Category: Professional Notes

Nicole Crowder, assistant professor of chemistry, presented the results of her research at the 2^nd Biennial Carbon Dioxide Symposium held at Princeton University on Nov. 9. The symposium was focused on the chemical reduction of carbon dioxide and featured leading experts in this area of research. Her presentation, entitled “Characterization and Quantitative Determination of Surface Loading of Phosphonate Monolayers on Copper for Electrocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide,” included the latest results from her research that aims to use carbon dioxide as a carbon feedstock material for the production of organic molecules or alternate fuels. Undergraduate research students Karmel James ’13, Eric Johnson ’14, and Sarah Almahdali ’11 were co-authors.

Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the university’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, and Stephen P. Hanna, professor of geography, had opinion columns on the changing nature of Virginia politics published in the Washington Post and the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Professor of History Jeffrey McClurken’s lecture “Before the Battle of Fredericksburg” will air on C-SPAN on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. and again at 10 p.m.

McClurken’s lecture, which was originally presented at the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center in October, discusses the Civil War leading up to December 1862, when the Battle of Fredericksburg was fought. Using the words of politicians, military officers, journalists and locals from the 1860’s, McClurken sets the state for the battle by discussing the political situations in the North and South, and tracing changes in Union and Confederate commands.

Janusz Konieczny, professor of mathematics, has published a research article, Centralizers in the infinite symmetric inverse semigroup, in the Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society.

Roberta Gentry, assistant professor of special education, recently presented three presentations at the Council of Exceptional Children Teacher Education Division conference in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 6 -10, 2012. The titles of the presentations were: What do special education teachers and their mentors discuss in an online mentoring site? What is electronic mentoring and how can it be utilized in special education? and Using electronic mentoring to support special educators. Also, while at the conference, Gentry attended training and became certified as a National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) program reviewer.