Faculty & Student Achievement

eihao Qu, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science and software engineering, received a $174,999 grant from the National Science Foundation to advance research in software verification, a field aimed at ensuring programs operate securely, efficiently, and as intended.

Qu’s project focuses on improving how verification tools analyze mutable arrays, a common but challenging data structure that can change during program execution. By developing a framework that examines individual array elements rather than treating arrays as a whole, the work aims to produce more precise and reliable verification results. The approach has potential applications in settings where privacy and security matter, such as log-in systems that must guard against side-channel attacks.

The NSF funding supports a two-year research effort that integrates theoretical advancements with practical applications to benefit real-world software development. It also provides hands-on opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in formal verification research and coursework. Findings from the project will be incorporated into Qu’s classes, strengthening Monmouth’s curriculum in programming languages, verification, and security.

ihaela Moscaliuc, Ph.D., professor of English and graduate program director, was awarded a prestigious 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship. She joins a distinguished cohort of 198 fellows—including faculty members from Berkeley, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale—selected from nearly 3,500 applicants across the United States and Canada.

The fellowship will support Moscaliuc’s new work in poetry and nonfiction focused on cross-cultural beliefs and practices surrounding death and mourning. Her project includes fieldwork and travel across Latin America and Eastern Europe to document rituals, narratives, and spiritual frameworks surrounding loss and remembrance.

In addition to the fellowship, Moscaliuc recently co-edited “Fruits of the Earth: Harvest Poems,” a poetry anthology published by Penguin Random House as part of the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets Series. The volume, assembled with celebrated poet and retired Professor of English Michael Waters, brings together contemporary and classic selections from writers across continents and cultures. Graduate student Zafira Demiri ’24 contributed research support.

Moscaliuc’s recent work also includes a poem in The Progressive, a nationally recognized magazine for cultural and political writing.

eter Jacques, Ph.D., Rechnitz Family/Urban Coast Institute endowed chair in marine and environmental law and policy, completed a 12-year analysis of books rejecting climate science to better understand the roots and logic of climate denial. Jacques’ study, published in PLOS One, examined titles dating back to the 1980s and found that most arguments did not dispute climate science directly but instead sought to undermine the legitimacy of science itself.

Jacques and co-author Riley Dunlap, regents professor emeritus of sociology at Oklahoma State University, sorted arguments into four categories: trend denial, attribution denial, impact denial, and policy denial. Attribution and policy denial appeared in 94% of books reviewed, with many authors asserting that human activities were not responsible for climate change and that mitigation policies were unnecessary.

The research traces the modern climate denial movement to the early 1990s and argues that its durability stems from politically manufactured controversy rather than genuine scientific disagreement. The study, “Foundations of Climate Change Denial: Anti-Environmentalism and Anti-Science,” identifies this pattern as central to the climate countermovement’s influence.

Jacques also contributed a chapter to “A Research Agenda for Sustainable Ocean Governance” (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025), advocating for the integration of Indigenous knowledge systems into global ocean governance.

iriam Abecasis, a junior mathematics and software engineering honors student, earned the Outstanding Poster Award at the Mathematical Association of America’s MathFest in Sacramento, California. Her poster, “Harmonic Content of String Networks: A Physical Application of Quantum Graphs,” was presented at the conference’s Research in Motion Poster Session on Aug. 8.

Abecasis’ project explores an area of mathematics known as quantum graphs. Under the mentorship of Torrey Gallagher, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics, she constructed and tested a physical apparatus to examine how the harmonic behavior of connected string networks aligns with predictions from a theoretical quantum graph model, bridging abstract theory with real-world systems. The work was supported by a competitive grant from the Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey (ICUNJ).

Abecasis first presented her findings at the ICUNJ Undergraduate Research Symposium at Bell Works in Holmdel, New Jersey, before advancing to the national stage at MathFest, where her poster received top recognition. She is currently working with Gallagher to prepare the research for submission to a physics journal.

onathan Ouellet, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry and physics, co-authored a study in the Journal of Nucleic Acids that improves scientists’ understanding of how synthetic DNA enzymes recognize and cut genetic material. The research showed that a single, previously overlooked base pair at the edge of the enzyme’s catalytic core plays an important role in how the enzyme carries out its cut.

Using that insight, the research team built a software tool that uses the updated model to make better predictions about enzyme behavior. Those predictions could help scientists design DNA enzymes for diagnostics or targeted therapeutics, particularly against fast-evolving, single-stranded DNA viruses.

Ouellet notes that the approach could eventually have practical applications, pointing to canine parvovirus as a possible target. “Cutting the viral DNA in half would inactivate it—no more virus,” he said. The study was conducted in collaboration with Concordia University and Dalhousie University. The IR3 software is publicly available on GitHub.

he U.S. Department of the Interior Museum in Washington, D.C., acquired “Ancient Gaze,” a digital artwork by Jing Zhou, professor of graphic and interactive design. The piece was added to the museum’s Office of the Secretary Art Collection, which is displayed in exhibitions as well as in selected senior Interior offices and highlights the cultural and ecological work of the National Park Service.

“Ancient Gaze” originated from Zhou’s 2006 residency with Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE), a program that has supported more than 200 fellows and celebrates the Everglades’ subtropical wilderness, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Zhou’s photomontage and digital painting were later selected for the AIRIE collection and are now included in the museum’s exhibition, “A Gift to All: Interior’s Artists in Residence.”

In addition to the acquisition, Zhou contributed three social and environmental posters, along with corresponding poems, to “Continuum” (ORO Editions, 2025), a publication featuring international designers and writers. The posters—titled “Sustainability,” “We Cannot Fight Terrorism Using State Terror,” and “Who Is Paying for the War?”—have been exhibited at global venues, including the Mons Memorial Museum in Belgium, the Danish Poster Museum, and the Triennale Design Museum in Milan.

eith Dunton, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, co-authored a study in Conservation Biology examining how climate change may alter the southward migrations of coastal sharks along the U.S. East Coast.

The research used five years of acoustic tagging data (2018–2022) from the New York Bight to track six species (sandbar, sand tiger, dusky, blacktip, thresher, and white sharks) that typically spend spring and summer in northern waters along the New England and Mid-Atlantic coasts before moving south in the fall.

The study found that water temperature and day length are key cues for migration. Under future warming scenarios, sharks are expected to remain longer in northern habitats, delaying their southward movement by a few days to nearly a month depending on the species. Such shifts could alter ecosystem dynamics in regions including New England, New York, and New Jersey and complicate existing fishery management strategies. The findings may also inform how future climate change affects migration across species, not just sharks.

Conservation Biology is the flagship journal of the Society for Conservation Biology and a leading outlet for research at the intersection of ecological science and conservation policy.

ristin Bluemel, Ph.D., associate dean, professor of English, and Wayne D. McMurray and Helen Bennett Endowed Chair in the Humanities, published a new book, “Enchanted Wood: Engraving a Place for Women Artists in Rural Britain” (University of Minnesota Press, 2025).

The book reexamines the contributions of Gwen Raverat, Agnes Miller Parker, Clare Leighton, and Joan Hassall, four women wood engravers who revitalized the art form between the world wars and helped reshape British modernism from the countryside. Bluemel argues that these artists achieved professional recognition and cultural influence at a time when few women could sustain artistic careers, reframing rural Britain as a site of modernism rather than nostalgia.

The project was supported by a publication grant from the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which funded reproductions of the book’s extensive illustrations. Bluemel also advanced the research as the 2022 Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Newcastle University.

he Monmouth University Cyber Hawks competed in their first National Cyber League (NCL) Capture-the-Flag cybersecurity tournament, where junior computer science major Ikey Sasson earned the top overall spot among more than 7,800 individual participants nationwide. Sasson achieved a perfect 3,000-point score with 99.34% accuracy.

Capture-the-Flag competitions simulate real-world cybersecurity challenges in areas such as open-source intelligence, digital forensics, password cracking, and software exploitation. Participants locate hidden “flags” across digital environments, demonstrating technical skill and practical problem-solving.

Ten additional Monmouth students placed in the top 500 and earned NCL challenge coins for high performance: Aaila Arif, Mike Montulet, Jenna Esposito, Robert O’Grady, Justin Veltri, Jodan Elysee, Maheen Hanif Ghaffar, Dhrumil Patel, Raul Cortinas, and Michael Sherrer.

Sponsored by the University’s new Cybersecurity Research Center, which supports research and training at the intersection of quantum computing and cybersecurity, the Cyber Hawks also earned the No. 2 overall position in the NCL Power Rankings among national colleges last fall, finishing behind only the United States Coast Guard Academy.

ason Fitzgerald, Ph.D., associate professor of curriculum and instruction, co-authored a new peer-reviewed article in BMC Public Health reporting on the I-ACTED trial, a multisite U.S. study testing whether classroom-based civic engagement can support adolescent well-being.

The study evaluates “action civics,” an instructional model in which students identify
real-world issues and take informed action to address them. The trial uses a cluster-randomized design in middle- and high-school classrooms across multiple states to assess how civic participation influences outcomes related to civic readiness and prosocial behavior. Fitzgerald serves as a co-investigator and advises on study design and implementation.

I-ACTED is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Evidence for Action program and includes collaborators from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the University of California (San Francisco and Riverside), and Vanderbilt University. Findings from the ongoing trial may inform future efforts to broaden equitable access to high-quality civics instruction.

atherine Parkin, Ph.D., Jules Plangere Jr. Endowed Chair in American Social History and professor of history and anthropology, published a new book, “The Abortion Market: Buying and Selling Access in the Era Before Roe” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025). The work reframes abortion as a major economic force in American life, showing that before legalization lowered costs, more than one million women annually paid upward of $750 million to secure abortion access. Parkin documents a consumer marketplace that included referral services, loans, advertising, travel, and businesses operating openly across borders.

Parkin discussed the book on the “New Books with Miranda Melcher” podcast, highlighting how male entrepreneurs capitalized on demand—from arranging travel to Mexico, Puerto Rico, England, and Japan to coordinating access in U.S. cities such as New York, then viewed by some as the “abortion capital of the world.”

Related scholarship from the project received recognition when Parkin and co-author Sarah Elvins, Ph.D., University of Manitoba, were awarded Best Scholarly Article in Canadian Business History for their work tracing how Canadian women relied on New York–based abortion services in the early 1970s, and how U.S. businesses capitalized on that steady demand.

atrick R. Walden, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, associate professor and chair of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, co-authored a new study in the Journal of Voice that helps clinicians better distinguish between common voice disorders by identifying disorder-specific sound patterns. The study was co-authored with Eric J. Hunter, Ph.D., University of Iowa, and Lady Catherine Cantor-Cutiva, Ph.D., East Tennessee State University.

The research tested how combinations of acoustic measurements and expert listening scores differentiate conditions such as vocal fold paralysis, vocal atrophy, phonotraumatic lesions, and muscle tension dysphonia. The analysis showed that certain sound patterns reliably map onto specific diagnoses—particularly vocal fold paralysis—and that these signatures remain consistent across speech tasks, an important step toward more flexible and precise evaluation in clinical settings.

The work draws on Walden’s perceptual voice qualities database, an internationally used standardized resource supported by The Voice Foundation, and moves voice assessment from broad screening toward disorder-specific diagnosis. The findings also lay groundwork for future tools that blend clinician expertise with automated analysis.

ichard Veit, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, and professor of history and anthropology, published two co-edited scholarly volumes with the University Press of Florida that deepen understanding of how Americans commemorate their past.

“Monuments and Memory: Archaeological Perspectives on Commemoration” examines how public monuments shape collective memory and reflect broader societal dynamics. The volume brings together multidisciplinary perspectives on topics ranging from Revolutionary War memorials to Korean War commemorations and includes a chapter by Melissa Ziobro ’04, ’07M—curator of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, adjunct professor, and director of public history at Monmouth—exploring the life cycle of military monuments at Fort Monmouth. The book invites critical reflection on whose histories are remembered—and whose are not—in public spaces.

Veit also co-edited “The Archaeology of the American Revolution,” offering a holistic view of the Revolutionary War era through archaeological, historical, and forensic analysis. The collection features contributions from Monmouth faculty and alumni, including Adam Heinrich, Hillary DelPrete, Sean McHugh, Michael Brown, Saine C. Hernandez-Burgos, and Evan Mydlowski, and highlights how material remnants inform contemporary memory of the conflict.

Together, the volumes advance interdisciplinary scholarship in archaeology, public history, and heritage studies and showcase Monmouth’s leadership in the field.

illian Pardey ’25 has accepted a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award for an English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan during the 2025–26 academic year. She will assist in English classrooms and promote cultural exchange in an elementary or junior high school in Taitung County.

Pardey, who recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work and a minor in communication sciences and disorders, said she hopes the experience will broaden her understanding of how language and learning intersect in global classrooms. She plans to pursue a career in speech-language pathology.

The Fulbright ETA program aims to build mutual understanding between the United States and partner countries through teaching and community engagement. Taiwan’s strong emphasis on education and community, Pardey noted, aligns with her interest in classrooms that value both academic growth and holistic development.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is administered at Monmouth through the Institute for Global Understanding under the leadership of Mihaela Moscaliuc, Ph.D., graduate program director and professor of English.

iquan Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science and software engineering, co-authored a study in Information Fusion that enhances how artificial intelligence models explain their diagnostic decisions for detecting diabetes mellitus. While AI systems can flag diabetes risk with high accuracy, medical teams are often hesitant to rely on these tools if they can’t understand how predictions are made—especially when real-world medical records contain mistakes, missing information, or inconsistent labels.

To address this issue, the researchers developed an ensemble framework—essentially a method that combines the strengths of multiple data-cleaning tools rather than depending on just one—to reduce the impact of “noisy” or error-prone data before AI models generate explanations. Tested on four diabetes datasets, the ensemble produced clearer and more consistent diagnostic reasoning than 24 comparison methods and continued to perform well even as data quality varied.

The study offers a step toward AI systems that are not only accurate, but interpretable and clinically usable—an important requirement for wider adoption in health care.

amara Rial-Faigenbaum, Ph.D., specialist professor of health and physical education, contributed to multiple international research and scholarly initiatives in 2025 focused on women’s health, pelvic health, and exercise science.

Rial-Faigenbaum co-authored a first-of-its-kind study in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine examining pelvic floor symptoms in both male and female youth athletes competing at an elite level. The team surveyed 325 competitors from 62 countries at the Lima 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships and found that nearly half experienced pelvic floor symptoms, highlighting an overlooked issue in sports medicine and an urgent need for improved education and screening.

She also co-authored a publication in BMC Women’s Health analyzing how the postpartum condition diastasis recti is portrayed on Instagram, revealing widespread misinformation and underscoring the importance of digital health literacy for women navigating online exercise guidance.

Additional scholarly output included an international systematic review in Human Movement evaluating reporting quality in hypopressive exercise research, as well as a collaborative concept article in Current Sports Medicine Reports proposing a new “Physical Activity Plate” model to modernize public physical activity guidance.

Rial-Faigenbaum’s work reached clinical and professional audiences globally, including a keynote lecture at the III International Conference GIS FRPP in Naples, Italy, addressing resistance training during pregnancy and confronting persistent misconceptions in perinatal exercise.

athy Wong, Ph.D., professor of curriculum and instruction and director of the M.Ed./ESL program, contributed three scholarly publications in 2025 that deepen understanding of multilingual learning in both family and classroom environments.

Her lead article in the journal Applied Linguistics offered an autoethnographic account of raising multilingual children while navigating the emotional and ideological labor of maintaining Cantonese as a heritage language. The piece highlights the disconnect between what research recommends and what real families experience, shedding light on the limited institutional and community support for multilingual families.

In Language, Culture, and Curriculum, Wong examined how a beginning teacher planned and delivered science lessons in both Chinese and English with support from a university researcher. The article shows how collaborative planning can strengthen instruction in bilingual classrooms and help teachers navigate the complexities of teaching content through more than one language.

A third publication, in the International Journal of Applied Linguistics (Wiley), evaluated a summer program in which students learned science and literacy through Chinese. Wong found that allowing students to use all of their languages—rather than restricting them to one—boosted motivation, confidence, and participation and made learning Chinese characters more accessible.

ai Kong (Johnny) Pang, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics, and data science graduate student Ryan Sonn ’25M co-published a study in the International Journal of Business and Management examining financial and enrollment patterns associated with college and university closures.

Using a generalized linear modeling approach, the study analyzed publicly available data to identify variables linked to institutional vulnerability. The authors found that higher endowment levels and higher tuition values are associated with stronger financial indicators, while institutions with a greater share of in-state students appear more financially vulnerable, given the revenue differential between in-state and out-of-state tuition.

The work offers a predictive framework intended to help stakeholders assess institutional health using a simplified score model and ranges derived from the analysis. The International Journal of Business and Management is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes research for a global audience of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

awk Capital, Monmouth’s student-managed investment fund, had a particularly impressive run in 2025, delivering a 37.2% return—more than double the S&P 500’s 17.7%—while managing more than $622,526 across a 20-stock portfolio.

Operated through the Leon Hess Business School’s capstone portfolio management course and guided by Specialist Professor of Finance John Burke, the fund gives undergraduate students hands-on experience managing real assets while developing skills in research, valuation, and risk analysis. Students are responsible for sector research, stock selection, and buy/sell recommendations.

Launched with an initial seed investment of $10,000 in 2010 and supported over time by University and donor contributions, the fund has grown substantially through long-term capital appreciation.

This performance builds on a 45.2% return in 2023, and a 30.0% return in 2024 earning the fund a first-place finish at a national Student Managed Investment Fund competition in 2024, where Monmouth outperformed 23 universities in a field of more than 300 participants.

In recognition of the fund’s sustained success, Monmouth’s Board of Trustees recently committed an additional $400,000 to support its continued growth and expand opportunities for student investors.