Megan Baker, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Art History, has been awarded the 2022 Frances E. Malamy Research Fellowship at the Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library. Over the summer, Baker will use visual and archival material, including family papers and shipping logs, to investigate how residents of 18th-century Salem, Massachusetts, engaged with the pastel medium before and during the American Revolution. This research will contribute to her dissertation, “Crayon Rebellion: The Material Politics of North American Pastels, 1758-1814,” which looks at the evolution of the pastel medium across North America during the late 18th and early 19nth centuries.

Michele Lobo, associate professor of physical therapy, was a recipient of the Chattanooga Research Award from the American Physical Therapy Association in recognition of an article as site principal investigator for exploring the efficacy of the Sitting Together and Reaching to Play (START-Play) intervention in young infants with neuromotor disorders. The Chattanooga Research Award identifies authors with a published study in the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Journal that introduces innovative research and discussion for its overall impact on clinical practice or physical therapy research in the future. In addition to Lobo, Andrea Baraldi Cunha and Irnya Babik, postdoctoral researchers, operated as leads for the assessment team to determine intervention outcomes. Results of the research determined significant positive effects using the intervention for infants with high levels of motor delay. The team discovered that the START-Play intervention may advance cognitive skills for infants with neuromotor disorders beyond usual early interventions. This stresses the importance of early intervention because kids learn heavily from movement during their younger years.

Guido L. Geerts, professor of accounting and EY Faculty Scholar, has been named a recipient of the 2022 AAA/J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook/Deloitte Foundation Prize from the American Accounting Association (AAA). According to the AAA, this prize is "the foremost recognition of an individual who consistently demonstrates the attributes of a superior teacher in the discipline of accounting. The prize serves to recognize, inspire, and motivate members to achieve the status of a superior teacher." Geerts, who was awarded for undergraduate teaching, will receive a solid silver medal and a monetary prize of $27,500 at the 2022 AAA Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, at the Aug. 1 plenary session.

Julianna Reed, graduate student of the Physical Therapy Program, was awarded the Allie Rose Zambito Sunshine Scholarship award in recognition of her dedication in overcoming exceptional obstacles throughout her studies. This award was created to honor the memory of Allie Rose by establishing and administering an annual scholarship to a second-year graduate student enrolled in a Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at the University of Delaware or High Point University. The award emphasizes Reed’s determination as she confronts challenges of recovering from a concussion while simultaneously committing to her research and clinical endeavors to aid others going through similar difficulties. Her experience has strengthened her focus on the importance of self-advocacay and connecting with patients from a place of shared events. The scholarship provides $1,500 toward Reed’s future tuition expenses. 

Gabriella L. Johnson, doctoral candidate in the Department of Art History, has been selected as a predoctoral research resident at the Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities (nicknamed La Capraia) in Naples, from September 2022 through June 2023. The center supports interdisciplinary projects that highlight Naples and southern Italy as a site of exchange, encounter and transformation. She will be researching her dissertation, "Galatea's Realm: The Art of Coral, Shells, and Marine Fossils in Early Modern Sicily, Naples, and the Maltese Islands."

Jennifer Joe, Whitney Family Professor of Accounting, Cohen Family Lerner Director of Diversity and Chief Diversity Advocate in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, has been named to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) Investor Advisory Group (IAG).  According to the PCAOB, "the IAG advises on matters concerning the PCAOB's mission to oversee the audit of companies that are subject to the securities laws, and related matters, in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate, and independent audit reports, including investors' perspectives on key areas of concern and potential emerging issues related to the PCAOB's oversight activities."

Lynn Ferro, graduate research assistant for the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition, was honored with a predoctoral fellowship award from the American Society for Nutrition Foundation. This award funds outstanding research projects proposed and conducted by ASN members enrolled in a graduate program in nutrition. Ferro plans to use the award to fund the sequencing analysis for her intervention study focusing on the microbial changes due to the introduction of first foods and the complementary diet of infants, a critical period in the formation of their gastrointestinal microbiome. In the study, 5-month-old infants who are ready for solid foods and have been fed human milk only, will be randomly assigned to an intervention group and provided one of four complementary foods for two weeks: infant rice cereal, beef puree, prune puree or carrot puree. The sequencing analysis will be used to determine the differences in microbial communities based on these dietary interventions. “The first 1,000 days of life are often referred to as the sensitive period, when factors such as delivery mode, environment and diet composition influence and potentially imprint the shaping microbiota,” said Jillian Trabulsi, chair and associate professor of behavioral health and nutrition. “Lynn’s study will test how the introduction of higher fiber and lower protein fruits and vegetables as first foods will increase the microbial diversity and richness of the infant gut compared to common first foods, such as cereal.” 

Doctoral candidate Lea Stephenson in the Department of Art History has been awarded a fellowship through the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium. She will serve as resident fellow at specific New England institutions, including the Boston Athenaeum, Massachusetts Historical Society, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute and Houghton Library, Harvard. During her fellowship, Stephenson will research visual culture and archival material related to late 19th-century New Englanders in Egypt, including watercolors, travel diaries, photograph albums and correspondence. This summer archival research will form the groundwork for her dissertation chapters exploring the multi-sensorial landscape experience by Euro-American travelers and souvenirs acquired in Egypt.

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