Applied Research - Johnson C. Smith University

This Second Edition of Smith Institute explores the opportunities JCSU’s faculty
and undergraduates experience through high-quality, hands-on applied research.
JCSU student-level research experiences are discovery oriented. Through
one-on-one mentoring, as well as in small groups, our students interact with
faculty experts to examine meaningful applied research questions. We believe
that this process produces academic mastery and true enthusiasm for the
various academic disciplines. The JCSU undergraduate applied research
experience is demonstrated, described, and delved into throughout each article
in this publication.
Smith Institute strives to provide applied research venues that offer possibilities
as rare and valuable as precious gemstones for our students, who may then build
toward future graduate study and career leadership success.
In this Issue
I am most pleased to announce that the pilot research featured here and in our
on-line supplement is supported through more than $100,000 in funding. This
investment by the Smith Institute has nurtured a fascinating array of projects,
along with substantial funding potential for the future.
Modeling and
Simulations:
Targeting Sickled
Hemoglobin
Each article reports our search for new possibilities, possibilities that equip our
students to be problem-solvers, creative thinkers, and leaders in tomorrow’s
world.
I know that you will enjoy learning more about our quest, and as ever, I invite
you to join us!
Researching JCSU’s
Legacy of
Excellence:
From Cotton Fields
to Classrooms
Ronald Carter, Ph.D.
Ronald Carter, Ph.D.
President, Johnson C. Smith University
Abolishing the
Nuclear Taboo:
Looking Forward
by Looking Back
at Dwight D.
Eisenhower
We hope that you enjoy Johnson C. Smith University’s explorations through this
exciting issue of Smith Institute, our applied research magazine.
All that Jazz:
Delfeayo Marsalis
and JCSU
Improvisation
Explorations
Some explorations are mathematical and scientific, as summer research interns
use computational modeling and simulations to predict issues relating to cyber
security, and provide insight to a cure for Sickle Cell Anemia.
In this edition, we highlight the richness of applied research initiatives
undertaken here at JCSU with an emphasis on the Summer 2011 Smith Institute
Funded Pilot Research Cohort. You will experience qualitative reflections on an
exploratory journey “from the cotton fields,” as we trace property inventories
from a local plantation, to the classrooms here at JCSU!
It is our cover story, “On the Road to Abilene,” set against the backdrop of
today’s pressing concerns with nuclear energy that brings home the relevance of
exploratory research. Mentored by Assistant History Professor Dr. Brian Jones,
JCSU student Donté Perry travelled to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential
Library in Abilene, Kansas. They did not find what they were looking for… good
exploratory research often turns out that way. Discover what they learned through
archival research on the pivotal American President, who significantly shaped
today’s discussion on nuclear energy for wartime and peacetime use.
Applied Research
Smith Institute
Volume One
Number Two
Fall 2011
Powerful Possibilities for a Better World
Engage with us in our exploratory search for new possibilities.
Diane Bowles, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Smith Institute for Applied Research
Vice President, Government Sponsored Programs and Research
Director, Title III
Diane Bowles, Ph.D.
Fall 2011
Join us online at SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu
1
e d W it h
An
Center of Excellence in Minority Health
and Family Wellness
Antonia Mead, Ph.D. and Helen Caldwell, Ph.D.
- A Walk in the Rain Means Being Faithful to Call
- Stress and African American Caregivers
- The Charlotte Vitality Challenge with
Dr. Art Ulene: Presidential Research Priority
for Wellness
- Yoga, Dance, JCSU Students, and Stress Relief
It
a rt
St
Visit Smith Institute’s Website
for these exclusives articles.
4
Center of Excellence in Global Education
Adelheid Eubanks, Ph.D.
o
fr
m
JC SU ’s N a
- Parasitic and Zoonotic
Disease Impact Homeland
Security
- Growing the STEM
Pipeline with
Centipede Math
me
22
y
Center of Excellence in
Homeland Security-Science,
Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM)
Magdy Attia, Ph.D.
ac
ge
Ta
r
Student Internships 19
- JCSU Students Reflect on their Sojourn:
Gorrée Island Slave Castle, Senegal, West Africa
Le g
n
President Ronald L. Carter Speaks 1
bi
Website Exclusive
Publication Index
Delfeayo Marsalis & All that Jazz 11
ti
le d He m o g lo
A
e 16
COMMUNITY LEADERS 9
Foster Care Initiative BC
n
g
k
Sic
The road to abilEne 7
l
pp
Gifted & Talented 15
phenomenology 13
Artistic Narrative & Research 9
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR dR. Diane Bowles 1
Center of Excellence in
Diversity, Workforce
and Small Business
Development
Ron Stodghill
- JCSU Faculty at the Heart of the
Diversity Question
Applied Research Updates
- Center for Applied Leadership and
Community Development Takes Action
in the Northwest Corridor
- New Developments in Instructional Technology
- Facing and Pacing Economic Shocks
Pictured : Above, Dr. Rosypal and student researchers.
Below, Dr. Harvey Shropshire and the Montgomery family.
W ill t h e
yc
o
Cotton Fields to Classrooms 5
m
e?
17
SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu
New Possibilities Research through Summer Science Student Internships:
An Update from Tim Champion, Ph.D., Chair, JCSU Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Targeting Sickled Hemoglobin: Quantitative Stability-Flexibility
Relationships (QFSR) in Sickled and Normal Hemoglobin
“I originally envisioned carrying out the project with the students
using laptops in a dispersed mode. But instead, we became
addicted to sitting around the worktables in the [Multidisciplinary
Applied Computational Modeling and Simulations] MACMAS
Lab, discussing our work together. I expect that we will continue
this beyond the summer period as the students adopt this for
their senior paper research projects,” Champion observes. This
model for using MACMAS Lab is exactly what IT Director John
Norris, and fellow Department Chair for Computer Science and
Engineering Dr. Hang Chen envisioned, when they specified that
the lab should have the character and feel of an activity center,
where high energy and interaction between students
and faculty are encouraged and not inhibited by the
computational instrumentation.
Challenging Project Goals
Champion’s project goals are clearly
challenging. “The goal of our research
is to identify sites on the sickled
hemoglobin molecule that produce
changes such that the Quantitative
Stability-Flexibility Relationships
(QFSR) resembles that of normal
hemoglobin,” Dr. Champion
carefully explains. He added,
“hemoglobin is a great molecule
to work with because of the
immediate appreciation we
have of its importance to us. The
relationship between sickle cell
disease and fundamental chemical,
physical and biological principles is
so well-known.” Student researcher
Clement Bowmen agrees that the work is
challenging, “but it’s motivational because
we’re working on something that can eventually
help produce a drug for treating sickle cell disease.”
Students Increase Mastery through Applied Research Skills
Champion’s student research team is using the MACMAS Lab’s
computers and the North Carolina Biotechnology Research
Campus Computer Cluster. “The students are developing their
skills in the UNIX operating system, the interaction between
Windows and UNIX systems, and using spreadsheets to perform
data analysis,” Champion emphasizes. “The overall research
project is being managed using a Moodle page. Source data for the
project includes x-ray crystal structures available in the Protein
Data Bank and published heat capacity data for hemoglobin.”
“This project emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of research
today: our team here, at the Biotechnology Center, and at [the
University of North Caroliona at Charlotte] UNCC involves
mathematicians, computer scientists, biologists, physicists,
and chemists,” Champion notes. “After we verify our model by
successfully predicting properties that have been experimentally
measured, we’ll go on to examine properties that cannot be
experimentally measured…Computational modeling extends the
range of science beyond where lab work can take us,” he concludes.
High Hopes for Student Researchers
“I hope our students develop a strong desire to continue
learning. That is at the heart of all of our undergraduate
research efforts,” states Dr. Champion. “I hope they become
much more confident in their skills to find and learn how to
use new software, as we frequently do in this project. I also
hope they become more confident that if they
persist in trying to solve a problem, and use
the resources available on the web and
through the scientific community, that
they can succeed. Finally, I hope they
see computational science applied
to biology as a possible graduate
school option.”
Visit SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu for
further details on the researchers
involved in this project.
“Having summer research
students is definitely a new
and rewarding experience for
me,” explains Dr. Tim Champion.
The ability to use JCSU’s new MACMAS Lab has
been very helpful to his new research endeavor.
Research shows that the mode of interaction
Champion describes, and Chen forecasts, creates
elements of a social cognitive structure likely to
produce student level efficacy, mastery, and success,
especially with challenging materials.
Tim Champion, Ph.D. and his summer science interns, Shawana Wilson
and Clement Bowman, were supported by a pilot grant from Smith
Institute. Their exploratory research sought models for potentially
restoring normality to sickled hemoglobin.
From Cotton Fields to Classrooms
JCSU Students Inherit a Rich Legacy
A Conversation with Jonathan Hutchins, JCSU Assistant Professor of History
“Crucial elements of plantation history [were] lost, buried, or even burned up. I want my students to insert themselves into the
historical moment, to see themselves in the lives we are studying, to experience the feelings first-hand.”
- Jonathan Hutchins
“It’s an exciting project,” Jonathan Hutchins noted as he
explained that with a small group of JCSU history students,
he is tracing the path of freed slaves from the cotton fields
of Rural Hill Plantation in Mecklenburg County to the
classrooms of Johnson C. Smith University, then known as
the Henry J. Biddle Memorial Institute. JCSU’s researchers
were invited to the field setting by the Rural Hill Division
of Archives, in hopes of documenting slaves’ transition to
classrooms of JCSU upon emancipation, but “there is always
a fire,” Professor Hutchins reflected, as he recounted the
challenging path to constructing the all-important lost details
of slavery. “Crucial elements of plantation history [were]
lost, buried, or even burned up. I want my students to insert
themselves into the historical moment, to see themselves in
the lives we are studying, to experience the feelings
first-hand.”
The history of the Davidson family, the Rural Hill Plantation
owners, is captured in extensive detail in the family’s
plantation journal, U.S. census records, property ownership
deeds, and military historical archives. However, as
Hutchins points out, tracing the lives of the people who
planted and harvested the cotton fields is a much more
difficult task. Though the people were skilled carpenters,
stonemasons, blacksmiths, weavers, and caretakers of farm
animals and children, their hardworking life stories are
essentially invisible.
Hutchins and his students delved into a painful and ironic
reality: best records of the existence and lives of slaves are in
the plantation property records. Hutchins and his students
compared the names on the plantation property inventory
with the 1870 Biddle Institute student registry. This produced
outstanding results. Some of the names matched, illustrating
that the same people who were “slaves one day, immediately
made their way to enroll at Biddle Institute.” Hutchins notes,
onetime slaves changed not only their own lives, but also
reshaped the arc of African American history through their
saga from cotton fields to classrooms.
Evidence of the existence these industrious people survived,
slaving tirelessly without material reward or advantages
and little education, is scant. However, immediately upon
emancipation, some of them made their way from Rural Hill
to Johnson C. Smith, where they were educated to become
more than skilled field hands and laborers.
continued on page 20
“While researching with Professor Hutchins, I gained a better
understanding of historical analysis, methodology and research.
Before researching with Professor Hutchins, my understanding of
historical research was just finding the events and the stories of the past.
No longer am I in search of the story I now am in search of why the events of
the past happen the way they unfolded. I have come to realize that many of the textbooks are not
forthcoming. By analyzing what I have read, I have gotten a better grasp of the material.”
- Michael Webb, Student Researcher, From Cotton Fields to Classrooms
Historian Jonathan Hutchins points to a historic landmark on the grounds of Rural Hill Plantation with student summer researchers, Donté Perry and
Michael Webb. This archival research project is supported by funding through Smith Institute, 2011 Pilot Projects.
Reflections along the Road to Abilene
Archival Research at the Eisenhower Presidential Library
Smith Institute (SI) Interviews Brian Madison Jones, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History, Johnson C. Smith University
Dr. Brian Jones recently returned to the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, site of his doctoral
research, to conduct exploratory research with JCSU undergraduate student, Donté Perry. Perry hails from a family of
African American career military officers and his family history made the research experience especially meaningful for him.
They searched for answers to queries posed by JCSU Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Racelle Weiman*.
Dr. Jones’ book, Abolishing the Taboo: Dwight D. Eisenhower
and American Nuclear Doctrine, 1945-1961, (United Kingdom:
Helion and Company, Limited, 2011) is scheduled to be
published this Fall. This confluence of events created an
extraordinary environment for the “Road to Abilene” archival
research experience.
SI
Dr. Jones Our research involved a wide variety of
documentary and audio/visual evidence. From the
A/V category, we looked at still images from the
various collections, that is, original and reprint
photographs from Eisenhower’s time in the
Philippines. Some were taken by Eisenhower and
some by his associates and friends, who took the
pictures and donated them to the library years later.
For this work, Donté and I had to wear white cotton
gloves to prevent damage to the photographs. We
also viewed some moving images. Specifically, we
looked at documentary films produced by television
and movie studios, which are not exactly rare,
but difficult to find. There were no VCR’s then, so
copies of early films are not always available except
in an archive. We also pulled and viewed a home
movie from Eisenhower, which was an 8-minute,
silent black and white video of Eisenhower flying.
Eisenhower learned to fly and obtained his pilot’s
license in the Philippines, so he would often take
flights around the many different islands. That kind
of travel was often required by his work, so he took a
pilot’s license to make that process easier.
What do you most hope that your student Donté
Perry got out of the field excursion to Eisenhower
Presidential Library?
Dr. Jones I hoped that Donté would learn to connect the
primary documents of history, such as we found
in the archive, with the secondary source
scholarship produced by historians
and others, which he has already
read in class. Sometimes students
seem to believe that historical
facts are self-evident, and that
historians simply compile
those facts for publication in
books they have to buy for
class. I wanted Donté to see
how much and what kind of
archival research goes into
producing a work of historical
scholarship, to understand
the link between research and
scholarship, between investigation
and analysis, between compiling data and
interpreting evidence, between sorting details
and making an argument. This is far easier done
when the student can actually see and touch original
documents. Students can then better distinguish
primary sources from secondary sources. I hoped
also that Donté would understand how and why
documents in the archives are organized as they
are, the kinds of materials that are in the library,
the role of archivists, and the other nuts and bolts of
historical research in a large archive.
SI
You mentioned the importance of primary source
material. Can you mention some of the types of
documents that you and Donté examined?
SI
Is this type of “gloves on” archival research prevalent
at the undergraduate level? Why or why not? How
does it help prepare the undergraduate student for
future graduate study?
Dr. Jones No, this type of archival research by undergraduates
is not prevalent. To be sure, top-tier history
institutions, including public and private schools,
those with large, well-funded history programs
including graduate programs, will expect advanced
students to conduct some archival research in
preparation for graduate school. But, for most
institutions, undergraduate students are not
required to visit an archive. The process is too
continued on page 20
* Senior Fellow Weiman asked: “How did President Eisenhower
contribute to saving Jewish families in the Philippines, during
the Holocaust?”
Smith Institute was especially pleased to provide this archival research experience for historian and Eisenhower Scholar Brian Jones and his student, Donté Perry.
The collections of the Eisenhower Presidential Library are a familiar setting to Jones, who conducted his doctoral research there. This type of archival research is a
rare opportunity for undergraduate students.
Wanda Ebright made a critical discovery during Smith Institute’s
2010 Applied Research Symposium. She responded to her finding
with the ears and vision of an artist. Chair of JCSU’s Department
of Visual, Performing, and Communication Arts, Ebright
immediately heard and re-interpreted alumni’s reflections on
their participation as Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights
Movement: “Nobody cares about that now,” one of the JCSU
Freedom Riders explained. Ebright engaged immediately. Her
artistic awareness recalled the theme, nobody cares, and nobody
knows, from noted Black artistic narratives throughout history.
Writers such as Robin Kelley summoned the theme of knowing the
unseen, unknown, and unspoken among African Americans in his
seminal essay for the Journal of American History; We Are Not What We
Seem: Rethinking Black Working Class Opposition in the Jim Crow South
(1993). Richard Wright, in Twelve Million Black Voices (1940), and Zora Neale
Hurston, in Mules and Men (1935), utilized their own artistic prose to surface
and re-present valid but hidden history of the African American condition.
What really happened in day-to-day Black life was often purposefully concealed
as a necessity for survival. Ebright puzzled over her discovery and concluded
that the JCSU Freedom Riders presented a powerful applied research
opportunity for the students in her Arts Factory, a state-of-the-art
artistic learning center on JCSU’s campus.
When the comment, “nobody cares about that now,” surfaced,
Ebright heard a singular opportunity for JCSU students to conduct
important applied research, using narrative and artistic methods
to capture the important story of JCSU’s Freedom Riders, who
courageously rode their way into greater freedom and history. Their
rides and their narratives were not to be forgotten. Noted developmental
psychologist Jerome Bruner concluded that narrative is a unique expression
of cognition, a way of knowing. And for the JCSU Freedom Riders, Ebright
determined today’s JCSU students would both experience and re-create the allimportant but seemingly forgotten story, while uncovering the hidden portions.
Jerome Bruner’s theory of narrative as cognition, as knowing, came to life as
JCSU students, through an array of mixed media, informant interviews, panel
discussions, interpretive presentations, dance, and video, captured the Freedom
Riders’ brave journey. It was an ambitious applied research experience, but one
that uncovered the JCSU Freedom Riders’ story, never to be lost, forgotten, nor
concealed again.
Visit SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu for more on Brunner’s work and for further reading.
* Chase, Susan E. (1995), Taking Narrative Seriously. In Josselson and Liebrich, Interpreting
Experience: The Narrative Study of Lives. Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications.
Pictured above: Valerie Ifill, Assistant Dance Professor leads a class in the JCSU Arts Factory.
Opposite page, above, Ebright is pictured with current student artists Spencer S. Whittington,
Vannah Vereen, Tazekgua McIntyre, Calvin Smith, Charles Hauser, Jessica Markham,
Brenay Myers, and Jasmine-Symore A. Rosaria Pruden in front of Antoine Williams’ Freedom
Rider’s mural. Below, JCSU Freedom Riders and community leaders, noted artist, T.J. Reddy
and Attorney Charles Jones, whose lunchtime reflective narrative inspired Visual and Performing
Arts Chair Wanda Ebright’s Pilot Grant application for funding to present JCSU alumni roles as
Freedom Riders.
Jerome Bruner’s
theory of narrative
as cognition, as
knowing, came
to life as JCSU
students, through
an array of mixed
media, informant
interviews,
panel discussions,
interpretive
presentations,
dance, and video,
captured the
Freedom Riders’
brave journey.
All that Jazz: Improvisation Explorations, an
Applied Research Experience in the High Art of Jazz
Preserving the art of jazz improvisation was the focus of the 2011
Jazz Improvisation Institute, a summer applied research experience.
Frank Parker and Dr. Barbara Edwards identified both the talent
hotbed concept, and the theoretical framework of Albert Bandura,
a leader in Performance and Self-Efficacy Theory, as essential
components for igniting musical talent among young people
who may become future jazz masters. Bandura predicted “the
higher the level of induced self-efficacy, the higher the resulting
performance accomplishments” (1982). In partnership with the
Jazz Arts Initiative of Charlotte, Parker and Edwards assembled an
expert team of artist-clinicians “to apply and develop our own and
Bandura’s hypotheses,” working with a promising cohort of high
school and college-age participant observers, Parker explains.
Some fear that jazz improvisation is becoming a lost art. Nationally,
however, jazz artists’ mastery of improvisation is widely revered.
That was evidenced in January 2011, when the Marsalis family,
“America’s First Family of Jazz,” including Delfeayo, his father Ellis,
and brothers Branford, Wynton, and Jason earned the nation’s
highest jazz honor, the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz
Masters Award.
The summer 2011 jazz research project was launched with an
exquisite concert. Acknowledged as one of the finest “trombonists,
composers, and producers” in jazz today, Delfeayo Marsalis and his
group delivered an exceptional evening. Three noted Charlotteans,
members of the Grammy Award-winning New Orleans Jazz
Orchestra, joined Marsalis on stage: percussionist Robert Beasley,
drummer Ocie Davis, and trumpeter Ashlin Parker.
young musicians repeated it, first nodding to the beat without their
instruments, then using them to explore the tune.
Ignited by Marsalis, Institute participants listened to his feedback
and critiques, soaking in snippets of history about the ways jazz
greats approached some of the same passages the students were
attempting to play. They questioned how they, too might master the
same elements of style.
Trumpeter Ashlin Parker and other guest clinicians led subsequent
sessions in the two-week institute, focusing on applying jazz theory
to improvisation, with active exploration through various exercises
and practice strategies. The critical importance of listening to
original recordings was continually stressed. Dr. Chris Weise
and his JCSU music students opened additional possibilities for
inquiry and practice by showing participants how to use electronic
instruments and other new music technologies.
Parker and Edwards’ careful research design initiated with a presurvey of self-precepts and attitudinal factors among participants,
especially their sense of self-efficacy about improvisation. The
survey closely parallels Bandura’s classic survey of Self-Efficacy and
Performance Accomplishment***, probing participant observers’
sense of “…. control of the cognitive, behavioral, and social skills,”
related to improvisation. Marsalis emphasized the important,
though often elusive social cognitive features required for masterful
jazz improvisation. “You can’t just think about yourself, your
music,” he extolled the students. “You have to think about what you
do to support the other musicians, too.”
The following day, Marsalis surprised participants by conducting
a master class in the intimate setting of JCSU Arts Factory’s Black
Box Theatre, which provided invaluable critiques, coaching, and
scaffolding*, leading the participants towards improvisation
inquiry. Lev Vygotsky defined scaffolding as “. . . supporting the
learner’s development and providing support structures to get to
that next stage or level**” (Raymond, 2000, p. 176).
For more information on the theories informing the research model
and experience, please visit SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu.
“You’ve got to get it, know it, and remember it here,” Marsalis
asserted, gesturing to his ear with one hand and, not coincidentally,
covering his heart with the other. Institute participants listened to
an original Miles Davis recording of Freddy the Freeloader before
playing it themselves. Marsalis literally lilted through a rhythmic
demonstration of the cadences and nuances of the piece. The
*** Bandura,A. (1982).
Self-Efficacy Mechanism
in Human Agency:
American Psychologist,
Vol.37, No2, 122-147.
Stanford University.
* Jaramillo, J. (1996). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and contributions to the
development of constructivist curricula. Education 117(1), 133-140.
** Raymond, E. (2000). Cognitive Characteristics. Learners with Mild
Disabilities (pp. 169-201). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, A Pearson
Education Company.
JCSU students and young jazz improvisation artists absorb every word and note from
musical impresario Delfeayo Marsalis, in a groundbreaking applied research experience
funded by Smith Institute. The impressive research design was created by Dr. Barbara
Edwards, retired Associate Dean of UNC Charlotte’s College of Education and her husband,
JCSU Emeritus Director of Instructional Technologies, Frank Parker.
Opposite page, bottom, Grammy–award winning trumpeter Ashlin Parker demonstrates his
instrumental mastery as Frank Parker proudly looks on and listens.
“You can’t just think about yourself, your music.
You have to think about what you do to
support the other musicians, too.”
-Delfeayo Marsalis
In Search of New Possibilities
“Phenomenology, phe•nom•e•nol•o•gy”
JCSU Undergraduate Computational Researchers Grapple with Qualitative Research
This issue of Smith Institute focuses on qualitative directions for
applied research, through history, the arts, and social sciences.
However, the filled-to-capacity Multidisciplinary Applied
Computational Modeling and Simulations (MACMAS) Lab,
is where more than 30 JCSU summer research interns and
their faculty mentors were avidly engaged in constructing
computational models and simulations. Their inquiry addressed
contemporary applied research issues in Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), often through a
qualitative lens.
What was taking place in the MACMAS Lab? Were the
students exploring new possibilities, swimming on the surface
of a new model that acknowledges the theoretical direction
of phenomenology, a conceptual framework most frequently
associated with qualitative methods?
A provocative Working Paper (Santa Fe Institute, 1995) by
the late Lee A. Segel, Ph.D., of the Department of Applied
Mathematics and Computer Science at Israel’s Weizman Institute
grapples with this new possibility. Were JCSU’s 2011 summer
interns and their faculty mentors riding on the crest of an
emergent framework? Segel’s theoretical question echoes “The
Engineer Grapples with Nonlinear Problems,” a classic paper in
which von Kármán, an engineer of considerable renown, wrestled
with the notion of the complex
system. His observations
may provide special
insight on how and
why the activity
tables in Smith
Institute’s
MACMAS
Lab bustled
with engaged
students
throughout the
summer.
12
“It’s hard. It’s new! It’s something different,” Kevon
Scott, a STEM summer intern eagerly exclaimed.
Another summer intern ran by, chasing a
newly programmed robot, exclaiming, “We
start C# tomorrow!” Yet another summer
intern, Jamar Robinson, kindly offered
the newly programmed controls of one
robot to the Lab Facilitator, “You can do
it,” he confidently and patiently assured.
One sophomore, a senior and their
faculty mentor, Awatif Amin worked
daily in Data Mining, using data analysis
tools to discover unknown patterns and
relationships in data sets.
Segel’s Working Paper, built on von Kármán’s
revered analysis, seems to foreshadow the search
for new possibilities in JCSU’s MACMAS Lab. Segal
postulated that the large number of possibilities in complexity
research, when limited to an emergent structure,
leads to the notion of a phenomenological
model. Though the phenomenological
approach more traditionally points the
way to new possibilities in qualitative
research, now a parallel “notion of
a phenomenological model*” is
emerging in the arena of complex
systems (Segel,1995).
continued on page 20
* Segel, Lee A.(1995). The Theoretician
Grapples with Complex Systems.
Department of Applied Mathematics &
Computer Science, the Weizman Institute
of Science, Rehovet 76100, Israel. Retrieved from
www.santafe.edu/research/working-papers, June, 2011.
Summer 2011 Research Projects filled Smith Institute’s MACMAS Lab. STEM College Dean Magdy Attia, Ph.D. who also chairs the Council of Deans is joined
by Vice President and Smith Institute Executive Director Diane Bowles, Ph.D., and from left to right faculty and staff include Lijuan Cao, Ph.D., Smith Institute
Managing Editor and Research Communications Coordinator Keisha Talbot Johnson, Computer Science and Engineering Department Chair Hang Chen, Ph.D.,
Smith Institute Manager Connie Van Brunt, faculty Awatif Amin, and Ying Bai, Ph.D. Student summer researchers include Landie Ortiz, Sterling Williams,
Taison Williams, Mia Greer, Amina Ochieng, Randale Watson, Clayton Gordon, Christopher Cornwall, Jamar Robinson, Raymond Thomas, and Kevon Scott.
Applied Research Can
“Make Things Better”
It Started
with an Apple
Smith Institute belongs to a special class of applied research institutes. That is because “making things better” is a
fundamental aspect of the research projects and initiatives the Institute supports, funds, and pursues.
Naturally, Smith Institute seeks partnerships and
collaborations with groups and organizations that share
the goal of making things better through applied research.
Therefore, when the opportunity to collaborate with
Metrolina Regional Scholars’ Academy developed, Smith
Institute and Johnson C. Smith University’s STEM faculty
member Dr. Satish Bhalla and Smith Institute Manager
Connie Van Brunt responded immediately. Scholars’
Academy, a ten-year-old charter school, serves a population
of highly- intellectually gifted children and youth. The
founders of the nationally renowned Franklin Porter
Graham (FPG) Institute of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill consider the focus on gifted and talented
education critical. According to James Gallagher, one of
FPG’s founding scientists, “Failure to help gifted children
reach their potential is a societal tragedy.”
Helping make things better for gifted and talented children
and youth is important to Smith Institute, as well. Dr.
Bhalla formulated a workshop for offering his advanced
Bioinformatics course that would be presented to Scholars’
How JCSU Fosters
Student Level Success in STEM
Academy instructors. With Academy Director Dr. Marie
Peine, Van Brunt and Bhalla formulated the research
questions: Would the MRSA middle grade instructors relate
to and find applicability in advanced college Bioinformatics
information, for their students? Would Bhalla’s adapted
curriculum be suitable for insertion into the established
gifted and talented middle school instructional program?
How could Bioinformatics teaching modules become
more accessible for gifted and talented students and
their instructors? If the small pilot worked, Dr. Bhalla
planned to present it to his work group at the Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center. Such curricular innovations have
been funded by National Science Foundation (NSF). An
example is the project entitled “Better Education for the
Scientists of Tomorrow” at Carnegie Mellon University.
JCSU’s data on student-level success in STEM is
impressive. While colleges and universities around
the nation struggle to attract and matriculate
underrepresented students in STEM, JCSU boasts a
higher than average retention rate of underrepresented
students in the STEM College.
When Dr. Magdy Attia, Chair of the Council of Deans
and Dean of STEM College describes what contributes
to making the difference in JCSU student level STEM
achievement, he explains, “It started with an Apple.”
Dr. Attia is referring to the use of “thought
experiments” for fostering progress, not only in STEM
education but throughout the history of scientific
progress. Among the earliest thought experiments
captured in scientific histography, is Isaac Newton’s
thoughtful observation of a falling apple that eventually
led to a theory for the universal law of gravitation.
Peine’s observations immediately told the story: “My
teachers could not stop talking about it,” she exclaimed.
“They could hardly wait to discover ways to apply the
information in their science and mathematics classes here
at Scholars’ Academy.”
JCSU’s Satish C. Bhalla confers with Dr. Marie Peine, Director of the award winning Metrolina Regional Scholar’s Academy, a charter school for highly
intellectually gifted students. Dr. Bhalla re-designed and presented his Bioinformatics Workshop for the Scholar’s Academy middle grade teachers.
Also pictured are teacher, Ari Pieper, as well as students Natalie Huffman, Megan Brickner, Auston Li, and Sunny Potharaju.
“We encourage students to think experimentally,
to consider alternate solutions to problems
in computer science,
engineering and mathematics.
We encourage creative approaches to scientific
and mathematical problem solving.”
-Magdy Attia, Ph.D.
Retention Rates of Declared JCSU
STEM Majors Per Academic Year
STEM Major Declared
“Failure to help gifted children reach
their potential is a societal tragedy.”
-James Gallagher
2009-2010
Biology
75.30%
Chemistry
72.70%
Computer Engineering
76.20%
Computer Science/Information Systems
83.50%
General Science
78.60%
Information Systems Engineering
81.10%
Mathematics
84.20%
Mathematics - Secondary Education
100.00%
“We encourage students to think experimentally,
to consider alternate solutions to problems, in
computer science, engineering and
mathematics.
We encourage creative
approaches to
scientific and
mathematical
problem
solving”
Attia says.
According
to Dr. Attia
the future
Einsteins
are creating
their own
original
thinking
right now.
Magdy Attia, Ph.D.
“Will They Come When I Call?”
Robust Tradition of Neighborhood Surveys
JCSU Faculty and Students Explore the Surrounding Neighborhoods of
Smallwood-Biddleville, Lincoln Heights, and Washington Heights
This article is based upon excerpts from a “Report on the Survey of the Smallwood-Biddleville, Lincoln Heights and Washington
Heights Neighborhoods” by Tom Priest, Ph.D., Professor of Social Sciences, Johnson C. Smith University, dated June 2011.
When Dr. Tom Priest and his 17 students set out to survey the
communities surrounding the JCSU campus, they stepped into
the “long and distinguished history of qualitative research*”
(Denzin and Lincoln, 1998) filled with possibilities for discovery.
A tradition of excellence in this applied arena has been cultivated
by JCSU’s Urban Research Group for more than a decade. JCSU
undergraduates benefit from the expertise of social science and
business faculty, as well as foreign language experts, who’ve
led more than 23 applied community-based research projects,
involving more than 400 students across 18 majors, including
faculty from 12 disciplines.
leg-up as they apply to graduate schools in the humanities and
social sciences, and in STEM as well.”
JCSU is a distinguished leader in the qualitative applied research
tradition alluded to by Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S.
Lincoln, two seminal leaders of the field. “We are proud of the
advantage our undergraduates gain through qualitative applied
research experiences,” explained Diane Bowles, Ph.D., Vice
President for Government Sponsored Programs and Research
and Executive Director for the Smith Institute. “That is why
Smith Institute has funded a number of faculty-led qualitative
projects in the 2011 cohort. We know that these research
experiences provide our students with real advantages and a
Conducting face-to-face data gathering interviews in a fieldsetting is both an art and a science. Denzin and Lincoln have
observed that the applied qualitative researcher “sees the world
in action and embeds their findings in it” (Ibid, p.10). These
data gathering methods are research skills that JCSU students
experience and develop in applied neighborhood settings.
This year’s exploratory neighborhood survey findings did not
disappoint. Some of the interviews revealed a pattern in resident
perceptions that made a riveting case for further investigation.
“In conjunction with leaders of the respective neighborhood
associations, the questionnaires were carefully developed,”
Priest reports, adding that both demographic and attitudinal
perceptions were queried.
JCSU faculty with language fluency in Spanish and Vietnamese
were added to the canvass teams to facilitate trust and a
willingness to participate by the racially and ethnically diverse
An aerial view of the Johnson C. Smith campus and
surrounding Northwest Corridor neighborhoods,
canvassed by Dr. Tom Priest and his
students. The canvassing team included,
Dr. Priest and Ms. Mattie Marshall,
center and JCSU students Briana
Neal, Terrica Jones, and Kiviette
Gerald. This action research
project was supported
through Smith
Institute 2011
Pilot Grants.
neighborhood residents. Students were trained in not only
conducting the interviews, but also in the appropriate methods
for raising sensitive questions.
Priest’s report explains “a series of questions were asked about
feelings of neighborhood safety” (Priest, 2011). The exploration
was revelatory. Among the numerous indicators of high trust
and sense of community, respondents from Washington
Heights “were least likely to agree that the [Charlotte
Mecklenburg Police Department] CMPD do a good job.”
The path for further inquiry was lit by the “sizable proportion
of respondents from all three neighborhoods who agreed that
the “CMPD provides poor service and does not respond to calls
at night” (Ibid, p.9). Neighborhood residents question whether
the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department will come into
the community for assistance when called after dark.
For details on Dr. Tom Priest’s report visit our online publication
at SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu.
* Denzin, Norman K. and Lincoln, Yvonna S. Eds (1998). Collecting and
Interpreting Qualitative Data. Thousand Oaks. Sage.
An Annotated Directory of the Summer, 2011
JCSU Student Research Internship Camps
with Computational Modeling and Simulation Activities
Department of Homeland Security,
Cyber Security and Risk Assessment
Summer Research Internship
By Hang Chen, Ph.D.
This research experience explores
a series of four models of cybersecurity and risk assessment
built using the systems dynamics
software system, “STELLA.”
The four models form the platform
for a computer-based study of
the factors affecting cyber-security
and risk assessment. JCSU student
researchers use the models in a series of
studies, examining cyber-security related
processes, including how actions might influence
the security of particular systems. Students are also
expected to provide written technical reports specifying the
models that have been developed. Using STELLA in the Summer
Internship environment will enable students to accomplish a
number of key learning goals and objectives including: simulating
system changes over time, real world applications of theory, and
analyzing relationships to see the “big picture.”
STELLA expertise and experience are expected competencies for
job candidates in government cyber-security positions and with
the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which regulates
the safety and use of radioactive materials for beneficial civilian
purposes and has one of the best employer rankings of any
governmental agency.
Data Mining Applied Research Summer Experience
This research internship provides research experience in a
computational laboratory setting. It engages students in utilizing
Data Mining tools. Data Mining involves the use of data analysis
tools to discover unknown patterns and relationships between
data sets. For undergraduate students, this is an important
precursor to the type of complexity research, undertaken by our
collaborator, Santa Fe Institute. “We train students to think about
both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of phenomena,
similar to those described by the late Lee A. Segel, in his Working
Paper, The Theoretician Grapples with Complex Systems,” explains
Awatif Amin, JCSU faculty mentor and Principal Investigator
for the project.
“It is a mixed methods experience,” she adds noting
that students learn how to determine the value and
significance of the patterns and relationships
within the data and to extract the results.
Rapid Miner software is the data mining
tool and Text Mining is also introduced.
“The Data Mining Summer Research camp
provides a solid background for students to
develop and continue to apply these methods
in graduate study and beyond, in both
quantitative and qualitative analysis,”
Amin concludes.
Cyber Security Summer
Research (CSSR) Experience
By Lijuan Cao, Ph.D.
Hands-on research provides students with skills beyond those
obtained in the classroom. These skills are essential to preparation
for graduate or professional school and high-level employment.
Students in the Cyber Security Summer Research Experience
have been selected based on academic excellence and evidence
of strong commitment to undergraduate research. Two faculty
advisers, Drs. Hang Chen and Ying Bai, have been selected to
mentor the students in this six-week undergraduate
summer program.
The valued learning objectives
for student participants in
CSSR include gaining an
understanding of the
basic and advanced
research methods,
such as case
studies, field
research and
surveys, content
and evaluative
outcome
analysis,
experimental
and quasiexperimental
designs.
Developing the ability to
write and present research
continued on page 20
Pictured: Summer Research Interns utilized STELLA software as well as software for robotics modeling in MACMAS Lab. Above, Hang Chen, Ph.D. with
Christopher Cornwall, Randale Watson, Clayton Gordon, Kevon Scott, Jamar Robinson, and Raymond Thomas. Below, Faculty Awatif Amin with Data Mining
interns Sterling Williams and Mia Greer.
Cottonfields to Classrooms, continued from page 6
Abilene, continued from page 8
The one-time slaves became ministers and teachers.
These slaves, once freed, went on, with little to no
support or financial wherewithal, to become skilled
professionals, such as Daniel W.
Culp, who graduated from
Biddle, became a medical
doctor and later taught
James Weldon Johnson,
composer of the black
National Anthem, Lift
Every Voice and Sing.
Dr. Jones expensive, too time-consuming, and too involved
Most importantly,
according to Professor
Hutchins, JCSU students
today have inherited a
rich and inspirational legacy,
from the hard work, sacrifice,
achievement, and success of the Rural Hill slaves who
lived and worked the cotton fields to classroom reality.
For recommended reading about the legacy of
Reconstruction, visit SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu.
for undergraduates to complete over the course
of one semester. They will learn about archival
research, consider primary documents, and write
research papers, but opportunities to visit and
research in an archive with a faculty member as I
did with Donté Perry are rare.
Phenomenology, continued from page 14
“Comprehensive emphasis on solving the equation that
results from a typical mathematical model is of course,
out of the question,” the late Segel explained, adding that
emphasis must be placed on concept development. This is
again, fundamental to phenomenological methods.
To be certain, the search for new possibilities is underway
in Smith Institute’s MACMAS Lab, and perhaps it is the
summer student interns’ joy in meaningful, problemsolving, discovery, and willingness to explore the “hard
stuff” that is leading the way.
findings and to function effectively on research teams are
also essential student level goals.
The research projects conducted include topics such as
Network Security, Image Detection and Feature Collection
Unit, Electronic ID (eID), Audio Authentication, Secure
Wireless Communication, and Digital Forensics.
This is starting
to change, I think,
as programs,
like Smith
Institute, begin
to emphasize
this kind of
research. In
that way, JCSU
is ahead of
the curve.
Johnson C. Smith University
President: Ronald L. Carter, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President: Elfred A. Pinkard, Ph.D.
Vice President, Government Sponsored Programs and Research;
Executive Director, Smith Institute and Title III: Diane Bowles, Ph.D.
Editorial
Publisher: Diane Bowles, Ph.D.
Managing Editor: Keisha Talbot Johnson
Senior Editor & Writer: Connie W. Van Brunt
Editorial Copy Review: Mary C. Curtis
Editorial Style Review: Benny Smith
Copy Consultant: Adelheid Eubanks, Ph.D.
More importantly, this
kind of research is crucial to
future success. First, experience with archival
research gives students a better sense of the
process of researching and writing history and
that gives them an advantage when applying
for graduate school. Second, archival research
may also stimulate more precise thinking about
the kind of historical research a young history
major might wish to do later, and that always
helps with the graduate admission process. Last,
once admitted to graduate school, students with
archival experience will not be intimidated
by the process and perhaps even have a better
understanding of the great research opportunities
available in archives, presidential or otherwise.
All historians will need to conduct archival
research at some point in their careers, for their
MA thesis or, at the very latest, for their doctoral
dissertation. Like other skills, the sooner you
begin learning these skills, the better off you are as
a student, researcher, and scholar.
Most undergraduate history majors will never
visit an archive unless they later attend graduate
school, and even then, it can be difficult. I was able
to conduct archival research in my MA program,
but was not able to actually visit an archive until
I finished my master’s degree. I had the archivist
photocopy the contents of some archival folders
and mail those documents to me.
Student Internship Camps, continued from page 19
SMITH INSTITUTE
the periodical of Johnson C. Smith University’s Smith Institute for Applied Research
Volume One, Number Two, Fall 2011 ©
Photography & Design
Primary Photography: Jeff Cravotta
Photo Assistant: Heather Fink
Hair & Makeup: Chris Weast
Cover & Cover Story Photography: Randy Tobias
Aerial Photography: Carolina Digital Photo Group
Design & Creative Direction: Heathir McElroy Speet
The contents of this Smith Institute for Applied Research publication were developed under a Title III Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), Award Number PO31B100094, from the
Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
The contents of this publication feature the 2011 Smith Institute-funded Pilot Research Cohort.
For further information about these research projects,
please visit SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu.
Pictured: (l) Jonathan Hutchins, Ph.D. at Rural Hill Plantation. (r) Brian Jones, Ph.D. and his student, Donté Perry on the grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
Fall 2011
Join us online at SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu
20
A Final Comment from President Ronald L. Carter
The History of Johnson C. Smith University
While reading over a draft of this second edition of Smith
Institute, I noticed that one of the articles refers to the
time when we were known as Biddle Institute. I asked the
editors to verify the chronology of JCSU’s name. One of
our history faculty, Jonathan Hutchins, actually researched
my question. Here is what he came up with:
The May 1917, publication of the Biddle Outlook states,
“upon the recommendation of the latter [W.L. Miller] that
on 17 March, 1865, The Legislature of North Carolina
granted a liberal charter for the organization of the
‘Freedman’s College of North Carolina’ with a board of ten
trustees, all Presbyterians.” However Biddle Institute was
not created from this charter due to conflict between the
Presbyterian Church North and Presbyterian Church South.
Two years later, in 1867, under the guidance of Rev. Willis
L. Miller (Presbytery of Fayetteville), and Rev. Samuel C.
Alexander (Presbytery of Catawba) and Sidney S. Murkland
(Presbytery of Concord) all members of the Southern
Presbyterian Church, “decided to establish a college for men
under another charter at Charlotte, N.C.” The institution
was erected on the corner of Davidson and Second Street in
a former Union Hospital and served as both a school and a
church. It is unclear what the true name of the institution
was at that time. Sources refer to it as both The Freedmen’s
College of North Carolina and Henry J. Biddle Memorial
Institute. Mary D. Biddle, wife of Henry J. Biddle, pledged
$1,400.00 and requested the school bare the name of her late
husband. In 1876, the University changed its name to Biddle
University; 1876 was also the year the University changed its
educational philosophy by adopting the Princeton Model.
In 1923, Jane Berry Smith donated the largest sum in school
history; in return, the University changed its name in
memory of her husband Johnson C. Smith.
We were indeed a place where newly freed slaves entered
classrooms, in 1865. As education among the freed Black
folks of the South grew more prominent, JCSU’s affiliation
with the educational direction of the church grew as
well, but with a generous donation in honor of Henry
J. Biddle, another name change occurred and Biddle
Institute embarked upon a history of selective, intellectual
pursuits that are still revered today. By the time that Mrs.
Jane Smith gave the largest gift in the school’s history in
memory of her late husband, the University was known
for having the highest standards and deepest dedication to
scholarship among the HBCUs in the South. The name of
Jane Smith’s husband, Johnson Crayne Smith, stood for the
highest intellectual standards in undergraduate education.
While the precise chronology of the University’s changing
name is unclear, I am certain you will agree, our
University’s work with students continues to nourish and
nurture the highest undergraduate intellectual standards
of our day. I hope you will join us.
Our University’s high academic standards and dedication
to excellence inspired great generosity throughout our
history, a tradition that continues today!
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There is a critical educational niche for Johnson C.
Smith University. Under the guidance of President
Ronald L. Carter and Dean Helen Caldwell, the
University is charting a course that may influence
the practice of higher education. They are asking
and investigating: “What is higher education’s
responsibility and promise for young adults who
age out of the foster care system?”
“It’s a tremendously important initiative,” Dean
Caldwell explains “President Carter has been
involved with foster care issues prior to coming to
Johnson C. Smith. The project we are launching
here will not only carve a critical niche for JCSU
admissions priorities, we will also provide a highly
reliable model that other institutions can utilize
as well.”
Daunting challenges face young adults and
adolescents as they move from relatively
predictable confines of childhood foster care to
the uncharted waters of post-foster home
living. Necessities like shelter and food
to eat suddenly disappear, as does
a viable plan for the future. The
Logic Model for JCSU’s Foster
Care Initiative addresses these
challenges and others faced by
ageing out foster care youth.
“The project we
are launching here
will not only carve
a critical niche for
JCSU admissions
priorities, we will
also provide a highly
reliable model that
other institutions
can utilize.”
-Helen Caldwell, Ph.D.
phase of the Initiative includes the renovation of
the historic Davis House, an on-campus facility,
once the residence for the first African American
college educator in the region, Dr. George Edward
Davis, supported by the Rosenwald School
movement many decades ago. The proposed
support activities cluster includes year-round
housing at Davis House, financial aid, academic
and career counseling, personal guidance,
leadership opportunities and transition planning.
Services are planned to complement those
provided by the Mecklenburg County Department
of Social Services and Department of Youth and
Family Services. JCSU will sponsor the summer
activities and the agencies will supply the youth
participants. Post-secondary opportunities will
come directly from JCSU.
Johnson C. Smith is entering the Foster Care
Initiative with substantial goals, including
increasing retention and graduation rates
of ageing out students while supporting
and encouraging meaningful future
employment. Ultimately, JCSU
will capture a special niche for
successful recruitment,
retention, and matriculation
of foster care students in
undergraduate education.
JCSU will provide not only
college admissions counseling,
but an array of support services
designed to provide continued
security and success. The first
For important additional
discussion on Foster Care,
visit SmithInstitute.JCSU.edu.
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