Engineering & Computational Sciences News & Events

See news and events in Merrimack College’s School of Engineering and Computational Sciences.

News

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By: Michael Cronin
Merrimack College students are teaching robots to dance, read and interact with the greater community.
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By: Joseph O'Connell
Merrimack's new Shared Instrumentation and Research Facility (SIRF), will serve as an on-campus research hub for biology, chemistry and other life science initiatives.
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By: Michael Cronin
Samantha Fagundes ‘24 hopes to one day become a Disney Imagineer through the park’s internship program.
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By: Michael Cronin
Three alumni turned educators speak on their love for Merrimack and why they chose to come back.
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By: Joseph O'Connell
Associate Professor Marc Veletzos and Christopher Cole ’04 were recently honored by the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Notable & Quotable

Azam Noori, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, presented her research at the annual meeting of the American Society of Plant Biology (ASPB) in Portland, OR. Her presentation “Lemna minor for Silver Nanoparticles Phytoremediation” focuses on using common duckweed (Lemna minor) in removing silver nanoparticles from an aquatic environment.

Dr. James Kaklamanos, associate professor of civil engineering, was one of two earthquake engineers interviewed by Interesting Engineering on the multitude of buildings that collapsed in Turkey and Syria following the devastating earthquake.

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.

Five faculty members were awarded tenure in January by President Christopher E. Hopey. They are:Jimmy Franco, assistant professor of chemistry;Brittnie Aiello, assistant professor of criminology;Sally Shockro, assistant professor of history;Susan Marine, associate professor and program director in the higher education master’s program; andSirkwoo Jin, assistant professor of management.

George Heffernan, department chair and professor of philosophy, collaborated with his colleague Marco Cavallaro of the University of Koblenz-Landau in Germany to collect the 14 papers from internationally renowned scholars, co-wrote the Preface, single-authored two major papers and translated several papers from German. The Existential Husserl: A Collection of Critical Essays is now in press and published by Springer.

Janine LeBlanc-Straceski, associate professor and chair of biology, published a paper, “A Conserved Role of the Unconventional Myosin 1d in Laterality Determination,” in the March 2018 issue of Current Biology. The paper was an international collaboration with colleagues in Germany and France and the culmination of many years of work with LeBlanc-Straceski’s students.

Dr. James Kaklamanos, associate professor of civil engineering, was interviewed by The Washington Post in conjunction with their coverage of the Morocco earthquake that occurred in Sept. 2023. He appeared in parts of two portions of their live updates after the earthquake: (1) What to do in an earthquake, and (2) Why many buildings in Morocco were vulnerable to the earthquake.

Dr. Brandi Baldock and co-authors Dr. Anthony Fernandez, Dr. Jimmy Franco, Dr. Brian Provencher and Dr. Mark McCoy from Merrimack’s department of chemistry & biochemistry recently published an article in the Journal of Chemical Education entitled “Overcoming the Challenges of Remote Instruction: Using Mobile Technology to Promote Active Learning.”

Isabelle Cherney, dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, published a chapter, “Characteristics of Masculine and Feminine Toys and Gender-Differentiated Play,” in the book “Gender Typing of Children’s Toys: How Early Play Experiences Impact Development” (2018, American Psychological Association) by Erica S. Weisgram and Lisa M. Dinella.

Associate Professor of Civil Engineering James Kaklamanos was recently profiled in a monthly feature article by the Seismological Society of America (SSA), as part of their “At Work” column.

Events

Graduate Student Celebration

Graduate Student Celebration is an exciting event where prospective and accepted students can get a glimpse into becoming a warrior through information sessions, campus tours, and opportunities to connect with faculty, staff, and peers!

Arcidi Welcome Center