FEATURE STORY | The Unexpected Classroom | SPRING 2026 LEHIGH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
10 N O SMALL MATTER Xiaoji Xu develops new methods and instruments for chemical measurement and imaging at the nanoscale 13 B E PRESENT IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT Student research leads to a local ordinance encouraging bird habitat 14 T EACHING BY EXAMPLE Faculty scholarship makes transitions to the classroom, creating real-world explorations 20 DIVING DEEP Biologist Nicole Pittoors travels to great depths to measure the health of the ocean 22 P EELING BACK THE COLONIAL SHELLAC Olivia Landry’s third book asks what documentary film can do to unsettle colonialist conceptions of the colonized 24 A NEW FACE FOR A SOUTHSIDE ICON Student team helps Lehigh Pizza create a new look while honoring its history 27 BREATHING HOPE WITH TECHNOLOGY Students develop an app to improve health of residents in Kazakhstan 28 L AYING THE GROUNDWORK Environmental policy student works to help preserve the local environment while developing important restoration policies 30 DIVISION! Did the trend toward majority votes over consensus in England’s 17th-century Parliament sow seeds of potential discord in future democracies? BRIEFS FEATURES 02 Observations in Wood … Cellular Communication … Gloria Naylor Archives 04 The Power of Us … Concertos Nos. 1 and 5 … Dice and Gods 06 Quark Gluon Plasma … True Story … Transformative Spaces 08 The Muslim Speaks … Natural Systems … Ethically Challenged CONTENTS 10 CHANNELING THE SPIRIT OF RADIO Robin Sundaramoorthy’s research reveals how federal policy and systemic barriers shaped—and ultimately limited—efforts to diversify America’s airwaves in the 1980s 13 B UILDING BETTER CHEMISTRY: A STUDENT’S QUEST FOR GREENER DRUG SYNTHESIS A Lehigh undergraduate is reimagining how we make pharmaceuticals— one colorful molecule at a time 14 T HE UNEXPECTED CLASSROOM Lehigh University Art Galleries’ Centennial reveals art’s cross-curricular power 20 F ROM TEACHING TO DISCOVERY Alexander Seaver’s academic journey finds balance through zebrafish genetics and student advocacy 22 INFORMATIONAL TREASURE TROVE, FROM TIMBER TYPES TO COST OF LOYALTY Elizabeth Barrett explores a “minor” English family to better understand transitions in British history—and the cost of blind loyalty to the crown 24 B OUND IN BETHLEHEM: MORAVIANS AND SLAVERY As a local expert on Moravians in the 18th century, Scott Paul Gordon is working on a new book about enslavement in Bethlehem 27 I LLUMINATING THE PAST How one student bridges early modern drama and contemporary design 28 MAPPING ATTENTION AND MEMORY How a graduate student’s brain-imaging research reveals what we pay attention to—and why 30 M ORE THAN A MUSICAL Lehigh’s theatre and music departments collaborate to reimagine “Into the Woods” BRIEFS FEATURES 02 Music for Imaginary Movies … Besting Cancer’s Drug Resistance 04 The Necro-President … America’s First Bestseller Scandal … Psychedelics and Brain Damage Repair 06 Green Noodles and the Poetry of Food … Mathematics in Motion … Edwards Earns Coaching Honor 08 What Our Eyes Miss—and Why It Matters … The Power of Persistence
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 1 Robert A Flowers II Herbert J. and Ann L. Siegel Dean SPRING 2026 MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN CELEBRATING THE POWER OF CREATIVITY In the College of Arts and Sciences, our story begins with a simple symbol: &. Small yet powerful, it represents the connections that shape who we are and how we work. It reflects our joint commitments to teaching and research, analysis and imagination, discipline and discovery. It represents the dynamic exchange between arts and sciences across 18 departments and 10 interdisciplinary programs serving undergraduate and graduate students. Most importantly, it signals connection—between ideas, between people, and between the university and the wider world. The possibilities that emerge from an arts and sciences education position us as silo-breakers and unifiers. We bring chemists and poets, political scientists and data scientists, historians and neuroscientists into shared conversations that spark new modes of inquiry. Acumen stands as a testament to this work: scholarship that crosses boundaries, creative research that reframes urgent questions, and discovery that advances both knowledge and empathy. This integrative approach is not simply aspirational; it is foundational to how we prepare students to lead in complex, interconnected environments. A liberal arts education is the beginning of an intellectual journey that can lead anywhere. Through the Lehigh University Art Galleries, students and community members engage with free, accessible exhibitions that redefine experiential learning across disciplines. On the following pages, you’ll discover how theatre and music faculty collaborate on productions such as “Into the Woods”, blending artistic rigor with interdisciplinary creativity. Research across the college explores both historical and contemporary challenges—from examining how federal policy and systemic barriers shaped efforts to diversify America’s airwaves in the 1980s, to investigating pivotal moments in British history through the combined lenses of literature and archival scholarship. Students find connections, whether it bridges early modern drama with contemporary design thinking or reimagines pharmaceutical development through innovative scientific research. These endeavors reflect a culture of inquiry that is both expansive and deeply relevant. For many, CAS is not only the foundation of a Lehigh education but the beginning of a lifelong relationship. The College of Arts and Sciences is the fabric that holds the university together, while also stitching it meaningfully into the surrounding community and global networks of influence. We lead in welcoming our local community onto campus—into our classrooms, galleries, and performance spaces—and in fostering creative, inclusive, and forward-looking ways of addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. I am continually energized by the faculty, staff, and students who ask, “What if?” and then pursue the answers with rigor and imagination. I invite you to consider how alumni, corporate partners, and philanthropic supporters can help amplify this momentum. Together, we can expand access, accelerate discovery, and strengthen the connections that define the College of Arts and Sciences. The work ahead is ambitious, and it will be most powerful when we do it together. ACUMEN MAGAZINE EDITOR Robert Nichols M.Ed.’17 | CAS ADVISORY BOARD Robert A. Flowers II, dean; Kelly Austin, R. Michael Burger, Dawn Keetley, Jessecae Marsh, associate deans | GRAPHIC DESIGNER Kayley LeFaiver | CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Hayley Frerichs, Sara Karnish, Vicki Mayk, Tricia Miller Klapheke, Steve Neumann, Robert Nichols, Melinda Rizzo, Abby Ryan MA’17 | PHOTOGRAPHER Christine Kreschollek ACUMEN is published annually by the College of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University | COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Lehigh University, 9 West Packer Avenue Bethlehem, PA 18015 | cas.lehigh.edu | ©2026 Lehigh University Cover illustration by Kathleen Fu DOUGLAS BENEDICT READER FEEDBACK: Please send comments to: acumen@lehigh.edu Like us: CAS_Lehigh Follow us: lehigh_cas Follow us: lehighu-cas Subscribe: @lehigh_cas
2 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 superhero movement draws heavily from John Williams’ Superman scores. The composition presents unique challenges. While film composers like Williams can write demanding parts for professional union musicians, Wernke must balance his artistic vision with the capabilities of undergraduate students and community members. “John Williams can write all these incredibly high trumpet parts and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t do that,’” he says. “So, I’m making my way through the piece, and thinking ‘Can they do it?’ And if the answer is no, they can’t do it, then I think, how can I preserve this musical moment while also making it attainable for young musicians?” Sometimes the fix is simple, like dropping a note down an octave. Other times it requires reworking entire harmonic structures. Wernke’s path to this project wasn’t direct. Between his bachelor’s and master’s work at Butler University, he applied to USC’s prestigious film scoring program but was denied for lacking technological skills. A doctorate from the University of Hartford-Hartt School followed, but his passion for film music never faded. After seven years teaching in Missouri, Wernke found the right ensemble at Lehigh. “When I came here, it was very clear that yes, they can handle this idea.” As the Philharmonic prepares for its premiere, Wernke sees the project as a bridge between generations of listeners, weaving cinematic influences into the concert hall. MUSIC MUSIC FOR IMAGINARY MOVIES For most composers, the period between childhood ambition and professional achievement spans years of refinement and compromise. For music professor Kyle Wernke, it’s taken decades to finally realize a vision that first sparked when he was just 16 years old. Wernke, who leads the Lehigh University Philharmonic, is composing an ambitious multi-movement orchestral work that reads like an ode to film music. Each movement represents a different part of a movie script, from main titles to plot twists, all unified by a single musical theme that weaves through various cinematic genres. The Philharmonic will premiere the work April 24 in Zoellner Arts Center’s Baker Hall. For Wernke, it represents both the fulfillment of a decades-old dream and a bridge between the classical tradition and the cinematic language that first inspired him to become a composer. “Music for Imaginary Movies” draws inspiration from some of film’s finest scores. Wernke, assistant professor of music, draws inspiration from specific works that have moved him: the Western movement channels “High Noon” and “Silverado,” while another movement takes cues from 1962’s “Mutiny on the Bounty.” A CHEMISTRY BEATING CANCER’S DRUG RESISTANCE Every day, the DNA in each of our cells suffers thousands of attacks. Air pollution, cigarette smoke, background radiation, and even routine cell division can damage the genetic code that keeps us alive. Fortunately, our cells are equipped with sophisticated repair machinery, a suite of enzymes that detect and fix DNA damage before it leads to mutations or cell death. Sometimes this protective system goes awry. Some of the most important cancer therapies work by damaging DNA. Cancer cells will therefore hijack DNA repair machinery to fix the therapy-induced damage and resist frontline treatments. Developing innovative tools to understand exactly how cancer cells exploit DNA repair and how to turn that knowledge into better treatments is the focus of work underway by biochemist Daniel Laverty. Laverty’s research creates functional assays, molecular tools that measure specific DNA repair pathways in living cells. These assays address a fundamental challenge in cancer research. DNA can be damaged in myriad ways, making it difficult to pinpoint which repair pathways are most important in any given tumor. “If you just treat cells with radiation, you’re actually making 100 different types of DNA damage,” says Laverty, assistant professor of chemistry. “So, then it becomes really challenging. Let’s say you have one tumor that was killed by radiation and one that was resistant. Which one of those 100 DNA lesions killed this tumor, but not that tumor?” His solution is elegant. His lab creates circular DNA molecules called plasmids that encode for fluorescent or luminescent proteins. Then they introduce a specific type of DNA damage, and transfer the plasmid into human cells, where they exist separately from the cell’s CHRISTINE KRESCHOLLEK THE HBURMIEAFNSITIES Kyle Wernke
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 3 chromosomes. If the DNA damage gets repaired, the cell will emit fluorescence or luminescence, providing a readout of how efficiently the cells repaired the DNA damage. Laverty’s research program has two complementary goals. First, his team investigates the fundamental molecular mechanisms of DNA repair, particularly focusing on how cells handle doublestrand breaks, the most dangerous type of DNA damage, and a process called translesion synthesis, which allows cells to tolerate unrepaired damage and restart DNA replication. The second thrust has direct clinical implications, understanding how cancer cells develop resistance to treatment. Many cancers initially respond to chemotherapy or radiation but eventually become resistant. Laverty suspects that cancer cells activate error-prone repair pathways that generate mutations, essentially accelerating their own evolution to develop drug resistance. By understanding exactly how cancer cells resist treatment and designing functional assays that can detect this resistance in real time, his work could help move cancer therapy from a blunt instrument to a precision tool. SOCIOLOGY MINING DIGITAL DISCOURSE As mental health awareness reaches unprecedented levels, sociologist Amy Johnson is using computational methods to examine how Americans conceptualize psychological well-being. Her forthcoming book analyzes four decades of mental health conversation and challenges a fundamental assumption that increased dialogue reduces stigma. Working at the intersection of cultural sociology and data science, Johnson has analyzed millions of texts, from newspaper archives spanning 1980-2020 to five years of daily posts from Reddit’s r/mentalhealth forum. “Language is our window into culture, especially language that’s preserved historically,” says Johnson, assistant professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. “Reading it, looking at it, analyzing it tells us how culture and cultural ideas change.” Johnson began with a straightforward question: What do ordinary people, not mental health professionals, think about mental health? While surveys exist, Johnson sought something deeper. “To really get at culture, I had to go to text data,” she says She started with news media, pulling articles from six major publications through the publications database ProQuest. Her search parameters were deliberately broad, capturing articles mentioning mental health and illness or tagged as related. The dataset provided insight into dominant cultural narratives. But newspaper coverage left a critical question unanswered: How do individuals apply these macro-level concepts to their own experiences? This question led Johnson to Reddit, which offered authentic discussions of personal mental health experiences. “Reddit has a wealth of forums or subreddits about mental health,” Johnson says. “People go online and describe their emotions, their past treatment, stating how they feel and how they’re making sense of it.” The platform’s anonymity proves crucial. Users discuss stigmatizing experiences without worrying about “saving face or preserving their reputation,” Johnson says For her newspaper analysis, Johnson employed topic modeling, a computational method that identifies themes within large text datasets. She also used word embeddings, a technique capturing connotations and semantic relationships. Johnson’s central finding challenges conventional wisdom about destigmatization. “Just because we’re talking about mental health so much more now does not mean that we have destigmatized it. We’re not in any sort of moment of acceptance of mental health and illness,” she says. Instead, increased mental health literacy may provide more sophisticated language for creating social divisions. “The fact that we talk more about mental health has equipped more people to also use the language of mental illness to create divisions. To say, well, this person is different. This person is not like me. This person should be kept away from me, or they’re dangerous,” Johnson adds. PAMELA MCTURK / SCIENCE SOURCE, MARIA GONCALVES / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO A circular loop, or plasmid, of DNA molecules in which an individual gene has been modified.
4 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 understood: “The sense of decay and rot that is associated with death or a corpse has actually infiltrated the highest office in the land.” In late July 2024, elected representatives demanded proof of life from Biden. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s insistence that Biden provide “proof of life” by 5 p.m. became a viral moment. “This is distinct from demanding a death certificate or an autopsy report,” Caivano explains. “What that really suggests is that we are now living in the type of culture and society where we need to demonstrate our very own existence.” After Trump’s return to the White House, the administration replaced Biden’s presidential portrait with a framed photograph of an autopen, the mechanical device used to replicate signatures. “We have the normalization of not being there. We have the normalization of the lack of vitality, the lack of presence, the lack of life,” Caivano says. The presidency has always represented American vitality while also wielding death through commanderin-chief authority. The crisis emerges when this symbol loses coherence. “What happens when that singular figure has become so hollowed out that it’s devoid of meaning?” If Biden embodied institutional death, Trump positioned himself as POLITICAL SCIENCE THE NECROPRESIDENT When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis compared President Joe Biden to the corpse from “Weekend at Bernie’s” at the 2024 Republican National Convention, the crowd erupted in laughter. But for Dean Caivano, the joke exposed something far more disturbing—it revealed that death itself had infiltrated the symbolic center of American governance. “Really he was touching upon something that lies at the very heart of all political systems, but particularly a republican regime like ours,” says Caivano, assistant professor of political science. “And that is the question of what comes next.” In “The NecroPresident: Trump, MAGA, and the Decline of the American Republic,” Caivano introduces a provocative framework for understanding the 2024 presidential election, not as a typical contest between candidates, but as a referendum on whether the American republic retains any vitality at all. His central concept, the “necropresident,” describes how mortality and decay have become embedded in the language, symbols, and psychology of contemporary American politics. According to Caivano, DeSantis was “speaking to this very real threat and this undercurrent, this psychological anxiety that we feel about maybe there won’t be a tomorrow.” The anxiety has empirical support: “We have data that supports the fact that this is the first time in a hundred years where people over 50 don’t think the future will be as promising for their children as it was for them.” DeSantis’ comparison pointed to something the crowd intuitively ANADOLU / GETTY IMAGES resurrection. “There is a very strong [group of people] that has merged the presidency with a messianic Christian white nationalist figure,” Caivano notes. This creates a theological paradox. Trump promises an eternal republic, but Christian eschatology requires governmental collapse for Christ’s return. “Trump supporters are caught placing all their faith into this singular mortal man to save the present moment. But in doing so, it may foreclose the possibility of a Christian kingdom coming into the future,” he says. The necro-president is not an aberration but a symptom—the visible manifestation of institutional hollowing underway for decades, Caivano says. Biden’s frailty became a screen for collective anxieties about republican mortality, while Trump’s messianic framing offered the fantasy of transcending decay through authoritarian permanence. Neither resolves the crisis, he adds, but both confirm it. HISTORY AMERICA’S FIRST BESTSELLER SCANDAL Historian Monica Najar has spent years unraveling one of the most sensational stories in American publishing history—the tale of Maria Monk, whose lurid 1836 account of convent life became a 19th-century bestseller. It told shocking stories of sexual assault, murder and abuse inside a Montreal convent, fueling antiCatholic sentiment for generations. But Monk, a 19-year-old pregnant woman who arrived in the United States from Montreal, was most likely THE HBURMIEAFNSITIES In the Presidential Walk of Fame outside the Oval Office, former President Joe Biden’s portrait has been replaced by a photo of an autopen.
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 5 never in the convent and died penniless in a poorhouse, never profiting from her narrative. “Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk” sold 300,000 copies before 1860 and continued being reprinted into the 20th century. Monk claimed that during her time as a nun at Montreal’s HotelDieu, she’d been forced to participate in horrific acts including murdering a fellow nun who refused priests’ immoral demands. Capitalizing on anti-Catholic sentiment, New York editors promoted Monk’s allegations as “true” revelations about convent life. When the pregnant Monk took refuge in the Bellevue Almshouse in 1835, she had only a scandalous story. But anti-Catholic and antiimmigrant men saw opportunity to convince Americans of Catholicism’s threat—and make money. These men and Monk produced a book that would excite a scandal-hungry public, despite holes in her story. “She tells this story of the nunnery soon after coming to this country, but this group of men-on-the-make come in, and they take over the process. Critics would call her a thief, but they took her story, took the copyright, and took the profits,” says Najar, professor of history and women, gender, and sexuality studies. “They sometimes even took control of her. It was very clear this book was going to make money in the months before it was published. And so, Monk became a pawn as different factions tried to get control of the project.” The 1830s marked the rise of Jacksonian democracy, when voting rights expanded to include poor, working-class men, including Catholics. For some Protestant Americans, this represented terrifying loss of control. “It’s no longer an expectation that the ‘right people’ were guiding the government,” Najar said. “Now, you have to trust the man you don’t know, and he might be poor, and he might be a laborer, and he might be Catholic.” Anti-Catholic activists made this fear personal—framing the Pope’s supposed threat through a vulnerable woman’s story. “The idea of a woman captive in a convent becomes a stand-in for the threat to democracy,” Najar notes. Najar found no evidence Monk was ever in a convent—“she just didn’t know enough about convents”— but acknowledges the historical reality of clergy sexual abuse. After writing a college paper on the topic, Najar moved on to other work, only to return years later. “I just got so interested in her and in the ethics—the ethics of what happened around her, and the ethics of my responsibility as a historian returning to this story.” That ethical responsibility extends to recovering the humanity of a woman the internet still treats as either a villain or a curiosity. After years of unraveling this sensational and misunderstood story, Najar admits she feels “quite close” to this project. “This book will be Monk’s story. That’s hard to find on the internet if you look at it.” The tale that began with a pregnant 19-year-old arriving from Montreal and ended with her dying penniless in a poorhouse still has more to reveal—about who profits from women’s celebrity and scandal, and who pays the price. Originally published in January 1836, “Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk” was a sensational tale spurred by anti-Catholic sentiment (above). Engraving of a priest, circa 1890 (below). ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
6 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 BIOLOGY PSYCHEDELICS AND BRAIN DAMAGE REPAIR Chronic stress strips neurons in the brain of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions where synapses form, dismantling the neural circuits underlying memory and decision-making. Now, emerging research suggests that psychedelic compounds may help rebuild these damaged circuits, offering new hope for treating illnesses like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Neuroscientist Ju Lu uses advanced brain imaging to observe this repair process. While classical psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD activate serotonin 2A receptors, small-scale trials show they produce lasting benefits from just one or two doses—a stark contrast to conventional antidepressants, which patients must take continuously. Lu, assistant professor of biological sciences, continues work from his postdoctoral research at the University of California-Santa Cruz with biologist Yi Zuo. They collaborated with University of California-Davis chemist David Olson, who developed tabernanthalog (TBG), structurally like the psychedelic drug ibogaine but lacking its toxic and hallucinogenic effects. A single TBG dose rapidly reverses stress effects in mice, correcting behavioal deficits and promoting neuronal regrowth. At Lehigh, Lu exposes mice to seven days of unpredictable mild stressors, then uses two-photon microscopy to observe synaptic loss in the prefrontal cortex. Without treatment, few new spines formed. But TBG dramatically accelerated synapse formation. “If you give the drug, you see quite a bit of the formation. One dendritic spine was lost and then two of them formed,” he says. “Another is lost; one is formed. So, the statistics show that over one day, the formation rate is much higher than in the baseline condition, or after stress where the spine has recovered.” Behaviorally, TBG restored normal function across three measures: reduced anxiety, improved cognitive flexibility, and recovered sensory discrimination. Lu also found that stress increases neural “noise” where neurons fire erratically even at rest. TBG restores normal patterns by quieting inappropriate firing. One crucial question concerns durability. Lu’s data reveals temporary synapse formation, but preliminary analysis suggests these new synapses survive at higher rates than normal ones. “We’re still analyzing this data, but it seems like although this formation itself is a kind of transient boost, these new synapses tend to stay longer. And we think that probably something has to do with the fact that the therapeutic effect is long-lasting, because they stay, and therefore the circuit is permanently changed that way, more persistent. And now the question is, we know they’re mostly expressed in these neurons. So, what if they get rid of them from there? What would happen?” Understanding these mechanisms could enable more targeted interventions for depression and related disorders. MODERN LANGUAGES & LITERATURES GREEN NOODLES AND THE POETRY OF FOOD Dr. Seuss may have written about green eggs, but poet Du Fu (712-770), one of the most important figures in Chinese literary history, wrote about green food in his famous poem “HuaiLeaf Cold Noodles.” The detailed recipe based on the poem appeared in “Pure Offerings in the Mountains” one of the oldest surviving standalone cookbooks in China, dating from the 13th century. Wandi Wang is translating the cookbook and has classified it not just as a collection of recipes, but as a masterpiece of literature. Lin Hong (fl. 1224-1263), the author of “Pure Offerings in the Mountains,” was known as a “Rivers and Lakes poet,” but most of his poetry was lost. Wang, assistant professor of Chinese in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, explains he wasn’t a scholar-official poet with a post because he didn’t pass China’s civil service examination at that time. The cookbook, while a way to attract attention, wasn’t just a cookbook like we’d imagine today. “He discussed a lot of poetry ... He quoted his own poetry, as well as poetry from his contemporaries and earlier voices, to show that he was very knowledgeable,” Wang says. Wang is working on a book, tentatively titled “Taste and Gastropoetics in Traditional China,” that explores gastronomic writings by literati in the Song dynasty (9601279). “I focus on the Song dynasty because that’s when gastronomic writings emerged,” she notes. In many ways, Song dynasty food culture marks China’s first historical moment that closely parallels the dynamics of modern gastronomic culture. Part of her research includes offering the first complete translation of “Pure Offerings in the Mountains” with annotations and detailed analysis, a challenging task given that this is BRIEFS CHRISTINE KRESCHOLLEK Ju Lu
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 7 a relatively new field of study. “Pure Offerings in the Mountains” is not just a record for historical documentation but a way for Lin Hong to convey his values, morality, and political views. It’s also very beautifully written which is why Wang calls it “a lyrical cookbook.” By using “Pure Offerings in the Mountains,” Wang is reconstructing the lost poet. The dishes in the collection reflect the aesthetics of Lin Hong and the pursuit of purity. “(Purity) can mean a lot of things in Chinese culture, such as integrity, frugality, and in terms of food, this very subtle, refreshing kind of beauty, so most of the dishes in that cookbook are vegetarian and simple,” she says. “Lin Hong was pushing back against this very extravagant way of eating at that time, which was so prevalent, especially with richer families. And he was trying to say that, look, we can find beauty in those very rustic, simple, frugal ways of eating. So that dish (Huai-Leaf Cold Noodles) is actually a very good symbol of that.” MATHEMATICS MATHEMATICS IN MOTION The problems that captivate mathematician and computational scientist Xianyi Zeng rarely sit still. Whether tracking how water moves around a rapidly accelerating ship, modeling viral infections through cellular tissue, or understanding why rivers meander across landscapes, his work grapples with systems in constant flux. At their core lie differential equations, the mathematical languages used to describe how things change. “I prefer to describe my research as applied mathematics and scientific computing,” says Zeng, assistant professor of mathematics. His focus is particularly sharp on hyperbolic conservation laws, equations describing quantities that remain constant even as they flow through space and transform over time. Mass in a closed fluid system, the total number of cells in biological tissue, energy in a moving fluid—each obeys a conservation principle that Zeng translates into computational methods. The Navier-Stokes equations occupy much of Zeng’s early work in fluid dynamics. Developed by Claude-Louis Navier and George Gabriel Stokes in 1822, these equations determine the velocity vector field that applies to a fluid, given initial conditions. The Clay Mathematical Institute offers a $1 million prize to prove their existence, yet rather than pursue analytical proof, Zeng took a different path. This pragmatic turn reflects years of research in computational fluid dynamics. The equations model air and water in motion, making them indispensable for applications from airplane wing design to ship hull optimization. But Zeng sees unfinished business. Modern engineering problems demand more than isolated solutions. When a ship cuts through water at high speed, the interaction becomes extraordinarily complex. Traditional methods prove incompatible when applied together. Yet Zeng’s portfolio spans far beyond ships and waves. He devotes equal energy to developing approximation methods for differential equations themselves. His research centers on Hermite interpolation, a refinement of classical polynomial approximation techniques. “Differential equations, by definition, involve derivatives,” Zeng says. “We are trying to build our approximation of both, not only on the point values.” Zeng also collaborates with civil engineers on river meandering. A colleague’s experimental facility creates miniature rivers in a laboratory, while Zeng’s group provides mathematical models and numerical tools for preliminary analysis. The field itself remains fundamentally open-ended. Each advance in computing power creates capacity to tackle more complicated problems. For mathematicians, engineers, and the industries they serve, that open horizon represents both challenge and opportunity. And Zeng appears content to remain in motion through it, solving problems that refuse to sit still. CHRISTINE KRESCHOLLEK Wandi Wang hosted a food lab with students who recreated the green noodle dish. Xianyi Zeng
8 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 PSYCHOLOGY WHAT OUR EYES MISS—AND WHY IT MATTERS When a radiologist scans an X-ray for tumors or a TSA officer examines baggage for prohibited items, they’re executing complex cognitive processes that transform sensory information into meaningful decisions. Patrick Cox, assistant professor of psychology, is working to decode these mechanisms through research that investigates how the brain processes visual information, directs attention, and conducts visual search. “How we successfully perform visual search is a basic science question about something that we do all the time in our daily lives,” Cox says. “But it’s also really important in lots of really high stakes applied settings.” His work aims to inform critical applications in medical imaging, security screening, and defense intelligence. Cox’s laboratory employs a comprehensive methodological toolkit. The core work involves behavioral experiments where participants complete visual search tasks on computer displays. But the lab also uses electroencephalography (EEG) to observe neural processing in real time. “By putting an EEG cap on the scalp, we can essentially see large, coordinated activation of parts of the brain read meaningful engagement with Black feminist thought, critical attention to whiteness, and consistent efforts to build community across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Ed Whitley, professor and chair of Lehigh’s English department, called Edwards “an incredibly intelligent and deeply moral person” whose leadership shapes both the Lehigh campus and her community. Former students and junior colleagues described her mentorship as transformative and sustaining. “Suzanne Edwards is one of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever had the privilege of learning from during my graduate education,” said Sarita Jayanty Mizin, a 2021 graduate who is assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. “She engages in dialectical feminist mentorship in ways that have supported (me) and many former students across a vast range of intellectual and personal growth. When I think of conversations with Suzanne, I’m reminded that no education is ever wasted. ... It is a privilege to now consider Suzanne my friend and comrade in this considered life.” The award will be given every two years, with nominations beginning in 2027. Edwards’ research examines connections between contemporary feminist and queer theory and medieval European literature. Her book “The Afterlives of Rape in Medieval English Literature” explores how medieval texts frame sexual assault and consent. She recently co-edited “Women’s Restorative Medievalisms” with Dr. Matthew X. Vernon and is working on a new book examining medieval debate forms through feminist theories of intersectionality. Edwards co-directs the Gloria Naylor Archive project with Mary Foltz and has published personal essays on reproductive justice and mothering with cancer. A recipient of Lehigh University’s Early Career Award and the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, she teaches courses in medieval literature, law and literature, and gender and sexuality studies. ENGLISH EDWARDS EARNS COACHING HONOR The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship has announced the creation of the Suzanne Edwards Mentorship Award, a new biennial honor recognizing extraordinary mentorship of early-career feminist scholars. English professor Suzanne Edwards is the inaugural recipient. “Through her brilliance, generosity, and integrity, Suzanne has shown us what feminist mentorship can and should be,” the citation reads. “It is our honor to celebrate her by establishing this award in her name.” The award was proposed by scholars Sarah Baechle of the University of Mississippi and Carissa Harris of Temple University and received unanimous approval from the SMFS Advisory Board. Colleagues, students, and mentees shared overwhelming praise for Edwards’ impact on feminist medieval studies and beyond. Edwards is celebrated for her intellectual generosity, commitment to inclusivity, and ability to merge rigorous scholarship with feminist praxis. Colleagues point to her scholarship’s BRIDGEMAN IMAGES, SIPA USA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO BRIEFS Folio from a medieval handbook, circa 11th century.
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 9 out through the scalp,” Cox says. “We can get kind of a biological movie of the time course of processing.” Perhaps the most innovative aspect involves a mobile game simulating airport security screening. Through collaboration with developer Kedlin Co., Cox obtained data from more than 15 million downloads and nearly 4 billion virtual bags. “It’s a bit cartoony, but it still looks like a realworld search,” Cox explains. This massive dataset allows researchers to detect behavioral patterns at a scale impossible in traditional laboratory settings. One key insight challenges conventional emphases in visual search research. While the field has traditionally focused on physical stimulus properties, Cox argues that prior experience and expectation exert equally powerful influences. “Not just what you’re looking at now, but what did you see the trial before? Three trials before? Yesterday? For someone like a TSA agent or a radiologist, these have very large effects.” Now in his third year at Lehigh, Cox is pursuing collaborations with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Army Research Lab, radiologists, and local law enforcement. His integrative approach—combining laboratory experiments, neuroimaging, computational modeling, and big data analytics—promises both theoretical advances in understanding visual cognition and practical improvements in domains where visual search performance can literally save lives. PACIFIC PRESS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THE POWER OF PERSISTENCE In the corridors of the United Nations, conventional wisdom suggests that power flows from military strength and economic heft. Yet Sabrina Arias has uncovered a different story, one where small countries punch far above their weight and where individual diplomats matter as much as the GDP of the nations they represent. Arias’ book project, “Diplomatic Giants: How Small States and Powerful Ambassadors Shape International Organization Policymaking,” challenges fundamental assumptions about how influence operates in international organizations. Through data collection and interviews with diplomats from more than 50 countries, she demonstrates that small states wield surprising influence in the early stages of policymaking, cultivating what Arias calls “diplomatic capital.” The research required extraordinary persistence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Arias tracked every UN ambassador and deputy from 1946-2018, ultimately compiling a database of 21,159 entries from the UN’s “Blue Books,” annual directories listing diplomatic staff. When archives remained closed, she had volumes delivered through interlibrary loan and manually constructed the dataset, entry by entry. The dataset revealed a striking pattern. Small states maintain significantly longer average tenures for their ambassadors compared to large states. While diplomats from countries such as Germany or the United States typically rotate every two to four years, ambassadors from smaller nations often serve for decades. Liechtenstein’s ambassador, for instance, has represented his country at the UN for more than 20 years. Arias proposes three mechanisms through which diplomatic experience translates into diplomatic capital: developing social networks, gaining substantive expertise, and attaining mastery over institutional rules. These advantages become particularly important in the complex UN General Assembly, where proposals must navigate intricate procedures. “Several diplomats I interviewed weren’t even familiar with the procedure,” Arias adds. “It takes a lot of know-how to understand how to do it.” To establish causation, Arias examined cases where ambassadors died unexpectedly during their terms. When experienced diplomats were suddenly replaced by novices, their countries’ engagement in agendasetting measurably declined, supporting her theory that individual diplomatic skill drives small-state influence. Arias argues that previous scholars have overestimated the influence of powerful states by focusing on late-stage activities like voting. But in the early stages of policymaking, where visibility is lower, it becomes much harder to translate material resources into influence. Arias’ findings carry significant implications for international relations scholarship and practice. Her research challenges state-centric models that privilege material capabilities, demonstrating that influence in international organizations may be more widely distributed than conventional theories suggest. The findings indicate that small states can leverage diplomatic continuity, social capital, and procedural expertise to exercise disproportionate influence during agenda-setting phases. This work advances our understanding of how individual-level factors mediate structural power unevenness in global governance institutions. UN Security Council members vote on a draft resolution.
10 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 Robin Sundaramoorthy always wanted to work in radio. Now an assistant professor in Lehigh’s department of journalism and communication, her love of the broadcast medium began when her parents were going through a divorce and she lived for a time with her grandparents, who listened to the radio constantly. “Radio was my first love,” Sundaramoorthy says. “It was my friend; I loved the fact that the voices on the radio could just take me to another place.” Sundaramoorthy, who received her bachelor’s degrees in English and mass communication from Newberry College in South Carolina, never worked in radio professionally, but two prominent internships proved foundational to her journalism career. At South Carolina’s #1 talk radio station and the local NPR affiliate, she learned to write news stories for both broadcast and print—skills that would define her work for decades. Both positions came with significant responsibility and provided her with firsthand knowledge about how the news industry operates. After earning her master’s in journalism from Michigan State University, she spent 20 years in television journalism, starting in Michigan on the overnight weekend shift. Fortunately, Sundaramoorthy would eventually return to her first love, making it the topic of her doctoral dissertation in 2024 at Channeling the Spirit of Radio BY STEVE NEUMANN Robin Sundaramoorthy’s research reveals how federal policy and systemic barriers shaped— and ultimately limited—efforts to diversify America’s airwaves in the 1980s HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION / GETTY IMAGES
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 11 Journalist George S. Schuyler (opposite right) interviews Malcolm X at WLIB radio in Harlem in 1964. American producer, playwright and radio host Vy Higginsen in the studio of New York’s radio station WBLS (above). Robin Sundaramoorthy (below). way. One way he proposed to do that was to try and increase minority broadcast ownership. “In 1968 there were only five Blackowned radio stations,” Sundaramoorthy says. “By 1978 there were 62, so less than 1 percent of all radio stations in the country were owned by African Americans.” Though Carter would leave office before he saw his plan come to fruition, in 1983 the FCC issued Docket No. 80-90. This rule ultimately led to the creation of approximately 700 new FM stations in small- to mid-sized communities across the country. While the rule forever altered the landscape of FM radio, Sundaramoorthy found through her research that efforts to increase minority broadcast ownership had been stymied by a convoluted combination of economic policy, judicial rulings and political maneuvering by the party that controls the White House. “From the 1930s up until shortly after Carter was elected, there were so many policies in place that prevented minorities and women from entering into ownership,” Sundaramoorthy. “The airwaves were free, but the FCC grants the licenses, and a lot of structural racism prevented Black people from entering the industry.” Sundaramoorthy learned that applicants for those licenses had to have previous experience in the broadcast field which, of course, most Black Americans didn’t have because they didn’t have access to those types of opportunities. the University of Maryland. That dissertation, “Black Radio Ownership and the FCC’s Failed Attempt to Diversify the Airwaves,” won awards from the American Journalism Historians Association and the Broadcasters Education Association, and received the highly prestigious Gerald R. Miller Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the National Communication Association this year. A Long and Winding Road The road back to radio was winding but rewarding. Sundaramoorthy worked in various production roles at local news stations before joining CNN, where she served as associate producer and producer for CNN International and CNN Airport Network. These experiences equipped her to move to the Christian Broadcasting Network, where she became Washington, D.C. bureau chief in 2011—the first Black person and first woman to hold the position. “I had a great career, I traveled across the United States and all over the world,” Sundaramoorthy says. “I covered then-Senator Barack Obama when he was running for president. I was in Grant Park the night President Obama won, interviewing people in the crowd.” During that time, however, the journalism industry was irrevocably changing. The traditional business model of print advertising had cratered; local newsrooms continued to either shutdown or merge; and social media platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) started becoming the primary news sources for more and more people. For Sundaramoorthy, it was time for a change, too. She left CBN, got married, had a child, and began teaching classes at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., as an adjunct professor. That experience rekindled her interest in getting her PhD. So, with her master’s in journalism from Michigan State University in hand, and twenty years of lived experience in the industry, Sundaramoorthy began her doctoral studies at the University of Maryland. Barriers to Entry The specific dissertation topic Sundaramoorthy decided to focus on was the federal government’s efforts to increase minority broadcast ownership by increasing the number of FM radio stations in the early 1980s, a push that began when Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976. Sundaramoorthy says Carter had won the Black vote overwhelmingly, and he felt he needed to repay the Black community in some CHRISTINE KRESCHOLLEK, FAIRCHILD ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES
12 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 At the same time, there were onerous financial requirements, such as buying the land and equipment, as well as having to have three or four months of operating expenses on hand, before being able to go on the air. Stories Behind the Data Because this historical episode occurred relatively recently, Sundaramoorthy was able to locate nine Black individuals who benefited from Docket No. 80-90 and built radio stations from the ground up. Uncovering their stories required exhaustive investigative work: she conducted 50 interviews and meticulously reviewed more than 7,000 documents from the National Archives—a level of research depth and rigor that judges have consistently recognized in the awards she has received for this work. “They all had very similar experiences,” Sundaramoorthy says. “A difficult part of Docket No. 80-90 was that, in order to acquire these stations, you had to go through what was called a ‘comparative hearing’ where there was an actual judge who would look at all of these people who wanted to acquire the signal. In some cases, there were more than two dozen people vying for the same signal. “They would have to go to court over and over again to make their case.” Sundaramoorthy discovered that it took one owner, Paula Nelson, ten years to acquire her station in Sacramento, Calif. She went to court dozens of times and was awarded the station only to have someone challenge her—so she had to go to court yet again. “She eventually won the hearing and the license,” Sundaramoorthy says. “The last gentleman to challenge her ended up getting cancer and passing away before he could build a station, so when she went to court again she finally won the license.” The comparative hearing process was extremely expensive. Sundaramoorthy says Black applicants spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire their stations. “Most of them remained in the hands of the original African American owner for five years before they were sold because of consolidation pressures and the Telecommunications Act of 1996,” Sundaramoorthy says, “so they were able to become financially viable. And all the stations were wildly successful—they all either had a jazz or an urban radio format, and shot to number one in these markets almost overnight. It was pretty amazing.” “I really just hope that I’ve done justice to the people whose stories I’ve told,” Sundaramoorthy added. “When I was a working journalist, I tried to represent the people I met with honesty and respect and that’s what I’m hoping I’ve done for these amazing men and women.” The Path Ahead Since completing her doctorate and becoming an assistant professor at Lehigh, Sundaramoorthy’s research has focused on what happens when mainstream media outlets misrepresent or ignore minority communities. Her work specifically examines Black media, the Black Press, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with particular attention to how media policy and ownership shape representation and voice in society. “I love media and journalism history,” Sundaramoorthy says, “and I love the methods I use—oral history and archival research—because honestly it’s just like I’m still producing news stories.” “Of course, I’m more in depth now,” Sundaramoorthy continued. “I’m adding theory and a few other things I wouldn’t necessarily have done when I was a TV news journalist, but this whole journey has been absolutely incredible.” Outside of her academic career, Sundaramoorthy is exploring the professional and personal possibilities of the new media that were just emerging when she was a practicing journalist. “I’m working with a friend at Towson University on a proposal for a podcast that we’re trying to put together,” Sundaramoorthy says. “We’re going to be looking at Black women in academia, producing a podcast that will provide career tips and advice, as well as a space for African American women and their allies.” ● A DJ interviews a woman about Carnation milk at WSOK in Nashville, Tenn., in 1953. BOB GRANNIS / GETTY IMAGES
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