{"id":8689,"date":"2021-08-10T16:12:05","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T20:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=8689"},"modified":"2021-08-12T10:52:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T14:52:38","slug":"research-briefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2021\/08\/10\/research-briefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Briefs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
WATERS COLLEGE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Students Use Simulation to Get Glimpse of Disability Complications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Students on the Armstrong Campus experienced firsthand the obstacles and issues older adults with disabilities go through after participating in a series of simulations. Forty-six students attended the event, which was led in person and on Zoom by Debra Hagerty, DNP, associate professor of nursing. She secured a Georgia Health Foundation grant to buy the equipment for the simulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students were able to experience disabilities that were simulated during the sessions. Examples of the experiential learning included arthritis, back pain, hearing and vision loss, tinnitus, tremors, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, gait disturbance, kyphosis and hemiparesis. They donned arm, back and knee braces, gloves, special shoes, glasses and other equipment while trying to do normal tasks. Things such as walking, writing, sitting and standing, climbing stairs and stepping over obstacles such as puddles, throw rugs, and picking up objects off the floor were more difficult than anticipated and in some cases provided potential safety hazards to experience and navigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI teach nursing leadership, but I have a passion for geriatric care,\u201d Hagerty said. \u201cWhen nurses go through education, they don\u2019t get a lot of information about sensory issues and disabilities elders have or could have. We wanted to train students in disabilities and increase awareness in geriatric issues through a fun student event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students said experiencing the disabilities was powerful and helped them have a better understanding of geriatric issues. Hagerty said one of the goals for the event was to have students take what they learned from the simulations and apply it to their studies and future careers. She felt the students became more sensitive and aware of the needs of elders, and saw what growing older is like by experiencing similar conditions and disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARKER COLLEGE OF BUSINESS<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Dean Recognized as Top Business and Management Scientist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Allen Amason, Ph.D., dean of Georgia Southern\u2019s Parker College of Business, has been listed among the top business and management scientists in a study conducted by Stanford University researchers. Amason\u2019s teaching and consulting focuses on strategic management, strategic decision making and top management team processes. Of the 1,000 scholars listed in the business and management discipline, 11 were from Georgia. He is an award-winning executive educator, having been named Terry College of Business MBA Teacher of the Year three times and Terry College of Business Teacher of the Year in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to authoring the textbook, Strategic Management: From Theory to Practice<\/em>, Amason has published more than two dozen articles and book chapters, serves as associate editor of the Journal of Management Studies<\/em>, is past senior associate editor of the Journal of Management<\/em> and has served on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management<\/em> journal and the Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship, Theory & Practice.<\/em> As noted in the study, his total citation count is more than 9,800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLLEGE OF BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

University\u2019s Model United Nations Team Earns Highest Honors at Virtual Conference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Georgia Southern Model United Nations team once again has been recognized as an Outstanding Delegation at the National Model United Nations Conference. The University\u2019s program has a long history of success at this conference, and this marks the 10th year in a row that the Georgia Southern team has received the Outstanding Delegation award. Model U.N. is a program where college students play the role of diplomats and ambassadors to the U.N. for various countries. The Georgia Southern team represented Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the annual conference, students discuss and debate global issues affecting real people, but they must apply their academic knowledge and critical thinking skills to solve global problems. The conference builds research, public speaking, writing and negotiating skills. The University was also recognized for Outstanding Position Paper writing for the 19th time in 20 years, and Georgia Southern students were recognized in two committees as the most outstanding. A total of 14 Georgia Southern students participated in the conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Faculty Members Receive Research Award<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Two Department of Communication Arts professors were recognized for their research at the Broadcast Education Association\u2019s (BEA) annual conference. The BEA honored Holly Cowart, Ph.D., and Jeffrey Riley, Ph.D., with the Diversity and Inclusion award for their paper \u201cFraming a Movement: Media Portrayals of the George Floyd Protests on Twitter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe recognized the importance of the protests in calling out injustice,\u201d said Cowart. \u201cBy examining the portrayals of protesters and police, we gained a better understanding of how the events were interpreted.\u201d The BEA Diversity and Inclusion award recognizes a research paper that contributes to the academic knowledge in the field of diversity in media content, the media professions or the teaching of diversity topics or to diverse populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

NSF Grant of nearly $300K to Teach Computer Science in Rural Schools<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Associate Professor of Instructional Technology Mete Akcaoglu, Ph.D., has procured a nearly $300,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that will expose children in the region to game-based computer design instruction. The NSF\u2019s Computer Science for All program (CSforAll) awarded the funds for Akcaoglu\u2019s grant proposal, \u201cDeveloping and Piloting a Game Design-Based Computer Science Curriculum,\u201d or \u201cProject GAME,\u201d which outlines the delivery of computer science education using game development software into four regional middle schools in southeast Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six teachers from Bulloch, Candler, Chatham and Screven counties are participating in the pilot program that kicked off last August. This fall, the teachers will pilot the curriculum with their first group of students, focusing on middle school students in mostly rural areas. Schools included in the program include STEAM Academy of Statesboro, DeRenne Middle School in Savannah, Metter Middle School and Screven Middle School. Students will focus on basic game creation and coding and build their skills throughout the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teachers have received professional development to use and operate Unity, a cross-platform game engine that can create virtual reality and augmented reality games, simulations and other cinematic experiences. Unity has been used to create notable games such as Battlestar Galactica Online, Assassin\u2019s Creed Identity, Call of Duty, Angry Birds Epic, and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIntroducing students to computer science in this way during middle school allows them exposure to a possible career as a computer scientist and the vast opportunities that can bring,\u201d said Akcaoglu. \u201cWhile many of them may not choose to become a computer scientist, this will impact their thought process going forward and assist them in feeling comfortable approaching other coding and computer software that others would shy away from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-principal investigators on the grant team include College of Education\u2019s Sel\u00e7uk Do\u011fan, Ph.D., assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, Charles Hodges, Ph.D., professor of instructional technology and Andrew Allen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of computer science in the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering
and Computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-year grant project will culminate with an event that will showcase the games that students created during the pilot program. Akcaoglu says he envisions a day of students and families coming together to play the games created by the middle schoolers and celebrate their hard work and achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Professor Awarded Grant to Study African American Museums<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor of Geography, Amy Potter, Ph.D., has been awarded a $75,000 National Science Foundation grant for the project, \u201cThe Role of Museums in the Landscape of Minority Representation.\u201d The research will explore how African American history and culture are presented at African American history museums, and the team will then work with each museum\u2019s staff to develop public engagement projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis research will be among the first to survey the scope and breadth of how African American history and culture are presented at African American history museums based on regional histories, ownership types and management philosophies at museums in four geographic regions across the United States,\u201d Potter said. \u201cBy conducting fieldwork at museums in many states and cities, this project makes substantial strides to address this intellectual void.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potter\u2019s research is part of a larger multi-university collaboration, Tourism RESET (Race, Ethnicity and Social Equity in Tourism), which seeks to challenge prevalent social inequities in the tourism industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JIANN-PING HSU COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Public Health Education Soars in Wake of Pandemic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Department chair and Health Policy and Community Health Professor Gulzar Shah, Ph.D., authored an invited editorial in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health <\/em>(AJPH). In it, he wrote about the increased interest in the field of public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor many of the 19 million college students enrolling annually in public and private colleges in the United States, public health is becoming a logical choice,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause of COVID-19, interest in public health careers is soaring, evident from the 20% increase nationwide in Master of Public Health applicants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shah also noted, \u201cThe emphasis on aligning public health practice and policy with the Public Health 3.0 framework, in which leaders partner across various sectors to address social, environmental and economic factors that affect population health and health inequity, has attracted the spotlight on generalist, behavioral education and health policy degrees. The Public Health 3.0 framework has also underscored the desirability of adopting the Health in All Policies approach and encouraging public health leaders to act as chief health strategists in influencing policies in other sectors affecting population health. Increasing focus on Health in All Policies and higher salary positions in health care may further explain the popularity of health policy and management and health law programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editorial drew insights from the national data from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health\u2019s member institutions about the first employment destinations of public health graduates as well as Shah\u2019s own studies on public health practice trends. Shah\u2019s research studies were based on two waves of the national-level Public Health Workforce Interest and Needs Survey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research news from the colleges of Georgia Southern University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-8689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-summer-2021"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}