The faculty development programs offer an opportunity for faculty members to grow professionally, to remain current with developments in their disciplines, and to infuse these experiences into the classroom to enhance student learning. As illustrated below, NKU’s faculty development programs have enabled our faculty members to undertake important work in their fields, often including students in their research, and have brought renown to the university.
SABBATICAL LEAVES are granted by the University to promote the professional growth and effectiveness of the faculty. Sabbatical leaves are granted to enable recipients, based on merit, to devote additional time to scholarly activity and research, advanced study, or artistic performance—all in pursuit of academic objectives. Tenured, full-time faculty, and department chairs are eligible to apply for sabbatical leave.
SUMMER FELLOWSHIPS provide funds to support professional development during the summer months. Examples of types of activities that may be applicable include: improving teaching skills; research; scholarly writing; creative or artistic projects; preliminary studies and literature searches; and attending seminars or courses related to one’s field or professional work. Full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty may apply for a faculty summer fellowship. Each faculty member awarded a fellowship received an award of $6,000.
PROJECT GRANTS provide funds to pay expenses, purchase equipment, and to cover other financial needs for sabbatical leaves, faculty summer fellowships, and for other instructional, scholarly, and creative activities where financial support is not available through department budgets. Full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty may apply for a faculty project grant not to exceed $6,000.
Patrick M. Hare
Associate Professor of English
Department of Chemistry
As a result of this Sabbatical and Project Grant, and in collaboration with Professor John Herbert of The Ohio State University, I gained expertise in the application of computational chemistry to estrogens and other drugs that are found in surface waters at undesirable levels. Light can provide a means to break these molecules down, but the details of this process and the resulting products are poorly known. From this Sabbatical work, we have learned important details about how one estrogen is broken down by light into a more stable, but less well-studied molecule, with implications for waste treatment. We are currently applying these techniques to the more complicated molecule fluoxetine. To complement this computational research, we have continued our experimental studies of estrogen and fluoxetine photodegradation. From these efforts and continuing experimental studies, one manuscript was submitted for publication, two others are in progress, a seminar on the results will be given in April, and a poster and an oral presentation will be given by undergraduates. All of the publications have undergraduate co-authors. Additionally, a new experiment was developed for the physical chemistry laboratory which is being used for the first time this spring.
Daryl L. Harris
Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance
School of the Arts
Theatre and Dance Program
My primary sabbatical activity was a two-phased project in Sri Lanka. I spent the first month at Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy (SIBA) working with English as a second language (ESL) students. I spent the second month in Colombo collaborating with four arts institutions. Spring 2016 NKU graduate Alexx Rouse, who accompanied me to Sri Lanka in 2015, was my research assistant throughout the project. A 2016 Project Grant Award helped to defray the costs. At SIBA, I focused on refining a program, “The SIBA Initiative,” that I introduced there last summer. That program was designed to employ theatre techniques to help ESL students to learn English, to speak it more confidently, and generally to gain more confidence in themselves. I also sat in on Buddhist counseling classes to supplement the three NKU psychology courses I completed during my spring sabbatical semester in partial fulfillment of requirements for the dual license that I currently am pursuing in Drama and Expressive Arts Therapy. In Colombo, I observed traditional dance classes and conducted workshops at Chitrasena Dance School, Sri Lanka’s oldest and most prestigious dance company, and at The University of Colombo, Sri Palee Campus. Additionally, I conducted workshops with Colombo Poets, a group organized as a platform for young poets to perform, interact and develop their skills in the art of poetry. Finally, I met several times with the founders of Floating Space Theater Company to continue conversations we began last year concerning a prospective cultural exchange project.
Richard L. Boyce
Professor of Biology
Department of Biological Sciences
Quantifying the impact of the invasive Callery (Bradford) pear in the Greater Cincinnati region
Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana), also known as Bradford pear, is a small, widely-planted ornamental tree that is a native of eastern Asia. It has recently emerged as an important woody invader in much of the eastern U.S., including the Greater Cincinnati area. However, little is known about its ecology in its new range. Its shade tolerance may be an important indicator of areas it is likely to invade; species that are shade tolerant can invade intact forest and persist there (like Amur honeysuckle), while shade intolerant species are usually confined to disturbed areas. A total of 23 stands in the northern Kentucky/southwestern Ohio region were surveyed, using plots along transects in which I measured the diameters of all woody stems present. For each site, I calculated standard forest ecology variables, including pear density, basal area (a good estimate of tree volume), aboveground biomass (estimated from equations that I previously developed), diameter distribution variability, and importance value (relative density + relative basal area). I fit curves called two-factor Weibull distributions to diameter distributions to describe their shape. Younger stands with smaller trees generally had steeply declining monotonic diameter distributions, while older stands with larger trees trended toward positively-skewed humped distributions. These findings are consistent with a species that is either shade-intolerant or midtolerant. Thus, while Callery pear is expected to invade open or disturbed areas, it is not expected to be an important invader under forest canopies.
Perry Bratcher
Library Systems Manager
Steely Library
For the past sixty years, the minimum standard for employment as a “professional librarian” has been the Master of Library Science or Master of Science in Library Science. Due to technological and economic changes over the past few decades, the roles of professional librarians and non-professional staff have changed. “Professional” duties have gradually moved to “non-professional” staff. As a result, Associate and Bachelor degree programs in library science have emerged. This sabbatical project analyzed the websites of the programs across the United States that offer Associate and Bachelor level library science programs. The project also included the administration of a survey to program directors to gather feedback and information not readily available from web sites. The results of the website analysis and survey results indicated a wide variance in methods and subject coverage. This is primarily due to these programs being unregulated beyond the university level – leaving development of these programs at the discretion of local university governance. This leads to a wide range of course options as well as the blurring of intensity of course offerings between the Associate and Bachelor levels. This project also included an analysis of undergraduate education at the international level for both context and comparison. The results of this sabbatical project will lead to a better understanding of the role and direction of undergraduate library education in the United States and will open up discussion for the possibility of a more structured program development.
Jennifer Cellio
Associate Professor of English
Department of English
The project examines discourses of genetic and hereditary “fitness” and their variations at several moments when they saturate popular and political discussions of reproduction: in late 19th- and early 20th-century arguments for eugenic sterilization, 20th-century birth control movement, and 20th century/early 21st century conversations about assisted reproductive technologies and genetic screening. Throughout the British and American Eugenics movements, terms like “the fit,” “the unfit,” and “hereditary fitness,” were deployed in both popular and scientific texts concerning reproduction to support sexist, racist, ableist, and classist agendas. These arguments originated from and operated within credible scientific communities, which in turn legitimized eugenic policies and practices largely directed at women. Today, echoes of these arguments continue to reverberate within neo-eugenic discussions of welfare, immigration, and genetic screening, again shaping both popular and scientific perspectives on
women’s reproductive rights and responsibilities. The sabbatical allowed me to near completion of a manuscript for publication with Southern Illinois University, incorporate readings and discussions of circulation theory into writing classes, and will result in future workshops on circulation theory and so-called rhetorical ecologies.
Kimberly P. Clayton-Code
Professor of Teacher Education
Department of Teacher Education
The purpose of this one-semester sabbatical research study was to examine the impact of the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program. Specifically, how does participating in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars program impact participants; how effective are the supports received by participants in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars program; and how has the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program fulfilled its mission of enhancing Kentucky’s next generation of civic and economic leaders? The tangible outcomes were 1) sharing results of the research findings with the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program 2) developing preliminary research findings for peer-reviewed publication and conference presentations; and 3) development of course modules to include in the graduate gifted education endorsement courses that describe and focus on the impact of student participation in extracurricular, summer, and state-sponsored enrichment programs for gifted and talented youth.
Darius Fatemi
Associate Professor of Accounting
Department of Accounting and Business Law
In this project, I worked alongside professional accountants in order to gain first-hand experience with the problems currently facing the industry and the challenges posed by recent changes in accounting standards. I received support from a large, international accounting firm in Chicago (Plante Moran) that provided me with the experience. Although I have taught numerous accounting courses, this opportunity to work in the field came during a critical period because accounting standards are changing dramatically and companies are now interpreting and incorporating them for the first time. I was assigned to the Professional Standards Team, where I was responsible for a variety of tasks, including the development of solutions for novel situations, increasing firm-wide understanding of accounting guidelines, and exploring more efficient audit techniques. As a result of my sabbatical, I have been able to help my students increasing relevance in my teaching material, providing better direction for students seeking employment, and providing perspective on important aspects of the accounting curriculum. In addition, the sabbatical has already enabled me to submit one paper to a journal, a second paper to a conference, and prepare a third paper in working form. I have begun writing the text for two other papers originating from my experience with the firm.
Sharmanthie Fernando
Professor of Physics
Department of Physics, Geology, and Engineering Technology
This study of black holes included Professor Nora Breton from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City, as well as NKU physics major Tyler Clark. In this project, we studied black hole solutions in Einstein-Born-Infeld theory. Born-Infeld non-linear electrodynamics was first founded in order to obtain finite energy density for a point particle. By combining this non-linear theory with Einstein’s theory of gravity, one obtains black hole solutions with unusual properties. We studied the oscillation frequencies and how they depend on the mass, charge and other parameters of the theory. We also obtained absorption cross sections for the black hole. After the work was completed, a paper was written and submitted to International Journal of Modern Physics D. I hope to present this work in the upcoming East Gravity Meeting in the USA.
Andrea Gazzaniga
Associate Professor of English
Department of English
I spent my sabbatical semester preparing for publication my scholarly monograph on Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper, two Victorian poets and lovers who wrote under the male pseudonym “Michael Field.” I researched and compiled a comprehensive literature review of critical scholarship on sublime aesthetics, drafted two book chapters, successfully applied for an internal grant related to my research, and submitted a successful proposal to present my research at the North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA) Centenary Conference in Florence, Italy. My monograph, provisionally titled A Reciprocal Sublime: Michael Field and Post-Romantic Aesthetics, explores the ways in which these queer writers radically redefine the masculine and heterosexist terms of aesthetic philosophy. In A Reciprocal Sublime, I interrogate the patriarchal assumptions of aesthetic philosophy to argue that two lesbian poets writing in the fin-de-siècle offer up a distinct understanding of the sublime that deviates from their Romantic predecessors. Ultimately, I argue that Cooper and Bradley imagine sublime encounters, and thus transcendence, both in their life-writing and poetry, not in terms of disavowing the external and material but, rather, by reveling in the physicality of matter and by embodying otherness.
Kristine Hopfensperger
Associate Professor and Director, Environmental Science Program
Department of Biological Sciences
During my sabbatical, I expanded my background in environmental policy to broaden my efforts in ecological research and teaching. I researched wetland mitigation policy by reviewing background literature (guidelines, procedures, etc.), interviewing stakeholders, and meeting with regulators to learn the policies and their history, the structure and organization of how the policies are enforced, and how wetland mitigation sites are assessed and valued. I was afforded opportunities to network and shadow professionals with The Nature Conservancy and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Together we identified four research directions that could best inform future wetland mitigation policy and efforts. These four directions include wetland mitigation site hydroperiod (seasonal pattern of water level), soil characteristics, specialized plant functions, and ideal mitigation placement within the watershed. Scholarly activity continued with four undergraduate students working on three different research projects, two peer-reviewed manuscripts (one in press, the other in review), and active service in my research discipline. In addition, I shared my knowledge of sustainability and wetlands through two community presentations and continued to serve the Environmental Science Program and Ecological Stewardship Institute at NKU.
Jennifer Jolly-Ryan
Professor of Legal Writing
Chase College of Law
Professor Jolly-Ryan’s sabbatical project culminated in an article published in the Nebraska Law Review about health care workers’ due process rights. Professor Jolly-Ryan’s inspirations for the project included family members who devotedly serve as Haiti Austin volunteers and the quarantine of a volunteer nurse with Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The quarantined nurse treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone at the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic. The article questions whether courts are so focused on potential spread of diseases that they lose sight of liberty and discrimination in the context of politics or public outcry.
The article acknowledges that the government’s quarantine power to prevent the spread of serious disease is necessary in today’s world. Deadly germs and viruses do not respect geographic boundaries. But as the potential for the spread of disease grows, the potential for loss of individual liberty also grows. The courts’ due process analysis largely focuses upon the government’s compelling interest in protecting public health and neglects other compelling interests, including eradicating discrimination, historically intertwined with quarantine, and encouraging health workers to travel internationally to fight diseases’ spread at the source. The article concludes that the courts’ traditional procedural due process balancing tests should include these other compelling interests, especially when public panic and politics create a greater risk of error.
Yushi (Boni) Li
Professor of Sociology
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy
I took a sabbatical leave during the spring of 2017 to complete a second edition of a textbook entitled Emigrating from China to the United States. The first edition was published in 2010. This is a supplementary textbook prepared for undergraduate students in SOC 100 – Introduction to Sociology. Since the first edition was published seven years ago, we have seen social, technological, and policy changes that have made the book outdated. For instance, at the time the first book was published, same-sex marriage was recognized in nine states. Only 37 states legalized same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court officially recognized the practice in a 5 - 4 decision in 2015. This unique social reality has greatly changed the traditional definition of marriage, defined in my first edition of the textbook (as well as other sociology books) as a social commitment between one male and one female. Obviously, the definition needs to be adjusted to better reflect our current society. There are also many other outdated examples in the first edition of the book; therefore, I took the sabbatical leave to complete the second edition of the book. The new book has highly enhanced the opportunity to assist with better student learning outcomes. The second edition of the book was published in May 2017 by Charles C. Thomas.
John Schlipp
Associate Professor of Library Science and Intellectual Property Librarian
Steely Library
Teaching intellectual property (IP) rights is a proactive way to guide students, or novice information users, to be “intellectual-property literate” and to develop awareness of IP. These IP subjects include both creator and consumer rights. Comprehending IP is critical in today’s world in order to negotiate the challenges associated with all kinds of intellectual properties. This project further supports the research, writing, and editing for a new book based upon content created as the primary e-text for John’s course for NKU’s Library Informatics program: LIN 405 Intellectual Property & Information Rights. This book explores intellectual property issues for today’s professionals in communication- and information-based careers. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and additional related topics are discussed in relation to intellectual property creators and consumers, including real world scenarios and best practices. Fair Use is covered in reference to the First Amendment. Information rights topics examined include legal and ethical issues. Currently, there are no comprehensive publications, which address all types of intellectual properties in one book from an educational train-the-trainer concept. This book addresses this need. Although the primary target audiences are students and professionals of Library and Information Science, secondary audiences of higher education include Education, Communications, Business, Hard Sciences, and Computer Science.
Paul Tenkotte
Professor of History
Department of History and Geography
In the United States today, nearly one in four residents lives in one of the nation’s three most-populous states, California, Texas, or Florida. Since 1950, the increase in population of these three states has proven phenomenal: Florida (611%), California (266%), and Texas (251%).
America’s “discovery” of California, Florida, and Texas began in 1836. In that year, Texas declared its independence from Mexico, California revolted against Mexico, and the Creek War began in Florida. As Anglo-American settlers poured into these regions, and as Native Americans and Latinos were removed or marginalized, a common migration pattern took root. In search of land and prosperity, millions of Americans from the East and the Midwest traveled south and west. Trails, railroads, roads, interstate highways, and air travel carried them to new homes. The construction of many of these modes of transportation involved public/private partnerships.
The book resulting from this project will demonstrate how public/private partnerships proved especially important in making California, Florida, and Texas centers of innovation in science, technology, and medicine. For example, during the Cold War period, the federal government assisted in funding massive research efforts at Stanford University in California, which, in turn, created a new national model for public/private research that became Silicon Valley. Likewise, NASA created centers in Houston, Texas, and at Cape Canaveral, Florida, feeding those states’ economies. Meanwhile, federal nuclear facilities in America’s “rust belt,” such as at Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio, diminished in importance. Driven by the federal government, and joined by private investors, a reinvention of the US economy itself was underway.
Lindsey A. Walters
Associate Professor of Biology
Department of Biological Sciences
As a behavioral ecologist and ornithologist, I study the evolution and ecology of animal behavior, focusing on the reproductive behavior of birds. I used the time provided by this sabbatical to work on three different research projects investigating how the environment influences the reproductive behavior of my study organism, the Carolina chickadee. First, I examined how external temperature influenced the number and duration of breaks that incubating females took from sitting on their eggs. I used remote temperature data loggers to gather over 3,000 hours of data and found that the females took shorter, more frequent breaks when it was colder. I also examined environmental factors that influenced the nest location selection of the chickadees that have bred at my field site over the past 5 years. I found that although nests near the forest edge suffered more predation, surprisingly they were not avoided by the chickadees. Finally, I investigated how naturally-occurring parasitic blow fly larvae influenced the health of nestling Carolina chickadees. I found that nests with more parasites produced nestlings with lower concentrations of hemoglobin in their blood. All three of these projects involved extensive participation by undergraduate research students. The sabbatical provided me with the critical time necessary to analyze the data from these long-term projects and to write manuscripts for publication. Finally, I also spent time learning about the birds and ecology of Australia on a bird-focused nature tour, knowledge that I am now incorporating into my teaching at Northern Kentucky University.
Michael Waters
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
This one semester sabbatical had, as its major goal, to more fully develop software that could extract desirable features from a digital image, prepare those features for input into a machine learning algorithm, and create an exportable model to be used on a smart device to classify new images taken with the device. This goal was accomplished using the R Statistics software package and the e1071 library for support vector machines. The smart device application HAB APP is under development to classify algae by color – specifically to classify images of green algae (usually harmless) and blue-green algae (often harmful). The application is being extended to include classification at the microscopic level by shape using a smart device microscope. Moreover, a Harmful Algal Bloom Watch system has been developed with four fixed camera monitoring stations in the Ohio River valley, sending hourly images to a central server, which calculates the probability of a harmful algal bloom event. The intent is that the Environmental Protection Agency and drinking water intake facilities use this as an early warning system for harmful algal blooms to protect citizens from recreational exposure to toxic algae and allow water intake facilities advanced notice to properly treat water used for drinking purposes. This work has been presented at several venues and has resulted in both state and national grant proposals.
Jacqueline Wroughton
Associate Professor of Statistics
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
This one semester sabbatical had one main goal at the center: to carefully design a research study on flipping the introductory statistics classroom. Sub-goals of the sabbatical included learning new technologies, thoughtfully developing pedagogy, creating activities for the flipped classroom, and submitting the IRB application. After conducting a literature review, it was found that one of the biggest strengths of a classroom is for students to know what to expect and have consistency. The professor may incorporate/demonstrate different technologies, but students need not use many different technologies to understand, allowing for greater consistency. The IRB application was approved and the study will be conducted during the 2017-2018 academic year. This involves a control group (regular class) and an experimental group (flipped class) taught by the same professor for both Fall 2017 and Spring 2018.
Chad Anderson
Assistant Professor of Business and Health Informatics
Department of Business Informatics
Health information technology (HIT) has the potential to significantly improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare services. One way in which that occurs is through process improvement initiatives where HIT is integrated into existing clinical work routines to make them more efficient and effective. Understanding the role of HIT in clinical process improvement is critical to maximizing the value of investments in electronic health records and other information technology by healthcare organizations. This summer fellowship included two projects focused on the study of clinical process improvement through HIT adoption. The first was a collaborative effort with Dr. Mary Kaul at the University of Nevada, Reno, in which a case study was conducted in the application of lean management techniques in a large medical center to improve the process of identifying and treating patients with alcohol dependence. The second was a collaborative effort with Dr. Benoit Raymond at Laval University in Quebec City, QC, in which an existing data set of clinician interviews was evaluated to understand the impact of an electronic medical records system on the delivery of inpatient care services in a large urban hospital. For the first project, a journal manuscript was completed and the paper is now under review at the International Journal of Electronic Healthcare. For the second project, multiple rounds of data analysis were conducted, and the results of that analysis are currently being applied to a theoretical framework. The journal manuscript is to be completed in the fall of 2017 for submission to the Journal of the Association for Information Systems.
Thaddeus G. Bissett
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy
In May of 2017, students from Northern Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati, as well as volunteers from the northern Kentucky area, participated in a three-week excavation at the Glacken Site, a Late Archaic (5700 to 3200 years BP) and Early Woodland (3200 to 2300 years BP) prehistoric site located on the property of Big Bone Lick State Historic Site. Students first excavated “shovel test pits” across the site to identify areas with large amounts of archaeological material for further, detailed investigations. Artifacts were more abundant atop a low knoll overlooking Big Bone Creek, and several controlled excavation units were opened to assess the condition and nature of the cultural deposits in that location. Overall, the students exposed and investigated 8.25 square meters of the site, moving more than 4 cubic meters of soil (weighing upwards of 6 metric tons). During the remainder of the summer, I and several student volunteers from the project carefully washed, counted, and sorted the artifacts in preparation for a more thorough analysis. Despite the small area encompassed in the 2017 excavations, we recovered a large amount of cultural material: 2132 stone flakes left behind from the manufacture of stone tools, 908 bone fragments, and 342 pieces of freshwater mussel shell. We also discovered at least two small fire pits. Taken together, these cultural remains suggest that the site may have been used by a large group of people over a long period of time. Further analyses of the artifacts will be conducted in a series of independent study projects by several NKU Anthropology majors during fall of 2017, and their work will be summarized in the final report (currently in progress, will be submitted to Big Bone Lick upon completion).
Ada Cenkci
Assistant Professor of Organizational Leadership
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership
The main purpose of this project was a cross-cultural study to investigate the influence of inclusive leadership behaviors on employee engagement. Considering scarce empirical research on inclusive leadership, especially in Turkish context, this project was planned to collect data from white collar employees from the US and Turkey. The summer fellowship resulted in a collaboration with another NKU professor and a researcher from the University of Leuven in Belgium. The project began with a detailed review of the literature on inclusive leadership and employee engagement topics. Based on the literature review, the consensus choice for the survey was to use Information technology (IT) professionals in Turkey and the US as target populations. The fellowship allowed me to travel to Turkey, discuss diversity challenges with IT professionals in Turkey and the US, develop the research model further, translate the chosen survey instruments from English to Turkish, and direct the review process of these translations by bilingual academicians. In addition, survey questionnaires and other necessary documents were prepared in both English and Turkish. Our research is ongoing, and the results of this project are planned to be presented at several research conferences. A full manuscript based on the results of this study will be completed in 2018 and the associated article will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.
Sookyung Cho
Assistant Professor of Media Informatics
Department of Communication
To facilitate user-entered perspective and design-thinking at NKU, I conducted web accessibility research of the NKU Steely Library website. In this project, I aimed to propose a sustainable model of participatory design process for web accessibility. By definition, web accessibility deals with a broad level of disability, such as visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological challenges that people may have. Web accessibility can be achieved via an inclusive and iterative process: users and stakeholders are invited to design and evaluate the website. The process needs to be ongoing in a sustainable way according to participants’ feedback. This project consisted of a review and analysis of current literature on process and methods in order to plan a prototype of a design tool-kit that demonstrates the ideas on how to iterate the process with on-going data collection, prototyping, and evaluation. This summer fellowship was helpful for me to endeavor in planning design toolkits for participatory design and accessibility. It also established a process model for collaboration with organizations such as Disability Services, the International Center, and Steely Library.
Joe Cobbs
Associate Professor of Sports Business
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
Rivalry in sports contributes to both positive and negative outcomes (e.g., sense of in-group belonging, violence toward outsiders). Consequently, it is important for sport administrators to understand the antecedents and potential consequences of their fans’ perceptions of rivalry. This summer fellowship facilitated research collaboration with five NKU undergraduate students across three projects that studied a cross-section of rivalries in five professional sports. Results demonstrated that winning teams are more likely to be perceived as rivals by others; beyond winning, the elements contributing to fans’ perception of rivalry (e.g., star power, cultural difference, geography) varied by sport, as did the level of animosity toward rivals. For example, the element of star power was highly influential in perceptions of rivalry in the National Basketball Association, but the geographic proximity between teams was more influential in Major League Soccer rivalries. Across the five North American professional leagues studied, fans of the National Football League (NFL) recorded significantly greater animosity toward rivals, which suggests NFL administrators should be more diligent in event security protocol and cautious in developing promotional campaigns focused on rivalries. To date, these three student-faculty collaborative projects have yielded one peer-reviewed publication (in-press), three peer-reviewed research conference presentations, and several mentions in sports media.
Jessica Hindman
Assistant Professor of English
Department of English
The Summer Fellowship allowed me to present a paper at the 2017 NonfictioNow Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland as well as conduct on-location research in Iceland for nine days in order to craft new works of Creative Nonfiction writing. My conference paper, titled “The ‘Something to Write About’ Syllabus: Surprise and Elicitation in the Creative Nonfiction Workshop,” delineated the ways in which the Iowa Workshop model, originally developed for poetry and fiction writing, fails to meet the unique needs of Creative Nonfiction students. The paper also explored how experiential learning is particularly important for Creative Nonfiction classrooms and offered ideas for integrating “moments of surprise” into the Creative Nonfiction workshop process. Because NonfictioNow is the largest international conference solely devoted to the craft of Creative Nonfiction writing, I had the unique privilege of receiving feedback on my pedagogical methods from experts who teach this genre in countries throughout the world. In addition, this Fellowship allowed me to conduct experiential, on-location research in Iceland. Creative Nonfiction is a deeply personal genre, relying on the writer’s lived, sensory experiences and the interrogation of those experiences through self-reflection. During my nine days in Iceland, I became intrigued by the prominent statue of Ingibjörg H. Bjarnason, Iceland’s first female member of parliament. I used my experience of encountering this statue to compose two new works, which I am in the process of submitting for publication in nationally-ranked literary journals. These new pieces will also be included in my forthcoming book-length collection of lyric essays.
Jae-Seung Lee
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership
Community Policing and Future: Examination of Citizen Participation in Community Policing Program
The community policing (COP) strategy has gained popularity nationwide during the past three decades as a way to improve police–community relations. However, its effectiveness is still in question. While studies consistently report that citizen participation is crucial to successful implementation, only a handful of studies scrutinized citizen participation in COP to gauge the effectiveness. By adopting the theory of public support of government agencies suggested by David Easton (1965), this study attempted to disclose the factors that affect citizen participation in community policing programs using two data sources: (1) the data collected from a random telephone survey of 1108 citizens of Houston, Texas in 2014, and (2) the data collected from 324 citizen participants in the Houston Police Department’s Positive Interaction Program (PIP) in 2014. The two datasets were merged for analysis. Factor analysis and logistic regression were employed as statistical methods. The result of this study revealed that diffuse support has a significant effect on citizen participation. Policy-relevant information and guidelines for future study were also discussed.
Stacie Jankowski
Assistant Professor of Journalism
Department of Communication
This project examined whether certain types of news stories can impact audiences’ views on who or what is responsible for causing certain health conditions and who or what is responsible for fixing certain health conditions. Health conditions are often stigmatized because those with the condition are blamed. That stigma results in others distancing themselves from the condition, which results in systemic discrimination. Because health advances are tied to public policy, outside funding, and political agendas, it is important to understand that the news media impacts how these issues reach the public consciousness. This project tested whether certain news frames impact audience understanding of causes and solutions for drug abuse, depression, and obesity, all of which are frequently stigmatized. This summer, the first phase of this project was completed. Dr. Jankowski created and implemented a 3x1 experiment for 105 participants involving nine manipulated news stories that she researched and created. This experiment has resulted in a rich set of both quantitative and qualitative data that the Dr. Jankowski will analyze and compile for the second phase of the project. The results will provide data for transdisciplinary discussion between health communicators and journalists.
Melissa Jones
Professor of Special Education
Department of Teacher Education
The goal of this project was to begin the initial stages of writing for a textbook. This textbook would support the teaching and learning of special education majors, both at the graduate and undergraduate level, who are working toward certification to teach students with disabilities. The working title of the text is Adolescence, Identity and Disability: Teaching Students in Secondary Special Education Programs. Special educators and intervention specialists can potentially teach students from the primary grades through high school graduation, so course content in this major must cover a variety of grade levels. The proposed text would support coursework that focuses on teaching at the secondary level, specifically EDS 572 Secondary Special Education Programs. Prior to and during the Summer Fellowship, the table of contents had been outlined, research was conducted, as well as a thorough literature review, development of the textbook progressed as a book prospectus was written, along with one completed draft chapter and several sections of a second chapter written. Case stories developed by individuals with disabilities were also collected during the summer, adding meaningful context to the information that will be shared throughout the text.
Francoise Knox-Kazimierczuk
Assistant Professor of Allied Health
Department of Allied Health
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mobile health (mhealth) SMS messaging and lobby terminal messages to address cardiovascular health and disease in Northern Kentucky residents using local fitness facilities. The project focused on increasing health literacy, access to information and technology, and reducing cardiovascular disease disparities among residents of Northern Kentucky. Data collection for the first cohort is still ongoing and recruitment for the second and third cohorts will begin again in October. This study builds on existing literature in a new area of health promotion & intervention. Data from this study will serve to expand the current of body of knowledge through conference presentations and manuscript development. It is also the hope of the researchers to secure external funding to further research technology and health.
Ryan Salzman
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership
The focus of my work this summer was to develop an ongoing project that seeks to understand how creative placemaking fits into the arena of politics in the 21st century. Those efforts were two-pronged and both including an undergraduate student. One part of the project focused on work that had been done since late 2016, twice revising a manuscript per the request of a peer-reviewed journal that has expressed interest in publication. The revisions were very time-consuming with a great deal of focus on reviewing and synthesizing the literature. The second part of this summer’s work was the development of a survey to be administered to individuals who work for community development corporations (CDC), a type of institution that appears especially prone to engaging in creative placemaking events. Substantial time was spent compiling a list of CDCs and collecting emails for the administration of the survey. A survey was drafted and disseminated at the end of the summer. If things go well, the paper undergoing revisions will be accepted for publication and the survey will come back with data to be developed into the next paper, which is already proposed for inclusion in the Southern Political Science Association annual conference in early 2018.
Gang Sun
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics, Geology, and Engineering Technology
Air Quality Modeling Using Novel Computational Intelligence and Transient Thermal Analysis Methods
To understand health and environmental impacts caused by livestock pollutants, it is a critical need to develop air quality predictive models to characterize daily air emission inventories as a basic database of U.S. livestock facilities. Up to now, very few models have been proposed with relatively accurate estimates. In this research project, a black-box modeling approach using GRNN computational intelligence technology (Generalized Regression Neural Network) was employed to forecast air pollutants as affected by time of day, season, ventilation rate, animal growth cycles, in-house manure storage levels, and weather conditions. It was found that the results of the GRNN air quality predictive models were in good agreement with the actual measurements, with high coefficient of determination (R2) values between 85.2% and 95.17% and very low values of systemic performance indexes (RMSE and MSE). The results indicated the computational intelligence methods are capable of accurately modeling source air quality within the livestock production facilities and emissions from these production facilities. It is anticipated that the proposed air quality predictive models could be used for government to make new environmental policy decisions, for environmental scientists to obtain a diurnal and seasonal air quality database for science-based setback distance determination, and for livestock producers to evaluate relevant air emission abatement strategies.
Monica Wakefield
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy
I generously received both a Faculty Project Grant and a Summer Fellowship from NKU to help fund my research project on bonobos in the DRC. This was in conjunction with a $25,000 research grant from The Leakey Foundation. The research for this project is still ongoing, data collection will continue until November 2017 and analyses will begin in 2018. So, here I highlight the successes and accomplishments of the project thus far. My team and I (two graduate student collaborators from the University of Oregon, and one research assistant who is a recent NKU graduate) have collected over 500 bonobo fecal samples thus far for DNA, hormonal, and dietary isotope analysis. We have logged over 100 hours of direct contact with the bonobos and have noted marked improvement in habituation. My research assistant, who recently received his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology at NKU, has not only been a valuable asset and integral part of the project, but also started his own research project conducting a census and evaluating the status and post-war recovery of primate populations in the region. While I cannot report on any results yet with data collection still in progress, the project has been successful so far and we have accomplished everything we hoped to by this point in the research.
John Carmen
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Department of Biological Sciences
Mice are commonly used to confirm that a specific gene encodes information required for microbial pathogenicity. The cost, regulatory requirements, and training associated with the use of mice led researchers to develop alternative in vivo model systems including Galleria mellonella larvae to study how microbes cause disease. The larvae of the greater wax moth have been successfully used to study the pathogenesis of bacterial and fungal pathogens. The goal of this project was to test the hypothesis that G. mellonella larvae could be used as a model system to study the pathogenesis of the protozoan pathogens Entamoeba invadens. The alternative model system was first tested with fungal pathogens. As expected, larvae injected with Candida species exhibited increased mortality compared to uninjected larvae or larvae injected with sterile phosphate buffered saline. Following the successful replication of previously reported experiments, larvae were injected with increasing concentrations of E. invadens and A. castellanii. E. invadens-injected larvae presented no indication of infection and survived for the duration of the experiments. In contrast, larvae injected with A. castellanii universally exhibited increased mortality over the course of the experiments. These results confirm that the G. mellonella model system can be used to study the pathogenesis of some, but not all, protozoa. Combined with the recent development of tools to molecularly manipulate A. castellanii, this discovery will provide researchers with a means of rapidly and inexpensively assessing the pathogenicity of mutants.
Christine Curran
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Department of Biological Sciences
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widespread pollutants found in the human food supply. They are in the Top Five on the government’s priority pollutant list and cause cancer, birth defects, and deficits in learning and memory. The goal of this project was to determine if PCBs change the microbiome (the number and type of microbes found in the intestines) during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Recently, scientists discovered that pollutants in our food can change the intestinal microbiome and adversely affect human health. We used a mouse model to examine the effects of PCB on dams and their pups, because exposed offspring are most susceptible. The project was an outgrowth of my sabbatical research and allowed undergraduate research students to expand our studies of PCB neurotoxicity using state-of-the-art genomics approaches. The pilot data was used to secure two additional grants and to expand our studies to the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene, an air pollutant also found in grilled food. I received a $13,305 CINSAM Research Grant and a KBRIN Next-Generation Sequencing Pilot Project. The ultimate goal is a new R15 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Two undergraduates (Yislain Villalona and Pamela Dickson) were selected to participate in the 2017 KBRIN Next-Generation Sequencing and Data Analysis Workshop. This unique training greatly enhanced their understanding of new genomics tools and will make them highly competitive for graduate/professional school and employment. The initial findings were presented at the 2016 Ohio Valley Society of Toxicology meeting where Shelby Caudill earned Second Place for Best Undergraduate Poster.
Sara Drabik
Associate Professor of Electronic Media and Broadcasting
Department of Communication
Coffee is the second largest traded commodity in the world, and women historically perform an average of 70% of the work in its production. Yet, they participate in only 10% of the commercial aspect and have little to no access to training or education in the industry. This faculty project grant helped support research that began in 2013 to create a documentary film that looks at the changing role of women in the coffee industry and how organizations such as the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) affect this transition. These funds facilitated a trip to India in January of 2017 for a small production crew to film at coffee facilities in and around Bangalore and visit three coffee plantations to the east. Research there included qualitative interviews with members of the India chapter of the IWCA, women who own and oversee regional farms, and young baristas who work in the city. Footage was gathered of the coffee harvest, and interviews were held with various workers including foreman, managers, and coffee pickers. The transcribed interviews and logged footage are currently being combined with previously filmed work from Guatemala, South Africa, and Tanzania. Initial findings show India is making progress in its goals with a few key programs, but it is slow moving. This change will be compared to other work the IWCA is facilitating globally. The resulting documentary will examine what the changing role of women in coffee means for women, communities, and the coffee industry as a whole.
Isabelle Lagadic
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
Organoclay-polymer nanocomposites represent a class of hybrid materials comprising a polymer within which clay nanofillers have been dispersed. Compared to pure polymers, these composite materials exhibit several enhanced properties such higher stiffness, corrosion resistance, gas barrier, or inflammability, which makes them very attractive for applications in aerospace, automotive, energy, food packaging and biomedical industries. During the summer, two undergraduate students, an NKU chemistry major, and an intern from the Institute Universitaire de Technologie de Lannion (France), our French partner in our international research exchange program, investigated, with my aid, the microwave-assisted synthesis of polystyrene-organoclay nanocomposites by surface-initiated polymerization from the surface of a one-step prepared organoclays containing thiol functional groups as polymerization initiating sites. Characterizations of the composites by a variety of methods showed the importance of the choice of solvent when microwave is used as heating source. We also found a high content of grafted polystyrene in our composites, making these new materials excellent candidates as polymer fillers. I was also able to acquire a better understanding of both the microwave technique and surface-initiated polymerization reactions, through numerous discussions with our collaborator, Dr. Eric Fossum and his research group that specializes in polymer science at Wright State University (Dayton, OH). The results of the work accomplished were presented a various professional meetings, are being used in the preparation of a manuscript and for the development of experiments in upper-level teaching labs.
Seungcheol Austin Lee
Associate Professor of Communication Studies
Department of Communication
This transdisciplinary course, INF394 Social Robotics, introduced theories and technologies to build robots that are human-like, sociable, and intuitive to interact with. The course provided students with practical skills in designing more natural and compelling robots. It also sought to uncover the intersection between engineering and social science, focusing on how robots can express and perceive emotion, engage in high-level dialogues, and exhibit distinctive personality. The course was offered in Spring 2017 to 20 students in the College of Informatics. It provided students with hands-on experience by connecting theory with practice in a learning environment that promotes both innovation and creativity. Students completed projects in designing and implementing innovative social robot applications in various contexts (e.g., an NKU ambassador robot guiding campus visitors and a health coach robot at the campus recreation center). To create their social robot interaction prototypes, students learned basic programming skills using Python and Choregraphe Suite and programmed a humanoid robot, NAO Evolution V5. The robot was able to engage in high-level and complex interactions with humans. Students presented their work at the Celebration of Student Research and Creativity and posted their videos on YouTube.
Lili Ma
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are recently reported to be the pharmaceutical targets of various cancers. They regulate the transcription and protein function of cancer cells by removing the acetyl group from certain amino acids, thus they are critical to the growth and viability of several cancers. In this faculty project grant, we tested the biological activities of 19 compounds synthesized in our group in an attempt to discover potential anticancer drug candidates. Initial screening of HDAC inhibition was performed against 11 HDAC enzyme isoforms, and 3 compounds were found to have high potency against HDAC8 isomers. Further biological experiments were performed to study their cytotoxicity on four leukemia cell lines and their synergy effects with DNA damage agents. These results showed that one of our compounds is better inhibitor than its natural product, Santacruzamate A, and it can be further optimized to make isoform selective inhibitors against HDAC8.
Cory Scheadler
Assistant Professor of Exercise Science
Department of Kinesiology and Health
The focus of the SPEED study was to determine how the physiological demands of self-paced exercise tests differs from that of traditional exercise tests. Many of the proposed outcomes were achieved and include having several undergraduates involved in the research project, having results with strong publication potential, and presenting results as a poster at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Annual Conference. Three Exercise Science undergraduates completed CITI training, and gained experience in data collection and analysis thanks to the project. The data collected from the study resulted in interesting differences between self-paced exercise tests and a traditional Bruce protocol, particularly the difference in the onset of anaerobic metabolism as measured by ventilatory data. This difference was highlighted in an abstract submission to the ACSM Annual Conference, a leading conference for researchers in sports medicine. The abstract was accepted and published and the research was presented as a poster. Two of the undergraduate students earned authorship on this poster due to their contributions throughout the study. In addition to the poster presentation, additional study data that was collected is currently being written up in the form of a manuscript to be submitted to a scientific, peer-reviewed journal.
Emily Shifley
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Department of Biological Sciences
There are a number of birth defects with craniofacial malformations that affect humans and we do not know the causes of all of these syndromes. My lab uses Xenopus frogs as a model organism to study developmental biology. We had previously found that a genetic signaling pathway called the FGF signaling pathway was important for guiding craniofacial development in Xenopus embryos. However, the mechanism by which FGF signaling acted was unknown. By investigating possible targets of FGF signaling during craniofacial development, we wanted to gain a better understanding of how craniofacial malformations might arise. The major accomplishment from this research project was the discovery of a gene family called the Iroquois family that are likely acting downstream of the FGF signaling pathway during craniofacial development. We found that when we disrupted the expression of different members of the Iroquois family, there were changes in the expression of other genes in the developing embryos and defects in the formation of craniofacial cartilage. The completed goal of this project was to generate preliminary data that could be used in a grant application to the NIH, which we submitted in the fall of 2016. A secondary goal was to involve undergraduates in research. Three NKU undergraduate students worked on this research project helping perform experiments, gaining useful research experiences in developmental biology techniques, and disseminating their results with poster presentations at conferences.
