Michael Santoroski

Roanoke College's web guy (PHP, Laravel + SQL), highered, IT, husband, father, futurist, runner, swimmer, biker, board game nerd, social media dabler.

Student Spotlight

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Senior Amanda Kern is working with Dr. Richard B. Keithley in the Chemistry Department. Amanda has been working on the development of a UV-VIS spectroscopy experiment for future CHEM 350 instrumental analysis where students utilize a double beam in time UV-VIS spectrometer to extract kinetic data from a chemical system of real-world relevance. The molecular reaction being studied is the degradation of food dye with sodium hypochlorite producing a colorless product. Great work Amanda! 

Fellows Friday

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This week we are excited to highlight Senior Tess Weidenkopf! Tess is currently finishing a project for Departmental Honors in the Biochemistry Major and is developing a methodology to analyze suspect Metformin HCl pharmaceuticals from Sub-Saharan Africa via HPLC. She also is working on a new project for Departmental Honors in the Theatre Major. The project is a dramaturgical study of Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour focusing on the psychological development and mental health issues of young women in single sex education as well as the historical context of the production. Since starting her Research Fellowship, Tess has attended a conference at Harvard University where she presented her research on the development of nanocrystals that she completed with Dr. Hughes. She also won the Irene Adler Meritorious Award in Dramaturgy for her work on Silent Sky. Fantastic work Tess! 

Fellows Friday

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This week we are showcasing Senior Emily Curfman’s research. Since her freshman year, Emily has conducted research with Dr. Sweet in the Business Department and have looked into a variety of topics over the last few years. Currently, she is researching the relationship between job satisfaction, motivation, and productivity in telework. This research is useful for employers to know because of the recent increase of teleworking in the workplace. She also has a passion to learn more about the field of human resource management, so this research allows me to gain more knowledge about my future career path. This past week, Emily presented her research at the SEINFORMS conference. Way to go Emily! 

Student Research Leads to ‘Transformative’ Project in Roanoke

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Dr. Liz Ackley, the Brian H. Thornhill Associate Professor of Health & Human Performance at Roanoke College, and the director of the Center for Community Health Innovation at Roanoke College announced last week that the Northwest Food Access Initiative has received a $10 million dollar earmark from ARPA funds. The Center serves as an avenue for both students to experience real-world learning and a chance for the Northwest neighborhood of Roanoke to improve and flourish because of students’ research. With Dr. Ackley’s efforts and a city panel of volunteers, the creation of this shopping center in Northwest Roanoke is possible. When asked about this project, Dr. Ackley says, “I think the uniqueness of all of this work is that we have a small liberal arts college guiding what could potentially be one of the most transformative project ever in the history of Roanoke.” Soon, Roanoke City will find a developer to begin the first stages of this significant project. We look forward to watching this shopping center come to fruition! 

Student Spotlight

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This week we are excited to highlight Senior Audrey Mason who is working with Dr. Kelly Anderson in the Chemistry Department. When asked to describe her research, Audrey says, “The energy crisis of the mid 1970’s sparked the push for renewable energy. This was the first time there was a threat of running out of fossil fuels which led to the development of renewable energy sources and energy conservation. Thermal energy storage is when energy is stored in the form of heat and held until it is released to be used. This is beneficial when moving towards a greener future because it allows for energy to be stored for an increased duration of time. Although working on a nanoscale, simulations can lay the foundational blueprints for larger projects. The goal of this experiment is to discover the influence of a closed pore on the melting properties of a phase change material, lead. In particular, it was examined if the melting point changed as the volume of the pore increased at two different loading densities.” Keep up the great work! 

Fellows Friday

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This week we are introducing Research Fellow Friday. For this first Friday, we are excited to highlight Sophomore Ethan Parker who is working with Dr. Danielle Findley–Van Nostrand in the Psychology Department. This semester, Ethan is working on a literature review that focuses on synthesizing information from precarious manhood theory and how threatened masculinity affects aggression. His work this semester will serve as a proposal to segue into an empirical study next semester. Fantastic work Ethan!

Student Spotlight

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This week we are excited to highlight Senior Kayla Marshall.  Kayla has been conducting a Bilateral Comparison Study on a human cadaver with Dr. Thibodeaux in the Biology Department. Throughout her experience with Research at Roanoke College, Kayla loves that she can conduct research independently with the strong support from her advisor. She can control and conduct her research independently under the guidance of Dr. Thibodeaux. Great work Kayla!

NIH Presentation Highlight

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This past Thursday, Seniors Bryn Haden and Kavya Iyer co-presented, “Perceived Neighborhood Environments: Health Impacts and Catalysts for Change” with Dr. Elizabeth Ackley at National Institutes of Health: State of the Science Convening on Food Insecurity, Neighborhood Food Environment, and Nutrition Health Disparities. The research both Bryn, a Public Health and Health & Exercise Science double major and Kavya, a Biochemistry major, conducted was all supported through the Center for Community Health Innovation and Honors Program here at Roanoke College. The purpose of their project is, “To describe the efficacy of the Roanoke Valley Community Healthy Living Index as a scalable model for evaluating neighborhood food and physical activity environments and catalyzing policy and infrastructure change [and] to outline recent findings pertaining to the relationship between perceived neighborhood environments and health outcomes in youth.” Through their research, Bryn and Kavya concluded that, “Perceptions of neighborhood food and physical activity environments demonstrate promise in evaluating neighborhood environments and informing tailored interventions.” Please join us in congratulating Bryn and Kavya for their hard work and phenomenal presentation! 

Student Spotlight

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We are excited to introduce “Student Spotlight” where each week a different student who participates in Research at Roanoke College will be featured. For this first week, meet Snigdha Somani, an Undergraduate Research Assistant who is working with Dr. Andreea Mihalache-O’Keef in the Public Affairs Department. Currently, Snigdha is working on a project titled, The First Year: Determinants of Infant Nutrition and Marketing Solutions for Community Stakeholders in the Roanoke Valley. “This project identifies infant nutrition patterns in Roanoke and the surrounding area, as well as some of the socioeconomic, demographic, and policy-related determinants of infant nutrition decisions. It is a unique data collection initiative intended to serve a variety of local stakeholders, like WIC. The main contribution of the project is to fill a gap in data on infant feeding in our area and on challenges and resources for mothers during baby’s first year of life. Additionally, the project tests a set of hypotheses regarding determinants of infant nutrition outcomes, with a focus on two broad categories: (1) socio-demographics; and (2) community culture and resources”, says Snigdha. Follow Snigdha and Dr. Mihalache-O’Keef on their journey with this project throughout the semester!

Research Highlight: Shannon Baker

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I had the opportunity to interview Shannon Baker concerning her opportunity to have her distinction project on Confederate monuments be published in the Michigan Journal of History.

Can you describe what your research project is about?

My distinction project, Confederate Monuments in Context: Arlington National Cemetery and the Legacy of the Confederacy, analyzed the Confederate monument at Arlington National Cemetery and placed it in the larger, modern-day context surrounding the debate around Confederate symbols. I applied theory from memory studies and public history to explain the power of hegemonic narratives of history, why monuments can be so controversial, and the arc of the Lost Cause throughout American history. 

 What made you decide to pursue your topic? Why did you decide to do research

I decided to research this project both out of a genuine interest (we had been discussing Confederate memorialization in my Intro to Public History class when I proposed this project), and because I was going to participate in the Washington semester, and I wanted to be able to do research while I was in D.C. I knew I was going to do research because of my enrollment in the Honors program.

How has your experience with your research advisor been?

I really loved getting to work with Dr. Rosenthal. She was so helpful and encouraging, and I definitely couldn’t have gotten it done at all without her. Dr. Rosenthal kept me on track, and my paper wouldn’t have been as strong as it was if I didn’t have such a great supervisor.

What has been your favorite or most interesting part of your research project so far?

I’ve really found a lot of interesting things through my research, but I think the most interesting thing I’ve stumbled across — and the article that made me consider this topic in the first place — was a newspaper article written by the descendants of the Arlington monument sculptor, Moses Ezekiel, calling for the monument’s removal following the 2017 Charlottesville riot. (here’s the link, it’s really well-written: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/descendants-of-rebel-sculptor-remove-confederate-memorial-from-arlington-national-cemetery/2017/08/18/d4da6a3e-842b-11e7-ab27-1a21a8e006ab_story.html)

What would you say to current and incoming students interested in doing research? 

I recommend doing research to any student at RC. It gives you the opportunity to make something you can be so proud of, and it certainly made me a better writer and researcher. It’s not as scary as it seems!