tudents in Adjunct Professor Lawrence Jones’s prelaw class jointly submitted a proposal to the commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB) appealing a blown call that robbed former Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga of a perfect game in 2010. Jones, a retired judge of the New Jersey Superior Court, said he turned to the infamous almost-perfect game as a real-world educational example and thought-provoking exercise for his students “in terms of studying law and society, in terms of studying the spirit of rules, the interpretation of rules, when results are equitable versus non-equitable, and how not only courts but anyone in positions of authority have to generally have reasonable discretion to accomplish the right result.” In teaching the Galarraga case to his class, Jones had the students read articles, watch videos, and do their own research. The magnum opus of the class was an 80-page report, which was mailed to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, filled with examples, precedents, and legal rhetoric arguing Galarraga’s case and setting forth 10 reasons why MLB should include Galarraga in its official record of athletes who have pitched a perfect game.

ndependent undergraduate research on the effects of kumquat essential oil on cancer cells performed by Subah Soni ’21, Mruga Parekh ’22, and Jive Jacob ’20 was published in the February 2022 issue of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. The students were responsible for culturing and treating a variety of cancerous cell lines with kumquat essential oil. Results demonstrated that treatment of cancer cell lines with kumquat essential oil halted their proliferation and triggered cell signaling that activated programmed cell death in the cell lines. The work spanned three years and was completed under the direction of Dorothy Lobo, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the biology department.

iffany Longo ’20, Jesse Bragger ’21, and Summer Shaheed ’19 were among the authors credited on a global collaborative study that showed how urbanization affects wildlife—in this instance, white clover, a widely distributed plant. More than 280 scientists from 26 countries contributed to the multiyear study, the findings from which were published in March in the journal Science. Bragger, Longo, and Shaheed conducted their work while they were undergraduate student researchers working in the lab of Megan Phifer-Rixey, Ph.D., associate professor of biology.

imberly Callas, associate professor of art and design, and recent studio art graduate Jessica M. Auriemma ’21, had their artwork featured in United Nations Academic Impact’s (UNAI) new virtual magazine, The Art of Climate Action. The goal of the magazine is to address the growing recognition that education needs to adapt in order to address climate change and find new ways of engaging young people with a topic that is often perceived as abstract, distant, and complex. Auriemma’s pastel drawing series, Post Humanity, which addresses climate change and the natural restoration process that the world would undergo if humans no longer existed, was featured as a full-page spread. Callas’ work, a 3D-printed Eco-Portrait Mask titled Yarrow’s Second Sight, focuses on the “ecological self” and encourages viewers to understand humans as part of nature. Callas and Auriemma each have artwork that is also featured on the UNAI homepage.

ndowed Associate Professor of Marine Science Jason Adolf, Urban Coast Institute (UCI) Community Science Coordinator Erin Conlon ’20, and Monmouth students will be monitoring harmful algal bloom (HAB) formation at two Monmouth County lakes as part of a statewide probe into bloom causes. The University received a $127,600 grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to monitor Sunset and Deal lakes as part of a study of factors driving HAB events caused by cyanobacteria, sometimes called “blue-green algae,” which can produce toxins that are hazardous to humans and sometimes lethal to pets and wildlife. The issue has gained increased attention from state officials in recent years, as severe HAB events have caused closures in lakes that are summer tourist destinations and drinking water sources. The team will regularly sample the lakes for water quality indicators such as clarity, temperature, HAB abundance, salinity, and pH levels. In addition, periodic samples will be taken to study the range of cyanobacteria species present during bloom and non-bloom periods and the relationship between heavy rain events and HAB abundance.

uansi Hu, a graduate student in computer science and software engineering, won the Best Student Paper Award at the 2021 International Conference on Cyber-physical Social Intelligence. Hu’s paper, “Resource-Oriented Timed Workflow Nets and Simulation Tool Design,” introduces a formal model that allows users to analyze the resource requirements of emergency response, track resource levels available, and estimate the time span of a given response process. The workflow model and its associated simulation tool simplify the modeling and analysis of event-driven systems and allow for analysis of resource requirements and timing performance of emergency response processes, which have applications in pandemics, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Hu edged out six other finalists, all doctoral students, in the category with her winning paper, which was co-authored with Monmouth Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering Jiacun Wang, Ph.D., and Tongji University Professor Guanjun Liu.

riscilla Gac-Artigas, Ph.D., professor of Spanish and Latin American literature in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, published a reflective essay, “La pandemia, el racismo y la discriminación ejercida a través del lenguaje” (“The Pandemic, Racism and Discrimination Through Language”), which is included in the new book, Por un lenguaje inclusivo: Estudios y reflexiones sobre strategias no sexistas en la lengua española (For An Inclusive Language: Studies and Reflections on Non-Sexist Strategies in the Spanish Language), published by the North American Academy of the Spanish Language. In it, Gac-Artigas argues that the confluence in time of these three “societal ills” provide a “unique opportunity to eradicate three main plagues at once: economic, social, and linguistic injustice, clear manifestations of the pandemic; systemic racism; and language discrimination that affects our world.”

icole Halliwell, DSc., OTR/L, assistant professor of occupational therapy, co-published “Experience of Sleep: Families of Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. The qualitative study set out to understand the sleep experiences of families living with young adults with ASD, being that sleep difficulties of this population can worsen into adulthood and therefore negatively impact both the child and the family. The study found that sleep issues for young adults with ASD continue into adulthood and do have an impact on the entire family because of continuous co-occupation, making occupational therapy support targeting sleep essential for families of young adults with ASD.

aryanne Rhett, Ph.D., professor of Middle Eastern and world history, co-published the chapter “Diana in No-Man’s Land: Wonder Woman and the History of the World War” in Drawing the Past Volume 1: Comics and the Historical Imagination in the United States, a new book that provides a map of current approaches to comics and their engagement with historical representation. In her chapter, Rhett, who works on topics related to modern Middle Eastern and Islamic history at the intersections of popular culture, nationalism, and world history, explores how Wonder Woman, a heroine specifically imagined for the Second World War, changes the historical narrative and interpretation of World War I when she is introduced to audiences in Patty Jenkins’ 2017 Wonder Woman film. The chapter explores the problematic nature of using a real-world historical setting as a backdrop, as well as adapting a character to a different time period, and in so doing, enriches that history used in the Wonder Woman film into a complex, three-dimensional world that more accurately reflects the realities of World War I, and the portrayal of Wonder Woman and the female characters around her.

enneth Womack, Ph.D., professor of English, published All Things Must Pass Away: Harrison, Clapton, and Other Assorted Love Songs, which traces the emergence of the friendship between Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison and rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton and the making of their career-defining albums, both released in November 1970. Womack, a world-renowned Beatles scholar, is the author or editor of more than 35 books, including Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles, The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four, and a multivolume study devoted to the life and work of Beatles producer George Martin. The music culture writer for Salon and the host of its “Everything Fab Four” podcast, Womack is also a guest author at Slate, Billboard, Variety, NBC News, Smithsonian Magazine, Time, and USA Today.

Kenneth Campbell, Ph.D., professor of history and anthropology, published The Beatles and the 1960s: Reception, Revolution, and Social Change, an accessible and rigorous study of the historical relevance of the Beatles in a crucial decade of social change. Campbell, who teaches the course “American Popular Culture and the Beatles,” uses the Beatles as a lens through which to explore the sweeping, panoramic history of the social, cultural, and political transformations that occurred in the 1960s, covering key topics such as race relations, gender dynamics, political and cultural upheavals, the Vietnam War, and the evolution of rock music and popular culture.