15410 SISH Year in Review 2015

School of Integrated Science and Humanity

Year in Review

Seeking deeper understandings

Seeking deeper understandings, advancing science for humanity

Mosaic on display in the foyer at the Stocker AstroScience Center.

Message from the Dean FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education is dedicated to solving the grand challenges of our time in education, environment and health care through research and engagement in the community, while also training the next generation of problem solvers. Our School of Integrated Science and Humanity (SISH) is critical in realizing this vision. As you will see, our students and faculty are doing amazing things — developing and implementing solutions to combat disease, advance mental health treatment, and promote diversity and exploration throughout the world. From South Florida and beyond, SISH is making a lasting impact while empowering and inspiring students and the public. We are seeking deeper understandings and building programs to advance science for humanity. There is so much more we can do with additional resources, and our commitment is strong. I hope that you will be as inspired as I am by the work in SISH and will get involved!

Michael R. Heithaus Dean, College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Message from the Director Welcome to the School of Integrated Science and Humanity’s (SISH) Year in Review.

The school’s theme of developing deeper understandings to advance scientific inquiry and discovery is in full display. It is an honor to serve as the interim executive director and I look forward to a great year ahead! I would like to congratulate Dr. Suzanna Rose, the school’s founding executive director, who was named an associate provost of FIU. I want to thank her for her dedication to SISH. Our efforts touch nearly every aspect of the human experience, from the tiniest subatomic particles to the far reaches of space. We research, challenge and explore. Our academic structure — encompassing Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, Philosophy, Physics and Psychology — fosters interdisciplinary dialogues of the most pivotal issues facing society today. Our ultimate goal is simple — to advance health and well-being for the human body, society and our greater existence.

In 2015, we embarked on many new endeavors that contribute to this core mission. In addition to expanded efforts focused on cognitive neuroscience, we launched an international initiative to stop the cycle of emotional and physical violence against women.

To expand educational opportunities for forensic science professionals, our International Forensic Research Institute graduated its first cohort of a new professional degree program. Focusing on management skills, the program is designed to help practicing forensic professionals advance their careers as lab directors or other senior positions. It is only one of six professional science master’s in forensic science programs in the country.

In February, the Center for Children and Families hosted the Eighth Biennial “Niagara in Miami” “ Conference — one of the world’s leading international forums focusing on state-of-the-art, evidence-based prevention and treatments for child mental health.

FIU has set a goal of increasing the number of physics Ph.D. degrees awarded to underrepresented minority students. In support, the university hosted the annual American Physical Society Bridge Program in October. The program helps establish links between minority-serving and doctoralgranting institutions.

From the minds of children to technological discoveries, SISH is making contributions that help foster a healthier, happier and safer society. For our students, 2015 was a year of hands-on learning, exploration and inspiration designed to transform their capabilities to help solve 21st century challenges.

Walter Van Hamme Interim Executive Director, School of Integrated Science and Humanity

Answers within reach

Biomolecular Sciences faculty focus on human health

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the main vector for transmitting mosquito-borne diseases including dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Pictured are two Aedes aegypti mosquitoes — one is genetically modified, left, and the other is wild as found throughout much of the southern and southeastern United States, Central and South America, and other parts of the world.

Actual size

S

cientists at the Biomolecular Sciences Institute (BSI) are working toward significant discoveries in molecular science for the benefit of human health and wellness.

As fears spread about recent outbreaks of the Zika virus in Latin America and with confirmed cases in the United States, researchers Fernando Noriega and Matthew DeGennaro are investigating solutions to mosquitoborne diseases including Zika, malaria, chikungunya and dengue fever. Despite the threat mosquitoes pose to human health, little progress has been made in understanding the genetic basis for their behavior. With support from a 5-year research grant from the National Neurogeneticist and BSI researcher Matthew DeGennaro Institutes of Health, Noriega and DeGennaro could works with genetically modified mosquitoes. contribute to this understanding while also studying the widespread resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides. DeGennaro is well-known internationally for his work with genetically modified mosquitoes and holds the distinction of being the first person to create a mutant mosquito. Using molecular genetics to address biological questions, DeGennaro hopes the efforts at FIU will lead to new approaches to manipulate mosquito behavior and limit the spread of disease.

Combatting illness at the molecular level is a growing scientific trend worldwide. FIU researchers are advancing the science behind disease, cancer biology and neurodegenerative disorders under the direction of biochemist and BSI Director Yuk-Ching Tse-Dinh.

In addition to the recent work related to mosquito-borne illnesses, BSI researchers have advanced a variety of studies focused on cancer. A $75,000 gift is helping to fund preliminary research for the treatment of glioblastoma — a malignant tumor affecting the brain or spine.

Tse-Dinh believes her team is on the cusp of identifying molecular signatures that may provide more effective, individualized treatment for brain cancer patients.

Through these efforts and others like them, BSI is offering hope to millions of people who suffer from cancer, obesity, infectious diseases and even neurodegenerative disorders.

To advance our work in the biomolecular sciences, FIU is working on ways to personalize health care and develop new, targeted drugs and treatments for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and other illnesses. We are developing a bioinformatics data facility that will allow biological data to be stored, distributed and analyzed to support multiple areas of research and discovery including biomedicine.

To learn how you can support these efforts, contact givetocase@fiu.edu | 305-348-4349

Complexities of the brain Researchers look for answers within the human mind

U

nderstanding the scientific basis of thought and function of the brain drives the cognitive neuroscience team at FIU.

Researchers in the Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging Center (CNIC) are engaging the latest technologies to advance what we know about the most complex organ in the human body — the brain. They have dedicated their entire careers to understanding mental processes in the healthy and diseased human brain across the lifespan. They study brain activity, cognition, emotion, action, sensory perception and mental health.

The center’s more than 50 affiliate faculty members come from physics, chemistry, biology, education, medicine, business, psychology and other disciplines. This year, five new members joined the center adding biomedical engineering and physical therapy to the team.

CNIC scientists are leading the neuroimaging component of a multiyear national landmark study on substance use and adolescent brain development funded by the National Institutes of Health. The $12.7 million grant, for the first five-year cycle of the research study, is the single largest NIH award ever received by an FIU faculty team and will be lead by FIU’s Center for Children and Families. CNIC provides brain images for the children enrolled in the study.

Physicist Angela Laird, left, and her student Jessica Bartley, right, conduct brain mapping research at an MRI facility in Miami.

The Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging Center is working on improvements in imaging and cutting edge treatments to directly stimulate the brain for the treatment of anxiety and depression. We are also developing pilot projects in educational neuroscience, ADHD, autism, aging and cognitive decline.

To learn how you can support these efforts, contact givetocase@fiu.edu | 305-348-4349

Researchers are also developing new methods to study the social interactions in children at risk for developmental disorders including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism. Improved neuroimaging techniques to study how the brain functions while children interact with their peers, teachers and parents may provide new insights into how these disorders are treated.

For CNIC Director Angela Laird, it’s about more than diagnosing and treating illness.

The center’s mission is also dedicated to education. With the support of the Department of Physics, CNIC provides scholarships and research training for historically underrepresented undergraduate students majoring in physics.

Laird is also studying reasoning and problem-solving among students in her physics classes utilizing the same neuroimaging techniques used in diagnostic studies. By monitoring brain activity while the students are learning, Laird and her team hope to identify the best methods for teaching today’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students and better craft the way classes are taught well into the future.

Over the next year, CNIC will focus on several pilot programs dedicated to studying learning patterns, functional brain networks and memory.

FIU’s Center for Children and Families provides evidence-based services for infants, children and adolescents while also leading innovative research programs to advance the science behind treatments for children and adolescents with mental and behavior disorders. Your support can help fund undergraduate internships at the center’s Summer Treatment Program and provide scholarships for children to attend.

The center’s vision is to endow a school for those children needing behavioral, emotional and learning interventions.

To learn how you can support these efforts, contact givetocase@fiu.edu | 305-348-4349

In the minds

of children

Center revolutionizes treatments for child mental health

N

early 20 percent of children in the United States suffer from a mental or behavioral disorder, with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) being the most common. The cost to American society is in the tens of billions of dollars. FIU’s Center for Children and Families (CCF) is an international leader in research and treatment for child mental health, serving approximately 3,000 children and families annually for ADHD, autism, child anxiety, aggression, classroom interventions, parent trainings and more.

The treatments developed through these programs have the potential to benefit millions around the world.

Research is at the core of CCF’s mission. In 2015, the National Institutes of Health awarded FIU $12.7 million as part of a multi-year landmark study on substance-use and adolescent brain development.

It is the single largest NIH award ever received by an FIU faculty team.

Raul Gonzalez, associate professor of psychology, psychiatry and immunology is the faculty member at CCF leading the 14-member research team from FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education and Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work. The project includes child mental health and social work experts, as well as psychologists and a physicist, who have extensive track records in drug abuse research and cognitive neuroscience. In total, 13 grants were awarded to research universities throughout the United States for the study, which will follow 10,000 children, starting at the age of 9 or 10 and continuing through adolescence which is considered the developmental stage of highest risk for substance use and other disorders.

Scientists will track exposure to nicotine, alcohol, marijuana and other substances, as well as academic achievement, cognitive skills, mental health and brain function. The FIU researchers also will examine the presence of disruptive behavioral disorders including ADHD. Across the center, more than 40 researchers and clinical experts are working to advance the science behind treatment programs for ADHD, autism, anxiety and other behavioral disorders. CCF faculty members are also studying use of spatial language, cognitive and social development, and drug use.

The center was founded and is led by William E. Pelham, Jr., a pioneer in the field of ADHD research and treatment. Pelham is the architect of the award-winning Summer Treatment Program, an intensive, 8-week program for children with behavior problems and learning disorders. The center is also training the next generation of child mental health providers, offering counselor opportunities, training sessions and mentoring of FIU undergraduate, graduate and medical students.

CCF’s research efforts have led to a variety of new evidence-based treatments for children, which are offered locally through a clinical program run by the center. More than 1,600 children are registered in community or clinic-based summer readiness programs, 800 are enrolled in clinical research trials and 600 children and their parents participate in clinical treatment at the center. Ninety percent of the center’s clients reside in Miami-Dade County.

STEM-focused FIU creates model for education innovation at all levels

T

oday’s students are the building blocks of tomorrow’s work force. Many of the fastest-growing industries require significant know-how in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Yet Americans continue to under-perform in those fields, and underrepresented minorities are a growing concern.

Florida International University is a national model for STEM education reform and the top producer of STEM degrees for Hispanics. In fact, FIU is one of the top producers of STEM degrees for all minorities. The university’s STEM Transformation Institute serves as a national laboratory to develop and implement evidence-based models for teaching STEM disciplines in multicultural, urban communities. It was recently included in the White House’s catalog of Bright Spots in Hispanic Education for helping to improve attitudes toward science, largely through a shift from lecture-style to active learning classes where students engage in science activities.

The College of Arts, Sciences & Education and the STEM Transformation Institute are developing a pilot program in collaboration with the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science to provide real-world experiences in science learning for Miami-Dade County preschool children. Supported by funding from the State of Florida, the partnership is putting focus on the importance of working with families to introduce science to preschoolers.

For a second year in a row, the School of Integrated Science and Humanity and Geeki Girls Gatherings presented the GeekiWood conference showcasing non-traditional STEM careers. An interactive expo featured FIU student organizations and researchers demonstrating their STEM-related work for the more than 350 middle school students in attendance.

FIU is committed to student success. We have developed new approaches to teaching including innovative onsite and online math courses that have led to double-digit increases in pass rates college-wide. By implementing peer learning and new technology in active learning classrooms, we are helping thousands of students who would otherwise struggle to succeed in STEM. To learn how you can support these efforts, contact givetocase@fiu.edu | 305-348-4349

With education being the core focus, the STEM Transformation Institute is helping to develop the next generation of STEM teachers through FIUteach. Part of a five-year, $1.45 million grant from the National Math and Science Institute, FIUteach provides hands-on experience in the classroom to help prepare STEM degree-seeking students for possible careers in teaching. The FIU Department of Physics is also training teachers from Miami-Dade and Broward counties to implement active learning techniques in their classrooms through a summer physical science institute.

These efforts and more are helping to drive innovation and develop the next generation of STEM professionals locally and nationally.

An end to violence

Initiative targets solutions for women

The FIU Center for Women’s and Gender Studies fosters intellectual exchange, creative pursuits and social justice advocacy. The center provides scholarship opportunities for women and under-represented minority students in the STEM fields. The center also supports continuing efforts to advance integrative solutions to combat violence worldwide through the International Women, Gender and Violence Initiative.

To learn how you can help, contact givetocase@fiu.edu | 305-348-4349

The World’s Women 2015 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worldswomen.html

S

ocial gender-based violence is a global pandemic.

One in three women worldwide will experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime — mostly by an intimate partner — leading to long-term physical, mental and emotional health problems.

Considering this reality, the FIU Center for Women’s and Gender Studies has launched an initiative to advance solutions to prevent violence against women. The International Women, Gender and Violence Initiative is focused on prevention and education of the issues related to violence locally, nationally and globally.

In support of the initiative, the School of Integrated Science and Humanity hosted the Inaugural International Women, Gender and Violence Conference in January 2015. The conference brought together nearly 200 researchers, community activists and service providers to advance integrative solutions to violence. Lynn Rosenthal, former White House advisor on domestic violence, delivered the keynote address. Her focus was on the future, with hopes to end violence against women and girls.

The conference featured short presentations for local and student communities on promoting healthy relationships; provided practitioners with up-to-date knowledge about violence issues for continuing education credit/certification; and opened opportunities for future collaborations to address violence against women and girls — not just in South Florida but all over the world.

Future conferences are being planned to provide insight to frontline research on the barriers to reporting incidents of violence and abuse, including fear, language barriers, immigration policy, family identity, lack of support or resources and other issues contributing to violence against women.

The international focus of the initiative guides research centered on how to stop these trends of violence and, in some cases, their cultural acceptance. As a solutionsdriver, the initiative is partnering with local organizations and shelters to develop progressive programs designed to end the cycle of abuse and serve as a model for creating centers across the United States and the world.

In the hands

of science

Advances in forensics provide solutions for society

F

rom law enforcement to education, scientists at the International Forensic Research Institute (IFRI) are advancing science for the betterment of humanity.

Through the application of scientific principles, faculty and students are creating new tools, researching new methods and developing best practices for the administration of justice. At the helm is Jose Almirall, IFRI director and forensic chemist. Among his extensive portfolio, Almirall most recently launched a detection project that includes his invention of a tiny, sorbent tube designed to sample volatile chemicals in the air, your home, food and even your body.

Called the CMV (capillary microextraction of volatiles), the simple yet highly sensitive device can sample air by drawing just a small amount of air through it. When sent to a laboratory for analysis using gas chromatographymass spectrometry, volatile organic compounds are identified including those associated with the presence of bacteria, mold, carcinogens, and much more. Because of its portability, low cost and proven sensitivity, the CMV could impact nearly all industries including medicine, law enforcement, shipping, insurance, and even private in-home use. Almirall and alumnus Digno Caballero formed IAD-x, LLC to further develop the device and expand research with the intent to put analytical chemistry within reach for the average person.

Efforts like this — designed to advance science for real world application — are what drive IFRI faculty to create, innovate and explore. In the summer, legal psychologist Nadja Schreiber Compo was an invited speaker at the Forensic Services Bureau of the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) and presented at the International Association of Chiefs of Police. She also trained MDPD homicide, special victims unit and robbery investigators on best practices for witness interviewing.

While exciting innovations are happening today, groundwork is also being laid for the future of forensic science.

The National Institute of Justice awarded IFRI researchers a combined total of $1.5 million to further research in drug exposure detection, crime scene investigation, synthetic cannabinoids and DNA analysis. The The International Forensic Research Institute combination of five grants and two fellowships continues to advance scientific discoveries in forensic totals the most NIJ awards given to a single science through state-of-the-art research. IFRI’s vision institution in 2015. includes expanding the research facilities that are instrumental to the groundbreaking work our forensic scientists conduct. They enable the development of new technologies and advance research for the betterment of mankind.

To learn how you can support these efforts, contact givetocase@fiu.edu | 305-348-4349

IFRI is at the forefront of forensic science. With the proper support, our researchers have the opportunity to revolutionize forensic science research and make ground-breaking contributions to law enforcement and policy.

FIU alumnus Digno Caballero, left, and IFRI Director Jose Almirall demonstrate how the CMV (capillary microextraction of volatiles) device absorbs vapors from the air.

Into the night

sky

FIU physicists continue to seek answers among the stars

S

ince the opening of the Stocker AstroScience Center on FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus, students have welcomed many new opportunities for exploration and discovery. In 2015, they gained a view from the Canary Islands as the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope (JKT) was reactivated as part of a new agreement between the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. FIU is one of 13 universities that make up SARA. The acquisition of the JKT gives FIU astronomers a remotely operable telescope at one of the best observing sites for optical astronomy in the world — the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, home to about 20 telescopes on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma. This telescope complements the current SARASouth (Chile) and SARA-North (Arizona) telescopes.

Combined, they allow continuous viewing of the night sky uninterrupted by the day-night cycle. Remote operation enables savings in travel costs, flexibility in scheduling use of the telescopes, and simple access for students. The JKT was originally commissioned by the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands more than 30 years ago, taking advantage of the excellent atmospheric conditions afforded by the steep volcanic island of La Palma. Astronomers from the SARA partner institutions use such facilities to pursue research ranging from asteroids to quasars, as well as classroom and public outreach events.

Community outreach continues to be a core function of the astroscience center, with the highlight of 2015 coming in October. The observatory was standing room only for the White House Astronomy Night event.

The Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope, far right, at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, Spain. Photo: Goonerette / Shutterstock.com

More than 200 astronomy enthusiasts — including FIU students, Booker T. Washington Senior High School students, teachers and astroscience center donor Carl Stocker — filled the observatory to watch President Obama’s remarks from the White House and learn more about astronomy initiatives in the United States.

The Stocker AstroScience Center opened its doors in 2014, the first permanent research home for FIU’s astronomers. It was made possible by a gift from Stocker, a retired educator. In addition to its main telescope, the Stocker Center features a control room inspired by the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the popular TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Stocker AstroScience Center control room

Through FIU’s Stocker AstroScience Center, researchers have a permanent home for observing beyond the Earth’s sky. To make exploration more accessible to our community, FIU hopes to build a high-impact teaching and outreach planetarium annex to the Stocker AstroScience Center.

To learn how you can support these efforts, contact

givetocase@fiu.edu | 305-348-4349

SISH by the numbers 6,396 178

Students

Faculty

18,193 5

Alumni

90%

of families served

by SISH clinical programs are from Miami-Dade County

Departments

21

Interdisciplinary centers, institutes and research facilities

$13.4

Million

Research expenditures

34

Degree programs

6

Certificate programs

FIU is the largest producer of STEM degrees for Hispanics in the U.S.

1,651 Graduates

239 154

Learning Assistants

Affiliate faculty from across FIU working with the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies

10,075

Students serviced by Learning Assistants

FIU is ranked 17th out of 277 higher education institutions in terms of social mobility, research and service. — Washington Monthly

15410_04/16

Paper collage rendition of The Starry Night

by Vincent van Gogh created by a child in the Summer Treatment Program at FIU’s Center for Children and Families.