F A L L 2 0 2 2 L E H I GH B U L L E T I N Clayton University Center R E IMAGI N I NG THE AT PACKER HA L L
TAKING FLIGHT Flying Swarms: Designing, Constructing and Programming Autonomous Robotic Blimps was one of 36 “distinct, innovation-driven” projects in Lehigh’s 10-week Mountaintop Summer Experience. Now in its 10th year, the Mountaintop Summer Experience has grown dramatically since its inception, featuring 180 students and 25 faculty members last summer. The Flying Swarms project team, which included Alex Witt ’23, DJ Ammirato ’23, Karen Li ’24 and Michael Fitzgerald ’23, aims to use low-cost autonomous aerial robots that can make an impact throughout the world, including to transport life-saving supplies to remote areas. PHOTO BY CHRISTA NEU
FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 1
GOAT YOGAStudents share laughs as they practice the health benefts of yoga—with goats as their partners—on the lawn of the Clayton University Center. The Offce of Student Engagement sponsored the event. PHOTO BY CHRISTA NEU 2 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 3
U P F R O N T STAFF A Quintessential Lehigh Story Earlier this year, I received a phone message from Lois Black, curator of Special Collections. She was very excited to tell me that Lehigh had just been gifted the personal papers of Miles Rock, one of fve members of Lehigh’s very frst graduating class, the Class of 1869, and the frst president of Lehigh’s alumni association. “There’s an incredible story here,” she told me. “And I hope to share more with you.” Indeed, there was. Rock sought a Lehigh education around the time of its founding, after serving in the Civil War as part of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps and the U.S. Signal Corps. The frst to earn a civil engineering degree here, Rock went on to live a very signifcant life as a civil engineer, naturalist and astronomer. Among his service to governments, he used his technical knowledge and diplomatic skills to help determine the disputed frontier between Mexico and Guatemala. He didn’t forget his alma mater, also becoming an honorary alumni trustee, and, for a year, had taught civil engineering before moving to Argentina. He even named his son after a favorite Lehigh professor. You can read Christina Tatu’s story on Rock’s incredible life journey on page 30. So why is Rock’s story relevant to Lehigh today? Firstly, his journals, maps, Civil War uniform and other belongings will now be preserved as part of the Lehigh University Libraries Special Collections and available for research, thanks to the gift from his greatgreat-grandsons David Grace and Chris Grace. “This is such an amazing collectionwith so much research potential,” Black told us. The materials also provide a window into our nation’s history, as he refects on 19thcentury America, and in one journal account, writes about the pain of learning of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Secondly, Rock’s story fortifes the Lehigh story and the value of a Lehigh education. From its inception, Lehigh has strived to prepare its graduates to take on tomorrow’s chalC H R I S T A N E U lenges, to problem-solve, to have an impact on the world and to live lives of consequence. Rock, as so many of our alumni do, used his Lehigh education to make a diference. We hope you enjoy this issue of the Lehigh Bulletin. You can see renderings of the planned renovations to the Clayton UniversityCenter, aproject thatwas launched by a donation from Kevin L. Clayton ’84 ’13P and Lisa A. Clayton ’13P. The renovations will preserve the building’s grandeur while creating a dynamic environment for student life. (See page 24.) Other articles highlight faculty research, culture, athletics and more. Sincerely, Mary Ellen Alu, Editor Share your thoughts—your kudos, your criticisms, your questions—by sending a letter to the editor. It can be sent via snail mail to the address at right or via email to maa614@lehigh.edu. 4 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N EDITOR Mary Ellen Alu ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stephen Gross STAFF WRITER Christina Tatu CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jodi Duckett, Lori Friedman, Kelly Hochbein, Rob Nichols, Christina Perrier ’23, Brittany Pierzga, Cynthia Tintorri CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kurt Hansen ART DIRECTOR Beth Murphy SENIOR DESIGNERS Kate Cassidy, Neha Kavan PHOTOGRAPHY Christa Neu VIDEOGRAPHER Stephanie Veto BUSINESS SUPPORT Traci Mindler CLASS NOTES AND REMEMBRANCES (610) 758-3675 classnotes@lehigh.edu CHANGE OF ADDRESS Email address changes to askrecords@lehigh.edu or send the mailing label, along with your new address, to Alumni Records/Lehigh University 306 S. New St. – Suite 500 Bethlehem, PA 18015 (866) 517-1552 CONTACT US Lehigh University Communications and Public Affairs 301 Broadway, 4th foor – Suite 400 Bethlehem, PA 18015 (610) 758-4487 Email: communications@lehigh.edu LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN Vol. 107, No. 3, Fall 2022 Published three times a year by the Lehigh University Communications and Public Affairs Offce, in cooperation with the Lehigh University Alumni Association Inc. alumni.lehigh.edu WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Scan to tell us what you liked about the Bulletin and be entered for a chance to win some Lehigh swag.
U P F R O N T 24Reimagining the Clayton University Center Lehigh will begin extensive renovations to the iconic Clayton University Center at Packer Hall that will create a dynamic environment for student life while preserving the building’s historic grandeur. By Mary Ellen Alu 30Rediscovering Miles Rock A recently donated collection creates a snapshot of one of Lehigh’s frst graduates—a naturalist, civil engineer and astronomer—and ofers new research opportunities. By Christina Tatu 36Can Scientists More Accurately Predict Evolution? Gregory Lang develops a mechanistic understanding of genome evolution through experiments with yeast. By Kelly Hochbein M A T T H E W R I C H A R D S O N DEPARTMENTS 4 FROM THE EDITOR 6 FROM THE PRESIDENT ON CAMPUS 7 A Bell-Ringing Day 8 Lehigh Honors Distinguished Alumni 9 Lehigh Launches Ventures Lab 10 Lehigh’s Strategic Planning Process: A Conversation with Nathan Urban and Chris Cook 12 Shaping the Future of Health 13 FOUR QUESTIONS WITH: Sylvia Acevedo 14 A Broad Impact RESEARCH 16 Predicting the Next Ebola Outbreak 18 Full Sail Ahead ATHLETICS 19 Drafting Success CULTURE 20 Zoellner Arts Center Celebrates 25 Years 22 LUAG Asks ‘What Matters Most’ with New Exhibition NOTES 39 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Calvin LaMont and Chris LaMont 42 FROM THE AVP OF ALUMNI RELATIONS 43 LEHIGH DISPATCH 72 IN REMEMBRANCE OBITS 73 Pete Carril ’59G 76 Revelly Paul ’86M 79 Alan Pense ’59G ’62 Ph.D. END PAPER 80 PACKER MUSEUM Past + Future ON THE COVER: A reimagined Clayton University Center at Packer Hall will feature an accessible, outdoor fre pit. Rendering provided by Shepley Bulfnch. FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 5
U P F R O N T President Joseph J. Helble ’82, right, at the 2022 Convocation C H R I S T A N E U Investing in Lehigh’s Future Our strategic planning process, which launched in August, is now well under way. Since we began this work, one of the questions I’ve been asked is, Why now? Why this moment in Lehigh’s history? Given all the change in higher education— SCAN TO and at Lehigh—since we last went through a strategic planning WATCH process more than a decade ago, it is clear that now is precisely PRESIDENT the time to ask questions about our position in theworld of higher HELBLE’S education, about the direction we need to MONTHLY head, about the choices and investments we MESSAGES. need to make to best prepare our students for lives of meaning, engagement and value. Hybrid and online learning have exploded, fueled in large part by the pandemic but also by technological advances that have impacted how we deliver content. There also has been an increase in experiential learning, which is something that we at Lehigh have embraced and do extraordinarily well. At the same time, there has been criticism of higher education in general. Does the education that students get matter? As we chart Lehigh’s future, we are asking the tough questions. We do so from a position of strength—our fnances are strong, our graduates’ employment and placement rates are high. Still, as a small, residential research university, we face the challenge of identifying the university’s true points of excellence and building on the areas that distinguish us from other institutions. We have been bringing the campus community together to identify the most creative ideas and opportunities for Lehigh. You can read more about the process, and considerations for alumni, beginning on page 10. As we look to the future, we also have been refecting on our core purpose as an academic community, namely one that values learning as well as the open exchange, discussion and debate of ideas. Helble addresses faculty at a strategic planning forum. In addressing Lehigh’s newest class of students at convocation earlier this year, I encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunities before them—to listen and engage, to be curious, to explore and to maybe challenge their own preconceived notions of how the world should be. I encouraged them to not just respect other points of view, but to seek them out and challenge themselves to learn from others who have had diferent life journeys. In a video message to the campus community in late September, I reiterated the importance of open, honest and respectful discourse. If that cannot occur on college campuses, where can it? We are forming a new committee at Lehigh to examine our approach to freedom of expression. Our goal is to reach a common understanding to help guide us in modeling respectful and constructive discourse on campus and beyond. A Lehigh education, as our alumni well know, provides an important foundation for the contributions our students will go on to make in the world. The open exchange of ideas, including the expressionof diferent viewpoints, is an important facet of a healthy community and central to our educational mission. Sincerely, Joseph J. Helble ’82, President 6 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
C A M P U S ON CAMPU S N E W S F R O M L E H I G H A Bell-Ringing Day Lehigh marks fve-year collaboration with Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Lehigh and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center rang the opening bell of theNasdaqMarket on July 26 to commemorate the ffth anniversary of their unique collaboration in entrepreneurial education through Lehigh@NasdaqCenter. As part of the event at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in San Francisco, students in Lehigh’s summer Startup Academy and Global Entrepreneurial Fellowship programs were featured on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square. The partnership, which aims to advance the entrepreneurial mindset of students in any discipline, has resulted in 1,000 students across 65majors to date experiencing entrepreneurship through Lehigh@NasdaqCenter programs, classes and mentorship. Among the programs are Lehigh’s fagship Startup Academy, in which students are placed in startup internships in Silicon Valley; the Global Entrepreneurial Fellowship, which immerses students in startup internships across the globe; and the Silicon Valley Innovation Internship. Flanked by Lehigh students, Samantha Dewalt, managing director of the Lehigh@NasdaqCenter, rang the opening bell. “Our frst-of-its-kind partnership serves as an important exemplar for how educational institutions can partner with the private sector to grow an entrepreneurial mindset and create a synergistic and immersive model conducive to student and company growth,” she said. “Entering today’s dynamic work environment requires tremendous fexibility, adaptability and creativity. Higher education plays a vital role in helping students from all backgrounds, and across disciplines, to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in their chosen careers and to recognize problems as opportunities to create solutions with value.” Lehigh@NasdaqCenter partners closely with Lehigh’sWestern Regional Ofce on academic programs, student recruitment, alumni relations, university events, development, corporate and industry partnerships and career services.—Mary Ellen Alu FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 7
C A M P U S Lehigh Honors Distinguished Alumni In recognition of their extraordinary achievements and the impact they are making while leading lives of consequence, six alumni from across the country—Sam Bencheghib ’19, Krystal Ka’ai ’10, Karen Shihadeh Schaufeld ’83 ’15P ’17P, Stephen S. Tang ’85G ’88G ’22P, Judy Marks ’84 ’13P and Murray H. Goodman ’48 ’88H—were honored Oct. 14 during a special evening at Lehigh University. President Joseph J. Helble ’82 presented the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Awards, which recognize exceptional achievements among alumni in categories that uplift people, programs and industry, at the university’s annual Leadership Recognition Dinner. “When Asa Packer founded Lehigh in 1865, he wanted the university to serve the ‘intellectual and moral improvement’ of its students,” Helble said. “True to Asa’s mission, these six alumni, through their actions, are further elevating the reputation of their alma mater and are paving the way for the next generation of proud Lehigh students.” Goodman, longtime Lehigh philanthropist and founder and chairman of Goodman Properties, Inc., a real estate development and investment business specializing in retail commercial properties, received the Lifetime Commitment to Lehigh Award. The award is presented to an individual whose integrity, dedication and engagement demonstrate lifelong leadership and service to Lehigh University. “This is a man with great vision, the ability to see things that don’t exist andwill them into being,” said Joe Sterrett ’76 ’78G ’03P ’05P ’07P ’09P,MurrayH. GoodmanDeanof Athletics andDirector of Athletics. Bencheghib, co-founder of Make A Change World, a media outlet and environmental organization dedicated to promoting sustainability and solutions to plastic pollution, received the Young Alumni Award. The award is given to an alumnus who graduated within the past 15 years and achieved extraordinary success in leadership. Ka’ai, executivedirectorof theWhiteHouse InitiativeonAsian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacifc Islanders, received the Dr. Costel Denson ’56 Award, presented to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in increasing diversity in the American workplace or educational institutions. Stephen S. Tang ’85G ’88G ’22P Karen G. Shihadeh Schaufeld ’83 ’15P SCAN TO WATCH VIDEOS OF THE DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS Schaufeld, CEO of SWaN Hill Top House Hotel LLC, formed with the goal of restoring the historic Hill Top Hotel in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, received the Public Service Award. The award is presented to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions in the public sector or nonproft and civic arena. Tang is former president and CEO of OraSure Technologies, Inc., a medical device company whose products include diagnostic testing kits. He received the Outstanding Entrepreneur Award, which is given to an alumnus who has demonstrated high achievement in managing an enterprise. Marks, the chair, CEO and president at Otis Worldwide Corporation, the world’s leading company for elevator and escalator manufacturing, received the Excellence in Industry Award, given to an alumnus who has demonstrated high achievement in managing a for-proft organization. Marks was Lehigh’s Commencement speaker in 2022. Helble also inducted members to the new 1865 Society, a community of Lehigh’s most philanthropically engaged individuals. Inductees included Katherine L. Chen ’80G and John C. Chen, Wanda Rivera and Roy Cravzow ’61, Cathy Engelbert ’86 ’23P, Alissa ’22P and Joel Isaacson ’80 ’22P, Suzanne V. and Charles F. McClurg ’59, Tara I. Stacom ’80 and Arthur H. Diedrick, and Priscilla K. and Lawrence A. Walsky ’58. Their names have been engraved on the stone benches of Leadership Plaza outside of the Alumni Memorial Building. Read about past winners at alumni.lehigh.edu/ distinguished-alumni-awards.—Cynthia Tintorri Krystal Ka'ai ’10 Murray H. Goodman ’48 ’88H Judy Marks ’84 ’13P Sam Bencheghib ’19 8 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
C A M P U S M A R C O C A L D E R O N Lehigh Launches Ventures Lab Lehigh signaled a new era of entrepreneurial resources—one that extends to alumni for the frst time—with the launch of the Lehigh Ventures Lab, a startup accelerator for founders in the early stages of launching their ventures. A joint initiative between the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity & Innovation and the College of Business, the lab aims to drive entrepreneurship at the university by supporting founders working full-time to take their products tomarket. The lab also aims to generate a pipeline of founders through resources tailored to support students and faculty “INNOVATION IS THE with earlier stage ideas. The lab will be housed in the new Lehigh FOUNDATION OF ENTREBusiness Innovation Building, set to open in late 2022. PRENEURSHIP AND THIS “Innovation is the foundation of entrepreneurship and this undertaking will drive UNDERTAKING WILL DRIVE entrepreneurship at the university to a new level,” said Georgette Chapman Phillips, the ENTREPRENEURSHIP Kevin L. and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of the AT THE UNIVERSITY TO College of Business. Andrew Hill, former chair of strategic A NEW LEVEL.” leadership and professor at the U. S. Army War College, has been named the lab’s inau- —GEORGETTE CHAPMAN PHILLIPS gural director. Hill holds a doctorate from Harvard Business School, a master’s in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in Latin fromBrighamYoung University. “Andrew’s scholarship and deep expertise in strategy for innovation combined with his experience as a startup foundermade himuniquely qualifed to take on the role,” said Lisa Getzler, executive director of the Baker Institute. The program will ofer physical space, coaching and other resources in go-tomarket strategy, as well as access to knowledge networks and seed-stage investors, and other guidance. Initial funding for the lab is through the newly established Thalheimer Enterprise Alliance, an expansion of the Baker Institute’s resources under benefactor Joan F. Thalheimer and her late husband, JohnM. Thalheimer ’55. ‘JUST VICTORIANS’ Lehigh hosted the North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA) conference in early October, bringing together scholars from around the world to examine justice during the Victorian period. Michael Kramp, professor of English and one of the faculty organizers of the conference, said the theme, “Just Victorians,” was derived from two main points: the English Department’s focus on literature and social justice, and the limitations of what is understood as the Victorian period. Lorenzo Servitje, associate professor of English and director of the Health, Medicine and Society program, also organized the conference. “Victorian studies is going through a close investigation of itself, trying to examine its goals and its future, and part of that investigation is to think about how Victorian scholars can do their work more justly, more effectively, more honestly and with more integrity,” Kramp said. “A lot of questions of injustice we are experiencing today have derivations that we can track back to the Victorian period.” C H R I S T A N E U ON MEDICINE In his “How Literature Made Medicine Modern” class, Lorenzo Servitje teaches about 19th-century bacteriology. Here, students take bacterial samples and write about the process. FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 9
C A M P U S From left, Chris Cook and Nathan Urban C H R I S T A N E U Lehigh’s Strategic Planning Process: A Conversation with Nathan Urban and Chris Cook “Our Lehigh, Our Future—an open dialogue on thestrategic direction of the university” is now under way, with members of the Lehigh community sharing their ideas with university leaders and each other and working groups helping to fush out and refne ideas. The strategic planning efort is being led by Provost Nathan Urban and Vice President of Strategic Planning and Initiatives Chris Cook. Here they talk about the themes, the process, generating ideas and getting involved. FOUR THEMES EMERGED TO GUIDE THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS: RESEARCH WITH IMPACT, EDUCATION WITH PURPOSE, SMART GROWTH AND LEHIGH USER EXPERIENCE. WHY THOSE THEMES? Urban: We got to those themes through an interesting process. We started of with a pretty blank slate, asking diferent groups of people—mostly deans, people in leadership roles across the university—what are your big ideas, your thoughts about the future? There were 300-plus diferent ideas that emerged through that process. We then looked at that set of ideas and said, what are some of the themes that seem to be emerging? Some of those ideas were problems to be solved. Some were opportunities. Some were ways in which people thought we could diferentiate Lehigh from similar universities across the country or world. … We had a set of conversations over the course of the summer with a number of diferent groups, including some groups of faculty recommended by the Faculty Senate … as we tried to gauge people’s level of enthusiasm. From that feedback, we refned the thematic areas and the questions that we’re asking around these diferent thematic areas. Cook: It wasn’t just that these themes were emerging; it was that there was really shared and consistent interest in these particular themes that those 95 people (at meetings over the summer) really thought were the important things to talk about. WHAT KIND OF IDEAS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? Urban: That has been a question that’s come up a couple of times …Here’smy current versionof that answer. If you think about the last 50 or 100 years, what are some of the biggest, most important changes that have happened here at Lehigh? Well, I would put a few things in that bucket. One is, 50 years ago, we started admitting women as undergraduates. Over the last fve years we’ve developed the College of Health as a new college. Some 25 years ago, we acquired the Mountaintop Campus and began to develop that as a new, diferent type of campus for the universi1 0 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N 1 0 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
C A M P U S ty. Those are three big changes that occurred. We're looking for ideas and initiatives that are on the scale of those changes. That’s the kind of impact that we’re looking for, something that would be a signature event in the history of the university. HOW WILL IDEAS BE SELECTED? Urban: Working groups will assemble the ideas that have been generated into specifc initiatives. Those initiatives will be described and feshed out. …. At that point, “WHY NOW FOR STRATEGIC there will be an opportunity for people on campus to hear about PLANNING IS, IN PART, BECAUSE IT’S those proposed initiatives and give feedback. BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE HAVE HAD An advisory council and groups A STRATEGIC PLAN—2009. that are critical to particular ideas will work on trying to further de- IT’S A LONG TIME AGO IN THE LIFE velop them, so that we know what (resources) it would take, so that OF HIGHER EDUCATION.” we know not just, yeah, this is a great idea, but this is something —PROVOST NATHAN URBAN that will require a certain amount of space, a certain amount of money, a certain amount of commitment on the part of the university. Once we have that vetting process under way, we’ll be able to decide the work to pursue. Cook: One of the things that’s really important to this process is that we continuously help the campus understand that the plan that emerges is connected to the ideas that were developed, the ideas that were submitted. They are not necessarily going to sound exactly like whatever particular idea was submitted. It’s our job to articulate how the input led us to these larger, more aspirational concepts. Many of the tactics that are being identifed right noware going to be very important tomaking those big initiatives come to life. HOW CAN ALUMNI GET INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS? IS THERE A ROLE FOR THEM? Urban: Certainly there’s a role for alumni. As we develop these ideas and go further down the process, there will be opportunities for alumni to contribute and to make suggestions. More specifcally, we are interested in surveying alumni to ask what elements of the plan they feel most excited and energetic about, likely in the late winter or early spring timeframe when the strategic initiatives are taking shape. Cook: Joseph E. Buck, the vice president for Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) is working with us to identify opportunities where we can engage alumni when the topic is relevant to them. ... There are four members of DAR on our advisory council and in diferent roles throughout the structure of the planning process. That’s very intentional because they’re an important part of this community. PEOPLE HAVE ASKED, WHY NOW? HOW DO YOU RESPOND? Urban: Why now for strategic planning is, in part, because it’s been a while since we have had a strategic plan—2009. It’s a long time ago in the life of higher education. There have been a lot of changes, and there are currently a lot of changes that are occurring in higher education. A strategic planning process is something that allows us to look at those external forces and think carefully about what we need to do, what we can do to make sure that we are thriving in that environment of today, but also the environments that we project over the next fve to 10 years. Think about the pandemic and all the changes that happened in higher education because of the pandemic in terms of how it is that we teach, the fnancial stresses associated with a pandemic, both for institutions and also for families, but also (think about) the importance of education at this moment. … After the 2008 fnancial crisis, 98% of the jobs that were created were flled by people with some kind of college degree. That is just a testament to the importance of higher education in the world today; that is, having a degree is absolutely critical for so many career paths today, where it didn’t used to be. We need to be responsive, and we need to refect on some of those changes that have occurred in our country and in the world and make sure that we as a university are fulflling our mission and can fulfll our mission for the next decades. Cook: And I would add that, to position Lehigh competitively, we also want to clarify and build on our unique strengths. What makes Lehigh distinct in this very large pool of higher education? Having this important dialogue will allow us to surface those things that highlight our distinction.—Mary Ellen Alu Lehigh held four forums on the strategic planning process, meeting with faculty, staff and undergraduate and graduate students. FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 1 1
C A M P U S Shaping the Future of Health A gift by Linda and D. Brooks Zug ’67 endows College of Health internship fund Putting classroom learning into action through hands-on internships is a longstanding tradition at Lehigh. A $1 million gift from Linda and D. Brooks Zug ’67 will help fund those opportunities for students in the College of Health. The Zugs have endowed the Community Health Student Internship Fund, which will ultimately support 10 to 12 College of Health students who undertake summer internships and provide themwith a stipend for educational, travel or living expenses while they work at community organizations, nonprofts and other organizations. “This gift will allow us to ensure that the College of Health will be a leader in educating students who gain the practical experience that they need to shape the future of health and of our region,” said Provost Nathan Urban. A goal of the College of Health is to ensure that its students participate in experiential learning, such as internships, research projects and study abroad. Health nonprofits, however, often are unable to ofer paid internships. “With their gift, Brooks and Linda help make it possible for more students to accept an internship with a health nonproft, including students who need to earn income in the summer,” said Elizabeth Dolan, interim dean of the College of Health. “The College of Health seeks to educate students from communities with health disparities so that they can go back to their communities to make a diference. The Zug fund will enable students to build crucial experiences to fulfll that career vision.” The frst Zug intern, population health major Carson Snyder ’23, worked as an intern at Public HealthManagement Corporation in Philadelphia, a nonproft provider of public health resources in Pennsylvania and Delaware. “I’ve jumped onto a lot of diferent company projects, in particular promoting a $10 million grant to encourage vaccinations across Pennsylvania and Delaware,” Snyder said. From interviewing clients and crafting their stories to discussing and recording the data, Snyder produced aweekly newsletter, “My Vaccine Counts,” to sharewith clients. “The focus has been on Covid-19 vaccination, specifcally in underserved populations,” she said. Giving to the College of Health helped Brooks honor the vision of his late brother, Charles Zug III ’52, a physician and chief of surgery at St. Luke’s until his death in 1982. The college’s population health mission is something Brooks says his brother would’ve found meaningful. Brooks majored in accounting at Lehigh and received an MBA from Harvard. His early career in investment banking and investment management led to his co-foundingHarbourVest Partners in 1982, a venture capital and private equity frm. He was president of his alumni class for more than 25 years and served as a university trustee 2000-08. His philanthropic support of Lehigh over the years has been diverse.—Cynthia Tintorri C H R I S T A N E U COMFORT CANINES The Lehigh University Police Department has welcomed a four-legged friend—a yellow Labrador Retriever named Grace. She is one of two therapy dogs joining Lehigh’s force to offer comfort to students and connect with the community. In October 2021, the Peer Health Advisors and the Coffee Club brought therapy dogs to campus for a de-stressing event. Police Chief Jason Schiffer said he remembers seeing a comment online about how interacting with the therapy dogs was the best thing the student had experienced since being at Lehigh. From there, the idea to add therapy dogs to the LUPD teamwas planted. Grace has already received much attention. “Watching the interaction between our students and Grace is heartwarming,” Schiffer said. “The ultimate outcome is putting a smile on people’s faces, alleviating some stress and making students’ Lehigh experience better.” Grace’s partner, Lt. David Kokinda, has seen a bond growing between them, evident in how she lies beside his chair when he works and rests her head in his lap when he drives. “I’d like students to come up and say ‘hi’ to Grace and me,” Kokinda said. “I’d imagine most students wouldn’t walk up to a police officer because they see us as an adversary, but we’re a resource.” 1 2 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
C A M P U S FOUR QUESTIONS WITH Sylvia Acevedo Trailblazer Sylvia Acevedo, an engineer, businesswoman and former Girl Scouts CEO, was this fall’s inaugural Iacocca Leadership Speaker. 1 You started your career as a rocket scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. What was it like? Watching spellbound as a child as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon inspired me to work for NASA on the Voyager mission. It was such an amazing experience to see the frst up-close images of the planet Jupiter and its moon. The ability to work on the Solar Probe mission to fgure out how to send a spacecraft to orbit the sun at close range to learn how the sun affects us on Earth was a technical challenge. It was an exhilarating experience to work on those projects. 2 Your motto is, “Don’t look for opportunity. Create it.” How can people do that, especially if they come from a less privileged background? As a child, my family struggled— living paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes, there wasn’t even a paycheck, and we had to live with another family. There wasn’t anyone in my family who knew how to create opportunity. My Girl Scout troop leader taught me how to set a goal and then break that goal down into smaller more achievable steps. Next step, start taking action, and if you run into problems, ask for help. It was such a great lesson to learn and mindset to develop because at that young age of 7, I began to look at problems as opportunities. 3 You’ve also been a business executive for top tech companies like Apple, Dell and IBM. What did you learn about overcoming obstacles? Thanks to earning my Girl Scout’s science badge, where I successfully launched an Estes Rocket, I gained the personal confdence that I could do science and math at a time when many girls were not encouraged to study those topics. I decided to excel at those skills so that I could be part of the space program and work for NASA. I defned the opportunity as work requiring math and science expertise, not as being male or female work. That mindset of focusing on the skills needed and getting really good at those skills allowed me to break through barriers to overcome many obstacles and barriers. 4 What do you see as the leadership challenges for the next generation? How can young people prepare for them? One of my mottos I adopted from Girl Scouts is “always leave the campground better than you found it.” The leadership challenges for the next generation are global in scope and local in action—global because of climate change and local because of our ability to instantly communicate around the world doesn’t take away from the responsibility of improving your local community. Take time to be informed and then use your voice and take action to create the world and community that you want to live in. FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 1 3
C A M P U S SICILY Art, architecture and design students studying abroad in Sicily create sketches in the city of Siracusa with Emeritus Professor Anthony Viscardi. DENMARK Above, Bonor Ayambem ’23, left, and Raihan Alam ’23 test playground equipment following a visit to an urban neighborhood that incorporates sustainability in its transportation, waste management and community. At right, students interact with art at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk before heading to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. A BROAD IMPACT Lehigh students traveled the world this past summer embarking on research and engaging in study outside the classroom, including to Sicily, Denmark and Uganda. Led by Nik Nikolov, associate professor of art, architecture and design, and Emeritus Professor Anthony Viscardi, 18 students spent fve weeks immersed in the art, architecture and culture of Sicily, visiting important sites that included Mount Etna. The cultural immersion provided a foundation for the coursework that followed. In Denmark, the Martindale Student Associates Honors Programspent 12 days on a research trip for in-depth study and fact gathering. They toured sites in and around Copenhagen, including the Copenhill Power Plant. In Uganda, Kelly Austin, professor of sociology, traveled with 13 students to the Bududa District to conduct research, engage in internships with the Pathways Development Initiative and continue to develop relationships from previous trips with those in the Bududa community. M A R I A P I A B A L L A R I N O , A S G A R A L I ' 2 3 1 4 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
C A M P U S P H O T O S B Y W I L L O W M U N S O N ' 2 3 UGANDA Counterclockwise from top, in Uganda’s Bududa District, Vinny Polignano ’23 interviews a female farmer with his translator Banuri. Mia Zibello ’24 shadows Dr. Simon Watoya in one of the two consultation rooms at Zion Medical Clinic, which is nestled at the top of a mountain and provides medical services to high-altitude, rural populations. Julia Klayman ’25 kicks a ball during a spontaneous soccer session on the Bubiita pitch. FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 1 5
PAOLO BOCCHINI professor of civil and environmental engineering, is one of the study’s leaders. R E S E A R C H Predicting the Next Ebola Outbreak Study shows individual risk-factor data could help predict an outbreak West Africa was human interaction with bats. Now members of the team have examined how social and economic factors, such as a person’s level of education and general knowledge of Ebola, might contribute to “high-risk behaviors” that may bring individuals into contact with potentially infected animals. A focus on geographical locations with high concentrations of individuals at high-risk could help public health ofcials better target prevention and education resources, the researchers say. “We created a survey that combined the collection of social, demographic and economic data with questions related to general knowledge of Ebola transmission and potentially high-risk behaviors,” says Paolo Bocchini, professor of civil and environmenA team of scientists at Lehigh developed a predictive model several years ago to accurately forecast Ebola outbreaks based on climate-driven bat migration. Ebola, a serious and sometimes-deadly infectious disease, is zoonotic, or enters a human population via interaction with animals. It is widely believed that the source of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in tal engineering at “WE CONFIRMED A RELATIONSHIP Lehigh and one of the study’s lead- BETWEEN SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND DEMOers. “Our results GRAPHIC FACTORS AND THE PROPENSITY show that it is indeed possible to FOR INDIVIDUALS TO ENGAGE IN BEHAVIORS calibrate a model to predict, with a THAT EXPOSE THEM TO EBOLA SPILLOVER.” reasonable level of accuracy, the propensity of an individual to engage in high-risk behaviors.” For example, the team’s data and analyses suggested Kailahun, a town in eastern Sierra Leone, and Kambia in the northern part of the country, as the rural districts in the country with the highest likelihood of infection spillover, based on individual risk factors accurately identifying the location, Kailahun, where the 2014 Ebola epidemic is believed to have originated. The results are detailed in “Estimation of Ebola’s spillover infection exposure in Sierra Leone based on sociodemographic and economic factors,” published in PLOS ONE. Additional authors include Lehigh graduate student Sena Mursel; undergraduate students Nathaniel Alter, Lindsay Slavit and Anna Smith; and Javier Buceta, a facultymember at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology in Valencia, Spain. Among the fndings: Young adults (ages between 18-34) and adults (ages between 34-50) were most at risk in the population they studied. This group constituted 77% of the investigated sample, but 86% of the respondents were at risk. In addition, those with agricultural jobs were among the most at risk: 50% of the study respondents have an agriculture-related occupation but represent 79% of respondents at risk. “We confrmed a relationship between social, economic and demographic factors and the propensity for individuals to engage in behaviors that expose them to Ebola spillover,” says Bocchini. “We also calibrated a preliminary model that quantifes this relationship.” Residents of the town of Kailahun gather along a river at dusk. The authors say these results point to the need for a holistic approach for any model seeking to accurately predict disease outbreaks. Their fndingsmay also be useful to population health ofcials, whomay be able to use suchmodels to better focus scarce resources. “One has to look at the big picture,” says Bocchini. “We collected satel- —PAOLO BOCCHINI lite images that showed the evolution of enviro-climatic data and combined them with ecological models and random feld models to capture the spatial and temporal fuctuations of natural resources and the resulting continentwide migrations of infected animal carriers. We also studied the human population’s social, economic, demographic and behavioral characteristics, integrating everything to obtain our predictions. “Only this broad perspective and interdisciplinary approach can truly capture these dynamics, and with this line of research, we are proving that it works,” he adds. Buceta says, “In the end, the conclusions of our study are not that surprising: 1 6 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
P E T E M U L L E R / P R I M E F O R T H E WA S H I N G T O N P O S T Greater economic means, more education and access to information are key factors to reduce health-related, high-risk behaviors. Indeed, some of these factors have been related with what is known as the ‘health poverty trap.’ Our study and methodology show how quantitative analyses The 2014 concerning individual, rather than aggregated, data can be used to idenEbola tify these factors.” outbreak in To collect data for the study, Bocchini and Buceta traveled to Sierra West Africa Leone with a delegation of undergraduate students from Lehigh, with killed more support fromtheNational InstitutesofHealth, Lehigh’sOfceofCreative than 11,000 people. Inquiry and in collaboration with nonproft World Hope International. Two local translators assisted, and they were critical to the team’s success in administering the survey door to door. The students who worked on the project were part of Lehigh’s Global Social Impact Fellowship program, which engages students in work focused on addressing sustainable development challenges in low- and middle-income countries. “This is precisely the kind of ambitious interdisciplinary project with tremendous potential for social impact that we want Lehigh students to engage with through the Global Social Impact Fellowship,” says Khanjan Mehta,viceprovost forCreativeInquiryatLehigh. “Studentsfromvarious disciplines across Lehigh had the opportunity to contribute to this work under Dr. Bocchini and Dr. Buceta’s leadership.” The team members’ promising results are a strong argument for broader data collection, and they are in conversations with Statistics Sierra Leone, the country’s census bureau, to perform a nationwide version of their study.—Lori Friedman R E S E A R C H NEW VICE PROVOST Anand Jagota, professor of bioengineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been named vice provost for research. Jagota will work closely with the provost and the colleges to develop and implement strategies to elevate research at Lehigh. In the newly configured role, he will continue to be engaged in his own research projects as a member of the Department of Bioengineering, thereby maintaining his firsthand knowledge of the Lehigh research environment. Jagota joined the Lehigh faculty in 2004 as a professor and director of the bioengineering program in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. He later served as founding chair of the bioengineering department from 2017 to 2020. More recently, he has served as associate dean of research for the College of Health. “I believe firmly that with appropriate research infrastructure and a revitalized research milieu, Lehigh research can grow significantly in prominence and impact,” Jagota said. “I also believe that high-quality research is one of the core aims of a university, and successful efforts to strengthen it color all aspects of the university.” Prior to joining Lehigh, Jagota spent 16 years as a research scientist at the DuPont Company. FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 1 7
1 8 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N R E S E A R C H Full Sail Ahead NIH grant funds researchers’ exploration of lipid membranes Damien Thévenin COLLABORATION Aurelia Honerkamp-Smith, assistant professor of physics, and Damien Thévenin, associate professor of chemistry, envision the models they produce will apply to multiple cell lines and fow conditions and will lay the groundwork for future research directions. Two Lehigh researchers have been awarded a fve-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to examine lipid membranes and the method in which lipids and proteins travel in response to fuid fow. Aurelia Honerkamp-Smith, assistant professor of physics, and Damien Thévenin, associate professor of chemistry, also will test whether fow transport of a membrane protein triggers intracellular signaling in endothelial cells. In blood vessels, the manner in which cells fow through their environment regulates processes such as blood pressure, bone density and neural growth. Yet, the molecular factors behind fow mechanotransduction, the processes through which cells sense and respond to mechanical stimuli by converting them to biochemical signals, remain unclear. Endothelial cells are found on the inside of blood vessels, and Honerkamp-Smith and Thévenin are investigating a process that occurs when these cells feel a fow. They hope to identify the fundamental principles that govern fow transport of membrane-linked proteins in model membranes and develop a model that predicts protein motion in physiological situations. When endothelial cells feel fow, they quickly start to produce nitrous oxide. The researchers will explore how the fow-mediated lateral transport of glypican-1 initiates this short-term fow response in endothelial cells. They also will consider how lipid sorting by fow contributes to fow signaling in their model system and living cell membranes. What’s interesting, says Honerkamp-Smith, is that glypican is located on the outside of the cell, and it is unknown how it activates the nitrous oxide synthase on the inside. She theorizes that physiologically signifcant protein and lipid concentration gradients arise from interactions between fuid fow and complex membranes. That hypothesis is based on the premise that extracellular lipid-anchored proteins such as glypican-1 can be transported along the plasma membrane by external fow, with the aqueous portion of the protein acting as a molecular sail. “With this particular protein, its structure is such that it is really good at acting like a little sailboat. … With this funding, we can try to fgure out whether it is actually the lateral movement of the protein that is activating the fow response instead of some other type of interaction,” Honerkamp-Smith says. Studying a series of proteins produced by genetic manipulation in the Thévenin lab will allow the researchers to determine how altering the proteins changes their function. “We buildmodel proteins with increasing complexitywith different membrane anchors and sizes that can be analyzed in vitro or directly in cells," Thévenin says. "Aurelia's lab then measures how they fow and analyzes the results based on fuid physics. “This systematic approach allows us to frst understand the basic principles behind protein transport on the cell membrane. Our main goal is to link this lateral movement to signaling events inside cells and changes in cell response. … It is not easy to test experimentally but it makes the overall project even more stimulating and highlights the importance of collaborative work in addressing exciting and impactful questions.” —Rob Nichols
A T H L E T I C S OTHER LEHIGH PLAYERS IN THE MLB DRAFT DRAFTING SUCCESS 2021 Mason Black 3RD ROUND Since Major League Baseball held its initial San Francisco Giants First-Year Player Draft in 1965, the Lehigh baseball program has had success with its players being 2021 Matt Svanson 13TH ROUND selected. The frequency in which players from Toronto Blue Jays Lehigh are chosen by MLB clubs, however, has greatly increased the past two decades. This past 2019 Jason Reynolds 32ND ROUND summer, two more Lehigh players were selected, San Diego Padres making Adam Retzbach (14th round, Baltimore Orioles) and Carlos Torres (20th round, Colorado Rockies) the 17th and 18th 2017 Mark Washington draft selections in Lehigh history. It’s the third time in the last four years 25TH ROUND Los Angeles Dodgers that Lehigh has had multiple players selected in the same draft. 2016 Mike Garzillo 25TH ROUND Miami Marlins BY THE NUMBERS Matt McBride 2019 Levi Stoudt 3RD ROUND Seattle Mariners 2022 Carlos Torres 20TH ROUND Colorado Rockies 13 Number of franchises that have drafted a player out of Lehigh 2022 Adam Retzbach 14TH ROUND Baltimore Orioles Cleveland Indians 1977 Joe Carroll 20TH ROUND Texas Rangers 2ND ROUND Round in which Matt McBride, Lehigh’s highest drafted player, was selected for the Cleveland Indians in 2006 1975 Paul Hartzell 10TH ROUND California Angels 2015 Justin Pacchioli 10TH ROUND San Diego Padres 1973 Frank Zawatski 19TH ROUND San Francisco Giants 1971 Rich Revta 26TH ROUND Washington Senators (now Texas Rangers) *Drafted in high school prior to attending Lehigh 6 Number of former Lehigh players drafted who are currently in a MLB franchise’s minor league system 2015 38TH ROUND New York Yankees 2002 Jack Lyons* 34TH ROUND Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals) 1997 Ben Talbott 32ND ROUND AnaheimAngels 1989 Dave Norwood 40TH ROUND FA L L 2 0 2 2 | 1 9
C U L T U R E Zoellner Arts Center Celebrates 25 Years The center has enhanced arts education at Lehigh, while strengthening cultural life At first glance, Zoellner Arts Center looks as it did 25 years ago, when it was built with an ambitious mission to unify the creative arts on the Lehigh campus, enhance the role of the arts in education at Lehigh, elevate Lehigh’s standing as a research university, and strengthen the cultural life of the Lehigh Valley. But on closer look, there are subtle signs that something momentous is happening. Outside, near the entrance, new fags boldly announce the arts programs being ofered—Zoellner is home to the music and theatre departments, as well as Lehigh University Art Galleries and the Presenting Series. One fag proclaims the impact Zoellner and the arts have had on Lehigh. Ground to ceiling window clings display colorful images of this season’s diverse performances. A new outdoor monitor teases the upcoming entertainment. Inside, the Zoellner lobby has a new interactive foor that invites visitors to be creatively playful. Season brochures are available in both Spanish and English. And inBakerHall, the building’s 1,000-seat centerpiece, newhouse and stage lighting, new carpeting and hundreds of seats reupholstered from light purple to a stunning blue signal exciting things to come. Diamond Theater also has new carpeting and seats. And zipping up and down Zoellner’s three foors, from ofce to ofce and one performance space to another, is its new executive director, Mark Fitzgerald Wilson, who, since arriving at Lehigh in July 2020, has been working to propel Zoellner forward. Zoellner is celebrating its 25th milestone anniversary and looking, with enthusiasm and confdence, toward many more years of improving lives through the arts. Wilson and his team put together an anniversary season that both refects the impact Zoellner has had on the academic and surrounding community and provides a window into the future. The new season, including performances by The New York Philharmonic and singer Michael Feinstein, celebrates the legacy of those whose vision and generosity helped establish a center for the arts at Lehigh. Five cornerstone events honor the impact of the Zoellner, Baker, Diamond, Fowler and Ulrich families in turning the dream of Zoellner into a reality. “It’s a way for us to show our gratitude to the community and to all of those who helped bring Zoellner into existence,” says Wilson. “We’re bringing back some wonderful world-class artists, as well as artists who really connect to the community.” Zoellner was a game changer for Lehigh when it was built in 1997, creating a powerful invitation to students interested in and engaged in the arts, says Robert Flowers, the Herbert J. and Ann L. Siegel Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Zoellner transformed the type of institution we are, and it also transformed our relationship with the community,” he says. Flowers acknowledged the hard work of many individuals who made Zoellner successful from the start, including its frst artistic director Deborah Sackarakis, who retired in August 2019. “We have always had exceptional leadership, and I am very excited about the opportunities for the future,” he said. One of Wilson’s goals is to take Zoellner outside, directly to students and the community, so they might become more curious as to what’s inside. “Zoellner is thought of as a building and everything in that building,” says Wilson. “I want to think about stretching out into the campus and into the 2 0 | L E H I G H B U L L E T I N
www.lehigh.eduRkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==