arts&sciences fall 2016

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UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

inside the world of math Department Research Proves It’s More Than Just Numbers P.

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2016

> DEAN’S MESSAGE

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UM COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

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LEONIDAS G. BACHAS Dean of the UM College of Arts & Sciences

MAKE A DIFFERENCE Your gift to the College of Arts & Sciences helps us support student scholarships and retain leading faculty. Visit www.as.miami.edu/donate/ or scan this QR code with your smartphone to find out how your contribution can make a difference.

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s an educator and Dean, I look forward with great enthusiasm to each academic year and what our students and faculty bring to our strong, vibrant College.

With more than one hundred courses introduced every year, we are continuously shaping and reinvigorating our curriculum to challenge our talented students to become well-versed individuals, leaders, and change agents ready to take on and solve complex problems—now and in the future.

Our award-winning faculty excels in both fundamental and interdisciplinary research as they tackle 21st century global challenges, and in scholarship and creative activities that advance the arts and deepen our understanding of the human condition. In the ever evolving world of academia, we need innovative and bold initiatives to lead higher education in groundbreaking scholarship and research. In this issue of A&S magazine, you will read inspiring stories that reflect the pioneering research and accomplishments of our faculty and students—highlighting the realms of mathematics, the arts, robotics and computer science, physics, and the humanities.

With a decade before the University’s centennial, President Julio Frenk is charting an engaging “Roadmap to Our New Century” that will enrich the education we provide to our students and continue our ambitious goals of excellence and impact. We are committed to attracting and retaining faculty through endowed professorships and chairs, eliminating financial obstacles for students, and enhancing students’ experiences in and out of the classroom.

I encourage you to learn more about these initiatives by visiting as.miami.edu/roadmap.

A significant and immediate impact of the Roadmap initiatives has come to fruition through a transformational gift from UM benefactors Dr. Philip and Patricia Frost. Their support to advance further the collaboration in both the basic and applied sciences and engineering on a grander scale will raise a new science facility on the Coral Gables campus, where relevant, groundbreaking research in these fields will be developed through interdisciplinary academic clusters.

The College and the University have made great strides over the years, and I remain proud of our academic reputation. There are many factors that make our University great, from the breadth of our programs to the quality of our faculty, our inspiring and inclusive academic environment, and the achievements of our students and alumni.

The College of Arts and Sciences is elated to be a part of and a contributor to this momentum of progress and advancement. Together, and with your help, we will continue on our trajectory of excellence and innovation!

Go ’Canes!

FALL 2016 VOLUMESEVENTEEN | ISSUETWO

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

EDITORIAL

Senior Associate Deans Douglas Fuller Angel Kaifer Maria Galli Stampino

Editorial Contributors Maya Bell Jessica Castillo Carlos Harrison Robert C. Jones Tracy Simon Andres Tamayo

Dean Leonidas G. Bachas

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Associate Deans Leonard Clemons Charles Mallery ADVANCEMENT

Assistant Dean of Advancement Jeanne Luis jluis@miami.edu

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16 | The College and the Arts

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12 | Inside the World of Math

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18 | Championing for Innovation

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26 | Class Spotlight

Arts & Sciences is produced in the fall and spring by the College of Arts & Sciences Office of Communications. Through the magazine, we seek to increase awareness of the College’s activities by telling the stories of faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Send comments, requests for permission to reprint material, requests for extra copies, and change-of-address notification to: Arts & Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, P.O. Box 248004, Coral Gables, FL 33124-4620. Telephone: (305) 284-2485.

27 | Class Notes

All contents © 2016, University of Miami. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

20 | A&S Student Achievements

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ARTS | SCIENCES

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> FALL 2016

Semana Santa in Spain

NEWS

Photography professor accomplishes decadesold dream of photographing the world-renowned Holy Week in Spain’s Andalusian region

ARTS & SCIENCES

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There were 5,000 nazarenos and 5,000 penitentes during the procession of La Macarena’s twelve-hour route. Nazarenos don colorful robes and pointy, hooded caps.

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or a visual artist who has photographed religious rituals and processions from Mexico to Jerusalem, capturing Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in Seville, Spain has been J. Tomas (Tom) Lopez’s holy grail. Pun intended.

Lopez, professor of art and art history, fulfilled a 20-year-old dream of photographing what is world-renowned as one of the most baroque, elaborate, and solemn Holy Week festivals. He spent 10 days in late March this year capturing the unique celebration in Seville, Spain.

Lopez’s grandparents left Spain in the 1930s to settle in Cuba, only to have his parents emigrate once again to New Orleans in 1954 and eventually to Long Island, New York, in 1960. Lopez, who still has family in Oviedo, Spain, was educated in parochial schools through college and has always had an interest in the participation and communality that is created by religious orthodoxy.

That sense of communal belonging is potently clear during Seville’s Semana Santa. Hundreds of thousands flock to the city for this ritual of six to seven processions a day and the entire city is closed off to traffic during Holy Week. Pilgrims, party-goers, and everyone in between fill the crowded streets of the capital of the autonomous region of Andalusia. The main churches in Seville send out large hermanados, or brotherhoods, in processions with routes throughout the city, ranging from three to 10 hours long. The processions can last all night, from late afternoon to very early morning.

The order of those in the procession may differ slightly, but the same groups are always represented: nazarenos, priests, costaleros, or the carriers of the altars, and penitentes, who are almost always carrying heavy crosses and a representation of the Virgin Mary. In the past few years, breaking with a long tradition, women and girls have been allowed full participation in the Semana Santa processions as either nazarenas or penitentes.

The culmination and greatest celebration is at midnight on Good Friday at the Basílica de La Macarena, patron saint of matadors and Gypsies. The 1990’s song by the same name, by an Andalusian pop band, draws reference to Mary Magdalene’s reportedly sensuous past.

There were 5,000 nazarenos and 5,000 penitentes during the procession of La Macarena’s twelve-hour route. Nazarenos don colorful robes and pointy, hooded caps; penitentes are also hooded, but, Lopez said, these groups shouldn’t be confused with a similarly-styled group in the United States.

“The original intent [of the dress] is not related to racism at all but actually for the pious churchgoers to pray in private and only God would know who was actually praying,” said Lopez.

The processions have different altars or depictions of Jesus, from his time of entering Jerusalem on a mule to his crucifixion and death.

The bigger altars require more than 20 costaleros to carry the float. The carriers often have to alternate because the altar is so heavy, some weighing thousands of pounds.

“The original intent [of the dress] is not related to racism at all but actually for the pious churchgoers to pray in private and only God would know who was actually praying.”

T OM L OP E Z

TOM LOPEZ EXHIBITION The Lowe Art Museum will exhibit works

by Tom Lopez, May 25 - Nov. 15, 2017. lowemuseum.org

Topping off the celebratory procession is usually a large marching band with anywhere from 20 to 100 musicians.

Somewhere along the procession there is an emotional song to the Virgin Mary known as a saeta. A saeta is an a capella homage, usually sung by a gitana, or Gypsy, and is very powerful and soulful. The singing is in reverence for the Virgin Mary and her biblical plight.

The processions were halting and impressive, Lopez said, especially before the depiction of Jesus.

“Even though there may be hundreds of thousands of people—for some it’s a pilgrimage, for others it’s just a big party—when the altar of Jesus comes by, everyone goes silent and some even fall to their knees. It was very moving,” said Lopez.

Over the 10 days in Seville, Lopez shot over 5,000 photos of the famous annual rituals and processions. The work was done under a prestigious Cooper Fellowship. n ARTS | SCIENCES

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NEWS ARTS & SCIENCES

Helping Colombia Heal UM’s Elvira Maria Restrepo lays the foundation for social reconciliation in Colombia

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orn just a few years after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia launched its left-wing insurgency in 1964, Elvira Maria Restrepo has never known her homeland without war.

But today, the University of Miami assistant professor of geography and regional studies, who is advising Colombian President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Juan Manuel Santos on his historic peace accord (recently rejected by Colombians) with the FARC, can still see the peace dividends.

“For the first time in my life, the main military hospital in Bogota has empty beds,” Restrepo says. “We have zero combat dead, zero kidnappings, zero towns taken over. The cease-fire has led to a negative peace—an absence of violence for many people who have lived with the conflict throughout their lives.”

Yet, Restrepo is troubled by the absence of celebrations on August 24, the day when, after nearly four years of negotiations, the government and the FARC presigned the final agreement to end the bloodshed that has claimed an estimated 220,000 lives over the past half century.

“It’s the most remarkable achievement in the recent history of Colombia and we already have seen some of the benefits of peace, but people did not celebrate,”

UM’s Elvira Maria Restrepo lays the foundation for social reconciliation in Colombia.

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Restrepo says. “Which tells me how completely polarized Colombia is, and where my work is and where my work will start. This is the fourth and only successful negotiation with the FARC in 30 years.”

An expert in Colombia’s politics and justice system who holds a Master of Laws from Harvard and a Ph.D. in politics from Oxford, Restrepo knows that building a lasting peace through any mechanism will depend on societal reconciliation— on opening the minds of a people deeply divided by their interests and over deeply emotional issues, including allowing FARC members into the political mainstream.

As such, she is spending her year of public service leave from the University developing interactive public forums and a virtual platform to help Colombians reduce long-held prejudices by debating, deliberating, and understanding the conflict from different perspectives.

“Maybe they don’t want the FARC in Congress, but maybe the way to accomplish that is not to vote for them. Isn’t a demobilized FARC aspiring to Congress better than FARC using violence to reach their political ends?” Restrepo asks.

She is just as certain that the nearly 8 million Colombians who have registered as victims of the half-century civil conflict between left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, and the Colombian government seek truth, not revenge.

“They want to know: Where are my daughter’s remains? How did you recruit my son—was he coerced, or did he volunteer?”’ she says. “The great majority of conflict victims, not only in Colombia but across the world, prefer truth over retribution. Truth helps healing and allows them to move forward.”

In 2014, hoping to move the peace process forward, Restrepo and some UM colleagues wrote an open letter that, signed by 130 scholars around the world, urged support for the ongoing negotiations with the FARC. In what would prove ironic, the letter noted that Santos’ immediate predecessor as president, Alvaro Uribe, established the “route to peace” in 2005 when he negotiated the demobilization of the country’s paramilitary groups—“under great

“It’s the most remarkable achievement in the recent history of Colombia and we already have seen some of the benefits of peace, but people did not celebrate.”

ELVI RA MAR IA R E S T R E P O

secrecy, few rules and, ultimately, no democratic approval process.”

Today, that agreement, which was revised, enhanced, and enacted into law by Colombia’s Congress, courts, and civil society, has produced what Restrepo calls undeniable gains: a dramatic decrease in violence, the revelation of key truths about the country’s bloody conflicts, and significant economic growth.

Yet, contributing to the nation’s polarization and confusion, Uribe and his predecessor, Andres Pastrana, who conducted three years of failed negotiations with the FARC, are among the most vocal critics of Santos’s agreement. They argue, in part, that the accord rewards FARC leaders with impunity. Restrepo disagrees.

In addition to collecting and sharing the truth about the 220,000 deaths and other crimes against humanity, the agreement gave survivors the right to reparations and to a special justice, the goal of which is to repair wrongdoings through community service.

For example, she says, rebel leaders who destroyed villages or laid land mines can avoid prison by confessing their crimes and reconstructing the villages, or retrieving the explosives.

And that, Restrepo says, makes Colombian’s innovative peace accord a model for the world, one as uniquely challenging to implement as it is unprecedented. n ARTS | SCIENCES

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Frontline Perspective

NEWS

“The 2016 Election”

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J OSE P H USCI NSKI

of the historic election, " said Casey Klofstad, an associate professor of political science.

The course also featured an election-night watch party for students and invited guests with live broadcasts from CNN, MSNBC, and other news channels, as well as guest speakers and opportunities for students to engage in live polling.

In addition to Klofstad and Uscinski, other lecturers included Fernand Amandi, a UM instructor and managing partner of Bendixen & Amandi International, a Miami-based management and communications consulting firm, and Rudy Fernandez, chief of staff to UM President Julio Frenk and vice president of government and community relations at UM. n

Photo: Andrew Innerarity

ARTS & SCIENCES

ow does the Electoral College work? What role does media play in today’s political arena? These questions and more were answered by a group of UM instructors who taught a course entitled “The 2016 Election,” hosted by the College’s Department of Political Science.

“This was one of the biggest and most important courses that the University of Miami had ever offered,” said Joseph Uscinski, an associate professor of political science. “This 2016 election was one of monumental importance, and our students had the opportunity to learn about it from both expert professors and top political insiders.”

The 300 students enrolled in the course met every Tuesday night in Storer Auditorium to study the democratic process, from the ins and outs of a presidential campaign to issues that divide voters today, election conspiracy theories, voter turnout, and race and gender issues across the U.S. political spectrum.

The course also featured guest speakers who offered real-world experience in politics, government, and the media, such as U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo, both Republicans from Miami and UM alumni, former U.S. Representative and current news commentator Col. Allen West, local filmmaker Billy Corben, and South Florida billionaire Mike Fernandez, founder of MBF Healthcare Partners, who was called one of the “50 Most Influential Latino Republicans” by Newsweek and one of the alltime most prolific political donors by The New York Times.

"By bringing in prominent outside speakers from the world of politics and the mass media, we exposed hundreds of UM students to experts with frontline knowledge

“This 2016 election was one of monumental importance, and our students had the opportunity to learn about it from both expert professors and top political insiders.”

(Left) U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen speaks to students enrolled in the course. (Right) Mike Fernandez, founder of MBF Healthcare Partners.

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Raising a Child with Autism Focusing on positive coping strategies is key

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n the first known study of its kind, psychologists Michael Alessandri and Hoa Lam Schneider worked with Texas Christian University researchers to further the understanding of the relationship between optimism, coping strategies, and depressive symptoms among Hispanic mothers and fathers of children with autism.

“Parents are really resilient and we wanted to learn the positive aspects of how they adjust when raising a child with ASD, as well as the specific coping strategies they are using,” said Schneider, a graduate student in the Child Clinical Psychology Program at the College of Arts and Sciences.

Focusing on the positive coping strategies and characteristics such as optimism is especially important for clinical psychologists in helping families adjust to raising a child with ASD. “Our hope is that by identifying these stress-buffering qualities we may be able to tailor clinical interventions for families in a way that affords them the opportunity to strengthen these personal characteristics and responses,” said Alessandri, clinical professor of psychology and executive director of the UM-NSU Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD).

The psychologists also studied the gender and ethnic similarities and differences

between Hispanic parents and the larger general population of non-Hispanic families. Their reason for focusing on Hispanic families was two-fold —not only does South Florida provide a rich source of data on Hispanic parents, but there is also a dearth of autism research that focuses on ethnicity.

The researchers also discovered that there were little to no gender differences between Hispanic mothers and fathers in this study, which was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. n

Support the University of Miami’s

Clinical and Research Initiatives for Autism

How can I help? You can support the autism programs, services, and research initiatives by supporting the Tropical Nights’ annual fundraising event, or by making a direct gift at www.umcard.org/donations.

Saturday

May 13, 2017

InterContinental Miami, 7 p.m.

To join us, make a contribution, or view sponsorship opportunities, visit www.tropicalnights.org or call 305-284-9126.

“Tropical Nights” is a fundraiser benefiting the programs, services and research initiatives of the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (UM-NSU CARD).

ARTS | SCIENCES

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ARTS & SCIENCES

NEWS

“I am a living example of years when my voice was not heard.”

L UI S HE RNANDE Z

A Community of Literacy and Creativity Behind the Razor Wire UM’s Writing Center partners with non-profit Exchange for Change to nurture the writer in prisoners at a South Florida correctional institution

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he routine for each tutoring session is always the same for University of Miami writing coaches Ben Bogart and Kimberly McGrath. Walk through the metal detector, wait for a pat-down by the guards, affirm they carry no contraband—no cellphone, no weapon, no cash over $60—then cross the courtyard to a large room in another building and wait for their students.

Their classroom may be behind razor wire, their students dressed in prison blues, and their one-on-one guidance often interrupted by a head count, but the curriculum at Dade Correctional Institution doesn’t vary from what’s taught at the UM Writing Center 30 miles to the north: Improve your sentence structure and critical thinking skills, practice how to edit and revise your stories, manipulate your word choice, work on your prose.

“During the tutoring session, the focus is always on their writing. I don’t know their crimes or even their sentences,” said McGrath, who usually lectures in UM’s English Department but participated in summer tutoring session for Exchange for Change, Inc. “I am impressed by their stories and the topics they write about.

Their efforts are amazing.”

A nonprofit organization that promotes dialogue and social change through written partnerships, Exchange for Change usually arranges anonymous writing exchanges between classrooms in prison and classrooms in high school and universities. But in October 2015 Exchange for Change began partnering with UM’s Writing Center

Exchange for Change promotes dialogue and social change through written partnerships. The program offers creative writing courses in four correctional institutions in South Florida.

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to offer one-on-one tutoring to inmates like Allington Dottin. He deems the lessons “essential.”

“If I must list a single improvement it would be my transformation from ‘fiction reporter’ to ‘factual novelist,’” Dottin, 43, told Exchange for Change, which conveyed his remarks to UM. “I had great ideas that fell flat due to the lack of involvement, a paucity of feelings, and an absence of redeeming qualities for my characters. UM tutoring reconciled all these and more.”

Another inmate, Luis Hernandez, 34, credits the program for giving voice to the voiceless. “I am a living example of years when my voice was not heard,” he told Exchange for Change. “Now, through the tutoring and the confidence they give me, I share my voice with anyone who wants to read it. The tutors have so much insight and valuable help to give me, I don’t want to hold back from them because they give my writing more life.”

For now, Exchange for Change also offers creative writing courses in four correctional institutions and a juvenile facility in South Florida, but DCI is the only location where tutoring is offered. The organization hopes to expand the tutoring program to other correctional institutions and start additional programs with UM, such as a Spanish-language letter exchange workshop.

Bogart, who also taught a rhetoric course at DCI during the summer, said most of the students “pay attention to the news and write, what I like to call, the ‘State of the Union address’ where they respond to current problems. For example, many students write about the Black Lives Matter movement.”

McGrath is inspired by seeing firsthand how writing can empower people. “In their work, I can hear their voices in a place where their voices are normally unheard,” she said. “Prison does not have to define who you are in life, and I see how the students’ writings are redefining their lives.” n

A Recreation of the Real World Historic buildings seen anew using 3-D virtual mapping

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he 26-story tower of the historic Biltmore Hotel rises majestically into the sky over Coral Gables. Visible for miles, it's an icon, a landmark on the National Historic Register, and a lush and ornate example of classic Spanish colonial influences in Mediterranean Revival architectural style.

Now, 90 years after its grand opening, it's about to be born again in virtual 3-D, thanks to an innovative use of drones and revolutionary developments in mapping technologies created at the University of Miami.

The project is the brainchild of Assistant Professor Karen R. Mathews in the Department of Art and Art History, involving a collaboration between UM faculty and students across a variety of disciplines, the city of Coral Gables, and historically minded members of the community.

The ongoing project began in the Spring 2016 semester with a detailed analysis of three historic 1920s buildings, the Coral Gables Congregational Church, the Church of the Little Flower, and The Biltmore Hotel.

“I wanted buildings that had rich architectural detail—sculpture, three-dimensional ornamentation—so that we could see how effective our 3-D modeling technologies would be in capturing a complex architectural exterior and facade,” Mathews said.

“And,” she added, “they were also close to campus.”

Then came the wizardry of the software engineering team from the Center for Computational Science and a mix of standard digital photography and picture-taking drones flying in precisely regimented patterns—creating thousands upon thousands of high quality photos that are brought together through the technique of photogrammetry to form a mesh known as a point cloud.

“The virtue of the cloud is that one can experience this building as a threedimensional model by animating it, moving it, circulating around it, spinning it on its axis,” Mathews said. “But then, once again from my perspective as an architectural historian, it has to be able to zoom in and get incredibly detailed images of architectural

Karen R. Mathews is using drones and 3-D revolutionary mapping technologies at UM.

detail—of ornamentation, of decorative sculpture, of figurative sculpture. And that's with this technique really has allowed us to do.”

The team added three additional buildings for the fall semester—the Coral Gables Preparatory Academy, the Coco Plum Woman’s Club, and the Colonnade Building— and plans a "big reveal" of its 3-D modeling in December.

Eventually, she hopes to create a web-based experience that allows users to interact with the map and view and learn about the buildings through photographs, videos, and the 3-D models. She also foresees an app-based approach that could offer on-site audio tours during real-world visits to the structures.

But that, Mathews said, “is not the end. This is only one stop, I guess you could say, in a cumulative, additive, and collaborative process that will, hopefully, just keep going.” n ARTS | SCIENCES

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NEWS

Photo: Zury Carsi

ARTS & SCIENCES

Smith College Honors UM Professor in Renaissance Studies Mihoko Suzuki accepts prestigious new role as Kennedy Professor in Renaissance Studies English Professor Mihoko Suzuki will call Massachusetts her temporary home this fall semester.

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uring this fall term, English Professor Mihoko Suzuki will call Massachusetts her temporary home as she accepts her new role as the 2016-2017 Ruth and Clarence Kennedy Professor in Renaissance Studies at Smith College, a distinguished women’s liberal arts college in Northampton.

“I am honored to have been invited to take part in this prestigious interdisciplinary appointment,” said Suzuki, who also serves as director of the Center for the Humanities at the College of Arts and Sciences.

Past Kennedy Professors have included renowned scholars such as Felix Gilbert, a German historian of Renaissance Italy; Jean Seznec, a French art historian and literary scholar; and more recently, Peter Stallybrass, an English Professor at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in the history of the book.

As Kennedy Professor, Suzuki will present a series of three public lectures under the title: “Antigone’s Example: Early Modern Women’s Political Writing in Times of Civil War.” The first lecture, “Christine de Pizan and the Origin of Early Modern Women’s Political Thought,” took place September 20; the second, “Political Writing High and Low: Women of the French Fronde,” was set for October 25; and the third, “The English Civil Wars: Margaret Cavendish and her Contemporaries,” is scheduled for November 29.

“I am honored to have been invited to take part in this prestigious interdisciplinary appointment.”

M IHOK O S UZ U K I

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Suzuki will also teach an upper-level seminar, “Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe: The Art of Self-Fashioning,” which will focus on writings by women in Italy, France, England, and Spain that range from political thought to drama, poetry, narrative fiction, and autobiographical prose.

“The seminar’s enrollment is limited to 12, and the students had to be chosen by an application process,” Suzuki explained. “Those who were accepted are from a wide variety of disciplines, from literature to film, anthropology, psychology, and government. The students are engaged in the topic and requested the syllabus in advance of the beginning of classes.”

Suzuki earned her A.B. in history and literature from the College Scholar Program at Cornell University and her Ph.D. in comparative literature at Yale University. She is the author of Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference, and the Epic; and Subordinate Subjects: Gender, the Political Nation, and Literary Form in England, 1588-1688. She has also published numerous articles as well as edited many books on Renaissance and early modern literature and culture, English and European, with an emphasis on gender and authorship. n

> BOOKMARKS

R E C E N T F A C U LT Y P U B L I C AT I O N S

PAMELA GELLER Anthropology

FRANK PALMERI English

The Bioarchaeology of Socio-Sexual Lives: Queering Common Sense About Sex, Gender, and Sexuality (2016) This volume uses bioarchaeological remains to examine the complexities and diversity of past socio-sexual lives.

State of Nature, Stages of Society: Enlightenment Conjectural History and Modern Social Discourse (2016) Argues that Enlightenment conjectural history provided a template for the social sciences which emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

CASEY KLOFSTAD Political Science

SIMON EVNINE Philosophy

New Advances in the Study of Civic Voluntarism: Resources, Engagement, and Recruitment (2016) Examines social, political, technological, and intellectual changes to provide the newest research in civic voluntarism.

Making Objects and Events: A Hylomorphic Theory of Artifacts, Actions, and Organisms (2016) Explores the view that some objects have matter from which they are distinct but that this distinctness is not due to the existence of anything like a form.

BRUCE BAGLEY International Studies

LUCINA UDDIN Psychology

Latin America and the Caribbean in the Global Context: Why Care About What Happens in the Americas? (2016) Takes a holistic approach to analyze Latin America’s role in the international system.

Salience Network of the Human Brain (2016) A thought-provoking book that focuses on the multiple sources of stimuli that compete for our attention.

LOUISE K. DAVIDSON-SCHMICH Political Science

HARVEY SIEGEL Philosophy

Gender Quotas and Democratic Participation (2016) A pathbreaking book designed to assess the effects of gender quotas on all phases of political recruitment.

Teaching Evolution in a Creation Nation (2016) Offers crucial new ways to think not just about the evolution debate but how science and religion can make peace in the classroom.

ARTS | SCIENCES

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COVER STORY

INSIDE THE WORLD

of

Department research proves it’s more than just numbers

DID YOU KNOW? > > > > > > > > > >

• Pi has now been worked out to more than 12 trillion places without ever repeating. …And it just keeps going.

• The Greek mathematicians known as the Pythagoreans used small rocks to signify numbers while working on mathematical equations. We get the word Calculus from that. It means “pebbles” in Greek.

• Zero is the only number that is not represented in Roman numerals.

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IN SOME WAYS,

the University of Miami’s Mathematics Department is a time machine, building on the formal principles of the past to reach beyond the known into a theoretical future. It’s also a bridge, linking students and faculty across disciplines and across continents.

Ludmil Katzarkov, whose research interests involve algebraic geometry, symplectic geometry, and string theory, is in the vanguard of both.

His participation in the Simons Collaboration on Homological Mirror Symmetry, launched in late 2015, involves a field of mathematics inspired by theoretical physics. He and a post-doctoral research assistant professor, Andrew Harder, are representing the University of Miami in a multi-institutional project involving the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Berkeley, and Brandeis, among others. Funding comes from a Simons Foundation grant, which, as its website says, aims to “stimulate progress on fundamental scientific questions of major importance in mathematics.”

In this case, the goal is to prove mirror symmetry, a conjecture formulated by University of Miami Distinguished Professor Maxim Kontsevich, which springs from the world of theoretical physics.

ARTS | SCIENCES

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s Katzarkov put it: “Mathematics could be forgiven for thinking itself a fairy godmother to the other sciences, sprinkling useful theories and theorems into biology, chemistry and physics, enabling them to reach new heights. Sometimes, however, it goes the other way.”

Other grants, including several from the National Science Foundation, fuel cutting-edge research in a variety of areas that extend into other disciplines and real-world issues.

Among them, Department Chair Stephen Cantrell and Professor Chris Cosner are working with NSF funded postdoctoral fellow Xiao Yu on a project at the intersection of the mathematical and biological sciences,

This year, the Mathematics Department welcomes its first named postdoctoral research assistant professor, funded through a $250,000 gift from alumnus Jeffry B. Fuqua.

ALEXANDER DVORSKY Dvorsky, associate chair and associate professor, heads the new master’s program.

examining evolution and ecological effects of dispersal in ecological communities. Assistant Professor Bruno Benedetti, now in his second year with the University, earned an NSF grant this summer to explore geometric combinatorics and discrete Morse theory.

And Shigui Ruan is the recipient of a continuing NSF grant for his research providing mathematical models for preventing and controlling vector borne disease such as the mosquito-borne and sexual transmissable Zika virus. His research also has made him something of a media celebrity, with reports on NPR, Canada’s CTV television network, and other outlets around the world.

Grants play an important part in furthering the department’s work. So do gifts from generous alumni. This year, the Mathematics Department welcomes its first named post-doctoral research assistant professor, funded through a $250,000 gift from alumnus Jeffry B. Fuqua. This year’s Fuqua Research Assistant Professor is José Samper, who will be working in combinatorics with Michelle Wachs Galloway, herself a recipient of the inaugural Provost’s Funding Award in recognition of her continuous NSF funding dating to the early 1980’s.

Departmental faculty members have been the recipients of various distinguished prizes and recognitions. Professors Wachs Galloway, Greg Galloway, and Katzarkov have all been Simons Foundation Fellows. Those

STEPHEN CANTRELL Mathematics Department Chair Stephen Cantrell hopes the link between the University and Mexico’s CINVESTAV will expand to include more students in mathematical fields and more institutions.

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three, along with Professor Cosner, also have been Cooper Fellows, the College of Arts and Sciences highest award. And Professor Ruan was named as a Thompson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher for both 2014 and 2015.

Also, this year, the department is extending its reach across borders with a pioneering co-mentoring collaboration. In addition to his mirror symmetry project, Katzarkov will be working with two research assistant professors forging a link between the University of Miami and Mexico’s CINVESTAV, that country’s renowned Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (known by the acronym for its name in Spanish, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional).

The two post-doctoral students will spend alternating semesters at each of the two institutions.

“We have exchanged people for short visits but now we are going to the next level and exchanging postdocs,” Katzarkov said. “We hope eventually that it amounts basically to a joint institute here in Miami.”

In the process, it offers a unique component in UM President Julio Frenk’s vision of the university’s mission.

“It's very much in tune with making this a hemispheric university,” Cantrell said. “I think it's a very novel thing. It requires a special kind of person that's prepared to live half a year one place and then half a year in another place for a couple of years back and forth.”

Eventually, Cantrell said, the hope is that the program will expand to include more students, in more mathematical fields. It also could expand to include more institutions.

The department is innovating in other areas, as well. It began offering a new Master of Science in Mathematical Finance this fall, “geared toward people in the financial industry that need advanced math abilities and their work,” Cantrell said.

The department is working with an external advisory committee of financial professionals, and plans to open a Trading Lab for this coming spring where students will have access to actual real data. It also expects to host a University-wide event with the Treasury Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets, Daleep Singh.

“What we are hoping to accomplish is to give yet another application of mathematical sciences.

These days finance in general is getting to be more and more of a data science field, more and more of a mathematical field,” said Associate Professor and Associate Chair Alexander Dvorsky, who heads the new master’s program. The master’s program “aims to take people who have some strong undergraduate technical training and give them some training on how to use those tools in finance.” n

Faculty members are engaging in cuttingedge research that extends into other disciplines and addresses real-world issues.

BRUNO BENEDETTI

CHRIS COSNER

ANDREW HARDER

Now in his second year at the University of Miami, Benedetti earned an NSF grant to explore geometric combinatorics and discrete Morse theory.

Cosner is working on a project at the intersection of the mathematical and biological sciences.

Harder, a post-doctoral research assistant, is participating in the Simons Collaboration on Homological Mirror Symmetry with Ludmil Katzarkov.

ARTS | SCIENCES

15

T H E C O LLEG E AND

the Arts T

From theatre to painting and photography, the College of Arts and Sciences showcases a wide breadth of art forms by students, faculty, staff, and the global community.

AROUND THE RING

he producing arm and, arguably, the centerpiece of the College’s Theatre Arts Department, the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre is currently in its 78th year of providing student-centered performances to the South Florida community. Named after the UM alumnus and legendary Tony Award-winning Broadway composer and lyricist, the Ring Theatre launched its first-ever fully musical production season for the 2016-2017 year.

The historic theatre company received its name from its first in-the-round performance, which placed the audience in a "ring" around the stage. The Ring Theatre, which can seat up to 400 patrons, and the smaller Hecht Rehearsal and Studio Complex, which seats about 50, are both typical black box theatres. Black box theatres, by definition, are bare, experimental rooms with flexible seating and stage arrangements. The Hecht black box

Theatre Arts at the College center around the student experience and provide foundational training and exposure for those seeking a professional career in theatre, in areas ranging from set design and acting to the entrepreneurial side of show production.

16 FALL 2016

theatre, with little to no set design, presents an acute focus on the craft of acting.

When the Ring Theatre’s seating is arranged in-the-round, the set design tends to be very minimalistic. However, for the theatre’s first-ever completely musical season, the four productions will feature set design that is decidedly a bit splashier, said Stephen Di Benedetto, chair and associate professor of theatre history and theory.

All sets are built at the Ring Theatre and sometimes the work is done as a “final exam” by students.

The 2016-2017 musical season will showcase a mix of shows that are relatable to students as well as stories that are more recognizable to the larger Greater Miami community. The productions will feature different styles that highlight contemporary and age—old political and social issues—Of Thee I Sing, a political satire; Children of Eden, an inspirational tale about family and faith; Spring Awakening, a punk rock adaptation of the landmark coming-of-age story; and The Drowsy Chaperone, a Jazz Age classic comedy.

Theatre Arts at the College center around the student experience and provide foundational training and exposure for those seeking a professional career in theatre, in areas ranging from set design and acting to the entrepreneurial side of show production. The Department’s Theatre Management program is only one of five Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) programs offered in the United States. The program includes an internship in New York City that teaches a combination of business and theatre.

“Students work alongside faculty and guest artists of renown to hone their skills in various aspects of theatrical production, and to gain an understanding for how theatre can play a role in everyday life and how it can be a tool to work through life’s issues,” said Di Benedetto. “We try to instill how theatre can enhance or supplement other perspectives and how it can contribute to other aspects of an individual’s life or interests.”

The Theatre Arts Department has an ongoing collaboration with the School of Nursing and Health Studies and the Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education to provide empathy training and

T

HISTORIC PAST, PROGRESSIVE FUTURE

help in understanding human emotion and action.

The Department also collaborates regularly with county cultural organizations to produce innovative performances in venues around Miami.

“We try to show how theatre is a meaningful collaborator that has the potential to offer unique lenses that other disciplines may be wrestling with,” said Di Benedetto, who is trained as a theatre historian with a conservatory background.

“Ultimately theatre is about collaboration and finding that right expertise to make something new and unique.”

Theatre is woven into work across colleges and within the College of Arts and Sciences, Di Benedetto said, from performance to photography, paintings, and murals. “The Arts across the College are like sister programs where its students are essentially shared and their talents flow across different forms of art and media.

We are all connected to the objects that we make and to each other.” n

WYNWOOD BUILDING ART GALLERY Located in Wynwood since 2007, UM’s student-centered art gallery has seen a lot of the ups and downs of the historic art neighborhood and its trendy cafes, bars, retail stores, and other galleries. Juried and curated student artwork in various forms including painting, ceramics, photography, and printmaking is displayed throughout most of the year at the University of Miami Art Gallery at the Wynwood Building. The incoming Master of Fine Arts graduate student exhibition kicks off the new gallery season every year. This year’s exhibition showcased not only diverse media, but also student artists from around the globe— Brazil, Colombia, Miami, Georgia, and Ohio via Italy. Further contributing to the local art scene, the gallery also hosts an annual Art Basel show in December which features juried work from graduate students. This fall, the gallery also showcased a juried exhibition hosted by Arts United, an LGBT arts organization based in Fort Lauderdale.

he Lowe Art Museum, South Florida’s first and most comprehensive art museum, features temporary exhibitions and world-renowned innovative pieces from paintings to sculpture installations. Since the opening of its free-standing facility in 1952, thanks to philanthropists Joe and Emily Lowe, the Lowe Art Museum has been a University and Greater Miami staple, showcasing timeless and resounding art pieces in various forms—from Asian antiquities and Renaissance paintings to Modern and Contemporary art.

Over the years, the Lowe has become more interdisciplinary, incorporating mixed media and an array of dynamic forms of artistic expression. The Museum features a combination of contemporary artist exhibitions—covering poignant and relevant social issues and items from its comprehensive permanent collection, which has nearly 19,000 objects and spans 5,000 years of global culture.

“To put this in context, the Lowe is the only museum in town where, on any given day, you can walk in and enjoy original works of art by Andy Warhol, Joan Miró, and Frank Stella, as well as masterworks from the South Pacific Islands and ancient Greece and Rome,” said Jill Deupi, Beaux Arts Director and Chief Curator for the Lowe.

The 2016-2017 season of rotating exhibits is particularly exciting, said Deupi. “This year the Lowe is focusing on issues of identity in all of its manifestations—social, racial, cultural, political, economic, and sexual.”

In addition to mounting special exhibitions, the Lowe also hosts a number of public events.

Family Days, the Lowe After Hours, Art Basel Miami Beach Bubbles & Brunch, and Sip & Sketch all further draw in the community to engage with art and culture, and one another, in an immersive and enlightening way. The Lowe also features an annual yearlong student-curated exhibition by art and art history students, ArtLab @ The Lowe. The cohort of students determines the art that is to be exhibited from the museum’s permanent collection.

“My hope is that the Lowe can fully serve as a neutral forum for the exchange of ideas and the expansion of knowledge. This, to me, is the bedrock of mutual understanding and respect, which, in turn, is the foundation for a civil society marked by acceptance and equality,” said Deupi. n

(Left) Titus Kaphar Vesper Project, an installation that explores notions of race, identity, and memory, is part of this season’s exhibitions.

(Above left) Joao Campos, experiment 41, latex on canvas.

For more information on Theatre Arts and Art & Art History, visit as.miami.edu.

ARTS | SCIENCES

17

CHAMPIONING FOR

innovation ROBOCANES HUMANOID SOCCER TEAM EXCELS AT 2016 ROBOCUP

“

uring competition, it’s always interesting to see how the other teams work together to make the robots adapt to the environment. Anything can mess with the programming, from the lighting in the room to the color of the carpet where the robots walk,” said Kyle Poore, a UM graduate student in the Department of Computer Science.

The robots Poore is referring to are the small, humanoid-like artificial intelligence machines that partake in a friendly, but competitive, game of soccer. Poore is a member of a team of graduate students who program these autonomous, soccerplaying robots known as the RoboCanes.

“Working with the robots is different from any other type of computer science programming,” said Joe Masterjohn, a member of the team. “It’s truly gratifying to create a program that makes a robot kick a small ball right in front of your eyes.”

The RoboCanes reached a milestone at the 2016 RoboCup Championship in Germany, the world’s largest artificial intelligence and robotics event. The team defeated numerous humanoid soccer squads from around the world before advancing to the intermediate play for the quarterfinal round, which is where the

The robots are small, humanoid-like artificial intelligence machines that play a friendly, but competitive, game of soccer.

18 FALL 2016

“It’s truly gratifying to create a program that makes a robot kick a small ball right in front of your eyes.” JOE M ASTERJOHN

RoboCanes met their match and lost 0-8 to team TU Dortmund, the new outdoor World Champion.

Associate Professor of Computer Science Ubbo Visser, who leads the RoboCanes project, said, “We reached a momentous stage at RoboCup. Not only did we come close to making the quarterfinals this year, but we were the only team with robots that could walk stably on various surfaces, from granite to grass and indoor carpet.”

Before the RoboCanes were eliminated from the championship, they overpowered teams from Estonia, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and China. The robot teams usually include up to 15 students, yet UM’s RoboCanes is made up of only four students from the Department of Computer Science operating up to five robots at one time.

“At the robot competitions, it truly is a team effort,” said Masterjohn. “We are all collaborating to make these robots work together as a soccerplaying team.”

RoboCup promotes robotics and AI research by offering an integrated research platform that covers areas including reactive behavior, strategy, real-time planning, vision, motor control, context recognition, and more. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the RoboCup World Championship, taking place in Nagoya, Japan.

“RoboCup serves as a vehicle to promote robotics and AI research by offering a publicly appealing and formidable challenge,” said Visser.

“Building a robot that plays soccer will not generate significant social and economic impact, but the accomplishment is considered a major achievement for the field.” n

Rendering of the Hitomi satellite that spiraled out of control.

From Black Holes to

Dark Matter Physicist helps develop a space telescope to study the secrets of the cosmos. cientists built it to peer into the far reaches of outer space, with a mission to explore the nature of black holes, mysterious dark matter, and even the origins of the universe.

But when Japan’s Hitomi satellite spiraled out of control only a month after achieving orbit earlier this year, astronomers thought all was lost.

Then came the news that made scientists like Massimiliano Galeazzi breathe a sigh of relief. In its short life, the doomed satellite had collected valuable X-ray data from a distant galaxy cluster—the kind of information astronomers had been waiting for years to obtain.

“Clusters are the building blocks of the universe,” said Galeazzi, associate chair and professor of physics, who collaborated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA to develop the systematic goals and strategies for the Hitomi mission. “Hitomi could measure much better than anything before it the energy or wavelength of the X-ray radiation coming from an astronomical object.”

With its next-generation X-ray instrument developed and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center by scientists from the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands, Hitomi, which translates to “pupil of the eye” in Japanese, captured X-ray gasses emitting from the Perseus cluster, a collection of galaxies joined by gravity and located 240 million light years from Earth. The cluster radiates hot gasses, averaging 90 million degrees, which before were unmeasurable by astrophysicists.

Scientists studied the data captured by Hitomi and found that the hot gasses between galaxies within the cluster are moving at a slower speed and in a less turbulent manner than expected. Studying the movement and turbulence of

gas is a vital tool for understanding the growth and parameters of the universe and how galaxies form and evolve.

“The level of details obtained by the investigation is breathtaking, showing the incredible power of the X-ray instrument aboard the Hitomi satellite,” said Galeazzi. “Although the satellite was lost prematurely, the instrument has revolutionized the field of X-ray astrophysics and paved the way for the next generation of X-ray telescopes.”

The X-ray instrument aboard the Hitomi satellite measured an array of emissions from the cluster such as iron, nickel, chromium, and manganese— elements apparent in the stars located in the cluster’s galaxies. The satellite’s data also showed that the gasses’ turbulent motion is practically nonexistent, which leaves scientists to wonder: what is keeping the cluster’s gasses so hot?

The X-ray data observed by Hitomi is an indication of the advances satellites can detect in the far reaches of space. The European Space Agency plans to send out a next-generation satellite in the 2020s named ATHENA, which will feature 100 times more pixels than Hitomi and be able to explore galaxy clusters and the relationship they play with massive black holes.

The findings from Hitomi’s data collection from the Perseus cluster were published in an article in the journal Nature titled, “The quiescent intracluster medium in the core of the Perseus cluster.” n ARTS | SCIENCES

19

A&S STUDENT

ACHIEVEMENTS Building a Better World

Izia Lindsay

Stunning Art in South Miami Izia Lindsay stands on the platform of the extended cherry-picker, a painter’s mask over his mouth protecting him from the fumes that fill the muggy summer air. He holds cans of spray paint. With a sweep of his arm, the artist begins to transform a tall pillar into bursts of bright orange and blue, followed by tropical images of flamingos, birds, and palm trees.

Welcome to the new entrance to Sunset Place in South Miami.

Lindsay, a muralist and art graduate student, was commissioned to lead and create a large-scale art installation at Sunset Place. The second year student in the Department of Art and Art History was selected after submitting two designs for review.

“They loved it and had me start right away,” Lindsay said. Over the span of a week, he painted each pillar from bottom to top with images dear to local Miamians: a sunset, palm tree, and a silhouette of a flamingo. Often wearing a UM jersey, Lindsay used the cherry-picker crane to lift him as he painted up and down each pillar.

Lindsay credits the art department and his professor, Carlos Llerena Aguirre, with providing him the opportunity.

“People were constantly taking pictures and asking about the University of Miami Art Department,” Lindsay said. “The support was overwhelming.”

It was the impact Aguirre and Sunset Place were hoping for.

“We’ve said all along that we are going to transform Sunset Place into South Miami’s living room, and there’s no better time than the present to begin,” said Vicki Baisden, general manager of the Shops at Sunset Place. “Our weekly farmers market, new art features, and upcoming events will give the community reason to visit and keep coming back for more this summer.”

The partnership came about with Aguirre’s willingness to take on the project with Sunset Place.

The installation was such a success that Sunset Place has already asked Lindsay to lead a team of UM students to create another art project at the revitalized shopping mall.

“I am excited to be have the opportunity to mentor and work with fellow art students on the next art installation,” Lindsay said.

20 FALL 2016

Nika Hosseini, an ecosystem policy and science major, was the recipient of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce’s “Green Means Green” Award for “Outstanding Green Student Leader.”

The awards recognize the most innovative, impactful, and environmentally friendly practices by a company or an individual in the local community.

“It was humbling to win the award for ‘Outstanding Green Student Leader,’” said Hosseini, who graduated in May 2016. “I began working on environmental initiatives three years ago when I stepped foot onto the campus, and I'm excited to continue doing so in my future endeavors. I'm honored and excited for what is to come!”

While at UM, Hosseini joined the student governmentled organization called the Energy & Conservation Organization. She also started her own foundation, the Nika K. Hosseini Foundation. The foundation’s goal is to “create positive environmental and social change through awareness, education and action in communities throughout the world.”

Her first project is to create a solar-powered water filtration system in Uganda to help citizens gain access to a healthy supply of fresh water. To date, the foundation has raised nearly half of the $30,000 goal it has set.

Nika Hosseini The first project of the Hosseini Foundation is to create a solar-powered water filtration system in Uganda.

“

I am excited to be have the opportunity to mentor and work with fellow art students on the next art installation.” IZIA LINDSAY Scientific Interaction Emily Barbara Prince, a psychology graduate student, was accepted into the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Out of nearly 17,000 applicants, 2,000 graduate students were awarded this honor.

Prince’s research mentor, Psychology Professor Daniel Messinger, recommended the GRFP to Prince as her research in child development will be greatly beneficial in the field of psychology. Her research delves into infant interaction with parents, especially regarding behavior and development in their attachments.

Prince is in the second year of her master’s program and is expected to graduate in 2017. With her Ph.D. ambitions at UM, she will graduate with a doctorate in 2020. Afterward, she plans on starting her lab.

“Way down the road. That's the ultimate goal,” she said.

Out of nearly 17,000 applicants, 2,000 graduate students were awarded this honor.

Emily Barbara Prince

Honor Members Only

Marissa Alert

Alert is one of 86 graduates from 12 academic institutions who were inducted into the society.

Marissa Alert, a psychology graduate student, was inducted into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society.

Alert is one of 86 graduates from 12 academic institutions who were inducted into the society.

“It’s been a great opportunity to network and meet other students who are going through the same process,” said Alert, who is a native of Guyana.

The Bouchet Graduate Honor Society accepts only a special group of doctoral students and post-doctoral individuals who demonstrate academic excellence, leadership, and advocacy in their communities.

A fifth-year clinical health psychology student, Alert will graduate next year with her doctorate in psychology. Her dissertation focuses on sedentary behavior in young people, from adolescents to adulthood; she wishes to see whether sedentary behavior is increasing or decreasing.

“Marissa’s unwavering desire to make significant contributions to the field of psychology and her continued involvement in her community are a testament to the promise she shows as a leader and catalyst for change,” said Psychology Professor Patrice Saab.

ARTS | SCIENCES

21

A&S RESEARCH PHYSICS

.01

ISIS AND SOCIAL MEDIA A team of UM researchers developed a model to identify behavioral patterns among serious online groups of ISIS supporters that could provide cyber police and other anti-terror watchdogs a roadmap to their activity and indicators of when conditions are ripe for the onset of real-world attacks.

The researchers, who identified and analyzed second-by-second online records of 196 pro-ISIS

groups operating during the first eight months of 2015, found that even though most of the 108,000-plus individual members of these selforganized groups probably never met, they had a striking ability to adapt and extend their online longevity, increase their size and number, reincarnate when shut down, and inspire “lone wolves” with no history of extremism to carry out horrific attacks like the nation’s deadliest mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

“It was like watching crystals forming.

We were able to see how people were materializing around certain social groups; they were discussing and sharing information—all in real-time,” said Neil Johnson, a physicist who

Neil Johnson, a physicist in the College of Arts & Sciences, uses the laws of physics to study the collective behavior of not only particles but people.

22 FALL 2016

uses the laws of physics to study the collective behavior of not only particles but people. “The question is: Can there be a signal of how people are coming collectively together to do something without a proper system in place?”

The answer, according to the study, “New online ecology of adversarial aggregates: ISIS and beyond,” published in the journal Science, is yes. Generalizing a mathematical equation commonly used in physics and chemistry to the development and growth of ad hoc pro-ISIS groups, Johnson and his research team witnessed the daily interactions that drove online support for these groups, or “aggregates,” and how

To see Neil Johnson’s Cane Talk about ISIS & social media,visit news.miami.edu. they coalesced and proliferated prior to the onset of real-world campaigns.

The researchers suggest that by concentrating just on these relatively few groups of serious followers—those that discuss operational details like routes for financing and avoiding drone strikes—cyber police and other anti-terrorist watchdogs could monitor their buildup and transitions and thwart the potential onset of a burst of violence.

“This removes the guess work. With that road map, law enforcement can better navigate what is going on, who is doing what, while state security agencies can better monitor what might be developing,” Johnson said.

While the Johnson team concentrated on the ecology of collective behavior, not on single individuals, he said their roadmap could eventually help security officials track individuals like Omar Mateen, who claimed allegiance to ISIS and other extremist groups while killing 49 people and wounding 53 others at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub.

Authorities say the New York-born Florida man was a lone actor who was radicalized online.

For the study, Johnson and his research team monitored pro-ISIS groups on VKontakte, the largest online social networking service in Europe, which is based in Russia and has more than 350 million users from multiple cultures who speak multiple languages. Unlike Facebook, which very quickly shuts down these groups, they are able to survive longer on VKontakte.

The researchers began their online search of pro-ISIS chatter manually, identifying specific social media hashtags in multiple languages, which they used as “signals” to trace the more serious groups. Study coauthor Stefan Wuchty, a computer science professor and member of the Center for Computational Science, compared the hashtag search to throwing a stone in a lake, watching the ripples, then following each one.

The hashtags were tracked to the online groups, and the data was fed into a software system that mounted the search; the results were repeated until the chase lead back to groups previously traced in the system.

The mathematical equation Johnson and his

“The mathematics perfectly describes what we saw in real-time—how big and quickly these online groups grew and how quickly they were shut down by agencies or other monitoring groups.” NE I L J OHNSON

team borrowed from chemistry and physics illustrated the fluctuation of online groups and pointed to possible predictions.

“The mathematics perfectly describes what we saw in real-time—how big and quickly these online groups grew and how quickly they were shut down by agencies or other monitoring groups,” Johnson said.

As cyber police or other anti-terror entities got better at shutting down the groups, Johnson and his team watched the groups reincarnate by changing their names and identities, or shutting themselves down and going quiet, as if they were in stealth mode, only to reappear under a different identity later.

“Much of the scientific community is

focusing on different explanations as to why social media is so important, and I think we found research that presents a kind of crystallization method, looking at the dynamics of these groups and how they crystalize, appear, and morph into other groups.”

In addition to Johnson and Wuchty, other coauthors of the Science study are UM’s Yulia Vorobyeva and Nicolas Velazquez, of the Department of International Studies; Minzhang Zheng, Andrew Gabriel, Hong Qi, Pedro Manrique, and Chaoming Song, all from the Department of Physics; Elvira Restrepo, of the Department of Geography and Regional Studies; and from Harvard University’s Department of Government, Daniela Johnson.

ARTS | SCIENCES

23

A&S RESEARCH GEOGRAPHY & REGIONAL STUDIES

GIS MAPPING IMPROVES ELDERLY HEALTHCARE ACCESS .02

Using census data and geographic information system (GIS) mapping techniques, Justin Stoler, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Regional Studies, and his fellow researchers mapped and analyzed areas of socially and medically vulnerable older adults in MiamiDade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties who were not being identified by traditional populationwide health care analyses.

“We used a rich data set to help identify pockets of vulnerable older adults who may be slipping through the cracks in neighborhoods that were not previously considered vulnerable,” said Stoler, who also holds a courtesy appointment in the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences.

The concepts of medical and social vulnerability—which incorporate socio-demographic

factors such as age, sex, race, and ethnicity—are becoming well established in the field, Stoler said. Accurately defining these vulnerabilities and indicators geographically, particularly in diverse populations, is still a challenge but becoming increasingly important in the rapidly changing medical landscape.

In an attempt to overcome the challenges, Stoler and his team applied principal components analysis (PCA) to previously identified indicators of social and medical vulnerability at the census tract level. Using GIS, the researchers created and mapped age-stratified vulnerability scores and then used spatial analysis techniques to identify patterns and interactions between social and medical vulnerability throughout the study area.

The study, Stoler said, grew from observations by mobile health clinicians affiliated with Nova Southeastern University in Broward County. They found that a surprising number of older adults were in need of medical assistance but had inadequate access to health services.

Stoler and his fellow researchers hope to better determine sub-populations of medically and socially vulnerable older adults, defined for the study as age 65 to 85, and elderly adults,

The study grew from observations by mobile health clinicians who found that a surprising number of older adults were in need of medical assistance but had inadequate access to health services.

24 FALL 2016

defined as over 85. As their study noted, with an age-stratified analysis, policymakers can develop more targeted and low-cost methods to serve the health care needs of often overlooked populations who are in higher need of medical and social assistance.

The study, “A GIS Approach to Identifying Socially and Medically Vulnerable Older Adult Populations in South Florida,” was published in The Gerontologist.

PSYCHOLOGY

RELATIONSHIPS FIND HELP ONLINE .03

Relationships in distress are linked to mental and physical health problems in partners and their children. Within the U.S., one-third of married couples are distressed, and almost half of first marriages (and more than half of unmarried, cohabiting relationships) end in a divorce or separation.

“We know that high-quality marriage counseling can help couples solve problems and prevent divorce. The problem is that in-person counseling is expensive and timeconsuming,” said Brian Doss, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and co-developer of the online program OurRelationship.com.

Although couple therapy is effective in reducing relationship distress, it is utilized by less than one-third of divorcing couples, and racial and ethnic minority and lower-income couples receive services at even lower rates.

In the study, “A randomized controlled trial of the web-based OurRelationship program: Effects on relationship and individual functioning,” Doss and his UM colleagues tested the efficiency of the eight-hour, webbased program. Couples completed online activities, such as selecting a problem to work on and watching videos on how to solve that problem, and had four 15-minute calls with project staff.

According to the findings, the program improved relationship satisfaction, reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety, and 97 percent of the couples said they would

recommend the program to a friend.

“We’re excited about the results because they show that couples can get almost all of the benefit they would get from in-person marriage counseling by completing this brief program,” said Doss. “The results also showed that, by improving their relationship, it made people significantly less depressed and anxious.”

The study was published in an issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

“Qualitative research shows that tattoos are definitely becoming less taboo and somewhat accepted even in traditional workplaces, especially among younger employees.”

MATHEMATICS

DOING THE MATH ON ZIKA AND SEX .04

In a first-of-its-kind study, UM researchers created a mathematical model in an attempt to determine how much of a role sexual transmission plays in the spread and control of Zika.

“Zika is a complicated virus,” said Shigui Ruan, a professor of mathematics. “It’s not as simple as passing a cold back and forth.”

Ruan’s model is not intended to measure the rates of Zika transmission but to delineate the virus’s possible pathways and to help determine which of those transmission routes—either mosquito-borne or sexual transmission—is most important in investigating the spread and control of the virus.

To build his model, he and his team combined the two modes of transmission into a set of equations, and then calibrated their model to Zika epidemic rates—obtained through the Pan American Health Organization—in Brazil, Colombia, and El Salvador. Using factors such as the biting and mortality rates of the Aedes aegypti and how partners protect themselves during a

M ICHAEL T. FRENCH

sexual encounter, the researchers then produced what is called a “basic reproduction number,” essentially the number of infections resulting from one initial infection in a population.

The team found that the average number of new infections that can be traced directly back to a single case of Zika comes out to 2, and that sexual transmission accounts for only 3 percent of new cases.

“Our analyses indicate that the basic reproduction number of Zika is most sensitive to the biting rate and mortality rate of mosquitoes,” said Ruan, “while sexual transmission increases the risk of infection and epidemic size and prolongs the outbreak.”

Their results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

H EA LT H S O CI O L O G Y

.05

TATTOOS DON’T IMPACT EMPLOYMENT Having a tattoo has no impact on an individual’s employment or earnings, according to a new study by Michael T. French, professor of health sector management and policy, who also holds an appointment in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Philip K. Robins, professor of economics. The study received the prize for best academic article

published in the Southern Economic Journal.

After accounting for personal traits (i.e., education, behavioral choices, human capital, lifestyle factors, etc.) the researchers found no significant difference in the way people with tattoos are treated in the workplace compared to those without tattoos. The researchers explain that differences in employment and earnings can occur for a number of reasons, including productivity differences, employee signaling (i.e., information potential employees may reveal about their likes and dislikes), and, in some cases, discrimination by either the employer or customers on the basis of having a tattoo.

But, when the researchers controlled for a large set of factors that have been shown to affect employment and earnings, the negative impact of having a tattoo becomes small and non-significant. This result may be partially explained by the fact that some industries, such as music and entertainment, professional sports, fashion, bars and nightclubs, styling, etc., actually welcome employees with tattoos.

“Qualitative research shows that tattoos are definitely becoming less taboo and somewhat accepted even in traditional workplaces, especially among younger employees,” said French. “If someone’s main concern about getting tattooed is whether body art will make them less employable or limit their earnings, this research suggests it should not be a major deterrent.”

ARTS | SCIENCES

25

Class Spotlight HI GHLI GHTI NG CO URSES T H AT A R E C R E AT I N G S O ME C A MP U S B U Z Z

APPLIED BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS ddressing the growing demand for qualified behavioral therapists in the treatment of individuals with autism and other developmental conditions, the Department of Psychology implemented a new program for graduate students seeking a professional Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis.

UM graduate student Maria Jimenéz Muñoz heard about the new certification program while taking a genetics and disabilities course. “I thought it was a great idea. I’m interested in research and clinical work, and here we participate in 20 hours of clinical study, which includes two days of research and two days of therapy with children who are autistic,” she said.

“The program will provide graduate students with excellent classroom instruction as well as the opportunity to gain specialized practicum experience working in our on-site clinic alongside UM faculty,” said Anibal Gutierrez, a research associate professor in the Psychology Department.

The post-baccalaureate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program

is a structured, full-time graduate program designed to benefit students who have earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology or a related field.

Students in the graduate program who complete all coursework and experiential requirements will be eligible to take the exam to become a board certified assistant behavior analyst (BCaBA). The BCaBA is a certification offered by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), an internationally recognized credentialing agency for practitioners of applied behavior analysis.

The program is designed to provide graduate students with the knowledge of behavior analytic concepts and clinical competency while also acquiring the skills to uphold and maintain ethical and responsible conduct, as defined by the BACB. Currently, the demand for behavior analysts is growing in today’s job market and, according to the BACB’s website, there has been a constant increase in individuals seeking the certification since its inception in 1999.

The method of applied behavioral analysis is a recommended treatment for individuals with autism and endorsed by the U.S. Surgeon General, American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, among others. n

The post-baccalaureate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program is a structured, full-time graduate program designed to benefit students who have earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology or a related field.

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A&S ALUMNI

CLASS NOTES 30s

I N M E M O RI A M

EDITH BROIDA, A.B. ’39, has spent her life as an activist and advocate for civil rights and community engagement. She earned her J.D. in ’54 and worked tirelessly to promote education and civil rights around Washington, D.C., in various federal agencies, independent projects, and volunteer organizations.

50s RICHARD H. PLAGER, A.B. ’51, is now retired and living in Naples, Florida, after 37 years with Miami-Dade Police as a police captain, eight years in Sanibel, Florida, as police chief, and 24 years in the military—three years in the US Navy in WWII, and 21 years in the USCG Reserve.

DR. HOWARD N. ROSE, B.S. ’51, M.S. ‘52, was awarded the Celebrate! GOOD Young at Heart Award from HandsOn Jacksonville in June.

The award celebrates Rose’s fifteen years and nearly 2,500 hours of volunteer work serving the vision needs of low-income, working individuals who lacked health insurance. It is estimated that Rose provided more than $575,000 in free medical care. He currently lives with his wife, Muriel, in Ponte Vedra, Florida.

ELAYNE SNYDER, B.A. ‘52, is president of Elayne Snyder Speech Consultants. In addition to training business people from all over the U.S. in the art of public speaking, Snyder has also published four books on speechmaking. More information on her company is available at www.speechcoach.com.

STANLEY L. STONE, A.B. ’52, was one of many Korean Vets who attended UM from 19491952. Stone recalls that classes were held at the South Miami campus—a former boot camp! A year later, he was thankfully transferred to main campus with new dorms, new class rooms and other new delights.

A leading figure in the development of color field painting in the late 1950s and an important American abstract painter, Walter Darby Bannard, professor and head of the painting program in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Art and Art History, passed away on October 2. He was 82.

DEBORAH HOFFMAN, A.B. ’56, recently received the 2016 Community Champion Award, established by Philanthropy Miami (formerly Leave-a-Legacy of Miami-Dade), which celebrates an individual who contributes to the wellbeing of the community through his or her work and philanthropy. A longtime advocate supporting arts and social services programs, Hoffman was founding president of Funding Arts Network, helped launch ReServe South Florida in Miami, and works as a pro-bono volunteer consultant assisting local nonprofits with programming, materials, development, and events. She and her husband, Larry, UM JD ’54, a founder of Greenberg Traurig, have four children and ten grandchildren.

MARSHALL SHAPO, A.B. ’58, published his book The Experimental Society. Focusing largely on the risk of experimentation, this book analyzes society’s response to various kinds of testing new ideas and new ways of thinking. Drawing on many medical, scientific, and legal sources, the book explores the degrees of safety and risks associated with particular products and activities, and how this evokes a societal response that applies to legislation and judicial decision making.

60s

PETER F. HARVEY, A.B. ’55, recently made his published journals, Working for Balanchine, available on Kindle and has launched a new website for oil paintings and water colors: peterharveypaintings.com.

Harvey’s most recent exhibition of work was at Hudson Guild Gallery in Chelsea, New York City entitled “Other Places.” The exhibition closed on February 5.

LEONARD HOFFMAN, A.B. ’61, continues fulfilling his practice of psychology in Chicago, specializing in individual and group psychotherapy and supervision, consultation, and coaching with individuals and organizations. He maintains his lifelong connection as a chamber music cellist and invites classmates to make contact.

ARTS | SCIENCES

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A&S ALUMNI :: CLASS NOTES

DAVID P. BURKART, A.B. ’62, has practiced as a design consultant for over 45 years.

Earlier this year he launched a new website to provide an overview of his paintings and fine art prints: www.davidpburkart.com. Burkart was also invited to participate in the 2016 May Commencement as an Alumni Marshal.

DR. SANDRA L. LANGER, A.B. ’67, M.A. ’68, published her ninth book, a biography of artist Romaine Brooks titled Romaine Brooks: A Life, in October 2015. After Ellen cited the book as one of the Outstanding Academic Books of 2015. Langer also was

RICHARD N. FRIEDMAN, A.B. ‘62, released his third music album, Red Carpet, through USA All-Star Music label. The album is available on all major internet music sites.

RUTH M. LUDWIG, A.B. ’62, was nominated for Volunteer of the Year by Second Chance Society. Ludwig has volunteered at SCS for 10 years and has accumulated 22,000 hours. She also volunteers at the NSU Museum of Art, Honor Flight, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and the First United Methodist Church of Fort Lauderdale. Ludwig has been a longtime volunteer for the University of Miami Alumni Association, and gives freely and generously of her time.

ALLAN ROSENBAUM, A.B. ’62, was elected to a two-year term as vice chairperson of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration. Membership on the committee involves a term of four years and is limited to 24 individuals from throughout the world with no more than one person from each country.

Individuals are nominated for the committee by the U.N. secretary general, approved by their country’s U.N. ambassador and elected to the committee by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Current membership of the committee includes present and former cabinet ministers, ambassadors, and other senior governmental officials, as well as distinguished academics.

DR. JEROLD S. GREENFIELD, B.S. ’65, has run a private optometry practice for 45 years, first in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, and later in Pensacola. Greenfield is also the author of the Dark Angel Trilogy: The Eye Doctor, Dark Angel, The Rectification Committee, Dark Angel II, and The Guardian, Dark Angel III. For more information, visit www.darkangeltrilogy.com.

DR. GEORGE T.C. DUVALL, B.S. ’69, has had a long career in the practice of medicine in Vero

28 FALL 2016

the keynote speaker at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on June 17, 2016 for the Romaine Brooks American Maverick Exhibition.

Beach, Florida, at Indian River Medical Center.

Duvall specialized in critical care medicine and nephrology. Duvall also pioneered, developed, and initiated hemodialysis and hemodynamic programs at Indian River Medical Center and the surrounding areas.

70s MORT LAITNER, B.S. ’71, had the world premiere of his film “The Stairs” at Cinema Paradiso Theatre in Fort Lauderdale on June 25.

The film has won a Best Documentary short film award and will be shown at two additional film festivals. More information about the film and the trailer are available on Laitner’s website: mortlaitner.com/the-stairs.

BRENDA B. SHAPIRO, A.B. ‘72, received an honorary law degree from Pine Manor College in Newton Center, Massachusetts. This is Shapiro’s second doctorate and her fourth college degree.

DR. JOSEPH FINLEY, JR, B.S. ’74, spent 29 years as an FBI special agent. His duties included national and international assignments. He later entered the academic administrative arena and now serves as director of training at Invictus Security with

corporate headquarters in Boynton Beach, Florida, and five schools throughout the state. Dr. Finley credits his career success to the College of Arts and Sciences’ Geology Department and is a proud ‘Cane. Dr. Finley and his wife, Catherine, enjoy traveling and driving their 1972 Chevelle Malibu convertible.

RAYMOND A. BELLIOTTI, M.A. ’76, Ph.D. ‘77, published his 18th book, Power: Oppression, Subservience, and Resistance. Belliotti is a SUNY distinguished teaching professor of philosophy at SUNY Fredonia, and has been teaching at the Fredonia campus for over 30 years.

CARL “CJ” LATIMORE, B.F.A. ’76, is an accomplished artist and is currently a member of our Black Alumni Society, First Black Graduates Project Committee that is working to reconnect black graduates from the 1960s and 70s through the collection of stories and a campus-wide celebration taking place in February 2017.

ADOLFO “AL” LENZA, A.B. ’76, is the CEO of The Lenza Group, LLC, a travel distribution company he founded in 2008, and currently serves in a number of boards/advisory boards for various technology and e-commerce firms in the travel space. Prior to founding his business, Lenza spent 26 years working in e-commerce and distribution for Northwest

A&S ALUMNI :: CLASS NOTES

Airlines and Continental Airlines Group. Lenza was instrumental in the creation of nwa.com and led the formation of the joint ventures that created Orbitz and Hotwire. During this time, he was named to the Business Travel News Top 25 most influential executives list four times. His hobbies include racketball, golf, travel, and, of course, following all ‘Canes sports!

LAWRENCE S. GORDON, A.B. ’78, joined Cozen O'Connor’s Intellectual Property Department in June 2016.

EDWARD KELLY, B.S. ‘78, is a passionate Agile and Scrum master, and currently works for Wolters Kluwer. Previously, Kelly was a Scrum master with organizations such as PJM Interconnection and SEI Investments, and a project manager for Nokia. In 1987, he earned his M.S. in computer science from Villanova University. He lives with his wife, Janet, in Pennsylvania.

DR. DAVE HINKES, A.B. ’79, is professor of marketing, management, leadership, and strategy communication in the Graduate School of Business at Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky. He was previously chair and associate professor of marketing and management for seven years at Lincoln Memorial University in Knoxville, Tennessee.

In addition to his teaching duties, Hinkes is also CEO of Hink, Inc., a professional consultancy in marketing, management, sales training, and keynote speeches since 1991.

Hinkes has been married to his wife, Deb, for 37 years. They have three children—Jen, Melissa, and Steve.

FAUSTO H. SANCHEZ, A.B. ’79, and AIDA T. LEVITAN, A.B.’69, produced an advertising campaign in the year 2000 through their former company Sanchez & Levitan, Inc., that has been included in the advertising collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. With Sanchez as creative director, the agency’s team developed the recruitment campaign, in English and Spanish, to increase the Hispanic vote in the U.S. The campaign is credited with registering more than 1 million Hispanics to vote.

80s FRANK A. CONSOLI, B.S. ’80, has been working in civil engineering for the past 34 years. Consoli published two scholarly papers and received best paper awards from the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C. He has worked for the City of Orlando for the past 10 years, volunteers his time with the local Rotary Club, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Central Florida in December 2014.

RAFAEL "RALPH" A. RIBAS, A.B. ‘87, B.S. ‘88, was recently promoted to brigadier general at the Mark Lance Armory in Saint Augustine, Florida. Currently, Brig. Gen. Ribas serves as the Florida National Guard's director of joint staff. Ribas earned his commission as a second lieutenant through the Army ROTC program at the University of Miami in 1987, and he has spent nearly all of his years of service as a member of the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, deploying with them twice, in 2003 and 2009.

ROY L. WEINFELD, A.B. ‘89, was hired as senior associate in spring 2016 by Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance Miami. In this new position, Weinfeld focuses on tenant representation for small- to mid-size businesses, including law firms, in Downtown Miami, Brickell, and Coral Gables.

CARLOS I. CARDELLE, A.B. ’95, was elected president-elect of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)—South Florida Chapter. He will serve as president-elect until September 2017 when he becomes president of the chapter for a two-year term.

ELISA MALLIS, B.S. ’95, is one of the few ticket holders to take part in the first XCOR Space Expedition. XCOR, a private aerospace company, will be the first to send “commercial astronauts” into space.

EARNEST A. DELOACH, JR., A.B. ’96, spoke on the Orange County Bar Association "Professionalism and Civility: Stepping Stones on the Path to Success" panel in May 2016.

DeLoach also moderated the Orange County Young Democrats Florida Senate primary debates. DeLoach appears regularly on Fox 35 News in Orlando as a political analyst.

HOLLY MONTALVO, A.B. ’96, is currently a teacher at St. Mark’s Episcopal Academy in Cocoa, Florida. She received her master’s degree in education from the University of Central Florida and has since been teaching elementary education. In the early 2000’s, Montalvo created a children’s program and an inclusive preschool at HealthFirst. Montalvo has just begun pursuing a second master’s in education leadership and enjoys travelling, running, boating, and spending time with her dog, Oscar.

90s DR. ALEX J. MECHABER, B.S. ’90, is professor of medicine and the senior associate dean for undergraduate medical education at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. In April 2016, he was awarded the endowed Bernard J. Fogel Chair in Medical Education for his 18 years of service and innovation in medical education.

DR. ROXANNE GREITZ MILLER, B.S. ‘90, was recently promoted to full professor of teacher education at Chapman University in Orange, California. She is married to fellow ‘Cane Steven Ross Miller, Ph.D. ‘89, chief operating officer of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in Coral Gables, Florida.

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ARTS | SCIENCES

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A&S ALUMNI :: CLASS NOTES

DANIELLE N. GARNO, A.B. ‘97, was named the 2016 Woman of Valor by the Children’s Home Society of Florida (CHS) for her dedication and service as chair of the Children’s Home Society of Florida Southeastern Board of Directors. CHS of Florida is the oldest and largest statewide organization devoted to helping children and families, serving 100,000 children and families throughout the state each year.

GISELA M. MUNOZ, A.B. ’97, was nominated and elected a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL), based on her commercial real estate law practice. She is one of fewer than 50 ACREL Fellows in Florida. Munoz is currently a shareholder at the law firm of Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A. in Miami, Florida, and is a fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys.

E. SOREN TRIFF, M.A. ‘98, celebrated five years as director of the Spanish/ English Community Interpreting Program. His paper “Internet portrayals of Cuban progressive intellectuals and the emerging cultural industry” was published in the proceedings of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy.

ALBERTO JOSE CARDELLE, Ph.D. ’99, became the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fitchburg State University in July 2016. Previously, Cardelle was dean of the College of Health Sciences at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.

00s ROBERT NOVO, B.S. ’02, has been working for five years with Brevard Physician Associates as an anesthesiologist in Melbourne, Florida. Novo received his medical degree in 2007 from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale. He enjoys surfing, cycling, and travelling with his wife, Rebecca.

KATRINA M. LLANES, B.S. ‘03, was promoted in spring 2016 to counsel with Hunton & Williams, LLP. Llanes joined Hunton & Williams in 2007, following graduation from law school.

Her practice focuses on representation of lenders and borrowers on a wide variety of corporate

finance transactions, including securitization and warehouse lending arrangements.

ISIS PACHECO VELASCO, A.B. ‘04, has been named vice president of Interamerican Bank.

She heads the Bank's Corporate Governance Department. Interamerican Bank has been serving the South Florida community since 1976. She also earned her LL.M. in Real Property Development from UM in 2010.

GAYLE MENDOZA, B.S. ‘05, is currently pursuing research opportunities in clinical epidemiology. Previously, Mendoza worked in the University of Pennsylvania Health System as an academic associate. Mendoza is an aspiring physician with nine years of experience in national and global projects. She and her husband, Brian, B.B.A. ’05, live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

JOHN CONSTANTINIDE, B.S. ’07, has been working for Alpha MRC Architects Engineers in environmental and mechanical engineering since 2009. Among his leadership roles in professional communities, Constantinide serves as a regional vice chair, technical committee chair, and outgoing Space Coast Chapter president of ASHRAE, a global society advancing human wellbeing through sustainable technology for the built environment.

He enjoys tennis, gardening, and salsa dancing.

BRANDON LIVINGSTON, B.S. ‘07, has been working as a Systems Engineer for Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida, for four years.

Previously, Brandon worked for Raytheon and UBS Financial Services. He currently performs systems design and integration testing on multiple F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) software components to

KARINA ALEXANDRA CASTILLO, B.S. ‘09, was chosen by Ford Motor Company and Ford en Español as one of their 2016 Mujer Legendarias. Each year, Ford chooses four Latina women in five cities across the country to represent each of their four pillars: intelligence, green, efficiency, and security. The 20 women selected represent the over 22 million Latinas across the country. Castillo was chosen for her work in addressing climate change to represent the green pillar.

30 FALL 2016

A&S ALUMNI :: CLASS NOTES

support global sustainability of the newest 5th generation fighter jet and associated training systems. He enjoys the outdoors as much as possible, whether it be fishing the Indian River Lagoon or watching a rocket launch from nearby Cape Canaveral. He has been married for five years and has an 18-month-old daughter who loves to watch ’Canes games with her daddy.

BRENT VICINO, A.B. ‘09, was named associate athletic director for development, annual & premium seating programs at Temple University.

10s ALEXA R. LEONE, A.B. ’11, received a doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) degree from Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in May 2016. Leone will begin an internship in dermatology at University Hospital regional campuses. The 2016 graduating class was the 37th to graduate

M A K E A NO TE O F IT.

from the Heritage College, which was created by the Ohio Legislature in 1975, and is the only institution in the state accredited to educate osteopathic physicians.

KRISTEN ZEREGA, A.B. ‘11, recently graduated from Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, specializing in child advocacy.

During her time at SMU, Zerega also worked as a guardian ad litem/attorney ad litem for the SMU Law Children’s Advocacy Clinic. She is currently practicing law in Dallas, Texas. In her free time, she enjoys working out, playing volleyball, and volunteering with the Junior League of Dallas.

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JONATHAN DIFRISCO, A.B. ’12, is the operations manager and data scientist of Hell 'n Blazes Brewing Company in Melbourne, Florida. A family-run business, Hell 'n Blazes Brewing Company opened in June after a year of full-time renovation of their Melbourne taproom.

Previously, DiFrisco worked in Los Angeles as a data analyst. He enjoys the Space Coast for its outdoors lifestyle and access to community business opportunities.

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2016-17

A&S CALENDAR NOVEMBER LOWE ART MUSEUM

Unconscious Thoughts Animate the World Exhibition: November 3, 2016 – May 7, 2017

>> For more information, visit www.lowemuseum.org.

FEBRUARY The Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection of Cuban Art includes works by many of the island-nation’s foremost women artists. Spanning from the 1960s to the present, these works represent a wide range of media and genres. Collectively, they communicate–through a great diversity of artistic voices and expressive means– Cuba’s cultural heritage as well as notions of identity, both individual and collective.

Admission to the Lowe Art Museum is $12.50 for adults and $12.50 for children 12 and over; $8 for students and senior citizens. Admission is free for Lowe Art Museum members, and UM students, faculty, and staff.

JERRY HERMAN RING THEATRE

>> For more details, visit miami.edu/firstblackgraduates.

Spring Awakening Performances: February 23, 2017 - March 4, 2017

>> For a full list of show titles, dates, and how to purchase tickets, visit www.as.miami.edu/ringtheatre or call 305-284-3355.

32 FALL 2016

UTRAILBLAZERS: Celebrating Our First Black Graduates Event: February 24-25, 2017

FEBRUARY

The Jerry Herman Ring Theatre is located at 1312 Miller Drive on the University of Miami Coral Gables campus.

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

Thirty-five years after it opened for classes in 1926, the University of Miami admitted its first black students. Please join us to honor those who blazed a trail of courage, diversity, and inclusion. Presented by the University of Miami Alumni Association and Black Alumni Society, the UTrailblazers celebration includes a library exhibition, an alumni-student forum, campus tours, and a grand gala.

MARCH An angsty, rock musical adaptation of the seminal play about the trials of tribulations of growing up, Spring Awakening explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with a poignancy and passion that is illuminating and unforgettable. The landmark musical, winner of eight Tony Awards and recently revived on Broadway, is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality, and rock & roll.

CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES

“Adjusting Our Lenses to Make Women Visible”

by Merry Wiesner-Hanks Event: March 2, 2017

Wiesner-Hanks will examine the ways that scholarship in many disciplines over the last forty years has sharpened our view of medieval and early modern women, and the texts and objects they produced, allowing us to see greater complexities in things close at hand and a wider panorama beyond. WiesnerHanks is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin– Milwaukee.

>> The lecture is open to the public and free of charge. For more information, visit, humanities.miami.edu.

BY THE NUMBERS

class of 2020 Applications received: 14,466

New first-year students enrolled: 900 Of those enrolled: Average SAT (math & reading): 1325 Students who speak more than one language: 68% International students: 12% Male-to-female ratio: 48%/52% Students who participate in community service: 80%

Alexandra Eisman, ’20

Students participating in student government clubs and organizations: 33%

Major in Art & Art History

S U P P O R T

Students who started their own business: 11

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Thirty-five years after it opened for classes in 1926, the University of Miami admitted its first black students.

Please join us this February to honor those who blazed a trail of courage, diversity, and inclusion.

Presented by the University of Miami Alumni Association and Black Alumni Society, the UTrailblazers celebration includes a library exhibition, an alumni-student forum, campus tours, and a grand gala. UTrailblazers is part of the UM First Black Graduates Project, an initiative to document the stories of black graduates from 1961 to 1979 and raise funds for life-changing student scholarships.

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