For the Record

Article by UDaily staff April 14, 2023

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

Trevor A. Dawes, vice provost for libraries and museums and May Morris University Librarian was a panelist, along with author and bookstore owner Jeannine A. Cook, publisher Peter J. Dougherty and historian Alexander L. Ames, at the Rosenbach Library in Philadelphia on April 13, 2023. The event, titled “Is a Book Still a Book if Not a Book,” examined the history of the book and its possible future existence. The panel, part of the “Pennoni Panels” series, was sponsored by the Center for Civil Discourse in the Pennoni Honors College at Drexel University.

Julia O’Hanlon, policy scientist at the Institute for Public Administration (IPA), and Alisa Moldavanova, MPA program director and associate professor at the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, presented and moderated at the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) annual conference, “Protecting Democracy for the Next Generation: The Role and Responsibility of Public Administration,” on March 22, 2023. The panel session was sponsored and hosted by ASPA's Section on Public Administration Research. Moldavanova is the chair of this section and served as one of the panel session's moderators. The panel discussed what researchers can do to make their research usable and actionable; how practitioners relay potential research topics to researchers; and what areas or questions appear to be particularly under-researched. O’Hanlon highlighted IPA's partnership with Delaware Sea Grant and the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA). O’Hanlon and Nicole Minni, working with Delaware Sea Grant's Danielle Swallow, have been funded by DEMA the past several years to develop DE-PLANS - Delaware Equitable Planning for Local Adaptation Needs. This hub site serves as a one-stop resource for aiding emergency management, resilience planning and outreach related to Delaware's older adults. This work features important connections between emergency preparedness and aging in place and aims to build capacity for state and local responders and policymakers. The Institute for Public Administration is a research and public service center in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.

Jennifer Horney, founder of UD’s epidemiology program and core faculty for the Disaster Research Center, recently appeared on the Emerald podcast series to talk about her latest book, COVID-19 Frontline Responders and Mental Health: A Playbook for Delivering Resilient Public Health Systems Post-Pandemic. “We know that people involved in the response to disasters, outbreaks and public health emergencies are actually impacted, physically and mentally, by being a participant in the response,” Horney said. On the podcast, Horney also discussed lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s very easy to return to the status quo. It’s harder to critically examine what we did well, what we did not do well and change,” she said. “In a pandemic, it’s harder to define what that status quo looked like, but we shouldn’t go back to a time where people came to work sick because they didn’t have any sick time.” Horney’s book also makes recommendations for changes needed to address growing gaps in the public health workforce as the COVID public health emergency prepares to expire in Delaware in May. “I hope that the end of the emergency doesn’t mislead us into thinking there isn’t more work to do. Because there is a lot more work to do especially around equity.”

Charissa Powell, head of the Student Success and Curriculum Partnerships Department at the UD Library, Museums and Press, presented "Diversifying and Improving LIS Literature through an Open-Source Professional Development Program” online with Nimisha Bhat from the University of Cincinnati at the Empirical Librarians Conference on March 9, 2023. In addition, she presented "Forging the Future of Library and Information Sciences Researchers Through Community" at the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in Pittsburgh, on March 16, 2023, with Bhat; Hailley Fargo from Northern Kentucky University; and Chelsea Heinbach from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Jessica Dai, organizational development and learning librarian at the UD Library, Museums and Press, presented "Opening Doors: From Library Residencies to Open Education” at the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in Pittsburgh, on March 16, 2023.

Maria Barefoot, online learning librarian; Yuqiao Cao, Pauline A. Young Resident and visual literacy librarian; and Lauren Wallis, First Year Experience and student success librarian, presented findings from a fall 2021 study on “Source Evaluation Practices of English 110 Students” for the Conference on College Composition and Communication on Feb. 18, 2023. They also shared the study findings in a poster session at the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in Pittsburgh on March 17, 2023.

Publications

An article in the April/May issue of News in Conservation, a journal published by the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, features a UD project led by Joelle Wickens, assistant professor of art conservation and a specialist in preventive preservation. With a team including students and College of Arts and Sciences Information Technologies professionals, Wickens demonstrated the use of an innovative technology known as augmented reality to inspect various locations in a multi-story historic mansion. Team members wore headsets that gave Wickens, who uses a wheelchair for mobility, detailed and interactive remote access to everything they were seeing. Conservation professionals believe the technology can be efficient and cost-effective in a variety of situations. The article by Ann Manser, retired senior editor in College of Arts and Sciences Communications, first appeared in UDaily in January.

Honors

David Teague, professor of English and associate director of the UD Associate in Arts Program, has been named as the 2023 recipient of the Delaware Center for Justice’s Mary Elizabeth Mical Outstanding Volunteer Award. Teague will receive the award at a ceremony on May 12, 2023, in recognition of his many significant contributions to the Delaware community.

CHEM-Grimes_Environmental_Portrait-Group-022017

Catherine Leimkuhler Grimes

Catherine Leimkuhler Grimes, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, recently received the 2023 Horace S. Isbell Award from the American Chemistry Society’s Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Chemical Glycobiology. The award recognizes excellence and promise in contributions to carbohydrate chemistry research. Grimes co-directs the Chemistry-Biology Interface Program, a graduate-level initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health that applies chemistry to critical biological and biomedical problems. The Grimes Lab is recognized for excellence in the application of synthetic chemistry to prepare N-acetylmuramic acid derivatives and the creative use of these reagents to tackle diverse problems in microbiology and immunology, both in her own lab and in collaboration with others. Her group is nationally recognized in the field of chemical biology and has received numerous awards including a Pew Biomedical Scholars Award, a Cottrell Scholar and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. This is her third award from the ACS; she received the Infectious Disease Young Investigator award in 2017 and the David Y. Gin Young Investigator Award in 2020.

Jacob Rylko, a graduate student in the School of Music’s trumpet studio, won first place in the Graduate Solo division at the 2023 National Trumpet Competition, held at the University of Colorado Boulder. The competition is the largest of its type in the world for the discipline with 800-1,000 participants each year. Students must be selected to participate in the live competition. This is the first time a UD student has won an award at the event, which was held at UD’s campus in spring 2022. Ten students from the studio participated in the competition, making UD’s representation among the top three colleges and universities in the country.

LaShanda Korley, Distinguished Professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been elected as a 2023 Fellow of the Division of Polymer Chemistry, Inc (POLY), a nonprofit technical division of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The POLY Fellows program recognizes POLY members who are advancing the field of polymer science, either through scientific accomplishments, service to the profession, or both. Korley was honored with a plaque during the POLY/PMSE Award Ceremony, which took place at the Spring 2023 ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis.

Junior nursing major Rayne Roberts took home first place in the undergraduate poster contest at the Eastern Nursing Research Society’s annual conference in Philadelphia. This year’s conference theme was “Promoting Liberty: Addressing Determinants of Health Through Nursing Science.” As a Summer Scholar at UD, Roberts worked with Lauren Covington, assistant professor of nursing, in her ongoing research into sleep and stress in socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Roberts conducted data analysis on a past study of Covington’s and found correlations between depressive and anxiety symptoms in caregivers’ sleep efficiency. She also found those mental health symptoms impacted child sleep efficiency as well. “This was my first time conducting research, so I was in shock when I received the first-place ribbon,” Roberts said. “It’s surreal to think I’m not even 20 years old, and I’ve already surpassed many goals I’ve set for myself. It’s a humbling experience.”

Junior nursing major Rayne Roberts (left) took home first place in the undergraduate poster contest while nursing science doctoral candidate Sanaz Taherzadeh (right) won third place the Ph.D. poster contest at the recent Eastern Nursing Research Society's annual conference in Philadelphia.

Covington was impressed with Rayne from the moment she met her. As a Summer Scholar, Roberts received research training and one-on-one mentorship from Covington. “She is the first undergraduate nursing student, who reached out to me unsolicited, having already reviewed my research program. She was eager to get involved in any way she could,” Covington said. “I was thrilled to have Rayne represent my work. My time working with Rayne has highlighted her passion for working with underserved groups, her sharp critical thinking skills and her desire to enhance her knowledge in all areas. She’s a budding nurse scientist, and I’m incredibly proud of her hard work and perseverance.” Roberts also won second place at the College of Health Sciences Research Day poster competition.

Nursing science doctoral candidate Sanaz Taherzadeh won third place in the Ph.D. poster contest at the Eastern Nursing Research Society’s (ENRS) annual conference in Philadelphia. This year’s conference theme was “Promoting Liberty: Addressing Determinants of Health Through Nursing Science.” Taherzadeh’s research included a secondary analysis of the association between sleep disturbances and pain and the impact of social determinants of health on these associations in people over the age of 40 with arthritis. “It was so unexpected,” said Taherzadeh, who’s in her second year in the program. “It’s so competitive. Many great universities had amazing research on display at the ERNS conference so it’s a great feeling to have contributed to nursing science and an honor to represent the University of Delaware at ENRS.” Xiaopeng Ji, assistant professor of nursing, served as a research mentor to Taherzadeh during her independent study, which provides new insights for mitigating health disparities in pain management among Black adults through improved sleep health. “I’m incredibly proud of Sanaz for winning this prestigious award. The competition is impressive with many great schools and Ph.D. programs represented,” Ji said. “Being recognized as among the best of the best is a significant accomplishment, and it’s a reflection of the hard work and dedication of Sanaz and the School of Nursing’s great commitment to student success.”

Grants

The following University of Delaware faculty members have received grants from UD’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center (IHRC) for the 2023-2024 academic year:

Carla Guerrón Montero, Department of Anthropology, for the project, Applying a Mobilities Framework to Anthropological Theory.
Hye-Shin Kim and Nokyeon Kim, Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, for the project Engaging the Public in the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) of Fashion by Leveraging the Humanities.
Laura Helton, Departments of English and History, for the project, Technologies of Writing: Creating a Mobile Classroom Maker Lab & Teaching Collection for Literary Studies.

The IHRC awards interdisciplinary grants advancing curricular innovation and public humanities outreach. Grants may be used by faculty to re-imagine extant courses or develop new curricular offerings.

The Paul R. Jones Initiative (PRJI), part of the IHRC, has awarded the following grants for 2023-2024:

Colin Miller, director for Global Arts, for Activism in the Being/Body. Grounded in an inclusive format, participants will be guided through embodied sensing, breathing, centering and presence as individuals and collectively. All elements of the workshop are inspired by and derived from movement and cultural traditions of Black and African descent and diasporic peoples.
Amanda Zehnder, chief curator and head, UD Libraries, Museums and Press, and Lori Birrell, director of Special Collections and Museums: Public programming for the James E. Newton exhibition in Mechanical Hall Gallery Spring 2024.

The Paul R. Jones Initiative honors the late art collector Paul R. Jones and his gift of African American art to the University of Delaware. The PRJI supports teaching and research related to the collection and to curricular outreach related to American art and culture in dialogue with Africa and its diaspora. The PRJI Black Arts @ UD grants support events and curricular enhancement.

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