In This Issue

Meet CSU's Faculty

Tawanda Greer-Medley, CASAL

Dr. Tawanda M. Greer-Medley joined CSU in August 2020 as an associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Administration, Supervision and Adult Learning (CASAL). She also teaches courses in multiculturalism and health psychology in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Greer-Medley specializes in sociocultural contributors to health and health disparities. Her published works include studies on the relationship between racism and mental health, the impacts of provider racial biases on health outcomes for African American hypertensive patients, neural correlates of racism and race-related social interactions, academic impacts of racially hostile campus climates for African American college students, coping strategies in managing and reducing stress for African Americans, and culturally-congruent interventions for African Americans diagnosed with hypertension.

Prior to joining CSU, Dr. Greer-Medley taught at Southern Illinois University and in the Clinical-Community Psychology doctoral program at the University of South Carolina. She is an associate editor for the Journal of Black Psychology and is currently finalizing a textbook, titled The Psychology of Race and Racism, to be published within the year.

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Featured Research Resource

Coming Soon: University-Wide Qualtrics® License

Cleveland State University is finalizing a license for Qualtrics® cloud services for use as a survey tool for creating, delivering, and analyzing surveys and survey responses for research, academic, and administrative purposes. Qualtrics will be available to all current CSU faculty and staff, and to students when supervised by faculty in a class or research setting.

Use of the University-provided Qualtrics account is subject to agreement with the terms of use found here.

Using Qualtrics for non-university related activities is prohibited.

The license is expected to go into effect before the end of April, and faculty will receive an email notification when Qualtrics is available.

Research Funding News

Meghan Novisky Receives New Award from ARCH Network

Dr. Meghan Novisky, an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Anthropology, and Sociology (CAS), has received a $33,808 grant Aging Research in Criminal Justice & Health (ARCH) Network. The project, titled “A Multi-Methods Study of Barriers and Facilitators of Compassionate Release During COVID-19.”

With Co-PI Dr. Jennifer James from the University of California – San Francisco, Dr. Novisky will gather in-depth interview and survey data from corrections officials and legal policy experts across the United States about compassionate release efforts during the pandemic.

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Inspired Creativity

The Moors, Directed by Toby Vera Bercovici

Toby Vera Bercovici, an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Theatre & Dance, will direct a virtual production of The Moors with performances taking place April 15-17.

Written by Jen Silverman, the play centers on two sisters who live in the middle of the desolate and savage moors. A governess is summoned, but where is the child she is supposed to care for? What are those sounds coming from the attic? And, what is the dog doing with that chicken? A contemporary dark comedy about longing – for love, for power, for immortality.

Virtual "seating” for The Moors is limited and can be reserved on a first come, first served basis.

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News from the Technology Transfer Office

Siu-Tung Yao Awarded Commercialization Funding

Rapidect, Inc., a CSU start-up company created by Dr. Siu-Tung Yau has been awarded CSU’s second Technology Validation and Start-up Fund (TVSF) Phase 2 grant from the Ohio Development Service Agency (ODSA) in the amount of $150,000. Dr. Yau, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), received a Phase 1 TVSF award in 2018 via the TeCK Fund, a joint technology commercialization and startup fund co-managed by Cleveland State University and Kent State University.

The Phase 2 award will further Dr. Yau’s efforts to achieve market entry of the Rapidect Analyzer in 2022. Rapidect will use the ODSA award to develop a robust prototype to enable the manufacture of a minimally viable product. In addition, funds will be used to purchase key equipment.

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

InnovateOhio PITCH X – Promote Your Research

InnovateOhio’s I.P. Promise initiative is pleased to announce PITCH X: From Lab to Market, a series of short, compelling talks on a virtual stage that feature Ohio’s university community discoveries.

InnovateOhio wants to share Ohio’s university research discoveries with the world in a way that anyone can access. Speakers will receive extensive coaching and support in the process of creating a talk. Talks will be shared widely on social media. This is your platform to share your research and technology that is ready for commercialization.

Speaker nominations for the inaugural PITCH X are open through April 19, 2021. Participants will work with InnovateOhio’s team for several months to produce a final recording by the second half of the year.

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Scholarship of Note

Research and Scholarship News from Across Campus

Congratulations to Dr. Kenneth Vail, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, on being designated a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science (APS). APS Rising Stars are selected for their significant publications, their work to bring recognition to their field, and research with broad implications, among other criteria. In addition to numerous recent publications, Dr. Vail helped to establish the International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology (ISSEP) in 2020. Existential psychology deals with the consequences of humans’ awareness of their impermanence (including fear of death), their freedom and autonomy, feelings of isolation, and strivings for a sense of meaning and significance.

Brian Ray, the Leon and Gloria Plevin Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, joined Jane Bambauer (University of Arizona) to contribute the post “Privacy and Digital Contact Tracing” to Cornell Tech’s Critical Reflection’s blog. The post expands the argument that privacy critiques of digital contact tracing apps ignored long-standing public health norms. Further details of their research can be found in their article “COVID-19 Apps Are Terrible – They Didn't Have to Be,” published in Lawfare. Professor Ray’s research was supported in part by the Office of Research’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Research Grant (CR3) Program.

Dr. Paul Edward Montgomery Ramírez, an adjunct professor in the Department of Criminology, Anthropology, and Sociology (CAS) and a compliance officer for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) program, published a new research article in the International Journal of Heritage Studies. “Colonial representations of race in alternative museums: The ‘African’ of St Benet’s, the ‘Arab’ of Jorvik, and the ‘Black Viking’” examines a kind of “colonialism” that occurs when museums use a Western lens to place people of color within medieval societies, thereby effectively applying interpretations that are not only inaccurate, but which perpetuate racist Western myths. The article has led to multiple invitations for Dr. Montgomery Ramírez to present the research internationally.

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