The faculty development programs offer an opportunity for faculty members to grow professionally, to remain current with developments in their disciplines, and to infuse these experiences into the classroom to enhance student learning. As illustrated below, NKU’s faculty development programs have enabled our faculty members to undertake important work in their fields, often including students in their research, and have brought renown to the university.
SABBATICAL LEAVES are granted by the University to promote the professional growth and effectiveness of the faculty. Sabbatical leaves are granted to enable recipients, based on merit, to devote additional time to scholarly activity and research, advanced study, or artistic performance—all in pursuit of academic objectives. Tenured, full-time faculty, and department chairs are eligible to apply for sabbatical leave.
SUMMER FELLOWSHIPS provide funds to support professional development during the summer months. Examples of types of activities that may be applicable include: improving teaching skills; research; scholarly writing; creative or artistic projects; preliminary studies and literature searches; and attending seminars or courses related to one’s field or professional work. Full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty may apply for a faculty summer fellowship. Each faculty member awarded a fellowship for summer 2024 received an award of $6,000.
PROJECT GRANTS provide funds to pay expenses, purchase equipment, and to cover other financial needs for sabbatical leaves, faculty summer fellowships, and for other instructional, scholarly, and creative activities where financial support is not available through department budgets. Full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty may apply for a faculty project grant not to exceed $6,000. In 2023-24, 12 faculty members completed project grants.
The projects below were undertaken from Fall 2023 through Summer 2024.
John Alberti
Professor
Department of English
Natural Noir: Environmental Fragility and the Instabilities of Los Angeles Film Noir
The goals of my sabbatical were to complete a book proposal and make substantial progress on a manuscript based on my ongoing work on the ecological implications of films noir set in Los Angeles. Prior to applying for the sabbatical, I had already received interest from a publisher based on two previous conference presentations on this topic.
These two presentations—"Natural Noir: The Urban, Suburban, and Rural in LA Noir” and ““The Eco-Fatale: Environmental Fragility and the Instabilities of Los Angeles Film Noir”—were to form the basis for two initial chapters connecting the fields of ecocriticism, cinema studies, gender studies, and urban geography to argue that LA’s combination of ecological diversity and fragility is inherent to the social and epistemic instability that defines film noir in general and the Los Angeles noir in particular.
In addition, my sabbatical leave along with the one semester re-entry leave I received after completing my service as department chair allowed me to complete and submit a previous contracted manuscript with WSUP on The Simpsons as part of their TV Milestones series. At the same time, a panel presentation I took part in at the SCMS conference examining the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon (the simultaneous releases and massive cultural impacts of Barbie and Oppenheimer in the summer of 2023) became the basis of a submission to an essay collection tentatively entitled Barbenheimer Convergence. My submission, “’What Was I Made For’: Barbenheimer, Metamodernism, and Why Barbie Works Better Than Oppenheimer,” argues that the contemporary cultural idea of metamodernism explains how Greta Gerwig mixes irony, parody, and sincerity to create a radically complex and effective politial movie. I was able to complete and submit my essay at the end of May 2024.
Rachael Banks in front of work for the Fellowship 24 exhibition, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsbugh, PA. Photographer Credit: Tara Geyer
Rachael Banks
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts
Through the Mouth to the Belly of the Beast: Family Secrets, Scars, and Ghosts
The one-year faculty sabbatical leave award enabled me to complete extensive research on photographic projects and meet several professional goals. During this time, I continued practicing my creative research through image-making, started two new projects, participated in six group exhibitions (4/6 exhibitions were invitationals), tabled at two art book fairs, presented two lectures on my creative practice, and had work published in three print publications. I completed my photographic project, Sheryl|Fawn, and further built my ongoing creative project, The Trail. My self-published artist book, The Trail of the Dead, was completed and featured at the Cincinnati and Pittsburgh Art Book Fairs. I also finished and published a limited-edition newspaper tabloid (The Trail) outlining creative research around deer and trauma, which was displayed at 2nd Story Art in Lexington, KY, in addition to a selection of my photographs for a group exhibition, All in the Family.
FotoFocus selected my project, The Trail of the Dead, for a solo exhibition at the Weston Gallery in Cincinnati for the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial. The Trail of the Dead will be highlighted as a special FotoFocus project during the biennial programming weekend. The project was submitted to a call for exhibition proposals that received ~75 applications. Out of the ~75 applications, only six proposals were accepted, and my proposal is the only solo exhibition. During my sabbatical, I submitted applications to 28 professional opportunities and received seven acceptances (1 submission is still TBD) with a 25% acceptance rate.
Rick Boyce
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Death by decapitation and disease: Managing Amur honeysuckle with a combination of mechanical cutting and infection with honeysuckle leaf blight
During my sabbatical in Fall 2024, I completed measurements in a study involving the effects of clipping and leaf blight on Amur honeysuckle that had begun in Summer 2022, using stands on campus and at NKU’s field station. Amur honeysuckle is highly invasive and has negative effects on native plants. I found that the combination of clipping and blight had the greatest effects on stands growing in the open rather than under the forest canopy. I both wrote and submitted a manuscript, which has just been published. I also finished a study on sap flow and chlorophyll fluorescence in the native eastern red cedar at NKU’s field station. I found that sap flowed during most of the winter, and the fluorescence measure I used indicated the potential for photosynthesis throughout the year. I wrote and submitted a manuscript on this study, which is currently in press. I also began measuring stomatal conductance in red cedar, also at the field station; conductance indicates how open the stomatal pores are, through which the plant takes up carbon dioxide and gives off oxygen and water vapor. Finally, I completed a study on the spatial distribution of Callery (aka Bradford) pear. My results showed that Callery pear is somewhat to very shade-intolerant. This means it won’t reproduce under its own shade and is less likely to affect native plants that grow under it. It wrote and submitted a third manuscript, which is currently in press.
Kimberly Clayton-Code
Professor
Department of Educational Leadership and Advanced Studies
Ed Fenton
Professor
Department of Accounting, Economics, and Finance
Stacie Jankowski
Associate Professor
School of Media and Communication
Why do you meme? An analysis of the uses and gratifications of user-generated internet content.
The goal of this project was to gather information on the uses and gratifications of internet content creators. Audiences today are subjected to media messages that are created not only by trained creators or journalists, but also by anyone who now has accessible technology to engage in content and message creation. At the same time, our media theories often view audiences as relatively passive — we see the ways people use and enjoy content as consumers rather than producers. Today, those we once viewed strictly as message consumers are also often producers. This sabbatical project used survey to begin to understand why people create user-generated internet content, such as memes or videos. As the first step into this area of research, my project began with examination of the literature followed by creation of a survey. I was able to get a good first run of a survey in and am currently examining for any revisions before I send the survey out to a larger group in the fall.
Jessica Kratzer
Associate Professor
School of Media and Communication
Love, Romance, Sex, and Happily Ever After: A Feminist Exploration of Women who Read Romance Novels
The purpose of my sabbatical project was to explore the experiences of women who read romance novels to learn from their stories and experiences with the books, storylines, and how they may influence aspects of their lived experiences. For this study, 28 women were interviewed about their experiences with reading romance novels. All interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview protocol and were audio recorded through Zoom. Interviews lasted between 46-122 minutes for a total of 2,064 minutes (34.4 hours) and an average of 74 minutes. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data into themes. Through this analysis, three major themes emerged. The first major theme, Escape, had three subthemes: Not Reality, Happily Ever After, and Reflection. The second major theme, Ladies’ Choice, had three subthemes: Bringing Sexy Back, Read Porn Like a Lady, and Female Agency. The third major theme, Communication, had two subthemes: Social Media and Friends. Throughout the results section, excerpts from the interviews were included to represent the themes. Pseudonyms were used to maintain participant confidentiality. Women’s Standpoint theory (Smith, 2005) was applied to the data to explain why romance novels are important to women and reading them is an act of feminism. The manuscript has been accepted for publication in an edited collection by Lexington Books called, “Still Reading Romance” by Josefine Smith and Kathleen Kollman.
Andrea Lambert South
Professor
School of Media and Communication
Humor in the Czech Republic: Researching How Czech and American Populations Use Humor and Talk 51AV Death and Dying
My year-long sabbatical leave allowed me to teach and research at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. In the Fall 2023 semester, I taught an undergraduate/graduate Family Communication Course in the Psychological Sciences Department, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. I also was an active member of the Psychology Research Institute which is an international interdisciplinary research institute examining behavioral phenomena across the globe. As a result of the connections I made at the Faculty and the Institute, I joined and/or created seven research teams that I am actively a part of. The topics of the current projects include humor differences in the U.S. and the Czech Republic, the SHARE project - which spans all of the EU and Israel - examining marriage trends over the last 60 years, a Ukrainian research team that examined messages of Ukrainian refugees in the first 12 months of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a study of perceptions of pet ownership among LGBTQ+ individuals in the U.S. and the Czech Republic (and geopolitical conceptions of what constitutes family), and research projects with Tufts University Medical School examining weight stigma and the use of Balint groups in medical education.
Kimberly Lazzeri
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Music
Freylekh: A “joyful” rediscovery of the Yiddish folksong arrangements of Robert De Cormier
In Fall 2023, Dr. Kimberly Lazzeri recorded her first album of songs from the newly-published The Yiddish Folksong Project Anthology: The arrangements of Robert De Cormier. Not only is this anthology the first-ever publication of De Cormier’s arrangements of Yiddish folksongs, but it is also the first-ever large body of Yiddish folksong repertoire that is arranged in the classical style for performance on the concert or recital stage. Dr. Lazzeri recorded the album and created promotional videos in collaboration with NKU faculty Dr. Christina Seal (piano) and Dr. William Herzog (violin) on-campus in Greaves Concert Hall. In advance of the recording, the trio coached the repertoire for stylistic insights with Professor Donna Loewy from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and consulted with Dr. Jordan Finkin from Klau Library on the authenticity of Dr. Lazzeri’s Yiddish pronunciation. The album will be released for worldwide distribution in Spring 2024 and will feature a cover designed by one of Dr. Lazzeri’s applied-voice students, Meg Booker. After being introduced to this less-commonly performed repertoire, Meg chose to program selections from the album on her upcoming recital with Glow Music Concerts at ARCO in East Walnut Hills as well as on her senior recital at NKU. Dr. Lazzeri looks forward to performing with the trio alongside the NKU Chamber Choir on an all-Yiddish program as part of the inaugural Cincinnati Jewish Music and Culture Festival in March 2024. Dr. Lazzeri’s album recording was made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Arts Council, the Susan and Murray Bloom Jewish Music Foundation and NKU.
JeeEun Lee
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts
New Creative Research in Ceramics
My sabbatical leave began in May of 2023 and extended into the summer of 2024. During this time, I traveled to Greece, Italy, South Korea, parts of the United States, and China. I was fortunate to complete two solo exhibitions, one in Fabius, New York, and the other in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. In Gatlinburg, TN, I exhibited in the highly regarded Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. This exhibition was awarded to me two years ago after a competitive jury process. The show was held for two months, and more than a hundred people visited the gallery each week. I received positive feedback about the work, and this was an excellent venue to showcase my art in front of a much broader audience than I can reach at most art galleries. The exhibition at Gandee Gallery in Fabius, NY was an invitational show and was held for two and a half months with recent sculptures and sculptural vessels of mine on display.
Marc Leone
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts
The Art of Drawing
My sabbatical project, (dated Fall 2022, but delayed by one year) utilized the art of drawing, painting, and digital collage and design processes in two distinct parts. The first part explored new content for my own professional creative practice, wherein I created over 35 new works of creative research. For the second part, I created 50 new instructional videos (15 minutes in length each) and then released these videos to my global educational drawing channel, The Drawing Database (236,120 subscribers-10 million plus views). The new video content aligns with Drawing & Art History together, and currently promotes teaching and service, both inside my curriculum as classroom content and as service that is released and used globally. To add context to the new creative research I have included my artist’s statement:
These works are my first tentative explorations towards a new visual direction- set apart and somewhat in reaction against my prior career work. As far as I can tell, I am leaving behind the spiritual and material deism explored in my past geologic work for something more temporal.
The Laughers and The Gleaners are, to be sure, not yet mature nor conclusive formal directions, but rather a set of beginnings. I am exploring many distinctive changes-using traditional AND digital materials to address the necessity and practicality of physically lighter work, the use of color, and the most surprising of all to me- a newfound desire to combine the figure with graphic elements. I am just beginning to understand the entirety of all of this, and I am looking forward
to exploring it robustly.
Building off these ideas, the series of portraits chase the absurd in our culture. Thus far I have chosen to make portraits of filmed, close-cropped facial contortions of sex workers enduring an all too standard “fantasy;” and I chose to paint the pent-up release of shy but disquieted, nervous laughter from cloistered young people brimming full of self-doubt and fear- Not exactly pleasant imagery! And that is the point.
Decadence. Boredom....Listlessness. Nihilism. Distraction and decay; subtly unhinged and uneasy states of being; fearfulness and anxiety. Denial. Defensiveness. I think we all see the damage.... pervasively and everywhere in our culture.
David Raska
Professor
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
Improving student retention, engagement, and career-readiness
through innovative yet scalable interventions
During my sabbatical, I focused on enhancing student retention, engagement, and
career readiness through the development and application of innovative, scalable
interventions. This effort began with integrating project-based learning into The
Underground Agency for MBA students in India, yielding outstanding results: 96% of students were highly satisfied with the course, and 84% felt it provided greater value compared to other courses. These findings highlight the scalability and impact of experiential learning across diverse educational settings.
Building on this success, I collaborated with industry leaders to redesign the
onboarding process for courses at The Underground Agency, incorporating training
methodologies that foster human connection and career meaningfulness. The introduction of ‘Caring Mentoring Guidance’ and ‘Young Alumni Stories’ significantly boosted students' self-efficacy and engagement, with both interventions recognized in peer-reviewed research and one receiving a Best Paper Award. Additionally, I enhanced my understanding of the 360° feedback process through collaboration with Christian Lindholm, leading to the refinement of the Insights For You 360º platform. This platform will be piloted at Haile College of Business, with the potential to improve student, faculty, and staff retention, engagement, and career development.
Overall, my sabbatical resulted in the creation and validation of scalable
interventions that enhance student engagement, retention, and career readiness, directly contributing to the success of educational programs and aligning with the broader goals of my academic and professional endeavors.
Morteza Sadat-Hossieny
Professor
Department of Physics, Geology, and Engineering Technology
Industry training and collaboration - strengthening industry partnership and professional development
This report highlights my achievements in an onsite industrial position that included learning about current manufacturing practices, engineering troubleshooting, and problem-solving. Another key goal of my sabbatical was to rebuild connections for future industry collaborations and student recruitment.
During my sabbatical, I worked at Mazak Incorporated to enhance and update my industrial experience and learn new manufacturing practices. I spent most of the Spring 2024 semester participating in various projects across different departments at Mazak’s production facility in Florence, KY. I also attended weekly management meetings to discuss overall project outcomes and heard management recommendations for the problems at hand at the Northern Kentucky plant.
My sabbatical work directly benefits my EGT 265, EGT 365 and EGT465 courses, allowing integration of industrial experiences and problem solving gained to be introduced in the courses listed above and into the EGT programs curriculum. This will help me better prepare students for careers in advanced manufacturing; The workshop attended about tooling from Sanvik Coromant updated and deepened my knowledge of advanced tooling materials used in today’s manufacturing environment. This would allow incorporation of new tooling materials used for exotic materials such as composite and new alloy materials in our course curricula. Industrial Safety training, and other projects have provided me areas for program continuous improvements and also areas to conduct research with the intention for future article submissions.
Jamey Strawn
Professor
School of the Arts - Theatre and Dance
The Sunken Cathedral - A New Musical
The purpose of my sabbatical was to travel to France to research sites referenced in both the Breton legend “The Legend of Ys” and Debussy’s Piano Prelude “The Sunken Cathedral” with the intent to develop a new musical. With the gracious support of a project grant, I was able to travel to France to witness sites related to these works. I visited Mont Saint Michel, the very sunken cathedral that Debussy wrote about for piano. I made the pilgrimage from the mainland to the island cathedral and up the 1000 steps to the altar in the Abbey that is watched over by St Michael. Getting to attend Mass in the Abbey, hear the choir, chant, and the music was an exceptional experience. I then traveled to two provincial medieval towns – Dinan and Quimper. Dinan was a medieval town that was governed by town leaders, while Quimper was governed by the church and became the capital of Cornouaille, centered around St. Corentin Cathedral. This led me west to the ancient site, Landévennec Abbey, which was built in 490 AD and features prominently in the story. From there I traveled to the port town of Douarnenez to witness the location of the legendary town disaster and the “Bay of Despair.” This experiential research was incredibly valuable toward my attempt to flesh out characters, identify key elements in the plot, and create an impactful and informed story. I’m gratefully thankful for the support to work on this project.
Karen Tapp
Associate Professor
School of Social Work
A Systematic Literature Review of Peer-Reviewed Social Work Publications Addressing Anti-Black Racism in the Social Work Curriculum
Anti-Black racism in the U.S. impacts all levels of society through structural and institutional processes. This systematic literature review (SLR) identifies anti-racist curricula practices identified between 2018 and 2023 from the peer-reviewed social work literature. The work includes a consideration of the systematic lack of consideration of anti-Black racism in the existing social work curriculum. This oversight involves the absence of frameworks to teach about internalized racial oppression, deficits found in management of student interactions on topics of race in the classroom, and instructors’ limited knowledge on the topic. Moreover, the oversight includes instructor restraint and discomfort teaching anti-racism in the curriculum. The review identifies seven approaches and recommendations that may be integrated into the social work curriculum. These approaches include 1) continual self-reflection around bias, positionality and privilege, and decolonizing; 2) centering Critical Race Theory (CRT) within Human Behavior and Social Environment (HBSE) courses while allowing students to apply CRT to relevant HBSE topics such as Black adolescent development and the life cycle; 3) adopting various critical theories to raise consciousness and commitment to liberation; 4) recommendations to improve the implicit curriculum within the scope of anti-racist education; 5) a model for understanding internalized racial oppression; 6) implementing “use of self” as a tool for anti-racist education within the curriculum and the classroom; and, 7) implementing a Black love and care ethic. A recurring theme speaks to the importance of valuing and elevating Black people and their experience and perspectives within the broader scope of social work education.
David Tataw
Professor
School of Allied Health
Market, Government, and Community Failures in Us Safety- Net Health Systems. Financing Healthcare Services for Disadvantaged Populations
This sabbatical report covers activities and outcomes on both post-hoc analysis and primary study projects. The projects involved collaboration with students, NKU faculty from seven different disciplines and health professionals in the field. Three post-hoc analysis projects including two individual projects and one collaborative project, used prior data to investigate the health of pediatric and adult populations in underserved communities. The pandemic primary study project included three collaborative studies led by the researcher which utilized primary data and focused on pandemic outcomes and associated individual and organizational factors. Pandemic studies participants include frontline healthcare workers, healthcare leaders, and public health professionals from twenty-one US states. All projects unearthed findings that would guide improvements in healthcare and public health practice. At the time of writing, project results have either been published in peer reviewed journals, are being reviewed for publication or are being developed into manuscripts for peer review.
Lindsey Walters
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Advancing ornithological research through publication, collaboration, and scholarship
As an ornithologist and behavioral ecologist, my research focuses on the reproductive behavior of birds. This sabbatical leave allowed me to advance my ornithological research and teaching by providing me with essential time to complete several different projects. First, I analyzed data and wrote a publication with a NKU student coauthor about our ongoing project investigating the use of nestling tree swallow feathers as a bioindicator of environmental mercury pollution. We found that at 13 days old, nestling Tree Swallows were sequestering nearly all of their body mercury load in their growing feathers, making this an ideal time to sample them. Our work also demonstrated how this technique can be used in future environmental toxicology research to help better understand mercury pollution in the environment. Second, I completed a project investigating the use of a non-invasive digital heart rate monitor to measure the development of Eastern bluebird embryos inside the egg. I processed and analyzed previously collected heart rate data, finding that embryo heart rate increased with the age of the embryo and external temperature, but not with clutch size. I wrote a publication with NKU student coauthors and presented the results of this work at a national ornithology conference. Third, I worked on revisions for a core course for biology majors that I teach, including researching and selecting a new modern textbook. Finally, I conducted advanced study and travel that will allow me to make revisions and improvements to several of my future courses.
Gary Walton
Associate Professor
Department of English
Using Fredric Jameson’s ‘Cognitive Mapping’ to Decode the ‘Mean Streets’ Zeitgeist of Class, Race, and Gender in the novels of Walter Mosely and James Ellroy
In this sabbatical leave application, the applicant was granted one full semester in the fall of 2023 to devote to research and manuscript preparation, enabling the applicant to develop and write (and finally submit) a detailed critical essay for publication to an appropriate academic critical journal (as well as to use that research to begin work on a chapter of a new book on narrative structure in contemporary American fiction). My intention was to use Fredric Jameson’s theoretical concept of “cognitive mapping” as a primary critical strategy to decode the “mean streets” zeitgeist of Walter Mosley’s detective fiction as well as that of James Ellroy’s “hard boiled” narratives. By examining the “fictional space” of Mosely’s and Ellroy’s narratives, I wanted to show not only the great influence of Mosely’s and Ellroy’s predecessors, specifically Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler on the authors’ narrative structure and characterization, but I want to explore how the very discourse of the authors’ fictive narratives reveal what Jean-Francois Lyotard called “metarecits” (or metanarratives) and what Roland Barthes called “Mythologies” that expose underlying issues of class, race, gender, and violence in American society. In the end, such a study as this not only advances the criticism of the African American novel, it also focuses on the importance of genre fiction to the contemporary American canon. The pedagogy developed could be used to help general studies students as well as English majors to understand the development of the American novel, especially in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Jeff Zimmerman
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Organizational Leadership
Cross-Cultural Leadership Pedagogy for a Diverse and Global Workplace
My Fall 2023 sabbatical was comprised of my experience as a US Fulbright Scholar to Hungary at the University of Pecs. In this role, I taught/co-taught 3 courses within the Faculty of Business and Economics, including Lessons in Leadership (M.Sc.), International Human Resource Management (B.Sc., co-taught), and Knowledge Management (M.Sc., co-taught/floating). In my Lessons in Leadership course, I facilitated cross-cultural comparisons of leadership perspectives through guest speakers, including notable figures like the former Ambassador of Hungary to the USA and the Chief Scientist at OCEANA. In my IHRM course, I provided a non-European perspective to complement the lectures, weekly project feedback sessions, and the evaluations of final projects (Subsidiary Company Proposal with Expatriate Leaders). Furthermore, as a floating lecturer in Knowledge Management, I engaged students in modules on cross-cultural communication and knowledge sharing, emphasizing the importance of psychological safety and organizational dissent.
Other significant outcomes included mentoring students on their master theses and conducting two leadership skills workshops (LeaderLab 1 & LeaderLab 2). Additionally, I participated in monthly Fulbright Hungary training and excursions, fostering close relationships with fellow scholars. My Fulbright experience also included various interviews and presentations on cross-cultural organizational leadership and innovation, further extending my impact.
Anthony Chavez
Professor
Chase College of Law
The Advantages of Carbon Dioxide as a Waste Product Rather Than as a Pollutant
This project sought to answer the following question: if the United States regulated carbon dioxide as waste rather than as a pollutant, how might this impact its regulation?
Federal law treats carbon dioxide as a pollutant to be regulated under the Clean Air Act. As we reduce our emissions through transitions to renewable energy and electric vehicles, we will emit less carbon dioxide. However, the carbon dioxide already emitted into the atmosphere will remain for centuries. Consequently, we will face not a problem of stopping pollution but of “cleaning it up.” Thus, a shift in regulatory treatment of carbon dioxide from a pollutant to a waste product will be necessary.
From this perspective, extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs may provide a viable model to address carbon dioxide waste. EPRs compel manufacturers to take responsibility for the waste resulting from their products. EPRs have many aspects that should be especially helpful if applied to carbon dioxide waste. First, by shifting responsibility for clean up to manufacturers, they ensure that at least a significant portion of future carbon dioxide removal costs will be covered. Second, imposing the costs of carbon dioxide clean up on manufacturers will incentivize them to minimize the carbon waste.
Existing EPR systems include a number of approaches that could be especially helpful in the context of carbon dioxide waste. For instance, many EPR programs allow manufacturers to retain third parties to collect and process their waste. This would be appropriate for carbon dioxide waste since its “collection” involves still-developing technologies, which would benefit from additional investment and structural support. The United Kingdom’s program, on the other hand, utilizes tradeable credits reflecting the amount of waste that manufacturers submit for recycling. Since these credits are tradeable in an open market, this system uses markets to incentivize collection and keep costs down.
Kebede Gemene
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Developing Antidotes of the anticoagulants, Low Molecular Weight Heparins (LMWHs), for Biomedical Applications
Unfractionated heparin (UFH), commonly known as heparin, is widely used as an anticoagulant, with protamine serving as its antidote during surgical procedures. However, both heparin and protamine have significant safety and efficacy issues. Heparin often leads to bleeding complications, while protamine is inefficient in reversing the anticoagulant effect of heparin after surgery and can cause severe adverse reactions. Consequently, there is a strong interest in finding safer anticoagulants and their corresponding antidotes for healthcare applications. Low Molecular Weight Heparins (LMWHs) have been introduced as purer alternatives to heparin, with more predictableReport pharmacokinetic properties due to their shorter strands, making them more efficient and safer. However, they lack convenient antidotes. In this project, we used reversible polyion sensors with chronopotentiometry detection to screen potential antidotes for LMWHs by monitoring anticoagulant-antidote binding affinities and binding ratios. To this end, we designed a low molecular weight peptide (LMWP) with the amino acid sequence F-R-R-R-F-R-R-F-V-R-R-F and tested its binding affinities and binding ratios with the commonly used LMWHs, enoxaparin and dalteparin. The peptide was found to bind both of the tested LMWHs efficiently. The LMWH-LMWP binding ratios were found to be 1:1.7 and 1:2.2 for enoxaparin and dalteparin, respectively. Our preliminary work was successful and was presented at the Summer 2024 Heather Bullen Research Celebration. The project is under preparation for publication with some final finishing works.
Jennifer Kaiser
Assistant Professor
School of Kinesiology, Counseling, and Rehabilitative Sciences
Bilateral Stimulation out of the Office: An App for Psychotherapists and their Clients to Monitor Mood and Practice Coping Skills between Sessions
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) is a clinical psychotherapy technique utilized primarily for the treatment of trauma. Due to the nature of the symptoms that EMDR clinicians typically target, this type of therapy often requires long-term and consistent adherence to the therapeutic process to gain positive outcomes. Between weekly sessions though, there is generally no contact between the therapist and client. The purpose of this project was to gauge interest and assess utility of the development of technology to be used by psychotherapists and their clients. Through the lens of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, the potential adoption of between-session app interaction among psychotherapists and their clients was explored. Overall, therapists who utilize EMDR indicated that a) their overall therapeutic work with clients, b) their understanding of client emotional states, and c) the ability to understand client overall progress in therapy would improve with the implementation of mood monitoring via app technology. Along with both undergraduate and graduate student research assistance, the research team’s next step is to pilot test a highly tailored app among a group of EMDR clinicians and their clients. Ultimately, the goal is to provide access to this app to clinicians for utility with their clients within their psychotherapeutic practice in order to improve overall treatment outcomes.
Julie Mader-Meersman
Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts
Preparing to Make the CSS Dollhouse Web Site — Professional Certification for Web and User Experience (UX) Design and Artistic Visual Research
My 2024 Summer Fellowship, “Preparing to Make the CSS Dollhouse Web Site — Professional Certification for Web and User Experience (UX) Design and Artistic Visual Research,” was planned to align for a productive fall 2024 sabbatical and included many categories of work. I accomplished significant amounts of thematic and visual research to develop the creative direction for the site. This included extensive reading through Steely Library, interlibrary loan, and digital sources, as well as support from the School of the Arts to visit to the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection of Thorne Miniature Rooms. While there, I also arranged private viewings of rare books and pattern design-based objects from the Textile Department and Archives. I also earned professional UX Certification from the internationally renowned Nielsen Norman Group, and three separate Webflow Certifications for no-code design and development. I developed a bank of original visual assets (photographs, drawings, pattern designs), and curated images from sources in the public domain to layer and integrate into the CSS Dollhouse site design. Lastly, I prepared for a fall 2024 Maker-Creator Fellowship at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware — a competitive, two-week residency that I applied for and was awarded in the spring. Winterthur, “the premier museum of American decorative arts, with an unparalleled collection of nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America since 1640,”1 will provide dedicated time and space in a domestically-oriented, resource-rich design environment where I’ll study rare, graphic objects/artifacts, and work on the design for the CSS Dollhouse.
1.
Bridget Nichols
Professor
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
Reiko Ozaki
Associate Professor
School of Social Work
Batterer Intervention as a Part of Coordinated Community Response: A Book Draft Project
Domestic violence (DV) is abuse inflicted by one partner against the other in an intimate relationship and may include physical violence, emotional attacks, and various controlling tactics. In the United States, programs for DV perpetrators (batterer intervention, BI) began in the late 1980s following the services for victims. Coordinated community response (CCR) to DV also became common across the nation as communities developed ways to hold offenders accountable in their efforts to keep victims safe. Extant research demonstrated effectiveness and limitations of BI programs and CCR over the last three decades while Japan continued to struggle to implement BI and CCR. In 2023, Japan’s Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office published the guidelines for BI programs to encourage program development. While these guidelines may help, I can contribute to Japan’s efforts based on my expertise related to CCR and BI in the United States and my understanding of victim advocacy in Japan. During the Summer Fellowship in 2024, I developed a concept paper, an outline, and the first rough draft of the book. I also began connecting with the publishing companies in Japan through the scholarly network. Throughout the fellowship period, I engaged in literature review and communication with colleagues in the U.S. and Japan to obtain extensive information for the book project. I plan to build on this progress and continue my work during the sabbatical leave in Fall 2024.
Jose Saavedra-Torres
Assistant Professor
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
AI-Driven Sales Training for Enhanced Employee Engagement and Retention: Evaluating Generative AI Tools
The rapid advancements in Generative AI, particularly with the release of ChatGPT 4.0 on 2024, are reshaping how companies approach employee training and retention. This project focuses on developing an AI-driven sales training program designed to enhance sales employee engagement and retention. While previous studies have explored the use of AI tools in training, the introduction of ChatGPT 4.0 provided new capabilities that necessitated a complete redesign of the training modules. My research investigates how these advanced AI tools can be effectively integrated into existing sales training programs to foster higher levels of engagement and commitment among sales professionals. Initial results suggest that the enhanced AI-driven training modules offer significant potential to improve employee satisfaction and retention rates, marking a pivotal step in the evolution of AI-powered workforce development.
Yangyang Tao
Assistant Professor
School of Computing and Analytics
Interactive online learning system
During the years of the pandemic, e-learning emerged as a dominant trend, further amplified by the advent of tools like ChatGPT. Interactive e-learning, which fosters experiential learning, stands out as one of the most promising approaches. This modality closely mirrors learning experiences in real-world scenarios and social contexts. In these systems, the platform actively gauges individual behaviors of its users and reacts with precise analytics. Yet, conventional e-learning has typically been limited to basic interactions like mouse clicks and text entries. Our ambition is to pioneer a "smart" e-learning ecosystem. Imagine course materials that, through advanced AI techniques such as gesture detection and real-time speech recognition, can intuitively perceive learners' gestures and voices. Such a system could allow learners to, for instance, navigate to specific checkpoints using just voice commands or hand motions. This "smart" content could elaborate on specific terminologies, evaluate comprehension, and even accommodate speech-impaired students through gesture-based interactions. The overarching goal of our project is to spotlight the next frontier in online education and amplify the efficacy of digital instruction.
Paul Tenkotte
Professor
Department of History
Bridges to American Culture: Catholic Immigrants in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, 1820-1940
achieved five important milestones in Summer 2024:
1) I researched and wrote over 20,000 words focused on immigrants in the rural Appalachian region of the Catholic Diocese of Covington.
2) I researched and wrote over 25,000 words focused on immigrants in the urban areas of the Diocese of Covington, namely Covington, Newport, and Lexington.
3) In partnership with a project I am voluntarily directing on behalf of the Kenton County Public Library (KCPL), entitled ORVILLE (Ohio River Valley Innovation Library and Learning Enrichment: ), Rowman and Littlefield Publishers invited me to propose a 3-volume series. I asked them if the series could include Catholics, immigrants, and other aspects of ethnicity, and they encouraged me to pursue these topics in one of the volumes. I am currently working on this proposal, with tentative titles being:
· Volume 1: The Ohio River and a New American Society: Immigrants, Institutions, and Ideologies
· Volume 2: The Ohio River and a New American Society: Commerce, Conflict, and Communications
· Volume 3: The Ohio River and a New American Society: Science, Systems, and Symbiosis
4) Dave Schroeder, Director of the Kenton County Public Library, and I approved a new addition to the ORVILLE Project entitled, InSpire (Inventorying Sacred Properties and the Immigrant Religious Experience). This site will likely feature the extensive research I conducted on Catholic immigrants in the Diocese of Covington this summer. It will also house scanned documents relating to additional immigrant research.
5) As a recently appointed Board Member of the Ohio River Way (ORW) (), as well as Chair of their History & Heritage Committee, I will be announcing this 3-volume project project—as well as the InSpire project—at ORW’s Annual convention in September 2024.
Monica Wakefield
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Philosophy
Assessing the Welfare of Female Wild Olive Baboons (Papio anubis) at the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project, Laikipia, Kenya
I utilized the NKU Faculty Summer Fellowship to progress my research program at the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project (UNBP) in Laikipia, Kenya. However, I needed to shift plans from my original proposal for two main reasons. First, due to medical concerns, I could not travel to Kenya and instead recruited an NKU graduate (May 2024) to act as my research assistant in Kenya. Second, I was awarded an NSF grant for a new area of research and thus shifted my research focus. My accomplishments included, preparing supplementary proposal materials as requested from NSF, refining the protocol and collection sheets for both the field behavioral and fecal sample data collection, training my research assistant on the protocol, managing the project and data collection remotely, and extracting additional data from the UNBP long-term records. These efforts represent the foundational work for the NSF funded research project that will continue for the next 3+ years. For this project, I will examine the development of social skills and timing of sex-typic social patterns and the impact of early life adversity on stress and social development during juvenility. Primates are unique among mammals in experiencing extended juvenile periods, the life stage known as childhood in humans. This extended period likely evolved, at least in part, as time needed to develop social skills and learn how to navigate complex social lives. The juvenile period is understudied in primates and this hypothesis remains largely untested. My research involves NKU undergraduates both on campus and in the field.
Adam White
Assistant Professor
School of the Arts - Music
Complete narrative research project and prepare manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed research journal
The primary goal of my Summer Faculty Fellowship was to complete a qualitative research paper, “I Think Music is Just 51AV All I Ever Loved to Do”: A Narrative of Christy, a Secondary Choral Teacher with Congenital Hearing Loss, and submit it to a peer-reviewed journal. This paper presents a collaborative retelling of the lived experiences of a veteran secondary choral teacher, Christy, who has lived and taught with moderate to moderately severe congenital hearing loss.
To achieve this goal, I outlined four steps necessary to complete a manuscript that would likely be successful in the peer-review process. These steps were: (a) complete data collection and analysis, (b) complete a draft of the manuscript, (c) present a completed draft to the research participant and collaborate on revisions, and (d) send the revised document to a colleague for evaluation and consider revisions. The final step was to submit the document to a journal for consideration. I am pleased to report that I accomplished most of the goals I outlined in my proposal. The document is currently undergoing peer review (step d) and has not been returned to me. When I receive notes from my colleague, I will make final revisions and submit the manuscript to the Journal of Research in Music Education.
Rachael Banks
Associate Professor
School of the Arts - Visual Arts
The Trail of the Dead: Sheryl | Fawn
The goals stated in my original project grant were to print, mount, and frame a selected edit of photographs for exhibition opportunities and to create a series of tabloid-sized booklets outlining my research for public dissemination. I am writing to report that I successfully met the goals outlined in my original proposal for a project grant.
The invaluable institutional support for creative research from 51AV was instrumental in the production of 18 photographs for exhibition within the tri-state area. Furthermore, it facilitated the completion and distribution of a limited-edition newspaper tabloid (The Trail) outlining creative research around deer and trauma, which was displayed at 2nd Story Art in Lexington, KY.
The framed photographs produced with project grant funding were part of a series of exhibitions at Aurora Gallery (Louisville, KY) for the 2023 Louisville Photo Biennial, an invitational 2-person exhibition at Wave Pool Art Gallery (Cincinnati, OH), a juried exhibition at Candela Gallery (Richmond, VA), and an invitational group exhibition at 2nd Story Art (Lexington, KY).
The financial support for my creative research provided by 51AV through a project grant was not just a boost, but a critical enabler in showcasing my work throughout the tri-state region. This funding actively contributed to my status as a working artist, providing several opportunities for public engagement and important discussions on the themes that are explored in my creative research.
Christine Curran
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Can Exercise Protect the Brain from the Effects of Developmental Neurotoxicants?
Exercise is widely recognized as beneficial for brain function, but little is known about the effect of exercise during pregnancy. There are 6-million pregnancies in the US each year, but only half end with the delivery of a healthy, full-term infant. There are many factors that can affect normal brain development, but our focus is on the interaction of genetic factors that affect susceptibility to widespread pollutants. In this project, we focused on a large group of chemicals known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which are found in vehicle exhaust, cigarette and wildfire smoke and grilled food. Urban populations are exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution. Rural populations have the highest smoking rates during pregnancy. Grilled food consumption has increased significantly as people reduce the amount of fried and fatty foods in their diet. Therefore, our work has broad applications for a majority of pregnancies. Our previous work using a mouse model identified key genes that make the offspring more susceptible to these pollutants. The goal of this project was to determine if there is a safe level of exercise during pregnancy and early life that can protect these vulnerable individuals from adverse neurological outcomes.
Bridget Nichols
Professor
Department of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management
Tamara O'Callaghan
Professor
Department of English
The Multimodal Tactile Book: Creating Accessible Texts for Blind and Low-Vision Children in East Africa
Since the fall of 2022, I have taught an experiential learning-based course entitled Build a Better Book for the English department (ENG 394) and Honors College (HNR 330). Using the makerspace in Steely Library, my students explore 3D printing and other technologies to design and fabricate multimodal tactile books that provide a more inclusive and accessible reading experience for blind and low-vision children in East Africa. My students’ projects directly support a global educational initiative spearheaded by the (Cincinnati, OH).
This Project Grant (2023-34) funded the following opportunities in relation to my Build a Better Book course and community partnership with Clovernook:
(i) Purchase of two 3D printers and relevant materials to allow me to experiment with the technology on my own time and to develop a greater expertise in 3D printing for the benefit of my students.
(ii) Attendance at the ICEB (International Council on English Braille) 8th General Assembly in Auckland, New Zealand in May 2024 as an observer and co-presenter with Clovernook to disseminate our highly successful collaboration on their global educational initiative, highlighting the accomplishments of NKU students to an international audience.
Sydney Oluoch
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Socio-economic Tradeoffs, and optimal policy design to promote just energy transition in Kentucky
This study investigated sustainable policy options for just energy transition programs in Kentucky. We used random parameter logit model a stated preference approach to measure public preferences for hypothetical green energy transition programs. We conducted an intensive literature review to highlight the key issues in the energy transition and provide guidelines for development of key attributes of hypothetical energy transition programs such as possible cleaner energy alternatives, benefits of habitat restoration programs, job creation, cultural values. Two undergraduate students participated in survey development, data collection, data analysis, publishing outcomes and conference presentation. We surveyed a total of 675 Kentucky residents in the month of Dec 2023. The preliminary results reveal that Kentucky residents have the highest willingness to pay (WTP) for possible cleaner energy alternatives ($3.81), followed by job creation ($3.75), preservation of cultural values ($1.92), social support programs and postmining land use had negative WTP values with values of -$1.42 and -1.94 respectively. From a policy standpoint it is evident that, despite the widely held perception that Kentucky residents have great support for traditional conventional fossil fuels such as coal, there is overwhelming evidence that they are receptive to an energy transition processes that integrates renewables such as solar and wind, while accounting for new jobs and preserving cultural values of the residents. Future energy transition efforts should involve public perspectives that should be important in shaping energy policy in Kentucky.
Allison Parker
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Emily Shifley
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Identifying which members of the FGF genetic signaling family help guide embryonic development of the pharynx
The Faculty Senate supported my research project titled “Identifying which members of the FGF genetic signaling family help guide embryonic development of the pharynx.” My lab researches the development of the embryonic pharynx, which later forms craniofacial features as well as the parathyroid and thyroid glands. We are interested in understanding how genetic signaling pathways help cells in the early embryo differentiate and construct these important organs. We used the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, to study the genetic signals that normally guide pharyngeal development. Many of the genes that guide early, embryonic development in Xenopus are conserved and play the same role in humans, allowing us to learn more about human development through our experiments with Xenopus. We hope to understand what genes might be altered in individuals with pharyngeal birth defects. We focused on a genetic signaling pathway called the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) pathway, which is necessary for proper pharyngeal development. The goal of this project grant was to determine which members of the FGF pathway are active in the developing pharynx as there are many, different potential FGF receptors and signaling molecules. We examined the gene expression of the various FGF receptors and signaling molecules and discovered that different FGF receptors are in fact expressed within different tissue layers of the embryonic pharynx. These results reveal that the FGF signaling pathway is likely playing multiple roles in these various areas of the developing pharynx revealing the complexity of this genetic signaling pathway.
Brittany Smith
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychological Science
The contribution of microglia to excessive sociability and impaired cognition after prenatal opioid exposure
This project sought to better explain how the brain is affected by prenatal opioid exposure to cause the altered behavior function we observe in exposed offspring. The main focus to explain this phenomenon was microglia, the brain’s immune cells. We made significant progress toward this goal by examining mouse brain tissue after prenatal opioid exposure and measuring microglia and brain cells involved in social and cognitive behavior. This part of the project will be presented by an Honors student at an international conference. We also obtained brain tissue samples after behavioral testing to provide greater temporal, developmental, and anatomical resolution to our studies. A second Honors student learned to conduct behavioral testing during this project and will present her work at a local conference. We have obtained and are prepared to test a compound that can help restore microglia function (which may be impaired after prenatal opioid exposure). This will build on the work completed during the project period to definitively test whether microglia are involved in the enhanced social behavior and impaired cognition observed in offspring exposed to opioids during the prenatal period. The faculty project grant was instrumental in gathering foundational data and training research staff to support research progress.
Jamey Strawn
Professor
School of the Arts - Theatre and Dance
The Sunken Cathedral - A New Musical
The purpose of this project grant was primarily to travel to various locations in France to research sites referenced in both the Breton legend “The Legend of Ys” and Debussy’s Piano Prelude “The Sunken Cathedral.” With the gracious support of the grant, I was able to travel to France to witness sites related to these works. I visited Mont Saint Michel, the very sunken cathedral that Debussy wrote about for piano. I was able to see the legendary cathedral at high tide, low tide, day and night. I made the pilgrimage from the mainland to the island cathedral and up the 1000 steps to the altar in the Abbey that is watched over by St Michael. Getting to attend Mass in the Abbey, hear the choir, chant, and the music was an exceptional experience. I then traveled to two provincial medieval towns – Dinan and Quimper. Dinan was a medieval town that was governed by town leaders, while Quimper was governed by the church and became the capital of Cornouaille, centered around St. Corentin Cathedral. This led me west to the ancient site, Landévennec Abbey, which was built in 490 AD and features prominently in the story. From there I traveled to the port town of Douarnenez to witness the location of the legendary town disaster and the “Bay of Despair.” Finally, I ended up in Paris to witness various artistic representations that relate to the story. This experiential research was incredibly valuable toward my attempt to create an impactful and informed story. I’m gratefully thankful for the support to work on this project.
Robert Wallace
Professor
Department of English
Melville’s Print Collection Online
My major accomplishments during the grant were to complete my two primary goals. One goa1 was to research, write, and publish new catalog entries for my website Melville’s Print Collection Online with the week-by-week collaboration of my two student webmasters, Clementine Farrell and Emily Godfrey. After completing and publishing the final section of chapter 3 (“Three Decades of French Painting,” CAT nos. 121-184), we researched, wrote, and uploaded our entries for two-thirds of chapter 4 (“Flemish and Dutch Old Masters,” CAT nos. 185-210, including prints after paintings by Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Teniers the Younger, van Tilborch, van Ostade, van Mieris, Metsu, Netscher, and van de Velde the Younger). My second goal was to write, submit, revise, and publish two major essays about our MPCO website. The first one, in the June 2023 issue of Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, co-authored with my co-editor Samuel Otter from Berkeley, was part of the first Special Issue on Digital Melville ever published by the Melville Society. We emphasized how the digital format allowed our website to illuminate and disseminate areas of Melville’s pictorial and imaginative life never before explored or conveyed. My second essay, “Bringing Melville’s Print Collection into the Digital Age,” published by Harvard Library Bulletin in 2024, traces the evolution of my research into Melville’s print collection from the discovery of the first 300 prints in 1984, through six published essays and an unpublishable book project by 2010, revived as a digital project during the pandemic in June 2020.
Yingying Xie
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Justin Yates
Professor
Department of Psychological Science
Establishing a fentanyl oral self-administration paradigm: Contribution of glutamate NMDA receptor to relapse-like behavior
Recurrence of substance use (“relapse”) is common following treatment for a substance use disorder. While pharmacotherapies for opioid use disorder exist (methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone), individuals prescribed these medications often resume substance use. Thus, examining potential alternative molecular targets for treating substance use disorders is necessary. One such target is the GluN2B subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. NMDA receptors are critically important for learning and memory. As individuals learn to pair certain stimuli with substance use (e.g., syringe paired with opioids), exposure to these stimuli during abstinence can trigger drug-paired memories, thus precipitating intense cravings. As such, preventing reactivation of drug-associated memories by blocking the NMDA receptor may be an effective strategy for promoting long-term abstinence. In the current experiment, we trained male and female Sprague Dawley rats (n = 12 each sex) to orally self-administer fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has become increasingly popular since the 2010s, delivered in distilled water. After 2 weeks of self-administration training, rats were given 3 weeks of extinction training, in which responses no longer led to delivery of fentanyl. Rats were then given a cue-induced reinstatement test, in which they were exposed to stimuli (e.g., tone) that were previously paired with each fentanyl infusion. Half of the rats were treated with the GluN2B-selective antagonist Ro 25-6981 (10.0 mg/kg) before the reinstatement test. Surprisingly, blocking GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors potentiated reinstatement of fentanyl-seeking behavior in rats. More work is needed to determine why Ro 25-6981 increases reinstatement while other GluN2B antagonists (e.g., ifenprodil) reduce reinstatement.
