In the Spotlight: March 19, 2021

Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs

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  • Associate professor of English Ira Allen published the article, “Rhetorical Witnessing and Unconcluded War: For Becoming-in-Loss” published in the Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric. The article traces lessons for the United States from graffiti art in post-Civil War Lebanon.
  • Associate professor of anthropology Lisa Hardy and chair of anthropology Kerry Thompson co-were co-authors the article, “Fixing indoor air pollution problems that are raising Native Americans’ COVID-19 risk” in The Conversation. The article investigates the problems of indoor air pollution in Native communities, how pollution contributes to COVID-19 risk and what is being done to reduce these risks.
  • Temuulen Sankey, associate professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS), co-authored the article, “Quantifying plant-soil-nutrient dynamics in rangelands: Fusion of UAV hyperspectral-LiDAR, UAV multispectral-photogrammetry, and ground-based LiDAR-digital photography in a shrub-encroached desert grassland” in Remote Sensing of the Environment. The study investigates fine-scale dynamics of soil nutrient and plant species changes in rangelands using unmanned aerial vehicles.
  • Associate professor of SICCS Marco Gerosa and assistant professor of SICCS Igor Steinmacher co-authored the article, “Will You Come Back to Contribute? Investigating the Inactivity of OSS Core Developers in GitHub” published in Software Engineering. The study proposes a method to identify developers’ inactive periods by analyzing the individual rhythm of contributions to the projects.
  • Postdoctoral scholar Bijan Seyednasrollah co-authored the article, “Natural and anthropogenic forcings lead to contrasting vegetation response in long-term vs. short-term timeframes” published in the Journal of Environmental Management. The study developed a novel integrated framework to separate the impacts of natural and anthropogenic forcings on vegetation cover.
  • Bettie Coplan, assistant professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, was the lead author on the article, “Holistic Admissions and Underrepresented Minorities in Physician Assistant Programs,” published in The Journal of Physician Assistant Education. The study assessed the holistic review used in physician assistant programs and asked whether there is a relationship between holistic review and underrepresented minority matriculation.
  • Frederick DeMicco, executive director of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, was featured in the article, “Meet the Next Generation of Spa Professionals” published in Pulse ISPA Magazine. The article discusses Generation Z and its interest in the spa industry and highlights NAU’s new course in spa and well-being management.
  • Associate professor of communication Madrone Shutten published the chapter, “Tahlequah’s Internatural Activism: Situating the Body and the Intimacy of Grief as Evidence of Human-Caused Climate Change” in the book Communicating in the Anthropocene: Intimate Relations. The chapter presents the story of Tahlequah, a mother orca from the endangered Southern Resident pod in the Pacific Northwest, called on the world to witness her grieving process as she carried her deceased baby for 1,000 miles. Shutten argues that Tahlequah’s intimate grief functioned as a form of public protest wherein she situated the body of her calf as evidence of human-caused climate consequences.
  • Associate clinical professor of occupational therapy Amy Armstrong-Heimsoth received an American Occupational Therapy Foundation Intervention Research Grant for the project, “Easing the Transition: Occupational Therapy Life Skills Curriculum for Former Foster System Youth.” Together, Armstrong-Heimsoth, serving as principal investigator, and assistant professor of occupational therapy Heather Williamson will complete the research.
  • The Translational Genomics Research Institute published the article, “Predicting the current and future distribution of the western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus, across the Western US using citizen science collections” in PLOS ONE. The study is based on an analysis suggesting that ecosystems suitable for harboring ticks that carry Lyme disease could be more widespread than previously thought in California, Oregon and Washington. It builds on initial research led by late scientist Nate Nieto. Nieto worked extensively on tick-borne illnesses and was featured on both NBC Nightly News and NPR for his lab’s groundbreaking research.
  • Professor Michelle Miller of the Department of Psychological Sciences, recently published the article A Year of Remote Teaching: The Good, the Bad, and the Next Steps in the Chronicle of Higher Education.  The article focuses on how best to make use of the massive new capacity to teach with technology following the pandemic. Miller explores the pleasant surprises and the challenges of teaching with technology, and offers suggestions on the best practices to keep in place as educational institutions transition to the post-pandemic environment.