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A native of England, Brent Hicks, M.S. ’19, the School of Information’s Alumnus of the Year, has been involved in the health information field for much of his life. After earning degrees in computer science and technology and design at Sheffield University in England, he took a job with the National Health Service (NHS) as a developer/programmer. “I jumped at the chance to work for the NHS, to actually have an impact on patient care,” he recalls. Years later, Brent applied for a Green Card to work in the United States for the Veteran’s Administration office in Chicago, programming electroni...

For nearly 11 years, Alfreda Brown, ������’s vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, has been a powerful voice for making sure no one in the university’s wide-reaching system is marginalized, discriminated against or left behind. With a heart for caring, Brown has worked to ensure that everyone feels welcome, appreciated and understood at Kent State. Now, as her retirement looms at the end of May, Brown is even able to empathize with graduating seniors, athletes and others who have seen their senior years and winning seasons dashed by the COVID-19 pandemi...

The ������ Board of Trustees will hold its next regular business meeting remotely on Wednesday, June 3, to consider the recommendations of the standing committees, proposed personnel actions and new business. All actions of the Board will be taken at this business meeting. Due to ongoing efforts to safeguard the health and safety of the community and directives by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to practice social distancing and limit in-person meetings, this meeting and the preceding standing committee meetings will be conducted virtually via Zoom Meetings. The meetings are being cond...

Two student journalism competitions have named ������ students among the best in the nation for 2019-2020. In the Hearst Journalism Awards — often known as the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism — Kent State placed seventh in the nation for radio/TV news and eighth in the nation for photojournalism. Placements were determined by the total number of points students earned in categorical competitions. Individually, senior journalism major Nathaniel Bailey will be one of six semifinalists in the nation competing in the Photo Championship. With the in-person competition ...

Experiencing the burn of a leather car seat in the heat of the summer or catching a nosy neighbor peering into your kitchen window could soon be things of the past with the new dual-mode liquid crystal smart glass material. Yingfei Jiang, a College of Arts and Science graduate student in the Chemical Physics program and the Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute (AMLCI) at ������, and his advisor Deng-Ke Yang, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Physics, have invented the first ever dual-mode smart glass technology that can control both radiant energy flow (he...

Alum Dulcinea Avouris, PhD (2018) awarded Elsevier Early Career Scientist Award for 2019 Dr. Avouris's paper "Validation of 2015 Lake Erie MODIS image spectral decomposition using visible derivative spectroscopy and field campaign data" has been identified as outstanding by the editors of Journal of Great Lakes Research, so you have been awarded the Elsevier Early Career Scientist Award for 2019 which includes a cash prize of US$750. You can read her paper here.  ...

Michigan regulators moved fast on dangerous dam. To protect mussels. For decades, federal regulators demanded changes to the design of the Edenville Dam to make it more likely to withstand heavy rains and avoid flooding. So when Michigan regulators assumed oversight of the dam in late 2018 after its owners lost their federal license to generate energy, they took action. To protect mussels. Three weeks before the 96-year-old dam failed this week amid heavy rains and caused the worst flood in Midland history, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sued its owner, alleging it illegally...

Today’s Flashes of Inspiration features David Hassler, director of Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, who is sharing the poem, “Thank You, Tree.” The poem was written by Fatou M’Baye, a fifth grade student at Holden Elementary School in Kent, in honor of a favorite tree that was on her school playground, where she would gather with her friends.   Hassler selected this poem to celebrate spring, Earth Day, and how all can enjoy and celebrate the beauty of nature even during a pandemic. The poem is features on the Wick Poetry Center’s Traveling Stanzas community poetry site, un...

Community Engaged Learning has created a landing page that currently features three interviews in its ongoing series about faculty dealing with COVID-19. In this new weekly series, Kent State faculty members from a variety of academic disciplines are interviewed for their thought-provoking perspectives about the ongoing pandemic. The newest editions feature Chi-hua Chui, Ph.D. (pictured); J. Leigh Garcia and Julie Mazzei, Ph.D. Learn more. ...

CPM Associate Professor Mark Dalman’s study of bacteria in area gyms was cited or referenced in numerous publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Men’s Health Magazine. Environmental swabs were taken from 288 gym surfaces at several fitness facilities across Northeast Ohio, including Cross-Fit type centers, traditional iron gyms, community center-based and hospital-associated facilities. Samples were taken from 18 different surfaces at each facility to look at not only whether Staphylococcus aureus was present on these various surfaces but also PCR was used to id...