East Summer 2020

EAS T Students dive in for a semester at the coast

THESE ALUMNI AREN’T JUST TREADING WATER

Campus and research news, faculty and alumni interviews and more

FALL SUM 2020 2019

THE ECU MAGAZINE

WE TALK WITH ALUMNI AND SCIENTISTS ABOUT EARTH’S ESSENTIAL LIQUID

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Ensign Mason Cobb ’17, a graduate of the College of Nursing, served aboard the USNS Comfort in New York City in support of the coronavirus pandemic.

He’s stationed at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Virginia. During April, the ship treated non-COVID-19 patients in order to assist the New York hospital system.

CONTENTS

On the cover: Life needs water — for nourishment, for health, for fun. This issue of East features alumni and faculty members who work with water every day.

EAS T IN EVERY ISSUE

View from Spilman. . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ECU Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Discovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Faculty Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Pirate Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Pirate Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Students Kaleigh Bell, left, and Lauren Wright collect data along the beach to the waterline to produce a 2-D beach profile at Nags Head. Read more beginning on page 32.

Horizons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

on the cover

More coverage including links to videos and more photos is at east.ecu.edu

24 Making Waves

From recreation to regulation, read what these alumni are doing . with water.

38 Student snapshot 20 Seeking clean water The ECU Bass Fishing Club ECU’s Jamie DeWitt is a

national leader in PFAS research.

is angling to put the Pirates on top in fishing.

40 Labor to love Two ECU nursing graduates

are giving a natural alternative to a hospital delivery room.

East Carolina University is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina. It is a public doctoral/research-intensive university offering baccalaureate, master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and professional fields, including medicine.

Dedicated to the achievement of excellence, responsible stewardship of the public trust and academic freedom, ECU values the contributions of a diverse community, supports shared governance and guarantees equality of opportunity. ©2020 by East Carolina University

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Pirate Strong

View from

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What a year it’s been for our university.

You already know I derive a great deal of Pirate pride from the success of our students and the work we do in our region. And while I may be outcome-oriented, today my latest source of pride is the level of effort I see this institution making under the most trying of circumstances — fighting the spread of the coronavirus.

Our faculty and staff are teaching and working online. Our alumni have modified their businesses to produce protective gear. Our health care professionals are caring for the sick. And our scientists are answering the questions that could lead to a treatment and vaccine. History will look back with astonishment at what we have done over the past weeks and will do in the months ahead. And I’m sure we’ll learn new ways to work, learn and serve that will pay long-term dividends.

We are undeterred in our drive to succeed in academics, research and service. Campus is quiet, but don’t let that fool you. ECU is working as hard as any university in the country to get through this pandemic.

We Pirates are a gritty bunch that just won’t quit. Best wishes for your health and safety, keep in touch, and keep wearing your purple with pride!

Ron Mitchelson, Ph.D. Interim Chancellor

Classes might have been moved online, but that didn’t stop senior Haley Creef from coming back to campus in March to pose in her cap and gown with a few landmarks. And even though it was virtual, ECU still held its annual spring commencement May 8. The university conferred approximately 3,860 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate and doctoral degrees for the class of 2020. Included in those numbers were 72 medical graduates of the Brody School of Medicine and 52 graduates of the School of Dental Medicine.

“Look, I know there is no substitute for a commencement celebration in person on our beautiful campus,” Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson said in a video message recorded in Wright Auditorium. “We recognize this ceremony is just another example of how COVID-19 has disrupted every aspect our lives. Despite these unusual and challenging times, this is still one of the most important moments in your lives, it is still an important moment in the life of this university, and it is still a great day to be a Pirate!”

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ECU Report

In This Issue

Students undertake wastewater capstone project ‘Mini brains’ and autism research

ECU hosts first ‘HurriCon’ From sea level rise to shoreline impacts to community resilience and more, researchers and presenters from across the country – as well as Puerto Rico – descended on Greenville in February for ECU’s first “HurriCon.” The research conference, “2020 HurriCon: Science at the Intersection of Hurricanes and the Populated Coast,” was Feb. 27-28 at the Main Campus Student Center.

“Hurricanes are an important aspect of life in eastern North Carolina,” said Jamie Kruse, director of the Center for Natural Hazards Research at ECU. And not just eastern North Carolina, she noted.

Presenters talked about the impacts and recovery efforts of hurricanes Harvey and Maria, which struck Houston and Puerto Rico, respectively, in addition to North Carolina’s most recent storms, Florence and Matthew.

The researchers and presenters came from multiple disciplines, including biology, geography, geology, engineering, medicine, humanities and more.

Approximately 200 people attended the conference, according to organizers. The National Science Foundation supported the event with $100,000 through a competitive process, Kruse added.

Some attendees also took a bus trip to Princeville and Windsor to see firsthand what hurricanes and related flooding have done to rural communities.

Among the presenters from ECU was Rachel Gittman, an assistant professor of biology who specializes in restoration ecology, marine community ecology, coastal management and policy, and conservation biology. She detailed her work with Devon Eulie of the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Carter Smith of the Duke University Marine Lab in which they surveyed waterfront property owners about their properties and their perception of risk.

It showed owners are most concerned about powerful Category 5 storms, even though one has not struck the state since the Safford-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale has been used to rank hurricane intensity.

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Approximately 25 conference attendees took a bus trip Feb. 28 to Windsor and Princeville, two towns that have sustained significant flood damage due to hurricanes.

“Category 1 (hurricanes are) what North Carolinians are experiencing, but there’s a disconnect to what they think they are vulnerable to,” Gittman said. She surmised people accept repairing damage and worry more about their homes being destroyed.

“People are OK with spending a fair amount of cash to create their armored shoreline. It could mean experiencing damage does not mean that person feels vulnerable.”

Reide Corbett, dean and professor of Integrated Coastal Programs and the Department of Coastal Studies and executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese, discussed the potential impacts of sea level rise on North Carolina’s low-lying coastal plain. He’s a coastal oceanographer and geochemist.

“Much of coastal North Carolina is less than a foot above sea level, and we’re talking about 1 to 3 feet of rise in the next 100 years,” he said.

– Doug Boyd

Students give back during alternative spring break Gusty winds blew across the Making Pitt Fit Community Garden off County Home Road south of Greenville in March as ECU students Tasha Spencer and Garrett Hope prepped planting beds for growing season.

Spencer and Hope were among more than 75 ECU students who signed up for alternative spring break experiences to make a difference at home and in communities across three states.

Tasha Spencer works at the Making Pitt Fit Kindergartners from nearby Community Garden.

Wintergreen Elementary School then planted sugar snap peas and transplanted strawberries, kale, collards and kohlrabi in the raised beds as part of the county’s children’s gardening program, and coordinator Joni Torres appreciated the helping hands.

ECU students contribute 200-300 volunteer hours each year in the garden. “In terms of physical labor, they are young, strong and energetic,” said Torres, who leads the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service community garden program in Pitt County.

“Usually by the end, they say, ‘I’ve enjoyed being outside,’” she said. “It’s therapeutic because we spend so much time staring at screens.”

Students also worked with children at the Boys and Girls Club and Police Athletic League.

This is Spencer’s first time participating in alternative spring break. “Since it’s my senior year, I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to help the community,” she said.

In addition to the Greenville staycation, students worked in Atlantic Beach with the N.C. Coastal Federation; Asheville and Atlanta with the LGBTQ community; Columbia, South Carolina, with youth in the juvenile justice system; Raleigh, to explore citizenship; Washington with women leading change; Washington, D.C., to address youth empowerment and urban development; and Wilmington, on homelessness and hunger.

Honors College students went to Asheville to participate in cleanups and maintenance with RiverLink, a nonprofit environmental group.

– Crystal Baity

Students developing app for better health literacy Taking prescription medicine is not always easy. It can be especially troublesome for those who don’t speak English.

Maria Alexandra Ortiz, a junior software engineering student at ECU, has seen it with her Spanish-speaking parents.

“My father was taking a prescription that interfered with his blood pressure,” Ortiz said.

“My mom didn’t know and my father didn’t know until I came and checked, and it was actually the prescription that was raising his blood pressure with his other medication.”

Her solution is RxTranslate, a mobile application Ortiz and ECU senior computer science and Honors College student Tiffany Nguyen presented during the HackNC 2019 hackathon last fall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. RxTranslate won three prizes at the event — best health hack, best hack empowering minorities and second place overall.

The app takes a picture of a prescription bottle or label. It extracts the text from the image and then translates it into the specified

language. It then identifies the drug and gathers information from the web about specific drug interactions or substances that can be harmful if taken with that prescription.

Nguyen and Ortiz competed against 96 other projects from students Maria Alexandra Ortiz and Tiffany Nguyen throughout the country at the event.

“We weren’t expecting anything out of it,” Ortiz said. “We saw so many amazing things and amazing innovations, so we weren’t expecting anything, but we did a good job. It was pretty cool. It was an amazing experience.”

Nguyen and Ortiz see their app going further, such as allowing users to input personal medical information such as allergies to guarantee better results.

“We would like to make an actual mobile application and integrate things like machine learning models that better categorize text and better translate text,” said Nguyen, who is an EC Scholar.

– Ken Buday

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ECU Report

Engineering students work on wastewater project with Greenville Utilities

Madison Speagle, left, and Holly Whitmyer look over a field of sorghum at the Greenville Utilities wastewater treatment plant.

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Holly Whitmyer was among seven students last fall and this spring tasked with a real-world project that could help the environment as well as the Greenville Utilities Commission and its customers.

“It’s a real-life project. It’s not something we do in the classroom,” said Whitmyer, a senior environmental engineering major. “We’re actually out here doing it.”

For Jason Manning ’88, superintendent of GUC’s wastewater treatment plant, it’s all about the math. The plant has a capacity of 17.5 million gallons of effluent a day. And as it gets closer to that capacity, a solution is needed to serve future customers. A plant expansion or new construction that could add 10 million gallons a day could cost $150 million, a price taxpayers and customers would have to pay.

The students are determining the feasibility of taking between 1 million and 2 million gallons a day and using that as part of a waterfowl impoundment pond on GUC property that would create habitat for birds and delay plant expansion. Such a plan could also help replenish shallow water aquifers.

Taking 1 million or 2 million gallons of capacity could clear the way for industrial development, with the plant having extra capacity to handle wastewater from a potential large employer.

summer 2020

“The longer we can put that expansion off, extend the lifecycle of what we have, fully realize the value of what we’ve already purchased, that will be better for everybody,” Manning said.

Randall Etheridge, assistant professor in the Department of Engineering, is the team’s faculty co-advisor on the project. Students, he said, “get to tackle a real-world problem with all the constraints that you face in the real world like finances, trying to fit things into property boundaries and permitting. It’s real-world problems. That’s the best way to describe it.”

Natasha Bell, assistant professor of engineering, is the other faculty co-advisor on the project.

Manning said the capstone project is the second in which ECU students have worked on GUC’s wastewater collection system.

The first involved an engineering analysis of maintenance on remote pump stations.

“These students are working on things that I couldn’t afford in my budget to go out and hire a consulting engineering firm,” Manning said.

“And what I’ve found is the capstone teams are much more responsive to our needs versus a brick and mortar engineering firm.

– Ken Buday

Student Morgan Ensley, Jason Manning, superintendent of the GUC treatment plant, and student Dawson Reese look over equipment at the plant.

Gifts totaling $350,000 to benefit student veterans Helping student veterans succeed is the goal of two recent donations to ECU totaling $350,000.

The gifts will help the Student Veteran Services office in the ECU Division of Student Affairs. As of fall 2019, more than 860 student veterans and almost 700 military dependents were enrolled at ECU. One of the gifts will fully fund the ECU Veteran to Scholar Bridge Program, which helps ease veterans’ transition to campus life and coursework before classes start. Mason (who goes by one name) and his wife, Kim Mason, of Fort Worth, Texas, pledged $250,000 over five years for the bridge program, as well as two annually funded Warrior Scholar student scholarships and a scholarship endowment.

“Our purpose is to give a hand up and not a handout,” Mason said. “As business owners, military service proved to be a key indicator of loyalty, dependability, dedication and accountability when searching and selecting team members. Our hope is that the grant helps ease the pain and aids veterans in continuing their formal education.”

Mason served in the Marine Corps from 1974 to 1978 before earning a degree in business administration from ECU. He said he passed the CPA exam on his first sitting because of the dedication of ECU faculty members.

“I will always be thankful for the sincere interest that all of the professors and staff took in my journey,” Mason said. “My education at ECU was a major factor in business success, almost as important in partnering with my wife, which has provided the means to fund the veterans grant.”

Mason’s father served in the Navy, his uncle served in the Marine Corps, and Kim’s father served in the Army.

In addition, Betty Beacham of Greenville recently gave $100,000 to name the SVS lounge in Mendenhall Building and to support scholarships and programs for veterans.

Beacham has spent 25 years at ECU, where she has been engaged in service and outreach to eastern North Carolina as director of the STEM-Corps East and Teacher Quality Partnership programs. She has developed and managed AmeriCorps and VISTA programs to provide tutoring and mentoring for K-12 students in the region.

“This commitment to service also defines my personal life,” Beacham said. “It was a natural next step for me to support our ROTC and student veterans by providing educational scholarships. Being able to help our students in this way is very rewarding.”

For SVS, the donations will provide much-needed scholarships and resources for student veterans.

“Opportunities for scholarships are an incredibly important feature of a military-friendly university,” said Nicole Jablonski, associate director of SVS. “Scholarships diminish the need for students to take out loans and help ensure they finish the degree they wish to complete.”

The Masons provided two annual Warrior Scholar student scholarships, a scholarship endowment and gave to fully fund the Veteran to Scholar Bridge Program.

– Crystal Baity

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ECU Report

Naloxone available at more than half of retail pharmacies Three out of 5 North Carolina retail pharmacies have the opioid-overdose antidote naloxone in stock as part of a statewide standing order. But some independent pharmacies and those in rural areas lack same-day availability or would not sell it without a prescription.

Those are the findings of an ECU study, published online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, that examined the implementation of the statewide standing order. Kathleen Egan and Joseph G.L. Lee in the Department of Health Education and Promotion in the College of Health and Human Performance, developed the study, the first of its kind in North Carolina, Egan said.

Naloxone, also known as Narcan, reverses the effects of an opioid overdose by blocking receptors in the brain and restoring breathing. In 2016, North Carolina enacted a standing order allowing pharmacies to dispense naloxone without a prescription to increase access for people who need it.

In February, ECU made naloxone available at the Student Health Services pharmacy on Main Campus.

Students Ashton Knudsen and Samantha Foster called 200 pharmacies across the state. They asked whether naloxone was available without a prescription, whether they could they get it that day and how much it cost.

More than half had naloxone available without a prescription. All carried intranasal naloxone spray, and 4.1% carried intramuscular naloxone (injection).

The average out-of-pocket cost was $123.24 and $33.82, respectively. Three-quarters of pharmacies that would sell naloxone said Medicaid or other forms of health insurance could cover the cost.

Naloxone availability was lower for independent pharmacies than chains and in communities with higher percentages of residents with public health insurance, the research showed.

In 2018, nearly five North Carolinians died each day from an unintentional opioid overdose, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the state’s opioid action plan.

– Crystal Baity

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Karen Litwa, an assistant professor of anatomy and cell biology, is working to solve questions about autism.

‘Mini brains’ could help unravel autism spectrum disorders When people ask Karen Litwa what she does for a living, her response is unique.

“I say that I’m a brain builder,” she says with a smile.

Litwa, an assistant professor of anatomy and cell biology at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, studies the mechanisms by which the brain cells form connections with one another to share information with each other.

In order to do that, her team grows mini brains in culture dishes.

“We can take a sample from a tissue bank, usually connective tissue from a skin biopsy, and make it into a pluripotent state, which just means it has the capacity to become any type of cell,” Litwa said. “Then using different growth factors, we make these into little spheres that contain the neurons that we’re interested in studying.”

The mini brains Litwa grows lack blood vessels and are only about 2 millimeters in diameter, but they are able to replicate the stages of human fetal brain development, specifically the outer cortex of the brain.

“We see a lot of the brain ventricles, which are the parts where the neurons are born, and we can also see the neuronal layers where the neurons form synapses with one another that allows them to exchange information with each other,” Litwa said.

“That will eventually become the basis for learning, memory formation and other cognitive events, such as socialization.”

The mini brains Litwa’s team grew originated with tissue samples from people with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders, so the team could explore how their brains develop differently from people who don’t have autism.

“If we know how the brain develops differently in autism spectrum disorders, we can eventually develop therapies for autism spectrum disorders,” she said.

– Rob Spahr

Faculty trio awarded ECU recognized three professors for their scholarly work March 2.

English professor and author Liza Weiland received the Lifetime Research & Creative Activity Award. Her latest novel, “Paris 7 A.M.” (2019, Simon & Schuster) focuses on a threeweek stretch during the life of poet Elizabeth Bishop in Paris. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts among others and received the 2017 Robert Penn Warren Prize from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Her fiction, poems and essays have appeared in 13 anthologies and more than 40 published magazines and journals.

Ning Zhou, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, received the Five-Year Achievement for Research & Creative Activity Award. Her research tests the effectiveness of cochlear implants and how they might depend on the condition a patient’s auditory nerve. Zhou has received more than $2.3 million in research funding, including two National Institutes of Health grants. She received a New Investigator Award from the American Auditory Society in 2014. She’s been an author on more than 35 research articles. She joined ECU in 2013.

Terry Atkinson, an associate professor in the College of Education, received the University Scholarship of Engagement Award. Her research investigates ways to promote literacy in children up to 5 years old. She’s also executive director of the local community literacy coalition READ ENC. Atkinson also received the 2018 Advocacy Award from the United Way of Pitt County.

The event also recognized six faculty members who received patents in 2019: Mark Mannie and Jitka Virag (medicine), Anthony Kennedy (chemistry), Jean-Luc Scemama (biology) and Cheng Chen and Kenneth Jacobs (physics).

Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson, left, Liza Weiland and Interim Vice Chancellor of Research, Economic Development and Engagement Mike Van Scott.

Mitchelson, Robert F. Orlikoff, dean of the College of Allied Health Sciences, Ning Zhou and Van Scott

– Matt Smith

Mitchelson, Terry Atkinson and Van Scott

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ECU Report

ECU takes on COVID-19 March 20 was a sunny post-spring break day at ECU. The only difference was students were packing up to leave instead of getting back into their campus routines.

“It’s kind of tough,” freshman Shyheem Spell said as he and three friends packed up a truck for the trip back to his home in Pinehurst. “It (stinks) your freshman year had to change.”

Not far away, Mallory Myers finished packing her mom’s car. “It’s sad,” she said. “I know all my friends are bummed. It’s a lot different energy from moving in.”

A month later, Myers said online classes were going well for her, but she missed being on campus. “By talking with my friends from ECU daily, it has helped to make this adjustment a bit easier,” she said. “I am … looking forward to the fall, and I am hopeful that we will all be able to return then.”

More than 5,000 students moved out of their dorms and completed the semester online with the rest of the ECU student body due to COVID-19. But they, along with alumni, faculty members and staff members, were committed to keeping on and doing what they could to help ECU and their communities deal with the coronavirus.

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For example, Taylor Walden ’19, owner of Simple and Sentimental, which creates personalized gifts, has reworked her equipment to build protective plastic face shields.

She started a GoFundMe account, and for every $8 raised, she can produce a face shield.

As of mid-April, the company had produced and shipped Taylor Walden uses a laser engraver to create parts for face shields her more than 2,500 shields around North company is producing.

Carolina and to New York, Washington state, South Carolina and Virginia.

At ECU’s Innovation Design Lab, students, faculty and administrators teamed up to produce masks and shields using the lab’s 3-D printers.

The printer constructs a mask in 1,425 layers in about three hours. The team has about 20 printers available for production.

Sarah March, a sophomore biochemistry major and Honors College student, was one of the students involved in the effort.

“I first got involved after being inspired by a lot of similar projects all over the nation and world,” said March, whose

father, Dr. Juan March, is an emergency physician at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville and professor at the Brody School of Medicine.

She said the most difficult part of the project is to make the masks and shields comfortable for those wearing them, and hopes they never have to be used.

Other alumni and friends are also chipping in.

Following an April email from Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson, nearly $60,000 was raised by midApril for groups such as the Student Emergency Fund and the Students’ Treasure Chest, a studentrun philanthropy organization.

By April 13 the Treasure Chest had received 51 requests for COVID-related needs, although the demand is expected to increase significantly, said Lauren Thorn, associate dean of students and one of the STC advisors. Requests have been technology related, as some students lack access to a computer, printer or webcam for their online courses. Others are struggling to pay bills and make rent due to lost wages from unemployment.

Another resource, the Purple Pantry, distributed nearly 2,000 pounds of food in March in response to COVID-19. The group’s mobile unit served 55 students with 419 pounds of food the first two weeks of April, said Tara Kermiet, associate director of the ECU Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement.

– Doug Boyd, Michael Rudd, Erin Ward and Ken Buday

FOR MORE INFO

See how ECU faculty and staff members moved their teaching and work online at bit.ly/2Vteqvp.

Left, a 3-D printed mask. Right, Antonio Leslie, left, Trevor Jones and T.J. Smaw help Shykeem Spell pack up outside Gateway West on March 20.

ECU pauses chancellor search ECU has hit the pause button on its chancellor search due to COVID-19.

At an April 2 telephone meeting, Vern Davenport, chair of the ECU board of trustees, said the timeline for the search process has been adjusted and remains uncertain due to the impact of the coronavirus and related restrictions.

“We have effectively paused the process at the moment when we were about to present the candidate pool to the search committee,” he said.

– ECU News Services

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ECU Report

Coronavirus affects spring sports, ticket renewals Just as things were getting exciting, the coronavirus forced ECU to cancel the remainder of the season for baseball, softball, lacrosse, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track and field.

In addition, in late March the NCAA Division I Council announced underclassmen and senior student-athletes who competed in spring 2020 may be granted another year of eligibility in 2020-21 provided they meet the following criteria: • The student-athlete used a season of competition in a spring sport during the 2019-20 academic year.

• The student-athlete was eligible for competition when he or she competed during the 2019-20 academic year.

• The student-athlete’s season was ultimately canceled for reasons related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

• The institution retains documentation on file clearly demonstrating the above three criteria were satisfied.

In addition, institutions can apply a one-year extension of the five-year eligibility clock for all spring sport student-athletes who were eligible for competition during spring 2020. For baseball, the NCAA approved a 35-man roster limit exemption, which means any senior who meets the eligibility waiver directive and returns to compete in 2020-21 will be exempt from the 35-man roster limit.

“Obviously, there is a financial component to this legislation, and while we don’t have a final financial number, I know it will be significant,” Jon Gilbert, ECU athletic director, said in an April 1 letter to fans. “It’s part of a financial plan we are currently working on internally as we navigate our way through these unprecedented times … but we are obviously going to see a significant decrease in revenue and distribution from the NCAA, AAC and other revenue sources.”

Gilbert also announced the following changes to the football season ticket program: • The priority deadline for football season tickets set for May 1 has been postponed to June 10.

• All payment plans remain intact, and all tickets on a payment plan need to be paid in full by Aug. 5.

• The Athletics Ticket Office staff are working remotely and can be reached at AthleticTickets@ecu.edu, or leave a message at 252-737-4500.

The coronavirus also affected at least one former ECU athlete.

Former Pirate pitcher Jake Agnos, now part of the Yankees minor league organization, spent two weeks in quarantine after a fellow pitcher in the organization tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a March 25 article in The New York Times.

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From top left, Jake Kuchmaner throws a pitch in a 10-2 win over Georgia Southern on Feb. 23. ECU was ranked 19th in the coaches poll and fifth in RPI when the season ended. Ally Stanton looks to pass in the women’s lacrosse game against Army on March 7. The Pirates were 5-3 before the season was cut short. Frederico Masetti returns a serve, and Bria Stith jumps in the triple jump. Senior Olivia Narron, far right, and the ECU softball team were on a threegame winning streak when the season was canceled. Jake Agnos, below, was drafted last year by the New York Yankees.

Confined with teammates, Agnos spent time playing video games, competing in home workout contests and learning to play the ukulele, which he borrowed from one of his spring training roommates, Evan Voliva.

“It was not as tough as I thought it would be,” Agnos, 21, told the Times. “I’m still not good — trust me — but it’s fun to watch YouTube videos on how to play a song and then get it.”

– Doug Boyd

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Discovery

Latest Investigations

Researchers look for ways to boost troop safety, increase food tourism

Emily Yeager

Oyster tourism could be next big thing in eastern North Carolina In stuffing, soup or simply steamed, oysters are a part of many food traditions.

Making it easier for consumers to find oysters is one of the long-term goals of a multi-institutional grant involving Emily Yeager ’12 ’14, an assistant professor of recreation sciences at ECU. She’s part of a research team led by N.C. State University in partnership with North Carolina Sea Grant, the N.C. Coastal Federation, N.C. Shellfish Growers Association and N.C. Economic Development Partnership.

The project, “Mariculture Tourism: Cultivating Consumer Demand & Coastal Community,” is one of 42 projects and collaborative programs recently receiving $16 million in national Sea Grant and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funding aimed at advancing sustainable aquaculture in the United States.

Food tourism and agritourism is a growing market across the country, and oysters are in that niche, Yeager said.

One report shows 77% of U.S. travelers recently participated in food tourism activities at breweries, wineries, cooking schools, culinary events or farm-related events. These types of activities build connections for tourists, who may seek out foods closer to home or plan future trips to other destinations.

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As part of the study, a profile of potential shellfish mariculture tourists — those who enjoy oysters, clams, mussels and other seafood — will be developed that would allow coastal communities to capitalize on the growing interest of food tourism and agritourism.

Yeager’s also met with stakeholders such as growers, restaurant owners and special interest groups. Mitch Carstens, a first-year ECU graduate student, is assisting.

The researchers will compare supply and demand for shellfish mariculture tourism in North Carolina, mapping areas where products already exist and others with opportunities for business and resource development, according to the grant summary.

“This is research that benefits eastern North Carolina,” said Yeager, who has a bachelor’s degree in geology and a master’s in sustainable tourism. “There are people wanting to invest in aquaculture in eastern North Carolina. We are looking at how to unify the supply chain.”

Virginia already has a state oyster trail with an online map and trip planner. North Carolina could have a similar product.

“We’re laying the groundwork for this,” Yeager said. “We want to find out from stakeholders if this is what they want.”

The lead investigator on the project, funded at $119,784 for two years, is Whitney Knollenberg at N.C. State.

Susan White, executive director of N.C. Sea Grant, said in a news release the efforts will help improve and expand the aquaculture industry in North Carolina.

“Our country imports 85% of its seafood,” she said. “There’s tremendous potential for the aquaculture industry to increase its share of the market in North Carolina and more broadly across the United States.”

– Crystal Baity

ECU research could help save lives of military personnel Teresa Ryan, an assistant professor in the ECU Department of Engineering, has received a $370,000 grant to continue her efforts to help protect military personnel.

Ryan has been studying sound propagation in cooperation with Catholic University for the last four years as part of a project funded through the Office of Naval Research. For this latest grant from the Navy, Ryan is the lead researcher.

The goal is to improve a numeric model that will inform commanders how close a ship can get to an enemy shoreline without being heard based on the atmospheric and sea conditions. That’s important not only to protect the ship from enemy fire but also to protect the lives of those onboard as well as assault personnel as they prepare to storm the beach.

“The person driving the boat needs to know how close to get to shore before the special ops people have to swim. Do they have to swim the last 75 meters or do they have to swim the last 500?” Ryan said. “That’s a huge operational difference for the people in that tactical situation, and ultimately this technology gives that power to the person making those tactical and operational decisions in the field, to give them the additional information to preserve mission integrity and warfighter safety.”

Students work on setting up equipment as part of Teresa Ryan’s sound propagation research in June 2019 on the Outer Banks.

The previous grant had Ryan and her students testing the effects temperature, humidity, wind and seas had on the distance sound travels. The group traveled to such places as the Outer Banks, Aurora and the Chowan River to conduct the tests. She said the goal of that data was to test if the numeric model had been improved.

“The results were promising. The results warranted moving ahead in the effort,” Ryan said.

That’s the reason behind this latest grant that will involve far more sound testing in the field.

“It’s funding an effort to collect a database of measurements that represent a wider range of atmospheric conditions,” Ryan said. “We want to capture data when it’s hot, when it’s cold, when it’s windy, when it’s humid, when it’s not humid. We’re trying to capture a broad database of atmospheric and seascape conditions, so we have a better pile of data to proof the improvements in the numeric model.”

Work on the one-year grant began Feb. 1. Ryan plans on enlisting the help of 10 to 11 students, with sophomore Faith Cobb serving as the student team leader.

“I really like this work because it does have this military connection, and I get to show undergrads how all this math and all this hard work that they are doing actually applies and has some sort of measurable benefit. Why are we doing all this math? It’s because we can answer important questions with it,” Ryan said.

– Ken Buday

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Focus

Susan Pearce

Department of Sociology Associate professor

Floods come and go, but Princeville persists It’s a small town with a big history. That’s why Susan Pearce is so interested in Princeville.

Princeville became the first town in the country to be chartered by African Americans in 1885, about 20 years after former slaves created the community after the Civil War. The Edgecombe County town along the Tar River has been in a fight for survival ever since, first from white supremacists and later by flooding from hurricanes Floyd in 1999 and Matthew in 2016.

“Princeville has had all these threats to its existence since the 1860s,” said Pearce, an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the ECU Department of Sociology. “It’s a town that has decided to stay despite all these threats.”

Over the years, residents have left for better jobs, and others left after the hurricanes.

“A lot left, but a lot stayed because of the legacy, and they stayed for their ancestors and a sense of responsibility to keep the town going,” Pearce said.

Pearce, along with Lynn Harris, associate professor of history and maritime studies at ECU, helped tell Princeville’s story with an exhibit in ECU’s Joyner Library this winter.

The exhibit, funded through the N.C. Humanities Council, is available as a traveling display.

“I think this is a real good example of how the university works with the community,” said Kendrick Ransome, part of the nonprofit Freedom Organization of Princeville and a native of Pinetops. “It’s been real good working with Dr. Pearce.”

Ransome is part of a younger generation taking up the cause to preserve the town. Princeville native Marquetta Dickens is working with him.

“There’s a new drive around,” Pearce said. “A lot of planning, a lot of energy, and some real excitement is coming to the town.”

– Ken Buday

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Kendrick Ransome and Susan Pearce

William E. Allen, associate professor of organic chemistry, has been named ECU’s recipient of the 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. He’s a graduate of Washington and Lee University and UNC-Chapel Hill. He’s taught at ECU since 1998. In the lab, Allen’s research is focused on understanding and enhancing the function of small proteins with medical importance.

Randall Etheridge, assistant professor in the ECU Department of Engineering, has been named one of the New Faces of 2020 by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Etheridge was among 10 people in the country recognized in the professionals category for those age 35 or younger. He teaches environmental engineering courses and core engineering courses in the College of Engineering and Technology. His recent research has focused on flooding and water quality issues of Lake Mattamuskeet and its impact on the surrounding area.

Dr. Mark Bowling received the N.C. Dogwood Award from Attorney General Josh Stein in March for his work to treat patients and raise awareness about the dangers of vaping. Bowling is a pulmonologist and associate professor of medicine at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU.

Dr. Danielle Walsh, associate professor of surgery at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU and the director of the surgery residency program at ECU and Vidant Medical Center, has received the first Outstanding Mentor of the Year award by the Resident and Associate Society of the American College of Surgeons. The award recognizes an American College of Surgeons fellow who effectively engaged with residents and provided support essential for the residents to develop a sustainable foundation for a surgical career. Walsh is a pediatric surgeon. Walsh also testified before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 6 about increased cancer risk with patients living near ethylene oxideproducing plants. ecu.edu/east

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Associate professor Jamie DeWitt has become a national leader in the study of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.

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ECU’s Jamie DeWitt is a national leader in PFAS research STORY BY ROB SPAHR

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Jamie DeWitt sat confidently at a large wooden table, an ECU pin shining from her lapel, when the microphone in front of her turned on and the cameras started rolling.

It was one of the two times DeWitt, an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, testified before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee in 2019. She was no stranger to speaking in front of crowds or cameras, as she is regularly invited to give scientific talks at meetings across the country and is called upon almost weekly for interviews by journalists from all over the world.

But DeWitt was still terrified.

“I am not one of those scientists who seeks the spotlight.

I got into science because I think science is awesome and because I wanted to make the planet better for other people who live on the planet and share space with me,” DeWitt said. “Every day I go into a classroom to teach, I’m terrified.

Every time I have to speak to a reporter, I have a fear inside of me that I’m going to say something wrong, I’m going to look stupid or I’m not going to answer the question the right way.”

That fear drives her to want to be better, DeWitt said.

But the message she has to deliver — the human health risks of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances — is her ultimate motivator.

PFAS are human-made chemicals – such as PFOA, PFOS and GenX — that have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries for more than 70 years. Used to make nonstick and water or grease-resistant household products, including pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, Teflon pans, firefighting foams, stain-proof carpets and weather gear, they are also found in industrial facilities, drinking water and food grown in PFAS-contaminated soil or processed with equipment that used PFAS.

What are PFAS? PFAS is a group of industrial, human-made chemicals. They are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily in humans, animals, or the environment. A number of PFAS studies have shown they can potentially harm human health.

Infographics provided courtesy of the North Carolina PFAS Testing Network

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Research by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry indicates certain PFAS may affect the growth and development of infants and children, interfere with the body’s natural hormones, affect the immune system and increase the risk of liver, pancreatic, thyroid and testicular cancer in animals, as well as other diseases.

“I have developed this overwhelming sense of responsibility,” DeWitt said. “I’ve met people who are afraid for their lives and their children’s lives, their pets’ lives and the lives of others in their families because of their exposure to PFAS. They want answers to the questions they have on the health effects of exposure to PFAS and other types of emerging contaminants. That sense of responsibility is a greater driver than my own individual fear of speaking in public.”

Even though PFAS have been around for decades, scientists did not find the connection between the chemicals and harmful health effects until relatively recently.

“Just because we’re now discovering PFAS in all of these environmental media doesn’t mean that they haven’t been responsible for diseases all along. What we’re starting to appreciate are the linkages between exposure and disease,” DeWitt said. “Scientists who study health effects are always going to be years to decades behind the contaminants that are released out into the environment. That is the unfortunate reality of how our system works. We rely on chemists to be the detectives, to find the compound, and then toxicologists and epidemiologists come in and start to make the linkages.”

Concern about PFAS in North Carolina has skyrocketed since 2017, after the Wilmington Star News reported that GenX was found in the Cape Fear River in relatively high concentrations. Other communities across the state, including Fayetteville and Hope Mills in Cumberland

PER- AND POLYFLOUROALKYL SUBSTANCES What are the sources of PFAS in water?

County and Pittsboro in Chatham County, have also made headlines recently after PFAS were detected in their water supplies.

“When we think about PFAS, it’s not just one chemical. As far as we know, it’s more than 5,000 individual chemicals,” DeWitt said. “PFAS are being found in almost all sources. It’s gotten to the point if we go out and collect samples, we’re going to find PFAS. And it’s not just in water, it’s in air and it’s in other types of environmental media — soil, dust, flowers, honey. They’re so persistent, which means they don’t break down, and they’re able to travel anywhere.”

DeWitt has been studying the immunotoxicity of PFAS since 2005 and is part of a collaborative with investigators at N.C. State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Charlotte, North Carolina A&T and Duke University that is studying the health effects of the substances.

“In my laboratory, we’re trying to understand the molecular pathways by which PFAS change the immune system,” DeWitt said. “We need to understand those molecular pathways before we can ask questions about other PFAS. Because we know a lot about a relatively small number when you consider that there’s more than 5,000 individual PFAS.” As the list of communities affected by PFAS contamination grows, so too have the requests for DeWitt’s time and expertise.

“Oh look! There’s a day that doesn’t have something on it!” she joked while looking at her schedule for February, which even had her weekends filled with work-related tasks.

But DeWitt still accommodated yet another request for an interview and photo shoot — this one for the day after she returned from a PFASfocused meeting in Brussels.

“I think we’re at a very critical tipping point where we have to make decisions about what PFAS, if any, we’re going to continue to allow being used in products and processes. We’re also at a point where we have to determine if regulations are necessary or not,” she said.

“There will likely be more communities in this state that learn they have contamination. The distribution and the concentrations vary, but they’re there. And we can’t treat them away; we can only filter them away.”

“PFAS are being found in almost all sources. It’s gotten to the point if we go out and collect samples, we’re going to find PFAS ... it’s in air and it’s in other types of environmental media — soil, dust, flowers, honey. They’re so persistent ... and they’re able to travel anywhere.”

Jamie DeWitt, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine

PFAS and human health The health effects of several different types of PFAS have been studied in both humans and animals. Some of these studies have shown that exposure to PFAS can have consequences on health.

However, many of the health effects of PFAS are still unknown.

Due to this, research is still ongoing to determine how exposure to PFAS can impact human health.

What are the health effects of PFAS?

Information sourced from Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry | Additional health effects have been reported and those highlighted demonstrate a range of potential effects.

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STORY BY CRYSTAL BAITY • LACEY GRAY • DOUG BOYD • ERIN WARD LACEY GRAY JULES NORWOOD ERIN WARD

FEATURE

TITLE

From creeks to oceans, water covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface. For these East Carolina graduates, that’s plenty to create a career.

Looking for a unique vacation? The Boruffs have the answer.

A week in the Caribbean aboard the 56-foot me,” says Erika, 26, who majored in communication catamaran Viramar. with a concentration in journalism and a minor “Our job is to open our home and host the best in business. Tyler, 27, majored in business vacation ever to complete strangers,” Erika ’15 says. administration with a concentration in finance.

Tyler ’15 is captain, dive guide and instructor, After graduation, they worked corporate jobs in bartender and maintenance person. Erika is the chef, Texas and Florida. Then, Erika got a phone call provides dive support, and cleans and entertains. that changed everything. A dive shop owner in the They offer scuba diving, snorkeling, water sports, British Virgin Islands was looking for someone with hiking, paddleboarding and other activities. dive and retail experience to become buyer/manager The Boruffs run about 15-20 charters each season for four stores. (eight to nine months of the year) with trips ranging “I called Tyler, since he was traveling for work, and Igniminvero et aspedicae quos sequamet, cusI was doles quaeper from five to 10 days for up to eight guests. told him putting my two weeks in and if he natur?and Quibustrum dolorro eum enissum arcimi, volo They manage maintain the Viramar while wanted to come thentoreperum he could find me on an island,” generating revenue from trips.

Since theysunt are basically Erika says.

“It didn’tfacepudita take long for him to go for it.” eos aut pliqui re solupti as mod quatas aliquam their own boss, they have freedom to run the business They moved to Virgin Gorda, got married and volest, eseque repeliquae. Bus cone mos rehent their way. discovered theaspid charterundit yacht industry. “We realized et, volupta tiusdae.

Nemperspicit etumquam sit preperf “We had no idea that you could live and work on that there was no monetary amount or level of someoneerferfero else’s yacht and get paid to do it,” Erika says. success that could matchperunt, the time we were missing tem faciis alit lacersped ut dolupta tiaspeditae They met freshman year when both lived in Garrett with each other,” Erika said. conecusdam, facea simagnis rem.jobs, Ut but now we just Hall. They worked at Rumtem Runner Dive qui Shopaut volla illaborem “We have worked our ‘real’ verumquae.

Volorestet dolupid elluptiunto quiatiusam (owned by ECU faculty member Dr. Peter Wagner) want a experum real life,” Erika says. “We know now that we and wereeliti officers in ECU’s scuba club. can do both, and that we can work for ourselves or viti cus, quat.

“I ended up working in logistics — a career path I manage others’ assets properly because of what we did not expect — which would become a trend for learned at ECU.”

SUBHEAD FOR THE FEATURE

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submarine U-576 and the NicaraguanHoyt grew up on the Ohio shores of Lake flagged freighter Bluefields, sunk off the N.C. Erie, diving on Great Lakes shipwrecks with coast in 1942. his dad.

Leading the national maritime heritage Today, he’s national maritime heritage program, he said, “feels like a validation program coordinator with the Office of of more than a decade of hard work and National Marine Sanctuaries in Washington, dedication to the field of marine archaeology.

D.C. The program covers the National It also feels like a great deal of responsibility Marine Sanctuary System – sites ranging to ensure our program continues to deliver from American Samoa to New England. the expected level of excellence and resource He’s a graduate of ECU’s maritime studies protection and stewardship.” program, in which students put theory He says the main issue affecting historic into practice through field schools and resources in the marine and freshwater internships. environment is lack of awareness. That “They really provide practical handstranslates into a number of threats ranging on experience working with a number of from support for research to unintended as partners in state resource management well as deliberate damage from recreational programs and federal managers,” Hoyt says. and commercial uses.

“So, you not only learn how to be a good “It takes a lot of effort for the general historian and archaeologist from an academic public to be able to interact with sites, perspective but come out really prepared for particularly those in deep water or far from working in the field.” shore,” he says. “So, our challenge is to While at ECU, Hoyt worked on submerged develop ways to capture stories and engage historic sites in North Carolina, Wisconsin, people in a discussion on valuing these places Hawaii and Bermuda. He also worked and the importance of preservation. alongside professionals from the National “One thing I learned through my time at Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ECU that I plan to carry forward is to focus which led to his first job after graduation. on partnerships. I am hoping that I can “This translated into me securing a position Atbuild explit,strong etur, queconnections laceper spiet, consersperum with programs that literally the day I defended my thesis,” he voluptusda sime susam aut inverum eum ea dit, vella have overlapping interests, and that we can says. “I defended in the morning and started dolupti onsequisit quodis quia di de explaceritem to do more and eashare my career with NOAA that afternoon.” apereptis come ea venistogether quoditi ommolupid quo tende ad more resources and expertise.

I’d love to see my He worked with the Monitor National que vollore pedite laccum. efforts translate into increased interpretation, Marine Sanctuary, studying and protecting Quiaof pero beatusam ium ent awareness and protection threatened the Civil War ironclad submerged off the facest volectiam qui bea volorum archaeological sites.”que voluptame voluptatur re nis coast of Cape Hatteras. He led the 2014 Follow Boruffs FOR Hoyt serves on the thedebis Advisory for il discovery and 2016 exploration of German mo blautCouncil quidici llorias at facebook.com/ MORE incit alicipsant et pra nonsedipsaut Underwater Archaeology. boruffsonaboat INFO

laccatem qui volectur, sunt and on Instagram

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The Navy keeps the oceans secure. Capt. Roderick Boyce ’91 makes sure their water is safe.

Boyce has spent his career keeping sailors and Marines healthy. As a preventive medicine expert, it was his job to provide immunizations, health inspections and water testing services to Navy bases and hospitals all over the world.

“Preventive medicine is the mechanism to ensure a healthy, ready Navy,” Boyce says.

“A strong naval force is necessary to defend American freedom and security, protect our nation’s global influence and deter any adversary.”

His assignments took him to Illinois, Virginia, Hawaii, Spain, Japan, Iraq and Kuwait. In Iraq, he supported Operation Iraqi Freedom as an environmental health officer. In Hawaii, when concern for avian influenza was high, he worked with the World Health Organization to develop a military plan for handling a potential pandemic. In Japan, he was responsible for leading more than 400 Marines and sailors in global health engagements as an executive officer for the 3rd Medical Battalion.

But the basis for his career started at ECU. Boyce graduated with a degree in environmental health, where he was trained to ensure the safety of what people eat, breathe, touch and drink.

“The environmental health program was outstanding,” the Kings Mountain native says. “I owe a lot to my education.”

After graduation, Boyce spent several years as an environmental health specialist and registered sanitarian for the state of North Carolina, doing permit testing for septic systems and wells and health inspections for restaurants. But the Navy was always in the back of his mind.

“I always wanted to go into the Navy. My grandfather was a World War II veteran. I grew up listening to his sea stories,” he says.

Boyce enlisted and received a direct commission as an environmental health officer in 1995. His job took him many places, just not on ships.

“For my specialty, we don’t have jobs on ships. We have jobs that provide direct support to the fleet, but in Navy medicine we man the hospitals,” he says. When it comes to water, the Navy has instructions and policies governing safe drinking water to align with EPA standards, whether it’s on a ship, a shorebased station, or in a deployed environment.

Boyce is now a commanding officer for the 2nd Medical Battalion at Camp Lejeune. It’s his terminal rank, or the level he plans to retire from, and “hands down the best job I’ve had in my military career,” he says. That’s because he gets to mentor other officers and help them achieve their goals. Often that includes encouraging them to pursue more education.

I ALWAYS WANTED TO GO INTO THE NAVY. MY GRANDFATHER WAS A WORLD WAR II VETERAN. I GREW UP LISTENING TO HIS SEA STORIES. “It’s important that people understand your educational foundation is really the instrument that sings your song throughout your career. ECU was the foundation of my career,” Boyce says.

His daughter, Makayla, is also pursuing her degree at ECU in the College of Nursing. She plans to join the Navy, just like her dad.

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Donna Creef ’88 protects Dare County water and property.

With a new business degree from ECU, Creef moved to the coast and started working for Dare County. Today, she’s the county’s planning director, working with citizens and property owners to oversee the development of unincorporated areas of the county, which include Hatteras Island, the mainland, Roanoke Island, Colington (west of Kill Devil Hills and where Creef resides) and Martin’s Point. Her husband is a commercial fisherman.

THE PROTECTION OF OUR ABUNDANT NATURAL RESOURCES IS IMPORTANT SINCE OUR LOCAL ECONOMY REVOLVES AROUND OUR BEACHES AND SOUNDS. “Water is part of everyday life here on the Outer Banks,” she says. Residents and visitors drive over it, work on it, play in it. They also deal with flooding — some moderate and mainly an annoyance, and some severe and destructive.

Thus, she stays busy protecting water quality. “The protection of our abundant natural resources is important since our local economy revolves around our beaches and sounds,” Creef says. In addition, the Dare County Board of Commissioners has been active in efforts to prohibit offshore gas and oil exploration off the North Carolina coast.

“Such activities could threaten our natural resources and our water quality, so that is always a big issue for us,” she says.

Mitigating flood risk is another priority and making sure construction mitigates flood risks and complies with Coastal Area Management Act regulations and state building codes.

“The big issue for us right now is new flood maps for Dare County, which will be effective in June,” she says. The Federal Emergency Management Agency created the maps that reduce by 41% the number of unincorporated Dare County properties included in the flood zone.

“Many of these properties are oceanfront properties and other properties that have flooded in the past,” she says. “There is a concern that property owners will not realize the flood hazards associated with their property.”

In response, Dare County is adopting a local regulatory effort to treat the reclassified properties as if they were still in a flood zone.

That means owners will have to raise structures to a locally applied elevation mark. “This is a progressive approach in North Carolina and an example of the dedication Dare County has to ensuring our communities are resilient from flood hazards,” Creef says.

“We have been successful with securing FEMA mitigation grants over the past decade to elevate close to 100 homes in unincorporated Dare County,” she adds.

“Many of the homes elevated on Hatteras Island did not flood during Hurricane Dorian last year because of these mitigation efforts.

“Many people in other areas believe the residents of Dare County should simply move inland or retreat. This is not a practical solution; many of the people here on the Outer Banks have lived here for generations. Familial connections and ties to the community are not easily severed as some believe.

“Dare County is known for our beaches and historical places such as the Wright Brothers Monument and Fort Raleigh, but it is our coastal villages and neighborhoods that represent the true spirit of the Outer Banks.”

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In February 2019, Joe Hoyt spoke at the Coastal Studies Institute about his work to protect WWII wrecks off the N.C. coast.

Watch it at bit.ly/2VT6h51.

Submerged historic sites need saving.

Joe Hoyt ’04 ’08 is doing that.

Hoyt grew up on the Ohio shores of Lake Erie, diving on Great Lakes shipwrecks with his dad.

Today, he’s national maritime heritage program coordinator with the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in Washington, D.C. The program covers the National Marine Sanctuary System — sites ranging from American Samoa to New England.

He’s a graduate of ECU’s maritime studies program, in which students put theory into practice through field schools and internships.

“They really provide practical handson experience working with a number of partners in state resource management programs and federal managers,” Hoyt says.

“So, you not only learn how to be a good historian and archaeologist from an academic perspective but come out really prepared for working in the field.”

While at ECU, Hoyt worked on submerged historic sites in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Hawaii and Bermuda. He also worked alongside professionals from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which led to his first job after graduation.

“This translated into me securing a position literally the day I defended my thesis,” he says. “I defended in the morning and started my career with NOAA that afternoon.”

He worked with the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, studying and protecting the Civil War ironclad submerged off the coast of Cape Hatteras. He led the 2014 discovery and 2016 exploration of German submarine U-576 and the Nicaraguanflagged freighter Bluefields, sunk off the N.C. coast in 1942.

Leading the national maritime heritage program, he said, “feels like a validation of more than a decade of hard work and

dedication to the field of marine archaeology.

It also feels like a great deal of responsibility to ensure our program continues to deliver the expected level of excellence and resource protection and stewardship.”

He says the main issue affecting historic resources in the marine and freshwater environment is lack of awareness. That translates into a number of threats ranging from support for research to unintended as well as deliberate damage from recreational and commercial uses.

OUR CHALLENGE IS TO DEVELOP WAYS TO CAPTURE STORIES AND ENGAGE PEOPLE IN A DISCUSSION ON VALUING THESE PLACES AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVATION. “It takes a lot of effort for the general public to be able to interact with sites, particularly those in deep water or far from shore,” he says. “So, our challenge is to develop ways to capture stories and engage people in a discussion on valuing these places and the importance of preservation.

“One thing I learned through my time at ECU that I plan to carry forward is to focus on partnerships. I am hoping that I can build strong connections with programs that have overlapping interests, and that we can come together to do more and share more resources and expertise. I’d love to see my efforts translate into increased interpretation, awareness and protection of threatened archaeological sites.”

Hoyt serves on the Advisory Council for Underwater Archaeology.

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STORY BY ERIN SHAW

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STORY BY JULES NORWOOD

Students collect data on the beach near Jeanette’s Pier in Nags Head. ecu.edu/east

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Under a new program, students can spend a semester learning and conducting research at the Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese.

Student Marco Agostini works with Kimberly Rogers, an assistant professor of coastal studies, while using the “clementine,” a device that measures sea water conductivity, temperature and depth.

As the water warms in the early spring, baitfish school by the thousands and even millions off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Gannets and cormorants divebomb the schools from above while bluefish and mackerel attack from below, a roiling mass of life and death just off the sandy beach.

Later, sea turtles venture out of the ocean and trek up the beach to lay their eggs in holes dug in the sand. The fish, seabirds and turtles are all part of the unique ecosystem of our coast — a dynamic, shifting line of sand dividing the unrelenting ocean from the salt marshes and estuaries behind.

Researchers and students from East Carolina University are drawn to the same

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delicately balanced coastal environments to study how they work, how they change, how to preserve them and how to harness the immense energy of the ocean’s waves, tides and currents. This spring, four students became the first ECU undergraduates to spend an entire semester at the university’s Outer Banks Campus in Wanchese, taking courses that include environmental anthropology, remote sensing of the environment, and analysis techniques and methods of coastal ocean research.

The Semester Experience at the Coast is open to all majors, and the course credits count toward a minor in coastal and marine interdisciplinary studies. Kimberly Rogers, assistant professor of coastal studies, says each student brings a unique perspective to the table, learning about coastal science through the lens of their own experiences and fields of study.

Marco Agostini, a sophomore majoring in computer science and an EC Scholar, says he learned about the program during an Honors College field trip to the Outer Banks Campus his freshman year.

“So for a year I hounded them and bothered them and said, ‘Hey, is this program ready yet? Are we doing it? What’s happening?’” he says.

The idea was appealing because Agostini wants to find

a career that combines his passion for computer science with his love of the environment. He has already started looking at positions and programs related to data science and data analytics at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The opportunity to spend a semester at the coast and do fieldwork was too perfect to pass up.

“Being able to experience these things in person — we learn about it in class, then we come out here, we see the beach, we see the water, and we experience the things that we’ve learned — it really drives it home,” he says.

On a windy day in February, the students visited Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head to measure the profile of the beach using several methods, the first of which was decidedly old school. Using two stakes and a 2-meter length of string, the students recorded elevations from the dune line to the water’s edge. It was an involved and time-consuming process, taking all four students nearly an hour to record one transect of the beach — about 18 individual observations — and it left plenty of room for human error, Agostini says.

Then they performed the same task using a real-time kinematic GPS, a device that uses the positioning of multiple satellites and a land-based station to record the elevation at an exact set of coordinates with a margin of error of less than 2 centimeters, allowing them to record the data more quickly and more accurately.

BEING ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THESE THINGS IN PERSON — WE LEARN ABOUT IT IN CLASS, THEN WE COME OUT HERE ... AND WE EXPERIENCE THE THINGS THAT WE’VE LEARNED — IT REALLY DRIVES IT HOME. Marco Agostini, EC Scholar and ECU computer science major

Finally, David Lagomasino, assistant professor of coastal studies, showed the students a model of the same area of the beach created using a terrestrial laser scanner, which scans the entire beach in a matter of seconds using laser pulses reflected back to the device’s sensors. The data was used to create a 3-D computer model so detailed it showed tire tracks and footprints on the beach.

“I was able to record a half a billion observations in about two hours,” Lagomasino says.

“Really I have taken the beach home with me and put it on the computer.”

The TLS provides a high level of resolution, allowing researchers to track minute changes in the beach, but that amount of data means increased storage needs and longer processing time.

“So we have to look at what questions we want to answer and what data we need to answer those questions,” Lagomasino says.

The students also dove into the topic of ocean energy, taking measurements of conductivity, temperature and depth of the water from the pier and using that information to determine whether the Hatteras front — a boundary between cooler and warmer waters that normally converge near Cape Hatteras — had moved north as far as Nags Head.

Rogers says the course offerings are complementary and coastal-focused, but each offers a different perspective.

Reide Corbett, executive director at the Coastal Studies Institute, holds a satellite image showing erosion nearby.

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Faculty member David Lagomasino explains the beach model made from the terrestrial laser scanner data.

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Kimberly Rogers watches as students collect data along the beach to the waterline to produce a 2-D beach profile.

“They’re getting a 360-degree viewpoint of some of these really fundamental concepts that are shaping the Earth’s beaches, bays and coastlines. And of course, some of the oceanography that is leading to the phenomena that we’re seeing on our beaches,” she says. “They’re going to be much more critical thinkers, and having the experience of being on the water here and seeing these processes, it takes that abstract lecture that they’re getting in the classroom, and they’re seeing it in action.”

Students participating in the Semester Experience at the Coast live in Manteo, about 4 miles from the Outer Banks Campus facility, and the housing and tuition costs are similar to a semester on ECU’s Main Campus.

Logan Willis, a senior history major, says the group got along well living together and grew close quickly. They had a standing movie night on Wednesdays at the Pioneer Theatre, which has been operated by the same family for more than 100 years, and planned to go surfing and share other outdoor activities as the Elizabeth Mason works with sand samples studying weather warmed. grain size at the Coastal Studies Institute.

“I cannot imagine spending my last semester at ECU any other way,” she says.

Anthropology major Lauren Wright, a sophomore, says she’s interested in the human relationship with the environment and is exploring a possible career in underwater archaeology. She likes the active, real-time application of research techniques and data collection offered by the program.

“In a standard classroom setting, we’re often just given the textbooks and … here’s the data that’s already been collected.

And here’s how it’s already been interpreted,” she says. “Here we are actually taking the measurements, taking in the data and analyzing it for ourselves. I think it’s absolutely amazing.”

As the group wrapped up its observations on the pier, a front moved in, bringing rain and postponing a potential visit to another beachfront location, but with plenty of time left in the semester, their field trip plans still included kayak outings, a pontoon boat trip and wetland visits.

Despite the successful start to the program, due to COVID-19 students did not return after spring break and continued their coursework through virtual methods to complete the spring semester.

Reide Corbett, executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute, said plans are to resume the program next spring and eventually expand it to fall and spring semesters.

ECU’s Outer Banks Campus is home to the CSI, a partnership among ECU and other UNC System schools. Completed in 2012, the facility spans 213 acres of marshes, scrub wetlands, forested wetlands and sound ecosystem. It houses dive and research vessels, a wave tank, and laboratory and classroom space. Major research areas include renewable ocean energy, coastal sustainability and maritime archaeology.

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STUDENT SNAPSHOT

ECU Bass Fishing Club

East Carolina’s Bass Fishing Club competes in three national collegiate series. The club’s approximately 50 members travel the eastern half of the U.S. and even north to Canada to compete against anglers from other colleges and universities. Participants catch their fish then release them after weigh-in.

Club members use their own boats — two members to a boat in tournaments, about 15 boats total in the club — and pay many of their own expenses either out of pocket or through dues of $150 a semester. The university provides about $4,000 yearly, as it does for other club sports organizations, but its use is restricted. The club also holds fishing fundraisers around the state.

I’VE ALREADY BUILT RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY TO HOPEFULLY GET A JOB AFTER GRADUATION.

Braxton Chase, co-president of the ECU Bass Fishing Club

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The club’s co-president is Braxton Chase, a business major who plans to graduate in May 2021. “I’ve already built relationships with people in the industry to hopefully get a job after graduation,” he said. “It’s something I enjoy. It’s not really going to be work for me.”

The biggest bass he’s caught in a tournament was 7.5 pounds; the biggest he’s ever caught was an 11-pounder he hooked in seventh grade.

Chase’s favorite time to fish is in May, after bass have spawned. “They’re really hungry and skinny,” he said. “They’re going to be aggressive and try to feed before they go out deep for summer.”

Sam Wheat (Keagan Kermode) shares a moment with Molly Jensen (Karley Konegay) in their apartment during a Feb.17 dress rehearsal for Ghost.

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PIRATE NATION

LABOR TO LOVE

Certified nurse midwives Marcia Ensminger ’05, left, and Nicole Winecoff ’11 own Natural Beginnings Birth & Wellness Center in Statesville.

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Two ECU nursing graduates are giving soon-to-be moms a natural alternative to a hospital delivery room.

Marcia Ensminger ’05 and Nicole Winecoff ’11 opened Natural Beginnings Birth & Wellness Center in Statesville in 2008. Nearly 90% of the 20-30 births their center performs each month are water births, in which the mother gives birth in a tub of warm water.

Water births at the center are done without pain medications and without intervention.

Ensminger emphasized that water birth candidates are women with low-risk pregnancies that follow a normal pattern. During labor, babies are monitored using a fetal doppler for intermittent fetal monitoring in the same way low-risk pregnancies would be monitored in a hospital, Winecoff said. If complications arise, the mothers are helped out of the water for closer observation and taken to the center’s official transferring hospital, Davis Regional Medical Center, if necessary.

Not only can the water provide a soothing effect to the mother, it also helps in the delivery process.

“Whereas on land we’re kind of helping to guide baby out and catching the baby, in the water we don’t do that,” Ensminger said. “We let the water kind of catch the baby and then usually moms just pick the baby up on their own and bring them to their chests. A lot of times we’re just sitting there and watching and making sure everything is going as it should, making sure everything is safe and that if there are any complications we can step in and help out.”

“The water does a lot of our work for them,” Winecoff agreed. “When they’re out of the water we have to do quite a bit more hands-on — give them back pressure or hip squeezes — there’s a lot more touching. But in the water, usually they’re able to relax more so they may not need as much of that hands-on support.”

The birthing center was borne out of Ensminger and Winecoff’s close working relationship and rising demand for more midwives in the area. The parents-to-be whom Ensminger and Winecoff encounter are interested in more natural birth plans in a comfortable setting.

“I think as women are trying to look at other options for their health care, they’re looking at the more low-intervention practices with really good outcomes, better statistics,” Winecoff said.

“Our patients are all low risk, and they really believe that their bodies were meant to have babies naturally without any interventions,” Ensminger said.

“So, they prefer to come to an outof-hospital site where we don’t use interventions very often unless it’s an emergency situation. They feel like this is a natural process and if everything is normal and healthy then we should just let nature take its course.”

– Natalie Sayewich

MONTI ’00 SCHOOLS METRO ATLANTA ON BEER

Above, Thomas Monti, left, and Justin Waller opened Schoolhouse Brewery last year. Left, Monti poses with a pint.

After nearly two decades teaching middle school science, Thomas Monti ’00 left the classroom to open Schoolhouse Brewing, one of the Atlanta area’s best new breweries.

In just six months after opening, Schoolhouse Brewing had produced 19,000 gallons of beer, with plans for 50,000 gallons next year. The tanks are at capacity, and business is good. Schoolhouse was voted Georgia’s best new brewery by Beer Guys Radio in 2019 and was nominated for best beer in Cobb County in 2020.

The secret? Co-owner Monti’s knowledge of chemistry, biology and physics — a must for successful brewers — and a school-themed space that feels like the place where beer meets recess.

Every tap behind the bar is shaped like a No. 2 pencil, and beers are given aptly educational names like Social Stouties, Walt Wheatman and Sack Lunch (with peanut butter and jelly flavors).

Take a seat on the vinyl benches ripped from an old school bus or visit the back room — the

“teacher’s lounge”— for some peace and quiet. Just don’t get sent to the principal’s office, a.k.a. the employees-only area.

“I definitely take a lot of what I learned at East Carolina, especially the science classes, into the brewhouse,” Monti said. “Every day, there’s science involved, from fluid pressures to yeast propagation to enzyme production. I would never have been able to do this without the knowledge that I received at ECU.” When Monti enrolled at ECU, the Currituck native was in the science department, but he quickly found a love for teaching. He switched majors and graduated with a degree in middle school education with a concentration in science and math. He taught first in Raleigh and then in Marietta, a city northwest of Atlanta.

“I loved it. I loved the kids. But about seven years ago, I chose to leave the classroom,” he said.

Monti opened a small craft beer and home brewing store. Soon, people were asking him when he was going to start brewing and selling his own beer. He and fellow teacher Justin Waller decided to go for it and opened Schoolhouse Brewing in Marietta in 2019.

The duo brew beer two to three times a week at Schoolhouse. A batch in their smallest vessel is about 260 gallons, Monti said. “We use 560 to 600 gallons of water to make that much.” The typical beer is 90% to 95% water, making it one of beer’s most important ingredients. Other key ingredients, per Monti’s brewery ethos, are scientific know-how and a dash of fun.

In the next few years, Monti said he hopes to expand the brewing operation into North Carolina.

“The goal is to move back to North Carolina. That’s my home.”

– Erin Ward

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PIRATE SPIRIT

Go-to Teammate POPOVIC IS A LEADER IN THE POOL AND LAB Grega Popovic has traded his swim goggles for safety glasses.

Grega Popovic

Year: Graduate Student Major: Chemistry Hometown: Maribor, Slovenia

THESE GUYS HAVE PRETTY MUCH BEEN MY FAMILY THE LAST FOUR YEARS, AND I LOVE THE COACHING STAFF, THE PROFESSORS.

Popovic, a four-year member of the Pirates swim team, saw his athletic eligibility end after the American Athletic Conference championship in February. The ECU record holder earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in May 2019. He plans to graduate with a master’s in chemistry in 2021 and is interested in medicine.

Popovic has been working on research projects under Adam Offenbacher, assistant professor of chemistry, and Nathan Hudson, assistant professor of physics. One looks at cell function that can lead to various diseases including kidney failure, and another involves precursors for blood clotting.

His attention to detail in the lab is a carryover from his success in the pool.

“It’s one of the hardest sports out there,” said Popovic, a freestyle swimmer. “There’s a lot of satisfaction

with getting a best time and the amount of effort it takes.”

Popovic routinely rose at 6 a.m. for morning practice, followed by class or lab time and afternoon practice before returning home at 7 or 8 p.m., six days a week. Popovic swam 30-35 miles in a typical week of practice — plus weights and dryland training.

He is a two-time All-Conference swimmer and received All-Academic honors. He said being part of winning the conference title his freshman year stands out. The Pirates repeated as champions this year in Houston.

Popovic, from Slovenia, says going to school in the U.S. was a dream.

“ECU made that happen,” Popovic said. “I loved the atmosphere of the team — that really convinced me to commit. These guys have pretty much been my family the last four years, and I love the coaching staff, the professors.”

Associate head coach Kate Moore recruited Popovic, describing him as a fierce competitor and hard worker. “He’s a go-to guy for our younger swimmers,” she said. “He’s encouraging to his teammates. He has meant a lot to us.

“He’s very smart and driven. I’m excited for his future. We’ll lose that leadership role, but he’s rubbed off on our younger swimmers.”

– Crystal Baity

FOR MORE INFO

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Watch Grega Popovic talk more about his time at ECU at https://bit.ly/39yopUZ. And follow him on Instagram @popovicgrega.

5 minutes with

AMINA EDMONSON ’09

By Erin Ward

Occupation: Wardrobe supervisor for Virgin Voyages cruises Degree: Theatre arts Hometown: Rose Hill, N.C.

We want to hear stories from alumni about how their experiences at ECU shaped them today and how they pass those lessons to others.

Send us an email at easteditor@ecu.edu.

Countries cruised to: Canada, Colombia, Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom.

What does your job entail?

The wardrobe department makes costumes happen on the ship. Before a show, I make sure that every garment and accessory is in show condition: clean, in good repair, and ready for the performers to step right into them. During the show, I facilitate any costume changes that the performers can’t handle by themselves.

And because Virgin Voyages is a new company, I’m helping create their entertainment spaces from the ground up.

What’s the best part of working on a cruise ship?

You forge a family with people from all over the world, folks you never would have met otherwise. And if you commit to truly getting to know them, you can’t help becoming a better person. Plus, how do you beat getting paid to travel and meet new people every week?

How did your time at ECU prepare you for your current career?

The School of Theatre and Dance was committed to making us into competent theater professionals. I still feel that the professors and staff cared about me as an individual and were personally invested in my success. Each of them offered a wealth of combined experience in the field of entertainment and they were eager to share that with me while giving me room to grow my individual interests and talents.

Were there any classes or professors at ECU that were particularly memorable?

Jeffery Phipps was my costume design professor, and I still remember and apply techniques and strategies that he gave us in class and in the costume shop. Delta Childers Smith, the costume shop supervisor when I was an undergraduate, was always willing to give hands-on help when I needed it. Her current students are beyond lucky to have her!

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Horizons CHANGING LIVES, CHANGING COMMUNITIES

By Erin Ward

Julienne Beblo Major: Master of fine arts – ceramics

forms and uncertainty of working with clay. Art is also a powerful communicator and I started to see the value of incorporating artistic approaches into efforts to inform others about the need to understand and protect coastal environments.

Career goals: I want to work in a position that allows me to combine my interest in marine science and art in a way that helps further marine conservation efforts.

How do scholarships help you accomplish your academic goals?

Hometown: Cabot, Pennsylvania Year: First-year graduate student

How would you describe your artwork?

Most of my work is rooted in functional pottery. I love creating pieces on the wheel – everything from bowls to vases to jars. Some of my pieces directly mimic natural elements and organisms while others indirectly utilize textures, colors and forms that can be found in a marine environment.

What made you decide to combine marine topics and art?

The natural world is a major source of my inspiration, especially the ocean. I began my undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina Wilmington majoring in marine biology. But as I took elective art courses, I decided that I wanted to major in studio art also. As I completed courses in both disciplines, I found that there a strong connection between the two.

Ceramics is the ultimate combination of science and creativity.

I enjoy juxtaposing the precision of science with the organic

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Being an out-of-state student and completing a graduate degree is a significant financial commitment. Scholarships have been incredibly helpful for me. They have provided financial relief and security so that I am able to better focus on my courses rather than on external jobs. As an artist, I also need to purchase certain materials and tools.

Having scholarships provides additional income to support the purchase of materials that will enhance my work. I would not be able to complete my degree so comfortably or capably without the support provided by scholarships, and I am so grateful for the donors who made that possible.

Scholarships: Claire E. Armstrong Scholarship and Hannah Graduate Scholarship. For more information on how to support students such as Julienne, visit

ecu.edu/give.

ALUMNI AWARDS 2020 Virgil Clark ’50 Distinguished Service Award John Cooper ’71 is president of ConnectC, a full-service government relations and lobbying firm. Cooper was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2012 and became chair in 2019. He also helped acquire state funding for the Brody School of Medicine and the School of Dental Medicine. He and his wife, Carol, established the Dr. Christopher J. Cooper Scholarship Endowment at Brody in honor of their son.

Ronald E. Dowdy ’66 is a longtime leader in financial giving to ECU — Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium and Dowdy Student Stores bear his name. He is a founding Chancellor’s Society member, Order of the Cupola member and ECU Military Hall of Fame inductee. For many years, he was the sponsor for the Ronald E. Dowdy Retired Faculty Dinner, earning him the distinction of Retired Honorary Faculty Member in 1992.

Young Alumni Achievement Award Tina Cordova ’10 studied family and community services and upon graduation was commissioned as a quartermaster officer in the Army. She serves as the aide-de-camp and executive officer for the commanding general of Division East, First Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Her awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, three Army Commendation Medals and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. In addition to her military excellence, Tina volunteers for the nonprofit organization Give2TheTroops, packaging and sending care packages to troops deployed overseas.

Outstanding Alumni Award Dr. Joshua Sonett ‘88 is chief

Lt. Col. William “Billy” Dye ‘04

of thoracic surgery at New YorkPresbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and the director of the Price Family Center for Comprehensive Chest Care and Esophageal Center. Sonett is known for his work as the operative surgeon for former President Bill Clinton to remove scar tissue following a quadruple bypass in 2005.

is a senior pilot in the Air Force, serving as the chief of the special technical operations branch within the Future Operations Division at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia.

He is also an Air Force One advance agent, charged with ensuring the safe arrival and departure of Air Force One. He has earned the Air Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other decorations.

Vonta Leach ‘10 was a top athlete and captain of the Pirate football team before joining the NFL as fullback with the Green Bay Packers followed by the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens. He was named AllPro in three consecutive seasons and was part of the Ravens’ Super Bowl XLVII championship team. Leach was named to the ECU Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

James “Jim” Westmoreland ‘74, ‘75, ’81 spent more than 40 years in the ECU community.

He started in student life, working with residence and new student orientation programs. From 1981 until 2001, he worked in career services, where he served as assistant director and director. From 2001 until his retirement in 2019, he was associate dean of external affairs for the College of Business. ecu.edu/east

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In Memoriam 1930s Sybil D. Gamble ’36 of Asheville, N.C., on Nov. 29, 2019.

Ella “Bonnie” Gunn ’38 of Shelby, N.C., on Dec. 17, 2019.

1940s Robert G. Brewer ’40 of Winston-Salem, N.C, on Nov. 2, 2019.

Catherine B. Dowd ’46 of Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 24, 2019.

Virginia L. Floyd ’49 ’54 of Shalimar, Fla., on Nov. 10, 2019.

Mary R. Greyard ’48 of McDonald, N.C., on Oct. 16, 2019.

Daphne P. Hardee ’42 of Elizabethtown, N.C., on Sept. 30, 2019.

Mary H. Jackson ’40 of Roseboro, N.C., on Sept. 20, 2019.

Violet S. Jackson ’46 of Greensboro, N.C., on Jan. 30, 2020.

Kathlyn M. Morris ’46 of Nashville, N.C., on Nov. 14, 2019.

Katherine Roberson ’41 of Robersonville, N.C., on Aug. 10, 2019.

Jessie Scott ’43 ’58 of Wilmington, N.C., on Sept. 20, 2019.

1950s Grace L. Allen ’58 of Virginia Beach, Va., on Nov. 22, 2019.

Roy W. Allen ’56 of Marshville, N.C., on Oct. 21, 2019.

Vera M. Angeles ’54 of Savannah, Tenn., on Dec. 30, 2019.

Sue F. Auld ’59 of Greenville, S.C., on Dec. 8, 2019.

William H. Baker ’54 of Hampstead, N.C., on Oct. 19, 2019.

Jene R. Bowen ’58 of Carthage, N.C., on Oct. 20, 2019.

Virginia H. Cook ’54 of Colfax, N.C., on Dec. 12, 2019.

Robert Crumpler ’57 ’64 of Lumberton, N.C., on Dec. 27, 2019.

Janice Faulkner ’53 ’56 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 9, 2019.

Pauline Gentry ’53 of Roxboro, N.C., on Oct. 13, 2019.

Philip R. Gorham ’52 of Greensboro, N.C., on Nov. 23, 2019.

Charles H. Harrell ’55 of Mount Olive, N.C., on Aug. 5, 2019.

Jay B. Henderson ’59 of Newton Grove, N.C., on Oct. 17, 2019.

Ray E. Joyner ’59 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 29, 2019.

Gene D. Lanier ’55 of Atlantic Beach, N.C., on Aug. 14, 2019.

Doris S. Leggett ’53 of Williamston, N.C., on Dec. 6, 2019.

Leonard D. Lilley ’58 ’62 of Henrico, Va., on Sept. 27, 2019.

James McLawhorn ’58 of Snow Hill, N.C., on Dec. 31, 2019.

Betty S. Meggs ’56 of Elizabeth City, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2019.

Shirley Moore ’57 ’66 ’73 of Greenville, N.C., on Aug. 22, 2019.

William Page ’59 of Carrboro, N.C., on Dec. 29, 2019.

Emma Pippen ’52 of Scotland Neck, N.C., on Sept. 20, 2019.

Aubrey Pridgen ’50 ’51 of San Antonio, Texas, on Aug. 27, 2019.

Lou Reavis ’53 of Henderson, N.C., on Dec. 12, 2019.

Jerry Sandford ’53 of Hampton, Va., on Feb. 11, 2020.

Nancy H. Spain ’58 of Hampton, Va., on Nov. 9, 2019.

Robert Wease ’56 of Staunton, Va., on Nov. 22, 2019.

Betsy West ’50 ’63 of Greenville, N.C., on Nov. 19, 2019.

Kenneth R. West ’58 of Wilson on Dec. 6, 2019.

Betty H. Woolard ’54 of Camden, S.C., on Dec. 1, 2019.

1960s James W. Berry ’63 of Farmville, N.C., on Dec. 31, 2019.

Carol P. Bickel ’65 ’67 of Winterville, N.C., on Oct. 11, 2019.

Cauley Bryan ’65 ’90 of Seven Springs, N.C., on Sept. 30, 2019.

James D. Burwell ’69 of Columbia, S.C., on Dec. 23, 2019.

Larry D. Byrd ’62 ’63 of Duluth, Ga., on Dec. 1, 2019.

Carolyn J. Caldwell ’65 of Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 4, 2019.

Mary Cash ’66 of Greenville, N.C., on Nov. 7, 2019.

Effie Cherry ’62 of Hendersonville, Tenn., on Jan. 12, 2020.

Steven Clements ’61 of Cary, N.C., on Oct. 20, 2019.

Kenneth Congleton ’64 of Smithfield, Va., on Aug. 27, 2019.

Stephen Crotts ’69 of Siler City, N.C., on Sept. 27, 2019.

Ron L. Davis ’66 of Williamsburg, Va., on Nov. 2, 2019.

Thomas W. Dean ’67 of Beaufort, S.C., on Sept. 13, 2019.

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Manly Dunlow ’61 of Hampton, N.H., on Aug. 3, 2019.

Bill Fitzgerald ’60 of Onancock, Va., on Sept. 26, 2019.

David S. Gaylord ’62 of Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 28, 2019.

Richard E. George ’60 of Virginia Beach, Va., on Sept. 25, 2019.

Nadine K. Gillespie ’69 of Wake Forest, N.C., on Dec. 5, 2019.

Helen E. Green ’69 of Wilmington, N.C., on Jan. 1, 2020.

Cecil Ray Gurganus ’61 of Evansville, Ind., on Sept. 14, 2019.

John J. Heery ’63 ’19 of Glassboro, N.J., on Sept. 1, 2019.

Roland J. Howard ’60 of Hampstead, N.C., on Nov. 23, 2019.

William Huey ’68 of Graham, N.C., on Nov. 12, 2019.

Ron Hufstader ’68 of El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 9, 2019.

James Hurdle Jr. ’69 ’71 of Rocky Mount, N.C., on Sept. 2, 2019.

Foster “Ed” Jones ’64 ’69 of Woodbridge, Va., on July 30, 2019.

Barbara Kelly ’61 of Garner, N.C., on Feb. 17, 2020.

John S. Laliotes ’69 of Grimesland, N.C., on April 9, 2019.

Charles S. Lanier ’69 of Swansboro, N.C., on Oct. 24, 2019.

Glenda S. Lee ’62 of Four Oaks, N.C., on Nov. 3, 2019.

Shurley McCullen ’65 of Clinton, N.C., on Dec. 26, 2019.

Charles D. Millson ’64 of Hamlet, N.C., on Feb. 19, 2020.

Jack Morgan ’68 of Crisfield, Md., on Jan. 23, 2020.

Rachael Nance ’62 of Asheboro, N.C., on Oct. 12, 2019.

Hank Pryce ’66 of Mocksville, N.C., on Aug. 14, 2019.

David K. Rice ’61 of Cary, N.C., on Sept. 18, 2019.

Patricia Scharling ’69 of Aiken, S.C., on Dec. 26, 2019.

Roger Gail Steen ’65 of Reston, Va., on Dec. 28, 2019.

Sylvia Sylvester ’62 ’86 of Emerald Isle, N.C., on Sept. 22, 2019.

Tony Upchurch ’60 of Reston, Va., on Dec. 31, 2019.

Nancy Whitlow ’65 ’94 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 13, 2019.

Moye Woolard ’63 of Washington, N.C., on Jan. 24, 2020.

1970s Joe Anthony ’72 of Durham, N.C., on Aug. 7, 2019.

David M. Best ’77 of Winterville, N.C., on Jan. 21, 2020.

Lester Z. Brown ’70 of Greenville, N.C., on Aug. 27, 2019.

William L. Charlton ’73 of Raleigh, N.C., on Oct. 21, 2019.

Laura Ann Currin ’76 ’99 of Littleton, N.C., on Aug. 26, 2019.

Peggy Davenport ’71 of Roper, N.C., on Aug. 25, 2019.

Rachel W. Edwards ’79 of Bailey, N.C., on Dec. 23, 2019.

Edward English ’72 of Rocky Mount, N.C., on Jan. 12, 2020.

Betty Fentress ’77 of River Bend, N.C., on Sept. 26, 2019.

Jere D. Gallagher ’70 ’72 of Pittsburgh, Pa., on Aug. 20, 2019.

Elaine M. Georgalis ’77 of Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 24, 2019.

Beverly W. Gregory ’71 of Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 9, 2020.

Ann Hagelberger ’70 of Fayetteville, N.C., on Sept. 20, 2019.

Mary Ann Harrison ’72 of Snow Hill, N.C., on Nov. 11, 2019.

Jeanne Hawks ’76 of Temecula, Calif., on Dec. 23, 2019.

Tawny Hollis ’77 of Bath, N.C., on Sept. 3, 2019.

Margie T. Hunter ’75 of Kinston, N.C., on Oct. 1, 2019.

Grace S. Kendall ’73 of Washington, N.C., on Aug. 11, 2019.

Cameron Lanier ’72 of Jacksonville, N.C., on Sept. 29, 2019.

Mark Lunsford ’78 of Burlington, N.C., on Jan. 17, 2020.

Horace Mewborn ’75 of New Bern, N.C., on Dec. 14, 2019.

Patsy R. Miller ’79 of Lexington, N.C., on Feb. 4, 2020.

Edward Miller ’74 of Willow Spring, N.C., on Oct. 1, 2019.

Susan Mincey ’74 of Cocoa Beach, Fla., on Dec. 9, 2019.

Lucy S. Pake ’70 ’79 of Washington, N.C., on Oct. 10, 2019.

Susan S. Poling ’75 of St. Louis, Mo., on Dec. 30, 2019.

Shamra Sawyer ’78 of Chocowinity, N.C., on Nov. 4, 2019.

Damaris Sayce ’74 of Kure Beach, N.C., on Oct. 22, 2019.

John Sewall ’71 of Jacksonville, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2019.

Steve Showfety ’70 of Greensboro, N.C., on Oct. 31, 2019.

William R. Spital ’79 of Beaufort, N.C., on Nov. 7, 2019.

Rebekah Taylor ’76 ’79 of Tarboro, N.C., on Nov. 23, 2019.

Susan L. Terry ’70 of Burlington, Colo., on Oct. 31, 2019.

John C. Walker IV ’79 of White Stone, Va., on Feb. 1, 2020.

Sammy Viverette ’73 of Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 24, 2020.

Jane A. Webster ’72 of Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 9, 2019.

Stuart Williams ’76 of Boiling Springs, S.C., on Dec. 29, 2019.

Candace Willkens ’78 of Auburn, Ala., on Jan. 15, 2020.

Nina Yokley ’76 of Winston-Salem, N.C., on Jan. 8, 2020.

1980s Shirley E. Brooks ’87 of Austin, Texas, on Jan. 20, 2020.

Sue Brookshire ’89 ’00 of Randleman, N.C., on Sept. 13, 2019.

Raye N. Carraway ’83 of Belhaven, N.C., on Feb. 18, 2020.

RexAnne Davis ’82 of Grifton, N.C., on Dec. 24, 2019.

Nancy Glenn ’88 of Hickory, N.C., on Dec. 11, 2019.

Stephen Harding ’87 ’92 of Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 9, 2019.

Odell G. Harris ’84 of Elizabeth City, N.C., on Oct. 15, 2019.

Dr. Shirlene Hunt ’84 of Fairmont, N.C., on Jan. 9, 2020.

William Laughinghouse ’86 of Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 25, 2020.

Rhea Ellen Markello ’81 of Greenville, N.C., on Nov. 13, 2019.

Olive Mollison ’85 of Greenville, N.C., on Nov. 1, 2019.

Sybil Mueller ’82 of Fayetteville, N.C., on Jan. 21, 2020.

Joe Neely ’80 of Wilson, N.C., on Aug. 26, 2019.

Keith Pittman ’86 of Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 6, 2020.

Christopher S. Riley ’88 of Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 29, 2019.

Marlene Roesenkoetter ’83 of Brunswick, Ga., on Dec. 31, 2019.

Carla Sizemore ’88 of Roanoke, Va., on Dec. 6, 2019.

Barbara Stancil ’82 of Emerald Isle, N.C., on Sept. 12, 2019.

Frank Tatusko ’81 of Saylorsburg, Pa., on Dec. 8, 2019.

Joseph G. White Jr. ’84 of Staunton, Va., on Aug. 10, 2019.

1990s Bruce Bullock ’96 of Greenville, N.C., on Aug. 16, 2019.

Cindy Clayton ’90 of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., on Aug. 22, 2019.

Karen Clevenger ’95 of New Bern, N.C., on Dec. 7, 2019.

Christina Dornbush ’98 of Asheboro, N.C., on Aug. 14, 2019.

Catina J. Gardner ’95 of Dunn, N.C., on Oct. 14, 2019.

Brian G. McDonnell ’94 of Victor, Idaho, on Dec. 5, 2019.

Joshua Sturtz ’95 of Fayetteville, N.C., on Dec. 17, 2019.

Susan R. Tisdale ’93 of Wilmington, N.C., on Jan. 28, 2020.

Karyn Barlow Venuso ’96 of Atlanta, Ga., on Sept. 11, 2019.

Lisa F. Wheeler ’92 of Woodland, N.C., on Oct. 20, 2019.

2000s Erin Bartlett ’08 of Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sept. 22, 2019.

Daisy L. Brown ’07 of Hollister, N.C., on Aug. 9, 2019.

Jacqueline Hall ’04 of Mill Spring, N.C., on Nov. 8, 2019.

Ruby P. Hollowell ’08 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 5, 2019.

Kimberly Ingold ’09 of Norwood, N.C., on Sept. 7, 2019.

Shelly Joe Keeter ’08 of Greenville, N.C., on Aug. 10, 2019.

Rian D. McFadden ’03 of Bradford, Mass., on Oct. 13, 2019.

2010s Reginald Hamilton ’15 of Hickory, N.C., on Aug. 6, 2019.

Caitlin C. Lutes ’12 of Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 4, 2019.

Jim Metzger ’12 of Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 18, 2019.

FA C U LT Y / S TA F F David R. Colburn (history) of Gainesville, Fla., on Sept. 18, 2019.

J. Alan Ferner (athletics) of Cape May Court House, N.J., on Nov. 20, 2019.

Dr. John Gibbs (medicine) of Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 11, 2020.

Clement Handron (psychology) of Greenville, N.C., on Nov. 4, 2019.

Melvin Hathaway (facilities services) of Greenville, N.C., on Dec. 26, 2019.

H.D. Lambeth Jr. (counseling center) of Burlington, N.C., on Nov. 9, 2019.

Hope Landrine (medicine, psychology) of Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 3, 2019.

Mike McGee (athletics) of Montrose, Colo., on Aug. 16, 2019.

Bernice McKibben (library services) of Littleton, Colo., on Nov. 30, 2019.

Maurice D. Simon (political science) of Raleigh, N.C., on Aug. 23, 2019.

Avtar Singh (sociology) of Chapel Hill, N.C., on Jan. 11, 2020.

Jay C. Smout (medicine) of Fredericksburg, Va., on Dec. 23, 2019.

Harold D. Stillwell (geography) of Asheville, N.C., on Nov. 30, 2019.

Kevin Sugg (facilities) of Farmville, N.C., on Feb. 6, 2020.

Becky Sweet (human ecology) of Tarboro, N.C., on Sept. 4, 2019.

Sergiy Vilkomir (computer science) of Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 9, 2020.

CONNECT SUMMER 2020 VOLUME 18, NUMBER 1 East is produced by East Carolina University

Managing Editor Doug Boyd ’99

Art Director Mike Litwin ’01

Designer Micah Tweeten

Photographers Rhett Butler, Cliff Hollis

Contributing Writers Crystal Baity, Ken Buday, Lacey Gray, Jules Norwood, Natalie Sayewich, Matt Smith, Rob Spahr, Erin Ward

Contributing Photographers Tyler Boruff, Doug Boyd, Amber Denae, Brian Gaukel, New York Yankees

Copy Editor Jimmy Rostar ’94

Chief Communications Officer Jeannine Manning Hutson Contact Us • 252-737-1973 • easteditor@ecu.edu • www.ecu.edu/east Customer Service To start or stop a subscription or to let us know about a change of address, please contact Advancement Services at advancementservices@ecu.edu or 252-328-GIVE (4483).

Send letters to the editor to: easteditor@ecu.edu or Howard House Mail Stop 107 East Carolina University Greenville, N.C. 27858-4353

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DueEast 2.16.20 Lincoln Robinson, 4, and ECU student volunteer Gabrielle Carmina spend time in the PeeDee sensory room at Minges Coliseum during the ECU-Cincinnati men’s basketball game Feb. 16.

The room, on the first floor of the arena, is designed to give fans with autism and other sensory processing disorders a place to escape from overwhelming sights and sounds often found at college sporting events.

The space was made possible through the financial support of ECU trustee Leigh Fanning and her sister, Ellen Bland.