In This Issue

Meet CSU's Faculty

Jessica Peck, Management

Dr. Jessica Peck is an assistant professor in the Department of Management who joined CSU as a visiting college lecturer in 2019. She received her Ph.D. from Kent State University in 2019.  She primarily teaches Management Strategy and Policy, Organizational Behavior, and Human Resource Management. Her research examines the psychology of individuals within an organizational context with specific focus in the areas of leadership and bias. For example, her dissertation examined the influence of leader impression management and gender on follower perceptions of effective leadership.

Most recently, Dr. Peck has focused on the deep impact of COVID-19 on individuals and organizations. This work includes a recent paper, “The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women relative to men: A conservation of resources perspective,” as well as examination of the myriad negative psychological effects on healthcare workers, particularly physicians, who are treating COVID-19 patients. Her work has been published in The Leadership Quarterly, Gender Work & Organizations, Management Decision, and Frontiers in Psychology.

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Featured Research Alumni

Ediuska Laurens

Dr. Ediuska Laurens earned a doctoral degree in Applied Biomedical Engineering in 2009 from the joint doctoral program of CSU’s Washkewicz College of Engineering and the Cleveland Clinic. She is the first Latina to be elected on the board of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB).

After working in the medical device field, she founded Genius Shield in order to help smaller inventors and entrepreneurs develop and bring to market the most innovative and disruptive medical solutions. In March 2020, Dr. Laurens came back to Cleveland to accept a Women in STEM award at a CSU Women’s History Month event.

Foreign Influence

Legislation to Ban Foreign Talent Program Participation Considered

An article in Science provides an update on new rules under consideration by U.S. legislators to address participation by U.S. scientists in talent programs run by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, all of which are regarded as exerting “malign foreign influence” on U.S. innovation. A recent defense budget bill removed language that would have prevented participation in Chinese talent programs, but a similar provision is currently included in another bill.

Cleveland State University values international collaborations and is committed to academic freedom, and provides guidance as well as a new CITI training module to help researchers better understand foreign influence concerns. For additional information on foreign influence issues, contact Dr. Benjamin Ward, Director of Research Development & Ethics.

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Inspired Creativity

CSU Student Composer Workshop w/ Cleveland Chamber Choir

CSU’s School of Music brings the CSU Student Composer Workshop with the Cleveland Chamber Choir to Drinko Hall in January. The Cleveland Chamber Choir, led by Artistic Director Scott MacPherson, will perform compositions written by School of Music graduate and undergraduate Music Composition Majors. CSU students have been advised by Dr. Andrew Rindfleisch, a professor of music composition in the Department of Music, Coordinator of the Music Composition Program, and Director of the Cleveland Contemporary Players.

The performance is scheduled for Sunday, January 30 at 6:00 pm in CSU’s Drinko Recital Hall, located in the CSU Music and Communications Building. Admission is free and open to the public.

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News from the Technology Transfer Office

UPDATE: U.S. Patent Allowance

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed a patent for U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 16/398,558 titled EXOSKELETON SYSTEM that names Dr. Antonie van den Bogert, a professor and the Parker Hannifin Endowed Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as inventor. The technology involves a passive exoskeleton to assist patients to regain walking ability and accelerate functional improvements, both in daily life and in physical therapy. A passive exoskeleton is not powered by a system of electric motors, pneumatics, levers, or hydraulics and is much more cost effective than powered exoskeletons.

Contact Jack Kraszewski for assistance with a disclosure to begin the process of protecting your invention or intellectual property.

2022 I-Corps@Ohio RFP

The I-Corps@Ohio program incorporates Lean Startup, Customer Discovery and Business Model Canvas methodologies to accelerate commercialization of technologies from Ohio universities, colleges, and research institutions while expanding the business acumen and networks of faculty and students across the state.

You have until January 16, 2022 at 11:59 PM to submit your application for up to $12,000 in funding provided by the Ohio Department of Higher Education to be selected to participate in the 2022 I-Corps@Ohio cohort. Form your team now and submit your university technology using the online questionnaire to begin the process of taking your technology from lab to market.

View the 2022 I-Corps@Ohio RFP here, and apply here.

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Scholarship of Note

Research and Scholarship News from Across Campus

Dr. Anton Komar, a professor in the Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences (BGES) and Director of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD), is an invited speaker at the upcoming EMBO Workshop in Edinburgh, UK in April 2022. This EMBO Workshop will be the first international conference dedicated to the understanding of the codon usage bias phenomenon. Codon usage bias has emerged as a key factor in genome regulation, both for prediction of gene expression levels as well as their influence on microbial fitness and human disease.

Dr. Kelly Yu-Hsin Liao, an associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Administration, Supervision, and Adult Learning (CASAL) has published a new article, titled, “Educational channeling, internalized stereotyping, expectations fulfillment and major choice on Asian Americans' major satisfaction: A moderated mediation model.” The study examined whether culturally-valued or non-culturally-valued majors moderated the relation between educational channeling (or guiding and directing individuals) towards math and science and major satisfaction through internalized stereotyping and parental expectation fulfillment. The article is available online and will be published in the February 2022 edition of the Journal of Vocational Behavior, which has an impact factor of 6.06.

Dr. Pedro Cesar Lopes Gerum, an assistant professor in the Department of Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSM), was part of a team of 12 scientists from 4 different countries who recently completed work showcasing the discovery of 301 new planets orbiting stars outside of our solar system for NASA. The team used a new deep neural network called ExoMiner that leverages NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer, and can distinguish real exoplanets from different types of imposters, or "false positives." Dr. Gerum uses similar data driven models and machine learning algorithms for his research on supply chain issues.

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