In the Spotlight: Feb. 26, 2021

Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs

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  • Northern Arizona University was ranked No. 10 by Study.com on its list of Best Online Bachelor’s Degrees in Public Administration. A public administration degree allows students to work in the federal government and teaches them how to identify and address problems, implement public policy and communicate effectively with others.
  • NAU also was ranked No. 2 by EDsmart on its list of 14 Best Online Psychology Degree Programs. A degree in psychology allows students to cultivate a deeper understanding of human behavior that can be used in a wide range of careers.
  • Frederick DeMicco, executive director of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, and MBA candidate Isaiah Morrow co-authored the article, “Hotel Lodging or a Cruise Ship Residence versus an Assisted Living Community: A Cost and Lifestyle Comparison” on Hospitality Net. The article explores living in a hotel or on a cruise ship instead of an assisted living facility.
  • From the School of Forestry and Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, assistant research professor Faith Walker, undergraduate researcher Jordyn Upton and genetics research specialist Colin Sobek co-authored the article, “Genetic monitoring of southern hairy-nosed wombats over two decades reveals that individuals can live for at least 18 years in the same warrens” published in the Journal of the Australian Mammal Society. The study molecularly tracked southern hair-nosed wombats for more than two decades.
  • Melissa Ann Liebert, assistant professor of anthropology, co-authored the article, “Childhood Daily Energy Expenditure Does Not Decrease with Market Integration and Is Not Related to Adiposity in Amazonia” published in The Journal of Nutrition. The article was also featured in a news release with EurekAlert!. Liebert also co-authored the article, “Pathogen disgust sensitivity protects against infection in a high pathogen environment” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the work was featured in an article with Science. Lastly, the article, “Constraint and trade-offs regulate energy expenditure during childhood” published in Science Advances was highlighted in an interview with KJZZ radio station.
  • Björn Krondorfer, director of the Martin-Springer Institute and endowed professor of religious studies, published the chapter, “Daring to Empathize” in the book History, Trauma and Shame: Engaging the Past through Second Generation Dialogue edited by Pumla Gobodo Madikizela. The book takes on an autobiographical narrative perspective in each chapter and examines the sustained dialogue about the past between children of Holocaust survivors and descendants of families whose parents were directly or indirectly involved in Nazi crimes.
  • Miguel José Yacamán, professor in the Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science (APMS), co-authored the article, “Nano-structured hydroxyapatite and titanium dioxide enriching PENTA /UDMA adhesive as aesthetic coating for tooth enamel” published in Dental Materials. The study investigated the effect of the nanostructured hydroxyapatite and titanium dioxide nanoparticles on dispersion in an adhesive containing PENTA and UDMA monomers and evaluated structural, optical and mechanical behavior of the material for dental aesthetic application.
  • Ryan Behunin, assistant professor of APMS with the Center for Materials Interfaces in Research and Applications co-authored the article, “Optically synchronized fiber links with spectrally pure integrated lasers” published in Optics. The results of the study highlighted the promise for a path to spectrally pure, ultra-stable integrated lasers for network synchronization and several other applications. Behunin also co-authored the article, “422 Million intrinsic quality factor planar integrated all-waveguide resonator with sub-MHz linewidth” published in Nature Communications. The study investigates high quality-factor (Q) optical resonators and their integration in a photonic waveguide platform with the goal of enhancing waveguide resonator technology.
  • Assistant professor of SICCS Morgan Vigil-Hayes was awarded an NSF grant for the project titled, “Digital Backpack: Enabling Offline Web-based Content Access to Promote Student Academic Resiliency in Acute and Chronic Disaster Situations.” Vigil-Hayes also co-authored two forthcoming articles. “Too Late for Playback: Estimation of Video Stream Quality in Rural and Urban Contexts” will appear in the Proceedings of Passive and Active Measurement Conference 2021 and investigates how quality of service can be used to infer quality of experience in LTE networks. “Tribal Mobility and COVID-19: An Urban-Rural Analysis in New Mexico” will appear in the Proceedings of HotMobile 2021 and examines COVID-19 case growth in proximity to significant tribal presence by providing a novel quantification of human mobility patterns across tribal boundaries and between urban and rural regions.
  • Assistant professor of SICCS Igor Steinmacher will present, “What Makes a Great Maintainer of Open Source Projects?” at the 43rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering. The conference allows researchers, practitioners and educators on software engineering to come together to discuss, present and debate recent research results, innovations, trends and concerns in the field.
  • David Willy, senior lecturer of mechanical engineering and faculty adviser to the NAU Energy Club, received a $20,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for a Collegiate Wind Competition The competition is considered the country’s most prominent undergraduate-level wind energy competition where students design, develop, build and test a model turbine.
  • Instructional designer Samantha Clifford published the article, “Reflecting on Effective Teaching Strategies: Faculty Share Their Successes” in The Teaching Professor. The article shares engagement strategies for remote teaching from several faculty members. Contributing ideas were from:
    • Edwin Anderson, Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science
    • Holly Aungst, Department of Health Sciences
    • Rachel Neville, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
    • Lawrence Lenhart, Department of English
    • Paul Helford, Department of Communication
    • Robin Tuchscherer, Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering (CECMEE)
    • Curtis Smith, boundaryless@NAU
    • Lisa Tichavsky, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
    • Melissa Suzanne Schonauer, Honors College
    • John Tingerthal, CECMEE