In This Issue

Meet CSU's New Faculty

Nithya Gnanapragasam, BGES

Dr. Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BGES) and a member of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD). Dr. Gnanapragasam joined CSU from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), in New York City, where she was an instructor and a research track assistant professor. She has also served as an adjunct lecturer at City College in the City University of New York.

Originally from the southernmost state of India, Dr. Gnanapragasam earned her Ph.D. in human and molecular genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in the laboratory of Dr. Gordon Ginder, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. James Bieker at ISMMS. Dr. Gnanapragasam has numerous publications, awards, and honors. Most recently she was an invited speaker at the 2019 Gordon Research Conference and at the 2019 Red Cell Club Conference. She continues to build her research program on the mechanisms of mammalian erythropoiesis (the production of red blood cells) during development and in diseases such as Congenital Dyserythropoietic Anemia, Sickle Cell Anemia, and Beta Thalassemia. Her research is externally funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Cooley's Anemia Foundation.

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Featured Research Alumni Series

Christine Moravec

Dr. Christine Moravec is the Director of the Research Education and Training Center (RETC) at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute (LRI). She earned Ph.D. in regulatory biology from Cleveland State University in 1988.

Dr. Moravec’s research focuses on human heart failure, studying physical and biochemical changes during heart failure as well as utilizing biofeedback-assisted stress management therapy to reverse heart failure. She also serves as a lecturer at CSU and received CSU’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2008.

If you know a former Cleveland State student researcher who has gone on to career success, please email Ben Ward or Joy Yard to let us know.

Office of Research News

Come work with us!
AVP for Research Search

The Office of Research has initiated a search for a new Associate Vice President for Research (AVPR), a faculty administrative position. The AVPR will serve as the deputy for the Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation, contributing to the cultivation of research activity and the professional growth of researchers across campus.

Duties will include assisting with the development and implementation of research priorities and research strategy, guiding daily operations for the office, coordinating faculty involvement in Office of Research oversight and activities, and overseeing compliance of all research activities.

View the job posting and apply here by September 30.

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CSU Scholar News

Cyleste Collins, Social Work

Dr. Cyleste Collins is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work. As a mixed-methods, interdisciplinary, collaborative researcher with a background in psychology, anthropology, and social work, Dr. Collins’ work is community-based and examines social problems with a focus on social determinants of health. Dr. Collins’ work examines the benefits of community-based perinatal support for Black mothers with Birthing Beautiful Communities (BBC).

Prior to joining Cleveland State, Dr. Collins held faculty positions at Tulane University and Case Western Reserve University. She has worked on refugee health and mental health needs; family experiences with housing instability, including homelessness, risk of homelessness, and foreclosure; low income, urban-focused youth programs; and projects focused on increasing research capacity in health disparity-focused community organizations. Dr. Collins is currently working as the evaluator for an Ohio Third Frontier-awarded infant mortality initiative with BBC and is a Co-PI with Dr. Heather Rice, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, on a CSU-funded grant examining BBC’s COVID-related changes. She also serves as the evaluator for a 5-year NIH grant focused on increasing community involvement in health disparity interventions.

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Inspired Creativity

Samantha Baskind, Mark Souther: Cleveland Jewish History at Home

Dr. Samantha Baskind, a professor in the Department of Art & Design, and Dr. Mark Souther, a professor in the Department of History and Director of the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities (CPHDH), each participated in the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage’s virtual Cleveland Jewish History at Home Series over the summer.

In a program titled “Everyman vs. Superman: Harvey Pekar, Comics, and Cleveland,” Dr. Baskind discussed the history of comics in Cleveland, including the Jewish roots of Superman, co-created by Cleveland-born Jerry Siegel, and the works of longtime Clevelander Harvey Pekar. The recording of her interview can be watched on Youtube here.

Dr. Souther joined a discussion titled “City and Suburb: The Evolving Geographies of Jewish Cleveland” that explored the eastward migration of Cleveland’s Jewish populations from downtown, through eastern Cleveland neighborhoods, and into the eastern suburbs. The recording can be viewed here.

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News from the Technology Transfer Office

Update: Team hBN Sunscreen

This year’s I-Corps@Ohio program was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, CSU team hBN Sunscreen, led by Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Geyou Ao and supported by four undergraduate students, was selected as an early participant to advance through the modified I-Corps@Ohio online program.

Through 7 weeks of the virtual customer discovery process, the CSU team is in first place among all other teams for most customer interviews performed with 81. The CSU team was also highlighted during the I-Corps@Ohio orientation webinar as the lead example of how participating teams should approach the I-Corps@Ohio program.

NorthCoast I-Corps Offers Funding Support Training

NorthCoast I-Corps training is available to help you attract additional sources of funding support for your research, technology, or new ideas. The program is short, part-time, and devoted to helping participants obtain funding and other support for the development of an idea, technology, or research outcome.

Contact Jack Kraszewski, CSU's Director of Technology Transfer, for additional information.

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Scholarship of Note

Research and Scholarship News from Across Campus

Dr. Patrick Wachira, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, has a new book titled the Handbook of Research on Online Pedagogical Models for Mathematics Teacher Education. With the entire education sector confronting a shift to online education, his book is especially timely for those within K-12, universities, educational consultants, school administrators, course developers, and other stakeholders, with a valuable resource in online-environments. Dr. Wachira’s research focuses on the preparation of teachers to teach mathematics with understanding facilitated by the appropriate and effective integration of technology and on culturally responsive pedagogy.
 

Dr. Ping Deng, a professor in the Department of Management and the Monte Ahuja Endowed Chair of Global Business, and colleagues are launching a special issue of International Journal of Management Review (IJMR), an official journal of the British Academy of Management (BAM). IJMR has consistently been ranked as one of the world’s most impactful journals in business and management disciplines (2019 Impact Factor: 8.631). The special issue encourages and welcomes submissions across a variety of disciplines, including social sciences, law, political sciences, psychology, public administration, urban studies, communications, and education services.
 

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Research Compliance

Restarting Human Participants Research

As we continue to repopulate the university and recommence scholarly activity across the CSU campus, we are now prepared to restart in-person research with human participants. Prior to starting or restarting an in-person investigation with human participants, investigators will need to complete procedures found on the IRB website for clearance to proceed. All investigators are encouraged to thoroughly review these procedures.

For any questions regarding restarting your research with human participants, please contact the Research with Human Participants COVID-19 Review Panel at RHPCRP@csuohio.edu.

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Research Resources

Raise Your Visibility – Update Your Faculty Profile!

The Office of Research launched the Innovation Portal to increase the public's access to Cleveland State’s knowledge base and to foster new research collaborations and partnerships. The Ohio Department of Higher Education has also launched (and is revamping) a statewide portal, the Ohio Innovation Exchange (OIEx), to improve research collaborations among Ohio’s universities and increase university/industry partnerships.

Accurate information is critical to both of these systems, and to making sure collaborators can find you.

To get the most out of these resources, update (or create) your faculty profile by following these easy steps:

1. Create or update information in your faculty profile by following this link
2. Add relevant terms to the “Research Keywords” section of your faculty profile to help partners and funders find you through the Innovation Portal
3. Add your picture to your profile page (replacing the stock image) by sending a photo to facultyprofile@csuohio.edu

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