In the Spotlight: March 12, 2021

Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs

Do you have a spotlight item to share with the NAU community?

E-mail your announcements to Inside@nau.edu, or use our online submission form.

  • Natalie Randolph, assistant clinical professor of social work, was honored as the Transformational Educator of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). NASW is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world and works to enhance the professional growth and development of members to advance social policies.
  • Professor of English Okim Kang received the Barbara Dobson Latin America Research Grant from Michigan Language Assessment. The grant is linked to an ongoing NAU-Sonora project (Alianza Inter-Universitaria Sonora-Arizona, Fondo de Apoyo para el Fomento de la Investigación sobre la Región Sonora-Arizona) and supports researchers in areas of the world where language assessment research is still developing.
  • Professor of anthropology Kelley Hays-Gilpin curated an exhibition titled, “Journey to Balance: Migration and Healing in three Hopi murals” for the Museum of Northern Arizona. The featured images tell stories of the human journey through chaos to wholeness, carrying meaning across decades.
  • Colorful atmosphere around MarsOne of the first images was taken by the infrared spectrometer on the Hope orbiter co-designed by Christopher Edwards, assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science. The photo is the first global snapshot of the Mars atmosphere produced since the 1970’s Viking mission.
  • Michelle Miller, professor of psychology, was named the series co-editor for the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series from West Virginia University Press, which publishes books and scholarly journals in a number of areas including social sciences and higher education. Currently, she is completing a book for the series titled, “Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: What the Science of Memory Tells Us About Teaching and Learning in a Wired World.”
  • Jaewook Lee, assistant professor of art, had an installation titled, “Empathic Audition” featured in a recent issue of Orenda Art Works. The issue features work from 20 artists responding to the concept of home and transhumance. Lee also is participating in a group show titled “Spring Walk” at SHINSEGAE Gallery Centum City in Busan, South Korea.
  • Cynthia Conn, associate dean of Professional Education Programs (PEP) and associate professor in the College of Education (COE); Kathy Bohan, associate professor of educational psychology; Nicole Bies-Hernandez, senior data and reporting analyst of PEP; Pamela Powell, associate dean of COE and associate professor of teaching and learning; Jennifer Luzader, graduate of COE; and Carrie Scholz and Daniel Frederking from the American Institute for Research (AIR) developed a resource guide titled, “Teaching and Assessing Data Literacy: Resource Guide for Supporting Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers” with support from AIR and CEEDAR Center. The guide identifies data literacy instructional resources for teacher preparation programs and will be featured in a national webinar series at 11 a.m. on March 25.
  • Professor of comparative cultural studies Alexandra Carpino served as the discussant for the panel, “Etruscan Mirrors: Contexts and Iconography” at the International Virtual Mirror Studies Conference 2021. She also presented the Anita Krause Bader Lecture in Mediterranean Archaeology on the topic, “Mamma Mia! Motherhood Myths on Engraved Bronze Mirrors from Etruria” to the Baltimore Society of Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) as part of a national lecture program. The presentation focused on how visual constructions of motherhood and mothering in elite Etruscan society intersected with their social and cultural values about womanhood more generally.
  • Michael Smith, head coach and director of track and field and cross country, was named the Big Sky Conference Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the 2021 season. This is the second time in a row Smith has won the award after also being nominated in 2017 and 2019.
  • Andrew Richardson, regents’ professor of the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS), received a grant award from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for his proposal, “Workshop on Integration of Surface Flux and Atmospheric Boundary Layer Measurements.” The grant is worth a little over $45,000 and the project goes until the end of December.
  • SICCS associate professor Temuulen Sankey was the first author on the article, “Regional‐scale forest restoration effects on ecosystem resiliency to drought: a synthesis of vegetation and moisture trends on Google Earth Engine” published in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation. The study is a synthesis of pre- and post-treatment forest vegetation and ecosystem moisture trends between 1990 and 2017 in Arizona. Sankey, along with Nathaniel Bransky, lead author and former master’s student, co-authored the article, “Monitoring Tamarix Changes Using WorldView-2 Satellite Imagery in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona” published in Remote Sensing. The study uses multispectral images from May and August of 2019 to map healthy tamarisk shrub, canopy dieback and defoliated tamarisk over a 48 km segment of the Colorado River.
  • Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering Constantin Ciocanel, co-authored the article, “Fracture toughness evaluation of Ni2MnGa magnetic shape memory alloys by Vickers micro indentation” published in Engineering Fracture Mechanics. The study is focused on the evaluation of fracture toughness of Ni2MnGa magnetic shape memory alloys and the effect of the microstructure evolution during magneto-mechanical loading conditions on this material property.
  • Christopher Hakkenburg, postdoctoral research associate in SICCS, and professor of SICCS Scott Goetz published the abstract, “Scale Dependence in the Relationship between Forest Structural Diversity and Vascular Plant Diversity across Ecoclimatic Gradients” in AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2020. AGU is an organization that supports and inspires a global community of individuals and organizations interested in advancing discovery in Earth and space sciences and its benefit for humanity and the environment.
  • Amin Mohebbi, assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering, was the lead author on the article, “Development of Rainfall Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves Based on Dynamically Downscaled Climate Data: Arizona Case Study” published in the Journal of Hydrologic Engineering. The study used a weather research and forecasting model to produce precipitation data for Arizona from 1950 to 2017 and simulated a total of 20 weather forecasting scenarios.
  • Assistant professor of anthropology Melissa Liebert had work from her article, “Childhood Daily Energy Expenditure Does Not Decrease with Market Integration and Is Not Related to Adiposity in Amazonia” featured in The New York Times article titled, “Exercise vs. Diet? What Children of the Amazon Can Teach Us About Weight Gain.” Her work focuses on investigating childhood obesity.
  • Assistant professor of health sciences Olivia Lindly and Chelsey Tarazi, doctoral student of psychology, co-authored the article, “Toward Equitable Health Outcomes for Diverse Children With ADHD and Their Families” published in Academic Pediatrics. The study considers ADHD financial impact and access to care in light of studies published since a previously published 2019 study.
  • Björn Krondorfer, director of the Martin-Springer Institute and endowed professor of religious studies, published “Hunger: Testing Testimonial Limits in the Gray Zone” in Humanities. The article delves into the testimonial remnants of two men in the gray zone of complicity.