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March 2023

Research @ Pace
A newsletter highlighting faculty research & scholarship

Faculty Spotlight


Sharon Wexler, PhD, RN, FNGNA is Professor and Chairperson of the PhD in Nursing, PLV (Lienhard School of Nursing, College of Health Professions). Professor Wexler’s program of research focuses on improving functional and cognitive status of older adults and specifically gerotechnology, the use of technology to improve outcomes in older adults across the continuum of care. Since coming to Pace in 2009, Sharon has been working with Lin Drury, PhD (PhD in Nursing, PLV, Lienhard School of Nursing, College of Health Professions) on a series of gerotechnology studies. PhD, undergraduate and graduate nursing students are part of all of the research teams. Professors Wexler and Drury are currently working on a study exploring the use of a novel animatronic pet bird to increase walker use in frail older adults. This study, funded by the Geriatric Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA) is enrolling individuals residing at Kendal on Hudson in Sleepy Hollow, NY.


In addition, Prof. Wexler is Vice President of the Omega Delta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Nurses Honor Society at Pace University, Vice President of the Alumni Association of Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York University, and Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Kendal on Hudson in Sleepy Hollow, NY.



Professors Wexler’s recent publications include “The impact of a robotic pet on social and physical frailty in community dwelling older adults: A randomized controlled trial,” Research in Gerontological Nursing 15.5 (2022); “Technology use and frailty for community dwelling older adults: A scoping review,” Journal of the American Nurses Association-New York 1.1 (2021); and “A protocol-driven, digital conversational agent at the hospital bedside to support nurse teams and mitigate risks of hospitalization in older adults,” J Med Internet Res 21.10 (2019).

Sethu Karthikeyan, PhD is Associate professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department, NYC, College of Health Professions. Her research interests involve evolutionary perspectives on human behavior including the capacity for spoken language.

 

Professor Karthikeyan recently published “A case study of a historical matrilineal community from an evolutionary perspective” with coauthor Maryanne Fisher, PhD in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences 17.1 (2023), an APA journal. She recently gave a presentation based on this paper at the inaugural Historical Psychology preconference in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology organized by Harvard University’s Culture, Cognition, and Coevolution Lab at the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. This study highlighted cross-cultural differences in marital practices and the significance of multidisciplinary research in informing evolutionary behavioral sciences.

 

Prof. Karthikeyan also collaborated with teams affiliated with the Behavioral Endocrinology and Evolution Lab (Penn State, University Park), and the Evolutionary Psychology Lab (SUNY New Paltz), to publish “Articulatory Effects on Perceptions of Men’s Status and Attractiveness in Scientific Reports 13. 2637 (2023), a Nature Journal. Using evolutionary principles, the study brought together findings and perspectives from multiple disciplines to generate hypotheses on speech differences. She had also presented on this topic at the Evolutionary Studies Seminar (April 2022). Her article Shape and Taste of Words May Make Them Easier to Learn and Remember,” with first author Vijay Ramachandra, PhD in ASHA leader (Jan./Feb.2023) discussed the potential utility of a subset of words in evaluating and facilitating language in those who exhibit atypical performance.

 

Prof. Karthikeyan is the recipient of the Classroom Based Research Experiences Award for her project “How do children learn to speak? A study on public opinion.”

Faculty News

Hillary Knepper, PhD (Associate Provost for Student Success/Public Administration, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences), Michelle Evans, PhD (Political Science and Public Service, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), and Tiffany Henley, PhD (Public Administration, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) published Intersectionality and Crisis Management: A Path to Social Equity with Routledge Taylor & Francis Group (2023).


The book is part of the Routledge Focus in Global Talent Management book series, whose editor is Ibraiz Tarique, PhD (Management and Management Science, NYC, Lubin School of Business). Intersectionality provides a framework for understanding how categorizations of people drive social constructs of discrimination and oppression. The book aims to embed the social equity discourse into crisis management while exploring the potential of a new tool, the Integrative Crisis Management Model. Leaders and managers navigate a complex and networked environment of policy-making and action, frequently occurring in real time, under constant media exposure. The pervasive availability of crisis news on all platforms and devices produces a lingering anxiety about the inevitability of danger. Consequently, crisis affords a time-sensitive exploration of management practices and sheds a critical spotlight on deficiencies that may yield more equitable and novel approaches in service and in business.


The book engages a diverse range of contributing authors who are foremost in their field, but also includes practitioners, students, and junior scholars in a creative new discourse about equity. Bringing these voices together in one volume presents a unique opportunity to generate new insights. Each chapter covers a different subject – exploring intersectionality in healthcare, nonprofit management, and human resources – and is accompanied by discussion questions. The book provides something for the classroom, for practitioners, and for scholars who want to include more intersectional thinking in their work. Intersectionality and Crisis Management: A Path to Social Equity is available for purchase at Amazon or at Routledge.

Timothy Waligore, PhD (Economics, History, and Political Science, PLV, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) co-edited (with Lukas H. Meyer) Rectifying Historical Injustice: Debating the Supersession Thesis (Routledge ).


Calls for redress of historical wrongs regularly make headlines around the world. People dispute the degree to which justice should be concerned with righting past wrongs, with some arguing that justice should be primarily focused on claims arising from present disadvantage. Proponents and sceptics of restitution, compensation, and other forms of historical redress have engaged with the thesis that historical injustice can be superseded, the idea that changing circumstances following historical injustices can alter what justice later requires. The “supersession thesis,” developed by legal and political philosopher Jeremy Waldron, has been challenged, both conceptually and in terms of its possible application and implications.


This is the first book to critically assess how the supersession thesis might be reconstructed, challenged, or applied to empirical cases, with an eye toward larger questions surrounding the temporal orientation of justice. Cases examined include Indigenous peoples, linguistic injustice, and climate change. The edited volume includes contributions by established and junior scholars from philosophy, law, American Indian Studies, and political science, who draw from Indigenous thought, settler colonial theory, liberalism, theories of historical entitlements, and structural injustice theories. It concludes with a reply by Jeremy Waldron.

Anne Toomey, PhD (Environmental Studies and Science, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) recently published a paper that describes a collaborative research project between students in her Civic Engagement course and the staff at the New York Restoration Project to understand social uses and values associated with Sherman Creek Park, a public park on the Harlem River. The paper titled “Towards a pedagogy of social‑ecological collaborations: engaging students and urban nonprofits for an ecology with cities” was co-authored by Monica Palta, PhD, (Environmental Studies and Science, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences), Environmental Studies student Cam Becker, and Jason Smith of the NY Restoration Project. In this project, Pace University faculty and students developed tools to support ongoing learning and engagement at Sherman Creek Park.

 

Professor Toomey also published “Why facts don’t change minds: Insights from cognitive science for the improved communication of conservation research” in Biological Conservation. Read her blog post about this article on the London School of Economics and Political Science Impact Blog: “Facts Don’t Change Minds – Social Networks, Group Dialogue, and Stories Do”. There is often a presumption amongst scientists that communicating the evidence on a given issue is on its own persuasive enough to change minds. Prof. Toomey argues thinking in this way itself ignores evidence from other fields of research and presents four ways by which researchers can engage with findings from the social sciences to better communicate their work.

Melvin Williams, PhD (Communication and Media Studies, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences), along with a Communication and Media Studies undergraduate student, Michael Huertas, published a book chapter "Hip Hop’s White House Guest: Jack Harlow and White Rap Authenticating Strategies" in Race/Gender/Class/Media: Considering Diversity Across Audiences, Content, and Producers (5th edition), ed. Rebecca Ann Lind. The research conducted a textual analysis of Harlow’s two studio albums, That’s What They All Say (2020) and Come Home the Kids Miss You (2022), and Harlow’s White rap authenticating strategies and potential social criticisms of racial injustice, Whiteness, and White privilege in rap and society. 



The research project was awarded the 2022-2023 Provost Student-Faculty Undergraduate Research/Creative Inquiry Award and presented at the 2022 Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference. Culturally, the story is significant because it highlights how a Black faculty member collaborated with a first generation, Latino undergraduate student on a research project that led to a university-wide award, conference presentation, and peer-reviewed, book chapter during Huertas's final academic year as a Pace University student.

Philip Cohen, LLM, JD (Legal Studies and Taxation, NYC, Lubin School of Business) published  “Whirlpool Financial Corp. v. Commissioner Was Properly Decided” in Tax Lawyer (72.2, Winter 2023).The article focuses on the decisions of the Tax Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Whirlpool Financial Corp. v. Commissioner, that address the scope of subpart F foreign base company sales income and the branch provision thereunder, and why this writer believes the courts reached the correct outcomes. These are important and controversial opinions that will have a major impact on the taxation of many U.S. multinational corporations.

Elmer-Rico E. Mojica, PhD (Chemistry and Physical Sciences, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) authored a paper entitled “Beskar, spotchka, rhydonum and other Chemistry lessons from Star Wars series The Mandalorian” in The Chemical Educator (January 2023). This is part of the Chemtertainment series that he started with a book chapter published in ACS in 2019. It details his use of popular culture to generate interest for students in the courses he is teaching. In the present paper, he shares the chemistry lessons and concepts depicted in the first Star Wars live action series, The Mandalorian which he used in General Chemistry course. Among these are topic and scenes that can serve not only to generate interest but to use as an anchor to reinforce the teaching of some chemical concepts.

Maria Iacullo-Bird, PhD (Assistant Provost for Research/History, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) was an invited co-presenter for the session, “Advocating for Humanities Research Funding” at the National Humanities Alliance (NHA) Annual Meeting and Advocacy Day, March 19-21, 2023. She also was part of the New York City NHA delegation that met with federal legislative staff in support of NEH, NARA, and Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs. Professor Iacullo-Bird, a member of both the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Executive Board and Alliance for Global Undergraduate Research (AGUR) Steering Committee has been appointed to serve as the U.S. CUR Ambassador to the Third World Congress on Undergraduate Research taking place April 3-6 at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. She also will serve as the faculty advisor for nine Pace undergraduate students who will be presenting their research projects and participating in the WorldCUR International Student Research Initiative. For additional information on Professor Iacullo-Bird’s work and undergraduate research at Pace, see the Pace Undergraduate Research website.

Kimberly Collica-Cox, PhD (Criminal Justice and Security, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) published an op-ed in the New York Daily News, titled “When parents are locked up, how about the kids?: Paternal incarceration and maintaining the ties of family” (March 21, 2023). Parent-child bonds are often damaged through the process of parental incarceration; yet, the ability to maintain healthy bonds between a parent and child is fundamental to the child’s physical and psychological well-being. Therefore, parenting programs for the incarcerated are vital. Programs, such as Parenting, Prison & Pups (PPP), an evidence-based parenting program that integrates animal assisted therapy, while utilizing Pace undergraduates as teaching assistants, helps to mend bonds between an incarcerated parent and child.


Every spring the Department of Economics (Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) faculty members mentor a group of students to present at the Conference of the Eastern Economic Society (Feb. 24-26, 2023), a prime economics conference on the US eastern coast. This conference is attended by hundreds of economists from all over the world who gather to promote educational and scholarly exchange on different economic topics. This year, Pace EEA student/faculty sessions were organized by Eric Osborne-Christenson, PhD (Economics, NYC) with the help of Todd Yarbrough, PhD (Economics, NYC). Mary Kaltenberg, PhD (Economics, NYC), and Kier Hanratty, PhD (Economics, NYC) who presented their own research alongside graduate students. The students, Maria Andrukhiv, Caterina Messina, Dylan Szeto, Anthony Spinelli, Moumita Nath, Tim Little, Ryan Shehata, Hanyu Li, and Casey Cloutierall, presented original research related to their respective Masters' Theses and showcasing the results of experiential education.

From left: Kier Hanratty, PhD, Todd Yarbrough, PhD, Eric Osborne, PhD, Caterina Messina, Maria Andrukhiv, Hanyu Li, and Mary Kaltenberg, PhD.


Lisa Rosenthal, PhD (Psychology, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences), with graduate students Sharifa James and Kim Muellers, have been awarded a Fall 2022 Grant-in-Aid from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). This award will provide partial funding for their research proposal, “Assessing the impact of structural and interpersonal stigma on sexual and reproductive healthcare among U.S. women of color.” The proposed study will utilize mixed methods to examine the impact of multilevel experiences of intersectional discrimination on sexual and reproductive healthcare quality and satisfaction among U.S. BIPOC women. Sharifa and Kim are both current doctoral students in the Clinical Psychology (Healthcare Emphasis) PhD program at Pace. Professor Rosenthal serves as Sharifa and Kim’s faculty research mentor. 

Center Spotlight

THE PACE FOOD LAW CENTER


The Pace Food Law Center at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law supports legal services and advocacy, academic scholarship, and student learning, all in support of the transition to a just and sustainable food system. The Pace Food Law Center provides direct legal services to small farm and food businesses, as well as related nonprofits, through its Food and Farm Business Law Clinic; offers focused legal training; and advocates for systemic policy changes at the local, state, regional, and federal levels. The Center supports the development of food law scholarship, seeking to advance understanding of the role of law in shaping the food system. In all its programming the Center offers opportunities for students to engage in food law, including through coursework, clinical work, externship placements, career counseling, and research opportunities. For more information visit the Food Law Center’s website, the Clinic’s website , or contact Camden Smithtro at csmithtro@law.pace.edu.

Pace Food and Farm Business Law Clinic students and staff take a tour

of Catskill Merino farm

Upcoming Events

Faculty Recognition Ceremony

Seminar: Introduction to Grant Writing and

Funding Opportunities


Tuesday, April 25, 3:25 p.m.–4:25 p.m.

Beth Schachter, PhD and Avrom Caplan, PhD

 

The workshop will be an introductory session, aimed at informing faculty in all disciplines about the various types of extramural funding (e.g., grants, fellowships, career development awards).

 

We will discuss the rationale for applying for funding, the importance of finding a funding source that fits the project and the applicant, and a strategy for preparing a successful application. In addition, we will give a demonstration of how to find funding opportunities in Grants.Gov and using the Pivot grants database.

 

The workshop is open to all Pace University faculty and is also appropriate for graduate students.


Register in advance for this seminar


After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.

Pace School of Education Research Symposium


Thursday, April 27, 3:30 p.m.–6:30 p.m.


Conference Program


School of Education Research Symposium Registration



After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.

Undergraduate Research

Center for Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE)


The Center for Undergraduate Research Experiences is now accepting applications for the Spring Research Days and the Summer Research Award Program!


CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO PRESENT

Spring 2023 Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Days


Tuesday, May 2, 2023 | NYC Campus

Friday, May 5, 2023 | PLV Campus

 

The Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Days May 2 (NYC) and May 5 (PLV) will showcase undergraduates from across the schools and colleges who have engaged in faculty-mentored research and creative inquiry during the academic year. Students will have produced scholarly or artistic work as part of a course-based research or creative inquiry assignment, award program, co-curricular project, or in fulfillment of their Senior Capstone or Honors College thesis requirement. Please encourage your students to apply to present!

 

Apply Here to Present!

Deadline to apply: Monday, April 3, 2023

 CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Summer 2023 Provost’s Student-Faculty Undergraduate Research/

Creative Inquiry Award Program


This summer research program is for undergraduate students who will be entering their sophomore, junior, or senior year in Fall 2023. This internal funding opportunity supports faculty-mentored scholarly and artistic projects developed in courses and research settings that will benefit from in-depth development over the summer months. Please sponsor an outstanding student for this funding opportunity!

 

Apply Here!

Deadline to apply: Monday, April 10, 2023


Please consider sponsoring an outstanding student for this funding opportunity!

 

Faculty Reviewers

We are seeking faculty members from across the schools and colleges who are interested in serving as reviewers for the undergraduate research award program. Contact us if this service opportunity interests you.

Spring 2023 Faculty Undergraduate Research Webinar Series


Monday, Wednesday, and Friday common hour - 12:p.m. - 1:10 p.m.


Learn about the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR)

04/19/23


Register in advance for Wednesday’s meeting


After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

For questions contact:

Norma Quiridumbay, CURE Director of Operations at nquiridumbay@pace.edu



Maria Iacullo-Bird, Ph.D., Assistant Provost for Research at miacullobird@pace.edu

Prestigious Awards and Fellowships

The AFCEA Educational Foundation offers a range of awards, including some for under-represented students, in STEM. To be eligible, students must:

·      Be a sophomore or junior with a GPA of 3.0 or higher

·      Be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident

·      Be committed to a career supporting the defense, homeland security and intelligence communities

 

More information about scholarships is available here.


For questions contact Moira Egan, Director of Prestigious Fellowships and Awards at megan@pace.edu.

Share your research news here.

Questions? email Elina Bloch at ebloch@pace.edu


Stay connected: visit us at www.pace.edu/office-of-research