Dr. Pat Sells, associate professor of physical therapy, and a group of doctoral physical therapy students from Belmont University are in the midst of conducting research on how multiple sub-concussive hits affect children ages five to 12. The research team has enlisted The Brentwood Blaze, a youth football organization, for study participants, and those efforts were recently featured in an article on the Brentwood Home Page. Click here to read the story in its entirety.
Physical Therapy Professor, Student Recognized for Research
College of Arts, Sciences’ Professors President at Oregon Conference
Director of General Education Allison Moore and English Professor Annette Sisson presented “Taking on the Sophomore Slump: Intentional Learning through Campus Collaboration” on Feb. 28 in Portland, Oreg. at the Association of American Colleges and Universities Conference on General Education and Assessment, which focused this year on “Disruptions, Innovations, and Opportunities.”
Alumna Wins Reality TV Contest
Belmont alumna Kayla La France (’09) won the TV show “King of the Nerds” and earned $100,000. The contest on TBS invited competitors to face challenges that test their intellect, ingenuity, skills and pop-culture prowess. The nerds compete as teams before moving on to individual challenges with the goal of being named the quintessential master of all things nerdy.
While at Belmont, La France earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics with minors in mathematics and public relations. She went on to get her master’s degree in space science from the University of North Dakota and resides in Green Acres, Wash.
First Health-Focused Immersion Serves in Guatemala
The College of Pharmacy partnered with University Ministries for an international spring break Immersion trip geared towards health professional and pre-health professions students. The team was comprised of four faculty and staff members, one professional medical interpreter, eight undergraduate students with an interest or major in healthcare-related fields and two fourth-year pharmacy students. Together they provided diabetes, asthma and vision screenings, as well as nutrition, hygiene and first-aid education to migrant workers at Finca la Azotea coffee plantation in Antigua, Guatemala. Additionally, the team spent one day working with at Escuela Proyecto la Esperanza, a nongovernmental organization school for underprivileged children assessing height weight and vision percentile projections.
Immersion activities included learning about the processes of growing, harvesting, roasting and packaging coffee, grocery shopping in a neighborhood market, visiting a private university, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, touring the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center and attending religious services on Ash Wednesday.
“The impact we may have had from simply educating the plantation employees may save lives one day. We had a few patients share they had family members who died or had been in danger because they did not know basic first-aid. According to our partner in Guatemala, who initiated and helped organize this trip, many other coffee plantations are now expressing interest in collaborating with Belmont to provide similar services at their locations in the future,” said Jordan Tarter, a fourth-year pharmacy student.
This established and ongoing partnership in Guatemala directly complements the College of Pharmacy’s and Belmont’s overall commitment to missions. This is evidenced by the ability of pharmacy and undergraduate students from varied programs to concentrate their experiential learning in missions or public health, if they so choose. It also provides an opportunity to explore interdisciplinary learning and collaboration, as students representing a variety of health and pre-health professional fields combine in one immersion experience.
Former Gov. Phil Bredesen Leads Conversation on Higher Education Governing Boards at Belmont
Numerous Tennessee education leaders speak during morning forum
The Association of Governing Boards’ (AGB) National Commission on College and University Board Governance hosted a public forum on Tuesday, March 25 in the Inman Center’s Frist Lecture Hall. Commission Chair and former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and AGB President Rick Legon joined members of the commission and invited Tennessee-based education leaders in a roundtable discussion on the issues and challenges facing higher education in the U.S. today.
Belmont President Bob Fisher, Fisk President H. James Williams, University of Tennessee Trustee Vicky Gregg, Vanderbilt Trustee Denny Bottorff, Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan and Vanderbilt Associate Professor of Higher Education and Public Policy Coordinator Will Doyle participated in the three-hour conversation. Topics discussed included:
* The future of shared governance (among boards, faculty, and presidents) and how it might be reformed to better address the challenges facing institutions
* Private, nonprofit and public institutions’ responsibility in demonstrating value
* Board roles in accommodating Federal and state governments’ involvement in institutional policy
* Ways college and university boards can meet expectations for increased oversight and accountability without crossing the line into institutional administration and day-to-day operations
The 28-member commission was formed in 2013 to develop recommendations to strengthen college and university board governance and meet future needs for higher education. The commission will release recommendations in September, 2014.
Origami Expert Shows Students Math/Art Connection
Belmont students had the opportunity to learn about the art of paper folding when origami expert Malachi Brown spoke to students about the connections between art, math and engineering during an interactive convocation event last Thursday in McWhorter 114.
The “Mathematical Musings and Munchings” event, sponsored by the Department of Math and Computer Science, allowed students to see how modern origami design techniques use math to facilitate art and explore forms of plane geometry with their own hands. Brown also spoke about the practical applications of origami.
Brown was seven years old when he was first introduced to origami. Since then, with decades of practice, his passion for paper folding has only increased. Brown frequently teaches origami to students of all ages and finds joy in passing on the creative spark and passion for shaping paper into objects of wonder and beauty.
Belmont University’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science seeks to provide a supportive and challenging intellectual community where students are encouraged to develop independence, creativity and excellence in their chosen field.
Chemistry Students Present at American Chemical Society Conference
Dr. Rachel Rigsby and Dr. Alison Moore, both associate professors of chemistry, took five students to the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) that was held March 16-20 in Dallas, Texas. The ACS’ 247th National Meeting & Exposition featured thousands of presentations on new discoveries in science. The topics included food and nutrition, medicine, health, energy, the environment and other fields where chemistry plays a central role. Some connected with the meeting’s theme of “Chemistry and Materials for Energy,” which showcases energy technologies. The National ACS meeting is host to more than 15,000 chemists from all disciplines and career paths, including undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, professors, post-docs, researchers and industry representatives.
Belmont students Vickie Lim, Daniel Beagan and Lee McGill presented research posters at the conference. Bavly Daowd, Vickie Lim and Leena Patel presented a poster on Belmont’s Student Chapter of the American Chemical Society’s (SMACS) activities. They also accepted a Commendable Award for their SMACS chapter activities for the 2012-13 academic year.
Murphree Presents as Part of Lost Ladybug Project
Dr. Steve Murphree, professor of biology, was a “Scientist on the Spot” on March 22 at the kickoff event for the Adventure Science Center’s Lost Ladybug Project. Murphree was available to answer questions about The Lost Ladybug Project, and he also gave a 30-minute presentation about Middle Tennessee lady beetles.
This event was part of the national Lost Ladybug Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, which is studying the decline of some native lady beetle species. Across North America ladybug species composition is changing. Over the past 20 years, native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time ladybugs from other parts of the world have greatly increased both their numbers and range. This is happening very quickly, and scientists don’t know how, or why, or what impact it will have on ladybug diversity or the role that ladybugs play in keeping plant-feeding insect populations low. Murphree will continue as the local entomology consultant until this year’s project ends in early October.
Math Students Present at Conference
Nine students and six faculty members recently attend the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)’s 2014 Southeastern section meeting at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn. The Southeastern Section of the MAA (MAA SE) advances the mathematical sciences within the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The conference was held March 13-15. Math majors Max Shenfield, Jackson Streeter, Annie Brunelle and So “Sara” Chung competed in the Math Jeopardy tournament. Senior Mathematics major Angela Gaetano gave a presentation on “The Impact of Censoring on Estimator of Slope Parameter in a Simple Regression Model” and junior Mathematics major Annie Brunelle gave a presentation on “Brownian Motion and Probability Simulations.” Other students that attended the conference included Mary Yang, Savannah Halliday, Geoffrey Gross and Isak Wilson.
Mathematics faculty were also actively involved at the conference. Dr. Andy Miller completed his three year term as Tennessee state director and gave a presentation on “Real World Projects, Real World Writing.” Dr. Robin Lovgren gave a presentation on “Herding Cats – Using Attendance App to Learn Names and Keep Up with Your Students.” Dr. Mike Pinter spoke on “Ideas for Ending a Course Effectively.” Kay Geving presented her work titled “College Algebra Course Redesign.” Dr. Sarah Ann Fleming gave a presentation in the Graduate Student Workshop on “Job Application Materials.” Dr. Danny Biles was also in attendance at the conference.
Physics Students Present ‘Circus’ to Peers
The Society of Physics Students recently presented a “Physics Circus” convocation event. The students presented various intriguing and exciting physics demonstrations. Physics students showed and explained the science behind phenomena such as beautiful Chladni patterns, the “ring launcher” device, alien-looking ferrofluid formations, and more. Dr. Scott Hawley, associate professor of physics, serves as the faculty adviser for this student organization.
