Faculty Research and Sponsored Programs

Gillian Adler, English Department

Web Office — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:51:07 +0000

Gillian Adler, Visiting Assistant Professor, English, recently received two research grants. The first, the Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society, will help her work on her study of Geoffrey Chaucer’s use of time in medievals narrative, particularly in regard to how he and other late medievals authors reimagine the temporal paradigms they inherited from ancient and patristic philosophers. The second grant is from the Medievals Academy of America and supports Dr. Adler’s travel expenses to the UK, where she will be giving a talk at the London Biennial Chaucer Conference at the Institute of English Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. The paper responds to the topic of “Chaucer and the Law” and focuses on how Boethian philosophy underscores Theseus’s legal discourse in The Knight’s Tale.

David Gerlach, History Department

Web Office — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:48:49 +0000

David Gerlach, Associate Professor, History, had an article published in the journal, Jewish Culture and History in January 2017. The article is titled, Toward a Material Culture of Jewish Loss. The paper explores the nature of individual property claims to sketch out a material culture of Jewish loss. The personal, political and socio-economic meanings of wartime theft and postwar restitution are addressed.

Katherine Safford-Ramus, Mathematics Department

Web Office — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:47:22 +0000

Katherine Safford-Ramus, Professor, Mathematics has been asked to serve as a subject matter expert on an adult numeracy project funded by the United States Department of Education. Titled Advancing Mathematics Teaching and Learning in Adult Education, this three- year project hopes to accelerate the teaching and learning of advanced mathematics through the use of high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) aligned to College and Career Readiness Standards, innovative teaching models, Teacher User Groups, and next-generation educational technologies.

David Gerlach, History Department

Web Office — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 12:16:21 +0000

David Gerlach, Associate Professor, History, has been awarded an American Council on Germany 2016-2017 Dr. Richard M. Hunt Fellowship for the Study of German Politics, Society, and Culture. This fellowship will provide David with the opportunity to travel to Germany next summer in order to conduct research on a new project. His new project explores how property theft and restitution shaped experiences and memories of Central Europeans during and after World War II. He recently completed an article that examines what this lost property meant to Jews who survived the Holocaust. It will appear in the journal Jewish Culture and History in 2017.

WeiDong Zhu & Debing Zeng, Applied Science and Technology

Web Office — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 21:21:50 +0000

WeiDong Zhu, Associate Professor and Chair, and Debing Zeng, Assistant Professor, Applied Science and Technology are mentoring three Physics students that were selected to receive grants ($1000 each) from the Independent College Fund of New Jersey (ICFNJ) to conduct research in physics. Their research projects are:
Derek Osborn (’18) – Application of Microplasma-Synthesized Nanofilm for Melamine Detection by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Mentor: Dr. Zeng.

Adam Zandani (18) – Plasma Bandage Using Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge, Mentor: Dr. Zhu.

Edwin Rivas (17) – Investigation of Quantum Entanglement Dynamics of Coupled Qubits in the Global Environment, Mentor: Dr. Zeng.

The research period will be from October 2016 to January 2017. Upon concluding their research, the students will present their findings on Monday, March 6, 2017 at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.

Philip Plotch, Political Science Department

Web Office — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 22:08:34 +0000

Philip Plotch, Assistant Professor, Political Science, appeared on the program "In Transit," on NY1 with reporter Jose Martinez to discuss the Second Avenue Subway. Dr. Plotch is a former MTA planner who is working on a book about the Second Avenue Subway.

Michael Walonen, English Department

Web Office — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 22:07:17 +0000

Michael Walonen, Assistant Professor, English Department, published his second book, Contemporary World Narrative Fiction and the Spaces of Neoliberalism.

Mark DeStephano, Modern and Classical Languages Department

Web Office — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 22:05:42 +0000

Rev. Mark DeStephano, S.J., delivered an address during the summer at then Faculty Club of his alma mater, Harvard University (A.M., '91; Ph.D., '95), titled, "Western Responses to 'Oriental' Religious Challenges: The Contrasting Cultural Visions of Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci, S.J."

Paul Almonte, English Department

Web Office — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 22:02:35 +0000

Paul Almonte, Associate Professor, English Department was a participant in the Globalizing the Liberal Arts Symposium and Workshop at Yale University in June. Dr. Almonte also went to Tbilisi, Georgia to teach English to students. He was part of a group involved in developing and teaching an English language learning program established by LCC International University for refugees from Syria and Iraq as well as internally displaced people with Georgia.

Jill Callahan, Biology Department

Web Office — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 21:56:52 +0000

Jill Callahan, Associate Professor, Biology Department presented research at the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Microbe June 2016 Meeting in Boston. Her poster, "Inhibition of Streptococcus Mutans Biofilm Formation by Propolis, Green Tea, and Miswak," included student collaborators, Julia Bryan '15, Natia Molineros '14 and Monique Salmon '14. Their research examined natural plant-based remedies against dental plaque.