cindy Hurtado, published an article entitled: New mammalian records in the Parque Nacional Cerros de Amotape, northwestern Peru.”
Jay A. Nelson and former graduate student Genine K. Lipkey had the article: “Hypoxia tolerance variance between swimming and resting striped bass Morone saxatilis” accepted by the Journal of Fish Biology for publication.
Trauth-Nare, A., Prentice, S.*, and Ghent, C. 2015. Using Issue Analysis to Promote Climate Change Literacy: The Case of a Non-majors Science Course. National Association for Research in Science Teaching International Conference.
Khatri R, Shah P, Guha R, Rassool FV, Tomkinson AE, Brodie A , Jaiswal A. “ Aromatase Inhibitor -Mediated Down Regulation of INrf2 (Keap1) Leads to Increased Nrf2 and Resistance in Breast Cancer”, Mol. Cancer Ther. [Epub ahead of print; May 2015]
Schech A, Shah P, Yu S, Sabnis G, Goloubeva O, Rosenblatt P, Kazi A, Chumsri S, and Brodie A. “ Histone deacetylase inhibitor entinostat in combination with a retinoid downregulates HER2 and reduces the tumor 2 initiating cell population in aromatase inhibitor resistant breast cancer” accepted for publication in Breast Cancer Res Treat., 2015.
Professional Outreach
Vonnie Shields conducted an academic Periodic Program Review of the Biology Department of Brockport University, SUNY, April 30, 2015.
Don C. Forester, Professor Emeritus, was elected president of the newly founded Towson University Retired Faculty Association (TURFA).”
Harald Beck was re-elected as the Vice President for the AAUP Towson Chapter.
Manuscripts Reviewed
Harald Beck reviewed a manuscript for Plus One.
Jay A. Nelson served on a grant review panel for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant program.
Vonnie Shields reviewed a manuscript for Biosystems and Oriental Insects.
Spotlight on Grants and
Awards
As the Chair of the
IUCN Peccary
Specialist Group,
Harald Beck et al.
received $7000
from the Mohamed
bin Zayed Species
Conservation Fund.
3
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
C H A I R P E R S O N : D R . R I C H A R D P R E I S L E R
Grant Proposals
Kelly Elkins and Subrata Acharya submitted the following proposal to the National Institute of Justice: Elkins, K.M. (PI) and Acharya, S. (Co-PI). Developing and Testing New Technology for Detecting Drug Evidence and Preserving Results, 1/1/2016-12/31/2017, $255,537. Kelly Elkins and Subrata Acharya submitted a project concept to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
Research Presentations
Mark Profili presented a talk on Ethics in Forensic Education and participated in a forum on forensic science education at the Mid-Atlantic Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Science in Cambridge, MD, May 19-22. Masters in Forensic Science student Ashley Dye and her research mentor Ellen Hondrogiannis also attended and Ashley gave a research poster presentation.
Two undergraduate research students in John Sivey’s group successfully defended their Honors Theses in April and May: Mark Burton, “Transformation of pro-herbicide isoxaflutole: Effects of ‘inert’ agrochemical ingredients.”
Mark Bickley, “Reactivity of aromatic amino acids toward aqueous halogenating agents: Quantifying regiospecific halogenation rates in solutions of free chlorine and free bromine.”
Mark Bickley also is the recipient of a 2015 Undergraduate Environmental Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Environmental Chemistry.
Meet Our Students: Mark Bickley (pictured on right)
Why did you choose chemistry as your major?
I knew that I was interested in the STEM field. In a
core-required class, I realized that I wanted to
major in chemistry when my professor was
lecturing about titanium, an element, being used in
making bridges. I started thinking of all the
chemistry related ideas I learned in AP Chemistry
back in high school, and declared my major later
that week.
How has being a chemistry major benefited you?
I've been able to build a very solid foundation in many areas of chemistry. This strong foundation has
helped me achieve post-graduation goals, such as my acceptance into the University of Maryland
School of Pharmacy. Towson's chemistry major program, in addition to its extremely helpful faculty,
not only prepared me but also gave me the confidence needed to pursue this new exciting phase of my
education.
4
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
Faculty Professional Development/Disciplinary Service
Ryan Casey reviewed a book proposal for Wiley and a grant proposal for the Kentucky Science & Engineering Foundation.
Kelly Elkins reviewed a manuscript for the Journal of Chemical Education .
Outreach Activities
Kelly Elkins served as the faculty advisor for an 11th grade student for his G/T Research class 2014-2015
project, "Forensics: A Cold Case," for which he researched and interviewed her about error in forensic science.
Department Seminar
Dr. Jana Shen, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, “Unraveling pH-dependent mechanisms in biology and chemistry,” April 23.
The Towson Research and Performance Expo—April 23, 2015
Chemistry undergraduate and Forensic Science Masters students presented the following posters: *undergraduate **graduate
Ryan Adams-Brown** (faculty sponsor: Kelly Elkins) “Assessment of non-fluorescent dyes ability to visualize nuclei for quantification purposes in telogen hair roots leading to DNA analysis.”
Astrid Aniwa** (faculty sponsor: Ellen Hondrogiannis) “Determining if LATOF can be used to detect metal and silicate particles in the fibers of electronic cigarettes.”
Jessa Avancenna*, Simi Akanbi* and Shannon McVeigh* (faculty sponsor: Boon Loo) “Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic studies of the interactions of azide ions on gold, silver and copper nanoparticles.”
Aasim Azad** (faculty sponsor: Ellen Hondrogiannis) “Measure the effect of glutaraldehyde and nitrite on the ability to quantify phencyclidine in urine samples using disposable pipette extraction and GC-MS.”
Daniel Baumann* (faculty sponsor: Shannon Stitzel) “Cross-linker effect on metal ion selectivity in molecularly imprinted polymers.”
Courtney Blue** (faculty sponsor: Ellen Hondrogiannis) “The analysis of synthetic cathinones: ethylone and alpha-PVP using GC-MS.”
Rondessa Collins** (faculty sponsor: Ellen Hondrogiannis) “Study of free formaldehyde release from imidazolidinyl and diazolidinyl urea in concealers dated from September 2013 to January 2015.”
Isabel Decolin** (faculty sponsor: Cynthia Zeller) “Post-amplification techniques on low-level DNA.”
Aloise Diedrich* and Kelsey Polak* (faculty sponsor: Richard Preisler) “Comparing the effects of neutral osmolytes with tris(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) transition metal complex on the B-to-Z transition.”
5
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
The Towson Research and Performance Expo—April 23, 2015
Chemistry undergraduate and Forensic Science Masters students presented the following posters:
Ashley Dye** (faculty sponsor: Ellen Hondrogiannis) “The analysis of gunshot residue through LA-ICP-TOF-MS.”
Jonathan Jopse* (faculty sponsor: Ellen Hondrogiannis) “Electronic cigarette analysis and testing: instrumentation and method development.”
Sarah Lamberson** (faculty sponsor: Cynthia Zeller) “Evaluation of DNA extraction and recovery after inhibitory factors are presented.”
Sara Maloney* (faculty sponsors: Shannon Stitzel and Ryan Sours) “Determination of cocoa liquor provenance using fatty acid signatures.”
Michele Markwardt** (faculty sponsor: Kelly Elkins) “Investigator® Lyse&Spin Basket Kit by QIAGEN® as an effective replacement for DNA IQ™ spin baskets during the extraction of DNA from forensic samples, while reducing the risk of contamination.”
Anjelica Perez** (faculty sponsor: Kelly Elkins) “Detection of herbal highs: A multiplex PCR assay for species differentiation through melt-curve analysis.”
Pierce Publico* (faculty sponsor: Cynthia Zeller) “The significance of DNA methylation techniques in body fluid detection.”
LaShay Robbins** (faculty sponsor: Kelly Elkins) “Development of latent fingerprints on cartridge casings submerged underwater using various methods.”
Jenna Roussillon** (faculty sponsor: Kelly Elkins) “Multiplex real-time PCR detection and differentiation of food-borne pathogen Bacillus cereus and related Bacillus species.”
Katherine Sweetin** (faculty sponsor: Kelly Elkins) “Multiplex real-time PCR detection and identification of food-borne pathogens Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli and Shigella flexneri.”
Katie Vautier** (faculty sponsor: Ellen Hondrogiannis) “Liquid-liquid extraction of PCP from urine.”
Alexandra Vlk* (faculty sponsors: Sarah Stokes and Kit Bowen) “Anion photoelectron spectroscopy of the 2-hydroxypyrimidine dimer and trimer systems.”
Taylor Watts* (faculty sponsor: Ryan Sours) “Chromatographic investigation of the interaction between a polymorphic compound and tailored surfaces.”
Alex Weghorst** (faculty sponsor: Kelly Elkins) “The design and development of a drug testing application to aid in crime scene investigation.”
6
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER & INFORMATION SCIENCES
C H A I R P E R S O N : D R . C H A O LU
Publications and Presentations
Subrata Acharya and her undergraduate student Saurabh Khatiwada presented their research on “Re-Designing Presumptive Drug Test through Modern Technology” at the 13
th Annual Colonial Academic Alliance
Undergraduate Research Conference, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, March, 27-29, 2015.
Subrata Acharya and her graduate student William Forrester had a paper titled “ Towards the Design and Implementation of a BYOD Security Platform for the K-12 School Environment” accepted for presentation at the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education (CISSE), Las Vegas, NV, June 15-17, 2015.
Subrata Acharya was an invited guest speaker on Computer Security Education, at the Spark The Future Event at Park Elementary School, Baltimore, MD, April 24, 2015.
Heidi Feng, Subrata Acharya and Ziying Tang along with graduate students Jin Guo, Sheng Miao and Ting Tang demonstrated their projects on Accessible Technology-driven Health Solutions at the Towson University Showcase, April 28, 2015.
Jie Lin, Wei Yu, and Xinyu Yang, “On False Data Injection Attack against Multistep Electricity Price in Electricity Market in Smart Grid,” to appear in IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS), 2015.
Wei Yu, Dou An, David Griffith, Qingyu Yang, and Guobin Xu, “ On Statistical Modeling and Forecasting of Energy Usage in Smart Grid,” ACM International Journal of Applied Computing Review (ACR), vol. 15, no. 1, 2015.
Jie Lin, Wei Yu, Xinyu Yang, Qingyu Yang, Xinwen Fu, and Wei Zhao, “A Novel Dynamic En-route Decision Real-Time Route Guidance Scheme in Intelligent Transportation Systems,” accepted to appear in Prof. of IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS), June/July, 2015, Columbus, USA (accept ratio: 13%)
Nnanna Ekedebe, Wei Yu, Houbing Song, and Chao Lu, “On a Simulation Study of Cyber-Attacks on Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Communication in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS),” in Proc. of SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing (DSS), April 2015, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Robert Hammell and doctoral student Charlie Fowler had their paper entitled "Mining Information Assurance Data with a Hybrid Intelligence/Multi-agent System" accepted for publication and presentation as part of the 14
th IEEE/ACIS International
Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2015) to be held 28 June – 1 July, 2015 in Las Vegas, NV.
Robert Hammell and doctoral student Donghwoon Kwon had their paper entitled "Objective Framework for Early-Stage Comparison of Software Development Project Types" accepted for publication and presentation as part of the 14
th IEEE/ACIS
International Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2015) to be held 28 June – 1 July, 2015 in Las Vegas, NV.
Jonathan Lazar presented the " Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction" tutorial with Simone Barbosa (professor from PUC-Rio, Brazil), on April 20th, at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) in Seoul, South Korea. Jonathan Lazar gave a presentation titled “Locked Out: Investigating Societal Discrimination Against People with Disabilities Due to Inaccessible Websites”, on April 21st, at the Korean Disability Law Association, in Seoul, South Korea.
The Computer and Information Sciences Department co-hosted co-ponsored the Global Accessibility Awareness Day event in
Baltimore:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-accessibility-awareness-day-baltimore-tickets-16835284790
7
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER & INFORMATION SCIENCES
Publications and Presentations
Marius Zimand gave a presentation on "Kolmogorov complexity versions of the Slepian -Wolf Theorem", on April 10, in a joint session of the Logic Seminar and Probability Seminar in the Mathematical Department at Penn State University.
The paper "On Optimal Language Compression for sets in PSPACE/poly", by N.V. Vinodchandran (Univ. of Nebraska) and Marius Zimand has been published in the journal Theory Comput. Syst. 56(3): 581-590 (2015).
Suranjan Chakraborty’s paper titled “ Investigating System Development Processes in Healthcare Organizations” with doctoral student Deema al Sekait and Sutirtha Chatterjecc , University of Nevada at Las Vegas was accepted at the 21
st Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Puerto Rico.
Suranjan Chakraborty’s paper titled "Preparing Industry-ready Analysts In the Classroom: A Module Injection Approach" with doctoral student Atiya Afsana and Siddharth Kaza, Towson University and Sutirtha Chatterjee, University of Nevada at Las Vegas was accepted at the 21
st Americas Conference on
Information Systems (AMCIS), Puerto Rico.
Yeong-Tae Song presented a paper titled “ Ontological Personal Healthcare using Medical Standards” at IWBBIO15, Granada, Spain April 15 -17, 2015.
Yeong-Tae Song was invited to deliver a keynote speech for the IEEE SNPD2015 entitled: “Empowering patient through personal healthcare system using interoperable electronic health record” at SNPD2015, Takamatsu, Japan June 1-3, 2015.
Jonathan Lazar was quoted in an article titled “ Should Netflix be Accessible to the Deaf?” published in the Atlantic, on April 16, 2015.
Services to the Discipline
Subrata Acharya participated in the Executive Retreat for the Women in Maryland Higher Education (WIMHE) Board, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, May 11, 2015.
Subrata Acharya served as a moderator for oral presentations that were presented at the 13
th Annual Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate
Research Conference, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, March, 27-29, 2015.
Yanggon Kim is a Conference Chair of the ICIS 2015 in Las Vegas, NV.
Suranjan Chakraborty’s Track proposal titled “ Information Systems and Positive Organizational Scholarship” with Kevin Fulk, Tarleton University and Sutirtha Chatterjee, UNLV was accepted for the 24
th European Conference on
Information Systems (2016) , Istanbul, and he will serve as a Track Chair for the conference.
Suranjan Chakraborty was invited and completed reviews for Decision Sciences Journal, Journal of the AIS and European Journal for Information Systems.
Undergrad Student
Scholarships
Congratulations to Rachel Dabay Andrew Kemper William Moffitt For being selected as recipients of $1000 scholarships awarded by the Association of Electronic Warfare and Information Operations (informally known as AOC – Association of the Old Crows).
The Susquehanna Chapter of the AOC is based at Aberdeen Proving Ground and for the past several years has solicited scholarship applications from Towson University and other local universities (primarily UMBC and the University of Delaware) to encourage the study of science, engineering, and technology at local colleges.
8
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
C H A I R P E R S O N : D R . R A O U F B O U L E S
Papers Published or Accepted for Publication Diana Cheng and graduate student David Thompson co-authored a paper entitled “Rebounding from the axis: An experiment modeling endangered species.” This article was accepted for publication in the Fall 2015 issue of the New Jersey Mathematics Teacher, the journal published by the New Jersey Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Russell Hendel's "Solution to Problem B-1137, By the Binomial Theorem", (with co-author, Jaroslav Seibert), was published in the Fibonacci Quarterly, Volume 52(4), p. 370, November 2014. Russell Hendel made several contributions to the Online Encyclopedia of Integers Sequences, (OEIS), http://oeis.org.
Lawrence Shirley’s paper, “ Mathematics of students’ culture: A goal of localized ethnomathematics,” was
accepted for publication in the journal Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemática
Conference and Seminar Presentations On Thursday, April 23, 2015, Mircea Voisei gave his sabbatical talk “Lecture Videos for Calculus Classes and
Recent Progress on the Rockafellar Conjecture.”
Refereeing, Reviewing, and Panel Service Sergiy Borodachov refereed papers for Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics and for the
Proceedings of the Constructive Functions 2014 Conference.
Russell Hendel's review of "Umbral calculus associated with Bernoulli polynomials," by Dae San Kim and Taekyun Kim, Journal of Number Theory, Volume 147, pp. 871-882, 2015, was published in Mathematical Reviews. Russell Hendel's review of "Coincidences in Generalized Lucas Sequences," by Eric F Bravo, Jhon J. Bravo, and Florian Luca, The Fibonacci Quarterly, Volume 52(4), pp. 296-306, November 2014, was published in Mathematical Reviews. Russell Hendel reviewed several papers for the 19th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics And Informatics, WMSCI 2015. Russell Hendel reviewed a paper for the Fibonacci Quarterly.
Undergraduate Research
Honi Bamberger supervised the undergraduate research project of Ms. Britaney Cosner, who accompanied
her to Middletown, New York on April 22nd
. While there Ms. Cosner observed 22 kindergarten through second
grade teachers while they conducted mathematics lessons. Then Dr. Bamberger worked with the children while
Ms. Cosner interviewed their teacher in an effort to determine what professional development has helped them
implement new teaching strategies. Ms. Cosner's notes will be written up and the data collected from her survey will
be analyzed. A collaborative article is expected from this work.
9
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
Workshops
On April 1, 2015, Honi Bamberger conducted a "Number Talk" workshop for the fourth thru sixth grade teachers at the National Presbyterian School, in Washington, D.C. as part of the work that she does each month with students and teachers at this school.
On April 25, Ming Tomayko gave an invited presentation titled “Making Sense of Fraction Concepts” at the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) Regional Mini-Conference at Wilde Lake High School, Howard County.
On April 29, Ming Tomayko led a professional development session on high yield math routines for lower school teachers at St. John’s Parish Day School in Ellicott City.
Other Professional Activities
Russell Hendel's book review of "Pell and Pell-Lucas Numbers," by Thomas A. Koshy was published by the Mathematical Association of America at http://www.maa.org/publications/maa-reviews/pell-and-pell-lucas-numbers-with-applications Russell Hendel attended the Spring 2015 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Actuarial Club, held on May 20, 2015, at the Turf Country Club in Baltimore Maryland. Russell Hendel will attend the first Society of Actuaries Education seminar, to be held in Chicago Illinois on June 23 and 24 2015. Russell Hendel will attend the preliminary education and curriculum committee (PECC) meeting of curriculum chairs for the Society of Actuaries to be held on July 24, 2015, in Victoria Canada. Lawrence Shirley spoke about career opportunities for graduates, especially in the Peace Corps, as a part of the Foreign Language Day in the College of Liberal Arts on April 24. On April 21, eleven students from Ming Tomayko’s Math 324 class served as STEM fair judges at Stoneleigh Elementary School, Baltimore County. Over 100 projects by 4
th and 5
th grade students were judged.
Spotlight on Service in the Community
Baltimore City Public Schools had a teacher in-service day on Friday, April 17th. Honi Bamberger worked,
during the morning, with all of the mathematics teachers at Liberty Elementary School to help teachers better understand how to create problem-based lessons across the grades.
Russell Hendel is Coordinator of Judges for the Greater New York Math Fair, held on Mar 29, 2015 at
the Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn. The Greater New York Math Fair was created to encourage
high school students in public, private and parochial schools in the New York Metropolitan Area to pursue the
phase of mathematics in which they are interested. Several hundred students from the New York area
participated by writing and presenting original research papers. The papers were judged by over five dozen
judges from the New York area. The day culminated with an award ceremony which awarded bronze, silver
and gold medals to the presenters.
10
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
Student Clubs
The Mathematics Education Club (MEC) had a record attendance of 40+ members at its April 16th meeting. Ms.
Marty Sweeney, Director of The Odyssey School, Ms. Maureen Partilla, Principal at Pleasant Plains Elementary
School, and Mr. Joseph Manko, Principal at Liberty Elementary School talked with members about what they look
and listen for when they interview for a new teacher. On May 7th a Make-and-Take was held as the last meeting of
the academic year. Members left with mathematics games that they'll be able to use in their next placement.
Diana Cheng and
graduate student
David Thompson
at the 2015 Joint
Mathematics
Meetings in
San Antnio, TX.
(L to R) Dean David Vanko, Matthew Rhoades,
Recipient of the Mildred T. Becker Scholarship for
2014-2015, Dr. Raouf Boules
Megan Deckert, Recipient of the Mildred T. Becker
Scholarship for 2014-2015
Jennifer Roberts, Recipient of the Mary Hudson
Scarborough Award for Excellence in Middle School
Mathematics Education
Adja Thiam, Recipient of the Eunice Bowers Schmied
and Otto Karl Schmied Memorial Scholarship in
Mathematics
Mathematics Awards at the 25th
Annual Fisher College Convocation Ceremony
11
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & GEOSCIENCES
C H A I R P E R S O N : D R . DA V I D S C H A E F E R
Integrated STEM (iSTEM) Instructional Leadership Program
On May 12, 2015, TU received formal approval for the new 6-course Post-Baccalaureate Program for practicing elementary teachers: Integrated STEM (iSTEM) Instructional Leadership (PreK-6). The program will be housed in the Physics, Astronomy & Geosciences Department, and also involves coursework with the Departments of Biological Sciences, Mathematics, and Instructional Leadership and Professional Development. It is led by Program Director, Dr. Pamela Lottero-Perdue. Graduates of the program will receive the new Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) endorsement, COMAR 13A.12.02.29 Instructional Leader – STEM (PreK-6).
Six teachers, who took part in a grant-funded, pilot version of the program, will be May 2015 graduates of the program. These teachers are:
Ms. Leigh Catterton, Edgewood High School, Harford County Public Schools
Ms. Pat Kenny, George D. Lisby Elementary at Hillsdale, Harford County Public Schools
Ms. Kelly Mangum, Hickory Elementary, Harford County Public Schools
Mr. Dan McGonigal, The New Century School, Baltimore City
Ms. Lori Pitcock, Leeds Elementary School, Cecil County Public Schools
Ms. Jan Stewart, Hickory Elementary, Harford County Public Schools
Congratulations, graduates of the PBC in iSTEM Instructional Leadership (PreK-6)
Proposals TU Faculty Development and Research Council grant, working with undergraduate research student Dan Zile on "A Gravitational Analog for Faraday's Law of Induction" (2015 calendar year)
Publications Vera N. Smolyaninova, David Lahneman,* Todd Adams,* Thomas Gresock,** Kathryn Zander,* Christopher Jensen,** and Igor I. Smolyaninov, “Experimental demonstration of Luneburg waveguides,” Photonics 2, 440 (2015), invited paper for special issue New Frontiers in Plasmonics and Metamaterials.
Lottero-Perdue, P.S., Bolotin, S., Benyameen, R., Brock, E., and Metzger, E.. “ The EDP-5E: Rethinking 5E for engineering design – An example from early childhood.” Science and Children. (in press for September 2015) Lottero-Perdue, P.S. & Parry, E. (in press for June 2015). “ Elementary teachers’ reported responses to student design failures..” Proceedings (peer reviewed) of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference.* Note: This paper was awarded the Best Paper honor for the ASEE K12 & PreCollege Division
12
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & GEOSCIENCES
Publications Lottero-Perdue, P.S., De Luigi, M.A., and Goetzinger, T. (March, 2015). “ Blade structure and wind turbine function: Third and fifth graders co-investigate and co-design wind turbine blades and voltage output." Science and Children, 52(7), pp. 45-55. Jia-An Yan, Mack A. Dela Cruz (undergraduate student), Salvador Barraza-Lopez and Li Yang, “Strain-tunable topological quantum phase transition in buckled honeycomb lattices,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 183107 (2015); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4919885 Jia-An Yan, Shang-Peng Gao, Ryan Stein (graduate student) and Gregory Coard (undergraduate student), “Tuning the electronic structures of silicene and germanene by biaxial strain and electric field,” accepted by Phys. Rev. B. Wen-Zhe Yu, Jia-An Yan, and Shang-Peng Gao, “Structural, Electronic, and Magnetic Properties of One-side Semihydrogenated Monolayers of Group-IV Elements: First-principles Calculations,” submitted to J. Phys. Chem. C. J.M. Overduin, “ Spacetime, spin and Gravity Probe B” , Classical and Quantum Gravity (13 pages, to appear in July) Joel Moore and Andrew Jacobson. Seasonally varying contributions to urban CO2 in the Chicago, Illinois, USA region: Insights from a high-resolution CO2 concentration and δ
13C record. Elementa: Science of the
Anthropocene.
Presentations and abstracts
Kathryn Zander* presented a poster entitled “Nanoparticle Size Dependence of Transition Temperature of Metamaterial Superconductor” by Kathryn Zander,* Bradley Yost,** Thomas Gresock,** M.S. Osofsky, H. Kim, R. L. Greene, S. Saha, Igor I. Smolyaninov, and Vera Smolyaninova at the National Conference NCUR15, Eastern Washington University, WA. Faculty mentor Vera Smolyaninova.
Thomas Gresock,** presented a poster entitled “Light Propagation in Luneburg Lens Waveguides” by Thomas Gresock,** Kathryn Zander,* David Lahneman,* Todd Adams,* Christopher Jensen,** I. I. Smolyaninov, and Vera Smolyaninova at the TU Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research and Performance Expo, faculty mentor – Vera Smolyaninova.
Kathryn Zander* presented a poster entitled “Nanoparticle Size Dependence of Transition Temperature of Metamaterial Superconductor” by Kathryn Zander,* Bradley Yost,** Thomas Gresock,** M.S. Osofsky, H. Kim, R. L. Greene, S. Saha, Igor I. Smolyaninov, and Vera Smolyaninova at the TU Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research and Performance Expo, and at the FCSM 25
th Annual Honors Convocation Research Poster
Session, faculty mentor – Vera Smolyaninova.
William Zimmerman,* presented a poster entitled “Role of Annealing in Nanoparticle-based Metamaterial Superconductors,” by William Zimmerman,* Kathryn Zander*, Thomas Gresock,** M. S. Osofsky, J. Prestigiacomo, H. Kim, Igor I. Smolyaninov, and Vera Smolyaninova at the TU Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research and Performance Expo and at the FCSM 25
th Annual Honors Convocation Research Poster
Session, faculty mentor – Vera Smolyaninova.
13
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & GEOSCIENCES
Presentations and abstracts
Grace Yong presented a poster entitled a Possible Mechanisms in Atomic Force Microscope-Induced Nano-Oxidation Lithography (negative AFM tip case) in La0.67Ba0.33MnO3−δ Thin Films on SrTiO3(001) at the 2015 March Meeting of the American Physical Society held at San Antonio, Texas (Session H1: Poster Session). Co-authors: William Vanderlinde (Laboratory for Physical Sciences, University of Maryland), E. Kevin
Tanyi (Norfolk University), David Schaefer , Christopher Stumpf and Rajeswari M. Kolagani.
Lottero-Perdue, P.S. (2015, April). The Engineering Design Process as a safe place to try again: Responses to failure by elementary teachers and students. 2015 NARST – A Worldwide Organization for Improving Science Teaching and Learning Through Research – Annual International Conference, Chicago, IL, April 11.
Mack A.Dela Cruz (undergraduate student), Jia-An Yan, “ Electronic and vibrational properties of monolayer and bilayer TaSe2,” http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2015.MAR.H1.255, poster presentation in 2015 National APS March Meeting, March 2-6, San Antonio, Texas.
Jia-An Yan, “ Convergence of the phonon energy in two-dimensional atomic crystal of lead,” oral presentation, 2015 National APS March Meeting, March 2-6, San Antonio, Texas. http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2015.MAR.M24.3
Salvador Barraza-Lopez , Pablo Rivero , Jia-An Yan , Victor Manuel Garcia-Suarez , Jaime Ferrer, “From toothpaste to topological insulators and materials for valleytronics: The journeys of fluorinated tin,” contributed oral presentation, 2015 National APS March Meeting, March 2-6, San Antonio, Texas. http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2015.MAR.B10.3
Kyle Sherbert, “Information Entropy of 1D Quantum Systems,” poster presentation, April 23, 2015 TU Undergraduate/Graduate Research Expo. [Faculty Mentor: Jia-An Yan]
Nathan Prins, “Electron transmission through different potential barriers based on numerical study,” poster presentation, April 23, 2015 TU Undergraduate/Graduate Research Expo. [Faculty Mentor: Jia-An Yan]
Mack A. Dela Cruz, “Electronic and vibrational properties of monolayer and bilayer TaSe2,” poster presentation, April 23, 2015 TU Undergraduate/Graduate Research Expo. [Faculty Mentor: Jia-An Yan]
D. Zile and J.M. Overduin, "A gravitational analog for Faraday's induction law" (poster), April 2015 meeting of the American Physical Society, Baltimore (April 12)
K. Wilcomb and J.M. Overduin, “When you dance, you dance with the universe” (poster), American Physical Society Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, Rutgers University (January 16-18)
Sezen-Barrie, A. & Shea, N. (2015, April 10-14). Science Teachers’ Practices of Constructing Arguments against Skeptical Theories on Climate Change. Poster presented at the 2015 Annual International Conference of National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Hyatt Regency Downtown Chicago, IL.
Sezen-Barrie, A. (2015, April 10-14). Discourse Practices in Science Learning and Teaching. Symposium on Handbook on research in Science Education: Implication for Preservice Teacher Education. Presented at the 2015 Annual International Conference of National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Hyatt Regency Downtown Chicago, IL.
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & GEOSCIENCES
Community Engagement and Professional Service Jim Selway and Vera Smolyaninova conducted a full-day workshop “Light and lenses” (in five 2
nd grade
classes) at the Pointers Run Elementary School STEM Day, April 9, 2014 to celebrate the International Year of Light.
Vera Smolyaninova served the CLEO2015 Technical Program Committee, Metamaterials and Complex Media Subcommittee, where she reviewed and rated 5 post deadline conference papers.
Rajeswari Kolagani served as a panelist for an NSF (Division of Materials Research) proposal review panel (April 2015)
Jia-An Yan reviewed 3 manuscripts for Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics, 1 manuscript for Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1 manuscript for Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, and 2 manuscripts for Physical Review B.
On March 27, Jia-An Yan volunteered to participate in 2015 STEM Career Fair at the Timonium Elementary School. He has illustrated many interesting physics phenomena for elementary kids.
James Overduin refereed one article for Annals of Physics (May)
TU News story: "Can Einstein be outsmarted?" James Overduin (May 1)
Joel Moore presented on road salt and water quality issues to the Reservoir Technical Group of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council based on work done using the facilities of the Urban Environmental Biogeochemistry Laboratory.
Joel Moore reviewed a proposal for a NSF program in the Surface Earth Processes Section of the Division of Earth Sciences.
Sezen-Barrie, A. (2015, May 16). “ How do I Know What I Know and Why I Know it?: Effective Assessment Practices for Ambitious Teaching.” Presented at Towson University Center for STEM Excellence at Climate Literacy Workshop for Science Teachers, Baltimore City, MD.
Student Achievements
Mr. Bradley Yost, a graduate student performing research under the mentorship of Dr. Vera Smolyaninova, was presented with a Graduate Student Research Award for your thesis entitled, “The Optical Properties of a Ferrofluid in Applied Magnetic Field: Hyperbolic Metamaterial”
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY & GEOSCIENCES
Student Achievements Cacie Hart (Student in the Applied Physics Master’s program) was selected to participate in the Young Physicists’ Forum (YPF) which was held in conjunction with the march Meeting of the American Physical Society. YPF is a joint venture between the American Physical Society and the Chinese Physical Society. Cacie presented a poster on her research at the forum meeting. Cacie Hart gave an oral presentation entitled “Lattice-mismatch Strain Effects in Electron-Doped Calcium Manganese Oxide Thin Films” at the 2015 March Meeting of the American Physical Society held at San Antonio, Texas (Session F8: Oxides and Surfaces, March 3, 2015) Co-authors: Grace Yong, Zoey Warecki, Adeel Chaudry, Anthony Johnson, David Schaefer, Rajeswari Kolagani (Faculty Mentor: Rajeswari Kolagani). Natalie Ferrone presented a poster entitled “Effect of post-deposition heat treatment on the properties of CaMnO3 thin films” at the Towson University Student Research Expo, April 23, 2015. Coauthors: Adeel Chaudhry, Bridget Lawson, David Houston and Cacie Hart (Faculty Mentor: Rajeswari Kolagani and Grace Yong). Cacie Hart presented a poster entitled “Lattice-mismatch Strain Effects in Electron-Doped Calcium Manganese Oxide Thin Films” at the Towson University Student Research Expo, April 23, 2015. Coauthors: Adeel Chaudhry and Natalie Ferrone (Faculty Mentor: Rajeswari Kolagani). Two undergraduate student posters at the TU Research Expo: D. Zile, "A gravitational analog for Faraday's induction law" and K. Wilcomb, "A new way to visualize black-hole interiors" (April 23) Three undergraduate student posters at the TU Honors Convocation: Nathan Prins, Kielan Wilcomb and Daniel Zile (April 26) Two public presentations by undergraduate research student Kielan Wilcomb: "Black holes" (TU's Watson-King Planetarium, May 15 and Howard County Astronomy League, Columbia, May 21) Beth Leidich (Geology track, Environmental Science) presented a poster at the TU Research Expo entitled, "Planetary accretion from e-chondrites," based on research that she did with Greg Shofner (Geology lecturer). Brett Caldwell, Brian Hamby, & Michael Leckner (Geology majors) presented a poster at the TU Research Expo entitled, "Comparison of ocean-island basalts from disparate tectonic environments by geothermobarometry and spinel composition," based on work they did with Michael Mengason (Geology visiting assistant professor). Corey Mueller (Geology major) presented a poster at the TU Research Expo entitled, "Quantifying Controls on Chemical Weathering Fluxes: Urban to Rural Watersheds," based on work she did with Joel Moore using the facilities of the Urban Environmental Biogeochemistry Laboratory. Corey Mueller (Geology major) presented a poster at the Soil to Sea Meeting, University of Delaware entitled, "Quantifying Controls on Chemical Weathering Fluxes Across Rural to Urban Watersheds," based on work she did with Joel Moore using the facilities of the Urban Environmental Biogeochemistry Laboratory. On May 6, five physics students, Natalie Ferrone, Cacie Hart, Bridget Lawson, Emileigh Shoemaker, and Kielan Wilcomb, accompanied by Jennifer Scott, visited the Blakehurst Retirement Community, where they met and spoke with Dr. Anne McKusick, a Blakehurst resident who worked on the historic "Manhattan Project", in Oak Ridge, TN in 1944-45. The visit was facilitated by former TU President Dr. Maravene Loeschke as part of a project she is undertaking to provide TU students mentoring experiences with Blakehurst residents Raj Kolagani helped to coordinate the meeting.
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
P R O G R A M D I R E C TO R : D R . C H R I S TO P H E R S A L I C E
Student Accomplishments and Activities
The Environmental Science Program had three successful M.S. defenses:
Kim Russell “The Effect of Restoration Treatments and Flooding Regime on Plant Community Distributions in Restored Geographically Isolated Wetlands“. Advisor: Dr. Vanessa Beauchamp.
Rose Busaferro “A Study of Nature Play Space Sustainability in the Piedmont Region of Maryland”. Advisor: Dr. Brian Fath.
Jessica Zelt “Understanding Data Bias and North American Bird Phenology Through Use of a Legacy Citizen Science Project”. Advisor: Dr. Joel Snodgrass.
Additionally, 9 non-thesis students completed the Research Practicum course and their degree: Shannon McKenrick, Sam Hayden, Bruna Carvalho, Vera Koskelo, Greg Zuknick, Matt Nicodemus, Robert Jenkins, James, Brown, and Kaitlyn Milman.
Allison Ricko (MS candidate in Environmental Science) received a 2015 Education Award from the American Chemical Society Division of Agrochemistry. The award provides travel funds for Allison to present her research at the ACS National Meeting this August in Boston, MA. Allison’s thesis advisor is John Sivey.
Beth Leidich (Geology track, Environmental Science) presented a poster at the TU Research Expo entitled, "Planetary accretion from e-chondrites," based on research that she did with Dr. Greg Shofner (Geology lecturer).
Kasey Bolyard, and ENVS M.S. student in Dr. Gresens’ lab, is carrying out her thesis research on the effects of an herbicide “safener” using ecotoxicological assays on the midge Chironomus riparius. Her work is being supported by a fellowship from the Maryland Water Resources Center.
Kelly Nellenbach, also in Dr. Gresens’ lab, has initiated an undergraduate research project comparing how biological diversity and habitat quality of several streams in the Owings Mills area have changed over the past dozen years, given that one tributary of Red Run has experienced extensive urban development in its catchment, whereas the others have retained fairly stable land use over this period.
Grants
Christopher Salice was the co-lead on a funding from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS). The project title is “Predictive Systems Models for the Ecological Risk Assessment of Chemicals”. The funding covers travel to four, week-long workshops for 12-15 scientists from around the world.
Publications and Presentations Joel Moore and Andrew Jacobson. “ Seasonally varying contributions to urban CO2 in the Chicago, Illinois, USA region: Insights from a high-resolution CO2 concentration and δ
13C record.” Elementa: Science of the
Anthropocene. Joel Moore presented on road salt and water quality issues to the Reservoir Technical Group of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council based on work done using the facilities of the Urban Environmental Biogeochemistry Laboratory.
Christopher Salice and D.A. Kimberly. “ Evolutionary responses to climate change and contaminants: evidence and experimental approaches.” Current Zoology, in press.
Contact Us
Email:
Phone:
410.704.2121
Fax:
410.704.2604
Dean
David A. Vanko
Associate Dean
Gail E. Gasparich
Special Assistants to
the Dean
Robert J. Hammell II
Howard S. Kaplon
Administrative
Assistant
N. Helen Harrison
The Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science &
Mathematics
Mission Statement
Through rigorous and high quality undergraduate programs in a wide variety
of scientific, computing and mathematical disciplines and graduate programs
in research-based, practice-based, applied and interdisciplinary fields, FCSM
prepares its students to live and work productively in a scientific and
technological world and to pursue learning throughout their lives. Faculty
members engage both their undergraduate and graduate students through
interactive teaching, advising, basic and applied research, and collaborative
activities internally and externally. They form partnerships both to serve the
metropolitan community as well as to meet regional, national and international
needs. The result is dedicated, innovative, flexible, and highly prepared
individuals who excel in graduate school, professional school, and careers in
industry, government and teaching.ifts… from the Development Office - Gifts
The Jess and Mildred Fisher
College of Science and Mathematics
Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252-0001
PLACE STAMP HERE
Inspiring Student Exploration in Science and Mathematics for the 21st Century
Memorial Gifts… from the Development Office - Gifts benefiting The Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics or any of the departments mentioned in this newsletter, may be made to Towson University Foundation in honor of a birthday, anniversary or other special occasion, or simply as a thank you for a special favor. Gift acknowledgements will be sent to the donor as well as the individual being honored. For more information, contact the Towson University Development Office at 410-704-3375 or 1-866-301-3375 or write to the Towson University Foundation, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001.
