A U.S. patent has been issued for antitumor research conducted by Dr. Mohammad Alam, professor of chemistry and holder of the Beck Professorship, and his lab. This patent concerns their work to develop fused thiazole derivatives as novel antitumor agents. The researchers have developed novel chemistry to synthesize potential drug molecules. Several of these compounds are potent growth inhibitors of cancer cell lines and melanoma tumors in a mouse model.

An article by Dr. Nina Crutchfield, assistant professor of agricultural education, was recently published in The Journal of Autoethnography. In the article, titled “A Fish Out of Water: An Autoethnography of a Female Agricultural Education Teacher,” Crutchfield discusses the lived experience of female-only agricultural mechanics training, coupled with reflective recall, to explore the impact of a gender-specific event on her sense of self.

Six faculty members collaborated on two presentations during the International Council for Professors of Educational Leadership (ICPEL) virtual conference. They are Dr. Alicia Shaw, associate professor and chair, Educational Leadership, Curriculum and Special Education; Dr. Audrey Bowser, associate professor and chair, Teacher Education, Dr. Annette Hux, dean, Education and Behavioral Science; Dr. Jackie McBride, professor of education; Dr. Robert Williams, associate professor of educational leadership; and Dr. Lee-Anne Oros, assistant professor of educational leadership. The first presentation was an analysis of principal candidates’ self-dispositions assessment and the mentor assessment, while the second focused on leadership candidates’ initial understandings of character virtues as they relate to public school administration.

Dr. Audrey Folsom, assistant professor of clinical lab sciences and program director, is author of an education module for the Laboratory Educator Institute. She developed the module from work she had already completed as the basis of a pre-conference workshop designed for new educators in her field. The module is peer-reviewed and PACE (Professional Acknowledgment for Continuing Education) approved.

Dr. Steve Muzatko (left), associate professor and H.B. Foster Bowdon Chair in Accounting, and Dr. Hrishikesh Desai (right), associate professor of accounting, received the ACFE “Report to the Nations" data grant at the ACFE Research Institute summer meeting in Nashville. Their study will investigate how supervised machine learning classification techniques can be applied to analyze fraud cases, identifying differences in perpetrator, incident and organizational characteristics based on the fraudster's gender.