A book by Dr. Chris Mackowski, professor of journalism and mass communication, has been selected as a finalist for the Army Historical Foundation’s 2016 Distinguished Writing Award. Mackowski's book, "Hell Itself: The Battle of the Wilderness," focuses on the opening engagement of Ulysses S. Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign during the Civil War.

Nguyen Pham, assistant professor of marketing, had her research on the psychology of food choices featured in an article on Forbes.com. Read the article, titled "Surprise - Here's What Happens When You Try To Help Your Spouse Lose Weight," here.

Dr. Scott Simpson, assistant professor of chemistry, had an article published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry C. Published on November 30, 2016, the article investigated how to theoretically model iron porphyrin on a metal surface. Simpson’s research determined that this molecule can be switched between two spin states, similar to how a light switch is turned on and off.

“These molecules (porphyrins) have great potential to be used as molecular spintronics,” Simpson said. “Understanding and determining molecules that can be spintronics is necessary for producing quantum computers. Quantum computers have the potential to perform calculations faster than currently used silicon-based computers.” Simpson said the findings are important not only because of the speed of the computers, but also the size of them. “Current computers have a size restriction due to the physical limitations of the transistors that are used in them,” he said. “However, quantum computers can get past this limitation.”

Simpson worked with collaborators from the University at Buffalo (notably, Dan Miller and Prof. Eva Zurek), Jagiellonian University in Poland, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Penn State-Behrend, and the Univerität Bayreuth in Germany.

Darwin L. King, professor of accounting, and Edward D. King had an article published in the September 2016 issue of the Oil, Gas & Energy Quarterly. The article is titled "A Brief History of the Evolution of Percentage Depletion." King has done research in natural resource accounting and taxation for the last 17 years. The majority of his research in this area involves timber accounting and taxation. This is the 40th article that King has published in this journal since 2000.

Dr. René Hauser, director of differentiated education, presented a half day workshop on differentiated instructional strategies to 30 teachers in the Jamestown school district. Teachers from Love Elementary School participated in activities to help them clearly identify learning outcomes, differentiate their instruction based on student needs and interests, and develop differentiated assessments.

Dr. Charles Walker, professor of psychology, gave an address to the biannual meeting of the Dresser-Rand National Leadership Group. His presentation was titled “The Obvious, Yet Surprising, Things Researchers Have Discovered About Happiness.”

Dr. Lauren Matz, professor of English, presented a paper at the Modern Language Association annual conference in Philadelphia on January 5, 2017, as part of a panel exploring the impact of the Reformation across 500 years of British literature. Her paper, "L. E. L., the Novel, and Romance Catholicism," analyzed the romantic allure of continental Catholicism for English Protestant characters in an 1831 novel by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.

Fr. Ross Chamberland, O.F.M., successfully defended his doctoral dissertation and earned a Doctor of Education and Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. “My dissertation research was an effort to use contemporary leadership theory to retroactively assess the leadership of church figures from the past who have been recognized by the tradition as great leaders,” said Ross. “My hope in the work I’m doing is to be able to develop formation models for leadership development inside of religious and priestly formation programs. My coursework was mostly in the area of executive leadership in higher education.”