March Professional Notes
03/29/2019
A round-up of awards, presentations, papers and the other professional achievements of SLU faculty, staff and students.
Students
Conferences and Presentations
Saint Louis University’s Internal Medicine Residency Program and Section of Hospital Medicine had 19 posters selected for presentation along with two poster finalists at The Society of Hospital Medicine Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, held between March 24 and 27, showcasing the talent the School of Medicine has on a national stage.
Students, alumni and faculty members from the Health Management and Policy Program in the College for Public Health and Social Justice attended the 2019 ACHE Congress on Healthcare Leadership. This annual event allowed opportunities to learn, network, and collaborate.
In addition, the health management and policy program honored alums in their Annual Alumni Awards ceremony held during the HMP Alumni Reception.
Michael Brickey, a doctoral student in the Department of American Studies, presented a paper at the Missouri Conference on History in Kansas City, Missouri. Brickey’s paper was “Putting Place to Work: The Racial Politics of Development in East St. Louis, Illinois, 1964–1974.”
Awards
Elizabeth Beckerle, a student in the School of Social Work’s Master of Social Work program, received the Distinguished Student Award from the Social Work Leaders in Health Care of Metro St. Louis at their annual dinner on Tuesday, March 12.
Match Day
The Clinical Psychology Program has announced that its doctoral students achieved a 100 percent match rate for the third consecutive year. Each year, doctoral students in clinical psychology apply to internships around the country. This year’s students matched to a set of prestigious internships across the country, including the Veterans Affairs Medical Center-San Francisco, the OUHSC-OKCVA Consortium, the Hawaii Psychology Consortium, the Missouri Health Sciences Consortium, West Virginia University School of Medicine and Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Interviews
Noble Salwan, a candidate in the College for Public Health and Social Justice’s Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, was interviewed by the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice Direct about his unique experiences and the advantages of pursuing an MPH at SLU.
Academic Service
Bryonie Carter, a doctoral student in the Department of American Studies, chaired and moderated he panel “Field Notes on Campus-Community Partnerships” at a symposium, “Building Vibrant Partnerships: Community University Engagement Summit,” held in St. Louis’s Cortex District on Monday, March 1.
Experiential Learning
Three first-year medical students, Paige Stokes, Bret Silverglate and Christine Jakes, will take part in the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Summer Institute for Medical Students. The students will learn about addiction for substance use disorders directly from clinicians, patients and families in the immersive, weeklong institute.
Faculty and Staff
Awards and Fellowships
Jack Fishman, Ph.D., professor of meteorology and director of the Center for Environmental Studies, received a lifetime achievement award from the American Cancer Society at a recognition dinner Friday, March 8. The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Rock-a-Thon fundraiser Fishman started in 1969 as a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity at the University of Missouri.
Dibson Gondim, M.D., GI/liver pathology fellow in the School of Medicine, won a national award at the 108th annual meeting of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, in National Harbor, Maryland. His work, “Using Deep Convolution Neural Networks for Classify Kidney Neoplasms,” won the award of best surgical pathology poster by a trainee. This work shows an artificial intelligence based system that can correctly classify the most common kidney neoplasms including carcinomas on digital histopathology slides.
Publications
Mary Prendergast, Ph.D., of SLU-Madrid’s Anthropology Program, published an article on TheConversation.com about tackles the rapidly growing field of archaeogenetics: using ancient DNA from human skeletons to understand our past. In the article, she takes on the ethical issues with this research and draws a path forward for better research. (with photo)
Stephen Belt, Ph.D., of the Department of Aviation in Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, published conference proceedings, “Aviation in the Ville: Promoting Science and Civic Engagement through Aviation,” in the Collegiate Aviation Review International.
Natasha Case, Ph.D., of the Biomedical Engineering Program in Parks Colleges of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, published an article, “TRPV4-mediated calcium signaling in mesenchymal stem cells regulates aligned collagen matrix formation and vinculin tension,” in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
Koyal Garg, Ph.D., of the Biomedical Engineering Program in Parks Colleges of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, published an article, “Biomaterial and stem cell-based strategies for skeletal muscle regeneration,” in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, the official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society. Garg also published “Biomimetic sponges for regeneration of skeletal muscle following trauma,” in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.
Jenna Gorlewicz, Ph.D., of the Mechanical Engineering Program in Parks Colleges of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, published two articles and a conference proceeding as follows:
- “Haptic Paddle Enhancements and a Formal Assessment of Student Learning in System Dynamics,” in Advances in Engineering Education
- “The Promise of Haptics for Teaching Math to the Blind,” in National Science Foundation Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill
- “A curved port delivery system for laser interstitial thermal therapy of brain tumors,” for the 2019 Design of Medical Devices Conferences.
Riyadh Hindi, Ph.D., associate dean for graduate education and professor of civil engineering in Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, published two journal articles, “A Simplified Method to Minimize Exterior Girder Rotation of Steel Bridges During Deck Construction,” and “Repair Assessment for Distortion-Induced Fatigue Cracks in a Seismically Retrofitted Double-Deck Bridge Complex,” in the Elsevier Journal of Engineering Structures.
Raymond LeBeau, Ph.D., of the Aerospace Engineering Program in Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, published the following conference proceedings:
- “Analysis of Aerodynamic Flows over Partially Undulating Airfoil Surface,” for AIAA SciTech 2019
- “Development and Flight Testing of a Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasam Actuator Controlled Aircraft,” for AIAA SciTech 2019
- “Optimization of the Apogeee of an Experimental Sounding Rocket,” for AIAA SciTech 2019
Ronaldo Luna, Ph.D., of the Civil Engineering Program in Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, published a case study, “Micropiles Support the “Missing Link” - Understanding Load Transfer in Challenging Subgrades,” for the Geo-Institute of ASCE. Luna also published a conference proceeding, “Load Transfer Mechanism of Micropile in Weathered Rock,” for the ASCE GeoCongress 2019: The Eighth International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering.
Workshops, Presentations and Lectures
Simone Bregni, Ph.D., associate professor of Italian and coordinator of the Italian Studies program in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, presented in the session "Can AAA Games Be Used to Improve Education?" at the SXSW EDU Conference in Austin, Texas. The session was organized by Maxime Durand, Ubisoft’s historian in charge of the Assassin’s Creed series. Playing videogames has become an integral part of mankind’s cultural habits. A huge gap still divides “AAA” entertainment games (such as Assassin’s Creed) from “serious’’ games (games created by educators for specific educational purposes) in terms of appeal and defined learning objectives. Using data and sharing their own in-class experience, the panelists discussed how AAA games can help advance learning (formal and informal) for students at all stages of their education, from grade school to college.
Stephen Belt, Ph.D., of the Department of Aviation, presented at the UAA’s Annual Collegiate Aviation Conference. Belt’s presentation was “Aviation in the Ville: Promoting Science and Civic Engagement through Aviation.”
Chris Carroll, Ph.D., of the Civil Engineering Program in Parks Colleges of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, presented at the 2019 KEEN National Conference. Carroll’s presentation was “Introduction to EML in Foundational STEM Courses.”
Andrew Hall, D.Sc., of the Biomedical Engineering Program in Parks Colleges of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, presented at the Institute of Biological Engineering Annual Conference. Hall’s presentation was “Resorbable Radiopaque Microspheres for Catheter Embolization using Microfluidics.”
Conferences
The Department of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences and its sponsored journal, Res Philosophica, hosted a two-day conference on “Mass Incarceration and Racial Justice” in late March.
The conference began with a panel presentation at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri, where the SLU Prison Program operates. Faculty panelists from Harvard University, Tufts University, Loyola School of Law–Los Angeles, Cardozo School of Law, as well as two incarcerated students enrolled in the SLU Prison Program participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic, “What is the value of knowledge?” The discussion ranged widely, from the definition of knowledge to the relationship of knowledge, to goodness. Members of the audience, which was made up members of the incarcerated population and staff at the prison, asked questions about the nature of knowledge and also spoke about the value they saw in the SLU prison program.
On conference’s second day, three papers were presented on the themes of mass incarceration and racial justice, followed by formal comments and questions and answers from the audience. The papers were on “The Duties to Resist the Police on the Street,” “Harm Reduction in Criminal Justice,” and “Punishing the Polity,” and featured comments by philosophy faculty from Howard University, the University of California–Riverside and Louisiana State University.
The conference concluded with a keynote address by Tommie Shelby, Ph.D., professor of African American studies and philosophy at Harvard University, “Prison Abolition? The Limits of Functional Critique.” More than 75 people attended the day-long event.
The papers will be published in a future issue of Res Philosophica.
SLU faculty members Scott Berman, Ph.D., and Chad Flanders, Ph.D., organized the event along with Christy Pogue, editorial coordinator of Res Philosophica. (with photo)
Collaborations
The Walter J. Ong, S.J., Center for Digital Humanities (OngCDH) participated in the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) Digital Day of Learning by providing technical expertise and applications for the Digital Paleography Transcribathon.
Donal Hagerty represented the OngCDH. Bryan Haberberger and Patrick Cuba provided technical support and development.
“We have been working with the Newberry Library for several years developing the applications used to teach vernacular paleography in their summer courses,” Thomas Finan, Ph.D., the center’s director, said. “This session at RSA showcased what we have accomplished, and the user comments were very positive.”
The Walter J. Ong, S.J. Center for Digital Humanities at Saint Louis University is a global leader in developing and promoting the tools for digital research in the humanities. OngCDH supports research and pedagogy at the forefront of digital scholarship.