The Synapse

Happy Valentine's Day! February issue of The Synapse includes information about and for our NAS community. February is also when we celebrate both the Black History Month and the Valentine's day.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Share your news, photos, inspiring stories, and upcoming events for a future issue. Please send any feature suggestions to Hizbullah Baryal at hbaryal@loyola.edu

Sarvy joined the Department of Engineering as a Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow this January, after transforming the department’s EG 101 Introduction to Engineering course this past Fall 2022. She comes to Loyola after earning a PhD in Science, Technology & Society (STS) from Virginia Tech, an MA in International Affairs (concentrating in socioeconomic development) from The New School, and a BA in Neuroscience and Anthropology (with honors in Anthropology) from Oberlin College. She has also served as a Visiting Research Fellow at Duke University’s Center for the History of Political Economy, and spent several years working off and on with various qualitative research teams studying public health, community, and education interventions in New York City, Richmond, Virginia, and here in Baltimore. In addition to the students of EG 101, Sarvy is currently teaching a large number of NAS students enrolled in her Philosophy and Science course, offered through Loyola’s Philosophy Department. As a pragmatist historian and philosopher of technoscience with multidisciplinary training in business and economic history, Sarvy’s research examines the processes of valuation that have made “R&D” (or, research and development) an object of intervention by a wide array of experts across industry, finance, government, and academia. Her first paper, “The Stock Market and the Space Age,” was accepted for publication this past August by the business history journal, Enterprise & Society, and she hopes to use her time as a Post-Doc to prepare her dissertation, “Capitalizing the ‘Measure of Our Ignorance’: A Pragmatist Genealogy of R&D” to have published as her first book. Deeply influenced by the pragmatist philosophy and progressive pedagogy of American education reformer, John Dewey, Sarvy is thrilled to join an institution where the Jesuit commitment to reflection is seen as vital to the ability of individuals and communities to learn, grow, and thrive.

If you are interested in; (a) submitting a strategic planning initiative proposal, or (b) volunteering to serve on a strategic initiative working group, please refer to the Strategic Planning page that guides you on how to get involved in this process. The deadline for submitting your ideas or volunteering to serve is March 1.

This year's Celebration of Science week is planned for the week of March 27. We welcome your contributions and participation in this program. Please contact Sciences@loyola.edu with suggested ideas and activities that you could help with such as student club activities, pop up classes, lectures, and other engaging activities. During this week we will also celebrate the success of the graduating Haig Scholars, Hauber Fellows, the Choudhury Sarkar-Dey Medal (NAS Divisional medal) recipient and finalists and CPaMS scholars during the NAS Student Excellence reception.

Founded in 2014, Health Outreach Baltimore (HOB) is a team of student advocates who volunteer with social workers and hospital staff at Mercy Medical Center to connect mothers and families to community services in and around Baltimore City. We connect clients to social resources at Mercy Medical Center’s Center for Advanced Fetal Care (CAFC), the Family Physicians Unit, and the Mother Baby Unit. This is a unique experience on campus, and we are trying to recruit students to join HOB next fall! To gain access to the application please email prehealth@loyola.edu. Applications are due no later than March 1st at 5:00 P.M

Quantum computing is gaining a lot of attention in recent years as the next big paradigm shift in computing technology. As such, Loyola is offering a new course, Introduction to Quantum Computing, this spring semester. The course is interdisciplinary, featuring both students and faculty from the departments of Engineering, Physics, and Computer Science. A number of high-impact teaching methods are being used including collaborative groups of interdisciplinary students engaged in active learning activities, the integration of computer coding and quantum computing theory, and the engagement of the students in authentic research opportunities. An innovation unique to the course is that the students will develop a Python-based quantum computer simulator from the ground up to reinforce the theory learned in class and as an aid to their research projects. The teaching faculty are Dr. David Hoe (Engineering), Dr. Mary Lowe (Physics), and Dr. Dave Binkley (Computer Science).

The photos below depict the students in a recent active learning activity where they work in groups to understand electron spin and how it relates to the operation of a quantum gate.

Professors Joseph Ganem, Inge Heyer, and Randall S. Jones presented a talk at the national meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) on January 17 about “Teaching Science for Elementary Education Majors in a Physics Department”.

On Monday, January 30, the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, or NCSES — part of the U.S. National Science Foundation — released Diversity and STEM: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities 2023, the federal government's latest and most complete analysis of diversity trends in STEM employment and education. This report includes wealth of information about current landscape of STEM education and workforce.

The real estate and investment firm CBRE concluded as much in its inaugural report identifying and analyzing the top 25 domestic markets for life sciences talent. CBRE ranked Washington DC and Baltimore together in the second slot, just behind Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts and ahead of the San Francisco Bay Area. (Source: Technically)

For over six years, we have supported edtech founders from around the world scale innovative solutions to key challenges within the world of education. Each year, we deliver a bespoke program aimed at supporting startup growth through one-to-one coaching, masterclasses with industry experts, as well as access to a global network of investors and education specialists.

The WISE Edtech Accelerator is a key part of our edtech program that aims to support innovation and build an edtech community focused on revolutionizing the way we teach and learn.

For more information and application click here

When: Thursday, February 9, at 6 PM

Where: The Library Auditorium,
What: Environmental Film Event

The Environmental Film Series, African & African American Studies, and the Sustainability Program will host a screening of two films addressing aspects of environmental racism followed by a discussion.

• Short Film: Kofi & Lartey follows Abdallah who found himself in Agbogbloshie, one of the biggest electronic waste dumps in the world and home to 100,000 people. His work there financed his education and inspired him to work to help children escape the area for a better life. The film follows his work with two of these children.

• Feature Film: Mossville: When Great Trees Fall follows the struggles of the residents of Mossville, Louisiana who are forced to let go of their ancestral home. This is a community rich in history, founded by formerly enslaved people and free people of color — where neighbors lived in harmony. Today, 14 petrochemical plants surround Mossville, and it is the future site of a new plant being built by the chemical company Sasol. The film follows the displacement and significant health impacts on the residents of Mossville.

The Environmental Film Series webpage provides more information about the film series.

What approach in note taking may work better for students? Since nowadays many are taking notes on laptops rather than in longhand, it raises the question how does note taking using a laptop compare to longhand note taking in terms of learning. Some of the studies related to this question have primarily focused on students' capacity for multitasking and distraction when using laptops. However, the following paper; "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking" in Psychological Science, Pam A Mueller,; and Daniel M Oppenheimer suggest that even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. In their studies, they found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand. They also show that whereas taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers' tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning. So, the question is whether you agree with this and how do you take notes?

Monday, February 13, 2023, 4-5 pm

In Person at LNDL Innovation Station
Instructor: Youlanda Halterman

Learn about the Laser Cutter and make a Valentine’s Day themed laser cut tic-tac-toe game!

For the list of all pop up classes during spring 2023 see the Pop-Up Classes page.

The Bridge

Visit The Bridge for upcoming campus meetings and events.

Training and Development Opportunities for Employees and Students

OUTLoyola SafeZone Training

Green Bandana Brigade

Academic Calendar

• 2022-2023 Academic Calendar

Coronavirus Resources

• Loyola Coronavirus Updates - General university information for all students, faculty, staff including reopening plans, COVID-19 dashboard, FAQs, policies, and resources

Student Support Resources

• Counseling Center
• Campus Ministry
• Office of Student Life
• Center for Community, Service, and Justice

Employee Support Resources

• Human Resources website
• Employee Assistance Program
• Financial Crisis Assistance Program
• Employee Return to Work on Campus Guidelines & Training