As part of the Environmental Science Capstone course taught by Dr. Darlene Panvini, students hosted an Environment Fair on the last day of classes. The students presented posters on a variety of topics including fracking, community gardens, tree ordinances, exotic pest plant management in state parks, land protection in Tennessee and global climate change. The Our Natural Environment (O.N.E.) club, Belmont’s Environmental Club, also hosted a bake sale and raised over $100 to donate to a local environmental organization.
Students Host Environmental Science Fair
Voight Honored as Educator of the Year
Dr. Michael Voight, professor of physical therapy, recently was named Educator of the Year by the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association (TPTA).
Voight was nominated for this honor by a former student, Dr. Ashley Campbell.
“In his life, Dr. Voight has educated thousands of students and clinicians, and I am lucky to be among that group,” said Campbell, “as a student, Dr. Voight guided, encouraged and challenged me to be the best. He taught me by example what it means to be great, and to never be satisfied with good. He never ceases to amaze me in his passion and dedication to the profession of physical therapy, especially the education of both future and current clinicians.”
Voight has taught orthopedics at Belmont since 1998, the year after the graduate program in physical therapy was initiated by the University. In addition to his full-time role as professor, Voight serves as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, consults with a number of noted golf professionals for the Titleist Performance Institute on the prevention, evaluation and treatment of golf injuries, and lectures extensively at various conferences, symposiums, and congresses both nationally and internationally, having given over 600 professional presentations on a variety of orthopedic and sports medicine topics.
In years past Voight has worked or consulted with a number of professional sports organizations, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL), the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and various teams in Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS). Early in his career he became active within the United States Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine Division. He has worked at the Olympic Training Center, Olympic Festivals, Pan Am Games, Olympic Games and has had the opportunity to travel to almost all of the different continents with various Olympic and national teams.
Most recently, Voight has worked with the Medical Commission for FIFA (the International governing body for soccer) and the Professional Golf Association (PGA). He was selected in 2011 as a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the most prestigious honor granted by the organization which recognizes those who have made lasting and significant advances in the science, education and practice of the profession of physical therapy.
Quidditch Club Looks to New Year
Bruins on Brooms, Belmont’s Quidditch club, has been recognized as a Division II Team by the International Quidditch Association (IQA). Next year, the group will have a fully-scheduled regular season within its conference which guarantees the players at least nine games. This year, due to scheduling problems, the team was only able to hold four official matches, which they were responsible for coordinating on their own. Next semester will mark the first time the IQA has put together an international conference-based regular schedule.
This year, the team was invited to participate in the Quidditch World Cup as a rookie team. The tournament took place on April 19 and 20 in Kissimmee, Florida. Unfortunately, due to financial restrictions, the team was unable to make the tournament. However, they are hopeful that next year they will be able to qualify through the regular season, as they will lose their rookie status.
Butera Designs New iPhone-Based Instrument
Dr. Mike Butera, a Belmont alumnus and adjunct instructor of sociology, has received widespread attention for his new instrument, the Artiphon INSTRUMENT 1. The instrument has been covered by TechCrunch, The Tennessean, PC Magazine and Engadget, among many others.
The wood-body instrument, which is hand-built in Tennessee, is powered by an iPhone and can simulate a number of different instruments. The ergonomically designed body allows for it to be held like a guitar, violin, mandolin or upright bass. It also includes a virtual fret board and strumming pad.
Speakers are built into the portable device, which is powered by a lithium ion battery. The device is compatible with most music software, including Garageband, Pro Tools and Traktor.
The instrument, Butera’s brainchild, has been in development for the past two years, and will finally be released this summer. Reservations for the first wave of shipments can be made exclusively at artiphon.com.
Physical Therapy Students Hosts Health Fair
Belmont doctor of physical therapy students hosted a two-hour health fair at East Cheatham Elementary on April 5. All 33 students in the class of 2014 were involved in the fair.
“The Health Fair is a win-win situation for East Cheatham Elementary students as well as Belmont students,”said East Cheatham Elementary teacher Lacritia Sanson. “Older students get to experience what it is like to teach others. Younger students get great information on eight different subjects in a short amount of time. I even overheard one of my elementary students saying to another student that she would like to go to college one day. Thanks Belmont for you open doors to our community.”
Belmont Hosts First Regional STEM Expo
More than 100 Middle Tennessee high school students will convene Saturday at the Belmont University Curb Event Center on for the first regional STEM Expo, sponsored by the Middle Tennessee STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Innovation Hub, housed at Metro Nashville Public Schools. The Expo is free and open to the public at noon with a recognition ceremony scheduled for 2 p.m. Viewing of projects is from 3 to 4 p.m.
“It is an honor for Belmont to be a major sponsor and to host the Middle Tennessee STEM Expo. Belmont has a strong commitment to STEM education as evidenced by our STEM Education Initiative, our STEM Pathways project in the School of Sciences, and our accredited Audio Engineering Technology program in the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. The students participating in the Middle Tennessee STEM Expo and their exceptional projects demonstrate the value of supporting STEM education at all education levels,” said Belmont College of Arts and Sciences Dean Bryce F. Sullivan.
High schools from the 20 Middle Tennessee school districts that are part of the STEM Innovation Hub will participate. Expo projects represent one of five categories, including:
- STEM Research: Science, mathematics, engineering, biotechnology or medicine/veterinary medicine
- Engineering I: Mechanical, industrial, civil, aerospace or automotive
- Engineering II: Environmental, biomedical, chemical or electrical
- Technology: Computer programming, computer games programming, designing computer applications, or designing websites
- Agricultural STEM: Farming and animal husbandry.
The STEM Expo is not a competition. It is a showcase for the most outstanding projects created by individual students and student teams from participating schools and districts. Each entry will be scored and eligible for an award, with recognition levels of Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
“The quality of projects students have prepared is inspiring,” said Vicki Metzgar, Director of the Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Network. “The STEM Innovation Hub has encouraged students to develop projects in response to complex questions, problems or challenges, as a way to learn academic content and develop communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills. One of the primary benefits of Saturday’s Expo will be students coming together to learn and share with each other.”
Schools from all over the middle Tennessee region are turning to STEM education to engage students in rigorous and relevant learning and to prepare them to make informed decisions about their careers and college aspirations.
Click here to learn more about the Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Network and the STEM Expo.
In addition to Metro Nashville Public Schools, the STEM Expo is sponsored by Aegis Sciences Corporation, Belmont University, Tennessee State University, Deloitte Services, Texas Instruments, the Vanderbilt School of Engineering, the American Society of Civil Engineers, MTSU’s Tennessee STEM Education Center, and Volunteer State Community College.
About TSIN
The Tennessee STEM Innovation Network (TSIN) is a unique, public-private collaboration between the Tennessee Department of Education and Battelle Memorial Institute designed to promote and expand the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in K-12 public schools across Tennessee. The TSIN comprises six Regional STEM Innovation Hubs and six STEM Platform Schools. The schools are designed to encourage local educational innovation by investigating and creating new STEM teaching and learning best practices to be shared throughout the state, all while providing their students with the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century workplace. In addition to supporting the platform schools, the hubs are the nucleus of regional STEM activity, representing a formal partnership among school districts, post-secondary institutions, STEM businesses, and community organizations.
About MNPS
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools is the nation’s 42nd largest district, preparing more than 81,000 students to excel in higher education, work and life with the goal of being the first choice for Nashville’s families. The governing body for Metro Schools is the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education, a nine-member elected body. For more information, visit www.mnps.org. The 2013-14 school year begins August 1, 2013.
Slay Published in Journal of Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association
Assistant Professor of Music Business Dr. Cheryl Slay was published in the Journal of Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA). Her article, “Slaying the Starving Artist Paradigm and Teaching Professionalism in the Entertainment Business: The Entertainment Law & Professionalism Clinical Project,” is composed of two distinct parts. The first attempts a definition of professionalism and addresses its importance in entertainment business education. The second portion outlines her clinic at Belmont University
Through the clinic, Slay endeavors to teach students elements of professionalism and also provide legal counsel to those who seek it. Participation in the clinic is voluntary for students, and it takes place each spring. Last year, a total of 10 students were served over the course of the clinic. Since the first clinic took place in 2009, over 40 students have been served. Last year, Slay incorporated Belmont’s College of Law into the program by allowing law students to observe and participate in the legal consultations.
Slay’s passion for the clinic, including the idea to develop it, came from her own participation in a similar legal clinic as a law student. “One of the defining moments of my tenure as a law student was participating as a student attorney in one of the law clinics offered by my alma mater,” she says in the end notes of her article for the MEIEA Journal.
Cornwall Quoted in Card Hub Article
Jeff Cornwall, director of Belmont’s entrepreneurship program, has been quoted in Card Hub’s recent article, “Ask the Experts: Should Small Business Owners Seek Venture Capital Financing?” The article asks a number of entrepreneurial experts two questions: why an entrepreneur should take venture capitalist money and why an entrepreneur shouldn’t take venture capitalist money. A number of CEOs opinions are also solicited for the article. Cornwall’s answers to the two questions are below.
Why an Entrepreneur Should Take VC Money: “Because the venture has a business model that takes a long time (at least a couple of years) to reach positive cash flow and that requires a large infusion of cash due to high capital and personnel budgets during early growth.”
Why an Entrepreneur Shouldn’t Take VC Money: “Entrepreneurs shouldn’t accept VC money just because they can! I have seen too many business models that are very promising that did not NEED VC money fail when they took the money even though they did not need it. They ended up flaming out while trying to grow too fast too quickly, while trying to satisfy the VC’s expectations.”
Executive Education Students Host Disability Baseball Camp
Middle Tennessee children with special needs will swing for the fences on Saturday at Greer Stadium when Dave Clark, the only professional baseball player to have pitched and played from crutches, hosts Disability Dream Day Baseball Camp in partnership with the Nashville Sounds. Belmont University Center for Executive Education students worked closely with the Dave Clark Foundation and the Sounds to launch the camp in Nashville.
“We are thrilled to work with Belmont University to bring the Disability Dream Day to Nashville for the first time,” said Clark, who contracted polio at 10-months-old yet went one to become a Major League Baseball pitcher and first baseman. “The Nashville Sounds have stepped up to the plate to welcome Middle Tennessee’s disability community to Greer Stadium. Without a doubt, this will be an inspiring day for everyone involved.”
As part of the Belmont Executive Leadership program, executives enrolled in CEE are organizing, managing and facilitating the disability camp in partnership with the Dave Clark Foundation and the Sounds. Among them are Belmont’s Director of University Marketing and Special Initiatives Annie Mitchell, Assistant Provost of Assessment & Institutional Research Tracy Rokas and Director of Undergradate Studies in Nursing Martha Buckner.
“The leaders who participate in our program are already making a difference in Middle Tennessee, but we saw this as an opportunity where they can further develop their leadership skills while impacting an important segment of our community,” said CEE Executive Director Gene Mage. “We’re honored to play a role in bringing the disability camp and Dave Clark’s inspiring story to Nashville.”
In conjunction with the baseball camp, middle school students Jared Stevens and Justin Kievit will receive the Dave Clark: Pulling Each Other Along Award. The award honors the notable contributions of people who have helped individuals achieve their dreams under exceptional circumstances. Stevens, who has cerebral palsy, wrested Justin Kievit last fall and a video of their wrestling match received national recognition.
Click here to read about the event on the Sounds’ blog. Click here to view more photos.
School of Science Students Conduct Summer Research Across the Country
The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program. Several School of Science students have been awarded these highly competitive internships for the summer.
- Victoria Lim, a junior with a double major in Chemistry and Mathematics, is a recipient of one of the 2013 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Scholarships. Vickie will be interning with Croda, Inc. in Edison, N.J. The 10-week program, with a stipend of $6300, will involve “working in a world-class product laboratory with Croda Applications and Product Claims scientists to formulate and evaluate the effectiveness of prototype personal care products containing Croda ingredients. The candidate will gain expertise in formulating skin care cosmetics and in hair care product claim methodologies such as scanning electron microscopy; measuring hair fiber tensile and hair fatigue strength; and analyzing dynamic mechanical colorimetry and calorimetry. Internship work will result in a future co-authorship in a personal care industry trade magazine.”
- Rebecca Newton, a graduating senior, Pathways scholar and Chemistry major and Mathematics minor, was selected to receive an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellowship. ORISE provides undergraduate participants with a better knowledge of their anticipated field of study. Participants conduct authentic research while networking with researchers and fellow students. Rebecca will do research work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga. during the summer of 2013. Her supervisor and mentor is Dr. Udeni Alwis in the Tobacco & Volatiles branch. Rebecca will be staying in intern housing at the Emory University campus. As part of the fellowship, Rebecca will receive a monthly stipend of $2,500.
- Marcella Noorman, a graduating senior with a Mathematics major and Physics minor, will be studying this summer in the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics (BSM) program, a study abroad program for undergraduates in mathematics. She will be taking mathematics and culture courses in English from Hungarian professors, while taking advantage of Hungary’s history of producing creative and world-renowned mathematicians. The instructors of BSM are members of Eötvös University, the Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Budapest University of Technology and Economics, the three institutions known for having educated more than half of Hungary’s highly acclaimed mathematicians.
- Annie Brunelle, a junior Honors Mathematics major, will be participating in a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) hosted by The Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University and funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency. Twenty students were chosen for the REU in Experimental Mathematics to work with mathematics faculty from Lyman Briggs College. Each student will receive a stipend of $3,200, housing, and a meal allowance. Travel money to the REU site and to make presentations at conferences will also be provided. Professors Dan Dougherty, Igor Nazarov, and Aklilu Zeleke will guide the student research. Annie anticipates to be studying “Random Walks on Spheres and Harmonic Functions“, however, the projects are assigned upon arrival to the program.
- Jackson Streeter, a senior Pathways scholar and Mathematics major, will attend a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Applied Mathematical Modeling at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisc. This program is funded by the National Science Foundation. The research project will last ten weeks and the students receive a $5,000 stipend as well as campus housing, a food stipend and paid travel. Jackson’s project of interest will be Natural Gas Forecasting and he will be working in the GasDay lab to determine how much natural gas customers of WE Energies will need each day for the next week, as well as help predict future usage.
- David Strength, a senior majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics, will be participating in the 2013 Summer Program for Interdisciplinary Research and Education (SPIRE) in Emerging Interface Technologies. SPIRE-EIT is a 10 week research experience for undergraduates program that combines classroom training with hands-on research projects. Iowa State University‘s Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) program are the hosts for this program. The SPIRE-EIT undergrads will form research teams, each team is led by a VRAC|HCI faculty member and assigned a graduate student mentor. Over the course of the summer, SPIRE-EIT undergrads will create new technological solutions to challenges in human computer interaction and present their results at a year-end symposium. Interns will conduct research in the field of Human Computer Interaction while learning and implementing a number of technologies including computer graphics, modeling and painting software, and virtual reality equipment. Students selected to participate in the program will receive housing, a meal plan and a stipend of $5,000 for the summer.
- Angela Gaetano, a junior Pathways scholar and Mathematics major, will be participating in the 2013 summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). It is a 10-week program at Ohio Wesleyan University and is funded by the National Science Foundation. The topic she will be researching with Dr. Scott Linder is Sampling Distribution of Regression Statistics with Data Subjected to Type II Censoring. The participants receive a $4,800 stipend, a food allowance, free housing, and travel funds.
- Alice Curtis, a junior majoring in Mathematics, will be participating in The Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics (SIBS) funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and NationalCenter for Research Resources (NCRR). The program held at the University of South Florida, Tampa, is designed to stimulate undergraduate students’ interests in pursuing a graduate program in Biostatistics. Biostatistics is a growing field that has become indispensable in advancing medicine and improving health. Yet nation-wide there is a critical shortage of biostatisticians with postgraduate-level training. It also exposes the students to exciting career opportunities in health-related fields. Tuition, lodging, food and traveling expenses are all paid for by the program and participants can earn college credit.
