2016-2020 Impact Report
Sam Houston State University Impact Report Fiscal Years 2016-2020
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© 2021 by Sam Houston State University
Written and designed by Erin Owens, Tamara Parsons, and Emily Van Eaton Commissioned by Chad Hargrave, Associate Vice President of Research and Sponsored Programs All photographs, unless otherwise attributed, are courtesy of SHSU Communications.
3 Conceptualizing and Communicating Our Impact What is “impact”? The word comes up a lot in higher education, especially in relation to research, but the exact definition or metrics for demonstrating it are quite highly debated. Some researchers are familiar with the Journal Impact Factor, which indicates how frequently a journal is cited. But we can’t use this metric to extrapolate information about individual articles, researchers, or institutions. A specific article inside a high-impact journal might not be read and cited, in which case, is it impactful? What about a highly cited and influential article which was published in a small, niche, or new journal that does not have an Impact Factor? What about work published in professional publications to inform practitioners, like teachers or nurses, rather than scholars? For that matter, publishing doesn’t move at the same pace in all disciplines, and some disciplines don’t value formal book and article publishing as much as other forms of scholarly communication, such as sharing preprints or white papers, patenting designs, presenting at meetings, or testifying as an expert witness. Bringing in external grant dollars for research can make an enormous impact on the researcher, the university, and the students who have the opportunity to participate first-hand in research activities. But funding doesn’t tell the whole story: important discoveries and insights can come from unfunded research as well.
Some research has obvious and immediate benefits to the society, like a breakthrough in the cause or treatment of a medical problem. Other research may engage or enlighten us in more subtle ways, or its significance may not be realized until long after its dissemination. Should these “slow burners” be less acknowledged? What is the value of creating knowledge for knowledge’s sake? There are no easy answers to this quandary. We have endeavored therefore to cast a wide net encompassing scholarly and creative accomplishments across campus, to think broadly about what research can mean and what it can achieve. While we have incorporated some hard quantitative data, we have also brought a qualitative lens, sharing the stories of who our researchers are and what goals they pursue in their diverse explorations. We have sought to represent intriguing questions, innovative findings, inspiring creations, and the mentoring and successes of students as current and future creators of knowledge. We hope that the resulting report paints a vivid picture of the broad array of scholarly and creative activities and accomplishments that are making SHSU a great name in research. Chad Hargrave Associate Vice President of Research and Sponsored Programs
4 External Funding 273 external awards Over $60,273,000 awarded From U.S. Department of Education, Library of Congress, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Army, Office of the Texas Governor, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), Texas Commission on the Arts, Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), Texas Education Agency (TEA), Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), Lockheed Martin, Entergy, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Forensic Science Foundation, and other funders.
Ranked 344 of 647 for 2019 total research & development (R&D) expenditures by the National Science Foundation Higher Education R&D Survey
5 Research Production 1,865+ articles, chapters, and other published outputs 455+ open-access publications 50+ published datasets 17 active patents and 1 pending Collaborators and co-authors in 87+ countries Cited in policy documents on mental health, violence against women, aging, and other subjects from National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Economic Policy Institute, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Analysis & Policy Observatory, and more.
6 Student Research Highlights Faculty And Student Team (FAST) Awards • • •
25 FAST Awards (2016-20) 56 FAST student collaborators (2016-20) $214,721 FAST Award funding (2018-20)
Student Travel Award for Professional Presentation (STAPP) • • •
McNair Scholars • •
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60 cohort scholars (FY 2016-19) Average 98% cohort completion of research and presentation Average 74% cohort enrollment in graduate programs Average 75% Master’s completion rate
115 student presenter recipients $35,711 student travel funding (Fall 2017 - Fall 2019)
Undergraduate Research Symposium • • •
Free and open to all undergraduates 930+ student presenters, (FY 2016-20) $8,500+ in student awards
College of Arts & Media
Department of Art Department of Dance
Department of Mass Communication Department of Theatre & Musical Theatre
School of Music
Photo on reverse: Dana G. Hoyt Fine Art Building. Photo courtesy of College of Arts & Media
9 Animated Accomplishments by Graphic Design Students The Department of Art’s impact proves why it deserves its position among the Top Ten Graphic Design school programs in Texas. Students Precious Lord, Ayana Atha, Guadalupe Martinez-Urbina and Brandie Lafleur, under the guidance and advisement of Cesar Rivera, former assistant professor of graphic design, were recognized for their short motion graphic film, “Girls Who Code,” winning Best Group Project
at the 2019 National Student Show and Conference in Dallas, Texas. Their project is critical in the movement to encourage more women to enter the tech industry, which has been male dominated. The project
Still from rotoNature: Edward Morin
was chosen from over 1,500 submissions. In another impressive achievement, the animation “rotoNature” was selected to be screened at The West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival in 2019. The West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival showcases works they consider extraordinary and captivating. The animation, created by students working with Associate Professor Edward Morin, was also screened at the 2019 Bogotá Experimental Film Festival in Colombia, making it an international achievement.
Professor Kim Merges Science with the Essence of Art A pandemic could not slow Professor Emily Taehee Kim’s creativity. Since 2020, she has been featured in four global art exhibitions, and she won a Juror’s Choice award for “The Darkness,” her submission to the Focal Point exhibition at the Foundry Art Center. She is a multifaceted artist, merging art with science as she explores mediums, including film, sculpture and graphic design. Kim’s short film, “Speculation of the Essence,” was entered in the 2019 West Virginia Mountaineers Short Film Festival, which highlights experimental works. The
short film looks at different flowers through a digital microscope to highlight the beauty and movement of nature that cannot be seen with the naked eye. An art piece by Kim was displayed in the Farmington Museum’s 2017 Gateway to Imagination: A Juried Art Competition. Only 80 out of 481 submissions were chosen for display. However, Kim’s impact is not limited to the U.S.: her “Poetic Light” could be viewed in South Korea in the 2019 KOSMA GwangJu International Exhibition at the Asia Culture Center. The
short film used a digital microscope to view the complex structure of a cotton ball, showing that people are more complex than they appear.
Photo courtesy of Emily Taehee Kim
10 Impact in Motion: NobleMotion Takes Center Stage The Department of Dance at SHSU is proud to present Associate Chair/Full Professor Andy Noble and his wife, Associate Professor Dionne Noble, two gifted individuals and co-artistic directors of NobleMotion Dance. Andy, a highly distinguished dancer and choreographer, has been recognized for his choreography with multiple grants and commissions and was selected twice for the National Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. A talented choreographer in her own right, Dionne has been a guest artist at performing arts high schools and colleges, had her choreographic work produced at numerous festivals and featured
Photo from Free/Flow, 2020 Photo credit: Lynn Lane
by several dance companies and her dance films have been shown at multiple film festivals. NobleMotion, located in Houston, Texas, has made an impact on the dance world. Their work was featured on ABC’s “American Crime,” an Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated television series. The Nobles worked closely with Academy Awardwinning screenwriter John Ridley to develop their choreography, which furthered the episode’s plot line. The Houston Press recognized NobleMotion as the Best Dance Company of 2019, and Dance Magazine proclaimed them one of the “A-list” dance companies in Houston.
A State of the “Art” Facility for Creative Innovation In the fall of 2019, the College of Arts & Media unveiled its new home: the Dana G. Hoyt Fine Arts Building. The building is named after the former University president, who retired after 10 years of service in the fall of 2020. Hoyt was the thirteenth person to serve as president of Sam Houston State University, but the first ever woman to hold the position. Before the new building opened, art classes were held all over cam-
pus in seven different buildings. Now together under one roof, the new 71,500-square-foot building holds advanced studios for painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, graphic design, animation, ceramics, sculpture, WASH (workshop in art studio and history), art education and art history. The building also houses faculty offices and art galleries—so creative works can be both developed and displayed. Around the exterior
of the building lies the gallery garden and working courtyard for sculpture and ceramics. The new building is expertly designed to encourage students to think creatively and to allow for collaboration amongst disciplines. Students and faculty artists for decades to come will benefit from this stateof-the-art facility. The Hoyt Fine Arts Building is depicted on the cover page of this report section.
11 SHSU Theatre Students Performing at Their Peak The Theatre department at SHSU is well-known for producing award-winning professionals who progress to celebrated careers. At the 2018 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) in Washington, D.C., SHSU’s Adrian Lopez took first prize for Musical Theatre Initiative. This prestigious competition spans multiple disciplines within theatre arts. The festival includes 18,000 students from over 600 different colleges and universities across the nation. First prize is a scholarship to the Open Jar Institute in New York City, a competitive workshop program that provides one-on-one
training with some of Broadway’s biggest directors, actors, and casting agents. At the KCACTF regional level, Destiny Mosely took home the 2020 Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, never before won by a Black woman from SHSU. Mosely states that she is “honored to be the first, and hopeful that [she is] not the last.” SHSU also won ten awards in acting, directing, and design. In technical theatre, nine SHSU students won awards at the 2019 Southwest-USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) competition, for efforts ranging from stage management to scenic
design. While some may not realize that technical theatre is as challenging as performance, SHSU recognizes the impact of both technical and traditional theatre professionals.
Destiny Mosely
Among the Elite: Dance Professor Joshua Manculich Assistant Professor Joshua Manculich of the Department of Dance has continued to shine since winning the 2015 Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship. Most
impressively, in 2019, Manculich was one of only three choreographers selected from an elite group for residency at the highly acclaimed Whim W’Him Seattle Contemporary Dance Company. During Manculich’s time with the company, he had the opportunity to choreograph for their 5th Annual Choreographic Shindig. This dancer-curated program featured Manculich’s creation, “See-Saw,” which Seattle Times’ Michael Upchurch declared “an artful, melancholy piece that leaves its heroine a little unsteady but still standing.”
Upon his return from Seattle, Manculich has continued to bring his passion for dance to the world. Whirlwind Dance, Manculich’s dance company, was featured in the outdoor event, “Let’s Move and Be Moved,” held in Hockley, Texas, in June 2021. This collection of awardwinning performances was an illustration of Manculich’s devotion to supporting artists and the art of dance. Manculich’s goal to inspire dancers—both amateurs and professionals—to showcase their own creativity and self-expression was truly an inspiring success.
12 Centering Marginalized Experience in Theatre History Victoria Lantz, associate professor of theatre history, treats show business as anything but business as usual. Her accomplishments span both peer-reviewed publications and creative work in directing, performance and dramaturgy. Many of her achievements emphasize diversity and center marginalized voices, including a 2020 article on centering girls in history and performance, a 2019 article on American Indian culture at Walt Disney World, and a 2020 conference presentation on feminist performance in theatre. Lantz won Excellence in Di-
recting at the 2020 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) Region 6 Festival
Photo courtesy of Victoria Lantz
for “She Kills Monsters,” as well as Excelling in Directing at the 2017 KCACTF Region 6 Festival for “A Raisin in the Sun.” Recent dramaturgy credits include “A Doll’s House” and “The Man of Destiny,” both in 2019 with American Players Theatre in Wisconsin, and “You Can’t Take It With You” with A.D. Players in Houston in 2017. She has received SHSU grants to support both research and production. Her latest research focuses on performance tourism in theme parks, including an upcoming presentation on COVID-19 tourism.
Herrmann’s Hollywood Skills Shine on Screen Assistant Professor Elisa Herrmann of the Department of Mass Communication earned the opportunity to attend the Television Academy Foundation’s 2018 Faculty Seminar Program. The seminar is an immersive experience allowing professors to learn from working professionals about the newest developments in the television and film industry. The seminar is highly selective with only 25 professors being selected nation-
wide. During her trip, Herrmann experienced panel discussions, private studio tours and meetings with Hollywood producers and brought back myriad new techniques to use in her classroom. Herrmann is an independent filmmaker. Her documentary “Rodrigo Herrmann – Life and Works” first premiered in Brazil and has been shown in several international film festivals. The film won the Bronze Remi
Award at the 2017 WorldFestHouston International Film Festival and was first runner up at the Great Lakes International Film Festival. Herrmann is also an awardwinning screenwriter. Her screenplay for the film, “The Great Adventure of the Bentley Girls,” won Best Screenplay at the Fan Fiction Film and Writing Festival in 2018. The film takes place in 1800s England and follows the Bentley family as they deal with issues of love, greed and betrayal. Herrmann’s extensive research, including a trip to rural England, ensured historical accuracy.
13 Boutte’s Savage Singing Draws National Acclaim Professor of Voice Tony Boutte has a lengthy list of performing credits, albums and cast recordings on his resume. His performances take him around the globe as he sings tenor in opera productions. He has performed in New York, Paris, London, Los Angeles and several cities in Texas, to name a few. Most recently, Boutte was the protagonist in the debut of a one-
man opera by Douglas Cuomo titled “Savage Winter.” The show played its debut at the Pittsburgh Opera in 2018 and opened with positive reviews. Also in 2018, the show was featured in the BAM Next Wave
Festival, a 12-week engagement hosted by the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The show is expected to perform at the Performing Spaces for the 21st Century festival in Chatham, NY. Boutte also has an album in the works with Albany Records.
Fearless Filmmaking by Mass Comm Faculty, Students Professor Wojciech Lorenc, award winning and 3-time Emmy nominated filmmaker, has helped to create the Department of Mass Communication’s reputation for high quality productions. As a producer and director, Lorenc’s films have been screened in film festivals across 22 states and 20 countries. Wojciech’s most recent film, “Fearless,” which he produced and directed, has already been screened at over a dozen film festivals all over the world. It won the Best Texas Film award at the 23rd Annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival held in Austin, TX, and received
a Remi Award at the 54th Annual Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival. Lorenc included Mass Communication students to help with the film’s fight sequences, making this truly a collaborative creation. Another of Lorenc’s impressive accomplishments is the award -winning short film, “The Drone,” which is the culmination of a collaboration between with Lorenc, Associate Professor Marcus Funk, and awardwinning screenwriter John McLaughlin, along with several
SHSU students. The film features a drone who is just trying to fit in, while offering the audience a bird’s eye view of the beautiful SHSU campus. The film was accepted into multiple film festivals and received Best Drone Sequences and Sci-Fi Comedy Short awards from the 2019 Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival; the Silver Remi Award—Sci-Fi Short Film Category from the 2019 Worldfest Houston International Film Festival; and Best Sci-Fi Short from the 2019 Changing Face International Film Fest in Australia. In addition, the film has been selected for other festivals around the world, including Russia and India. The film continues to attract worldwide attention, furthering SHSU’s reputation for world-class filmmaking.
14 Using Music to Improve Health Outcomes At Any Age Music is more than just recreational: the Music Therapy program is changing lives. Assistant Professor Amy Smith and student collaborators Emily Melinder, Hannah Mascorro and Nia Williams studied caregivers singing as an intervention for preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Recent publications and presentations from Smith have also investigated how music affects auditory development in preterm infants. This research can impact NICU babies’ growth. Assistant Professor and Music Therapy Program Director Carolyn
Moore has also studied the effects of music therapy in children— such as clinical strategies for children with ADHD—as well as adults for mitigating pain, improving cognitive flexibility or aiding alcoholism rehabilitation. Moore also publishes on music therapy education, including a forthcoming paper examining clini-
cal training possibilities via Zoom, inspired by COVID-19. Moore is a co-founder of Dialogues in Music Therapy Education, the first openaccess journal dedicated to music therapy education and training. Publishing in a platinum open-access model (no cost for author or reader) ensures that no one is excluded from the scholarly conversation or its practical benefits.
Noteworthy Musical Productions and Publications The School of Music demonstrates exceptionalism in their performance and publication. In 2020, the Jazz Ensemble of 19 students, with guidance from their director Aric Schneller, produced the album “Shoreline Drive,” a tribute to critically acclaimed jazz trombonist Bill Watrous, who passed away in 2018. The group distributed the album digitally, giving it further reach and greater impact than previous albums. Expert pianist and Assistant Professor of Piano Diego Caetano competed in the International Music Competi-
tion in 2020 with his partner, Evgeny Zvonnikov. Their group, Duo Lispector, earned first place, including an opportunity to perform at the 250th birthday celebration of Beethoven in Germany. The faculty’s accomplishments also include publications. Between 2017 and 2021, Associate Professor Mario Aschauer published five noteworthy scholarly editions of piano compositions—including Beethoven, “33 Veränderungen über einen Walzer, op. 120” (Diabelli Variations); Beethoven,
“Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO. 59” (Für Elise); and Ignaz Assmayr et al., “Vaterländischer Künstlerverein: Zweyte Abtheilung; 50 Veränderungen über einen Walzer”—as well as a chapter in the “Oxford Handbook of Creative Processes in Music.” Aschauer’s “Diabelli Variations” is particularly impactful: this is the first time the waltz and its 50 variations have been gathered in one volume and also the first Urtext edition of these variations; supplementing the music is a critical commentary and notes regarding Viennese piano performance practice in Beethoven’s day, based on the latest research.
College of Business Administration
Department of Accounting Department of Economics & International Business Department of General Business & Finance Department of Management, Marketing, & Information Systems
Photo on reverse: Smith-Hutson Business Building. Photo courtesy of College of Business Administration on Facebook
17 Bending the Arc of Justice in the Workplace Professor of Management Aneika Simmons researches topics related to creativity, justice, diversity and individual differences. One of her most recent articles, “It’s Not Black and White: Toward a Contingency Perspective on the Consequences of Being a Token,” was published in Academy of Management Perspectives in August 2019. The coauthored study analyzes recent
scholarship on the consequences of being a token—a person in the numerical minority in their work group or organization—in order to address challenges and identify opportunities for future research. The paper quickly drew attention on Twitter from noteworthy researchers such as Francesca Gino, award-winning Tandon Family Professor of Business Administra-
tion at the Harvard Business School, and the research was profiled in many news outlets, including Forbes. So far, the article has received 14 scholarly citations, which is approximately 11 times more than average for articles in the same discipline. Other recent works have examined influences on attitudes towards women managers; the effect of gender identity on perceptions of racial comments; and the effects of experience on risky decision making. Simmons presents her research internationally and also provides management consulting services.
Speeding Up Recovery from Supply Chain Disruptions While others may have felt blindsided by product shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, Associate Professor Jason Riley could explain it all rationally with his expertise in supply chains, supply chain management and disaster recovery. One of his latest publications in the TQM Journal aims to help organizations respond to and recover from supply chain disruptions, while also broadening their continuous improvement capability. Other recent articles have addressed improvement of retail inventory management and product distribu-
tion, and how Millennial consumers’ choices are affected by online retailer capabilities such as tracking capabilities, delivery speed and online reviews, to name a few. Riley’s research doesn't just help to explain pandemic shopping, but also has the opportunity for realworld impact in improving supply chain and operations management. Riley was selected by a competitive process to join the roster of Fulbright Specialists, who are eligible for short-term international collaborations funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This program pairs exceptional academics and professionals from the U.S. with an international institution to share expertise, refine skills and build relations.
18 Innovation to Increase Veteran Amputee Independence The benefits of 3-D printing technology extend into many industries. Pamela Zelbst, professor of management, was inspired to design adaptive devices for veteran amputees after visiting Intrepid, a rehabilitation center in San Antonio. The Center for Innovation and Technology (CIT) at SHSU, directed by Zelbst, is central to the vision born from that visit. CIT’s mission is to investigate, evaluate and develop technologies that provide solutions to those in need. Zelbst, along with students Maureen Reynolds, Devon
McCullough and Scott Golightly, patented two designs using CIT’s 3-D printer. The first design is configured to assist the subject during upper body exercises, and the second is a personal hygiene assist system, both of which are essential to amputees performing some of the simplest tasks, such as brushing their teeth.
Previous work by CIT includes a 3-D printed “Robohand” designed for a 6-year-old child with Amniotic Band Syndrome, a birth defect that resulted in her being born with a partial hand. The Robohand enables the child to grab and hold objects, movements impossible without the device. Building on this concept, Zelbst and her team hope to bring the same type of adaptive devices to veterans.
Impacting Indian Economic Growth and Resilience Professor Hiranya K. Nath of the Department of Economics and International Business has research interests covering macro and monetary economics, development economics and information economics. To date, Nath has published around 120 articles, and, according to Google Scholar, his publications have amassed nearly 1,300 citations, and he presents at conferences internationally. Nath is invested in research that can improve the economy in India.
One of his most recent publications in Economic Analysis and Policy examined economic performance of Indian states during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other recent papers have studied the determinants of private and household saving behaviors in India and the economic benefits of free elementary education in India. However, he also applies his research to important issues in the U.S. econo-
my, including a 2020 paper investigating the shift towards information -intensive industries and consequences for employment and wages. Nath was a Co-PI on a 3-year research project that was awarded £9,980 (approximately $13,880 USD) in funding by the International Growth Center at the London School of Economics. Nath has also been the recipient of several internal SHSU grants. Nath held a 2017 visiting professor position in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, ranked 2nd best research facility in India.
19 Combating Poverty in Developing Countries Associate Professor of Economics Santosh Kumar saw the effects of poverty as a child in India. As a result, he was inspired to pursue economics to combat poverty in his home country. As an applied micro-economist, Kumar focuses on how individuals, including families, households and children, are affected by the economic climate. In recent work, he investigates links between poverty and poor health. Kumar recently published his work in the elite, MIT-affiliated, journal The Review of Economics and Statistics. Kumar and his team conducted a trial in which they pro-
vided iron-fortified salt to supplement school meals in one of the poorest parts of India. Results show that this reduced anemia in 20% of the children. Kumar discovered a direct link between poor
health and children who have lower cognitive performance, lower than average test scores and more school absences. More nutritious school meals reduce health issues associated with poverty and improve the learning capabilities of children. Kumar held a 2020 research fellowship at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) in Germany, where he shared his expertise in the hopes of changing policy and furthering research on the effects of poverty in developing countries. Other research includes long-term effects of immunization programs on a child’s ability to finish school.
Study of Ebola and Stocks Leads to a National Award In 2017, The College of Business Administration (COBA) was awarded the inaugural WRDSSSRN Innovation Award from Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) and the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN), recognizing research innovation. Two faculty members contributed significantly to this achievement. In their study “Has Ebola Infected the Market: A Contagious
Reaction to a (Media) Health Care Crisis?” Associate Professors Mary Funck and Jose Gutierrez examined the impact of the headlines about Ebola on stocks, including factors such as trading, share volumes and share turnovers. The study was presented at the 2016 Academy of Economics and Finance conference and was published in both the Journal of Business Strategies and
in SSRN. Funck has also presented her research at conferences nationwide. She also has developed software for multiple business uses, such as assisting car buyers and apartment hunters and accessing web data to help with stock market research. Gutierrez’s research on corporate finance, market microstructure, liquidity, price dynamics and international finance markets has been published widely in SSRN; the Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting; and the International Review of Economics and Finance.
20 Ensuring Fairness and Equity in Election Ballots In a society fraught with political bias, Darren Grant, associate professor of economics, is using his research to promote fairness. In studying primary elections in Texas and West Virginia, he found that bias may have played a part in how nominees were placed on ballots. Studies show that being first on a ballot increases the likelihood of being chosen, which is why the state of Texas has laws requiring ballots to be randomized. However,
Grant discovered possible manipulation of the ordering on ballots, suggested by the presence of higher-than-expected appearances of certain nominees at the top of the ballots. These deviations from randomness suggest that some election officials may have ignored the law. In his paper entitled, “Uncovering Bias in Order Assignment,” Grant used the likelihoods of a nominee being placed first on the ballet to analyze
the 2018 Democratic senatorial primary and the 2020 Republican presidential primary, searching for inconsistencies or irregularities to how many times a nominee appeared in the first position. Subsequently, Grant revealed several instances where the number of times a particular nominee appears first on the ballot is outside random chance projections. More importantly, Grant proposes new tests that will help detect deviations from randomization, thereby reducing the bias in elections and ensuring a fair chance for all nominees to be considered for election.
Building Knowledge of Workforce Gender Disparity Distinguished Regents Professor Balasundram (Bala) Maniam has been with the Department of General Business and Finance since 1997, and he continues to show his dedication to finance research. A number of Maniam’s recent publications have focused on gender in the labor force, including explorations of the “motherhood penalty,” flexible working arrangements, trends in U.S. female labor participation since the 1970s, perceptions of Malaysian women in the labor market, the glass ceiling and ways to ameliorate gender wage disparities. Particularly as the COVID-
19 pandemic has starkly impacted female participation in the workforce and laid bare certain inequities especially pertaining to flexible work and childcare, these lines of research are essential for finding solutions. Maniam has also recently written on issues of intellectual capital and the corporate tax rate, among other topics.
Over his career, Maniam has published 185+ articles and given 300+ presentations internationally that showcase his expertise in international business, foreign direct investments and corporate finance. Maniam was instrumental in developing the COBA General Business Conference, which attracts top business scholars from all parts of the world.
College of Criminal Justice
Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology
Department of Forensic Sciences Department of Security Studies Department of Victim Studies
Photo on reverse: George J. Beto Criminal Justice Center. Photo courtesy of SHSU Communications.
23 Building Cutting-Edge Law Enforcement Technology Three faculty members of the Department of Criminal Justice are making our world a safer place using technology to reduce violent crime in Houston neighborhoods. Leading the effort is Associate Professor Yan Zhang, along with Department Chair and Professor Willian Wells and Associate Professor Jason Ingram. In 2019, the three professors were awarded a generous $252,105 grant by Attorney General Ken Paxton for a project titled “Evaluating Project Safe Neighborhoods in the Southern District of Texas.” Project Safe Neighborhoods is an ongoing initiative to address and hopefully reduce violent crime by investigating and prosecuting gang members. The
work of these three researchers will provide crucial information that can be used by multiple criminal justice system agencies to aid in the direction of their interventions and create an efficient way to identify criminal activity. In 2020, the team was awarded another $195,273 by the Attorney General’s office to continue this important research. Zhang and Wells were also awarded $106,554 in 2020 for “Evaluation of Houston Police Department’s Strategies for Policing Innovation Project (SPI): Us-
ing Social Network Analysis to Combat Human Trafficking and Criminal Networks.” This will produce an innovative technological program for HPD that incorporates the analysis of criminal activity using surveillance cameras, tracking devices for vehicles, Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) devices and cameras that recognize license plates. This comprehensive strategy will help effectively target prostitution rings, human traffickers, violent gangs and other violent criminals.
Supporting Rapid Responses to Future Pandemics The combination of artificial intelligence and forensic science yields innovative products. Professor Jorn Yu in the Department of Forensic Science was recently awarded an Air Force/ AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
Phase I contract for technology related to pathogen detection and outbreak analytics. The SBIR program’s mission is “to support scientific excellence and technological innovation.” For this contract, Yu has teamed up with ForwardEdge
AI, a small business in Texas, to explore the use of trace chemical analysis along with an electronic detection method to detect and differentiate viral and bacterial pathogens such as the virus that causes COVID-19. The production of the device created by Yu and his research team promises to be a costeffective method to aid in data collection, which will assist in rapid pandemic responses in the future.
24 Expanding the Boundaries of DNA Identification decomposing bodies. Body tissues often break down faster than can be collected, which can result in families who are unable to identify their perished loved ones. HughesStamm and her team are using technological advances in forensic science to help reduce or perhaps even eliminate that scenario altogether. The results of her research will improve the way that forensic scientists process and collect DNA in events of mass disaster.
Sheree Hughes-Stamm left Australia to continue her work in forensic anthropology and DNA-based human identification at SHSU. Since arriving, Hughes-Stamm has made significant progress, largely in part due to generous grant funding by the National Institute of Justice. Since receiving her first grant in 2015, Hughes-Stamm and her team have been awarded over $140,000 to investigate the most effective method to extract DNA from
Internationally Renowned Facility for Forensic Research The Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science (STAFS) Facility is one of the crown jewels of SHSU’s research facilities and is one of only nine human decomposition facilities operated worldwide (colloquially called “body farms”). This state-ofthe-art center supports applied research, training and education in anthropology, biology, biomedicine, chemistry, forensics and medicine. Venues for research include the Outdoor Research laboratory, the Anthropology laboratory and the Soft Tissue and Skeletal Trauma laboratory. According to its website, the center prioritizes “research that can be applied and will be useful to the medical, science and judicial communities.” Recent published research based on work done at
STAFS has examined the use of digital imaging to evaluate cadaver decomposition; microbial communities associated with decomposition; and the fracture pattern of blunt force trauma on jawbones, to name a few. STAFS also provides training in forensic-related topics. The center accepts body donations, which support continued medical and scientific research. Donor families receive an engraved medallion as a token of thanks and remembrance, and STAFS hosts an annual memorial service for families to celebrate their loved ones’ lives. STAFS receives national recognition
for the subjects of their work and their contributions to society, and every donation ensures that STAFS can continue to produce impactful forensic findings, including improved understanding of how to identify victims and how to determine the time and nature of death. As Professor of Criminal Justice, Joan Bytheway, says of STAFS, “We utilize our findings to honor our commitment to humanity and to victims without a voice.”
25 Ground-Breaking Research on Prison Gang History Professor Mitchel Roth of the Department of Criminal Justice has added another feather in his cap. In 2020, Roth was granted the Frederic Milton Thrasher Award for Excellence in Gang Research by the National Gang Crime Research Center. The honor goes to recipients who produce exemplary scholarship, exhibit professional leadership and are highly accom-
plished contributors to the subject of gang crime. Roth’s ground-breaking new book, “Power on the Inside: A Global History of Prison Gangs,” and his article “Chasing Ghosts: Searching for America’s First Prison Gang” are examples of why he won the award. Additionally, his book “An Eye for an Eye: A Global History of Crime and Punishment” has
been translated into Croatian and Turkish and is the first book to examine crime and punishment in countries previously absent from scholarship. Roth has studied prison gangs, gang subculture and the global history of gangs. Roth’s extensive background in global terrorism, organized crime, policing and criminal justice history has resulted in 25 books (as author, co-author, or editor) and countless articles and reference works. He often presents in the U.S. and abroad, including at the People’s Public Security University of China in Beijing in 2018.
Combating Hysteria During the COVID-19 Pandemic Natalie Baker, assistant professor in the Department of Security Studies, has prioritized research on socially urgent topics ranging from COVID-19 to Hurricane Harvey. The Brooklyn Rail magazine features two of her works, which are freely available online for the benefit of the community. Published in April and May of 2020, during a time when misinformation was more prevalent than fact, these articles helped combat the mass hysteria surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. Both of Baker’s articles pointed out that the statis-
tics widely available for COVID19 lacked context, especially since so much was unknown early in the pandemic. Baker has received over $95,000 in grants since 2016. The most recent grant of $74,372 was received from the National Science Foundation, where Baker was the Principal Investigator of a study called “Performing the Swarm: Wading through Homeland Security Regimes in the Context of Hurricane Harvey.” She studied how swarming (collective, emergent
action due to disaster) occurs and its implications for disaster preparedness. Baker has a book under contract with Reaktion Books.
26 Legislative Advocacy for Cybercrime Victims’ Rights Shelly Clevenger, associate professor and chair of the Department of Victim Studies, is a real-world superhero in the fight for the rights and protections of cybercrime victims. In Oct 2018, Clevenger spoke at a Congressional Briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in support of the ENOUGH Act. Although it was not passed, this act would have rendered illegal imagebased nonconsensual pornography (commonly known as “revenge pornography”) and made this a crime at the federal level. Clevenger’s expert perspective on this act was informed by research such as her
2018 review of the literature on interpersonal cybervictimization. Her 2016 article on how mothers
behave after their child’s sexual assault received Feminist Criminology’s Article of the Year award. Also her book, “Understanding Victimology: An Active Learning Approach,” was awarded the 2019 Robert Jerin Victimology Book of the Year Award by the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Victimology. Recent publications have shed light on intimate partner violence and the internet, as well as police perceptions of online versus offline prostitutes. To top it off, Clevenger actively includes and mentors students in the academic research process.
Shaping Rapid Federal Response to Border Security Assistant Professor of Security Studies Nathan P. Jones is an expert on Mexican gang violence, border security and drug policy. Jones recently released his book, “Mexico’s Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reaction,” which studies the extensive and violent Mexican drug networks, their illegal activities and the state’s response to them. And in a notable 2019 article in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Jones referenced bacteria as a useful framework for understanding how violent tactics spread among crime cartels. As an expert in organized crime, his research has been published in
journals such as Studies in Conflict & Terrorism; Trends in Organized Crime; and Journal of Strategic Security. He is also a valuable resource for media outlets such as the Houston Chronicle, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press. Jones often contributes to research institutes like the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Rice University’s Baker Institute (where he is a fellow). He is also a fellow with Small Wars Journal. Jones recently co-authored a
policy brief on COVID-19’s impact on organized crime and how policymakers in Mexico and the U.S. need to adapt to rapid changes.
College of Education
Department of Counselor Education Department of Education Leadership Department of Library Science & Technology School of Teaching & Learning
Photo on reverse: Eleanor and Charles Garrett Teacher Education Center. Photo by Tamara Parsons
29 Improving Education for Students with Autism William Calderhead, assistant professor in the School of Teaching and Learning, focuses his research largely on teaching methods for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and how educators can best help them in the classroom. Calderhead has published several scholarly articles within the last few years and has presented at
12 conferences nationally. His works have been cited over 95 times in reputable journals. One of his latest articles was published in the Spanish journal, Psicologia Educativa, published by the Official College of Psychologists of Madrid. In 2018, Calderhead received a grant of $305,366 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board to fund a statewide workshop for teachers of children with autism spectrum disorder. More than 50 participants attended the resulting 2-day workshop in 2020; all were educators who benefitted greatly from the coaching. One of Calderhead’s more notable works is his study on racist school discipline titled “Exclusionary Discipline Practices in Texas: How to End the School to Prison Pipeline.” The 2017 article was published in READ: An Online Journal for Literacy Educators.
Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Adaptive Learning Although the Instructional Systems Design & Technology (ISDT) program is young, its faculty is already making an impact. Assistant Professor Donggil Song was awarded a 2020 internal grant of over $14,000 for “Analyzing Educational Big Data of Student Behavior in Online Courses for Dropout Prevention,” an interdisciplinary collaboration with Bill Angrove, associate vice president for distance learning and Debra Price, professor in the School of Teaching & Learning. Song runs the Einbrain Lab, which focuses on educational applications of artificial intelligence (AI),
adaptive learning systems and education analytics. His research expertise in AI-infused self-learning leads to numerous presentations, including an invited talk at Seoul National University in early 2021. Before transitioning to ISDT in 2019, Song was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. He received the 2017 Young Researcher Award from the Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT) for the best unpublished educational technology study from an early-career researcher. Song has published in respected journals
such as Computers in Human Behavior and Journal of Educational Computing Research, with a handful of other papers currently under review and a book under contract with publication expected in 2022.
30 Award-Winning Research on Self-Regulated Learning Since joining SHSU in August 2020, Assistant Professor Shonn Sheng-Lun Cheng has already made his mark. He was awarded internal grant funding from SHSU in both 2020 and 2021 for his work in students’ motivational processes and self-regulated learning. Every year from 2017-2020, his publications have been nominated for TACTL (Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning) Best Paper awards by the American Educational Research Association (AERA)—only the top ten paper proposals among those accepted for
the Annual AERA Meeting are considered for this award. In 2018, Cheng was the winner of the third-place Journal Article Award for Qualitative Research, from the Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT) Division of Distance Learning. He has given 22 conference presentations since 2016, including national conferences such as the AERA, the AECT and the American Psychological Association (APA). He has published in highly ranked journals such as Journal of Educa-
tional Psychology and British Journal of Educational Technology, and has several papers under review.
Placing Culturally Responsive Teaching Within Reach Helen Berg, professor and assistant chair in the School of Teaching & Learning, has an extensive list of achievements. Her work has been viewed around the world. She has published scholarly articles in journals such as TABE Newsletter and Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: Conceptos Fundamentales. Berg has also trav-
eled internationally to present her work at conferences in countries like Canada, Mexico, Italy, Portugal and France. In 2018, Berg received a grant of $100,000 from US PREP, an organization dedicated to reforming the way educators prepare for their lessons. Her proposal involved Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT), a topic she has covered often in her work. CRT is an intentional approach that involves connecting individual culture, lan-
guage and life experiences with material studied in the classroom. This approach engages students and includes minority groups. Berg co-authored an article in 2016 titled “Basically, You Have to Teach Them to Love What They Are Writing About” in The National Teacher Education Journal. The piece highlights the importance of creating genuine writing exercises in the classroom, rather than all-toocommon test prep courses. The research proves that memorization and test-based writing instruction does not improve children’s writing scores.
31 Improving Reading Among Elementary Age Children Chase Young, associate professor in the School of Teaching & Learning, strives to improve literacy rates among children. His recent research focuses on reading development in elementary boys, a demographic known to struggle with improving reading comprehension. In 2017, Young presented research on his new tutoring method, called Read Two Impress (RTI), at the United Kingdom Literacy Association Convention. This is an original
approach to improving the expression and fluency of child readers by combining two preexisting methods. Tutors using RTI will leverage repeated readings, where the student reads a passage several times, along with the Neurological-Impress Method (NIM), an activity in which the reader and tutor read side by side, with the tutor reading slightly ahead. Young published an article on RTI in The Reading Teacher.
Young also researches readers theater and its impact on elementary students. Young has published several articles on the topic, including “Improving Reading Comprehension with Readers Theater” (2019). In readers theater, children read and perform a short play after rehearsing for a few days, but without memorization, sets or props. The exercise focuses on expressive reading and has been proven to positively impact kids with low reading fluency. Young has written over 100 readers theater scripts that are freely available online. Young has also presented at 20+ conferences internationally.
Furthering Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education Ricardo Montelongo, assistant professor of educational leadership, is devoted to research addressing college student involvement outcomes, diversity in higher education administration, Latinx issues in higher education and online teaching and learning. Montelongo has published in journals such as International Journal of Information and Learning Technology; and Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader. He has also produced book chapters and presented his work internationally. In 2016, Montelongo was
awarded a research development fund of $1,000 by the Texas Association of College & University Student Personnel Administrators for “The Impact of Latina/o College Student Organization Involvement on Members Twenty Years After College Attendance.” In 2017, Montelongo and Assistant Professor Paul Eaton, also from the Department of Educational Leadership, were awarded an internal grant for “Preparing Socially Just and Inclusive Educators Online: Student Experiences & Pedagogical Strategies.” The re-
sults of these grants will further diversity and inclusion in higher education.
32 Understanding and Leveraging Gamified Learning In the world of technology and digital literacy, Professor of Literacy Hannah Gerber uses her knowledge of youth culture and digital practices to further the advancement of adolescent videogaming practices
and the experiences that accompany them. Her articles have investigated topics such as e-sports, Twitch, prosocial gaming, gamification of learning, videogames in libraries, teaching with technology and conducting research of student learning in online spaces. In 2019, Gerber was given an Honorary Professorship in the Department of Language Education, Arts, and Culture at the University of South Africa, the largest open distance learning institution in Afri-
ca and the longest standing distance education university in the world. Additionally, Gerber has been recognized with several research awards, including the 2016 Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st Century Literacies Research by the Initiative for Literacy in the Digital Age, an organization that promotes research and collaboration on contemporary literacies. Gerber has also been a critical component of several generously funded teams. In 2018, she led the evaluation team for an awarded grant of $399,853 from the National Science Foundation (NSF). She also consulted and served as the summer camp STEM-C Coordinator for a project that was awarded a grant worth almost $19 million from the U.S. Department of Education. In 2017, she directed the team of evaluators and co-authored the final report for another project that received $4 million from the United Nations Child Education Fund. Gerber’s research has been published in top-ranked peerreviewed journals worldwide, in-
cluding Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy; English Journal; and Tech Trends, and she has presented her work on five continents as a keynote speaker. As president of the International Council for Educational Media, she gave the opening and closing presidential addresses at the 2018 conference in Estonia. In 2021, Gerber released her book titled “Videogames, Libraries, and the Feedback Loop: Learning Beyond the Stacks,” co-authored with Sandra Schamroth Abrams and published by Emerald Publishing Limited. The book looks at youth videogaming in public libraries, the feedback mechanisms that support reflective and iterative processes and how videogame programming can be re-envisioned and evolve to meet contemporary youth needs. Gerber also has a new manuscript forthcoming.
33 Helping Victims and Counselors Process Trauma The Center for Research and Clinical Training in Trauma (CRCTT) seeks to support traumarelated research by faculty and students; provide training workshops and consultation for mental health professionals in the community; and provide trauma-informed treatment through their clinic. Center Director and Professor David Lawson has practiced, consulted and researched in the field of interpersonal and combat-related trauma
for more than 35 years. Assistant Professor Sinem Akay-Sullivan and Associate Professor Jeffrey Sullivan are also associates at the trauma center. Recent noteworthy publications from the Center’s associates include a 2020 article in Journal of Child Sexual Abuse co-authored by Sullivan, Lawson and AkaySullivan on the therapeutic bond as a mediator of interpersonal problems for victims of child sexu-
al abuse and a 2020 article by Lawson and Akay-Sullivan studying dissociation and trauma in treating cases of incest. Although these can be difficult topics to discuss, the Center’s work is vital to those who work with victims of sexual abuse. Publications and presentations by the Center’s faculty often include student collaborators as well, providing real-world research experience to future counseling professionals.
Comparing Supervision for Prelicensure Counselors The Department of Counselor Education hosts many faculty members talented in research and innovation; Distinguished Professor Richard Henriksen, Distinguished Professor Richard Watts, and Assistant Professor Susan Henderson are no exception. The three recently coauthored an article, along with two
mined that, while there is substantial regulation for those still pursuing their education, supervision is severely lacking for postgraduates. This insightful research may contribute to the development of a postgraduate supervision model that can help prelicensure counselors to develop their professional identities, build skills and learn professional standards from a mentor. Susan Henderson
Richard Henriksen
other collaborators, that appeared in the Journal of Counseling and Development, a well regarded counseling journal. In “Counselor Supervision: A Comparison Across States and Jurisdictions,” the authors analyzed regulations for all 53 counseling licensure jurisdictions nationwide and deter-
Richard Watts
34 Understanding School Safety and Crisis Response The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in so many ways, and this includes how institutions of higher education function and operate. In response to the pandemic, the way that educators and administrators make decisions, conduct research, communicate and facilitate classes that require an online format rather than in-person has changed dramatically. Matthew Fuller, associate professor of higher education leadership and director of the doctoral program in education leadership, is working to ensure that these responses are captured and studied to inform future crisis management in education. Governor Greg Abbott’s Texas’ School Safety Action Plan was originally commissioned in the fall of 2019 to examine ways the State of Texas would support schools during crises. In response, SHSU established the Center for Assessment, Research, and Education Safety (C.A.R.E.S.) in early 2020 to focus on school safety. Fuller, director of C.A.R.E.S., in collaboration with Professor Jason Ingram of the College of Criminal Justice, created a survey originally aimed at assessing the needs of Texas schools regarding school safety, mental health and school violence. This survey constitutes the largest needs assessment
on school safety in Texas history. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, C.A.R.E.S. shifted gears, and their study went nationwide to assess the responses of numerous institutions to crises. The survey leveraged a crowdsourcing data collection method called IdeaScale to study decisionmaking processes and ideas for future crisis responses. The project is expected to evolve as responses of higher education to the pandemic continue to change. The data being collected will fuel further research to better inform future preparedness; as Fuller said, “We want to write the book for the next pandemic or crises.” In addition to his work with school safety assessment, Fuller has published on numerous topics in higher education leadership. A 2020 article, co-authored with master’s student Katherine E. Fletcher, analyzed racial differences in student loan debt and barriers to wealth building. A significant number of his works have focused on cultures of assessment
in higher education, including a 2017 article co-authored with Forrest Lane that proposes an empirical model of culture of assessment in student affairs. He presents regularly on assessment culture and assessment leadership, as well as topics related to school safety and free speech and expressive activity. Fuller’s latest book, “Leadership of Higher Education Assessment: A Guide to Theory for Practitioners,” was published by Routledge Press in 2019. It has already been added to the collections of more than 120 WorldCat-participating libraries
College of Health Sciences
Department of Family & Consumer Sciences
Department of Kinesiology Department of Population Health School of Nursing
Photo on reverse: Lee Drain Building. Photo by Tamara Parsons
37 Intervention to Help Pregnant Women Sleep Easier Andrea Smith, assistant professor in the School of Nursing, is passionate about understudied issues and maternal advocacy. After authoring her doctoral dissertation on the sleep patterns of pre and postnatal women and choosing to continue that line of inquiry, Smith then made SHSU history in 2020 when her study, "Sleep Improvement Intervention for Hospitalized Antepartum Patients," was the first SHSU
study to be registered on www.clinicialtrials.gov. The trial has not yet started recruiting, but will eventually include 80 participants, all of whom will be at least 20 weeks (about four and a half months) pregnant. Participants will receive a sleep hygiene kit with intervention tools and a questionnaire to fill out after their experience using the tools. Accord-
ing to Smith, this topic has only been studied by one other group of researchers. Aside from her groundbreaking work with antepartum women, Smith published an article in 2019 titled “Perianesthesia Nurses' Survey of Their Knowledge and Practice with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.” The study aimed to determine whether nurses were using their knowledge of anesthesia to benefit patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). More than 1,200 participants completed the survey, and Smith concluded that more education is needed about perianesthesia, especially when it comes to OSA.
Kim Helps Kids to Get Moving, Stay Safe, and Have Fun Minhyun Kim, assistant professor of kinesiology, is on a mission to make physical activity safer and more effective for young people. His specializations in physical education (P.E.), teacher education and adapted physical education have enabled him to develop modified physical activities, propose more effective P.E. teaching strategies and help to manage P.E. safety risks. Several of Kim’s recent articles have highlighted the safety hazards of baseball dugouts in high school
sports and the use of traditional Korean activities such as JegiChagi and fan dance for physical education. Kim won first place for research presentation at the 2019 Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (TAHPERD) conference, where he copresented with Associate Professor Jose
Santiago on “Middle School Students’ Intrinsic Motivation in Team Sports.” Only five years after his doctoral degree and only three years after joining SHSU, Kim promises to make a positive impact in the world of adolescent physical education.
38 Excellence in Research on Abuse of Drugs and Alcohol Professor of Health Sciences Rosanne Keathley extends her research into subjects such as the use and abuse of alcohol, underage drinking, drunk driving and performance enhancing drug abuse. In recognition of her outstanding research, Keathley won 2nd place in the 2018 Texas Association
of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance State Convention (TAHPERD), and she received 3rd place at the 2016 and 2017 TAHPERD conventions. Additionally, Keathley was awarded substantial research grants by the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board in 2016 and 2017. Keathley’s publications have appeared in professional journals such as American Journal of Health Studies; Southern Medical Journal; and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. She has been an active member of her department, including appointments to associate dean and assistant department chair. Keathley has also been the recipient of several service awards because she consistently extends her research expertise to benefit the campus and local community.
Reducing Health Disparities for Children and Teens Associate Professor Khalid M. Khan joined the Department of Population Health in August 2020. Khan brings over twenty years of experience in environmental epidemiology, with his research areas covering the neurobehavioral health effects of environmental and occupational exposures and the mechanisms of action of neurotoxic contaminants. Khan is also actively engaged in research that evaluates the effectiveness of interventions that could reduce health disparities in areas such as occupational noise exposure, infectious diseases, water and hygiene. His research is invaluable because it assesses the possible negative side effects of air pollu-
tants, metals and pesticides in terms of mental health and brain development of children. More recently, Khan began investigating the effects of noise as an occupational hazard of adolescents in the farming industry; this has resulted in a research grant for $20,000 from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for his study on an educational intervention module that evaluated hearing conservation apps that high school
farmers used when working in loud environments. Khan has presented at multiple conferences and has published his work in peer-reviewed journals such as the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, an interdisciplinary journal that is ranked in the top 25% of journals in the same subject area by the Clarivate Analytics Journal Impact Factor.
39 Improving Nutrition for Elderly Dementia Patients Those who have cared for elfactors—such as length of time improvements may help to reduce derly family or friends know that provided for eating, plated versus falls among elderly patients with appetite and nutrition family style Parkinson’s disease can pose significant service, use and how biophilic dechallenges. These can be of music, sign—adding elements compounded by the supplemental of nature to the envipresence of conditions food between ronment—may impact such as dementia. meals, and elderly patients’ nutriAssistant Professor nutritionally tion. A current work Laura Burleson and Asenhanced in progress evaluates sociate Professor Valenmenus—to how senior meal assiscia Browning-Keen, increase satistance programs impact Burleson Browning-Keen both in the Department faction and the risk of malnutriof Family & Consumer Sciences, prevent unintended weight loss tion among free-living elders in have devoted significant time and among dementia patients in Texas. Their research into helping energy to researching strategies that memory care facilities. dementia patients “dine with may help. A 2018 article studied the Recent presentations discussed dignity” is ongoing. benefits of environmental design how environmental and nutritional
Uncovering the Behaviors of Sports Fans, Consumers Ryan Zapalac, professor of kinesiology and Associate Dean of COHS, has a passion for sports. His primary research interests include the behaviors of sports fans and sports consumers, sport marketing, psychological burnout and the application of Reversal Theory (the theory of personality, motivation and emotion that explains different states of mind that affect be-
havior). Zapalac has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts, six book chapters and has presented his research at over 40 different conferences worldwide. Included in his impressive resume are articles in journals such as Case Studies in Sport Management; Journal of Issues with Intercollegiate Athletics (JIIA); and Journal
of Global Sport Management (JGSM). Zapalac received the prestigious JGSM Premier Award for the best paper published in the journal in 2017, and he was nominated for JIIA Article of the Year for his 2017 article, “Orchestrating the #HTownTakeover: Social Media Agenda Setting and University Branding at the University of Houston.” In 2018 and 2019, Zapalac was also nominated for the Scholar Award from the Texas Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (TAHPERD).
40 Diversifying Media Representations of Women in Sports Professor Emily Roper, chair of the Department of Kinesiology and assistant dean for diversity and inclusion in the College of Health Sciences, brings a multidisciplinary approach to her research that combines sport and exercise psychology, sport sociology, cultural studies and gender studies. These intersections have resulted in studies that look at how gender can shape an individual’s experience, cultural meanings and social structures in the world of sports and exercise. She also examines how active women have been represented in sport literature and the effects on adolescent and young adult females, as well as the history
of women in sports and exercise psychology. Since 2016, Roper’s work has appeared in book chapters and peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Applied Sport Psychology; The Sport Psychologist; and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. A recent article, published in Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, examines the cover art of young adult sport fiction, finding that female athletes are only represented in 10% of the print media observed and are not shown in their athletic settings. Roper hopes to call attention to the power relations that are a part of how athletic
women and girls are represented in the media that is reaching young girls and perhaps encourage a more diverse media representation of athletic women in sports.
Assessing Impacts of Simulation in Nursing Education Clinical Assistant Professor Jaimee Kastler of the School of Nursing is a pediatric nurse and focuses on the pedagogy of nursing in her research. She led a pilot study, internally funded by SHSU in 2016, assessing how virtual simulations impact the clinical judgment and confidence of pre-licensure students in the bachelor of science degree in nursing program. Preliminary results
from this study were presented in a poster session at Elsevier’s Nursing Education Conference in 2018. This work led to additional study of simulation in nursing education. Kastler's project “Increasing Fidelity and Critical Thinking through Simulation,” was awarded $198,826 in 2018 by the Texas Higher Education Coordinat-
ing Board’s Nursing Innovation Grant Program. She also led a project which was published in 2020 as “Evaluation of Peer-Led Formal Study Sessions for Nursing Student Success” in The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching, a peerreviewed interdisciplinary academic journal published by the Mentoring Institute. Kastler is licensed by the Texas Board of Nursing as a Registered Professional Nurse, and she holds certifications from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Department of Communication Studies
Department of English Department of History Department of Political Science Department of Psychology & Philosophy
Department of Sociology Department of World Languages & Cultures Photo on reverse: College of Humanities & Social Sciences Building. Photo courtesy of SHSU Communications
43 Shining Light on the African American Literary Past John Gruesser is SHSU’s first senior research scholar, selected to bring high-profile research and mentorship to campus. His primary project in residence has been “Man on the Firing Line: The Literary Life of Sutton E. Griggs, 1872-1933,” a literary biography of Griggs, a Black Texas native, minister, novelist and publisher. The American Council of Learned Societies funded the project, which offers an im-
portant reassessment of late 19th and early 20th century African American literature. The book is scheduled to be published in 2022 by Oxford University Press. Gruesser is also an expert on Pauline Hopkins, an influential Black novelist, journalist, playwright, historian and editor of the early 20th century. Gruesser’s edition of Hopkins’ novel, “Hagar’s Daugh-
ter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice”—co-edited with Alisha R. Knight—was published by Broadview Press in 2020 and brings new understanding to Hopkins’ work. Additionally, Gruesser’s book “Edgar Allan Poe and His Nineteenth-Century American Counterparts” won the 2019 Patrick F. Quinn Award by the Poe Studies Association for the best book on Poe. This work details Poe’s connection to, assessment of, borrowing from and effect on his literary contemporaries. Gruesser was previously a professor of English at Kean University in New Jersey.
Seeking Environmental and Economic Sustainability For Maki Hatanaka, a professor in the Department of Sociology, a trip to Asia during her senior year of college opened her eyes to the inequalities and injustices of the world. She decided to obtain a graduate degree in sociology to help fight for social justice and equal rights. Her research examines economic globalization and the regulation of food, agriculture and the environment. Hatanaka specializes in different forms of non-state governance and the future of environmental, social and economic sustainability. She has published book
chapters, journal articles and has been a contributing editor for several books. Hatanaka has also been an invited guest speaker for con-
ferences in four countries. In 2017, Hatanaka received a $358,470 grant from the USDA as the Principal Investigator for a project titled “Farmer Adoption and Diffusion of Sustainability Metrics and Standards in the U.S.” Along with her decade at SHSU, Hatanaka also spent four months as a Visiting Research Scientist at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. This opportunity is awarded to esteemed researchers who will contribute high-quality research to the field and want to develop international networks within the scientific community.
44 A Legacy of Award-Winning History Endures A reputation for excellence persists in the Department of History. In 2016, Chair and Associate Professor Brian Matthew Jordan’s book, “Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War,” was selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. Jordan’s book was also awarded the 2016 Governor John Andrew Award for Civil War History by the Union Club of Boston and included in the 2016 list of 200 Best Civil War Books and Articles. Jordan is also the author of “A Thousand May Fall: Life, Death, and Survival in the Union Army,” a co-editor of “Engaging the Civil War” from Southern Illinois University Press, and a founding co-editor of “Veterans” from
University of Massachusetts Press, which is the first academic book series devoted fully to the lives and experiences of military veterans.
In her book, “Redefining the American South: Indian and Pakistani Immigration in Houston during the Cold War,” Associate Professor Uzma Quraishi examines the Cold War era, a period of economic growth in the U.S. when many Indian and Pakistani immigrants made their journey to Houston. Quraishi’s work has most recently been awarded the 2021 Theodore Saloutos Prize by the Immigration and Ethnic History Society (IEHS) as recognition for her comprehensive research in immigration
history. Additionally, Quraishi’s article “Racial Calculations: Indian and Pakistani Immigrants in Houston, 1960-1980” received the 2020 Vicki L. Ruiz Award from the Western History Association and received an honorable mention by the IEHS for the 2020 Carlton C. Qualey Memorial Article Award. Adding to the long list of acclaim in the department is Assistant Professor Benjamin Park. A nationally recognized expert on issues regarding American religion and politics, Park is the co-recipient of the 2021 Mormon History Association Best Book Award for the book “Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier.”
45 Supporting Mental Health in Emergency Responders Temilola Salami, assistant professor of psychology, has certainly made an impact on the study and treatment of mental health. She has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in research grants, including an award for $533,263 from the Victim of Crimes Act Fund, a funding source managed by the Office of the Governor of
Texas. The award is part of a nationwide initiative to provide aid to the victims of crime. With her coinvestigators, Salami used these funds to set up the Post Critical Incident Seminar (PCIS), a 3day course for emergency responders and their spouses who have experienced a traumatic event in the line of duty. Thanks to the grant, participants attended the seminar with no travel costs.
In 2020, Salami published in The Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology the article “The Mental Health and Service Use of Texas Law Enforcement Officers,” highlighting the importance of mental health treatment among officers due to their unique stressors. She also contributed to “Human Trafficking: A Treatment Guide for Mental Health Professionals.” Salami coauthored the chapter “General and Specific Psychotherapy Considerations for Managing Trafficked Adults,” which covers therapy methods professionals can use to assist human trafficking victims.
Leveraging Comfort to Enhance Research Results The Department of Communication Studies recently got a major upgrade to their research lab, designed by Lisa Dahlgren (née van Raalte), assistant professor and director of the Communication Studies Research Lab. For the comfort of participants, the lab is cleverly designed to feel like a living room. It features a flat screen TV connected to computers in the room next door, two desktop computers for surveys and the adjoining storage lab has a cooler that reaches -80° F, the perfect temperature for human specimen samples. Dahlgren conducts ground-
breaking research on the relationship between physical health and affectionate communication. Using saliva samples, Dahlgren found that more hugging with someone you care for correlates to less inflammation in your body. The new lab space directly impacted this study because comfort was essential to the results. Since 2017, Dahlgren has presented her research at over 35 conferences. She also con-
tributed to “The Sourcebook of Listening Research: Methodology and Measures,” which won the 2018 Distinguished Book Award from the Communication and Social Cognition Division of the National Communication Association.
46 A Distinguished Commitment to Rural Sociology Gene Theodori, professor of sociology, has made a significant impact in the field of rural sociology. Theodori’s commitment to research, teaching and public service is evident in his work on the sociology of natural resources, community theory and energy development. In recognition of his contributions, the Rural Sociological Society presented Theodori with the Distinguished Rural Sociologist Award at their 2019 annual meeting. The Southern Rural Sociological Association also presented Theodori with the Outstanding Professional Paper
Award in 2020. In 2018, Theodori was the coinvestigator on a proposal that received a grant of $367,479 from
the United States Department of Agriculture. The project titled “Understanding and Addressing Research Fatigue in Rural Communities: Lessons for the Social Sciences from Energy Boomtowns” continued his vital contributions to the field. Recently, he has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Energy Research & Social Science and Society & Natural Resources. Theodori also co-edited “Energy Impacts: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of North American Energy Development,” published by University Press of Colorado in 2021.
National Acclaim for Communication Student Research Two papers written by Communication Studies students were selected for presentation at the 2018
Southern States Communication Association convention. The paper “Examining the Lived Experiences of Children of Incarcerated Black Males” was written by students Emilia Rogers, Chance Young, Jermaine Roberts and Ked Mayaux, and was presented at the conference by Rogers. The paper was also accepted into The Measure, an academic under-
graduate journal. The paper “Too Dark or Not Dark Enough: The Effects of Colorism within Black Men” was written by students Kyanna Washington, Crystal Williams and Regina Atandu-Salau, and was presented by Washington. Both papers were selected for the Undergraduate Honors Conference and were “Top Five Papers” out of hundreds submitted. The papers were written under the guidance of Assistant Professor Melinda Weathers. Her research spans disciplines, and she has presented on topics such as sports, dating abuse, climate change and social media.
47 Recovering the Lost Voices of Antifascist Activists Recovering the literary history of the Spanish Civil War means preserving, investigating and bringing the rich history of the heritage into current scholarship. Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Montse Feu is one of those recovery experts. In her work, Feu strives to give voices to those neglected in the literature and bring their stories to light. She focuses on
Spanish Civil War exiles in the United States, US Hispanic periodicals and the larger literature on migration and exile. Feu has examined, translated and recovered texts from the Spanish Civil War era and produced awardwinning scholarship. In 2019, Feu received the Outstanding Emerging Scholar award from the Western Social Science Association. Her most recent book, “Fighting Fascist Spain: Worker
Protest from the Printing Press,” published in 2020 by the University of Illinois Press, studies the culture and grassroots antifascist activism of modern Spanish immigrants to the U.S. while fighting the fascist regime in Spain. She has published in journals such as the Journal for the Study of Radicalism; Studies in American Humor Journal; and Interdisciplinary Humanities and has authored or edited multiple other chapters and books.
Police Gain from Student Research in Technical Writing Assistant Professor Brandon Strubberg’s students put their technical writing skills to real-world use when they partnered with the Houston Police Department (HPD) in 2019. Over two semesters, students created an instructional handbook for an HPD program called Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The program is an online database for officers to share information with each other, as well as learn about crime statistics based on their geographic location. Officers can also see nearby high-risk targets, such as gun shops and pharmacies, and they can view each officer’s lo-
cation. GIS allows for crime patterns to be spotted more easily. For example, shortly following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, HPD used the program to discover a pattern of burglaries in the homes of flooding victims. Using GIS, they stopped the criminals and recovered $100,000 in stolen goods. Strubberg’s students increased this tool’s value by writing an instructional hand-
book and designing promotional materials that are still used today. The students’ applied research experience developed their skills and had a direct impact on HPD officers and the community.
48 Proposing Solutions to Partisan Political Polarization Professor Stacy Ulbig of the Department of Political Science has kept herself busy by conducting research in her field. Ulbig has published several books, book chapters and articles since her arrival at SHSU in 2015. Most notably, in 2020 she received $748,000 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Defense for her sexual assault defense training with U.S Air Force Academy (USAFA) cadets. The USAFA granted her the esteemed award, “The Project with Potential for Greatest Impact.” Ulbig’s most recent book, “Angry Politics: Partisan Hatred
and Political Polarization among College Students,” was published in 2020 by the University Press of Kansas. The book focuses on the political polarization of current-day college students and proposes a solution to the issue of political hatred between students. In 2018, Ulbig coauthored “The Resilient Voter: Stressful Polling Places and Voting Behavior,” a book studying the habits of voters and the effect that
a stressful polling experience can have on their ballots. Ulbig also authored the chapter “Dealing with the Devil: Objectification of Counter-Partisans and Political Compromise” in the book “The 21st Century and its Discontents: A Philosophical Analysis of Shifting Social Norms.” Published by Rowman & Littlefield, the book discusses the recent changes in political conversation and the impact it has on important social issues.
Pursuing New Ways to Reduce Drug-Associated Harm Fatih Demiroz, associate professor of public administration, researches in topics such as social and organizational networks, public management, emergency management, and homeland security. His articles have appeared in journals such as Journal of Emergency Management; Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management; and Journal of Eco-
nomic and Social Studies, and he presents his research findings at conferences nationally and internationally. In 2016, Demiroz won a FAST award of $11,581 from the SHSU EURECA center for collaborative research with students. Demiroz has authored several studies which can inform future research in home-
land security and the use of social media during disasters. He has also produced nine book chapters, a policy paper and has multiple works in progress, including one regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and one that looks at the impact of social media on volunteerism during disasters. Demiroz’s most recent article, published in Contemporary Drug Problems, examines the successes and challenges of the first drug consumption room established in Finland; this work has the potential to inform further such initiatives and to reduce drug-associated harm.
49 Revealing Romantic Influences on Picasso’s Art Pablo Picasso produced over 50,000 paintings during his life. Professor Enrique Mallen of the Department of World Languages and Cultures has made it his mission to catalogue them all, along with Picasso’s sculptures, lithographs, engravings and more. Since 1997, Mallen has served as the Director and General Editor for the Online Picasso Project (OPP), the most comprehensive resource on the life and works of Picasso. Every
year, additional works are added to the online project with the assistance of computer science students and student researchers. Using research compiled by the OPP, Mallen published “Pablo Picasso: A Critical Chronology” with Lumme Editor in 2017. This extensive two-volume set chronicles Picasso’s artwork as well as written works, such as scripts and letters. The book also contains information on
Picasso’s life and how it influenced his art. Mallen has published dozens of articles and numerous books and book chapters. Most recently, Mallen published the book, “Pablo Picasso: The Aphrodite Period (19241936)” in 2020 with Sussex Academic Press. The book discusses Picasso’s use of “muses” and how real women in his life, sometimes mistresses, influenced his artwork.
Leading the Way for Disaster Management Policy The Center for Disasters and Emergency Management (CDEM) is an interdisciplinary center that strives to be a leader in crisis and disaster management by focusing on community engagement, the conduct of valuable research, and collaboration among students, faculty and those in local emergency management. To benefit the community, scholars from various SHSU departments conduct research to enhance understanding and management of disasters. For
example, the center focused on Hurricane Harvey, a 2017 storm that devastated Texas, causing billions of dollars in damage. By continuing their research on practices and response, the CDEM hopes to contribute enough to help with policy changes and public awareness and to aid the local emergency management offices to be better prepared in the future. Additionally, some of the contributing faculty, such as Tom Haase and Fatih Demiroz, are digging deeply into
issues of resilience, which relates to evacuation policies and procedures and how people respond to the tensions that arise in emergencies like natural disasters. The center also runs a website called “Cases in Crisis & Disaster,” where students and faculty publish multimedia-rich case studies for use in classes and training. Contributors include current and former SHSU students, health department members, and other professionals in the emergency management industry.
50 Explaining Mental Health Impacts of Police Encounters Anna Abate, recent psychology PhD recipient, received three-year funding totaling over $100,000 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Her research project titled “The Effects of Stereotype Threat in Police Encounters on Behavioral and Affective Outcomes” studies police interactions and the effects that those interactions have on mental health. Assistant Professor Amanda Venta served as Abate’s research advisor and faculty sponsor for this grant. In a society pursuing social justice for minorities targeted by law enforcement, Abate’s work is inte-
Abate and Venta gral and will support changes to the criminal justice system. Abate’s research considers the biological processes that occur during police encounters and tracks the mental and physiological changes that transpire. The outcomes of her study can then be cross-referenced
according to race to determine whether minorities, such as Black and Hispanic individuals, are more susceptible to behavioral changes that cause law enforcement to wrongfully assume the person is a criminal. Abate’s research is part of a project that she has worked on for years as a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology and Philosophy. Her hard work has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, and Abate has presented at numerous national conferences. Abate defended her dissertation and was conferred her PhD in Summer 2021.
Hands-On Digital Studio for Student Researchers Graduates entering the technical communication workforce today are expected to have experience beyond just writing. Students of the Technical Writing Minor and the Master of Arts in Technical Communication programs now have a lab designed especially for them. Housed
in the Evans Complex, the Iris Technical Communication Suite boasts many advanced tools for hands-on learning and research. The suite, opened in 2018, contains a 3D printer, sound booth, video editing station, audio recording equipment, photography station and computers loaded with the Adobe Creative Suite. These tools allow students to
develop their skills in areas such as graphic design, podcast creation, photography and videography. While the suite was designed with technical writers in mind, anyone in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences is permitted to use the lab, if they have academic need and their Bearkat OneCard. SHSU is excited to see what innovative student creations come from the new space.
College of Osteopathic Medicine
Department of Clinical Anatomy Department of Primary Care & Clinical Medicine Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology Department of Osteopathic Principles & Practices Department of Physiology & Pharmacology
Photo on reverse: College of Osteopathic Medicine. Photo courtesy of SHSU Communications
53 Shaping the Future of the Medical Imaging Curriculum Craig Goodmurphy, professor and chair of the Department of Clinical Anatomy, joined the newly minted College of Osteopathic Medicine at SHSU in 2020. Goodmurphy brings with him over 25 years of experience in the medical field. His research interests include point of care ultrasound, human anatomy, 3D printing and curriculum development. He has published multiple peer-reviewed articles about ultrasound, many of them incorporating curriculum and pedagogy as well. In 2016, Dr. Goodmurphy was awarded developmental grant funding in the amount of
$42,600 by the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughter in Virginia to further his research on medical imaging curriculum. He has also presented his findings at conferences and has appeared as a guest or keynote speaker at events both nationally and internationally. Goodmurphy freely shares his expertise and knowledge via his educational website, AnatomyGuy.com, which is seen by hundreds of thousands of medical professionals and students worldwide. Goodmurphy believes in cultivating an environment where student and teacher can collabo-
rate and build a foundation that will guide the student to success as a professional, and student participation in his future research projects should prove impactful.
Improving Lives for Patients with Metabolic Syndrome Assistant Professor Petra Rocic of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology has made an impressive impact in her field. Her research interests include pathophysiology (physiological processes associated with injury or disease), global health and health disparities. She also studies cardio-
vascular disease and the complications associated with obesity, type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome. To continue her critical work, Rocic has been the recipient of several external grants, including an award of $3,729,649 from the National Institutes of Health and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI).
The project, titled “Mechanistic Basis of miR-145-mediated Restoration of Coronary Collateral Growth,” leveraged 13 different grants disbursed over a ten-year period. The results of this study will have a significant positive impact on the lives of those suffering from metabolic syndrome, who are at a higher risk for heart attacks. Rocic’s publications, including 117 articles in some of the top-rated journals in her field, have amassed more than 3500 citations overall, with over 1000 of those just since 2016.
54 Fighting for Sickle Cell Treatment and Health Equity Assistant Professor Dr. Kemi Olaiya in the Department of Primary Care and Clinical Medicine believes that being a physician means making a difference in the world.
To that end, she has dedicated her career to research, community involvement, clinical care and teaching. She joined SHSU in fall 2020, researching non-malignant hematology (non-cancerous blood disorders) and pediatric oncology, including sickle cell disease in adolescents. Dr. Olaiya’s works to address health inequities and advocates for their correction. At SHSU, she encourages student participation and collaboration in faculty research. Dr. Olaiya shares her research findings at a wide variety of conferences and national meetings.
She was recently the invited speaker for the Greater Kansas City Association of Pediatric HematoloOncology Nurses Meeting, where she spoke about zinc in sickle cell patients. Her research has appeared in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Blood Medicine; Pediatric Blood Cancer; and Haemophillia. Dr. Olaiya received the Scholar Recognition Award, presented by the Order of St. Francis (OSF) Medical Center in 2016, and in 2021 she received the Scientific Symposium Abstract Award from the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Research Society.
Pioneering Medical Research on the Novel Coronavirus Assistant Professor Hatem Elshabrawy of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, believes in creating an active learning curriculum where students can engage and learn effectively. To further his students’ growth and acquisition of the necessary skills to be successful researchers, Elshabrawy has offered research opportunities to collaborate and perform the essential experiments on a project that will investigate the role of a receptor-type protein in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This project is indicative of Elshabrawy’s research
interest on RA, an area of study that has already produced several publications in peer-reviewed journals. One of these, a 2017 article in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, was highlighted in the issue for its significance. In addition to his work on RA, Elshabrawy has also been active in research that examines the SARSCoV-2 virus—the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. His now highly cited paper, titled “Insights into the Recent 2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Light of Past Human Corona-
virus Outbreaks,” was published in the journal Pathogens and was one of the first studies to be published on the COVID-19 virus.
55 Reducing Health Disparities in Rural East Texas
Dr. Diego Alvarez is making a positive impact in the advancement of medical science. As founding Chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Dr. Alvarez brings over two decades of expertise. He is a highly skilled physi-
cian and internationally recognized scientist who focuses his current research on inflammatory stress responses in endothelial cells (the linings of blood vessels), which has resulted in a research program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Heart Lung Blood Institute (NHLBI). The project, titled “Caspase-1, the Microvascular Endothelium, and Infection,” has received more than $2 million in funding over the last six years and has already resulted in 16 publications. The outcomes of the study are to reduce health disparities in rural communities in East Texas and improve the health of the population overall.
Dr. Alvarez is also currently engaged in the project “Cell Culture and Small Animal Core,” which was awarded a total of $272,868 by the NIH/NHLBI. This is a subproject of a much larger ongoing study that has received over $32.6 million over the last two decades. In addition to these sponsored research projects, Dr. Alvarez has published several notable and highly cited manuscripts sharing groundbreaking discoveries in his field. He has been an invited speaker at national and international conferences to share his expertise with the medical science academia and has a patent pending to protect the heart from myocardial infarction, more commonly known as a heart attack.
Teaching the Culture of Medicine and Professionalism Assistant Professor of Primary Care Dr. Mary Manis believes in challenging her students to become more empathetic in their professional life. Drawing on her many years of professional experience as a doctor of family medicine, Dr. Manis focuses her research on the culture of medicine and how it affects the academic experience of her students; she collects their experiences and examines their cultural and structural competencies as she looks for ways to enhance the overall stu-
dent well-being, including the prevention of burnout. Dr. Manis’ research interests also include finding the best methods of delivering professionalism materials as longitudinal content. She is currently preparing an article on medical professionalism for millennials. Another work in progress, co-authored with Yuan Zhao and Hatem Elshabrawy in Molecular and Cellular Biology, will detail the development of a novel, multi-system integrated
course for the osteopathic medical school curriculum.
56 Pursuing Equity and Excellence in Medical Education SHSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, founded in 2019, is home to many dedicated and passionate faculty members, including Amberly Reynolds, an assistant professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences. With her research, Reynolds seeks to improve anatomical education from secondary to postsecondary institutions, with a focus on educational equity and learning analytics. She also researches human anatomy and anatomical variation. An integral part of accomplishing her intertwined teaching and research missions is to provide robust research opportunities to her students and to create a network of
community contacts that help to further her students' learning. Reynolds actively presents her research via posters and oral presentations at multiple conferences across the country. In 2019,
she received the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Best Poster award and was a nominee for Best Oral Presentation by the International Association of Medical Science Educators. Reynolds has published in journals such as Molecular Cancer Research and Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). Highlights include her 2019 article in FASEB, which compared global trends for teaching muscular system coverage in undergraduate anatomy courses. She also co-authored a book chapter in 2021 on the anatomy of acquired spinal disorders.
New Interventions to Combat Complications of Obesity Transforming the health of people suffering from hypertension, diabetes, and coronary artery disease is at the top of the to-do list for Michael J. Griffin, assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology. As one of the new faculty members in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Griffin wasted no time in getting the funding necessary to continue his research. In 2019, Griffin secured a National Institutes of Health grant for $408,735, which is administered by the National Institute of Diabetes
and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The project, to be conducted over a three- to five-year span, examines the circumstances under which fat cells become inflamed and the mechanisms behind the process, in the hopes of designing new interventions to combat the complications of obesity. This project also provides an opportunity for SHSU students to collaborate with Dr. Griffin in all aspects of the research process, thus impacting not only patients but also these future physicians.
57 Writing the Manual on Osteopathic Techniques As Chair of the Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practices, Dr. Sharon Gustowski shares her passion for osteopathic medicine with her students by offering them a curriculum that is organized to give them the best chance at learning the skills and practices for a rewarding and successful professional career. To support her teaching mission, Dr. Gustowski brought her research and writing skills to bear and co-authored a manual, “Osteopathic Techniques: A Learners Guide to Osteopathic Tech-
niques,” which was written to enforce the principles and competencies associated with osteopathic education and learning. As a learning aid, the book offers webbased videos and review quizzes that test the reader’s knowledge and understanding of the material. Dr. Gustowski is also an active
clinician within the community and works as a neuromusculoskeletal medicine specialist in Conroe, Texas. Her active clinical work and patient care, combined with her expertise in osteopathic principles and practices, are valuable additions to SHSU-COM.
Unlocking the Secrets of Genetic Disorders, Autism Assistant Professor Sureni V. Mullegama has a bright future in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Mullegama’s research
focuses on neurodevelopmental disorders, clinical and molecular genetics, child development, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and gene expression, to name a few. She brings her experience as an assistant professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor’s College of Medicine and her accumulated published research as a testament to her ongoing dedication to the field of genetics. Mullegama has published 35+ articles, appearing in peer-reviewed journals such as the American Journal of Human Genetics, which is ranked 11th out of 175 journals on genetics and heredity. A co-
authored paper in 2017 identified a new genetic disorder which was named Mullegama-Klein syndrome by Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), the authoritative compendium of human genes and genetic phenotypes. In addition to clinical and molecular genetics, Mullegama researches ASD and MBD5associated neurodevelopmental disorders (MAND). A 2021 article in Scientific Reports studied gene expression in MAND, and Mullegama and her co-authors hope their findings may lead to better understanding of risk factors for autism.
58 Deepening Understanding of Anatomical Variations
Dr. Kate Lesciotto, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Anatomy, joined SHSUCOM after completing her doctorate in 2020, and she has brought drive and enthusiasm in her
research endeavors. Lesciotto specializes in forensic anthropology and anatomy education. She recently co-authored an article in Forensic Anthropology that examines popular methods of estimating sex according to skull and pubic traits and compares their reliability; this can help to improve forensic identification of remains. In the arena of education research, Lesciotto co-authored a 2021 paper in Elife documenting the intentional design and public engagement of March Mammal Madness, a science outreach project which involves a simulated tournament between animals and combines gamification, social
media, community events, and creative products. She has a paper under review about how anatomy courses moved online during COVID-19. Lesciotto, along with medical student research assistants, has a current project underway to create a database of anatomical variations encountered in the dissection lab, to promote deeper understanding of anatomical structure and function. Another current project, in collaboration with Assistant Professor Amberly Reynolds and a medical student research assistant, involves a review of textbooks in regard to the psoas minor, a muscle not found in all persons and inconsistently addressed in teaching materials.
Boosting Health Care in Under-Resourced Communities Science is always advancing towards new and improved methods of treatment for chronic diseases. Kevin Lord, of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, is an active contributor to that advancement. Lord’s areas of expertise include pharmacology, valuebased care, cardiac phenotyping and diabetes. His research in these areas has resulted in several real-world chronic disease models, as well as in vivo and in vitro techniques that evaluate the function of the heart and various stages of heart disease.
Lord applies his knowledge to tackling chronic diseases within the community. He searches for ways to enhance the care in rural and under-resourced communities. Lord’s current project involves applying gamification—the application of typical elements of game playing to other areas of activity to encourage engagement with a product or service—to deliver personalized medicine and encourage changes in patient behaviors, especially those in areas that lack access to health care. Lord publishes in
journals such as The Oncologist; The American Journal of Managed Care; and Pharmacy Education.
College of Science & Engineering Technology
Department of Agricultural Sciences Department of Biological Sciences Department of Chemistry Department of Computer Science Department of Engineering Technology Department of Environmental & Geosciences Department of Mathematics & Statistics Department of Physics & Astronomy Photo on reverse: Fred Pirkle Engineering Technology Center. Photo courtesy of SHSU Communications
61 Saving Lives and Mentoring Future Researchers Professor Ilona Petrikovics is a prolific contributor to the field of chemistry. Her decades of work have addressed toxicology, drug formation and pharmacokinetics, resulting in successful patents, countless articles and significant federal grants. Petrikovics also believes in developing her students so that they can be constructive contributors to the STEM sciences. Petrikovics received grants totaling almost $1 million between 2016 and 2020. Much of her recent work, conducted for the U.S. Army, centers around cyanide, a deadly chemical weapon, for which Petrikovics has created methodology and antidotes for counteracting the chemical’s lethality. This life-
saving research has resulted in three patents for dimethyl trisulfide as an antidote for cyanide poisoning. Petrikovics requires students to present and publish their own independent research. This allows those she mentors to gain valuable
experience so they can become successful professionals in the field. Proof that this approach works is evident in the success of former SHSU student, Katelyn Bruno. After completing a bachelor’s in Chemistry with highest honors under Petrikovics’ mentorship, Bruno earned her PhD at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and secured a prestigious appointment to the faculty at the Petrikovics with student Kyler Kelly. Courtesy of Petrikovics. Mayo Clinic.
The Gift of an Innovative Engineering Environment In 2017, SHSU opened the doors to the new Fred Pirkle Engineering Technology Center. The building is named after the Distinguished Alumnus and inventor, Fred Pirkle. The 54,540 square foot building has four floors named after famous inventors: Thomas Edison, Fred Pirkle, Thomas Jefferson and Sam Houston. The first and second floors focus on industrial engineering and house machine and woodworking shops, robotics labs and
the Fred Pirkle Museum. The third floor is for agricultural sciences and holds a wildlife physiology lab, multimedia workroom, student lounge and floral design lab. The fourth floor houses Agricultural Sciences and Engineering Technology faculty and staff. In 2018, the building was selected for The American School & University Architectural Portfolio. This prestigious honor marks the facility as award-winning and top of the line.
Pirkle obtained both his bachelor’s and master's degrees from SHSU. After his graduation, he invented an anti-freeze valve for the railroads, which has since become an industry standard. He patented over 20 products, including the first device to control the temperatures of charcoal grills and cookers. Pirkle also made the largest monetary gift in SHSU history. The Pirkle building is pictured on the cover page of this report section.
62 TRIES: Research to Ensure a Sustainable Future The Texas Research Institute university research and community The Invertebrate Research Lafor Environmental Science (TRIES) service. Geographic information boratory provides services to the is one of the largest research instisystems (GIS) enable viewing and public, including identification and tutes at SHSU. Internationally recanalysis of geographic relationtreatment of invertebrate pests. The ognized, they leverage innovative ships, patterns and trends. The lab tests the efficacy of new pest research to address current environ- GIS lab team supports needs relatcontrol products, and they partner mental issues and help to ensure a ed to invasive and endangered spe- with the USDA to survey invertesustainable future. TRIES spans cies surveys, environmental crimes brates that negatively impact agrifive labs, under the leadership of enforcement, vegetation and soils culture. A recent USDA APHIS Director Autumn Smith-Herron. condition monitoring and forensic grant for $60,000 funds a field surThe Animal and Plant Diagnosscience investigations. vey of grain pests in Texas. tic Laboratory is a multi-disciplinary The Human Diagnostic LaborThe Texas Invasive Species Inanimal and plant health and pest atory, which is Clinical Laboratory stitute (TISI) is the first comprediagnostic center. They specialized Improvement Amendments hensive effort in Texas that is foin diagnosing diseases, especially (CLIA) certified, develops and per- cused on research and coordinating those related to invasive species and forms molecular diagnostic tests. the effective early detection and climate change, and make recomTheir central focus is human rapid response to multiple new inmendations for control. The lab (fluid) diagnostics, wastewater vasive species that currently impact, also trains undergraduate and gradCOVID detection, DNA extracor may impact, ecosystems and prouate students across Texas. Recent tion and GenBank sequencing serduce major economic effects. Much publications address diverse subvices, parasitic diseases, plant disof this work is supported by grants jects including honey bee parasites. eases and fecal protozoan diseases. from USDA APHIS, Texas Parks Many projects are fundand Wildlife Departed by grants from the ment and other agenUSDA Animal and cies. The work of TISI Plant Health Inspection is regularly profiled in Service (APHIS). media outlets such as The GIS Laboratothe Houston Chronicle ry seeks to acquire, inand Newsweek. Faculty tegrate, maintain, and also participate in edumake accessible geocation and outreach at spatial databases relethe Dallas Zoo, the vant to emerging issues, University of Texaswhile also providing Lady Bird Johnson Associate Professor Junkun Ma, TRIES Director Autumn Smithdata processing and Herron, and students with a prototype of an automated invasive pest survey Wildflower Center, analysis services for schools and more. and sorting device. Photo courtesy of Smith-Herron.
62 Bringing Renewable Energy to Disaster Zones As the world seeks out new sustainable energy sources, Quanta Endowed Professor Reg Pecen of the Department of Engineering Technology is making an impact with the Mobile Renewable Response Trailer (MRRT). The MRRT is a 5.5kW mobile renewable energy system that is designed to offer disaster relief in times of need. The MRRT comes equipped with a gas generator and utilizes solar energy and a wind turbine to store energy in the batteries on board. The mobile unit can then be towed to areas that are struck by disaster, in order to pro-
vide electricity to power cell phones, tools, medical instruments, wi-fi and other essential services. The project was funded by Entergy, a Fortune-500 energy company serving the southern U.S., as a promotion for cleaner energy alternatives. Six undergraduate students contributed to the development of the MRRT under Pecen’s leadership, including Lance Sebesta from the Engineering Technology program and Rachel Ross, a Computer Engineering student, and several other faculty members collaborat-
Rendering of the Mobile Renewable Response Trailer (MRRT)
ed on design, construction and implementation. The trailer also serves an additional function as an educational and outreach tool. It provides a hands-on environment for students across the region to not only teach the community about renewable energy, but also to promote STEM areas and the job opportunities that are related to projects such as the MRRT. Pecen also recently led students in a project to design and build solar-powered charging stations for the City of Huntsville’s Frank D. “Poncho” Roberts Aquatic Center.
64 Reducing Cancer Among Asian American Texans In 2020, Danhong Chen, assistant professor with the Department of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering Technology, was awarded a $1,467,728 grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. This substantial award will help Chen and her collaborators develop a Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Support Program within the Asian American (AA) communities throughout Texas. In support of Chen’s efforts to reduce
cancer amongst AAs, the proposed project will establish cancer prevention and support programs within AA communities in the large metropolitan areas of HoustonGalveston, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth. These communities are home to large Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Filipino communities that often are at higher risk of cancer because of language barriers, lack of adequate insurance and cultural stigmas.
The program will incorporate educating AAs on prevention and detection strategies, critical screening and services that help with navigation of the health care system. Vital to the program is the adoption of a service-based delivery system that includes seminars, workshops, easy-access classes, individual counselling and articles that are in the native languages of the community being served. Through direct and indirect contact, the goal is to reach more of the target population to address the cancer disparities that are currently lacking within the AA communities and bring significant changes that will ultimately save the lives of Asian Americans in Texas.
Digging Up New Insights into Ancient Amphibians Juan Diego Daza, assistant professor of biological sciences, has made a significant discovery. Daza, who studies prehistoric fossil lizards, published a 2016 articles in Science Advances about a unique amber fossil containing a specimen that appeared to be an ancient chameleon. Daza’s research was noticed by another scientist, Susan Evans from the University College London, who recognized it as an albanerpetontid (albie, for short) and contacted Daza to share her knowledge. The find has attracted a
lot of attention. Daza’s fossil is one of the best complete skull specimens found to date, in amber that is estimated to be 99 million years old. Daza and his colleagues decided that the albie they found represents a new species because of its unique traits; an additional article they published in Science in 2020
named the species Yaksha perettii. They concluded that this species lived in a new area of the world that had not been previously identified. Since the discovery, the study has been featured in more than 30 different media outlets, including Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Foreign Affairs, and Science Daily.
64 Harnessing GIS to Help Developing Countries
The faculty within the Department of Environmental and Geosciences is striving to make an impact on the world around them, especially within developing countries. Samuel Adu-Prah, assistant professor of geography, has made substantial contributions to improving curriculums that teach geospatial technology in Africa. In 2017, Adu-Prah was awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program that included the opportunity to travel to Ghana to collaborate with faculty at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Then in 2019, Adu-Prah was awarded another fellowship by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa to return to KNUST to update faculty and
students about recent developments of applied geospatial technologies used in social science research. For both fellowships, Adu-Prah offered his expertise on Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and geospatial technology in the form of workshops, teaching materials and graduate research supervision. Additionally, the projects resulted in a database with listings of research publications at SHSU, which were made available to the faculty and students at KNUST. The collaborations are important to KNUST students who wish to continue their research with faculty, and it is a valuable tool to help guide them in the grant application process for future research opportunities. Adu-Prah’s participation in the fellowship programs ensures that students in a developing country like Ghana will have access to mentorship, training and curriculums that will enhance their research capacity, methodology and prospects for changing their environment. Another important con-
tributor is Associate Professor Falguni Mukherjee, who is also an expert in GIS technology. Her current work focuses on the use of GIS by urban local bodies in India to examine how the rapid transformation of urban centers is being handled by the government. Her most recent publication, “Technological Use by Urban Local Bodies in India to Combat the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is a detailed study on how government authorities have responded to the pandemic. Using geospatial technology, Mukherjee tracked the movement of the virus and how quarantines were managed. This critical research can now be used by local governments in India to improve delivery of public health services and to help reduce the spread of the deadly virus.
65 Studies of Decomposition Aid Crime Investigations Faculty researchers Sibyl Bucheli and Aaron Lynne in the Department of Biology are part of a larger cohort that has recently been awarded $1.2 million by the National Institute of Justice to continue their research on estimating a victim’s time of death. This important investigation is in collaboration with a team from Colorado State University and is taking place at SHSU’s Southeast Texas Applied
Forensic Science (STAFS) Facility in Huntsville, Texas. STAFS is one of the few facilities in the world that studies human cadavers donated for research. There, Bucheli and Lynne are testing the different effects of outdoor versus indoor decomposition. Their findings will aid in future forensic studies and help forensic teams in the criminal justice system identify a more accurate time of death, giving law enforcement agencies the chance to narrow
down suspects, solve cases and bring closure to the loved ones of the deceased. Not only is this research important for the broader discipline, but it also allows SHSU students to engage in research and build their forensics knowledge.
Patented Method for Detecting Digital Image Tampering Qingzhong Liu, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, focuses on a subfield of Computer Science called multimedia forensics, the study of image and audio forgery, pattern recognition and steganalysis (the detection of messages concealed within digital files). Liu’s research has resulted in funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and SHSU. Liu received a 2014 grant from the NSF to conduct four years of research on the development of
complex intelligence systems for forgery detection. As a result of this grant, Liu produced at least 10
articles and a patent for a method of detecting digital image tampering, demonstrating his impact on the field of digital forensics. Liu’s other research interests include information assurance, which protects the integrity, authenticity and confidentiality of user data, and bioinformatics, technology used to analyze biological data. In 2017, Liu became the only Computer Science faculty member to date to win SHSU’s Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Accomplishments Award.
66 Shining New Light on Evolutionary Processes Assistant Professor David Moss in the Department of Environmental and Geosciences studies paleontology and how life has unfolded on earth. He examines the lifespans and growth rates of both fossil and modern bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops and oysters) for insight into evolution. Moss combines this research experience and his teaching to make science accessible and interesting. His dedication to this philosophy and practice resulted in the development of a significant program called Geoscience Exposure and Training in Texas (GET TX). This project, designed to promote the STEM sciences in high schools across Texas, was awarded $345,773
by the National Science Foundation. GET TX offers workshops for educators, career guidance and a 12-day summer bridge program designed to provide the opportunity for participation by underrepresented groups. Faculty and student collaboration is an important part of the research done at SHSU. By working together, Moss and his research assistant, Stephen Casper, have produced insightful scholarship on the lifespans of modern bivalves. Their partnership resulted in a poster that was presented at two conferences: first, at SHSU’s Undergraduate Research Symposium (where Casper won
second place for best poster); and at the Geological Society of America South-Central Annual Meeting in 2020.
Engaging Minority Students in Mathematics Research Rebecca Garcia, professor of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, is a driven individual
with a passion for educating students, especially those from underrepresented groups. Garcia has co-authored a number of recent articles on crown graphs, a special type of mathematical graph. These works, appearing in journals such as Electronic Journal of Graph Theory and Application, have presented some important findings and theorems regarding crowns. Garcia serves as one of the directors of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Under-
graduate Program (MSRI-UP), a summer program for undergraduates designed to prepare them for graduate studies. Each summer, 18 carefully selected students work on a mathematical research project, attend workshops and network with professionals. Additionally, each student gets a stipend of $3600, lodging, meals and round-trip transportation to California. While anyone is welcome to apply, the program was created with the Black, Hispanic/Latino and Native American communities in mind.
67 Innovative Integration of Biology, Computer Science What do Genome Science and Computational Biology have in common? Madhusudan Choudhary, professor of biological sciences, and Hyuk Cho, associate professor of computer science, will merge the two disciplines to see what innovative interdisciplinary research they can inspire in their students. Choudhary, who is also the director for the SHSU Center for Enhancing Undergraduate Research
Experiences and Creative Activities (EURECA), will contribute his expertise in the biological sciences and genomes, while Cho brings experience in data mining and computer science. They developed a program that will engage ten under-represented students for ten weeks each summer from 2021-2023, with each mentored by a trained researcher.
The project was funded by the National Science Foundation in 2020. Students will attend seminars, workshops and lectures; visit research laboratories, genome sequencing centers and supercomputer facilities; conduct research using computational processes to analyze biological data; and present at conferences. They will learn scientific processes and skills for careers in genomics and bioinformatics.
Addressing Slavery, Other Difficult Heritage in Tourism Professor of Geography Velvet Nelson has made traveling and tourism the focus of her research. Her recent textbook, “An Introduction to the Geography of Tourism,” introduces students to tourism via a geographical lens. She also studies gastronomic tourism, or trips that center around the food and drink
of a community; the culture of tourism in the Caribbean and Peru; and the use of objects in narrating difficult subjects, such as slavery, in museums such as the Sam Houston Memorial Museum. She is now focusing on “difficult heritage in tourism,” which is problematic within the tourism industry because it tends to stir up sensitive is-
sues when tourists are looking for fun on vacation. Using the concept of liminality (a transitional state between stages), Nelson hopes to find how tourists can enjoy their vacation and still learn about a past that often includes narratives of slavery and traumatic content. On a lighter note, Nelson studies the experience of tourists visiting craft breweries in Texas, using reviews that have been posted to TripAdvisor and Ratebeer about destinations in the large urban areas of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth.
68 Exploring Dark Matter and Expanding Physics Models In 2018, Professors of Physics James Dent and Joel Walker were awarded $240,000 over three years from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Their research proposal, “RUI: Neutrino, Collider, and Dark Matter Phenomenology,” is designated as a project that includes student collaboration, making this an opportunity for SHSU physics students to gain invaluable experience. Through this significant research about dark matter and neutrinos, Dent and Walker hope to develop an innovative software tool for discovering new advanced physics, while expanding the knowledge about particle matter through exploration of neutrino, collider
and the gravitational effects of dark matter. Another goal of the research is to expand upon the Standard Model of physics research produced using the Large Hadron Collider, located at the European Organization for Nucle-
ar Research (CERN), near Geneva, Switzerland. As of this report, the project has already published five articles in the Physical Review, evidence that SHSU faculty and student researchers are effecting change in the world of physics.
RUI project research team. Photo courtesy of Joel Walker.
USDA Funding Supports Diverse Investigations Federal funding allows SHSU faculty and students to make significant impacts in their fields. The 2021 award cycle from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) awarded more than $800,000 at SHSU, allowing researchers to continue producing high-quality scholarship and sharing
the resulting innovations globally. Some of the 2021 USDAAPHIS recipients and projects include : Chris Randle, Biological Sciences, over $189,000 to study Texas crop pests and molluscan agricultural pests; Junkun Ma, Agricultural Sciences and Engineering Technology, $139,000 to continue his research on developing a de-
vice for the nondestructive rapid detection of cyst nematode; Mahdi Safa, Engineering Technology, $96,877 for a multisensory data fusion model to improve domestic pest inspection in the maritime and port industry; and Richard Ford, Agricultural Sciences, almost $90,000 to develop statewide curriculum on agricultural biosecurity.
69 Increasing Equity, Diversity in Agricultural Education Dwayne Pavelock, professor of agricultural education, has dedicated his work to recruiting, retaining and equitably educating underrepresented students. To aid his mission, the U.S. Department of AgricultureNational Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a grant in the amount of $272,424 for his research proposal titled “Expanding Opportunities in Agriculture for UnderRepresented Populations.” Students from low socioeconomic and underrepresented populations often encounter barriers to higher education, including a lack of mentorship, no knowledge of financial aid opportunities and a history of being ill-equipped by grade schools with the skills needed to successfully navigate through a col-
lege program. Pavelock seeks to mitigate those hurdles for students who are interested in the food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences by developing opportunities for underrepresented students to gain the essential knowledge and skills to succeed. Working in conjunction with the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at Stephen F. Austin State University, Pavelock and his colleagues devised a practical plan of action that includes a research exchange utilizing surveys, interactive educational sessions and developmental activities to enhance students’ teambuilding and professional skills. This immersive program’s goal is to reduce or eliminate the chal-
lenges faced by students in underrepresented groups and ensure that everyone can pursue their interests in agricultural education. Although progress was hindered somewhat by the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of the research project are substantial enough for the team to make preliminary conclusions, which can fuel further research.
New Facilities to Enable Cutting-Edge Discoveries The state-of-the-art Life Sciences Building was unveiled in 2018 after 23 months of construction. The building provides 97,500 square feet of space (about the area of a Manhattan city block) on five floors and contains labs and collaboration areas for the systemic, molecular and environmental biology disciplines. The north side of the building houses teaching labs, while the south side contains research
labs. In the center of the building, students can find break rooms that encourage teamwork. Additionally, the exterior houses an experimental greenhouse, which serves as an outdoor classroom, and a cascading rain garden used for the study of sustainability. Much thought went into landscaping as well, earning SHSU the distinguished Award of Merit from the New Jersey chapter of the Ameri-
can Society of Landscape Architects. One challenge faced in designing the building was its hillside location. To compensate for the uneven ground floor, the building boasts two entrances. The first-floor entrance serves as a welcoming spot for visitors and students, while the second-floor entrance, on the other side of the building, serves as a loading dock.
70 Driving Eco-Conscious Chemicals with Student Help Christopher Hobbs, assistant professor of chemistry, believes in involving and supporting students in education and research endeavors. Most recently, Hobbs was named one of only eight 2020 Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars. This award recognizes emerging faculty in chemical sciences who have not only contributed to scholarship, but who are also making a positive impact on students. The accompanying $75,000 grant will help to investigate new ways to create environmentally conscious chemical products, with a goal to involve mostly
undergraduate students. In 2019, Hobbs won a $409,910 CAREER Award from the NSF for his research project titled “Developing New PolymerSupported Catalysts with High School, Undergraduate, and Graduate Students.” This prestigious award funded a project
that proposes ways to include minority students in their pursuit of careers in STEM sciences. A 2016 research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded his research on hydrogels (gels made with water). His work appears in journals such as Polymer Chemistry and Journal of Polymer Science.
Martin and STEM Center Train Future Researchers Taylor Martin, associate professor of mathematics, directs the STEM Center at SHSU. She led a 2017 National Science Foundation grant, which awarded $2 million to establish the Center; it seeks to “increase the number and quality of STEM graduates by establishing a strong foundation for learning using innovative teaching practices,” and
to help students engage in research, find internships and build skills to advance their careers. Outside the Center, Martin specializes in low-dimensional topology (the study of geographical manifolds with four or less dimensions), knot theory and link concordance, and she produces research with cross-disciplinary sig-
nificance. Her collaborative work “Optimal Reblocking as a Practical Tool for Neighborhood Development” applied topological principles to urban slums in order to develop practical solutions for existing and future settlements to increase access to residences, workplaces and basic services such as sanitation, water and emergency aid.
Newton Gresham Library
Newton Gresham Library
Photo on reverse: Newton Gresham Library. Photo by Tamara Parsons
73 Librarians Conduct Multidisciplinary Research The faculty licommented that compiled data will help researchers brarians at SHSU reviewing these to study health and disease and to don’t simply help books was one of develop individualized medicine. other researchers find their most memoIn addition to participating in information: They rable/valuable grants, NGL faculty also author also participate in the experiences this practice-oriented original research funding and creation semester,” and that impacts scholarship in library of new knowledge as the students even and information science as well as well. Assistant Pro"requested a list applied practice in libraries. Associfessor and Education of the titles so ate Professors Kat Landry Mueller, Librarian Ashley they could obtain Zach Valdes and Professor Erin Crane co-authored a copies for themOwens co- authored an innovative grant proposal, along selves.” cross-platform study of comparaAshley Crane with Dr. William Blackwell (primary Meanwhile, Assistant Profestive usability in e-books to inform author) and other College of Educa- sor and Health Sciences Librarian library collection decisions and vention faculty, which was awarded Lisa Connor dor product improve$11,000 to create a series of culturcollaborated with ment. Assistant Proally responsive reading kits. These Kelly Zinn and fessors Soo-yeon carefully curated sets of children’s Denise Neil in Hwang, Susan Elkins, books are intended to help prethe School of Michael Hanson, service teachers approach topics in Nursing to Trent Shotwell and the classroom in a culturally respon- secure grant Specialist Molly sive way. The kits contain mostly funding from the Thompson reported fiction, which provides a safe disAmerican Assoon institutional repostance for discussing sensitive topics, ciation of Collegitory promotion by and mostly in a picture-book fores of Nurses Texas academic instimat, which is relatable for students (AACN). SHSU tutions. Recently, Proat many ages. Winners of various was one of just fessor Erin Owens Lisa Connor awards were selected, such as nine schools nationwide funded to published results from a national Schneider Family Book Award, build awareness of the National survey on scholarly communication Caldecott Medal and Tejas Star, to Institutes of Health (NIH) All of librarians and impostor phenomename a few. Although the kits are Us Research Program. All of Us non, and Associate Professor Zach still new, the impact is already clear: gathers information about the Valdes co-authored an article on One instructor of elementary educa- health, habits, and living condidownsizing print collections with a tion reported that “the students tions of diverse Americans. The collaborative repository model.
74 About the Report’s Authors Erin Owens is a professor in the SHSU Newton Gresham Library. She joined the faculty in 2007 as the research & instruction librarian for history. She now serves as the librarian coordinator for the Access & Interlibrary Services department within the library, and she is the scholarly communication librarian, in which role she assists SHSU researchers with diverse processes across the research lifecycle. To date, she has published 17 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as College & Research Libraries and Journal of Academic Librarianship. She is an Associate Editor (Research Articles) for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. Tamara Parsons is a graduate student in the SHSU MA HIED program while concurrently finishing her MA in history. Tamara began conducting independent research in 2016 as a McNair Scholar while finishing her bachelor’s degree in history at SHSU. In 2017, Tamara presented her research titled “War, Politics, and Influence: The Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation on the 1862 Mid-Term Congressional Elections” at the Southwestern Social Sciences Association Annual Meeting and also at SHSU’s Tenth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. She also presented her work, “Graduate Studies During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” virtually at the ACUI 2020 Regional Conference, Region II. Tamara has worked as a research assistant for the Department of History; a writing tutor for the Academic Success Center (ASC); a graduate assistant at the Lowman Student Center; research assistant for the SHSU Impact Report; and is returning to the ASC in Fall 2021 as a Supplemental Instructor for history. Tamara is also a lab assistant for the Equine Science program and assistant for the Equitation Team at SHSU. Tamara has her sights set on a PhD in History and continues research on the horses’ experience of the American Civil War.
Emily Van Eaton is a junior working towards a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with minors in Technical Writing and American Sign Language. She transferred from Lone Star College after obtaining an Associate of Arts degree with Honors in Research. Emily is also a member of the Elliot T. Bowers Honors College at SHSU and plans to graduate with honors distinction. Upon graduation, she intends to pursue a Masters in Library Science with the aspiration of eventually becoming a research librarian at an institute of higher education. Emily recently had the opportunity to travel with the Honors College to historically racist landmarks around the southeastern United States. She and her classmates co-wrote an article about the erasure of racist history from these tourist sites which will be published in The Measure, SHSU’s academic journal.
Texas State University System Board of Regents Charlie Amato, Chairman......................San Antonio Duke Austin, First Vice Chairman..............Houston Garry Crain, Second Vice Chairman..........The Hills Sheila Faske, Regent...................................Rose City Dionicio (Don) Flores, Regent......................El Paso Nicki Harle, Regent..........................................Baird Stephen Lee, Regent.................................Beaumont William F. Scott, Regent...........................Nederland Alan L. Tinsley, Regent.........................Madisonville Camile Settegast, Student Regent.....Horseshoe Bay Brian McCall, Chancellor................................Austin