Allegheny News and Events

National Organization Honors Professor E. Lee Coates With Career Achievement Award

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Dec. 7, 2015 – The Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, an organization that is part of the Society for Neuroscience, has honored Allegheny College professor E. Lee Coates with its Career Achievement Award.

The presentation took place in Chicago during the group’s annual meeting in October. Two Allegheny alumnae, Amy Jo Stavnezer, the academic organization’s incoming president, and outgoing president Lisa Gabel presented Coates with the award.

One of the organization’s highest honors, the Career Achievement Award is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to undergraduate neuroscience education and research. Coates, who has been at Allegheny since 1992, teaches in the biology department and in the neuroscience and global health studies programs.

“Lee is an accomplished teacher and scholar,” said Gabel. “His former students describe him as an exceptional mentor and friend. His impact on their careers is felt long after they have left the halls of the biology and neuroscience departments at Allegheny College.”

Coates is the project director of a $1.5 million undergraduate science education grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to build a global health program at Allegheny College. The grant supports the establishment of an interdisciplinary major, creation of two tenure-track faculty positions, resources for faculty and curriculum development, collaborative research opportunities for students on and off campus, and opportunities for students to engage in health-related study experiences both abroad and in the United States.

He was also the director of a $400,000 W.M. Keck Foundation grant titled “Ways of knowing and habits of mind: Exploring the intersection between neuroscience and the humanities.” The grant funded the development of four interdisciplinary courses at Allegheny College: “Neuroscience and Dance Movement,” “Neuroscience of the Visual Arts,” “Mind and Brain” and “History of Neuroscience.”

Additionally, Coates has been awarded more than $98,000 by the National Institutes of Health and $82,000 by the National Science Foundation to fund his research on nasal CO2 receptors and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

“I was surprised and honored to receive the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Career Achievement Award and humbled to be in the company of past recipients,” said Coates. “While the award was given to me, in part, for my role in the development of the neuroscience program and interdisciplinary neuroscience and humanities courses, my Allegheny neuroscience colleagues should share this recognition with me as I couldn’t have developed these programs without them.”

“I am also honored to be recognized for my teaching and mentoring of neuroscience students, although the real reward is following the careers and achievements of our neuroscience graduates,” said Coates. “I enjoy keeping in contact with the graduates and seeing many of our neuroscience alumni at the yearly Society for Neuroscience meeting. Based on the success of our graduates it appears that we have developed a first-rate undergraduate neuroscience program that prepares students well for life after Allegheny.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Students and Faculty Present Poster at American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting

Garrett Devenney ’16, Erica Bryson ’15, and Assistant Professor of Global Health Studies and Biology Becky Dawson presented the lessons learned from their community-based participatory research project at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting November 3 in Chicago. Their poster highlighted the Community Health Needs Assessment Project, which is being conducted in collaboration with the Meadville Medical Center.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Spending a Year in the ‘City’

By Lauren Dominique ’16

Allegheny graduate Austin Cosgrove ’15 thought he was destined for medical school following Commencement in May. Instead, he finds himself helping to mentor high school students in Boston.

Cosgrove, a biochemistry major and Global Health Studies minor, started his unexpected journey in August with a service group called City Year.

Austin Cosgrove '15.

Austin Cosgrove ’15.

“Up until midway through junior year, my plan was to go to medical school,” says Cosgrove, “but after a few fantastic global health courses and an amazing research internship with Dr. (Becky) Dawson, my interest in medicine shifted to that of public health. I chose to do City Year because I thought it would be a wonderful transition into further public health schooling and career choices.”

City Year, a non-profit program sponsored by AmeriCorps, has become a popular destination for Allegheny students after graduation.

City Year is a compensated service program geared toward the betterment of children’s experience in high-need and inner-city schools throughout the United States. City Year employees, all between 18 and 24 years old, create a “near-peer relationship” that allows for them “to serve as positive role models who have the ability to encourage students to stay on the right track toward their high school graduation,” says Todd Marsh, a  City Year regional recruitment manager.

In spending 11 months with a team stationed in one of 27 cities nationwide, City Year representatives work with third- through ninth-grade students, focusing on “one-on-one and group tutoring, behavioral coaching, and positive school culture programming,” all with the objective of improving the school and community as a whole, says Marsh.

Allegheny College has quickly become a steady source of City Year representatives. For colleges of fewer than 5,000 students, Allegheny ranks No. 4 in the number of graduates who go on to serve at City Year.  For the 2015-16 academic year, 12 Allegheny alumni are involved with City Year, nine of whom are graduates of the Bicentennial Class of 2015.

Cosgrove attributes much of his success in this program to his time at Allegheny: “There’s a reason Allegheny is in the top tier for sending students into service organizations following graduation. At City Year, we act as a support system in the school for the teachers, faculty, and, most importantly, the students. In providing students in urban school settings the extra individual attention and support they need, we work to end the nation’s dropout crisis and prepare our students to be college and career ready. My time at Allegheny has instilled within me a determined, diligent work ethic to keep me motivated throughout this upcoming year, a strong education for which I am grateful, and a duty to give back and serve.”

When asked if City Year is an experience he would recommend to current Allegheny students, Cosgrove responded enthusiastically: “I would certainly encourage any and all interested Allegheny students to apply to the program! Moving into Boston, a brand new city for me, and living on a stipend to serve 11 months in an urban public school setting isn’t exactly my ‘comfort zone,’ but I had enough confidence in myself to take on this challenge because of my Allegheny experience.”

Allegheny students learn about careers, graduate school options and service opportunities through the Allegheny Gateway. Go to: sites.allegheny.edu/gateway/

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Global Health Researchers Present Their Work at U.S. Public Health Service Scientific and Training Symposium

Assistant Professor of Global Health Studies Becky Dawson, along with Elizabeth Schafer ’17 and Erica Salizzoni ’16, recently presented research at the United States Public Health Service Scientific and Training Symposium in Atlanta. Their project was titled “Identifying and Addressing Differences in Perceptions and Epidemiological Data in Meadville, PA.” The highlight of the conference was meeting U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Dr. Vivek Murthy and talking with him about the health needs in Meadville. This presentation is part of the Meadville Community Health Needs Assessment project and was supported, in part, by a grant to Allegheny College from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Precollege and Undergraduate Science Education Program as well as by funding from a grant awarded to support Allegheny College’s Community Wellness Initiative.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Professor Coates Publishes Chapter in “New Directions in Higher Education”

Professor of Biology, Neuroscience, and Global Health Studies Lee Coates recently published a chapter titled “Developing Research Skills Across the Undergraduate Curriculum” with co-authors Simon Gray (The College of Wooster), Ann Fraser (Kalamazoo College), and Pam Pierce (The College of Wooster) in New Directions in Higher Education – Enhancing and Expanding Undergraduate Research: A Systems Approach (No. 169, Spring 2015, Wiley Periodicals). In addition, Professor Coates recently served as a Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) facilitator for a workshop held at Trinity Washington University on “Integrating Research into the Curriculum” and presented a talk on “Undergraduate Research across the Curriculum.”

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Cosgrove and Lingwall Present Work at Undergraduate Research at the Capitol Conference

Austin Cosgrove ’15 and Cailyn Lingwall ’15 recently presented research at the Undergraduate Research at the Capitol conference held in Harrisburg. Austin’s project was titled “Meadville’s Community Health Needs Assessment: A Retrospective Secondary Analysis of the ER Records.” He conducted this research last summer with Assistant Professor of Biology and Global Health Studies Becky Dawson. The project was funded by the Meadville Medical Center Foundation. Cailyn presented her senior project research, titled “An Evaluation of Physical Activity among Preschoolers at an Income-Eligible ‘Pre-K Counts’ Program in a Rural Northwest Pennsylvania Community.” Cailyn is working with Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Global Health Studies Caryl Waggett during her Senior Project. Austin’s and Cailyn’s conference travel expenses were supported by a grant to the Global Health Studies program from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Waggett Receives Grant for Teaching Modules on Prevention of Childhood Lead Poisoning

Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Global Health Studies Caryl Waggett, Katrina Korfmacher (University of Rochester School of Medicine), Richard Gragg (Florida A&M), and Martha Richmond (Suffolk University) have been awarded $45,000 from InTeGrate, an NSF-funded project of the Science Education Resource Center (SERC). The collaborative award was granted for the development of undergraduate teaching modules examining the science, policy, and public health prevention of childhood lead poisoning. The grant covers module development, course piloting in multiple campuses, assessment/module refinement, publication, and workshops over a two-year process.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Allegheny College Faculty Member Named as a Professor Under 40 Who Inspires

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Rebecca Dawson, Allegheny College assistant professor of biology and global health studies, has been named to NerdScholar’s list of “40 Under 40: Professors Who Inspire.”

According to NerdScholar, the professors were chosen based on “their ability to captivate and engage students in the classroom, their outstanding involvement on campus and in the community, and their overwhelming passion for their subject matter.” Nominations were collected through student, alumni and faculty recommendations following an open call to several hundred colleges and universities across the country.

“Receiving this award is such an honor,” says Dawson, a native of Allison Park, Pa. “It is so very special to me because my nomination came from my students. They are what make this job so great; to know the feeling is mutual is priceless.”

Senior Erica Bryson, one of Dawson’s students who nominated her for the award, says you can tell by Professor Dawson’s enthusiasm and energy in class that she loves the material she is teaching. “Professor Dawson is a practice-what-you-preach type of person as a result of her passion in epidemiology, and she encourages those around her to do the same,” Bryson says. “I know she puts 100 percent into everything she does, and I am honored to have her as a professor and mentor.”

Sophomore Matthew Zaborowski, another student who nominated her for the honor, agrees. “Being an Allegheny College alumna, Professor Dawson is very passionate about the liberal arts and the environment and atmosphere that each student displays while attending Allegheny. She is a true inspiration, a great role model and a wonderful professor who is caring, committed and passionate,” he says.

Professor Dawson received her bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Allegheny, her master of public health degree in environmental health from Emory University and her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her research interests have focused on topics related to environmental epidemiology, and she has made an impact on the local community through her work with the Community Health Needs Assessment in Meadville.

In August 2014, she collaborated with a professor at George Mason University to publish the first undergraduate textbook on epidemiology titled “Understanding Epidemiology: Concepts, Skills & Applications.”

To view Professor Dawson’s feature, go to www.nerdwallet.com/feature/40-Under-40-Professors-2015#Becky-Smullin-Dawson.

About NerdScholar
NerdWallet is a consumer finance website that helps people make better decisions when it comes to their money. NerdScholar is the higher education branch that offers advice and resources specifically for students.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Spaghetti Squash Boats, Anyone?

Maddie Monahan

Almost anyone can make a meal out of what they dig out of their fridge and pantry, but not everyone has Madison Monahan’s flair for making it look scrumptious.

Maddie, a senior at Allegheny College, is pursuing a degree in Global Health Studies with a minor in French.  She spends much of her free time in the kitchen, pursuing her passion for cooking and then sharing photos of her creations online through her Instagram account. Here you’ll find dozens of Maddie’s home-cooked meals from Spaghetti Squash Boats to Spinach and Feta Chicken Roll-Ups.

Her family, particularly her father, inspired her interest in all things culinary, Maddie says.

She started helping her father around the kitchen around the age of 6. “I always wanted to help my dad and he would say, ‘You can help by watching,’ and I would get really mad because I wanted to get involved in the cooking. But in the end it is the watching that helped me the most.”

Cooking will always be a “cool hobby” but probably nothing more, Maddie says. “I love what cooking does to me. It really relieves my stress,” she says. “I don’t really have serious intentions with it in the future, but I love having cooking be part of my life, even if it’s just a hobby.”

It is this relaxing influence that helps Maddie balance her studies and her cooking. “You know how people decide to take study breaks and go drink coffee or something? I’m like that, but I just go cook lunch,” she says.

While Maddie has been cooking for years, she did not start using social media to showcase her talents until her sophomore year. “I figured that if I started posting these photos, I would inspire other people to start cooking,” she says.

She also tries to incorporate her cooking into her academics. (The Pittsburgh native is also president of the Advocating Global Health & Development Club and a student first-aid provider/ athletic trainer.)

“I just try to find other ways to incorporate it in my life, like for school projects. We did a recipe book for refugees in one of my classes last year.” Maddie says, “We took all the ingredients that you can find in other countries but that cannot be found here and I found a way to locate some substitutions for them. So that’s my way of incorporating the expression of cooking in my life.”

During the past summer, she stayed in Meadville and enjoyed going to the Second Saturday events organized by the Market House. “I love produce stands, and farmers’ markets are some of my favorite things. I love supporting local businesses and seeing what they have to offer. I also love seeing what the community does with the produce,” she says.

She also bought seeds from the Carrden — the Carr Hall hands-on learning and teaching garden for the Allegheny campus and community — and planted her own garden which allowed her to have fresh produce regularly.

It all makes for a recipe for fun and frugality, Maddie says. “I think it would be nice for people on campus to have a club that would reach out to them and show them that you can cook on a nice tight budget. It’s not as hard as people think it is!”

– Nahla Bendefaa

Source: Academics, Publications & Research