March 14, 2005 (Vol. 1, No. 4)

Quorum Series: New Faculty Research

This is the third installment of the "Quorum Series." The series features information on recent faculty research, publications and presentations. The series will continue through March.

Eric Delson
Sandra Levey
Joseph Lewittes
Suzanne Libfeld
Humberto Lizardi
Nancy Mintz
Diana Mittler-Battipaglia
Oscar Montero
Janet Butler Munch
Martin S. Muntzel

Eric Delson

Eric Delson (Professor/Chair, Anthropology) published: "Cercopithecidae from the Pliocene of Saint-Vallier," Géobios 37: S318-S322 (2004) and "Le gisement villafranchien de Senèze à Domeyrat" (Haute-Loire) in (J.F. Pastre, ed.) Quaternaire et volcanisme en Auvergne et Velay. Livret-guide de l'excursion de l'Association franÁaise pour l'étude du Quaternaire (May 2004), pp.114-122 (by M. Faure, C. Guérin & E. Delson), 2004.

Delson and colleagues co-presented the following papers at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (Tampa, April 2004; abstracts were published as indicated): "Paradolichopithecus: a large-bodied terrestrial papionin (Cercopithecidae) from the Pliocene of western Eurasia, "Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl. 38, 85 (2004); "Cranial allometry, phylogeography and systematics of baboons inferred from geometric morphometric analysis of landmark data," Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl. 38: 97 (2004); "Estimating hominoid reciprocal joint congruence: a comparison of two different morphometric techniques," Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl. 38: 108-109; "Description and analysis of postcranial elements of Paradolichopithecus arvernensis: A large-bodied papionin from the Pliocene of Eurasia," Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl. 38: 195. Delson and colleagues also presented "Franco-American research at the Villafranchian locality of Senèze (Haute-Loire, France): Why are new enquiries needed?" at the 18th International Senckenberg ConferenceãVI International Palaeontological Colloquium in Weimar (Germany), 25-30 April, 2004, on Late Neogene and Quaternary biodiversity and evolution: Regional developments and interregional correlations. An abstract was published in Terra Nostra 2004 (2): 96-97.

Professor Delson received a number of new grants from the National Science Foundation for his research in 2003-2004. The first of these, entitled "Undergraduate Biology & Mathematics at Lehman College" (UBM Initiative; co-PI Katherine St. John of Lehman's Mathematics and Computer Science Department), permitted Professors Delson and St. John, along with a postdoctoral associate, to instruct seven Lehman undergraduates in anthropology and computer science about research at the intersection of these fields, especially geometric morphometrics, phylogeny reconstruction and database development. The students met in seminar and workshop environments to learn about each other's discipline and then undertook collaborative research projects.

The second grant "Integrative Graduate Research and Training in Evolutionary PrimatologyãReinvigoration and Reorientation of NYCEP (New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology)" (IGERT Program) is a five-year award that will fund some 15 to 20 Ph.D. students in aspects of physical anthropology at CUNY, NYU and Columbia, with links to the American Museum of Natural History and the Wildlife Conservation Society (including the Bronx Zoo). This $4 million grant will pay for stipends, tuition, lectures, conferences, summer fieldwork overseas and other activities for this unique graduate training consortium, directed by Prof. Delson.

A third grant, "Cranial Variation in Homo erectus"(Physical Anthropology Program) provided dissertation research support for Karen L. Baab, who has taught "Introduction to Human Evolution" at Lehman several times. This project is an application of geometric morphometric techniques to the question of whether more than one biological species is included in the group of fossils commonly known asHomo erectus, whose remains were found across Africa and Asia between two million and 200,000 years ago. Ms. Baab, a Ph.D. student in the Anthropology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center, traveled in Africa, Europe and Western Asia to study and measure fossils and comparative modern skulls.

Most recently, Prof. Delson and his colleagues received a year of support for "Individual and Taxonomic Discrimination Through Laser Scan Analysis of Joint Congruence in Extant Hominoids" (Physical Anthropology Program), an innovative project to examine the way in which articulating elements of the elbow and ankle joint fit together using laser surface scans and geomtric morphometric analysis. This study is aimed at discriminating bones from different individuals, populations and species, with applications to associating bones from single individuals in unknown samples, such as occur in human paleontological archaeological and forensic contexts. For example, if the skeletons of several individuals are found at a murder scene or an ancient death assemblage, it is important to know which bones are likely to belong to a single individual as opposed to multiple individuals; this can be estimated by trained experts with long experience, but Prof. Delson and his colleagues hope to reach similar conclusions quantitatively and repeatably. This first step will examine variation patterns in modern apes and various extant human populations.

In addition, with the aid of PSC-CUNY funding and awards from French agencies, Professor Delson and French colleagues continued their research at the two-million-year-old fossil site of SenËze in central France. Throughout the month of July 2004, a team, including several Lehman undergraduates, excavated for fossils and mapped their positions and the geological stratigraphic context.

Lastly, Prof. Delson and American Museum of Natural History colleague Ross MacPhee are the editors of a new series of books in Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, to be published by Springer/Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. The first volumes are due to appear in 2005. Delson continues as a Research Associate in vertebrate paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and as Secretary of the Paleoanthropology Society.

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Sandra Levey

Sandra Levey (Assistant Professor, Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences) published "Speech-Language Pathology Student's Awareness of Linguistic and Cultural Differences," Special Interest Division 10: Issues in Higher Education (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2004); (with Cruz, D) "The Discrimination of English Vowels by Bilingual Spanish/English and Monolingual English Speakers," Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, vol. 31, pp. 162-172 (2004); (with Bernstein, D.K.& Seidenberg, P. L.) "The Comprehension of Expository Text: A Comparative Study," The Journal of Educational Research (Heldref Publications, 2004); "The Discrimination and the Production of English Vowels by Bilingual Spanish/English Speakers," Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 99, pp. 445-462 (2004); and "The Discrimination and the Production of English Vowels by Bilingual Spanish/English Speakers," The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 5, vol. 115, p. 2604 (2004).

She presented the following papers: "The Discrimination and Production of English Vowels by Bilingual Native Spanish Speakers and Native English Speakers" at the Speech Acoustics and Perception Laboratory, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (New York, Nov. 2003); "The Discrimination and the Production of English Vowels by Bilingual Spanish/English Speakers" at the 147th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (New York, May 2004); "Reading and Discrimination Abilities of Bilingual Spanish/English Children" at the Meeting of the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association (Pennsylvania, Nov. 2004); "Discrimination Abilities of Bilingual Spanish/English-Speaking Adults and Children" at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (Texas, Nov. 2004); "Discrimination Abilities of Bilingual Spanish/English-Speaking Children" at the Ronald E. McNair Conference (Maryland, Nov. 2004); and "The Discrimination of English Vowels by Bilingual Spanish/English Speakers" at the Biology Seminar Series at Lehman College (March 2004). She received the PSC-CUNY34 Research Grant (2003-2004, 2004-2005) for "The Discrimination of Vowel Contrasts by English/Spanish Speaking Children."

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Joseph Lewittes

Joseph Lewittes (Professor, Mathematics & Computer Science) published "Distribution of Digits in Periodic Decimals," Portugaliae Mathematica, Vol. 62, no. 2 (2005).

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Suzanne Libfeld

Suzanne Libfeld (Director, New York City Mathematics Project of the Institute for Literacy Studies) helped coordinate a longitudinal evaluation of Teacher Leaders for Mathematics Success (TL=MS), a program of the New York City Mathematics Project (NYCMP) and Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, which revealed impressive results. The evaluation, conducted by the Academy for Educational Development, provides strong evidence of the lasting impact of a sustained, site-based and content-focused approach to teacher professional development. As part of a five-year program funded by the National Science Foundation, the evaluation explored the impact of professional development conducted by the NYCMP on 240 K-8 teachers in over 20 schools throughout the Bronx, New York. The evaluation showed positive impacts on both the teaching of mathematics and on student engagement and achievement.

To obtain a copy of the Teacher Leaders for Mathematics Success (TL=MS) Final Evaluation Report, contact Elayne Archer, Academy for Educational Development, 212-243-1110. For additional information about the New York City Mathematics Project, Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College/CUNY, contact Suzanne Libfeld, 718-960-8758.

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Humberto Lizardi

Humberto Lizardi (Assistant Professor, Psychology) published the following articles: (with Klein, D.N.) "Long-Term Stability of Parental Representations in Depressed Outpatients Utilizing the Parental Bonding Instrument," The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (in press) and (with Klein, D.N., & Shankman, S.A.) "Psychopathology in the Adolescent and Young Adult Offspring of Parents with Dysthymic Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder," The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, vol. 192, pp.193-199 (2004).

He has received funding for the following projects: "Offspring of Outpatients with Dysthymic Disorder: Outcomes and Mediators of Risk;" sub-project PI; NIH; 2 S06 GM008225: 2003-2007. This study compares outpatient mothers with pure dysthymic disorder, double depression, episodic major depressive disorder and normal controls on social functioning and the risk mechanisms involved in the process leading from parental mood disorders to offspring impairment. Also, "Early-Onset Dysthymic Disorder: Social Functioning and Offspring Adjustment;" sub-project PI; NIMH; 2R24MH049747: 2004-2009. This study expands on the above study by examining other aspects of social functioning in outpatient parents and their adolescent offspring.

In 2004, Professor Lizardi was appointed to the Neuropsychology Doctoral Program at Queens College.

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Nancy Mintz

Nancy Mintz (Director, New York City Writing Project of the Institute for Literacy Studies) published Teacher to Teacher: Ideas that Work from the New York City Writing Project (Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, 2004).

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Diana Mittler-Battipaglia

Diana Mittler-Battipaglia (Professor, Music) will celebrate her 26th season as pianist/director of the Con Brio Ensemble by presenting 13 concerts during the 2004-2005 season at locations including the Donnell and Flushing Libraries, Lehman College and other venues in Queens and Connecticut. She conducted the Lehman College and Community Chorus and Orchestra in a Dvorak Celebration in May 2004 and presented Haydn's Mass in Time of War and shorter works in December 2004.The upcoming Spring Concert on May 15, 2005 will include excerpts from Brahms' German Requiem and shorter works by Dvorak, Copland and Rodgers. She was also featured on a CD recording of works by Franz Mittler performed by the noted Austrian baritone, Wolfgang Holzmair, which was released in Janauary 2004 by Preiser Records in Vienna, Austria.

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Oscar Montero

Oscar Montero (Professor, Languages & Literatures) has published José Martí: an Introduction (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2004). The book is a critical reading of Martí's writings on wealth and prosperity in the United States, on the new role of women, on "race", on Panamericanism, on Emerson's legacy, and on the possibility of vision on the threshold of death.

During fifteen years of exile in New York City, José Martí (1853-1895), Cuba's national hero, became prescient, lucid reader of the culture and politics of the United States. As a poet, journalist and political activist, Martí wrote on a range of topics, from literature, art and politics in the United States to what he viewed as its shameful legacy of racism and its increasingly ambitious imperial designs.

In a review of the book, critic and Professor Roberto González-Echevarría, Sterling Professor of Hispanic Literature at Yale University, said, "I cannot think of a better introduction to the Cuban poet and patriot in any language."

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Janet Butler Munch

Janet Butler Munch (Associate Professor, Library) edited, Climbing the Ladder of Success for Library Faculty in the City University of New York, published by the Library Association of the City University of New York (2004). She published "Martha J. Lamb (1826-1893) Brought American History to Life," Women's Studies Review, pp. 5-10 (Spring, 2004). Research for this article was funded through a George N. Shuster Fellowship. She also presented Climbing the Ladder of Success for Library Faculty in the City University of New York at John Jay College of Criminal Justice for a program sponsored by the Professional Development Committee of the Library Association of the City University of New York (New York, March 2004).

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Martin S. Muntzel

Martin S. Muntzel (Associate Professor, Biological Sciences) published (with Ivanovski, O., Szumilak, D., Nguyen-Khoa, T., Dechaux, M., Massy, Z. A., Phan, O., Mothu, N., Lacour, B., & Drüeke, T. B.) "Dietary Salt Restriction Does Not Prevent But Instead Accelerates Atherosclerosis in Apoliprotein E-deficient Mice," Atherosclerosis (in press); (with Massy, Z. A., Ivanovski, O., Nguyen-Khoa, T., Angulo, J., Szumilak, D., Mothu, N., Mallat, Z., Daudon, M., Lacour, B. & Drüeke, T. B.) "Atherosclerosis and Arterial Calcification in Apoliproprotein E Knockout (apoE-/-) Mice with Chronic Renal Failure," Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (in press) and (with Joseph, T & Onwumere, O.) "Effect of Insulin-Induced Hypokalemia on Lumbar Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Anesthetized Rats," Journal of Hypertension, vol. 22, pp. 1-6 (2004). He presented "Inhibition of Nitric Oxide Synthesis Does Not Alter Hypoglycemia-Induced Activation of Lumbar Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Rats" at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (Texas, 2004).

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