Faculty Highlights - Spring 2023

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College of Arts and Sciences

Arts, Humanities, Sciences

Issue 1, Volume 2 || Spring 2023

Baskind.jpgSamantha Baskind
Distinguished Professor, Department of Art & Design

Publications:

Curated Exhibition:

Beyond Borders: The Art of Siona Benjamin
Exhibition venues: 

  • Galleries at CSU, Cleveland, OH: January 17 – March 25, 2023
  • Skirball Museum, Cincinnati, OH: April 20 – July 30, 2023

Series Editor:

Conference and Invited Public Lectures:

  • "Archie Rand Paints the Bible." University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma (April 2023)
  • "'I like my Jews mean and fighting': Leon Uris' Mila 18 and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in American Culture." Conference: "Looking at the Ghetto: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Eighty Years in Retrospect." Leibniz-Institute for Jewish History and Culture-Simon Dubnow, Leipzig, Germany (April 2023).
  • "The Legacy of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 80 Years Later." Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (April 2023).
  • "Picturing Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam." Touro Synagogue, Newport, RI (February 2023).

Baumgartner_Michael.jpgMichael Baumgartner
Associate Professor, School of Music

Publications:

Presentation:

BirchBrowning.jpegBirch Browning
Professor, School of Music
Director of Bands and Conductor, Cleveland Winds

Dr. Browning, produced a series of concerts featuring two international guest artists, two domestic guest artists, a world premiere, and two select high school ensembles. The 57 members of the CSU Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the 55 performers of the Cleveland Winds were able to work closely with these artists during rehearsals.

BickelStreletzky.jpgJessica Bickel
Associate Professor, Department of Physics

Kiril Streletzky
Professor, Department of Physics

Grant:

This research experiences for undergraduates (REU) grant will bring 10 students from across the US each summer to CSU for 10-week research projects with faculty from Physics, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, and Math and Statistics. The research projects will focus on soft matter, which encompasses physics and engineering of microfluidic devices, polymeric and protein nanoparticles and gels, and even organics for electronic applications.

Mohamed Elkhouly
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Publication:

PatrickFrato.jpgPatrick Frato
Associate College Lecturer, Department of Psychology

Award:

  • Recipient of the 2023 Department of Psychology Outstanding Teaching Award

 

Anita Gabrosek
Assistant Professor of Practice, School of Film & Media Arts

This semester Anita started editing a documentary series about Bruce Ratner, a real estate developer in New York City who was born and raised in Cleveland. The Ratner family ran the real estate company Forest City Ratner in Cleveland, which was the parent company to Bruce's New York company.

GabrosekGigante.pngAnita Gabrosek (top)
Assistant Professor of Practice, School of Film & Media Arts

Maria Gigante (bottom)
Assistant Professor of Practice, School of Film & Media Arts

Exhibition:

M I L K, a short narrative film written and directed by Gigante, and produced by Gigante and Gabrosek, had its world premiere screening to a sold-out audience at the Oscar-qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival in March 2023.

 

MelanieGagich.jpgMelanie Gagich
Senior College Lecturer, Department of English 

Publication:

StephenGingerich.jpgStephen D. Gingerich
Professor of Spanish, Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Publication:

Elizabeth Goncy
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology

Publication:

Grant:

  • CSU USRA "Conducting and Connecting Community-Based Research to Practice with Sexual and Gender Diverse Youth in Northeast Ohio" Total costs: $4,914

Award:

  • Recipient of the 2022–2023 College of Arts & Sciences Jearl D. Walker Outstanding Teaching Award

GoncyNaser.pngElizabeth Goncy (top)
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology

Shereen Naser (bottom)
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

Publication:

  • Clonan-Roy, K., Naser, S., Fuller, K., & Goncy, E.A. (2023). "Sexual and gender diverse youth's marginalization in school-based sex education and development of adaptive competencies." Psychology in the Schools. doi: 10.1002/pits.22881.

 

LydiaGrebenyova.jpgLydia Grebenyova
Senior College Lecturer, Department of Anthropology

Award:

  • Promotion to Senior Lecturer

Invited Lecture:

  • "Puzzles in Ukrainian Syntax: Implications for Language Structure." University of Maryland. Mayfest Linguistics Conference, May 5-6, 2023.

RobertHurley.jpgRobert Hurley
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

Publication:

  • Nelson, M., Moeller, S., Seckin, M. Hurley, R.S. (in press). "The eyes speak when the mouth cannot: Using eye movements to interpret omissions in primary progressive aphasia." Neuropsychologia.

JamesJoyce.jpgJames Joyce
Assistant Professor, School of Film & Media Arts

Publication:

WenqingKang.jpegWenqing Kang
Associate Professor, Department of History

Publication:

Shereen Naser
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

Publications:

  • Naser, S. (in press). "Supporting refugee and forcibly displaced students and families in the school setting." In Harris, P., & Proctor, S., (Eds.), NASP Best Practices Volume 2: Systems and Family.
  • Naser, S., et al. (in press). "Promoting equity in school based mental health universal programming by addressing color evasive practices in social emotional learning and trauma informed care." In Malone, C., & Paris, L., (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Justice in School Psychology. 

Grants:

  • CSU USRA "Conducting and Connecting Community-Based Research to Practice with Sexual and Gender Diverse Youth in Northeast Ohio" Total costs: $4,914
  • "Understanding the Experiences of First Generation Arab Youth in U.S. Schools" Total costs: $4,977.50

Award:

  • Recipient of the Social Justice award from the Cleveland Chapter of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations).

HilaryPlum.jpgHilary Plum
Assistant Professor, Department of English
Associate Director, CSU Poetry Center

In March 2023, the CSU Poetry Center launched "Index for Continuance," a podcast on small press publishing, practice, and politics, which Plum co-hosts with managing editor Zach Peckham.

Publication:

  • Plum, Hilary (2023). Excisions. Black Lawrence Press.

KathleenReardon.jpgKathleen Reardon
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

Publication:

  • Tackett, J.L., Reardon, K.W., et al. (2022). "Understanding the leaders of tomorrow: The need to study leadership in adolescence." Perspectives on Psychological Science. doi: 10.1177/17456916221118536.

Ali Rownaghi.jpgAli Rownaghi
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry

Dr. Rownaghi was among the top 2% of researchers in my field for career and single-year impact. The Stanford study "Analysis of 2023 Stanford University's Top 2% Scientists (Career Impact) (1960- 2022) List" analyzes the number of research publications, citations, and other measures of research productivity, including career-long and single-year impact. The study classifies individuals into 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields, including science, engineering, business, and medicine. Career-long data are updated through the end of 2021. The selection is based on the top 100,000 researchers as determined by a composite citation metric known as a "c-score" (with and without self-citations) or by their 2% or above percentile rank.

According to a recent analysis by Stanford University, twenty current and former faculty of CSU are among the top researchers in their field as measured by their career research records.

Publication:

YanaSandlers.jpgYana Sandlers
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry

Publications:

  • J.Kodger, I.Radzikh and Y.I.Sandlers (2023). "Identifying metabolic phenotyping variability in cellular model of Barth syndrome." Mass Spectrometry in Clinical Laboratory.
  • J.Kodger, I.Radzikh and Y.I.Sandlers (2023). "Energy Depletion and Metabolic Alterations in Cellular Model of Fabry Disease." American Society for Mass Spectrometry.
  • I.Radzikh and Y.I.Sandlers (2023). "Analysis of Anaplerotic Metabolic Incorporation of Dodecanedioic Acid In Cellular Model of Skin Fibroblasts." American Society for Mass Spectrometry.

CigdemSlankard.jpgCigdem Slankard
Interim Director, Associate Professor, School of Film & Media Arts

Grants: 

  • Received the 2023 Urgent Art Fund Award, in support of a documentary film project focused on lead poisoning in Cleveland. The film is currently in production, and is set to premiere as part of a global project, 10Children.  

Exhibitions and Screenings: 

  • Pretty Vacant (2020) and Breaking Bread (2020), produced and directed by Slankard, were selected for exhibition at Suburbinale Film Festival in Vienna. She will attend the festival and present a guest lecture on May 2023. 
  • Inheritance, a collaborative project with Gregory D'Alessio (Professor, School of Music) and Mark Slankard (Associate Professor, Dept. of Art & Design) was selected for exhibition at the Sound on Screen Film Festival in South Africa.  

Presentations: 

  • "Third Person Plural: Turkish Class Divide Dramatized in Ethos," presented as part of the symposium Negotiating Islamic Selfhood: Romance and Censorship in Middle Eastern and South Asian Cinema, hosted by the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. 
  • "Every Film is a Start-Up: An Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Approach to Documentary Production," University Film & Video Association Conference.

Curatorial Work: 

  • Cigdem Slankard served as the artistic director of the inaugural All Rise: A Festival of Film & Law, funded by a generous gift from Lee and Ageleke Zapis. 
  • Cigdem Slankard served as a juror for the George Gund III Memorial Central & Eastern European Competition during the 47th Cleveland International Film Festival. 

AndySlifkin.jpgAndrew Slifkin
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology

Award:

  • Recipient of the 2022 Department of Psychology Outstanding Research Award

 

souther.jpgJ. Mark Souther
Professor, Department of History
Director, Center for Public History + Digital Humanities

Interview:

XueLongSun.JPGXue-Long Sun
Professor, Department of Chemistry

Publications:

Presentation:

  • Pittcon 2023 was held from March 18–22, 2023, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Sun presented "Glycopolymer-Wrapped Carbon Nanotubes." The lecture was delivered at the session titled "Micro- and Nano-Probes and Multifunctional Systems for Enhancing Theranostics."

Hiram Lopez Valdez.pngHiram Lopez Valdez
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Award:

  • Hiram was selected as one of 15 nationally to be featured as an "Emerging Scholar 2023" in the just-released Emerging Scholars 2023 edition of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

KennethVail.jpgKenneth Vail
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology

 Publication:

  • Vail, K.E., et al. (in press). "COVID-19-related threat, existential isolation, and well-being." Clinical Psychologist.

 

PhilWanyerka.JPGPhil Wanyerka
Senior College Lecturer, Department of Anthropology

Presentations:

  • The Archaeology & Prehistory of the Cuyahoga Valley and Adjacent Richfield. Kiwanis Club of Bath & Richfield, March 2023.
  • The Archaeology and Prehistory of the Richfield Heritage Preserve. Richfield Historical Society, May 2023.

Curatorial Work: 

  • Supervisor and oversee archaeological investigations at Hale Farm & Village, Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio.
  • Archaeologist/Investigator/Consultant. Early Settlers Association of the Western Reserve, Inc: Erie Street Cemetery Preservation Group. In association with the City of Cleveland, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission, Cleveland State University, and others. Working to restore and make capital improvements to Erie Street Cemetery in anticipation of the cemetery's 200th anniversary in 2026.
  • Consult and advise on the archaeology of the Richfield Heritage Preserve, Summit County, Ohio.

YupingWu.jpgYuping Wu
Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Dr. Wu works alongside Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, who was featured on CNN Health.

Publication:

YanXu2.JPGYan Xu
Professor, Department of Chemistry

Publications:

Presentation:

  • Patil, Akshay Suresh and Yan Xu (2023). "Investigation of the Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Astragalus Radix on Mast Cells Using on UHPLC-QTOF/MS-BASED Metabolomic Profiling and Pathway Analysis." ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, George R. Brown Convention Center. Houston, TX. (Abstract ID number: 316127).