Sabbaticals and Leaves Announced

Faculty Will Be Writing, Conducting Research and Traveling

May 27, 2008

Sabbatical leaves for projects ranging from authoring books and creating exhibits of artwork to research and international travel have been granted for the 2008-09 academic year. President Milton A. Gordon granted 40 leaves, including five for a one-year term. The following is a list of those awarded sabbatical leave, according to Faculty Affairs and Records.

ONE YEAR

William R. Laton, Geological Sciences, will be learning more about advances in desktop computing power, availability of high-resolution imagery — such as NASA, NOAA, USGS — and modeling software that can be applied to both teaching and research activities in the area of environmental water resources. He plans on visiting universities and government agencies where GIS, remote sensing and 3D visualization are being systemically utilized and promoted.

Mindy B. Mechanic, Psychology, has proposed completion of a book on the topic of expert testimony on battering and its effects in legal cases involving intimate partner violence.

Pamella H. Oliver, Child and Adolescent Studies, will be examining the influence of daily family and peer interactions as they relate to outcomes of youth exposed to multiple forms of violence, including parental violence, harsh parenting and community violence.

Irena A. Praitis, English, Comparative Literature and Linguistics, is proposing to write a manuscript of poetry based on the life of her grandmother. Praitis’ grandmother, now in her 90s, lost both parents at a very early age, survived Stalin’s Soviet occupation of Lithuania during World War II and immigrated to Colombia in 1950 before coming to the United States in 1959.

Philippe J. Zacair, History, will be delving into the relationship of Haiti and Afro-Caribbean migrants for a book on “Shifting Racial and National Identities: Guadeloupians and Martinicans in Haiti (1804-1914)” he plans on submitting to a publisher in June 2009.

FALL SEMESTER

Scott A. Annin, Mathematics, will be working on a problem-solving textbook to accompany the American Invitational Mathematics Exam, a high school exam administered nationally by the Mathematical Association of America.

Victor Brajer, Economics, will study data on the various air pollutants and key socioeconomic characteristics of more than 120 cities in China for the period from 1990 to 2005 to create a determination of the equity effects of that country’s urban air pollution.

David J. Cheng, Electrical Engineering, seeks to design an optical device testing facility and a procedure to enhance student learning and serve the needs of the local technical community.

Kristine Dennehy, History, plans a project dealing with integrating current scholarship in Asian and world history, and historical perspectives of Asian countries, into secondary school world history curriculum. As part of the project, Dennehy will visit middle and high school classrooms and conduct focus group discussions with teachers.

Zvi Drezner, Information Systems and Decision Sciences, will be working on a competitive location model utilizing estimates of market share and possibility of lost demand. Drezner has plans to collaborate with associates in Japan and England as part of the project.

Alan L. Emery, Sociology, is developing a book on South Africa’s transition from Apartheid to Democracy.

Matt Englar-Carlson, Counseling, seeks to complete a series of projects, including authoring a monograph on Adlerian psychotherapy, edit a monograph series on psychotherapy and develop a training DVD on “Engaging Men in Psychotherapy.”

Diana W. Guerin, Child and Adolescent Studies, is researching the antecedents, correlates and consequences of high school academic performance, utilizing the Fullerton Longitudinal Study, a collaborative research effort that followed 100 children and their families from the child’s first birthday through 24 years of age. The project was initiated by Allen W. Gottfried in 1978.

Gamini Gunawardane, Management, will be studying the feasibility of offering health care management courses through the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.

C. Jessie Jones, Health Science, plans on collecting data to update national norms for the Senior Fitness Test — published in The Senior Fitness Test Manual she co-authored in 2001 — and writing a second edition of the manual for publication.

Lisa D. Kirtman, Elementary and Bilingual Education, is scheduled to conduct a study examining effective methods to teach mathematics to African American girls in order to increase their test scores in second through fifth grades.

Armando Martinez-Cruz, Mathematics, has proposed completing a geometry textbook manuscript for secondary math teachers that will incorporate historical perspective of geometric thinking development, conjecture making and geometry dynamic software.

Robert J. Michaels, Economics, will be investigating the failure to comply with renewable energy requirements, such as California legislation requiring 33 percent of renewable energy be used by 2020 — 20 percent of power sold by the three largest corporate utilities be from renewable sources by 2010.

C. George Peale, Modern Languages and Literature, plans on writing four chapters of a book, “A Materialist History of Spanish Court Theater (1621-1642).” He will be utilizing research he did in Spain during 2006 under a National Endowment of the Humanities research grant.

Karen L. Perell, Kinesiology, has proposed studying with Chris Hovorka and Robert Gregor of the Georgia Institute of Technology Prosthetics and Orthotics Program, specifically to gain familiarity with biomechanical methodologies to study sport biomechanics in athletes with disabilities. Perell also hopes to gain insight into the complexities of developing a master’s degree in prosthetics and orthotics should Cal State Fullerton decide to pursue the issue.

Chandra Srinivasan, Chemistry and Biochemistry, plans on completing manuscripts for publication, collecting preliminary data for future projects, developing grant proposals, mentoring research students and working on biotechnology and biochemistry course development. As part of the leave, she will be working in labs at UCLA and will be visiting local biotechnology companies.

Paul T. Stapp, Biological Science, has set goals to complete and submit for publication a manuscript about long-term ecological research of mammal communities in Colorado; present a seminar on these studies at Colorado State University; submit a grant proposal for new research of island food webs in the Gulf of California; and enhance his skills in geographic information system mapping and analysis.

Dragos-Bogdan Suceava, Mathematics, seeks to write and conduct research based on his study of Barbilian spaces, a problem in metric geometry.

Jonathan S. Taylor, Geography, hopes to dedicate his leave to working on a current study of changes in alpine glaciers in the Bhutan Himalayas, a project involving researchers and students from both the United States and Bhutan.

Samuel C. Yang, Information Systems and Decision Sciences, proposes to use the semester to write a book on fourth-generation wireless services including WiMAX, or worldwide interoperability for microwave access.

SPRING SEMESTER 2009

Cheryl W. Canary, Nursing, has planned to complete research on spirituality, suffering, depression and symptoms in elderly patients with heart failure.

Joseph M. Cervantes, Counseling, will complete several projects, including a book he is co-editing titled “Latina/o Healing Practices: Mestizo and Indigenous Perspectives.”

Victoria B. Costa, Secondary Education, hopes to delve into three research areas: science education; teacher preparation, recruitment and retention; and use of educational technologies to improve teaching and learning. She has proposed co-authoring a textbook for secondary science teachers, conducting research in teacher performance assessment and continue professional development in educational technologies.

Nancy Fitch, History, seeks to use the semester to complete a manuscript titled “Politics and the Construction of Identity in Central France in the Age of Revolution” that examines the social change that transformed the country in the second half of the 17th century. She also hopes to develop teaching materials based on her research.

Sheryl I. Fontaine, English, Comparative Literature and Linguistics, proposes to analyze material from a self-sustaining, collaboratively-administered peer tutoring program in San Martin Sacatepequez, Guatemala, she co-piloted in summer 2007. During her sabbatical, Fontaine plans on interviewing the program instructor/tutor about strategies and curricula and arrange for one-on-one conversations and focus group meetings with students who have been through the program.

Timothy D. Green, Elementary and Bilingual Education, hopes to complete writing of a co-authored book on teaching and learning in online distance education, including technology tools, design online courses and assessing students in online courses.

Mohinder S. Grewal, Electrical Engineering, has plans to complete a revision of the third edition of “Kalman Filtering Theory & Practice Using MATLAB.” Grewel also seeks to complete three articles on Kalman filtering to be included in a commemorative issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Control Systems Magazine.

Chang-Hyun Jo, Computer Science, seeks to continue research in “agent computing,” including conducting a survey on agent-oriented software engineering, submitting a journal paper consolidating his research and submitting a grant proposal to fund additional research.

Bhushan L. Kapoor, Information Systems and Decision Sciences, has proposed development of a statistical database security algorithm and its application to a major health insurance database. The study will measure the improvement in security, as well as the impact on most commonly requested statistics after applying the algorithm. Kapoor hopes to public his research in peer-reviewed journals and use the database for future research.

Mikyong Kim-Goh, Human Services, seeks to complete an edited book tentatively titled “Model Minority No More: Asian Immigrant Women’s Experiences With Domestic Violence” that builds on work she has completed on the impacts of culture and immigration on the family violence in ethnic minority communities.

Cynthia M. King, Communications, has planned on using her leave to work on the second edition of her co-authored book, “Entertainment and Society: Audiences, Trends and Impacts,” including gathering new information to incorporate into the publication.

Hossein Moini, Mechanical Engineering, has proposed to use his leave to explore methods and strategies that help develop safer and more intelligent automobiles using a mechatronics (mechanical and electronics) design approval. As part of this work, he hopes to use the knowledge he gains to seek multiyear grant funding and develop curriculum related to his research.

Sandra M. Perez-Linggi, Modern Languages and Literature, seeks to write a book on Eusebio Chacón’s 1982 novella “El hijo de la tempestad/Tras la tormenta la calma.”

Fu-Ming Tao, Chemistry and Biochemistry, hopes to use his leave to research air pollution, specifically sulfur dioxide, to develop a model to understand the pollution emission from coal combustion and to search for effective strategies for curbing consequent effects such as acid rains and atmospheric aerosols.

Pila Valero-Costa, Modern Languages and Literature, has planned to develop and complete a book about the writing of Maria Zambrano, a 20th-century Spanish writer and philosopher.