Matthew A. Mickens, Ph.D. graduate (Department of Energy and Environmental Systems), and Dr. Zerihun Assefa (pictured), professor of chemistry, have published a peer reviewed journal article: “Tunable Luminescence and White Light Emission of Novel Multiphase Sodium Calcium Silicate Nanophosphors Doped with Ce3+, Tb3+, and Mn2+ ions.” The paper appears in the Journal of Luminescence (2014, vol. 145, pp. 498-506) along with the audio version of the article, which is accessible from the online version of the publication.

Assefa was recently named a National Faculty Mentor Role by Model Minority Access Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that assists individuals, academic institutions, corporations, and federal, state and local government agencies in diversifying their campuses and work sites.

Dr. Salil Desai, associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been awarded United States Patent No. 8,573,757. His invention provides a method of generating scalable micro to nano-patterned features on a substrate. The method involves ejecting a succession of droplets and altering their sizes in flight from micro to nano scale dimensions, thus giving control on the topography of the final 3D freeform features and enabling researchers to deposit nano to micro droplets of different colloidal materials including metals, ceramics, polymers, bio-fluids, etcetera. Complex three-dimensional structures can be fabricated on curved surfaces at high throughput rates. This technology provides diverse applications in the fields of semiconductor electronics, photonics, NEM/MEMS, sensor development and regenerative tissue engineering.

The oral history of Perry Howard, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design and coordinator of the Landscape Architecture Program, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, has been added to the archives of The HistoryMakers, a non-profit organization based in Chicago that was established to videotape, preserve and share biographies of African Americans who have made significant contributions to their professions and American society.

Dr. Cathy Kea, professor of special education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education, attended the 36th Annual Teacher Education Division Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Nov. 6–10. Kea conducted two presentations with colleagues from Fordham University, San Diego State University and the University of Virginia—“Teaching English Language Learners: What Preservice Teachers at HBCUs Need to Know” and “Delivering culturally responsive teaching in field-based and student teaching experiences: A Case Study.” In addition, she was invited to serve on a panel discussion about “The Mentoring Project: Promoting Professional Development Among Diverse Teacher Educators,” with colleagues from the University of Central Florida and the University of North Texas-Denton.

Dr. Roland Leak (left), assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business and Economics, presented a paper, “Non-Native American Minority Reaction to Use of Native American Iconography in Branding,” at the 2013 Society for Marketing Advances Annual Conference in Hilton Head, S.C., Oct. 29–Nov. 2. Dr. Omar Woodham (center), assistant professor of marketing, and Dr. Kathryn Cort (right), associate professor of marketing, presented their work, “Service Quality versus Product Quality: Which is More Important to Consumers?”

Dr. Jagannathan “Jag” Sankar, director of the Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials (ERC-RMB) and Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been recognized by Triad Business Journal as one of the “Triad’s Most Influential” People for 2014. This is the sixth consecutive year Sankar has been named to this notable list.

“Engaging the Diaspora: Migration and African Families,” is a new book by three N.C. A&T professors: Dr. Pauline Ada Uwakweh (left), assistant professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Jerono P. Rotich (center), associate professor in the Department of Human Performance and Leisure Studies, School of Education, and Dr. Comfort O. Okpala (right), professor and interim chair, Department of Leadership Studies, School of Education. The book is an interdisciplinary collection of essays that articulates the intersecting forces that redefine African immigrant families in the Diaspora and offers valuable information to researchers in academia, policy makers on immigration issues and general readers interested in the subject of African migration. The publisher is Lexington Books, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rowman and Littlefield.

Jennifer L. Williams, associate athletics director for development and executive director of the Aggie Athletic Foundation, was selected by the National Association of Athletic Development Directors to serve as the representative from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Her duties will include promoting NAADD in the MEAC conference to increase membership, uploading documents to the NAADD resource center throughout the year, submitting stories for consideration to NAADD’s Twitter account and presenting material at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Convention in the form of round table discussions, encouraging participation and nominations for NAADD awards from MEAC members, and encouraging membership renewal.

Two members of the faculty at the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’ Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies (CEPHT) at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis were part of a multidisciplinary group of investigators who presented findings on research into “Evaluating Bioactive Food Components [BFCs] in Obesity and Cancer Prevention” at a conference coordinated by the University of Alabama Birmingham’s Nutrition Obesity Research Center. Dr. Leonard Williams (left), associate professor and interim director of the CEPHT, covered his research into “The effect of BFCs on the survival and virulence of food-borne pathogens.” Dr. Shengmin Sang (right), lead scientist for functional foods at the CEPHT, gave a presentation covering his research into “Assessing the effects of BFC using cellular models: stability and bioavailability issues.”

The multidisciplinary conference was co-sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health. There were sessions addressing legal issues and consumer concerns in addition to updates from specialists in the various branches of science now working with BFCs.