Notable & Quotable

Notable & Quotable

• Assistant professor of health sciences April Bowling was featured in a Boston Globe story April 13, 2020 on how people should continue to exercise during self-isolation. Adhering to a fitness regimen that incorporates cardiovascular and resistance training is important for overall health, she told the Globe.

• School of Education and Social Policy Associate Dean Russ Olwell wrote an op-ed column for The Eagle-Tribune newspaper April 15 urging school districts to hire graduates when schools reopen. Merrimack students studying education have been relentlessly proactive in their commitment to helping K-12 teachers while schools are closed. They are showing that the next generation of teachers will be excellent and worthy of the profession.

• An article in USA Today on May 2, 2020, cites associate professor of communication and media Lisa Perks’ research on binge-watching during an illness. The article offered tips on making sure binge-watching during the coronavirus pandemic is a healthy and calming escape.

• Assistant professor of communication and media Melissa “Mish” Zimdars, author of “Watching Our Weights: The Contradictions of Televising Fatness in the ‘Obesity Epidemic,’” was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article March 24, 2020 discussing the portrayal of fat women on television. 

• Isabelle Cherney, Dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, was featured in The Wall Street Journal on May 1, 2020. Cherney talked about young kids’ fascination with adults and how this helps explain the continued popularity of toys that mimic adult jobs like the microscope and rocket kits. 

• Associate professor of communication and media Lisa Perks was cited as a source for an article in The Wall Street Journal on March 20, 2020 about what people are watching on TV while in self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. Perks, who researches binge-watching and media-engagement, said media-marathoning can be a therapeutic coping mechanism. 

• Cristi Catt, voice instructor at Merrimack College, recently wrapped up a session at Berklee College’s renowned recording studio, Shames Family Scoring Stage. She was awarded a grant to record “All Over the Map” with her ensemble Blue Thread.

• Health Sciences Department assistant professor Juliana Cohen was recently featured as an expert source for a KTVA television report regarding a pilot program in Anchorage, Alaska to lengthen lunchtime and recess for school children as a means of improving academic focus. 

• Eight faculty members from four schools at Merrimack attended the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies conference in Amsterdam last semester. They include associate professors Luis Saenz de Viguera Erkiago and Cinzia DiGiulio of the World Languages and Cultural Studies Department, Civil Engineering Department assistant professor Cynthia Carlson, visiting associate professor Ellen Fitzpatrick, Women and Gender Studies Department professor Simona Sharoni, Graduate Education Department associate professor Susan Marine, Accounting and Finance Department associate professor Ana Silva, and Education Department assistant professor Laura Hsu.

• Mechanical Engineering Department assistant professors Anthony Di Carlo and Rickey Caldwell Jr., and former student Courtney Videchak ’19, have co-authored the paper, “Optimization of Spatially Distributed Soil Conductivities for Horizontal Ground Heat Exchanger” which has been accepted by the journal Applied Thermal Engineering.