Faculty and Staff Achievements – November, 2012

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Odeh, assistant professor of technology, art and design, was published in the October issue of the Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, volume 2, issue 9, with an article entitled “Implementing Radio Frequency Identification Technology into Supply Chain of Small-to-Medium Manufacturing Factories.”

In October, he presented a research paper at the Humanities and Technology Association’s 2012 conference, hosted by Bowie State University (pictured, right), entitled “The Role of Technological Tools in the Arab Spring.”

Al-Odeh also has been selected to be a judge for the 2013 Edison Awards competition, recognizing innovative American products and business leaders.

Dr. Colleen Greer, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, was recognized for outstanding contributions to the Inter-Faculty Organization during the March, 2012, IFO delegate assembly in Roseville, Minn. The award was for completion of a focus-group study of campus climate from the faculty perspective on the campuses of the seven state universities in Minnesota.

Dr. Brian Hiller, assistant professor of biology, was recently voted into the officer rotation of the Wildlife Toxicology Working Group, a specialty group within the international organization The Wildlife Society.  The  working group is composed of experts in the areas of wildlife management that relate to contaminants in the environment, how contaminants move through natural systems and the effects they have on the wildlife residing in those systems. Hiller will serve one year as chair elect, one year as chair and one year as past chair.

• Tim Kroeger, professor of geology in the Center for Environmental, Earth, and Space Studies, presented a research poster at the 57th Midwest Regional Groundwater Conference that was held in Minneapolis in early October.  The poster was co-authored by Dragoljub Bilanovic, professor of environmental, Earth, and space studies, and Ruth Winsor, an environmental studies graduate who completed her undergrad thesis on this project. The poster was entitled “Baseflow Contribution to Seasonal Hypoxia, Clearwater River, Clearwater County, Minnesota.” It focused on a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency-funded effort in 2008 to determine the cause of seasonal dissolved oxygen impairment of the headwaters reach of the Clearwater River in the vicinity of Bagley.

Dr. Janet Moen, an adjunct instructor in sociology, presented at the Sociologists of Minnesota annual conference, Oct. 11-12, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The title of her presentation was “Civil Relations in Contemporary Society: Perceptions and Reality.”

Dr. Deb Peterson, professor of sociology, presented “The Process of Understanding Campus Climate” at the Sociologists of Minnesota annual conference, Oct. 11-12, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Peterson also was recognized for outstanding contributions to the Inter-Faculty Organization during the March, 2012, IFO delegate assembly in Roseville, Minn. The award was for completion of a focus-group study of campus climate from the faculty perspective on the campuses of the seven state universities in Minnesota.

• Dr. Kathryn Smith, professor of professional education, is currently co-teaching an international course with a colleague in Suriname in collaboration with the Organization of American States (OAS). Smith developed the course, “Teacher Education in the 21st Century,” which  includes 30 teacher educators from 22 countries including Japan, Uganda, Azerbaijan and Kenya.