IONM Certificate Graduates

A recognition ceremony and luncheon was held on August 11, 2017, at the Kehr Union Multi-Cultural Room for the first cohort of five students who completed their graduate certificate in Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring (IONM) this summer. Bloomsburg University Interim Provost Dr. James Krause gave remarks as well as the COST Dean, Dr. Robert Aronstam and Departmental Chairperson of Audiology and Speech Pathology, Dr. Shaheen Awan. This program is a partnership between faculty in the Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology at Bloomsburg University and the Department of Neurophysiology at Geisinger Health Systems. This is one of the very few IONM certificate programs in the country. It provides one year of training (36 credit hours) for students with a bachelor's degree to pursue a career as an IONM technologist. Graduates will provide neurofunctional feedback and guidance during surgery to protect the brain, spine, and peripheral nervous systems from iatrogenic injury. The IONM teaching faculty include Dr. Qing Ye, Dr. Tyson Hale, Dr. Aaron Knecht, and Dr. Jill Gotoff.

NEPA Nursing Simulation Consortium

Healthcare professionals who specialize in simulation-based learning (SBL) recently established a consortium in northeastern Pennsylvania. The first meeting was held in July in Wilkes-Barre. The purpose of the consortium is to provide a venue for healthcare simulation educators in NEPA to share ideas and plan regional educational activities. Shown in the picture are inaugural members: First row: Annette Blasi-Strubeck, Penn State University; Kim Caruso, Geisinger Health System; Colleen Heckman, University of Scranton. Second row: Autumn Forgione, University of Scranton; Lori Pierangeli, East Stroudsburg University; Deborah Zielinski, University of Scranton; Catherine Hauze, Wilkes University; Audrey Cunfer, Co-founder, Misericordia University; Gail Jasman, Bloomsburg University; Joyce Victor, Co-founder, Wilkes University. Attending, but not in photo, Jill Lennon, Penn State University. The next meeting will be held on October 5, 2017 at Bloomsburg University. The meeting will include a tour of the Bloomsburg University nursing simulation center. New members are welcome. For information, contact Audrey Cunfer at acunfer@misericordia.edu or Joyce Victor at joyce.victor@wilkes.edu.

Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium Held at Bloomsburg University

Bloomsburg University hosted the 7th Annual Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium on August 2, 2017. The keynote address, "Murder, Malpractice, and A Really Big Oil Spill: My Strange Academic Career", was given by Bloomsburg University mathematics professor, Dr. Scott Inch.

Students representing Bloomsburg University, Bucknell University, Geisinger Health System, and Susquehanna University presented posters accompanied by two-minute oral discussions. Prior to the symposium, a team of judges evaluated the abstracts and selected the top abstract in each of four categories: (1) social sciences and humanities, (2) natural sciences and engineering, (3) biological sciences, and (4) clinical/translational.

Two Bloomsburg University submissions were selected as top abstracts in their category, and each presented a 10-minute oral presentation at the symposium.  Here are the winners:

"Sublethal Effects of Imidacloprid on Motor Responses in Honey Bees" by Joshua Petersheim, Heather Llewellyn, Dr. Cynthia Surmacz and Dr. John Hranitz

Joshua Petersheim presenting his talk, "Sublethal Effects of Imidacloprid On Motor Responses in Honey Bees"

and "Shedding Red Light on Ultra-Cold Strontium Gases" by Rachel Yenney.

Rachel Yenney presenting her talk "Shedding Red Light on Ultra-Cold Strontium Gases"

Awards were also presented for top poster in each category, as well as an audience favorite. Three Bloomsburg University students received these awards:

Biological Sciences - "Antisense Oligonucleotide Knock-Down of GNG5 and GNG11 in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) Cells" by Glenn Maneval, Jr. and Dr. William Schwindinger

Glenn Maneval, Jr.

Natural Science and Engineering - "Geochemical Assessment of Abandoned Mine Discharges on Wisconisco Creek, Schuykill and Dauphin Counties, Pennsylvania" by Mitchell Lenker and Dr. Cynthia Venn

Mitchell Lenker

Audience Favorite - "Identifying the prevalence of mutations affecting the splicing process in the DiscovEHR cohort and their disease associations" by Dhir Gala, Raghu Metpally, Sarathbaby Krishnamurthy and David Carrey.

Dhir Gala, center, with symposium organizers