Dr. Gloria Elliott has joined the Department of Human Performance and Leisure Studies as an adjunct assistant professor. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, Elliott serves as the graduate program coordinator of the Master of Science degree program. Elliott has extensive professional preparation in the areas of adapted physical education/activity, physical education teacher education and movement education.

Dr. Manoj K. Jha edited Water Conservation, a book that was published by InTech Publishers in December 2011. Jha is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering.

Brandon Johnson, academic counselor/lecturer, and Jason Moore, assistant director for the Center for Academic Excellence, were selected by Innovative Educators to host a webinar on Project M.A.R.C.H. (Male Aggies Resolved to Change History), the Center for Academic Excellence’s male retention program. “Increasing the Retention and Persistence of First-Year Minority Males Students” will be presented Thursday, Feb. 2, 1–2:30 p.m. The webinar can be viewed in room 108 of the Academic Classroom Building.

Dr. Kathryn Kisska-Schulze is a contributing editor for Parker Tax Pro Library, a tax research database that offers comprehensive federal tax research and products nationally to paying subscribers. Two of her recently published chapters include “Choice of Business Entity” and “Meals or Lodging Furnished for the Convenience of the Employer.

Dr. Maranda E. McBride, an assistant professor in the Department of Management, has co-authored “Gender differences in bone conduction auditory signal processing: Communication equipment design implications,” an article that was published in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 42(1), 49-55.

Dr. Angela Miles (left), associate professor in the Department of Marketing, Transportation and Supply Chain; Dr. Alice Stewart (center) associate professor, Department of Management; and others (James, M. and Nelson, M.) presented a session on The Significance of Scholarship: Teaching and Learning versus Disciplinary Researchat Symposium: The Scholarly Brand at the Southern Management Association Annual Meeting in Savannah, Ga., last November. They received the 2011Most Innovative Session award. 

Stewart—along with Dr. Jacqueline Williams (right), associate professor, Department of Marketing, Transportation and Supply Chain; and Dr. Karen Smith-Gratto, associate professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and others (Black, S., and Kane, B.T.)—published an article, “Examining the Impact of Pedagogy on Student Application of Learning: Acquiring, Sharing, and Using Knowledge for Organizational Decision Making” in the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, 9:1.3-26 (2011). The article received thejournal’s Award for Best Empirical Paper for 2011, and it was invited for special presentation at theDecision Science Institute in Boston, Mass., last November. Stewart also received the journal’s 2011 Best Reviewer Award.

Dr. Shengmin Sang, lead scientist for functional foods at the Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies, has received a $490,000 grant from the USDA to research the connection between diabetes and flavonoids, which are a group of compounds found in fruits, vegetables, herbs and teas.

Sang’s project was deemed “outstanding” by the USDA’s competitive Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), and was among 7 percent of the submitted proposals earning that designation. Recent research in Sang’s functional foods lab indicated that flavonoids could minimize complications of diabetes. The current study will continue that work.

The Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies at the North Carolina Research Campus is administered by the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Deborah Underwood, program manager of the Transportation Institute, School of Business and Economics, was installed as president of the Research and Education Division of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) at the organization’s national conference in Monterey, Calif., last October. As division president, she sits on ARTBA’s executive committee and board of directors.

ARTBA has been a hub for critical information concerning the transportation design and construction industry for the past 110 years. The research and education division promotes the connection between university transportation center research, education and workforce development with the transportation and construction industry. The division helps shape national research policy and advocates increased federal funding for transportation research, education and training.