YSU faculty and staff accomplishments
Recent scholarly work, service and accomplishments of Youngstown State University faculty and staff:
Abdu Arslanyilmaz, associate professor of Computer Science and Information Systems, attended the 30th annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education in Las Vegas to present a study entitled “Eye Tracking in Assessing Computational Thinking.” The study is related to using eye gaze analysis for assessing learning of computational thinking in terms of experimenting, iterating, testing, debugging, reusing, remixing, abstracting and modularizing. SITE is a society of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.
Michael Jerryson, associate professor, Religious Studies, has published a new book, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, published through Oxford University Press, which explores the quandary of Buddhism and violence. Jerryson also participated in a panel discussion before the Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka. The discussion, “Religion and Violence in Sri Lanka,” was held in Washington. The purpose was to explore the root causes of the continued conflict in Sri Lanka and to identify ways for U.S. policy to have a positive impact on sustainable peace on the island. Also, Jerryson was recently quoted in an article published in The Japan Times. Recognized internationally as an expert on Buddhism, Jerryson has lived and worked in Buddhist-Muslim conflict zones throughout Southeast Asia.
Francine Packard, part-time faculty, Counseling, Sheila Donnadio and Phyliss Valla, Clinical Mental Health Counseling interns, were awarded a $1,000 research grant from the American College Counseling Association for research entitled, "How Trauma Impacts the Academic Success of Traditional First-Year Undergraduate College Students." They accepted the award at the association’s national conference in Charlotte, N.C.
Daniel J. Keown, assistant professor, Music Education, gave two peer-reviewed presentations and was invited to co-present a lecture at the 2018 Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development and Technology Institute for Music Educators Conferences in Columbus, Ohio. His presentations were titled “Discovering the Lost Ark of Possibilities: Bringing Visibility to the Invisible Art Form of Film Music in Your Music Classroom” and “Listen – Do You Hear That? The Science and Art of Creating Soundscapes.”
Sue Mark-Sracic, assistant director, Center for Student Progress, and Becky Varian, director, Center for Student Progress, spoke at the Northeast Ohio Writing Center Association plenary session at the Kent State Stark campus in Canton on “Motivating Students Using the Mindset Theory: It All Starts With Belief.”
Ashley Riggleman, assistant director of Research Services, was accepted into the National Association for University Research Administrator’s Mentoring Our Own Program. Participants are selected through a competitive process, and receive mentoring from experienced colleagues at other research universities.
Adam Fuller, assistant professor, Politics and International Relations, was accepted as a Schusterman Fellow with Brandeis University's Schusterman Summer Institute for Israel Studies. The fellowship includes time at Brandeis and in Israel. With Fuller’s fellowship, YSU joins a network of more than 300 participating institutions.
Lucy Kerns, assistant professor, Mathematics and Statistics, authored a paper, titled "Multiplicity-Adjusted Confidence Limits in Risk Assessment with Quantal Response Data," that will be published in the Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics.
R.J. Thompson, assistant professor, Art, created a marketing piece chosen as one of six finalists in the 2019 HLC Annual Conference art contest. Thompson has been a finalist in the contest three times and once won the membership voting poll for first place. The winner’s work was displayed at the annual conference in Chicago.
Frank Bosso, professor, Kinesiology and Sport Science, contributed a chapter titled “Body Composition Assessment” to a recently published book from the American College of Sports Medicine. The book is titled ACSM's Exercise Testing and Prescription.
Fred Viehe, professor, History, was interviewed for the Oral History Project at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. The interview centered on his service as a paratrooper and Vietnam volunteer with the 82nd Airborne Division, and later, his leadership in the anti-war movement at the college and in the greater Portland area. Viehe’s anti-war activism led to his inclusion as one of two from Oregon listed in President Richard M. Nixon's “Enemies List.”
Mari Alschuler, associate professor, Social Work, will present a workshop, “Mindfulness Meditation Training for Masters of Social Work Field Students,” at the 12th International Conference on Practice Teaching and Field Education in Health and Social Work, Innovation in Practice Learning and Field Education in September at St. John's College in Oxford, UK.
Nguyet Nguyen, assistant professor, Mathematics and Statistics, has published two papers: "A Quasi-Monte Carlo Implementation of the Ziggurat Method," in the Monte Carlo Methods and Applications journal, and “Hidden Markov Model for Stock Trading," in the International Journal of Financial Studies.