Archive for December 2022

AEIR Publishes Pair of Dr. Josephson Op-eds

The American Institute for Economic Research (AEIR) published “How Yellowstone Portrays the American Creed” and “Reputation Works Better Than Regulation: Why Demand Should Determine Prices” by Dr. Kimberlee Josephson, associate professor of business administration. Real Clear Markets also published Dr. Josephson’s second article.

Dr. Josephson Published in Pennsylvania Economic Review

Dr. Kimberlee Josephson, associate professor of business administration, had her article, “Applying the Eras of Fair Trade to the Product Life Cycle Theory,” featured in the Pennsylvania Economic Review (Spring, 2022, v. 29). The review is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Economic Association and is a refereed journal publishing scholarly articles on economics and finance.

Dr. Albert and Morgan Ernst’s ’21 Research Published in Infancy

Dr. Rachel Albert, associate professor of psychology, published “Infant vocalizations elicit simplified speech in childcare” in Infancy with co-authors Morgan Ernst ’21 and Dr. Claire Vallotton (Michigan State University). The paper demonstrates that infants use their vocalizations to actively shape their learning environments in multiple social settings—including childcare classrooms! Just like mothers, childcare teachers simplify their speech when responding to baby babbles to provide simpler more learnable information at moments infants are more receptive to learning. 

Dr. Josephson Participates in PA Education Policy Fellowship Program

Dr. Kimberlee Josephson, associate professor of business administration, was a panelist for the 2023 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program last week. Josephson and colleagues from Temple University, Team PA, and the Mechanicsburg School District discussed “Ready for Success—21st Century Skills,” which was part of a broader discussion about “Ready for Success in College, Career, and Citizenship.”

Lebanon Valley College Physicist Dr. Daniel Pitonyak Part of a U.S. Department of Energy $1.95 Million Grant

Brookhaven Lab to Lead New ‘Saturated Glue’ Theory Collaboration

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory announced a nearly $2 million grant to a group of researchers who are part of the SURGE (SatURated GluE) Topical Theory Collaboration. The five-year grant will enable scientists from 16 colleges, universities, and national laboratories to develop calculations and a framework for discovering and exploring a saturated state of gluons, the particles that hold together everything we see. Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, LVC assistant professor of physics, is a member of SURGE.

According to Brookhaven’s announcement, SURGE will aid in the discovery and exploration of a saturated state of gluons. These aptly named particles carry the nuclear strong force, acting as the ‘glue’ that holds together quarks, the building blocks of all visible matter. By understanding gluons’ ability to split and recombine and potentially reach a state of saturation, scientists hope to gain deeper insight into the strong force and the role gluons play in generating the mass, spin, and other properties of hadrons—composite particles made of quarks, such as the protons and neutrons of atomic nuclei.

“I am excited to be a member of this collaboration,” said Dr. Pitonyak, who received a National Science Foundation grant in 2020 to fund his theoretical nuclear physics research.

“I will conduct computational work to calculate how much quarks and gluons at very high energy contribute to the proton’s spin, a fundamental quantum mechanical “rotation” carried by all particles. This grant will provide additional support and collaborative opportunities with top institutions in the country for my research and the LVC students who work with me,” added Dr. Pitonyak.

SURGE aims to develop calculations and a theoretical framework for discovering this unique saturated form of gluonic matter. Such a saturated state is predicted by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) to be observable in particles accelerated to high energies in particle colliders such as the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven Lab, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Europe’s CERN laboratory, and the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at Brookhaven.

“Our goal is to advance calculations to high precision and develop a comprehensive framework that allows us to compare our theoretical understanding of gluons’ behavior to a wide range of experimental data from RHIC and the LHC and make predictions for what we expect to see at the future EIC,” said Bjoern Schenke, the Brookhaven theorist who will serve as Principal Investigator for the SURGE collaboration.

Partnering institutions include Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility/Old Dominion University; McGill University; The City University of New York, Baruch College; the University of California, Los Angeles; Stony Brook University; The Ohio State University; University of Connecticut; Los Alamos National Laboratory; University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Southern Methodist University; Lebanon Valley College; New Mexico State University; North Carolina State University; Penn State University;  University of California Berkeley.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

Dr. Morell’s Album Named a Top Jazz Recording of 2022

Associate professor of music (composition and theory) Dr. Justin Morell’s recent album, Exit Music For Intelligent Life on Earth (Sonic Frenzy Records) was named among the All About Jazz top jazz recordings of 2022. Reviewer Dan McClenaghan noted “Guitarist Justin Morell has teamed with drummer Mark Ferber to construct an important set of sounds addressing climate change and global warming with a science fiction-like exit of the Earth to escape these problems.”

Adjunct Music Instructor’s Christmas Album Hits Billboard Charts

Midwinter’s Gift, a new album by Kirstin Myers, LVC adjunct instructor in music (oboe), and Frances Drost, of the group Double Keyed, has charted at #13 on the Billboard Classical Crossover Chart. The album features Myers on oboe and English Horn and Drost on piano. The album takes listeners on a moving journey through seasonal favorites such as O Come O Come Emmanuel and Carol of the Bells. Myers performs with the York Symphony Orchestra, Berks Sinfonietta, Reading Pops Orchestra, Trio Jolie, The Silverwood Trio, and the piano/oboe duo, Double Keyed.  

Dr. Vejar Publishes Pair of Journal Articles

Dr. Cynthia Vejar, director and associate professor of clinical mental health counseling, co-authored two recent articles. A Model for Examining Family Health History Awareness and Rethinking How to increase Its Interfamilial and Clinical Utility and Transmission was published in Professional Case Management, 28(1), 45-52Perspectives of college students’ attitudes and knowledge about people with disabilities was published in the British Journal of Special Education, 49(3), 438-462.

Dr. Josephson Cited in Alternative Payment Article

Dr. Kimberlee Josephson, associate professor of business administration, was quoted as an expert in “Retailers are embracing alternative payment methods, though cards are still king,” which was published on the National Retail Federation website on Dec. 1. Among other thoughts, Josephson noted, “Given that alternative forms of compensation have been sprouting up in the workplace for quite some time—it is no longer about just the salary, but also the perks of the position and benefits packages—it is only natural for consumers to desire alternative forms in the marketplace as well.”