Letters and Sciences Today - Spring/Summer 2021

Today

Letters & Sciences College of Letters and Sciences Highlights Vol. 16 - Spring/Summer 2021

LSAMP Student Success (pages 10-13)

CSU LSAMP students. Back row, left to right - Monique Echevers, Isabelle Rodriguez, Jordan Lyon, Shyrisse Ramos and Adaimoabasi “Ruth” Udo; Bottom, center - Kenya Isller

In This Issue

Alumni Highlights – 3 | Student Success – 4-6 | Special Events – 7-9

Meritorious Program – 14 | Faculty Publications – 15-17 | Milestones – 18-19 | Flora Clark Bequest – 20

Dean’s Welcome “When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.”

— Steve Maraboli

C

ongratulations to the College of Letters and Sciences! We dared to do it anyway; that is, to work together to overcome the challenges and uncertainties presented by COVID-19. We offered support and encouragement to one another, when students and faculty faced hardships due to COVID-19. We were able to stay safe while being creative and innovative in our instruction, research, and service during an extraordinary academic year.

I am grateful to our faculty and staff for playing a role in our students’ success. Because of the pandemic, many students and their families struggled with reduced incomes, job losses, and health or mental health concerns. Our faculty implemented the best possible strategies, such as flexible class scheduling, asynchronous and synchronous learning models, virtual advising, virtual tutoring, virtual laboratories, adoption of new classroom technologies, and referrals to the Create Care Team, to ease the impact of these unsettling circumstances and increase student engagement.

During this extraordinary academic year, we received many comments about College of Letters and Sciences faculty members attesting to their commitment to excellence, one of CSU’s core values.

• “It is always so clear how much he [Scott Wilkerson] cares about the people around him - it shows in his work, and it shows in the people that love working with him.”

• “She [Nehal Shukla] sets a great example for being a great educator and colleague! She isn’t afraid to try new teaching methods, and she is always around to help her students.”

• “[Shannon Godlove] is absolutely beloved by her students and colleagues.”

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• “[Brian Schwartz] has done so much to ensure that everyone is taken care of and supported through the pandemic.”

• “She [Bridget Downs] genuinely cares about students succeeding in life beyond our four years at CSU.” • “You [Gordon Hurley] embraced the challenge and helped us all get on board. Even with a couple glitches, you were able to present the material in a timely manner and keep us on schedule.”

• “Lauren [King]…is always so gracious with her time and so committed to both her students and her colleagues.”

Our students also dared to do it anyway. They dared to create connections through involvement with student and professional organizations.

They dared to create opportunities by obtaining internships with Columbus-area organizations and companies. They dared to create solutions to problems through undergraduate research and conference presentations. They dared to prepare for success upon graduation by attending workshops on resume writing, LinkedIn, strategies for the job search, and networking.

Our goal is to continue to respond to student needs, foster supportive mentoring relationships and lay a strong foundation for the future. The College of Letters and Sciences’ priority is to support our students as they persist to graduation.

Sincerely,

Annice Yarber-Allen Dean

Letters & Sciences Today

Alumni Highlights Alumni Achievements All departments in the College of Letters and Sciences have notable alumni. Here’s a sampling of rising stars.

THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY • Elizabeth McBride (BA History, 2019) and Austin Chesteen (BA History, 2019): Mercer University School of Law. • Abby Gibbons (BA History, 2018): PhD in History program, University of Alabama.

• William Thomas (MA History, 2020): PhD in History program, Auburn University.

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY • Lakesha Richardson (BS Chemistry and MS Environmental Science, 2014) attended dental school. She is now a dentist in Mount, North Carolina.

Natasha Walker Jones, BS General Studies, 2001, won the 2021 Cicero Speechwriting Award in the Social Justice category for her speech “BCJA & GAAA Alumni State of the Union Address 2020.”

Rocky To qualify, the speech had to have been given in person or virtually in 2020.

• Jasmine Bohannon, who earned her BS in Chemistry (ACS Professional Track) in Spring 2020, is a first-year graduate student working towards a PhD in Analytical Chemistry as an LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellow at the University of South Carolina.

THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY • Joseph A. Garcia, 2006 BS pyschology, now has a Doctorate in Psychology and is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. He serves as Clinical Director and Therapist at White Cloud Therapeutic Services in Williamsburg, Virginia.

• After graduating (BS Psychology), Alison A. Burkhard earned a MS in Human Factors at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She is now User Experience Lead at Digital Solution Partners.

CSU Alumni (Fall 2019) and LSAMP Scholar Corey Stewart passed the NCEES FE licensing exam in Electrical and Computer Engineering during his time at CSU. He is currently a first-year graduate student working on his MS in Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering at Auburn University.

Letters & Sciences Today Writer and Editor – Barbara Hunt (Hunt_Barbara@ColumbusState.edu) Circulation Coordinator – Angela Johnson (Johnson_Angela@ColumbusState.edu) Design & Layout – Kelsey Vickers Letters & Sciences Today

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Scholarship Awardees Chemistry Student Named Refresco Scholarship Recipient The Refresco Chemistry Scholarship was established in 2019 by the local branch of Refresco, formerly Cott Beverages. The scholarship provides $1,000 per semester. This year’s recipient is Isabelle Rodriguez, a senior at Columbus State University who is enrolled in BS Chemistry – ACS Track. She received the award for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.

Isabelle actively pursued undergraduate research, under the advisement of Kerri Taylor and joined the Kerri S. Taylor research lab in Fall 2019. In this research experience, she focused on the synthesis, characterization, and biological activities of asymmetric N,N’-triazolium and benzotriazolium salts.

Isabelle’s research background includes being named a Scholar in the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) organization.

During her time at CSU, she was also employed as a laboratory assistant for the Department of Chemistry for two consecutive years with the Survey of Chemistry 1 lab and Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 labs. Isabelle has presently continued these positions as Teaching Assistant and undergraduate researcher.

After graduating, Isabelle plans on obtaining a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. For a career, she is interested in working in industry as a chemical researcher.

Ashlyn Dewberry Heads to Law School on Scholarship Senior Ashlyn Dewberry has completed her Honors thesis (Fall 2020) and presented her research both at the Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference (GURC) in Fall 2020 and at the Tower Day student research conference in Spring 2021. She had two thesis directors: Dr. Daewoo Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Administration; and Dr. Ryan Lynch, assistant professor and Graduate Program coordinator in the Department of History and Geography.

Ashlyn’s Honors thesis was titled “A Tale of Two Pandemics: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. Government Responses to the 1918 Influenza and COVID-19.” Ashlyn’s major is Political Science. Because her career goal is to become a lawyer, she has applied to law schools and received multiple offers, including full scholarships from three schools, including Baylor University (TX), and law scholarships to Emory (GA) and William & Mary (VA), among others.

Besides politics and law, Ashlyn is interested in music, so much so that she has attained a music minor from the Schwob School of Music studying organ with Professor Joseph Golden. In Spring 2021, she completed a virtual study abroad term at Regent’s Park College at the University of Oxford and graduated summa cum laude with a cumulative 4.0 GPA.

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Scholarship Awardees COLS Scholarship Spotlight One of the toughest challenges for students attending Columbus State and many universities isn’t necessarily their coursework, but rather their finances. We often hear from students, “How will I pay for my tuition to stay enrolled in Senior year?” and “I’ve paid my tuition, but now I can’t afford the books for my classes.”

To help students succeed in their courses and alleviate some of their concerns about paying for college, the College of Letters and Sciences offers students scholarships to cover their expenses, whether it’s tuition, books, or other related costs. The COLS Dean’s Office manages nine general scholarships and the individual departments of COLS manage 24 scholarships. Many of the scholarships allow multiple students to apply and earn them, including the Friends of Letters and Sciences summer bridge scholarship that awards up to 10 students annually.

Heather Tolbert, a Biology and Secondary Education major, received the Georgia Power Foundation Scholarship.

The scholarships COLS offers have helped approximately 50 students each year continue their education and avoid dropping out. We are extremely happy to award scholarships to eligible and deserving applicants, but we’re even more joyful when we learn directly from recipients how much it has helped them.

Vivian Duncan, a senior and recipient of The Prem and Neelam Virmani Scholarship, says “The scholarship will allow me to continue my studies without the added stress of two jobs. It also will help to eliminate debt, and put real, healthy food on my table instead of having to resort to whatever is cheapest.”

Anna Phillips, English major,

is the recipient of The Carlton Heather Tolbert shares that the pursuit of her degree “has been quite challenging as I M. & Constance Johnson Scholarship. am also a full-time mother of three children… and a military spouse of 17 years.” The Biology and Secondary Education major adds that “The Georgia Power Foundation scholarship will enable me to search for a laptop and printer to aid me in my studies and allow me to be able to return my borrowed technology to the college.”

Anna Phillips says that the scholarship she received will help her pursue a career in journalism and “will enable me to pay for housing in Columbus, as well as books and other materials for my classes.”

These students, and many others like them, have lofty aspirations. The scholarships of the College of Letters and Sciences and generous support from community donors offer just the right lift to help them reach their academic and life goals.

Do You Know What Your Donations Have Supported?

With the help of our alumni and friends, the College of Letters and Sciences has been able to provide 43 summer scholarships and other significant opportunities for our students! By giving back to CSU, you make a meaningful impact on students’ lives!

Tax-deductible contributions to our scholarship funds or other programs can be made online at ColumbusState.edu/Giving. For more information about our programs and initiatives, please contact Jill Carroll, Development Officer: 706-507-8431; Carroll_Jill@ColumbusState.edu.

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Student Success A Linguistics Minor Leads to Fulbright in South Korea Regardless of your major, a minor in Linguistics can definitely aid in your post-graduate endeavors. A Fall 2019 cum laude graduate of the Schwob School of Music (vocal), Brittany Parker is working in South Korea thanks to being accepted into the Fulbright Korea English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Program after she minored in Linguistics and received an International Studies Certificate.

Prior to receiving the 12-month Fulbright ETA grant, Brittany had already participated in two study abroad opportunities in South Korea, one of which was the TESOL (Teaching English as a Second or Other Language) Internship program run by Dr. Kyongseon Jeon, professor of English and director of CSU’s TESOL programs (minor and certificate). As an ETA, Brittany will help teach English language classes and serve as a U.S. cultural ambassador.

“The TESOL program has afforded me the opportunity to participate in an internship to teach in South Korea to all age groups. This opportunity enabled me to get hands-on teaching experience and also immerses me in Korean culture. I truly believe the CSU TESOL program enhanced my chances in being selected for the Fulbright Scholarship,” said Parker.

Environmental Science Student Wins National Award for Research Congratulations to Madison Coleman for being selected as the undergraduate recipient of the 2020 Voices of the Future Award, sponsored by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrological Science (CUAHSI).

The title of Madison’s paper was “The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Access to High Quality Water Resources,” and was completed as part of her fall 2020 coursework in ENVS4206: Water Resources Management. The paper was an assignment in the course, but students received extra credit if they submitted to the CUAHSI for consideration in their contest. Madison’s award includes registration and travel to a future CUAHSI scientific meeting, a $500 honorarium, as well as publication of the winning paper on the CUAHSI website.

Madison presented her findings at Tower Day regarding her internship at the Chattahoochee River Conservancy and another regarding the potential restoration of Weracoba Creek in Columbus. Both presentations were centered around aspects of water quality management. A May graduate in Environmental Science, Madison plans on focusing her career on water quality and restoration of both freshwater and saltwater resources.

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Special Event on Campus Students Run Spanish Book Circle The local chapter of the Spanish honor society Sigma Delta Pi received a $300 grant from the national office to conduct a book circle and film showing, which they did in Fall 2020. Dr. Alyce Cook, associate professor of Spanish and advisor to Sigma Delta Pi, applied for the grant funds that were used to buy books. The title of the book and film was The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (El viejo que leía novelas de amor) by Luis Sepúlveda.

The novel was written originally in Spanish and then translated. The local chapter of Sigma Delta Pi bought books in both Spanish and in English to open up the book circles to as many students as possible, regardless of their ability in Spanish. The book circles were conducted via Zoom in Spanish and English, depending on the group. The English-language film was shown in person and live-streamed via Zoom.

About 18 saw the movie, most by Zoom.

Book circle leaders were: • Raquel Aponte (led Monday night meetings) • Esmirna Vital-Vences (led Saturday morning meetings) • Elica Ortega (led Thursday night meetings) Elica Ortega said she “enjoyed the book circle…because it gave us members a chance to talk with one another before and after…..I wasn’t familiar with the Shuar tribe and it motivated me to do some research.

I believe it is a great introductory book into indigenous culture.”

Raquel Aponte said, “The book circle was a rewarding experience for me because it allowed me to get to know my fellow Sigma Delta Pi members a little more. Also, we took turns reading the pages out loud so it forced us to get out of our comfort zone and speak Spanish in front of other people.

Sometimes it can be hard speaking a second language in front of people for fear of messing up.

But our group was so supportive that by the end of the semester, we were all speaking Spanish with each other and really enjoying ourselves!”

The author, Luis Sepúlveda, was alive when the grant was awarded in early 2020 but died in Spain of COVID-19 in April 2020. For most of his adult life, Members of Sigma Delta Pi book and film circle, Fall 2020.

Sepúlveda was a political activist who fled various regimes in South America before he found his way to Spain. He eventually founded a theatrical company and participated in an UNESCO expedition to assess how colonization had impacted the Shuar Indians. In the seven months he lived with the Shuars, he came to realize that the Marxism he believed in was not applicable to rural populations, like the Shuars, who were dependent on nature. It was his experience with the Shuar tribe that inspired his novel The Old Man Who Read Love Stories.

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Special Events in the Community The 47th CSU Invitational Math Tournament Went Virtual in 2021 In March 2020, the CSU Math Department held its 46th Annual Tournament just days before everything shut down due to the pandemic. That tournament went smoothly and was held in person with well over 150 students, sponsors, and volunteers on site. After that, the world changed, and in-person events were cancelled or reorganized in every arena of life. The 47th Annual Mathematics Tournament in March 2021 could have easily been deferred to 2022. In fact, many annual math tournaments for high school math teams were called off in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In Fall 2020, the Math Tournament committee, led by Dr. Houbin Fang and Ms. Elizabeth McInnis, coordinated with department chair Dr. Ben Kamau to propose a virtual tournament to the department, which met with great support. A virtual tournament was a challenge to arrange, as it is usually based on individual, machine-graded tests as well as a very engaging small group cyphering event and awards ceremony. To try and duplicate the events exactly as they would occur in person didn’t seem feasible.

Instead, each high school team was instructed to work together to solve a challenging 30 question exam, written by Dr. Eugen Ionascu, with contributions from Dr. Baiqiao Deng and Dr. Guihong Fan. Dr. Ionascu started working on the test in Fall 2020 to create a test difficult enough to engage high-performing students working collaboratively. The questions were released throughout the morning in 10 question increments, keeping all students engaged for several hours. High school team sponsors from 12 schools, many local and some as far away as Birmingham and Atlanta, were in charge of monitoring the 144 students who participated as they researched and Top Row, L to R: Ms. Elizabeth McInnis, Dr. Houbin Fang, Dr. Eugen Ionascu, collaborated to answer each batch of Bottom Row, L to R: Dr. Ben Kamau, Dr. Guihong Fan, Ms. Amanda Adams. questions.

Sponsors were very happy with the event, saying, “Our team loved the fact that they could work together,” and “Wish all competitions were this fun!” Student observations were similarly positive: “I liked it because it was a well-run tournament which is hard to do online. There were also no other online tournaments so it was nice to actually do some math.” The Math Department is so pleased to have been able to offer a positive experience in the midst of such a challenging year!

The winning teams in the Large School Category: Fulton Science Academy (1st), Vestavia Hills High School (2nd), and Columbus High School (3rd ), and in the Small School Category: Rockdale Magnet School (1st) and Kendrick High School (2nd). The tournament, sponsored by TSYS, includes student certificates, T-shirts, trophies, and faculty sponsor gifts.

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Special Events in the Community Carson McCullers Literary Awards The Carson McCullers Literary Awards offer prizes in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, expository essay, playwriting and screenwriting, with $300 for first place in each of those categories, $200 for second place, $100 for third place. For a complete list of winners, including 2nd and 3rd place winners, please go to https://english.columbusstate.edu/creative-writing/ mccullers-awards.php. Here is a sampling of the winners.

Brick Road Greear Prize for Poetry High School Poetry First Place: Gabrielle DeWeese, “Taurean Fathoms,” Alan C. Pope High School Sara Ayres Jordan Prize for Poetry CSU Poetry First place: Sidney Ducleroir, “Secrete/Secret” Dr. Joseph Francavilla Prize for Fiction High School Fiction First Place: Macy Cardwell, “The Song We Were,” Homeschool Sara Ayres Jordan Prize for Fiction CSU Fiction First Place: Gavin Moss, “Northern Lights”

Carson McCullers, for whom CSU’s Literary Awards are named.

Melissa Pritchard Schley and Dr. Philip Schley Prize for Creative Nonfiction High School Creative Nonfiction First place: Andrew Song, “Long Way Home,” Heritage High School Sara Ayres Jordan Prize for Creative Nonfiction CSU Creative Nonfiction First Place: Vivian Duncan, “Oxford Pre-Pandemic” Susan Schley Gristina Prize for Expository Essay High School Expository Essay First place: Andrew Song, “Treasures of Sierra Madre: A Critique of Laissez-Faire,” Heritage High Naartjie Multimedia Prize in Expository Essay CSU Expository Essay First place: Anayia Cook, “Gandalf the White in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings” Dr. Barbara Hunt Prize in Playwriting CSU Playwriting First place: Theodore Pound, “Elmer and Paul”

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Cover Story: LSAMP Student Success LSAMP Program Boosts Minority Student Participation in STEM Fields Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) is an alliance-based program sponsored by the National Science Foundation in which CSU participates. According to the LSAMP website, the primary goal of the program is “to assist universities and colleges in diversifying the nation’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to populations historically underrepresented in these disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.”

LSAMP senior (May 2021) scholars Jordan Lyons, Isabelle Rodriquez, and Shyrisse Ramos, have all been accepted into graduate school to complete their doctorates on full scholarships. Each scholar will start Fall 2021 in their doctoral program. Adaimoabasi Udo received her associate’s degree in Engineering from CSU, and was accepted into The Georgia Institute of Technology for her bachelors in Biomedical Engineering. Additionally, she will take part in two internships this summer: Keck Graduate Institute Medical Device Development Bootcamp and Rice University Engineering and Medicine REU Program.

CSU LSAMP students. Back row, left to right - Monique Echevers, Isabelle Rodriguez, Jordan Lyon, Shyrisse Ramos and Adaimoabasi “Ruth” Udo; Bottom, center - Kenya Isller.

Disclaimer Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The material from the Southwest Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HRD-1817519.

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Cover Story: LSAMP Student Success Exhibition at Columbus Museum Wins GAM Award An exhibition in collaboration with CSU professor, Dr. Kerri Taylor, and research students, Ms. Shyrisse Ramos (chemist) and Ms. Jordan Spires (nurse), opened July 25, 2020, at the Columbus Museum and ran until January 2021. The exhibition featured research completed on the history and stability of the contents of three 20th-century medical kits, donated in 1995 by the family of Dr. John L. Hill (1862-1953) of Clay County, Alabama.

The exhibit also won the 2021 Georgia Association of Museums (GAM) award for Student Project in recognition of its innovation and opportunity for student engagement. The award was presented to the students at the annual conference in Statesboro, GA, at the end of April.

Shyrisse Ramos with her GAM award.

The ‘Mystery Science Museum 3000’ art exhibition surprised the gallery visitors as it combined a number of disciplines from historical education, art preservation, and chemical investigation. The exhibit offered viewers a number of colorful accents, picturesque storyboards, and community context.

Taylor, Ramos and Spires identified the chemical compositions of the medicines used during the 20th century and present day. They aided the museum in determining the proper conditions in which to store and maintain the items over extended periods of time. The aged medical chemicals within the kits were ordered, replicated and tested in the laboratory setting. Conditions, including temperature, moisture and light, were manipulated to determine the optimal conditions to store and preserve these items over extended periods of time.

Initial observations showed that some liquids could evaporate, while others had partially solidified. One major goal was to assist the museum in preserving the integrity of these chemicals so that they can be maintained for years to come. Understanding how these chemicals react with the everyday conditions was important in the preservation process of these collections.

Both Ramos and Spires are from Columbus. Ramos is a senior Chemistry student and LSAMP scholar, who also researched the chemical composition and restoration of artwork at Pasaquan. She hopes to attend graduate school and continue her studies in the field of immunology.

Spires is a senior Nursing student and servant leadership scholar. Spires works as an aid in the Whole Tree Dentistry firm and hopes to attend graduate school and continue her education to be a Nurse Practitioner.

Display of some contents of Dr.

Dr. Kerri Shelton Taylor, an assistant professor of Organic Chemistry at Hill’s medical bags.

Columbus State University, has been conducting research for five years.

She obtained her PhD in Chemistry from The University of Akron and MS in Chemistry from The University of Kentucky. Dr. Taylor has a broad knowledge and varied skill set in the field of synthetic medicinal chemistry and material science, which enables her to be a contributor in the scientific community.

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Cover Story: LSAMP Student Success Two CSU LSAMP Students Present at Major Conference

By Johniqua Williams, Monica Frazier, and Kerri Taylor Columbus State University Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Scholars, Shyrisse Ramos and Isabelle Rodriguez, attended and presented their research at the Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence (LSMRCE) Annual Symposium Student Poster Session, which was held Saturday, November 7, 2020.

Isabelle Rodriguez (Chemistry, Senior) presented a poster on the Synthesis and biological activity of asymmetric N,N’bis substituted triazolium salts and their application as antimicrobial agents. Shyrisse Ramos (Chemistry, Senior) was awarded third place in the undergraduate poster competition for her work on the Chemical Investigations of Pasaquan and Interdisciplinary Paint Restoration.

These CSU Students were two of 88 poster abstracts presented by talented undergraduate and graduate students from 51 colleges and universities across the nation. The students showcased the outcomes of their hands-on research and learning under the mentorship of faculty members in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at their institutions.

Isabelle Rodriguez Both Ramos and Rodriguez’s involvement demonstrated two of the LSMRCE’s goals for the conference—to highlight the value of student research and to provide underrepresented minority students the opportunity to showcase their scholarly accomplishments and personal commitment to disciplinary learning. The poster session offered a unique opportunity for underrepresented minority students to learn from each other, network, engage with faculty and administrators in career development opportunities, and experience the essence of disciplinary professionalization.

Shyrisse Ramos

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Cover Story: LSAMP Student Success Chemical Analysis and Renovations of Pasaquan Mike McFalls, professor of Art and director of Pasaquan, asked Dr. Kerri Taylor (assistant professor, Department of Chemistry) and Chemistry student Shyrisse Ramos to investigate the chemical causes of the fading paints at the Pasaquan art site. Pasaquan is a world-renown visionary art environment that was restored from 20142016 by the Kohler Foundation.

Unfortunately, some of the paints used in the restoration have faded considerably.

Most notably, the manganese violet has faded to a dull brown and the cadmium yellow to white. The cobalt blue and ultramarine blue paints have also faded.

The pigments that have shown the most change are those exposed to direct sunlight and/or environmental conditions.

This exterior art site is constantly being exposed to the environment, such as sunlight, rain, and heat, and these environmental changes are likely to be some of the causes of this paint not maintaining its longevity. The initial experimentation involved a qualitative review of the three-component mixture of pigment, binder, and dispersion water. The amount of pigment, binder, and dispersion water was examined to determine if there is a mixture that can withstand these environmental conditions to a greater extent than the currently used mixture.

The aim is to help the Pasaquan Preservation Society understand why the paints used on the site lost their vibrance so quickly and what can be done about it.

Dr. Kerri Taylor, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry.

Dr. Taylor and Shyrisse Ramos began working on their chemical analyses of the fading paint at Pasaquan in March 2020 and continued throughout the summer.

Experimentation directly on the walls at the Pasaquan site began October 16-18. Shyrisse and two art students, Abigail Lloyd and Jordan Kent, conducted many experiments. Dr. Kerri Taylor and Mike McFalls oversaw the large-scale experimentation.

Chemical testing was conducted to examine the chemical structure and changes of the paints currently on the walls of Pasaquan. These chemical Shyrisse Ramos in action at Pasaquan. tests included elemental analysis (EA), mass spectrometry (MS), powder X-ray fluorescence (XRF), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (EDS-SEM). A final report describes a vast number of quantitative and qualitative results.

Funding for this project was provided by the Provost’s Office through the Innovation in Scholarship and Research Seed Grant program, by the Faculty Center’s Interdisciplinary Initiative Grant, and by funding the participating students received. For example, Ms. Ramos, a Scholar in the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program, received designated research funding for the chemical analysis and paint primers that were used in the experiments in October.

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Meritorious Program Math Faculty Receive two Grants to Reduce Student Textbook Cost Seven Mathematic department faculty received two Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG) textbook transformation grants to scale low-cost/no-cost-to-students teaching materials department-wide for two courses, MATH 1001 ($12,800 awarded) and STAT 1401 ($30,000 awarded ).

MATH 1001 Quantitative Skills and Reasoning The Math 1001 Team worked together and created or used free Open Educational Resources (OER) for Math 1001 that resulted in significant savings for students who sometimes struggle to afford textbooks in this class. According to UNESCO, OERs “are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.”

Created course materials include lecture and information videos, Power Points, homework assignments, and student assessment. Based on the grant work, a new website https://www.houbinfang. com/ was created and completed as part of the OER. In Spring 2021, there were 4 faculty members and 163 students from five MATH 1001 sections benefiting from this project. The total reduction of textbook expenses was approximately Ms. McInnis, (top left), Dr. Fang (top right), and Dr. Shukla (bottom), are pictured in a Zoom meeting discussing MATH 1001. $20,000 for the spring 2021 semester alone.

The MATH 1001 project was initiated by the Math department chair, Dr. Ben Kamau, and led by Dr. Houbin Fang with team members Dr. Nehal Shukla and Ms. Elizabeth McInnis.

STAT 1401 Elementary Statistics Dr. William Muse is currently serving as CSU’s Affordable Learning Georgia Faculty Champion and is the principal investigator for a $30,000 Affordable Learning Georgia scaling-up grant for STAT 1401.

Other members of the grant team include Dr. Carlos Almada, Dr. Madhu Bhandary, and Dr. Kristin Lilly.

Flexibility was written into the grant to allow faculty to choose their own materials with the requirement that the total cost of textbook and technology expenses be limited to $40 per student. Some faculty selected free opensource textbook materials and offered students a $10 rental option for graphing calculators. A total of 94 graphing calculators were purchased with grant money for this purpose. Other faculty were using low-cost online learning platforms together with free online statistics calculators. Projected total annual student savings per year is estimated to be between $31,166 and $198,075.

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Faculty Publications Diana Riser Joins Panel of Experts on Job Market Trends Dr. Diana Riser was one of eight panelists interviewed for an online journal article (“Experts Weigh in on Current Job Market Trends”) for new graduates with either undergraduate or graduate degrees. Experts interviewed came from North Carolina State University, the University of Manchester (United Kingdom), the University of California at Santa Barbara, and others.

The article was for Zippia, a website that helps people discover jobs and career paths. The site analyzes public data sets, millions of resumes, and millions of current job postings to produce comprehensive rankings and profiles of companies.

The article notes Dr. Riser’s responses to these questions:

Dr. Diana Riser, Associate Professor of Psychology.

• What are the biggest trends we’ll see in the job market given the pandemic?

• What skills stand out on resumes?

• Are there any particularly good places in the United States for graduates to find work opportunities after they graduate?

Warren Church Publishes Three Articles on Peruvian Culture In the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Dr. Warren Church, professor of Anthropology and Archaeology, continues to deepen his research interests into the poorly understood pre-Columbian “Chachapoyas Culture” in Perú. During 2020, Dr. Church published three articles that each address his research concerns in the region: “Mountain Science Poised to Help Ecotourism in Peruvian Cloud Forests” in (PAGES) Past Global Changes Magazine described the need for multidisciplinary scientific research in one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the Americas. Many species of endangered plants and animals live only in this region and are threatened by uncontrolled development.

A second article, which appeared in PLOS ONE, attempted to evaluate possible correlations between pre-Hispanic Chachapoya sub-groups with DNA collected from contemporary 21st century populations. His study showed a lack of direct correlations, which can be explained by Colonial Period population collapse due to disease and abuse of Indian labor.

Dr. Warren Church, Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology.

Dr. Church also collaborated with an Italian/Dutch team of remote sensing experts that used LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) imagery captured by an unmanned drone to view ground features and surface architecture at an archaeological site that was entirely hidden beneath three layers of tropical forest vegetation. “Under the Clouds, Under the Forest: Technological Applications of LiDAR and Artificial Intelligence for a New Perspective of the Monumental Site of Kuelap, Peru” was published in the Heritage Conservation magazine, Archeomatica 11 (1).

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Faculty Publications Dr. Hrach’s Book Minding Bodies — a Study in the Neuroscience of Learning In May 2021, Dr. Susan Hrach’s new book Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning was published in hardcover, paperback and Kindle in the Teaching in Higher Education Series by West Virginia University Press. Dr. Hrach is professor of English and director of the Faculty Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning.

The book description reads, “Starting from new research on the body—aptly summarized as ‘sitting is the new smoking’— Minding Bodies aims to help instructors improve their students’ knowledge and skills through physical movement, attention to the spatial environment, and sensitivity to humans as more than ‘brains on sticks.’”

Traditionally, higher education has focused on cerebral learning only, not on the connection between body and mind. The book “shifts the focus of adult learning from an exclusively mental effort toward an embodied, sensory-rich experience, offering new strategies to maximize the effectiveness of time spent learning together on campus as well as remotely.”

The idea for the book came about ten years ago when Dr. Hrach observed that students who were studying abroad were much more engaged with learning. The immersion of the experience, the sensation of being there—that’s what she saw and why she became interested in the neuroscience of emotion, sensation, and learning.

It took Dr. Hrach about five years to publish the book--moving from preliminary research undertaken while living at CSU’s Spencer House in Oxford, England, to writing proposals for prospective publishers, landing a contract, and tackling each of six distinct chapter topics, followed by peer review and copy editing. Her book includes teaching anecdotes and insights from a number of CSU colleagues. She discusses the writing and publication process of her new book in this YouTube video interview conducted by Joe Miller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE4XknBxOcY.

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Faculty Publications Ryan Lynch Publishes Book on Early Islam Dr. Ryan J. Lynch, assistant professor of History, recently published an important book concerning the development and spread of Islam - Arab Conquests and Early Islamic Historiography: The Futuh alBuldan of al-Baladhuri.

Key to understanding early Islam is al-Baladhuri’s Book of the Conquest of Lands, which was “written in Arabic by a ninth-century Muslim scholar working at the court of the Abbasid caliphs” and “covers many important matters at the beginning of Islamic history….It informs its audience of the major events of the early Islamic conquests, the settlement of Muslims in the conquered territories and their experiences therein, and the origins and development of the earliest Islamic states.” Dr. Lynch’s book corrects various “gaps in knowledge by investigating the context, form, construction, content, and early reception history of alBaladhuri’s text.”

A specialist of early Islamic history and early Arabic historiography, Dr. Lynch received his DPhil from the University of Oxford and started teaching at CSU in Fall 2016. His book has been nominated for several awards, including the Middle East Medievalist’s Book Prize, the Southeast Medieval Association’s First Book Award, and the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society Book Award.

Dr. Ryan J. Lynch, Assistant Professor of History.

Shannon Godlove Co-Edits Book on Religious Leader Boniface Boniface was an eighth-century English missionary and church reformer who was a highly influential figure in early medieval Europe. In A Companion to Boniface, co-editors Dr. Shannon Godlove, associate professor of English at CSU, and Dr. Michael Aaij, associate professor of English at University of Alabama Montgomery, have comprised “the latest scholarship on Boniface and his fellow missionaries, examining the written materials associated with Boniface, his impacts on the regions of Europe where he worked… and the development of his cult in the Middle Ages and today” (Brill, publisher’s website).

Boniface’s career extended to “what is now Germany, France, and the Netherlands” and is documented in an “exceptional number of textual sources: a correspondence of 150 letters, Latin poetry, church council records, and other documents. Numerous saints’ lives and modern devotional materials further reveal how he was and is remembered by the religious communities that claim him as a foundational figure” (publisher’s website).

In addition to being one of the editors of the volume, Dr. Godlove also wrote two of its 18 chapters. This massive volume is 580 pages and includes more than 20 images as well as maps and tables. It is Vol. 92 in the series Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition.

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Milestones Biology Department’s Joy Davis Retires Hired in 1983 as Secretary of the Department of Biology, Joy Davis retired at the end of April 2021, having worked at CSU for almost 38 years. Over the years, she assisted thousands of Biology majors who came through her office, where she worked her way up from Secretary to Administrative Secretary. She says her “main accomplishments have been aiding to keep an ever-growing department on track as well as handling the addition of many challenging aspects to my position.”

Davis began her career as a student at what was then Columbus College where she received a BA in English from the Department of Language and Literature. Upon retirement and “after a good long rest, I plan to take my time weighing my options. If I remain in Columbus, where I have been all of my life, I plan to volunteer with such organizations as PAWS Humane.”

CSU wishes her the best in her retirement!

At her Biology Retirement Celebration, Joy Davis (center, in blue and white dress) is surrounded by current and retired biology faculty. Back row: Dr. Jeff Zuiderveen, Dr. Clifton Ruehl, Dr. Daniel Holt, Dr. George Stanton, Dr. Glenn Stokes. Front row: Dr. Monica Frazier, Elizabeth Klar, Joy Davis, Dr. Julie Ballenger, Dr. Katey Hughes, and Dr. Srinivasan Ramakrishnan.

Retirement of John Ellisor, Associate Professor of History I came to CSU in the fall of 2007, and worked in the History and Geography department as a temporary assistant professor of history for four years before becoming permanent. Since that time, I have become an associate professor, teaching survey courses in early American history and upper division courses in Native American History, Race and Ethnicity in Colonial America, History of the Old South, and the Age of Jackson, 1820 to 1845. But no matter the course, my main goal has always been the same: to inspire in students a passionate understanding that history helps explain ourselves and our society in the here and now. History is something we simply must know and care about.

Now I am retiring from CSU, but my work in teaching and research will not end. Owing to my interest in Indian Removal and interethnic relations between African-Americans, Native Americans and Anglo-Americans on the southern frontier, I have had the opportunity to address many civic groups outside the classroom and I will continue to do so. Also, I will be spending much of my time in Middle Florida seeking out the old haunts of Creek Natives who escaped removal to the West in 1836 by leaving Alabama to seek refuge in the Land of Flowers. I am grateful to CSU for employing me and giving me the opportunity to retire with the knowledge and the resources I possess. In this regard, I am especially grateful to the members of my department for their hard work, support, and the sense of community they have created for themselves and me.

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Milestones New Faculty in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences Mahmut Reyhanoglu - Professor and Director of Robotics Engineering Dr. Mahmut Reyhanoglu completed his bachelor’s in Aeronautical Engineering and his master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in Istanbul, Turkey.

Dr. Reyhanoglu also obtained a master’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at The Ohio State University, and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering: Systems and his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at The University of Michigan. He comes to CSU from UNC Asheville where he served as the Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor and Chair of Engineering and an adjunct Teaching Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh. His interests include Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Aerial Robots, Autonomous Systems, Mechatronics, Thermoacoustics, Nonlinear Systems, Dynamics and Control of Space Multibody Systems, Space Robotics, Mechanical and Aerospace Systems, and Astrodynamics.

Dr. Mohammad H Hasan – Assistant Professor of Robotics Engineering Dr. Mohammad H Hasan completed his bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics) from Jordan University of Science and Technology, Amman, Jordan.

He received a master’s and PhD in Mechanical and Materials Engineering from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Dr. H Hasan comes to Columbus State University from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln after successfully defending and completing his PhD dissertation in December 2020. Dr. H Hasan has a strong professional record of publication and conference presentations at national and international conferences. Dr. H Hasan’s work has been published in 10 high ranking journals, including Applied Physics Letters, Scientific Reports, Advanced Electronic Materials and the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems. He plans to use his research expertise to develop a research program, which focuses on machine learning augmentation in collaborative robotics systems.

2021 Award Winners The College of Letters and Sciences (COLS) consists of dedicated and exceptional faculty and staff. Here are the 2021 Faculty Award Winners from COLS: • • • •

Natalia Temesgen, Department of English - CSU Creative Endeavors Award Carolina Pelaez-Morales, Department of English - CSU International Educator of the Year Award Diana Riser, Department of Psychology - CSU Teaching Innovation Award Cameron Williams, Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology - Educator of the Year Award

The 2021 Faculty Cup Winner was also from COLS, English major Jessica DeMarcoJacobson (pictured at right). The Faculty Cup is awarded annually and is the highest award granted to a CSU student. The award signifies academic achievement as well as leadership, service to others, and potential for future achievement.

Letters & Sciences Today

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Professor Emeritus Flora Clark’s Research Legacy Continues with Generous Bequest Dr. Flora Clark, Professor Emeritus of Biology who sadly passed away in May 2020, made a generous bequest in her will to support a fund at CSU that bears her name. The Flora M. Clark Fund for Improving Biology was established by the Department of Biology to honor Dr. Clark upon her retirement. Dr. Clark was on faculty at CSU for 25 years, from 1972 until her retirement in 1997.

She taught genetics, developmental biology, and introductory biology. She was also a big advocate for undergraduate research and she helped to establish the molecular biology laboratory.

The Clark Fund supports undergraduate student research in cellular and molecular biology. It also provides funds to upgrade equipment and obtain necessary supplies to carry out research; it Flora Clark (reclined) sharing a light-hearted moment with fellow biology supports student and faculty travel to conferences faculty members Bill Birkhead, Francis Gardner, George Stanton, Bill LeNoir, and meetings; and it assists students completing and Glenn Stokes at the LeNoir family farm in 1999. study abroad courses in biology. The bequest from Dr. Clark will ensure that many students and faculty receive much needed research support for generations to come.