Alok Kumar, distinguished teaching professor of physics, had a new version of his book, "Ancient Hindu Science: Its Transmission and Impact on World Cultures," published by Jaico Books, Mumbai, India. The new publication is a lower-priced edition of a book of the same title originally published in March 2019 (pictured) by U.S. publishers Morgan and Claypool. The publication seeks to condense Kumar’s exhaustive and long-running research by focusing on the important impacts and contributions -- such as innovations in cataract and cosmetic surgeries -- ancient Hindu scientists contributed to Western medicine, science and mathematics.
Human development faculty member Rebecca Burch published “More than just a pretty face: The overlooked contributions of women in evolutionary psychology books” in the journal Evolutionary Behavorial Sciences. The article argues that the majority of evolutionary psychology textbooks tend to discuss female attractiveness in detail, omit female intelligence and resourcefulness, overemphasize the role of men in feeding families and neglect older women. Burch also explores the female skills and strategies that play a large role in the survival of the species, and should be discussed in introductory textbooks.
Biology majors Sara Fuller, Gigi Niu, Ali Khan and Michelle Urman presented the research they conducted with biological sciences faculty member Yulia Artemenko at the American Society for Cell Biology and European Molecular Biology Organization Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.,in December. The students' poster presentation topics ranged from understanding the interplay between known regulators of cell adhesion to the substrate (Niu) and finding novel players in regulation of adhesion (Khan) to figuring out how changes in cell adhesion affect the ability of cells to respond to mechanical stimuli (Fuller and Urman).
Lawrence Spizman, professor emeritus of economics, and John Kane, professor of economics, presented a paper titled “The Impact of Race on a Child’s Educational Attainment and Life-Time Earnings” at the Allied Social Science Annual Meeting, Jan. 4 in San Diego. Recent federal and state legislation has addressed the topic of economic damages in personal injury or wrongful death litigation being reduced by race or gender discrimination. This paper examines the impact of such legislation on damage awards to a minor child. This is accomplished by comparing the results of the updated ordered probit model which includes race, to the ordered probit without race. The paper demonstrates that recent legislation requiring race neutral data may have unintended consequences that will harm the very groups that the legislation is intended to help.
Ampalavanar Nanthakumar, professor of mathematics, had the article "A Comparison of Archimedean Copula Models for approximating bivariate Skew-Normal Distribution" accepted for January 2020 publication in International Journal of Statistics and Probability.
Tyrone Johnson-Neuland had his work, “Africa Mixed Media” and “Piano Rhapsody Mix,” selected into the second annual national juried exhibition titled “Mixed Media,” at the Arts Center Gallery at Nazareth College. The call received over 180 submitted works in a vast array of styles and mediums, with only 52 works by 31 artists selected to exhibit. The exhibition opens on Friday, Jan. 24, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition concludes on Sunday, March 1.
Shashi Kanbur gave a seminar titled “Recent Advances in Stellar Pulsation Theory” at the Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) on Jan. 15. IUCAA is one of the leading astrophysics research centers in the world. Kanbur’s visit to IUCAA was planned for Jan 2 to 20 as part of his Indo-US Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum grant.
Damian Schofield delivered the opening keynote address at the OzCHI (Australian conference on computer human interaction), in Perth, Western Australia. The keynote, titled "Who am I? How visual media affects our sense of self," introduced research undertaken by Schofield over the past 20 years that has experimented with, and examined a range of, visually based presentation technology -- particularly in courtroom and educational environments.
Jaclyn Schildkraut of the criminal justice faculty had the first study from her work with The Syracuse City School District, titled “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight: Assessing Students’ Perceptions of Emergency Preparedness across Multiple Lockdown Drills,” published in the Journal of School Violence. “This is the culmination of a year's worth of work really working to understand the nuances of lockdown drills and the impact they have on members of the school community,” Schildkraut noted. “It is also the first study of its kind in 12 years and only the second one published that looks at how students are impacted by drills.”
Jason Zenor of the communication studies faculty presented two papers at the National Communication Association Conference. 1) Zenor and Brian Moritz, also of the communication studies faculty, co-authored a paper titled "Damaged Goods? How Fans Tackle Knocks on the NFL and Fantasy Football," which they presented to the Communication and Sport Division. Zenor also presented a paper, "From Blurred Lines to Slants: Applying Free Speech Theory to IP Law," to the Freedom of Expression Division. The paper won the Robert M. O'Neill Award for top paper in the division. The paper also will be a chapter in a forthcoming book on free speech theory by Helen Knowles of the political science faculty.