The Spring 2023 issue of Mosaic is now available in the Digital Library. For those with visual accessibility needs, an optimized, accessible PDF is also available on the same page.

In this issue, learn more about the many technologies and services available in the Digital Scholarship Lab, catch up with a Falvey Scholar, celebrate a milestone with Performance Studies, and hop in the wayback machine to see Villanova’s on-campus radio station though the decades.

Thanks to the many departments across the Library for sharing news, and special thanks to Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement for hosting the digital version of the publication.

Announcing the 2023 Falvey Scholar Award Winners:

Olivia Hall

Title: “Integration of Design and Interdisciplinarity in Engineering Education: Development and Assessment”

Faculty Mentor(s): Deeksha Seth, PhD, College of Engineering

Madeline Scolio

Title: “Modeling the Relationship Between Surface and Air Temperature and Implications for Urban Sustainability and Well-Being in Philadelphia”

Faculty Mentor(s): Peleg Kremer, PhD, Samer Abboud, PhD, Kabindra Shakya, PhD, Yimin Zhang, PhD, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Zachary Boyer

Title: “Synthesis and Evaluation of the Structure Activity Relationships of Antibacterial Functionalized Dihydropyrimidine Derivatives”

Faculty Mentor: Matthew O’Reilly, PhD, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Rohan Biscuitwala & Thomas Haas (Joint Project)

Title: “Savor the Flavor: The Mediating Role of Emotions on the Relationship Between Flavor and Behavior”

Faculty Mentor: Aronte Bennett, PhD, Villanova School of Business

Grace Lundell

Title: “War, What is it Good For?: The Effect of Military Conflicts on Trust in the EU”

Faculty Mentor: Deborah Seligsohn, PhD and Ryan Weldzius, PhD, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Becca Jacobson

Title: “Identifying Factors that Promote or Inhibit Disability-Related Discussion in Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms”

Faculty Mentor: Christa Bialka, PhD, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Bronwyn Mogck

Title: “Body and Soul in Medicine”

Faculty Mentor: Helena Tomko, PhD and Angela DiBenedetto, PhD, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Join us on Friday, April 28, at 10 a.m., in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner for the 2023 Falvey Scholars Research Presentation and Awards Ceremony. At the event, award recipients will give short presentations on the content and findings of the research involved in the writing of the thesis or in the creation of the project report. You can also view via livestream as well: https://vums-web.villanova.edu/Mediasite/Play/0b78a4f3822a4eebaecb01ad3fe85b941d

The Falvey Scholar award is an annual program established by Falvey Library to recognize outstanding undergraduate research. It is a collaborative initiative of the Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships. The winners of the Falvey Scholar award are selected from a pool of candidates that will be generated by applications submitted by a senior Villanova University student or a group of students working on a senior project together with the recommendation of the advisor to the senior thesis or capstone project completed for academic credit.

Digital copies of the winning papers are maintained in the Digital Library.

By Kallie Stahl

Attention faculty and Villanova seniors: Falvey Scholar Award nominations are now being accepted. The Falvey Scholar Awards are given each spring semester to individual or group projects of seniors who have completed exemplary (and publicly presentable) scholarship or research during their undergraduate careers at Villanova. The awards traditionally have an emphasis on work that has required substantial use of scholarly literature of the sort provided and supported by the library.

Villanova faculty:

• Faculty can nominate students until Sunday, March 26 at 11:59 p.m. by using the link provided on following page: http://library.villanova.edu/about/projects/falveyscholars/
• Once nominated, students will be asked to apply in order to be considered for the award by using a link on the same page. Faculty mentors who plan to nominate should encourage students to apply.
• Please consider nominating a student who exemplifies the awards criteria.

Villanova seniors:

• Villanova seniors, if you’d like to be considered for the Falvey Scholar award urge your faculty mentor to nominate you by forwarding them the nomination link provided on following page: http://library.villanova.edu/about/projects/falveyscholars/
• Students MUST be nominated by a faculty mentor before applying in order to be considered for the award.
• The deadline for faculty nominations is Sunday, March 26 at 11:59 p.m. The deadline for student applications is Sunday, April 2 at 11:59 p.m.

The Falvey Scholar award is an annual program established by Falvey Memorial Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships to recognize outstanding undergraduate research. Winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony on Friday, April 28, at 10 a.m., that will include presentations by the award recipients on the content and findings of the research involved in the writing of the thesis or creation of the project report.

Digital copies of the winning papers are maintained in Falvey’s Digital Library. If you have questions, please contact: libraryevents@villanova.edu

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

The Falvey Scholars Program is an annual program established by Falvey Library to recognize outstanding undergraduate research. Now in its 20th year, the program is a collective initiative of the Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships. The recipients of this award are selected from a pool of candidates nominated by Villanova faculty and reviewed by Library staff and faculty.

This year, eight students received awards, their work reflecting the breadth and depth of undergraduate research at the University as well as the support the Library, its resources and staff, provide student-scholars.

This blog is the last of seven installments, which will introduce our scholars and cover their research in their own words. Look for additional coverage of the Falvey Scholars in the fall issue of Mosaic.

Congratulations to all of our Falvey Scholars, past and present!

Scholar Summary

Mai Khuc ’22 COE

• Project Title: “Cost Estimation Tools for Data Center Two-Phase Cooling with Vapor Recompression-based Heat Recovery”
• Faculty Mentor: Aaron Wemhoff, PhD, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
• Hometown: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• Other Honors: Selected for Big East Poster Competition, Academic Excellence Award for the College of Engineering, Tau Beta Pi, Pi Tau Sigma, National Grand Challenge Scholar Program

Describe your research in your own words.
Data centers consume approximately 2% of all U.S. electricity, so efficiency improvements can yield large financial and environmental benefits.

I started out by learning about data centers, their operations, and their energy usage. I have never had a chance to learn about air conditioning systems in my engineering class before, thus Falvey Library was a great resource for me to get started.

After modeling the heat recovery system in Aspen Plus simulation software, I once again relied on the Library to learn about financial terminology, such as capital cost as well as payback period and how to calculate them. I also looked up different case studies to compare my analysis with other researchers’ work. After getting my capital cost and payback period, I used different sustainability metrics to evaluate these systems’ performance from an environmental perspective.

How did Falvey’s resources and databases impact your research?
The resources from Falvey Library have helped me tremendously throughout my career at Villanova, especially over this project where I tried to estimate the capital cost of a data center energy recovery system.

The online library has a wide variety of both physical and electronic books, journal articles, and conference papers for me to learn more about data centers, their energy consumption, as well as different heat recovery options. My project also has environmental and business aspects, such as sustainability metrics and capital cost estimation, thus many large databases in different fields that Falvey has have allowed me to access the top-quality papers in multiple disciplines.

How did the Library’s staff impact your research and academic experience?
Those resources could not have been used to their full potential if not thanks to the most friendly and supportive librarians that I met. I was fortunate enough to meet Alfred Fry, Science and Engineering Librarian, during my first semester at Villanova when he came to two of my classes to teach us how to most effectively utilize Falvey’s resources.

Those tips that Alfred has taught us have been extremely helpful for me, especially for this research since I was looking for a very niche field. I have also had the opportunity to work with both Alfred and Linda Hauck, Business Librarian, personally, and while our meeting was not directly related to this research, I have learned a lot from their guidance during these sessions and applied it to my project, specifically their advice on how to properly use engineering and economics resources.

What’s next for you?
I am now working as an Energy Engineer in the Albany, N.Y., office of Ramboll, an engineering consulting firm based in Denmark. While I won’t be working directly with data centers, it is still working to use energy most efficiently.

Photo courtesy of Andrew McKeough ’19 CLAS; design by Joanne Quinn, ’15 MA, ’84 CLAS, Director of Communication and Marketing.

Falvey Memorial Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships are proud to celebrate the 2022 Falvey Scholar Award Winners: Nadjulia Constant, Christopher DiLullo, Addison Drone, Nicole Garcia, Alec Henderson, Daryl Jucar, Mai Khuc, and Erica Mallon. These outstanding senior scholars were chosen for completing exemplary scholarship and research in their respective fields while utilizing vital Falvey Library resources. The Falvey Scholars presented their work at our annual Falvey Scholars Research Presentation and Awards Ceremony on Friday, April 22. You can learn their project titles and faculty mentors here. Digital copies of the winning papers are maintained in the Digital Library.

2022 Falvey Scholars Virtual Research Presentation and Awards Ceremony

The Villanova community is cordially invited to join us on Friday, April 22 at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. for the 2022 Falvey Scholars Virtual Research Presentation and Awards Ceremony.

This program will provide the opportunity to recognize outstanding undergraduate research by the senior students who were selected as the 2022 Falvey Scholars from across Villanova’s campus. The event also serves as a recognition of the dedication of faculty in supporting undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship.

During the event, award recipients will share a video where they provide a brief 10-minute presentation to highlight their overall research process and showcase a summary of their winning project. Presentations will emphasize the use of Library resources, which may include one-on-one librarian consultations, reference workshops, library books and journals, access to Interlibrary Loan, databases, and even quiet study space. 5 minutes of live Q&A will take place after each student presentation.

REGISTER HERE

This event, co-sponsored by Falvey Memorial Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships, is free and open to the public. Join us to recognize some of Villanova’s finest senior scholars!

**Please note that this event will be recorded and photographed. **

Digital copies of the winning papers are maintained in the Digital Library. View the 2021 Falvey Scholars Awards virtual booklet.

Falvey Memorial Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships are proud to announce the 2022 Falvey Scholar Award Winners:

Nadjulia Constant and Daryl Jucar

• Project Title: “Minority Stress and Effects on Cardiovascular Health in African Americans”

• Faculty Mentor: Theresa Capriotti, PhD

Christopher DiLullo

• Project Title: “Media on Media: How Media Trade Publications View Streaming Services Compared With Legacy Media”
• Faculty Mentor: Allyson Levin, PhD

Addison Drone

• Project Title: “50 Years of Sports Teams in Work Teams Research: Missed Opportunities and New Directions for Studying Team Processes”

• Faculty Mentor: Narda Quigley, PhD

Nicole Garcia

• Project Title: “Metal-catalyzed synthesis of isoprene polymers with optimized isomer distribution”
• Faculty Mentor: Deanna Zubris, PhD

Alec Henderson

• Project Title: “Mapping Habitat Suitability of the American Chestnut in Pennsylvania: Can we Restore this Foundational Tree to our Forests?”
• Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Santoro, Professor, and Peleg Kremer, PhD

Mai Khuc

• Project Title: “Cost Estimation Tools for Data Center Two-Phase Cooling with Vapor Recompression-based Heat Recovery”

• Faculty Mentor: Aaron Wemhoff, PhD

Erica Mallon

• Project Title: “Dsk2 interacts with polyubiquitinated substrates to reciprocally induce sedimentation”
• Faculty Mentor: Daniel Kraut, PhD

BY SHAWN PROCTOR

Welcome to the final installment of a 7-part series featuring the 2021 Falvey Scholars. Read more about them in Falvey’s blog archives and in the upcoming issue of Mosaic: the Library’s bi-annual publication.

Falvey Memorial Library is honored to announce the 2021 Falvey Scholar award winners. We will showcase the research of our eight young alumni on the blog and in the fall issue of Mosaic.

Sponsored by the Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships, the Falvey Scholars program recognizes outstanding undergraduate research at Villanova University. Award winners are selected from a pool of candidates generated by applications submitted by a senior Villanova University student or a group of students working on a senior project together with the recommendation of the advisor to the senior thesis or capstone project completed for academic credit.

View the 2021 Falvey Scholars Awards virtual booklet.

Researchers Brief

Falvey Scholar: Tara Reddy

Hometown: Bridgewater, N.J.

Other Honors: Fitzpatrick College of Nursing Nominee for the Meyer Innovation and Creative Excellence (ICE) Award; Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society

Falvey Scholar: Danielle Markey

Hometown: Larchmont, N.Y.

Other Honors: Rose Woytowich O’Driscoll Student Service Award, Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society

Project Title: “Interprofessional Collaboration Promotes Parkinson’s Medication Safety”

Faculty Mentor: Diane M. Ellis, MSN, RN, CCRN

Learn about Tara’s and Danielle’s research in his own words:

Tell me about your Falvey Scholar Award-winning research project.

Tara Reddy:

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders, and among patients with PD admitted to the hospital, only 33% return home. The hospitalization of patients with PD can be dangerous due to the unique and variable medication regimen that patients with PD require. Often their their medication is administered inappropriately, late, or omitted within the acute care setting, which can cause a complication such as aspiration leading to a respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest, or death.

Our mock code study was conducted in five steps: participants read and signed an informed consent; a pre-test questionnaire was administered; students participated in the simulated unfolding case-study; students participated in emotional and psychological debriefing sessions and Debriefing for Meaningful Learning (DML) following the simulation; and participants completed a post-test questionnaire.

Danielle Markey:

Tara and I are a dynamic duo! We completed all of the same tasks and were able to pick up one another when one of us had trouble. We do a great job delegating tasks to each other and collaborating with to achieve success. She helped me collect data, analyze data, write literature reviews, hold discussions, create the poster for presentations, and run the skills lab.

How did Falvey Memorial Library support your research?

DM:

Falvey particularly enhanced our project in the paper portion. This study represents our first professional publication, so I knew it had to be perfect. Thankfully, we spent a whole class freshman year in the Library with an expert to show us how to use the databases like PubMed, so I felt comfortable navigating and citing these sources.

I also had a refresher course this year in my senior nursing seminar on evidence-based practice. These resources helped me gain confidence when it comes to finding reliable evidence and citing it. As a result, the paper was published in the Nursing Education Perspective journal and presented at the Villanova Research Symposium and the Collaborative Family Health Care Association Conference.

What impact did this project have on you?

DM:

I learned how to work in a team from my research experience, as well as how to speak up when working in a large group. I loved working with so many different disciplines, and I got to learn more about their scopes and how they influence the nurse’s work. This experience certainly pushed me academically. It influenced my academic goals in such a positive light because I am now aware of all of the learning that can be done outside of the classroom if you look around and try to get involved in something else.

TR:

I didn’t really know what what kind of nursing I wanted to go into after graduation. This study takes place in the intensive care unit, so two years of work I realized I could definitely see myself working in ICU…I actually have a job working in ICU after I graduate!

And what’s next for you?

TR:

I am working in the cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

DM:

I am currently applying to nursing positions in New York City.

Shawn Proctor, MFA, is Communications and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library.

BY SHAWN PROCTOR

Welcome to part 5 of a 7-part series featuring the 2021 Falvey Scholars. Read more about them every Monday and in the upcoming issue of Mosaic: the Library’s bi-annual publication.

Falvey Memorial Library is honored to announce the 2021 Falvey Scholar award winners. We will showcase the research of our eight young alumni on the blog and in the fall issue of Mosaic.

Sponsored by the Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships, the Falvey Scholars program recognizes outstanding undergraduate research at Villanova University. Award winners are selected from a pool of candidates generated by applications submitted by a senior Villanova University student or a group of students working on a senior project together with the recommendation of the advisor to the senior thesis or capstone project completed for academic credit.

View the 2021 Falvey Scholars Awards virtual booklet.

Researcher Brief

Falvey Scholar: Kaylan Purisima 

Hometown: Lodi, N.J.

Other Honors: Connelly-Delouvrier International Scholar, Villanova Scholarship, Joseph Betz Solidarity Award

Project Title: “Examining Violence Against Indigenous Women in the United States through a Settler Colonialist Framework” 

Faculty Mentor: Brianna Remster, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 

Learn about Kaylan’s research in her own words:

Tell me about your Falvey Scholar Award-winning research project.

I seek to answer the question of how the U.S. contributes to violence against indigenous women. My main goal was to understand why the violence level is so high today. To do that I had to look back, starting with the settler arrival in 1492, and show many factors that began more than a century ago continue in some form today.

How did Falvey Memorial Library support your research?

The Library’s staff was integral to my research experience! I met with Jutta Seibert, Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement, in the beginning of my research process, and she went through very clearly how to navigate the Falvey website. She showed me all the tips and tricks to find a range of useful sources, without which I would have been lost as someone new to research.

Falvey’s resources and databases were the rock of my research. I did essentially all my research on the Falvey website, and I found almost all of my sources through Falvey. Only when I looked at nonacademic sources such as news articles did I turn to Google.

What impact did this project have on you?

I will certainly continue in this research direction because if this research has taught me anything, it is that I have a lot more to learn. The general lack of education regarding Native peoples and histories and our part to play in the erasure of this is something that I will spend my whole life rectifying.

What’s next for you?

I will be working with Teach for America, teaching special education in Charlotte, N.C.

Shawn Proctor, MFA, is Communications and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library.

BY SHAWN PROCTOR

Welcome to part 4 of a 7-part series featuring the 2021 Falvey Scholars. Read more about them every Monday and in the upcoming issue of Mosaic: the Library’s bi-annual publication.

Falvey Memorial Library is honored to announce the 2021 Falvey Scholar award winners. We will showcase the research of our eight young alumni on the blog and in the fall issue of Mosaic.

Sponsored by the Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships, the Falvey Scholars program recognizes outstanding undergraduate research at Villanova University. Award winners are selected from a pool of candidates generated by applications submitted by a senior Villanova University student or a group of students working on a senior project together with the recommendation of the advisor to the senior thesis or capstone project completed for academic credit.

Researcher Brief

Falvey Scholar: Audrey Lawrence

Hometown:  Ellicott City, Md.

Other Honors: Villanova Presidential Scholar, Freshman Match Grantee, VURF Grantee (2018 and 2020), CRISSP Recipient (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute Summer Scholars Program)

Project Title: “Use of an Orally Delivered Oxidized Cholesterol to Relieve Inflammatory Bowel Disease Symptoms in a Mouse Model”

Faculty Mentor: Anil K. Bamezai, PhD, Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Learn about Audrey’s research in her own words:

Tell me about your Falvey Scholar Award-winning research project.

I studied a new way to relieve symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), an autoimmune disorder of the gut, via oral delivery of an oxidized cholesterol. The treatment method I studied in vivo targets T cell proliferation and knocks down the pro-inflammatory response associated with IBD.

IBD includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and affects over 10 million people worldwide. This is an exciting example of progress towards a more universally successful treatment option for a patient population suffering from a disease in need of a cure.

How did Falvey Memorial Library support your research?

The staff at Falvey Memorial Library have been an incredible support system through my undergraduate research experience.  The very idea that help was always available through the Library staff was incredibly strengthening. It gave me confidence as I learned a new field.

The extensive scope of the Falvey database library has been essential to my success as a researcher.  Immunology was a new field to me—it’s one of those fields that you can’t really grasp superficially…you have to delve deep before it makes sense. The Interlibrary Loan program along with Falvey’s extensive list of accessible journals provided me with every tool that I needed to teach myself a new language of science.

What impact did this project have on you?

I absolutely will continue in the field of Immunology as a physician scientist and could see myself focusing on IBD in my career. I love the philosophical side of immunology and care deeply about this patient population, and I am so excited to be a part the research advances that will be made in the coming years.

What’s next for you?

I am doing my gap year at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, working in a Genetics clinical research lab. I plan to apply to MD/PhD programs in the upcoming cycle.

Shawn Proctor, MFA, is Communications and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library.