COST Faculty Award Winners

The College of Science and Technology is proud to announce the faculty award winners for excellence in teaching, scholarly activity and service.

Dr. Diane Barrett (teaching), Dr. Rebecca Toothaker (service), Dr. Kimberly Olszewski (scholarly activity), Dr. Nathaniel Greene (teaching), Dr. Matthew Ricker (scholarly activity)

Dr. Diane M. Barrett was recognized for excellence in teaching. Dr. Barrett joined the Department of Mathematical and Digital Sciences in 2013. She is an expert digital forensics professional who has developed five new courses and provided her students with a vast range of opportunities to apply classroom knowledge to outside projects. She single-handedly created the Center of Excellence application to the National Security Agency (NSA), which resulted in the program being one of only seven in the nation that is recognized by the NSA and Department of Homeland Security as a Center of Excellence in Digital Forensics Education. Dr. Barrett leverages industry contacts to provide many opportunities for students. Dr. Barrett earns high marks for her ability to engage students in educational experiences outside the classroom and has earned glowing reviews from fellow faculty and students.

Dr. Rebecca Dawn Toothaker was recognized for excellence in service. Dr. Toothaker joined the Department of Nursing in 2015. She has provided knowledge and skill to enhance the foundational sophomore level for the nursing program. She has gone above, and beyond, to reorganize and obtain information for the departmental accreditation with the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. She dedicates her time and service to her profession through membership and leadership in Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society for Nursing. Additionally, Dr. Toothaker is a Girl Scout Troop leader in her community. She recently guided troop members to write a grant assisting the fire department, and received regional televised news recognition.

Dr. Kimberly A. Olszewski was recognized for excellence in scholarly activity. Dr. Olszewski joined the Deparment of Nursing in 2010. She is the Director of the Nurse Practitioner Program and maintains her practice as a Nurse Practitioner and Occupational Health Consultant for Mid-State Occupational Health Services in Williamsport, PA. She focuses her scholarly work in occupational health with a specialty in social media and workplace safety. Within the last three years, she has completed three publications and eighteen presentations. Dr. Olszewski has completed six Webinars at the state and national level for the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, an organization where she is distinguished as a Fellow.

Dr. Nathaniel R. Greene was recognized for excellence in teaching. Dr. Greene joined the Department of Physics and Engineering in 1996. For many years, he has been the principal instructor of General Physics II, Statics, and Dynamics and recently took on Quantum Mechanics, CAD, and Electrical Machines. A significant teaching innovation has come from the design and implementation of the custom, interactive energy education kiosk, located near the Ben Franklin building. Dr. Greene published an article in The Physics Teacher in 2016 (with a student coauthor) and another in Physics Education in 2017 (with Dr. Brunskill). Dr. Greene puts significant effort into his preparation for classes, as exemplified by his “Just-in-time” teaching. Dr. Greene has been especially commended for the quality of his explanations and the way students are actively engaged in the learning process. Peer and chair evaluations describe his teaching as exceptional.

 Dr. Matthew C. Ricker was recognized for excellence in scholarly activity. Dr. Ricker joined the Department of Environmental, Geographical, and Geological Sciences in 2014. He is a well-known authority in environmental science, with a specific mastery of soil science. In his three years in the EGGS department, he has been lead author on four papers in leading peer-reviewed journals, coauthor on four others, and lead author of a technical report. In the past two years, Dr. Ricker has mentored six research students, two of which won awards for Most Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation.

Solar Tracking Interactive Kiosk

Dr. Nathaniel Greene

Nathaniel Greene, professor of physics and engineering, and Jeffrey Brunskill, associate professor of environmental, geographical and geological sciences, have published an article, “Design of a solar tracking interactive kiosk,” in the January 2017 issue of Physics Education.

Dr. Greene and Dr. Brunskill worked with an interdisiplinary team of students to design a two-axis solar tracker and an energy-themed interactive kiosk between Ben Franklin Hall and Hartline Science Center on the Bloomsburg University Campus.  The objective of the project was to "develop an infrastructure that would increase the presence of renewable energy technologies on campus and provide users with a tangible opportunity to learn about the benefits and limitations of solar energy."

Dr. Jeffery Brunskill

Solar panel output is monitored in real time and displayed to the public with lights and digits. A touchscreen display allows kiosk visitors to compare two solar panels: one panel tracks the sun automatically, while the other panel can be steered by users. This project was a capstone experience for students in physics/engineering, computer science, and instructional technology.

Energy Education Kiosk

Nathaniel R Greene and Jeffrey C Brunskill 2017 Phys. Educ. 52 015022

Undergraduate Student Coauthors a Research Paper in Mathematics

Mathematics major Devyn Lesher and Dr. Chris Lynd recently had their research paper accepted for publication in Mathematics Magazine, which is a widely read, peer-reviewed journal. The paper is titled Convergence Results for the Class of Periodic Left Nested Radicals and it appears in the December 2016 issue of Mathematics Magazine.

This research was made possible by two Undergraduate Research Scholarship and Creative Activities (URSCA) Awards from the Center for Undergraduate Research at Bloomsburg University. These awards provided stipends support for Devyn during the summer of 2014 and the summer of 2015.  

During that time, Devyn learned about an area of mathematics that is rarely taught in an undergraduate program. He used his programming skills to perform computer simulations, discover patterns, and make conjectures about his mathematical patterns. Once the mathematical conjectures were formalized, Devyn got to see first-hand how to construct mathematical proofs, how to write a formal research paper in mathematics, and how to submit a paper for publication.

 This research resulted in both Devyn and Dr. Lynd receiving an invitation to present their research at the 2014 regional conference for the American Mathematical Association in Greensboro, North Carolina. Devyn received an Undergraduate Research Student Travel Award and a food allowance from the Center for Undergraduate Research at Bloomsburg University. This gave Devyn the opportunity to experience what it’s like to interact with other mathematicians at a conference. In addition, Dr. Lynd gave a presentation of their research at the 2015 national conference for the American Mathematical Association and the Mathematical Association of America in San Antonio, Texas.

 Both Devyn Lesher and Dr. Lynd would like to thank the Center for Undergraduate Research for all their support.

DEVYN A. LESHER, and CHRIS D. LYND. “Convergence Results for the Class of Periodic Left Nested Radicals.” Mathematics Magazine, vol. 89, no. 5, 2016, pp. 319–335. www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/math.mag.89.5.319.

Mulvey Wins 3rd Place at Computational Chemistry Conference

Devin Mulvey, senior chemistry major, won 3rd place for his poster presentation, "New Metrics for the Reactivity and Stability of Antioxidant Fullerenols," at the 24th Annual Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry.  The conference was held in Jackson, MS.  Devin attended the conference with his research mentor, Dr. Kristen Lewis. He competed against both undergraduate and graduate students in the College Division of the conference's poster presentations. In addition to a certificate, Devin received a copy of Practical Applications of Computational Chemistry II and a monetary award of $100. The department is very proud of Devin and Dr. Lewis for this noteworthy accomplishment and are excited to see more from them in the future!

BU students participate in GrrCon

This October students from the Bloomsburg Digital Forensic Club attended the GrrCON computer security conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the third consecutive year. Student participation was up this year with 34 students and one alum joining Phil Polstra, associate professor of digital forensics. The first and second year the club participated in this event 22 and 30 students attended. This was Dr. Polstra’s fifth consecutive year as a speaker at this event.

GrrCON is held in Grand Rapids, Michigan each fall and attracts speakers from around the world. It features numerous speaking tracks, workshops, villages, and competitions. This year some new villages appeared including an open hacking village, car hacking village, and Internet of Things (IoT) hacking village. As in years past, BU students spent many hours in these villages learning about new areas in security and forensics. Some of the students brought that knowledge back and shared it with rest of the club by performing a car hacking demonstration. They were able to do this thanks to having won some of the required hardware as a prize in the largest competition at GrrCON.

The most popular contest at GrrCON this year, by a large margin, was the Open Source INTelligence (OSINT) Capture the Flag (CTF) competition. Seventy six teams competed for thousands of dollars in prizes in this competition which was introduced last year. One of the BU teams ended up in third place when the dust settled on the final day of the conference. At one point this team was only a few points behind the first place team and over a thousand points ahead of the next team below them. Students competed in this competition last year placing second out of forty four teams. BU students have competed and placed in competitions all three years they have attended GrrCON.

 In addition to all of the learning occurring in villages, talks, workshops, and competitions, there was a lot of networking going on. Approximately fifty organizations sponsored GrrCON and our students took full advantage of the chance to speak with many of these sponsors about internships and full time jobs for those close to graduation.

Welcome College of Science and Technology Student Ambassadors

Hi, my name is Corey Conville! I am a Bloomsburg University graduate student from Pottsville, PA. I have a Bachelor's of Science degree in Health Sciences, and I am in the process of getting my Master’s degree in Biology. Outside of school I enjoy running marathons, snowboarding competitively, and fly fishing. My favorite movie is A River Runs Through It, and my favorite book is Old Man in the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway. The Wonder Years is my favorite band and I have seen them 11 times in concert. In five years, I hope to have my Ph.D. in Fish Biology and be a trophy husband. If I had to give any advice to incoming Freshman, it would be to get to know your professors.
 “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” ~Steve Prefontaine


Hi, my name is Blaire Barnhart! I am a Bloomsburg University undergraduate student from Pittsburgh, PA. I am currently studying Speech Pathology and Audiology and plan to attend graduate school for Audiology after graduating in the spring. Outside of school I enjoy running, blogging, and online shopping. My favorite movies are The Notebook and The Purge. My favorite band is the Backstreet Boys. In five years, I will be graduating from Audiology school and hopefully moving to the South. If I had to give any advice to incoming Freshman, it would be to take in every minute and stop to look around you because these are the years you will never get back.
 “Everything happens for a reason.” ~Anonymous

Interventions of Music in Nursing

Brianna (Bri) Fox, RN, BSN (pictured left with Dr. Miller) and Abigail (Abbey) Brown, RN, BSN (picture below with Dr. Miller) share a common interest in music therapy with Mindi Miller, RN, PhD. In December 2012, Bri presented her Honors work at the COST Research Day, and Abbey presented her poster at the COST Research Day in December 2014. Abbey also presented her poster at the National Collegiate Honors Council in November 2015. These now BU alumni with Dr. Miller published their article “Interventions of Music: Reviewing Evidence for Better Practice” in the 2016 International Archives of Nursing and Health Care (IANHC), 2:045. Bri’s research centered on therapeutic music for adolescents receiving chemotherapy while Abbey’s study focused on musical interventions to promote behavioral change in troubled youth.

Dr. Miller, a Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse (CRRN) studies the benefits of music to facilitate healing. She states, “We recognize that higher education begins with General Education that builds toward lifelong interests and skill sets, including hobbies like music or scholarship activities - or a combination of both! The work that Abbey, Bri, and I did over four years depicts the resources that BU offers. For instance, the Honors Program and the COST Research Days assisted students and faculty in sharing their collaborative work and excelling beyond their BU experiences, as our publication exemplifies.”

The recent article in IANHC resulted from teamwork by undergraduates (now alumni) and nursing faculty who gathered best practice standards in music theory and then provided additional evidence-based recommendations. Best practice was compared between different groups and the published literature in order to suggest “better” practices for using therapeutic music in healthcare. When implementing musical interventions, individual differences like sensory deprivation in some patients, sensory overload in others, and unique preferences and neuro-pathology must be taken into account, in order that each nursing care plan related to music fits the targeted outcomes for individual patients.


Dr. Vandivere, Honors Program Director commented that, “We are so proud of Bri Fox and Abbey Brown. They have helped us understand the ways that we can use Honors to create research projects that will actively help nursing students. Bri and Abbey have taken their fine intellects, their drive, and their commitments to nursing and figured out a way to advance their education to higher levels of creative and original research. They each developed a sustained and original project that helps them understand their own abilities, empowers them as individuals, and makes them highly marketable in whatever they choose to do. More, they have given us a model of how to make Honors work for nursing students.”