Notable & Quotable

April Bowling, assistant professor of health sciences, was quoted in a Jan. 9, 2017, story in MedPage Today about the behavioral benefits of aerobicexercise for children with behavioral healthdisorders. “The big takeaway from this study is that kids with these types of (behavioral) challenges may not need a lot of aerobic exercise to see big improvements in classroom behavior,” Bowling said. “But it is really important to find modes of exercise that appeal to them, and work within the existing structures of school.”

Associate professor in the Girard School of Business Joseph R. Stasio was featured in MoneyGeek’s Expert Advice for First-Time or Newer Cash Back Cardholders and Expert Advice for Balance Transfer Cardholders.

Alicia Malone, assistant professor of criminology, co-edited a volume, “Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality: Transforming the Discourse of ‘Mean Girls’” in the United States,” for Routledge’s Research in Gender and Society series. “Girls, Aggression and Intersectionality” examines how intersecting social identities, such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and age, shape media representations of, and criminal justice responses to, girls’ aggression. Former Merrimack professor Krista McQueeney, now at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, served as co-editor.

Dr. Brandi Baldock, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is our final STARTer of the semester. Her project, “Inclusive Learning in the STEM Gateway: Design & Evaluation of Robust Alternative Assessments for Chemistry Curriculum,” focuses on developing strategies to support and evaluate student achievement of non-cognitive chemistry program outcomes, with the ultimate goal of improving inclusivity and student retention in STEM fields.

Mary McHugh,adjunct lecturer inpolitical science and director of the Stevens Service Learning Center, was quoted in an Oct. 20, 2017, Daily News of Newburyport, Massachusetts, story about the war chest Gov. Charlie Baker has amassed for a possiblereelection bid in 2018. “It’s hard to beat an incumbent,” she said. “Especially a popular one like Charlie Baker.”

Russ Olwell, associate dean of the School of Education and Social Policy,publisheda columnin the March 24, 2018, edition of the Eagle-Tribune about the benefits of early-college and dual-enrollment programs, whichhelp students earn college credits while in high school and serve to make higher education more attractive and affordable to students. “The experience of taking a college class on a college campus with a professor gives students the experience of success in college, an experience that can give them and their families hope,” Olwell wrote.

Associate Professor James Kaklamanos was recently interviewed for a feature article on earthquakes in Turkey published on InterestingEngineering.com, a website that profiles the latest events, developments, and breakthroughs in engineering, science and technology. Kaklamanos teaches in the civil engineering department at Merrimack’s School of Science and Engineering.

Kathryn Welby, Ed.D., associate professor of practice in the Winston School of Education and Social Policy, was a featured educator in EducationWeek in January. She offered three things she would tell herself as a first-year teacher.

Assistant Professor Leena Bharath, who teaches in the School of Health Sciences, has received $434,000 in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The awarded R15 grant will stretch over three years and is intended to support the training of undergraduate students.

Brittnie Aiello, associate professor of criminology, spoke to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for a story about an increase in female inmates due to the opiate crisis. She focused on the high bails set in some cases. For a poor suspect, she said, “$10,000 might be like $5 million.”

Associate Professor Sirkwoo Jin was published in the March 9, 2021 edition of Organization Science about the value of bringing emotions into the workplace.

Karen Haydenhas been promoted from associate to full professor in the department of criminology, which she also chairs. Hayden joined the Merrimack faculty in 1997 and earned tenurein 2001. Her areas of interest include girls, women and crime; rural crime; society and law; and cultural criminology. She is working on two books, one on society and law, and the other onimages of rural people and rural crime in popular culture. Haydenholdsbachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from theUniversity of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. in sociology from Northeastern University.

Melissa Zimdars, assistant professor of communication, wrote a fake news “how-to” for the Young African Leadership Initiative as part of the U.S. State Department’s ongoing campaign to counter misinformation in Africa. YALI supports young African leaders as they spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance and enhance peace and security across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Tunde Szivak, associate professor of health sciences, and Dr. Alyssa Yetter, assistant professor of criminology, in collaboration with former Exercise and Sport Science graduate student Timary Malley, recently published a paper titled “Physical Training Considerations for Police Academy Recruits“.

Assistant Professor Azam Noori’s article “Silver Nanoparticles Toxicological Effects and Phytoremediation” was recently published in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research. The publication is the product of a collaborative work between scientists from eight different countries.

Three Merrimack professors were recently quoted in WalletHub on a variety of topics.Associate professor of marketing Joseph R. Stasio recently commented on how to choose thebest credit cards on the market.Assistant professor of human developmentLaura Hsu recently answered questionsabout states with the best and worst school systems.Assistant professor of finance Fan Chen was featured in the “Ask the Experts” section about low interest credit cards.

Associate Professor Joseph Stasio was recently interviewed by MoneyGeek for his expert views on Business Credit Cards and Startup Funding Studies. Stasio teaches in the marketing department at Merrimack’s Girard School of Business.

Mary McHugh, executive director of civic & community engagement, presented at an APSA round table on Essential Topics for Introductory American Politics Courses and presented a co-authored paper “Connecting Students across Borders in Interdisciplinary Service Learning.” This paper is based on the International Service Learning Network Symposium that was held online this past spring. Five Merrimack students participated in the symposium and worked with students from the United States and the United Kingdom.

Alison Russell, assistant professor of political science and international studies, was interviewed for the Center for International Maritime Security’s Sept. 6, 2017, “Sea Control” podcast, “Cyber Threats to Navies.” Russell saidthe rise of cyber capabilities, such as precision targeting and long-range attacks on systems, means that navies will be simultaneously more connected and more vulnerable at sea than ever before. “The modern Navy has so many capabilities that rely on cyberspace that it must not take access to cyberspace for granted,” she said. “As our ships grow smarter and we invest more and more in the high-end capabilities that allow this unprecedented array of actions, let us not forget to simultaneously ensure that the cyber-connected systems are protected so that our new technology can be used effectively when it’s called upon.”

Raymond Shaw, associate professor of psychology, wrote an essay, “Assessing the Intangible in Our Students,” for the July 27 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Ten years ago, Richard Shavelson wrote that accreditation pressures could lead us to focus on easily formulated, standardized and measured student outcomes and to neglect ‘personal and social responsibility skills’ — ‘personal, civic, moral, social and intercultural knowledge and actions,’” Shaw wrote. “He warned that if we do not measure those, ‘they will drop from sight.’ If we neglect the ineffable outcomes in our efforts to understand what college is for, and what we accomplish in higher education, they could disappear from our attention, our aspirations and eventually from our teaching.”