Accounting major William Munschauer, mentored by Dr. Hannon, assistant professor of management, did a panel presentation on “Business Incubation Facilities: An Analysis of Best Practices Among Various Facility Types and their Benefits.” According to Dr. Hannon, “Will has shown tremendous initiative researching a very dynamic and important topic. Small business is the future of America. His research provides the academic community with new insights into the current and future role of incubators, and their ability to improve the odds that new companies will survive and succeed.”

“Do Investors Rationally Evaluate Investment Fees? A Behavioral Finance Investigation” was presented by finance majors Kevin Ryan and John Osberg, under the guidance of Prof. Hutton, assistant professor and director of the Financial Services Lab. Hutton advised, “John and Kevin examined a very important issue for their honors thesis. They looked at how emotions affect investing behavior; they analyzed whether or not investors rationally analyze investment fees. Their work has important implications for anyone who has to make choices about investing.”

Liberal arts major Lidia Montesino did a poster presentation on “The Affordable Care Act and Population Health” with the guidance of Dr. Principe, assistant professor of economics. Dr. Principe said, “Lydia researched the potential impact of the Affordable Care Act on population health. Her investigation is quite timely given that population health is at the center of the new reimbursement models. She did an excellent job analyzing a very complex piece of legislation.”

Marketing major Gabriel Sorrentino did a poster presentation under the advisement of Prof. Pikas, professor of marketing, on “The Effectiveness of Online Advertising.” According to Prof. Pikas, “Gabi Sorrentino did a wonderful, professional job fielding numerous questions during her poster session. Her participation in the research poster session was a feather in our CBA cap and highlighted our top students to the rest of the university community.”

Under the advisement of Dr. Choong, associate dean and professor of marketing, marketing major Mitchell Piper did a panel presentation on “Food Labeling: A Consumer Behavior.” Dr. Choong advised, “His research deals with food and nutrition labeling and their impact on consumer choices. I anticipate that the findings of this study would be interesting to organizations who are interested in growing their market share in the healthier food segments as well as to policy makers who need to persuade population segments to make healthier food choices.”

The College of Business Administration congratulates these students on their hard work and applauds their interesting research.

Schiano’s winning poster was titled “Young Adult Cancer Awareness: A Public Relations Presentation.”

“The opportunity offered a lot of experience in presenting about the young adult cancer community so I took a lot of time to do the research in it and eventually it paid off because I love expressing just how important it is to get involved in the young adult cancer fight,” explained the native of Gates, N.Y.

Seven other communication studies students, in addition to Schiano, presented posters or research papers derived from their honors theses or communication studies department’s courses. They included Jeannine Alsous, Kerisa Bonville, Robert Crates, Ashley Dilcher, Julie Fonzi, Julie Hunt, Jillian Teeter and Alicia Wainwright.

Many of the students said that they appreciated seeing the research done by others in their field. It helped them understand the vast possibilities of research in communication studies.

“The best part of this experience (was) being able to discuss the research that we were able to conduct throughout the year and it was great being able to talk about and learn about other people’s experiences and what they have done,” said Crates, whose co-presented a poster with fellow seniors Bonville and Dilcher.

Bonville also presented a research paper on the media’s construction of the ideal woman via televised Miss America and Miss USA pageants.

The Conference for Undergraduate Research in Communication, which began in 2004 as a small gathering of communication students from Western New York, has grown into a vibrant regional conference. Sponsored annually by RIT’s department of communication, the conference has drawn nearly 250 undergraduate scholars from colleges and universities in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Virginia.

“We’re incredibly proud of our students,” said Dr. Kalen Churcher, assistant professor of communication studies. “Their work is a sample of some of the best in the department. They represented Niagara University well.”

Witte’s paper took the top prize in the undergraduate student forum category, earning the Berlin, Germany, native a plaque and $500.

This is the second straight year that a student enrolled in the dual degree program at Niagara University has captured the conference’s top honor.

Entries for the Best Paper Award were judged based on the topic relevance and contribution of research to existing knowledge, sound methodology and statistical analysis, structure and clarity of writing, and conclusions and implications.

“We are quite proud of the dual degree program that we offer with our partner institution in Germany, as it presents us with a chance to host outstanding students like Isa, while also providing extremely unique opportunities for our students to learn abroad,” said Dr. Gary Praetzel, dean of Niagara’s College of Hospitality and Tourism Management. “I commend Isa for the remarkable work that she put in to earn this international honor.”

The abstract for Witte’s winning paper, Mystery shopping in the luxury hospitality industry: Service quality assurance from an employee perspective, appears below:

Mystery shopping is one of the various service quality assurance measurement tools used by hotel companies. It provides valuable information when these companies wish to improve their guests’ experience. However, during the assessment, front-line employees have been overlooked even though they are an essential part of the guests’ experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes of front-line employees to mystery shopping. A questionnaire survey will be administered to front-line employees working at luxury hotels in the U.S. The findings can lead to suggestions that will motivate front-line employees to ensure service excellence.

Dr. Chang Huh, an associate professor in NU’s College of Hospitality and Tourism Management and KAHTEA member, assisted Witte in preparing her paper and accompanied her to the conference.

Conference participants included professors, researchers and industry practitioners from the U.S., Korea, Philippines and Australia.

The Korea America Hospitality & Tourism Educators Association (KAHTEA) fosters academic and professional collaboration and networking between hospitality educators and industry professionals in both Korea and America.

Witte is a matriculating toward a degree in hospitality management from NU as well as from her highly-regarded home institution in Bad Honnef, Germany. The partnership is one of the many unique programs offered through NU’s accredited College of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

For more information on Niagara University’s College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, please call 716.286.8279 or visit www.niagara.edu/hospitality.

Last week, Niagara learned that it had taken another step toward this goal, securing a Pittsburgh Conference Memorial National College Grant from the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy. The maximum funding available this year for each grant is $10,000 and is awarded to the science departments of colleges with less than 5,000 full-time students for the purchase of scientific equipment, audiovisual or other teaching aids, and/or library materials for use in the teaching of science at the undergraduate level.

Only 12 awards were granted nationwide.

Niagara University will match Pittcon’s $10,000 grant to purchase equipment and instruments for its goal of establishing a collaborative environmental science program among its biology and chemistry departments. The program would be housed in the university’s interdisciplinary science facility, which is set to open this fall.

“Many people don’t realize that the actual construction of a science center – as truly remarkable as it is – only provides the framework for all that we’re planning to offer our students,” explained Dr. Christopher S. Stoj, chair of NU’s biochemistry, chemistry and physics departments, and one of the grant’s principal investigators (with Dr. Robyn Goacher). “In just a few months, we are going to open the doors to an incredible facility and we want to make absolutely sure that our students will have every opportunity to utilize it to its fullest capacity.”

Dr. Goacher, assistant professor of chemistry, notes that, “The majority of the funds will be earmarked to purchase portable outdoor and indoor air sampling devices, and accessories for the department’s ATR-FTIR to allow for the environmental analysis of the samples.”

Those items include:

• Two traditional deployable particulate samplers (DPS) with a shared air-flow meter for the collection of particulate matter, and one deployable vapor sampler for sampling volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These battery operated units are designed to withstand outdoor weather conditions and are used by the U.S. Army for field monitoring. These devices allow for measurement of time-averaged concentrations of particulate matter and VOCs as required by many EPA methods.

• The multipurpose 3M/Quest EVM-7 environmental monitor, which simultaneously monitors and logs gas concentration and particulate mass in real time. The time-logging aspects of this portable instrument allow students to actively monitor indoor air pollution in a “walk around” situation and to retroactively study the detailed time log of contaminant concentrations to consider whether an exposure event occurred during a time when people occupied a building.

• Three sets of Soxhlet extraction glassware so that students in analytical, instrumental, environmental and/or field ecology can extract organic compounds from soils and study the partitioning of contaminants between water and soil phases.

• Diffuse reflectance (DRIFT) and gas cell accessories for the department’s new FTIR instrument. The DRIFT accessory will be used to directly analyze organic contaminants adsorbed to soils in the environmental chemistry curriculum, and will allow for comparisons between direct measurements of mixed systems versus protocols involving extraction, chromatography, and subsequent analysis. The gas cell will be used in general chemistry courses to illustrate what makes a gas IR active within the context of climate change, and will also enhance the Physical Chemistry lab experience by allowing students to perform the HCl/DCl experiment, which illustrates the connection between bond strength, bond length, and molecular vibrations.

Co-sponsored by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, Pittcon is the premier annual conference and exposition on laboratory science. Proceeds from Pittcon fund science education and outreach at all levels, kindergarten through adult. Pittcon donates more than $1 million a year to provide financial and administrative support for various science outreach activities, including science equipment grants, research grants, scholarships and internships for students, awards to teachers and professors, and grants to public science centers, libraries and museums. For more information, visit www.pittcon.org.

Seniors Peter Pane, Brandon Gallegos and Steven Boyle teamed with MBA student Ling Zhou to finish second out of nine colleges and universities in the annual competition, which assesses students on their writing and presentation of a stock research report.

The Niagara team will share a $500 prize, and has also been offered scholarships to complete the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1 Exam.

Ed Hutton, CFA, assistant professor and director of the Financial Services Laboratory at Niagara University, served as faculty advisor while Steven Gattuso, CFA, assistant professor, acted as the team’s industry mentor.

During this year’s competition, the student teams were required to analyze Computer Task Group (NASDAQ: CTGX), of Buffalo, N.Y. The research process began in October 2012, when CTG presented its financial results and discussed its business strategy during a luncheon attended by the student teams.

The Niagara team then spent two months conducting a thorough analysis of the company, including the construction of a sophisticated spreadsheet valuation model of the factors affecting the price of the stock. The team also had to evaluate current and projected macroeconomic factors, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), interest rates and capital spending. Due to the importance of emerging electronic medical records (EMR) to CTG’s business, the team also had to conduct an analysis of recent legislation requiring EMR adoption.

Altogether, the team estimates it spent over 400 hours in its research.

In January, the Niagara team submitted its written report, containing over 60 pages of financial calculations, to a panel of judges, all of whom were professional stock analysts or portfolio managers and CFAs. In their research report, the team had to recommend to buy, sell or hold on the stock of CTG, and forecast the stock price. The judges scoring of each report was sealed until the completion of the oral presentations.

In February, the Niagara team attended the Western New York Investment Research Conference. During the conference, the team heard a talk given by Dr. David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P 500 Index Committee, and several other academic and investment professionals. In addition, Hutton delivered a talk to the group titled Seven Myths Regarding the Equity Risk Premium.

After the speakers concluded, each university team had to present a summary of its stock research report to the 110 conference attendees and a panel of CFA judges before answering questions to defend its findings. The judges rated each team’s presentation style, format and delivery, and its ability to answer the questions.

The written report scores and the presentation scores were combined. At that point, Niagara and Canisius College were tied for first place, both teams having outscored SUNY Buffalo, Syracuse University, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Brockport, SUNY Fredonia, St. Bonaventure University and SUNY Oswego.

The Niagara and Canisius teams were subsequently required to present their findings again to a combined judging panel, and answer another round of difficult questions in defense of their conclusions. Canisius ultimately finished just ahead of Niagara.

The competition was sponsored by the CFA Institute, an organization of over 100,000 members in 68 counties, as well as Standard & Poor’s, Morningstar, Zacks Investment Research, Citigroup, Manning and Napier, Nottingham Investment Advisors and Kaplan Schweser.

For more information, contact Hutton at 716.286.8208 or ude.aragainnull@nottuhe.

A five-person panel of senior researchers was convened by Dr. Sherry Hamby, the journal’s editor, to choose the 10 articles that they believe represented the best violence research that was published in 2011.

“Intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in intimate partner violence: A two-generational prospective study,” coauthored by Dr. Ireland and four colleagues, was cited by Dr. Jacquelyn White, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina.

“This study is exemplary on the theoretical and methodological fronts, as well as for the insights it offers into prevention efforts,” commented Dr. White. “The authors did a nice job of describing support for the hypothesis as well as presenting opposing views.”

The list appears in the July 2012 edition of Psychology of Violence.

For information on Niagara University’s undergraduate and graduate programs in criminology and criminal justice, please call 716.286.8080 or visit www.niagara.edu/crj.

The editors of Mathematische Nachrichten presented Dr. Eduard R. Tsekanovskii with a special issue of their refereed mathematics journal, with all contributed articles reflecting the many scientific interests of the Niagara University math professor.

Yes, it’s okay to take the calculator back now.

Dr. Tsekanovskii turned 75 on March 15. Within months, Mathematische Nachrichten, the 64-year-old journal of pure and applied mathematics, released the issue commemorating him.

“I cannot express how happy I am for Eduard, to see him honored in such a fitting way for his birthday,” stated Dr. Nancy McGlen, dean of Niagara University’s College of Arts and Sciences. “Eduard is such a humble man that the recognition is probably difficult for him to accept, but since it was done in such a professional and understated way, I think it’s perfect.”

Dr. Tsekanovskii was born in Odessa, Ukraine, a lively port city on the Black Sea that’s home to numerous writers, poets, scientists and comedians. After high school, he entered the Odessa Pedagogical University and graduated with honor, receiving a degree in mathematics and mathematics education.

After an obligatory teaching assignment in a rural area, Dr. Tsekanovskii was accepted into the mathematics Ph.D. program at the Kharkov Institute of Radio Electronics (formerly the Mining Institute) under the supervision of Moshe Livsic, someone he affectionately considers his teacher for life.

Dr. Tsekanovskii graduated from this program, receiving his Ph.D. (1964) and doctor of science degree (1970) in physics and math at the celebrated Low Temperature Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kharkov. Later, he also received a doctor of science in physics and mathematics from the Institute of Mathematics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev.

In 1965, Dr. Tsekanovskii began his academic career at the newly established Donetsk University in Ukraine, serving as the supervisor of 10 Ph.D. students, many of whom became internationally recognized mathematicians.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Dr. Tsekanovskii left Donetsk University and immigrated to the United States. In 1992, Dr. Tsekanovskii started a new career on a visiting and then part-time professorship at SUNY Buffalo, and later at the University of Missouri, Columbia. In 1998, Eduard joined Niagara University, once again rising through the ranks to become a full professor in 2006.

Dr. Tsekanovskii has broad fields of research interests, ranging from complex and functional analysis, operator theory, stochastic processes and differential operators to system and spectral theory. He has published more than 150 articles, including over 100 refereed articles in internationally acknowledged journals, along with research abstracts, manuscripts, and preprints in operator theory, functional analysis and applications, and system theory.

In 2011, Dr. Tsekanovskii co-authored a book, Conservative Realizations of Herglotz-Nevalinna Functions, with Yuri Arlinskii and Sergey Belyi.

The editorial page of the special issue of Mathematische Nachrichten says, “We would fail in our attempt to honor Eduard’s wide range of achievements over the years if we would not also emphasize his beaming and yet so charming personality, his extraordinary sense of humor, his humility and his unique capacity for long-lasting friendships, which reach out to so many corners of the globe.”

Several professors traveled abroad this summer including Dr. Peggy Choong, associate dean and professor of marketing. In May, Dr. Choong and a group of MBA students traveled to China and Singapore. Students met with key corporate executives and were able to learn about the problems, challenges and strategies of doing business in Asia. One of the highlights of the mission was the meeting with DFS Group Limited, headed by Ed Brennan, chairman of the organization and a 1978 Niagara University graduate. The second trip was to London where undergraduate business students, under the guidance of Dr. Choong, spent seven weeks studying business practices and investigating areas of economics, the European Union, culture, consumer behavior, marketing, retailing and theatre.

Faculty members were also very busy this summer working on research. Dr. Kristine Principe and NU marketing student Kim Vona, ’14, wrote a paper titled Perception versus Performance: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Personal Response Devices (PRDs) (Clickers) in a Principles of Microeconomics Course.  The paper has been submitted to Niagara’s CCTL Conference to be held in January 2013. An NU student research support grant provided funding for the project.

In addition, Bohdan Pikas, professor of marketing, also has been working with students to help publish papers. After two years of hard work, Pikas, Rebecca Scheid, ’11,  and Professor Anastasia Pikas published Assessing the Qualities of Athlete Endorsers: A Study of Consumer Preferences for the 3 Qualities of Sports Endorsers, Attractiveness, Trustworthiness, Expertise in the Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness (Vol. 6 Num. 3).

Dr. Hoontaek Seo, assistant professor of finance, and Dr. Daniel Tompkins, professor of finance, published a paper over the summer titled Product Market Competition and Firms’ Credit Ratings in the International Research Journal of Applied Finance (2012).

James Ingham, assistant professor of accounting, and Professor Bohdan Pikas submitted two case studies to conferences and both were accepted for presentation. Saving Face or Doing Right? An Ethical Decision Case in a Multicultural Business was accepted for presentation at the NU, DePaul and St. John’s ethics conference in October, and The Application if a Polycentric Business Strategy Causes Unintended Consequences: a Case Study was  accepted for presentation at the International Academy of Business and Public Administration Disciplines in January 2013.

Christopher Aquino, assistant professor of accounting, attended and presented at the Lilly Conference in May and the AAA-CTLA conference in August.  Both are very well attended conferences and significant in their respective areas of interest.  Lilly is a prestigious education conference in Bethesda, Md., where Aquino presented a paper titled Creating a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Aquino also presented QuickBooks Case for Use in an Introductory Financial Accounting Course in Washington, D.C. at the American Accounting Society’s (AAA), Conference on Teaching and Learning (CTLA).  The AAA is the largest accounting body in the world.

John Overbeck, faculty fellow and professor of marketing, received one of four Spirit of Niagara University Theatre awards. This award is given to NU alumni who have been generous to the theatre with their time and contributions. A major contributor to NU’s recent theatre renovation, Overbeck has been a member of the Friends of Niagara University Theatre board for several years. Thanks to his generosity, a number of improvements have been added backstage at the Leary Theatre this spring, and benches have been added outside the Elizabeth Ann Clune Center for Theatre.

The 19 incoming freshmen who are involved in NUOP have been participating in a five-week summer program designed to integrate them into college life, introduce them to college coursework and reading, writing and study skills, and promote personal growth.

As part of the program, twice – on July 22 and 28 – the students volunteered at the Heart, Love and Soul food pantry in downtown Niagara Falls. There, the newest members of the NU community prepared and served lunch, assisted in the soup kitchen and played bingo with guests.

Then, on the afternoon of July 31, the same students presented posters at NU that showcased research they conducted on Hurricane Katrina. The project was inspired by their reading of Zeitoun, a nonfiction book that tells the story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-American who traveled the flooded streets of New Orleans to help displaced residents in the days following the storm.

NUOP is designed for students who have the potential for and interest in furthering their education but are not admissible under Niagara University’s standard admissions criteria. The ultimate goal of the program is to make higher education possible for students who are both academically underprepared and economically disadvantaged. NUOP is funded jointly by the University and the New York State Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP).

To view additional photos from Heart, Love and Soul and/or the poster presentations, please visit NUOP’s Facebook page.

For more information on the Niagara University Opportunity Program, please contact Lisa A. Rivera at 716.286.8064 or ude.aragainnull@nossawl.

Those eligible to take part include volunteers over the age of 18 who are healthy (defined as having no evidence of breast disease in the last year) as well as individuals who have been recently diagnosed as having breast disease, including precancerous changes (also called proliferative breast disease or breast hyperplasia), ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive breast cancer.

All are encouraged to participate in the research project by registering in Niagara University’s Gallagher Center (lower level) on one of the following dates between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.:

• Wednesday, April 11
• Thursday, April 12
• Friday, April 13
• Tuesday, April 17
• Thursday, April 19

On Friday, April 20, faculty members from NU’s Department of Nursing and Office of Health Services, along with the Sisters of NU’s Pan Hellenic Council, will gather information and collect urine samples from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. in DePaul Hall, Room 102.

All information obtained from participants is voluntary and confidential.

Participants will be provided with a continental breakfast, a $5 Tim Hortons gift card and information about breast cancer screening and treatment options.

Dr. McCourt, associate professor of chemistry at Niagara University, and Dr. Mielnicki, director of the chemistry department’s research and teaching laboratories have received a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women to conduct research exploring the development of a new, noninvasive test for breast cancer that may replace the annual mammogram. The research examines if biomarkers identified from urine samples can be used to differentiate healthy breast tissue from diseased breast tissue, potentially replacing mammograms as a primary method of breast cancer screening. They will also investigate the use of these biomarkers in identifying metastatic disease and whether the methodology could be used to follow the progression of disease and help plan treatment.

For more information, please send an email to ude.aragainnull@ydutSenirUWOA with “Breast Cancer Collection Registration” in the subject line.