University of Pittsburgh at Bradford faculty were busy with academic topics outside the classroom during the 2022-23 year. Their activities included co-editing a book, publishing articles and chapters and acting.
Dr. Hashim Yousif, associate professor of physics, published a paper that he wrote with the late Dr. Richard Melka, professor emeritus. Yousif dedicated the paper to the memory of his friend and colleague, who died during its preparation.
The paper, titled “Imaging Phase Plane Models,” was published in the peer-reviewed scholarly journal International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology. It examines a graphical solution of a system of nonlinear differential equations and contains two computer programs in SageMath: one program calculates and displays the phase plane portraits (solution curves of the differential equations) and the other determines the center manifold. This paper covers analytical and computational skills that are helpful for students and teachers.
Drs. Denise Piechnik, associate professor of biology, and Matt Kropf, associate professor of engineering technology, both contributed articles to “Engaging Appalachia: A Guidebook for Building Capacity and Sustainability” from the University of Kentucky.
Piechnik co-authored with two former students, Jonathan Heck ’17 and Bethany Kier ’17, and Dr. Sarah Johnson, formerly of the Nature Conservancy. Their chapter, “Collaborating for Conservation: Monitoring the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in the Allegheny National Forest,” examines damage done to eastern hemlock by the woolly adelgid in the nearby national forest.
The monitoring by Pitt-Bradford and The Nature Conservancy involved students who were trained and formed into monitoring teams that contributed important new data to a larger monitoring effort. Students monitored as part of biology courses and student retreats organized as part of the university’s environmental studies program.
Kropf also co-authored with a former student, Devin Weis ‘18. The two wrote “GIS Mapping of Legacy Oil and Gas Wells.” The authors began their search for undocumented wells by examining historical documents alongside modern databases. They worked closely with an oil history museum to form relationships with private landowners to map abandoned wells on their property. Locating the wells is important so they can be properly capped, since hydrocarbons emitted by orphaned wells is a potent greenhouse gas. They were able to gather data on and map 26,395 wells in the Bradford Quadrangle.
Dr. Lanre Morenikeji, assistant professor of biology, served as co-chair of the Microbial, Parasitic and Fungal Immunology committee at the annual conference of the American Association of Immunologists in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Morenikeji and other select scientists visited Capitol Hill to talk with members of Congress about funding science research.
Dr. Amy Gresock, assistant professor of business management, received the Best Paper Award for sustainability at the Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference. Her paper was “Entrepreneurial Greenwashing: A Typology.”
Dr. Tony Gaskew, professor of criminal justice, published an interview with one of Pittsburgh’s most significant and legendary 1960s community activists, Sala Udin, in “Kalfou: A Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies” published by Temple University. The article is based on research Gaskew is conducting as part of an ongoing project.
Dr. Drew Flanagan, assistant professor of history, received a grant from the European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh to support archival research this summer in Paris on “Re-Civilizing
the French Zone of Occupied Germany, 1945-1955, and the Postwar Homecoming of Francois de La Rocque, 1945-2014.”
Dr. Kevin Ewert, professor of theater, played the part of Iago in a Shakespeare and social justice theater-making residency, the “Untitled Othello Project,” directed by Keith Hamilton Cobb at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Additionally, Ewert published an interview with Cobb in the Shakespeare Bulletin, “‘You Want to Sort That Out?’: A Conversation on Overwhelming Whiteness, Anti-Racism, Theater-Making, and Shakespeare with Keith Hamilton Cobb.”
Dr. Jonathan Chitiyo, associate professor of education, co-edited two new books. The first, “Social Justice and Culturally Affirming Education in K-12 Settings,” includes a chapter by his colleague, Dr. William Clark, assistant professor of secondary education, “Hiring Practices for Teachers from Underrepresented Backgrounds.”
The second book Chitiyo co-edited, “Inclusive Pedagogical Practices Amidst a Global Pandemic: Issues and Perspectives Around the Globe,” illuminates some best educational practices related to inclusion during the time of the global pandemic.
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