Center for Materials Research
Dr. Messaoud Bahoura, Professor of Engineering and Director of the Center for Materials Research, and Dr. Tanya David, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, led a team of a dozen Norfolk State University volunteers in delivering the 23rd annual NanoDays hands-on science activities at the Children’s Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth. This long-standing outreach initiative—originating from the NSF-funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE) continues to serve as a platform for increasing public awareness, engagement, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. Hundreds of museum visitors participated in interactive activities that highlighted the fascinating world of nanomaterials and their potential impact on future technologies.
The event brought together NSU faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students from multiple disciplines, in collaboration with science museum educators, to create meaningful and memorable STEM learning experiences for the community. NanoDays exemplifies NSU’s commitment to public science outreach, interdisciplinary collaboration, and fostering a passion for scientific discovery across all ages.
Celebrating Research Excellence: Bahoura’s Research Student Group Win National Travel Awards to Present at Prestigious STEM Conference
We are thrilled to announce that three outstanding researchers from Dr. Bahoura’s research group at the Center for Materials Research have each been awarded competitive travel grants to present their work at the 2025 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM, which took place on April 4–6 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Clifford Denize, a dedicated doctoral student, presented his innovative study titled “RF-Magnetron Sputtering vs. Sulfurization of Steel Spacers: What Fabricates Pyrite Thin Films Best?” His research dives deep into the science of pyrite thin film production, which is crucial for advancing lithium-ion batteries, solar energy, and semiconductor technology. Using Raman and X-ray Diffraction analyses, Clifford found that sulfurized steel spacers may produce pyrite with better surface stoichiometry than traditional RF-sputtering. Electrochemical tests further revealed how surface composition dramatically impacts electrode performance. His findings pave the way for a simpler, more efficient method to create high-quality pyrite films for energy and electronic applications.
Dionna Butts, an exceptional Chemistry undergraduate and Undergraduate Research and Mentorship (URM) scholar, showcased her project titled “Enhancing Vanadium Oxide Electrochromic Smart Windows for Energy-Efficient Building Applications.”Dionna’s work focuses on developing smart window technology using vanadium oxide thin-film electrodes. These advanced windows can adjust light transmission dynamically, offering rapid switching speeds, high optical contrast, and low power usage—helping to reduce building energy demands and improve sustainability in architecture.
Sycoi David, a 4th-year Mechanical Engineering Technology student from Old Dominion University, has also earned a travel award for his presentation, “Improving Lithium-Ion Batteries with Sulfurized Pyrite Slurry Thin Films.” Sycoi’s research investigates how sulfurization can enhance the performance of pyrite-based cathodes. By applying a pyrite slurry to steel spacers and subjecting them to high-temperature treatment, he is uncovering new pathways to improve battery capacity and reliability. His work holds promising implications for the next generation of energy storage technologies.
Department of Nursing and Allied Health Allied Health Program
The Allied Programs will be inducting 108 honorees (97 students and 11 faculty) into the Epsilon Tau Sigma (ETS) Honor Society. A major purpose of the ETS is to promote high standards of scholarship, academic achievement, and professionalism among allied health students at Traditionally and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Congratulations to the spring 2025 Epsilon Tau Sigma Inductees!
Master of Public Health Program
Maurica D. Bynum, DrPH, Assistant Professor in the Master of Public Health Program with Norfolk State University and Joint School of Public Health, was named the recipient of the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) Dr. Bailus Walker Jr. Diversity and Inclusion Awareness Award for 2025. This esteemed award is presented annually to honor individuals or groups who have made exceptional contributions to creating a more culturally diverse, inclusive, and skilled environment. It also recognizes those who demonstrate a strong commitment to promoting diversity within their organizations and communities. Dr. Bynum will be honored at the NEHA Annual Educational Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona, from July 14-17, 2025.
Department of Biology
Dr. Suresh Subedi, Biology Assistant Professor, Dr. Suresh Subedi has been selected to participate in the prestigious Department of Energy’s (DOE) Visiting Faculty Program (VFP) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the Summer 2025 Term. This highly competitive program brings together College and University faculty at emerging research institutions to collaborate with national laboratory scientific research staff on research projects of mutual interest. Dr. Subedi will spend 10 weeks at ORNL working on a cutting-edge research project titled: "Sustainable Bioenergy Solution”. This project aims to uncover the genetic and microbial mechanisms that enable stress resilience in plants. By applying advanced approaches such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and multiplex network analysis within the Plant-Microbe Interface (PMI) framework, Dr. Subedi’s work will explore the complex interactions between plants and their associated microbial communities. The research is expected to identify key genes and microbial taxa critical for abiotic stress tolerance, develop models of colonization and plant-microbe interaction, and provide actionable insights for engineering stress-tolerant bioenergy crops. This opportunity will support Dr. Subedi’s on-going research on plant-microbe interactions under stress conditions and contribute to advancing his work at Norfolk State University.
NSU Biology & Chemistry students Leah Bulter, Nyla Jean-Baptiste, Violet McCauley, and Sam attended the Lake Taylor High School - College and Career Fair representing Norfolk State University. They presented posters discussing potential career paths, including career path in STEM that might be pursued at NSU. They also presented a poster about the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). Students were enthusiastic about the NSU swag they received, with Croc charms that say BEHOLD being the most popular. We thank them for their outreach on behalf of CSET!
Department of Chemistry
The NNSA-MSIPP-NoVEL Consortium, led by Dr. Mikhail Noginov and Dr. Suely Black , gathered at Virginia State University where consortium Scholars from the three partnering universities, NSU, VSU and ECSU, presented their research projects at the VSU Undergraduate Poster Symposium. At the top right stand Dr. Thej Tumkur and Dr. Heng Li, both NSU’s Materials Science and Engineering doctoral program alumni, and NoVEL collaborators. Dr. Tumkur is a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Dr. Li, associate professor of Engineering Technology at VSU. (Dr. Carl Bonner, NSU, can be seen at the top left, and Dr. Suely Black and Dr. Tanya David, NSU) at the bottom (Fig. 1). The NoVEL Consortium provides year-round research and professional development activities to forty-nine undergraduate and graduate students from the three partnering institutions. During the academic year, students, faculty and staff from NSU, VSU, ECSU and LLNL meet virtually on Fridays at 5:00 pm for seminars and workshops that build on students’ own campus, project-related activities. Figure 2 shows participants as they join the virtual meeting on April 18, 2025, when undergraduate NoVEL Scholars briefly shared their 2024-25 accomplishments and plans for the summer using a short slide presentation. In Figure 3, NSU Electronics Engineering junior Curtis Jordan shares his remarkable achievements this past year, thanking NoVEL for exposing him to opportunities and supporting him as he pursues them.
Department of Computer Science
Rasha Morsi, Ph.D., Computer Science Graduate Program Coordinator and Professor and Desideria Hacker, PhD. , Dean, School of Graduate Studies and Research, presented at the IEEE EDUCON 2025 Conference in London, England on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. The presentation was entitled “Pirates of the Sea++: A Serious Game for Computer Science Education”. The paper was awarded the Best Paper Award for the Game-based Learning and Gamification Topic Area. This paper is based on the work of Walker Cherry (MS in CSC, 2022) whose game was awarded the Best Student Developed Game Award in 2022 at the I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase and Challenge. Pirates of the Sea++ will be formally assessed in the classroom during the Fall 2025 semester.
Department of Engineering
Dr. Renny Fernandez Awarded Phase 2 Funding for AI-Driven Environmental Monitoring
Dr. Renny Fernandez has received $310,000 in Phase 2 funding for the project titled “Enhancing Federated Learning with Generative AI for Robust and Predictive Environmental Monitoring.” Supported by the Battelle Savannah River Alliance (BSRA), the project aims to develop advanced AI solutions for environmental monitoring using wireless sensing networks and machine learning.
Graduate Researcher Soumadeep De Receives ACS Oral Presentation Award
Soumadeep De, a graduate student in Dr. Fernandez’s research group, received an oral presentation award at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2025 Meeting & Expo, held March 23-27 in San Diego, California. His presentation, titled “Evaluation of a Machine Learning Module Integrated in a Smart Bandage System for Autonomous Wound Monitoring,” was delivered as part of the Virtual Graduate Students Symposium in the Asia-Pacific Region on Computational Chemistry. The award recognizes his contribution to advancing AI-enabled biomedical systems under Dr. Fernandez’s supervision.
Graduate Researcher Fatima Diallo Wins Poster Award at ERN Conference 2025
Fatima Diallo, a graduate Electronics Engineering student, received second place in the Poster Presentation category at the 2025 Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM, held April 4-6, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. Her award-winning poster, “Direct Printing of Metal Nanoparticles on Stretchable Polymer Substrates for Wearable Applications,” showcased her work on flexible electrodes for wearable technologies. Ms. Diallo is mentored by Dr. Renny Fernandez, Department of Engineering.
Senior Engineering Student Receives Capstone Competition Honor
Mr. Alexander Roque, undergraduate Electrical and Electronics Engineering student, received the second-place award at the 2025 IEEE Hampton Roads Section Capstone Competition. Mr. Roque presented his project titled, Control System for Giant Magnetoresistive Sensor for DC Motor Applications. The competition featured teams from Christopher Newport University, Hampton University, and Norfolk State University. Mr. Roque was mentored by Dr. Thong Le, Research Faculty in Engineering, in the capstone project.
Department of Physics
1st Place Clean Sweep for NSU Physics at the ERN Conference
Layla Smith (senior physics major) won 1st Place oral presentation for her talk in the Undergraduate physics/Materials Science competition and Mr. Orrin Clarke-Delgado (Masters Physics/MSE student) won 1st place oral presentation for his talk in the graduate physics/Materials Science competition at the Emerging Researchers Conference (ERN), April 5th, 2025, Atlanta, GA.
- Layla Smith, Kent Smith, Wei Pan, Leroy Salary, and Doyle Temple, Quantum Hall Measurements in InAs Quantum Wells
- Orrin Clarke-Delgado, Leroy Salary, and Doyle Temple, Single Crystal Growth of BaFeGaO4 using floating zone technique
