For the Record provides information about recent professional activities and honors of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent new awards and presentations include the following:

Awards

Dawn Elliott, Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the University of Delaware’s College of Engineering, is the co-lead of an multi-institution team that received the inaugural Edward Grood Interdisciplinary Team Science Medal in Bioengineering. This award, established by the Bioengineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2022, “seeks to recognize a team of scientists and engineers who have collaboratively carried out impactful interdisciplinary science and engineering research in the bioengineering field.” The Spine Research Interdisciplinary Team, co-led by Elliott and Robert Mauck of the University of Pennsylvania, is comprised of 13 researchers representing Columbia University, Penn, Penn State University, RUSH University, University of California, Berkeley, and UD. The team’s three research areas are structure-function and degeneration, tissue-engineered replacements, and injectable therapies. The award was presented to the team at the 2023 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference, held June 4-8 in Vail, Colorado. 

Presentations

School of Nursing Assistant Professor Susan Conaty-Buck presented two talks on use of healthcare technology to nurse practitioners at the 2023 American Association of Nurse Practitioners Annual Conference June 20-25 at the New Orleans Convention Center. In the first session, Conaty Buck presented a podium presentation on June 22 entitled “Nanotechnology/ Nanomedicine: What NPs Need to Know for Patient Care.” The goal of this talk was to help NPs view nanotechnology and nanomedicine as a rapidly growing field where nanoscale materials are being used to create new therapies, diagnostic tools and drug delivery systems to aid in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. Included in the presentation was a review of potential benefits and limitations of nanomedicine including potential ethical, legal and social implications.  While a great deal of nanomedicine therapies and diagnostic tools are not accessible in routine healthcare practice today, it is believed a growing body of research and application will likely make these more routine and part of the standard of care in future healthcare practice. The second session, a digital presentation offered to in-person and virtual attendees, was called, “Helping NPs Understand the Benefits and Challenges of Wearable Applications.” This session, presented by Conaty-Buck and adult nurse practitioner Debbi Lindgren-Clendenen from Minnesota, provided information NPs need to recommend wearables to patients to help them increase self-care management of chronic diseases as well as provide data to help their providers track the status of their wellness and illness. The presentation explored how wearables can help patients overcome some social determinants of health factors to improve their health and wellbeing by making care more accessible and integrated.

Faculty representing UD’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and College of Engineering (COE) attended the 2023 Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), which took place from June 25 through June 28 in Baltimore. The ASEE Annual conference provides an opportunity for engineering educators and educational researchers to share their experiences and work over the past year. This year’s conference was record-breaking, with over 4,000 attendees and over 2,000 published papers. ASEE attendees from UD included Carmine Balascio from CANR, Robin Andreasen and Shawna Vican from CAS, and Rachel Burch, Alex De Rosa, Heather Doty, Joshua Enszer, Sheldon Hewlett, Julie Karand, Haritha Malladi, Sarah Rooney, Levi Thompson and Adam Wickenheiser from COE.

Paper presentations

Andreasen, professor of linguistics and Cognitive Science, presented “The Hidden Curriculum. Navigating Promotion and Tenure at University of Delaware.” This work was based on a UD ADVANCE Institute project aimed at understanding how UD faculty learn about unwritten norms and practices that may influence promotion and tenure success. Co-authors are Doty, associate professor of mechanical engineering and Vican, assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice. 

Balascio, associate professor of water resource engineering in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, presented his paper titled “Why Not Studios? – What Engineering Can Learn from Architecture and Art Programs.”  This work looks at the author’s experiences using the studio class format, and recommendations are proposed for incorporation of studio format courses in engineering programs.  

De Rosa, associate professor of mechanical engineering, presented “Promoting the Transfer of Math Skills to Engineering Statics.” This work stems from De Rosa’s Research Initiation in Engineering Formation (PFE: RIEF) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), an award that combines both research in engineering education with professional development opportunities.

Karand, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, presented “Workshop on Global Engineering Design for Low-Resource Setting.” This work focused on the impacts of two workshops that she hosted at UD in 2022 which introduced undergraduate engineering students to the importance of understanding cultural differences when designing medical devices.

Malladi, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of First-Year Engineering, presented “Experienced Teaching Assistants’ Perceptions of a Simulated Environment for Facilitating Discussions with Individual Student Avatars from a Design Team in Conflict” with co-authors Gail Headley from the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (UD CRESP), Professor Jenni Buckley from mechanical engineering, and Pam Lottero-Perdue of Towson University. This work, which was partially funded by a UD General University Research Program (GUR) grant, focused on using a simulated classroom to coach undergraduate teaching assistants to facilitate discussions with students experiencing team conflicts. This paper won first place for the Best Paper Award in First-Year Programs Division.

Vican presented “Fostering Inclusive Department Climates: A Workshop for Department Chairs at the University of Delaware,” which discussed workshops for department chairs developed by UD ADVANCE based on research conducted at UD to identify factors that contribute to inclusive department climates. Co-authors are Doty and Andreasen. This paper won the Women in Engineering Division Best Paper Award.

Wickenheiser, associate professor of mechanical Engineering, presented “Promoting Individuals’ Teamsmanship and Goal Achievement while Working on Team Design Projects”. This study stems from Wickenheiser’s efforts in reshaping the mechanical engineering junior design sequence into a year-long, systems-level design project focused on developing automated manufacturing systems. This project was sponsored by Norwalt and Omega Design.

Poster presentations

Burch, a doctoral candidate in civil and environmental engineering, presented “Utilizing On-Site Sustainability Technology to Engage K-12 Students in Engineering Learning'' with co-authors Michael Chajes, dean of the Honors College, civil and environmental engineering Professor Daniel Cha, and Amy Trauth from the American Institutes for Research. This was a study on creating partnerships between researchers and K-12 schools to increase knowledge about sustainability and to generate interest in engineering and STEM careers by utilizing environmental bioengineering technology as a tool to teach sustainability principles.

De Rosa presented “Adaptive Expertise: A potential tool for supporting S-STEM student retention” with collaborators from Stevens Institute of Technology. This work is part of an NSF S-STEM grant which supports low-income students with scholarships and focused mentoring around knowledge transfer.

Special sessions

Rooney, associate professor of biomedical engineering, co-hosted, “Bringing the Biomedical Engineering Community Together to Develop its Future Workforce,” a panel and discussion with representatives from government, industry, and academia. Rooney is transitioning from the 2023 ASEE Biomedical Engineering Division Program chair to the role of ASEE Biomedical Engineering Division chair. 

The UD School Of Nursing was well represented at the 2023 Nurse's Day at Legislative Hall, on June 6, 2023.  This day-long event, organized by the Delaware Nurses Association, brought together nurses of all types from throughout Delaware to increase their knowledge and inform participants about state health policy issues that impact nursing practice, education, and health care delivery. Participants met with their legislators to discuss these issues and observed the Delaware Legislature in session. UD School of Nursing speakers at this event included:

• Susan Conaty-Buck, assistant professor and advocacy director of the Delaware Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, spoke on “Effective Communication in Advocacy.”
• Bethany Hall-Long, professor and Delaware lieutenant governor, spoke on the “Power of Nurses as Elected Officials.”
• Melissa Minor-Brown, director of clinical operations and external relations and member of the Delaware House of Representatives, spoke on “A Primer on the Legislative Policy Making Processes with a focus on Nurse’s Roles.”

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