Associate Professor Sean Tvelia (Physical Sciences) and Professional Assistant Joan
Horn (Physical Sciences) collaborated with Nassau Community College to convene
the second annual Supporting and Advancing Geoscience education in Two-Year
Colleges (SAGe 2YC) and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT)
workshops, in March.
Peter eckstein, an adjunct professor of physics at the College, was elected as the
2016 institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee-USA) president. He will
serve as president-elect in 2015. ieee-USA promotes the public policy interests of
more than 200,000 engineering, computing and technology professionals. eckstein is
retired from Northrop Grumman Corp. He has taught at the College since 1981.
Adjunct instructor addeus Nelson (Anthropology) presented “from fine fabric to
rough rags: interpreting Textile variation in the iron Age ii Levant from functional
Analysis of Loom weights” at the annual conference of the American Schools of
oriental research, held last November in San Diego.
Professor Albin Cofone (Sociology and Geography) presented a series of lectures on
Modern American History and Geography to senior students at the Solihull School,
located in the west Midlands just north of London, england. is is Professor
Cofone’s second time at Solihull, which was founded in 1560 and has been rated by
e Times
(London) as one of the top 100 independent schools in the United
Kingdom.
Professor Steve Schrier (Political Science) was named “Person of the Year” by the
Times Beacon Record
for his work as executive Director of the Suffolk Center on the
Holocaust, Diversity and Human Understanding.
Scott Mandia, Professor of Physical Sciences and Assistant Chair is part of a prestigious
international team of select science department researchers who contributed to a new
course offered by e University of Queensland (Australia) that uncovers why the
topic of climate change is so controversial. e free Massive open online Course
(MooC) includes renowned researchers from universities in Canada, the United
States and United Kingdom. is course explains why there is such a huge gap
between the scientific community and the public when it comes to the topic of
climate change. removing this gap is an important step in supporting policy
development to ensure that decisions are made using peer reviewed science, leading to
maximum benefit for communities, economies and the environment. e seven-week
course began in April and was offered to anyone in the world through the not-for-
profit online learning platform edX. ousands of students from more than 130
countries enrolled. Professor Mandia also received the American Geophysical Union’s
Ambassador Award in recognition of “outstanding contributions to the following
areas: societal impact, service to the earth and space community, scientific leadership,
and promotion of talent/career pool.” During the year he later served as a guest
speaker at the environmental Science, Policy and engineering winter Seminar Series
sponsored by Union College (Schenectady, NY). His presentation was titled,
“Communicating Climate Change: Sometimes it’s Not About the Science.”
Dr. rosa M. Gambier, the Ammerman Campus Biology Department Chair, was
one of 350 international scientists, academics, educators and representatives from
65 countries who took part in a three-day event,
Botanists of the Twenty-first Century:
Roles, Challenges and Opportunities
conference, organized at the United Nations
educational, Scientific and Cultural organization (UNeSCo) Headquarters in
Among other citations, Scott Mandia was recognized
for his contributions as a member of a prestigious international
team studying climate change.
Associate Professor Deborah Wolfson was a recipient
of a 2015 Idahlynn Karre Exemplary Leadership Award
2014-2015 Review of Accomplishments
❘
55
