Honors Program [ N E W S L E T T E R] Welcome back! [ Spring 2020 Issue 1 ] INSIDE THIS ISSUE: New Honors Staff All-Honors Meeting Toronto Field Trip Sidney Dobbins Student Spotlight Honors Achievements Energy Reduction Challenge Contracts & Enrichment Meetings Important Announcements Amy Simkovitch "As an illustrator, I lean more towards an organic, gestural mark making. I like to be expressive when it comes to figuring out composition, objects in space, etc. Therefore, I feel my illustrations are intuitive in figuring out a subject matter two dimensionally. I like to see the transition of marks as it is my thought process directly in action. With this tarot card series, I wanted to experiment using my style. I used more common tarot cards and expressed what their meanings meant to me." Keep up with Amy on Instagram: ON THE COVER: @amy_simkovitch_art CONTACT US: 1 HONORS OFFICE ADDRESS 200 Tartan Rd, Edinboro, PA 16444 PHONE (814) 732 - 2981 DIRECTOR Dr. Roger Solberg rsolberg@edinboro.edu OFFICE MANAGER Sue Althof salthof@edinboro.edu STUDENT STAFF Katie Holt kh163169@scots.edinboro.edu Rayne Burgin rb153523@scots.edinboro.edu Brooklynn Goodworth bg163654@scots.edinboro.edu New Honors Staff This spring semester, Hazel Modlin joins the Honors Staff as the Honors Living Learning Community Scholar. Hazel Modlin is a freshman English Literature major starting as the scholar this spring semester. Hazel is available for tutoring and other forms of assistance for the Honors Program– she’ll help you any way she can! In addition to being in the Honors Program, Hazel also plays the bassoon in Edinboro’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble, is the Arts Editor for The Spectator, and is involved in Chimera. Her favorite book series is “The Great Library” by Rachel Caine, and she enjoys listening to Simon and Garfunkel. Honors Office Hours Spring 2019 Monday 8:00-12:30 & 1:45-5:00 Tuesday: 8:00-12:00 & 2:00-5:00 Wednesday: 8:00-12:00 & 1:45-5:00 Thursday: 8:00-12:00 & 2:30-5:00 Friday: 8:00-2:30 hours are subject to change without notice 2 All-Honors Meeting Dr. Nathan Armatas of the Chemistry Department gave a presentation to Honors Students on January 23rd about Edinboro University’s new Fermentation Science major. Talking not only about what Fermentation Science includes, Dr. Armatas went over a brief history of this branch of chemistry, the benefits of the major, and the growth of the field. It’s a lot more than a beer and cheese degree! He also spoke about how the university can integrate this major to benefit the whole campus, with a little sneak peak of what is to come over the years. The Honors Program would like to thank Dr. Armatas for donating his time to us and giving such an awesome lecture. 3 Toronto Field Trip The Toronto Information & Sign-ups are Here! Where will we be staying? We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express Toronto – Downtown. When we be staying? We will be leaving April 3rd and returning April 5th. How much does it cost? The cost is $50 which covers the hotel cost and the bus ride! When are sign-ups due? The sign-ups, deposit, and showing us your passport are due the week after Spring Break. The sign-up sheet is in the Honors Office in the library. Come sign up today! We have limited seats, and it’s a bargain. We will need to see your passport and have an office member sign off so that we know you are ready to travel internationally. You can sign up before showing your passport– you’ll just need to come back in and show it before the due date. Closer to the trip date, we will have an informational meeting that will go over any more information you’ll need. 4 Sidney Dobbins – Student Spotlight Hello Sidney! Can you tell us a little about yourself? “Hello! I’m Sidney Dobbins, from Syracuse, New York. I’m a Biology major, Chemistry minor senior who plays soccer and lacrosse. I’m in SACK, SAP (both student athlete programs) and the Honors Program. As for a fun fact, my one pupil is larger than the other one.” Why’d you choose your major? “I have always really enjoyed science. I’m not sure why, as I prefer the direct answers you get from fields like mathematics. There are a lot of openended questions in science. I have also had loved ones close to me have passed away from cancer, and I wanted to search for a cure.” What is the SURF Program? “It is the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program. SURF is an internship program you can apply to spring semester. 200 applications were sent in, and there were only thirty-one spots available. I was very fortunate to get chosen. Overall GPA of the accepted students was a 3.9, and I only had a 3.4 at the time. I asked them about why I was chosen over the other applicants, and they said through all my achievements they wanted to take a chance on me. The SURF program is held at Syracuse, which is my home town, so I enjoyed that! As for what we did, everyone got their own doctor to work underneath and a lab- I worked in the biochemistry lab, working with proteins to determine structure and function.” 5 Sidney Dobbins – Student Spotlight How was your time at SURF? What was your poster about? “This might be a little complicated. I worked with a protein MLL-1 Protein Mixed Linage Leukemia 1 Protein. “It was an amazing experience. I did what a graduate student does, got a stipend, and I was lucky enough to find out that it is not what I want to do in life. I don’t want to research anymore. I got this opportunity to figure out that it’s not for me– being by myself at a desk doesn’t fit my personality. I need teamwork, and I want to be a leader. I’m really blessed to be able to figure that out early. During the end of the program, one of the faculty saw my poster presentation and was impressed. Dr. Cosgrove (head of the SURF program) also saw it and I was subsequently nominated into the fast track for their graduate program. I would have got a stipend of $30,000 per year. I ended up getting it, but I declined it. “ 6 I observed the effect of Phospho PIP2 (a phosphoinositide) on the catalytic function of the Mixed Lineage Leukemia MLL1 histone methyltransferase core complex. We combined MWRAD complex overall saw no effect in the change of the methyltransferase. Overall no change was observed in the Methylation rate when the MWRAD complex interacted with PIP2. “ Sidney Dobbins – Student Spotlight What do you want to do now? “I did a lot of soul searching this past winter. I love leadership, organizing, but I still love health care. I’m thinking of health care administration in my masters program. I applied to 6 or 7 colleges. My first choice is between Johns Hopkins and Columbia. They are both in the top four in health care administration. I’m a little behind the ball. I’m hoping they will take a chance on me again. I don’t have the curriculum for it but I will work the hardest. I won’t have the best grades, but I’m a hard worker. I’m definitely not taking the easy way out, but I wouldn’t have been happy with that. I hope I’m getting another break- that’s what I’m praying for. Any parting words? “If I could give advice, it’s that there’s always going to be something for you. If you are stuck in your major right now—I was really struggling—you’ve just got to breathe and believe everything is going to work out.” 7 Honors Achievements Senior Illustration major Kathryn Holt helped raise $6,000 for the Greater Wheeling Homeless Coalition at the Clientele Art Studio with the gallery show “Deck the Halls.” She submitted a piece and did Public Relations work for the gallery show. Junior Illustration major Maria Holubeck won awards through the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators student scholarship contest! She won the Thomas Ruddy Award, funded by Marsha Ruddy-Lundy; only four awards were given out for this scholarship. It was focused on work that creatively used with the figure and/or landscape. Honors art students Rachel Maly, Rayne Burgin and Gina Yonko are finalists for the 11th annual Michael V. Gmitter Scholarship Exhibition– come see the reception and award ceremony on March 18th from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Junior Criminal Justice major Cory Myers will be doing an internship with the Ocean City, Maryland, Police Department over this summer 2020! 8 Energy Reduction Challenge Energy Reduction Challenge is a week-to-week competition by the residence halls during: February 8-14 February 15-21 February 22-28 February 29-March 6 Halls are challenged to: 1. To reduce energy consumption on a weekly basis 2. To achieve the highest percentage of reduction in comparison of this year with last year 3. To implement energy savings tips within each residence hall 4. To be aware of energy use, phantom use and energy consumption within their residence hall For additional information, contact Resident Assistant Louis Murphy. Mike Hannah of University Facilities can also assist with questions about the technical measurement. 9 Contracts Sydney Brown, Taylor Freeburg, Tonimarie Della. Course: Nursing 435. Project: Each student will create an informational pamphlet about a different pathological disease. Supervisor: Dr. Victoria Hedderick. Carley Semancik. Course: Biology 104. Project: Research paper on Huntington’s Disease. Supervisor: Dr. Kiran Misra. Maria Holubeck. Course: Art 372. Project: Informational posters about deforestation. Supervisor: Prof. Michelle Vitali. Nicole Egan. Course: Biology 200. Project: Research paper and Power Point about the ethics of the United States’ health care system. Supervisor: Dr. Kiarash Aramesh. Eve Wyman. Communications 298. Project: Artificial Intelligence and its applications to business. Supervisor: Dr. Terrence Warburton Nicole Tupitza. Course: Geosciences 103. Project: In-depth study of the constellations. Supervisor: Dr. David Hurd. Nicole Tupitza. Course: Sociology 101. Project: Artificial intelligence and its effect on societal norms. 10 Enrichment Meetings 11 Important Announcements NCHC Proposal window is February 3rd-27th this year. If you want a chance to go to NCHC, keep in mind the deadline! Dr. Solberg is looking for people to help with the restoration and re-dedication of the Peace Pole by the Mallory Lake Gazebo. Contact him for more information. Join Edinboro University’s Celebration of Scholarship! This opportunity allows you to share your hard work and get a HOPs point. Submissions are due March 16th, 2020. Calling all honors students! We want to know about your achievements. Contact Rayne Burgin so we can acknowledge you and your hard work in future newsletters. Spring Break this year is March 7th-March 15th.