Spectacular Magazine (July 2014) Spectacular Magazine - July 2014 | Page 16

Briefly PUBLIC SAFETY AND HEALTH ARE FOCUS OF NEWLY FUNDED RESEARCH AT NCCU TOMEKA WARD-SATTERFIELD NAMED ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL OF THE YEAR CHAPEL HILL, NC – Upon election by her peers, Tomeka Ward-Satterfield, Assistant Principal at East Chapel Hill High, was recently named Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Assistant Principal of the Year. Ward-Satterfield has served in public education since 1998, and has been employed at East Chapel Hill High since 2009. Prior to her arrival, she served as a teacher assistant, teacher and counselor in Durham Public Schools, and as an assistant principal in the Alamance-Burlington School System. After earning her Bachelor of Arts in English at North Carolina Central University in 1998, WardSatterfield continued her studies and earned her Master of School Administration in 2001. SAINT AUGUSTINE’S UNIVERSITY AWARDED $200,000 GRANT FROM NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RALEIGH, NC – Saint Augustine’s University was awarded a two-year grant for $200,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program Research Initiation. Dr. Mark A. Melton, Dean of the School of Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering, will serve as the principal investigator. The grant will help expose students to ‘cuttingedge’ bench research beyond summer internships, better prepare students for the rigors of graduate studies and increase the number of underrepresented minorities that elect to pursue advanced degrees and careers in the a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field. The award starts August 15, 2014 and ends July 31, 2016. 16 DURHAM, NC - Dr. Liju Yang, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) has received a grant of $497,723 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to develop better methods of isolating and concentrating diseasecausing microorganisms in food samples. Yang’s work involves carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are extremely tiny tubes formed by carbon atoms that may be used to transport and deliver antibodies to specific sites within the body and combat illness. The NIFA grant was one of 25 awarded to universities for work involving food safety, and one of just two received by a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). NCCU’s Institute for Homeland Security and Workforce Development, founded nine years ago as part of the Department of Criminal Justice in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, has become national leader in the field of training for emergency management and security preparedness, particularly in rural and underserved areas. In 2010, the Institute received $1.8 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to train faithbased and community organizations in emergency preparedness. The Institute’s “Mobilizing Faith-Based Communities in Preparing for Disaster” has been offered 31 times in 28 cities with participants from 17 states. A recently awarded federal grant of a $100,000 will allow the institute to continue this work. “NCCU has played a major role in strengthening the resiliency of numerous communities throughout the U.S.,” said Lonnie Lawson, president and CEO of the Center for Rural Development, which oversees a national collaboration known as the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium. MONIQUE HOLSEY-HYMAN HONORED FOR VOLUNTEER WORK DURHAM, NC - Professor Monique Holsey-Hyman, cu