Freshman Convocation at Fordham College at Rose Hill

The second annual freshman convocation was held at Rose Hill on Monday, August 30, 2010, welcoming the Class of 2014 to Fordham College at Rose Hill. The faculty speaker was J. Alan Clark, Ph.D., assistant professor of biological sciences.

FordhamScience: Pigeons Lead the Way in Teaching Language Skills

At Rose Hill a couple of pigeons are looking into ways to help learning disabled children and stroke victims learn (or relearn) vocabulary. Of course the pigeons don’t know that’s what they’re doing: they’re just pecking at keys to get food rewards, but Jim MacDonall, Ph.D., and his undergraduate researchers are watching them, and they’re taking notes.

MacDonall, a professor of psychology at Fordham, has recently started a new line of research in animal cognition, so-called “concept formation,” an essential precondition for language.

“For example, seeing the word 'dog,' hearing someone say 'dog' and seeing a picture of a 'dog' are all equivalent,” says MacDonall. “Language-able adults and children can readily substitute for one another. Only if pressed do we say the specific stimuli are different but the 'concept' is the same.”

Photographs
Top: (L to R) Peter Sanneman, Jim MacDonall and Anne Neuendorf with some experimental subjects.
Middle: The experimental apparatus.
Bottom: A White Carneaux takes a spin in the apparatus.

MacDonall’s pigeons, like young children, stroke victims and children with autism or learning disabilities, can’t readily connect the stimuli to the label. In experimenting with how pigeons can be trained to make certain associations, MacDonall believes researchers can develop strategies to better teach language skills to children and adults who otherwise have difficulty learning them.

MacDonall uses pigeons (White Carneaux, from the Palmetto Pigeon Plant in Sumter, S.C.), because they’re hardy, long lived, have excellent eyesight and see colors. The pigeons are set up in their own room, with a separate ventilation system, as required by the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare. The equipment and part of the renovation to animal room funded by a faculty grant through the office of Michael Latham, the interim dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill.

The experiment is simple: three circles can either be lit red or green. MacDonall trains the pigeons to peck the right- or left-hand circle that matches the color of the center circle (the birds aren’t actually matching the colors, in this case, but the pattern of colors). Each correct peck gets a food reward of mixed grain from a slot beneath the lighted circles.

Normally pigeons will make several hundred errors learning to peck the correct match, and their steady performance will be 85 to 95 percent correct. But preliminary results from MacDonall’s training scheme seem to show that pigeons can learn correct matching with fewer than 20 errors, and with a steady performance rate of about 97 to 100 percent correct.

What’s the difference? When the pigeons begin their training, they are only given the correct choice to peck (and of course rewarded when they do so). Once the pigeons reliably peck the target circle, the researchers introduce the wrong choice, but only for a fraction of a second. The bird has time to see the incorrect choice, but not time enough to peck it. Over time, the duration of time the incorrect circle stays lit is increased until it matches that of the correct choice.

MacDonall’s work has implications for how stroke patients who lost language ability should be retaught, and for teaching language skills to autistic children who have never had the ability to begin with. For adult stroke victims, relearning language can be very frustrating, and instruction is frequently delayed by outbursts of temper at getting the wrong word for an object the patient feels he or she should know.

The inherent frustration aside, MacDonall says the research on stroke recovery shows that the more quickly language skill is reacquired, the more complete it will be. Diminishing the time lost to aggressive outbursts increases the number of language lessons a patient can complete in a day. And that’s where MacDonall’s work comes into play: by giving stroke victims a more painless learning curve, they can potentially reacquire language more quickly and completely.

In teaching language skills to autistic and otherwise learning disabled children, MacDonall says if we can offer them an easier path to acquiring the skills, why shouldn’t we? “Kids don’t like to be frustrated, either,” he says.

The obvious question is, why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? MacDonall pauses for a long minute before answering.

“I think a lot of investigators don’t pay close enough attention to the details in the stimulus,” he says. “You need to pay very close attention to exactly what’s happening in the environment, and to the consequences of responding—to the reinforcement you’re offering.”

As for why techniques developed on pigeons should work as well in humans, MacDonall says “Most of the time it does. Conditioning applies across species, though you may find parameter differences: pigeons may require thirty seconds between trials, and humans only two.”

The next step, according to MacDonall, is to try and replicate his early findings with four more pigeons, then publish the results.

“Individuals who do not have language ability (developmentally disabled children and autistic children) and those who have lost language (some stroke victims) are in a very difficult situation,” MacDonall says. “We need to do everything we can to speed their learning or relearning of language.”
__________

The current undergraduate assistants in MacDonall’s lab are:

• Anne Neuendorf, FCRH, psychology, junior
• Peter Sanneman, FCRH, theology, junior
• Caitlin Nosal, FCRH, undeclared, sophomore
• Eileen Moran, FCRH, psychology, senior
• Jessica LaRusso, FCRH, psychology, junior
  

Over the summer, Sanneman and Neuendorf helped with the research discussed above, and were supported by an Undergraduate Summer Science Fellowship from FCRH. Nosal, Moran and LaRusso joined the lab this semester. Funds for equipment used in this research were provided by the Office of the Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill.

CBA Alumna: From the Peace Corps to the Diplomatic Corps

Keondra Bills, CBA ’06, has been named a 2010 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow, one of 40 new fellows named this summer who “have demonstrated promise across a range of areas crucial to United States Foreign Service Officers.”

Bills, a student at Columbia University’s MPA program in development practice, served in the Peace Corps as an environment/business volunteer in Fiji from May 2008 to June 2010.

Administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation for the U.S. Department of State, the Pickering Fellowships develop a source of well-prepared men and women from academic disciplines who fulfill the skill needs of the United States Department of State and who are dedicated to representing America's interests abroad.

The Fellowship will provide support for Bills’ graduate work at Columbia University in preparation for her entry into the U.S. Foreign Service. The 14th class of graduate fellows receive financial support towards a two-year, full-time master’s degree program in a related field such as public policy, international affairs, public administration, or other academic fields such as business, economics, political science, sociology or foreign languages.

Fellows in both graduate and undergraduate programs participate in one domestic and one overseas internship. They commit to three years of service as a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State, contingent on their passing the Foreign Service examinations. The Foreign Service, a corps of working professionals who support the President of the United States and the Secretary of the United States Department of State in pursuit of the goals and objectives of American foreign policy, are “front-line” personnel who can be sent anywhere in the world, at any time, in service to the diplomatic needs of the United States.

The Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program is named in honor of one of the most distinguished and capable American diplomats of the latter half of the 20th century. Mr. Pickering held the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served as Ambassador to Nigeria, El Salvador, Israel, India, and the Russian Federation, finishing his career as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

GSE Conference to Focus on Catholic School-Higher Ed Partnerships

Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) will co-sponsor a conference to explore how Catholic educators at all levels can collaborate and leverage resources to create better schools.

“Catholic Schools as Schools of Academic Excellence: How Can Catholic Higher Education Help?” is co-sponsored with Boston College’s Lynch School of Education from Sunday, Sept. 26 to Tuesday, Sept. 28. The event will take place at Boston College.

“This is an opportunity for K-12 and higher-education Catholic educators across the country to come together to discuss how Catholic schools are maintaining their strong scholastic tradition and demonstrating academic excellence,” said James Hennessy, Ph.D., dean of GSE.

“It’s also a way to explore ways in which we can strengthen our schools to improve the academic experiences of students,” he said. “The Graduate School of Education is very pleased to be able to co-sponsor the event in order to provide this opportunity, which coincides with our mission and the goals of the University."

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and William P. Leahy, S.J., president of Boston College, will discuss creating and sustaining successful school-university partnerships focused on the Catholic intellectual tradition on the second day of the conference.

Mark S. Massa, S.J., dean of the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, will give a keynote address on the opening day. His talk will center on the culture of Catholic education and expectations for academic excellence in all Catholic education institutions.

Hennessy will participate in the conference with Gerald M. Cattaro, Ph.D., director of the Center for Catholic Leadership and Faith-Based Education at GSE, and Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J., dean of the Lynch School.

—Gina Vergel

For One Alumnus, Fordham Is a Pain in the Thigh

Photos by Gina Vergel

Mitchell Dingwall (GBA ’10) loves Fordham.

In fact, he loves Fordham so much that he decided to show his allegiance to his graduate school.

On his body.



After three hours of searing pain, Dingwall, a brand-spanking-new graduate of the executive master’s of business administration (EMBA) program, now sports a Fordham tattoo on his right, upper thigh.

And no, he’s not a tattoo enthusiast. The Fordham logo bearing the University’s name and ram’s head is his very first.

“I want to remember this experience for the rest of my life because I’m proud I finished a master’s program, especially at a great university like Fordham,” he said.

Dingwall, 34, got the tattoo at a shop in his home city of Philadelphia just before his EMBA cohort’s capstone trip to Beijing, China.

“It was very painful, but I was reminiscing about all the classes and hard work I did during the pain,” he said. “It was worth it.”

Dingwall, an executive chef and food scientist in the Innovation Department at Campbell Soup Company, applied to the EMBA program to differentiate himself.

“I found in Corporate America that if you make great products—but don’t understand business—then your work is really for nothing,” he said. “I wanted to understand the financials and the ‘why’ behind what we do in product development and research and development.”

Dingwall’s job is one that thrives on insight into consumer preferences, and he said the EMBA gave him the tools he needs to excel.

“The courses I had in innovation were really helpful,” he said. “I learned how companies differentiate themselves, especially in a market like canned soup. People aren’t eating it very much these days, so how do you disrupt things?”

The Campbell Soup Company is about to find out, as Dingwall continues to travel the country, conducting focus groups and developing new soups. And through it all, he’ll have his Fordham tattoo.

“It’s a reminder that no matter what happens, just keep working hard and you’ll get through it in the end,” he said.

Fordham’s EMBA is designed for business professionals and managers on the fast track toward challenging managerial and global assignments. The program focuses on building each student’s personal portfolio in management development with tools that can be implemented immediately in the workplace.

The program was ranked 26th in the world by The Wall Street Journal in 2008 and 20th in the Return on Investment category. It includes an international study trip lasting five days as a capstone pedagogical experience. The most recent study trip was to China, but other potential destinations include South Africa, Turkey, India and South America.

Despite Dingwall’s act of devotion, GBA administrators say there are no plans to make a tattoo artist available at next year’s diploma ceremony.

For more information about the EMBA, visit the Fordham website.

—Gina Vergel

UPDATED: FCRH Student Lobbies Congress for Research Funding

Video update: Saturday, October 16, 2010.

Stacey Barnaby, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior majoring in chemistry, participated in “Hill Day,” in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, September 20, 2010, in which young scientists engage policymakers on current research challenges and communicate the importance of supporting scientific discovery.

“It is scientists who spend many hours in the laboratory and come up with leading breakthroughs toward the cure for a disease, or vaccines, or build new materials for solar cells, or biofuels, to perhaps one day make us independent of foreign oil,” said Barnaby, who met with the staff of U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-New York, among others. “The nation is at a turning point in its history and that it is natural for scientists to play leading roles in helping to determine what’s to come.”

The event, sponsored by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), featured undergraduate and graduate researchers from universities across the nation, including Fordham, Brown and Yale Universities, and New York Medical College. The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide.

“This is one of our most important activities,” said Thomas Baldwin, dean of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, and a member of ASBMB’s public affairs panel. “Not only does it afford us an opportunity to talk with our elected representatives in Congress, which itself is a critically important activity, but it is an opportunity for young scientists to engage in the process of public debate. These are our scientific leaders of the future. Getting them involved now will pay dividends to the science community for years to come.”

Most ASBMB members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society’s student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions.

Up, Up and Away

Known as Mr. Everything, Tad Kornegay, CBA ’05, is a defensive specialist for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. Kornegay, who played defensive back at Fordham, appeared in the CFL All-Star Game last season and was named one of the 50 best players in the league, as his Roughriders captured the Western Division en route to a trip to the Grey Cup, the Super Bowl of the CFL. “Any way I can help my teammates out and the team, I'm going to do it,” said Korengay, seen here trying to block a kick in a game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. “Wherever they put me, I want to be at my best."

Read more about Kornegay’s success in the CFL.

Artist-in-Residence is an 'Emcee First and a Scholar Second'

Akua Naru
Photo by Gina Vergel

Fordham has had many artists and poets-in-residence, but Akua Naru may be the University’s first-ever “rapper-in-residence.”

A doctoral student at the University of Cologne, Germany, Naru was brought on as a visiting scholar and artist for the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP). The 27-year-old, who hails from New Haven, Conn., will complete a four-week stint at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus on Sept. 27. So far, she has performed at a couple of cultural events, sat in on select classes and even lectured in Dr. Mark Naison’s “From Rock and Roll to Hip Hop” class while he was in Berlin, leading a group of Bronx youth on a hip-hop exchange trip.

“I was so excited about her research on women in hip-hop and also about her music, which I see as up there with Lauren Hill,” said Naison, professor and chair of the African and African American Studies department. “Listening to her lyrics, you get a vision of history and a real juxtaposition of language and imagery, and I thought we would benefit greatly from having her here.”

It was Naru’s musical career that inspired her to pursue an advanced degree with the goal of one day joining the world of academia, she explained.

“I’m an emcee first and a scholar second. I’m actually just a poet,” she said. “I figured, who better to tell the story than people like us?”

Naru is in the North American Studies program at the University of Cologne. Her dissertation will focus on women in hip-hop.

“In the scholarship you don’t find much on women in hip-hop. It’s more so about how men construct women within hip-hop discourse,” she said. “I’m a woman in hip-hop and I started thinking, if I were ever to have the opportunity to be noticed in the same way these [well-known] women [in hip-hop] are, then I would probably also be overlooked because of the same thing.”

Naru has set out to change that by focusing her research on the issues surrounding female rappers, from sexual liberation versus sexual objectification to the notion of female sexual agency, and whether it is even possible within a patriarchal context.

“I definitely want to teach about this, but I just finished an album, so I’m trying to balance,” Naru said. “I sort of put the research on the back burner while working on my album, hoping to come here and gain inspiration from the discussions I’m having with the faculty here. And that has definitely happened.”

—Gina Vergel

Part of the following video for Akua Naru's song, Tales of Men, was shot while she was on a month-long trip to Ghana. For more information on Naru, visit www.facebook.com/akua.naru.

FCLC Alumna on the Power of Play

Jane McGonigal, FCLC '99, has made the 2010 O Power List, published in the September 14 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

The Berkeley Ph.D. and game designer knows something about the power of play, and she says "There's a misconception that people play video games to relax. Nothing could be further from the truth."

See Jane McGonigal: The power of play, and her FORDHAM Magazine profile, "Jane McGonigal: Real Gamer" (downloadable PDF).

Beth Knobel and Mike Wallace: Advice to New Journalists

Beth Knobel, assistant professor of communication and media studies at Fordham, and broadcast legend Mike Wallace have written a book for beginning journalists, Heat & Light. The book also has its own website: www.heatandlight.org.

Knobel is the former Moscow bureau chief for CBS News, and has won Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting. Follow her on Twitter at FordhamCMS.