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Research @ Pace
A newsletter highlighting faculty research & scholarship
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 |  | Sarah Cunningham, MFA is an associate clinical professor in the Pace Art Department and the founding director of the Pace University Art Gallery. She is a contemporary art curator with over 25 years of experience developing art exhibitions, public events, and educational programs whose career is unified by the conviction that art is an essential part of society that creates dialogue and exposes us to new ideas. She has curated over 50 contemporary art exhibitions with rich curricular connections including rafa esparza: for you and the sky, Devon Tsuno: Urban Reclamation, Simonette Quamina: The Night Gardener, The Chinatown Art Brigade: Degentrification Archives, and, most recently, Mie Yim: Mother Octopus. She previously served as the director of Santa Barbara City College Atkinson Gallery, director of the College of New Jersey Art Gallery, curator of exhibitions and public programs at the Alice Austen House Museum, and executive director of the Albany Center Galleries. To complement her curatorial work, she is also a contributing writer for LUM Art Magazine, where she has recently published the cover story “The Good Land: Jannson Stenger.”
For calendar year 2024, Professor Cunningham received the New York State Council of the Arts grant for the Pace University Art Gallery, recognizing the quality of the gallery’s exhibitions over the past three years. Her most recent faculty/student research projects include the co-curated exhibits To be Made Whole and Continued Relevance: New Photos from the George Stephanopoulos Collection. The current exhibit, Mother Octopus, a solo exhibition by painter Mie Yim, includes a mural created by the artist in collaboration with Professor Cunningham’s ART 180: Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies students.
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Anna Shostya, PhD (Associate Professor and Chair, Economics, NYC/PLV, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) has been teaching at Pace University since 2000. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, including a study-abroad course to China and an interdisciplinary course that combines economics and photography.
Professor Shostya’s research interests range from financial markets to sustainable development to higher education pedagogy. Recently, she published an article on effective techniques of teaching economics, “Tangoing Economics in a Virtual Classroom: Recommendations for Large Classes Instructors” in the International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies 13.4 (April 2023), and has an upcoming article on experiential learning in the Journal of Economics Education. Her recent publications also include three chapters in a book on sustainable development. This book was one of the first publications that assessed the impact of the Covid pandemic on the world’s progress toward the United Nation’s Agenda 2030 - Fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals: On a Quest for a Sustainable World (Routledge 2023). She is currently working on co-editing a book that evaluates the half-way progress of the international community toward the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Shostya has also been fostering research among her students, whom she recently invited to participate in a virtual conference organized by V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, in one of the most destroyed (by Russian shelling) cities in Ukraine, Kharkiv. Last year Prof. Shostya served as a Fulbright Specialist to Moldova, helping a Moldovan University to transform and modernize their business and economics curricula.
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Jennifer Hofmann, DMSc (Physician Assistant Studies, College of Health Professions, NYC) published Mind Maps in Medical Pharmacology (Elsevier). The study of pharmacology requires memorization, association, and application of knowledge about hundreds of medications—a daunting task for even the most dedicated student. Mind Maps in Medical Pharmacology helps physician assistant, nurse practitioner, and medical students master the understanding of pharmacology through easy-to-understand, visual Mind Maps. These user-friendly, multi-sensory tools condense large amounts of information, helping readers organize, integrate, and retain what they have learned in the vast and complex field of pharmacology. This publication was supported by the Book and Performance Completion Award.
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Nils Myszkowski, PhD (Psychology, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) published Item Response Theory for Creativity Measurement (Cambridge). This book is the first to provide an introduction to the framework of item response theory (a statistical modeling approach to psychometric tests) that is specifically designed for researchers and practitioners in the field of creativity psychology. After reviewing the shortcomings of more traditional psychometric approaches (e.g., classical test theory, sum scores) in the context of creativity measurement, it introduces readers to core concepts of item response theory and to how to apply them, using as examples various typical situations encountered when attempting to measure creativity. This publication was supported by the Book and Performance Completion Award.
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Tom McDonnell, JD (Elisabeth Haub School of Law),Outgoing Chair of the AALS (Association of American Law Schools) International Human Rights Section, presented the Nelson Mandela Award to Dinah Shelton, JD at the AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Dinah Shelton is a leading expert on international human rights and international environmental law. A professor emerita at George Washington Law School, she served as President and Commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2010-2014). She was the first American woman appointed to the Inter-American Commission and the first to become Commission President. She is a particularly prolific scholar, and recipient of numerous awards including the Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy (2006).
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Perl Egendorf, PhD (Environmental Studies and Science, NYC, Dyson College or Arts and Sciences) is one of 5 winners of the Story Exchange Women in Science Incentive Prize, having been awarded $5,000 to support research on urban soils in NYC. Professor Egendorf is raising funds to build a Mobile Soil Lab that can train students in sampling and processing urban soils, while also sharing STEM skills with residents – youth and elders alike. The aim is to conduct science with New York City’s most vulnerable communities, who are disproportionately impacted by environmental injustices, including climate change. Additional details about Professor Egendorf’s work are available here. | |
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Nicholas Robinson, JD (Elisabeth Haub School of Law) co-authored ”A Landmark Environmental Law Looks Ahead” in AAAS Science Policy Forum (Dec. 2023). Fostering International Conversation, the article discusses how international laws seek to half the mass extinction of species on Earth today, beginning with the Endangered Species Act, and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, which are 50 years old this year. As an officer of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Professor Robinson’s distinguished career includes work on these efforts to foster international conservation.
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| |  | Jeanmaire Molina, PhD (Biology, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences), co-authored a paper with former Pace student, Denia Diaz, in the Journal of Plant Interactions (Vol. 19.1, 2024). Titled “The endophyte’s endophytes: the microbial partners of the endangered plant parasite Rafflesia speciosa (Rafflesiaceae) reveal clues about its cryptic biology and cues for cultivation,” the paper is supported by Professor Molina’s NSF grant (transferred to Pace). Rafflesia is an endangered endophytic holoparasitic plant that lives the majority of its life inside the tissues of its sole plant host, Tetrastigma. Rafflesia floral buds emerge to produce the world’s largest single flower. Like other plants, holoparasites harbor a diverse microbiome, the role(s) of which has remained largely unstudied. The authors characterized the bacterial microbiome of seeds of Rafflesia speciosa and cuttings of its host. They found evidence that R. speciosa seed has similar bacterial profiles to its infected host, which suggests that seeds sequester certain host bacteria, as well as acquire unique bacterial taxa from biotic associates of the fruit. They did not find evidence of mycorrhizal taxa in the microbiome. This is the first study of the microbial insights on its cryptic microbial partners. The authors discuss how this may aid horticultural propagation of Rafflesia.
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Ana B. Amaya, DrPH (Health Sciences, College of Health Professions) was invited to give her expert advice at two World Health Summit closed-door roundtables on “Access to equitable healthcare: A holistic approach to community health”, hosted by UNICEF; and another hosted by the World Health Summit and UNITE, the network of Parliamentarians for Global Health, titled “From global principles to national action: Implementation challenges of the future pandemic accord”. In her interventions, she provided recommendations on how to tackle key global health challenges and advocated for the role of academia in these policy discussions. Read a report from one of these roundtables here.
To commemorate Universal Health Coverage (UHC) day on December 12th, Professor Amaya was selected as UHC Champion by the UHC day campaign alongside high-profile policymakers and experts such as the Secretary General of the United Nations, Director General of the World Health Organization, Ministers of Health, among others. You can learn more about Professor Amaya’s advocacy work here.
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Tiffany Zezula, JD (Deputy Director, Pace Land Use Law Center, Elisabeth Haub School of Law) was named a 2023 Housing Justice Champion by Habitat for Humanity NYC and Westchester. The award recognizes her contributions to transforming the affordable housing landscape. | |
Melvin Williams, PhD (Communication and Media Studies, NYC, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) was featured in the ABC News: Impact x Nightline episode entitled, "Jonathan Majors Speaks,” available on Hulu. Professor Williams was also quoted in a January 03, 2023 USA Today article entitled, "Gypsy Rose is Free from Prison. Now She's Everywhere." | |
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Grant Proposal Clearance form
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Internal approval needs to be procured prior to any grant application submission. All signatures on the Grant Proposal Clearance Form (GPCF) will be accepted through Adobe sign. If you do not have an Adobe Sign, information on how to request an Adobe Sign account can be obtained at Adobe Sign Support.
To obtain the appropriate approval signatures through Adobe Sign, follow the instructions below and use the latest PDF version of the Grant Proposal Clearance Form.
Please send the completed clearance form at least five business days prior to the application submission to Eric Torres, at etorres@pace.edu or Elina Bloch, at ebloch@pace.edu.
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Statewide Financial System (SFS)
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Starting January 16, the NYS Grants Gateway has transitioned to the Statewide Financial System (SFS).
Webinars on the following subjects are available to facilitate the transition:
- SFS Transition
- SFS Vendor Support Calls
- Registration
- Prequalification
- Grant Application
- Contract Management
- Claims Management
Assistance on utilizing the Grants Gateway during the lead up to and after the the Go-Live date of January 16, 2024 can be obtained by contacting our Help Desk at grantsgateway@its.ny.gov.
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The Call for Proposals for the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Fellows is now open!
Save the date!
43rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Fellows
Saturday, March 16, 2024
New York City campus
Transportation will be provided for students and faculty from the Pleasantville campus.
Call for Proposals
Apply Here to Present!
Deadline to apply: February 16, 2024
The faculty board will review proposals and making awards decisions soon after the deadline.
About the Annual Meeting: This is a one-day student research conference at which students present scholarly research or artistic projects completed under the supervision of a Dyson faculty mentor to peers, faculty, family, friends, and alumni.
The day includes:
- A morning plenary session
- a midday poster session
- concurrent afternoon panel sessions
- and a concluding award reception.
About the Society of Fellows: This is the premiere honors organization of the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences. A supportive academic community, the society fosters undergraduate scholarship in the arts and sciences by providing enriching experiences for students with outstanding academic ability to develop critical-thinking and communication skills. Participation in the annual meeting helps establish eligibility to become a fellow. Learn more.
For questions, contact Judith Pajo, PhD, at jpajo@pace.edu
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Center for Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) Announcements | |
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The Center for Undergraduate Research Experiences is now accepting applications for the Spring Research Days and the Summer Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award Program.
Spring 2024 Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Days
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO PRESENT!
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | New York City Campus
Friday, April 26, 2024 | Pleasantville Campus
The Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Days April 24 (New York City) and April 26 (Plesantville) will showcase undergraduates from across the schools and colleges who have engaged in faculty-mentored research and creative inquiry during the summer and academic year. Students will have the opportunity to present their scholarly and artistic work that was completed 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: Wednesday, April 3, 2024
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Summer 2024 Provost’s Student-Faculty Undergraduate Research
and Creative Inquiry Award Program
This summer research program is for undergraduate students who will be entering their sophomore, junior, or senior year in Fall 2024. 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: Tuesday, April 9, 2024
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 Maria Iacullo-Bird, PhD, at miacullobird@pace.edu if this service opportunity interests you.
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Spring 2024 Student Undergraduate Research Webinar Series
Tuesday common hour - 3:25 p.m. - 4:25 p.m.
Maria Iacullo-Bird, PhD, Assistant Provost for Research
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Getting Started in Research/Creative Projects Year-Round –
February 6, 2024
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How to Prepare a Research Proposal – March 5, 2024
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Designing a Poster for Presentation – April 2, 2024 and April 9, 2024
Register in advance for Tuesday's meeting
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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Spring 2024 Faculty Undergraduate Research Webinar Series
Tuesday common hour - 3:25 p.m. - 4:25 p.m.
Maria Iacullo-Bird, PhD, Assistant Provost for Research
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How Faculty Grants can include Student Research – February 20, 2024
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Creating Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) – March 19, 2024
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Learn about the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) – April 23, 2024
Register in advance for Tuesday’s meeting
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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Prestigious Awards and Fellowships | |
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The Office of Prestigious Awards welcomes students’ feedback and suggestions for future programming. Please encourage your students to take a brief anonymous survey.
This semester’s highlights include The Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship, which funds study abroad, The Udall Foundation grants, which support leadership on environmental or Native-American healthcare issues, and the Fulbright program, which funds graduate study, English teaching or independent research overseas. Please visit the Office of Prestigious Awards’ website for additional information and deadlines.
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For more information contact:
Moira Egan, PhD, Director of Prestigious Awards and Graduate Fellowships,
at megan@pace.edu
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Share your research news here. | | | | |
