Faculty and staff present and publish work over summer

Faculty and staff presented and published a variety of work over the summer, including papers, poems and visual arts.

Dr. Michaela-Christina Drignei, assistant professor of mathematics, presented a paper titled “A Newton-Type Method for Solving an Inverse Sturm-Liouville Problem” at the International Conference of Science and Technology held in New York.

Dr. Kevin Ewert, professor of theater, was an assistant director for a minimalist version of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” for Little Green Pig in Durham, N.C. The Raleigh News and Observer called it “one of the company’s most inventive, insightful productions in all its nine seasons.”

A paper co-authored by 2014 psychology graduate Michael Gallina and Dr. Warren Fass, associate professor of psychology, on “The Weapons Effect in College Females” was accepted for publication for the journal Violence and Gender.

The research for the paper, a condensed version of Gallina’s capstone project at Pitt-Bradford, replicated “the weapons effect,” a phenomenon in which seeing weapons elicits more aggressive thoughts in women. Previously, it had only been studied in men. Gallina showed 107 female undergraduates photos of assault guns, hunting guns or brooms, then asked them questions relating to aggressive behaviors. The weapons effect appeared to have taken effect in the group that was shown the hunting gun versus those in the control group.

Gallina is now a doctoral student at the University of North Dakota.

Judy Hopkins, adjunct instructor of composition and news writing/news editing, had three poems accepted by Grey Sparrow Journal – “Vis Vitae,” “Once Removed” and “Corner of Coldwater and Addison.”

Anna Lemnitzer, assistant professor of art, took part in several invitational and juried art shows: Silent Art Auction at Frontier Space in Missoula, Mont.; #SeeMe Takeover, a project installation in Times Square, New York City; The Living Mark at Verum Ultimum Gallery in Portland, Ore.; and International Call for Bushwick in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Carol Newman, adjunct instructor of writing and literature, had a poem, “Simplicity,” accepted for inclusion in an anthology, “Far Out: Poems of the ’60s,” created by the University of Texas at San Antonio and edited by Wendy Barker and Dave Parsons. The book will be available in 2016.

Dr. Denise Piechnik, assistant professor of biology, presented a paper, “Using Sensors to Measure Soil Moisture in a Competition Experiment,” at the Ecology Society of America meeting in Sacramento, Calif. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Matt Kropf, assistant professor of energy science and technology.

Klaus Wuersig, associate professor of engineering, presented a paper at the International Conference on Engineering Education in Riva, Latvia. His paper, “How to Manage Freshman Projects and how to Know its Pros and Cons and Avoid its Pitfalls,”explains how he creates freshman teams to complete projects together in their first semester in college and argues that they are an excellent way to teach engineering and team effort and retain students.

James Baldwin, assistant dean of academic affairs, registrar, and director of Science In Motion, presented at the 49th international conference of the Society for College and University and Planning in Pittsburgh.

Baldwin’s presentation, titled “Mapping Student Data for Strategic Planning,” was among 12 chosen for a presentation format called PechaKucha™ debuted for the first time at a SCUP conference. This is a format, devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture in 2003, where presenters show 20 images, each timed for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and keep presentations concise and moving at a rapid pace.

In his presentation, Baldwin demonstrated how one type of data visualization -- geographic mapping using data analysis software --can inform institutional leaders about areas such as marketing, admissions planning, enrollment management, academic planning, student affairs, institutional advancement, and alumni affairs.

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