Faculty members Matthew Dykas of psychology and David Valentino of geological and atmospheric sciences published “Predicting Performance in an Advanced Undergraduate Geological Field Camp Experience” in the November issue of the Journal of Geoscience Education. The interdisciplinary study used questionnaires and outcomes in Oswego’s own hands-on learning experiences in the field to probe factors that contribute to student success. According to the abstract, “self-reported indices of motivation, academic self-concept and self-efficacy predicted those final grades” and “evidence emerged that two domain-specific factors—intellectual orientation and achievement orientation—were uniquely associated with students’ final field work grades.”

In October, biological sciences faculty member C. Eric Hellquist presented research at the 13th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming. He presented a paper, “Botanical Diversity Across Time: Using Herbarium Records to Document Aquatic Plant Communities in an Increasingly Arid Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” that was co-authored with his father, C. Barre Hellquist of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Heidi Anderson, park botanist of Yellowstone National Park.

On Oct. 25, senior biological sciences majors Nina House and Scott Minihkeim presented an overview of their research on Lake Ontario microplastics with Hellquist at the Oswego Rotary Club. Their work is quantifying microplastic intake by several fish species collected by Canadian and American fisheries biologists throughout the Lake Ontario basin. The project is a collaboration with Maureen Walsh and colleagues at the United States Geological Survey, Lake Ontario Biological Station in Oswego.

Neelika Jayawardane of the English and creative writing department has had a number of presentations and publications, including:
* “Say My Name,” a talk at TEDxJohannesburg, during the Johannesburg Art Fair;
* Introducing and moderating a panel on “Writing About Art From African Perspectives” at the Armory Show 2016;
* Hosting “Neelika Jayawardane in Conversation with performance artist Lerato Shadi: ‘The Beautiful Ones Will Not Be Erased’” July 8 at the Albany History Museum National Arts Festival in Grahamstown;
* A publication titled “Bad Educations: Kemang wa Lehulere & the Art of South African Protest” in Even Magazine’s fall edition, on the significant relationship between art and the recent student protests in South African universities; and 
* Publishing “Between Nostalgia and Future Longing: Aida Muluneh’s Ethiopia” in Transition 120, which is published by Harvard’s Hutchins Center.

A group of eight physics students attended three regional conferences in New York state on Nov. 11 and 12:
* Nicholas Noviasky won the Best Undergraduate Student Poster (First Prize) in a competition for undergraduate and graduate students at the 2016 Fall Meeting of the American Physical Society New York State Section, Nov. 11 and 12 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. His poster, “Voltage Controlled Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy,” detailed the work done this summer in Nebraska with Oswego physics faculty members Carolina Ilie and Ildar Sabirianov and Shi Cao, Xiaozhe Zhang, Andrei Sokolov and Peter Dowben, all of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Eugene Kirianov of Lincoln High School. Noviasky also presented the poster to Rochester Academy of Sciences. 
* Shelby Davis, Stephen Porter and Samuel Carwile went to Syracuse University Undergraduate Research Day, where Davis and Porter presented the poster “Thin Film Organic Solar Cells: Band Gap Energy Calculations and Ideality Factor.” Additional authors included Ilie and Oswego students Jerry Chamnichanh and Julia D’Rozario, as well as Zahra Admadi and Dowben of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
* Chamnichanh, pictured, an electrical and computer engineering major who contributed to the poster with calculations of ideality factor, presented the poster at the Rochester Academy of Sciences event that took place at Roberts Wesleyan College.
* Also at RAS, D’Rozario presented the poster “Enhancing Efficiency for All-Organic Solar Cells through Interface-Engineered Materials,” which had co-authors including Ilie and a number of international researchers including Ahmadi, Dowben and Jack Rodenburg of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lucie Rutaboul of the University of Strasbourg in France and Axel Enders of Bayreuth University, in Germany.
* Also, Ian Evans and Andres Inga presented their summer campus research, “Electric Transport of Organic Thin Film Semiconductors.” Additional authors included Oswego students Andres Inga, Ian Evans, Vincent DeBiase and Nicholas Jira, as well as Sabirianov and Ilie.

Earlier this month, Mary Rodgers, the college’s Marcia Belmar Willock Endowed Professor of Finance, and Graig Arcuri of the department of accounting, finance and law presented their Economic Forecast for 2017 to the Syracuse Chapter of the Risk Management Association (RMA) at the Genesee Grande Hotel in Syracuse. The RMA is a community bankers’ association. About 60 bankers attended the session and there are indications the invitation will be extended for future RMA meetings, Rodgers said. Delivered under the auspices of the college’s Gordon Lenz Center for Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, the appearance also served as a student networking opportunity and as an opportunity to collect resources to include in their business curricula, Rodgers noted.

Thanks to a National Science Foundation internship award for young innovators in the sciences, Logan Wells, a 2014 psychology alumnus and now a graduate student in human-computer interaction and a candidate to receive a certificate in health information technology, worked this summer in programming, testing and usability at Motion Intelligence, a Startup-NY company affiliated with Upstate Medical University that has developed a concussion-assessment system. Developers at the company, located at Upstate’s Institute for Human Performance, hope to facilitate the diagnosis and management of concussion injuries.

SUNY Press named Kevin J. White of the anthropology department as editor of its new series in Critical Haudenosaunee Studies. Long one of the most studied indigenous groups in Native North America, the Haudenosaunee have been the subject of intense scrutiny from the early 17th century to the present, SUNY Press noted, although the actual voices of Haudenosaunee community members and scholars often have not been represented or included. The new series seeks to promote both scholarship and community engagement through interdisciplinary and distinctly Haudenosaunee lenses and frameworks. The series aims to publish new scholarship from Haudenosaunee scholars, allied scholars and even contrarian voices to create a collection that will reach a wide range of audiences, from Haudenosaunee communities to academic and general readers.

To submit items for People in Action consideration, please email information to proffice@oswego.edu.