From the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and GHORC…

October 2025 Research Highlights reported by the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (GHORC).

 

From the Department of Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics:

 

Louis Nemzar, PhD, Professor

A clinical device designed to alert epilepsy patients of time periods with increased seizure risk could substantially improve their quality of life. Although considerable research has been conducted, attaining sufficient predictive accuracy in real-world settings remains challenging. In this work, we extract network-based features from correlation matrices derived from patient intracranial electrocorticographic recordings. This enables the development of a machine learning algorithm to forecast real-time seizure onset risk using Bayesian updating. Findings from this project were presented at the International Conference for Technology and Analysis of Seizures (ICTALS) 2025.

  • Seizure Risk Prediction Using Topological Data Analysis and Lightweight Machine Learning Models https://2025.ictals.org/

 

Dimitri Giarikos, PhD, Professor and Director of Lab Operations

Recent Funding:

  • MOTE Loggerhead Marine Life Center (LMLC) ($76,477) “Supporting Seagrass Restoration in Lake Worth Lagoon” (July 2025). Determining the heavy metals in Lake worth Lagoon seagrass and marine sediment providing critical data to guide restoration and long-term protection of this vital coastal ecosystem
  • NSU President Research Grant (PRG) ($15,000) “Tracking a Changing Arctic through Heavy Metal Partitioning: An Innovative Use of Bowhead Whales”. Bowhead whale baleen is used to track heavy metal contaminants across decades, with samples taken at 1 cm intervals along each baleen plate to reveal temporal and geographic trends.
  • Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) 2025 ($318,000) “Abiotic Influences Along Southeast Florida Coral Reef Communities II” and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) 2024 ($373,135.74) “Abiotic Influences Along Southeast Florida Coral Reef Communities”. Phases 2 and 3 of the projects involve long-term monitoring of abiotic factors—including turbidity, pH, salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pressure—recorded every 30 minutes over multiple years to assess environmental impacts on local coral.”
  • Chicago Zoological Society Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Endangered Species Fund 2025 ($5000). “Assessing Contaminant Concentrations in the Feathers and Eggs of Humboldt Penguins Inhabiting the Punta San Juan Marine Reserve”. Represents the first study of its kind to measure heavy metal levels in penguin tissues and eggs, providing insight into maternal transfer of contaminants.
  • Publication:
    • Daniels-Abdulahad, M., Giarikos, D. G., Adkesson, M. J., Hirons, A. C. (2024) Evaluation of Heavy Metal Partitioning Across Humboldt Penguin (Spheniscus Humboldt) Egg Components. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 60, 2, 474-489. https://doi.org/10.7589/JWD-D-22-00176
  • NSU President Research Grant (PRG) “Dentition Diaries of Vulnerable Peruvian Pinnipeds: An Account of Trace Element Contaminants in their Teeth”. Analysis of pinniped teeth provides a record of heavy metal contamination over time, as the teeth preserve environmental data across multiple years.
  • Salmon as an ecological pathway of contaminants into Alaskan food webs. This study provided crucial insights into the distribution of trace elements (TEs) across multiple tissues in two species of Alaska salmon (chum and pink), expanding the knowledge beyond muscle and liver tissues alone. This work enhances our understanding of TEs in salmon but also serves as a critical resource for future environmental health assessments, informing both conservation efforts and public health policies in the context of a changing environment
  • Publication:
    • Brohman, M., Roffler, G. H., Giarikos, D. G., Kerstetter, D. W. Hirons, A. C. (2025) “Salmon as an ecological pathway of contaminants into Alaskan food webs” Emerging Contaminants 100541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2025.100541.
  • Northern Fur Seal Whisker Bioaccumulation and Partitioning of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Organochlorines. This study is the first to use vibrissae, a keratinous tissue, for the analysis of Persistent Organic Pollutants (OCs and PBDEs) in archived northern fur seal vibrissae. This has important applications for future long-term monitoring efforts by introducing the potential of contaminant analyses using less invasive tissue sampling.
  • Publication:
    • White, C. M., Giarikos, D. G., Hirons, A. C. (2025) Northern Fur Seal Whisker Bioaccumulation and Partitioning of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Organochlorines. Emerging Contaminants, 100439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2024.100439.

 

 

From the Department of Humanities and Politics:

 

John Vsetecka, PhD, Assistant Professor

Dr. Vsetecka was recently awarded on of the prestigious American Council of Learned Societies “Project Development Grants.” The grant support scholars in teaching-intensive faculty roles who are undertaking promising research in the humanities and social sciences. Dr. Vsetecka’s project is: “In Order to Expand the World’s Knowledge”: Investigative Famine Commissions, Ukraine, and Transitional Justice during the Late Cold War.”. https://www.acls.org/recent-fellows/?_fellow_year=2025&_fellow_program=430&utm_source=2025+ACLS+Project+Development+Grant+Announcement&utm_campaign=a203a58cb9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_05_06_03_50&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a203a58cb9-669488603

 

Aileen Miyuki Farrar, PhD, Associate Professor

Dr. Farrar recently published her work “Under the Moonlight: The Transcendent Allegory in Corelli and Schreiner.” This study analyzes two fin de siècle scientific romances and the ways they reimagine hierarchical conceptions of nature, especially astronomical bodies, with interactionist theories in order to rethink assumptions born of late nineteenth-century science and society about directionality and position. https://www.ncgsjournal.com/issue211/farrar.html

 

 

Amanda Furiasse, PhD, Assistant Professor

Dr. Furiasse recently published an article in History and Philosophy of Medicine titled “Artemisia annua and traditional medicine in Madagascar: Its history and challenges.” The article analyzes why the country of Madagascar is becoming a major global leader in pharmaceutical innovation, supply, and sustainable production methods. https://doi.org/10.53388/HPM2025012

 

 

From the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts:

 

Kandy Lopez-Moreno, Associate Professor

More than 9,000 people cast votes this summer at Orlando Museum of Art, and Fort Lauderdale artist Kandy G Lopez came out on top, winning the People’s Choice Award for her striking multimedia portraits.” (Kandy G Lopez Wins People’s Choice at Orlando Museum of Art’s Florida Prize – Bungalower). Orlando Museum of Art Announces 2025 Florida Prize People’s Choice Winner – CitySurfing Orlando

 

 

 

From the Department of Mathematics:

 

Jason Gershman, PhD, Chairman and Associate Professor

Dr. Gershman was elected as Vice President of the South Florida Chapter of the American Statistical Association for 2025-2026, previously serving two terms as President of this same organization (from 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.) This local chapter (all of Florida south of Tampa/Orlando/Cocoa) of the ASA is one of approximately 78 active geographically-organized chapters across North America. The ASA, numbering around 20,000 members, is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1839 and is one of America’s oldest continually operating professional societies.

 

 

From the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences:

 

Joana Figueiredo, PhD, Associate Professor

Dr. Figueiredo, Nova Southeastern University’s Director of the National Coral Reef Institute, was recently featured in a Miami Herald story on coral restoration efforts. The story examined NSU’s work to replenish the Florida Coral Reef with resilient corals. Figueiredo, a marine larval ecology and recruitment laboratory researcher with the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, gave the reporter an inside look at our coral-spawning operation. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/climate-change/article311769298.html

 

Joshua Feingold, PhD, Professor

Dr. Feingold collected population data on recovering coral populations in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, adding another data set to nearly 4 decades of data. Additional survey work was completed at Caño Island, Costa Rica on a persistent Porites lobata community. More detailed benthic maps of these coral communities are being created via photogrammetry. In 2023, Dr. Feingold contributed to an update to the IUCN Red List of Atlantic corals, updating the 2008 report. This is a resultant publication concerning the increased threat these corals are facing due to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309354

 

 

Alexander Soloviev, PhD, Professor

Researchers from the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences/Halmos College of Arts and Sciences Drs. Alex Soloviev and Cayla Dean have developed and patented a new system and method to detect submerged, non-naturally occurring ferromagnetic objects. This patent accounted for contributions to the magnetic field arising from topography, such as magnetic refraction at bathymetric slopes. Removing this topography component of noise from detected total magnetic field enhances detection capability of, for example, naval surveillance systems. The invention was made with government support under Cooperative Agreement awarded to the Nova Southeastern University by NAVAIR. This invention is now also being patented in 18 countries of the European Union.

 

Abigail Renegar, PhD, Research Scientist

The Tropical Oil Pollution Investigations in Coastal Systems (TROPICS) study, which began in 1984 in Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast of Panama, was designed to advance our understanding of the long-term impacts of oil and dispersed oil on tropical shorelines and nearshore ecosystems and support the development and refinement of essential spill response decision-making tools. December 2024 was the 40th anniversary of the TROPICS experiment and presented a unique opportunity to reassess ongoing impacts or recovery at the study sites. A team of 14 researchers and students from Nova Southeastern University, Texas A&M University, OSRL, Water Mapping, and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement returned to Bocas del Toro, collecting comprehensive data on the mangrove forest, seagrass, and coral reef at the TROPICS sites, assisted by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Bocas del Toro Research Station.

 

Amy Hirons, PhD, Professor

  • Charismatic Megafauna and Oceanography Laboratory (CMOL)
    • 10 graduate and 8 undergraduate research students
    • Publications: 3 in 2024, 6 in 2025 (3 published, 3 accepted), 1 in review

Additional Publications:

  • Giarikos D, Strait Y, Santos RG, Hirons AC (accepted) New insights into trace element offloading and bioaccumulation in endangered Hawaiian monk seal bones. Endangered Species Research.
  • Brohman M, Roffler GH, Giarikos DG, Kerstetter DW, Hirons AC (accepted) Elemental bioaccumulation as trophic discriminator in Southeast Alaska gray wolves: Marine-terrestrial diet shifts. Journal of Trace Elements and Minerals.
  • Brohman M, Giarikos DG, Hirons AC (accepted) Potential health risks from trace elements in four commercially important fish species from the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Heliyon.
  • Sawickij K, Giarikos DG, Hirons AC, Kerstetter, DW (2025.) Comparison of heavy metal concentrations in tissues of four Sciaenid fishes in Sabine Lake. Texas Journal of Science.
  • Brohman M, Roffler GH, Giarikos DG, Kerstetter DW, Hirons AC (2025) Salmon as an ecological pathway of contaminants into Alaskan food webs. Emerging Contaminants. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2025.100541
  • Munaco ML, Giarikos D, Levin M, Adkesson M, Cárdenas-Alayza S, Hirons AC (2025) Cytokine profile assessment from Peruvian pinniped (Arctocephalus australis and Otaria byronia) plasma. Journal of Wildlife and Veterinary Medicine.
  • White C, Giarikos D, Hirons AC (2024) Northern fur seal whisker bioaccumulation and partitioning of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and organochlorines. Emerging Contaminants. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2024.100439
  • Duda SM, Themelin M, Hirons AC, Dudzinski KM (2024) Contact exchanges in bottlenose dolphin mother-calf pairs. Aquatic Mammals. https://doi.org/10.1578/AM.50.1.2024.19
  • Daniels-Abdulahad M, Giarikos D, Adkesson M, Hirons AC (2024) Evaluation of heavy metal partitioning across Humbodlt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) egg components. Journal of Wildlife Disease. https://doi.org/10.7589/JWD-D-22-00176

Funding:

  • $319,000 – FDEP Phase 4 – Hirons, AC, Giarikos DG, Gershman J. 2025. Abiotic Influences Along Southeast Florida Coral Reef Communities, Phase IV. Florida DEP. Dania Beach, FL
  • $374,000 – FDEP Phase 3 – Hirons, AC, Giarikos DG, Gershman, J. 2024. Abiotic Influences Along Southeast Florida Coral Reef Communities. Phase III. Florida DEP. Dania Beach, FL
  • $77,000 – Mote Marine Lab / Loggerhead Marine Life Center (LMLC). 2025. “Supporting Seagrass Restoration in Lake Worth Lagoon”
  • $15,000 – NSU President Research Grant (PRG). 2025. “Tracking a Changing Arctic through Heavy Metal Partitioning: An Innovative Use of Bowhead Whales”
  • $15,000 – NSU President Research Grant (PRG). 2024. “Dentition Diaries of Vulnerable Peruvian Pinnipeds: An Account of Trace Element Contaminants in their Teeth”
  • $5,000 – Chicago Zoological Society Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Endangered Species Fund. 2025. “Assessing Contaminant Concentrations in the Feathers and Eggs of Humboldt Penguins Inhabiting the Punta San Juan Marine Reserve”

 

Karen Neely, PhD, Research Scientist II

The 2023 marine heatwave led to unprecedented thermal stress on Florida Keys corals. Despite widespread media reports of mass mortality on branching coral restoration outplants, Neely et al.’s paper “Too hot to handle? The impact of the 2023 marine heatwave on Florida Keys coral” found that the vast majority of wild reef-building corals did not experience any tissue loss from the event. This suggests an overall resiliency among remaining wild corals, though losses of some species at some sites provide guidance for patterns of spatial and species-specific variability.

Articles:

 

 

Brian Walker, PhD, Director II, Research Program Management

In the past year, I completed six projects totaling $2M, initiated four new ones totaling $1.2M, and continued five projects totaling $1.9M. Presented research at one domestic and three international conferences, including 16 total presentations. Authored and co-authored eight peer-reviewed manuscripts since 2024.

  • Pitts KA, Scheuermann M, Lefcheck JS, Ushijima B, Danek N, McDonald EM, Milanese AR, Schul MD, Meyer JL, Toth KA, Ferris Z, De La Flor YT, DeMarco T, Noren HKG, Walker BK and Paul VJ (2025) Evaluating the effectiveness of field-based probiotic treatments for stony coral tissue loss disease in southeast Florida, USA. Front. Mar. Sci. 12:1480966. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1480966.
  • Renegar DA, Noren HKG, Turner NR, Figueiredo J and Walker BK (2024) Southeast Florida large Orbicella faveolata are highly fecund without evident disease intervention effects. Front. Mar. Sci. 11:1369222. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1369222.
  • Deutsch, JM; Demko, AM; Jaiyesimi, OA; Foster, G; Kindler, A; Pitts, KA; Vekich, T; Williams, GJ; Walker, BK; Paul, VJ; and N Garg. (2024). “Metabolomic profiles of stony coral species from the Dry Tortugas National Park display inter- and intraspecies variation.” mSystems 9(12): e00856-00824.
  • Carreiro, A. M., Eckert, R. J., Sturm, A. B., Ingalls, T. C., Combs, I. R., Walker, B. K., & Voss, J. D. (2024). Assessment of nutrient amendments on stony coral tissue loss disease in Southeast Florida. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11. doi:10.3389/fmars.2024.1384534
  • Walker, BK, Fisco Becker, D., Williams, G. J., Kilfoyle, A. K., Smith, S. G., & Kozachuk, A. (2024). Regional reef fish assemblage maps provide baseline biogeography for tropicalization monitoring. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 7893. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-58185-6
  • Toth, K. A., Buckley, S. F., Noren, H., Neely, K. L., & Walker, B. K. (2024). Broadscale coral disease interventions elicit efficiencies in endemic disease response. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10. doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1302697
  • Klein, A. M., Sturm, A. B., Eckert, R. J., Walker, B. K., Neely, K. L., & Voss, J. D. (2024). Algal symbiont genera but not coral host genotypes correlate to stony coral tissue loss disease susceptibility among Orbicella faveolata colonies in South Florida. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11. doi:10.3389/fmars.2024.1287457
  • Aeby, G. S., Williams, G. J., Whitall, D. R., Davies, A. J., Fromuth, E., & Walker, B. K. (2024). Host density and anthropogenic stress are drivers of variability in dark spot disease in Siderastrea siderea across the Florida Reef Tract. Bulletin of Marine Science, 100(2): 163-184. doi: https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2022.0063

 

 

Tamara Frank, PhD, Professor

Tammy Frank and graduate students Kiley Jillisky and Gwyn Loughman of the Deep-Sea Biology lab participated on a 5-week research cruise on the RV Neil Armstrong to the Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field on the mid-Atlantic Ridge off of Portugal. NSU was the lead institution on this large collaborative NSF funded research grant involving vision of the vent shrimp (NSU and Univ. of Delaware), bioluminescence at the vent sites (Duke University), genomic studies to look for genes involved in phototransduction and collection of samples for e-DNA analyses (FIU). The vent shrimp have remarkably modified photoreceptors, metamorphosing from the standard stalked eyes that the pelagic post-larvae have, to huge light organs on their back once they settle in the benthic environment. Earlier studies had shown that the photoreceptors of these shrimp were destroyed by collections under white light, so collections were made under blue light (in case they were sensitive to infrared wavelengths) and red light (in case they were sensitive to blue light). We are all now busily analyzing the data that we collected on this cruise involving the ultrastructure and spectral sensitivity of these unusual photoreceptors.

 

 

 

Rosanna (Boyle) Milligan, PhD, Assistant Professor

This year marked both our 10th DEEPEND research cruise AND the 10th anniversary of the DEEPEND research program (we started with the 2010-2011 damage assessment and have been monitoring and characterizing the offshore Gulf of Mexico through DEEPEND (2015 – 2019) and DEEPEND | RESTORE (2019 – 2029). The DEEPEND program includes Dr. Sutton, Dr. Milligan, Dr. Frank and now Dave Kerstetter’s labs from DoMES.

Milligan and Dr. Kerstetter contributed to a major review of the North Atlantic deep-sea ecosystems, which is in press and being published as part of the Challenger 2020 program under the UN’s Decade of the Oceans initiative:

  • Allcock, A.L., Amon, D.J., Bridges, A.E.H., Colaço, A., Escobar-Briones, E., Hilário, A., Howell, K.L., Mestre, N.C., Muller-Karger, F.E., Priede, I.M., Sullivan Sealey, K., Snelgrove, P., Xavier, J.R., Amaro, T., Bandara, G., Bax, N., Belén Yanez Suarez, A., Braga-Henriques, A., Brandt, A., Boschen-Rose, R.E., Brix, S., Cambronero-Solano, S., Cedeño-Posso, C., Copley, J., Cordes, E., Cortés, J., Croquer, A., Cuvelier, D., Davies, J.S., Durden, J.M., Esquete, P., Foster, N., Frutos, I., Gasbarro, R., Gates, A.R., Gomes, M., Goodwin, L.V.M., van der Grient, J., Horton, T., Hourigan, T., Hoving H-J., Jones, D.O.B., Joshi, S., Kingon, K.C., Lörz, A-N., Martins, A., Merten, V., Metaxas, A., Milligan, R.J., Molodtsova, T.N., Morato, T., Morrissey, D., Naranjo-Elizondo, B., Narayanaswamy, B.E., Olafsdottir, S.H., Parimbelli, A., Peña, M., Ragnarsson, S., Ramalho, S.P., Rodrigues, C.F., Ross, R.E., Saeedi, H., Santos, R., Schwing, P.T., Serpa, T., Shantharam, A.K., Stevenson, A., Sutton, T.T., Svavarsson, J., Taylor, M.L., Zwerschke, N. (in press). Deep-sea ecosystems of the North Atlantic Ocean: Discovery, Status, Function and Future Challenges. Deep-Sea Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2025.104580

 

Bernhard Riegl, PhD, Professor

Received ONR grant, $2,355,000:

  • This grant presently employs 8 grad students and recent graduates
  • This grant supports research time for 8 faculty and research scientists
  • Within the grant finished a paper (presently in review): “Riegl B et al, Ocean heat determines community trajectories on natural and artificial substrata. Scientific Reports”.

Work ongoing, progress report due November 1:

  • Independent research: Evaluated 10 years of plant monitoring in Davie, FL and presently finishing manuscript for submission: “Riegl B. et al. Boom and bust in a fugitive species: the exotic Monch Orchid (Oeceoclades maculata) in suburban Florida”
  • From previous research. 1 manuscript accepted: Riegl et al (submitted) Marginal reefs of the Persian/Arabian Gulf: pattern and processes. In: Marginal Reef Systems; Coral Reefs of the World,
  • Outside Advising: PhD adviser (committee member) at University of Toronto: J F Gutierrez Alejandre, Insights of Holocene to Modern Environmental Variability and Biogeographic Connectivity in the East Pacific from Shallow-Water Benthic Foraminifera Assemblages (Chair: J. Halfar, U of T).
  • Committees: Adviser and committee for 3 MS and 2 PhDs at NSU.
  • I am editor of book series “Coral reefs of the World” at Springer. The series reached 21 titles in 2025.

 

Andrew Bauman, PhD, Assistant Professor

Four NSU researchers and three graduate students conducted fieldwork in the Central Philippines. Part of the expedition included diving in Tubbataha Reefs National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. National Geographic Explorer (Noel Guevara) documented the expedition in Tubbataha

Three published manuscripts and four currently in review:

  • Ladd MC, Shantz AA, Harborne AR, Bauman AG, Duran A (In Press) The rise of the long sediment laden algal turfs: An additional negative feedback process limiting reef resilience. Coral Reefs
  • Eakin CM, Heron SF, Connolly, SR, Devotta DA, Liu G, Bauman AG et al. (In Press) Severe and widespread coral reef damage during the 2014–2017 Global Coral Bleaching Event. Nature Communications
  • Zamborain Mason J, Connolly SR, MacNeil MA, Barnes ML, Bauman AG et al. (2025) Downscaling global reference points to assess the sustainability of local fisheries. Conservation Biology 39:e1440 (https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14440)

Author on the Persian/Arabian Gulf Chapter within the Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025

Funded research projects:

  • Two Florida DEP research grants
  • Grants currently in review: The Explorers Club, National Geographic, Waitt Foundation
  • A finalist for Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation in Singapore

 

 

 

Fraser Januchowski-Hartley, PhD, Assistant Professor

Research Accomplishments:

  • This summer, along with Dr. Bauman, I took three students and three other researchers to Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park on the WWF Research Vessel Navorca. The research on this trip was to focus on creating a baseline of fish behavior from grazing behavior, to predation and wariness in an untouched location to identify how fishing affects the ecology of reefs through changes in fish behavior. Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and consists of three coral atolls in the central Sulu Sea, Philippines. At over 150km from the nearest population, TRNP gives us a unique opportunity to conduct research in a pristine environment at the center of coral and reef diversity, the Coral Triangle.
  • Noel Guevara, National Geographic Explorer accompanied us on the trip, and his summary of the research is here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17863017426375011/
  • In December 2025, along with collaborators Dr Valerio Sbragaglia and Enrico Cecapolli from the Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona, and Lorenzo Morroni from the Italian Institute of the Environmental Protection and Research, I published a paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology on integrating fish behavior into models that can guide spearfishing management in the Mediterranean. This research showed the importance of understanding how behavior changes with fish size when setting minimum size limits, and that what a fish does post-flight can increase vulnerability to fishing. The paper made the front cover of the November issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14769 Department of Marine Renewable

 

 

 

Tracey Sutton, PhD, Professor

Dr. Sutton led three successful DEEPEND research cruises in the Gulf of Mexico totaling 39 sea days aboard the R/V Point Sur. HCAS participants other than Sutton included two faculty (Tammy Frank and Zan Boyle), one Program Manager (April Cook), and six HCAS graduate students. Dr. Sutton was also awarded three research grants encompassing oceanic research in the Gulf of Mexico, Southwest Atlantic (Argentina to Brazil) and Equatorial Atlantic (Africa). Sutton published eight research papers in the past year, including the description of a new species of fish (black dragonfish).

 

 

 

 

From the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies:

 

 

Cheryl Duckworth, PhD, Professor and Master’s Program Director

Dr. Duckworth will be presenting at the International Peace Research Association in November. She’ll present on her research related to peace education interventions that can help prevent violent extremism.

 

 

Neil Katz, PhD, Professor

Publications:

  • Communication Compass: Practical Skills for Navigating Conflict.  Katz, Neil H. Editor. Innovativeink Puplisher, 2025.

Book Chapters:

  • “A Bold Proposal for Curricular Innovation in Conflict Management Training in Higher Education.” (with Ronda Ress and Katherine Sosa) in De Gruyter Handbook of Conflict Management in Higher Education, Yashwant Pathak and LaVena Wilkin, Eds., forthcoming.
  • “Preventing escalation, transforming conflict: What an Ombuds may bring to Non-profit Organizations’ (with Tyrone Savage) in Conflict Management in Non-Profit Organization, Yashwant Pathak, ed. De Gruyter Publ. 2025.

 

Terry Savage, PhD, Associate Professor

Dr. Savage was invited to conduct a series of interviews in northern Iraq with survivors of Islamic State / Da’esh violence. Much international work has been done since the demise of Da’esh in 2019 to gather evidence and establish a historical record of its atrocities, most notably genocide, chiefly against the Yazidi community, and the abduction and enslavement of women in the locations they occupied. Terry’s research now sought a victimological perspective on this narrative and ways of remembering that might be healing, transformative, and a bulwark against recurrence: the chief research finding was that survivors want acts of compassion and helpfulness from this time as well as their personal histories of resilience to be remembered, recorded, and honored through memorials.