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• Mahmoud Al-Odeh (right), assistant professor of technology, art and design, presented three research papers at the IEE Annual IE Conference and Expo, May 19-23 in Orlando. His presentations were “Data Integration to Extend Product Data Management Systems to Predict Product Lifecycle,” “Economic Analysis for Two-Axis Photovoltaic Tracking System for Indiana State University Building,” and “The Current Situation of Supply Chain Management and Technology Structure at Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in Jordan.”

His presentation on the two-axis photovoltaic tracking system (abstract, PDF) also was published in the July edition of the NED University Journal of Research.

In July, Al-Odeh was selected to review research papers for the 2012 ATMAE Conference’s distance and online learning track by the Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering.

• Andy Bartlett, associate director of communications and marketing, attended the annual conference of the MnSCU Two-Year Marketing Association, May 23-25 in Lanesboro.  He also attended MnSCU “Science of Supervision” training, Feb. 10 in Moorhead.

• Dr. Dragoljub Bilanovic, professor of environmental, Earth and space studies, attended the Gordon Research Conference in Green Chemistry, held July 22-27 in Lucca-Barga, Italy. He presented the results of a research project entitled, “Microalgae polyculture for higher biomass yield and CO₂ sequestration.” The project is a cooperation between Bilanovic, Dr. Tim Kroeger, professor of environmental, Earth and space studies, Dr. Mark Holland of Salisbury University and Dr. Robert Armon of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The project is funded in part through the Minnesota Space Grant.

Bilanovic also had a paper entitled “Microalgae CO₂ sequestering – modeling microalgae production costs” published in the June issue of “Energy Conversion and Management.”

• MaryJo Chirpich, Kristina Cirks, Robert Strand and Brett Bahr from the Office of Admissions attended the Minnesota Association for College Admissions Counseling spring conference. They also went to the Minnesota ACT conference.

• Anne Conaway, assistant professor of technological studies, co-authored the paper, “Scholastic Journalism Teacher Use of Digital Devices and Social Networking Tools,” with Dr. Bruce Plopper from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Conaway and Plopper, the paper’s lead author, received the Lawrence Campbell Research Award for top faculty paper in the Scholastic Journalism Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication‘s annual meeting, held Aug. 11-13 in Chicago. An abstract of the paper is available at the AEJMC website.

• Adam Dandar and Ayleen Leonhardt, residence  hall directors, and Chiwuba Okafor, assistant director of student life at the Hobson Memorial Union, attended the 5^th Annual Residence Hall Curriculum Institute at Penn State, Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 2011.

Okafor also participated in the Semester at Sea program this summer and served as a Students First mentor. He presented NASPA webinars entitled “Building Leaders, Coaching for Success” and “Advising and Guiding Student Organizations.”

• Brad Folkestad, director of athletic media relations, and Dax Larson, assistant director of athletic media relations, attended the annual conference of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), June 23-25, in St. Louis. They collected three national publication awards from CoSIDA for the university’s men’s ice hockey media guide (third in the nation), women’s basketball media guide (third in the nation), and men’s and women’s basketball schedule poster (seventh in the nation).

• Dr. Mark Fulton, professor of biology, attended the 97th meeting of the Ecological Society of America Aug. 5-10 in Portland, Ore. With BSU graduate student Trista Little, he presented a poster titled “Physiological and Environmental Differences Between the Top and Bottom of a Pinus Strobus Canopy During Cold Hardening.” He also presented a single-author poster titled “Predictability of Fine-scale Dynamics in a Mixed Forest Stand: The Effect of Abundance Measures.”

• Margie Giauque, director of career services, presented on the evolution of BSU’s First-Year Resident Experience program to the Northwest Counselors Association. She delivered StrengthsQuest for Educators training to the Bemidji community. In February, she and Zak Johnson from the Advising Success Center co-presented “Strengths in Education” to the Northwest Counselors Association. She also presented “Strengths on Campus” to the Minnesota College and University Career Services Association.

• Dr. Rick Goeb, director of intercollegiate athletics, was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee in July. As a member of the committee, Goeb will assist with the administration of the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey championship.

• Cherish Hagen-Swanson, director of the International Program Center, attended MnSCU “The Art and Science of Supervision” training Feb. 10 in Moorhead.

• Lawrence Hanus, assistant professor of counseling services, was one of five participants on a panel presentation entitled, “Creating Respectful and Inclusive Wellness Community: A Workshop Addressing Physical and Mental Health of LGBTQ Youth and Young Adults.” Also on the panel was Jay Passa, health education coordinator with Student Health Services. The panel was moderated by Dr. Angela Fournier, associate professor of psychology.

Other conferences attended by counseling services staff members included the NCCHA Annual Conference in Madison, Wis.; the MnSCU Counseling Center Association Two-Day Conference; the North Dakota PA Conference and the ACHA Conference in Chicago.

• Natalia Himmirska, associate professor of visual arts, participated in a pair of juried international art competitions and had work in a group show in Russia.

She was invited to participate in the print competition International Gravurag Print IMPRIMA 2012, which opened May 15 in Sobral, Brazil. She also had two prints, “Pandora’s Box I” (right) and “Pandora’s Box II” accepted for the Second July International Print Exhibition Fushin 2012, held July 20-27 in Fushin, China.

In August, she had work on display in a group show entitled “Meeting Friends, Connect Generation” at the Central House of the Artist in Moscow.

• Dr. Christel Kippenhan, professor of human performance, health and sport, participated in the USA Triathlon National Age Group Championships in Burlington, Vt., on Aug. 18. Her performance qualified her for Team USA to participate in the 2013 Triathlon World Age Group Championships in London. Kippenhan competed in seven triathlons over the summer and was overall women’s champion twice — including the Lakes Country Triathlon in Baxter (pictured, right).

• Loralyn Kuechle, coordinator of the FYRE program for Residential Life, attended the 25^th International First Year Experience Conference, July 16-19 in Vancouver, B.C.

• Dr. Mark Lawrence, professor of geography, spent the 2011-12 academic year on sabbatical. After studying the environmental history of eight Kenyan villages in 2011, he presented “Listening to Trees: Concerting Physical Geography and Service Learning” at the 7th International Symposium on Contemporary Trends in Teaching and Learning Geography in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. From February through July, 2012, Lawrence was a visiting professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Erfurt, Germany.

In April, he presented “Moving Mali Kuthea: Conflicting Spatialities of Environmental Change in Mbui Nzau Sublocation, Kenya”at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the German Working Group for Geography in Sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Vienna.

Lawrence had three presentations in June. He first presented “The Moon at the Edge of Words: Problems of Spatiality and Diversity in the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development”, presented at “Diversity and Respect”, at The 2^nd International Week, Fachhochschule Erfurt (University of Applied Sciences, Erfurt) and Der Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland (the Central Council of Jews in Germany), Erfurt, Germany.

He presented “An extra blade of grass: Climate change, displacement, and social justice in Kenya” at the Summer Symposium on Community, Work, and Community Support at the School for Social Work Theory and Practice of the Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Finally, Lawrence presented “The Bees from ‘Baghdad’:  Challenges of Trajectory, Transgression, and Transformation in Anthropology’s Spatial Turn” at the 7^th International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at the Universidad Abat Oliba CEU in Barcelona.

• Dr. Colleen Livingston, professor of mathematics and computer science, participated in a one-week conference on game theory and security, June 3-9 at Winona State, sponsored by the Command, Control and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence housed at Rutgers University.

• Dr. Mike Morgan, professor of English, had an article on wikis accepted at writingcommons.org. He also participated in MOOC MOOC, a week-long constructivist massive open online course facilitated by Hybrid Pedagogy with the English and Digital Humanities Program at Marylhurst University and the Writing and Communication Program at Georgia Tech. It is the third constructivist MOOC Morgan has participated in since 2009.

• Mark Morrissey (right), director of the Outdoor Program Center, completed national certification to be an instructor examiner for the Professional Climbing Instructors Association and also completed his Outdoor Emergency Care program for the National Ski Patrol.

In addition, Morrissey guided a climb to the summit of Mt. Rainier this past spring with a group of climbers from the Bemidji area that included a BSU alum.

• Dr. Donna Palivec (right), professor of human performance, sport and health, attended the American College of Sports Medicine 59th Annual Meeting and 3rd World Congress on Exercise is Medicine, held May 29-June 2 in San Francisco.

She also participated in the Tour de Wyoming bicycle tour, part of the Governor’s Fitness Council, from July 15-20. She rode 345 miles over six days with 350 other cyclists from all over the country.

• William “Bill” Scheela, professor of business administration, has recently made several presentations at sites around the world. In March, he presented the paper “Business Angel Investing in Emerging Economies: Policy Implications for Southeast Asia,” with Edmundo Isidro (Philippines) and Dr. Thawatchai Jittrapanun (Thailand) at the Kauffman Foundation International Research and Policy Roundtable, in Liverpool, United Kingdom. He presented “Asian Business Angel Trends” at the Asian Business Angel Forum May 24-25 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He also presented “Informal Venture Capital Investing in Emerging Asian Economies,” again with Isidro and Jittrapanun, at the Academy of Management Annual Conference, held Aug. 3-7 in Boston.

• Mary Tosch,  associate director of the Hobson Memorial Union, presented at the 2012 NASPA Conference, March 9-14 in Phoenix. Her presentation was entitled “Jumping the Chasm: Becoming a Director.” She also served as a reviewer for the ACPA National Conference program.

• Dr. Anton Treuer, professor of languages and ethnic studies, won an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History for his book, “The Assassination of Hole in the Day.” The award will be presented in October as part of the association’s 67th annual Leadership in History Awards in Salt Lake City, recognizing outstanding achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history. The book was named “Minnesota’s Best Read” by the Library of Congress in 2010.

• Dr. Marty Wolf, professor of mathematics and computer science, has participated in a pair of presentations and been published twice so far this year.

Wolf was one of three authors for a pair of works, “Behind the Mask: Machine Morality” and “The Problem With Comparing Machine Ethics to Human Ethics is NOT the Machines.” Both papers were presented by Dr. Keith Miller, professor of liberal arts and sciences at the University of Illinois Springfield at the AISB/IACAP World Congress, held July 2-6 in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

With two others, he wrote the chapter “Artificial Agents, Cloud Computing and Quantum Computing: Applying Floridi’s Method of Levels of Abstraction” in the 2012 book, “Luciano Floridi’s Philosophy of Technology: Critical Reflections.” He also wrote “The Importance of Actualizing Control in the Processing of Instructional Information” for the April edition of the journal Philosophy and Technology.