Department of Engineering and Center for Materials Research
Jacob Strimaitis, Doctoral Student at the Center for Materials Science, advisor Dr. Messaoud Bahoura, recently published in Scientific Reports, a Nature Portfolio journal, with his work entitled "Electrochemical evaluation of porous CaFe2O4 anode material prepared via solution combustion synthesis at increasing fuel-to-oxidizer ratios and calcination temperatures" Scientific Reports 12, 3082 (23 February 2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07036-3. Authors Jacob Strimaitis, Samuel Danquah, Clifford Denize, Sangram K. Pradhan, Messaoud Bahoura. The paper evaluates the material and electrochemical effects of the solution combustion synthesis of porous CFO across novel fuel-to-oxidizer ratios and calcination temperatures. We demonstrated that nearly doubling the amount of fuel used during synthesis increases capacities between 120 and 150% at high current densities and across 500 additional charging-discharging cycles.
Department of Biology
Nazir Barekzi, Ph.D., Biology Department Assistant Professor, has received notification that he was awarded funding to pursue the project entitled “Identifying Prophage-mediated Defense Mechanisms” with a collaboration with scientists at Sandia National Labs in California. This project was awarded by the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in the amount of $60,000 for the project period January 14, 2022 through September 30, 2022. This fruitful collaboration provides stipends to Dr. Barekzi’s group of Spartan Phage Hunters and training through virtual seminars on bioinformatics and genomics.
Maureen Scott, Instructor of Biology has been elected for a 3 year term to the Board of Directors Association of College Honor Societies
ACHS is the only certifying agency for college and university honor societies. ACHS sets the standards for organizational excellence and scholastic eligibility, as well as assuring member participation in governance so that the interests of individual members are advanced. Ms. Scott also is presently National President of Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Honor Society.
Department of Computer Science
Tonya L. Fields, Research Faculty and Operations Manager for the Center of Excellence in Cyber Security, received the Doctor of Professional Studies in Computing degree from Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, on December 22, 2021. The title of her dissertation is “Sensitivity of Machine Learning Algorithms to Dataset Drift for the Natural Language Processing Application of Spam Filters”.
Musbah Abdulgader, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science at Norfolk State University, co-authored a paper titled "A Mobility-aware Human-centric Cyber-physical System for Efficient and Secure Smart Healthcare," accepted for publication in a future issue of IEEE Internet of Things Journal. (January 4, 2022).
Chung-Chu (George) Hsieh, Ph.D., Professor with Norfolk State University’s Department of Computer Science, was awarded a $114K grant from the Coastal Virginia Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CoVA CCI) program. NSU’s effort, titled “Enhancing CASE-V Testbed with a Ceph-Based Software-Defined Storage Infrastructure,” will support the purchase, installation, and configuration of a state-of-the-art storage subsystem to enhance the CASE-V cybersecurity research testbed especially its OpenStack-based cloud infrastructure. The period of performance for the project is January 1 to December 31, 2022.
D’Nita Andrews Graham, Assistant Professor of Computer Science with Norfolk State University, received notification from Quality Matters that the only Quality Matters (QM) certification course at NSU has met QM rubric standards and was awarded Quality Matters recertification.
Rasha Morsi, Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator of Computer Science, was interviewed by the Peninsula Chronicle about a $3-million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy that forms the basis of a partnership with Old Dominion and Hampton universities where she is the Co-PI on the grant for NSU. Through the partnership, the Virginia Innovative Traineeships in Accelerators (VITA) will provide graduate students with an education and experience in accelerator science and technology.
Department of Mathematics
Rhonda D. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics and Director, Center for Teaching and Learning was elected Vice President of the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM). NAM is a non-profit professional organization in the mathematical sciences with membership open to all persons interested in the mission and purpose of NAM, which are promoting excellence in the mathematical sciences and promoting the mathematical development of all underrepresented minorities. NAM was founded in 1969 under the principles of inclusion and diversity at a time when major American mathematical organizations were excluding mathematicians of color from their membership, editorial boards, research symposia, and other professional activities. Dr. Fitzgerald officially took office February 1, 2022.