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

Recent presentations and honors include the following:

Presentations

On Dec. 6, 2022, the Resilient and Sustainable Communities League (RASCL) held its annual summit at the Del-One Conference Center on the Delaware Technical Community College campus in Dover, Delaware. Martha Narvaez, policy scientist in the Institute for Public Administration (IPA) and associate director of the UD Water Resource Center, served with University, state, and nonprofit partners on the RASCL planning committee. Troy Mix, IPA policy scientist and associate director, moderated a panel titled, “Bridging the GAP: The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) and Funding the First State,” and Chase Barnes, IPA assistant policy scientist, presented during the session. Other speakers from the panel included Greg Patterson, state infrastructure implementation coordinator, and Emily Knearl, Delaware director of government relations and external affairs for The Nature Conservancy. Barnes described IPA’s new grant assistance program to help local governments apply for, obtain and manage IIJA grant funding to ensure that government funds are being spent wisely across the state. The RASCL summit brought people together to share opportunities to overcome roadblocks to resilience and sustainability. In line with this theme, attendees discussed problems such as climate change, sea level rise and how to utilize grant programs that can help to remedy issues pertaining to flooding within the state. Elected officials, government leaders and community members attended the summit. IPA is a research and public service center in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.

Honors

Thomas Benson, a doctoral candidate and dissertation fellow in political science and international relations, was awarded a 2022 Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Award for outstanding achievements and progress in higher education sustainability. Benson serves as graduate fellow on the UD Sustainability Council and has helped lead sustainability reporting across campus. AASHE tracks efforts to promote sustainability in academics and operations and has recognized 135 awardees since its inception in 2006.

Elizabeth Orsega-Smith, professor in the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, was recently awarded the 2022 Excellence in Scholarly Community Engagement Award, which highlights a faculty member’s excellence in community engaged teaching, research and service. The award provides $5,000 to be shared with an identified community partner, the Howard Weston Senior Center. Orsega-Smith was nominated for this award for her extensive experience engaging more than 1,800 students in community-based research, focused on improvement of health and wellbeing for at-risk populations throughout Delaware and the surrounding area. One of the highlights of her recent research has been using scholarship initiatives, such as the Summer Service Learning and Community Engaged Scholar Program, to provide opportunities for research in local senior centers with health-based programs. By implementing the Nintendo Wii platform in senior living centers, students have been able to help seniors find a new way to boost physical engagement through activities such as bowling, baseball, tennis and golf. Additionally, students have organized a variety of other events to continue engaging seniors both cognitively and physically.

Seyda Naz Alasahin, a doctoral student in the College of Engineering, won first place in the M.S. category at the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE)  University Research Symposium. This is a competitive program where select student members present research results at the Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (CAMX) conference, held Oct. 17 - 20, 2022, in Anaheim, California. Alasahin received this award for her work on “Non-Contact Characterization of Carbon Nanotube Based Strain Sensors Using Millimeter Waves.” She is co-advised by Mark Mirotznik, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Erik Thostenson, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

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