November 2006 Volume 3, Issue 3

IN BRIEF

CAMPUS NEWS

The College of New Jersey’s physics department has been ranked 20th out of 550 departments from competing institutions, based on the number of bachelor's degrees in physics awarded over the three year period of 2002-2004. This statistic was provided by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Research Center in their Enrollments and Degrees Report. As the only New Jersey school in the top 20, the College stands with several prestigious institutions known for their stellar programs in physics, such as the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy.

FACULTY AND STAFF

Municipal Land Use Center Director Martin Bierbaum has been selected by the New Jersey American Planning Association (NJAPA) as the recipient of the Distinguished Leadership in Planning Award. Bierbaum was nominated by Senior Project Manager David Maski of Schoor DePalma, a leading engineering and consulting firm that operates in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, and Arizona. Maski submitted his nomination to the NJAPA Awards Committee, and Bierbaum was selected from a pool of numerous candidates.  

Carol Cruickshanks, adjunct professor of more than 15 years from the art history department, has written an article  that was published in American Art Review (October - November 2006 issue). The article describes how Colorado modern artists differ from the more well-known New York modernists that flourished between 1930 and 1950.

Beth Paul, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, and associate professor of psychology, received an honorable mention for the Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service and Academic Outreach. The award was created by the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE) at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and is given to recognize faculty members who connect their expertise and scholarship to community outreach.

Moussa Sow, assistant professor of African-American studies and modern language, has written an article that will be published in the forthcoming edition of The Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. “Women, Gender and Women's Fiction Writers: Sub-Saharan Africa” is a statement on the ambiguous middle ground that exists between culture and imagination.  It also discusses the parochialisms of the West.

A paper written by Qifu Zheng of the mathematics and statistics department has been published in the prestigious journal, Advances in Applied Mathematics. The title of the paper is “The Determinant of a Hypergeometric Period Matrix and a Generalization of Selberg's Integral.” The paper is coauthored with Donald Richards, professor of statistics from Penn State University. 

STUDENTS

Communication studies majors Kendall Anderson '06 and senior Pamela Braddock '07 just published an article in the October issue of Simply Speaking, the newsletter of the national honor society for communication students, Lambda Pi Eta.  Anderson and Braddock are currently national president and vice president of LPE, respectively.

Senior art-elementary education major Shannon McGuff was recently awarded a Doris White Scholarship from the New Jersey Science Teachers Association (NJSTA). The award is given to two students at New Jersey colleges, and is based on the quality of a lesson plan the applicant creates that incorporates an inquiry-based, hands-on science activity, as well as the student’s curriculum vitae, academic transcript, and a letter of recommendation from an education professor. 

A film produced by five students from the College has garnered national attention. ¡Sí, Se Puede!, which was originally produced for class taught by Communications Professor and Chair Susan Ryan, highlights the lives of two undocumented immigrants currently working in central New Jersey. The production team includes producer Brittany Hammer, director Brian Liloia, and cameraman Rob Mirabella as well as interviewers/translators Jocelyn Sierra and Kelsey Urena. The documentary was screened at the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival in Newburyport, MA, and was also selected for the highly competitive DVD publication, Journal of Short Film.

Biology majors Michael Rossetti, a senior, and Brian Sposato, a junior, presented a poster at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience held October 14-18 in Atlanta. Their presentation, “Serotonin and the Development of Breathing Behavior: Lessons from the Pet-1 Knockout Mouse,” describes the findings of research they did at the College under Jeff Erickson, assistant professor of biology. Participation in this conference is noteworthy since it is the annual meeting of an international scope that brings together approximately 25,000 researchers in the field of neuroscience from all around the world. It is the largest and most influential gathering of neuroscientists with over 14,000 presentations.

On Sunday, October 29, two teams from The College of New Jersey competed in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Greater New York Regional Collegiate Programming Contest Region at Nassau Community College in Garden City, NY. Out of the 58 competing teams from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the College’s teams placed ninth and 37th, respectively, beating out teams from prestigious schools such as Columbia, Princeton, and Yale. On Team 1 were junior Tom Wilson, junior Jake Voytko and sophomore Steve Lombardi. On Team 2 were freshman Autumn Breese, sophomore Karen DelDuca and sophomore Christopher Neylan. Both teams were coached by Andrea Salgien, assistant professor of computer science.