IN BRIEF

Faculty and Staff 

Charles Dyer, administrative assistant in the Office of Public Affairs, made his network television debut on Thursday, May 11, playing a health inspector in a comedy sketch on The Late Show with David Letterman. Dyer has been working as an associate director on the show since 2003. 

Richard Farber, professor of education, had a research article published in the International Schools Journal (Vol. XXV, No. 2, April 2006). The article, written with Barry Sutherland, superintendent of the International School of Moshi, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, is entitled: “Waste Not, Want Not: Teacher Attrition and Retention in Global Schools.” The Journal is published by the European Council of International Schools/Council of International schools (ECIS/CIS). It is the largest international schools association in the world. Farber was also invited to present the research at the annual Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA) Conference in Warsaw, Poland, in March.

The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and other institutions continue to have the benefit of many presentations and services from professors at the College. Tom Hagedorn, associate professor, and Karen Clark, assistant professor, both in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, will participate in a panel on “Webwork, a Web-based Interactive Homework System” at the summer 2006 meeting of the MAA in Knoxville, TN, in August. Hagedorn was invited to speak at New Jersey City University on April 20 as part of “Math Awareness.” His talk was titled “Da Visa Code: The Mathematics of Internet Security.” Also, he will be the conference director for the fourth annual Garden State Undergraduate Mathematics Conference in spring 2007. Clark has accepted a second three-year term as treasurer of the New Jersey section of the MAA. Associate professor of mathematics and statistics Cindy Curtis-Budka will be a participant this summer in the Institute for Advanced Study/Park City research program. This program will focus on low-dimensional topology. Professor Chamont Wang will present a paper at the DIMACS meeting on data mining this summer at Rutgers University.

Blythe Hinitz, professor of elementary/early childhood education, is the winner of the New Jersey Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NJAECTE) Outstanding Research Award for 2006.  She was nominated by Jody Eberly, assistant professor of elementary/early childhood education, and Arlene Martin of Kean University. Blythe will be presented with the award by Janice Strasser of William Patterson University, chair or of the awards committee, at the NJAECTE spring meeting on June 20. Blythe is cited for her extensive work in the area of history of early childhood education and multicultural education; her broad-based work on anti-bullying and teasing, anti-harassment and peace education; her long-term support and guidance of student research and presentations in the areas of American Indian-Native American creative arts and literature, anti-bullying and history; and her long-term mentoring of student award winners, including Laura Munice, 2005 winner of the State of New Jersey Department of State Martin Luther King, Jr. Award and the numerous winners of Kappa Delta Pi and New Jersey Association for the Education of Young Children (NJAEYC) awards over her more than 30 years at the College. In addition, she is cited for her publications and presentations in the areas of history of education and peace education over the past 40 years.  

Mary Lynn Hopps, W.I.L.L. director, participated on a panel titled "Find the Leader Inside You" on Saturday, May 6, at the State House in Trenton.  The program for 100 girls was hosted by the Girl Scouts and included the panel event and breakout sessions. Other panelists were Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, and Michelle Tuck-Ponder (former mayor of Princeton, currently CEO of the Girl Scouts Council). The panel (held in the New Jersey Senate Chambers) was moderated by Anne Maiese from the League of Women Voters.  Following the panel, three W.I.L.L. students, Jennifer Braverman, Ashley Reichelman, and Yasmine Obie, facilitated the breakout sessions.

Allen Katz, professor of engineering science, received his 16th patent: #7030824, "MEMS Reflect Array," issued 18 April 2006. The patent was for the application of Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) technology to the design of a reflect array.  A reflect array is a very versatile type of directional antenna that may have value on communications satellites.  Allen has been interested in reflect arrays for a number of years, along with his main research area of distortion correction. The application of MEMS devices allows these antennas to operate more efficiently.

Jean-Michelet Jean-Michel, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, has been invited to speak at the American Institute of Mathematical Sciences Conference. His topic is dynamics of forced oscillators. A free-running semiconductor laser, an electronic device described by first-order differential equations, may be subject to noise in the form of Silnikov chaos. He will present an analytical method for detecting the presence of this phenomena. The conference will take place in Poitiers, France, in June.

Nino Scarpati, director if civic leadership development, moderated a panel titled "Leading Up: Influencing without Authority" at the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Spring Leadership Forum. Panelists included Assemblyman Bill Baroni and Tom Sullivan ’80, president and CEO of Princeton Partners. Sponsored by Tyco International, the forum was held on Tuesday, May 9, at the Westin at Forrestal Village in Princeton.

Effective July 1, the College Honors Program will be under the leadership of John Sisko, associate professor of philosophy. Lee Harrod, professor of English, has coordinated the Honors Program for the last five years and will return full-time to the English department while continuing to add support, encouragement, and advice during the transition. A number of new honors initiatives are in process, including closer  coordination with school and department honors courses and activities, designated honors international experiences, enhanced honors research activities, and honors-by-Contract (especially helpful for students in professional programs).  Sisko earned his PhD in philosophy from Rutgers University and his BA in liberal arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD. Prior to coming to the College, he taught at the College of William and Mary, Temple University, and the California State University at San Bernardino. His field of research is Ancient Greek philosophy and his published work has focused on Aristotle’s Philosophy of Mind and Pre-Socratic physics. He is also a member of the Program in Classical Studies.

STUDENTS

The College's student mini-baja junior team placed 17th out of 66 entered cars in this past April's Mini-Baja East Competition at Auburn University in Alabama. The senior team car placed 24th. The junior team also placed first for the technical report aspect of the competition, and team captain Jim Giacchi placed first for Longest Jump during the Suspsension and Traction course. Both the junior and senior teams used 5-speed manual transmissions our of a Honda TRX300EX all-terrain vehicle. Both teams built the vehicles entirely from scratch, other than the transmission and other subassemblies that could not be fabricated in-house. Junior team members included: Jim Giacchi (team captain, drivetrain), Matt Kinback (front and rear suspension), Matt Glazik (frame, brakes), Mary Anne Bitetto (frame) and Chris Allen (floatation). Sophomore assistants were Matt Winklespecht, Tony Minerva, Walter Jensen, Rob Damiano, Andrew Caden, and Alex Colletti. The senior team members were: Joe McKeever (team manager), Matt Ledyard (front suspension), Matt Boyer (frame), John Martin (floatation), Jenn Geigert (rear suspension), Greg Reece (drivetrain integration), and Greg Conway (drivetrain).

Under the coaching of professor Judit Kardos, the College’s mathematics team competed with 23 other teams in the annual New Jersey Undergraduate Mathematics Contest, held at Rowan University on Saturday, April 29. When the results were in, two TCNJ students, Robert Wilson and Andrew Shapiro, took 7th and 8th place, respectively, out of a field of 67 competitors. The College’s team tied for 6th place with Seton Hall, following teams from Rutgers and Princeton only. The Charles H. Goldberg Prize in Computer Science was presented to senior Eric Thul. This prize is given in honor of Dr. Goldberg, previous chair of the computer science department. The recipient must be a graduating computer science major who has applied for admission to graduate study and has demonstrated academic excellence in computer science. The funding is from contributions to the Charles Goldberg Computer Science Prize. Other computer science awards were presented on April 26. Christopher Neylan received the Freshmen Award. Chris Refsdal received the Sophomore Award. Two students, Lauren Leonardis and Robert Wilson, received the Junior Award. The Senior Award was presented to Patrick Rollins, and a special Service Award was presented to sophomore Bryce Liskovec.

Junior chemistry major Lauren Munoz has been selected as recipient of the Top Chemistry Junior award for TCNJ. This award is sponsored by the Trenton Section of the American Chemical Society and is given annually. Lauren was accompanied by Professor John Allison of the chemistry department to receive the award at a dinner May 9 in Lawrenceville.

Alida Liberman, junior philosophy major, won the Cummings Prize for the best philosophical essay by an undergraduate student at the College. Her contribution, which took the form of a Socratic dialogue, was titled, “Orating about Oratory: A Dialogue between Myself and Socrates about the Nature of Oratory in Plato’s Gorgias.” Alida’s essay was voted the best out of seven submissions. The Cummings Prize commemorates former TSC philosophy professor Philip Cummings and carries with it a cash prize of $100.