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Valerie Bryan, Ph.D., professor in the FAU College of Educations’ Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology, has been appointed as the Charles Stewart Mott Eminent Scholar in Community Education. This position was established in 1981 through a gift from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Dr. Bryan specializes in the field of adult and community education.

Scott Kelso, Ph.D., Glenwood and Martha Creech Eminent Scholar in Science and founder of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Sciences’ Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences at FAU, has recently received the Bernstein Prize, the highest award of the International Society of Motor Control (ISMC) for his life’s work in the area of brain science. The Bernstein Prize is award biennially to an individual who has made exceptional contributions to the development of the area of motor control. Kelso is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has earned many awards for his work, including most recently the Pierre de Fermat Laureate in 2007. His team’s research has received continuous federal funding since coming to FAU in 1985, and is currently supported by National Institutes for Health, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

The Financial Review named Scott Barnhart, Ph.D., an associate professor of finance in the College of Business, as a winner of an award for outstanding publications for the year 2010. Barnhart’s article, “Exchange-Traded Fund Introductions and Closed-End Fund Discounts and Volume,” is the second consecutive publication from a faculty member in FAU’s Department of Finance to win the award in the last two years. In 2009, The Financial Review recognized Jeff Madura, Ph.D., professor of finance, for an article entitled “The pricing of IPOs post-Sarbanes-Oxley.” The award winners were voted on by the editorial board of The Financial Review and the membership of the Eastern Finance Association.

The National Institutes of Health recently awarded David Lewkowicz, Ph.D., professor of psychology in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, a grant totaling more than $1.5 million over five years. Lewkowicz will use the funds to investigate the development of audiovisual perception and integration in human infants. Specifically, the study will focus on the role of perceptual narrowing in developing infants, as well as the emergence of mature multisensory function in infancy. The results of this study could potentially provide insight into the cause of developmental disorders such as autism, as well as possible improvements for diagnostic tools.

Blane De St. Croix, an associate professor in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters' Department of Visual Arts and Art History, was chosen as one of 10 finalists out of 2,100 applicants for the prestigious West Prize 2011. In addition to receiving a $10,000 cash award, De St. Croix will have his sculpture "Border Sections, United States and Mexico" featured in an exhibition at the West Collection in Oaks, Pennsylvania. His work 'explores the geopolitical landscape through drawing and sculptural installation,' and can be viewed along with the other finalists at WestCollection.org. De St. Croix will go on to compete for the $25,000 grand prize in May.

Margaret Leinen, Ph.D., has been selected to serve as the University's Associate Provost of Marine and Environmental Initiatives and Executive Director of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, a unit of FAU located in Fort Pierce.

'The oceans are vital to Florida's economic and environmental well-being,' said Interim Provost Diane Alperin, Ph.D. 'Margaret Leinen will provide strong leadership in growing FAU's ocean and environment-related research, education and outreach portfolios.'

Dr. Leinen is the founder and President of the Climate Response Fund, a non-profit organization that works to foster discussion of climate engineering research and to decrease the risk that these techniques might be called on or deployed before they are adequately understood and regulated. Previously, she spent two years as the Chief Science Officer of Climos, Inc. Prior to working in the non-profit and private sectors, Dr. Leinen served at the National Science Foundation.

'I am very pleased to have the opportunity to lead Harbor Branch with its distinguished record of marine research, engineering and education, and to take on the University-wide role of leading all marine and environmental programs,' said Dr. Leinen. 'While many fields will contribute to our quality of life over the next century, I believe that our sustainability as a global society will depend first on our ability to understand the ocean, the coasts and our climate. I am excited to have this opportunity, especially given FAU's vigorous commitment to address these critical issues.'

Dr. Leinen joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2000 as Assistant Director for Geosciences and Coordinator of Environmental Research and Education. She provided executive leadership for one of the seven units of the NSF, oversaw a budget of $700 million, led government-wide planning for climate research and co-led government planning for ocean research. Dr. Leinen's duties included leadership of the International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research (IGFA). Much of her work at the NSF involved identifying major new research infrastructure needs, advancing those needs and successfully defending $1 billion in initiatives to the National Science Board for subsequent funding by Congress.

Dr. Leinen has also been in academic leadership positions at the University of Rhode Island, serving as Vice Provost for Marine and Environmental Programs and as Dean of the Graduate School of Oceanography. She received her doctorate in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, her master's degree in geological oceanography from Oregon State University and her bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Illinois.

Lucy Guglielmino, professor of adult and community education in the Department of Educational Leadership at Florida Atlantic University, was recently presented the 2010 Career Achievement Award by the Commission of Professors of Adult Education (CPAE). Guglielmino, who has served on FAU's Treasure Coast campus for 10 years, received the honor at the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education 2010 Conference in Clearwater Beach.

Jeremy Hurwitch received one of the 2009 Elijah Watt Sells Awards from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). This award recognizes outstanding performance on the Uniform CPA Examination. Each year, the award is given to the 10 candidates earning the highest scores on all four of the test's sections. Jeremy is a graduate of FAU's College of Business. He was in the scholar's program, earning a BBA and a Master of Accounting.

The New Florida Initiative is the State University System's collaborative effort -- alongside business and government -- to deliver the economic talent and innovations that Florida must have to be globally competitive.

As part of the New Florida Initiative, the Florida Board of Governors announced Scholars Boost Grants and Clustering Grants totaling $10 million awarded to Florida's 11 state universities. The purpose of these grants is to recruit and retain world-class faculty in critical areas and to provide opportunities for collaboration with other institutions among faculty in teaching, research and service in order to solve certain state policy and industry challenges.

Florida Atlantic University was awarded a total of $725,000 for three proposals:

• A Scholars Boost Grant in the amount of $250,000, associated with recruiting a professor & chair in the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering & Computer Science. This award will assist in continuing FAU's climb to national prominence in ocean energy and the marine sciences.
  
• A Clustering Grant in the amount of $300,000, associated with the continuing partnership with Max Planck in the area of neuroscience.
  
• A Clustering Grant in the amount of $175,000, associated with the collaborative partnership of the State University System Climate Change Task Force. Florida State University and the University of Florida received similar grants to allow formal collaborative activity in studying and modeling Climate Change.
  

The Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling awarded the FAU School of Social Work a $25,000 grant to provide problem gambling prevention programming.  This programming, which is delivered in the form of community educational presentations and materials, targets at-risk populations including college and high school students, seniors, veterans, and minorities.  Services will be delivered in Broward, Palm Beach, Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. Stephen Ferrante is the Principal Investigator.

The Department of Children and Families had awarded FAU's School of Social Work a 5-year renewal of its contract for the Title IV-E Child Welfare Education Program. The contract funding is $5,975,000, at a rate of $1,195,000 for each of the 5 years. The principle investigator for the program is the Director of the School of Social Work, Michele Hawkins, PhD. The statewide program coordinator is Patricia Scott, MSW, and the statewide budget coordinator is Xiaowen Ma, MBA.

To professionalize the child welfare workforce, the program will continue to provide well-prepared social workers to staff Community-Based Care agencies with caseworkers who will eventually become supervisors and administrators. FAU leads the program, which is collaborative with Florida A & M University, Florida International University, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of West Florida.

The program offers specialized courses, internships and annual stipends. The School of Social Work's recipients, the Child Welfare Scholars, agree to post-graduate employment at adoption and foster care agencies for one year per each stipend.