October 2021

Research @ Pace A newsletter highlighting faculty research & scholarship

Faculty Spotlight

Ana B. Amaya, DrPH, MPH, is Assistant Professor at the College of Health Professions, NYC. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of new global health institutions and issues on low-resource settings. Most recently, this has involved examining regional organizations in the Global South, the global governance of health and health disparities related to COVID-19. She is also an elected member of the Executive Board of Health Systems Global. Recent publications include “Regional international organizations and health: A framework for analysis” in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law and “Regional cooperation is essential to combatting health emergencies in the Global South” in Globalization and Health. For the past year, Professor Amaya has served on a Group of Twenty (G20) expert group to advise member States on their global health and COVID-19 response. Her participation took place through the Think20 group (T20), the official Engagement Group of the G20, and her recommendations have informed multilateral discussions and negotiations around the pandemic. Through this work, she published a policy brief titled “Regional collective action to address COVID-19 and prepare for future pandemics”. The final communiqué from the T20 was presented at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome on the 30-31st of October.  Professor Amaya is also Principal Investigator for “Learning from healthcare professionals’ experience providing care for minorities during COVID-19: A pilot study”, an interdisciplinary project with Kyomi Gregory, PhD (Communication Sciences and Disorders, NYC, CHP),  Tiffany Henley, PhD (Public Administration, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) and Una Hopkins, DNP (Montefiore Medical Center) that received a “COVID-19 and Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Award” from the Provost Office. Professor Amaya received the CHP Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research/Scholarship in 2021.

Andreea Cotoranu is Clinical Professor at the department of Information Technology, NYC, and the Director of the NYC Design Factory initiative. Professor Cotoranu’s research is at the intersection of natural language processing and human-computer interaction with applications to cybersecurity, with the goals of understanding and improving the usability of security applications and systems by making secure systems intuitive and easy to use. She recently presented, with Li-Chiou Chen, PhD (Information Technology West, NYC/PLV, Seidenberg School of CSIS ) Applying Text Analytics to Examination of End Users’ Mental Models of Cybersecurity.   In cybersecurity, Professor Cotoranu has spearheaded efforts in developing educational environments that enrich the student experience through experiential learning, and her work supports the academic preparation of the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, including through the recent 3.8M NSF grant to support Pace’s CyberCorps program and its activities for which she was Co-PI, with PI Li-Chiou Chen, PhD and CO-PIs David Paul Benjamin, PhD, (Computer Science, NYC, Seidenberg), Darren Hayes, PhD, (Information Technology, NYC, Seidenberg), and Joseph Ryan, PhD (Criminal Justice and Security, NYC/PLV, Dyson).   Professor Cotoranu is also interested in experiential, multidisciplinary and integrative approaches to computing education that prepare students to address complex, real-world challenges. She has collaborated with academic partners at Swinburne Institute of Technology (Australia), University of Applied Sciences Mannheim (Germany), and CERN ideaSquare (Switzerland), to develop and implement a program centered around deep technology translation into applications that consider a positive societal impact and desirable futures. This year, they published a case study on this work in the CERN Journal of Experimental Innovation.

Faculty News

In collaboration with ten colleagues at other universities, Dan Farkas, PhD (Information Technology, PLV, Seidenberg) and Namchul Shin, PhD (Information Technology, NYC, Seidenberg) published a paper entitled “How AIS Can Improve Its Contributions to the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals: A Framework for Scaling Collaborations and Evaluating Impact” in Communications of the Association for Information Systems 48. 42 (2021). This paper reviews the challenges and outcomes from the UN sustainability programs with their potential relevance to Information Systems in general and the Association for Information Systems (AIS) in particular to inform and assist increased efforts to achieve the global sustainability goals. It was initially presented by the authors, who were members from four AIS special interest groups and the AIS sustainability task force's education workgroup, at the AIS Sustainability Summit held at the International Conference on Information Systems in December 2019.

Charles North, Poet-in-Residence (English, NYC, Dyson) published En Face, MAB (Milton Art Bank, PA), a collaborative book of poems and images by poet Charles North and painter Trevor Winkfield. En Face marks the third collaboration between poet Charles North and painter Trevor Winkfield. It is comprised of eight of North’s poems and six of Winkfield’s color images.

Sarah Blackwood, PhD (English, NYC, Dyson) published a peer-reviewed scholarly article “Theorizing Vision and Selfhood in Early Black Writing and Art” in the new Cambridge University Press volume African American Literature in Transition, 1800-1830 (Jasmine Cobb, ed.)

Melvin Williams, PhD (Communication Studies, NYC, Dyson) recently published an article, with Tia C. M. Tyree, PhD, entitled, "Black Women Rap Battles: A Textual Analysis of U.S. Rap Diss Songs" in Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture 25 (2021). The article examined the history of Black women rapper diss songs as gendered forms of rap combat and conflict resolution. The study filled gaps in Hip-Hop, mass media, and Black music research, as it solely focused on Black women rappers, an often-understudied group, and coupled the investigation of diss tracks with gender, which was a critically important addition to Hip-Hop feminist and Rap studies. “Black Women Rap Battles: A Textual Analysis of U.S. Rap Diss Songs” is the first accepted article in the journal’s 32-year history to incorporate a Hip-Hop feminist theoretical framework.

Michael Finewood, PhD (Environmental Studies and Science, PLV, Dyson), with Pace Environmental Studies and Science students, Chana Friedenberg (MSES, 2020) and Loraine Guevarez (BS, 2019), as well as a colleague from Texas A&M, Gretchen Sneegas, PhD, published a paper entitled “A critical reflexive audit of qualitative water governance research in the lower Hudson Valley, New York” in Water Alternatives 14 .13. The paper is based on their research on watershed governance in the Lower Hudson Valley. It critically interrogates the methods and the challenges the researchers faced in conducting qualitative research with a diverse community.

Elmer Mojica, PhD (Chemistry and Physical Sciences, NYC/PLV, Dyson) had published two papers with undergraduate students in the Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research. In the Summer issue of the journal, he coauthored a paper with Charly Bisso (Biology 2020) entitled “Antioxidant capacity of commercial milk samples,” and in the Spring issue, a paper entitled “Raman analysis of different metformin tablets” was published. It was co-authored with Nini Mamisashvili (Behavioral Neuroscience, 2021) and Elise Krupoff (Biology, 2022).

Meng Xu, PhD  (Mathematics, NYC, Dyson) and Mengke Jiang (undergraduate, Business Analytics) published “Integrating metabolic scaling variation into the maximum entropy theory of ecology” in Ecological Modelling 455.1 (2021). Professor Xu’s and Ms. Jiang’s work uses the maximum entropy model to predict a well-known ecological pattern called Taylor's law. The research is supported by the Scholarly Research Fund from Pace University.

Save the Date

College of Health Professions Grand Rounds   In partnership with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, CHP presents a five-part series of virtual Grand Rounds with alumni, faculty, and students. Hear from distinguished healthcare professionals on health equity, global health governance, healthcare for aging and disabled populations, and other topics of importance in the ever evolving healthcare landscape. Join us for the first Grand Rounds panel on November 3. Click the link below for information and to register. Fall 2021 Grand Rounds   What's next for Global Health? Views from the Global South Wednesday, November 3 12:10 - 1:10 p.m. Virtual Zoom-Register here   Upcoming 2021-2022 Grand Rounds Educating Health Professionals during the Pandemic: Challenges & Successes Thursday December 2, 3:25-4:25 pm Panelists: TBD Reproductive Justice and Health Equity Tuesday April 26 - 3:25-4:45 pm     Moderator: Dr. Erica Gollub Speaker: Monica McLemore, PhD (UCSF) Canine-Assisted Health Care in Clinical Settings Spring 2022 Panelists: TBD

Transforming the System - The Complexities of Managing Domestic Violence Cases, Criminal Justice Reform and the Victims' Rights  Cindy Kanusher, Esq.(Executive Director, Women's Justice Center, Elisabeth Haub School of Law) and Cathryn Lavery, PhD (Criminal Justice and Security, PLV, Dyson). Tuesday, November 16, 2021 Register here This event is part of the Criminal Justice and the Prison System series. This series of events will address the major issues facing the prison system and criminal justice today. Led and organized by Pace faculty and experts in the field, the events will address such topics as Rikers Island, domestic violence and the drama of abuse, mental health/ trauma, and the future of corrections. Upcoming events in the series Thursday, February 22, 2022 Panel discussion led by Kimberly Collica-Cox, PhD (Criminal Justice and Security, NYC/PLV, Dyson) and Joseph Franco, PhD (Psychology, PLV, Dysom). Panel participants: Rocco Pozzi, Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Probation Nory Padilla, JD, LCSW, 1st Deputy Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Correction Ashley Jenkins, PsyD, Forensic Psychologist, Federal Bureau of Prisons Register for the February event Tuesday, April 10, 2022 – Student presentations Register for the April event

Internal Awards for Faculty

Book and Performance Completion Award is designed to support faculty who are working creative projects they are developing into publishable book manuscripts or performances. Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to full-time faculty at any Pace University school to develop or complete a project. This program welcomes applications for projects that in the developmental stage as well as for projects that are nearing completion. Application deadline: Friday, November 12, 2021 at 5:00pm For questions about the Book and Performance Completion Award contact Avrom Caplan, PhD, Associate Provost for Research at acaplan@pace.edu or Elina Bloch, PhD, Research Programs Manager at ebloch@pace.edu.

Undergraduate Research

Upcoming University-Wide Undergraduate Research Events Save the Dates!   Fall Undergraduate Research Showcase – Friday, November 12, 2021 The Fall Undergraduate Research Showcase will feature the Provost’s Summer 2021 Undergraduate Research Award winners. Register for the showcase Spring 2022 Undergraduate Research Days   Undergraduate Research Day/NYC – Thursday, May 5, 2022 Undergraduate Research Day/PLV – Friday, May 6, 2022 The Undergraduate Research Day will feature research presentations by Provost’s Academic Year 2021-2022 Undergraduate Research Awardees, honors college capstone seniors, federal work-study undergraduate research assistants, and student researchers from Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURES).

External Undergraduate Research Presentation Opportunities   National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2022 @home Save the Date: April 4 - 8, 2022 | Virtual   NCUR 2022 @home is a conference dedicated to the celebration and promotion of undergraduate research student achievement. This conference provides models of exemplary research, scholarship, and creative activity while offering student career readiness development.   Learn more about NCUR and submission deadlines

Posters on the Hill 2022 abstract submission process is open! Posters on the Hill (POH) brings the voice of undergraduate researchers and their mentors to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. This prestigious event celebrates the impressive work of the accepted students and supports the messages of the importance of undergraduate research at the federal level. Learn more about POH

Join the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR)!   For more information about these events and opportunities, join the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). All faculty, students and staff are eligible to enroll in CUR through the Pace Enhanced Membership!   If you have questions about CUR contact Maria Iacullo-Bird, PhD, Assistant Provost for Research at miacullobird@pace.edu.

Prestigious Awards and Fellowships

The Critical Language Scholarship Program is now open! The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for American students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. Students spend eight to ten weeks abroad studying one of 15 critical languages. The program includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains. The CLS Program offers instruction in the following critical languages: No Previous Study Required: Azerbaijani, Bangla, Hindi, Indonesian, Persian, Punjabi, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu One Year of Study Required: Arabic, Korean, Portuguese, Russian Two Years of Study Required: Chinese, Japanese

To be eligible, an applicant must meet all of the following eligibility criteria by the application deadline: Be a U.S. citizen or national. Others, including Permanent Residents, are not eligible, even if they anticipate naturalization by the beginning of the program. Be enrolled in an accredited U.S. degree-granting program at the undergraduate or graduate level.  Successfully complete academic requirements for the fall term. Students who withdraw or fail to maintain a passing grade average are not eligible to participate in the program.  Be at least 18 years old by May 15, 2022.   If in an undergraduate program complete at least one full year of study by the beginning of the CLS Program in summer 2022.

If you know of an any students who may be interested, please reach out to Jenny Irwin at jirwin@pace.edu.

Share your research news here.

Questions? email Elina Bloch at ebloch@pace.edu