Junior Jayme Trocino was recently featured in the City Paper for her performance on the Belmont women’s soccer team and her accomplishments as a nursing major, balancing hours of practical experience in hospitals with the practices that helped the team win its first A-Sun regular season crown. Click here to read the article.
PT Students Pitch In for ‘Miles and Music for Kids’ Event
During the October celebration of national physical therapy month, approximately 100 Belmont University Physical Therapy students and faculty volunteered their time to assist with the organization and on-site operation for the 4th annual Dierks Bentley Miles & Music for Kids charity motorcycle ride and concert to benefit Vanderbilt’s Children Hospital. This year, over $215,000 was raised for the children of the hospital. Since the inception of this annual event, over $800,000 has been raised to benefit Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Miracle Network.
A couple of days before the ride and concert, Bentley surprised the physical therapy students by coming to class to thank them personally for all their hard work in making this event a success. Bentley told the students “We could not have taken this event to the level it now is without the help of my friend Mike Voight and his students at Belmont University.” He explained that this year’s money would be going directly to families who had children being treated at the hospital so they could concentrate on their child’s needs rather than worrying about “all the other stuff” associated with their child’s illness.
The event took place on Oct. 11 with over a thousand leather-clad bikers joining Bentley for the ride into Nashville. Starting at the Cool Springs Harley Davidson in Franklin, Tenn., the long line of motorcycles wound its way through the Natchez Trace and then downtown to Riverfront Park. Once there, Bentley was joined by several celebrity friends to entertain thousands of fans with an open air concert. Physical Therapy Professor Mike Voight, who coordinated Belmont’s participation with the event, said, “This was a great learning experience and fun event for our students. Not only did they get to meet and work with the stars of country music, they also helped the community in a large way.”
McGrew Presents Poster at Neuroscience Meeting
Dr. Lori McGrew, associate professor in the Department of Biology, recently attended the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting in Chicago held October 17-21 along with students Alyson Singh, Kelli Boone and Abby Murphy. This annual meeting provides the world’s largest forum for neuroscientists to debut research and network with colleagues from around the world. The attendance at Neuroscience 2009, SfN’s 39th annual meeting, topped more than 30,500. At the meeting McGrew presented a poster titled “Using Case Studies to Teach Neuroscience” while the students presented a poster on their Summer Scholar Community research titled “The Effects of Serotonin and Nicotine Treatment on Working Memory in Zebrafish.”
Lind Gives Talk at Analysis and Probability Research Seminar
Dr. Joan Lind, assistant professor, Mathematics & Computer Science Department, gave an invited talk to a joint Analysis and Probability Research Seminar at the University of Tennessee on Oct. 21. The title of the talk was “Fractal Curves and Phases of the Loewner Equation.” In the talk Dr. Lind showcased pictures created by the computer program BLEAT(Belmont Loewner Equation Analysis Tool). BLEAT was developed by Belmont students Andrew Hill, Matt Lefavor and Ben Stein to simulate solutions to Loewner’s differential equation.
Magruder Publishes Paper
Dr. Robert Magruder, professor and chair of the Chemistry & Physics Department, recently had a paper accepted for publication. The paper is titled “Structure and Properties of Nanoparticles Formed by Ion Implantation” and was published in Topics in Applied Physics, Volume 116, October 2009. Click here to view the paper.
Buffington Presents Talk at ACM Conference
On Nov. 13, Belmont senior Ross Buffington will present a talk on “Game Implementation for Increasing Mental Engagement of Security Professionals” at the 2009 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Mid-Southeast Conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. In addition, Dr. William Hooper (Math/Computer Science) will be giving a talk on assembly language programming with the Sony PlayStation 3.
Buffington, a computer science major, spent this past summer conducting research at the University of Houston, Texas that was funded by the National Science Foundation. He worked in the University of Houston’s Computational Physiology Laboratory with a number of master’s and post-doctorate students. This experience allowed Ross to further his understanding and competence in developing applications for the iPhone. Prior to the Houston research experience, Ross had spent the entire school year independently learning how to write software for the device.
Through his research he created “The Sky is Falling,” a computer based, two-dimensional, game which overlays on top of the live video feed of a security camera. The purpose of the game is to increase the cognitive engagement of a security guard when charged with the task of monitoring video feeds for hours on end. A secondary purpose of the application was to promote physical activity of the security guard. This was accomplished by incorporating the iPhone as a game controller-device, allowing a user to wirelessly interact with their computer using the iPhone.
Hachtel Approved as Mediator
Dr. Yvette Hachtel, professor in Belmont’s School of Occupational Therapy, has been approved as a Rule 31 Listed General Civil Mediator and will begin work as a mediator in civil cases in conjunction with Tennessee’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) proceedings. After years of work in Sumner County’s Victim and Offenders Reconciliation Program, Hachtel qualifies for Rule 31 status and will work on cases judges assign to Tennessee’s ADR program. Through her position as a mediator, Hachtel will be an impartial aid in helping parties involved in civil cases to resolve their disputes outside of the courtroom.
Speech and Debate Team Continues Winning Streak
Belmont’s Speech and Debate Team competed at the Berea/Cumberland swing tournament Oct. 23-30 in Berea, Kentucky. With 27 universities in attendance, Belmont won first place in the individual events division at both tournaments and placed second in the debate division (fourth overall).
Individual awards included the following:
Debate Awards
Andrew Bishop – 2nd place Overall Novice Speaker
Andrew Bishop / Mike White – 1st place Novice Debate Team
Wesley Rainer / Tyler Kimbro – Varsity Debate Quarter-Finalists
Team: 2nd place, Small School Division
University of the Cumberlands Events Tournament
Eric Schoen: Dramatic Interpretation, 4th place; Communication Analysis, 5th place; Duo Interpretation, 4th place; Pentathlon Competitor, 4th place
Kate Tully: Programmed Oral Interpretation, Top Novice; After Dinner Speaking, 5th place
Jaiden Phelps: Persuasive Speaking, Top Novice; Impromptu Speaking, Top Novice
Nicole Bright: Duo Interpretation, 4th place
Team: 1st place, Small School Division
Berea College Events Tournament
Nicole Bright: Programmed Oral Interpretation, 5th place; Duo Interpretation, 6th place
Jessica Plowman: Extemporaneous Speaking, Semi-finalist
Haley Wilson: Extemporaneous Speaking, Top Novice
Bethany Miller: Impromptu Speaking, Semi-finalist
Eric Schoen: Duo Interpretation, 6th place
Kate Tully: After Dinner Speaking, Top Novice
Team: 1st place, Small School Division
Hoogestraat Presents at TAHPERD
Dr. Fran Hoogestraat (Sport Science) recently made a presentation at the meeting of the Tennessee Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (TAHPERD) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The presentation was titled “Worst Practices for Coaches and WHY!”
Pinter Serves as Editor of a National Problem Solving Competition
During 2009-10, Dr. Mike Pinter, professor, Mathematics & Computer Science Department, will be serving as Editor of a National Problem Solving Competition. Three times in the fall and three times in the spring, Dr. Pinter will send mathematical problems to the director of the competition who in turn e-mails the problems to participating high schools and colleges around the country. Each high school mailing includes two problems, and each college mailing includes two problems.
Dr. Pinter creates many of the problems that are used, while some of the problems come from others who contribute them for consideration. The problems cover a wide array of mathematical topics in order to have the problems be accessible to students with varying math interests and backgrounds. Nearly all of the problems can be solved without calculus (and often without very much algebra). In recent years, several of Dr. Pinter’s problems have been used by the National Competition.
This work is an outgrowth of Dr. Pinter’s efforts with Belmont’s Mathematics Problem Solving Competition which has taken place for the last 15 years. Two problems per month are posted on a public bulletin board in Hitch and on the Mathematics & Computer Science Department Web page and all interested students are encouraged to participate.
