Bloomsburg University
of Pennsylvania
M A Y 2 0 15
SCITECH
C O L L E G E O F S C I E N C E A N D T E C H N O LO G Y N E W S L E T T E R n W W W. B LO O M U. E D U / C O ST n 570.38 9.5333
A Preview: The 24th Annual
Health Sciences Symposium
BU WILL TURN to the darker side of
health this year at the Health Sciences
Symposium as it focuses on dying, death
and end-of-life issues.
Daniel Davis, director of bioethics at
the Geisinger Health System, will kick
off the conference with his keynote
speech, Dying and Death: They Ain’t
What They Used to Be, on Thursday,
April 23, at 6:30 p.m. in the Haas Center
for the Arts, Mitrani Hall.
During his lecture, Davis will focus
on end-of-life treatment and current
definitions of dying, focusing on the
radical transformation of medical
processes that began in the 1950s, such
as life-sustaining technology. He will identify the benefits, consequences
and controversies associated with this new technology.
Davis will start the second day of the symposium by hosting the first
Provost Lecture Series Workshop, Bioethics: An Open Forum, on Friday,
April 24, at 9 a.m. in the Kehr Union Ballroom.
Also planned are professional presentations by BU faculty as well as
two Bloomsburg University alumni, Henry J. Riordan ’89 and Gene G.
Kinney ’ 84. From 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. in the Kehr Union Ballroom, Riordan
and Kinney will present, From Bloomsburg to Biotech: A Primer and
Guide to a Career in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
In conjunction with these sessions, the symposium will hold its annual
Wellness Fair, where approximately 50 local and campus organizations
will provide health information and health products from 9 a.m. until 2
p.m. in Kehr Union, Multipurpose Rooms A and B.
ACM Members Take Second
Bloomsburg Programming teams. From left: Aleks
Hartzler, Jared Hallick, Landan Cheruka, Daniel
Pany, Brian Fekete.
COMPUTER SCIENCE MAJORS Landan Cheruka, senior, and
Brian Fekete and Daniel Pany, sophomores, took second place
among 17 teams in a test of computer programming skills during
the Pennsylvania Association of Computer and Information Science
Educators (PACISE) 30th annual conference at Edinboro University.
Five students from BU’s Student Chapter of the Association for
Computing Machinery (ACM), including seniors Jared Hallick
and Aleks Hartzler, competed along with teams from seven of the
universities in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
BU’s Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and
Statistics is a member of PACISE, representing computer programs
across the State System. The programming squad coach, Robert
Montante, associate professor, represents BU at PACISE. He is also
a member of ACM, an international professional organization of
computer scientists and computer science educators.
Managing an Ecosystem
AN ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT class
taught by Amber Pitt, assistant professor of
biological and allied health sciences, is creating
an ecosystem management plan to help
oversee a new property recently acquired and
integrated into Kocher Park. Pitt’s students
have been working with the Columbia County
Conservation District, which manages Kocher
Park, to create the plan.
Pitt describes an ecosystem management
plan as a business plan for a property, mapping
out the goals for its management and a specific
strategy to achieve those goals.
“Creating an ecosystem management
plan allows for the creation of well-thoughtout goals and actions so that the actual
management of the ecosystem can be as
effective and efficient as possible,” says Pitt.
The new 52-acre property includes part of
Fishing Creek, walking trails, a pavilion and
a parking area. It also contains a portion of
Stoney Brook, one of only two Exceptional
Value, or highest possible quality, streams in
Columbia County.
The management plan will be designed
to ensure the protection and restoration
of ecosystem function and integrity, and
sustainable use of and access to the property
for public recreation, community activities and
educational opportunities. It aims to have the
property ready for use this spring or summer.
It will increase the size of the park and give
river access, and includes the addition of
bridges, trails and plantings.
The plan will be presented to the conservation district at the end of the semester.
By: Nick Cellucci ‘16
Bloomsburg University College
of
Science
and
Technology Newsletter
M AY 2 0 15
Attracting STEM
Transfer Students
Alumni Couple Establishes First
Endowed Professorship
A GIFT OF $1.9 MILLION from Edward and Julianne Miller Breiner, who
graduated from Bloomsburg University in 1977, establishes the university’s first
endowed professorship in support of an exceptional teacher, mentor and leader.
The couple looked to the needs of BU when determining the focus of their
most recent gift and established the professorship within the Department
of Nursing, specifically in support of BU’s Doctor of Nursing Practice. The
Breiner Professorship of Nursing will create a new senior faculty position, with
additional funding to be used for research, conferences, travel, software and
equipment or other professional expenses.
“We talked with university officials about ways our gift could make BU a
stronger university,” says Julie Breiner. “With the health profession, there is
a potential to make a huge impact as far as healing and caring. Nursing really
resonated with us.”
Impact is the reason the Breiners endowed the position. Ed Breiner has no
difficulty naming faculty who challenged and motivated him during his BU
student experience, including art professor Robert Koslosky, who, he says, “is at
the top of that list.”
For Julie Breiner, it was another discipline. “I was challenged through all
of my science courses and, because of that, I felt very well prepared for my
internship,” she says.
The Breiners believe support for public and state-related universities is vital
for ensuring students have outstanding educational opportunities and dedicated
faculty.
Researching Intercellular Communication
WHAT STARTED with answering a flyer
posted on a classrooms door ended up being a
tremendous academic opportunity for Adam
Kulp, a BU senior majoring in biology.
The flyer called for a student researcher
to assist BU professors William Coleman and
Jennifer Veditti. Their task: investigating
the presence of a neural dominant protein,
synapsin, to be present in sperm cells.
In order for a female egg to be fertilized,
the sperm cells must first go through multiple
functional states. In turn, the sperm cells have
the potential to degrade the egg’s protective
cell membrane and fertilize the egg. It was on
the protein distribution across these multiple
functional states that the team focused.
A new program in the College of Science and Technology
seeks to bring an increased number of transfer students to BU
from the state’s community colleges. Developed by professors
Toni Trumbo Bell, Curt Jones, Steven Rier, Michael Shepard
and Peter Stine, this project is supported by a $35,000
Presidential Strategic Planning Grant.
The goal of the project is to increase the number of
community college graduates holding associate’s degrees who
choose Bloomsburg University to complete their Bachelor
of Science degrees in STEM fields. The project also is aimed
at improving the success of these transfer students by
implementing new transfer student support programs. This
programs targets the following programs:
B.S. Biology - Environmental Biology
B.S. and B.A. Chemistry-General
B.S. Secondary Education-Chemistry
B.S. Chemistry-Biochemistry
B.S. Chemistry-Nanotechnology
B.S. Chemistry-Pre-Medical Sciences
B.S. Computer Science
B.S. Digital Forensics
B.S. Environmental, Geographical, and Geological SciencesEnvironmental Geoscience
B.S. Environmental, Geographical, and Geological SciencesProfessional Geology
B.S. and B.A. Mathematics
B.S. Physics
B.S. Electronics Engineering Technology
This project will begin with HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s
Community College, which delivers well-established
associates degrees in related science disciplines. BU faculty
will give guest lectures at HACC, provide professional
development opportunities for faculty and students, and meet
on a regular basis with HACC faculty to discuss how we can
partner to ensure transfer students’ success.
A specific family of proteins called synapsin
are associated with communication between
cells. Typically, they are only found in neurons.
Coleman and Venditti hypothesized that
that these synapsin proteins would also be
present in the sperm cells to assist in the
communication between the sperm and
the egg.
Using western blots and immunocytochemistry, the team was able to separate out
the different proteins utilized in the sperm cell
and identify synapsin’s presence. The team
managed to find evidence of the protein in the
equatorial segment of the sperm cell’s head.
After completing their research, Coleman,
Venditti and Kulp traveled to Atlanta, Ga., to
present their findings to the American Society
of Andrology. They held a similar presentation
at BU and will do the same for the Beta Beta
Beta National Biological Honor Society.
After completing his undergraduate, Kulp
will be attending graduate school to complete
his doctoraldegree in biology.
“It was a great opportunity,” Kulp says
about the project. He adds that working with
Coleman and Venditti made his application
stand out to programs at schools like New York
University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, N.Y.
By: Sean Williams ‘15
Bloomsburg University College
of
Science
and
Technology Newsletter
M AY 2 0 15
PRESENTATIONS
Institute for Interactive Technologies
Exercise Science
Faculty members Helmut Doll, Mary Nicholson and Karl Kapp
are presenters for a Maker Faire workshop at the Online Learning
Conference in Atlanta, Ga.. At the presentation, participants get
hands-on experience creating small e-learning pieces that will be
saved to a jump drive.
Professor of Exercise Science Swapan Mookerjee presented
a paper, 02 Pulse During Single Set vs. Multiple-Set Resistance
Exercise, at the European College of Sports Science Annual
Congress in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in July 2014.
IIT’s twice-a-year Corporate Advisory Council Conference
is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday, April 15 to 17.
The conference includes student presentations and corporate
presentations, as well as a day devoted to interviews, business
meetings and education.
EGGS
Students in the fall session of Principles of Geographic Information
Systems II conducted a network analysis for the Rusty Rail Brewing
Co.. The results of the study were presented to the company in
December 2014 and used to structure the company’s routing plans
for spring 2015.
Nursing
Deb Sanders, assistant professor of nursing, recently presented
her sabbatical research, Resilience and Self-Transcendence in Older
Women, at the annual National Gerontologic Nurses Association
meeting in San Antonio, Texas. This national association meeting
encompasses nurses from across the United States who are
involved in the care of older adults.
Kim Olszewski, assistant professor of nursing, recently gave a
presentation, Occupational Health and Social Media: Guiding
Employees Safely at the National Safety Council Congress and Expo
in San Diego, Calif. Olszewski’s presentation provided suggestions
on promoting wellness and healthier lifestyles for employees
beyond the 40 hour work week. Guidelines and recommendations
were offered on how businesses can educate and guide employees
to use the Internet to find health information for their individual
needs.
Assistant Professor Todd Hastings offered a poster and podium
presentation at the 28th Annual Conference of the American
Psychiatric Nurses Association held in Indianapolis, Ind. from
Oct. 22 until Oct. 25, 2014. The poster presentation was created in
collaboration with Barbara Buxton, a professor from the University
of Scranton. The presentation, Clinical Supervision in Psychiatric
Nursing, addressed the importance of consultation and support for
nurse clinicians working with mental health patients. The podium
presentation, Novel Education Strategies in Psychiatric Nursing
Education, encompassed a nursing education focus, and discussed
the creation and use of video case vignettes to engage students in
problem-based learning.
Digital Forensics
Phil Polstra, associate professor of digital forensics,
delivered three presentations during the fall 2014 semester.
Polstra was one of only two speakers invited to give a fourhour workshop in the primary venue at the sixth iteration of the
BruCON security conference in Ghent, Belgium on Sept. 25 and
26, 2014. His workshop was titled Autonomous Remote Hacking
Drones.
On the weekend beginning Oct. 24, 2014, Polstra was one
of four invited to speak at the 22nd annual PumpCon security
conference in Philadelphia. His talked, Obligatory Drone Hacking
Talk, centered on material from his recent book, Hacking
and Penetration Testing with Low-Power Devices. The book
presents methods of creating inexpensive, low-power devices for
performing computer security penetration tests from distances up
to a mile away by leveraging open source hardware and software.
On Oct. 29, 2014, Polstra presented a webinar, Bad USB – Why
the USB Security System is Badly Broken, for the CISO Platform,
an international organization dedicated to providing pertinent
information to senior security executives.
Bloomsburg University College
of
Science
and
Technology Newsletter
M AY 2 0 15
PUBLICATIONS
Environmental, Geological and
Geographical Science
Matthew Ricker, professor of geology and geosciences, wrote two
papers that were published in the Soil Society of America Journal:
Ricker, M.C. and B.G. Lockaby. 2014. Soil biogeochemical processes
across a lateral toposequence in an old-growth floodplain forest.
Soil Science Society of America Journal 78:2100-2111.
Ricker, M.C., M.H. Stolt, and M.S. Zavada. 2014. Comparison of soil
organic carbon dynamics in forested riparian wetlands and adjacent
uplands. Soil Science Society of America Journal 78:1817-1827.
Ricker also published a paper in Crop, Soil, Agronomy News
Magazine: Ricker, M.C. and B.G. Lockaby. 2014. Soil biogeochemical
processes across a lateral toposequence in an old-growth floodplain
forest. Crop, Soil, Agronomy (CSA) News Magazine 2015 60:13-17
Anthony DiBiase won the student paper competition at the 2014
Pennsylvania Geographical Society meeting in State College:
Anthony DiBiase, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania,
A Geographical and Sociological Study of Parking Patterns in
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
Chemistry
Gregory Zimmerman, professor of Chemistry, recently published
two papers:
Arcis, H; Zimmerman G. H.; Tremaine, P. R., “Ion-Pair Formation
in Aqueous Strontium Chloride and Strontium Hydroxide
Solutions under Hydrothermal Conditions by AC Conductivity
Measurements.” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, 16(33), 17688-17704.
Zimmerman G. H.; Arcis, H., “Extrapolation Methods for AC
Impedance Measurements Made with a Concentric Cylinder Cell
On Solutions of High Ionic Strength.” J. Solution Chem. 2014, DOI
10.1007/s10953-014-0208-x.
Math/Computer Science
Michael Stephans, assistant professor and the College of Science
and Technology’s technical writing instructor, recently signed
a contract to write a second book for Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers. The book about American music icon Ornette Coleman
will be published in 2016.
Biology
Amber Pitt and Bloomsburg University undergraduate students
Marisa Buckle, Erick Wahlman, and Victoria DiTomo co-authored
a natural history note entitled, “Anaxyrus americanus (American
toad). Arboreal behavior” that was accepted for publication in the
following:
Pitt, A.L., M.M. Buckle, E.N. Wahlman, and V.E. DiTomo. In
press. Anaxyrus americanus (American toad). Arboreal behavior.
Herpetological Review.
Pitt also co-authored one paper with colleagues from Clemon
University and another with a colleague from the University of
Florida:
Yu, X., J. Hawley-Howard, A.L. Pitt, J. Wang, R.F. Baldwin, and
A.T. Chow. 2015. Water quality of small, seasonal wetlands in
the Piedmont ecoregion, South Carolina, USA: effects of landuse and hydrology. Water Research 73:98-108. Doi: 10.1016/j.
watres.2015.01.007.
Pitt, A.L., and M.A. Nickerson. 2014. Description and comparison
of turtle assemblages and populations located within a spring-fed
river. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 9(3):475-483.
Sean Hartzell, an undergraduate student at BU, worked with
biology professor Amber Pitt to write a natural history note that
was recently published:
Hartzell, S.M., and A.L. Pitt. 2014. Glyptemys insculpta (Wood
turtle). Nesting Habitat and Behavior. Herpetological Review
45(4):687-688.
Exercise Science
Tim McConnell, professor of exercise science, recently co-authored
a paper for the Journal of Religion and Health.
K.M. Trevino KM, McConnell TR. Religiosity and religious coping
in patients with cardiovascular disease: Change over time and
associations with illness adjustment. Journal of Religion and
Health. 2014:53:1907-1917.
For news about research, presentations and
publications, see bloomu.edu/research_scholars.
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania is committed to
affirmative action by way of providing equal educational
and employment opportunities for all persons without
regard to race, religion, gender, age, national origin, sexual
orientation, disability or veteran status.
www.bloomu.edu/cost