For the Record provides information about recent professional activities of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent awards, performances and presentations include the following:

Awards

Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food, by Roger Horowitz, has been named an Outstanding Academic Book for 2016 by the American Library Association journal Choice. This highly selective honor recognized 10 percent of the 7,000 books the journal reviewed last year. Kosher USA also has received the Jewish Book Council’s National Jewish Book Award in the category of American Jewish Studies. Horowitz is an adjunct UD faculty member who teaches courses in history and in Jewish studies. He is director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library.

The national champion Blue Hens field hockey team was selected the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association 2016 team of the year. “On behalf of the University of Delaware field hockey program, I would like to thank the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association for voting us Delaware’s 2016 team of the year,” head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said. “It is an honor for our team and university to receive this recognition. I know there are other deserving youth squads as well as college, club and professional teams that could have been voted the team of the year, so to receive this honor makes it even more special.” For complete coverage, see the BlueHens.com article.

Zvi Schwartz, professor and associate chair of the Department of Hospitality Business Management, has been selected as the recipient of UD’s Michael D. Olsen Research Achievement Award, which honors the late Michael Olsen of Virginia Tech for his contribution to the body of hospitality knowledge and for his mentoring of graduate students. The annual award recognizes someone who has made a significant contribution through sustained and focused research leading to important contributions to the body of knowledge in hospitality and tourism. "I am humbled and honored to receive the Olsen Research Award, and thank the former recipients of this distinguished accolade for their vote of support,” Schwartz said. “Professor Olsen had an immense contribution to our discipline, and a generation of doctoral students who carry on his legacy, making an incredible scholarly impact on our discipline as well. I am sincerely grateful for this recognition.”

Performances

Five members of the Department of Music faculty were invited to perform at the International Saxophone Symposium held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, on Jan. 7. Todd Groves, saxophone, Eileen Grycky, flute, Jeffrey O'Donnell, oboe, Christopher Nichols, clarinet, and Lynn Moncilovich presented a concert of music written for this unusual combination of instruments. The works on the program were written by Groves and UD music alumnus Joshua Green.

Presentations

Researchers from the University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration (IPA) presented research outcomes at the 96th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) held Jan. 9-10 in Washington, D.C.

Intermodal facilities presentation

IPA policy scientists Marcia Scott and Christopher Kelly, who received a master of public administration (MPA) degree in 2014, presented at a session on “Data and Technology for Rural and Intercity Decision Making.” The presentation highlighted findings of a paper selected for inclusion in the TRB’s compendium of papers titled “Research of Viable Attributes and Potential to Integrate Curbside Intercity Buses in Intermodal Transportation Facilities.” The paper was co-authored by Scott, Kelly, Eileen Collins, who received an MPA in 2013, IPA Director Jerome R. Lewis, and Ardeshir Faghri, professor, and Mingxi Li, research associate, both of UD’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It may be downloaded from UD Space.

The research paper provides a synopsis of a more in-depth report, co-authored by Scott, Kelly and Collins and published in November 2013 on “Intermodal Transportation Facilities: Research of Viable Attributes and Potential to Integrate Curbside Intercity Buses.” The research highlighted benefits of successful intermodal transportation facilities that support and enhance transit usage, promote seamless transfers among modes, provide clear access to transportation networks, maximize transportation options, and create efficiencies of shared costs and transportation infrastructure. In addition to transportation benefits, the report explored the potential for intermodal facilities to serve as centers of revitalization and hubs of economic, commercial, and mixed-used development activity.

While barriers to intermodalism exist, report findings suggest that development and investment in intermodal transportation facilities — which serve as a hub for all modes of transportation, including curbside intercity buses — will promote a more integrated and sustainable transportation system.

Public involvement poster presentation

Scott and public administration fellow Savannah Edwards, an MPA student, presented a poster at a session on “Current Issues in Transportation Public Involvement Public Involvement.” The poster was among the 25 selected for presentation by the TRB Committee on Public Involvement. Titled “GIS Story Maps Empower and Engage Stakeholders in Planning for Complete Communities in Delaware,” the poster was designed by IPA policy specialist Sarah Pragg. It summarizes research, funded by the Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability University Transportation Center (MATS UTC), that explores the use of GIS Story Maps to satisfy mandates for increased transparency, accountability and public engagement in planning for transportation-efficient and sustainable places. IPA developed a series of GIS Story Maps to illustrate Delaware's complete communities planning framework that is designed to build capacity of local governments to create “attractive, inclusive, efficient, healthy and resilient places.” Each conveys one of the five elements of a complete community. IPA's GIS Story Map Gallery can be viewed online.

The annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board is a showcase for innovative thought-leadership and research in the transportation industry. Attended by over 12,000 world-wide transportation professionals, the meeting features more than 5,000 presentations in nearly 800 sessions on a range of transportation-related topics. It provides a forum for the exchange of ideas between practitioners, researchers, and policy-makers, and advances sound transportation industry practices and future research and future practice.

Of the nearly 5,800 papers submitted, approximately half are presented at the annual meeting, and about 20 percent are published in the Journal of the Transportation Research Board. UD researchers have actively conducted research and contributed to the body of knowledge around transportation issues, which is helping to inform policy, engineering best practices, and infrastructure investment decision.

To submit information for inclusion in For the Record, write to publicaffairs@udel.edu.