Faculty and Staff News - Florida Institute of Technology

Faculty and Staff Earn 

Development Grants 

Eight faculty and staff members 

were awarded Faculty Professional 

Development Grants of up to $2,500 

each for technology purchases and 

student support. Each year, Florida 

Tech’s Academic Information 

Technology Committee (ACITC) 

grants program provides these 

opportunities. 

The 2011 recipients are: 

Annie Becker, Nathan M. Bisk 

College of Business: “Integrating 

Web 2.0 Technology and Applied 

Research for Experiential Learning” 

Kathy Turner, Evans Library, 

and Carolyn Fausnaugh, Nathan 

M. Bisk College of Business: 

“Impact of Research Instruction 

on Undergraduate Information 

Literacy” 

Michael Splitt, Department of 

Marine and Environmental Systems: 

“On Campus Flat-screen Weather 

Monitor” 

Joshua Pritchard, Psychology: 

“Bringing Science-based Teaching 

Techniques into an Online World” 

Kunal Mitra, Department of 

Mechanical and Aerospace 

Engineering: “Software for Student 

Projects in Biomedical Engineering” 

Steven Lazarus, Department of 

Marine and Environmental Systems: 

“Dune Meteorology: The Effect of 

Dune Slope, Height and Vegetation 

on Air Flow” 

Ted Petersen, Department of 

Humanities and Communication: 

“Supporting the Multiplatform 

Communication Concentration 

in Our Strategic Communication 

Program” 

Students Honored at Northrop Grumman Design Showcase 

The Northrop Grumman Corp. Champion Award and Florida Institute of 

Technology President’s Cup Award were presented at the annual Northrop 

Grumman Engineering and Science Student Design Showcase. 

Gannet, an unmanned aerial and submersible system combining aerospace, electrical 

and ocean engineering project, received the Northrop Grumman Champion 

Award in Engineering. Team members are Joshua Higginson, Kaleb Smith, Jimmy 

Brennan, Mark Panaguiton, Kevin Clark, Robert Decarreau, Yan C. Rodriguez, 

Sam Maling and Andrew Verderame. Faculty advisers are Barry Brossman, Paavo 

Sepri and Stephen Wood. 

The Northrop Grumman Champion Award in Science was given to a physics and 

space sciences project, Detecting Shielded Nuclear Contraband Using Muon Tomography. 

Team members are Judson Locke, William Bittner, Leonard Grasso and 

Kondo Gnanvo. Faculty adviser is Marcus Hohlmann. 

SIREN Wave Energy, a green energy project, received the Florida Tech President’s 

Cup Award in Engineering. Team members are Nick Avery, Jim Susini, Joseph 

Hammond, Kandice Lord, Matt Wills and Charles Anodjo. Faculty advisers are 

Stephen Wood and Youngsik Choi. 

The Florida Tech’s President’s Cup Award in Science went to a bio-math project, 

How Sensitive Is Your MAPK. Team members are Dawn McDonald, Cristina 

Mazzone, and Christine Chater. Faculty advisers are David Carroll and Semen 

Koksol. 

Concrete Canoe Team Takes First 

in Regionals 

The student chapter of the American 

Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) concrete 

canoe team took first place overall in the 2011 

ASCE Southeast Student Conference. Paul 

Cosentino is the team’s adviser and Gustavo 

Quiroz is the president of the ASCE student 

chapter, which has approximately 30 members. 

Funk Center Features Mid- 

Century Fabrics 

The Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts will 

exhibit British Bolts: Artists’ Fabrics of the Mid- 

Century May 21–Aug. 27. 

British Bolts examines the variety of aesthetic 

influences and approaches of the period’s 

designers. For more information, directions or 

to arrange a group tour, contact the Ruth Funk 

Center at extension 8313, email textiles@fit.edu 

or visit: http://textiles.fit.edu. 

May 25 | V12.5

May 2011 A Newsletter for the Community Vol. 12 Issue 5 

Faculty and Staff News 

Nathan M. Bisk College of Business 

Sam Doss was published in the 

Journal of Management and Marketing 

Research and the Harvard Business 

Review’s The Daily Stat. His article 

was “The transference of brand 

attitude: The effect on the celebrity 

endorser.” 

The Brevard County Commission 

recognized Tom Stauffacher and 

Roger Manley for their work with 

high school students over the past 15 

years in the High School Business 

Ethics competition. In his acceptance 

remarks, Manley noted the roles of 

Tim Hollingsworth and Dudley 

Gordon in initiating the event. 

College of Engineering 

The College of Engineering first 

semester senior project, “1, 2, 3, 4,” 

received an Honorable Mention at the 

Imagine Cup USA 2011, a Microsoftsponsored 

student technology 

competition. The group developed a 

game that will teach children in underdeveloped 

countries to count whole 

numbers. Team members are Nicholas 

Baldwin, Ryan Knee, Stephanie 

Drinks and Ryan Small. Their faculty 

adviser is Philip Chan. 

A paper by Alan Breitler, Patuxent, 

Md., site, was accepted for presentation 

and publication at the International 

Conference on Artificial Intelligence to 

be held in Las Vegas in July. The paper, 

“An adaptive neural network,” describes 

a method to improve the training of an 

artificial neural network while reducing 

training time. 

Dan Kirk was invited by Senator 

Thad Altman to testify before the 

Florida Senate Committee on military, 

space and domestic security. He discussed 

the direction the state should 

take with regards to space research. 

Frank Kinney, Office of Research, 

accompanied Kirk and met with 

Senator David Simmons, chairman of 

the Senate Committee of Education 

Appropriations. 

2 

Pierre Larochelle 

displayed his robotic 

invention and Venketesh 

Ramamoorthy presented 

a software security concept 

at the World’s Best 

Pierre Larochelle 

Technologies Innovation 

Marketplace’s ninth annual forum in 

Arlington, Texas. 

George Maul and Bill Jurgens, athletics, 

received the Centennial Quality 

District Award from the Boy Scouts of 

America (BSA). They are involved with 

BSA youth programs and fundraising 

in southern Brevard County. 

Jean-Paul Pinelli and graduate 

students Gonzalo Pita and Boback 

Torkian attended the International 

Conference on Vulnerability and Risk 

Analysis and Management. They 

presented three papers and Pinelli 

moderated a session. 

College of Psychology and Liberal Arts 

A poster by students Amy Gammon, 

Mei-Chuan Kung and Associate 

Professor Richard Griffith was presented 

at the 26th Annual Conference 

for the Society for Industrial and 

Organizational Psychology in Chicago, 

Ill. The poster is titled “How do real 

applicants who are fakers compare to 

nonfakers?” Another poster by graduate 

student Michael McFadden and 

Erin Richard, titled, “Cultural and 

individual differences influencing reactions 

to business request emails,” was 

also presented at the conference. 

Gordon Patterson and 

wife Joy were accepted 

into the 2011 China Field 

Seminar, “Frontiers: 

Culture, Nature and 

Industry from China’s 

Gordon Patterson 

Northeast to the World 

Expo.” The seminar, co-sponsored by 

the Chinese Ministry of Education, 

Peking University, and the East-West 

Center at the University of Hawaii is 

June 19–July 11. 

Youngju Sohn’s paper, “Toward 

building the relationships-reputation 

integrated model,” was published in 

the International Journal of Integrated 

Marketing Communications. 

College of Science 

An article by Christopher Kelly 

’01 and Richard Turner, titled, 

“Distribution of the hermit crabs 

Clibanarius Vittatus and Pagurus 

MacLaughlinae in the Northern Indian 

River Lagoon, Florida: A reassessment 

after 30 years,” was published in the 

Journal of Crustacean Biology. 

Hakeem Oluseyi was invited to 

speak at SciFest Africa, Africa’s largest 

science festival, held in Pretoria, South 

Africa. 

An article on the taxonomy of 

brittlestars by Richard Turner was 

published in the Proceedings of the 

Biological Society of Washington. 

Online Learning 

Mary S. Bonhomme received the 

Continuing Education Leadership 

Award from the South Region 

Association for Continuing Higher 

Education. She also presented a session 

on faculty training for online programs 

with Chad Wonderly, Bisk Education. 

Office of Strategic Initiatives 

Cliff Bragdon was a keynote speaker 

at Earth Day 2011, held at the West 

Palm Beach Centennial Park in April. 

Bragdon noted that beyond developing 

a desirable carbon footprint, a resilient 

environment that is safe, secure, healthy 

and sustainable is also needed. 

Conference Services 

Erica Spencer, CCEP, director, 

and Anthony Skevakis, director of 

Campus Services & Housing presented 

iMarketing Magic with the Apple iPad 

at the 31st Annual Conference of the 

Association of Collegiate Conference 

and Event Directors-International, 

held in Orlando, Fla. Spencer also 

was honored as a Certified Collegiate 

and Events Professional (CCEP).


The Conference Services Bureau 

was awarded the 2011 Outstanding 

Institutional Achievement Award. 

Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts 

Carla Funk spoke 

at the Eastminster 

Royal Tea, a fundraiser 

for women’s 

charities at Eastminster 

Presbyterian Church. 

Her talk, “Love and 

Marriage in the Textile 

Arts,” was coordinated 

with the Royal Wedding. 

Carla Funk 

Ecology Students 

‘Teleconfer’ with Political 

Aides 

Students in Mark Bush’s community 

ecology class participated 

in a video conference call with Sara 

Gonzalez-Rothi, aide to Senator Bill 

Nelson, as part of the Bard Center for 

Environmental Policy initiative called 

C2C/EARTHweeks 2011. The C2C 

held about 20 teleconferences between 

campuses and Congress on climaterelated 

issues. The event was organized 

by Bush and marine biology major 

Philip Gwinnell. 

Poet Laureate to Retire 

Edmund Skellings, Florida’s Poet 

Laureate and professor of humanities 

in the College of Psychology and 

Liberal Arts, will retire this May. He 

has taught at the university since 

early 2008. The Skellings archives 

are now accessible online at http:// 

research.fit.edu/edmundskellings 

Employees Receive Annual Service Awards 

At the 2011 Annual Service Awards, President Anthony J. Catanese 

recognized faculty and staff members who have reached career milestones. 

5 Years of Service 

Ken Anchor, Cliff Bragdon, Christena Callahan, Elaine Carlyle, Robin Chan, Sen Chiao, 

Brenda Cline, Patrick Converse, Stephani Cuddie, Heather Cudmore, Lisa DuBenion, Samuel 

Durrance, Brian Ehrlich, Michelle Farquharson, Carla Funk, Fitzgerald Haig, Stephanie 

Hopper, Nathan Hosburgh, Rimy Jassal, Joyce Jones, Dennis Kulonda, Liz Kyle, Brian Lail, 

William Macom, Suk McKee, Elizabeth Middleton, William Mims, Tonya Mitchell, Christel 

Noyes, Jimmie Parker, John Politano, Emily Ralston, Jeffrey Reilly, Robert Rhoads, Erin 

Richard, Richard Rummel, Razvan Rusovici, Reinerio Santana, Cynthia Smith, Michael Splitt, 

Stephen Sulkazi, John Sweeney, Robyn Tapley, Greg Tsark, Stephen Van Brunt, Thomas Waite, 

Linda Ward, Rudolf Wehmschulte, Stacia Young 


Marc Baarmand, Judith Barlow, Mike Beckert, Barry Bodt, Ray Bonhomme, Deborah Bonilla, 

Jerry Corica, David Cruz, Andrew Cudmore, Louis DeGregory, John Duncan, Joe Dwyer, Liz 

Fox, Doug Givens, Deborah Hartegan, Stephanie Joy, Cem Kaner, Melissa Lyons, Ed Martin, 

Scott McGill, Ronaldo Menezes, Rodd Newcombe, Anna Owen, Kanishka Perera, Francis 

Quaiel, David Swartz, Oscar Williams 


Bill Battin, Phillip Chan, Cindy Dubey, Celine Lang, Karen Rhine, Ryan Stansifer, Wayne 

Storey, Ralph Turingan 


Ballard “Mike” Barker, Rosalyn Bursey, Paul Cosentino, Rebecca Crook, Kenneth Crooks, 

Linda Khan, Dawn Lacy, Freddie Robinson, Robert Sullivan, Nat Villaire, Fontaine Wallace, 

Peggy Zinsmeister 


Carolyn Farrior, Pete Mazzone, Jeanette Sparks 


Charles Fulton, Richard McKenzie 


Dennis Jackson, Janie McCray, Judi Strother 


John Hadjilogiou, Bill Jurgens 

Retirees 

Norm Chlosta, David Cook, Martin Cummings, Paul Davis, Ken Droscher, Stephanie Gaida, 

Thelma Grant, V. Lakshmikantham, Elizabeth Rizzo, Carol Shehadeh, Nat Villaire, Russell 

Weigel, Priscilla Wiener 

Edward W. Scott Jr. Receives 

Honorary Doctorate 

Former United States Assistant 

Secretary of Transportation Edward 

W. Scott Jr. received an honorary 

Doctor of Humane Letters at the spring 

commencement ceremonies on May 7. 

Delta Mu Delta Inducts Deserving Business Students 

The Nathan M. Bisk College of Business Epsilon Eta Chapter of Delta Mu 

Delta, a national honor society in business administration, inducted students and 

presented awards at the 24th Annual Banquet and Induction Ceremony held April 

14. For more information, visit: www.fit.edu/newsroom/news/4192/florida_techs_ 

delta_mu_delta_honors_wesche_payne 

3

Bonhomme Retires 

Deputy Chief Operating Officer 

Ray Bonhomme says a few words 

at his retirement party in April. He 

began at Florida Tech in 2000. 

Bonhomme continues part 

time as director of the Freshman 

Advising Center. 

International Note 

As of May 11, International 

Student and Scholar Services 

temporarily located to Hibiscus 

Business Center, Suite 107. An additional office in the Allen 

S. Henry Building offers walk-in hours 9–11 a.m. and 2–4 

p.m. Call ext. 8053. The office should return to the Keuper 

Building in 60-90 days. 

Painting Their Gratitude 

President Anthony J. Catanese presented Ed Scott with 

a painting created by students at the Scott Center for Autism 

Treatment in appreciation for hosting the Third Annual 

Evening of Hope in April. More than 260 people and more 

than $190,000 was raised through sponsorships, a live 

auction and a Rolex watch raffle. The Rolex was generously 

donated by Kempf’s Jewelers. 

A portion of the funds raised from this year’s Evening 

of Hope will go toward the creation of a resource room for 

parents and teachers. It will be located on the second floor 

of the Scott Center. 

4 


Retirees Join Faculty Emeriti 

At a recent gathering of faculty 

emeriti, Patuxent site director 

Norm Chlosta and Carol 

Shehadeh, department of humanities 

and communication, were 

welcomed to the ranks of honored 

faculty. New faculty emeritus Nat 

Villaire was unable to attend. 

Campus Observer is published by the Office of Marketing and Communications 

Vice President for Marketing and Communications ....... Wes Sumner 

Editor ...........................................Karen Rhine 

Design and Layout ......................Office of Creative Services 

Photography ........................ Ralph Locurcio, Wes Sumner 

Comments or submissions ..........................krhine@fit.edu 

From the 

President’s Desk 

Anthony James Catanese 

The annual Spring Honors Convocation is one of 

my favorite awards events. In part, it makes me feel 

good because of tradition. Every year, there’s Bob 

Shearer playing a beautiful classical piece on the 

piano and an invocation from Rev. Darice Dawson 

or Fr. Doug Bailey. 

I feel an almost paternal pride in seeing achieving 

students with shining faces come up on stage— 

often more than once—to receive well-deserved 

honors. I know that so much hard work and sacrifice 

has gone into developing the potential and creating 

the success of each young individual. 

This event and commencement are academic 

rituals that truly epitomize the year and the best 

efforts of all of us. 

And I shake the hands of many students at both 

events, of course. In fact, I saw Cristina Mazzone, 

daughter of Pete Mazzone, three times. She won 

a Best in Showcase Design Award at the Northrop 

Grumman Student Design Showcase, picked up a 

department of biological sciences top senior award 

at Honors Convocation, and graduated with honors 

on May 7. 

Then there was Dominic Casali who took home 

the Donald R. Mason Award as the outstanding 

senior in the department of chemical engineering. 

Then at commencement he received faculty honors 

for his 4.0. 

I’m always especially proud of our Faculty 

Excellence Award winners as the competition is 

tremendous. Because there is no such a thing as 

too much acknowledgement, I want to congratulate 

the recipients once again. Big cheers go to Dr. 

James Brenner for the Kerry Bruce Clark Award for 

Excellence in Teaching; to Dr. Marcus Hohlmann 

for the Award for Excellence in Research; and to 

Clayton Baum, for the Andrew W. Revay Jr. Award 

for Excellence in Service. 

As Vince Lombardi said, “It is time for us all to 

stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one 

who recognizes the challenge and does something 

about it.” 

MK-423-511

Faculty and Staff News - Florida Institute of Technology

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