In the Spotlight: Sept. 20-24

Kudos to these faculty, staff, students and programs

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  • The School of Hotel and Restaurant Management offered a new course on leadership and ethics led by three former Disney executives. The Cockerell Leadership Academy for Student Scholars (CLASS) offered students an opportunity to obtain a new leadership certificate.
  • NAU’s team from the Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering, was awarded second place in the PCI Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Big Beam Competition. Students Elena Mae Reyes, Jacquolyn Crowley, Natalie Noroian and Nicole Neilson, along with faculty adviser Robin Tuchscherer, designed, built and tested a 20-foot precast and prestressed concrete beam.
  • Fred DeMicco, professor and executive director of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, and Jackie Guzman, student in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, authored an article published in Hospitalitynet titled “Innovations for the Future of Senior Living: Hospitality Bridging Health (H2H).”
  • Golfer Kimberlee Tottori won the season’s first Big Sky Women’s Golfer of the Week award after capturing her first career individual tournament Tottori won the Hobble Creek Fall Classic with a three-round score of even-par 213 (72-71-70).
  • Jersus Colmenares, lecturer in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures, was awarded the ACTFL Research Priorities Grant. This grant covers the funds toward constructing his research study “Spanish teachers’ knowledge and use of corpus data and tools for materials development: A national survey.”
  • Flower Darby, faculty in the Department of Educational Leadership, was a featured expert panelist at the ACUE Getting Better Prepared for Online and Hybrid Learning webinar. The webinar focused on how to “future-proof” college campuses by ensuring every instructor is prepared to teach effectively online.
  • Chad Trujilo, associate professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, has had his work featured in a recent National Geographic article “Planet 9 may be closer and easier to find than thought—if it exists.”
  • Colin Chandler, Ph.D. student in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, was featured in a Newsweek article titled, “Astronomers Want Volunteers to Help Spot Water-Rich ‘Active’ Asteroids.” Chandler was also on Flagstaff’s KAFF 92.9 radio show for an interview related to his citizen science project.
  • Becks Carmack, Ph.D. student in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, ran a Pop-up Science table at the Flagstaff Wednesday Market. Carmack demonstrated science experiments for both children and adults in the Flagstaff community.
  • Anne Hamlin, research associate with the Center for Science Teacher and Learning (CSTL), collaborated on initiatives with nearby Native American Communities to fund robotics education programs. The Braitmayer Foundation granted $35,000 to the CSTL to work with local schools to co-design robotics curriculum using culturally sustaining pedagogy that also aligns with the Arizona Math and Science Standards.
  • Monica Brown, professor in the Department of English, was interviewed by Texas Public Radio’s Fronteras Program. The interview highlighted her book “Small Room, Big Dreams: The Journey of Julián and Joaquin Castro,” all about former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, his brother Joaquin, a Texas State Representative, and their humble upbringing.
NAU Communications