University Journal | Spring 2024 | Miami Magazine | University of Miami

Elevating Aerosol Research

Engineering researchers launch blimp over Coral Gables Campus

As part of a series of experiments, aerosol scientists at the College of Engineering deployed an Alta Systems’ 12-by-5-foot smart balloon outfitted with special instruments to collect aerosol data at 200 feet of elevation over the McArthur Engineering Building. Conducting the assessments at the higher altitude provides new insight into how aerosols impact air quality, weather patterns, and climate change.

Assistant professor Yang Wang and doctoral student Shruti Choudhary are leading the effort at the Center for Aerosol Science and Technology (CAST) to obtain a comprehensive vertical profile of airborne particles, including their concentrations, size distributions, and temporal evolution.

“Most air quality monitoring is conducted at the surface level, but vertical profiling at different altitudes can offer more perspectives regarding the health and climate impacts of the air pollutants,” says Wang.

Pratim Biswas, dean of the College of Engineering and renowned aerosol researcher, likewise praised the experiments’ potential.

“Understanding aerosol formation and transformation processes, from airborne illnesses to the Sahara Desert dust, are critical to protecting human health and combatting climate change,” says Biswas.

The current suite of instruments used to measure aerosol properties is limited as a function of elevation. CAST researchers believe the blimp will help bridge the existing data gap.

Alta Systems’ blimp is tethered by an ultra-lightweight string that can transmit power and data during the flight. Their mobile command center is also equipped with state-of-the-art technology that allows real-time recording and broadcasting of aerial images and data for immediate analysis by researchers.

The experiments took place during CAST’s second annual Summer School in Winter Workshop that draws aerosol researchers from across the United States.

40 Years Young

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, with more than 1,000 members, celebrates its 40th anniversary

Some of Barbara Bisno’s most treasured memories with her late husband, Dr. Alan Bisno, took place on the University of Miami campus. He, a retired physician and longtime vice chair of medicine at the Miller School of Medicine, and she, a retired attorney, signed up to take classes together at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).

They initially took a few undergraduate courses on politics but were most intrigued, Bisno says, by the modern physics class taught by Mark Egdall, a retired aerospace program manager whose book “Einstein Relatively Simple,” explained complex theories in everyday language.

“We discussed quantum physics and string theory,” she says. “As a physician, Alan was much more adept at these concepts than I was. I may not have understood everything we discussed, but we both loved hearing these advanced ideas explained so clearly.”

When her husband died in 2020, Bisno said OLLI became a lifeline for her, especially as classes moved online because of the pandemic.

OLLI was founded as the Institute for Retired Professionals in 1984. Since then, many of its members, some of whom joined decades ago and remain involved today, share similar stories of OLLI’s effect on their lives.

From Saturday night potluck dinners and visits to art museums, boat tours of the Miami River, and a weekly lunch bunch that calls itself ROMEO—short for Retired Old Men Eating Out—OLLI has given its members much more than intellectual stimulation.

Many say OLLI has given them lifelong friendships—and a place to call home.

“It has been instrumental in making our retirement an easier transition,” says Art Young, a retired sales executive and ROMEO member who also leads a group called Monday Morning Quarterback that discusses all things sports.

While the faces have changed, the program’s goal has remained constant: to engage adults 50 and older in intellectual and social enrichment, as well as provide opportunities for service. The 350 courses offered are taught by a combination of University professors, OLLI instructors, and members.

The motto, “Stay curious, stay connected,” reflects the belief, backed by research, that staying mentally, physically, and socially active can lead to a healthier, longer life.

Housed within the University’s Division of Continuing and International Education, OLLI is also part of the national Osher Lifelong Learning Network, a group of 125 lifelong learning institutes on university or college campuses across the U.S.

“We are member-driven and member-supported,” says Michelle Alvarez, OLLI’s director. “We want to continue expanding our in-person classes to provide members with that sense of community on campus, while still offering classes on Zoom and hybrid.”

New Dean Named for Miami Herbert Business School

An expert on AI and IT will lead the school beginning July 1

Paul A. Pavlou, recognized as one the “world’s most influential scientific minds,” a visionary, and an inspirational leader with a reputation for bridging academia and industry together, has been named the new dean of the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School.

“Miami is booming, and it is an unprecedented opportunity for Miami Herbert to be a driving force in the growing business ecosystem of Miami and Florida,” says Pavlou, who for the past five years has served as dean of the University of Houston C. T. Bauer College of Business.

“I am committed to leading Miami Herbert to the next level of excellence, success, and impact,” he says.

A specialist in information technology and artificial intelligence, Pavlou highlights how new transformative technologies—from the internet to blockchain, cybersecurity, and AI—are reshaping the world and fundamentally changing the future of work and the role of higher education.

“At a time when Miami has become an increasingly important global tech hub, Dean Pavlou’s research interests—ranging from information systems to strategy—add value to our interdisciplinary efforts and to South Florida’s blossoming innovation ecosystem,” says University President Julio Frenk.

Guillermo “Willy” Prado, M.S. ’00, Ph.D. ’05, interim executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, noted that Pavlou is “an accomplished leader and a distinguished academic and researcher who we expect will take the Miami Herbert Business School to great heights.”

In Houston, and as he has done throughout his career, Pavlou strived to build bridges with companies across multiple industries in the community. He is especially proud that nearly 100 percent of the students at Bauer were successfully placed in high-paying jobs, and he looks forward to continuing this success in Miami.

Previous to his position in Texas, Pavlou served as senior associate dean for faculty, research, doctoral programs, and strategic initiatives at Temple University.

Originally from Cyprus, a small island country of about one million people in the Mediterranean Sea, Pavlou first came to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship and studied at Rice University in Houston, where he earned a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. He then went on to earn a master’s in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in information systems from the University of Southern California.

“My life has been transformed by higher education. To come from modest means, to be able to be in the U.S. and have all these opportunities—to have worked at five elite institutions and now at the University of Miami, I feel very privileged that I’m living the American dream,” Pavlou says.

Pavlou’s research has been cited over 90,000 times by Google Scholar, and he was recognized among the “world’s most influential scientific minds” by Thomson Reuters, according to his curriculum vitae.

Pavlou will be accompanied by his spouse, Angelika Dimoka, who will concurrently assume a faculty position within the Department of Business Technology at the Miami Herbert Business School, and their 11-year-old daughter.

From Vice to Visionary Leader

Nursing school’s new dean steps up from vice dean for research

Hudson Santos, who studies the impact of social determinants of health on mothers and their children and who has significantly increased the school’s research funding, has been selected to lead the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies.

Santos joined the University two years ago as a tenured professor and the inaugural Dolores J. Chambreau Endowed Chair in Nursing. He transitioned from serving as the school’s vice dean for research affairs to dean on June 1.

Through his leadership, the school has risen dramatically in national rankings—from 24th to 16th in NIH funding—nearly doubling its research footprint from $3,396,294 in FY 2022 to $6,061,945 in FY 2023.

“In Dean Santos, we have a proven leader whose prolific portfolio is matched only by his passion for guiding colleagues and students to excellence in research,” says President Julio Frenk. “His is precisely the type of vision our School of Nursing and Health Studies needs to continue its ascent to the top echelon of nursing programs nationally.”

Santos found his calling early in life. He was just 9 when he began accompanying his mother, unable at times to arrange childcare for her young son, to the hospital in northeastern Brazil where she cared for patients as a licensed practical nurse. “Her professionalism was imprinted on me at a very early stage of my life,” Santos recalls.

He followed her footsteps, becoming a nurse and caring for marginalized groups at clinics in Brazil and in the United States before conducting nursing-related education and research as an internationally renowned academician.

Over the course of his career, he has authored more than 110 scientific publications, securing upward of $47 million in research funding as a principal investigator or co-investigator.

Beyond his significant research portfolio, Santos has also demonstrated effective leadership, serving as acting director of the Ph.D. in Nursing Science program and interim associate dean of the Graduate School.

Santos is passionate about diversity and inclusion, a philosophy deeply rooted in his own background as a Latino male nurse, a first-generation college student, and an immigrant to the United States.

Among his goals are to enhance the relationship of the nursing school with UHealth and Jackson Health System; expand the school’s strong national and international presence; and amplify its visibility by promoting innovative education, research, and scholarship.

Setting the Scene with Sound

Foley artists employ an array of items to create the sound effects we hear on screen

Lettuce, Rice Krispies boxes, creaky stools, typewriters, and sheets of all materials and textures are some of the items used for the sounds you hear on the big screen. Foley artists are the ones who create the sounds that make you feel like you are part of the film.

Jack Foley founded foley art in the 1920s when the trend of talkies, or movies synced with recorded sound for dialogue, evolved from silent movies. Foley found that performing the special effect sounds along with the scenes made it a more realistic experience for the audience, and it was more time efficient than trying to capture the natural sound.

Rachel Jordan Richards, M.M. ’23, who studied media scoring and production, discovered her passion for creating immersive soundscapes for the world of cinema through a class taught by Benjamin Zuiderweg, assistant professor of professional practice at the University of Miami School of Communication.

Similar to Zuiderweg, Richards began her studies in music and eventually learned that “the love for music can turn into a love for sound in general.”

Foley artists are essentially “thrown into a room of garbage and are supposed to make an award-winning sound with it,” says Zuiderweg. This art is a creative challenge because, most times, the object used to create a sound is not the one used in the scene, so the artist is tasked with finding the correct object.

Foley art is such a niche industry that Zuiderweg notes there are more astronauts in the world than there are foley artists.

Richards’ advice: Foley art lies in creating something out of nothing. “One person’s trash can be another one’s treasure,” she says.

Tuba Grads Hit the Right Notes

Students from Frost School of Music’s tuba and euphonium department land top jobs

Small but mighty. That’s the Tuba and Euphonium Studio at the Frost School of Music, which has racked up some outsized achievements despite its modest size of just 13 students. Since 2021, more than a dozen of the studio’s graduates have landed hard-to-get positions in symphony orchestras, military bands, and academia.

What makes this such a major accomplishment is that there are so few of these jobs. Orchestras with banks of string or other brass players have just one tuba. Some of the big military bands may have three. Because these positions are so rare, players tend to stay put for decades. For so many graduates from Frost’s small tuba studio to land these unicorn positions is a powerful statement on the quality of the music education they receive.

Statistically, it’s easier to be a governor or a senator or an NFL quarterback than a tuba player.

“In the brass world it’s pretty unheard of to have that kind of success,” says Aaron Tindall, who heads the tuba and euphonium program and is principal tuba at the Naples Philharmonic. “Statistically, it’s easier to be a governor or a senator or an NFL quarterback than a tuba player.”

A department star is Mason Soria, M.M. ’22, who plays with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Other Frost tuba graduates play with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Palm Beach Symphony, and the Sarasota Orchestra, as well as Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force bands.

Tindall credits their achievement to a focus on values central to Frost: technical excellence, deep musical understanding, and adaptability.

“I teach perfecting their craft to an insanely high level,” says Tindall.

Swamp Trip Primes Teaching on Everglades Restoration

Five-day immersive course gives School of Law students insight into the $23.2 billion, 35-year project

Sam Stephens had been to the Everglades once or twice, but he had never actually set foot in the swamp. Yet, as part of the University of Miami’s newest environmental law course, Stephens and seven of his classmates meandered through waist-deep water in Big Cypress National Preserve on the second day of class. At one point, a rare barred owl stared down at them from a branch above.

It was just one highlight of a new five-day short course called Everglades Law that gave students at the School of Law the chance to learn about the “river of grass” and its restoration firsthand.

“I was nervous about it, but it was also my favorite thing we did,” says Stephens, a third-year law student, referring to the swamp walk.

The course is led by lecturer Kelly Cox, J.D. ’16, M.P.S. ’16, who now serves as director of Everglades policy for Audubon Florida and was asked to teach the course by Jessica Owley, director of the Environmental Law Program and a professor in the School of Law and the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science.

“We have the largest collection of ecosystem restoration projects going on in our backyard, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce students to the dynamics of that—and all the legal nuances that helped get the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project off the ground,” says Cox, referring to a massive, $23.2 billion, 35-year project approved by Congress in 2000 to restore the wildlife and water quality to the Florida Everglades.

Soothing the Stress

School of Nursing’s mentoring program helps busy students thrive

For students enrolled in intensive coursework, such as that required for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse Anesthesia Track program, the School of Nursing and Health Studies’ innovative Transition to Clinicals peer mentorship program is, well, just what the nurse ordered.

“CRNA school is incredibly stressful,” says Jennifer Robbins, who moved to Florida to earn her degree through the rigorous program. “For people like me who moved here alone from out of state, it’s easy to isolate yourself. Mentors help us feel less alone and see that the program is achievable.”

The school’s Nurse Anesthesia Students Association created the Transition to Clinicals program in 2018. First-year students are paired with volunteer second- and third-year mentors.

Robbins arrived ready to make personal sacrifices to pursue her dream of becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and was thrilled to find the support the mentoring program provided. She was matched with Akudo Ekeke, an advanced student.

“As a nursing leader, it’s my responsibility to provide students with an excellent mentoring experience,” says Ekeke. “The mentorship initiative guides students and provides ongoing support for a smoother transition.”

The program, now engaging its third student cohort, has generated impressive results, with its 2021 and 2022 graduates achieving an overall pass rate of 100 percent on the National Board Certification Exam.

And the benefits of the program aren’t limited to academic achievements. Some mentoring relationships have evolved into lasting friendships.

“Having Akudo as my mentor has been such a comfort,” Robbins adds. “I wouldn’t have made it this far without her—I know she has my back, and that’s an awesome feeling.”

Ecuadorian Children Honor Ancestral Customs Using New Skills

Students from the Afro-Ecuadorian town of San Francisco de Caldera participate in a camp led by University of Miami educators

In the town of San Francisco de Caldera in northwest Ecuador, the “animero” is an elder who leads prayers during funerals and holds special rituals during religious holidays to honor the ancestral spirits in ceremonies that marry Catholic and African traditions.

For many residents of Caldera—most of them Afro-Ecuadorians who are descendants of Africans who were enslaved—keeping these customs and passing them on to their children is important.

That is one of the reasons why members of the community reached out to Jason Mizell, an assistant professor in the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development, to teach their children new skills while integrating their ancestral traditions.

Mizell, who has been teaching in Ecuador for decades and considers himself a hybrid “African American and Ecuadorian,” was drawn to the project because as an African American who grew up in Georgia, he always had been interested in learning about and supporting the Black diaspora.

In collaboration with the local community, Mizell and three University of Miami students held a summer camp for about 120 children of Caldera, teaching them skills that included writing, art, and photography, while integrating aspects of local culture and religion into the lessons provided each day.

“Literacy is not only about how to read and write,’’ Mizell says, “but how you learn to interact with your culture, and how you sustain your culture in a critical manner.”

Students Document Iconic Coral Gables Congregational Church

The architectural measured drawings compiled by a cohort from the School of Architecture will be preserved at the Library of Congress

School of Architecture students fully documented the architectural design, structure, and distinctive elements of the iconic Coral Gables Congregational Church for submission to a Library of Congress archive that collects and preserves the architectural measured drawings of historic buildings.

“This project began when the church reached out to us and expressed an interest in initiating this as part of their upcoming centennial,” says lecturer Ricardo Lopez, B.Arch. ’00, M.Arch. ’07.

Established in 1933, the Historic American Buildings Survey Collection at the Library of Congress stores America’s architectural heritage, consisting of measured drawings, historical reports, and large-format, black-and-white photographs. The archive preserves these documents in case the structure is damaged or destroyed, noted Lopez. Future architects can use them for a variety of preservation planning efforts.

The students’ work was recognized with the 2023 Charles E. Peterson Prize, an award given by the American Institute of Architects, the National Parks Service, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, and the Association for Preservation Technology.

The students began their work in a studio class called Documentation of Historic Architecture, in which they conducted fieldwork and produced drafts, drawings, and photos of the church—the first church and public building constructed in Coral Gables. Working with the Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing, they were able to use drone photography and laser scans of the taller and more complex building elements, such as the church’s tower.

“We had to be very meticulous throughout,” says graduate student Kiera Tucker. “It really comes down to the nitty gritty details that you don’t think too much about when you are walking around the space.”

The Flamingos’ Triumphant Return

Researchers and birdwatchers alike are celebrating the reappearance of more wild flamingos in the Sunshine State

It was a flash of electric pink against a backdrop of brilliant blue water and green mangroves.

Even though she and colleagues had been searching for the elusive American flamingo, Kelly Cox, J.D. ’16, M.P.S. ’16, a University of Miami lecturer, was caught off guard when she saw two dozen wild flamingos in Everglades National Park recently.

“It was really magical,” says Cox, now director of Everglades policy for the Audubon Florida.

In the past century, wild flamingos all but disappeared from Florida. But with a major increase in sightings during the last year, scientists, birdwatchers, and conservation advocates are ecstatic. And so far, the flamingos haven’t left.

“We’re not sure if they’ll fly back south, but for now, they’re sticking around, which means there’s enough food and habitat for them,” Cox adds.

Researchers and advocates like Cox say it is one tangible sign that the massive $23.2 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is finally seeing success, more than two decades after the act of Congress was created to bring wildlife back to the “river of grass.”

While wild flamingos were once common in the Sunshine State, the plume hunting industry in the 1800s, followed by the draining of the Everglades in the 20th century, decimated Florida’s population. As flamingos faded from the landscape, so did many other wading birds.

For the next century, wild American flamingos were spotted only in remote islands off Cuba, throughout the Caribbean, and near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

In recent years, Florida birdwatchers have spotted a few more. However, when Hurricane Idalia churned through the Gulf of Mexico last August, researchers believe the storm’s winds diverted some flamingos from their typical flight patterns through the Caribbean and steered them north. In September, birdwatchers began posting flamingo photos as far north as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Still, most were found in Florida, especially in the Florida Keys and in Florida Bay, which is part of Everglades National Park, says Jerry Lorenz, Ph.D. ’00, Audubon Florida’s director of research.

“About 15 years ago, we started tracking these birds and we would get six to seven sightings per year,” he says. “Within a few days [after Idalia], we had hundreds of sightings.”

Scientists believe the larger number of wild flamingos that are in Florida, the more likely it is that the birds may nest again here.

Biology graduate student Alexis Oscar Diaz Campo, who is studying the genome of all six flamingo species, says American flamingos usually lay their eggs in remote Caribbean islands. Yet, they may be favoring Florida again since Everglades restoration projects are helping to recreate the shallow lakes where they like to feed.

Even better, Cox added, flamingos are part of a larger trend of many wading bird populations that are returning to the Everglades. She attributes this change to CERP, which is now the largest ecosystem restoration project in the world.

“It was a very, very stark visual reminder of, ‘If you build it, they will come,’” says Cox. “If you can create a healthy habitat, it can support these really iconic and beautiful bird species that have been away from home for a really long time.”

If you can create a healthy habitat, it can support these really iconic and beautiful bird species that have been away from home for a really long time.