Alumni News
ODU Welcomes Operation Smile
Monday, June 30, 2008
Operation Smile, a worldwide children's charity network, held its annual Physician's Training Program in Norfolk this month. Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals from more than 28 countries attended the training program.
ODU's College of Health Sciences hosted a session in basic life support training that included the use of a "simulator baby" (pictured).
In 2007, ODU and Operation Smile announced a partnership that would allow the charity's volunteer healthcare professionals to train with university faculty in the state-of-the-art Health Sciences Building.
Nursing Professors Continue Cultural Competency Research with $765,000 Grant
Monday, June 30, 2008
Researchers in the College of Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, led by Carolyn Rutledge, associate professor of nursing, have received a grant worth $765,000 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to develop ways to better equip nursing educators and administrators to deal with cultural diversity and other barriers to health care.
This project is the latest in a series of research initiatives that have established ODU's School of Nursing as a leading designer of training programs that address potential clashes and miscommunication between health-care professionals and certain types of patients.
Since 2003, the school has received more than $3 million for cultural awareness projects led by Rutledge, as well as Richardean Benjamin, chair of the School of Nursing, and Laurel Garzon, associate professor of nursing.
Two decisions by the ODU researchers have distinguished their work.
The first is the broad definition they have given to "culture." "I have a problem being too narrow with the definition," Rutledge said. "It involves a lot more than ethnicity." In fact, she often refers to "subcultures" and "people of similar orientation" to describe groups-teenage Goths, overweight older women and gay people, for example-who often report unsatisfactory health-care experiences.
The second strategy that has led to the researchers' success involves their use of diverse resources. One is ODU's vaunted distance learning program, which is one of the largest of its kind, beaming live lectures and making on-line courses available to students scattered about the nation and the world. Another resource is Monarch General Hospital, a virtual hospital training facility in the recently updated College of Health Sciences Building. Also, according to Garzon, the researchers are relying on help from the Theresa Thomas Professional Skills Teaching and Assessment Center at the nearby Eastern Virginia Medical School. The center is recognized nationwide for its program with standardized patients (SP), actors who are specially trained to help health-care professionals hone their patient interviewing and diagnostic skills.
"There is no way you can teach students everything they need to know about every culture," Garzon explained. "What we can teach is a process to help you work with various people, and then we can give you the opportunity to put that process to work with standardized patients." The researchers contract with the Thomas Center to use SPs for cultural diversity training.
Rutledge said that an SP recently portrayed a lesbian patient during a classroom encounter with a nursing student. "When the standardized patient stepped out of her role and assessed the student's performance, she said to the student, 'After you rolled your eyes, it cut down on our communication.'"
Three previous $750,000 grants, each from the HRSA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have allowed the School of Nursing to provide cultural competency training in the Nurse Practitioner Program, Nurse Midwifery Program and undergraduate Registered Nurse Program. The latest grant, which covers the period from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2011, will extend the training to the graduate Nurse Administrator Program and Nurse Educator Program.
Rutledge sees the upcoming initiative as potentially more valuable than the predecessors because the researchers will be designing training for advanced professionals who can, in turn, train and influence many nursing students and nurses. "The project will refocus the master's-level Nurse Administrator Program and the post-master's Nurse Educator Program in order to address issues of cultural competency, health disparities and barriers to care," Rutledge said.
A nurse practitioner, Rutledge took a position at EVMS in 1988-and stills sees patients there-before moving to ODU in 2002. Garzon credits Rutledge with being the "grant writer e
ODU Alumna Appointed to Federal Reserve Board
Monday, June 30, 2008
Old Dominion University alumna Elizabeth A. Duke was confirmed June 27 by the U.S. Senate to sit on the Federal Reserve Board.
Duke, who received an MBA from Old Dominion in 1983, was nominated by President George W. Bush last year to fill a vacant seat on the seven-member board. The Federal Reserve determines the course of interest rates in the country and is also responsible for ensuring the stability of the nation's financial system.
In a press release announcing the appointment, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "In confirming Elizabeth A. Duke for a term through 2012, we are ensuring the Fed can function during these difficult economic times."
Duke is senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of TowneBank. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina and is also a graduate and former instructor of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking.
ODU Nursing Professors Continue Cultural Competency Research Initiative with $765,000 Grant
Friday, June 27, 2008
Researchers in the College of Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, led by Carolyn Rutledge, associate professor of nursing, have received a grant worth $765,000 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to develop ways to better equip nursing educators and administrators to deal with cultural diversity and other barriers to health care.
This project is the latest in a series of research initiatives that have established ODU's School of Nursing as a leading designer of training programs that address potential clashes and miscommunication between health-care professionals and certain types of patients.
Since 2003, the school has received more than $3 million for cultural awareness projects led by Rutledge, as well as Richardean Benjamin, chair of the School of Nursing, and Laurel Garzon, associate professor of nursing.
Two decisions by the ODU researchers have distinguished their work.
The first is the broad definition they have given to "culture." "I have a problem being too narrow with the definition," Rutledge said. "It involves a lot more than ethnicity." In fact, she often refers to "subcultures" and "people of similar orientation" to describe groups-teenage Goths, overweight older women and gay people, for example-who often report unsatisfactory health-care experiences.
The second strategy that has led to the researchers' success involves their use of diverse resources. One is ODU's vaunted distance learning program, which is one of the largest of its kind, beaming live lectures and making on-line courses available to students scattered about the nation and the world. Another resource is Monarch General Hospital, a virtual hospital training facility in the recently updated College of Health Sciences Building. Also, according to Garzon, the researchers are relying on help from the Theresa Thomas Professional Skills Teaching and Assessment Center at the nearby Eastern Virginia Medical School. The center is recognized nationwide for its program with standardized patients (SP), actors who are specially trained to help health-care professionals hone their patient interviewing and diagnostic skills.
"There is no way you can teach students everything they need to know about every culture," Garzon explained. "What we can teach is a process to help you work with various people, and then we can give you the opportunity to put that process to work with standardized patients." The researchers contract with the Thomas Center to use SPs for cultural diversity training.
Rutledge said that an SP recently portrayed a lesbian patient during a classroom encounter with a nursing student. "When the standardized patient stepped out of her role and assessed the student's performance, she said to the student, 'After you rolled your eyes, it cut down on our communication.'"
Three previous $750,000 grants, each from the HRSA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have allowed the School of Nursing to provide cultural competency training in the Nurse Practitioner Program, Nurse Midwifery Program and undergraduate Registered Nurse Program. The latest grant, which covers the period from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2011, will extend the training to the graduate Nurse Administrator Program and Nurse Educator Program.
Rutledge sees the upcoming initiative as potentially more valuable than the predecessors because the researchers will be designing training for advanced professionals who can, in turn, train and influence many nursing students and nurses. "The project will refocus the master's-level Nurse Administrator Program and the post-master's Nurse Educator Program in order to address issues of cultural competency, health disparities and barriers to care," Rutledge said.
A nurse practitioner, Rutledge took a position at EVMS in 1988-and stills sees patients there-before moving to ODU in 2002. Garzon credits Rutledge with being the "grant writer e
Kolb, Pakhomov of Bioelectrics Center Are Elected to Posts in International Societies
Friday, June 27, 2008
Juergen Kolb and Andrei Pakhomov, two researchers at Old Dominion University's Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics, have been elected to important positions in international science and engineering societies.
Kolb, assistant professor at the Reidy Center, became a member May 30 of the Power Modulator and High Voltage Committee of the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society. The IEEE, which is known now by the acronym alone, was formerly the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Kolb was elected at the IEEE International Power Modulator and High Voltage Conference in Las Vegas.
Pakhomov, research associate professor at the Reidy Center, is a new member of the board of directors of the Bioelectromagnetic Society. His election was announced during the Bioelectromagnetics Conference in San Diego on June 11.
"We are pleased that the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics will be represented on two important international committees," said Karl Schoenbach, the founding director of the center. Schoenbach steps down next month as director in order to devote more time to research and will be succeeded by Richard Heller, a pioneer in electrogenetherapy who is moving to ODU this summer from the University of South Florida College of Medicine. In an email, Heller called the elections "great news."
Kolb, who has a doctorate in physics from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany, does research on the effects of pulsed electric fields in biological, medical and environmental applications. A particular focus of his work is the immediate physical response of cells and tissues to an electric stimulus. He has been a researcher at the Reidy Center since 2004 and in 2006 was also appointed assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology.
In September, Kolb will deliver an invited talk, "Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields for Medical Applications," at the International Congress on Plasma Physics in Fukuoka, Japan.
Pakhomov has a doctorate in radiation biology from the Medical Radiology Research Center in Obninsk, Russia, and was a lead scientist at that center and senior scientist with the Army Medical Research Detachment at Brooks Air Force Base in Texas before coming to ODU in 2004. Recently, he has studied changes in cell plasma membranes following exposure to nanosecond pulsed electric fields. He is the associate editor for the journal Bioelectromagnetics and served as guest editor for IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.
This fall, Pakhomov will present invited talks on his research on nanosecond bioelectric effects at two international scientific forums in Europe.
The formal mission of the Reidy Center is to increase scientific knowledge and understanding of how electromagnetic fields interact with biological cells, and to apply this knowledge to the development of medical diagnostics and therapeutics, as well as environmental decontamination.
Schoenbach and the Reidy Center, via ODU, led a recent research initiative that brought together bioelectrics and related researchers from the Harvard/MIT Health Science Center, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Washington University, the University of Wisconsin and Eastern Virginia Medical School. In addition, the center has leveraged the increasing interest in bioelectrics outside the United States. An international research consortium for bioelectrics formed in 2005 had ODU, Kumamato University in Japan and Universitaet Karlsruhe in Germany as founding members. In 2006, the University of Missouri and the Institute for Low Temperature Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany, joined the consortium.
ODU's Holsinger Reappointed by Governor to Virginia Cave Board
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
John Holsinger, the Old Dominion University Eminent Scholar and professor of biological sciences, was reappointed to the Virginia Cave Board in June by Gov. Timothy Kaine. He has been a member almost continuously since the General Assembly formed the board in 1979.
The scientist, who joined ODU in 1968, is respected worldwide for his work in caves and karst. (Karst is the geological term for the irregular limestone terrain containing sinkholes, underground streams and caves.)
Holsinger is best known for painstaking research to document species of subterranean amphipod crustaceans, specimens of which float in alcohol in hundreds of jars in his laboratory. The creatures resemble shrimp or crayfish. A number of cave-adapted invertebrate animals, including species of amphipods, isopods, spiders and snails, have the official Latin name holsingeri. Two genera, an amphipod and a snail, are named Holsingerius and Holsingeria, respectively.
The reappointment will extend Holsinger's service on the Cave Board through 2012.
The legislature has asked the board to conserve and protect the state's 4,400 documented caves. In an interview last year, Holsinger said he is proud of the board's efforts to preserve Virginia's caves. "We try to influence zoning and conservation management, and have gone so far as to convince the highway department to route roads away from sensitive karst areas," he said.
The board also deals with more mundane threats, such as damage done by people who dump garbage in caves, destroy geological formations, write on walls or commit other acts of vandalism. One way the board members influence public policy is through cave educational programs it promotes in schools. The board lobbied successfully for passage of the Virginia Cave Protection Act.
Burdige in Line To Be Chemical Oceanography Conference Chair
Monday, June 23, 2008
David Burdige, Old Dominion University professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences, will serve as vice-chair of the 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Chemical Oceanography, and will be chair of the 2011 biennial meeting.
The chemical oceanography conference, which has been held since 1969, is part of Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) line-up of international forums in biological, chemical and physical sciences. GRC is a non-profit organization managed by and for the benefit of the scientific community. It is almost 80 years old.
The chemical oceanography conference in August 2009 will be held at Tilton School in Tilton, N.H.
Burdige, whose research focus is on biogeochemical processes in estuarine and marine sediments, is the author of the textbook, "Geochemistry of Marine Sediments," published in 2006 by Princeton University Press.
Call for 2009 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards Nominations
Monday, June 23, 2008
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) is sponsoring the 23rd annual recognition of the faculty excellence and will select twelve faculty members for the 2009 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards. Winners will receive a $5,000 stipend, funded by the Dominion Foundation and are recognized by the General Assembly and honored by the Governor at a ceremony scheduled in early 2009. The SCHEV nomination guidelines are available at Outstanding Faculty Awards on their web site.
Since the program began in 1991, twenty-two Old Dominion University faculty members have been selected for this award (see the attached list of winners). In addition, Professor of Music Aldolphus Hailstork received his award while at Norfolk State University.
The University Outstanding Faculty Awards Committee is seeking your help with identifying internal candidates for eight nominations plus one "rising star" nominee that have been allocated to Old Dominion University for 2009. A "rising star" must have less than six years of continuous service as a full-time faculty member and must be in at least her/his third year of service at a Virginia institution. One of the other nominees may be designated for a "teaching with technology" award, a special category that recognizes extraordinary success in the application and use of technology to teaching. Successful candidates must have a record as a faculty member in Virginia with superior accomplishments that strongly reflect Old Dominion University's mission and superior accomplishments in the four areas of scholarly endeavor: teaching, discovery, integration of knowledge, and service.
In the past, SCHEV has given preference to nominees who are outstanding in teaching and have made significant contributions in research and service. With regard to teaching, the committee looks for nominees whose outstanding performance has already been recognized by teaching awards and supported by student and colleague testimony. In the area of research, preference has been given to those who have published books and received significant grants, in addition to a substantial record of published articles and paper presentations. For service, preference seems to be given to nominees who have significant records of professional and community service. Integration of technology and instruction has also become a factor.
In order to nominate a faculty member for consideration for this award, please submit the following materials (one original and six copies) to Carol Simpson, Provost, Room 222 Koch Hall by August 15:
A letter that addresses the nominee's qualifications for the award
Copy of her/his current curriculum vitae
Quantitative and qualitative teaching evaluations for the past two years
Letter of endorsement from the nominee's dean
Any additional materials that demonstrate the nominee's accomplishments
It is important that the nomination letter, dean's endorsement letter, and curriculum vitae contain explicit information about any the quality and impact of the nominee's teaching, previous teaching awards or nominations (in addition to any other evidence of excellence in teaching), information about the faculty member's record of scholarship and grants received (in addition to listing other research accomplishments and recognition), and information about significant professional and community service activities.
The Outstanding Faculty Awards Committee will review the nominations in the later part of August and select up to nine University nominees. A representative of Academic Affairs will work with the University's nominees to produce final nominations for submission to SCHEV by October 16.
Faculty members selected as University nominees will receive a $500 award from the Vice President for Research, Mohammad Karim, to support scholarly activities in the coming year, will be recognized at a luncheon in the fall hosted by the Provost and the spring faculty awards dinner, and re
Burdige in Line To Be Chemical Oceanography Conference Chair
Friday, June 20, 2008
David Burdige, Old Dominion University professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences, will serve as vice-chair of the 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Chemical Oceanography, and will be chair of the 2011 biennial meeting.
The chemical oceanography conference, which has been held since 1969, is part of Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) line-up of international forums in biological, chemical and physical sciences. GRC is a non-profit organization managed by and for the benefit of the scientific community. It is almost 80 years old.
The chemical oceanography conference in August 2009 will be held at Tilton School in Tilton, N.H.
Burdige, whose research focus is on biogeochemical processes in estuarine and marine sediments, is the author of the textbook, "Geochemistry of Marine Sediments," published in 2006 by Princeton University Press.
ODU Senior Speaks With Members of Congress in Support of NASA
Friday, June 20, 2008
Maria Liberto, a senior mechanical engineering major at Old Dominion University, went to Capitol Hill last month on behalf of Citizens for Space Exploration (CSE) to lobby for a space exploration program with a goal of investment in NASA set at 1 percent of the federal budget.
The Coalition for Space Exploration, in conjunction with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership's Aerospace Advisory Committee, sponsored Liberto for the May 19-22 trip.
"It is always an honor to be selected and to be a part of something you are so passionate about," Liberto said. "As students, we tell Congressman our testimonials how NASA has had an impact in our lives. I went to space camp when I was younger, and it absolutely changed my life. From there on, I knew I wanted to go into engineering and hopefully work with NASA one day. Basically, it is important to me to keep NASA going so there is a job market for students, like me, once we graduate."
More than 300 congressional office visits were made during the trip. CSE works with elected officials, corporate and individual contacts to ensure continued political and public support for our nation's space programs, particularly the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, and the new Constellation Program. CSE is comprised of a diverse group of small and large business representatives, students and teachers, and county/municipal officials and employees.
Liberto, who is from Joplin, Mo., joined 35 other undergraduate and graduate students from colleges and universities across the nation to inform elected officials of the importance they place on the space program and the electoral influence that they and their fellow students and faculty carry. In addition to mechanical engineering, their majors included astrophysics, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, math and physics. The program and its many initiatives relate directly to their future careers.
Heller Named New Head of Reidy Center
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Richard Heller, the renowned cancer researcher and pioneer in the use of electrogenetherapy who was recruited earlier this year to the Old Dominion University faculty, will become executive director of the university's Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics on July 25.
"An important strength of the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics is that it includes both engineers and biologists working side by side," said Heller. "This structure affords us a tremendous opportunity to develop approaches and instrumentation that would be effective in treating, preventing or diagnosing several types of diseases including cancer. The center will also play an important role in the training of the next generation of multidisciplinary scientists."
Heller will succeed the center's founder, Karl Schoenbach, eminent scholar and Batten Endowed Chair in Bioelectric Engineering, said Mohammad Karim, vice president for research. Schoenbach, who is recognized worldwide as one of the founders of the field of bioelectrics, will continue to be a researcher at the Reidy Center.
"Professor Schoenbach was literally the first to cultivate the field of bioelectrics from ground up by developing and anchoring analytical, theoretical and experimental aspects of cold plasma for use in many significant applications," said Karim. "Because of his leadership, the bioelectrics center brought together the brightest minds from universities across the globe and now serves as a model for similar institutes across the country and in China, Germany and Japan."
Karim announced in April that Richard Heller and his wife, Loree, both of whom do research in electrogenetherapy, would be joining the ODU faculty as researchers at the Reidy Center. Their expertise promises to advance the center's already groundbreaking research in cancer therapies that utilize ultrafast pulses of electricity.
Schoenbach welcomed his new colleague, and said he was looking forward to spending more time doing hands-on research.
"I am glad that I will have an opportunity to devote more time to spend on hands-on research in the lab, particularly on an exciting and newly developing project," he said. "I will, of course, continue to support my colleagues in our collective bioelectrics research."
The Hellers are moving from faculty positions at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. In addition to the Bioelectrics Center appointment, Richard Heller will assume a position as professor in the ODU College of Health Science's School of Medical Laboratory and Radiation Sciences.
"We are very fortunate to have Richard and Loree Heller joining us," Schoenbach said in April. "Their research will allow us to greatly expand our efforts to develop new electrotherapies for cancer treatment."
Karim has called the Hellers' recruitment a "major coup" for ODU. An article June 5 in the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times named Richard Heller as one of the notable scientists leaving Florida as a part of a so-called "brain drain."
The Hellers are known in the field of bioelectrics for their success with the delivery of molecules into live, target cells by means of electroporation. Pulses of electricity, in effect, open the membrane of live cells-tumor cells, for example-temporarily, allowing the delivery of molecules to the cells. The deliveries could be of genetic material or drugs, both of which can serve as pinpoint applications of therapies against cancer or other maladies. This procedure allows tumors to be targeted for treatment without the broad damage to healthy tissue caused by most chemotherapies today.
In gene therapy via electroporation, the deliveries might be of anti-tumor agents such as the so-called "suicide" genes, or of genes encoding toxins. Still other deliveries might be of immune modulators that reduce the immunity of cancer cells to the body's own defenses. The Hellers have reported significant tumor regression from their gene therapies.
Richa
ODU Partnered Alliance to Build Wind Turbine Testing Facility
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Lone Star Wind Alliance, a partnership between various energy companies and research universities that includes Old Dominion University, has reached and agreement to build a new wind turbine testing facility in Ingleside, Texas.
The Large Blade Research and Test Facility (LBR&TF), being built in cooperation with the Federal Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), will be dedicated to testing and developing larger, next-generation wind power turbines.
Once completed, the facility will have to ability to conduct the full-scale testing of 70-ft blades, which are designed to meet the growing need for megawatt-scale industrial turbines. According to the LSWA, the LBR&TF will be the largest, most advanced turbine research and test facility in the world.
For their part in the project, ODU's researchers are employing the university's wind tunnel capability to test whether or not the blades can meet requirements for life expectancy, performance, and cost.
Texas is currently produces more electricity from wind than any other state in the U.S., and already boasts some of the most advanced wind-power research facilities in the world.
The agreement between the LSWA and the NREL will provide the new facility technical and operational assistance, plus $2 million in testing equipment. LSWA has also received $5 million in funding to be put toward construction from the Texas State Legislature. The facility is expected to be completed in 2010.
Following completion, the LBR&TF will largely be operated and funded by private wind turbine and blade manufacturers, though the NREL will have access to the facility to conduct their own research.
Wall Street Journal Site Has More Fun With New Book by Weinstein and Adam
Thursday, June 19, 2008
For the second time in two weeks, The Numbers Guy column on The Wall Street Journal Web site is featuring the new book, "Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin," by Old Dominion University professors Lawrence Weinstein and John Adam. This time, the professors get more of a chance to share in the fun that bloggers are having with the think-on-your-feet numbers problems the book poses.
The posting at http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/ includes a color photo of the two authors (Weinstein left, Adam right) with spiked hair (because each has a hand on the Physics Department's van de Graaf generator). Adam said family and friends from as far away as his native country of England have been amused by the photo. Not only is his hair standing on end, he noted, but because of the way the picture is cropped he looks to be holding hands with Weinstein.
Weinstein and Adam are interviewed by The Numbers Guy author, Carl Bialik, about the book's usefulness to job applicants who are often asked to "guesstimate" answers to numbers-related problems. The authors praise the innovative ways bloggers are quickly calculating answers to questions such as, "What is the external surface area of a typical human."
Li Editorial on China Featured in Commentary Magazine
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Commentary Magazine, a monthly publication dedicated to political and intellectual dialogue, published a letter written by Shaomin Li, professor of international business and management at Old Dominion University. The letter was an editorial response to a previously published article by Gordon G. Chang, a commentator on issues regarding China and Taiwan.
The letter can be viewed online at: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/china-watch-11378?page=2
Li has written and edited nine books on political economy and management, and has published more than 30 academic articles. As a leading scholar in international business studies, his articles have appeared in the Journal of International Business Studies, Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Journal of Comparative Economics, and Journal of Mathematical Sociology, among others. His commentaries on China's development have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Li joined the department of management at ODU's College of Business and Public Administration in 2002. He teaches international business, a subject that not only integrates a wide range of social and administrative theories, but also requires extensive practical experience. His rich business background enables him to shed light on how international trade and investment are actually conducted. He served as a director at AT&T in charge of developing the East Asian market, founding CEO of an Internet firm in Hong Kong with two subsidiaries in China and adviser to a number of multinational firms.
Heller Named New Head of Reidy Center
Friday, June 13, 2008
Richard Heller, the renowned cancer researcher and pioneer in the use of electrogenetherapy who was recruited earlier this year to the Old Dominion University faculty, will become executive director of the university's Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics on July 25.
"An important strength of the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics is that it includes both engineers and biologists working side by side," said Heller. "This structure affords us a tremendous opportunity to develop approaches and instrumentation that would be effective in treating, preventing or diagnosing several types of diseases including cancer. The center will also play an important role in the training of the next generation of multidisciplinary scientists."
Heller will succeed the center's founder, Karl Schoenbach, eminent scholar and Batten Endowed Chair in Bioelectric Engineering, said Mohammad Karim, vice president for research. Schoenbach, who is recognized worldwide as one of the founders of the field of bioelectrics, will continue to be a researcher at the Reidy Center.
"Professor Schoenbach was literally the first to cultivate the field of bioelectrics from ground up by developing and anchoring analytical, theoretical and experimental aspects of cold plasma for use in many significant applications," said Karim. "Because of his leadership, the bioelectrics center brought together the brightest minds from universities across the globe and now serves as a model for similar institutes across the country and in China, Germany and Japan."
Karim announced in April that Richard Heller and his wife, Loree, both of whom do research in electrogenetherapy, would be joining the ODU faculty as researchers at the Reidy Center. Their expertise promises to advance the center's already groundbreaking research in cancer therapies that utilize ultrafast pulses of electricity.
Schoenbach welcomed his new colleague, and said he was looking forward to spending more time doing hands-on research.
"I am glad that I will have an opportunity to devote more time to spend on hands-on research in the lab, particularly on an exciting and newly developing project," he said. "I will, of course, continue to support my colleagues in our collective bioelectrics research."
The Hellers are moving from faculty positions at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. In addition to the Bioelectrics Center appointment, Richard Heller will assume a position as professor in the ODU College of Health Science's School of Medical Laboratory and Radiation Sciences.
"We are very fortunate to have Richard and Loree Heller joining us," Schoenbach said in April. "Their research will allow us to greatly expand our efforts to develop new electrotherapies for cancer treatment."
Karim has called the Hellers' recruitment a "major coup" for ODU. An article June 5 in the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times named Richard Heller as one of the notable scientists leaving Florida as a part of a so-called "brain drain."
The Hellers are known in the field of bioelectrics for their success with the delivery of molecules into live, target cells by means of electroporation. Pulses of electricity, in effect, open the membrane of live cells-tumor cells, for example-temporarily, allowing the delivery of molecules to the cells. The deliveries could be of genetic material or drugs, both of which can serve as pinpoint applications of therapies against cancer or other maladies. This procedure allows tumors to be targeted for treatment without the broad damage to healthy tissue caused by most chemotherapies today.
In gene therapy via electroporation, the deliveries might be of anti-tumor agents such as the so-called "suicide" genes, or of genes encoding toxins. Still other deliveries might be of immune modulators that reduce the immunity of cancer cells to the body's own defenses. The Hellers have reported significant tumor regression from their gene therapies.
Richa
ODU Professor Developing Dismal Swamp Documentary
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Imtiaz Habib, a professor of literature at Old Dominion University, is currently developing a documentary, tentatively titled "Dismal History," that examines the history of runaway slave populations living in the Great Dismal Swamp before the American Civil War.
"With this film, we interrogate popular knowledge and popular history," he said. "This is a subject that historians have largely ignored and dismissed."
The film focuses on unearthed archaeological evidence of runaway slaves residing in the Great Dismal Swamp, a marshy region that stretches between southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. According to Habib, archeological evidence suggests that various populations, including local Indian tribes, lived in and around the swamp as far back as the17th century.
Co-producing the film with Habib is Richard Green, a junior English major at ODU, who is handling most of the cinematography work for the film. He said that he got involved in the film in part because of his passion for filmmaking.
"I also have a strong conviction to uncover hidden histories of people who have been forced to exist on the fringes of mainstream society," he said. "The documentary encompasses both of these aspects."
"Dismal History," half of which was filmed on site in the swamp itself, features interviews with archeologists, researchers and historians such as Dan Sayers of the College of William and Mary, Cassandra Newby and Tommy Bogger of Norfolk State, Brent Morris of Cornell University.
Habib, who is making the film as a personal side project, said that he hopes to have the film out within the year. It will be screened at both Norfolk State and in Deep Creek.
"We're in the final stages now," he said. "We hope it will be good."
Surendra N. Tiwari Dies
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Surendra N. Tiwari, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Old Dominion University, died Tuesday, June 10 at his home.
A funeral service will be held at noon Thursday, June 12, at the Weymouth Funeral Home, located at 12746 Nettles Drive in Newport News.
Tiwari, who retired in May as eminent scholar of mechanical engineering, joined the Old Dominion faculty in 1971. During his career, he received both the Research Award and Tonelson Award, and supervised the research studies of 33 master's and 41 Ph.D. students.
He directed efforts to create the Institute for Computational and Applied Mechanics and established the Institute for Scientific and Educational Technology. Additionally, Tiwari represented ODU to the National University Space Research Association and was a co-director of the NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program.
A Fellow of the American Society of Mechnical Engineers and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Tiwari received more than $14 million for his research and scholarly activities. He contributed works to more than 400 technical publications, including 16 book chapters, 55 journal articles and 49 proceedings, and was awarded the AlAA Thermophysics national award.
Broderick Commentary in Chronicle of Higher Education
Monday, June 09, 2008
John R. Broderick, Old Dominion University's vice president of institutional advancement and admissions and chief of staff, has published an article titled "Here's the Lineup for the 'Dream Team'" in the June 6 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Broderick, who is a member of the university's Presidential Search Committee, describes in the article the ideal makeup of such a committee. He compares a successful search committee to an athletic team, saying that qualities valued in a wide variety of sports are necessary for the search process to run smoothly.
"The more I've thought about it, the more it seems to me that a solid search committee for an academic or administrative job resembles an athletic team on which various people play key positions in a coordinated role," he writes in the article.
Broderick is experienced in leading such efforts, having previously chaired search committees for ODU's vice president of research search and provost, and co-chaired the search for the school's head football coach.
"I must be doing something right (or wrong), since I keep getting that assignment," he writes in the article that can be viewed online at http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i39/39c00301.htm.
Broderick joined ODU in 1993 as director of public information and has served as a vice president since 1996. His areas of responsibility include admissions, athletics, community relations, governmental relations, licensing, marketing, media relations, military affairs, photography, publications, special events, student financial aid and the campus Visitor Center.
In addition, he serves as executive editor of both the alumni magazine and Quest, the faculty research magazine. Broderick recently chaired the committee to select ODU's provost, and he currently heads university-wide initiatives for branding, enrollment management and emergency communications.
Broderick was one of four finalists for the PR News' 2006-07 Professional of the Year award for an academic institution.
In addition to his administrative duties, he annually teaches the School, Community Relations and Politics course to graduate students in the Darden College of Education and has written articles for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Hartford Courant, Baltimore Sun, Sporting News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
New Book by ODU Professors Intrigues Bloggers at Wall Street Journal Site
Monday, June 09, 2008
If brisk blog traffic about "Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin" is a reliable indicator, the new book written by Old Dominion University professors Lawrence Weinstein and John Adam will be a success in the marketplace.
The Numbers Guy blog on The Wall Street Journal Web site devoted a few hundred words to the book and the authors on May 28, and posed a couple of the questions addressed in the book. Readers were invited to quickly estimate this: "If all the humans in the world were crammed together, how much area would we require?" Another question was: "What is the external surface area of a typical person?"
Bloggers offered up dozens of ways to devise estimates, and Weinstein, a nuclear physicist, and Adam, a mathematician, joined in the virtual discussion. The bloggers continued to send in "guesstimations" and comments for several days. (See http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/numbers-guy-quiz-guesstimation-345/.)
A few weeks earlier, a posting on the Marginal Revolution blog elicited a similar string of responses. Favorable reviews on Amazon.com, and in other local and national publications, also have stirred interest in the book.
A spokeswoman for Princeton University Press said sales between the April 21 release and the end of May were well over 5,000 copies. "This is an excellent start," she added.
In 12 chapters and more than 80 "guesstimation" examples, the book explains how to make useful ballpark estimates by breaking complex problems into more manageable ones. Policymakers dealing with complex numbers about pollutants in the atmosphere or businesspeople struggling with investment decisions can learn from the book to keep their thinking on plausible tracks. Numeric literacy is in high demand in today's numbers saturated world, so much so that more and more businesses are asking estimation questions in employment interviews to test applicants' abilities to think on their feet.
The Numbers Guy in The Wall Street Journal noted in his comments about the usefulness of the book, "Employers value an ability to quickly make estimates under pressure."
Business consultants have been quick to realize the book's potential usefulness as a problem-solving tutorial. In one endorsement, Martin Yate, the author of the "Knock 'Em Dead" job-search and career-management books, wrote: "Wow, I suddenly grasped concepts that have eluded me for a lifetime. If you work anywhere in the professional world and are aiming for the corner office, this little book could have significant impact on both your analytical abilities and the way you are perceived by others."
Butler Is an Author of U.N. Report with Blunt Warning About Coastal Mismanagement
Monday, June 09, 2008
Marine ecologist Mark Butler of Old Dominion University is one of the authors of a worldwide coastal management assessment that warns of a looming disaster if communities and countries do not cooperate to stop the degradation of marine environments. The report was released Wednesday, June 4, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The strongly worded assessment was prepared by experts affiliated with the International Network on Water, Environment and Health (INWEH) at the United Nations University.
"By 2050, 91 percent of the world's coastlines will have been impacted by development," according to the report. It contends that "much coastal development is poorly planned and all of it, as well as much inland development, impacts the coastal ocean."
Five trends are to blame, the experts say:
· Intensification of large-scale agriculture, driven by global agricultural production, including bio-fuels, contributes to over-nutrification and the creation of offshore "dead zones";
· Rising pollution and the influx of exotic species due to shipping and commerce;
· Ill-planned tourism in ecologically sensitive areas, that often causes irreversible damage;
· Development that destroys vital near-shore environments, alters patterns of water movement and disrupts ecosystem functioning; and
· Over-fishing, which, in combination with damage to the coastal nursery grounds of many fishery species, is already causing far-reaching consequences for economies and ecosystems.
Butler, who is professor of biological sciences at ODU, has done research in coastal waters worldwide. His current work includes studies of the effects of over-fishing and environmental changes-such as global warming-on blue crabs, Caribbean spiny lobsters and other marine species. He also is among a select group of researchers working on a World Bank Global Environmental Fund (GEF) project to help improve coral reef sustainability and management. The authors note in their acknowledgements that they came together as participants in the GEF coral reef project.
Most people fail to appreciate the economic and aesthetic value that a sustainably managed coastal environment provides, and also do not understand how complicated that management can be, according to the report. "What worked yesterday will not be adequate tomorrow," it says.
Recommendations are for better coordination between communities and countries in coastal zone management and for rigorously holding local and national governments accountable for their management failures. The authors say that a combination of scientific and traditional knowledge needs to be tapped in the preparation of coastal management plans.
Authors of the report include Peter Sale, assistant director, and Hanneke Van Lavieren, program officer, for the INWEH at the U.N. University in Hamilton, Canada. Others are Butler; Anthony J. Hooten of AJH Environmental Services in Bethesda, Md.; Jacob P. Kritzer, senior scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, Boston, Mass.; Ken Lindeman, Florida Institute of Technology; Yvonne Sadovy de Mitcheson, University of Hong Kong; and Bob Steneck, University of Maine.
"It is past time to implement truly integrated coastal zone management around the world," says INWEH Director Zafar Adeel. "Management must be scaled appropriately to ecology and political jurisdiction boundaries must be eliminated as borders for management actions."
Metzger Named Dean of Honors College
Monday, June 09, 2008
David Metzger, professor and chair of the Old Dominion University English department, has been appointed as new dean of the ODU Honors College.
He succeeds longtime dean Louis H. Henry, who retired at the end of the spring semester.
"I think this is a very exciting opportunity," said Metzger. "It's very exciting when you have the opportunity to help others do well."
Metzger, who joined the ODU faculty in 1993, has spent his entire career at the university in the English department. In addition to his teaching duties, he founded the Writing Tutorial Service, which currently serves roughly 2,000 students.
"Professor Metzger is an excellent choice for the dean of the Honors College at Old Dominion University," noted Provost Carol Simpson. "He brings a special combination of talents and abilities to the role. He is a brilliant and articulate teacher as well as a highly respected scholar. His special interest in interdisciplinary dialogue is particularly relevant to the mission of the college."
Metzger also has served as director of the Jewish Studies Program (2000-07), and he established the Graduate Writing Assistance Program. He has written articles for numerous publications during his ODU tenure, including contributions to the Journal of Advanced Composition, Popular Culture Review, and Literature and Psychology.
His teaching and research have focused on history of rhetoric (biblical, classical and modern), Bible as literature, Jewish studies, composition and pedagogy, psychoanalytic theory and medieval literature.
Metzger, who will step down as department chair on July 1, said that his duties as Honors College dean would not affect his teaching load, although he now will split his classes between the English department and the college. He said that he looks forward to meeting and working with the students and faculty of the college.
Henry was appointed director of ODU's Academic Honors Program in 1987 and had served as dean of the Honors College since its inception 10 years later. Under his tenure, the program grew from an enrollment of 70 students in 1987 to 650 for the 2007-08 school year.
He said that he enjoyed his time as dean, particularly the interaction with students. "I used to say that I had the best job on campus," he noted.
Henry believes that Metzger is a good choice for the Honors College. "He's very qualified," he said.
Simpson echoed Henry's sentiments, adding, "David's vision for the college matches well the mission of the university to enrich the lives of students, faculty, alumni and the community at large. I look forward to working with him to enhance the contributions of the Honors College, especially in the development of an undergraduate research culture at ODU. I am confident that David will be a superb dean of the Honors College."
The Honors College was established in 1997 as a means of furthering the university's commitment to academic excellence. The college offers qualified students the opportunity to enroll in a four-year honors program, which features the best of aspects of both a large-university education and a small-school experience.
High school students who apply for admission to the Honors College are evaluated by grade point average, SAT scores, class rank and a written personal statement.
Honors College students enjoy low-enrollment courses designed specifically for the college, which emphasize teaching and innovation. Students are free to select any major. Majors currently being pursued by Honors College students include English, economics, history, political science, accounting, finance, education, criminal justice, sociology, biology, nursing, music, sports medicine and physics.