January 2016
Volume 3, Issue 1
Professor Aaron Severson
Receives $349,200 NIH Grant
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Professor Aaron Severson
Receives $349,200 NIH
Grant
Meet CSU's New Faculty
Featured Researcher
Video Series
CSU Scholar News
News from the Technology
Transfer Office
USRA, DRA, FRD, and FSI
Internal Funding
The Innovation Portal
is Now Live
Undergraduate Research with
Professor Kiril Streletzky
Engaging and Collaborating
with CLASS
Prof. Aaron Severson from the
Center for Gene Regulation in
Health and Disease (GRHD) and
the Department of Biological,
Geological and Environmental
Sciences (BGES) in the College
of
Sciences
and
Health
Professions (COSHP) received
an AREA (R15) $349,200 grant
from the NIH National Institute of
General Medical Sciences for the
project "Specification of meiotic
cohesin function by divergent alpha-kleisin subunits." The
goal of Prof. Severson's research is to increase our
understanding of the cellular machinery that forms normal
sperm and eggs, and how defects in this machinery lead to
infertility. Due to errors during the formation of gametes
(sperm and oocytes), an estimated one in three fertilized
human eggs has too many or too few chromosomes; such
errors are a leading cause of miscarriage and birth defects.
Because errors similar to those that disrupt chromosomal
inheritance during gamete formation also occur in many
forms of cancer, the relevance of this research extends far
beyond reproductive health.
Meet CSU's New Faculty
Prof. Paula Chan joined Cleveland State in fall 2015 as an assistant
professor of special education in the Department of Teacher
Education, and is also a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior
Analyst. Prof. Chan received her doctoral degree from The Ohio
State University and her master's degree from the University of South
Florida.
Prof. Chan's research focuses on improving post-school outcomes for
adolescents with disabilities. For many students with disabilities,
moving into adult roles can be challenging because they lose many of
the supports and accommodations that were offered in their high
school environments. Prof. Chan's research focuses on how to
prepare students for this transition. As part of her research, Prof. Chan focuses on two major
areas. The first area of research involves teaching students with behavior disorders to become
active participants in developing their behavior assessments and behavior intervention plans.
Students learn to accurately discuss their behavior issues, effectively communicate with adults,
and advocate for their own needs. These skills improve the effectiveness of their behavior
assessments and behavior intervention plans, and help students develop skills that promote their
successful transition to adulthood. The second area of research explores how feedback can be
used to improve skill development. As students develop skills to transition to adult roles,
feedback is critical to provide them with information about how they are progressing toward their
goals. Prof. Chan's research helps determine ways to enhance the effectiveness of feedback and
to maximize student growth.
Featured Researcher Video Series - Girish Shukla
Research by Prof. Girish Shukla from the
Center for Gene Regulation in Health and
Disease (GRHD) and the Department of
Biological, Geological and Environmental
Sciences (BGES) in the College of
Sciences and Health Professions (COSHP)
is the focus of the latest installment of the
Featured Researcher Video series.
Prof. Shukla's research is in the area of
prostate cancer, which takes the lives of nearly 28,000 American men every year. Prostate
cancer is the most commonly diagnosed and second leading cause of cancer-related death in
American males. Many hereditary factors and genes play pivotal roles in the development of
prostate cancer and in the development of resistance to therapeutic measures. Prof. Shukla
studies the intrinsic cellular factors that may be responsible for prostate cancer. The goal of his
research is to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms that promote the development of
drug resistance and metastatic disease. His research program is supported by Department of
Defense's (DoD) Prostate and Breast Cancer Research Programs and is aimed at identifying the
small RNA molecules, or microRNAs, which are intrinsically produced in human cells and which
suppress disease-promoting genes. The loss of these microRNAs facilitates cancer-promoting
genetic pathways. By supplementing tumor-suppressing microRNA, Prof. Shukla's research team
aims to target cancer cells in order to treat drug-resistant diseases.
We encourage you to learn more about Professor Shukla's research and to take a look at our
previous Featured Researcher Videos.
CSU Scholar News
Myong-Hun Chang is a professor in the Department
of Economics in the College of Liberal Arts and
Social Sciences (CLASS). His specialization is in
the area of theoretical industrial organization, with
an
emphasis on
the
game-theoretic and
computational study of competitive interactions
among strategically-motivated firms.
Prof. Chang's current research focuses on modeling
and analyzing the interactions among heterogeneous
agents in complex economic and social systems.
One of his most recent projects entails the
construction of a computational model of industry
evolution in which artificial industries are created and grown to maturity in silico. The firms in the
model are adaptive in the sense that they conduct research and development to improve their
production technologies based on their experiences. Prof. Chang studies the adaptive behavior
of the firms and industries as they remain in a perennial state of flux due to persistent external
shocks in their environments. The general model and a comprehensive analysis of the
computational experiments are presented in Prof. Chang's book A Computational Model of
Industry Dynamics (Routledge, 2015).
Prof. Chang's current research also involves the computational modeling and analysis of largescale social transformation. Prof. Chang and his collaborator, Joseph E. Harrington, Jr. of the
University of Pennsylvania, investigate the dynamic process of social transformation through
which social norms are established and replaced over time. This research entails the
construction of a computational model of a social system in which a large population of
heterogeneous agents makes decisions on whether to accept or reject certain norms in their
local social networks. The experiments in this research require substantial computational
resources, and so Prof. Chang is working with the High Performance Computing Cluster at the
University of Pennsylvania to facilitate parallel processing of the social changes modeled in this research.
All of Prof. Chang's research utilizes game-theoretic and computational modeling tools. His
research has been supported by various internal grants from the Office of Research as well as
an external grant from the National Science Foundation. He has also served on grant review
panels for the NSF Human and Social Dynamics Program.
News from the Technology Transfer Office
Gao Patent: The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a notice of allowance to Prof.
Zhiqiang Gao for his patent application, which is entitled "Extended Active Disturbance Rejection
Controller." Prof. Gao's motion control technology has applications in multiple fields, including
motor control and factory automation. The patent is part of the intellectual property licensed to
LineStream Technologies.
Technology Validation Start-up Fund (TVSF) of the Ohio Third Frontier: The purpose of the
TVSF is to support economic development by funding Technology Transfer Office (TTO)
submissions for commercial validation activities, and by providing early-stage funding for start-up
or young companies. Phase 1 awards are up to $50,000 and require a one-to-one cost-share
commitment from the University. Phase 2 awards are up to $150,000 for a start-up or young
company that licenses University technology. The TTO has submitted the requisite qualification
document which will allow the TTO to submit proposals on behalf of CSU faculty.
Start-Up Companies: I-Corps@Ohio is offered on a
competitive basis to evaluate the commercial potential of the
innovations of faculty and graduate students. In addition to
receiving an award of $15,000, I-Corps@Ohio teams will
develop scalable business models to attract seed, angel, and
venture funding to support company formation and market
entry. Team registration and executive summary submissions will be accepted from January 4th
through February 7th. Applicants will then be selected to submit a formal proposal. For additional
information please review the recently released RFP or contact the TTO.
USRA, DRA, FRD, and FSI Internal Funding
The Office of Research is pleased to provide the following reminder for the 2016-2017 internal
funding programs.
Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA)
Dissertation Research Award (DRA)
submission deadline February 5, 2016
submission deadline March 11, 2016
Faculty Research and Development (FRD)
Faculty Scholarship Initiative (FSI)
submission deadline March 11, 2016
submission deadline March 11, 2016
The DRA and FSI programs have significantly changed since last year and now allow summer
salary. In order to assist in the preparation of successful applications, the evaluation forms that
will be used to evaluate the proposals are included at the above web sites. For more
information, please contact Joy Yard, 687-9364, j.yard@csuohio.edu, or Dan Simon, 687-5171,
d.j.simon@csuohio.edu
The Innovation Portal is Now Live
The Office of Research has launched a new web site to promote the University's many forms of
innovation-related practices, initiatives, and opportunities. The site showcases technology
transfer, entrepreneurship, collaborative workspaces, and more. By providing a virtual location for
all of the innovation-related activities at CSU, the site will facilitate better communication with
CSU partners, visitors, current and prospective faculty and students, and other members of the
community. Please visit http://www.csuohio.edu/innovation/ for more information.
Undergraduate Research with
Professor Kiril Streletzky in Macromolecules
A paper co-authored by Prof. Kiril Streletzky,
Fluorescent Labeling Can Alter Polymer Solution
Dynamics, has been published in Macromolecules,
which is one of the leading journals in polymer
science with an impact factor of 5.8. Prof. Streletzky
is an associate professor in the Physics Department
in the College of Sciences and Health Professions
(COSHP). The first author on the paper is Ryan
McDonough,
whose
participation
in CSU's
Undergraduate Summer Research Award Program
led to the publication. Ryan earned bachelor's
degrees from CSU in philosophy and chemistry, and
an honor's degree in physics, and is now a researcher at the NASA Glenn Research Center.
Engaging and Collaborating with CLASS
The Office of Research has begun regular meetings with faculty from the College of Liberal Arts
and Social Sciences (CLASS). An advisory committee of 12 diverse CLASS faculty members is
providing guidance, direction, and suggestions to the Office of Research regarding the
enhancement of scholarship in the liberal arts and social sciences. In addition, the Office of
Research is working with CLASS on an NSF proposal to enhance research and scholarship
collaborations between engineering faculty and CLASS faculty.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Please share with us important news or updates on your research, scholarly, or creative
activities. Updates may be related to a paper that has been accepted for publication in a highimpact journal, a book you've just published, your work that will be exhibited at a prominent
institution, or other updates you wish to share with our office. Send details to j.yard@csuohio.edu
and d.j.simon@csuohio.edu.
_____________________________________________________________________________
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