Students and Faculty in the News

Posted by: admin on November 12, 2013, No Comments

From left to right are Samuel E. Quainoo, Ph.D., an ESU political science professor; ESU freshman Anthony Honorowski, a freshman economics major from Greentown, Pa.; Mary Ellen McNish, a 1968 ESU alumna and president and CEO of The Hunger Project; Miranda Tripus, an ESU freshman political science major from Spring Brook, Pa.; and Jonathan Myjak, an ESU sophomore chemistry major from East Stroudsburg, Pa.

Economics students from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania ventured to the Vanguard Headquarters in Valley Forge, Pa., for ‘Career Explore Day’ last month. The trip was organized by ESU’s Economics Club and the Department of Economics. The students were accompanied by Pats Neelakantan, Ph.D., chairperson and professor of economics.

The purpose of the Vanguard Career Explore Day, which is held few times a year, is to introduce to a select group of students the various career opportunities at Vanguard. The event included many activities such as a presentation about the company, its culture and core values, a campus tour, a talk about various career options available to students, and finally a panel discussion dealing with career opportunities at Vanguard.

ESU attendees included 2013 alumna Christine DePalma; economics club vice president Michal Jezowski, a senior economics major from Stroudsburg, Pa.; Edward H. Lawrence Jr., a senior business management major from Scotrun, Pa.; Justin Miller, a senior business management and economics major from Tamaqua, Pa.; economics club president Alek Liskov, a senior economics, computer science and applied math major from East Stroudsburg, Pa.; Andrew Sasbon, a senior business management major from Wantagh, N.Y.; and Cadia Woods, a junior economics major from Stroudsburg, Pa.

ESU’s Department of Exercise Science attended the Mid-Atlantic American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Harrisburg, Pa., earlier this month. More than 800 faculty members and students, including 67 from ESU, attended the two-day conference.

Six students presented either their undergraduate research projects or graduate student theses as part of the outcome measures utilized to demonstrate competencies by the Commission on Accreditation for Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), the crediting body for exercise science programs nationally. In addition, the department of exercise science participated in the university EXPO to recruit high-quality students into one of its competitive, one-year accelerated graduate programs.

Matthew Miltenberger, an ESU assistant professor of exercise science, presented his dissertation, “The Correlation of Repeat Sprints Measures to Predicted VO2 in Recreationally Active College Age Males.” ESU graduate student Brandon Snyder, getting his master’s in exercise science, presented his thesis, “The Effects of Various Recovery Techniques on Collegiate Pitching Performance.” ESU graduate student Matthew C. Miller, seeking his master’s in exercise science, presented his thesis, “Predictive validity of critical power and functional threshold power for mountain bike race performance.” Samantha Murphy, working toward a master’s in exercise science at ESU, presented her thesis, “Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on performance during repeated-sprint test in active males.”

ESU graduate Zachary Kerns, pursuing a master’s degree in exercise science, presented his undergraduate research project, “Predicting Performance on a Firefighting Specific Ability Test in Volunteer Firefighters.”

Matthew Tholis, seeking a master’s degree in exercise science at ESU, presented his undergraduate research project, “The Bilateral Deficit and the Acute Effects of Heavy Bilateral and Unilateral Squats on Sprinting.”

Three East Stroudsburg University students traveled to Warsaw, Poland, to attend the 13th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates to discuss political and social conflicts facing the world today.

Samuel E. Quainoo, Ph.D., an ESU political science professor, accompanied Anthony Honorowski, a freshman economics major from Greentown, Pa.; Jonathan Myjak, a sophomore chemistry major from East Stroudsburg, Pa.; and Miranda Tripus, a freshman political science major from Spring Brook, Pa., on the four-day trip that was hosted by former President of Poland Lech Walesa and attended by other Laureates, including former President of South Africa Frederik Willem de Klerk,  Professor Mohammed Yunus, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama and Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, the UN Under-Secretary.

The theme for this year’s Summit was “Stand in Solidarity for Peace – Time to Act.” East Stroudsburg University attendees were invited by Mary Ellen McNish, a 1968 ESU alumna and president and CEO of The Hunger Project.

The 14th World Summit for Nobel Peace Laureates will be in South Africa in October 2014 with former president de Klerk as the host laureate.

Mary Ann Matras, Ph.D., ESU distinguished professor and chair of the mathematics department, recently received the “Hall of Fame” award from the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics (PCTM) at its 62nd annual meeting in Seven Springs, Pa. This is PCTM’s highest award.  PCTM, whose members teach in classrooms from pre-kindergarten to college, is the largest organization of teachers of mathematics in Pennsylvania.

Matras has served on the executive board of PCTM for 25 years. She has served as president, chair of the Pennsylvania State Coalition of Mathematics and Science and currently is the chair of the Conference Umbrella Committee. Matras served as general chair of the annual meeting at Seven Springs.