Susan Gladstone can do it all. The alumna earned a bachelor’s degree in social work in 1976 (which she followed with a master’s degree in the same field from Yeshiva University in New York) and has spent a lifetime planning events, raising funds and teaching in support of the community and the education of young people. In addition to running her own business, she has served as a fundraiser and planner with United Way of Miami-Dade. She has worked for the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, organizing fundraising events and teaching both locally and at the school’s Tianjin, China, campus. And most recently, she headed fundraising and sponsorship activities for various initiatives at the university as well as the  Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU on Miami Beach, to which she was named executive director in 2017.

As the cultural attraction looks toward its 25th anniversary in 2020, Gladstone’s enthusiasm has everyone around her likewise excited by the prospect of planned upgrades to the physical building—a pair of adjacent former synagogues on the United States National Register of Historic Places—as well as an already-solid record of innovative exhibitions and programming.

What is your top priority as museum director? 
To keep the museum relevant and interesting to a wide variety of people. We want everyone asking, “What’s happening at the Jewish Museum?” In addition to our core exhibition, we have three temporary galleries that we change every four months with an eye to attracting the attention of those with different interests, whether traditional art or local history or something else.

“Jewish” is in your name. So how do you speak to a general audience? 
Our core exhibition chronicles Jewish history within Florida and in doing so really showcases the universal immigrant experience in all its struggles and successes.
So even though we are the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, we cater to groups of schoolchildren and others in multicultural Miami who are either direct immigrants or the next generation. They can relate to the stories the museum tells.

How do you capture that diverse audience? 
One way is through comprehensive programming. This includes such things as a children’s corner where youngsters can try their hand at an art activity and workshops for adults and the entire family. People see the exhibits and then return for tours, lectures and other activities.

In this digital era, why does a physical museum even need to exist? 
Like most museums, we are working to digitize the permanent collection because sometimes all someone needs is a photograph or a piece of information for a research paper. But the museum’s buildings have a very special feeling and beauty. As the world outside gets more and more computerized, there’s that much more value to a place of peacefulness. You can’t experience it by looking at it online. You have to walk in and feel the light coming through the stained glass.

How are you bringing the museum and the rest of the university together? 
Being part of a university increases the things we can do. For example, we have hosted an exhibition by an architecture professor and another by his master’s students. Our academic director, Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies  Tudor Parfitt, runs a wonderful Monday Nights at the Museum series in which he brings in scholars from all over the world as well as faculty from FIU. There’s just a wealth of possibilities.

Decades ago, Dr. Herbert Wertheim turned his early ideas for inventions into prototypes using Maxwell House coffee cans as chemistry beakers. An optometrist and the founder and CEO of Brain Power Inc., he was the first
 to discover and produce ultraviolet light dye absorbers for eyeglass lenses, an innovation that has helped millions avoid cataracts and other eye diseases.

He and his wife, Nicole, built their company from scratch, spending their nights mixing product by hand and their days bottling and shipping it out themselves in their business’s infancy. Today the company manufactures more than 4,000 products for eye care professionals and optical laboratories at its facilities in Miami.

In September 2018, the longtime FIU benefactor was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, which recognizes those whose work has advanced the quality of life for people in Florida and around the world. Wertheim holds more than 100 patents and trademarks.

“Discovery is who I am,” Wertheim said. “I like to create things that have never been created before.”

Aside from making a mark in medical innovation, Wertheim and his wife have dedicated their lives to philanthropy.
Among the top donors to the university,
 the Wertheims have given more than $33 million to FIU and have created exceptional opportunities for students and faculty across the university.

“The Wertheim family’s impact on FIU 
has been transformational,” said President Mark B. Rosenberg. “Their contributions over the years have helped us prepare health care professionals, entrepreneurs, artists and many other specialists who have made a difference in our world thanks to an FIU education made possible by their generosity.”

Their names grace the university’s  Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine,  Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences,  Wertheim Conservatory,  Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center and Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Concert Hall.

Herbert Wertheim served on FIU’s Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2006 and is now a trustee emeritus. He also served on and chaired the FIU Foundation board and served as chairman of FIU’s first capital campaign, begun in the 1990s, during which he led the successful effort to raise $200 million in support of fellowships, scholarships and new buildings.

Wertheim took an active role in establishing the college of medicine, which welcomed its inaugural class in 2009. In total, 429 doctors have since earned their medical degrees from FIU. Previously the university granted him an honorary doctorate of science for his dedication to the university and to his profession.

The Wertheims remain actively involved at FIU by attending events such as the college of medicine’s white coat ceremony and the college of nursing’s pinning ceremony, where they meet with the students.

Ten medical students, whom Dr. Wertheim personally helps select,  have their tuition paid for by the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation Scholarship each year. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the median amount owed by graduating medical students in the United States is $190,000, but those benefitting from the couple’s largesse will graduate with zero educational debt.

In addition to their support of FIU, the Wertheims and their foundation have contributed a total impact (which includes state matching funds) of $100 million to Florida public universities. Their philanthropy includes significant support for the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida and the University of California at San Diego Herbert Wertheim Program in Public Health and Human Longevity. In keeping with their giving philosophy, the Wertheims seek to advance preventive health practices and, ultimately, the well-being of people across the country.

A gardening enthusiast in his spare time, Wertheim sees a parallel between his beloved hobby and his support of higher education.

“I just love having my own earth – the joy of planting a seed and watching the first leaves come up, and then nurturing that plant until it gives fruit, or it gives a flower,” he said. “And the same thing [happens] in education. You plant a seed… and
 you watch it grow to become something beautiful… and other people will wind up, in many cases, receiving the crop. But that’s my joy.”

The Wertheims have planted seeds at FIU over the past 30 years, and they have helped the university grow stronger. FIU, and the community as a whole, will enjoy the fruits of the Wertheims’ investment in education for generations to come. 

The freshman marketing major with a minor in agroecology started rummaging through his neighbors’ trash, with permission, for a high school assignment to determine what and how much people get rid of. Surprised by the amount of organic material in a typical family’s weekly haul—including such things as fruit rinds, egg shells and coffee grounds—Angeletti alighted on a quest: to keep food waste out of landfills.

His Advanced Placement environmental studies class had taught him that such discards decompose very slowly when covered by other types of garbage and in the process create methane gas that contributes to global warming. (Other negative consequences include the build up of toxic sludge that contaminates groundwater.)

Twelve years after moving to South Florida with his family from their native France, the transplant wanted to coalesce the community around a solution to help ensure the region’s future. “Miami is sitting on the frontline of climate change,” Angeletti said, conscious of threatening sea level rise, “and very few people are doing anything concrete to fight against it.”

Along with his three younger sisters, Angeletti developed the nonprofit back2earth. The organization provides high-grade plastic buckets with heavy lids in which homeowners collect food scraps. In just the first three months of operation, he and volunteers picked up thousands of pounds of waste from participating families. The group is turning the refuse into compost that will be sold locally to backyard gardeners, professional landscapers and others to enrich soil.

Now expanding into Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, Angeletti has refined the process with a central drop-off location. And his business model has also shifted. What he now actively encourages—by making presentations to area middle schools in hopes of growing a groundswell of support—is that individuals do their own composting at home, thereby negating the need for energy-intensive transporting of waste.

“When you think about it, [our] service is not really the solution. It’s a fix,” he says. “Educating the world is really the best tool.” 

Passion fruit is Khareem Oliver’s favorite smoothie flavor. And it shows. 

The go-getter has a résumé that begins with a volunteer job at an animal shelter at age seven—a response to his not being able to keep a dog in his apartment—and explodes in high school with his developing an app to locate lost pets, an innovation that twice won him seed money from investors.

Fast forward a few years, and the now-senior marketing major has since broadened his horizons by landing an internship (after having held ones with a local bank and an international freight forwarder) in FIU’s branding office, for which he recruits social media influencers to promote school merch and tracks the results of viral campaigns designed to engage students.

On the side, Oliver has added to his portfolio a pair of online resale businesses that serve the growing market for rare sneakers and vintage clothing. And most recently, he started 305 Agency, a branding and marketing outlet that he hopes to make a full-time pursuit following his December graduation.

“Why wait and do something later?” asks the fast-moving entrepreneur, a technology maven who keeps up with trends in his industries of interest so to put his own twist on them. “I want to do it now.”

Even with so much going on, Oliver has bigger plans still, a dream he can’t shake: establishing a smoothie shop or two to serve customers in low-income neighborhoods. He believes food deserts deserve attention and anticipates that post-pandemic America will again see the economic conditions to make the venture viable.

“There’s a lot of opportunity,” asserts Oliver, who adds that the desire for nutritious options extends beyond the borders that business owners have traditionally mined. “I think they’re looking at it with a closed mindset,” he says. “They don’t see the bigger picture.”

No one will ever accuse Oliver of such small thinking: He is 100 percent open for business.

Mitra Naseh traffics in hope.

The native of Iran earned an undergraduate degree in computer science engineering, but early exposure to the plight of Afghan refugees eventually forced a twist of fate.

From age 5, when she quizzically witnessed adults treat the misplaced with disdain, and later when as a teenager she taught math to street children, Naseh felt a call to fight for those facing discrimination and suffering deprivation.

Today a Ph.D. student in the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, she landed in Miami with a master’s degree in urban planning and development from an Iranian university and a resume that included working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. That post gave her a view into situations she remembers as terribly sad and sometimes inhumane, even as she saw flashes of resilience.

Naseh currently conducts research that has her interviewing Syrian refugees living in Jordan, a feat made possible after she connected with an FIU alumna working overseas. The data-gathering conversations—conducted via Skype, as a U.S travel ban that would compromise her return to Miami has precluded her going abroad—delve into issues of poverty and refugee welfare.

Under the guidance of Professor Miriam Potocky, Naseh has undertaken several activities that put her squarely on a path to serve as an expert voice for the population she studies. These include curating an exhibit on refugee shelters at the Coral Gables Museum (pictured), researching and co-authoring the second edition of Potocky’s ground-breaking “Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants” (Columbia University Press) and developing a mobile app aimed at those in greatest need (SmartsAid.com). With as many as 80 percent of adult refugees estimated to own cell phones—often their sole possession and only link to home or other scattered family members, Naseh explains—an app that connects new arrivals to resources in real time has gained interest and even earned Naseh and her collaborators a spot in the competitive StartUP FIU innovation accelerator.

With the world currently experiencing the highest levels of human displacement in history, Naseh looks toward a career that will allow her to help improve the future for millions. “Hope is the key,” she says of the unwanted. “They survived war. They survived persecution. They will survive the rest. Just give them a little bit of hope.”

Cirque de Soleil changed Apriah Williams’ life. Visiting New York in 2012, the then-16-year-old from Turks and Caicos experienced her first-ever theatrical production. “I was mesmerized,” Williams recalls.

A few years later she was studying architecture at a small college outside of Boston when she approached an advisor about a career in theater. “I would love to know what goes into it. I would love to be a part of that,” she explained. Soon Williams was ushered into a class where her interest in architecture and her newfound fascination had her building sets, hanging lights and pulling props.

Williams eventually transferred to FIU, formally became a theater major and designed her first set, for the absurdist play Ubu Rex, during the 2017-2018 season.

“When I first read the script, I had no idea how this could be staged,” Williams says. “One minute they’re in a castle, then the next minute they’re in a cave. Then all of a sudden there’s a horse. It’s all over the place.”

She settled on creating an elegant banquet hall—long, beautifully set tables and tall columns and curtains enclosing the audience in the space—that the play’s monstrous king and queen would destroy. The audience walked into an opulent setting only to see it torn apart.

Her attention to detail paid off. When the production took the stage at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival regional competition in Georgia, Williams beat out more than a dozen others in the set design category. A few months later, in Washington, D.C., she won national honors. The prize included $500 and a trip to a workshop in Las Vegas, where she had the chance to go backstage at—wait for it—three different Cirque de Soleil productions. Meeting the creative teams laid the possibility that Williams one day could land a job with the company.

“That’s my dream,” she says, still true to the show that ignited her passion. Whatever the future holds, one thing is for sure: This award-winning student has set the stage for her success.

Shorter flowering seasons can disrupt the food chain and how plants and pollinators in tundras interact with each other, said FIU biologist Steven Oberbauer, who co-authored the study.

Plants and animals in cold regions take cues from weather and day length to start their annual life cycles. Successful pollination relies on animals, including bees, beetles, birds and mosquitoes, being active at the same time plants are flowering. Shorter flowering time in tundras could cause a mismatch if the animals are not following the same cues as plants. Specifically, it could limit food availability, increase competition and impact their ability to survive in a changing environment.

The research team also found earlier flowering time in tundras is more pronounced in plants that flower later in the growing season than plants that flower earlier in the growing season. This is the opposite of what happens in temperate environments, including grasslands, mountains, meadows and deserts — rising temperatures there cause shorter flowering time in plants that flower in early spring.

Eight young women from eight countries and three continents assemble on the royal-blue hardcourts of Modesto A. Maidique Campus. While only two share a common mother tongue, they all communicate easily over the language of their sport: tennis.

Head coach Katarina Petrovic, herself a transplant from Serbia, tells her team to warm up for practice just as the early-morning sun peeks around the Green Library.

Women’s tennis is the most international sport at FIU—and one of its best. Last year, the Panthers won Conference USA for the first time, and this year they brought in a top-10 recruiting team. Now the players smile through the sweat as they jump rope in the 85-degree October heat.

“[Petrovic] has everything under control,” said assistant coach Georgi Rumenov, who is from Spain. “She’s like a mom here for the girls who are living far away from their homes.”

Far away is right: The ladies hail from Venezuela, Paraguay, France, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania and Uzbekistan. Each
was talented enough to pursue an individual professional tennis career full-time in her own country immediately after high school. Instead, they chose to join the Panthers.

“I feel I’m a part of this team, and they need me,” said freshman international business major Kamila Umarova from Uzbekistan. “In
a tournament, when it’s a tough moment, someone screams, ‘Go Panthers!’ And I’m like, ‘Aah, I will do anything for this university.’”

Aside from the camaraderie and expert coaching, education is a major incentive to play for FIU. Overseas, it is nearly impossible for students to pursue both their study of choice and a career in tennis.

“I got accepted [to study] political science back in France,” said sophomore international business major Sandra Bozinovic, “but if I started to do school there, I would stop playing tennis. That’s why I chose to come here.”

The players face some challenges when they first arrive. Like any freshman, they get lost in the city-like landscape of campus. Not always fluent in English, they sometimes find academic assignments difficult. Luckily for them, FIU has a commitment to preparing competitors to excel both in and out of the classroom. With access to tutoring and study hall sessions at the Student-Athlete Academic Center, and professors generally willing to go out of their way to answer questions and assist as needed, the team members do exceedingly well: Last season they collectively earned the highest average GPA of the 14 women’s tennis teams in Conference USA.

Petrovic also helps get them acclimated and comfortable. One tradition: a team meal enjoyed once a week at a player’s dorm.

“Sometimes Coach makes something from home,” said senior computer engineering major Maryna Veksler. “She makes the best moussaka and cheese pie.”

Petrovic also has a positive coaching style that brings the team together.

“I think sports is becoming too negative,” Petrovic said. “Coaches in tennis are always telling players, ‘This is the bad thing you do.’ So I make sure I tell them what they’re doing good first, and then something they can do to improve.”

Michael R. Mendez ’03, MBA ’10

• Owner, Mendez Fuel
• Member, Dean’s Advisory Council, College of Law (2009-present)
• Member, Dean’s Advisory Board, College of Arts, Sciences & Education (2016-present)
• Past member, FIU Foundation Board (2007-2016)

Tell us how you reimagined the gas station concept to build a successful company, which includes four stations and a free- standing convenience store in Miami-Dade County. 


The traditional model of customers coming in for gas and maybe chips and water was becoming outdated. I knew we had to be different and innovative. I could have added a Cuban bakery, which for our market would have been fairly typical, but I figured ours would be just one of many. Instead, we launched our own line of cold-pressed juices. It was a challenge at first as we fought the perception that gas stations are dirty and not going to have good food. Then we got into acai bowls, smoothies and avocado toast. And we’ve become an outlet for craft beer. My brother does an incredible job of curating our tap list. [Customers come in to fill growlers, a container used to transport draft beers; no alcohol is served.] Now brands want to work with us to debut their products, and sometimes we even get exclusives because we have such a strong name in the beer community. We’re no longer just a gas station but a destination.

History is not the first major one equates with a successful entrepreneur. And while you do also have an MBA, can you explain how your undergraduate degree has served you? 


I got into history because it is a subject that I enjoyed. After earning my diploma, I went into financial services for a long time, which also had nothing to do with my degree. But it taught me how to read effectively, how to meet deadlines and to write. More than anything else, it taught me how to read between the lines and get to the point.

As an undergraduate, you played pitcher for FIU baseball. How did that impact you? 


Those were some of the best days of my life. I’m still friends with guys that I played with. That whole experience taught me a lot. We had so many demands on our time—the gym, class, practice, study hall. It really taught us how to manage our time, be responsible for ourselves and for each other. We learned how to be a team, how to work together. And we were good! One year we finished top-10 in the country.

You serve your alma mater by sitting on boards, and through a foundation (named for your uncle, the late Brothers to the Rescue pilot Carlos Costa) of which you are president you have funded scholarships and an immigration law clinic at FIU. Why stay connected? 


It’s important. FIU is in my backyard and a critical component of this community and its future. A lot of people take for granted the role the university plays and the amazing job that it has done in positioning itself on a national level and even a global level. But when people do pay attention to what’s going on at FIU and where it’s heading, they get excited. Having a strong FIU can only mean the best for this community.

 In recognition of their support, Jorge and Darlene Pérez’s last name graces a beautiful art museum in downtown Miami. But did you know that their largesse extends, in a big way, to FIU?

Recently, the couple donated $1 million 
to FIU’s  Honors College. The largest gift in the college’s history, it created the Jorge and Darlene Pérez Scholars Endowment, which will support scholarships for high-achieving students in the college, particularly those intending to live and work in the South Florida community upon graduation.

The Honors College attracts students who are not only high achievers, but also leaders 
in their respective high schools. Although they are specializing in specific fields across the university, the college brings them together to work and learn in a unique way. For example, a professor will design a class that sees biology and engineering majors rubbing elbows with sociology and English majors.

These collaborative environments encourage students to learn how to work 
with those whose perspectives and expertise differ from their own. Through innovative surroundings like this, the college is educating its high-achieving students to be tomorrow’s leaders, ready to step out of their comfort zone in ways that the 21st century innovation economy demands.

“Jorge Pérez has been a leader in the business world, in the cultural world, and he helped remake the Miami skyline,” said Juan Carlos Espinosa, dean of the Honors College. “It’s only natural that he wanted to create leaders who would transform our city to the best that it can be.”

The Pérezes know the value of this kind of leadership. He is a billionaire who amassed his fortune as a real estate developer. An FIU alumna, she heeded the call of nursing and has devoted a career to caring for others and, now, as an adjunct clinical preceptor for the nurse practitioner graduate program at FIU, to mentoring and teaching those who would follow in her footsteps.

They also understand the merits of bringing together people from all backgrounds and experiences to create something
powerful at FIU. In 2006, the couple made a significant donation to the  Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences, an institution founded on meeting the needs of underserved populations. The gift supported the college’s general endowment, and named the Jorge M. and Darlene M. Pérez Nursing Laboratory. Boytell-Pérez earned both her undergraduate and MSN degrees there, and she continues to be an active member of the Dean’s Leadership Council.

“In addition to providing me with an incredible foundation upon which to build my career, FIU introduced me to lifelong mentors, incredible friends and exceptional students,” said Boytell-Pérez. “I remember my college years as some of the happiest of my life and so I feel compelled to help create and foster a similar learning environment for future students.”

This gift continues to offer support for the thousands of FIU nursing alumni providing healthcare for the South Florida community. With this new endowment for the Honors College, the Pérezes will do the same for a diverse group of future professionals who will tackle the problems of tomorrow.

“It gives me a great sense of pride to be able to help support one of South Florida’s flagship institutions,” said Pérez. “We are honored to be a part of FIU’s incredible family and look forward to continuing to work hand- in-hand to identify and empower the next generation of leaders.”

With support from donors like the Pérezes and innovative teaching methods from its colleges, FIU will undoubtedly continue to produce future professionals who will change South Florida – maybe even its skyline – in their own unique ways in the years to come.

“Through these donations, we 
have several examples of the power of philanthropy,” said Howard R. Lipman, CEO of the FIU Foundation, Inc. “Gifts like these provide crucial financial support to our students, as they continue to work to transform our community. We thank Jorge and Darlene for their continued support
of FIU.” 

Juan Fernandez ’91 was recently honored by the National Hispanic Media Coalition with an Excellence in Broadcast Journalism Award. Fernandez has worked as an anchor and reporter for CBS2 KCAL in Los Angeles for nearly 23 years. A skilled bilingual journalist, Fernandez began his career at Univision and later Channel 7 in Miami before moving to California.

Dwayne Bryant ’93,
 author and TV personality, was recently listed in EBONY Magazine’s Power 100 List for 2018, which compiles leaders who have impacted the African-American community. Others on the list include Venus Williams, Drake and Barack and Michelle Obama. Bryant is the president and founder of Inner Vision International, which “empowers urban youth to recognize their value as societal contributors and global citizens.”

Ariana Fajardo Orshan ’93 was confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, per President Donald J. Trump’s nomination. Fajardo will be the first woman to be the top federal prosecutor in Florida.

Johanna Suarez ’94, 
 MS ’95 was promoted to vice president of senior living at Miami Jewish Health Systems, an assisted living facility. Suarez has managed independent, assisted and memory care communities in South Florida for over 20 years. She is an advocate for Alzheimer’s awareness and a longtime volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association, co-chairing the Broward Walk for the past two years. She currently is a member of the Southeast Florida Chapter Board of Directors. In 2014, she received the Executive Director of the Year Award from the Florida Senior Living Association and currently serves on the FHCA Florida Center for Assisted Living Committee.

It’s a regular Tuesday morning at Miami public jazz station WDNA and Colin Miller, the host of its weekly  FIU Music Hour, is seconds away from going on air:

Good morning,

It’s Tuesday. It’s 11 a.m. and it’s time for the FIU Music Hour on WDNA 88.9 FM — presenting live weekly performances in the WDNA Jazz Gallery featuring students, faculty and alumni from Florida International University’s School of Music.

Miller, a junior broadcasting major at FIU, has been hosting the show since May, following in the footsteps of former host Jamie Ousley, professor and coordinator of the  Jazz Performance program.

The student-run show — which aims to promote FIU’s musical talent across the board and engage with the local community through WDNA — offers students hands-on experience in radio broadcasting, live performance and music management and production.

Debuting in 2017, the program came to life when distinguished alumnus, jazz critic, WDNA board of trustees secretary and program host  Ed Blanco ’78 proposed the idea to his fellow board members at a meeting.

“We are a non-profit, community-based public radio station,” says Blanco. “So why not have a public university featured as part of our programming?”

With help from Karen Fuller-Veloz , instructor and associate director of the  School of Music ,the vision came to life. Also the coordinator of the music business program, Fuller-Veloz now produces the FIU Music Hour at WDNA with help from students.

“We are exposing our students to the practical, professional world of what they are studying to be in,” says Fuller-Veloz.

The students are in charge of everything from audio to scripts, running commercials, uploading playlists online, booking musicians and even managing the show’s social media accounts.

For music business students, the show serves as a weekly course with Fuller-Veloz. Students from other majors — past ones ranging from information technology to communication arts —  work as interns in whatever they assist with, including sound engineering, marketing, broadcasting or performance.

Fuller-Veloz, Ousley and the interns frequently reach out to current students and ensembles of all genres within the School of Music as well as alumni to have them on the show.

Previous guests have included the Amernet String Quartet as well as notable alumni  Rodolfo Zuniga, Latin Grammy nominee Tony Succar and Argentine singer Roxana Amad.

“We are promoting and showing the world that our FIU music students are out there doing it and are professionals,” says Fuller-Veloz.

Each performance is streamed worldwide on its website and later archived for viewers to revisit. Ousley says students can then use these clips to promote themselves and book gigs.

The live setting challenges students, preparing them for the unpredictable world of live performance and strengthening their musicianship.

“It’s one thing to play for your fellow students,” says Ousley. “But when you are being recorded and broadcast on air across the city, that’s a new level of experience so they really push themselves to be at their greatest.”

For host Colin Miller, the show has helped him get a head start into the exciting world of broadcasting, where he hopes to work professionally after graduation.

“If you’re live and all of a sudden there’s dead air – you’ve got to think on your feet and improvise,” says Miller.00

“As an interviewer, it has helped me form interesting and thought-provoking questions to my guests,” he adds. “I really couldn’t picture what my broadcasting education would be like without this experience.”

Meraises Miranda, who will graduate next semester with her M.M. in music management and production, has worked alongside Fuller-Veloz in producing the show since last year. 

Miranda has assisted with scouting talent for the show and even helping set up lights, cameras and the show’s online live stream and social media accounts. This year, Miranda is been mentoring newer interns on the in and outs of the show.

An experienced, singer, she has also performed on the music hour, singing bossa-nova and jazz. She also worked at the annual FIU Music Festival alongside some of her heroes — saxophonist Paquita d’ Rivera and Tony Succar.

For undergraduate music business student Beatriz Guzman, the show has allowed her to book more gigs, such as the National Radio Day Festival at WDNA and Lagniappe, a music bar in Midtown, which reached out to her after seeing her perform on the show.

“Getting that gig was pretty life-changing. Being a music major, it can be really hard to feel secure but that moment helped me realize it’s exactly what I want to do.”

She also performed as part of a group for FIU Foundation Board Chair Richard Brilliant’s birthday fundraiser.

“They wanted a singer and a band, and they were concerned about the quality of who they were getting,” says Ousley. “So, I showed them a video of Beatriz from the radio archives, and they loved it.”

For the young and small school of around 250 students, the partnership gives students the real-world experience they need to jump into the world of entertainment.

“It prepares you to network because you have to do interviews and helps you craft yourself as an artist,” says Guzman. “You never know who’s going to be tuned in to the show and where it could take you.”

Students, faculty and alumni interested in performing at WDNA’s FIU Music Hour can contact Karen Fuller-Veloz at  music@fiu.edu.

Performances are free and open to the public at WDNA 2921 Coral Way, Miami FL 33145.

Eat. Drink. Educate.

One of the most exciting and anticipated events of the year is slowly approaching. The 18th annual Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF®) is only a couple of months away, taking place from Feb. 20 to  Feb. 24.

The festival is hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU, benefitting the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center.

More than 60,000 visitors attended the five-day festival last year, which will offer more than 115 events across South Florida for its 2019 edition.

If you haven’t gotten your tickets for it yet, here’s why you won’t want to miss the chance to get them now:

Star-studded lineup

 

When it comes to star power, SOBEWFF® is renowned for gathering some of the most recognizable names in food for its events.

Lovers of all things Italian can join Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis for Italian Bites on the Beach, where she and 30 other talented chefs will lead guests on a charming tour through Italy’s finest dishes and wines at the North Venue Beachside behind the Delano South Beach.

The same hotel will host Guy Fieri’s Beachside BBQ, which the charming rockstar restauranteur previously hosted in 2012 and 2015. This time around, he and 30 other “grill maestros” will fire up their grills and make an assortment of succulent barbequed meats for all kinds of creative dishes.

GRAMMY® award-nominated artist Cassadee Pope will be joined by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real for a captivating country-rock performance to set the mood for this high-energy event.

Wine and Cheese Happy Hour, presented by Carr’s Crackers, will be hosted by lifestyle expert Martha Stewart. It will take place at No.3 Social Roof Bar & Lounge, a rooftop bar in the Wynwood Art District. This casual outdoor affair will offer guests the best in wine and cheese, from French delicacies to dutch goudas and sharp American selections to go with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits finest wines. All the ingredients for an unforgettable night.

Something for everyone

For those who are looking to not stray away from a tight budget or are coming with their loved ones, there is an endless assortment of events catering to the needs of everyone.

For those on a budget, there are many that fall under $100, such as the Craft-y Happy Hour, a poolside event at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel hosted by Robert Irvine. This happy hour will serve the best of artisanal spirits and small batch brews for just $95.

Those looking to have a good time and get some exercise will be drawn to Buddhas and Bellinis” at the Loews Miami Beach hotel. One of many casual and relaxing outdoor yoga events, this mindful session will be paired with some delicious bites and bellinis for just $35.

There are family-friendly ones too, like the Family Ice Cream Social hosted by Buddy Valastro of Cake Boss fame.

Drag Brunch hosted by Alex Carr and Elvis Duran at The Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale will make its SOBEWFF® debut as part of the Festival’s featured CRAVE Greater Fort Lauderdale Series, in collaboration with the team behind PRIDE Fort Lauderdale. A dozen chefs will prepare dishes inspired by South Florida’s most popular drag performers, which will also perform at the event.

Support the local community

The festival is also an enormous opportunity to support FIU students and local businesses and restaurants.

Restaurateurs like Zak Stern, owner of Zak the Baker and Misha Kuryla of Misha’s Cupcakes are just two of Miami’s food entrepreneurs who will also be participating in this year’s events.

On top of this, every year, more than 1,000 volunteers donate their time to the festival, many of which are FIU students who get to earn real-world experience in the world of hospitality.

All proceeds from the Festival benefit the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at FIU. To date, the Festival has raised more than $28 million for the school.

Exclusive savings

Members of the FIU community are invited to save on select* events, including the Beachside BBQ hosted by Guy Fieri and the Italian Bites on the Beach hosted by Giada De Laurentiis as well as BACARDI’s Beach Carnival, which will be hosted by Andrew Zimmern beachside at the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach. The casual outdoor event will take place under the festival’s signature white tents right on the sand.

Savings for the FIU community also apply to tickets for Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village featuring Mastercard Grand Tasting Tents & Culinary Demonstrations on Sunday, Feb. 24, which will feature foods from more than 50 local restaurants as well as wines from Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. The event will be accompanied by eclectic music from the Nu Deco Ensemble and the return of the David Grutman Experience.

*University employees and alumni can save 20 percent on tickets for select events using the codes FIUSTAFF19 and FIUALUMNI19, respectively. FIU faculty and staff savings cannot be combined with Mastercard offers at these events.

Pay as you wait

One of the newest features SOBEWFF® is offering is the option to pay their tickets in monthly installments, so you can pay for your tickets over time. Just select the “monthly installment payment plan” option at checkout after selecting which events you’d like to attend. 

Get your tickets for the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival here.

FIU News   sat down with a group of Panthers who got their start in the hospitality industry working with the   Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

The group, who remain involved with the Festival to this day, shared their stories and some advice for students interested in volunteering with Miami’s premier gourmet gathering.

Daniela Ruiz ’13, MS ’14

Ruiz has worked with the Festival for nine years – and it all started as a freshman handing out water bottles as a volunteer at the Festival’s   Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village.

From there, she earned an internship with one of the event managers. By her third year, she’d earned a full-time job with the Festival as the assistant event manager, and she eventually worked her way up to managing   Badia Spices’ Fun and Fit as a Family, a community-centered event during Festival weekend that encourages healthy living.

“[SOBEWFF® is] eye opening if you want to be in the events world. You take so much in,” she said. “There’s so many parts, like technical and audio-visual and so on that go into a big event like SOBEWFF®. You learn all of that.”

Now, the alumna runs her own business as a freelance events producer. Her clients include eMerge Americas and Uber.

“Honestly, I think had I not volunteered that first year, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Ruiz said. “It’s a very unique opportunity that FIU offers its students.

Her advice: Give SOBEWFF® a try.

“You don’t have to sign up for every single shift. Sign up for one or two one year, and if you decide you want to get more involved the following year, you can. But give it a try.”

Gipsy Velez

Velez has worked the Festival in every capacity: She began as a student volunteer working guest registration one year and culinary prep the next. She’s served as a volunteer lead, coordinating a group of fellow students during Festival weekend.

Then she earned an internship in the volunteer coordinator’s office at FIU, where she helped recruit, interview and schedule volunteers for the Festival weekend’s 3,000 student volunteer shifts.

“I have experienced the volunteer experience from every perspective,” Velez says.

As an intern, she made sure to listen to everything said in the pre-Festival committee meetings. It’s where she learned the most about what goes into the planning and execution of a wine and food festival that annually hosts 65,000 guests at more than 85 events.

“You’re working with some of the top pros in the industry,” Velez says. As a now-full-time program manager at FIU, a role in which she recruits student volunteers for the Festival, she says students should take the opportunity to ask questions and learn as much as possible during the Festival.

Her advice: “Every day is an opportunity to network. Every chef, winemaker, restaurant or vendor that you are dealing with on behalf of the Festival is a potential future employer.”

Teddy Rood MS ’14

Rood learned about the Festival during orientation for his graduate hospitality management program and immediately knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.

“I was excited about the opportunity to network and work alongside some of the top professionals in the industry,” he says. “I also knew the Festival would provide a great platform for me to gain real-world, hands-on experience in the world of event production.”

He began his SOBEWFF® journey as a part-time student volunteer coordinator for FIU, soon earning an internship with the Festival’s ticketing and sponsorship team. During his internship, he had the opportunity to work on a special project for SOBEWFF® founder and director Lee Brian Schrager and made such an impression that the team hired him full-time.

Now, Rood serves as the Festival’s talent manager, curating chef lineups for more than 80 SOBEWFF® culinary events. He is also the restaurant program manager for the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village, recruiting and coordinating more than 120 restaurants that participate in the Festival’s signature event.

As a student, Rood maximized his time with the Festival by seeing and doing as much as he could, especially onsite during Festival weekend.

“Once my assigned events wrapped up, I would bounce around to other events on the beach and assist wherever needed,” he says.

His advice: “Get involved in as many events as you can and network as much as possible. The volunteer and internship programs allow for so many different opportunities. From providing culinary support to some of the world’s greatest chefs to working alongside some of the best event producers in the industry, these programs offer something for everyone pursuing a career in hospitality.”

Sasha Bravo ’11, MS ’14

Like Ruiz, Bravo got her start handing out water bottles at the Festival.

She liked the Festival’s dynamic so much her first year, she decided to stick around and pick up every last-minute volunteer opportunity she could find throughout the weekend. And she did the same the following year.

“I would start at 6 a.m. and work the entire day because I wanted to get as much experience as possible,” Bravo said. By her third year, she’d taken the initiative to get to know the volunteer coordinator, and she landed a role as volunteer lead at Guy Fieri’s Closing Party.

Throughout her time at the Festival, Bravo made sure to shake hands with and get business cards from people in the industry, landing her an internship with The Promotion Company of Miami and later one with the Festival.

Shaking hands also helped her build a network on which she now capitalizes as a freelance events producer.

“Working SOBEWFF® opened a lot of doors for me to meet so many people. Every single major producer and event person in Miami is involved in the Festival at some scale. You get to know so many people, and you get to do so many things. I’m really thankful for the Festival.”

Bravo’s advice: Take initiative.

“This is not the job for people who are lazy. [The Festival] is really hard work, but if you’re really passionate about it, you can get a lot of experience and great opportunities out of it. But you need to have some drive to want to do this. Go above what you usually do and show determination to want to be there, and it pays off in experience.”

Samantha Parrish MS ’16

Parrish entered FIU’s hospitality management graduate program knowing she wanted to work in large-scale event production; but she wasn’t yet sure what role – event planning, marketing and sales, production and setup, etc. – was right for her. That’s where the Festival helped her most as a student.

“I knew the reputation of the Festival and that it was a great opportunity to learn different facets of putting on an event of this scale,” Parrish said. She became a human resources intern with the SOBEWFF® volunteer coordinator’s office at FIU because she felt it was a good opportunity to learn about the many different roles the Festival’s team members take on.

The now-graduate of FIU has since found her place in the industry as a sponsorship manager and assistant auction manager for the Festival, where she works full-time. She coordinates 10 to 12 of the Festival’s sponsors, ensuring their branding, setup and other needs are met for the weekend of the Festival. And she also coordinates the Festival’s five annual auctions – two online and three onsite during the Festival – that together raised more than $380,000 for the university last year.

It’s a career and a work environment she’s grateful to have found, even considering the long hours.

Her advice to future SOBEWFF® volunteers: “Get involved as much as you can, because you never know where it will lead you… Because the Festival allows its interns and volunteers to touch so many different aspects of [planning and execution], you are able to learn a lot of different aspects of the industry, and it makes you a more well-rounded employee. This is the best way to learn what you like and don’t like in the industry.”

Ashley Shapiro MS ’07

As an intern in the Festival’s early years, working on its auctions, Shapiro maximized her experience by working as many hours as she could. Though the internship was set at 10-12 hours per week, she showed initiative by working closer to 30 hours.

“I wanted to be part of every aspect of the Festival that I could be,” Shapiro said. “It was beneficial for me, but it also proved to the people with the Festival that I was very valuable and willing to put in the time needed.”

Now, Shapiro is the director for sponsorship and ticketing for SOBEWFF®. She oversees the majority of revenue that comes into the Festival, most of which comes from ticket sales and the Festival’s 175+ sponsors.

Her advice to future SOBEWFF® volunteers: Go the extra mile to prove you mean business. Stay late when your colleagues stay late. Offer to do as many different things as possible.

“You can come in 9-5 and do your job and leave. But if you really become passionate about what you do, that’s what makes you successful. Soaking in what you can not only makes you more successful, but makes you more valuable to your team. I think it really proves your work ethic to do that.”

Shapiro also said the Festival is an invaluable networking opportunity.

“Some of the world’s largest corporations – Coca-Cola, Barilla, Bacardí – are at the Festival. And as a volunteer, you can make an impression on their team by being attentive and efficient,” she says. “Put forth that maximum effort. There’s always someone watching.”

Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival benefits FIU’s   Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million in support of education and scholarships at the school.

The Festival also provides valuable career insight and networking opportunities to more than 1,000 students annually who volunteer in areas like event management, logistics, culinary preparation, marketing and more.   Click here for more information on volunteer opportunities at SOBEWFF®.

The Festival will take place  Feb. 21 – 25, 2018, and will feature internationally renowned talent and leaders of the hospitality industry at uniquely crafted events showcasing world-class wine, spirits, food and fun.

Click here  to learn about discounts available to the FIU family on tickets to Miami’s premier gourmet gathering.

Psychology senior Angelic Cox got the chance of a lifetime this past weekend at the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival: She presented her original burger recipe to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives star Guy Fieri at the Festival’s Heineken Light Burger Bash presented by Schweid and Sons.

Her creation, called “The Jerk Man Burger,” was selected as this year’s Red Robin Golden Robin contest winner, earning her a $10,000 scholarship and a chance to be featured on the Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews menu in the next year.

Cox’s recipe was inspired by her Caribbean roots and the quintessential Jamaican “jerk man.”

“The jerk man is basically the guy that’s out there on the street at any event, under a tent or something, and he’s selling jerk chicken, jerk ribs,” Cox said. “After a party, you’re hungry. So you go to the jerk man, and he’s going to hook you up. And everybody knows him.”

It starts with a spicy, jerk-seasoned beef patty that she tops with muenster cheese, jerk-flavored barbecue sauce and a sweet mango salsa to temper the heat, all piled on a potato bun.

“It’s a really enticing combination of sweet and spicy flavors,” Cox said. The idea for the Jamaican-inspired blend came to her one Saturday afternoon as she and her friends from the Caribbean Student Association (for which Cox serves on the executive board) sat around her house trying different recipes to help her enter the contest.

Alongside 42 of the nation’s most popular burger joints featured at the event on Feb. 23, Cox had her own booth where Red Robin cooks and FIU student volunteers grilled hundreds of Jerk Man sliders for guests to sample.

“Being here, having my burger here is amazing,” Cox said that evening. “I’m not even a culinary student – I’m a psych major. And Guy Fieri is here, there’s Pincho Factory, Red Robin, all these big restaurants are here, and they chose me. I’m feeling kind of star-struck right now. I’m feeling like a media star.”

On a quest to try each burger at the event, Fieri made his way to Cox’s booth.

“You’re a rock star,” he told her, cracking a smile as the sweet-and-spicy combo hit his taste buds. “It’s delicious!”

At the end of the night, surrounded by all 42 of the chefs on stage, Red Robin leaders and Guy Fieri presented Cox with a burger-shaped trophy and a big red check for $10,000.

Cox said the scholarship couldn’t have come at a better time for her. The former resident assistant, peer advisor and campus tour guide plans to attend graduate school next year to study student affairs and higher education administration.

“This scholarship is nothing short of a blessing,” Cox said, encouraging her fellow Panthers to give the contest a try next year. “I’m so proud that Red Robin is doing this, and I really feel like a lot more people should try to apply. It’s so fun – we all eat, right?”

Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU each February, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival benefits FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million in support of education and scholarships at the school. The Festival also provides valuable career insight and networking opportunities to more than 1,000 students annually who volunteer in areas like event management, logistics, culinary preparation, marketing and more.

Valentine’s Day is only a month away, so it’s time to start thinking about what to get that special someone in your life.

Surprise your favorite foodie this year, and support hospitality management education at FIU at the same time, with tickets to Miami’s premier gourmet gathering, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

FIU faculty and staff can save 15 percent with the promo code FIUFAM18 on adult tickets to the new Family Ice Cream Social hosted by Duff Goldman on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018.

FIU employees can save 20 percent with the promo code FIU18 on tickets for the following events:

• Barilla’s Italian Bites on the Beach sponsored by HCP Media and the Miami Herald Media Company hosted by Giada De Laurentiis on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018*
• BACARDÍ presents Walshy Fire’s Rum & Bass Beach Party on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018
• Beachside BBQ hosted by Michael Symon on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018*
• Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village featuring Mastercard Grand Tasting Tents & KitchenAid® Culinary Demonstrations on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018*

*FIU18 discount code cannot be combined with Mastercard offers at these events.

SOBEWFF® is a national, star-studded, five-day destination event showcasing the talents of the world’s most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities.

Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU, the Festival benefits the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management’s Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Laboratory and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center at FIU. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million for the school.

The Festival will take place Feb. 21 – 25, 2018, and will feature internationally renowned talent and leaders of the hospitality industry at uniquely crafted events showcasing world-class wine, spirits, food and fun.

Please click here and enter promo code FIU18 at checkout to save 20 percent on tickets to one of the nation’s most prestigious gourmet gatherings.

Buy your tickets today and support our FIU!

E-cigarette use, or vaping, among teens has skyrocketed in recent years. According to the surgeon general, vaping among high school students increased by 900 percent from 2011 to 2015. The nation is now scrambling to find effective ways to discourage vaping and educate misinformed teens and their parents on the dangers of e-cigarette use in what the FDA is calling an epidemic.

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of nicotine because their brains are still rapidly developing, according to Trucco and Sutherland. Research is critical to help clinicians improve prevention programming and assist policymakers in deciding how to continue regulating these products, they said. Their current project — Antecedents and Consequences of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ACE) — is funded by the National Institutes of Health as part of a collaborative research study between the FIU Center for Children and Families and the Research Center in Minority Institutions. They are studying what influences an adolescent’s decision to use or not use e-cigarettes, vaping devices or other electronic nicotine delivery systems and how that decision may affect other risky behaviors and the developing brain.

While Trucco and Sutherland are currently recruiting participants for the study, there are some facts they want parents to know.

Most e-cigarettes contain the highly addictive drug nicotine

Most types of e-cigarettes, including the most popular brand Juul, contain nicotine, the addictive drug found in traditional tobacco cigarettes. One Juul pod contains roughly the same amount of nicotine found in 20 cigarettes (or one pack). Nicotine is highly addictive and can cause brain changes leading to compulsive use of e-cigarettes.

Long-term effects of vaping are unknown

Although e-cigarettes were developed in part to help adult smokers cut their tobacco-use and to provide a “healthier” alternative, no study has yet been conducted that can provide information on the long-term effects of e-cigarette use. Due to the recent dramatic increase in e-cigarette use, preliminary findings are now showing that there is a negative effect on heart and lung function associated with e-cigarette use. However, there is still no definitive answer on whether these risks outweigh the benefits of switching from traditional tobacco cigarettes.

Vaping leads to higher risk of cigarette smoking in teens

Teenage e-cigarette users are actually at a higher risk of smoking tobacco cigarettes compared to non-users. More than 30 percent of adolescent e-cigarette users start smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes within six months.

Vaping can produce second-hand effects

Although e-cigarettes do not produce smoke, breathing in the second-hand vapor is not harmless. The aerosol from e-cigarettes contains many potentially harmful chemicals, including lead and other heavy metals. It also has flavorings including diacetyl, which has been linked to lung disease. The second-hand vapor can also contain nicotine, which when inhaled by non-users can increase their risk of becoming nicotine dependent. There is also the danger of third-hand exposure, which occurs when residual nicotine from the second-hand vapor remains on surfaces and is absorbed through unintentional ingestion or through the skin via contact.

Use of e-cigarettes is on the rise, leaving scientists wondering what effects they could have on the developing brains of young people.

A team of researchers from the FIU Center of Children and Families (CCF) have been awarded a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the effects of e-cigarettes, vaping devices and other electronic nicotine delivery systems on adolescents. Led by Elisa Trucco and Matthew Sutherland, the project is one of the first studies to examine the impact of e-cigarette-use on the developing brain.

“Although there is convincing evidence that these products may be useful tools for adults who regularly smoke cigarettes to cut-down their use, adolescents are vulnerable to adverse effects of nicotine because their brains are still rapidly developing,” said Trucco, an assistant professor of psychology at CCF and the director of the Research on Adolescent and Child Health (ReACH) Lab.

The team is also investigating whether e-cigarettes are gateway drugs that could lead to use of other substances including regular cigarettes, marijuana or illicit drugs. Although cigarette smoking has declined among Florida youth in recent years, use of electronic nicotine delivery systems has sharply increased among high school students — as much as 410 percent since 2011.

Approximately 300 teenagers will be recruited and followed over three years to determine risk and protective factors associated with e-cigarette-use; identify factors promoting the shift from e-cigarette products to cigarettes and illicit drugs; and determine negative health effects of these products on the brain using magnetic resonance imaging.

“Scientific evidence regarding the onset, potential transitions, and negative consequences of e-cigarette-use on the brain is critical to help clinicians improve prevention programming and assist policy makers in deciding how to continue regulating these products,” said Sutherland, an assistant professor of psychology and co-director of the Neuroinformatics and Brain Connectivity lab who oversees the brain imaging aspects of the project. “The results of this study will hopefully help health care professionals improve routine screenings, substance-use counseling and preventive interventions.”

The grant is part of a $13.1 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) to the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work. For more information about the ACE-Project at FIU please call 305-348-8426 or email etrucco@fiu.edu and masuther@fiu.edu.

By Lianna Farnesi ’18’

FIU students’ grasp and drive to solve issues facing the Western Hemisphere were on full display during the recent “Future of Latin America and the Caribbean” Washington, D.C. fly-in.

The three-day enriched learning experience introduced a multi-disciplinary student leadership cohort to policy players and employers seeking talent from the public and private sector. The program has already led to internship or employment offers for FIU students.

“The DC fly-in was an opportunity for me to connect with national thought leaders. I was able to build immediate and meaningful connections with professionals and policy makers. I couldn’t have done it without the fly-in and FIU’s office of Governmental Relations,” said Antonia Passalacqua, FIU senior who will be heading back to Washington in January 2019 for a paid internship with the Heritage Foundation, a public policy think-tank.

Over the course of three intense days, students met with appointed and elected officials actively involved in the state of the Western Hemisphere, including representatives of the White House National Security Council, Eddy Acevedo, acting assistant administrator at the United States Agency for International Development; Eliot Pedrosa ’95, U.S. Alternate Executive Director to the Inter-American Development Bank; and Ambassador Anton Edmunds of St. Lucia.

This semester’s fly-in was a partnership between the Talent Lab at FIU in Washington, D.C., Campus Life and the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC). LACC was recently awarded more than $2 million for the continuation of the prestigious Title IV program and the Foreign Language and Areas Studies (FLAS) Fellowship.

Mitchell “Micky” Wolfson Jr., businessman and collector, split his lavish belongings between both coastal towns, granting one part to FIU and the other to Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura in Genoa, later renamed The Wolfsoniana. The vast collection includes paintings, ceramics, books, furniture and more from 1850 to 1950.

Now The Wolfsonian—FIU is expanding its global scope with Made in Italy: MITA Textile Design 1926–1976, its first-ever major collaborative exhibition with its kindred museum. It was also organized in cooperation with the Consulate General of Italy in Miami.

Silvia Barisione from The Wolfsonian and Matteo Fochessati and Gianni Franzone from The Wolfsoniana curated the exhibition, which borrowed many of its items from the Italian museum’s collection.

The display spotlights the stellar work of MITA (Manifattura Italiana Tappeti Artistici), an Italian textile manufacturer founded in 1926 by Mario Alberto Ponis.

During its 50-year run, which witnessed World War II and the rise of fascism in Europe, MITA built its name for manufacturing striking fabrics, rugs and tapestries designed alongside some of Italy’s leading artists and architects.

Ponis’ vision when opening MITA was to produce rugs whose technique was “in harmony” with the antique technique of traditional Eastern rugs, like those of Turkey and Iran, says Fochessati.

“But he also wanted to modernize them and create something more fit to the new times,” he adds.

By working with Italy’s most sought-after designers — such as Novecento-style architect Gio Ponti, abstract sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro and painter Enrico Paulucci — MITA’s textiles had an abstract and modernist edge. These were showcased around the world, privately commissioned and tastefully decorating some of the most luxurious ocean liners of the time, such as the shipwrecked Andrea Doria.

MITA adjusted to the artistic and political climates in Italy, completely renovating its production following World War II.

“One peculiarity of MITA’s production is that Ponis had two aesthetical directions,” said Franzone. “From one end he looked to the tradition and on the other end tried to renovate.”

The manufacturer closed in ’76, six years after Ponis’ death.

Barisione, who previously worked with Franzone and Fochessati at The Wolfsoniana before moving to Miami’s Wolfsonian in 2011, says the exhibition is an opportunity to promote MITA’s production abroad and honor its historical ties to Italian visual art.

Cristiano Musillo, Consul General of Italy in Miami, sees this exhibition as a chance to celebrate the cultural ties between both port towns.

“I can think of no better way to tell the story of Italy’s incredible design impact—through works that are so authentically Italian.”

Made in Italy: MITA Textile Design 1926–1976 will be on display at The Wolfsonian—FIU  until April 28, 2019.

Admission is free for students, faculty and staff of the Florida State University System.

If a year ago, someone had told English major Julian Balboa that he would be brewing his own beer and presenting it at a festival, he wouldn’t have believed them.

Balboa is part of a group of FIU students, collectively known as Quadrophenia Brewing Co., who will be pouring a beer they envisioned together for guests at the 2018 North Miami Brewfest on Saturday, Nov. 10. The students met in their Intro to Brewing Science course, taught by professor Barry Gump, a renowned chemist and the Chaplin School’s Eminent Scholar Chair in Beverage Management. They are one of seven groups from the class that will present their brew at the festival; their participation, while optional, was encouraged.

The members of Quadrophenia Brewing Co. took their inspiration from British rock. The “company’s” name is a reference to English rock band The Who’s album by the same name. The brew the group created is called “Bittersweet Symphony,” which is the name of a song by Manchester band The Verve. The mango-flavored New England IPA has a balanced sweet and sour taste with a tropical flair.

Quadrophenia Brewing Co.’s members include Balboa, five hospitality majors, and two STEM majors.

Julian Balboa, English
Joseph Rodriguez, Biology
Hyun Park, Chemistry
Michael Lake, Hospitality
Ethan Gorelick, Hospitality
Given Suman, Hospitality
Xinyu Zhang, Hospitality
Xiaoan Zhang, Hospitality

 

The mango-flavored New England IPA has a balanced sweet and sour taste with a tropical flair.

“We knew the taste of the mango would pair really nicely with the aroma and hop character of mosaic hops in a hazy IPA,” says group member Michael Lake.

The group worked together to craft the recipe; it uses flaked oats and wheat for its hazy tartness and carapils (malt) for a caramel taste.

Prior to last year, Balboa never had much of an interest in alcoholic beverages.

An avid rap and hip-hop fan, Balboa attended a beer tasting at J. Wakefield Brewing in Wynwood last year. The brewery had collaborated with Balboa’s favorite rap group, Run the Jewels, on a beer. Unfortunately, they ran out of the special brew. Instead, the beer-tender let him taste another hip-hop themed stout called “Panda.”

“It was so tasty. It was like an Oreo cookie beer,” says Balboa. “I was hooked.”

His newfound admiration for craft beers led him to enroll in the Intro to Brewing Science course as an elective this fall.

On the first day of class, he spotted a familiar face. Lake, a beer-tender at J. Wakefield Brewery, which by now Balboa frequently visited, was also taking the class.

A hospitality major in its beverage management track, Lake is the most experienced member in the group of seven. He is enthusiastic about the brewing world and has worked in the restaurant industry for several years. He hopes to open his own restaurant after graduation. He says his time at FIU has helped him get much closer to his goal.

“Before I got to this class, I didn’t understand the various stages and practices that go into brewing,” he says. “It’s been a learning curve for sure.”

For group member Given Suman, who before taking the class made his brews at home, the course has handed him the tools to “to take on the science with better equipment and have brewers as teachers.”

Members Xinyu and Xiaoan Zhang are both international students from China studying hospitality. Xioaon, a junior, says  “I never thought I would take a class about beer, but it has been very interesting.”

And that is the uniqueness of the course, which welcomes students of all disciplines eager to understand the chemistry of beer and/or create their own brews with their classmates.

“The class is open to anyone who has an interest in the production of beer,” says Gump. “We always have students of varying majors.”

The group is excited to attend this year’s North Miami Brewfest — started by Gump’s students in 2012 —and share their creation.

“We’re excited to try all the different beers there,” said Ethan Gorelick, another hospitality major in the group. “It’s going to be a great experience.”

For Balboa, whose newfound interest in beer has also motivated him to get more involved in the beer industry, this is a chance to form vital connections.

“To be able to serve beer that I made with my teammates is a really amazing feeling,” he says. “It’s something that I started not too long ago and now am able to provide it to people like me who love beer just as much as I do.”’

In addition to student brews, this year, North Miami Brewfest will feature seminars on brewing for beginners; how to bake with leftover grains after brewing; and beer’s role in history. The festival also will offer sampling of more than 75 brews from more than 30 breweries, as well as food from local eateries.

The festival will be held at MOCA Plaza – 770 NE 125th St, North Miami, FL. Proceeds benefit the FIU Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management’s brewing science program.

Members of the FIU family receive a discount of 10% off their ticket purchase with the code NoMiBrew10. Tickets are available here.  

 The first time Rebecca Masihdas ’18 tried craft beer, she was amazed. “I didn’t know beer could taste that way.”

“It can taste like chocolate or like lemonade,” she added. “Beer can taste like almost any flavor you can put your mind to and that is fascinating.”

Masihdas graduated last spring with her bachelor’s from the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management in its beverage management track. She now works as an assistant VIP food and beverage manager at a prominent hotel and casino.

The beer, she says, that first stirred her interest in brewing was “La Fin du Monde,” a Belgian Triple by Unibroue Brewery in Chambly, Canada.

“A friend took me to a craft beer bar for the very first time and said: ‘Alright. We’re gonna do something cool. You choose two beers, and I’ll choose another two and we’ll have a tasting and see what we like,’” she says. “It was beautifully done.”

Before, her preference was Bud Light, which was strictly for “entertainment purposes.”

So when she was picking her electives as an undergrad two years later, unsure of what path she would take in hospitality, introduction to brewing science caught her attention.

The course — which was taught by professor Barry Gump, the Chaplin School’s Eminent Scholar Chair in Beverage Management — transformed Masihdas’ budding interest for craft beer into a passion.

“I had a love for beer, but then I could take that one step further and create my own,” she says. “I could just take something I love and recreate it. Buying all the ingredients, making it at home and mastering it.”

 “She was enthusiastic about the science of the process,” Gump says.

Because of her involvement, Gump asked her if she would like to be a teaching assistant, which she did over several semesters.

As a brewer, she enjoys making experimental batches, such as a beer-wine hybrid she and fellow alumnus Michael Robinson ’18 made during an independent study.

The two cloned a Double IPA they fell in love with from J. Wakefield Brewery called “All We Do is Wynwood,” brewed with Gewurztraminer grapes.

“It lingered in our minds,” Masihdas says. “When we had this opportunity to brew eight beers in 15 weeks for our independent study during our last semester with Dr. Gump, we wanted to try something special.”

Masihdas says the beverage courses she took shaped her interests and career. Many of its scholars are involved with B.R.E.W. FIU, a homebrewing club – started by students in 2011 – as well as the annual North Miami Brewfest.

Masihdas says volunteering at Brewfest helped her engage with the local brewing community and later get an internship at Biscayne Bay Brewing Company, owned by FIU alumnus José Mallea ’16.

“The culture has introduced me to so many people who I share similar interests with. Now, all I do in the car is listen to craft beer podcasts and that all stems from that community I was surrounded by.”

She is excited for this year’s festival, which she says will be “bigger and better” than last year’s.

“Everything will be expanded from food to music,” she says. “I can’t wait to see all the changes they are working on.”

Professionally, Masihdas looks forward to a “glorious career” and hopes to give back to FIU and the brewing program as it expands.

“It is something many of the brewing alumni that I speak to agree on,” Masihdas says. “We all want to do all we can to expand the program for its future students to thrive as well.”

The 2018 North Miami Brewfest will take place on Saturday, Nov. 10, at MOCA Plaza. Members of the FIU family receive a discount of 10% off their ticket purchase with the code NoMiBrew10. Tickets are available here.

A craft beer symposium is coming to North Miami.

The 2019 North Miami BrewFest invites master brewers and casual beer fans alike to dive into the flavors of Florida’s craft beer scene. Local South Florida breweries are preparing more than 200 different beers, including several brand-new tastes; so every attendee can try something new.

This year's BrewFest will take place at MOCA Plaza—770 NE 125th St, North Miami, FL 33161— on Nov. 16. The university community can save on tickets: Use the code FIUFAMILY for 20 percent off both VIP and general admission at checkout.

Proceeds from the North Miami BrewFest support the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management and its Brewing Science program.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to enjoy some quality brews and learn about the beer from the beverage artisans themselves.

It takes a lot to make a great beer festival — much more than just the brews themselves. It’s the setting, the food and the people that can truly elevate an ordinary event into a stellar occasion.

North Miami BrewFest promises all of this and more, going above and beyond to offer visitors an immersive experience into the world of beer. Beer enthusiasts can leave the event knowing more than just a thing or two about brewing, while also supporting local craft breweries, the local community and FIU students.

Started by the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, the one-day festival incorporates many educational components. Proceeds from the festival support the school and its brewing science program. 

Students first

Students play a big role in why BrewFest is so special. Not only do students help run the event by volunteering, but those involved in the brewing science program get the chance to serve their own brews to the community. 

In a review of last year’s festival, Florida Beer Blog called the eight student brews served the “most important beer[s] in the entire event."

“These are the people [who] are going to be making and sustaining the craft beer scene in Florida for many years to come,” wrote Dave Butler. 

The writer also praised BrewFest for its “relaxed crowds, amazing food and really good and informative chances to learn and expand horizons,” along with its “fantastic” selection of beers, from sours to stouts.

Learning from the masters of beer

Those hoping to get an inside look into how their favorite brews are made are in for a treat. 

Professor Barry Gump, the Chaplin School’s Eminent Scholar Chair in Beverage Management, plays a big role within the Festival, leading many of its seminars.

Last year, Gump and fellow beer experts gave seminars on the history of beer, how to start homebrewing and also how to bake with leftover grains. These allow visitors to further connect with the beloved drink.

“It’s always amazing how much you don’t know until you’re presented with those facts and I learned more than a few things from Dr. Gump, which was fantastic,” added Butler.

The educational component is unique to the event, pushing the limits of what a beer festival can offer to the community.

The perfect complement to your brew

Diverse food options—from large and small vendors—are featured at the Festival, giving visitors endless beer pairing options.

Last year, locals like North Miami gastropub Lettuce & Tomato served up pizza alongside empanadas from Half Moon and wings from Wingstop. Gyros, lamb shanks and high-end meats were also paired.

For dessert, local gourmet ice cream shop Frice Cream scooped out a unique beer-inspired imperial stout ice cream with caramelized oats. The stout used in the frozen treat was made by FIU brewing students.

Food is included with admission. Gump encourages visitors to sample several of the foods served to see how they complement the beer.

“If you like a particular wine, you’ll like it with anything. The same applies to beer,” Gump says. “Try every type of food with every type of beer and find what you like. It is very personal.”

The 2019 North Miami Brewfest will take place at MOCA Plaza on Nov. 16, 2019. Tickets are already on sale. Get yours here. The university community can save on tickets: Use the code FIUFAMILY for 20 percent off both VIP and general admission at checkout.

The slender-snouted crocodile is medium-sized, lives in freshwater habitats, and, as its name suggests, has a long and slender snout. When scientists analyzed the DNA and physical characteristics of crocodiles in the wild and in captivity in six African countries, they found two distinct species of slender-snouted crocodiles — one unique to West Africa and one unique to Central Africa. The Central African slender-snouted crocodile is the first new living crocodile species to be defined and named in nearly 85 years.

"Recognizing the slender-snouted crocodile as actually comprised of two different species is cause for great conservation concern,” said Matthew Shirley, a crocodile expert at Florida International University’s Tropical Conservation Institute and lead researcher of the team that made the discovery. “We estimate only 10 percent of slender-snouted crocodiles occur in West Africa, effectively diminishing its population by 90 percent. This makes the West African slender-snouted crocodile one of the most critically endangered crocodile species in the world.”

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed slender-snouted crocodiles as “Critically Endangered” in 2014. They are threatened by habitat loss, hunting and overfishing – which diminishes their food supply and leads them to drown in nets. At first glance, the West African and Central African slender-snouted crocodiles appear quite similar. In addition to the differences in their DNA, the scientists found differences in the skull shape and scales that strongly support the existence of two species.

Slender-snouted crocodiles are understudied and underrepresented in conservation programs. First described in 1824, they live in very remote areas and have little interaction with people. They camouflage themselves from prey and seek refuge from potential predators in highly vegetated bodies of water. They’re also incredibly shy. Finding crocodiles to examine and collect DNA samples from in the wild has long been a challenge.

Shirley’s latest finding will have major implications for understanding crocodile evolution and diversity, as well as conservation. Conservation policies require the accurate naming of species and assessment of population numbers. The future of the West African slender-snouted crocodile will likely depend on the success of captive breeding and reintroduction programs, according to the researchers.

“We hope that this better understanding of slender-snouted crocodile evolution and taxonomy draws much-needed attention to the plight of this species, which has long been recognized as the least known crocodilian in the world,” says Shirley.

The researchers published their findings in Zootaxa. The team also includes researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Iowa.

This is not the first time researchers have discovered cryptic crocodile species hiding in plain sight. Until recently, only three crocodile species were recognized in Africa – the dwarf, Nile and slender-snouted crocodiles. Research combining the analysis of DNA and outward appearance revealed the existence of two Nile species and three dwarf species — discoveries also lead or supported by Shirley and others.

“We knew from the dwarf and Nile crocodiles that something was going on, so we decided to see if something similar was happening with the slender-snouted crocodiles,” Shirley said. “My objective wasn’t to describe a new species. We set out to examine the evidence and better understand these elusive crocodiles.”

These buildings, which were once elegantly painted in white or cream tones and considered the peak of modernity, are now part of Miami Beach’s history. Art Deco, which embraced both nature and futurism, has endured the test of time, still resonating with artists for its glamorous and luxurious appeal.

The Wolfsonian-FIU has dedicated its first exhibition to the style. Curated by Silvia Barisione and Shoshana Resnikoff, Deco: Luxury to Mass Market. traces Art Deco’s European origins and later widespread influence on art, architecture, fashion, furniture, transportation and everyday appliances.

Barisione, the museum’s curator, says Art Deco adds to the city’s charm. “As a European from Italy, the idea of being somewhere where the historic district consists of Art Deco, when back in Italy we have a medieval architecture and ancient cathedrals, is exciting.”

French charm and extravagance  

As a movement, Art Deco embraced the rapidly-shifting technological innovations of the 20th century, while also drawing inspiration from history, exalting nature, geometry and exotic cultures outside of Europe.

“Architects and designers were interested in creating a style for the current time,” Resnikoff says. “They didn’t call themselves Art Deco, they called themselves the modern style.”  

The style asserted France as a leader in high-end fashion and goods. The elegant and symmetrical style quickly became popular within French department stores, who showcased rooms decked out in it. Art Deco also influenced innovative ocean liners designed at the time.

Its impact reached international heights, blossoming all over Europe as well as in Japan and India.

As it grew in popularity, it faced an industrial makeover in line with a nation that was commercially thriving across the pond.

A tropical paradise

Across the Atlantic, The 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago brought the celebrated style to the United States, leaving a lasting impression on American design and architecture, particularly in Florida. 

Miami’s Art Deco highlighted the city’s tropical flair, with flamingos and palm trees adorning its hotels.

Nationwide, the sleek streamlining style could also be easily found in stores. Items like shavers, lighters, radios and toasters alluded to the minimalist fluting and stacked lines that framed the newly-erected structures on the streets.

Today, Art Deco remains as elegant as ever, with part of its timeless appeal due to its ties with Hollywood, whose start coincided with Art Deco flourishing in America.

“It became synonymous with glamour and luxury in this period,” Resnikoff says. “That’s something we are still referencing stylistically today and see in the work that contemporary designers are doing.”

Bringing Art Deco to FIU

Inside the Wolfsonian, there are inevitable traces of Art Deco in its furniture and other galleries.

The Wolfsonian’s exhibition, Resnikoff says, is a way for the museum to connect with the unique community of Miami Beach and FIU.

The museum’s free Friday guided walking tours welcome visitors to take what they have learned at the exhibition to search for Art Deco right outside the doors of the Wolfsonian. Their experience of Miami Beach will be forever enriched.

Admission to Deco: Luxury to Mass Market is free for students, faculty and staff of the Florida State University System.

Research by FIU legal psychologist Steve Charman found that detectives and police officers who believe a suspect is guilty — based on their knowledge of certain evidence — tend to view additional evidence as more incriminating than it actually is, further increasing their belief in the suspect’s guilt.

“We found police officers’ evaluations of evidence were related to their initial beliefs in a suspect’s guilt,” Charman said. “The more likely they were to believe the suspect was guilty, the more incriminating they perceived subsequent ambiguous evidence to be, creating a bias snowball effect.”

This is the first study to examine this bias snowball effect on the evaluation of evidence among experienced police officers.

Participants read about a crime that contained either incriminating, exonerating or neutral evidence against a suspect. They were asked how likely the suspect was to be guilty and then evaluated four pieces of evidence: the suspect’s alibi, a comparison of handwriting samples, an informant’s testimony, and a comparison between a facial composite and the suspect.

Results showed the more strongly the police officers initially believed the suspect to be guilty:

• The more they believed an informant’s testimony;
• the more similar they thought the suspect looked to a facial composite of the criminal;
• the more similar they thought the suspect’s handwriting was to a handwriting sample left at the crime scene.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, there have been 2,285 exonerations since 1989. Of those, 52 percent were due to misconduct by police, prosecutors or other government officials while 24 percent were due to false or misleading forensic evidence.

Steven Avery is one of those exonerated.

Featured in the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, Avery’s story captured viewers in 2015 with the first installment of the series. After serving 18 years in prison for sexual assault and attempted murder, Avery was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003. Two years later, he and his nephew Brendan Dassey were arrested and later convicted of the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. Part one of the series suggested serious misconduct by investigators and raised questions about the validity of the convictions. Part two is now available on Netflix. It challenges the prosecution’s case by pointing out suspects who were overlooked, questioning evidence that may have been planted and meticulously reviewing forensic evidence.

Charman’s study supports prior research which suggests that certain people in the legal system, such as forensic examiners, should be kept blind or unaware of certain case details in order to eliminate bias. However, his study showed this bias also exists in police officers and detectives — investigators who cannot reasonably be kept blind to case information. Charman says more research is needed to develop strategies that may mitigate these biases instead of just identifying them, especially for police officers and detectives.

In total, 89 law enforcement officers with an average of 20 years of experience from police and sheriff’s departments across the United States participated in the study via an online survey. A comparison sample of 227 college students also participated. The study was published in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.

Psychologist Lindsay C. Malloy has devoted her career to improving the treatment of children in the legal system, including the development of better interrogation methods and interviewing techniques. As people across the United States express outrage over the interrogation methods used to question Steven Avery’s intellectually disabled nephew Brendan Dassey in the the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, Malloy reminds readers not to forget the countless numbers of children who face interrogations every day. Dassey, who was 16 years old at the time, was convicted as an accomplice in the murder.

Malloy is a developmental psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Children and Families at FIU. She has devoted her career to improving the treatment of youth in the legal system, including the development of better interrogation methods and investigative interviewing techniques. Malloy’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Department of Health and Human Services. She was granted early career awards from the American Psychological Association for her contributions to science and policy concerning children, families and the law.

Learn more about Malloy’s work in her 2016 TEDxFIU talk featured above.

Apply to be a TEDxFIU 2017 speaker here.

Performers apply here.

By Lindsay S. Malloy

People are outraged by the interrogation of Brendan Dassey, the intellectually disabled 16-year-old whose case is featured in the Netflix documentary  Making a Murderer. I hate to break it to you — but his experience was not unique.

In the United States, police can generally interrogate juvenile suspects just like adults. And they do.

In our recent research, most incarcerated teens reported experiencing high pressure interrogations without lawyers or parents present. More than 80 percent described being threatened by police, including the possibility of being raped or killed in jail (e.g., They said I would be someone’s bitch in prison) or being tried as an adult. One teen revealed police told  

him he would never see his family again if he did not confess, while another claimed an officer threatened to shoot him in the face. More than 70 percent of teens reported that police had “befriended” them, indicating a desire to “help” them during the interrogation. Nearly 40 percent claimed police had refused to allow a break, phone call, or opportunity to speak with a lawyer. While it’s possible the juveniles made false claims to our research team, our findings are consistent with surveys asking police how they interrogate youth and studies of videotaped interrogations.

Why is this problematic? Because juveniles are not adults. They are more suggestible, more susceptible to social influence. They make immature judgments, and evaluate reward and risk differently, weighing immediate rewards (e.g., escaping the stressful interrogation) more heavily than the potential long- term negative consequences of their actions (e.g., incarceration). Their brains are anatomically different. The same characteristics that have made adolescents ineligible for the death penalty enhance their vulnerability in the interrogation room. Teens are no match for the psychologically manipulative interrogation techniques which are known to lead to false confessions. It’s an unfair fight with very real consequences. We know from exoneration cases and the scientific laboratory that  youth are especially vulnerable to providing false confessions. Our recent research revealed alarming rates with over a third of incarcerated juveniles reporting a prior false confession or a false guilty plea, primarily due to police pressure or the belief that they would be treated more leniently as a result. In Brendan’s interrogation, it’s easy to see why he would expect leniency for confessing with detectives telling him:

• “We’ll stand behind you no matter what you did…We’re in your corner…We’re on your side.”
• “By you talking with us it’s helping you because the honest person is the one that’s gonna get a better deal out of everything…Honesty is the only thing that will set you free.”

Teens like Brendan Dassey — with the double whammy of adolescent immaturity and intellectual disability — are especially vulnerable in police interrogations. Unfortunately, his case is not unique in this respect either. Justice system-involved youth are disproportionately likely to have intellectual impairments, which heighten the risk for false confession, perhaps due to the greater suggestibility and desire to appease authority figures typical of individuals with intellectual impairments. In the interrogation context, youth, especially those with intellectual disabilities, may falsely confess to please the police or because their memory or resolve fails them in the face of highly suggestive questions, implications of leniency, repeated accusations, attempts to play suspects off one another, lengthy interrogations, and deceit — all legally permissible, even with intellectually disabled teens. As Brendan tells his mother, “They got in my head.”

For juvenile suspects, their risk often doesn’t end there. Mental health issues are over-represented among juvenile offenders  and among false confessors. Furthermore, nearly 40 percent of teens in our study reported being intoxicated when interrogated by police, further diminishing their decision-making abilities.  In short, typically-developing teenagers lack the sophistication to cope with interrogation tactics, but the youth winding up in interrogation rooms are liable to be even more vulnerable.

We should change how we interrogate youth, especially youth like Brendan Dassey. Our interrogation procedures should reflect their developmental limitations and capacities. Law enforcement, attorneys, judges, and jurors should fully understand how development can play out in a high-stakes interrogation.

I understand the outrage for how Brendan Dassey was questioned. Let’s not forget his 1 million peers who are arrested every year in the United States.

Current investigative interviewing guidelines recommend interviewers review all available case information prior to questioning a witness. However, a recent study suggests prior case knowledge may actually be detrimental to the outcome of an investigative interview.

A team of researchers, including FIU legal psychologist Nadja Schreiber Compo, are the first to study blind interviewing through observation, a technique contrary to what is recommended by the National Institute of Justice. The findings were recently published in the journal  Memory , revealing blind interviewers — those with little to no knowledge about the crime — elicited more detailed and accurate information than those who had correct information about the crime prior to the interview.

 “This line of research is directly relevant for real-world witness and victim interviewers who thus far have oftentimes been told to review a case file before conducting a witness interview,” Schreiber Compo said. “Our findings suggest that an interviewer with no background information may at the very least not be at a disadvantage, possibly at an advantage, when interviewing a witness.”

Nearly 350 people participated in the study and were randomly assigned the role of either the witness of a crime, interviewer or blind interviewer. The “witnesses” viewed one of two videos that depicts a crime, each with varied details. The “interviewers” were given summaries of the crime, sometimes with correct information and sometimes incorrect. “Blind interviewers” were given no information prior to conducting their interviews. All interviewers were asked to write reports at the conclusion of the simulations.

Results showed correctly informed interviewers stopped short of collecting all possible details because they were influenced by the information contained in the pre-interview report. Blind interviewers were more likely to begin the interview with a non-suggestive question and recalled more details than the informed interviewers in their reports. Witnesses questioned by blind interviewers reported more information and more accurate details than those interviewed by informed interviewers.

Researchers concluded blind interviewing may be an appropriate and viable strategy for conducting investigative interviews if it leads witnesses to be more forthcoming and interviewers to work harder at gathering detailed accounts to aid the investigation. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from Barry University and funded in part by the American Psychology-Law Society Grants-In-Aid Award.

Schreiber Compo’s research focuses on investigative interviewing and eyewitness memory, especially in the context of vulnerable witnesses such as children or the intoxicated. She is interested in potentially detrimental and beneficial interviewing techniques and their underlying cognitive and social mechanisms to improve the quality and quantity of witness and victim recall. She has trained the MDPD homicide, special victims unit and robbery investigators on best practices for witness interviewing and identification procedures.

FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management is one of the top-ranked hospitality schools in the nation, where nearly 100 percent of its students are employed following graduation. Located in South Florida —where last year alone nearly 16 million tourists visited, FIU offers students access to an international hospitality industry in which they can gain firsthand experience.

One of the city’s biggest annual events, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF®) is hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU; the star-studded 5-day festival attracts more than 60,000 people to its 90-plus events each year. For FIU students, SOBEWFF is a chance to participate as volunteers or paid assistants, helping with festival logistics. Paid positions usually last for two to six months and offer students experience working closely with industry professionals; they are also eligible for various scholarships for their participation.

“There are boundless networking opportunities for students from every major,” said Gipsy Velez, manager of the volunteer program.“Every year, students come back to us and tell us about internships or job offers they received as a result of participating at the festival,” she added.

Here are the stories of three hospitality alumni and former volunteer coordinators whose work at the festival got them closer to securing their dream jobs.

Megan Mack ’17

Megan Mack’s first exposure to the festival was through a friend and recurring volunteer who insisted she sign up to join him.

“He kept telling me, ‘You have to do it! It’s a great opportunity and it’s so much fun,’” said Mack.

Not knowing what to expect, she agreed to help out at only one event. This was enough for her to be reeled into it; she immediately asked about upcoming dates on which she could help out.

“It’s was a lot of fun! It didn’t really feel like work,” she said.

Mack went on to work at the festival for three years, later becoming a paid volunteer coordinator. The position allowed her to climb the industry ladder and even meet some of her heroes.

During a Family Ice Cream Social event at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, chef Duff Goldman gave her and fellow assistants some valuable advice.

“He noticed that we were students, so he pulled us aside and said: ‘If there is one thing I’ve learned in this industry, it’s that a smile will get you a long way,’” said Mack. “For him to take us aside for two minutes and give us such genuine advice was incredible.”  

Mack called the experience “one of the best opportunities that I have taken in my career path.”

She also said the festival’s nationwide recognition led her to her current job as a conference coordinator at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

Mack’s director of event management, FIU alumnus Michael O’Connor ’89, had previously been to the festival and attended Panther Alumni Week this year in hopes of recruiting some Panthers to join him in Tennessee.

Mack heard about the position and decided to apply for it. Not long after her interview, she was offered the job. Mack has been in Nashville for seven months now.

“It’s great knowing that you can go to other places and people still recognize the event,” said Mack. “Having that on my résumé has truly made me stand out to people near and far.”

Feyisayo Yusuf ’18

During the four consecutive years she worked at SOBEWFF, Feyisayo Yusuf blossomed into a confident leader.

Because of her degree’s concentration in event and restaurant management, Yusuf said it was “the perfect internship” for her, offering a close look at the operations behind such a large-scale event.

The event manager she worked alongside at the festival even introduced her to her current boss at Creative State Marketing, where she works as an account coordinator.

Like Mack, Yusuf got the chance to meet some stars, including chef Guy Fieri, with whom she shared a warm exchange. “I was blown away by how kind he was,” said Yusuf.

As part of her work, Yusuf led teams of volunteers, guiding them throughout their journey. The group, she said, shared her enthusiasm and motivation for helping out with the events.

“Watching them flourish in front of potential employers was unexpectedly the most gratifying part of it,” she said. “It’s something everyone should experience.”

Juan Tamayo M.S.’17

Before his interview with FIU News, Juan Tamayo was at work, preparing for a Christina Aguilera concert at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood.

Tamayo works an assistant food and beverage manager at the hotel and venue, whose stage welcomes stars on the daily. There, he manages Blue Plate, a 24-hour restaurant at the hotel as well as a coffee shop, both of which feed around 1,700 guests per day.

His work at the hotel began through an internship he landed as a student. But it was through his time at SOBEWFF, that he was introduced to one his current managers by program manager Velez.

His experience as a volunteer coordinator, he says, exposed him to FIU’s vast influence within South Florida and also gave him first-hand experience in recruiting and interviewing.

The festival also brought him at close proximity to many influential people in the industry, such as its founder and director, Lee Brian Schrager.

“He has become a mentor to me and so many other people since I began participating in the festival,” he said.

Tamayo said his fellow assistants and volunteers are the potential “future leaders in the industry,” whose hard work will pay off because of their enthusiasm for hospitality.

“For me, it reinforced just how hard young people can work in this industry when they really want to be in it.”

Ultimately, he says, the real satisfaction of his work comes from successfully serving guests and making sure they enjoy themselves.

“We are in the business of fun,” said Tamayo. “It’s hard work, but there is nothing like it.”

The Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival will take place from Feb. 20 – 24, 2019. Volunteer for this year’s festival here.

The annual Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival enters its 17th year of wine, food and philanthropy next month. And Miami’s premier gourmet gathering didn’t weather 16 years without collecting its fair share of interesting stories – and even some teachable moments.

Festival Managing Director Devin Padgett shared a few of these stories with FIU News:

Debut of a star

Giada De Laurentiis made her debut on the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village stage in 2004. The soon-to-be culinary star had just signed on with Food Network and finished the premier season of Everyday Italian.

And it was her first live cooking demonstration.

“Her first time in front of a large, live audience took place with us,” Padgett said of the significance of what would become a seminal moment for both the now-celebrity and the Festival. He remembers she was so nervous that day, she cut her finger.

But since then, De Laurentiis has become a SOBEWFF® regular, appearing at the star-studded event frequently.

“Now she’s like the pro of pros,” Padgett said. “She can do demos in her sleep.”

This year, De Laurentiis will host Barilla’s Italian Bites on the Beach on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, and will take the stage with fashion designer Zac Posen at the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018.

When it rains, it pours

On the Festival’s fifth anniversary, a rare but formidable February rainstorm destroyed the BubbleQ®, a signature SOBEWFF® barbecue hosted that year by Bobby Flay.

“We’re out here with dancers on the runway and people clinking glasses in their fancy beach clothes, and here comes the squall of squalls,” Padgett said, remembering the onslaught of pelting rain, wind and tidal surge that descended on the open-air event.

“You could feel the temperature and air change, and three minutes later, it was mass hysteria,” Padgett said.

Hundreds of guests ran for shelter under a 20-foot-by-30-foot tent housing the event’s auction pieces, some losing their shoes in the sprint. Champagne glasses flew through the air as the Festival team scrambled to cover wiring and electronics and police ushered people off the beach.

“Everything for me turned slow motion for twenty minutes. That’s how surreal it was,” he said. “It was like a Stephen King novel.”

Luckily, no one was hurt, and Padgett said the storm would live on as a teachable moment.

“From that moment forward, we decided to have large, sturdy structures at the venue. Our big tent came next year,” he said. “The fact of the matter is it does occasionally storm in South Florida in February. We learned our lesson.”

“Welcome to Flavortown”

Last year, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives star Guy Fieri took the stage with rapper Snoop Dogg. The unique duo turned a culinary demonstration into a dynamic set that Padgett likened to a Rolling Stones concert.

“Snoop was dropping beats, and Guy was making chicken wings,” Padgett said, remembering everyone in the crowd was on their feet enjoying themselves. The event also garnered a lot of media attention. “It was high energy.”

For Padgett, that defines culinary festival culture: “Food, wine, music and friends – that’s a good time. That’s [SOBEWFF®].”

Fieri, another SOBEWFF® regular, will return this year to host the Heineken Light Burger Bash presented by Schweid & Sons on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018.

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Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival benefits FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million in support of education and scholarships at the school. 

The Festival also provides valuable career insight and networking opportunities to more than 1,000 students annually who volunteer in areas like event management, logistics, culinary preparation, marketing and more.Click here for more information on volunteer opportunities at SOBEWFF®.

The Festival will take place Feb. 21 – 25, 2018, and will feature internationally renowned talent and leaders of the hospitality industry at uniquely crafted events showcasing world-class wine, spirits, food and fun. 

Click here to learn about discounts available to the FIU family on tickets to Miami’s premier gourmet gathering.

For FIU students, the annual  Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival  (SOBEWFF®)  is a fruitful opportunity to boost their r é sum é s and build lifelong connections in the world of hospitality.

But for one couple of FIU grads, the Festival gave them the chance to form another very special kind of relationship.

Larry Chiang ’14 and Dahye Kang M.S. ’18 met a week after Valentine’s Day 2016 while volunteering at the festival’s signature  Oyster Bash  event, hosted at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.

Chiang, an international relations alumnus, had enjoyed volunteering during his time as a student so much that he regularly came back even after graduation to help out whenever he could.

“Every year, it’s an exciting time,” said Chiang, who’s volunteered at five installments of the Festival. “To be able to volunteer and be a part year after year was incredible.”

Kang, though, was easing into the city, having just moved from Seoul to get her M.S. in  hospitality management  a month before meeting Chiang during the event.

“I came here without knowing anyone, I was kind of lonely and looking for friends, said  Kang, adding that their meeting was a matter of fate, the timing being “perfect.”

Throughout the event, they both helped out the chef with prepping and serving food. Chiang says Oyster Bash’s intimate indoor setting in the Loews’ Lure Fishbar eased conversation between him and Kang.

“I was looking at her and I could tell she was looking at me too,” said Chiang. “Once we chatted, we found we had so much in common.”

Chiang, who is Chinese-American, had an interest in Korean culture and the two bonded over their East Asian roots.

“He was one of the few Asian people at the event and I just really wanted to talk to him,” she said. “We just really clicked. It was very easy to get to know him and get close to him.”

Their relationship took off from there, with Chiang showing Kang around the city as they got to know each other. They tied the knot the following year.

The couple now lives happily in a home of their own, and with each year that passes they anticipate February as a significant month for two reasons: It symbolizes the anniversary of their first meeting and the date of the festival, which they love frequenting together.

They both encourage couples to attend the festival or volunteer together, as they since have, as a chance to bond.

“You’re working together and enjoying yourself and just having a good time,” said Chiang. “It’s just hands down the best event in Miami. It’s such a great experience because you meet a lot of people, there’s great scenery and it’s all for a good cause.”

And this year, they will be volunteering once again at Oyster Bash, the place where it all began for the couple.

“Every year, when it gets to around this time, it’s just so significant. We’ll never forget when the festival is and when Oyster Bash is,” said Chiang.

“Everything in our life now leads back to the festival,” he added. “If I hadn’t met her there, I don’t know where I’d be now.”

To learn more about how to volunteer at the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, click   here .

Home, sweet home…

That’s what Mariet Cardenes was thinking of when brainstorming ideas for what became the winning recipe for this year’s Red Robin Golden Robin Contest, which, through its partnership with the annual Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, awards one student each year a $10,000 scholarship and a chance to have their recipe featured in the restaurant’s menu and served up at one of the Festival’s most iconic events.

The sophomore grew up in Spain and thought of nothing better to amp up the classic American burger than the signature gusto of the Iberian nation’s cuisine.

“I’m in love with Spanish food,” said Cardenes, whose favorite meals are “paella, tortilla española (Spanish omelette), ensalada rusa (potato salad) and ropa vieja.”

But it’s the sharp contrasting flavors of chorizo, manchego cheese, garlic aioli, crispy fried onions and arugula that made her “Merisnard” burger stand out from the stack of applicants.

“‘Meri’ is what my friends call me, and ‘Snard’ is for Spaniard,” she explained.

Karen Kaehler, who has been the culinary manager at Red Robin for five years now, was one of the judges who reviewed the 400-plus submissions from students.

“This was the best competition of FIU submissions by far since I’ve been here,” Kaehler said.

“We loved the stories the students told and their bold choices, but a truly marketable burger with a story, an intention and ingredients that work together pulled Mariet’s over the top!”

Kaehler said the recipe has several wow factors, such as its balance of heat, salt, fat and crispness.

“We know from Red Robin experience that the crispy onions are a huge crowd pleaser as well,” she said.

Its trendiness and authenticity, she added, give it a fresh international twist.

“Chorizo is very on trend in burgers right now. The authenticity of the Manchego is a great complement to it,” adding “garlic spread is an international favorite as well. We love this.”

Cardenes was surprised at Biscayne Bay Campus with the fantastic news.

“They sent me an email saying I was one of the finalists and they needed me to come over for some pictures,” she said. “It was really unexpected. I didn’t even think I was going to make it to the top 10.”

But Cardenes wasn’t a finalist. “I started crying, I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

 

Cardenes will be presenting her creation at the Heineken Light Burger Bash presented by Schweid & Sons® hosted by David Burtka & Neil Patrick Harris on Friday, Feb.22, during this year’s Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival. It will be her first time at the festival.

“I’ve heard great things about it so it will be a great experience.”

Cardenes, who when she isn’t studying, works as a restaurant hostess, says the scholarship gives her some much-needed financial peace.

“I’ve been really stressed about scholarships and nursing school is not cheap,” said Cardenes. “I come from a low-income family so it’s an enormous help.”

 Contest participants provide the recipe but don’t need to cook up their submissions. Cardenes encourages students to give it a shot.

“It’s a very simple scholarship in the sense that you don’t have to write an essay or anything but just come up with an interesting recipe,” she added. “It was so easy to apply. There is no other scholarship like this.” 

The Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival will take place from Feb. 20 – 24, 2019. For the full list of events or to purchase tickets, click here.

As beachside communities begin rebuilding in the wake of two catastrophic hurricane impacts on the United States, they should ask whether beach nourishment offers enough protection from erosion and flooding.

Hurricane Michael recently struck Florida’s panhandle as a devastating category 4 storm packing 155mph winds. Barely a month earlier, Hurricane Florence flooded North Carolina when the category 1 storm slowly washed over that state on Sept. 14. In either case, these hurricanes changed coastlines as beaches and dunes were overrun by waves, or in some cases, completely eroded.

Typically, recovery plans call for large-scale beach nourishment and dune construction to protect areas behind the beach from future erosion and flooding. A study by FIU coastal geologist Randall Parkinson suggests this practice will become even costlier and more controversial as the availability of sand dwindles.

“Sand is not a renewable resource,” Parkinson said. “When sand is eroded from the beach during a storm, it typically accumulates in offshore areas as a very thin layer that can’t be dredge again to construct a new beach or dune.”

An increase in the rate of sea level rise and the threat of more powerful, slow-moving hurricanes will drive up the demand for sand. With companies already spending more to harvest sand in deeper waters farther off shore, the cost of sand could rise even higher.

In Florida’s panhandle alone, Parkinson’s study found that nourishment costs rose from about $5 million annually in the 1990s to more than $10 million in the 2000s. Depending on sea level rise, the cost to nourish beaches for the next 84 years just in the panhandle could one day exceed $72 million per year.

To make matters worse, data from the panhandle shows offshore sand deposits might be darker than the fine grains of lighter colored sand favored by tourists and locals alike.

As coastal communities in Florida and around the world rebuild after disasters, Parkinson said they will be faced with difficult decisions regarding the function of future coastal construction projects.

“I think these recent events remind us all that the coastal zone is a really high-risk area that is going to become even more vulnerable flooding and erosion as the climate changes,” Parkinson said. “We need to be thinking of Plan B before the next big one arrives.”

His research was published in the academic journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science.

Hurricane Michael recently struck Florida’s panhandle as a devastating category 4 storm packing 155mph winds. Barely a month earlier, Hurricane Florence flooded North Carolina when the category 1 storm slowly washed over that state on Sept. 14. In either case, these hurricanes changed coastlines as beaches and dunes were overrun by waves, or in some cases, completely eroded.

Typically, recovery plans call for large-scale beach nourishment and dune construction to protect areas behind the beach from future erosion and flooding. A study by FIU coastal geologist Randall Parkinson suggests this practice will become even costlier and more controversial as the availability of sand dwindles.

“Sand is not a renewable resource,” Parkinson said. “When sand is eroded from the beach during a storm, it typically accumulates in offshore areas as a very thin layer that can’t be dredge again to construct a new beach or dune.”

An increase in the rate of sea level rise and the threat of more powerful, slow-moving hurricanes will drive up the demand for sand. With companies already spending more to harvest sand in deeper waters farther off shore, the cost of sand could rise even higher.

In Florida’s panhandle alone, Parkinson’s study found that nourishment costs rose from about $5 million annually in the 1990s to more than $10 million in the 2000s. Depending on sea level rise, the cost to nourish beaches for the next 84 years just in the panhandle could one day exceed $72 million per year.

To make matters worse, data from the panhandle shows offshore sand deposits might be darker than the fine grains of lighter colored sand favored by tourists and locals alike.

As coastal communities in Florida and around the world rebuild after disasters, Parkinson said they will be faced with difficult decisions regarding the function of future coastal construction projects.

“I think these recent events remind us all that the coastal zone is a really high-risk area that is going to become even more vulnerable flooding and erosion as the climate changes,” Parkinson said. “We need to be thinking of Plan B before the next big one arrives.”

His research was published in the academic journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science.

By Michaela Moura-Koçoglu

These are scary times for survivors of sexual violence: Despite a wave of activism on social media as documented under hashtags such as #MeToo, #WeBelieveWomen, and #WhyIDidntReport, survivors who dare go public experience malicious and life-threatening backlash, calling into question the efficacy of awareness raising. The announcement of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winners could not come at a more auspicious time. Nadia Murad and Dr. Denis Mukwege jointly won the award for their campaign to end wartime rape. While this recognition certainly raises awareness about sexual violence as a weapon of war, will it generate the change we hope for?

Nadia Murad is an Iraqi Yazidi survivor of trafficking, sexual and physical abuse, torture and rape by militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Her courageous testimony in front of the UN resulted in a campaign for freeing the Yazidi people. Dr. Denis Mukwege is a Congolese gynecologist who, together with his colleagues, has treated tens of thousands of rape victims at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, the capital of eastern South Kivu province in the DRC. Both countries are devastated by decades of conflict, as well as dysfunctional and corrupt institutions (Women Under Siege).

In the past few decades, it has become recognized that sexual violence in conflict represents something far more insidious and vicious than random acts of violence perpetrated by individuals: If perpetrated systematically against a civilian population, International Law may recognize rape, trafficking, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, or other forms of sexual violence as war crimes, or crimes against humanity, and in some cases elements of genocide. Yet, wartime rape remains the least condemned war crime, and impunity for perpetrators continues to be the norm (Manjoo & McRaith).

As the case of survivors in the former Yugoslavia illustrates, wartime rape tears at the fabric of communities and societies, for various reasons: Apart from the physical injuries, STDs, HIV/AIDS, forced pregnancy and numerous psychological traumata. Only recently have initiatives been successful in recognizing wartime rape survivors as legitimate victims of conflict, entitled to justice and reparations (UN Women). The number of survivors seeking reparations remains low, faced with a familiar pattern of backlash — when exposing their status as survivors, women face humiliation, stigma and shame from their families, communities and societies (Gottschall).

It is doubtful that awarding the Nobel Peace Prize will end the horrifying global scale of sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls during conflict anytime soon. However, the recognition by the Nobel committee underscores the urgency of addressing this crime, and the desperate need for reparative justice. The significance of Ms. Murad’s and Dr. Mukwege’s courageous efforts lies in the recognition that we, too, have work to do — peace means more than the mere absence of violence and war (Galtung). To address enduring structures and gendered consequences of sexual violence, we need to start listening to, and believing the voices of survivors.

Moura-Koçoglu is an instructor at Florida International University’s Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. Her primary research focus is Indigenous Feminism as a tool of critical literary analysis within a trans-Indigenous framework. Moura-Koçoglu teaches courses in feminist theory, global gender, global women’s writing and women’s studies including a course on gender violence which covers wartime rape.

When the National Forensic Science Technology Center joined FIU and became a part of the Global Forensic and Justice Center, the university became the prime contract holder of a four-year, $7.2 million forensic training program for the Marine Corps System Command.

The Expeditionary Forensics Exploitation Capability contract runs through February 2022. NFSTC will continue to be responsible for developing and implementing the specialized training course focused on digital, biometric, chemical, explosive, photography and latent print analysis. To date, the program has trained more than 600 active duty Marines at the NFSTC facility in Largo, Fla.

“We’ve been honored to provide these crucial tools and techniques to our service men and women since 2010,” said NFSTC Executive Director Kevin Lothridge. “We’re excited to bring this high-quality service officially under the FIU capabilities.”

NFSTC was originally awarded the contract in 2010, and brings its decade-long experience in training domestic and military law enforcement to the university.

Future of Smart Cities: Roundtable with local, federal leaders and alumni

During  Smart Cities Week in Washington, D.C., last week, FIU hosted an intimate roundtable discussion with local, congressional and federal officials in conjunction with the university’s leading researchers in Washington, D.C.  The luncheon focused on immediate opportunities to advance successful deployment of technologies.

“This was such a wonderful group of people from university, science, trade, government and other fields that made the discussion so interesting and diverse,” said  Raiumundo Rodulfo ’16, director of Information Technology at the City of Coral Gables.

“It was a learning experience, and fruitful as well, since we already have a new collaboration between our City and FIU as a result of this gathering,” he added.

The conversation offered all parties involved an opportunity to showcase solutions to issues facing South Florida and the nation.

Chris Greer, senior executive for Cyber Physical Systems at the  National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), added a federal point of view to the dialogue in particular in the areas of artificial intelligence and smart grids.

Also present were Charlyn Stanberry ’13, an FIU Law alumna and legislative director who helps manage the Congressional Smart Cities Caucus, and Kenneth Mallory with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NAURUC). The two were brought a more policy-oriented perspective to the table and offered updates in coming legislation.

On the academic side, present were  College of Computing and Engineering researchers  A. Selcuk Uluagac and  Mark Finlayson. Uluagac is the director of FIU’s  Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab (CSL).

Among other topics discussed included the advancement of the Internet of Things (IOT), CyberSecurity, Intelligent Transportation, smart grids, disaster resilience and blockchain. In addition, the roundtable reviewed applications of these smart technologies to society, and the role the university plays in this process.

Rodulfo ’16 was a speaker at this year’s  Smart Cities Week Conference, where he cited FIU’s efforts to further smart cities initiatives. He and the City of Coral Gables have collaborated with the  GIS Center at FIU and partnered on other initiatives such as monitoring water quality.

FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing is the first institution to offer a  full degree in Internet of Things, is leading in coastal resilience to protect the South Florida community and partnering with other change makers to break further ground in smart technologies.Script if it is disabled in your browser.

FIU water researchers lead national dialogues

As the Algal bloom crisis continues to spread in Florida, FIU Researchers advocated at the White House and on the hill for policies that would advance water research, coastal resilience and the prevention of further  algal bloom infiltration in South Florida.

Todd Crowl, director of the  FIU Institute of Water and Environment, along with alumnus  Steve Davis ’99, a senior ecologist at the Everglades Foundation, led a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill focused on the role of ecosystem science in securing freshwater resources. Researchers emphasized how everglades restoration is necessary in protecting South Florida’s water supply, freshwater and coastal ecosystems and economy.

Davis explained how FIU research has benefitted the Everglades ecosystem by “helping us to really understand the changes in the ecosystem over time. Whether it’s how phosphorus has influenced the Everglades, or how the change in fish community is tied to the flow of water.”

“FIU’s been at the heart of that since the very beginning,” said Davis.

National leaders in media convene at FIU

The Lillian Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication hosted a symposium and release of a new report on the equity and equality of the sexes in communication. Kopenhaver, dean emeritus and professor of the SJMC, presented recent findings from the  2018 Kopenhaver Center Report to an audience of thought leaders and executives.

 According to the report, “Women earn less, experience negative company cultures and still face a glass ceiling in the communications industries.”

The event including a panel discussion including Dianne Festa, NBC News senior vice president; Jennifer Griffin, FOX News correspondent; Ellen Weiss, chief of the Washington Bureau and vice president of the E. W. Scripps Company and Maria Peña, Washington senior political correspondent for La Opinion.

The following day, FIU in DC and FIU CARTA hosted an impactful conversation for student interns in the district. The guest of honor was FIU alumna Virginia Cueto, executive director of AARP en Español. Students discussed communicating to multicultural communities and how the evolution of media has impacted journalists.

Watch the Equity and Equality of the Sexes in Communication Webcast  here.

The creator of the cognitive interview believes his technique could yield new information into allegations made against United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

FIU psychology professor Ronald Fisher, one of the leading investigative interviewing researchers in the world, created the cognitive interview as a way to draw out more details from witnesses’ memories. He has trained investigators from a variety of federal agencies including the FBI.

During questioning of Christine Blasey Ford in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell asked Ford if she had participated in a cognitive interview regarding her sexual assault allegations.

“Research is done by a lot of people in the child abuse field. Two of the more prominent ones in the sexual assault field are [Geiselman] and Fisher who have talked about it, and it’s called the cognitive interview.”

— Rachel Mitchell, Arizona prosecutor during Sept. 27 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

Ford alleges Kavanaugh attacked her in the summer of 1982. Kavanaugh has denied those allegations. Mitchell specifically cited Fisher’s research, pointing out the value of the interviewing technique in helping witnesses recall details that they have forgotten.

“I think her reference to the cognitive interview was an excuse as to why [a Senate hearing] is not the best thing to do, but we do have a lot of scientific evidence that there are much better ways to conduct [Ford’s] interview,” Fisher said. “And that would be the cognitive interview.”

Fisher said Blasey Ford would be the most important person for the FBI to interview in an investigation on the allegations. He also said the people who were at the get-together but did not witness the alleged assault could provide valuable information through cognitive interviews. He also suggests Kavanaugh should participate in a cognitive interview. Fisher said he would love to conduct the interviews to help uncover missing information.

“Some of the other people could have something to offer — details about other experiences with Kavanaugh,” Fisher said.

According to research conducted on cognitive interviews, the technique can generate up to 60 percent more information than a traditional interview. Investigators trained to conduct cognitive interviews ask as few questions as possible. Witnesses can provide long narrative responses that contain more information without the anticipated interruptions of a question-and-answer format.

“The cognitive interview is the most empirically validated, used and trained witness interviewing approach in the world,” said FIU legal psychologist Nadja Schreiber Compo during a recent conference honoring Fisher and his impact on the field of investigative interviewing.

Fisher developed the cognitive interview after two random conversations with two different friends. The first had lost his wallet. The second, her glasses. After each had a conversation with Fisher, they found their lost items. That got Fisher thinking — what if the same, conversational approach could help draw out information from witnesses in criminal investigations? He conducted several studies of police interview techniques, revealing the strong advantages of his unique style of questioning. Today, it is used by the FBI; National Transportation Safety Board; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the United States military; national security agencies and others.

Ayleen Barbel Fattal and JoAnn Adkins contributed to this story.

Luiza Mello was flying back to Miami from a study abroad trip in Europe when she noticed a lump protruding from her neck.

Mello, an international student from Brazil studying interior architecture, thought maybe it was due to having slept in an odd position or a result of backpacking.

After returning home, she headed to the emergency room for a CT scan, which showed her lymph nodes heavily swollen across her neck and below her arms. 

A biopsy then led to her official diagnosis: Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer affecting the lymphatic system.

She jumped to treatment right away, doing chemotherapy every 15 days.

Even though she wanted to continue her studies while battling her illness, she was faced with the costs of her treatment and insurance.

As an international student, her tuition is also double that of an in-state student.

So she decided to ask for help, writing to President Mark B. Rosenberg. She shared her story with him, hoping she could qualify for a scholarship she had previously applied to.

“Receiving this scholarship would allow me to pursue my dream career and fight cancer,” she explained in her message.

Laura Castillo, director of the Office of Scholarships, reviewed Mello’s academic standing and due to her condition, she and the office decided to give her the award, for which Mello was already a finalist.

“We were able to give her the award that she was already considered for due to her need,” said Castillo.

This is what Castillo calls emergency aid, which prevents students from dropping out and abandoning their studies when dealing with a crisis.

The daughter of an interior designer, Silvana, and an engineer, Leonardo – Mello was born with a sharp eye for detail.

“Her design ability is very natural,” said Darci Pappano, professor in the department of interior architecture.

She was fascinated by her mother’s work, often following along to her meetings and marveling at the elaborate designs she created, longing for a similar fate.

Mello’s family moved with her to Miami from Brasilia so she could be a part of the interior architecture program at FIU. Her father, Leonardo works in Brazil and pays her tuition.

Throughout her treatment, Mello says she relied on the support of her classmates and mentors.

Pappano and Janine King, who have both taught and mentored Mello, allowed her to participate in her classes from a distance.

“During the treatment, I checked in with her every week to find out how she was doing,” said Pappano. “Even though she was under the chemotherapy, she came for her final presentation, which was incredible.”

Alongside her accelerated master’s degree, Mello is also working on her certificate in cruise ship and superyacht design.

“Luiza is one of those great students every teacher wants to have,” said King. “She’s got a very positive attitude and loves what she is doing.”

After four sessions of treatment, Mello was officially cancer-free. She followed her doctor’s orders to continue with her remaining sessions to ensure the cancer was completely out of her system.

“The day she found out the cancer was gone, she sent us her PET scan, and I started crying – I was so happy!” said Pappano. “She is looking very healthy now; the color is back in her skin.”

As an interior architect, she is inspired by Miami’s fusion of culture and styles. Her favorite part of her work, she says, is that it allows her to brighten the lives of others.

“It’s so great when you meet with clients and they appreciate the work and are excited about what it will look like.”

Mello, who will soon be going on another study abroad trip to Genoa, is excited to get through her final three sessions of treatment. 

“I’m feeling great!” she says. “I’m looking forward to being one-hundred percent cured.”

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The office of scholarships will soon be launching a program geared toward helping students in crisis identify themselves and seek assistance.

For more information on emergency aid, check here.

Tomás R. Guilarte asks his 8-year-old daughter Sofia this very question, curious about her young mind’s interpretation of this and several other pictures. They are all images of brain cells in culture he has brought home from work.

Guilarte is dean of Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work and an expert in the fields of neuroscience and neurotoxicology. He is also a professor of environmental health sciences and cognitive neuroscience and imaging.

Sofia tells him she sees a green octopus with bright blue eyes (upper left corner).

He shows her a couple more, which Sofia says remind her of:

1) a galaxy, spreading itself infinitely

2) an orchid, due to its long curving stem, and

3) the roots of a tree, veining deep into the ground.

Guilarte prepared the same activity for an attentive audience at “Beauty and the Brain: Connecting Art to Science,” as part of the Mixtape Mondays lecture series at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum.

Mixtape Mondays features FIU faculty across disciplines, welcoming them to present their innovative research and studies in relation to art and the museum’s collection.

Guilarte shared his research on the detrimental effects of environmental pollutants – such as heavy metals – on neurological and mental health.

Presented with the colorful images of the cells, the room-filled audience gave similarly imaginative answers. Some said the “orchid” looked like a “chicken with a very long neck,” and the “roots” were reminiscent of the aerial view of a cityscape with its twinkling “lights,” which are actually synapses.

Guilarte was excited to integrate art into the lecture, easing the understanding of these concepts by connecting notions that are seemingly unrelated.

“I’m very visual. I see pictures, and just like the ones I showed, I begin to see shapes, animals and objects,” he said.

“Providing an idea of the shapes and colors living within the organization and structure of the brain is a great way to communicate these ideas and connect art to science.”

This exercise, like any puzzle, is an excellent workout for the brain, one that Guilarte says promotes neuroplasticity (the creation of new neural connections) and neurogenesis (the growth of new brain cells).

And other studies also agree, proving that regularly practicing art enhances brain connectivity.

But keeping our brains healthy is a difficult task when considering the cluster of harmful compounds that we are exposed to on a daily basis.

“We live in a soup of chemicals, we have to minimize our exposure and properly feed our brains,” said Guilarte.

Because our brain’s susceptibility to injury from exposure to environmental pollutants is remarkably high, it is vital to prevent the loss of neurons and promote the growth of new ones.

“As we age, neurons die, and many neurodegenerative diseases – like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s – are principally diseases of aging,” said Guilarte. “But we are beginning to understand how these pollutants can initiate and/or accelerate the disease.”

Though the traditional route of adopting a balanced diet and exercise regimen along with not smoking is still highly recommended, Guilarte emphasized the somewhat unconventional yet impactful role of art – both its consumption and creation – in the birth of new neurons and their integration into brain circuits that can enhance learning and memory.

“And though genetics matter, it appears art is exceptional for our minds and our longevity,” he said.

So, the next time you stop by a museum, keep a few things in mind about art: it improves brain function, brain wave patterns, fine-motor skills, creativity, and our social and emotional development. It may now help us lead healthier lives too.

Mixtape Mondays is hosted once a month at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum. For the museum’s event calendar, click here.

The images provided were obtained by previous doctoral students in Guilarte’s lab. The picture of a presumed “octopus” is a mixed culture of astrocytes (green) and neurons (red) with nuclear staining (blue) taken by Kirstie Stansfield. The images of the “galaxy” and “orchid” are images of primary microglia in culture taken by Meredith Loth. The “roots of a tree” image is of a hippocampal neuron (green) in culture with each red dot representative of a dendritic spine where other neurons form synapses for communication. The image was taken by April Neal.

More important than ever, according to an opinion piece in The Washington Post. In June, the heads of eight Washington-area high schools announced they are removing their AP course offerings. They stated concerns with the “breadth over depth” approach that prioritizes mass memorization over critical thinking.

The National Association of College and Employers identifies critical thinking/problem solving as one of their essential competencies in career readiness. The employers they questioned determined that exercising sound reasoning to analyze issues, make decisions and overcome problems was one of four ideal traits for employees to possess.

Improving your critical thinking usually means leaving your comfort zone for new horizons. Here are five tips to help you become a better decision-maker.

1. Join a new group or class

Learning to understand others’ perspectives is vital to critical thinking. It allows you to bridge any gaps in understanding and move toward a conclusion. And what better way to get exposed to new perspectives than joining a new group?

“You have to do activities and things that are weird and different. If you’re pre-med, you have to go to pre-med societies and all that. But if you want to stand out, you have to develop your morals and values in other places, too,” says Jose Rodriguez, who has lectured at the Honors College since 2008.

Rodriguez teaches a performance course in which each student is privately assigned a character, background and an objective that he or she must work diplomatically to obtain. These classes take place in the context of a major historical event like the French Revolution or the birth of democracy. They are one of many avenues the Honors College offers to improve its students’ critical thinking.

“[As a student], I took a course in Egyptian history because I wanted to be Indiana Jones or whatever. But I ended up being so excited to go to class. He would talk about all the cool stuff he did on archaeological digs. There should be room for exploration in your academics,” says Rodriguez.

The university itself has a multitude of different student organizations and clubs to explore.

2. Master the art of explaining

Communication is key to the critical thinking process. It allows you to solidify underlying assumptions between people and move toward a solution.

One cog of communication that encapsulates the skills of critical thinking is explaining, says Kenton Harris, a faculty member of the philosophy department at the College of Arts, Sciences & Education who teaches a critical thinking course.

“Think about the cognitive skills needed for explaining. I have to think about where you are. I have to figure what I know, and how I’m going to package it in a way you know how to access. It’s a challenge,” says Harris.

If you keep practicing the art of explaining, then you might just become a better problem solver.

3. Prepare in advance

Integrating intention into your preparation can make you more attractive to employers.

Nancy Richmond is a faculty member in the marketing department at the College of Business, who lectures on social media. While growing your various online platforms can help you find a job, she says, you have to grow them purposefully, too.

“You have to be strategic from a networking standpoint. [On LinkedIn] you can’t start sending invitations when you want a job, you have to start before,” Richmond says.

For her social media students, Richmond recommends anticipating what multimedia skills you might need. Upping your PowerPoint skills and using spare time for technical training helps.

“Social media is constantly changing. You’ll have to constantly be learning and adapting. [Your employer] will never say, ‘Use this tool to solve this problem,’” Richmond says.

4. Determine your goals

With everything involved in problem solving, determining the problem is perhaps the most important part. And it’s important to be specific.

“Critical thinkers have to be on guard against empty words, ambiguity and vagueness,” Harris says.

Room for interpretation in a conclusion is unproductive for the critical thinker. Instead, it helps to flesh out exactly what your endgame is, how you’ll get there and what the results might be.

“When we’re doing critical thinking, we’re trying to understand an argument and why something is the way it is. We have to understand how those assumptions lead to a conclusion. What might be the consequences?” says Rodriguez.

5. Read and grow your knowledge

Carnegie Mellon University found in a 2009 study of young children that reading generated white matter in the brain, which improves one’s ability to process information. In other words, reading is scientifically proven to improve critical thinking.

“Read periodicals like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. Read professional journals associated with your major. It engages you intellectually, and you see how other people phrase things,” Harris says.

Other media like podcasts and TED Talks can also introduce you to new ways of thinking.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers found creativity as a crucial characteristic for employees, too. Check out our five tips on how to unlock your creative side.

Known previously as WUFI, Radiate 88 and WRGP — and now as The Roar Miami, FIU’s student radio has gone through many incarnations since its start in 1988.

Over the years, students of all ages, majors and backgrounds have found refuge in this ever-changing community of audiophiles, sharing music from diverse times and places far beyond FIU’s campuses.

And this year, as the station celebrates its 30th anniversary, it’s a time of reflection for many of its current and former student DJs.

Radio for the people

The idea for what was then WUFI 540 AM began in 1987 as a student government project spearheaded by Stuart Blank, a transfer student from Long Island who wanted to create a college radio station modeled after one he listened to back home.

“We just tried to give people an alternative to listen to in the dorms,” says Ben Sardiñas, one of the first managers at the station, and now managing executive of Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions and vice president of the Alumni Association at FIU.

Blank joined forces with his friends John Villate and Charles Michaels to propose the project, which was later approved by student government.

After being granted the space to build it, the station was designed by students, including Roy Pressman, who has worked as consulting engineer to the station since its debut in ’88. The group of students installed all of the equipment in a month.

“We sat there and just punched out all of the cablings and installed all of the equipment,” Sardiñas says. It was Christmas Day 1988 when the arduous project was finally finished.

“That was the first broadcast signal out of the station – that’s how it all began,” he says. “The equipment in that station was the newest and best equipment possible at that time.”

At first, the signal only covered FIU’s main campus. However, that didn’t limit the young station from playing music they felt had to be heard.

Like most college stations, their programming aimed to promote and discover music outside of the mainstream.

“We didn’t want to play whatever was popular back then like Tiffany or even U2, which had become mainstream even though they had an alternative sound,”  Sardiñas says.

The late 1980s, in particular, were a crucial time for college radio, when alternative music was in demand and new styles were emerging every day.

“That was a fantastic time for college music, some of the best that’s ever been produced,” Sardiñas says. “We had everything from The The and Oingo Boingo to Camper Van Beethoven.”

And although student government had gathered enough money to put up an FM antenna for the station, they struggled to get permission from the FCC to put up the FM tower and broadcast under a new signal.

It wasn’t until a decade later that a new group of DJs took on the challenge again.

From AM to FM

Ian Grocher was working as a DJ at a local skating rink before he joined WUFI back in the mid-90s. “When I got there, it was an AM station that could barely get around campus,” he says.

Grocher later became general manager and was persistent in his goal to get the station a spot in FM radio. In ’98, he and his team lobbied the vice president of Student Affairs and finally got their wish granted.

Radiate 88 FM / WRGP was born.

Grocher adopted the moniker of DJ Irie during his WUFI days; he went on to work at 99 Jamz. For nearly 18 years now, he has been the official DJ of the Miami Heat.

Orlando Machado Jr., who later joined the AM station in 1998, vividly remembers the first days following the transition.

“Within the first week or two, I got a call from a Dairy Queen while spinning on my afternoon show,” he says. “It was not only a song inquiry, but the worker there had apparently been tuning in every day during his shift the last few days, and kids had been congregating there after school.”

This was what the DJs had in mind when first fighting to expand the scope of their programming.

“It was incredibly rewarding to have that first bit of feedback, to no longer simply be entertaining the void,” Machado says.

With this new accomplishment, they were eager to further curate their content and stand out on the airwaves.

“If someone wanted to listen to some popular music, they had plenty of choices. Why would they bother tuning in to our little station to hear the same thing?” says Machado, who was also general manager during the early FM years.

“So to entice people to turn their dial all the way to the left and maybe tolerate a little static, you have to offer a wholly unique product – hopefully, an experience unlike anything else on the mainstream airwaves.”

Grocher played “cutting-edge hip-hop” that other stations ignored. “All the new stuff that would come out that the commercial stations didn’t play.”

“That was part of the intrigue of the radio station,” says Ayxa Vecino, former promotions director at the station. “Can we identify who the next big thing is before commercial radio gets to them?”

Vecino, who is currently the senior special events manager at the Graham Center, says the station played bands like Linkin Park and Less Than Jake when they were first starting out, before their massive successes.

“We were one of the first stations to play Linkin Park in Miami.” 

In 2012, Radiate FM / WRGP was voted the best radio station in Miami by the Miami New Times.

Around this time, as the internet began to take over the world, the station set a new goal: online streaming.

“It wasn’t perfect, but we were one of the first radio stations in Florida to have an internet presence – expanding that reach even more,” says Machado.

College radio in the digital age

In 2017, the station was renamed The Roar Miami and its staff members are now directing their focus internally, using events and social media to raise awareness of the station’s role within the university. 

“We want to make sure that our listeners understand, whether they’re in Hialeah or New Zealand, that you can listen to it anywhere and you can connect it to FIU,” says Alfred Soto, visiting professor in the Department of Communication.

Soto was previously a student media advisor who guided the programming and management of the station for nearly 12 years. Before that, he was a DJ as part of WUFI.

Reaching students now involves more than just a solid on-air presence and online stream.

The Roar’s newest manager is Harold Daniel, a senior in communication arts who wants to reassert the station’s importance within the university.

“Now that we’re going into a more digital era of media and people are always saying radio is over, we have so much potential with 57,000 students at FIU,” Daniel says.

Most importantly, he wants to change the fact that many students don’t even know there’s a station on campus. 

“You go around and ask people if they know that we have a college radio station, and people go, ‘Oh my God. Really? Wow! I didn’t know that!'”

“Harold brings a flair to the job that at this moment in The Roar’s history we needed,” Soto says.

“We needed someone who was aware of the history of the station and what needed to be done so that the FIU community understands what we do, and that’s always been a problem.”

Social media, Daniel says, is the key to connecting with both students and a broader audience.

“Now when people go into our social media accounts they get to see these DJs and get to know them briefly and see and why they joined the station and what college radio means to them,” Daniel says.

“That’s what gets the students excited and makes them want to join us and be a part of the team.”

They’re also hoping to further connect with the local music scene. Their signature show, The Pipeline, invites local acts to perform live in their studios for two hours.

“It promotes the mindset that local music is something special – it’s true to Miami,” says Anabelle Torres, who currently co-hosts The Pipeline alongside fellow DJ Andres Nuñez. They both joined the station in 2016.

“I don’t know college without radio,” Torres says.

“Just finding a community in a really big university where it’s just people who think similarly and listen to similar things has been great,” says Nuñez, who also hosts a surf-rock show at the station.

“Some people join sororities or fraternities to find their friends and this was kind of the thing for me,” he added.

Daniel, who hopes to work as an entertainment journalist, will be interning at Good Morning America in New York City this fall. He says his time at the station helped him land the position.

“The majority of what I learned as a broadcasting student was here at FIU student media.”

An inclusive community

Throughout its 30-year run, those who have inhabited the studios of The Roar have been impacted by its profound sense of community, particularly toward those within marginalized groups.

“It’s a place where our students who are minority base – many of whom are LGBT – can come to play their music, hang out with people like them and feel as if they belong,” Soto says. “And the music they play reflects it.”

Outside of his duties at the station, Daniel, who joined The Roar in 2016, is an advocate for LGBTQ+ issues, being the president and founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association student chapter at FIU and a GLAAD campus ambassador.

“In college, because people are going through this transitionary phase,  they’re finding themselves and what they want to do and their passions,” Torres says. “This place fosters a good environment to be in that moment.”

“It’s an important part of FIU’s culture, especially for student life,” Vecino says.

And in a time where media is shifting, it seems the medium of college radio is more important than ever.

“It might not necessarily entice the masses of the student body, but there is still an interest in wanting to tap into the fabric of the university and the sound and vibes of what’s going around in the immediate surroundings,” Grocher says.

“For those students who really sign up for the full college experience and really have that sense of pride for their university, having a campus station is a big part of that,” he added.

Its current members welcome and encourage students who are enthusiastic about independent music and alternative radio to apply to The Roar.

“You’ll get exposed to so many different kinds of music and discover artists you wouldn’t have otherwise,” Nuñez says.

“Being a DJ is an experience like no other,” Torres says. “It’s something that when you grow older you’re just gonna remember and tell others about.”

The Roar Miami will be hosting an anniversary bash on College Radio Day, Friday, October 5 at Vicky Bakery to celebrate its anniversary. Six local bands will be performing at the event.

Patricia Cárdenas was a member of WRGP / The Roar Miami from 2016-2018.

It’s a regular Tuesday morning at Miami public jazz station WDNA and Colin Miller, the host of its weekly  FIU Music Hour, is seconds away from going on air:

Good morning,

It’s Tuesday. It’s 11 a.m. and it’s time for the FIU Music Hour on WDNA 88.9 FM — presenting live weekly performances in the WDNA Jazz Gallery featuring students, faculty and alumni from Florida International University’s School of Music.

Miller, a junior broadcasting major at FIU, has been hosting the show since May, following in the footsteps of former host Jamie Ousley, professor and coordinator of the  Jazz Performance program.

The student-run show — which aims to promote FIU’s musical talent across the board and engage with the local community through WDNA — offers students hands-on experience in radio broadcasting, live performance and music management and production.

Debuting in 2017, the program came to life when distinguished alumnus, jazz critic, WDNA board of trustees secretary and program host  Ed Blanco ’78 proposed the idea to his fellow board members at a meeting.

“We are a non-profit, community-based public radio station,” says Blanco. “So why not have a public university featured as part of our programming?”

With help from Karen Fuller-Veloz , instructor and associate director of the  School of Music ,the vision came to life. Also the coordinator of the music business program, Fuller-Veloz now produces the FIU Music Hour at WDNA with help from students.

“We are exposing our students to the practical, professional world of what they are studying to be in,” says Fuller-Veloz.

The students are in charge of everything from audio to scripts, running commercials, uploading playlists online, booking musicians and even managing the show’s social media accounts.

For music business students, the show serves as a weekly course with Fuller-Veloz. Students from other majors — past ones ranging from information technology to communication arts —  work as interns in whatever they assist with, including sound engineering, marketing, broadcasting or performance.

Fuller-Veloz, Ousley and the interns frequently reach out to current students and ensembles of all genres within the School of Music as well as alumni to have them on the show.

Previous guests have included the Amernet String Quartet as well as notable alumni  Rodolfo Zuniga, Latin Grammy nominee Tony Succar and Argentine singer Roxana Amad.

“We are promoting and showing the world that our FIU music students are out there doing it and are professionals,” says Fuller-Veloz.

Each performance is streamed worldwide on its website and later archived for viewers to revisit. Ousley says students can then use these clips to promote themselves and book gigs.

The live setting challenges students, preparing them for the unpredictable world of live performance and strengthening their musicianship.

“It’s one thing to play for your fellow students,” says Ousley. “But when you are being recorded and broadcast on air across the city, that’s a new level of experience so they really push themselves to be at their greatest.”

For host Colin Miller, the show has helped him get a head start into the exciting world of broadcasting, where he hopes to work professionally after graduation.

“If you’re live and all of a sudden there’s dead air – you’ve got to think on your feet and improvise,” says Miller.00

“As an interviewer, it has helped me form interesting and thought-provoking questions to my guests,” he adds. “I really couldn’t picture what my broadcasting education would be like without this experience.”

Meraises Miranda, who will graduate next semester with her M.M. in music management and production, has worked alongside Fuller-Veloz in producing the show since last year. 

Miranda has assisted with scouting talent for the show and even helping set up lights, cameras and the show’s online live stream and social media accounts. This year, Miranda is been mentoring newer interns on the in and outs of the show.

An experienced, singer, she has also performed on the music hour, singing bossa-nova and jazz. She also worked at the annual FIU Music Festival alongside some of her heroes — saxophonist Paquita d’ Rivera and Tony Succar.

For undergraduate music business student Beatriz Guzman, the show has allowed her to book more gigs, such as the National Radio Day Festival at WDNA and Lagniappe, a music bar in Midtown, which reached out to her after seeing her perform on the show.

“Getting that gig was pretty life-changing. Being a music major, it can be really hard to feel secure but that moment helped me realize it’s exactly what I want to do.”

She also performed as part of a group for FIU Foundation Board Chair Richard Brilliant’s birthday fundraiser.

“They wanted a singer and a band, and they were concerned about the quality of who they were getting,” says Ousley. “So, I showed them a video of Beatriz from the radio archives, and they loved it.”

For the young and small school of around 250 students, the partnership gives students the real-world experience they need to jump into the world of entertainment.

“It prepares you to network because you have to do interviews and helps you craft yourself as an artist,” says Guzman. “You never know who’s going to be tuned in to the show and where it could take you.”

Students, faculty and alumni interested in performing at WDNA’s FIU Music Hour can contact Karen Fuller-Veloz at  music@fiu.edu.

Performances are free and open to the public at WDNA 2921 Coral Way, Miami FL 33145.

In 1999, Oliver Diez ’99, MM ’16 interviewed for the position of music teacher at Palmetto Elementary School — straight out of college. He was notably enthusiastic, sharing a single, seemingly impracticable goal: starting a concert band, a rare feat for an elementary school.

“I told the [former] principal, ‘I know it’s going to be hard — and it’s going to take years, but that is my goal.’”

Twenty years later, Diez is cherished by his students, directs five different ensembles at the school and is the 2020 Francisco R. Walker Miami-Dade County Teacher of the Year. Diez, 43, was chosen from 19,000 teachers. He was honored at a ceremony Jan. 31 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center.

“This is a huge highlight in my career,” says Diez, who was voted Teacher of the Year at the school in 2002. “It’s not just an achievement as a music teacher, but as an educator on any subject, period.”

Fellow FIU alumnus Eric Torres ’94, principal of Palmetto Elementary School, says: “I have not found a better teacher than him.”

During his practicum as a music educationundergrad at FIU, Diez realized he wanted to teach at the elementary school level in order to lead children into a life full of music at an early age.

“I want them to leave elementary school with as much musical experience as possible,” he says. “I want them to see that music can be a great part of their lives even if they don’t go on to be musicians.”

Diez combines music history, literacy and appreciation into his lessons, also incorporating listening tests so students can familiarize themselves with popular pieces of music they hear everywhere, such as Beethoven’s 5th symphony and the William Tell Overture. He also makes an effort to introduce them to new genres and styles of music, whether it is African drumming, jazz or swing.

Thanks to a fellowship with The Johnny Mercer Foundation, Diez came back to FIU in 2014 for his master’s in music education. He also aspires to earn a Ph.D.

Diez says he worked under a supportive administration and maintains a great relationship with his the parents of his students, having two children of his own enrolled at the school.

“He has a great support from parents because of how invested he is outside of the classroom in his events, tutoring and ensembles,” Torres says.

The school has a performing arts not-for-profit to raise funds for instruments and equipment needed for Diez’s ensembles; parents regularly contribute.

Many of Diez’s former students have kept in touch with him through social media, updating him on their recent achievements.

“I’ve had kids reach out to me and thank me,” he says. “Some of them are now at New World School of the Arts and two years ago one of my former students was accepted into Julliard School of Music to play trombone,” Diez says.

In March, the concert band he aimed to start 20 years ago will be performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City alongside groups from other schools, adding to Diez’s many achievements as an educator.

But Diez says his biggest achievement is “the smiles on [his students’] faces when they are thinking ‘wow, we sound good.’”

Inspired by the late Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University where he shared how auditing a calligraphy class in college inspired him years later to add diverse fonts to Apple computers, we set out to visit classes around campus that make us think differently about what it means to be educated. This is one in a series of drop-ins.

When professor Armando Tranquilino takes out his blue Rickenbacker bass guitar, students are not only entertained but they’re learning about the social and historical impacts of one of the world’s biggest bands.   

 The History of The Beatles (MUH 2370) is an unorthodox course attracting students of all majors. It’s taught face-to-face and online by  Tranquilino, a composer and musician. The professor takes an in-depth look at the social changes of the 1960s and the mass influence of the Fab Four. 

“In the 40s and early 50s, kids sort of dressed like their parents and pretty much listened to the same music,” says Tranquilino, a professor in the  School of Music. “In the 60s, everything was completely shaken up, fashion alone changed drastically. It was a social phenomenon.”

In addition to showcasing the diverse sociocultural influences on the band’s success and their lasting impact on pop culture, the course covers The Beatles’ success as a business, highlighting their management and promotions. The band’s ingenuity in the studio, with help of producer George Martin, is also a recurring topic, exploring the innovative techniques that made their recordings so revolutionary.

“They went from having fairly simple songs to creating truly amazing ones toward the end of their time together. The technology developed along with them, but they took advantage of it in a highly creative way,” he says.

The Beatles experimented with everything from classical and electronic music to even avant-garde. Tranquilino breaks down their most iconic songs, exploring what makes each one of them special.

“I limit the musical information to non-music majors,” Tranquilino explains. “So, there’s no need to read music or to know the difference between F# minor and D diminished, but I do talk about what any music listener can understand and appreciate, such as how the meaning and emotional impact of a song is driven by its melody, harmony, rhythm and the structure of the song itself—verse, chorus, refrain, etc.”

Tranquilino’s goal is for students to begin listening to music differently with a new understanding of musical form and to gain perspective on the impact of the band’s work, which he adds can still be traced today in most modern rock music.

Other angles explored in the course include art, fashion and politics.

“And that’s the great thing about The Beatles,” he says. “There is more to cover than I actually have time for.”

The course, which debuted in 2006, was designed with students of all majors in mind and is supplemented by Tranquilino’s book,  The Beatles: A Magical HISTORY Tour, which he wrote a few years into teaching the course based on the notes and packets he’d hand out for each lesson. The online class usually attracts around 200 students per semester. 

“I don’t really plan a word-by-word lecture, every time I teach it, it’s a little bit different. So it still entertains me. There is still a lot there to discover.”

In 2007, Tranquilino was voted “best professor to jam with” by the Miami New Times.  

“I’m learning that I like The Beatles a lot,” says theater major Carlos Artze, who is currently taking the course. “I thought they were just a cool band but now I know just how much they changed everything. I feel like I actually have some music history knowledge.”

The story of The Beatles is ultimately one of bold determination and authenticity, which Tranquilino hopes will inspire his students —most of which are of the same young age that The Beatles were when they started performing in their late teens and early 20s— to pursue their passion, however unconventional it may seem to others.

“The Beatles were rejected by all the major labels before they finally got signed and they believed in what they were doing and didn’t give up,” he says. “They knew what they were doing and they were okay with failing.”

Widening their appreciation for music and history through the lens of The Beatles, students leave the course understanding how the climate of the 60s made room for their success and how the Beatles helped shape the world that came after them.

Sofia Fernandez, a health administration major whose father is a huge Beatles fan, enrolled in the course last year after seeing one of the fliers on campus. She shared what she learned after each lesson with her father.

“I’d known all of their songs since I was three years old but I never really knew the band’s true history,” she says. “I got into the band even more, which I didn’t think was possible.”

Fernandez adds that the class was the perfect elective for her, allowing her to focus on something outside of her major that was still engaging and significant.

“I remember everything I learned in the Beatles class,” Fernandez says. 

“Sometimes you take a test in a specific subject and you don’t remember what you’ve learned weeks later. But when you really want to just learn something for the fun of it, you remember it forever.”

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When Alex Anacki was 9-years-old, he was flipping through his local newspaper and saw an article that made his heart sink.

His home state of Massachusetts was considering cutting public library funding by 30 percent. A voracious reader on a first-name basis with the local librarians, Anacki knew he needed to take action. He wrote to his local legislators – and then penned a letter to the editor that was published in the local newspaper.

“Libraries are critical parts of our society, and I knew I had to do something,” said Anacki. “I ended up getting a response from all of the legislators – and even from Governor Deval Patrick’s office. I learned then that if I spoke up, I could make a tangible difference in my community.”

Anacki – a National Merit Scholar and member of FIU’s best freshman class in university history – said this experience was a turning point that encouraged him to become more involved in the political process. 

In high school, Anacki interned for the Florida Democratic Party. Later, he landed an internship working for Florida State Representative Margaret Good’s campaign, which had the highest voter turnout for a special election in state history. Today, he works as a paid staffer with Rep. Good, overseeing her social media accounts and facilitating her campaign’s operations.

FIU women's soccer officially kicks off the 2018-19 athletics year on Friday, as the Panthers host Stetson at 7 p.m.

Read more on FIU Sports.com

They found that protons and neutrons – the tiny particles in the nucleus of an atom – work in pairs and affect how they move individually. If more neutrons are added to an atom, protons are more likely to move much quicker. This counterintuitive behavior was predicted by FIU theoretical physicist Misak Sargsian.

With this discovery, scientists are likely to rethink the threshold at which a certain star morphs into a black hole.

“It is likely to change our understanding of the neutron star, one of the most bizarre objects we know to exist,” said FIU physicist Lei Guo, a member of the research team.

Made mostly of neutrons, neutron stars are the smallest, densest stars in the universe. There are roughly 100 million of them in the Milky Way galaxy alone, and they provide insights on how the universe itself has evolved over time.

The study, “Probing high-momentum protons and neutrons in neutron-rich nuclei,” was published today in the journal Nature.

The 151-member research team representing 42 international institutions used data from nuclear physics experiments proposed in part by Sargsian. This experiment was conducted at the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, where FIU researchers are leading other on-going experiments.

— Ayleen Barbel Fattal and Evelyn S. Gonzalez contributed to this story.

It takes a lot of work by a lot of people to keep FIU a top-tier research institution.

On a recent Thursday night, FIU leaders took time to acknowledge how important the faculty’s role is in that process.  

“Faculty are the heart and soul of a university,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Kenneth G. Furton to a crowd  of 150, who had gathered at the Dotson Pavillion at Modesto A. Maidique Campus to celebrate the 13 directors of FIU institutes and centers whose work has earned them the university’s Preeminent and Emerging Preeminent Program status. 

These programs have “played a key role in FIU’s progress in research,” said Andres Gil, vice president of Research and dean of the Graduate School, who acted as master of ceremonies for the event. 

The Preeminent Programs are: Center for Children and Families, Extreme Events Institute, Global Forensic and Justice Center, Institute for Resilient and Sustainable Coastal Infrastructure, Institute of Water and Environment and STEM Transformation Institute.  

The Emerging Preeminent Programs are: Brain, Behavior and the Environment Program; Cybersecurity@FIU; FIU Tropics; Health Inequities and Disparities Program; Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center; Translational Molecular Discoveries; the Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab. 

Led by these programs, annual research awards at FIU have grown by 74 percent in the past 10 years. Annual federal awards have grown substantially in the past four years. National Science Foundation funding has grown 72 percent to $22 million; National Institutes of Health/Health and Human Services has grown 48.7 percent to $26.2 million; U.S. Dept. of Education has grown 52.6 percent to $6.5 million; and U.S. Dept. of Energy has grown 355 percent to $3.2 million.  

Gil added that FIU’s patent production has grown substantially in recent years. In 2017, FIU ranked 26th among U.S. public universities and 61st in the world in patent production.   

And in 2015, he said, FIU was classified Research I by the Carnegie Foundation, a goal which had originally been set for 2020.  

“Tonight is the night we celebrate the success of our colleagues,” said President Mark B. Rosenberg, who noted that the programs being feted at the event represent how FIU is “moving from a more traditional institution of higher education to a more 21st century institution of higher education.” 

These Preeminent and Emerging Preeminent programs are being celebrated not only because they drive research funding, said Provost Furton, but they are also being recognized for their levels of interdisciplinary activity, their ranking at the national level and their ability to retain and attract new faculty.  

By attracting the best faculty to our institution, Furton said, these programs “elevate FIU to a new level of reputation and recognition” and play a significant role in student success. “We are exposing our students to the best educators that are constantly creating new knowledge and developing the solutions for our current and future issues in areas of science and the humanities.”.

For their part, the program directors being celebrated also wanted to keep the focus on faculty. 

“It’s the faculty that really deserves the credit, said Richard Olson, director of the Extreme Events Institute, at the reception following the awards ceremony. “They do the actual work.” 

“This award is not mine,” said William Pelham, director the Center for Children and Families. “I accept it on behalf of my staff – the 30 faculty members, the 150 staff members, the 700 students and 100 grad students working in CCF and the 3,500 families a year who entrust their children to us. I’m grateful to all of them.” 

“This is FIU coming of age,” Olsen said. 

 – By Tim Long

 

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I’m at the FIU Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, which is hosting a drawing salon inspired by “Many Visions, Many Versions: Art from Indigenous Communities in India”, one of their current exhibitions on view.

This calming event invites visitors to exercise the artistic part of their brains. Each monthly session is lead by an artist, museum educators or university faculty member and is held alongside an exhibition. The drawing salons are free and open to the community.

My youth was spent doodling, coloring, fingerpainting and collecting an endless assortment of glitter pens. In the hierarchy of honorable professions, the artist was always above all the rest to me. But beyond sparkling butterflies and the many homemade cards I made for parents, there was not much more to my talent.

Still, art is for everyone, both those whose works captivate the world and those of us who simply want to craft something for our loved ones on a special day. I still love to paint at home when I need to de-stress and leave my mind for a much-needed vacation, but sometimes there’s just no time for it.

“Many Visions, Many Versions” highlights the art from indigenous communities in India, such as the Gond and the Warli. Their mythical portrayals of animal life and symbolic imagery urge the grandest of questions.

“This exhibition is a celebration of life,” said Emily Afre, education specialist at the Frost as she guided us through these intricate paintings.

The other guests and I, who ranged in age and artistic ability, were all instructed to take inspiration in the exhibition’s overlapping themes of spirituality and creation and sketch an anthropomorphic animal similar to those hanging in front of us.

And so, we each took hold of a stool and our drawing materials, which were provided to us by the museum staff. We gravitated toward whichever work of art called out to us and let our hands get to work.

A small group of children also sat quietly in concentration, staring at the art. I couldn’t help but picture myself doing the same a couple of years back had I come here at that age.

Creatures of wonder

I was intrigued by a collection of four drawings called “Fantastical Animals.” One of them showed a multi-headed sheep, another one featured a flamboyant owl with a leaf-shaped body.

Traditional Indian music bounced off the museum’s tall white walls as we all focused on our drawings. I peeked to my sides and saw others sketching majestic trees, frogs, snakes and birds.

“People of all artistic backgrounds can come and hang out in a relaxing environment,” said Miriam Machado, chief curator of education at the Frost. “It’s great because students with free time in between classes can come in and enjoy it. Art students can even add the drawings to their portfolios.”

Adding some final touches to my drawing, I instinctively grazed the white graphite pencil against the black construction paper, building up a giant poofy cloud to crown over a tree that looked more like a broccoli stem. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

I leaned back and had a look at my finished creation.

Huh, not so bad, I thought.

Many Visions, Many Versions: Art from Indigenous Communities in India will be on view until Sept. 9.

Patricia Cárdenas is an editorial intern at FlU News.

If you’re looking for something to do this summer, look no further than the  Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum.

The museum is kicking off the season with two very different but equally captivating exhibitions: The eye-catching  CUT: Abstraction in the United States from the 1970s-Present  and intimate  Spheres of Meaning: An Exhibitions of Artists’ Books.

Both offer a chance for reflection, with  CUT exploring how paint and canvases can be manipulated to deconstruct what we traditionally view as an abstract painting, and  Spheres of Meaning inviting visitors into the minds of artists through their personal artists’ books — or art pieces presented through the medium of a book.

Many of the works featured in  CUT are made up of slashed canvases or paint that’s been cut and layered atop the canvas.

CUT “reframes the traditional American idea of abstraction,” says Jordana Pomeroy, the museum’s director.

“So often, the vision of abstraction is told through the work of white male artists,” adds Amy Galpin, the museum’s chief curator, who says she wanted to showcase how modern artists of color interpret abstraction. “For me, it was really important to create a show of abstraction that was really inclusive and that really challenged what it means to be an American artist from the global vantage point of Miami.”

One of the most remarkable pieces in the exhibition is E-Stamp IV by artist Jack Whitten. The 2007 painting is one of many examples of how paint can be reimagined as a material. From a distance, the work itself looks like an enormous tile, but on a closer look, one can see the mosaic is made up of thick dried squares of bright paint.

Loriel Beltran, one of the Miami-based artists featured in the exhibition, says Whitten directly inspired one of his works featured in  CUT, titled “Classical Weight.”

“I love to see my work beside that of someone I’ve been admiring and referencing,” he says.

His “painting” is made up of undulated cut layers of dried paint and took 12 years to complete.

For the piece, Beltran, a Venezuelan native, made molds for the paint, pouring out a color at a time, letting it dry and repeating the process for nearly two years.

He then cut each block of paint into strips with a custom-made machine and glued each layer to a wooden panel.

“I cut hundred of strips of paint and just that part of the process took about a year and a half,” says Beltran. “It required lots of patience.”

Because of its intricate layers of paint and physical details, Beltran says a photograph alone does not capture its craftsmanship.

“If you don’t see it in front of you, you haven’t really seen it.”

 

Spheres of Meaning too must be experienced in the moment, with many books open for visitors to touch and explore. These are handmade and hand-sewn, everything made meticulously from scratch.

“It gives you an insight into how artists think — they don’t have borders and boundaries,” says Pomeroy.

“It makes you think about how to define the limits of a book. The different ways in which artists interpret a book is astounding.”

Many of the pieces featured were made specifically for the exhibition, including “Fourth Estate” by local artist Donna Ruff, which was created in response to the death of print newspapers.

The accordion-style book is made of stories from The Financial Times, which she soaked in water and then played with the ink left on the pages.

“My work is often about subverting a textual message and in this case, the text is pretty much obliterated, although you can see bits of it if you look closely,” says Ruff, who began making artists’ book through her family, who has years of ties to books and bookbinding.

“Rather than view my book works as destructive, I think of what I do as creating a new life for them,” she adds, saying that “all printed matter has been on a slow path to obsolescence”— and her work is made directly in response to that.

Ruff, who grew up in Miami, says being featured in the exhibition is an honor.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to be part of that [The Frost’s] story and makes me feel welcome where I live and work.”

Through both of these exhibitions, Pomeroy says the museum is highlighting the rich artistic culture in Miami.

“Miami’s becoming a global city, and our museum helps promote our finest artists locally and nationally,” Pomeroy adds.

“These are artists whose studios our students and faculty can visit. Those visitors who typically fly out of town for their art fix might find it here in their own backyard.”

CUT and Spheres of Meaning will remain on view at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum until August 25.

By Joel Delgado ’12, MS ’17

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum announced its spring season schedule last week, which will feature artwork and panel discussions tackling a wide range of issues and subjects in the next several months.

The season kicks off with an opening reception for this spring’s first exhibition — Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project — on Jan. 18.

Here is a sneak peek of what is coming to The Frost during the Spring 2018 semester:

Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project
Jan. 18 – March 18, 2018

In 2013, 50 years after the infamous attack on the African-American 16th Street Baptist Church and the ensuing violence throughout the city of Birmingham, Dawoud Bey created a project to commemorate the children who were killed or injured.

Over the course of seven years, Bey developed The Birmingham Project— a series of vibrant and poignant portraits of current residents who represent the ages of the victims when they died, as well as the ages they would have been if they were still alive.

The exhibition is part of The Frost’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Exhibition Series, which addresses issues of race, diversity, social justice, civil rights and humanity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue and to enrich our community with new perspectives.

The opening reception will take place Jan. 18 at 5 p.m.

Dangerous Women: Selections from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Feb. 17 – May 20, 2018

The Old and New Testaments are full of compelling female characters: good wives and bad, courageous heroines and deceptive–sometimes deadly–femme fatales.

Dangerous Women presents 23 works from the rich holdings of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art that explore different artists’ responses to the women of the Bible.

Paintings by Pietro da Cortona, Francesco Cairo and Fede Galizia are complemented by Old Masters and Robert Henri’s sumptuous, sensuous Salome, which stands as a reminder of how dangerous biblical women have continued to loom large in the modern imagination.

An opening reception and panel discussion will take place Feb. 17 beginning at 3 p.m.

Outsider Artists from Havana
March 31 – June 3, 2018

Outsider Artists from Havana is a project managed by the National Art Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill Foundation, in close collaboration with specialists from the Frost Art Museum and FIU researchers, which aims to show the artistic production of two of the most recognized Cuban artists in the genre of outsider art: Misleidys Castillo and Jorge Alberto Hernández Cadi (El Buzo).

Each artist presents very different aesthetics and themes, according to their respective mental disorders. The interpretation of their special universes is shaped consistently with the recurrence of a distinctive language that is supported by their craft, which is an important concept that unites them.

Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell
March 3 – May 27, 2018

The Frost will close out the season with Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell, the first comprehensive retrospective of Chicana photographer Laura Aguilar.

Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell assembles more than 100 works produced over three decades. Through photographs and videos that are frequently political as well as personal, and which traverse performative, feminist and queer art genres, Aguilar offers candid portrayals of herself, her friends and family, and LGBT and Latinx communities.

Aguilar’s now iconic triptych, Three Eagles Flying (1990), set the stage for her future work by using her nude body as an overt and courageous rebellion against the colonization of Latinx identities — racial, gendered, cultural and sexual. Her practice intuitively evolved over time as she struggled to negotiate and navigate her ethnicity and sexuality, her challenges with depression and auditory dyslexia, and the acceptance of her large body.

This exhibition tells the story of the artist who for most of her life struggled to communicate with words yet ironically emerged as a powerful voice for numerous and diverse marginalized groups.

For more information about our upcoming exhibitions and programming, please visit frost.fiu.edu.

Meet Duchess Milan, a trans woman of color in her 70s living in Los Angeles.

Milan is one of several subjects featured in  “To Survive on This Shore,” an exhibition of intimate portraits of transgender and gender nonconforming adults aged 50 and above by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre. The  Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at FIU is the first museum to present it to the public.

Dugan and Fabbre spent five years traveling across the country, interviewing and photographing subjects of diverse backgrounds whose stories go as far back as 90 years ago.

“Most of them transitioned before the age of the internet, so their coming out and transitioning was very different than that of maybe someone who is coming out today,” says Amy Galpin, chief curator at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum.

Galpin says the museum aims to present great art that challenges visitors to see the world in a different light.

“I think that maybe the notion of being transgender and over the age of 50 is not something everyone has thought about,” she adds. “They’re also just amazing photographs. This is a great achievement.”

Dugan hopes the exhibition will spark empathy and raise awareness of the many hardships transgender adults face, such as  employment, housing and healthcare discrimination.

“Most prejudice and discrimination comes from a lack of understanding,” she says.

“Photography and storytelling through art exhibitions at museums is a powerful medium for education. Once you come to know someone’s life story, it is much harder to discriminate against them.”

The exhibition opened to standing-room-only crowds. Carter Casio, a nonbinary student ambassador in the  LGBTQA initiatives office was one of the many people at its opening.

“The fact that this is available for everyone to see at a public university in Miami for free is so powerful,” Casio says.

Casio—whose preferred pronouns are they/them—says the exhibition moved them to tears. For someone still settling into their identity, seeing older and fully-realized trans adults gave Casio hope that they too will live a prosperous life in their later years.

“It’s one of those things I didn’t realize I was missing in my life until it came into my life,” Casio said.

Casio is hyper-aware of the short life-expectancy for transgender people, which is estimated at around 30 to 35 for trans women.

Casio got the opportunity to meet Dugan at the event and thank her for shedding light on this obscured group in our population.

“The thing I love most about it is that not only do we see elders in the trans community but there are just so many perspectives,” Casio says. “I feel like a lot of time in the queer community we only think of coming out as this linear thing, but it’s a journey just finding yourself and it’s a non-linear process.”

“Seeing trans people not only surviving—but thriving—makes me feel hopeful for my generation of fellow trans and non-binary individuals,” said Casio.

“We’re gonna make it, grow old and live prosperous lives.”

he LGBTQA initiatives office offers scholarships, internships and volunteering opportunities to students. Their office is in GC 216. You can also contact them at lgbt@fiu.edu.

“To Survive on This Shore” will be on display at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum until April 28. The exhibition kicks off the museum’s yearlong commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which will culminate in the fall with Art After Stonewall (1969-1989), the first major museum exhibition about how the LGBT civil rights movement impacted the art world.

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FIU track and field standout, Alec Dominguez (Weston, Florida/St. Thomas Aquinas), has been recognized by Conference USA as one of 14 Spirit of Service Award winners for this past spring the league announced on Wednesday.

Read more on FIU Sports.com

In a time when law school grads have to work harder than ever to gain employment after graduation, FIU College of Law graduates are beating the odds – and national average – when it comes to finding a job.

Law.com’s Daily Business Review reports that 80 percent of FIU’s College of Law graduates were employed full-time 10 months after graduation. The national average is 75 percent.

Ana Bierman, dean of the Ovadia Career Planning and Placement Office, said one of the reasons College of Law grads do so well in the marketplace is because the school teaches them the importance of acquiring as much practical experience as possible.

“We have internship opportunities and clinics here at the school, and many of our students also work part time while they are students,” says Bierman. “I think that makes them extremely marketable as young lawyers after graduation.”

When it comes to debt burden, FIU College of Law graduates often have an advantage over those from other schools.

“That plays a big role in our students’ ability to consider careers across the spectrum: in the private sector, in the government sector, and in the public sector,” says Bierman. “Because they generally have less debt burden than other students, they can really follow their passion in a way that somebody who perhaps has a much higher debt burden cannot.”

Bierman also emphasized the fact that the Planning and Placement Office makes an effort to meet with every law student during their first year.

“The idea is that they will always have a resource that will be here not just during their three years in law school – four if they are part-time students – but throughout the duration of their career that will be here to give them advice. We are really interested in identifying growth areas that are relevant to our students.”

Beyond the services offered by the law school’s career placement office, the curriculum prepares graduates to represent well during the interview process.

“Our faculty has designed a dynamic curriculum that both teaches students to ‘think like lawyers’ as well as provides wide-ranging, practical opportunities that facilitate real-world application,” says Michelle Mason, senior associate dean for experiential learning at the College of Law. “Consequently, FIU Law graduates have been able to successfully leverage these skills in the employment market.”

This is the latest in a series of accolades for the law school.

College of Law graduates have earned the highest passage rate on four of the past five Florida Bar examinations, The National Jurist named it the nation’s 17th Best Value Law School, and it has the highest acceptance rate in Florida and 30th in the nation among law schools, according to U.S. News + World Report.

Conference USA has announced its broadcast schedule for the 2018 football season, including 11 FIU games being available on traditional linear television or via streaming and social media.

 Read more at FIU Sports.com

FIU junior pitcher Andres Nunez was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 29^thround of the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft on Wednesday afternoon.

Nunez was the 872^nd pick and the first Panther taken in this year's draft.

Read more on FIU Sports.com

If you asked alumna and FIU employee Peggy Nolan whether or not she had any doubts about deciding to study art, she would quickly and proudly answer “no.”

“It’s just really fun to make art,” says the 74-year-old. “Much more fun than I can imagine almost anything else.”

Nolan was a mother of seven in her late 40s when she decided to go back to school to take a photography course at FIU. She eventually earned a BFA in 1990 and an MFA in 2001. 

“I dropped out of school in the 60s to get married and move to Mexico, and I then had seven children and didn’t have time to do anything except raise kids. So, I pretty much taught myself to photograph,” she said.

Since her days as a student, Nolan has been working at the photography lab at MMC, first as a volunteer, and now as its manager. She is also an adjunct professor of film photography in the department of Art + Art History.

Nolan says being surrounded and supported by fellow artists was inspiring to her as a student. “I thought it was heaven. I had never been surrounded by so many good photographers that were obsessed with making pictures. It was a very exciting place to be.”

Still, she is aware of the anxiety other students may be faced with when considering a creative career path. Nolan says that addressing one’s creative side can be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling, adding that attending college is all about “learning to think and  learning to understand, and I think that the art department is a great place for that.”

She also emphasized the many valuable skills that art majors develop while in school, saying “art majors are trained to have the kind of skills that translate into almost any field, because they become huge problem solvers.” For example: “How can I climb up on a ladder and photograph something 100 ft. down? How can I make a sculpture that looks like my grandmother?”

Nolan lives and breathes for her art. She speaks of both her photographs and her family with  affection and pride. Through photography, Nolan has been able to document the intricacies of her family life, her children and eight grandchildren being a central aspect of her work.

One of her favorite photographs, Alice Thinking, shows her granddaughter Alice looking contemplative while lying in the bathtub. It will be featured in her upcoming book Tales of a Badass Grandma, which was funded via Kickstarter.

Two of her children, Thomas BFA ’04 and Abner BFA ’95, as well as her daughter-in-law Harumi Abe MFA ’08 are also art alumni. Thomas and Abe have been awarded the South Florida Cultural Consortium fellowship, which Peggy herself has earned twice.

Her son Abner currently teaches photography at California College of the Arts in Oakland, California. He also manages a private art collection in San Francisco.

“I think we were all greatly encouraged by our mother’s ambition and enthusiasm for art making,” he said, adding that he was aware of how unconventional his family was in this regard. “We always had this very important kind of ongoing conversation about what it meant to be a photographer and an artist, and that very much still continues.”

Abner believes FIU’s interdisciplinary approach to education prepares art majors for a variety of jobs. “The program was rooted in a strong sense of one’s own work and ideas. I don’t think any job of any interest would not require some ideas of creative thinking and creative production,” he said. Both he and his mother agree that anyone who is passionate about art should study it.

For those who are artistically inclined but whose career interests lie elsewhere, Peggy suggests taking art electives, which can provide an emotional outlet.

“A lot of them, they need release from everything else that they are doing, and it’s not that it’s easy – film photography is very demanding and it takes a lot of time and money – but you have release because you’re able to reach inside your own psyche, instead of coughing up all kinds of information that you’ve memorized,” she said.

Finally, Peggy thinks that being able to be creative every day, both at work and at home, is enormously rewarding.

“I can’t imagine my life any differently – and I’ve done other jobs,” she said. “I feel very fortunate to be on the art side of things.”

Walking down Ocean Drive in South Beach, it’s impossible not to spot the endless row of pastel-colored Art Deco structures that reflect the turquoise of the sea, the soft pinks and purples floating over the sunset and the bright hues of the morning sun. 

These buildings, which were once elegantly painted in white or cream tones and considered the peak of modernity, are now part of Miami Beach’s history. Art Deco, which embraced both nature and futurism, has endured the test of time, still resonating with artists for its glamorous and luxurious appeal.

The Wolfsonian-FIU has dedicated its first exhibition to the style. Curated by Silvia Barisione and Shoshana Resnikoff, Deco: Luxury to Mass Market. traces Art Deco’s European origins and later widespread influence on art, architecture, fashion, furniture, transportation and everyday appliances.

Barisione, the museum’s curator, says Art Deco adds to the city’s charm. “As a European from Italy, the idea of being somewhere where the historic district consists of Art Deco, when back in Italy we have a medieval architecture and ancient cathedrals, is exciting.”

French charm and extravagance  

As a movement, Art Deco embraced the rapidly-shifting technological innovations of the 20th century, while also drawing inspiration from history, exalting nature, geometry and exotic cultures outside of Europe.

“Architects and designers were interested in creating a style for the current time,” Resnikoff says. “They didn’t call themselves Art Deco, they called themselves the modern style.”  

The style asserted France as a leader in high-end fashion and goods. The elegant and symmetrical style quickly became popular within French department stores, who showcased rooms decked out in it. Art Deco also influenced innovative ocean liners designed at the time.

Its impact reached international heights, blossoming all over Europe as well as in Japan and India.

As it grew in popularity, it faced an industrial makeover in line with a nation that was commercially thriving across the pond.

A tropical paradise

Across the Atlantic, The 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago brought the celebrated style to the United States, leaving a lasting impression on American design and architecture, particularly in Florida. 

Miami’s Art Deco highlighted the city’s tropical flair, with flamingos and palm trees adorning its hotels.

Nationwide, the sleek streamlining style could also be easily found in stores. Items like shavers, lighters, radios and toasters alluded to the minimalist fluting and stacked lines that framed the newly-erected structures on the streets.

Today, Art Deco remains as elegant as ever, with part of its timeless appeal due to its ties with Hollywood, whose start coincided with Art Deco flourishing in America.

“It became synonymous with glamour and luxury in this period,” Resnikoff says. “That’s something we are still referencing stylistically today and see in the work that contemporary designers are doing.”

Bringing Art Deco to FIU

Inside the Wolfsonian, there are inevitable traces of Art Deco in its furniture and other galleries.

The Wolfsonian’s exhibition, Resnikoff says, is a way for the museum to connect with the unique community of Miami Beach and FIU.

The museum’s free Friday guided walking tours welcome visitors to take what they have learned at the exhibition to search for Art Deco right outside the doors of the Wolfsonian. Their experience of Miami Beach will be forever enriched.

Admission to Deco: Luxury to Mass Market is free for students, faculty and staff of the Florida State University System.

The Department of Art + Art History has many recent successes to celebrate.

Alumna Mirena Suarez and graduate student Julie Orsini Shakher, both in the art education program, recently won the Hermitage State Teacher/Artist Residency, a coveted four-week residency in Sarasota.

This semester, the Academy of Portrait and Figurative Art also debuted its brand new studio in Viertes Haus.

At 1,000 square feet, the intimate space offers everything its students may need for their art: easels, casts, color correcting LED lights, as well as a stage for visiting models.

The academy is led by its founder, David Chang, a classically-trained artist, professor and chair of the department. It functions as an atelier —where pupils learn one-on-one with a master, in this case, Chang, to perfect their drawing and painting under his guidance. It remains the first of its kind at a public university in the nation.

The new space further cements the success of the academy, which was founded in 2017. Since its inception, FIU’s most talented students, and even alumni have come to be a part of this unique and competitive experience at the university, establishing it as a leader of visual art in higher education.

Courses offered include portrait, figure and landscape painting as well as classical drawing. Students are required to fulfill a weekly eight hours of studio time, during which they perfect their work and engage in critiques along with their peers.

A few years later she was studying architecture at a small college outside of Boston when she approached an advisor about a career in theater. “I would love to know what goes into it. I would love to be a part of that,” she explained. Soon Williams was ushered into a class where her interest in architecture and her newfound fascination had her building sets, hanging lights and pulling props.

Williams eventually transferred to FIU, formally became a theater major and designed her first set, for the absurdist play Ubu Rex, during the 2017-2018 season.

“When I first read the script, I had no idea how this could be staged,” Williams says. “One minute they’re in a castle, then the next minute they’re in a cave. Then all of a sudden there’s a horse. It’s all over the place.”

She settled on creating an elegant banquet hall—long, beautifully set tables and tall columns and curtains enclosing the audience in the space—that the play’s monstrous king and queen would destroy. The audience walked into an opulent setting only to see it torn apart.

Her attention to detail paid off. When the production took the stage at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival regional competition in Georgia, Williams beat out more than a dozen others in the set design category. A few months later, in Washington, D.C., she won national honors. The prize included $500 and a trip to a workshop in Las Vegas, where she had the chance to go backstage at—wait for it—three different Cirque de Soleil productions. Meeting the creative teams laid the possibility that Williams one day could land a job with the company.

“That’s my dream,” she says, still true to the show that ignited her passion. Whatever the future holds, one thing is for sure: This award-winning student has set the stage for her success.

Passion fruit is Khareem Oliver’s favorite smoothie flavor. And it shows. 

The go-getter has a résumé that begins with a volunteer job at an animal shelter at age seven—a response to his not being able to keep a dog in his apartment—and explodes in high school with his developing an app to locate lost pets, an innovation that twice won him seed money from investors.

Fast forward a few years, and the now-senior marketing major has since broadened his horizons by landing an internship (after having held ones with a local bank and an international freight forwarder) in FIU’s branding office, for which he recruits social media influencers to promote school merch and tracks the results of viral campaigns designed to engage students.

On the side, Oliver has added to his portfolio a pair of online resale businesses that serve the growing market for rare sneakers and vintage clothing. And most recently, he started 305 Agency, a branding and marketing outlet that he hopes to make a full-time pursuit following his December graduation.

“Why wait and do something later?” asks the fast-moving entrepreneur, a technology maven who keeps up with trends in his industries of interest so to put his own twist on them. “I want to do it now.”

Even with so much going on, Oliver has bigger plans still, a dream he can’t shake: establishing a smoothie shop or two to serve customers in low-income neighborhoods. He believes food deserts deserve attention and anticipates that post-pandemic America will again see the economic conditions to make the venture viable.

“There’s a lot of opportunity,” asserts Oliver, who adds that the desire for nutritious options extends beyond the borders that business owners have traditionally mined. “I think they’re looking at it with a closed mindset,” he says. “They don’t see the bigger picture.”

No one will ever accuse Oliver of such small thinking: He is 100 percent open for business.

Mitra Naseh traffics in hope.

The native of Iran earned an undergraduate degree in computer science engineering, but early exposure to the plight of Afghan refugees eventually forced a twist of fate.

From age 5, when she quizzically witnessed adults treat the misplaced with disdain, and later when as a teenager she taught math to street children, Naseh felt a call to fight for those facing discrimination and suffering deprivation.

Today a Ph.D. student in the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, she landed in Miami with a master’s degree in urban planning and development from an Iranian university and a resume that included working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. That post gave her a view into situations she remembers as terribly sad and sometimes inhumane, even as she saw flashes of resilience.

Naseh currently conducts research that has her interviewing Syrian refugees living in Jordan, a feat made possible after she connected with an FIU alumna working overseas. The data-gathering conversations—conducted via Skype, as a U.S travel ban that would compromise her return to Miami has precluded her going abroad—delve into issues of poverty and refugee welfare.

Under the guidance of Professor Miriam Potocky, Naseh has undertaken several activities that put her squarely on a path to serve as an expert voice for the population she studies. These include curating an exhibit on refugee shelters at the Coral Gables Museum (pictured), researching and co-authoring the second edition of Potocky’s ground-breaking “Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants” (Columbia University Press) and developing a mobile app aimed at those in greatest need (SmartsAid.com). With as many as 80 percent of adult refugees estimated to own cell phones—often their sole possession and only link to home or other scattered family members, Naseh explains—an app that connects new arrivals to resources in real time has gained interest and even earned Naseh and her collaborators a spot in the competitive StartUP FIU innovation accelerator.

With the world currently experiencing the highest levels of human displacement in history, Naseh looks toward a career that will allow her to help improve the future for millions. “Hope is the key,” she says of the unwanted. “They survived war. They survived persecution. They will survive the rest. Just give them a little bit of hope.”

Ugo Angeletti likes to get his hands on the grimy stuff.

The freshman marketing major with a minor in agroecology started rummaging through his neighbors’ trash, with permission, for a high school assignment to determine what and how much people get rid of. Surprised by the amount of organic material in a typical family’s weekly haul—including such things as fruit rinds, egg shells and coffee grounds—Angeletti alighted on a quest: to keep food waste out of landfills.

His Advanced Placement environmental studies class had taught him that such discards decompose very slowly when covered by other types of garbage and in the process create methane gas that contributes to global warming. (Other negative consequences include the build up of toxic sludge that contaminates groundwater.)

Twelve years after moving to South Florida with his family from their native France, the transplant wanted to coalesce the community around a solution to help ensure the region’s future. “Miami is sitting on the frontline of climate change,” Angeletti said, conscious of threatening sea level rise, “and very few people are doing anything concrete to fight against it.”

Along with his three younger sisters, Angeletti developed the nonprofit back2earth. The organization provides high-grade plastic buckets with heavy lids in which homeowners collect food scraps. In just the first three months of operation, he and volunteers picked up thousands of pounds of waste from participating families. The group is turning the refuse into compost that will be sold locally to backyard gardeners, professional landscapers and others to enrich soil.

Now expanding into Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, Angeletti has refined the process with a central drop-off location. And his business model has also shifted. What he now actively encourages—by making presentations to area middle schools in hopes of growing a groundswell of support—is that individuals do their own composting at home, thereby negating the need for energy-intensive transporting of waste.

“When you think about it, [our] service is not really the solution. It’s a fix,” he says. “Educating the world is really the best tool.” 

For the first time ever, researchers are able to look on a large scale at both neurobiological and clinical information obtained before and after a hurricane makes landfall. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD) — the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States — FIU psychologists Jonathan Comer and Anthony Dick are comparing child brain function before and after hurricane Irma with the intention of studying children’s response to disasters more generally.

The recently released ABCD dataset gave them access to baseline data from three sites affected by Irma — Miami and Gainesville in Florida and Charleston, S.C. — providing a unique opportunity to study the effects of natural disasters in children and collect valuable data on a broad scale. Comer and Dick are combining this existing data with new data to evaluate each child’s experiences related to Irma. They also surveyed children in San Diego for comparison.

Preliminary results show increased post-traumatic stress symptoms in children who evacuated under stressful conditions as well as those who remained directly in Irma’s path during the storm. These are the children who felt the impacts of the aftermath first-hand and were exposed to large doses of storm-related media coverage in the affected areas. Children in San Diego also exhibited post-traumatic stress symptoms associated with Irma-related media exposure even though they were not directly in harm’s way.

“We hope to provide guidance for how communities and families can better prepare for and respond to disasters in ways that mitigate potential long-term child suffering in the aftermath of disaster,” Dick said. “This work will identify key factors that can promote resilience in children exposed to disasters.”

Comer and Dick recently presented findings of their National Science Foundation-funded study on Capitol Hill as part of the Coalition for National Science Funding. They were in Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress and their staff to advocate for continued science funding.

The next step is to collect additional data from the same families during the year following Irma. The children will also be followed into adulthood to find out how their brains respond to various disaster-related incidents. This will complete the first large-scale study of the effects of disaster exposure on children that incorporates biological data including neural and genetic factors, cognitive, clinical, and neuropsychological outcomes.

“Understanding complex and dynamic interactions that unfold across time when disasters affect youth is important for developing appropriate public response,” Comer said. “Parents, first responders, and media and policymakers at local, state and federal levels must know which actions can have particularly negative effects on disaster-exposed youth and which factors can instead promote resilience.”

Comer has conducted extensive research on the psychological impact of traumatic events on youth. As director of the Mental Health Interventions and Technology Program at FIU’s Center for Children and Families, he conducts research on expanding the quality, scope and accessibility of mental health care for children and adolescents. Dick is a co-investigator in the ABCD study and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience program at FIU. He studies the development and neurobiology of language and executive function. He uses neuroimaging methods, including functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI and MRI) to examine typical and atypical child development.

Recruitment of participants for the ABCD study began in September 2016 at 21 study sites across the country including FIU. The study is designed to include a diverse population that reflects the demographics of the United States. So far, nearly 8,000 youth have been enrolled. The goal is to enroll a total of 11,500 children by the end of 2018. For more information or if you are interested in participating in this landmark study, please visit ABCDstudy.org.

The FIU Athletic Department continues to maintain a level of academic excellence, posting the highest grade point average in the department's history (3.28) this past semester. It marks the eighth-straight semester in which FIU has posted a department GPA of 3.0-or-better.

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FIU opens the 2018 Conference USA Championship by taking on Florida Atlantic at 10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday from MGM Park in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The Panthers split two games against the Owls earlier this season May 4-5 in Miami. FIU dropped the series opener 11-4, before winning the next night, 8-5. FAU leads the all-time series 63-49.

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The Walter and Rosalie Goldberg Professorship in Tropical Ecology is designed to expand FIU’s already-growing expertise in conservation, sustainability, resilience, impacts of invasive species and other human disruptions to tropical ecosystems. The search for a top scholar in tropical ecosystems will launch later this year.

Natives of Massachusetts, Walter joined FIU’s faculty in 1973 and Rosalie spent her career in Miami working for BellSouth and later AT&T. For the next 39 years, Walter taught many general biology, oceanography and zoology courses and focused his research on the biology of corals. He retired in 2012 but returned one year later to teach a scientific writing course for honors students, a course he still teaches today. A professorship in marine sciences might have seemed an obvious choice for the couple who has been married for 47 years, but the Goldbergs wanted to do more.

“We have all kinds of problems with every ecosystem you can think of, so we wanted it to be all-encompassing,” Walter said. “This is not a position I’m creating in my own image. The person hired for this professorship is going to be a world-class expert in resilience and sustainability of tropical ecosystems regardless of the type of ecosystem. Terrestrial, marine or aquatic.”

In less than 50 years, more than 60 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in tropical regions, deriving nearly all of their food, medicines and shelter from tropical species. FIU Tropics, which includes the Tropical Conservation Institute, is an initiative within the College of Arts, Sciences & Education to advance research that provides meaningful solutions needed for a sustainable future in these regions. Currently, more than 50 faculty members focus their research on the tropics.

“Throughout his career, Dr. Goldberg has been central to the development of FIU, the Department of Biological Sciences and the Marine Sciences Program,” said Mike Heithaus, dean of the FIU College of Arts, Sciences & Education and colleague of Walter’s. “It’s very special that he is continuing to help FIU grow and providing a legacy that will be meaningful to students and the department and will help protect tropical ecosystems for generations to come.”

Walter was only 27 when he joined the FIU faculty in 1973 — one year after the university first opened its doors — and says he basically grew up in the Department of Biological Sciences.

“To have this opportunity to make a difference, to do something like this, I wouldn’t have believed it back then. But I’m glad we are able to do it,” Walter said. “The development of the Department of Biological Sciences at FIU has always been and will always be very important to Rosalie and me.”

The problem is so clear, it might be the first real sign Earth has entered a new geological era.

Using a combination of aerial photographs from the 1930s, modern satellite imagery and ground sediment samples, FIU Sea Level Solutions Center researchers Randall W. Parkinson and John F. Meeder tracked the mangroves’ westward retreat from the coastal Everglades. Now, their backs are to the wall – literally. Having reached the L-31E levee in southeast Miami-Dade County, there’s nowhere left for mangroves in that part of the Everglades to flee.

“You can see migration westward has stopped right where that levee is,” Parkinson said. “In many cases there no space for them to migrate into — there’s development or some feature that blocks their migration. They’re done. That’s it.”

Parkinson estimates that in 30 years, the land now occupied by mangroves could be open water. For people living nearby, it would mean the loss of one of the natural barriers to storm surge and saltwater intrusion. For the rest of the Everglades, their survival might hinge solely on ongoing restoration efforts.

Scientists have seen mangroves make the same desperate moves elsewhere on the planet in response to climate change caused by people. These migrations are so clear and pervasive, they argue it’s a sign the earth has entered a new geological era — one that is marked by man’s emergence as the dominant influence on the planet. Other researchers have proposed that this new era – the Anthropocene – should coincide with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution or the dropping of the first atomic bomb, among others.

Not so fast in light of the obvious reactions by mangroves, said Parkinson.

“Epochs are marked by geological events that are global, instantaneous, and easily recognized,” he said. ” So, what we have proposed is reasonable and justified.”

The research findings were recently published in the Journal of Coastal Research.

Adapting to the damaging effects of climate change, plants are gradually moving to where temperatures are cooler, rainfall is greater, freshwater is available or other conditions are ideal.

On a local scale, FIU biology student Sean Charles is examining how mangroves in the Florida Everglades are impacting the ecosystem around them as they gradually move inland from saltwater to freshwater communities. For now, this tactic is helping the plants keep up with salt water intrusion caused by sea level rise.

Wetland ecosystems like the Florida Everglades provide a number of services that benefit people, including flood control, water purification, and carbon accumulation that removes harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Charles’ study specifically looks at how vegetation shifts and sea level rise, combined with ongoing restoration efforts, will impact ecosystem functions, soil elevation and the Everglades’ ability to store carbon. His research project is funded by the Everglades Foundation FIU ForEverglades Scholarship.

“The world’s largest wetland restoration effort is taking place right now in the Everglades,” said Charles, a Ph.D. student in John Kominoski’s Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory. “It’s a very interesting, yet scary, time for this amazing ecosystem, and we have the potential to make a difference. This study will improve our understanding of the risks and opportunities likely to confront the Everglades of the future, as well as coastal wetlands throughout the world.”

In addition to improving what is known about interactions among mangroves and their environment, Charles wants to inform Everglades conservation and restoration. He is also engaging K-12 students in Collier and Miami-Dade counties in a coastal plant restoration project. Known as “Marsh-Mangress,” the public school students will grow mangrove seedlings on school grounds until they are established and ready to be planted at local restoration sites.

“By learning through participating in active restoration projects, students will be engaged in the importance of environmental conservation and will, hopefully, better understand their role in it,” Charles said.

BMI Financial Group, Inc. (BMI) has partnered with FIU to develop two unique programs that will provide support and hands-on learning opportunities for business students.’

The programs will be known as the BMI Global Business Experience and the BMI Eminent Scholars Program.

“Through this investment in its community, BMI hopes to nurture and keep talented future business professionals in South Florida and develop a private-public partnership that can serve as a successful national model for corporations and universities in the future,” said Andrew Sierra, vice president, treasurer, and chief compliance officer at BMI. “Being able to contribute to the cultivation of great Miami talent in this way, is truly rewarding to us and to our community”

The BMI Global Business Experience is a blended scholarship and experiential learning opportunity. Top FIU Business upperclassmen will experience firsthand the inner workings of one of BMI’s international offices in Colombia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, or Guatemala during a summer program. Students will work directly with the host office’s president and leadership team, who will mentor and coach students as they tackle real-world business challenges. In addition, BMI will pair each student with a mentor from its Miami leadership team, invite students to its Miami headquarters, and host events throughout the school year.

Through the BMI Eminent Scholars Program, top local freshmen admitted to FIU Business who demonstrate academic excellence and financial need will be invited to apply for a full-tuition scholarship. More than a scholarship program, BMI Eminent Scholars will receive mentorship from BMI leaders and internship opportunities, which will help prepare them for the demands of the workplace.

“We are excited to partner with BMI Financial Group, Inc.,” said Joanne Li, dean of FIU’s College of Business. “These two unique programs hold the potential to be game-changers for our students, giving them vitally needed support and invaluable real-world experiences.”

Students seeking more information about the BMI scholarships may contact Megan Meeks, FIU Business’ director of corporate relations: mmeeks@fiu.edu or 305-348-7953.

Joanne Li first came to the United States from Hong Kong as an international student. She earned an undergraduate degree and a Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in finance from Florida State University before embarking on a career as a faculty member, editor, financial executive and, most recently, the dean of the Raj Soin School of Business at Wright State University in Ohio. In May of 2017, Li returned to the state of Florida, her daughter and husband by her side, to serve as the dean of FIU’s College of Business, where she is also a professor of finance and the Ryder Eminent Scholar.

What are your priorities for the College of Business?
My top priority is to grow a strong sense of community within our large urban university. We at the College of Business want to take a holistic approach with regard to students’ academic, professional and social activities. Our soon-to-be- launched BizPASS will encourage their participation in events such as visiting lectures and career-building opportunities using a point system. Through calculated student engagement that rewards good habits and an openness to exploration, we hope to enhance students’ career skills, build their professional networks and foster a sense of loyalty and commitment to FIU and one another — all of which will follow and benefit them after graduation.

Are there any specific goals you are shooting for in the coming years?
We want to tell the story of the FIU College of Business to a wider audience. We have top national rankings — U.S. News & World Report ranks our undergraduate international business #7 in the country, the Real Estate Academic Leadership journal ranked our faculty’s real estate research #1 nationally and #2 globally, and HR.com ranks our human resources program #1. Soon enough all Fortune 500 companies will be actively recruiting our graduates.

What are the college’s strengths and how do you plan to capitalize on them?
With over 10,000 students, FIU Business has an economy of scope. This scale allows us to provide a wide array of programs, particularly in the graduate arena. We’re also moving forward into new programs, such as the Impact MBA in a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank and a new Doctor of Business Administration program that offers a next step to high-level executives seeking advanced insights into global business.

You’re still new to FIU. What stands out to you?
People at FIU are genuine and welcoming. I feel at home here. We have a diverse faculty and student body that are bilingual, even trilingual, and international. This leverages the mission of FIU in a unique way — seeing things from diverse perspectives is part of our DNA.

What are you enjoying about life in South Florida?
I love the coffee, the culture and, most of all, the people here. Miamians are very warm. I love all the hugging and kissing.

Brian Castillo is the kind of young professional Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants to see more of. With a BS in biomedical engineering in hand, the 2016 alumnus stepped immediately from the commencement stage into a job with the South Florida division of medical technologies firm Stryker. Today the 25-year-old robotics systems engineer (pictured above) is leading a team in the design, development and eventual market release of a robot for use in knee and hip replacement surgeries.

That perfect example of a graduate’s transition from school to employment gets at the heart of the two-term governor’s ongoing demand that Florida’s 12 public universities do more to meet the needs of Florida’s companies. In response to Scott’s steady drumbeat on the subject, the State University System’s governing board in 2014 began measuring the institutions against a list of key performance indicators, among them: turning out holders of bachelor’s degrees ready to enter the workforce.

At the same time the official economic development organization for Miami-Dade County, The Miami-Dade Beacon Council, has undertaken efforts to foster areas of potential growth within the region and ensure a corresponding talent pool.

“What we recognize is that education is the foundation of the strategic plan that will create economic sustainability for all of Miami-Dade County,” says Joseph E. Hovancak, vice president of the organization’s One Community One Goal initiative, which strives to create an environment for significant job creation in target industries. His office has brought together the presidents of local colleges and universities and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent under the umbrella of the Academic Leaders Council, of which FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg served as chair from 2012-2016. The group meets quarterly to discuss skills gaps, and its members interact directly with executives looking to either expand their operations or move to South Florida.

“Companies want to feel confident in the environment they’re in and that there is a prospect for long-term growth,” says Jaap Donath, the Beacon Council’s senior vice president for research and strategic planning. The willingness of higher education leaders to talk about workforce needs and engage executives “helps make the case that you don’t have to go outside the area to grow your company.”

FIU has embraced the challenge of getting graduates into meaningful work that moves the economy forward and relies on a variety of approaches to guarantee they can contribute what their employers need to stay competitive.

FIU came on like gangbusters this week at  eMerge Americas, the international tech conference that annually gathers thousands of movers and shakers to Miami Beach. A major presence at the event for the fifth year in a row, the university showcased research coming out of its labs and highlighted local entrepreneurs whose innovations have gotten a boost from its campus business accelerator.

Among the attractions drawing attendees to FIU’s exhibit space: robotic vehicles developed to clean up nuclear waste sites; a virtual reality experience that had headset-wearing viewers swimming with hammerhead sharks; a computer simulation that takes visitors on a stroll through campus; demonstrations of a quick and easy cocaine drug test developed by university chemists; a College of Business faculty-driven technology consulting group that specializes in data analytics; and much more. The founders of four young companies who have each gone through the intensive 15-week  StartUP FIU program also commanded attention as they detailed promising inventions.

Visitors had a blast.

“We decided it would be amazing for us to actually come here,” said Belen high school student Martin Frallicciardi. He and about 10 of his buddies convinced their business teacher to bring them to the conference, and the group eagerly made its rounds through FIU’s booth. There they spoke with university faculty and tried their hand at a variety of stations.

“What [FIU] captured the most was being able to interact,” Frallicciardi said. He and the others appreciated in particular the opportunity to control the movement of robots designed to assist with the environmental cleanup of contaminated sites associated with nuclear weapons production and nuclear energy research.

A group of younger schoolchildren stopped by to try on virtual reality headsets that took them into the ocean deep. College of Arts, Sciences & Education Dean Mike Heithaus, a marine biologist who himself has conducted underwater research, talked about the impact of the 3D experience for people of all ages, whom he hoped would be inspired.

“Getting immersed in something is so much different than just watching it on a screen or hearing about it. This is a way to bring the field to people. It lets us reach this huge audience.” said Heithaus, who at one point donned a headset and called the experience “pretty darn impressive, how similar it is” to the real thing.

Speaking of sharks, also present were four entrepreneurs who participated this spring in StartUP FIU. They will be making pitches, a la  Shark Tank, on  May 1 to a group of investors invited to MMC for formal presentations. FIU’s business accelerator has provided comprehensive workshops and mentoring to help jumpstart the companies, each of which is based on an exciting new technology.

“They’ve been working on developing their business plan and refining it for weeks and weeks, and now it’s really their first chance to talk to the public about it,” said StartUP FIU Director Kate Sachman of those seeking crucial investment funding. “This is a rehearsal for next week, for pitch day, even though it’s less structured. It’s a way of testing how they’re communicating even as they’re refining their pitch.”

Anabetsy Rivero showed off her artificial intelligence-based computer program. She will be asking investors for no less than $1 million to fund Metastatic AI, which aims to provide doctors and patients with breast cancer diagnoses that are more than 99 percent accurate. Currently, a third of women who undergo treatment as the result of inconclusive tests are found later to have been misdiagnosed.

Attendee Thomas Foster stopped to talk with Rivero, whom he had met previously. “It’s just amazing,” he said of her product. “I could see a lot of doctors adopting it once it’s approved by the FDA.”

The businessman saw the technology as much more than a viable moneymaker. “I personally know a few women that got misdiagnosed, where they had a double mastectomy and they had to have reconstructive surgery,” Foster said. “They were happy they didn’t have cancer but [imagine] going through the whole entire thing. [This] will help revolutionize breast cancer detection and diagnosis.”

Damian Estrada took visitors through the software offered by his company, Mandatum. Run alongside Amazon, it provides consumers with the ability to name their own price for goods and could be a game-changer by saving online buyers both time and money.

Businessman Luis H. Escobar met with Estrada for the first time about working with him to use the technology for a group of stores in Colombia. He called Estrada’s idea “something new, something different and something that the people are looking for” and made plans to continue their conversation at a later time.

FIU’s presence at the conference extended well beyond its physical space. President Mark B. Rosenberg participated in a panel discussion with Carlos Penzini, a senior vice president at Magic Leap, and Salim Ismail, founder of ExO Foundation and general partner at Rokk3r Fuel. The panel discussed revolutionary changes impacting the way companies hire and how universities are preparing students for the future of work.

“We need to embrace the language of convergence,” said Rosenberg in response to a comment by Ismail about master’s degrees being out of date as soon as they are earned. “The world is moving from degree-based to competency-based education. We will continue to offer degrees for traditional learners but the university has to find a way to talk to adult learners.”

Another panel focused on the growing demand for professionals in the field of cybersecurity, an area to which  FIU has committed resources in research, education and outreach.

“Surveys indicate that the cybersecurity workforce needs a much deeper understanding of the policy landscape as well as the social, economic and geopolitical contexts in which security and technology converge,’’ said Brian Fonseca, director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy in the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. “It’s critical that we align our curricula to meet industry needs.”

In addition to listening to such panel discussions, FIU faculty and students canvassed the hall, which was packed with exhibitors. Jason Marchalonis, who graduates next week with an advanced degree in management information systems, came away with valuable information. “We’ve had great opportunities to connect with entrepreneurs and startups to get feedback and insights. We were able to identify collaborations that we can start in the early stages.”

College of Business Professor Nancy Richmond used the conference as a way to help her students down the road and to bring to campus individuals who can teach young people about the latest in the business world. “My objective has been to network, talk to employers about internships, job opportunities, connect students with these companies. I have business cards from Chatbox, Uber, WeWork. I connected with potential speakers for classes and events at FIU.”

“At FIU we have a tradition of serving first-generation students who are hard-working, dedicated and determined to overcome challenges,” said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg. “We pride ourselves in preparing students from diverse backgrounds to get or create jobs in the 21st century economy.”

FIU will hold 11 commencement ceremonies from April 28 – May 2 at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center, 11200 SW 8th Street in West Miami-Dade.

Identical twins Shonda and Shalisha Witherspoon embody the FIU story. The first in their family to earn bachelor’s degrees, they are now also the first to earn master’s degrees. Growing up in a family of six children, the Witherspoons, 27, were homeschooled and attended Miami Dade College before coming to FIU where they graduated at the top of their undergraduate engineering class in 2016. During their time at FIU, they participated in study abroad experiences in Japan, thanks to scholarships. Now with twin master’s degrees in information technology, they plan to accept job offers at IBM TJ Watson Research Center in New York. Their dream is to one day work in Japan as software engineers. They will receive their degrees at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 1.

Throughout the ceremonies, some standout students known as Worlds Ahead Graduates will be recognized. These are two of their stories:

• As a child of migrant workers, Noemi Reyesof Immokalee, Fla., spent her summer days in the blazing heat, and her nights sleeping on cardboard vegetable boxes in small motels. The constant traveling to find work, the dependence on the weather for pay and the long hours of picking soon had her dreaming of a better life. While at FIU, Noemi joined the American Marketing Association, Sales Society, Level-Up, Tau Sigma National Honor Society, and Peace Corps Prep. She participated in sales competitions, took on marketing projects and leadership roles and volunteered at Miami-area high schools to mentor students. Reyes graduates with a sales job at the InterContinental Miami. Reyes will graduate at 10 a.m. on Sunday, April 29.
• Stevenson Chery’s decision to become a doctor was influenced by a family tragedy. His mother lost a baby after being turned away at a hospital in Haiti because the family didn’t have money to pay for her care. Chery, the first in his family to graduate from college and medical school, excelled at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. He is a past president of the Student National Medical Association, a medical school ambassador, a college admissions student interviewer, and a Gold Humanism Honor Society inductee. Chery is now ready to go to work: He matched into his first choice residency program at Jackson Memorial Hospital where he will be specializing in family medicine.Chery will graduate at 3 p.m on Monday, April 30.

During the commencement ceremonies, the following community members will be honored:

• Francisco “Frank” Gonzalez, a 1990 graduate of FIU, member of the FIU Foundation Board of Directors and principal of the audit department at Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLC, will receive the Outstanding Alumnus FIU Medallion at 10 a.m. on Sunday, April 29, 2018.
• Georgia Tasker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and writer for Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, will receive an honorary doctorate degree in science at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 30.
• John Rock, founding Dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, will receive an FIU Medallion at 3 p.m. on Monday, April 30

Commencement speakers:

• Rose Ellen Meyerhoff Greene,philanthropist, will speak at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 28.
• Shaun Budnik, audit partner at KPMG LLP, will speak at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 29
• Nelson Adams, chief of the department of obstetrics & gynecology at Jackson North Medical Center and professor, will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 30
• Moishe Mana,developer and entrepreneur, will speak at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2

For the full commencement schedule, please click here.

ANEW is a two-year nursing education initiative funded by the U.S. Human Resources & Services Administration for $1.39 million, specifically to prepare advanced practice nurses to provide primary care in rural and underserved areas through academic and clinical training.

“Many of today’s 60 million rural Americans are uninsured, at risk for increased health risk behaviors, and live in poverty at even higher levels than what we see in our big cities,” remarked Tami Thomas, associate dean of research for the college and ANEW grant project director.

Thomas added that geographic isolation further exacerbates the primary care gap for rural communities. “ANEW addresses this inequity by familiarizing nurse practitioners with the challenges and opportunities of working in rural health care settings and preparing them to work to the fullest scope of their abilities.”

The health departments of Glades and Hendry counties near Florida’s Lake Okeechobee are partners in the project, providing the five clinical sites and onsite instructional supervisors to guide the trainees during the three-to-six-month training program. FIU Nursing faculty will supplement the training by using telehealth systems to help ANEW trainees deliver care at the clinics.

According to Thomas, the selection process was highly competitive, with only the top 30 percent of applicants selected for interviews. The first cohort of ANEW trainees are all graduate nursing students from FIU’s Family Nurse Practitioner track.

Arnold Altiveros, R.N. –Altiveros is a student in the college’s Foreign-Educated Physician to BSN/MSN program, and currently works as a Telemetry/ICMU nurse at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. His medical degree training in general surgery from the Philippines heavily included providing health care services in the country’s most rural and desolate areas, where resources were limited.

Luis Cuza, R.N. – Cuza is a student in the Foreign-Educated Physician to BSN/MSN program and a working nurse at Memorial Regional West in Pembroke Pines. For many years, Cuza was a general physician and dermatologist in Cuba and Venezuela. His unique relationship to serving rural communities includes traveling on horseback to reach those living in mountains or other inaccessible areas.

Danielle Steele, R.N. –Steele has volunteered her health care training providing care to underserved populations in Florida and Georgia. She most recently volunteered with the United States Public Health Service Corps to assist with Hurricane Irma. She is a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters, works as an ICU nurse at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, and is a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.

Angelina St. Germain, R.N. – Germain is a native rural Floridian from the agricultural community of Redland. She brings extensive experience serving rural populations while working at Homestead Hospital, along with a widespread knowledge of telemedicine. Angelina’s interests include vaccine adherence, women’s health and diabetes self-care management. 


Mitchell Guanzon, R.N. –Guanzon is a Telemetry/ICMU nurse at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood and the third ANEW trainee selected from FIU’s Foreign-Educated Physician to BSN/MSN program. He was a fourth-year medical student in Manila, Philippines, where he spent four-week rotations in very rural communities as the sole health care provider. Guanzon’s academic background also includes time as a research associate at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Each trainee will receive up to $20,000 to cover tuition, living and housing expenses and textbooks. The clinical rotation begins summer 2018 at one of the five locations below, where they are expected to see up to 12 patients daily:

• Hendry Regional Convenient Care Center (Labelle, Fla.)
• Hendry Regional Medical Center (Clewiston, Fla.)
• Hendry County Health Department – Clewiston Clinic (Clewiston, Fla.)
• Labelle Clinic (Labelle, Fla.)
• Glades County Health Department – Moore Haven Clinic (Moore Haven, Fla.)

No. 1 seed FIU won its first Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship Sunday afternoon in Norfolk, Va. The Panthers, who are ranked No. 37 in the Oracle/ITA National Tennis Rankings, defeated No. 2 seed and No. 43 Rice, 4-3, to earn an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship.

Read more on FIU Sports.com

This Villanueva confirms: In his 25 years as an undercover agent, he investigated the counterfeiting of U.S. currency worldwide before transitioning into cyber intelligence work just as internet-based crime began to kick into high gear. During that time, he lived in Latin America, Europe, Washington, D.C., and his native South Florida, and much of his day-to-day involved posing as the same kind of unsavory characters he was trying to catch. Even as his job took a virtual bent, his goal remained to meet up in person with those he had connected with online so as to disrupt their activities and target them for arrest in their respective countries and eventual extradition to the United States.

More often than not, the crooks Villanueva sought had him heading to Eastern Europe. When pressed for the names of countries, he gives barely an inch. “You can say ‘Eurasia,’” he allows.

That kind of face-to-face confrontation must have been frightening, right?

“When you’re dealing with a transnational criminal, many times they’re [part of] organized groups of real bad people,” Villanueva says. “Interacting with them, talking with them, there’s always a level of risk and there’s always a level of putting your life in potential danger. That’s just the nature of the job.”

Villanueva adds emphatically that the Secret Service takes “every precaution to protect their undercover agents at all times.” Even so, his clandestine operations would likely have led to some pretty dicey encounters, right? Perhaps ones where his life was threatened, right?

Villanueva broadly concurs with those statements but, despite much encouragement to spill a little of what must have been a rather thrilling career, he doesn’t offer an anecdote, an example or any other shred of detail. “I can’t speak to the specifics,” he says matter-of-factly.

Subverting attacks on the Treasury


Most Americans recognize the  U.S. Secret Service as the entity that provides physical protection to the nation’s highest elected leaders and visiting foreign dignitaries. (Think dark suits and earpieces.) What few know is that the United States’ oldest investigative agency, which dates back to the end of the American Civil War, was originally founded to combat the then-widespread counterfeiting of U.S. currency. In this century that mission has evolved to include the safeguarding of the country’s financial infrastructure, including payment systems. Hence Villanueva’s globe-trotting career.

Soon after graduating from FIU, the one-time criminal justice major submitted to a two-year vetting process that eventually gave way to his entering the elite agency’s academy. About a decade later, his natural aptitude for computers—he had taken a few computer science courses on his own—coupled with some high-level government training set him up to found and head global operations for the Secret Service’s Cyber Intelligence Section in Washington, D.C.

Villanueva and those he supervised soon became regulars on the dark web, a hidden part of the internet that is used for illicit activity and is inaccessible through standard web browsers. There they made “friends” with hackers and malware writers and others looking to filch financial information—be it from companies in large data breaches or from individuals whose security credentials were lifted from compromised computers—which in turn could be sold to the highest bidder.

Read more: Educating a generation of cyber warriors

“For the most part, the malware writers are highly educated computer scientists or programmers,” Villanueva explains of the cyber thieves, who often hold day jobs as system administrators and, in one case, a university professor. “We have folks that we’ve identified having Ph.D.s and master’s degrees in computer science, and at night they’re basically moonlighting conducting global cybercrime,” he says. “They’re looking for any network or software vulnerabilities worldwide and trying to exploit them for financial gain. Corporations and citizens in the United States are a very lucrative target when it comes to these miscreants stealing and exploiting their proprietary and personal data.”

In 2017 alone, a host of high-profile data breaches made clear the extent of the problem. In the case of the credit bureau Equifax, the personal data of 145 million people was stolen, including social security and driver’s license numbers, which could leave individuals open to identity theft for years to come. Universities, retailers, health care systems and hospitals, among others, also reported the purloining of highly sensitive information.

A cyber PI


Villanueva’s quest to rid the world of dregs lurking in the digital underworld continues unabated. After retiring from the Secret Service, he became a partner in South Florida-based Q6 Cyber. (Other offices are located in Costa Rica and Israel). Its  web site references “building impenetrable borders through proactive, intelligence-driven security.” Rather than waiting for the worst to occur, Villanueva explains, the company monitors private forums and other hard-to-find nooks and crannies on the dark web for potential threats against its clients, among them retail establishments, investment firms and financial institutions.

“Due to our years of experience in this field”—technical team members are all either ex-government or ex-military—“we’ve developed our own proprietary technology,” he says. “We can actually see and capture, real time 24/7, when and where [thieves] are posting compromised information so that we can notify our clients immediately of what’s going on. Additionally, after these cybercriminals steal information, we can also locate and analyze some of their conversations, learn any of their new techniques and tactics, so we can subsequently also inform our clients of this. Our analysts, engineers and collection tools are actually getting ahead of any eventual fraud, basically.”

Aside from working around the clock to stop potential damage to individuals and companies, Villanueva’s team provides whatever leads and other information they gather to the proper law enforcement authorities in hopes that the cyber villains will be taken down and apprehended.

Anyone curious to know the particulars of how such cyber sleuths glean the physical whereabouts of evildoers they encounter during treks through the various corners of the iniquitous dark web—well, you’ll just have to keep wondering. Villanueva’s not talking. 

Name: Shalimar G. Moreno

Hometown: Miami

Job Title/Department: Environmental Education and Outreach Coordinator for the School of Environment, Arts and Society (SEAS) in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Campus: Biscayne Bay Campus

What do you do at FIU, in a nutshell?: I coordinate educational programs at SEAS to include students, members of our university and the community to learn about science, biology, coastal ecosystems, and sustainability through hands-on activities.

Number of years at FIU: 3 weeks

What do you enjoy most about your job?: Spreading the message of protecting and conserving our environment to others. It’s amazing being able to work with young students and sharing my love for nature. I know that we’re helping to give them the knowledge and tools to be able to handle environmental issues that will affect their future.

What do you think students and your fellow faculty/staff should know about your department?: The School of Environment, Arts and Society offers many academic programs for students from the natural sciences, social sciences to humanities. There are many opportunities for students to get involved and gain critical research experience in their field.

Where is your favorite spot on campus? Why?: The beach by Biscayne Bay. Along the mangroves there are a few openings where you get a beautiful view of the water that is bordered by Oleta River State Park and the Miami skyline. In this little peak into nature you can find birds, small critters and fish which always fascinates me at how much wildlife is right here at our campus.

What is one thing you wish everyone knew about FIU?:  That FIU is a public research university between two national parks, Biscayne National Park and the Everglades National Park, which puts us in a prime location to do cutting edge research in our natural environment. We have incredible facilities like the Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s only underwater research laboratories in the world, the Wall of Wind facility, capable of simulating a Category 5 hurricane, a Dive Safety Program that offers training to FIU researchers in AAUS scientific diving and medical care, as well as the Wertheim Conservatory, a greenhouse that is open for the public to visit and learn about tropical plants.

How is FIU “Worlds Ahead”?: By having a diverse and inclusive group of researchers and students working together, we are tackling some of the most complex issues our society is facing. We value student learning, innovation and collaboration and provide opportunities for students of underrepresented minorities to reach their full potential in their professional careers. There are many opportunities and scholarships for students of all backgrounds to join and study what they’re passionate about.

Family snapshot: I was raised in a Colombian household with my mom, grandmother, and uncle. I have an 11 year-old black Labrador called Balu, who is the cutest and best doggo there ever was.

Word that best describes you: Driven

First paying job:  ILL Assistant – Federal Work Study Student

Favorite TV show: Game of Thrones

Your proudest accomplishment: Advancing my diving career to do scientific diving with different researchers and organizations. I continue my diving by doing coral restoration work in the Florida Keys and actively giving back to our imperiled coral reefs.

What do you do when you are not working at FIU?: I’m out on an adventure with my pup. I love walking him on the beach and doing yoga.

FIU College of Law graduates have, once again, earned the highest bar passage rate of any of Florida’s 11 law schools on the February 2018 Florida Bar Exam. This accomplishment follows first place finishes on the July 2017, July 2016, February 2016, and July 2015 bar exams.

With a passage rate of 85 percent, FIU Law’s alumni also well surpassed the statewide average passage rate by 27 percentage points.

“FIU Law is a leader in providing quality legal education, and these results evidence our students’ diligence and faculty’s excellence in teaching,” said Acting Dean Tawia Ansah. “At FIU Law, we have created and implemented a novel bar exam preparation program that provides all of our graduates with the resources they need to help them on this high-stakes exam. Our bar exam preparation and academic excellence programs are unique in Florida, and provide unparalleled opportunities for students to become better learners and better lawyers.”

The College will host a swearing-in ceremony for its graduates on Tuesday, April 16. “Our graduates dedicated long hours of hard work to prepare themselves for the exam,” said Ansah. “We’re thrilled to welcome so many of them as new members of the Florida Bar.”

Call it whatever you like, but there is a small yet undeniable interest in an unusual relic from the university’s past: the Sunblazer, FIU’s first mascot.

“There’s only one Sunblazer. He’s sort of incomprehensible. He’s got that half grimace, half grin,” said Chris Towers, a one-time FIU journalism major who now writes about fantasy sports for CBS. “He looks like the result of some sort of strange experiment and I love that about him.”

 The renewed interest in the university’s former mascot coincides with the success of  FIU football last season. While the team was marching into Riccardo Silva Stadium in October to face the University of Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners with a 5-2 record at their back, the Sunblazer was making a cameo in the homecoming parade outside.

Working under the theme “Unleash your legacy,” the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon and the sorority Alpha Xi Delta paired up to create a Sunblazer theme for their entry in the parade. The float featured students in custom t-shirts and banners emblazoned with the Sunblazer name. Members of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a social fraternity for the musically minded, played in formation alongside the float.

“After the parade, I received emails from a couple FIU alumni who were asking me if we were selling the shirts,” said Valentina Lara, Alpha Xi Delta communications vice president. “They thought it was pretty cool that we brought it back.”

Carlos Cueto ’14 thinks that reviving the Sunblazer could help FIU athletics stand out.

“Bringing out some Sunblazer gear could capitalize on the hype [football head coach] Butch Davis has built and separate us from other schools,” said Cueto.“This can bring back old alumni and teach current students about the school’s history. Besides, every team has a throwback day. Let’s embrace our history and look forward to the future.”

The Sunblazer was conceptualized in 1973 when the young university assembled the University Nickname Committee (yes, really). The five sports at the time—baseball, golf, tennis, wrestling and soccer, all for men—needed both a team moniker and a mascot to represent them. A group of students and faculty came up with several names. The Ambassadors and the Diplomats were considered because of the international nature of the university’s students. The Trailblazers was also among the leading suggestions because of the location of the campus right off of Tamiami Trail (also known as Eighth Street). The Suns was another suggestion.

The first day of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft came and went. So did the second. By the third day, recent high school graduate Christian Santana had almost stopped paying attention altogether.

The hard-throwing right-handed pitcher and FIU recruit had expected to get an offer from one of 30 MLB teams in the early rounds of the draft. It became apparent that wasn’t going to be the case.

But then a friend called to congratulate him, and Santana ran to his computer to confirm the big news: the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in the 15th round.

“I was extremely grateful and happy to have that opportunity,” Santana says. “But I was unsure what was going to happen – if I was going to end up in the pros or at FIU. It was just waiting to see what would happen.”

Santana was one of 14 recruits in FIU Head Coach Mervyl Melendez’s 2017 recruiting class – the No. 1 recruiting class in the country – who were drafted. Each recruit had to make the decision hundreds of ballplayers make each year right out of high school: go to college or go the professional route.

For Melendez, now in his second season at FIU, it was no surprise that many of the players he recruited in his first class were going to be swooped up before stepping onto a college campus.

One of those recruits was his son, MJ, who was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the second round during the first day of the draft, adding a new wrinkle to the process.

Choosing a path

For most players and their families, the decision comes down to how much the team offers them to sign.

Outfielder Heliot Ramos was the highest Panther recruit drafted, taken by the San Francisco Giants with the No. 19 overall pick and signing a $3.1 million deal. MJ Melendez, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound catcher, opted to sign with the Royals for $2.1 million days after he was drafted. In the end, 10 of the Panther recruits decided to sign with the teams that drafted them.

“Every player has a number the family comes up with. If they don’t get that number they go to school, if they get it they go pro. It comes down to making a decision they will be happy with not just now, but 10 years from now,” Melendez says. “In my son’s case, he had a number in mind that was met, he made a decision and as a family we helped him through that decision.”

For several of the Panther recruits drafted, the numbers did not add up. Four of the draftees elected to go the college route, including Santana, left-handed pitchers Logan Allen (16th round, Baltimore Orioles) and Joe Sanchez (39th round, Atlanta Braves) and catcher Jose Garcia (38th round, Boston Red Sox).

With guidance from their parents and coaches, they weighed the pros and cons of both options and decided that spending a few years at FIU under Melendez and growing as baseball players was the wisest choice.

“Getting drafted was really special and having the chance to play professional baseball is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says Allen, who is studying criminal justice. “But I felt that getting an education first was important for me and my family.”

The chance not only to develop at the college level, but to pursue a degree as well played a role in their decision. Santana is studying sports management with the hope of one day becoming a physical therapist after he is done with baseball.

“It’s a huge opportunity,” says Santana. “I’ve only been here for one semester, but I already feel like I’ve matured a lot as a player and as a person. College really comes at you and helps push that process.”

Youth movement

While they put their professional dreams on hold, they will have a chance to continue building on what Melendez is doing at FIU. He was a key reason they signed on to become Panthers.

“I used to play for him before coming here and fell in love with the way he coaches,” says Allen, who played on youth summer teams and academies headed by Melendez growing up. “Playing under him makes you feel like part of the family.”

While fans coming out to FIU’s newly named Infinity Insurance Park early in the 2018 season likely didn’t recognize many of the names on this year’s roster – with 14 incoming freshmen and five transfers, half the team wasn’t here a year ago – the Panthers promise to be a young team loaded with talent from the pitching staff to the outfield.

Garcia has shared catching duties with sophomore Javier Valdes and is among the offensive leaders for the Panthers in home runs and RBIs.

Allen leads the team in wins and has become one of the top starting pitchers as the Friday starter. Allen has also played first base and hit near the top of the lineup.

Santana has started and relieved. The right-hander has a save and has one of the best strikeout rates per nine innings on the pitching staff.

All three have become a big part of an incoming wave of talent that Melendez hopes will make the Panthers perennial contenders in Conference USA for years to come while they boost their draft value.

Student loan debt is an ever-growing problem. According to the most recent data from Forbes, 2016 graduates in the United States carry an average of $37,172 in student loan debt. While the average amount of student loan debt is significantly lower for FIU students, approximately 50 percent of 2016-17 FIU graduates had student loan debt, and the average amount owed at graduation was just below $20,000. At current student loan interest rates and standard repayment periods, an FIU college graduate will carry that debt for a decade and pay more than $7,640 in interest.

For these reasons, donors who want to invest in student success often choose to do so through scholarships. And while the variety of scholarship options at a university like FIU rivals the menu at a sushi bar/wings joint, one choice is increasingly popular with donors: first-generation scholarships.

First-generation scholarships provide support to qualified undergraduate students who are the first in their families to attend college. Because private donations to first-generation scholarships are matched by the State of Florida, donors’ gifts have greater impact. At FIU, nearly 50 percent of the undergraduate student population is comprised of first-generation students, and 93 percent of those first-generation scholarship recipients are minorities.

For donors like Rajiv Jain, chairman and chief investment officer of GQG Partners, first-generation scholarships are appealing due to their incredible impact. After initially working with FIU’s Department of Religious Studies to create the Bhagwan Mahavir Professorship in Jain Studies in 2010, he began to hear about first-generation scholarships and immediately saw the value.

Through the Latika and Rajiv Jain Charitable Foundation, Jain and his wife donated to the First Generation Scholarship Fund and created the Latika and Rajiv Jain First Generation Scholarship. The gift supports first-generation students who are pursuing majors from the STEM disciplines.

“It has a tremendous impact on a group who really needs it the most, and for [a] relatively small amount,” Rajiv Jain explains. “It’s a great return on investment.”

And just as the Jains and donors like them can see the impact of their investment in first-generation scholarships, students like Ashley Diaz feel that power.

“The first-generation scholarship helped a lot,” Diaz says. “I have absolutely no debt post-graduation.”

Diaz graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and received special recognition as a Worlds Ahead Graduate. She is now working as an administrative assistant for FIU Online before continuing her education and attending medical school.

Diaz was able to meet Rajiv Jain. This not only allowed her to thank him, it also reinforced her commitment to giving back, just as he had done for her.

“I want to be [like] one of the sponsors who helped me while I was in school,” she says. “Because Rajiv donated to my academics and helped me graduate a lot sooner, I now want to give back. It was very rewarding to get to know him.”

So the next time you hear the phrase “the power of philanthropy,” think of student success. Think of Diaz and students like her. Do the math. Philanthropy is more powerful when it multiplies.

Myrna Soto ’93

• Senior Vice President, Global Chief Information Security Officer, Comcast Corporation

• Bachelor of Science in Psychology, 1993

Q: Comcast Corporation is a global media and technology company, and you are responsible for the huge job of developing cyber and data security strategies and managing technology risks. How have you seen these areas grow in critical importance?
A: This has been an area of exponential growth, mainly as a result of the evolving threat to critical infrastructure like energy, telecommunications and finance. There are many new technologies to support defenses, but the greatest area of growth has been in predictive intelligence and analytics. Artificial intelligence will continue to see tremendous growth.

Q: You have held senior leadership positions with several other large corporations, among them American Express and Royal Caribbean Cruises. What has been your key to success?
A: I believe it is the ability to adapt to different environments and industries. It is critical for leaders to understand corporate cultures and understand how a leadership style may need to adapt.

Q: What advice do you have for others looking to make an impact in their chosen fields?
A: One of the most important things for future leaders to do is to constantly stretch their comfort zones. If you are comfortable in a particular skill set or function, push yourself further. Leaders need to grow in order to lead, and teams will always respect a leader willing to say he or she has something to learn. I also feel strongly that it is important to have a very strong appreciation for the business you are supporting. A high degree of business acumen is critical in order to be seen as more than just a specialist but an asset to the organization. Lastly, give back. I am big supporter of the “push up pull up” philosophy. We have to help the next generation behind us to succeed.

Q: You earned two advanced degrees and a certification from other institutions, but you launched your education with a bachelor’s of psychology from FIU. How has that base served you in the business world?
A: My psychology degree has served as an incredible platform for my leadership journey. It has allowed me to apply motivational theories for my teams, and it has allowed me to understand the human psyche as it relates to how technology is adopted and utilized. It has also provided me the competency to lead organizational change. I use that psychology degree every day! #Pawsup

Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I have many passions, but in my personal time you will find me either on a golf course, on the beach or at a winery. I’m also a bit of a real estate junkie – I love exploring properties, new developments and potential investments. 

By his own admission, Daniel Lumpuy is “ridiculously fortunate.” According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), 84 percent of medical students have debt. And of those who do, the median amount owed is $190,000. Lumpuy, a fourth-year student at  Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, will graduate later this month with zero debt.

The 28-year-old is one of 10 HWCOM students whose tuition is being paid for by the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation Scholarship.

“I am eternally grateful to the Wertheims,” says Lumpuy.

Herbert Wertheim, a long-time FIU benefactor and the college’s namesake, personally assists in selecting the Wertheim scholarship recipients. A man of humble beginnings who received the 2011 International Horatio Alger Award in recognition of his personal and professional accomplishments, Wertheim knows first-hand what it’s like to be a student struggling to make ends meet. He, too, won a scholarship, to Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, which helped with his tuition even as he worked to pay for his living expenses.

“We pick out the best of the best because we believe it will help them go out and practice maybe in areas they might not have the same financial success,” says Wertheim.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to get a free ride through medical school. Seventy-three percent of respondents to the 2017 AAMC Medical School Graduation Questionnaire reported graduating with some debt. Bianca Alvarez is one of them. A member of the HWCOM Class of 2018, Alvarez estimates she will owe about $250,000 when she graduates. That is to cover her academic as well as housing and other personal expenses.

“I feel better about it now because I’ve been reading a lot about financial planning and investment, but I try to live very frugally. It’s been a constant stress any time I had to spend money on anything,” she says.

 Alvarez, who wants to specialize in emergency medicine because it fits her personality, says despite the financial challenges, the high cost of medical school was never a deterrent to pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor.

“I just couldn’t see myself doing anything else,” she says.

Beyond financial costs

The issue of medical school debt is complex.

A 2016 study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine found that high education debt exacts a human cost, including stress, suicidal thoughts, licensing exam failures and voluntary withdrawal or dismissal from medical school. A recent national survey conducted by the AAMC indicated that the cost of a medical education was the top reason minority students choose not to pursue a medical degree.

This is particularly challenging for schools like HWCOM that are committed to a diverse student population.

“We are admitting over 20 percent of a disadvantaged or underrepresented population of students, compared to 9 percent nationally,” says Marissa Miles, HWCOM director of financial assistance and alumni relations. All of the College of Medicine’s disadvantaged students are receiving some scholarship aid.

As a young college — the first class of students was admitted in 2009 — HWCOM doesn’t have the same level of scholarship funds available as do older, more established medical schools. That’s why donors like the Wertheims are so critical.

“Scholarships are a recruitment tool that allows us to compete with older, more established institutions with significant endowments to entice students,” says Dr. John A.  Rock, HWCOM’s founding dean and FIU senior vice president for health affairs.

Loan debt and specialty choice

According to the 2017 AAMC Graduation Questionnaire, the percentage of medical school graduates who say their education debt affected their choice of medical specialty has decreased continuously the past five years.

In 2017, nearly 55 percent of respondents to the GQ said that debt had “no influence” on specialty choice. Less than 22 percent allowed that debt had either a “strong” (6.2 percent) or “moderate” (15.3 percent) influence.

By contrast, in 2013 nearly 28 percent of graduates said debt had a strong (8.8 percent) or moderate (19 percent) influence on their specialty choice.

The strongest influence on specialty choice, according to 2017 med school graduates, was “fit with personality, interests and skills.”

Juanita Melau isn’t one to let finances stand in the way of her goal. Since she was a little girl, she’s wanted to be a doctor. The high cost of medical school hasn’t dissuaded her. She has taken out loans and will owe about $200,000 when she graduates from HWCOM in May 2018. She wants to go into family medicine. While not the most lucrative of specialties, it holds great appeal for her.

“I like the idea of being able to take care of any patient,” she says. “The children, the parents, the  abuelas, the whole family.”

Although at times overwhelmed at the thought of owing so much money, Melau looks at her debt as an investment in a career with a lot of job security. “I know I’ll be able to pay it back eventually,” she says.

True value

Physician tops the 2018 Forbes list of highest-paying jobs in America. It is also the one in highest demand as the United States continues to experience a shortage of doctors.

Physicians working outside of the most lucrative specialties — orthopedic surgery and cardiology commanding the best pay — make an average $187,000 a year.

The College of Medicine is trying to change the perception many students, especially minority and disadvantaged students, may still have about medical school. It wants prospective students to know that despite the cost, medical school is affordable for everyone. In fact, only 1 percent of medical school graduates default on their loans.

“This is doable, this is possible, no matter what,” says Miles, who as part of her job gives the students financial advice on how to handle their debt.

“We want them to feel confident about their choices. Medicine is a calling as well as a profession, and doctors are compensated well in all fields,” says Dr. Karin Esposito, interim executive associate dean for student affairs. And it’s not just money she is talking about. “The true reward is the great feeling you get when you are able to help others.”

For many doctors, it’s priceless.

Upper-extremity amputees may soon be using a prosthesis that is directly connected to their nervous system, thanks to new technology developed by Ranu Jung. She is the Wallace H. Coulter Eminent Scholar and the chair of the  Department of Biomedical Engineering within the  College of Engineering & Computing.

Jung holds six patents related to the development of neural-enabled prosthetic hand systems; some of these could enable direct neural control of a prosthesis and others are for restoring sensation. In recognition of these and other innovations, Jung was recently named fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Her team has developed the first fully implantable, wirelessly controlled device that can directly stimulate nerves to restore sensation to amputees. They have also developed computer algorithms to interpret recorded nerve signals for controlling a prosthesis. The technology will allow people who have lost an arm to be one step closer to successfully picking up everyday objects such as a cookie or an egg.

Prostheses currently on the market don’t allow amputees to easily manipulate delicate and small objects “because they can’t feel them,” Jung explained. In contrast, her system for sensory stimulation — which has the potential to interface with several advanced prosthetic hands that are being developed — “is intended to restore the sense of touch, which would allow users to precisely differentiate the size and fragility of various objects.”

How this works

When an individual thinks about reaching for an item, the motor areas of his or her brain produce signals that traverse through the spinal cord to the peripheral nerves that control the arm and hand movements. Some of Jung’s patents are for decoding these signals. In an amputee, the decoded signals could direct the prosthetic hand to open and subsequently grip the object. As the hand performs these activities, sensors on the prosthesis provide information about hand opening and grip force. The implanted stimulation device can deliver small electrical pulses along thin wires that have been embedded within nerve bundles in the arm to provide tactile sensation.

The FDA has granted an investigational device exemption for the first-in-human trial of the sensory feedback device. Trial participants will be able to use it outside of a laboratory setting on a daily basis. If the current trial is successful, Jung and her team plan to continue testing through larger studies and eventually seek such approval for commercial distribution.

“The sensory feedback system reflects an almost decade-long collaborative team effort,” Jung said. “For the first time, amputees will be able to use a fully implantable, sensory enabled prosthetic hand system at home for daily activities and researchers will be able to assess the long term clinical impact of its use in real-world environments.”  

When the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker off Malaysia in August of 2017, it became the fourth naval ship in less than a year to suffer such an accident. A theory emerged that hackers were to blame.

As an examination into the matter continues, Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations, has indicated that investigators are considering the possibility of a “cyber intrusion or sabotage.”

It’s the kind of scenario that will likely become all too common in the near future, and the need to plan for such situations is why FIU has become an international research and educational hub for cybersecurity, says Sundaraja Sitharama Iyengar, director and Ryder professor of the  School of Computing and Information Sciences within the  College of Engineering & Computing.

Previously, concerns about cybersecurity were confined to those working in IT fields. But in recent years, a cybersecurity industry has evolved as those who need to worry about hacking run all the way from governments and corporate executives down to public utilities, mom-and-pop businesses and ordinary individuals. In response, FIU has added new degree programs and expanded its cybersecurity courses across disciplines to bring in business and criminal justice students as well as the more traditional computing and engineering students.

“We are creating cyber warriors,” Iyengar says. “These cyber warriors from FIU will learn to protect us from cyberattacks and then go on to train the world.”

The need for cybersecurity and the industry being built around it is something Iyengar foresaw 26 years ago. In a series of academic papers long before the internet became well known, Iyengar predicted computers would one day be connected and that those communications would be susceptible to attacks.

  Multidisciplinary approach


That’s come to be reality in the past decade, and in the past few years several FIU departments have developed specialties in cybersecurity, says Brian Fonseca, director of the  Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy within the  Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. The institute has developed undergraduate and graduate tracks in cybersecurity and organizes a one-year cybersecurity fellowship program that pairs women with mentors and offers professional development. “

“There are cybersecurity policy implications in almost any field,” Fonseca says.

In just one example of that recognition, the Green School has collaborated with the FIU  College of Business to jointly offer a Cybersecurity Leadership & Strategy Certificate geared to professionals in law, government, health care and other industries as well as policymakers in national security looking to defend their networks and secure their data against attack. Fonseca, a former senior researcher at U.S. Southern Command, helped create the program.

The certificate program has the backing of the Organization of American States (OAS), which has been working to build cybersecurity capacity throughout Latin America and the Caribbean for more than a decade. The OAS provides its top cybersecurity specialists to help teach the course and contributed to the development of the curriculum.

Earlier this year, FIU became the first university in the nation to offer  a bachelor’s degree in the Internet of Things. The new degree addresses four major areas of IoT – hardware, software, communication and cybersecurity. Experts agree that soon billions of IoT devices (smart watches, smartphones, home security systems, autonomous vehicles) will be connected worldwide. What makes it possible for digitized applications to work remotely opens the doors for attackers to inject malware or gain complete control of the devices.

This new wave of technology is necessitating the need for highly trained IoT specialists.

“We are focused on preparing our students with specialized skills to succeed in the operations that help prevent and respond to these particular cyberattacks and the techniques required to strengthen the defense of vulnerable systems that employ IoT devices,” says Kemal Akkaya, program director of the IoT degree and associate professor in the  Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

These efforts coupled with the College of Engineering & Computing’s strength in the field have made FIU a nationally recognized hub for cybersecurity study and research, says Vir V. Phoha, a national cybersecurity expert and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Syracuse University.

“[FIU’s] faculty is world class, and at this point they are ranked among the top cybersecurity universities in the nation, both for funding and for the work they are doing,” Phoha says. “This cybersecurity work will bring FIU great national visibility.”

At the micro-level


While most agree bolstering cybersecurity is necessary in government and business, few individuals know how to protect themselves, says Jerry Miller, associate director of robotics and wireless research and an adjunct faculty member of FIU’s School of Computing and Information Sciences.

Before he retired as an Air Force colonel, Miller worked to identify potential risks to government computer systems. But he says the threat is often far more localized, down to the devices we all carry with us. Simply allowing a phone app to track our locations or uploading a family picture to Facebook can create security risks.

“We have no idea the vulnerability that we’ve opened ourselves up to by simply sharing our location or vacation photos,” Miller says.

Miller says his early-career experience as an Air Force helicopter rescue pilot helped him understand the importance of keeping information safe. Downed pilots who are taken as prisoners of war are more vulnerable if they have uploaded photos of themselves to the internet, possibly allowing captors to make specific threats against a pilot’s family. This prospect is something that’s becoming a reality now with hackers who are gaining access to computers and ransoming them back to their owners.

In response, Miller and others at FIU are studying new ways to protect phones and other devices from hackers. Two approaches now being studied at FIU, for example, could remove the need for typical passwords, thereby making electronics more secure. One relies on a phone’s accelerometer, which governs screen orientation, to monitor a user’s gait and confirm that the right individual is truly in control of the device. The other, called Pixie, gives a user the option of substituting a photo of a common object in place of an alpha or numeric password.

There’s also research being done at FIU to keep even smaller devices like the Fitbit and Apple Watch safe, again something individual users probably never think about. Just like computers and phones, these can be susceptible to hackers, who could access sensitive health and other information.

Students on the front lines


Over the past four years, the Department of Defense has invested more than $4 million in the university’s cyberspace test technology research and development and STEM workforce development program (Cyber Fellows program), which provides hands-on research experience to FIU students studying computer science, computer engineering and information technology. A half-dozen STEM students are inducted formally as cyber fellows each year. They acquire work experience by conducting technology research and development at FIU’s  Applied Research Center (ARC), which administers the program, and they participate in summer internships at Department of Defense facilities across the country.

“The specialized training and excellent education received at FIU makes our students extremely attractive to government agencies and government contractors,” says Leonel Lagos, director of research at ARC.

Jennifer M. Fernandez majored in computer engineering and participated as a cyber fellow. She completed an internship at global defense and aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, where she was offered a full-time job and started within a few months of her graduation in May of 2016. With that position in hand, Fernandez curtailed her job search but nonetheless received another offer, from Boeing, and says interest from other recruiters was likewise high. Currently four other FIU graduates work with her in the cybersecurity area in Lockheed’s Orlando office, where the tools and terminology she learned at FIU—in courses such as malware reverse engineering and digital forensics, among others—have positioned her well.

“I had good exposure, good experience from school” says Fernandez, who is helping establish the infrastructure for future cybersecurity testing.

As part of their training—and something that makes them so desirable to potential employers—students within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, from which most of the fellows come, get a lot of training and practice in how to hack into systems and how to prevent others from gaining access, says Shekhar Bhansali, department chair.

“The reality is, everything is hackable. It’s a very humbling thing to realize even the best built system is not hack-proof,” Bhansali says. “By teaching our students how to hack into another system, we are teaching them how to think like a hacker, and that’s how we can work to prevent being hacked.”

Students interested more in policy issues surrounding cybersecurity, on the other hand, are enrolling in FIU’s Undergraduate National Security Studies Certificate Program within the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs. Martha Rivera, who earned an undergraduate degree in international relations and poli-science in 2013 from FIU, returned to FIU to complete the program in 2017.

As part of Rivera’s studies, she attended a gathering organized by FIU in Washington, D.C. There she met some of the top cybersecurity experts in business and government from the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. During workshops, Rivera recounts, the students brainstormed ways to crack real-life cases with those who actually had a hand in their resolution.

“It was exciting to sit there across the table from the top trainer at Microsoft and people who are the top cybersecurity experts in their countries and try to solve some very difficult scenarios.”

The bigger picture


The size and frequency of hacks in the past few years—breaches of online retailer eBay in 2014 and at credit bureau Equifax in 2017 each impacted more than 140 million consumers—suggest that they are getting bigger and potentially more dangerous. FIU remains ready to play a role in foiling them.

In December, in efforts to educate the greater community, the university hosted more than 300 attendees of the Florida Cybersecurity Conference at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Recognizing that cyberattacks are among the most urgent threats to national and economic security, leaders from the Florida Small Business Development Center Network, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gathered with FIU faculty and graduate students to discuss, among other topics, the role of Homeland Security, how to secure the electronic data collection that is common today within so-called “smart cities” and how, generally, to manage all related risks.

Meanwhile, inside the Applied Research Center’s Cyberspace Test Technology laboratory, researchers are working with cyber fellows to develop a cyber threat automation and monitoring system to detect, analyze and monitor malware behavior during cyberattacks, says Himanshu Upadhyay, a senior research scientist in ARC. Such a system would allow the federal government to run, for example, cyberattack test scenarios on defined Department of Defense missions and explore a variety of responses to determine which ones work best. Says Upadhyay, “This will be a platform that allows us to model multiple scenarios that could happen in the real world.”

FIU is also working on ways to prevent unauthorized access to smart grids, thanks in part to the work of Osama A. Mohammed, associate dean of research in the College of Engineering & Computing. Smart grids control the nation’s power system and could lead to crippling blackouts. Students are collaborating on ways to build firewalls for patient records stored at health facilities that could be held ransom against those who wouldn’t want their information shared publicly.

All of this research will help prevent such attacks by working to predict the way hackers work in the future. “We are taking steps to become the preeminent cybersecurity research center and university, and we already have several advantages, such as cross-cultural awareness, which will help us to become so,” says Miller, the former Air Force colonel. But he recognizes that cyberattackers never let their guard down— and neither should the university. “To be the best, and maintain that position,” he says, “it will require us to be rapidly innovating to keep one step ahead of the threat.”

It’s a rule FIU alumnus Eyran Kraus lives by. It has served him well. As supervisor for the testing and validation division in the City of Miami, Kraus leads a team that supports the design, implementation, evaluation and improvement of selection and assessment tools for a variety of positions. He serves as the expert testing consultant when working with federal agencies and the city’s representative on legal matters related to high-stakes employment testing environments.

This week, the 2002 Ph.D. graduate of Industrial and Organizational Psychology was recognized for his hard work and inducted into the inaugural class of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Human Resources Ring of Honor. The honor recognizes professionals who have a positive and significant impact in the field of human resources.

“Being inducted into the GMCC HR Ring of Honor causes me to pause and reflect on my career,” Kraus said. “As human resources professionals, our work takes us ‘behind the scenes’ most of the time. To be in front of the cameras, so-to-speak, is a new experience. I think that HR professionals should be celebrated more in our society for their positive contributions.”

When at FIU, Kraus researched how the quality of leader and member relationships affects job performance. During his government career, at the forefront of some of the most researched and debated issues in personnel selection including the use of General Mental Ability test in police officer selection.

“I think Eyran has done the delicate job of convincing skeptics of the value of IO science in selection in a very contentious unionized environment,” said FIU psychologist Chockalingam Viswesvaran who was also Kraus’ major professor.

Kraus has published works in the International Journal of Selection and Assessment and has presented at various conferences including the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. In addition to his advice about hard work, Kraus also encourages students to gain practical experience while in school. It was another rule that has served him well.

Asher Milbauer has never been ashamed to speak aloud in Yiddish.

The child of Holocaust survivors, Milbauer was born in post-World War II Soviet Union. He never met his grandparents. They were all killed in concentration camps. Many of his aunts and uncles were, too. He knows the life of exile. As a child, his parents taught him and his two brothers Yiddish even though it was suppressed in the Soviet Union. For them, it was a matter of pride, a matter of preservation.

“They instilled in me a love for this language,” Milbauer said. “That love – as a language of resistance and language of exile – has stayed with me all my life.”

But Milbauer knows many Jews who were once ashamed or afraid to speak in their mother tongue. With the help of the owners of The Betsy South Beach hotel, he is reintroducing Yiddish into the lives of those who dared not speak it for decades.

* * * * * *

On a recent rainy Sunday morning, people casually walk into The Betsy South Beach hotel for a conversation. They don’t speak Yiddish to one another. Many don’t speak Yiddish very well, some not at all. Most are eager, however, to say hello to Milbauer. The soft-spoken English professor with a faded Eastern European accent is not one to call attention to himself. But those arriving at The Betsy for the monthly Yiddish salon look upon Milbauer with admiration and affection. After all, he is helping them regain something they once thought lost.

Prior to World War II, approximately 11 million people spoke Yiddish worldwide. Of the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, as many as 5 million were Yiddish speakers. After the war, some continued to speak the language — many stopped, some in fear of antisemitism and others because they chose to assimilate, conversing instead in the language of the countries where they found refuge. Over time, the number of Yiddish speakers dwindled, and today fewer than 1 million people speak the language, about 250,000 in the United States. Most of those are from Orthodox Jewish communities. UNESCO currently defines the language as “definitely endangered.”

The Yiddish salons at The Betsy are part of FIU’s Exile Studies Program. Milbauer, fluent in Yiddish, Hungarian, Russian, Hebrew and English, founded the program within the College of Arts, Sciences & Education seven years ago. The owners of The Betsy hotel have long been supporters of the program. Jonathan Plutzik and his sister Deborah Briggs are resolute advocates for arts and culture. They are the children of Tanya Roth Plutzik and the late poet and Pulitzer finalist Hyam Plutzik, who was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants.

During a conversation in 2015, Milbauer shared with Plutzik and Briggs his love of all things Yiddish, a language the siblings often heard their parents speak to each other but one they were never taught as children. Plutzik was quick to suggest they create the Yiddish salon series at The Betsy.

“I told them to just schedule it. Schedule the first one,” he said. “If only eight people show up, it doesn’t matter.” Ten showed up.

Two years later, the gatherings are growing in popularity and drawing 50 or more people, sometimes as many as 90. While those attending still largely represent the older generations, Briggs says they are seeing more and more young faces in the crowd. The gatherings celebrate Yiddish language and culture with artists and scholars who frame the conversations.

On the recent rainy morning, the audience is somewhat diverse. Seated in the front is David Schaecter, who at the age of 11 was sent to Auschwitz and is the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. In the back are a few young people. But most in attendance are from the generation born after World War II, the children of families who lived in exile.

Milbauer begins the program by welcoming everyone, alternating English and Yiddish with great ease.

“German is spoken in Germany. French is spoken in France. Yiddish is spoken all over the world,” Milbauer said. “That makes us one big people speaking a language that defies borders.”

Some easily follow along with Milbauer’s Yiddish, laughing at all the right moments and nodding in unison. Others lean in, listening intently, trying to learn.

Lucy Felcher understands Yiddish but only speaks a little.

She was born in Poland in 1946. Her parents met while boarding a train bound for Poland at the end of World War II — her father was in the Polish Army and her mother spent part of the war in a Russian labor camp. They hid their Jewish heritage even from their own children. When 7-year-old Lucy made
an offhand remark about Jews, her mother revealed the truth. She was devastated. She didn’t want to be a Jew.

Today, the Hollywood, Fla., resident feels very differently. She is proud to be called a Jew. She is eager to learn more about her family’s heritage. Felcher and others in attendance at the recent salon were there to listen to Miriam Hoffman, a writer, Yiddish playwright and retired scholar of Germanic languages.

She sometimes translates famous works into Yiddish, including Neil Simon’s play “Sunshine Boys,” her translation of which earned the Israeli equivalent of a Tony. She also dabbles in Shakespeare and offered a little “Hamlet” at the recent salon, first in English.

“To be or not to be, that is the question …”

Then she switched to Yiddish, which brings out some giggles among the attendees and full-blown laughter by the time she’s done.

“Ah, there’s the rub,” she says.

Yiddish is full of rich expressions and terms of endearment. It also offers some very colorful complaints and even more colorful insults. Often metaphors are involved.

Hoffman later does her best to translate her Yiddish Hamlet back into English.

“To be or not to be. That’s where the dog is buried. It’s a common way of saying in Yiddish, ‘that’s the problem,’” she said before a brief pause. “I didn’t say it was academic Shakespeare.”

* * * * * *

There are many efforts under way to carry Yiddish into the 21st century. Two language conservationists recently published an English-to-Yiddish dictionary, adding words for things like email and binge watch. Facebook is adding Yiddish translations to the social media platform. Some universities are adding Yiddish to their language offerings.

Efforts are being made to produce more songs in Yiddish and publish new Yiddish literary works. Earlier this year, a Yiddish-language film, “Menashe,” was released in the United States.

In South Florida, a member of Temple Menorah Miami is teaching Yiddish classes at the synagogue, an idea he got after attending the salons at The Betsy. As for the collaboration between FIU and The Betsy, the popularity of the salons has led to the creation of an annual daylong Yiddish symposium dedicated to topics pertaining to exile.

Though the language nearly disappeared in the last century, Yiddish is making a comeback, primarily in the United States, Israel and Russia. For the foreseeable future, the monthly Yiddish salons will continue at The Betsy. For Milbauer, Plutzik and Briggs, they are doing their part to ignite a Yiddish renaissance. 

The Panthers will conclude their spring practice season with the annual FIU Football Spring Game at Riccardo Silva Stadium on Friday, April 6.

The Spring Game, which is an intrasquad game, kicks off at 7 p.m. and is free to the public. The game will give fans a first look at this year’s football team before they begin their quest for a repeat bowl appearance this fall.

There are a few big incentives for students to make their way to the stadium tomorrow night. The first 150 students in attendance will receive a free FIU ‘camo’ hat and all students that attend the Spring Game will receive one free guest ticket to the first home game of the 2018 season against Indiana on Sept. 1.

As part of the festivities, the Panthers will hold a special VIP event on the west end zone patio beginning at 6 p.m. for those who have purchased or renewed their FIU football season tickets by April 6.

The exclusive event will include free food and drinks, raffle items and more. If you haven’t already done so, now is the perfect time to renew or purchase your season tickets.

Season ticket plans start as low as $50, and a new addition to this season is the General Admission family plan, which will allow for two adults and three kids (17 & under) to attend all season long for just $200.

For more information, please call (305) FIU-GAME.

Here is a look at the full 2018 FIU football schedule:

Sept. 1            INDIANA

Sept. 8            at Old Dominion*

Sept. 15          UMASS

Sept. 22          at Miami (Fla.)

Sept. 29          ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF

Oct. 6              Bye

Oct. 13            MIDDLE TENNESSEE*

Oct. 20            RICE*

Oct. 27            at WKU*

Nov. 3             FLORIDA ATLANTIC*

Nov. 10           at UTSA*

Nov. 17           at Charlotte*

Nov. 24           MARSHALL*

* denotes Conference USA Games
 Home games at Riccardo Silva Stadium are capitalized and in bold face.

Their friendship eventually developed into a romance, and as they prepared to graduate together in the fall of 2014 they wondered where they would end up after college.

Like most FIU students, Cordon was born and raised in Miami. Fan, on the other hand, had swapped Southern California for South Florida to study at FIU, where her father had once been a professor.

So they made a plan: Whichever of the two got the first job offer, the other would follow.

“One piece of advice my father gave to me was that as a couple, if you want to go somewhere together, you have to be willing to compromise,” Jolene says. “We both cast our net as wide as possible and had no fear in terms of where we were going.”

Both applied for jobs across the country, and Cordon landed the first offer, for a senior development engineer with a computer data storage company in Southern California. And so the two relocated.

Since then they have gotten married—they are now the Cordons—Jolene found a job in her field, each completed FIU’s online master’s in computer engineering with a concentration in network security and together they purchased a home in Orange County.

“I thought I was going to stay in Florida my whole life,” Pedro says. “But coming from FIU and South Florida, which is so diverse, has really helped me out here and given me a leg up in my career. It’s helped me dream bigger dreams.”

Many other recent graduates and young alumni are beginning to do the same.

Branching out

While the vast majority of FIU alumni continue to choose to live and work in Miami after graduating, more and more alumni like the Cordons are moving elsewhere. They’re moving to cities like Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., in greater numbers.

FIU now boasts over 215,000 alumni, many living and working in South Florida. But just over 33,000 alumni live and work outside of the state.

Duane Wiles, associate vice president and executive director of the Alumni Association, has noticed that alumni are gaining influence in industries like technology, hospitality and entertainment around the country. The result is more and more people around the country recognizing FIU as an up-and-coming institution at the national level.

 “When I traveled in the past, a lot of people asked, ‘What is FIU?’ But now, more and more people see me wearing an FIU shirt or my lapel pin and more of them know what FIU is,” Wiles says. “Alumni around the country can help elevate the brand of FIU and share the story of FIU wherever they go.”

A seasoned human resources professional, Jose Tomas ’92, MS ’03 agrees that FIU is on the rise nationally and that graduates are increasingly on the move, especially younger alumni who are more willing to leave home and start their careers someplace new.

“A few years ago you didn’t see many FIU graduates outside of South Florida. Today, I’m seeing more of them in other cities,” says Tomas, currently the senior vice president of global human resources at General Motors. “There seems to be a greater appetite for recent graduates to leave South Florida.”

According to the Alumni Association, more than a quarter (27 percent) of all Panther alumni living outside of Florida graduated in the last 10 years. The class of 2012 has the most graduates outside of the Sunshine State (1,156).

Growing out-of-town alumni chapters

As more alumni move out of South Florida, alumni chapters – called FIU Alumni Panther Networks – in major metropolitan areas continue to grow and flourish. They play an increasingly important role in helping alumni make valuable connections and feel at home in their new cities.

Arianna Graterol ’13 moved to Houston in 2014 when her husband, who is also an FIU graduate, got an information technology job there. Neither of them knew a soul in the city, but got connected to the Metro Houston Panther Network. That group boasts 500 alumni and led to many valuable personal and professional connections that have helped the couple navigate life in their adopted city. They even purchased a home with a realtor who was married to an FIU alumnus.

Graterol became the president of the network in the summer of 2017 and says the alumni networks play a pivotal role in helping FIU alumni stay connected with the university and with each other.

“You never know who you are going to meet,” says Graterol. “We have people from all walks of walk, from engineers to lawyers, who share this common connection and can serve as a resource for the goals we want to accomplish. It creates a special community.”

Taking my talents to…

The factors for leaving South Florida vary depending on the alumni you talk to. For many, including Tomas, the industries they want to work in led them to pursue jobs in different parts of the country.

Tomas was born in Puerto Rico but moved to Miami when he was in sixth grade and called the city home for three decades. Over the course of his career, he worked for some of South Florida’s most recognizable companies.

His first job was bagging groceries at Publix as a 15-year-old Coral Gables Senior High student. He continued to work there as he pursued a business administration degree at FIU and eventually worked his way up to a human resources specialist during his 17 years with the company. He moved on to Ryder System, Inc. and then Burger King Corp., where he became president for the chain’s Latin America and Caribbean region.

“The reality is that South Florida has a limited number of large employers and I worked for two of the largest,” Tomas says. “I knew that I would have to leave Miami if I wanted to work for a larger company.”

That’s when Indianapolis-based Anthem, Inc., a health insurance company and a Fortune 500 employer, brought Tomas on as their new chief human resources officer in 2013. In July 2017, Tomas moved to Detroit to work for General Motors.

“Not everything is here in Miami or Fort Lauderdale,” Wiles says. “We have alumni who go to Seattle and San Francisco and are working at Boeing or Google. They are helping companies learn more about FIU and hire more of our graduates. Our alumni put FIU on their radar.”

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Read more: The author of this story, an FIU alumnus himself, discusses his new journey in Nashville

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A new adventure

For others, the thrill of starting somewhere new or blazing their own trail led them to move hundreds or thousands of miles away from South Florida.

In Melanie Leonard’s case, a combination of both lured her to the Big Apple.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in advertising from FIU in 2013 and finishing Miami Ad School’s master’s degree program two years later, she landed a freelance gig at Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies based in New York City.

On the plane ride up to New York, “I felt that this was the start of something new, a chance and opportunity to do something I love in a city that I never dreamed of living in,” Leonard recalls. “I was very hopeful and excited to see where this would lead.”

What began as a two-week project eventually led to the offer of a full-time position as a copywriter, which Leonard accepted.

The decision to leave Miami was not an easy one, however.  Leonard had interned in Orlando, New York and San Francisco during her time at FIU and Miami Ad School, but South Florida was still home.

“My mom still asks me when I’m coming back  every day, and that’s not an exaggeration,” Leonard says. “I love South Florida and would’ve stayed if I could, but it’s just not New York City.”

New York offered her an opportunity to reach for more, and two years after making the move she has no regrets.

“I wanted to challenge myself and see how I’d stack up in America’s hardest working city. I wanted to jumpstart my career, and I saw that the opportunities were more abundant and the projects were on a larger scale in New York,” says Leonard, who works with national clients such as Hillshire Farms, Ball Park Franks and PETA.

“Moving was a huge deal, but the time to take that chance was now. And I’m glad I did. This is a dream job.”

Now more than ever, other alumni are willing to do the same. 

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February was filled with exciting events such as the annual Uproar concert and major accomplishments like the FIU swimming and diving team capturing their fourth straight conference title. The month also included heartbreak as Panthers came together to mourn the lives lost in the Majory Stoneman Douglas shooting on Valentine’s Day.

Before we move into March, take a moment to enjoy some of our favorite moments and images from February captured by FIU photographers.

To view more of our favorite FIU images, visit our  “Month in Photos” series page.

A fungal disease is wiping out large populations of amphibians in the cloud forests of the Andean Amazon. Catenazzi spends much of his time searching for areas where the deadly fungus has not yet hit, hoping to find remaining populations of nearly 20 species of frogs that have been devastated by the disease. Many of the frogs are tiny, which means Catenazzi spends his days turning over rocks and digging through leaf litter. With a keen eye for detail, he occasionally spots what he believes to be a never-before-documented species. During an unplanned excursion in Peru, he was confident there would be undiscovered species waiting for him and his research companion Alex Ttito, a researcher with the Museo de Biodiversidad del Perú in Cusco.

“We were driving by when I saw a man who had just cleared the access trail for a power line which cut deep into the montane forest,” Catenazzi said. “I told Alex, ‘we have to get up there.’ I knew if we went, we’d find new species.”

They hiked along the cleared but still treacherous terrain, eventually finding a pristine cloud forest. Digging through leaf litter, Catenazzi discovered a tiny frog with reddish-brown coloring and blue-gray flecks. For the scientist who has discovered 28 new species already and spent much of his career in museums studying the world’s frogs, he knew this tiny frog was a new discovery. He named it Psychrophrynella glauca, denoting its similarity to other species in the region and for its unique coloring. The discovery was confirmed by comparing the description of the frog to known species and through genetic testing. The finding was published this week in the journal PeerJ.

Because of its size and remote location, little is still known about the newly discovered frog, but Catenazzi said the discovery of a new species is the all-important first step in conservation.

“I believe in documenting biodiversity,” he said. “We know the Andes are extremely rich in biodiversity, but people don’t spend a lot of time looking for small things. It’s tedious work. But there is a high value for conservation if we take the time to document.”

Today, Catenazzi’s search for the vanishing frogs of the Amazon continues. He is hopeful he will find additional areas untouched by the march of the fungal disease.

“People need to understand that if frogs are in such big trouble, we should be worried too,” he said. “These pandemics affect us. Plants. People. These fungal diseases can be devastating.”

If he does find areas less affected by fungus in the Andean Amazon, he believes he will find populations of missing frogs and maybe even more newly discovered species.

Does the job search process make you nervous? If it does, that’s common.

Applying for a job can be intimidating but knowing what employers are looking for in applicants can prepare you to be a good candidate and boost your confidence.

Whether you are a current student or a graduate looking to fill a position, these five points are helpful to keep in mind.

1. Your resume should be clear and concise.

On average, recruiters spend about six seconds looking at a resume. Connect your current skills with the specific job qualifications. At times, this requires you to make a few changes to your resume when applying for different positions. You should review your resume at least three times and, if possible, have a professional look at it, too.

Cover letters vary depending on where you apply. “Do your research to find out what your company wants. This gives you an advantage,” said Anamile Buendia, assistant director of internships for FIU Career and Talent Development, at a career readiness workshop held Feb. 28 at MMC.

2. LinkedIn is the tool used by recruiters.

It gives you exposure by promoting yourself in the professional realm. With more than 400 million members, the amount of opportunities are endless.

“It’s like a Facebook for professionals,” Buendia said.

Career and Talent Development offers students free professional headshots for a LinkedIn profile picture.

3. Sometimes, it’s not about what you know but who you know. 

Building and maintaining professional relationships can be beneficial to you. Networking can include building relationships with professors, guest speakers or even classmates. You never know who will recommend you for a job.

4. Your appearance speaks before you do.

Business attire is crucial for an interview. “We are extremely observant and always watching. I can tell a lot about someone based off of how they dress,” said Ian-Ruth Clarke, Target’s executive team leader for human resources, who was a guest speaker at the workshop.

5. Practice your elevator pitch.

Introduce yourself to someone in 30 seconds. In this time span, you should have shared the most important information about yourself that would be of interest to a potential employer. This is beneficial for the beginning of an interview, giving you an opportunity to distinguish yourself from other applicants.

For more information on events, workshops and services offered by FIU Career and Talent Development, visit career.fiu.edu

We continue to work together to strengthen fraternity and sorority life at FIU and align it with who we are as an institution. This is an update to my letter of Monday, Feb. 5, which discussed the process we are undergoing as an institution. Over the past few weeks, additional decisions have been made regarding reinstatements, suspensions, conduct sanctions and housing.

Reinstatement Decisions

During this second round, 16 chapters were eligible for a reinstatement presentation. Of those, 13 were approved to present but one chapter chose to postpone their presentation, leaving 12 chapters presenting to the Fraternity & Sorority Life Reinstatement Committee.

Effective Thursday, March 1, an additional 10 chapters have been approved for reinstatement. Tomorrow they may resume normal activities, including recruitment, philanthropies and social events:

Multicultural Greek Council (MGC)

• Lambda Upsilon Lambda
• Sigma Lambda Beta

National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)

• Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Alpha Phi Alpha
• Kappa Alpha Psi

Panhellenic Council (PC)

• Alpha Chi Omega
• Alpha Xi Delta

Interfraternity Council (IFC)

• Delta Upsilon
• Phi Delta Theta
• Theta Chi

With the first and second rounds, this totals 26 reinstated fraternities and sororities.

For the chapters that were not reinstated, the pause will continue until the end of the spring semester. Those chapters will then have another opportunity to provide a final presentation during the first week of April. Please note that any chapter that is not reinstated during the final round will no longer be recognized by Fraternity & Sorority Life.

Conduct Updates

At the Greek Town Hall on Feb. 1, I spoke about the five fraternities on interim suspension. We shared that Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) and Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) were suspended from the university for a minimum of two years, and that the Office Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (SCCR) was still working on the remaining cases. Those cases have now been closed:

• On Jan. 22, Sigma Alpha Mu (Sammy) was placed on interim suspension for allegedly violating the Greek Life Pause Process. After the investigation, SCCR found Sammy not responsible, and they were removed from interim suspension on February 14. They will be eligible to participate in the reinstatement process this semester.
• In November, Beta Theta Pi (Beta) was placed on interim suspension for hosting an unregistered party where underage drinking allegedly took place. Additional evidence surfaced while SCCR was investigating these allegations, which extended their case. Beta recently met with the SCCR and took full responsibility for the violations of the FIU Student Code of Conduct. As a result, the organization has been placed on deferred suspension through December 31, 2018. During this time, Beta will not be allowed to hold any social event or parties. After the deferred suspension period has ended, Beta will then be placed on conduct probation through December 31, 2019. Any future violations of the Student Code of Conduct or other University policies could result in more serious sanctions such as suspension or expulsion. They will be eligible to participate in the reinstatement process this semester.
• As shared in my update last month, Pi Kappa Phi (Pi Kapp) national Headquarters issued a “cease and desist” notice to the chapter in December while SCCR was investigating the alleged violations of the FIU Student Code of Conduct. On February 26, Pi Kapp Headquarters contacted FIU to inform us that they have suspended the chapter for a minimum of two years. As a result, Pi Kapp is no longer a recognized organization at FIU.

With these updates, all pending charges related to fraternities and sororities have officially been closed.

Greek Housing

Given the status of Pi Kappa Phi (Pi Kapp) and Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI), access to both fraternity houses has been restricted to current residents, fraternity personnel, and authorized university administration.

Residents of both houses will be allowed to remain until the end of the spring semester. Chapter functions (meetings, events, etc.) are strictly prohibited.

At this time, no decisions have been made regarding the future of the houses.

Reminders

• The alcohol ban is still in effect until the end of the semester. Alcohol is not permitted for any fraternity or sorority activity – including business, social, and philanthropic events (on or off campus) – until Friday, April 27.
• I will host a workshop with Greek alumni on Thursday, March 8, from 7- 9 p.m. in the GC Ballrooms. We will discuss the status of individual chapters, community standards and the Student Code of Conduct.
• The new Student Code of Conduct is open for public comment through Saturday, March 31. We encourage the entire FIU community to review the proposed changes via fiu.edu, and submit feedback to codecomments@fiu.edu.

If you have any questions, please contact Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Lunsford at Lunsford@fiu.edu.

FIU will not rescind   admission decisions of incoming students who receive disciplinary action from their high school for participating in peaceful demonstrations, joining a growing number of universities nationally that are taking a similar stance on student activism. 

FIU’s Kevin B. Coughlin, Jr., interim vice president for enrollment management, released the following statement:

The core values of FIU are Truth, Freedom, Respect, Responsibility and Excellence and we have always promoted meaningful and purposeful engagement in community and public affairs. FIU Office of Admissions and Office of Academic Integrity will not rescind the admission decisions of incoming students who receive disciplinary action from their high school for participating in peaceful demonstrations.

The statement comes in the wake of reports that some high schools around the country have threatened students with suspension if they take part in school walkouts demanding stronger gun-control policies in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead.

Psychology senior Angelic Cox got the chance of a lifetime this past weekend at the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival: She presented her original burger recipe to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives star Guy Fieri at the Festival’s Heineken Light Burger Bash presented by Schweid and Sons.

Her creation, called “The Jerk Man Burger,” was selected as this year’s Red Robin Golden Robin contest winner, earning her a $10,000 scholarship and a chance to be featured on the Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews menu in the next year.

Cox’s recipe was inspired by her Caribbean roots and the quintessential Jamaican “jerk man.”

“The jerk man is basically the guy that’s out there on the street at any event, under a tent or something, and he’s selling jerk chicken, jerk ribs,” Cox said. “After a party, you’re hungry. So you go to the jerk man, and he’s going to hook you up. And everybody knows him.”

It starts with a spicy, jerk-seasoned beef patty that she tops with muenster cheese, jerk-flavored barbecue sauce and a sweet mango salsa to temper the heat, all piled on a potato bun.

“It’s a really enticing combination of sweet and spicy flavors,” Cox said. The idea for the Jamaican-inspired blend came to her one Saturday afternoon as she and her friends from the Caribbean Student Association (for which Cox serves on the executive board) sat around her house trying different recipes to help her enter the contest.

Alongside 42 of the nation’s most popular burger joints featured at the event on Feb. 23, Cox had her own booth where Red Robin cooks and FIU student volunteers grilled hundreds of Jerk Man sliders for guests to sample.

“Being here, having my burger here is amazing,” Cox said that evening. “I’m not even a culinary student – I’m a psych major. And Guy Fieri is here, there’s Pincho Factory, Red Robin, all these big restaurants are here, and they chose me. I’m feeling kind of star-struck right now. I’m feeling like a media star.”

On a quest to try each burger at the event, Fieri made his way to Cox’s booth.

“You’re a rock star,” he told her, cracking a smile as the sweet-and-spicy combo hit his taste buds. “It’s delicious!”

At the end of the night, surrounded by all 42 of the chefs on stage, Red Robin leaders and Guy Fieri presented Cox with a burger-shaped trophy and a big red check for $10,000.

Cox said the scholarship couldn’t have come at a better time for her. The former resident assistant, peer advisor and campus tour guide plans to attend graduate school next year to study student affairs and higher education administration.

“This scholarship is nothing short of a blessing,” Cox said, encouraging her fellow Panthers to give the contest a try next year. “I’m so proud that Red Robin is doing this, and I really feel like a lot more people should try to apply. It’s so fun – we all eat, right?”

Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU each February, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival benefits FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million in support of education and scholarships at the school. The Festival also provides valuable career insight and networking opportunities to more than 1,000 students annually who volunteer in areas like event management, logistics, culinary preparation, marketing and more.

The fellowship – expected to begin this fall – will be a multi-disciplinary workforce development initiative designed to combine academics with mentorship, public policy research, professional development and internship opportunities.

“At such a critical juncture in our nation’s history, I believe it’s important that our country’s next generation of leaders learns as much as possible about the political process,” said Murphy, a two-term Congressman first elected when he was 29.

“I plan to cover everything from being a candidate, being a member, the issues millennials will face as they enter the gig economy, and the need for our political leaders to start addressing automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the future of work.”

“I will also have some current members of Congress join me to share their perspectives on bipartisanship and how our political system needs to change,” he added.

Murphy represented Florida’s 18 ^th  District from 2013 to 2017. He was a member of the Committee on Financial Services, as well as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on the National Security Agency and Cybersecurity.

Murphy’s accomplishments range from helping to secure nearly $2 billion in Everglades restoration funding to introducing the bipartisan SAVE Act (Savings, Accountability, Value, and Efficiency) and reducing government spending. He was a member of the bipartisan United Solutions Caucus, earning a reputation for his independent voting record.

In 2017, Murphy joined the non-profit   Future Forum Foundation  as chairman, where he works to address the economic problems millennials face today.

Senior fellows at the Green School devote their two-year residence to research, teaching and the creation of new engagement opportunities for students.

Current fellows include   David J. Kramer, a former Assistant Secretary of State under President George W. Bush;   Saif Y. Ishoof, FIU’s vice president for engagement and former executive director of City Year Miami; and   Mark Medish, former special assistant to President Bill Clinton and former senior director on the National Security Council. Former fellows include U.S. Senator   Marco Rubio  and   Kimberly Green, president of the Green Family Foundation.

In the study, participants listened to audio recordings of three native Spanish speakers from Barcelona, Spain; Bogota, Colombia and Havana, Cuba and rated the accents for different attributes tied to income, profession and family background.

People who speak European Spanish are perceived as being more educated, having higher income and having a white-collar job, as well as coming from a family with more money, according to FIU sociolinguist Phillip M. Carter. People who speak Cuban Spanish are perceived as being less educated, having lower income and coming from a family with less money than Spaniards, as well as having blue-collar jobs. People who speak the Colombian variety fall somewhere in between, depending on the category, but participants had the strongest opinions on the European and Cuban varieties.

Carter, an associate professor in FIU’s Department of English, says oftentimes, people will identify country of origin based on how someone speaks. Yet, when someone uses language and language differences to make assessments about non-linguistic attributes, including education, employment and income, it may reinforce stereotypes.

“What if instead of participating in a research study, these listeners were in charge of making education, employment, housing or health care decisions?,” Carter said. “People can make life-changing decisions based on how others speak. That’s a really, really big deal.”

Carter points out stigmatized Spanish varieties are associated with countries with large indigenous, black and low-income populations. Spanish varieties with more prestige are associated with countries where people think of themselves as being ethnically European and middle-class. This, Carter says, comes out in the way people perceive each other in Miami.

“On the one hand, I’m not surprised given Eurocentric ideologies that build Spain up as ‘la madre patria,’ but on the other hand I’m surprised this is happening here in Miami,” Carter said. “Cubans have had the most success here, yet people don’t embrace Cuban Spanish, at least when making snap judgements about income and employment. You’d think people in Miami would look favorably on it given the successes of Cuban-Americans in these domains.”

In Miami-Dade County, where nearly 64 percent of people spoke Spanish at home between 2009-2013, according to the U.S. Census, Cubans and Cuban-Americans are the numerical majority, and they are among the economic and political elite. Compared to other Hispanic groups in the country, Cubans have higher incomes, are more educated, are more likely to own a home, and are more likely to have health insurance.

The study was completed by nearly 300 participants — 67 percent identified as Latino/Latina and 52 percent identified as native Spanish-speakers. Most of the participants were undergraduate college students from FIU. The audio recordings were of three men who read the same passage. Each man is in his early 30s, college-educated in his native country, and has lived and been employed in Miami-Dade County for at least one year.

In the study, participants assessed different statements related to income, employment and family background on a scale of 1 to 5, where one indicates disagreement and five indicates agreement.

• On the likelihood of working as an attorney, participants gave the European voice an average of 3.4, the Colombian a 2.8 and the Cuban a 2.7.
• On the likelihood of working in a cell phone store, participants gave the Colombian and the Cuban an average of 3.1 and Spaniard an average of 2.6.
• On the likelihood of coming from a family that provided opportunities to get ahead, participants gave the European voice an average of 3.7, the Colombian an average of 3.3 and the Cuban an average of 3.2.
• On the likelihood of coming from a family that was poor, the Cuban voice was given an average of 3.4, the Colombian an average of 3.3 and the European an average of 2.9.
• The Spaniard was assigned an annual income of $62,300, which was $12,625 more per year than the Cuban and $13,125 more than the Colombian.

The study is a collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin. It was recently published in the journal Latino Studies and is part of a special volume examining different Latino and Latina populations in Miami.

Vorseth, an FIU environmental studies student, is examining what people know about the Everglades, how they use the ecosystem and their attitudes on restoring it, including what they are willing to pay for different restoration projects. By understanding the needs and wants of the public, her research can inform Everglades restoration policy and implementation.

“If we can understand the value of the Everglades to average Florida residents, we can assign dollar amounts to different restoration projects,” Vorseth said. “Putting the value of an ecosystem in monetary terms is something people can understand. This will, hopefully, motivate decision-makers to increase the speed of restoration.”

The Florida Everglades is the largest tropical wetlands in North America. It is home to more than 70 endangered species of animals and plants. It offers people a variety of recreational opportunities, and it protects communities from flooding and storms. The Everglades also feeds into the water supplies of 16 counties in the state. This includes the Biscayne Aquifer, the primary source of drinking water for Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties.

U.S. Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to restore, protect and preserve the water resources of the Florida Everglades nearly 20 years ago. It was originally estimated the plan would take 30 years to complete, but recent estimates indicate it will take 50 years according to the National Agricultural Law Center.

Vorseth is conducting the research alongside Mahadev Bhat, professor in FIU’s Department of Earth and Environment and Department of Economics, and Andrew Stainback, ecological economist at The Everglades Foundation. It is funded in part by the Everglades Foundation’s FIU ForEverglades Scholarship.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) selected you to be a program director in its Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division of its Engineering Directorate. Tell us about what you do. I oversee NSF’s biosensors and biomedical devices research nationwide, which includes developing partnerships across different divisions of NSF and working with different federal agencies, such as the Air Force, USDA, DARPA and NIH (among others), to fund projects. My role includes forming and facilitating merit review panels, recommending funding decisions,  overseeing hundreds of current and new funded projects, and influencing new directions in the field of biosensor research across whole nation.

NSF’s Division of Engineering Directorate has targeted many multidisciplinary research areas for rapid development, including advanced manufacturing technologies, information and communication technologies and improved healthcare delivery. My over 30 years’ experience of research in biomedical engineering and analytical chemistry cuts across these areas, supporting fundamental and translational engineering research on biosensors. I’m very excited to be in a prime position to collaborate with others and increase my visibility as I survey the entire breadth of U.S. and international science, engineering and education in real time. Meanwhile, I also can retain my ties to FIU and return to it with new insights and experience for my team.

Tell us about your research in nano-biosensing?  My research is interdisciplinary with several ongoing projects in the areas of biomedical devices related to noninvasive cancer therapy and the design and fabrication of biosensors for cell/organ on chips and for point-of-care testings. The major applications for our state-of-the-art biosensing technology is for cancer, neuron and chronic disease diagnosis and treatment. For example, our breakthrough technology consisting of needle-like biosensors for biomarker detection of ABeta peptides in Alzheimer’s can help doctors understand its role in the disease as well as determine drug treatment. (The disease is driven by the production and deposition of the ABeta peptide.)

Another breakthrough technology relates to cancer. We’ve found that electric fields in certain frequency ranges can induce significant effects on suppressing the growth of cancer cells, particularly in breast cancer tissue. This discovery may help develop an electronic therapeutic platform for non-invasive cancer treatment with minimum harmful side effects.

In the last two years, as the FIU lead, I have been engaged in the development efforts of two newly funded NSF Engineering Research Centers including NSF PATHS-UP and NSF CELL-MET. The NSF’s ERCs are interdisciplinary, multi-institutional centers that partner academia, industry and government to work on transformational engineering projects affecting the global economy within the 10-year timeframe of NSF support.

How do you hope that your research will help humanity?   In my lab, I strive for the integration of engineering and medical research with an emphasis on the development of miniaturized biomedical devices for both diagnosis and therapy. Our research is unusually multidisciplinary in nature with the interface of organ on chips, biomedical devices, nanomaterials and cellular electronics to revolutionize point-of-care testing. I want to promote a state-of-the-art integrated approach, which could have cross-applications for health, environmental, food safety monitoring and homeland security.

With your new appointment at NSF, will you continue to conduct research at FIU? And if so, how do you balance the two roles?   Thanks to the NSF Independent Research/Development (IR/D) program that permits me with IR/D plans to maintain involvement with my professional research, I will continue working with my graduate students and FIU colleagues, commuting back to Miami periodically.

You are also an expert in the development of biomedical devices such as wearable/portable biosensors – where do you see the future of this technology?   The high demand for health care – especially for our aging society – and the integration of daily monitoring is emerging. In the near future, smart biosensors will have the potential to integrate with artificial intelligence (AI) with the ability to monitor people’s health throughout their daily lives. These devices will help monitor chronic health conditions, cancer and other diseases.

Chenzhong Li has more than 30 years of experience in biosensors with more than 130 journal publications. He has been routinely serving as an advisor, reviewer and panelist for numerous funding agencies including USA funding agencies and many other international funding agencies like Canada, China, Europe, India and mid-east countries. He is not only an experienced scientist in biomedical engineering, but he’s also dedicated efforts to student education and community service, including contributing to various scientific journals as an editor, which involves handling more than 300 papers a year.

By Joel Delgado ’12, MS ’17

In the sports world, the word “dynasty” is thrown around pretty often – almost too often. After this weekend, however, it’s safe to say the FIU swimming and diving team has earned that designation.

The Panthers secured their fourth straight Conference USA title on Feb. 24, finishing the four-day tournament with a conference-record 1,031 points.

Junior Naomi Ruele was named C-USA Swimmer of the Meet, and senior Becca Quesnel was named C-USA Diver of the Meet – each playing a huge role in securing FIU’s 14 first-place finishes over the course of the tournament.

“It feels great to win our fourth championship,” FIU Head Coach Randy Horner told FIUSports.com. “I couldn’t be more proud of the ladies. It was well deserved. Across the board, it was a 100 percent group effort.”

Final Team Standings

1. FIU (1,031)
2. Rice (781)
3. Marshall (513)
4. North Texas (442)
5. Florida Atlantic (319)
6. Old Dominion (315)

FIU swept the C-USA Swimming and Diving Awards, as voted by the conference’s coaches, with Horner earning his fourth straight C-USA Swimming Coach of the Year award and Rio Ramirez being tapped as the C-USA Diving Coach of the Year.

Next season, the Panthers will have an opportunity to match SMU’s impressive string of five consecutive C-USA titles from 2006-2010, when they were members of the conference. SMU has a Conference USA record with six total conference championships (FIU is now second with four titles).

To read more about FIU swimming and diving, go to FIUSports.com.

Tomás R. Guilarte, dean of the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work and professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) is the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Toxicologist Award from the Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists (HOT).

A neurotoxicologist, Guilarte’s research explores the impact of environmental pollutants on neurological and mental disease. His work uses behavioral, cellular and molecular approaches, ranging from studies using primary culture of brain cells to the application of brain imaging technologies.

He research revealing the effects that low-level lead exposure has on the central nervous system during brain development led to the creation of strategies for mitigating learning deficits.

In separate research, Guilarte’s team played an important role in the validation and application of a biomarker for brain injury and inflammation that is used clinically in major medical centers around the world. His lab has also made seminal findings in the neurotoxicology of manganese and associated neurological disease.

Guilarte will accept the award and give a speech about his lifelong journey from Cuba to his position as a leading neurotoxicologist at HOT’s annual reception in March 2018.

The HOT organization is a special interest group within the Society of Toxicology (SOT) for researchers of Hispanic origin with experience in scientific areas related to toxic effects of chemicals on human health. Its chief goal is to provide a platform that guarantees awareness and dissemination of toxicological information from the Hispanic community of scholars. Based in the United States, SOT is the largest professional organization of toxicologists in the world with more than 7,800 members.

Each year, the HOT Award Committee awards a toxicologist of Hispanic origin for his or her outstanding professional achievements, excellence in research and level of service to the SOT.

“Dr. Guilarte has been and is committed to developing excellence in academic environments that are inclusive, collaborative and collegial, and where an emphasis is placed on supporting underrepresented minority faculty and students,” said fellow EHS professor and researcher Kim Tieu, who submitted Guilarte’s nomination to the committee. “He took the position of dean because he recognizes the need for successful scientists and academicians to be role models for Hispanics and African American students and faculty.”

A contingent of 50 FIU Theatre students and faculty traveled to Americus, Georgia, earlier this month for KCACTF. During the festival, held on the campus of Georgia Southwestern University, students presented their work to industry professionals, participated in workshops, attended performances and networked with other theatre artists from across the Southeastern United States.

Three students were awarded scholarships to attend the National KCACTF in Washington, D.C. Seniors Chelsea Cosio, Melissa Lopez and Apriah Williams will be attending the festival at the Kennedy Center this April – the most FIU has ever sent to the DC festival.

Chelsea Cosio won the Stage Management Fellowship for her work on last semester’s play Ubu Rex. She was selected out of more than 50 participants and after several rounds of interviews. This is the third year in a row that an FIU Theatre student wins this prestigious fellowship; Liana Sierra and Luisa Rodriguez won it the past two years.

Apriah Williams won the KCACTF Award for Theatrical Design Excellence for her scenic design of Ubu Rex.  

Melissa Lopez won the Stage Directors & Choreographers (SDC) Student Directing Fellowship. She was one of three FIU Theatre students, along with Leonard J. Moore II and Reid Suttles, who advanced to the final round. She was selected after several rounds of interviews and feedback on her work.

A fourth student, Pedro Urquia, might also be headed to the national festival. Urquia was selected as the region’s finalist for the Institute of Theatre Journalism and Advocacy award. Over the course of the week, he wrote several articles and reviews of the productions he saw at the festival. A panel will review the work of the eight regional finalists and select four to win the all-expenses paid trip to DC.

Three students, Rachel Gil de Gibaja, Gabriel Gonzalez and Apriah Williams won the Don Childs Award for their design collaboration on Ubu Rex. The award comes with scholarships to attend a week-long workshop at the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas this summer. Chelsea Cosio and Alexandrea Hess also won scholarships to attend the Institute.

Several other students won awards in the Design and Technology Management categories. Caroline Frias, Jade Mesa, Leonardo Urbina and Shannon Veguilla were all recognized for their excellence in design.

Two students also made it to the semi-final round of the Irene Ryan Scholarship auditions. More than 250 students entered the event this year and Patricia Contreras (with partner Emma Merritt) and Ruki Etti (with partner Leonard J. Moore II) were among the 48 passed on to the semi-finals.

FIU Theatre also presented their production of Ubu Rex during the festival. It was one of six invited productions from around the region. Before attending the festival, students met several times for rehearsals and to practice loading in and loading out the set. All of that preparation paid off with a successful performance that received a standing ovation.

In partnership with the Kennedy Center, KCACTF strives to promote the work of theatre students throughout the country. KCACTF Region IV consists of colleges and universities from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Southern Virginia.

Name: Randy Matos

Hometown: Technically, it’s Havana, Cuba. I left Cuba when I was three years old and moved to Tampa, Florida, where I lived until the age of 11. Then I moved to Miami and have lived here ever since.

What is your major? Electrical engineering

Where did you intern? I interned for Intel at their Hawthorne Farm campus in Hillsboro, Oregon.

What did you do there? I was a thermal and power management engineer under the Client Computing Group. The Client Computing Group manages all the aspects of the client computing business across multiple platforms (phones, tablets, PC computers), driving Intel’s corporate-wide user experience initiatives. A thermal and power management engineer tests electrical components and measures their electrical power consumption and how and where they generate heat. We then interpret the data received and make sure it is within design specification. Lastly, we designate the Thermal Design Power (TDP) for the device. This data is then used to support other teams within Intel and industry partners using our products.

How did you get your internship? I got the internship through the GEM Fellowship, offered by The National GEM Consortium, which I was awarded January 2017. GEM works with industry sponsors to match students with companies they like or have skills that align with what that company does. I chose Intel, and they felt I was a good match, so they sponsored me through GEM. With that sponsorship comes a paid summer internship. My supervisor at Intel told me he would need me for at least five months, so I took a break from school in the fall of 2017 so that I could work from July to December at Intel.

What advice do you have for those beginning the internship process? Think about the people also applying for that intern position, and realize that they probably all meet the minimum requirements. If you only have a degree in your field, it’s ultimately not enough to stand out. You need to find ways to make yourself more valuable and marketable. Think about all the projects you have done while working on your degree and see what skills came from that. Most engineering students have a senior design project, or some similar capstone project, which is actually valuable experience and can strengthen skills. Those kinds of things should not be left out of a resume. Also, try to talk to professors in your department and see if they have any positions for undergraduate/graduate research. Even if you don’t plan on obtaining a doctoral degree or going into a research-intensive field, being part of a research lab looks very strong on a resume.

What projects did you work on? Due to the nature of intellectual property, I cannot discuss specific projects, but I can discuss what I did in general. I worked with a team. My team would receive a batch of “future Intel platforms” (chips and processors) from the fabrication facility. We would then put these platforms through a series of specific stress tests while monitoring their thermal output, as well as their electrical power consumption. This data would be collected, analyzed and then discussed between the team to make sure everyone was in agreement with the results. Our conclusions would then be followed up in three ways: our sister team, which consisted of thermal mechanical system engineers, would take the data and design the heat sinks that go on this platform for Intel branded products. Next, we would share the data with business partners that are using these platforms so they can better understand and integrate them into their systems. Finally, our data would serve to specify the Thermal Design Power (TDP) of that platform, which as the name suggests, is the power limit you would design to maintain within its safe thermal range.

How did your internship connect back to your coursework? It’s hard to pinpoint. I would say the strongest connection was in the lab portion of certain classes. It was similar to the circuits lab, or power lab, where we deal directly with hardware for data collection. However, it goes without saying that the hardware at Intel was far more advanced than what we use in the lab. I would go as far as to say that I don’t believe the coursework itself helped in any single capacity, it’s more of the type of individual you become from the coursework that will allow you to think along the right lines, find the right way to tackle the problem, and ultimately succeed.

What was the coolest thing about your internship or that happened during your internship? I had already graduated with a master’s degree in electrical engineering from FIU when I started interning at Intel, so on my team I was held to some regard, which unbeknownst to me was strengthened by my actions. To me, I was just the intern, the new guy at the bottom who didn’t really “know” anything. I mean, I knew I was good, but this is what I thought the perception of me was. However, as time went on, I found myself supporting more and more people. I would get emails or instant messages over the company system asking for my help or input. Before I knew it, I wasn’t really just the intern anymore, I was a part of the team. Even our lab manager mentioned to me that he felt like I wasn’t even new there, he felt like I had been there for a while.

But the coolest thing that happened to me was during one of our tech forums, our weekly team meeting where we talk about technology and the work we are doing. One of our team members was giving a presentation and discussed some phenomena he was seeing in the data from another team. He couldn’t understand why that phenomena was happening, nor did anyone else in the room. Because my focus has always been in micro- and nano-scale fabrication and device physics, I was able to give them an understanding of what was happening. The presenter then asked me to set up a meeting with him to give a lecture on what was happening for the next time he gives the presentation. The feeling I got from that experience was pretty awesome and somewhat indescribable.

What did you like most about your experience? To be quite honest … being at Intel. I know that sounds cliché, but the benefits are amazing and they treat their employees really well. My manager also helped to make that feeling more prominent as he was very understanding of any situations that made me have to work from home. He was also not too strict on hours, so I could almost come in when I wanted to (almost), as long as my work was getting done and meeting the deadline.

What did you learn about yourself? I can’t really say I learned anything new about myself, but living away from home was definitely an interesting experience. I have had my own place here in Miami for some time, but my dad still lives with me since he’s retired and medically disabled due to a heart condition he has. This was the first time I lived completely separate from him. Communicating with people in Oregon was far easier than communicating with people in Miami; overall people are more considerate and nicer. From what I have heard, that seems to be the trend with major cities like Miami.

How did the position increase your professional confidence? I wouldn’t say my personal confidence went up, as I generally feel pretty confident in what I have spent almost a decade studying, but I would say my general confidence went up. Seeing as I can now place Intel on my resume/CV, it really helps to strengthen me and make myself more marketable.

How did you expand your professional network? One of the first things I did at Intel was to start emailing people that I saw working on things that caught my interest. Once you are in Intel, or any company for that matter, most people in the company are just an email or instant message away. This really helps to start making connections. You never know who might remember you and get back to you in the future.

How did it help you prove yourself in the “real-world?” It helped remind me that I am still a student because I choose to be. It lets me see that because of all the hard work I’ve done, I can already be a stable and successful member of society. It also reminded me that I am not done. There is more to do to get to where I want to be and to achieve my personal goals. Stay tuned!

More than 250 students and employees participated in a brief service that provided no answers in the wake of a senseless act but offered comfort and a few suggestions to help individuals move forward after the kind of tragedy that is becoming all too common.

“We must be a community that speaks up and speaks out against violence,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Lunsford. “We must end this madness.”

A lone shooter killed 14 students and three adults at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day in nearby Parkland, Florida. A number of current FIU students are graduates of the high school or have friends there.

Psychology major Nicola Elder attended the service in remembrance of her 14-year-old friend Jamie Guttenberg, whose funeral was held on Sunday. “Losing her was like losing a sister,” said Elder, who had pinned an orange ribbon to her backpack. The color was said to be Guttenberg’s favorite, and students both in South Florida and nationally have taken to displaying it as a sign of solidarity and support for the school. Today, high school students throughout South Florida wore orange clothing, and some walked out of classrooms for 17 minutes to honor the memory of those who perished.

Like many, theater major Tatiana Mihaita felt the shock of a blow that hit so close to home. “The high school I graduated [from] is in that district, and I’ve always been very involved with my community,” she said. “So when something happens, it affects me greatly.”

MFA candidate Anna Goraczko had no immediate connection to the school but felt compelled to attend. “I don’t know what I was expecting here today, but I just knew I wanted to be in a place where everyone was taking a moment to reflect on the tragedy,” she said. “Even if I didn’t know any of the victims personally, they are still our brothers and sisters. I wanted to pay my respects to everyone who lost their lives.”

Steve Lantz, a local pastor, spoke to the group and encouraged people to decide how they might take action as a way of channeling their emotions. He cited the example of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students, a number of whom have raised their voices for greater gun control. A busload drove to Tallahassee this week to encourage legislators to take up the cause.

After the service, Lantz suggested meaningful dialogue as one way to facilitate positive change. “Listening to people with opposing views I think is real important. And it doesn’t mean our minds are going to be changed, but let’s at least have the most informed opinion.

“Do like Socrates, learn how to ask questions. That’s what I would like to see politicians, on both sides, try to do. Rather than take a stand, ‘I have the answer,’ how about, ‘I have a question.’ Let’s ask questions together. I’ve found that when people gather together and challenge themselves to ask really good questions, the answers sometimes just reveal themselves through the art of asking questions.”

Lantz also suggested contacting representatives to make one’s opinion known and giving blood as another tangible action that can be taken. Local blood services have requested donations to replenish what was used following the massacre, which has left several people still in the hospital.

Read:  Psychological first aid: coping with a tragedy

Kathryn Kominars, associate director of the Counseling and Psychological Services Center, reminded students in particular to utilize available campus resources. “There is no shame in reaching out for help,” she said. She also made the case for looking out for anyone who might be having a hard time. “We can encourage others to seek help if that is needed and vouch for help-seeking as a normal and wise thing to do when anyone is overwhelmed or sidetracked.” Employees can also find campus services to help them cope.

Earlier in the week, a memo sent to the university community reminded everyone to remain conscious of others’ behaviors and to inform authorities when encountering someone who may be at risk of harming themselves or others, or who may pose a threat to the safety and well-being of the campus community. Students, faculty and staff can make reports anonymously if they are concerned about someone who exhibits unusual or violent behavior or makes threatening statements.

President Mark B. Rosenberg further promoted taking positive steps. “Each and every one of us can saddle our sadness to the even more pressing task to make our world a better place,” he said. “Some of you will galvanize to vote this time around. Some of you can do this by digging deeper into mental health challenges. Some of you can help us to make this campus a safer place. We are not powerless. Our sadness can be translated into action.”

Students embraced music starring an eclectic mix of headliners including Jesse McCartney, the Ying Yang Twins and A-Trak.  

Missed Uproar? Take a look at photo highlights.

FIU alumnus Andrew Kaplan ’03 pauses in the middle of a bustling QVC set to take a selfie in his “HANGRY” t-shirt – his own design. He’s taken over Rachael Ray’s Instagram story for the day as he helps prep the Food Network celebrity’s live segment on the shopping channel that day.

Kaplan is Ray’s vice president of culinary operations, a job he ended up in because of his longtime hobby, making silly t-shirts. His shirts are conversation starters, he says.

The conversation with Ray started at the 2004 South Beach Wine & Food Festival®, when he found himself driving the “30 Minute Meals” star down the beach in a golf cart. She complimented his shirt – bright yellow and emblazoned with the word “polenta.” Upon hearing he made it himself, she asked if he would make shirts for her friends, who are affectionately known as “Potato” and “Spud.”

And from there, the hospitality management alumnus’ career took an unexpected turn: Ray offered him $50,000 to start a t-shirt business.

“It was love at first sight when it comes to Kappy, the only name I know Andrew Kaplan by,” Rachael Ray said of Kaplan via email. He took her up on the offer, starting by making her a custom “Yum-o!” shirt, which she wore on the inaugural cover of   Rachael Ray Every Day   magazine.

Around the same time, SOBEWFF® hired him full-time as a special projects manager to produce celebrity chef cooking demos, help start the Kidz Kitchen event and help plan and execute the annual Festival, which has raised more than $26 million for the   Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management  since its inception. All the while, Kaplan taught kids cooking classes in his free time on weekend.

It helped him understand where his interests in the industry lie.

“Start by thinking about something you want to do and that you’ll have fun doing,” he advises students. “Don’t choose a job or a brand just because it sounds cool. Working with Adidas or Nike may sound really cool, but you need to narrow down what role in that company would really make you happy.”

Throughout his time with SOBEWFF®, Kaplan kept in touch with Ray, telling her of a culinary outreach project he was working on to give inner-city children fine dining experiences in fancy restaurants. This sparked Ray’s interest, as she had been planning a charity project herself at the time – which would become Yum-o!, her brand’s cooking and kids nonprofit organization.

After his time with the Festival ended, Ray offered him a job working as an associate producer on her daytime talk show; and he moved to New York City in 2006 to help her launch Yum-o! in conjunction with President Bill Clinton’s Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

“I tried to hijack him almost after the moment I met him. He was working at [SOBEWFF®] for my dear friend Lee Schrager,” Ray said, adding, “Lee is a great guy in that he remains my friend even though I stole Kappy.”

His relationship with Ray, which turned into his dream career, is proof of Kaplan’s philosophy on networking.

“Following up when you meet someone is so important. Get their card, and email the person the next day,” he advises students. “If you go to SOBEWFF® and meet 20 people in the industry, but you never follow up with any of them, you may as well not have gone to the Festival at all. And this cycle never stops. You meet people every day of your life.”

It’s a lesson Kaplan learned studying at the Chaplin school – along with many other lessons in professionalism.

“I remember the late Professor Ilvento told us to bring two ties to an interview, in case one was wrinkled or you spilled. It’s a small lesson, but I still think of it often,” he said. “I have meetings with important people in the industry with Rachael Ray, and I often bring two shirts in case I spill my coffee.”

Today, Kaplan directs a variety of projects for the Rachael Ray brand.

“Every single day is different for me,” he said. “I wear many hats.”

On the morning he visited QVC, he’d just gotten off the phone with her on the way to her morning talk show to discuss an opportunity for the magazine. The night before, he spent an hour on the phone with her going over ideas for upcoming charity projects. He’s also working on a cookbook with her and helping coordinate events like Rachael Ray’s Feedback festival in Austin, Texas, which takes place during the SXSW Festival.

On the side, he has podcast called “Beyond the Plate” in which he interviews chefs and restaurateurs about their journeys in the industry and the social impact they have made in their community. He’s also active with his social media handle @onkappysplate. Though he no longer makes t-shirts for Ray, he’s since begun an apparel line called Aisle Ate by Flavour Gallery.

Kaplan said dabbling in many areas of the food world has helped him to figure out what he’s really passionate about, as well as to diversify his resume and skills.

“I’ve cooked. I’ve worked in restaurants. I’ve been a caterer. I’ve done food writing. I’m not a master in really any of these things, but I’ve got experience in them,” he said.

Said Ray: “We have a lot of different personalities [in the company], but Kappy’s is my favorite. He is even in temper. He is generous to a fault, and he has helped us create an environment where we give back to children and our community in multiple ways and on multiple levels. He is an educator, an innovator — and culinary talents, of which he has many, are on his life list of God-given gifts. He’s more than someone for any school to be proud to call an alum. He’ll make you a better human being.”

Interested in volunteering at this year’s Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, hosted Feb. 21-25, 2018? There’s still time! Click here to register.

By Joel Delgado ’12, MS ’17

The South Florida community, including the FIU family, was shocked and saddened by the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.  

The university will gather to remember the victims of the shooting at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in GC 355 at MMC. To RSVP, please click here.

“Last week senseless violence struck again. Too many young lives, hopes and dreams were taken from this world,” President Mark B. Rosenberg said in a memo sent to the university community. “But during our greatest struggles and our most terrible tragedies, it is important that we come together as a community to reflect and grieve together.”

FIU has many connections to the school, which is the second largest high school in Broward County. The university has 69 students and 210 alumni who graduated from Stoneman Douglas High and has already admitted 45 students for the 2018-19 school year.

For those unable to attend, the memorial will be streamed live at webcast.fiu.edu.

By Richard Olson

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has now entered the history books as the seventh most intense on record—17 named storms and 10 hurricanes (six of them major, including two Category 5 storms and three Category 4 storms that made landfall in the United States).

Hurricane Harvey’s impacts in the area of Houston, Texas; Hurricane Irma’s impacts on the west coast of Florida; and Hurricane Maria’s impacts on Puerto Rico will be historic events for hurricane disasters in the United States. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reports that approximately 25.8 million people in the United States were affected by those three hurricanes alone, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calculates that the storms inflicted a cost of $265 billion. Globally, Munich Re estimates the total insured and uninsured losses from all types of disaster to be $330 billion, with about half of those losses concentrated in the United States.

The reality is that exposures to hazards are increasing and climate change will give us more extreme weather events. We know that irrational land use policies, non-compliance with building codes, poor governance, and bad planning in general work together to put more assets and people in harm’s way. Hurricane Harvey, for example, demonstrated the folly of unrestrained and unsustainable urban sprawl in a region prone to severe flooding. We will certainly continue to dissect the Harvey disaster and ask how Houston accommodated its remarkable population growth over the last several decades with an uncomfortable question: “Who was put in harm’s way, to which threats, by whom, and why?”

Unfortunately, a persistent problem in public discourse is the penchant of public officials-and the media-to label major damaging events as “natural” disasters. The research community knows better, and has for a long time, from Phil O’Keefe and colleagues’ 1976 Taking the Naturalness Out of Natural Disasters and Kenneth Hewitt’s 1983 “Interpretations of Calamity from the Viewpoint of Human Ecology” to Gaillard et al. in the January 2014 Natural Hazards Observer, Taking the ‘naturalness’ out of natural disaster (again). And who can forget Ben Wisner and colleagues in “At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and Disasters“? They were classically blunt in stating that nature only provides events; it’s social and economic structures and processes that are the root causes of our (highly unequal) vulnerabilities.

The problem is that the term “natural disaster,” which often puts a slight and too politically convenient emphasis on the word natural, blurs the causal picture in the public mind and subtly shifts responsibility for disaster losses away from their root cause. This blurring is particularly relevant to land use and building standards decisions, which are overwhelmingly political—and largely determine loss patterns and levels. We have to change that game.

At every opportunity, from social media to formal media interviews to op-ed submissions and public presentations, the research community must challenge the usage of the term natural, particularly after a damaging event: This was not a natural disaster. We are the ones who built there. We are the ones who opted for less stringent codes. We are the ones who failed to provide for mass evacuation in those areas. This is not nature’s fault. This is on us, and on our leaders specifically.

To be clear, this assertive role for the research community means becoming more political in our advocacy, engaging in that arena and with the media, and speaking truth to power. The responsibility is particularly strong for researchers in higher education, because the values and norms in those institutions, including academic freedom and tenure, are crucial protections that allow us to speak truth to power with at least a modicum of professional and financial safety.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released an unparalleled dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD study) — the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States.

Approximately 30 terabytes of data — about three times the size of the Library of Congress collection — obtained from the first 4,500 participants, will be available to scientists worldwide to conduct research on the many factors that influence brain, cognitive, social and emotional development. To date, more than 7,500 youth and their families have been recruited for the study.

“This is the first of many to come from this landmark study, which has embraced its team-based, open-science model,” said Raul Gonzalez principal investigator for ABCD at FIU. “The public data release will provide an incredible level of transparency and allow scientists across the world to examine and explore all the data already collected in the service of understanding adolescent brain development and improving the lives of children and families.”

Gonzalez is associate professor of psychology, psychiatry and immunology, and a faculty member at the FIU Center for Children and Families. He is leading the 14-member research team from FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education and Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work. The project includes child mental health and social work experts, as well as psychologists and a physicist, who have extensive track records in drug abuse research and cognitive neuroscience.

This interim release provides high-quality baseline data on a large sample of 9-10-year-old children, including basic participant demographics, assessments of physical and mental health, substance use, culture and environment, neurocognition, tabulated structural and functional neuroimaging data, and minimally processed brain images, as well as biological data such as pubertal hormone analyses. All personally identifiable information is removed from the data to ensure participant confidentiality and anonymity.

Participants will be followed for 10 years, during which data are collected on a semi-annual and annual basis through interviews and behavioral testing. Neuroimaging data, including high resolution MRI, are collected every two years to measure changes in brain structure and function. The data is available through the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive, which can be accessed by researchers who obtain a free NIMH Data Archive account.

“By sharing this interim baseline dataset with researchers now, the ABCD study is enabling scientists to begin analyzing and publishing novel research on the developing adolescent brain,” said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “As expected, drug use is minimal among this young cohort, which is critical because it will allow us to compare brain images before and after substance use begins within individuals who start using, providing needed insight into how experimentation with drugs, alcohol and nicotine affect developing brains.”

This comprehensive dataset, which will be disaggregated by sex, racial/ethnic group and socioeconomic status, will allow researchers to address numerous questions related to adolescent brain development to help inform future prevention and treatment efforts, public health strategies and policy decisions, including:

• How do sports injuries impact developmental outcomes?
• What are some of the factors that contribute to achievement gaps?
• How do sleep, nutrition, and physical activity affect learning, brain development and other health outcomes across racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups?
• What is the relationship between substance use and mental illness?
• How do genetic and environmental factors contribute to brain development?

Recruitment of participants began in September 2016 at 21 study sites across the country including FIU through outreach to public, charter and private schools, as well as twin registries in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri and Virginia. The ABCD Study is designed to include a diverse population that reflects the demographics of the U.S., however these interim data may not fully capture that diversity as enrollment is not yet complete. So far, 7,637 youth have been enrolled. The study aims to enroll a total of 11,500 children by the end of 2018. The next annual data release will include the full participant cohort.

The ABCD study is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Cancer Institute, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health, and the Division of School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with additional partnerships with the National Institute of Justice, the CDC Division of Violence Prevention, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, please visit the ABCD website at www.ABCDStudy.org.

Federal budget, infrastructure plan released

Earlier this month, the Trump Administration released both its budget request to Congress for the coming fiscal year and a multi-year, $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. Both of those join DACA and the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act as front-and-center of the legislative calendar. With funding for financial aid and FIU’s preeminent research areas at stake, university leadership was mobilized to advocate on Capitol Hill.

Both President Mark. Rosenberg and College of Engineering and Computing Dean John Volakis were advocating on the hill for FIU’s research priorities.  Volakis focused on research activities funded by the Department of Defense, which are critical to national challenges.

“We are here this afternoon talking about the Higher Education Act. It is going to focus on learning and earning, as well as apprenticeship. We are also looking at the financial aid implications for our students. We know that our students need that financial aid to graduate on time.” said Rosenberg

Although Trump’s budget request is unlikely to become law, the annual budget ritual is telling in understanding the priorities and desired initiatives of the Administration. FIU’s Office of Federal Relations has prepared a summary of certain priority initiatives and programs proposed for elimination. FIU advocates will be busy for the coming months to safeguard FIU’s interests and programs.

Also present at the White House as President Trump rolled out his Infrastructure Plan was Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman and FIU alumnus Esteban “Steve” Bovo, who represented the county’s resilient infrastructure and transportation funding initiatives

“The environmental regulatory process delays our ability to deliver projects. We’re trying to be very aggressive. We created legislation that allows transit-oriented development and addresses resiliency issues,” said Bovo.

Paving the way for students with real-world advice

FIU in D.C. and the College of Engineering and Computing celebrated Panther Alumni Week in Washington, hosting a group of 40 engineering students and alumni from the region. The students were in town for the BEYA STEM global competitiveness conference, a 3-day exhibition where engineers networked, shared technological advancements within their fields and discussed policy issues affecting the STEM community.

Alumni speakers included Javier Oliu of NIKA Engineering, Robert Babayi of Vector IP, David Lagomasino of the University of Maryland and Juan Fernandez a contractor with NAVSEA.

“I gained valuable insight on the opportunities for graduating engineers. I can see that the university is tirelessly working to assist their alumni in their future ventures,” said Fiorella Rivera, mechanical engineering major and president of ECO Engineering club.

In addition to engineering alumni, other participants for Panther Alumni Week in D.C. included Kevin Hernandez of the Libre Foundation, political strategist P.J. Campbell and Ben Utterback of Hinge Marketing.

CARTA convenes a discussion on the future of journalism education

At a time when the value of powerful storytelling is in demand, the   College of Communications Architecture + The Arts (CARTA)  coordinated an event earlier this month that explored the underlying issues and potential disruptions to journalism education.

Two alumni – Mel Leonor, who is a higher education reporter for   Politico, and Mike Vasquez, who is a senior investigative reporter for   The Chronicle of Higher Education – participated in the discussion of how to enhance the study of mass communications.

“It is imperative that our graduates gain the expertise necessary to prepare themselves for the competitive, intimating job market,” Vasquez said.

Other participants were in attendance included University of Maryland, WAMU, Duke University, American University, George Washington University,   Scripps Howard News Service, Industry Drive,   National Public Radio(NPR),   Fox News  and   The Washington Post.

CARTA course debuts in D.C.

This semester, FIU in D.C. will launch a new course with the CARTA. The internship in communications course is a four-credit course held weekly to complement the student interns worksite experience.

Fifteen FIU students are currently interning in the nation’s capital at various locations in specialized fields. Some of FIU’s intern workforce areas are on Capitol Hill,   The White House,   The Washington Center(TWC),   Woodrow Wilson Center(WWC), The Hill, Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute( CHLI) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute( CHCI).

“The Long Night of the Watchman”

On Feb. 13, the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, co-sponsored with the Embassy of the Czech Republic, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a book presentation on   The Long Night of the Watchman: Essays by   Václav Benda,1977-1989.

Renowned Czech anti-communist dissident and Catholic thinker Václav Benda (1946-1999) was an earlier signatory of Charter 77 and served twice as the association’s spokesperson. Charter 77 is a civic initiative that demanded the Communist government of Czechoslovakia to acknowledge/ administer basic human rights.

His essays delve deeply into life under a communist regime.

Video of the Week

Panthers Spotted:

• Former Miami Mayor Manuel Diaz
• Julieta Vallejos, College of Engineering and Computing
• Richard Montes de Oca, MDO Partners

To learn more about the university’s presence in the nation’s capital, visit  FIU in D.C.’s website.

From improving your rehab to rehabbing your nightlife – these are just some of the problems that about 550 students tried to solve at the recent MangoHackshosted at FIU’s School of Computing & Information Sciences‘ PG6 Tech Station.

Participants in FIU’s largest student-organized and Major League Hacking (MLH)-sanctioned event spent 36 hours building and demonstrating software and hardware projects that solve a range of problems.

Some problems were important, and some were just for fun. Everyone – about a third of attendees from other Florida and out-of-state universities – contributed, shared, learned and left with serious sleep deprivation. There’s no time for sleep when attending round-the-clock workshops, team-building games and other fun activities to blow off steam.

It was in this sleep-deprived chaos that the first place winners, a group of freshmen from Florida Institute of Technology, came up with their winning submission – Drug Dealer, a facial recognition authentication system for dispensing medication to patients at their home. The project so impressed the judges that they called it a “kill shot,” demonstrating the resourcefulness of building a working proof-of-concept with hardware sensors, imagery, real-time data analysis and backend development.

The second place winners from FIU were equally resourceful. Leveraging personal experiences in PTSD, the team devised a natural language processing tool to analyze your Facebook messages for signs of PTSD triggers. 

“I am very proud and thankful of everyone associated with MangoHacks who made this an enjoyable experience for students attending from around the state and nation,” said Angelo Saraceno a computer science student and MangoHacks co-director. “I am also very excited about providing an on-ramp for first-time students so that they can be introduced to the tech industry.”

Other winners included a sensor for your car that reports to insurance companies when you have been in an accident and helps expedite the insurance claim. A developer favorite was the FIU team “Pimp my Trike”– a kids toy decked out with webcams, Raspberry Pi (a popular, inexpensive computer development board), bluetooth speakers and Amazon Alexa all designed to capture license plate numbers in real time along with your facial expression. 

“The event was designed for our community to have fun while also learning. MangoHacks has been a way for people to grow as developers, and where students have been able to find themselves,” said Cesia Bulnes, a computer science student who also serves as MangoHacks co-director and the event coordinator for the FIU chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). “Often, students are scared to hack because they have never done a single project outside of class. Coming to MangoHacks gives them the realization that they are just as capable, with all the mentorship, workshops and sponsors who help build their self-esteem along the way. Before you know it, they are demoing their first hackathon project!”

So, how many projects can 550 students create fueled by energy drinks, meal replacement products and chocolate chip cookies? How about 65 – that’s a whole lot of coursework knowledge rendered without a grade or fear of failure.

Companies who recruit for tech talent are very interested in students with the skills acquired at hackathons. They often provide the students with challenges, mentoring, prizes and interviews often making offers on the spot.

“Recruiters like to hear about your personal projects and things that you’ve done in your free time. It shows you’re interested in something and gives you depth beyond your course work. Even if it’s something small like a personal website or game, it shows you’re able to build something, and are motivated to build something for purposes other than passing a class. That type of initiative is what companies look for,” says Krista Shuckerow, one of the second place team winners.

Shuckerow has a job waiting for her at Google when she graduates this spring, and the opportunity came about from connections she made at a hackathon.

Express Scripts, a pharma distribution company, Citrix, GE Digital and Carnival Cruise Line recruited heavily at the event.

– By Steve Luis

An engineer in the College of Engineering & Computing has pioneered an easy-to-use imaging system for the diagnosis of cervical cancer, which is potentially life changing for many women with little or no access to specialized health care.

Jessica Ramella-Roman, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and her team of graduate students developed a cost-effective, hand-held device that uses optical technologies to detect subtle changes in cervical tissue that may indicate early stage cancer. The device works like a camera, and the imaging is done through a speculum, a tool used for dilation. The imaging takes less than five seconds to complete.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide, and 80 percent of these deaths are from developing countries that lack effective screening programs. Like all cancers, early detection and diligent monitoring increase patients’ chances for successful treatment.

“Cervical cancer is a completely preventable cancer, and there is no reason why any woman should die of it,” said Purnima Madhivanan, associate professor of epidemiology in the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work. “Our objective is to take the screening of precancerous lesions to the doorstep of the woman and ensure that she has a chance to know and has the opportunity to intervene in a timely manner.”

Both clinicians and researchers have used optical technologies in cervical cancer detection devices for use in poor, remote areas before. However, limitations such as poor health care infrastructures and a lack of pathologists have restricted their success.

In India, people have very limited access to hospitals or health care providers in rural areas. With no real program for annual checkups, the only access women have to medical care is typically one exam over her lifetime.

Using Mueller Matrix imaging, a tool that uses polarized light to highlight small changes in cervical tissue that are typical of this disease, Ramella-Roman’s device can be used by a person with limited training. The device works as easy as taking a photo with a camera. The complexity of the device is in analysis of the data, which is done by software. The software’s response notifies the patient’s risk of cervical cancer in a localized area of the body.

To test the system, Ramella-Roman collaborated with Madhivanan, who is also the director of the Public Health Research Institute of India (PHRII) in Mysore, India.

The duo traveled together to Mysore where they screened a group of 23 volunteers in health camps in the surrounding area of Mysore and the PHRII clinical facility to test the performance of the device for detection of cervical cancer. These camps are hospitals created by the non-profit organization, where physicians are brought in to provide yearlong care and also have the capabilities of administering these cervical exams.

“Going to India and witnessing first-hand the medical needs of this underserved community has been life-changing. I look forward to working with Dr. Madhivanan in the future to bring our modalities from the bench to bedside,” said Ramella-Roman.

While in India, the device’s ease of use was rigorously tested. The vast majority of practitioners and patients were interested in the imaging procedure, which ultimately could speed up the diagnostic process.

It is hard to train the naked eye to spot suspicious regions, especially in the early stages. Although there are alternative ways to test, such as smearing acidic acid on the cervix, this device is helping health care providers to be more effective in their testing. Providing this examination creates an image with high contrast that highlights where they think the cancer is.

The physician or health care provider can then go and test the specific region, guiding them to take a swab of the specific area, or even remove the suspicious area.

The current process is minimally selective. Health care providers use a swab to collect samples from multiple regions in the cervix. With this device, they can examine a more targeted area, and provide them with a better visual, and a better assessment of suspicious regions.

Researchers are currently testing the device in the field on patients with cervical cancer to determine how well the device works, and to test the advantages and limitations of the current imaging modality.

– By  Andrew Green and Jaclyn Abrahante

President Mark B. Rosenberg might soon be seen wearing a shirt that says,   “BBC is the place to be.” 

At a recent town hall held at the Biscayne Bay Campus, he discussed efforts to bolster the university’s North Miami location.

From highlighting BBC student success stories like recent Worlds Ahead Graduate   Jefferson Noël  to discussing   the new Internet of Things degree, the President celebrated FIU’s recent successes and explained how the university is focused on staying ahead of change to ensure students are successful and prepared to go on to good jobs.

He also emphasized the importance of the Florida Board of Governor’s metrics and how funding is linked to how well we do at fostering timely graduation.

“The bottom line is: We don’t get funding unless a student graduates, and we don’t get funding unless that student graduates timely,” said President Rosenberg. “A significant amount of funding rides on our ability to keep getting better and better – and I’d like that each and every one of you – student, member of the professional staff or faculty – will figure out what your responsibility is and take that responsibility to get there.”

EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES AT BBC

The president also focused on the expanded opportunities and new degree programs at BBC.

• Last year, the new and improved BBC University Testing Center was unveiled and includes new test stations and computers, enhanced security systems, white-noise machines as well as provides testing for hundreds of industry certifications.
• Aspiring food or beverage entrepreneurs at BBC have access to an amazing resource right on campus:   StartUP FIU FOOD. It launched last April, in partnership with the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, with funding by the Citi Foundation.
• The Health Services Administration Program is currently transitioning to BBC. After the summer semester, all HSA courses will only be offered at BBC.
• The Kinesiology program – formerly known as our Bachelor of Science in Physical Education – is coming to BBC and should be fully moved by the fall semester.

CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF THE MIND

BBC will soon have a new sculpture on campus.

President Rosenberg announced that Michael B. Smith donated the sculpture “Ariel” by artist Alexander Liberman to BBC. “Argosy,” a similar Liberman piece, is located at MMC and greets visitors on the entrance off 107th Ave.

“The university is also a place to celebrating the life of the mind,” said President Rosenberg. “And the life of the mind is not just about the classroom experience, but cultivating aesthetics and a sense of appreciation for the environment and art.”

For twenty-four hours, 800 members of the FIU community took to Instagram and voted for their favorite location for the piece. Location option number two, which would place Ariel near the Royal Caribbean building, won the Instagram contest.

VOICING CONCERNS

A the event, students, faculty and staff also had the opportunity to voice their concerns and questions to FIU administrators. Over the years, significant changes have emerged as a result of discussions started at town hall meetings. Students asked about new dining options, the possibility of extended hours at the library and transportation.

Administrators shared that there is currently a solicitation process for a new dining services contract, which includes focus groups with students, and invited students to submit their top choices of food vendors. Extended hours at the Hubert Library during finals is also being considered.

BBC IS THE PLACE TO BE

At the end of the town hall, SGA-BBC gave President Rosenberg a very special present: A t-shirt and pin that say, “BBC is the place to be.”

President Rosenberg didn’t hesitate. He immediately put the pin on.

The day-long seminar will take place Saturday, March 3, at BBC’s Kovens Conference Center from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. To register for the conference, click here.

Topics of breakout sessions include interviewing, goal setting, identifying your strengths and values, money management and more. Additionally, there will be a panel discussion featuring FIU alumni sharing what they’ve learned since graduating. The keynote address will focus on ways job seekers can work smarter and faster to secure first interviews as well as how to create a job-search system that relies on mainstream technology like Excel, Google and LinkedIn. (To learn more about the conference speakers, click   here.)

The lunch break will feature a resource fair with a LinkedIn lab, career closet, resume review, mock interviews, professional headshots and representatives from StartUP FIU, University Credit Union, Young Alumni Council, FIU Online, Division of Human Resources and more.

While at the conference, attendees will be able to apply to more than 100 open positions at FIU.

FIU baseball Head Coach Mervyl Melendez is back in the dugout for his second season, looking to build off a 31-win season in 2017.

But the team that will be taking the field this season looks vastly different from last year’s squad. With 12 incoming freshmen and five transfers, more than half of the roster wasn’t here a year ago.

What the Panthers lack in experience, however, they expect to make up with talent. The incoming freshman class was one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the nation and three of them – pitchers Logan Allen and Christian Santana and catcher Jose Garcia – were named among the top newcomers in Conference USA.

“We’re going to have a high intensity, high energy level of play,” Melendez says. “This is a very talented team, and we have to play with a lot of passion. They know what’s at stake and know what it takes to win. I believe that everything is in place for them to be successful.”

Despite losing most of the team’s top offensive producers from 2017, the Panthers are bringing back several key players from last season who will play a prominent role this season.

Sophomore Javier Valdes hit .287 with five home runs and 36 RBI as a freshman and will provide some continuity for FIU. He bounced around several positions last year in the infield and outfield, but is now making the transition to catcher.

“The biggest thing about this team is how great the chemistry is. As soon as we got together, it felt like a big, happy family,” Valdes says.

On the mound, sophomore pitchers Nick MacDonald – a preseason All-Conference USA team selection – and Tyler Myrick will anchor FIU pitching staff. MacDonald led all pitchers with a 7-3 record; Myrick had a team-best 3.73 ERA.

FIU Pew Marine Fellow Wuying Lin plans to advance conservation policies to disrupt the illicit trade of marine wildlife in South China.

Lin’s three-year appointment as a Pew fellow was announced today. Pew’s marine fellows work to address threats to the world’s oceans and protect marine species.

Lin will study waters in South China where endangered species of sea turtles, giant clams, and horseshoe crabs live, as well as study the markets where these species are sold illegally. She is hoping to understand factors that drive a demand for consumption and how poor law enforcement, low public awareness and weak scientific research have contributed to overfishing and steep declines in turtles, sharks and horseshoe crabs.

An FIU alumna, Lin is scientific director of the Guangxi Biodiversity Research & Conservation Association. She will conduct her research through FIU’s Institute of Water and Environment.

“Wuying Lin’s work is extremely important for conservation of black market marine species,” said Todd Crowl, director of FIU’s Institute of Water and Environment. “It is a tribute to our former FIU student to be recognized by the Pew Trust and an honor to be able to help facilitate her award.”

Part of Lin’s work calls for engaging local volunteers to help survey local markets, producing a short film and hosting at least 10 public events aimed at changing local attitudes toward the purchase of illegally sourced, endangered seafood.

Bitcoin gripped the investing world in 2017, and its price increased by roughly 500 percent. In December 2017, Bitcoin hit a peak of almost $20,000. Since then, digital coins have lost $500 billion in value.

How might we analyze Bitcoin’s impact going forward? We spoke to H. Subramanian, assistant professor in the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics in the College Business, to examine the risks and value.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system. Instead of banks mediating trust among the parties involved in a transaction, a set of software-powered computer nodes enable these peer-to-peer transactions. Special nodes called miners confirm and verify transactions using cryptographic algorithms and store a record of all transactions, in an ever-growing ledger known as the “blockchain.”

What is a cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is a form of digital good (or an asset) which can, on exchanges, be traded for fiat currency. In more recent times, cryptocurrency has come to be synonymous with Bitcoin (and others that follow the Bitcoin protocol).

What has led to the deep plunge in Bitcoin’s value?

Of late, cryptocurrencies have dropped in value because of a few important regulatory happenings globally. Governments are evaluating and modifying regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrency-based assets.

One of the biggest challenges for most governments worldwide is how to protect their citizens from being gullible investors in an asset class that is not backed by anyone. Key among those challenges is to contain capital flight from their shores while maintaining a banking system and a healthy equity market without a credit crunch.

With cryptocurrencies that are global in nature, many governments consider them an asset class that can cause capital flight outside their existing monetary system. As a result, they are trying to regulate it.

Any news of regulation or negative oversight will have a dampening effect on the demand for crypto assets, causing prices to tumble. That being said, any financial market will have to realize the importance of regulation and the regulatory framework, which can only make these markets more mature.

Are Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies valuable?

Value is an attribute of an asset. Among economists, value of an asset is ascribed by markets based on a variety of criterion. For some, that includes the future value of the utility of that asset.

Some attribute the value to the monetary policy of a government – based on what the government or another central authority determines the value to be. Further, others attribute value to the net of the speculation – outflows and inflows. Using each of these different mechanisms, Bitcoin is supposedly an asset that holds value.

That being said, in monetary terms the total market-cap of all cryptocurrencies is significantly small compared to the total money supply in the world. Compare it to, say, the market capitalization of the top 10 firms or the net worth of the richest person in the world.

The entire cryptocurrency marketplace is worth less than the largest firm in the world, and possibly the richest man can own a lot of currency in the world.

What are the major risk factors of investing in cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are a new class of asset that is traded 24X7, 365 days a year on private exchanges. Some people find it exciting because the price has risen abnormally high in the past three years. Some people find this volatility in prices extremely discomforting.

The risk factors are that this is a class of asset with very little government oversight or backing from central insurers. Many times these markets are rife with manipulation. For instance, the same person using different accounts to buy and sell the same cryptocurrency so as to artificially inflate the price, or sell to make a profit. More recently, a lot of fraudulent behavior has been detected and money laundering instances have been found.

Can Bitcoin’s recent run up inspire a bandwagon mentality that can create a dangerous bubble instead of investing in proven value?

Bitcoin is following principles of economics and principles of market efficiency. It is an asset that is not controlled by a central entity; that is secure, international and fungible, liquid, and is available in a limited supply for trade. This demand, at near constant supply, has caused prices to go up disproportionately in a short period of time, attracting more investors. There is no denial that there is a bandwagon effect, but the effect is temporary since governments world over have stepped up to regulate this.

What inspires people to sell low? Does fear play a role here?

Fear and greed are two behavioral factors that affect trade of assets in markets. However, with Bitcoin’s main use case of serving the underserved or excluded financial segments by providing access to value, the future utility value of this asset class is difficult to dismiss. That being said, there are technical, regulatory and economic factors that affect a trader’s behavior in this market.

What are the most popular cryptocurrencies today?

Coinmarketcap.com and coincap.io list the top cryptocurrencies. The top 4 have consistently been Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Bitcoin Cash. The rest of the popular ones are Cardano, Stellar, Litecoin, EOS, NEO, NEM, IOTA, DASH and MONERO.

Jonathan Comer, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry
Professor Comer is available to discuss the impact of traumatic events on children and adolescents. He has conducted extensive research on the psychological impact of terrorism and other traumatic events or disasters on youth, including the Boston Marathon bombing and the September 11 attacks. As Director of the Mental Health Interventions and Technology Program at FIU’s Center for Children and Families, his research focuses on expanding the quality, scope and accessibility of mental health care for youth. Much of his work examines children’s media-based exposure to traumatic events and how caregivers can best discuss frightening world events with their children.
Email: jonathan.comer@fiu.edu
Office:305-348-7580
Cell:267-736-2761

Philip J. Lazarus, Ph.D.
Professor Lazarus is the director of the school psychology program at FIU’s School of Education and Human Development. He is a national and international expert on crisis prevention and response. He is a founder of the National Association of School Psychologists National Emergency Assistance Team. This team has responded to dozens of school shooting throughout the past two decades and also responds to natural disasters and other tragedies that impact schools. He has written extensively on the area of helping children and families recover in the aftermath of these events. He is available for phone interviews.
Cell: 954-830-7271

Nicole M. Fava, Ph.D., MSW
Assistant Professor of Social Work, FIU Center for Children and Families
Professor Fava can address childhood adversity and trauma-informed care. Her research bridges the child maltreatment, trauma and sexuality fields from a developmental, trauma-informed, resilience-based framework via participant-centered and community-based research. Her work focuses on understanding multilevel factors impacting healthy development in order to inform effective interventions. Fava is available for phone interviews.
Email: nfava@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-4568

Isabel Rodriguez-Duncan, LCSW, Ed.S.
Clinical Operations Manager, FIU Center for Children and Families
Isabel Rodriguez-Duncan can address crisis management, and large and small-scale crisis incident responding. She is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in the delivery of clinical services to school-aged youth with special needs including treatment of ADHD, conduct disorder, substance abuse, oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety disorders, psychosis and mood disorders. With more than 24 years of experience in program development, management and delivery of clinical services across the lifespan, Rodriguez-Duncan’s clinical experience includes crisis management, large and small-scale crisis incident responding, suicide, and bullying/violence prevention. She has also worked on district and state support policies and program school supports for youth identifying as LGBTQI.  She has worked with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) for more than 20 years at the school and district levels which included chairing the Mental Health and Crisis Management Department of M-DCPS. Rodriguez-Duncan is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Email: isrodrig@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-4315

Christine Goldman
Crime Scene Investigation Trainer/SME
National Forensic Science Technology Center at Florida International University, in Largo, FL
Goldman can address the documentation of a large crime scene as well as the processes and procedures of crime scene investigation (collect, photograph, document and preserve physical evidence; maintain chain of custody; analyze, identify, and classify physical evidence). She is a Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst and has more than 10 years’ experience in crime scene investigation with the Orange County (Florida) Sheriff’s office. She is a fingerprint expert and trains law enforcement and military police in CSI techniques.
Office: 305-348-4492

Erika Coles, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor of Psychology and Clinical Director, FIU Center for Children and Families
Erika Coles can discuss how to talk to children about violence, how to recognize signs children may need to seek help after experiencing a traumatic event and how schools can help children cope with violence. She cautions that there are no reliable predictors of those children or adults who will display violence, including any mental health conditions. Coles examines the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in the school setting. She is specifically looking at how consultation interventions can be used to enhance teacher integrity, knowledge, attitudes and skills to improve student outcomes in the classroom. She also specializes in behavior interventions to assist children with ADHD in the classroom, including a behavioral plan to prevent behavior problems from interfering with academic and social functioning.
Email: erika.coles@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-4087

Jeremy Pettit, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
Jeremy Pettit can discuss the feelings of anxiety, fear and depression people may be experiencing in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas mass shooting. He also cautions that drawing quick, simple conclusions about causes of the shooting does little to help us understand what happened and may lead to stigmatization of mental health problems. Pettit is director of the Child Anxiety and Phobia Program at FIU’s Center for Children and Families. He specializes on the course of depression, anxiety and suicidal behaviors over time. His research includes interpersonal and cognitive factors that contribute to the onset, maintenance and recurrence of these behaviors. An expert in anxiety and depression, Pettit has written more than 100 scientific papers and received numerous awards and grants for his work in this area.
Email: jpettit@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-1671

Please check back as we continue to update this list.

Members of the FIU Media Relations team are available to assist in contacting the experts:

• Maydel Santana, assistant vice president of communication and media relations: 305-972-8276, santanam@fiu.edu
• Madeline Baró, assoc. director: 305-310-9665, mbaro@fiu.edu
• Jessica Drouet, senior account manager: 305-348-6944, jdrouet@fiu.edu
• Dianne Fernandez, broadcast media specialist: 305-608-4870, dfernand37@fiu.edu
• Ayleen Barbel Fattal, account manager, College of Arts, Sciences & Education: 305-348-4492, abarbel@fiu.edu

Please check back as we continue to update this list.

Dear members of the university community,

Our FIU family is shocked and saddened by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School this afternoon. Senseless violence has struck again — this time in our own community. I have reached out to Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie to offer our condolences and let him know we stand ready to help.

At FIU we have 69 students and 210 alumni who graduated from Stoneman Douglas High and we have already admitted 45 students for the 2018-19 school year. Any of our current students who feel they might need support, should reach out to Counseling and Psychological Services. I know we also have faculty, staff and other members of the FIU family who have loved ones who attend or work at the school. Employees who may need help dealing with this tragedy may contact the Office of Employee Assistance.

Our deepest and sincerest condolences go out to the victims and their families. At a time like this, as we reflect on another instance of senseless violence that has brought an end to so many bright futures, we must come together as a community and remain committed to being beacons of hope.

Please join me in keeping the victims and their families in your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Mark B. Rosenberg

President

Alumnus Carlos Banks ’11, MS ’13 is on a mission to keep FIU engineering talent in Miami.

Banks is the engineering and quality manager at Vossen Wheels, a local manufacturer of luxury wheels and authorized dealer of custom rims. He began working at Vossen, located in Doral, three years ago as the company began the development of their now TÜV Verified Forged Factory, where team members work on everything from concept to the design of computer models to testing materials and milling. Banks leads the team of engineers and programmers in the development of innovative wheel products. He credits his enthusiasm and preparedness for his job to his coursework at FIU.

Having worked his way up at Vossen, Banks was tasked with recruiting more employees. He sees this new role as a great opportunity to give FIU students a shot at implementing what they’re learning in the classroom in a professional setting.

“I said to myself, if I’m going to do this, I want FIU… FIU produces talented engineers. Their graduates are sought out by companies like Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Cummins, and I want to keep that talent here in Miami,” Bank says.

Vossen Wheels began inviting student organizations and clubs to tour their facilities and apply for internship positions, leading to the development of their internship program. FIU’s chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has been part of this program, participating in annual tours and having several members work as Vossen interns. SAE aims to have their members successfully enter the automotive industry, a mission they accomplish by participating in competitions, the development of their Formula One racecar, and the members’ consistent landing of internships and jobs at companies like FCA, Cummins and Vossen Wheels.

Current student, Erick Almeida, toured the Vossen Wheels facility this past fall with the SAE team and, having submitted his resume for review, was given the opportunity to work as an intern. He says the internship allows him to further apply his coursework and the work he does as the SAE team’s powertrain manager.

“It helps FIU’s students acquire experience needed to grow in this ever-competitive job market,” Almeida says. “The experience I have with CAD, making and modifying parts for manufacturing and working with software became second nature.”

Some of Vossen Wheels’ interns have even been hired. Christian Gonzalez’s three-month internship led to a full-time position programming CNC machines used for industrial manufacturing.

“After the internship, I was offered an opportunity to work as a full-time employee in the programming department. My job is to use SolidWorks and CAMworks, a SolidWorks Add-in, to produce the code that is used by the milling and lathing machines that cut our forged wheels. I also advise the engineering department on the manufacturability of certain design features and fitments,” Gonzalez says.

When asked about Banks’ passion for hiring FIU students and alumni, Gonzalez said, “Carlos has confidence that students that are hired as interns or full-timers are going to have the technical knowledge and the work ethic that is desired from everyone here at Vossen.”

Banks says: “Engineering was always it for me… everyday I’m working with modeling and simulations, and that passion was born in class,” he adds.

That passion didn’t go unnoticed. Wei-Yu Bao, who teaches programming, simulation software and robotics among other things, describes his former student as, “…a talented young man. He constantly worked hard in class and pursued his career goals successfully.”

Marc D. Sarnoff, a member of the FIU Board of Trustees, spent Feb. 12 in the Graham Center Pit getting to know Panthers on a more personal level.

A partner at Shutts & Bowen practicing land use and government relations law and a former City of Miami commissioner, Sarnoff brings 30 years of experience representing the South Florida community to the Board of Trustees. The board’s role is to develop cost-effective policies and implement and maintain high-quality education programs at FIU.

“My goal at FIU is to give students as good an experience as possible. I don’t think I ever knew before what it meant for a university to be the major theater for the employment industry of an entire city,” Sarnoff said. “We’re becoming a dominant player in Miami’s emergence on the world stage.”

In the first event of its kind at FIU, Sarnoff met with students to learn firsthand about their experiences at FIU, their comments and suggestions, and about what it means to be a Panther.

“I never went to school here, so I don’t know much about the students here. And I think I went to school so long ago – there were still blackboards – I don’t know that the concerns of a student when I was going to school are the same as the concerns of a student today,” Sarnoff said of why he feels it’s important to meet and talk to students in person.

“I think our students are very hard working and they don’t take things for granted. It’s very nice to see,” Sarnoff said.

Sophomore Michael Kawalya, a music education major, said he was excited at the opportunity for his voice to be heard by someone like Sarnoff.

“It’s awesome. To see him actually write my thoughts down and take notes was impressive,” Kawalya said. A trumpeter who splits his time between Deuxième Maison and the School of Music, he told Sarnoff he felt there isn’t enough space available in the two buildings for music classes and practice facilities.

“The more the school grows [in population], the less room we have for classes and practicing,” Kawalya said. “It would help if we expanded the School of Music or even just moved classes closer to the school building.”

Senior biology majors Brittany Clarke and Sabrina Fontus told Sarnoff they were happy that the library is now open 24 hours a day, five days a week, as they both spend long hours after class studying on campus.

Clarke, who commutes to school and splits her time between BBC and MMC, said that she is happy to have sleep pods at BBC, private enclosures designated for napping on campus. But she wishes there was a safe, secure place like that for a nap at MMC.

“I’m here from day to night studying, and I get tired sometimes,” Clarke said. “I wish we could have that on both campuses.”

Another student spoke to Sarnoff about her DACA status, expressing concerns about her own future as the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program nationwide remains uncertain.

“[Getting to know the students] helps take these big, abstract issues affecting our population and make them very personal. It makes them tangible,” Sarnoff said after meeting her.

“I wish I had done this two years ago,” he added. “It’s been a beautiful experience.”

The Jewish Museum of Florida will host culinary pioneer Nathan as she leads a panel discussion with some of the most iconic names in Israeli cuisine. Chefs Alon Shaya,  Michelle Bernstein, Adeena Sussman, and Zak the Baker will all weigh-in on their own culinary journeys. Enjoy light noshes courtesy of Hank and Harry’s Delicatessen, Miami Beach’s latest hotspot for authentic Jewish treats, and settle in as these celebrated experts share a personal look at the evolution of such rich culinary traditions.

To see what other events still have available tickets, click here.

Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, SOBEWFF® is a national, star-studded, five-day destination event showcasing the talents of the world’s most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities.

The Festival benefits the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management’s Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Laboratory and the Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center at FIU. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million for the school.

The exercise will take place from 8 p.m. to midnight.  

During this time, you might see helicopters and police activity in the area. The training scenario will include the use of blanks, which will sound very much like gunshots. Please be assured that this is only a training exercise and there is absolutely no danger to the community.

Thank you so much for your cooperation as we work to improve safety and police response in the event of an incident.

If you have any questions, please call the FIU Police Department non-emergency number: 305-348-2626.

But can you really die of a broken heart?

“The answer is yes, but fortunately, death is very rare,” says Dr. Jonathan Fialkow, a cardiologist and assistant professor at FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine (HWCOM).

A different kind of heart attack

Signs and symptoms of broken heart syndrome, also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy, mimic a classic heart attack—shortness of breath and chest pain. But tests reveal patients don’t suffer from the usual blockage of the arteries that supply the heart with blood. Takotsubo is the Japanese word for a pot-like octopus trap that resembles the shape of the stricken heart.

“It’s not exactly known what the cause is, but clearly adrenaline and other hormones associated with stress are factors,” Fialkow says. Because more than 90 percent of those afflicted are post-menopausal women, Fialkow says there is speculation that it may be due to a lack of estrogen protection.

A broken heart

Oftentimes, the stress involved is the result of an emotional loss. “We see it when there’s been a real heartache,” says Dr. Eugenio Rothe, HWCOM professor of psychiatry. “It could be the loss of a business, the loss of a dream, a job, a relationship, the loss of a loved one.”

Rothe points out that is not unusual to see couples married for a long time who die within days, weeks, or a few months of each other. In 2015, the parents of former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie passed away within an hour of each other, both from heart attacks. There are also cases of parents bereaved at the death of a child, who follow soon after them. Recently, many wondered if actress Debbie Reynolds — who died the day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher — may have died of a broken heart.

“It’s almost like nature equipped us so that when situations are unbearable you self-destruct instead of having to face the painful reality,” says Rothe.

Scared to death
Sudden shock can also produce the kind of stress associated with broken heart syndrome.

“So, the expression you’re going to kill me or scared to death has legitimacy because an unpleasant situation can lead to a heart attack,” Rothe says. However, the shock can also result from sudden, unexpected, but highly welcomed news like winning the lottery.

The good news is that broken heart syndrome is usually treated with various heart medications and most people recover.

People, it turns out, connect better with Everglades restoration when it’s framed in the context of how they benefit and what they care about.

“Benefits resonate more with the public because they can be linked to their well-being,” said Nadia Seeteram, environmental studies alumna and lead author of the paper. “The findings present a unique opportunity for decision-makers to educate the public on where the resources they use come from and to garner support for restoration.”

For people to avoid water restrictions, there needs to be enough freshwater flowing through the Florida Everglades. That’s because the Everglades feeds into the water supplies of 16 counties in the state. This includes the Biscayne Aquifer, the primary source of drinking water for Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties.

The study builds upon a 1999 study examining public preferences for Everglades restoration. Since restoration is expected to take decades to complete, tracking changes in preferences over time provides valuable information to researchers and decision-makers. Long-term social, behavioral and economic data coupled with long-term ecological data will inform better natural resources policy, management and restoration, said Seeteram said.

Seeteram, who will join the New York City Department of Environment Protection as a climate and sustainability analyst, conducted the research as part of her master’s thesis alongside FIU environmental economist Pallab Mozumder.

“As we assess the economic values associated with Everglades restoration, we have an obligation to inform the public on the functioning of the ecosystem,” said Mozumder, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment and the Department of Economics. “We need to be more innovative in communicating the benefits we receive from the ecosystem. We often say, value lies in the eye of beholder.”

The Florida Everglades is the largest subtropical wetland in North America. It has been degraded as a result of large-scale water management efforts to control flooding and promote agriculture and urban development. In 2000, U.S. Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to increase freshwater flow throughout it, ultimately improving ecosystem health and the amount of freshwater available for people to consume.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study was a collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey. It was published in Science of the Total Environment.

Auschwitz survivor Jean Améry said that Nazi torture destroyed his trust in the world. “Every morning when I get up, I can read the Auschwitz number on my forearm,” he said. “Every day anew I lose my trust in the world.” Another Holocaust survivor, Primo Levi, received life-saving aid in Auschwitz from an Italian stone mason named Lorenzo Perrone, who believed that “we are in this world to do good.”

Holocaust scholar John K. Roth has reflected on the power of trust in the face of war and genocide throughout his career. Recently named the Suzanne R. and Dr. Lawrence M. Fishman Scholar in Residence for FIU’s Holocaust Studies Initiative, Roth spoke with FIU Newsabout the importance of maintaining trust, particularly in times that challenge our belief in what is good in the world.

One of your upcoming lectures is on “Losing Trust in the World.” With the atrocities that still occur today, how can individuals maintain their trust in what is good?

Murder and torture, tyranny and terror, along with lying, greed, theft, corruption and countless other human shortcomings and follies—these things, we often realize too late, destroy trust by robbing us of what is good and by stealing life itself. That awareness and conviction can and must lead us to try our best to restore trust as best we can: through protest, resistance and attempting to heal hurt, relieve suffering, and save lives in all the ways, times and places we can, for as long as we can. Only with such determination can we help one another to sustain and grow trust in what is good.

What lessons from the Holocaust do you believe are most relevant today?  

Never give up struggling for justice. That means resisting racism and antisemitism, to name just two of the conditions that made the Holocaust happen. Our protest and resistance do not guarantee that injustice, including genocidal disasters, will disappear, but we fail to struggle for justice at our peril.

What is the most important message you want your students to know and understand about the Holocaust?

I want students to understand that the Holocaust did not have to happen. The same is true of every mass atrocity crime. Then, I want students to think about what could have prevented the Holocaust from happening. Those issues require immersion in historical study. Getting the history right, to the best of our ability, is immensely important. As we do that work, it can and should under-gird reflection that leads to reflection—and action—about responsibilities we have presently and how we are accountable for what takes place in our own lives and circumstances.

You have received many accolades as a Holocaust scholar. What is your proudest accomplishment in the field?

When I began to teach about the Holocaust in the early 1970s, attention to the topic was just starting to grow. One of my most meaningful accomplishments has been to contribute to that process and to help establish, in particular, a commitment to Holocaust-related teaching and scholarship at Claremont McKenna College, where I taught for more than 40 years. It is especially meaningful to me to see how students can be positively impacted and changed by good teaching and study about the Holocaust. My writings about the Holocaust, I believe, have helped to foster understanding about the implications and reverberations of that catastrophe, especially with regard to religion, philosophy and ethics. Some of my work has also helped to advance attention to the experiences of women during the Shoah.

What do you hope to accomplish during your time at FIU?

I look forward to learning while I am at FIU. I hope to find out especially how students respond to the Holocaust and other mass atrocity crimes. I want to find out not only what questions and concerns history raises for them but also what hopes, passions and needs move them most profoundly in the troubled post-Holocaust world that is ours in 2018.

John K. Roth is the Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and founding director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights (now the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights) at Claremont McKenna College. Named the 1988 U.S. National Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Roth has also received the Holocaust Educational Foundation’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Holocaust Studies and Research.

Roth’s lecture on “Losing Trust in the World” is at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13, in SIPA 125. He will also speak on Ethics During and After the Holocaust at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 11, at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Both events are sponsored by the Holocaust Studies Initiative, part of the Global Jewish Studies Program at the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs.

FIU softball won’t be taking anyone by surprise this season.

The Panthers experienced a breakthrough year in 2017, setting a new school record with 46 wins and earning a trip to the NCAA Regionals for just the third time in program history.

Now FIU is setting out to recreate that same success, not as an underdog, but as one of the favorites to compete for a Conference USA championship. The team knows they have a target on their backs, and they’ve embraced that fact as they prepare to start a new season.

“It’s awesome to have that pressure because it puts a fire under us,” pitcher Sallie Shannon said. “It makes you want to work harder and finish the job we started last year.”

FIU kicks off the 2018 season at home with the Felsberg Invitational from Feb. 9-11. The Panthers will play six games this weekend, beginning with the season opener against St. John’s at 1:30 p.m. at Felsberg Field at the FIU Softball Stadium on Feb. 9.

“We feel confident and we’re looking forward to a good season,” said Head Coach Gator Rebhan, entering his fourth season with FIU. “We’re looking forward to going even further than last year. They had the taste of it, and now winning it is important. They feel the pain of how close we were.”

But there are several challenges the Panthers must overcome in order to make it back to the NCAA postseason.

The biggest question the team faces is how they are going to replace first baseman Stephanie Teixeira, who graduated last spring. Teixeira was arguably one of the best players in program history, setting all-time school records for career home runs (47), batting average (.405) and runs batted in (190), just to name a few.

Second baseman Ashley Leon, who hit .337 last season, is also gone, leaving the Panthers with some big holes to fill in the infield.

Several players, including some newcomers, are competing to fill both positions and will see playing time throughout the season.

“You don’t replace a Tex and you don’t replace an Ashley,” Rebhan said. “You just hope the ones that do step in and do a good job and we’re confident about who we have.”

With the most experience of any group on the roster, the outfield could play a key role in replicating the offensive production left behind by Teixeira and Leon.

Junior outfielder Jackie Schoff led the team with a .439 batting average and 25 stolen bases as the Panthers’ leadoff hitter and hopes to pick up where she left off.

“I think we’re very strong in the outfield,” Schoff said. “We want to go past regionals and it’s the little things we’re doing now in practice that will get us there.”

She will be joined by several transfers hoping to give the FIU lineup an offensive boost as well. Last season, Tatyana Forbes (Coastal Carolina) and Natalie Orcutt (Appalachian State) paced their respective teams in multiple offensive categories. Now, they’ll hope to do the same at FIU.

On the mound, pitchers Megan Kugelmann (14-4, 2.06 ERA) and Sallie Shannon (18-8, 1.41 ERA) return for the Panthers and will be key in keeping FIU’s opponents off the scoreboard in low-scoring games. The Panthers add two freshmen pitchers to the rotation to round out the staff: Kendahl Dunford and Allison Muraskin.

For more information on FIU softball, go to FIUSports.com.

Born in Sweden and raised in Belgium, Josefine, Caroline and Gustaf Gyllensporre are international students and alumni of FIU – each with a different major – who set out to gain valuable career insight and work experience at the   Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

The eldest, advertising alumna Josefine Gyllensporre ’14, MS ’16, convinced her younger sister Caroline to get involved with the Festival as a hospitality management undergrad. Josefine moved to the United States to attend the University of Miami, but transferred to FIU a year later when Caroline was accepted so they could go to school together.

Josefine had worked full-time coordinating volunteers for the Festival when she realized her younger sister, who had volunteered the previous year as event support at the north venue (which houses some of the Festival’s signature events, like the   Beachside BBQ), would be the perfect fit for an available position as an event coordinator for the   Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village.

Caroline, now a master’s student at FIU studying hospitality real estate development, said having SOBEWFF® experience boosted her resume and attracted potential employers. She now works as a sales executive for Glaizal & Partners at Faena Group in Miami.

“It’s recognized not just in Miami, but all over,” she said. “Students don’t realize how big it really is in the hospitality industry. But everyone knows about it. It’s a great name to have on your resume.”

In her senior year, Caroline’s hard work with SOBEWFF® earned her the Lee Schrager Excellence in Leadership Scholarship, an annual award supported by the Festival given to stand-out students in the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.

Through the scholarship, the Festival further helped the young professional’s career by making possible a move to New York City, where she hoped to break into the hospitality industry.

“I wanted to accelerate my career, and I knew moving to New York would do that. The scholarship helped me save for an apartment and moving expenses,” Caroline said, “and academically, it looks really good on your record to win a merit scholarship.”

Caroline said the Festival is an important opportunity for international students like her and her siblings to earn work experience, which can be difficult when studying in the United States.

“You get a feel for what it’s really like to work in the hospitality industry,” Caroline said of the Festival’s fast-paced environment.

The Gyllensporre sisters’ experience even convinced their younger brother Gustaf, a current FIU student studying business management and real estate, to give the Festival a try.

“[Josefine and Caroline] told me stories about how much fun it was and the experiences they got from it,” Gustaf said, so he volunteered at last year’s Festival setting up tables and handing out samples to guests on the beach. And he returned this year for an internship as a junior volunteer recruiter.

Gustaf said the Festival has helped him diversify his skills set and expand his knowledge outside of the field of business.

“There are so many parallels [in hospitality] to draw with business, yet it is also different in so many ways. I hope to combine the experiences and knowledge I have gained in both fields for my professional career,” he said.

As a volunteer recruiter, he offered this advice to students interested in getting involved with the Festival: “Check it out. If you want, you could only work a couple of hours and that would be it. We always need more volunteers, so if you get interested enough to work more, all you need to do is contact us.”

Said Caroline: “I would recommend the Festival to anyone interested in pursuing a career in hospitality management. It’s a great networking opportunity and a great way to get your foot in the door.”

Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival benefits FIU’s  Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million in support of education and scholarships at the school.

The Festival also provides valuable career insight and networking opportunities to more than 1,000 students annually who volunteer in areas like event management, logistics, culinary preparation, marketing and more.  Click here for more information on volunteer opportunities at SOBEWFF®.

The Festival will take place  Feb. 21 – 25, 2018, and will feature internationally renowned talent and leaders of the hospitality industry at uniquely crafted events showcasing world-class wine, spirits, food and fun.   Click here for ticket information.

Early this morning FIU Police detained two possible suspects in an incident that occurred in the Tamiami Park area near MMC. The situation prompted an alert to the university community. The issue was resolved quickly and normal university operations resumed before 8 a.m.

Miami-Dade Police is investigating the incident, which does not involve FIU students, faculty or staff.

Any member of the university community who did not receive this morning’s alerts and would like to receive future alerts, please sign up for emergency alerts.

Thank you for your cooperation and doing your part to keep the FIU community safe.

The five Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland) are often considered at the forefront of adopting “green economic” policies – those that aim for sustainable development without degrading the environment. Through various initiatives, their governments have taken steps to reduce carbon emissions and transition to renewable energy while creating new jobs and stimulating the economy.

Representatives from the Nordic countries, including Swedish Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter, will discuss innovative policy approaches to sustainability during an event Friday sponsored by the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs and the Miami-Florida Jean Monnet European Center of Excellence.  

We spoke with Norwegian Ambassador Kåre R. Aas about what the green economy is all about and how the U.S. could learn from the Nordic model.

We hear a lot in the news about the so-called “green economy” but it’s not always clear what that means. How would you define it in its simplest terms?

The green economy builds on what we call “green competitiveness” – creating jobs and growth, while reducing emissions. This is how industries and markets should work. The other side of this is to have a “circular economy” – not just producing new things, but reusing and recycling more. A circular economy creates major business opportunities with lower costs and better efficiency, by creating new products from old.

Why is it so important in the world today?

Today’s use of resources and materials is not sustainable in the long run. Climate change is accelerating with potentially devastating impacts for resources and livelihoods; air and sea pollution is increasing; and the world’s population is growing. We can’t expect to have continued growth, peace and prosperity in the face of rapid and drastic climate change. Acknowledging these realities is what forms the basis for the Paris agreement, combined with the fact that this problem can be solved. Most of these solutions have to be developed by industry and promoted by policymakers.

How does this relate to jobs?

Markets are changing as more and more countries are introducing more ambitious climate policies. To be competitive in many of today’s markets, and even more of tomorrow’s markets, you need to deliver climate-friendly solutions. That means new business opportunities and new jobs. Companies that offer clean products or services will have a competitive advantage. I think that those who are ahead will be the winners when new regulations and requirements are implemented.

Beyond the environment, is there a larger connection to social justice and human rights?

Absolutely. Climate change will be hitting the poor hardest. Many of the consequences of climate change, such as sea level rise, increased drought and flooding, and more extreme weather, will have larger impacts on the poor. In vulnerable regions, this can increase tension and conflict, and lead to migrations. Those who have means and resources can to some extent prepare and protect themselves, whereas the poor lack that capacity. So preventing dangerous climate change is therefore also a social issue, in addition to being a security issue.

What has Norway done to promote a green economic model? 

In Norway, there is broad agreement on climate policy and our long term targets, even under changing governments. This gives predictability for business and industry – they know that climate policy is here to stay, basically forever. Legally binding targets for emission reductions and strong environmental legislation have been in place for a long time, as have economic incentives for a green economy. Norway introduced carbon pricing in 1991. Putting a price on emissions – making the polluter pay – puts a premium on clean alternatives. We are also increasing investments in innovation and technology development.

How can other nations transition to a green economy? What are some of the steps?

Our experience shows a science-based approach is best. Getting the data and analysis on what is possible. Furthermore, thinking about how you can build on existing strengths. In Norway, we have advanced metal and smelting industries, and a world-leading oil and gas industry. Some of these industries are now looking at how they can use their existing expertise to develop new climate solutions. For instance, Statoil, which has world-renowned expertise in deep water offshore drilling, is developing deep water offshore wind solutions. They have won a contract for a wind farm off the coast of New York.

A third element is to make sure you know what the whole range of potential benefits are. Many climate measures have significant local benefits in terms of reduced air pollution, better transportation and better housing. We need to look at the whole picture.

Also, cooperation between industry leaders, trade unions and government is critical in discussing solutions and providing input to policy making. Building ownership among different stakeholders helps build predictability, too.

What are some of the challenges to pursuing a green economy?

Transitions are always challenging because you have to change how you traditionally do things. Some groups feel that they are losing out, or they don’t see that they will benefit. These concerns must be taken seriously but not be allowed to stand in the way of finding opportunities. Another challenge is stepping up innovation fast enough. International cooperation regarding innovation and technology development is important. Norway participates in major European programs, which is a great help.

Why would anyone oppose a green economy?

Some may be skeptical because they don’t see immediate benefits or because old business models don’t work anymore. But lack of communication, lack of involvement and lack of knowledge could also stand in the way.

How can the public – in particular young people – get involved?

Public support is important and people can get involved in many ways – through political engagement, local organizations and local community development. Young people are the climate innovators of tomorrow and will play a crucial role in taking the green economy to the next level.

What can we expect to see next in terms of worldwide progress toward a green economy model?

I think the transportation sector will look completely different 10 to 15 years from now.

In Norway, about half of all new cars sold are either electric or hybrid. The first electric buses are now operating in Oslo, and our old diesel ferries are being replaced by electric ferries. By 2025, the national target is that all new cars should be zero emission. In addition to Norway, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, India and China have set targets for phasing out fossil-fueled vehicles. Many countries have official targets for electric car sales – Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, Korea and Spain – driving those markets in the same direction. The development of driver-less vehicles – also being tested in Norway – is another major driver of change.

The Nordic Green Economy: Exploring Innovative Policy Approaches to Sustainability will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday in GC 355. The event is part of the Ruth K. and Shepard Broad Distinguished Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, the European and Eurasian Studies Program, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce Florida Chapter.

The high number of dams built close to each other in the southeast significantly limits where fish can move throughout their lives, driving the risk of extinction for native fish in some areas, according to a study led by FIU ecologist John Kominoski. In the southwest, dams and climate change interact to drive the risk of native fish extinction in some areas. Although dams prevent flooding and provide people with water and electricity, the restriction of water flows in rivers and streams is proving to be a real problem for fish.

“There are many factors influencing the likelihood of localized extinctions, but dams were consistently a contributor,” said Kominoski, assistant professor of biological sciences and researcher in FIU’s Institute of Water and Environment. “It’s not a one-size-fits all scenario, and some species are more at risk than others.”

Healthy fish populations rely on water availability and variation in water flow. The researchers examined more than 850 species of native fish and looked at different traits, including fertility, lifespan, range of movement and water flow needs. Many of these fish are unique to a specific region, or even to specific rivers and streams, which makes them especially vulnerable to habitat degradation. Dams, which alter water availability and flow, are the overriding drivers of native fish losses.

The southern U.S. has experienced unprecedented population growth driving up water demands. Conservation efforts in flow-restricted rivers and streams have attempted to meet the water needs of people and the water needs of plants and animals, but doing this is challenging. The researchers hope this information will allow resource managers better understand where extinction rates are high, attribute them to specific causes and set water conservation priorities.

The study was published in Global Change Biology. It was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Water Sustainability and Climate Program.

FIU’s Institute of Water and Environment is dedicated to addressing global water and environmental issues through research, education and outreach. It is home to the Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment, Marine Education Research Initiative, Sea Level Solutions Center, and Southeast Environmental Research Center, as well as Everglades programs and international water programs.

FIU students and their professor have patented a series of new tests that can quickly, accurately and cost-effectively confirm the presence of cocaine.

The tests can be carried out by police on the side of the road – one testing saliva, the other unknown powders. In each case, the substance to be tested is added to a liquid solution developed by FIU chemist Yi Xiao and her students in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education. If the substance is cocaine, the sample glows under a blue light in seconds.

“We’re trying to detect a grain of cocaine dissolved in a swimming pool,” biochemistry Ph.D. student Haixiang Yu said. “But it is even more complicated because saliva has proteins and salts that are different from person to person.”

Traditional methods for confirming whether a person has used cocaine are much more expensive, complicated, and time consuming, Yu said. Law enforcement must first obtain blood or urine samples, which are tested in a lab. Results usually take weeks and may yield false positives and false negatives, he said. With these tests, accurate results can be obtained within a fraction of the time and at an affordable cost.

Whether powder or saliva, the tests are completed in a one-step process that doesn’t require expensive equipment or lab-based services.

While drug enforcement officials currently focus their efforts on preventing the spread of the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis, there is a worry that cocaine use might be on the rise for the first time in a decade. A recent State Department report cites growing cocaine production in Colombia and a rise in cocaine seizures along the U.S. border as a warning that cocaine use might be making a resurgence.

Researchers are working to license and commercialize the tests. Xiao, Yu, chemistry Ph.D. student Juan Canoura, and recent chemistry graduate Obtin Alkhamis published a study on these methods in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

P.A.W. (Feb. 5-9) is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year with a series of engaging class presentations, industry panels and networking events throughout the week. More than 300 alumni are returning to campus to participate in the festivities. 

FIU News  asked several alumni involved to share their motivations for coming back to FIU.

• Laura Bonich ’93, ’99:   Vice President, Wolf Search Solutions
• Armando Cruz ’01, ’05:  CEO and Co-founder, Cruz Country Fitness & Physical Therapy
• Peeraya Inyim ’15:  Building Information Modelling (BIM) Manager, OHL USA
• Joelle Parra ’10:   Communications & Social Media Manager, Diabetes Research Institute Foundation
• Jasmin Rhia ’11:   Self-employed branding consultant and motivational coach

What, or who, inspired you to come back to FIU for Panther Alumni Week?

Laura Bonich ’93, ’99:   FIU provided me with the education, tools and confidence to grow in my career. When FIU reached out asking if I could share my experience, I wanted to pay it forward.

Jasmin Rhia ’11:   After graduating FIU and moving to California to pursue a music career, I learned a lot of life lessons. These lessons inspired me to want to speak to students about the importance of chasing your dreams, taking full advantage of your education, budgeting and living with a healthy balance. I was super thrilled for the opportunity to inspire students by speaking and taking over FIU’s Instagram!

Peeraya Inyim ’15:  I work at a place where most of my colleagues are FIU alumni. When they knew that I graduated from FIU, they gave me warm welcome and inspired me. P.A.W. is a great opportunity to give back to the school, and I want to encourage all students to be ready, be prepared and be excited for their future.

If you could go back and give the college version of yourself some advice, what would it be?

Bonich:  I would give myself the same advice my parents gave me back then – just be yourself, stay true to your values and respect everyone from the janitor to the CEO.

Armando Cruz ’01, ’05:   Achieving is important, but don’t miss the present because you are so focused on the future. In the real world, it is more important who you show up as than any degree that you get.

  Joelle Parra ’10:  Being a risk taker when it comes to your career will pay off. If a new opportunity scares you, then it’s probably going to be rewarding and lead to more growth and success, even it it seems difficult and daunting at first. Don’t doubt your abilities and face those fears with confidence.

Rhia:   Get involved on campus! Build lasting relationships, seek mentorship, study abroad and take full advantage of all the resources that FIU has to offer. Last, but not least, know your worth by practicing budgeting and saving. That loan is borrowed money and not meant for a shopping spree at Dolphin Mall!

How did FIU prepare you for your career?    

Cruz:   FIU provided a great opportunity to think critically and be an independent learner. I had great teachers that challenged me as well as coaches and teammates that helped fuel and support my vision.

Parra:   Looking back, FIU was the perfect place to go to school. Most of the classes I had consisted of hands-on assignments and lectures I was actually able to use in the “real world.” Being able to walk into a new career opportunity with that experience, even if it’s a first job, gives you more confidence and an edge over someone who didn’t get that type of practical education.

Bonich:  Two key skills which are invaluable to me today are critical thinking and presentation skills. FIU honed these skills and encouraged me to engage others in dialogue, whether it is one-on-one, in a board room or on a stage. Your career is a contact sport. If you want to excel and grow, you must be able to evaluate situations, determine the best course of action, articulate your goals and engage those around you to help you achieve them.

What makes a great leader?

More than  250 students from FIU, Barry University, Broward College and the University of Miami attended the 15th Annual FIU Student Leadership Summit held at Biscayne Bay Campus this past weekend to find the answer.

Organized by   the Center for Leadership & Service, the summit is a one-day conference where students can tap into the expertise of faculty, administrators, employers and alumni to learn how to become successful leaders. This year, more than  35 presenters lead workshops focused on an array of topics including civic engagement, finances, problem solving and mentoring relationships.

“Everyone has the ability to be a leader,” explains keynote speaker Kristen Hadeed, author of   Permission to Screw Up: How I Learned to Lead by Doing (Almost) Everything Wrong  and founder of   Student Maid, a cleaning company which she started while she was a junior at the University of Florida in 2009.

Today, Student Maid employs hundreds of students and is widely recognized for its high retention rate and culture of trust. However, Hadeed admits she was not a great leader at the start of her career. In fact, she had 45 employees collectively quit on a single day.

“Your most challenging times, your biggest screw ups, can be the most defining moments of your life, if you let them,” she says.

In Hadeed’s case, the day her team quit was also the day she chose to make it her mission to become a good leader and to learn how to build a company where people were happy to go to work.

Since then, she’s read countless books, joined the boards of several professional organizations and learned first-hand from daily triumphs and mishaps. What she discovered throughout her journey is that to be a great leader, you need to have the ability to do the following four things:

1. Empower people
Successful leaders challenge others to solve problems instead of giving them solutions. In doing so, leaders help others develop self-confidence, independence and critical thinking skills. By encouraging people to step-up, they help them build pride in their own abilities.

2. Provide honest feedback
Leaders help individuals reach their full potential. They inspire people to do great things by recognizing their positive contributions and help them improve by addressing the areas where they need to grow.

3. Create meaningful relationships
The role of a good leader is to know people well and provide them with a positive support system so that they can perform at their full capacity. Hadeed advises putting cell phones away and always listening fully and attentively to others.

4. Be vulnerable
Great leaders admit they are human and don’t have all the answers. By being honest, they invite their team to be open and help each other rise together.

To find out more about The Center for Leadership and Service and upcoming programming,  visit the center’s website  or offices at MMC (GC 242) and BBC (WUC 353).

Today is FIU Day in Tallahassee!

Members of the FIU community – including students, faculty, alumni and members of the FIU Board of Trustees – will be in the capital, advocating for FIU’s 2018 legislative priorities and thanking the university’s legislative delegation for their continued support of FIU.

Members of the Florida legislature, which includes six FIU alumni, have been extremely supportive of FIU’s priorities and have helped FIU grow and thrive into one of our community’s anchor institutions.

The university needs your help to make sure Panthers are heard loud and clear on FIU Day! Here’s how to help create buzz about FIU wherever you are:

• Add some FIU spirit to your Facebook or Twitter profile. Click here to get started.
• Join FIU in encouraging the state legislature to champion FIU’s priorities and thank them for recognizing that FIU’s success is the community’s success and that Higher Education = Stronger Economy. Tweet this now and don’t forget to tag your legislator: It’s #FIUDay 2018! Help support @FIU priorities because Higher Education=Stronger Economy @DadeDelegation @FIUgov
• Follow @FIUgov on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• Don’t forget to use #FIUDay and tag @FIUgov in all of your posts.
• Stop by the GC pit at Modesto A. Maidique Campus or Panther Square at Biscayne Bay Campus today, Wednesday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. for free food, giveaways and to learn more about what the university is doing for students and the community.

The 2018 legislative session convened on Tuesday, Jan.9, and is expected to conclude on Friday, March 9. Please click here to find the weekly legislative updates provided by FIU’s Governmental Relations team.

To view Frequently Asked Questions regarding legislative activity, please click here.

To learn more about the university’s presence in the nation’s capital, visit FIU in D.C.’s website.

Zero tolerance is our new normal.

Effective immediately alcohol  will not  be permitted for any fraternity or sorority activities – including business, social and philanthropic events (on or off campus) – until  Friday, April 27.

If a chapter is found in violation of the alcohol ban (at registered or unregistered activities) during the Spring 2018 semester, they will no longer be a recognized organization by Fraternity & Sorority Life and will immediately be placed on interim suspension through the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.

The nonprofit group  blueEnergy  offers college students internships that put them to work delivering energy, water and sanitation to the seaside town. As a result of years of positive interactions, the six-week summer fellowship will now be exclusively opened to FIU students through the  blueEnergy-FIU Global Leadership Program. 

“FIU students stand out because of their level of engagement, humility and level headedness,” says Mathias J. Craig, blueEnergy’s global executive director. “I have been impressed by the hunger I have seen in these students – a hunger to learn, expand their comfort zones, and engage the world at large.”

Annette Dominguez  ’17  interned with the international organization in the summer of 2016 . She  interviewed people who attended a biointensive gardening and nutrition workshops to get their feedback – what did they learn? What challenges did they face while attempting to make lifestyle changes? Dominguez wanted to learn the impact, if any, blueEnergy workshops had on the people who attended in hopes of improving them.

After the internship, Dominguez shared her experience with  FIU News . She wrote:

“Sometimes the electricity went out, and I managed with flashlights. I took a couple of bucket showers because water didn’t run, and no two toilets were the same wherever I went. There were no water fountains, and I had to rely on filtered or bottled water, plus there was no air conditioning, so most people own fans. The environment is not up to the developed world standard, but it is humbling, and one realizes that each person experiences different struggles.”

In 2015,  Ana Correa  ’17  worked on blueEnergy’s climate change adaptation group , which was tasked with helping local residents make home gardens to grow fruits and vegetables that could withstand changing temperatures, water shortages or floods.

“I would love to go back eventually and see the outcomes of the projects that we started,” Correa said at the time. “At the end of the day, it wasn’t about my comfort. It was really hard to leave, and I know this is something I want to do in the long term.”

Because of the experience Correa switched her major from advertising to international relations. She is now  a litigation assistant for  Earthjustice, a non-profit law organization dedicated to environmental issues .

“Since Ana Correa’s transformative experience … the Office of Global Learning Initiatives (GLI) has been a fervent supporter, promoter and collaborator with blueEnergy,” says Hilary Landorf, executive director of GLI. “This is not your run-of-the-mill international internship program. The folks at blueEnergy understand the delicate balance between structure and freedom that is needed for students to learn, enjoy and grow during their internship in an unfamiliar and challenging environment.”

Participants in the blueEnergy-FIU Global Leadership Program will live, work and explore alongside local staff, partners and Nicaraguan community members. In addition to project work, the program will consist of an on-campus pre-trip workshop, in-country orientation, a homestay, cooking lessons, dance lessons, Spanish lessons, reflection sessions, exploration travel and an online post-trip debrief.

The deadline to  apply  is Feb. 18. Limited financial aid opportunities are available and will be coordinated through the Office of Global Learning Initiatives after complete submission of the application

With a growing number of FIU students walking to campus from Sweetwater and Westchester, the FIU Police Department has secured a grant for a program to improve their safety by helping them become better educated and more alert pedestrians.

During the 10-week program, which begins this Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, FIU police officers will monitor the busiest intersections surrounding the university’s MMC campus:

• Southwest 109th Avenue and Eighth Street
• Southwest 107th Avenue and Eighth Street
• Southwest 107th Avenue and 16th Street

The program has an educational component which will be reinforced and upheld by FIU police. Officers will start with an information campaign by handing out pamphlets in English, Spanish and Creole with traffic safety information. After three weeks, the officers will begin handing out warnings to pedestrians and bicyclists for violations, such as disobeying traffic signals, not using sidewalks, jaywalking and failing to yield. During the last three weeks of the program, FIU officers will issue citations for those violations.

“At FIU we are always working on better ways to keep our students safe,” said FIU Chief of Police Alexander D. Casas, who has been working on securing the funding for the program since last year. “Many of our students cross one or more intersections to get to campus each day and we want to make sure they are equally alert when they’re walking as when they’re driving.”

The initiative is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation through a grant with the University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research.

Name: Krista Shuckerow

Degree Earned: B.S in statistics, second major – economics; minor in computer science

Hometown: Harmony, Rhode Island

What is your job title, and where will you be working? Engineering resident working at Google in Seattle, Washington

How did student life at FIU help you in your job search? As a sophomore, I went to my first hackathon, MangoHacks, at FIU in spring of 2016.  A hackathon is a 36-hour coding competition where you build a project with a team, attend workshops and spend time with other programmers. I walked in, joined a team, built a project and demoed how it worked at the end to a number of judges. One of them was an FIU alumnus who works at Google. He was impressed with our project and gave me, and all the other people on my team, his work email. At this point, I was like – ‘wow programming is great. I want to do this all the time.’ Anything worth doing is worth doing right so I emailed him asking what I needed to do to get better. It was basically learn more programming languages, learn theory better, practice, practice, practice. So I did.

I also started going to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) meetings on campus. I made friends there that became my hackathon buddies. I would (and still do) go to hackathons with them all over Florida and the country if we can find someone willing to subsidize our travel costs. I surrounded myself with people that were always talking about programming and giving recommendations on how I could get better. I found myself spending most of my free time in the programming labs in ECS and PG6 immersing myself into a culture that treats self-learning, personal projects and coding challenges as everyday conversation. In short, I found other passionate students here at FIU. And we all worked together to make the group better, help each other out, and we genuinely cared about everyone being successful.

Before securing a job with Google, you got an internship. How did that help? Come junior year, we all started applying for programming internships. Internships for tech jobs fill up early. If you want a job in the summer, you apply the fall before. I was trying to get a job after having less than a year of programming under my belt. I started applying for all the positions that were interesting and seeing who would get back to me. If you got picked for an interview, the recruiter would normally ask for suggestions of other talented programmers you know. Anytime someone got one they would recommend one or two other people and so on, and it would daisy chain until everyone that wanted to interview at the company had been recommended. I interviewed for more places than I can remember until I got an offer to intern with Fidelity Investments. 

The internship taught me what it was like to be in the industry. I got used to the flow of business. I can’t talk about the specifics of what I did, but it was everything I could have wanted in an internship. They gave me a lot of room to explore and try different things. I met a mentor, who I still talk to from time to time, and everyone was incredibly nice. I think the biggest help was that it gave me confidence and practice. Skills I had learned before were reinforced every day at work.

In this series, recent grads share their journey to landing that first job out of college. After years of studying and working toward a degree, these Panthers’ hard work paid off. Now they’re paying it forward by letting you know how they did it.

Name: Veronica Bayona

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Degree/Major: B.S. Broadcast Media

Where are you working?  I work as a reporter for WXXV News 25 in Gulfport, Mississippi.

How did you get your job? I got my job by contacting the news director, applying and following up.

What was your greatest fear going into your first job and how did you face it or overcome it? My greatest fear going into my first job was coming to terms with moving away from home. I overcame it by doing a lot of prioritizing. I laid out all the things that were important to me and realized my top two were my career and family. I thought about it and concluded that family will always be there, but opportunity won’t. I decided that facing my fears in order to achieve my goals and dreams was worth a shot, so I packed up and left.

What surprised you the most about your first job? Definitely the workload. Being a reporter in a smaller market means you will be a one-man band. I am running around town all day long, non-stop. I’ll even have lunch at 10 p.m. sometimes, but in my eyes, that just adds to the adrenaline of it all. Despite the craziness that goes on each day, I am blessed to be doing what I love each and every day.

What advice do you have for those beginning the job search process? My biggest advice is don’t settle and don’t give up. Be aggressive with your job search, especially if you are going into news. News directors receive hundreds of emails daily and it is likely that yours might get lost in the midst of it. Do not be afraid to follow up! It shows that you care and are truly interested.

Also, make sure you know what you want to get out of your first job, so that you may filter your job search accordingly. Don’t just jump at the first opportunity, because it may not be the right one for you. It’s important that you research the company before applying for it. Happiness at work is key!

What does a day on the job look like? I work nightside, so I arrive to work at 1:30 p.m. Once I’m in the building I check my day book and read what I’ve been assigned for the day. If I haven’t been assigned anything, then that means I must quickly think up a story to cover.

Once I know what I am covering, I have to rapidly become an expert on the topic before heading out the door. I make phone calls and try to secure interviews before heading out, in order to avoid delays while on location. Sometimes that won’t work out, though, and you just have to improvise!

I then load up the car with all my equipment. Once I head out, I am usually responsible for covering either two stories, or two live shots and one story. Everyday at the station is different. I am also required to post to all our social media platforms about every story I cover.

How does your job connect back to your coursework? My job connects me back to my course work in several ways. A lot of the terms used in the studio are terms that only a broadcast media student would recognize. Also, the software I use to edit (Adobe Premiere) was what I used in school as well. My time at FIU was a learning period. Now, I am putting what I learned to work and refining my craft.

How has your transition from school to work? How do you balance your time? Anyone that says it hasn’t been tough is lying. School is a lot more relaxed than work is. At the end of the day, you pay to go to school, but you go to work to get paid.

Working Monday through Friday for eight hours each day is not a walk in the park, but if you are waking up everyday to go to a job you love, it’s totally worth it. Also, being so busy all the time and realizing that weeks were quickly passing by, taught me to be more present in each moment. Since I have so little free time, I make sure I use that time wisely and fill that time with things that make me truly happy.

What’s been the coolest thing about your job so far? The coolest thing about my job is that every single day is different. The routine may be the same, but the story and people I meet change. It’s exciting to always go into work wondering, “What will today be like?” I also love that I must quickly become an expert at whatever subject I am covering. It’s great because I get to learn something new everyday, and there is nothing more exciting than learning!

– Posted by Sarah Hernandez

President Mark B. Rosenberg wrote the following op-ed in the 

“Jeff, what does Day Two look like?”

The excitement surrounding Amazon’s search for a location for its second headquarters is about more and better jobs, a way to keep talent from having to move elsewhere for better opportunities and a vibrant, thriving economy — and it’s also about this “Day 1” thinking that Amazon is known for.

A spirit of determination that is always focused on pushing the boundaries of innovation to make our lives easier and better.

When we talk about HQ2, we’re also talking about Amazon finding a new home that embraces change, innovation and reinvention. A region that knows the future has arrived.

Miami is that place. Making the Top 20 list puts to rest any doubts about our region’s capacity to support innovation.

It is a true indication that South Florida is an incredible cluster of talent — and a great investment. I believe that in many ways, geography is destiny.

That has never been more true. We are the gateway to the Americas, we have a thriving start-up ecosystem and an ever-growing creative economy.

Also, we have an outstanding, thriving and collaborative educational ecosystem. Colleges and universities in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties go above and beyond.

Among our institutions of higher education, both Florida International University and University of Miami have achieved Carnegie R1 classification for highest research activity.

In South Florida, Amazon will find two medical schools, highly ranked business and law programs, innovative incubators such as StartUP FIU and engineering talent that is hard at work pushing the boundaries of science with multiple patents every year.

Read Rosenberg’s op-ed in its entirety on the Miami Herald website.

Sea levels rose 2.2 centimeters annually from 2011 to 2015, according to scientists in FIU’s Southeast Environmental Research Center and FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center. In 2012, sea levels rose 10 centimeters in the dry season months of December to May and have not subsided. Many factors contributed to the drastic increase in 2012, including melting ice sheets, a strong La Niña season in 2011, and slow ocean currents that allowed sea water to pile up along coastlines. Parts of the coastal Everglades that were once flooded by sea water about 70 percent of the time are now covered by sea water 90 percent of the time.

“Salt water intrudes farther inland when there is a small difference between Everglades fresh water levels and sea level,” said Shimelis Dessu, postdoctoral research associate in the Southeast Environmental Research Center and lead author of the paper. “Salinity is an indicator of the coastal Florida Everglades’ health.”

Tamiami Trail, which connects Tampa to Miami, prevents the natural flow of water in the Everglades from north to south. Resource managers release fresh water into the Everglades during the wet season from June to November, an effective tactic in fighting salt water intrusion when sea levels are highest. But salt water can move inland during the dry season when fresh water is not released into the Everglades.

The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000 to restore water flow. But sea level rise was not taken into account when the program was developed.

“We need to fight water with water,” said Rene Price, chair of FIU’s Department of Earth and Environment and co-author of the study. “To combat sea level rise in the Everglades, we recommend additional fresh water be delivered throughout the year, not just in the wet season.”

The coastal Everglades is a delicate ecosystem that depends on the right balance of fresh water and salt water to stay healthy. Nestled in between marine and land environments, it is vulnerable to sea level rise because of its low ground level, loss of peat soil, tides and flooding, and excess marine nutrients.

The scientists relied on data collected by the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research (FCE-LTER) Program. Housed at FIU and funded by the National Science Foundation, the FCE-LTER Program studies how water, climate and people affect the Everglades.

“The research brings into focus the challenges resource managers face as environmental changes accelerate,” said John Schade, director of a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research program. “Long-term research like this is critical if policy-makers and managers are to effectively adapt strategies for protection of freshwater resources to new realities.”

The study was published in Journal of Environmental Management.

FIU’s Southeast Environmental Research Center and the Sea Level Solutions Center are housed in FIU’s Institute of Water and Environment, which is dedicated to addressing global water and environmental issues.

The partnership, a model for how universities can serve as rich information sources and support local municipalities, leverages the city’s and the university’s unique assets – geography, history, demographics and intellectual capital –to address challenges both organizations face.

At the center of the collaboration is a robust paid internship program that offers FIU students firsthand experiences in their areas of study.

“Like a real-life lab, cities provide higher education with the much-needed practice space and an invaluable opportunity for our students to apply what they have learned in the classroom practically,” said Saif Y. Ishoof, vice president for FIU’s Office of Engagement. “The internships our students get with the city are helping them jump start their career in high demand fields.”

The internship positions are closely aligned with the FIU-City of Miami Beach partnership workgroups, which encompass arts, culture and history; transportation; Florida coastal resilience and adaptation; and youth and education development.

“We are fortunate to have a great public research university in our community” said Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy L. Morales. “The partnership with FIU provides benefits to the city in many ways, including valuable research on issues impacting the city, technical assistance on important projects, support for our cultural community – and gives us access to an endless pool of talent.”

Since the program’s inception, more than 40 students have had the opportunity to intern with the city. Seven interns have been hired as full-time employees with the city. Below a handful share their expereinces.

To apply for current open summer internship positions with the city, log -in at https://fiu.joinhandshake.com/, and search City of Miami Beach (or numbers #1312828 and #1312833).  Deadline to apply is March 15^th,

Alyssia Berthoumieux
Sustainability Specialist
Environment & Sustainability Department
Major: Master’s degree in engineering management with a concentration in environmental engineering

“I enjoy working at the City of Miami Beach because I am part of a passionate team. Everyone I interact with is talented, innovative and committed to making Miami Beach a remarkable city. My ultimate goal in life is to help preserve the environment for future generations.”

Amanda Gancedo
Intern
Department of Transportation
Major: Public administration

“In this internship I have learned that there is a lot more to running a department then just making excel sheets and answering emails. You have to deal with people on a daily basis and make sure that the constituents are happy with the service that the City of Miami Beach is providing.”

Joseph Fagan
Budget Analyst
Office of Budget & Performance Improvement
Major: Finance, with a minor in economics

“Everyone here is so talented and willing to help one another. The city has really done an excellent job at creating a culture that promotes the collaboration and continual development of its employees.”

Yasiel Landrian
Intern
Public Works Department
Major: Civil engineering

“I would definitely recommend this internship to a friend. I have gained so much knowledge and experience with a variety of systems. It has been incredibly beneficial for my professional development.”

Mikhail Ryabov
Transportation Analyst
Transportation Department
Major: Master’s in Cvil Engineering, emphasis transportation engineering.

“I performed data analysis and provided recommendations for implementation of three new trolley routes – Middle Beach Loop, Collins Express and South Beach Loop and the existing North Beach Loop. Our goal is to provide free citywide trolley service and excellent customer service to all trolley users. Having an internship is a great addition to the resume. You can gain new knowledge and skills and meet many new people. Additionally, it can give you new insights and motivation to pursue a career in your field.”

The group, who remain involved with the Festival to this day, shared their stories and some advice for students interested in volunteering with Miami’s premier gourmet gathering.

Daniela Ruiz ’13, MS ’14

Ruiz has worked with the Festival for nine years – and it all started as a freshman handing out water bottles as a volunteer at the Festival’s   Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village.

From there, she earned an internship with one of the event managers. By her third year, she’d earned a full-time job with the Festival as the assistant event manager, and she eventually worked her way up to managing   Badia Spices’ Fun and Fit as a Family, a community-centered event during Festival weekend that encourages healthy living.

“[SOBEWFF® is] eye opening if you want to be in the events world. You take so much in,” she said. “There’s so many parts, like technical and audio-visual and so on that go into a big event like SOBEWFF®. You learn all of that.”

Now, the alumna runs her own business as a freelance events producer. Her clients include eMerge Americas and Uber.

“Honestly, I think had I not volunteered that first year, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Ruiz said. “It’s a very unique opportunity that FIU offers its students.

Her advice: Give SOBEWFF® a try.

“You don’t have to sign up for every single shift. Sign up for one or two one year, and if you decide you want to get more involved the following year, you can. But give it a try.”

Gipsy Velez

Velez has worked the Festival in every capacity: She began as a student volunteer working guest registration one year and culinary prep the next. She’s served as a volunteer lead, coordinating a group of fellow students during Festival weekend.

Then she earned an internship in the volunteer coordinator’s office at FIU, where she helped recruit, interview and schedule volunteers for the Festival weekend’s 3,000 student volunteer shifts.

“I have experienced the volunteer experience from every perspective,” Velez says.

As an intern, she made sure to listen to everything said in the pre-Festival committee meetings. It’s where she learned the most about what goes into the planning and execution of a wine and food festival that annually hosts 65,000 guests at more than 85 events.

“You’re working with some of the top pros in the industry,” Velez says. As a now-full-time program manager at FIU, a role in which she recruits student volunteers for the Festival, she says students should take the opportunity to ask questions and learn as much as possible during the Festival.

Her advice: “Every day is an opportunity to network. Every chef, winemaker, restaurant or vendor that you are dealing with on behalf of the Festival is a potential future employer.”

Teddy Rood MS ’14

Rood learned about the Festival during orientation for his graduate hospitality management program and immediately knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.

“I was excited about the opportunity to network and work alongside some of the top professionals in the industry,” he says. “I also knew the Festival would provide a great platform for me to gain real-world, hands-on experience in the world of event production.”

He began his SOBEWFF® journey as a part-time student volunteer coordinator for FIU, soon earning an internship with the Festival’s ticketing and sponsorship team. During his internship, he had the opportunity to work on a special project for SOBEWFF® founder and director Lee Brian Schrager and made such an impression that the team hired him full-time.

Now, Rood serves as the Festival’s talent manager, curating chef lineups for more than 80 SOBEWFF® culinary events. He is also the restaurant program manager for the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village, recruiting and coordinating more than 120 restaurants that participate in the Festival’s signature event.

As a student, Rood maximized his time with the Festival by seeing and doing as much as he could, especially onsite during Festival weekend.

“Once my assigned events wrapped up, I would bounce around to other events on the beach and assist wherever needed,” he says.

His advice: “Get involved in as many events as you can and network as much as possible. The volunteer and internship programs allow for so many different opportunities. From providing culinary support to some of the world’s greatest chefs to working alongside some of the best event producers in the industry, these programs offer something for everyone pursuing a career in hospitality.”

Sasha Bravo ’11, MS ’14

Like Ruiz, Bravo got her start handing out water bottles at the Festival.

She liked the Festival’s dynamic so much her first year, she decided to stick around and pick up every last-minute volunteer opportunity she could find throughout the weekend. And she did the same the following year.

“I would start at 6 a.m. and work the entire day because I wanted to get as much experience as possible,” Bravo said. By her third year, she’d taken the initiative to get to know the volunteer coordinator, and she landed a role as volunteer lead at Guy Fieri’s Closing Party.

Throughout her time at the Festival, Bravo made sure to shake hands with and get business cards from people in the industry, landing her an internship with The Promotion Company of Miami and later one with the Festival.

Shaking hands also helped her build a network on which she now capitalizes as a freelance events producer.

“Working SOBEWFF® opened a lot of doors for me to meet so many people. Every single major producer and event person in Miami is involved in the Festival at some scale. You get to know so many people, and you get to do so many things. I’m really thankful for the Festival.”

Bravo’s advice: Take initiative.

“This is not the job for people who are lazy. [The Festival] is really hard work, but if you’re really passionate about it, you can get a lot of experience and great opportunities out of it. But you need to have some drive to want to do this. Go above what you usually do and show determination to want to be there, and it pays off in experience.”

Samantha Parrish MS ’16

Parrish entered FIU’s hospitality management graduate program knowing she wanted to work in large-scale event production; but she wasn’t yet sure what role – event planning, marketing and sales, production and setup, etc. – was right for her. That’s where the Festival helped her most as a student.

“I knew the reputation of the Festival and that it was a great opportunity to learn different facets of putting on an event of this scale,” Parrish said. She became a human resources intern with the SOBEWFF® volunteer coordinator’s office at FIU because she felt it was a good opportunity to learn about the many different roles the Festival’s team members take on.

The now-graduate of FIU has since found her place in the industry as a sponsorship manager and assistant auction manager for the Festival, where she works full-time. She coordinates 10 to 12 of the Festival’s sponsors, ensuring their branding, setup and other needs are met for the weekend of the Festival. And she also coordinates the Festival’s five annual auctions – two online and three onsite during the Festival – that together raised more than $380,000 for the university last year.

It’s a career and a work environment she’s grateful to have found, even considering the long hours.

Her advice to future SOBEWFF® volunteers: “Get involved as much as you can, because you never know where it will lead you… Because the Festival allows its interns and volunteers to touch so many different aspects of [planning and execution], you are able to learn a lot of different aspects of the industry, and it makes you a more well-rounded employee. This is the best way to learn what you like and don’t like in the industry.”

Ashley Shapiro MS ’07

As an intern in the Festival’s early years, working on its auctions, Shapiro maximized her experience by working as many hours as she could. Though the internship was set at 10-12 hours per week, she showed initiative by working closer to 30 hours.

“I wanted to be part of every aspect of the Festival that I could be,” Shapiro said. “It was beneficial for me, but it also proved to the people with the Festival that I was very valuable and willing to put in the time needed.”

Now, Shapiro is the director for sponsorship and ticketing for SOBEWFF®. She oversees the majority of revenue that comes into the Festival, most of which comes from ticket sales and the Festival’s 175+ sponsors.

Her advice to future SOBEWFF® volunteers: Go the extra mile to prove you mean business. Stay late when your colleagues stay late. Offer to do as many different things as possible.

“You can come in 9-5 and do your job and leave. But if you really become passionate about what you do, that’s what makes you successful. Soaking in what you can not only makes you more successful, but makes you more valuable to your team. I think it really proves your work ethic to do that.”

Shapiro also said the Festival is an invaluable networking opportunity.

“Some of the world’s largest corporations – Coca-Cola, Barilla, Bacardí – are at the Festival. And as a volunteer, you can make an impression on their team by being attentive and efficient,” she says. “Put forth that maximum effort. There’s always someone watching.”

Hosted by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and FIU, the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival benefits FIU’s   Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. To date, the Festival has raised more than $26 million in support of education and scholarships at the school.

The Festival also provides valuable career insight and networking opportunities to more than 1,000 students annually who volunteer in areas like event management, logistics, culinary preparation, marketing and more.   Click here for more information on volunteer opportunities at SOBEWFF®.

The Festival will take place  Feb. 21 – 25, 2018, and will feature internationally renowned talent and leaders of the hospitality industry at uniquely crafted events showcasing world-class wine, spirits, food and fun.

Click here  to learn about discounts available to the FIU family on tickets to Miami’s premier gourmet gathering.

It has been a month since all fraternity and sorority activities on our campuses were paused. This has been a time of much-needed reflection and an opportunity to recommit to our core values.

As part of the “Implementing a Transformational Fraternity & Sorority Life Culture Shift” plan, throughout January, our Greek community and university administrators reviewed and strengthened the policies and procedures to enhance safety and promote behavior that is consistent with FIU’s values and our Student Code of Conduct. We also held several chapter/council meetings, as well as workshops with chapter advisors and alumni. Each Greek organization that was eligible for reinstatement (32 of the 37 active chapters) was invited to submit a packet and give a presentation demonstrating that chapter leadership understood the role and responsibility of participating in fraternity and sorority life. Of those eligible, 19 successfully completed their reinstatement packets and were invited to make their presentations to the Fraternity & Sorority Life Reinstatement Committee.

Last Thursday evening, we held a town hall with our Greek community to discuss the current status of Greek life at FIU. We also shared the decisions we made over the past month, which included reinstating 16 of the 19 eligible Greek organizations, as well as announcing an alcohol ban for the rest of the semester.

Zero tolerance is our new normal!

Suspended Organizations

Tau Kappa Epsilon (Teke) and Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) have been placed on suspension for two years. Pi Kappa Phi (Pi Kapp) has also been suspended; the length of their suspension is pending.

Last summer, Tau Kappa Epsilon was placed on interim suspension after alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct. After an investigation, no charges were issued and in September they were removed from interim suspension. However, additional information emerged and a follow-up investigation was conducted. Eight members of the chapter were found responsible for violations of the Student Code of Conduct. The organization was placed on interim suspension again in October for hosting a tailgate where a minor was served alcohol. As a result, in January, the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution issued a 2-year suspension from FIU. As with all Conduct cases, the chapter has the right to appeal the committee’s decision should they wish.

Phi Gamma Delta was placed on interim suspension in October 2017 for hosting an off-campus party where underage drinking occurred. In December, the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution issued FIJI a 2-year suspension from the university. The chapter appealed the decision, claiming due process violations and that the sanctions were too severe for the charge. The interim dean of students reviewed the appeal on February 1, 2018 and upheld the Conduct Committee’s decision. As a result, FIJI no longer is a recognized organization at FIU.

Pi Kappa Phi was placed on interim suspension in November 2017 due to hazing allegations. While that case was being investigated, Pi Kapp held an unregistered party at their chapter house in December. This was a violation of their interim suspension and they were immediately suspended by the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. The length of their suspension from the university is pending a Conduct Committee hearing/decision.

Reinstatement Decisions

The following chapters have been reinstated by the Fraternity & Sorority Life Reinstatement Committee:

Multicultural Greek Council (MGC)

• Lambda Theta Alpha
• Sigma Lambda Gamma
• Omega Phi Beta
• Sigma Beta Rho
• Phi Iota Alpha

National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)

• Iota Phi Theta
• Phi Beta Sigma
• Sigma Gamma Rho

Panhellenic Council (PC)

• Alpha Omicron Pi
• Delta Phi Epsilon
• Phi Mu
• Phi Sigma Sigma
• Sigma Kappa

Interfraternity Council (IFC)

• Delta Sigma Phi
• Sigma Phi Epsilon
• Zeta Beta Tau

As of Thursday evening, each of these organizations were allowed to resume normal activities, including recruitment, philanthropies and social events.

The pause of activities will continue for the remaining chapters. They will have an additional 30 days to submit and schedule their presentations to the Fraternity & Sorority Life Reinstatement Committee. The organizations will be notified of their status on Thursday, March 1.

If the packet and/or presentation are not approved by the committee, the pause will continue for these chapters until the end of the spring semester. The chapters will then have another opportunity to provide a final presentation during the first week of April. Please note that any chapter that is not reinstated at this time will no longer be recognized by Fraternity & Sorority Life.

Chapters already on interim suspension – Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Alpha Mu – will be provided a tailored reinstatement plan based on the findings from the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.

Alcohol Ban

Effective immediately alcohol will not be permitted for any fraternity or sorority activities – including business, social, and philanthropic events (on or off campus) – until Friday, April 27.

Please note that all activities must still be registered with Fraternity & Sorority Life. Should a chapter violate registration procedures during the spring semester, they will no longer be a recognized organization by Fraternity & Sorority Life and will receive an immediate charge through the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.

If a chapter is found in violation of the alcohol ban (at registered or unregistered activities) during the Spring 2018 semester, they will no longer be a recognized organization by Fraternity & Sorority Life and will immediately be placed on interim suspension through the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution.

Moving Forward

I want to thank the presidents of Panhellenic, Interfraternity, National Pan-Hellenic and Multicultural Greek councils and chapters for their hard work during the pause. Thank you as well to other Greek leaders, administrators, faculty, staff, students and alumni who have contributed to the creation of an environment where the behavior of our students uplifts the community and provides a supportive culture of growth and tolerance.

Moving forward:

• Chapter presidents will continue to attend monthly workshops with Student Affairs where they will work on creating Greek community standards.
• On Thursday, March 8, I will host a workshop with Greek alumni.
• On Wednesday, June 6, the Board of Trustees will be presented with the new Student Code of Conduct for their approval. Prior to this presentation, we encourage everyone to review the proposed changes via fiu.edu, and submit feedback to codecomments@fiu.edu.
• In addition, before the Fall 2018 football season, a task force will be created to revisit our current tailgate policies.

I strongly believe that together, we can make change happen!

For updates on the Green pause, please click here.

If you have any questions, please contact Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Lunsford at Lunsford@fiu.edu.

A team led by professor Elizabeth Anderson from the FIU Institute of Water and Environment documented 142 existing dams and 160 proposed dams for rivers draining Andean headwaters of the Amazon. The researchers are concerned the proposed dams could result in significant losses in river connectivity, threatening fish populations and forever changing river channels and floodplains.

The greater Amazon is one of the most prolific, biodiverse habitats in the world and Andean rivers have a disproportionate influence on the lowland areas. Andean rivers also predominantly define the formation of rivers downstream, controlling their curves and sediment. With as many as 5,000 species of fish inhabiting the waters, the rapid development of hydropower is a potential threat to these species that are a primary source of food and income for the 30 million people who live along the Amazon basin. If the proposed development continues, only one of the eight major Andean Amazon river systems would be left unimpeded.

There are also cultural implications for native people who live along the rivers, some of whom believe the waters are sacred.

The team collaborated with local governments and conservation organizations to compile international data on the dams, assembling the most comprehensive database of dams in the Andean-Amazon region. The result is a system-wide look at the overall impact, which presents a very different picture than when assessing impact of individual dams on individual systems.

“I hope that by showing the regional trends and that there is widespread river alteration happening, this research can lead to more coordinated development and help to highlight the importance of keeping some rivers free-flowing in the region,” Anderson said.

The research team’s efforts are already paying off. The international collaboration behind this research has led to the formation of a new initiative, Rios Vivos Andinos, which aims to facilitate more regional scientific analyses that examine the linkages between river flows, freshwater biodiversity, and human well-being. Anderson and her collaborators recently received funds from the MacArthur Foundation to support these efforts.

The research was published this week in Science Advances and is a collaboration between 15 institutions spanning eight countries. It was supported, in part, by grants from USAID, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Amazon Fish Project.

Imagine a grandmother waiting for her daughter to get out of work to bring her prescription drugs because there is no effective public transportation and driving herself is not an option. Or a senior citizen feeling lonely for days at a time because they live far away from family or a community center.

Forty teams of middle school students from Miami-Dade and Broward counties addressed this growing issue, referred to as social exclusion or social isolation, at the annual  South Florida Future City Competition .

According to the  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Commerce , 11 million people over age 65 live on their own. Living alone may not necessarily lead to social isolation, but the chances are greater. In search of solutions, this year’s theme was   The Age-Friendly City, and students were tasked with designing a model of a future city where residents could be physically active and independent.

FIU’s College of Engineering & Computing  hosted the event for the 16 th  year in a row.

“This is an important STEM opportunity to encourage students at an early stage in their education to get involved in engineering-based projects. This may lead the students to pursue engineering as a career,” said Osama Mohammed, associate dean of research for the  College of Engineering & Computing  and regional coordinator of the national competition.

The students were judged on the design and engineering of virtual and physical city models, an essay and a five-minute presentation. They were required to use recycled materials to create their models.

“We used glass, industrial cardboard, perfume bottles and we even included a fidget spinner to act as a place where residents …can stand on to see a 360 [degree] view of the city,” said Bella Pennekamp, a middle school student from  St. Hugh Catholic School .

The future city Tandanya was the winning project and was presented by all-female speakers. The name “Tandanya” comes from “Tarndanya,” which is what the Kaurna Indigenous Australians referred to as the Adelaide Plains.

As part of their presentation, the contestants acted as a resident, a mayor and a voice-controlled database to describe all Tandanya has to offer: an eco-friendly transportation system with self-driving pods to prevent collisions; solar panels installed on every building; recreational centers; and an underground waste management system with an airtight seal that prevents the odor from spreading throughout the city.

“The students are so passionate and very composed when asked questions. They are dreamers. They have big ideas with no limits and it’s refreshing to see what they come up with,” said Hassan Eldeeb, an electrical engineering doctoral student who has judged the competition for the last two years.

The second-place winners from Doral Academy designed a city with self-driving electric cars where senior citizens can request a car to pick them up through an app on their smartphones; a delivery system to transport pharmaceutical drugs to seniors; and a state-of-the art cultural center with theatrical productions and gym.

“I was impressed by their articulation, complexity of their projects and by their excitement. They need these things to succeed not just in college, but in life. We look forward to having these students at FIU when it’s time for them to attend college,” said John Volakis, dean of the  College of Engineering & Computing .

The  Future City Competition  is a national competition that raises awareness of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Middle school students have several months to research, design and build cities of the future.

The winning team will fly to Washington, D.C., for the National Future City Competition taking place Feb. 17 – 20.

Now entering its 17 ^th  year, SOBEWFF® has evolved from a one-day event at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus to a five-day destination festival offering over 85 events that attract more than 65,000 food and wine lovers. For more information about the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Feb. 21-25, click   here .

FIU News:  What excites you about the 2018 Festival?

Lee Schrager:  I think the program itself is exciting. Our   Tribute Dinner  honoring Bobby Flay and Michael Clarke of Treasury Wine Estates on Saturday, Feb. 24, is pretty extraordinary. The   Midnight Munchies: An Española Way Block Party  presented by Thrillist and hosted by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Action Bronson on Saturday, Feb. 24, is exciting. Our expansion into Fort Lauderdale with Emeril Lagasse  and Jorge Ramos hosting a   clambake  on Thursday, Feb. 22. Chris Lily, one of the great barbecue pit masters, is also doing   an event  with Jorge Ramos on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in Fort Lauderdale.

Some of the greatest chefs in the world, here at South Beach, from Gastón Acurio and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Chefs from all over the world. Not only do we have that pop culture of the Food Network and Cooking Channel talent, but we have those Michelin-starred chefs and three- or four-star chefs from the New York Times participating as well. Very seldom do you see a festival that has a Rachael Ray and a Bobby Flay on one stage and Alain Ducasse and a Michael White on another stage. We kind of bring the best of that pop culture and fine dining to our consumers.

It’s amazing when you think about it. We’re very fortunate to have title partners like Food Network and Cooking Channel to be able to dip into their cookie jar of talent. We consider ourselves very fortunate and don’t ever take it for granted.

FIU News:   Let’s talk about the new tagline the Festival added: “Eat. Drink. Educate.” What’s behind that?

Lee Schrager:  Our “Eat. Drink. Educate.” tagline really came about because we didn’t have a tagline for our South Beach Festival for so many years, but our sister Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival had a tagline of “Eat. Drink. End Hunger.” and it worked so well. One day we were in a meeting, and I noticed we didn’t have a tagline – that said, we’d done pretty well without one – but I thought it made a lot of sense to create one. We always want people to be able to think about our South Beach and New York City Festivals in the same paragraph. We did well without it, we’re doing better with it.

FIU News:  Talk about the “Educate.” portion of the tagline. Why is that appropriate for this festival, in particular?

Lee Schrager:  The “Educate.” portion of our tagline is so important because 100 percent of the net proceeds from the Festival benefit the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University. The Festival exists today because of the students and the faculty at the school. They are the ambassadors and the workforce of the Festival. If we didn’t have the assets of the university – the students, all that support – we wouldn’t be able to afford to produce a festival of this magnitude. This support is so valuable to the Festival, just as the volunteers for the New York Festival from the Food Bank For New York City are valuable to the New York Festival.

FIU News:  As the visionary behind the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, did you have any idea 17 years ago that it would evolve to what it is today?

Lee Schrager:  I don’t think we had any idea 17 years ago that it would grow into something that not only would raise over $26 million to date but provide an opportunity to brand and introduce the Chaplin school to the entire world. That really is as beneficial as the funds.

FIU News:  Does it ever get old? What continues to motivate you?

Lee Schrager:  I think what still gets me excited about the Festival is putting it together. Starting from scratch each year, looking at what worked well and looking at things that didn’t work well and trying to tweak those things that didn’t work well if we see value in them and continually improving things like our Burger Bash®, Best of the Best, Tribute Dinner, brunches and so forth. Tweak it to make it better – not only to us who are producing it but most importantly for the talent, our sponsors and, of course, the consumers who are coming here year after year. It’s really important for us to keep it fresh. That’s one of the things that’s still most exciting for me – keeping it fresh. New venues. New sponsors. New wine and spirits. And, of course, new talent hosting our events each and every year.

FIU News:  Is it nerve wracking?

Lee Schrager:  You have moments every year where you think it isn’t going to come off. It’s inevitable. There’s always something, always a problem whether it’s a natural disaster or talent pulling out, people getting sick, venues closing, talent not being able to get in because of snowstorms. Not necessarily the week of the Festival – by the week of the Festival I know what’s going to happen – but there’s always that period right after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays where you say wow, is this ever gonna happen? What we’ve learned is that today’s festivalgoers are last-minute consumers. Luckily, we continue to produce great events, give great value, introduce new talent, introduce new great wine and spirits, and there’s always somebody hungry or thirsty for one of our tickets.

FIU News:  You’ve set the bar high.

Lee Schrager:  I think we’re able to maintain the quality and the level of participants because we deliver. You know, we work hard. It’s as important to us to please a participating chef as it is to please the consumer as it is to please one of our sponsors. It’s really important for us, at the end of the day, that our guest chef is happy, the host venue is happy, the wine or spirits sponsor is happy and the consumer who’s buying the ticket is happy. Two out of four doesn’t work. Three out of four doesn’t work. We have to hit a home run with every event that we do to keep people coming back.

FIU News:  You’ve mentioned how critical the student support is to the Festival’s ability to put on an event of this caliber. But the students benefit enormously as well. Tell our readers more about the opportunities that are available to participating students.

Lee Schrager:  The student support at the Festival, from all angles, whether it’s working in the office all year leading up to the Festival, whether they’re taking tickets online at the welcome center, whether they are handing out water when you walk into the Grand Tasting Village, whether they are checking people in at the Best of the Best, or whether they are working with these chefs who are down here for the weekend getting their   mise en place  ready, working with them in one of the restaurants in hotels helping prepare the dinner – that hands-on experience that we offer to the students of the Chaplin school is something that you can’t find anywhere else, at any other festival in the world. It’s really that hands-on, up-close opportunity that we offer that makes it so memorable, not only for the students but for all the chefs participating. Our participants and partners love to work with that next generation of talent.

I can think of dozens of opportunities where students I know ended up working for José Andrés, Tom Colicchio, Bobby Flay and Dominique Crenn. You know, chefs are very giving and nurturing people. They come down, there’s a student who’s interested, who wants to learn, they take a liking to them, they follow up with them. The chefs and students stay in touch.

The one thing about this industry is that there’s always work. There’s always opportunity for someone who’s a hard worker and is committed. And I think the students coming out of the Chaplin school are offered opportunities that few students at any other school at any other campus have.

FIU News:  There have got to be some stand-out moments in the last 16 festivals.

Lee Schrager:  I think one of the moments that stands out is our fifth anniversary of the Festival. It was a beautiful day. I remember asking Al Roker, who was down again, what’s the weekend look like? He said that there might be light showers early in the evening but that it was going to be a perfect night, a beautiful night. And in the middle of the barbecue event that Bobby Flay happened to be hosting for us, we had a monsoon the likes of which I had never seen before, and I’d lived in Miami at that point for 30 years. And that is before the time we had tents. We probably had 1,500 people with no tenting. So everyone ran into these individual chef stations that were under cover and there were great stories that came out of that. Some of the best stories I’ve heard from the Festival are people who made friends hanging out under the tent. We never took a chance like that again, obviously. Of course, now that we’ve have the tents we seldom get rain, but one of my fondest memories is the great rainstorm of 2006.

FIU News:  What’s one thing that you wish everyone knew about the Festival?

Lee Schrager:  I wish that more people knew how involved the students were at the Chaplin School, knew that 100 percent of the proceeds indeed benefit the Chaplin School and knew how much it means to the community. You know, when you look at Miami 17 years ago, we were not a culinary destination. That’s long before all these great chefs had restaurants down here, long before Thomas Keller dreamed of opening up, long before Daniel Boulud. I think, when you think back to the rise of the food scene in Miami, we certainly don’t take credit for making it happen, but we do take credit for being there for the ride and probably bringing a lot of media attention to South Florida and helping turn it into one of the great culinary destinations in the country, if not the world.

FIU took over Somerset Academy earlier this month for College Week, giving young students a taste of what college life at FIU is all about. Photo by Vince Rives

Keep the party going!  Pedro “DJ Dro” Valdes and FIU participated at the annual Three Kings Parade, which commemorates the arrival of the three wise men after the birth of Christ and travels along S.W. 8th Street. Photo by Carl-Frederick Francois

Skate on, skater! A rollerblader skates by FIU’s float at this year’s MLK Parade in Liberty City honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Photo by Carl-Frederick Francois

Miami skies are the best skies. Photo by Eduardo Merille

It’s always a good day to go workout! Have you had a chance to see the newly expanded and renovated Rec Center? Photo by Eduardo Merille

Don’t forget to look on up every once in a while. This satellite is located at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center on the west side of campus. Photo by Ben Guzman

To view more of our favorite FIU images, visit our “Month in Photos” series page.

The arts have been an important part of my life from a very early age. I was fortunate enough to receive my elementary education at a conservatory for the arts where I could dabble in singing, theatre, art classes and playing an instrument. Growing up in an environment that supported and positively promoted the arts allowed me to learn discipline, approach problems creatively, freely express my emotions and develop a desire to work with others toward a positive goal. I believe that the arts have the power to do the same for any student exposed to them from an early age.

I am definitely not alone. I was chosen to be the FIU student representative in Tallahassee for Arts Advocacy Day 2018. At this event, I was surrounded by industry and academic professionals who advocate for the arts every day. Many efforts are made year-round by conservatives and liberals alike to ensure that artistic and cultural projects in the state of Florida receive the necessary funding. These efforts are essential if we want to ensure that we are encouraging students to be creative and think critically, increasing the quality of life in local communities and creating thriving local economies.

In my experience, discussions surrounding funding the arts have typically painted the arts as a charity to be donated to. However, the discussion around arts funding needs to change, and we now have the tools to redirect it. There were a few speakers at this event, but the one that impacted me the most was Randy Cohen, vice president of Research and Policy at Americans for the Arts. He presented portions of the  Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study, which proves beyond a doubt that nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in Florida are more than just a charity. This study found that the nonprofit arts and culture sector in Florida is a $4.68 billion industry, generating $492.3 million in local and state government revenue and supporting more than 130,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Not only are the arts great for the soul, they’re great for business.

I am so thankful to have been selected to be a part of this event. The idea of walking through the towering state capitol building to meet with state legislators and some of their staff members was panic-inducing in the days leading up to this event. However, after actually doing it, I realized that I was, ultimately, just speaking with other human beings about something I am passionate about. It is something that anyone can do. Attending Arts Advocacy Day gave me the tools and courage to confidently continue advocating for the arts.

For more information on how to be an arts advocate in your community and the economic impact that the arts can have, visit  www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

– By Matthew Alexander

Findings show companies where zero-tolerance policies are a top-priority are particularly effective in increasing the reporting of the most common forms of sexual harassment, whether moderate or severe, including sexually suggestive remarks that create a hostile work environment. The   study  is the first to show organizational policies can actually influence a person’s willingness to report sexual harassment they witness.

“We have known for some time that organizational policies around sexual harassment are related to employee harassment behavior, but it wasn’t clear if the policies were actually responsible for employee behavior,” said  Asia Eaton, psychology professor at FIU and study co-author. “We now have causal evidence showing that zero-tolerance organizational policies around sexual harassment, at least in some contexts, actually increases bystander willingness to report observed infractions.”

According to the study, a standard policy statement saying “we are an equal opportunity organization and subscribe to federal and state laws which forbid discrimination and harassment” is not as effective as a zero-tolerance policy that provides a clear framework for interpreting and acting on what someone may witness or experience.

Researchers recommend companies take these steps to implement an effective zero-tolerance policy:

1. Look at your policy: Does your organization have a zero-tolerance policy that explicitly prohibits both moderate and severe sexual harassment? Does leadership adhere to the policy and frequently ensure it is understood by all members of the organization? Does it rely too heavily on victim reporting? Optimal policies bring all employees into the circle and encourage a culture that does not tolerate harassment.
2. Encourage diversity: Organizations and industries that are numerically male-dominated and have less gender diversity may be more likely to experience sexual harassment in the workplace and substantially more likely if the policies and culture are not in place.  Diversity in leadership is also important.
3. Follow-through: Leaders need to set the tone for the organization and be explicit in their expectations. When harassment is reported, perpetrators should be held accountable.  

For this study, Eaton and Ph.D. student Ryan K. Jacobson conducted two assessments — one with undergraduate students using a fictitious company and policies and another with human resources professionals using actual policy statements from a real organization. Student and employee participants in both scenarios indicated they would be more likely to formally report instances of sexual harassment when they were shown an organizational policy that was explicitly zero-tolerance.

Results also show a zero-tolerance organizational policy can increase the likelihood that more severe harassment, including ‘quid-pro-quo’ — where the harasser offers the employee something in return for satisfying a sexual demand — would be reported by employee bystanders.

Eaton and Jacobson recommend implementing and repeatedly emphasizing a zero-tolerance policy. By explicitly indicating all forms of sexual harassing behaviors are completely unacceptable, reports of these unwanted experiences by both victims and bystanders would likely increase.

FIU News asked several members of the university community to share why they decided to lace up their sneakers and compete this year.

Experts are available before and after the speeches to discuss a wide range of subjects, including immigration, foreign relations and the economy. Experts are available for interviews in both English and Spanish.

For help reaching FIU’s State of the Union experts, please contact:

• • Maydel Santana, assistant vice president of communication: 305-348-1555, santanam@fiu.edu
  • Madeline Baro, associate director: 305-310-9665, mbaro@fiu.edu
  • Jessica Drouet, senior account manager: 305-348-6944, jdrouet@fiu.edu
  • Dianne Fernandez, broadcast media manager: 305-608-4870, dfernand37@fiu.edu
  • Amy Ellis, communications manager, Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs: 352-999-0577, amy.ellis@fiu.edu

NATIONAL SECURITY

Brian Fonseca
Director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at FIU’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs.
Fonseca serves as the institute’s technical expert for national security and foreign policy. He has been featured in local and national media analyzing the 2016 U.S. general elections. He joined FIU after serving as the senior research manager for socio-cultural analysis at United States Southern Command. Fonseca holds degrees in international business and international relations from FIU and has attended Sichuan University in Chengdu, China and the National Defense University in Washington D.C. From 1997 to 2004, he served in the United States Marine Corps and facilitated the training of foreign military forces in both hostile theaters and during peacetime operations.
Office: 305-348-7420
Cell: 305-218-6323
Email: fonsecab@fiu.edu

Randy Pestana 
Policy analyst at FIU’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
He specializes in international relations with a focus on U.S. foreign policy, electoral politics, global security and U.S.-Latin American relations. His work examines governance and security in the Western Hemisphere including U.S. national security strategy, civil-military relations and rule of law. Pestana is charged with leading the Gordon Institute’s 2016 Presidential Election coverage and has conducted numerous interviews with both local and national media. Pestana is an adjunct professor for the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs and the Honors College. He holds an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with a graduate certificate in National Security Studies from FIU.
Office: 305-348-0114
Cell: 305-305-1065
Email: rpestana@fiu.edu

Eduardo Gamarra 
Political Science Professor
Gamarra has conducted two polls on Hispanic voters in the United States and Florida. He also has done research on the regional dynamics of Latin America, including Cuba’s role. As an expert in Bolivia and the Andean region, he has followed closely the alliances formed by Fidel Castro, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Gamarra has also studied drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the effects of American policies in the regional dynamics. He has testified in front of the U.S. Congress several times and is the author of more than half a dozen books and more than forty academic articles on Latin America. Gamarra is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office: 305-348-1718
Cell: 786-253-4898
Email: eduardo.Gamarra@fiu.edu

U.S. POLITICS

Dario Moreno 
Associate Professor in the Department of Politics & International Relations in the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs
He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He conducts research on Miami politics, Florida politics, and Cuban-American politics. He has published over 20 scholarly articles, book chapters, and two books. Dr. Moreno is a nationally recognized expert on Florida and Miami politics and is often quoted in both the national and local media. He has been a Pew Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Fulbright scholar in Costa Rica. He teaches courses on Miami politics, Cuban politics, Florida politics and urban politics.
Office: 305-349-3854
Email: dario.moreno@fiu.edu or darmrn@aol.com

Sara Moats
Instructor in FIU’s Department of Politics and International Relations 
Moats has an interest in group politics and studies group interactions from several perspectives. Her research analyzes how and why organized interests become involved with foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations, and why a group would expand beyond the domestic political arena to lobby additional venues. Moats is currently examining group involvement in several different policy areas, including environmental policy and human rights.
Office: 305-348-2226
Cell: 304-282-5159
Email: sara.moats@fiu.edu

Kathryn A. DePalo
Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations
DePalo has extensive experience in state and local government processes and elections both in Connecticut and Florida. She has managed several campaigns, including a successful countywide judicial campaign in Broward County, Florida. Her teaching focus is American politics, including judicial process, gender and politics, and state and local government. DePalo’s primary research interest is in Florida politics, and has published on topics such as state judicial selection, the effects of gender in state legislative politics, and career paths of term-limited legislators.
Office: 305-348-2859
Email: depalok@fiu.edu

FOREIGN POLICY

Latin America/Cuba
Eduardo Gamarra
Please see biography above.
Email: Eduardo.Gamarra@fiu.edu

Guillermo Grenier 
Professor of sociology and one of the lead researchers in charge of the FIU Cuba Poll FIU
The poll measures the attitudes and opinions of Cuban-Americans in South Florida on issues ranging from their support for the U.S. embargo, to their party preference. In addition to the poll, he is the author of books such as “Miami Now: Immigration, Ethnicity and Social Change;” “Legacy of Exile: Cubans in the United States;” and “This Land is Our Land: Newcomers and Established Residents in Miami,” in which he is a co-author. He has also written numerous articles on labor and ethnic issues in the United States. He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office: 305-348-3217
Home: 305-388-6469
Email: Guillermo.Grenier@fiu.edu

Michael Bustamante
Assistant professor of Latin American history, specializing in modern Cuba, Cuban America and the Caribbean
Bustamante previously served as a research associate for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. He comments frequently on contemporary Cuban and Cuban-American affairs for publications like Foreign Affairs and media outlets like Al-Jazeera America. Since 2013, he has served as a study leader the Smithsonian Institution’s people-to-people trips to Cuba.
Office: 305-348-2035
Email: mbustama@fiu.edu

Danielle Clealand
Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations
She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Political Science, an M.A. from New York University in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and a B.A. from Tufts University in International Relations. Her research focuses on comparative racial politics, racial ideology, nationalism, group consciousness and racial attitudes throughout the Americas. Dr. Clealand is finishing work on her book manuscript, Uncovering the Power of Race: Racial Ideology and Black Consciousness in Contemporary Cuba. Uncovering the Power of Race examines the social norms with regard to race that the Cuban Revolution’s racial ideology has created. Dr. Clealand has taught courses such as Caribbean Politics, Black Politics in the Americas, Latin American Politics and Race and Politics in the United States. Before joining the faculty at Florida International University, she was a visiting fellow at the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. She is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office: 305-348-3295
Email: dclealan@fiu.edu

Russia

Tatiana Kostadinova 
Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations
Her research and teaching interests include Central and Eastern European political institutions with a special emphasis on elections, electoral systems and electoral behavior; institutional reform; democratic transition; political corruption; comparative public policy; and public support for foreign policies. Kostadinova’s book Political Corruption in Eastern Europe: Politics After Communism (2012) analyzes the emergence of corruption as a major obstacle to successful democratic transition. Kostadinova teaches undergraduate courses in Russian and Eastern European politics, electoral behavior, and research methods, and graduate courses in institutional choice, democratic transitions, political parties, and advanced research. She has also conducted field work in Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia. Kostadinova has authored and co-authored articles, book chapters and book reviews. Kostadinova can talk about U.S. diplomatic relations with Russia. She is fluent in English, Bulgarian and Russian.
Office: 305-348-4493.
Email: Tatiana.Kostadinova@fiu.edu

Middle East

Eric Lob
Assistant professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations
Lob’s research focuses on the intersection of development and politics in the Middle East. His research specifically examines how state and non-state actors in the region use development to further their political interests domestically and internationally.  He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.  Lob teaches courses on Middle Eastern politics and international relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and political violence and revolution.  He has traveled extensively throughout the region and is proficient in Arabic, Persian, and French.  Lob can speak about about the Middle East’s historical and contemporary issues, events, policies, developments, and trends, such as America’s allies and local governments, popular uprisings and regional instability (Iraq, Syria, and Yemen), the US invasion of Iraq and rise of ISIS/ISIL, the Saudi-Iranian rivalry and Iranian nuclear program, and Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace.
Cell: 914-261-3225
Email: elob@fiu.edu

China

Tom Breslin
Professor of Politics and International Relations and an expert on U.S. diplomatic history; China’s foreign relations history; U.S.-China relations; and ethnicity and religion in foreign affairs
He is the author of the groundbreaking exploration of the effect of presidential ethnicity on American foreign relations from George Washington to George W. Bush, The Great Anglo-Celtic Divide in the History of American Foreign Relations.
Office: 305-348-3765
Email: thomas.breslin@fiu.edu

The Economy

Pedro A. Freyre
Adjunct professor at FIU’s College of Law and is member FIU’s President’s Council
Freyre is also a nationally recognized authority on the U.S. Embargo on Cuba. He advises U.S.-based companies on the types of business transactions that are legal in Cuba under the U.S. embargo, helps U.S. entities that are engaged in authorized activities in connection with entering the Cuban market and advises foreign entities that are involved in Cuba business on implications with U.S. law. As chair of Akerman Senterfitt’s International Practice, Freyre also focuses extensively on inbound foreign investment in the U.S. and outbound U.S. investment in Latin America. His work includes project construction and financing involving governmental and private entities in Latin America, Europe, and Africa, acquisitions and dispositions, environmental regulation, international transactions, cross-border due diligence, insurance regulation, and corporate representation. He regularly provides compliance counseling and training in connection with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Email: pedro.freyre@akerman.com

Jorge Salazar-Carrillo 
Professor of economics and director of FIU’s Center of Economic Research
Salazar is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a consultant for both the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). His areas of interest include economic integration, international trade and finance and labor economics. He has conducted research on Venezuela’s oil sector and Latin America’s capital markets in the 1990s. He has also published two books on Cuba and has a third coming out this fall from Transaction Press. He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office: 305-348-3283
Cell: 305-915-0063
Email: Jorge.Salazar-Carrillo@fiu.edu 

Cem Karayalcin
Chair of the Department of Economics
He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. His research is focused on the effects of globalization on the economies bound together by international flows of goods, services, capital and labor. He has published articles on the effects of globalization on the distribution of incomes and wealth in both historical and contemporary contexts and on effective fiscal policy.
Office: 305-348-3285
Email: karayalc@fiu.edu

Jerry Haar
Professor of management and international business
He was Director of Washington Programs for the Council of the Americas, a New York-based business association of over 200 corporations comprising a majority of U.S. private investment in Latin America, and served as Special Assistant to two cabinet secretaries. He can address issues of international business, politics, and economics including the economies of Latin America, financial markets, and competitiveness.
Office: 305-919-4222
Cell: 786-338-5100
Email: haarj@fiu.edu

Immigration

Juan Carlos Gómez
Director of the Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic
He has been defending the rights of individuals in immigration matters for the last twenty years. During this time, he has represented persons before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States Departments of Justice and Homeland Security in complex immigration matters. Within the field of immigration law, he has helped thousands of individuals in situations including removal and deportation proceedings, family immigration, and the transfer of professionals and executives to the United States. Mr. Gómez counsels international and national corporations on compliance with immigration laws. He also has coordinated teams of attorneys in multi-forum conflicts to effectively resolve clients’ problems. As an attorney for a Central American Refugee Project, he coordinated the representation of thousands individuals in the Southeastern United States in a national class action. He has represented refugees from every part of the world where there have been conflicts over the last two decades. As director of East Little Havana Legal Services, he led a team of attorneys to resolve the series of problems faced by clients in a holistic manner. Mr. Gómez is a highly sought out attorney by other immigration attorneys for consultation on complex matters. In addition to having taught at a law school, he frequently lectures on immigration matters before professional organizations.
Office: 305-348-3179
Email: jcagomez@fiu.edu

Ediberto Román
Law professor with an interest in immigration law and reform
He is a nationally-acclaimed scholar and award-winning educator with broad teaching interests and an extensive scholarship portfolio. Before entering academia, he specialized in securities and antitrust litigation at several Wall Street law firms. He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office: 305-348-2444
Email: romane@fiu.edu

Sebastian Arcos
Assistant director of the Cuban Research Institute
Arco’s father and uncle were active participants in Castro’s revolutionary movement and briefly held important governmental positions, but were soon disillusioned by the new regime’s totalitarian nature. His entire family was arrested and sent to prison for attempting to leave Cuba illegally in 1981. In 1987 he joined the Cuban Committee for Human Rights (CCPDH), the first independent Cuban human rights organization, and was part of the CCPDH team who met with the Special Group from the UN Commission on Human Rights who visited the island in 1988.  He was finally allowed to leave Cuba in 1992.  For three consecutive years (1995, 1996, 1997) Sebastian was part of the Freedom House delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland.  He later advised the U.S. Department of State on issues concerning human rights in Cuba between 1998 and 2000. He is available for Spanish language interviews.
Office: 305-348-7250
Cell: 305-431-4576
Email: Sebastian.Arcos@fiu.edu