Senior physics majors Julia D’Rozario and Nicholas Noviasky accompanied physics faculty members Carolina Ilie and Ildar Sabirianov this summer to University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where they used cutting-edge condensed matter laboratories. D’Rozario and Ilie (pictured, from left, with Noviasky) teamed with University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers Peter Dowben and Axel Enders working on interface-engineered materials for high-efficiency all-organic solar cells. Creating flexible and bendable solar cell arrays would be valuable for fast implementation or temporary renewable energy generation. An investigation of robust, large-area, low-cost and efficient organic solar cells shows the need to identify better solar cell materials and many different combinations of organic materials, Ilie said. Noviasky worked in Enders’ lab on voltage-controlled perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by exploring the samples in the MOKE (magneto-optical Kerr effect) system, which describes changes to light reflected from a magnetized surface. They shared their results at their hosts’ Summer Research Symposium in early August. “We’re so pleased and proud of what they have accomplished, and look forward to continuing the collaboration during the coming year,” said Jocelyn Bosley, education/outreach coordinator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (who provided the photo).
Barry Friedman of the marketing and management faculty co-authored, with partners from Turkey and Nigeria, “Universities as Stakeholders That Influence Students’ Intention to Visit a Place” in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, a Palgrave Macmillan UK journal. The article studied the potential role of universities to influence attitudes and behavior of visitors toward the place they are located, universities around Turkey. Friedman has made many university connections in Turkey, where he also earned a Fulbright to teach this summer. His co-authors from around Turkey were Nergiz Aziz and Habibe Ilhan of Suleyman Sah University and Nizameddin Bayyurt of Faith Unversity, plus Ibrahim Keles of Nigerian Turkish Nile University in Nigeria.
Chris Lalonde, director of general education and professor of English and creative writing, attend the Liberal Arts Illuminated Conference July 11-13 in Minnesota. Hosted by the College of St. Joseph and Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, the conference gathered 215 people from 54 colleges and universities, as well as 20 other organizations, around the theme “Liberal Arts Illuminated: Pathways, Possibilities, Partnerships.” Presidents of the host colleges said liberal arts colleges face “enormous and unprecedented challenges” and they must “innovate, embrace risk in new ways and define a future for our students and our institutions that positions the liberal arts as a critical element of our social, political and economic future.” Liberal arts thought leaders presented on topics that included “Public Policy and the Liberal Arts College,” “Transforming Students, Transforming Ourselves” and “New Business Models for Higher Education.”
Maria S. Murray, professor of curriculum and instruction, founded and serves on the board of The Reading League, an international organization that advances evidence-based strategies in reading instruction. Members include educators, researchers, administrators, parents and people with dyslexia, as well as language pathologists, counselors, medical doctors, attorneys and more. The league has created partnerships with schools to provide professional development and raise awareness and understanding of best practices in reading instruction—commonalities among strategies that have proven to work. The Reading League has members and affiliations with like-minded organizations across the country. It also fields a strong team of fundraisers and is working with numerous local literacy organizations in Oswego and Onondaga counties, Murray said. The league’s next free event—at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at Lyncourt School in Syracuse—will focus on “the nitty gritty of the components and features of minimally, moderately and highly effective reading instruction and reading interventions,” she said. The event provides professional development certificates to educators in attendance.
In June, chemistry faculty member Casey Raymond presented his group’s research, “Exploratory Hydrothermal Synthesis of Metal Homo- and Hetero-Polychalcogenide Compounds,” at the Gordon Research Conference on Inorganic Chemistry hosted in Biddeford, Maine. In August, Raymond presented the work of his and fellow chemistry faculty member Jeff Schneider‘s research groups on the analysis of sugars in brewing and food science at the 2016 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education hosted at the University of Northern Colorado.
Jeffrey Steinhoff, a junior risk management and insurance major, earned the New York Insurance Scholarship Foundation 2016-17 scholarship. “His commitment to both his academic studies and his pursuit of a career in insurance is impressive,” said Ellen Melchionni, president of NYISF. “He carries a commendable grade point average, is devoted to giving back to the community, including as a member of the Cortlandville Volunteer Fire Department, and is keenly interested in furthering the contributions of insurance to society.” The foundation recognized the Cortland native as a potential future leader with “a bright future” in the profession.
Hong Wan of the accounting, finance and law faculty was among the authors on “Drivers Behind the Monitoring Effectiveness of Global Institutional Investors: Evidence from Earnings Management” in the Journal of Corporate Finance last month. Wan’s co-authors were Incheol Kim of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Steve Miller of Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania and Bin Wang of Missouri Western State University. The paper studied drivers behind monitoring the effectiveness of institutional investors in international settings.