For the Record

Article by UDaily staff October 28, 2022

University community reports recent presentations, publications, honors

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

Recent presentations, publications and honors include the following:

Presentations

Thomas M. Powers, associate professor of philosophy and director of UD's Center for Science, Ethics & Public Policy, gave a talk on Oct. 21, 2022, entitled "Can AIs Behave Themselves? Towards a Genuine Machine Ethics" in Rome, Italy. His presentation was part of the European and North American Workshop on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, convened by the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center and the Peace Research Institute Oslo. This day-and-a-half event, hosted at Notre Dame’s Rome Global Gateway facility, brought together a small group of leading scholars and experts working on issues related to AI from various disciplines and perspectives. Presenters explored the conceptual and ethical foundations as well as applications related to artificial intelligence and related technologies, including autonomous weapon systems.

Karin Grävare Silbernagel, professor of physical therapy, was invited by Michael Kjaer, one of the top tendon researchers in the world, to participate in the International Bispebjerg Matrix Symposium on Sports Medicine at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen, Denmark. In August, Silbernagel, associate chair of the Department of Physical Therapy within the College of Health Sciences and an expert in Achilles tendon injuries, presented on tendinopathy and training-related treatment. “I went to this conference as a trainee and to be invited back as a speaker is a very humbling full-circle moment to share the stage with 25 of the top tendon researchers from across the globe,” Silbernagel said. Silbernagel was joined by biomedical engineering doctoral candidate Ellen Bloom. The two are working together, along with others, on interdisciplinary tendon research, led by primary investigator Dawn Elliott, Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, who was awarded nearly $2.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to study multiscale tendon damage and abnormal cellular responses in tendinosis.

Ana Oancea, assistant professor of French in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, gave a presentation entitled “Le chirurgien artiste? Suzanne Noël et les gueules cassées dans A mains nues (2020)” at the Musée de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême, France. In addition to hosting one of the largest international festivals for graphic novels, the museum organizes yearly meetings for researchers in the medium. Oancea’s paper discussed the representation of Suzanne Noël, early 20th-century plastic surgeon and engaged feminist, in a bande dessinée written by Leïla Slimani and illustrated by Clément Oubrerie. She analyzed the narrative and visual techniques the text employs to construct the protagonist’s medical expertise. She paid particular attention to the depiction of World War I soldiers with facial injuries. The paper draws on her research specialization in the intersection of science and literature in France in the long 19th century.

Publications

Researchers from UD’s Institute for Public Administration (IPA) produced a report on the Sussex County Vocational Technical School District’s career and technical education (CTE) programs. This in-depth analysis of CTE provided major takeaways along with recommendations that the district can utilize for strategic planning. IPA’s research team analyzed Occupational Information Network (ONET) data on more than 240 relevant occupations. This analysis will support district leaders and school board members with deciding the best CTE programs to offer, help the district plan for expanded seats and guarantee that all students who attend Sussex Tech are prepared to excel in their career or college path. This project was led by Haley Q. Burns, assistant policy scientist, with major contributions from Kelly L. Sherretz, policy scientist; Brendan Laux, graduate public administration fellow; and Jenna DeMaio, public administration fellow. The research team collaborated with Sussex Tech Superintendent Kevin Carson on this project. IPA is a research center in UD’s Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. Read the full report on UDSpace.

Honors

Calaia Jackson

Calaia Jackson, a second year doctoral student and graduate research assistant in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, has been selected a Health Policy Research Scholar, a leadership program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is the first student in the state and at UD to be admitted to this program. Designed for doctoral students from historically marginalized backgrounds and populations underrepresented in specific disciplines, the program helps students apply their work to policies that advance equity and health while building a diverse network of leaders. Jackson will focus on the social determinants of health in the interrelated areas of education and social policies to galvanize more equitable outcomes for socially marginalized and disadvantaged populations. Her research seeks to empirically investigate and contextualize barriers to health equity by uncovering the policies, systems and environments that mediate the relationship between schooling and health outcomes. By identifying the mechanisms and processes through which U.S. K-12 schooling serves as a stratifying institution that reifies existing inequalities, particularly by race, gender and socioeconomic status, Jackson’s scholarship will provide research evidence about how racial disparities and social inequities can be reduced via more democratic policy designs and governance.

Richard Morris, retired research associate in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources who managed the dairy farm, received the Honorary American FFA Degree at the 95th National FFA Convention and Expo, held Oct. 28 in Indianapolis. As the organization’s highest honor, the degree recognizes those who make an extraordinary long-term difference in the lives of students, inspiring confidence in a new generation. FFA is a youth, agricultural education organization that prepares members for leadership, personal growth and career success. of agriculturists.

Manan Sarupria, a doctoral student in the Earth Observation for Sustainable Ecosystem and Livelihood (EASEL) Lab at UD, was selected to participate in the 11th European Space Agency (ESA) Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing: Earth Observation (EO) for Agriculture and Water, to be held at the Institute of Advanced Studies (iASK) in Kőszeg, Hungary, Nov. 21-25, 2022. According to the ESA website, the course aims to train the next generation of scientists and professionals on remote sensing for agriculture and water cycles in agriculture; explain the theoretical principles, processing algorithms and data products from multiple sources for agriculture and water; and introduce tools and methods for the exploitation of EO satellite data, in particular the Sentinels and new hyperspectral missions, among other objectives. The EASEL Lab is run by Pinki Mondal, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. The call for participants was open to postgraduate, doctoral students, postdoctoral research scientists and professionals across the world with a cap of 60 participants. Priorities were given to participants from European countries and Canada.

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