ReView-Magazine-Vol2-No1-Spring18

VOL2 RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

NO1 AT

SPRING2018 THE

VIEW

URBAN AWAKENING:

FOOD DESERTS PROVOKE COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND ACTION

The Office of Research, Innovation and Sponsored Programs

RE

Ruth Simmons President, Prairie View A&M University James M. Palmer, Ph.D. Interim Senior Vice President Academic Affairs and Provost Publisher: Cajetan M. Akujuobi, M.B.A., Ph.D.E.E., P.E. Vice President Research, Innovation and Sponsored Programs Editor: Karen B. Cotton, M.A. Manager, Marketing and Communications Photographer: Michael Starghill Photography

Message From Dr. Cajetan M. Akujuobi, M.B.A., Ph.D. E.E., P.E

Design and Contributors: Gilbreath Communications, Inc.

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

Research at Prairie View A&M University is directed by talented and dedicated scholars.

We place a high priority on training students to balance ambitious career goals with a commitment to improving conditions in society for the long term.

Send feedback to: review@pvamu.edu ReView Magazine is published by the Office of Research, Innovation and Sponsored Programs.

Prairie View A&M University is an EEO/AA institution

I am constantly impressed by the researchers here at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU). They continue to amaze me with their innovative approaches to solving the grand challenges we face.

In this edition of ReView, you’ll get a glimpse of what we know here at PVAMU. We are breaking down barriers and opening pathways to discovery.

You’ll learn about researchers using technology for everything from farming to preservation of historic structures to research that will be invaluable in managing disasters, such as the weatherrelated destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. You’ll see how our researchers are responding to social, health, environmental and agricultural needs. They are using data analytics in groundbreaking new ways. Our graduate and undergraduate students featured here have received awards for their inspiring and novel approaches to challenges that will help to shape our future.

About four years ago, our research expenditure was approximately $8 million. Now, it’s $16 million. This represents a 100 percent increase. Our goal is to exceed $30 million in the coming years.

We are committed to becoming an emerging research institution.

We are proud of the researchers, both faculty and students, at Prairie View A&M University. We are delighted to share their research with you.

Cajetan M. Akujuobi, M.B.A., Ph.D. E.E., P.E. Vice President for Research, Innovation and Sponsored Programs

URBAN AWAKENING:

IN THIS

ISSUE 40 SPOTLIGHT

STUDENT

Grad student takes in-depth look at role of HBCUs in correctional education

8 THE TALK: ON BEING PREPARED WHEN SIRENS BLARE

Research team examining how parents in non-white communities talk to their children about interactions with police

14 REAL ART GOES FACE-TO-FACE WITH REAL PEOPLE

Art instructor relies on direct approach with nationwide tour of interactive exhibit

18

ONE HEROIC ENDEAVOR …

PVAMU researcher of HIV/AIDS uncovers how a lack of transportation prevents health care in rural areas

22 CAN ARSENIC BE AN

ANSWER TO CANCER?

PVAMU professor has key role in cutting-edge cancer research involving arsenic trioxide

26 FOCUSED LIKE A LASER …

ON A CLEANER WAY TO TEST WATER

Distinguished engineering professor working to replace dye, chemicals with laser technology in detecting water toxins

30 G ROWING GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Texas farmers could soon harvest spectacular benefits from PVAMU Specialty Crops Program

2017 HBCU All-Star encourages other students to see career-building benefits of research skills

32 GOAT FARMING GOES

HIGH-TECH AT PVAMU

Research scientist secures 200K grant to develop state-of-the-art app for animal health issues

36 A NEW PLATEAU FOR

PVAMU ARCHITECTURE

Food Deserts Provoke Community Awareness and Action

Team of architects complete digital restoration blueprint of historic Hindu temple in Nepal

42 NEW ICCE INSPIRES PROMISING

LONG-TERM EXPECTATIONS FOR PVAMU OFFICE OF RESEARCH

Dr. Jasmine Opusunju

Urban

Awakening Food Deserts Provoke Community Awareness and Action

PROFESSOR’S RESEARCH REVEALS variety of workable solutions to the scarcity of fresh food sources in urban communities

For people who live in an area with thriving, well-stocked supermarkets, “food desert” is an odd and abstract term with little or no impact.

But the term has an all-too-real meaning for impoverished

URBAN COMMUNITIES across the United States. Food deserts are communities of primarily low-income residents with limited access to affordable and nutritious food.

Food deserts are also the focus of a major research effort at Prairie View A&M University in the College of Education’s Department of Health and Kinesiology under the direction of Dr. Jasmine Opusunju, an assistant professor active in community-based research for more than 13 years. Opusunju’s current research originated from her interest in the health environment and chronic disease prevention, particularly childhood obesity, which has reached epidemic levels in U.S. communities within the last two decades.

Through her own direct discussion and interaction with residents of urban communities, Opusunju concluded that educating people about the importance of healthy diets is an insufficient approach due to adverse economic and environmental realities. Her research is currently taking place in more than five Houston/Harris County communities in Texas and is funded from a variety of sources including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, The Texas Medical Center and the American Heart Association.

Although public health researchers reached a consensus long ago that lifestyle-related diseases are decreasing the life spans of millions of Americans, proposed solutions to the problem often do not involve direct input and facilitation from the affected populations.

“I realized it goes beyond just simply educating people on how to lead healthier lifestyles. There were fundamental obstacles people were facing,” Opusunju says. “If you’re going to counter child obesity, the biggest factors are environmental and policy changes.

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

6 “But I also was interested in how the people being impacted are actually driving the changes as opposed to these solutions put together (by outsiders) that are less effective, relevant, and sustainable,” she says.

play. Not only do we partner with community-based organizations, but also businesses and (various) institutions within the Texas Medical Center along with the large urban city and county health departments.”

Opusunju says the barriers to healthful diets in urban poor communities go well beyond a lack of knowledge about good nutrition. “Yes, there is an educational component, but there is also the environmental component and the access and food quality components,” she says. “Also, when we think of reducing childhood obesity, there is both the healthy-eating side and the active living side. So, sole emphasis cannot be placed on healthy-eating.”

Several students of Prairie View A&M University have interned with community-based organizations, involved in gathering data and implementing initiatives such as the healthy corner stores — a growing trend in Houston, Opusunju says. There is also regular interaction with store managers.

Opusunju’s research is not limited to simply studying and understanding the problems causing food deserts. “What’s different at Prairie View is that we’re working on the ground with communities,” Opusunju says. “It’s not something happening in a vacuum, in a protected space where someone says researchers absolutely know what the solution is, so let’s go and convert it into practice.’

“Here, the practice influences the research and vice versa,” she says. “We’re engaging directly with communities and with community-based organizations that have a significant role to

“At the end of the day, we’re partnering directly with businesses,” she says. “Businesses still have to make money, but as they partner in this comprehensive approach and are witnessing the transition where there’s a higher demand for healthier food options, they will stock their stores with healthier items.”

“We’re making sure our effort is coming from a community-based participatory research model,” she says. “That is where we deviate from (research) being done elsewhere.”

Researchers often present recommendations that work in theory, but are actually difficult to implement by everyday people, Opusunju says.

For example, recommendations about active outdoor living and physical activity in urban communities are beyond reach due to safety

“WHAT’S DIFFERENT AT PRAIRIE VIEW is that we’re working on the ground with communities. It’s not something happening in a vacuum, in a protected space where someone says researchers absolutely know what the solution is, so let’s go and convert it into practice.”

– Dr. Opusunju

concerns if poor lighting, lack of sidewalks, stray dogs and criminal activity are frequent issues.

At the same time, healthy cooking skills are viewed by some as difficult to learn and time-consuming — and healthy meals are often assumed to be unappealing to the human appetite. “What people perceive to be healthy in the communities I prioritize is not what people actually want,” Opusunju says. “Healthy is deemed to be, ‘I don’t want to eat rabbit food. I don’t want to eat grass.’

“So, there’s a complete aversion to ‘healthy’ while you’re trying to promote ‘healthy.’

It sounds uninteresting,” she says. In response, Opusunju emphasizes how a healthy diet can include deliciously appealing ingredients. “That’s the value of starting where people are, educating in a culturally relevant way that’s effective, and reversing the misconception about what is ‘healthy,’ instead of just pushing for people to eat healthy and meet recommendations when there is an aversion towards what is perceived as healthy,” she says.

But even after residents become aware that healthy meals can actually taste good, other discouraging factors include cost and the travel distance necessary to purchase what is needed to cook healthy meals regularly. “They’ll say, ‘I can’t buy the chicken that you made because it costs $15.’ Or, ‘the only stores around me all sell expired food.’”

Fortunately, one key benefit for urban residents who confront the difficulty of buying and eating healthy is an awakened sense of social activism, Opusunju says, which creates opportunities for community-based leadership and advocacy training.

“Residents identify the issue of fairness, such as, ‘It’s not fair that other areas have something I don’t have access to. How do we change that?’

This is coming directly from residents,” she says.

“They’re becoming empowered, piece by piece.”

When enough people living in food deserts decide a nutritious diet is essential to their overall quality of life and something that they deserve like everyone else, real changes become more likely, Opusunju says. “We’re trying to create systems that work for people, but the people themselves have to be the ones mobilizing.”

Parents, caregivers, community-based organizations, churches and some elected officials have all emerged as committed activists aiming to bring healthier food sources into impoverished urban neighborhoods. “The conversation is changing because solutions are better-driven and impactful when you have knowledgeable advocates saying, ‘this is what we need.’

“The implications are huge because you’re now starting to have solutions developed that are actually relevant and likely to be sustained, rather than people making a decision that seems like it will work yet continues to be less effective at closing the gap in food access and health disparities,” says Opusunju.

Ultimately, the goal is ensuring that all communities regardless of income levels have access to the same healthy, quality, and affordable food sources. “At the end of the day,” Opusunju says, “the priority and necessity is health equity and solutions that will make it a reality.”

In terms of expanding the research to new areas beyond the current five Harris County communities, Opusunju emphasizes the importance of first focusing on impact and sustainability to ensure that real progress is being made.

“The ideal would be to maximize the way we operate within large urban city and county spaces across different areas but not in a superficial way,” she says. “It’s about how to make sure that the literal and environmental changes are driven by the community and equitable, the policies being put in place are equitable and then see that progress begin to disseminate.” o

Dr. Camil l

e Gi

bso n

an

dD r. M yr n

a

Ci

n ro t n

THE

TALK :

On Being Prepared when Sirens Blare Research team examining how parents in non-white communities talk to their children about interactions with police

The sight of a police vehicle rapidly speeding up behind you with lights flashing is an unwelcome sight for almost anyone driving or walking.

But in minority communities across the United States, generations of families have viewed such incidents as potentially life-threatening. Many residents of African-American and Latino communities in cities and small towns throughout the U.S. have either experienced or witnessed confrontational — and at times, tragic — incidents occurring after law enforcement officers have approached or detained minorities.

Within the last three years, the nation has seen a number of wellpublicized fatal police shootings involving African-Americans. Many of these incidents have occurred during traffic stops, but several have involved pedestrians. Alton Sterling, 37, Michael Brown, 18, and Tamir Rice, 12, all died following police confrontations and none were driving a vehicle at the time.

The 2015 death of Sandra Bland — which followed a videotaped confrontation with a Waller County sheriff’s deputy after a traffic stop — had a direct impact on Prairie View A&M University, Bland was a graduate of PVAMU and was about to begin working at the university.

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

12

And now, two PVAMU professors, Dr. Camille Gibson and Dr. Myrna Cintron of the College of Juvenile Justice and Psychology, are conducting an in-depth analysis of how minority parents advise their children on how to react when approached by law enforcement officers.

Drs. Cintron and Gibson both acknowledge that confrontational citizen-police interactions in ethnic communities have been a major issue for years. Their focus is on how parents attempt to prepare their children for possible interaction with police to prevent trouble.

In an ongoing project, they have already surveyed more than 300 people — white and nonwhite parents and youth. “This is a conversation that takes place among minorities and not among whites,” says Dr. Cintron. “It happens in Latino communities, but not to the extent that it’s happening among African-Americans.

“When white parents talk to their children about police interaction, it’s a more positive discussion,” Cintron says. “One of the questions was, ‘Are you afraid you may be killed by a police officer?’ And African-American youths overwhelmingly express this fear, while white youths generally do not.

“IF THERE IS A CONSISTENT FINDING IN THIS LITERATURE, IT IS THAT

MINORITIES

DON’T FARE VERY WELL WHEN IT COMES TO POLICE INTERACTION, AGE OR STATUS DO NOT MATTER.” – DR. CINTRON

“If there is a consistent finding in this literature, it is that minorities don’t fare very well when it comes to police interaction,” Cintron says.

“Age or status do not matter.”

Additionally, white youths and their parents typically are more willing to rely on the criminal justice system to address any grievance against law enforcement officers, Dr. Gibson says. “If an interaction goes wrong, white young people are more likely to report that their parents would take assertive action with the law enforcement agency,” Gibson says. “White parents are generally more confident that they could approach the department, make a complaint and have their grievances addressed fairly and impartially.”

By contrast, African-American youths have been told it is best to refrain from aggressively challenging any accusations from an officer or deputy. “African-American youth are advised to be highly sensitive about avoiding words or behavior that could spark a sudden, hostile reaction from police,” Gibson says. “Many African-American youths are also advised to take notes and record the encounter.”

Meanwhile, Cintron and Gibson have observed significant differing views within the Latino community and differences between Latino and African-American perceptions of police encounters. Gibson says newly-arrived Latino immigrants are often less apprehensive than Latinos who have been U.S. citizens or residents for more than a generation.

“People who are recent immigrants tend to have a more positive perception of the police,” Gibson says. “That’s largely because of exposure to police corruption in other countries.

Hispanics who are second- or third-generation U.S. citizens have perspectives that tend to be closer to those of African-Americans.”

Both researchers are interested in the implications of the recently passed the Texas Senate Bill 30, now formally called the Community Safety Education Act. Co-authored by State

“AFRICAN-AMERICAN YOUTH ARE ADVISED TO BE HIGHLY SENSITIVE ABOUT AVOIDING WORDS OR BEHAVIOR THAT COULD SPARK A SUDDEN, HOSTILE REACTION FROM POLICE.” – DR. GIBSON

Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) and State Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston), the new law requires the State Board of Education, working through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to create new high school instructional materials, driver education courses and driver safety courses all aimed at giving clearer guidelines both to civilians and to law enforcement officers on how to conduct themselves during traffic-related interactions.

“The solution that the state has put in place is that now kids, before they get their licenses, have to take part of their training on how to interact with police,” Cintron says. “Is that a right step? We don’t know. It’s too early to tell.”

Cintron has already heard skepticism from some young people about the new law. “A student posed the question, ‘If the kids have to take that lesson as part of their driving requirement, what is the requirement for police officers?’ I would be interested in what police officers learn in police academies,” Cintron says. “What words are used to refer to kids when they are being questioned. If the kids are referred to as ‘thugs,’ that’s going to be my approach. But if I am taught (as an officer) to be respectable because my job depends on it, then I am learning from day one that there is a zero tolerance toward certain words and that’s where we need to go.”

Another factor taken into consideration in Gibson and Cintron’s research is how in some rural areas that have small police or sheriff’s departments, it is still possible for people of all races to personally know the local officers. “There are a number of youngsters who have relatively positive things to say based on how helpful the police have been when called,” Gibson says.

Gibson also notes that young people who have met police officers at school through programs like D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) are often less apprehensive about being approached by officers. o RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

13

Ann Johnson

Real Art Real People Goes Face-to-Face with

Art instructor relies on direct approach with nationwide tour of interactive exhibit

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

16

As an instructor with more than 20 years’ experience, Ann Johnson has personally witnessed — and dramatized — the impact social media has made on student-to-student and student-to-instructor conversations with the rise of smartphones.

“On the branches of the trees are images of people,” she says. “And on the small leaves are what I call ‘trigger words.’ Things that ignite a conversation. It may say ‘Trumped.’ It may say, ‘flag.’ It may say ‘Gray matters’ referring to Freddie Gray, or ‘A (Sandra) Bland Situation.’

Johnson, an interdisciplinary artist whose work has been featured nationwide, draws much of the inspiration for her work from her own keen sense of observation. So, the growing lack of face-to-face interaction among students helped spark one of her most recent works: a unique and interactive exhibit titled “Converse: Real Talk,” funded by the Austin-based organization, Women and Their Work. Johnson’s exhibit functions as a research vehicle, revealing the sheer amount of interaction generated by the participants’ direct conversations with one another — contact that cannot occur through social media.

A key inspiration for Converse: Real Talk arose from Johnson often noticing how many people posted malicious comments at the end of articles about President Obama or someone else they disliked — clearly taking advantage of not having to give their real name or address the target person-to-person. “I’d see of all these nasty, snide comments that people would never say to someone face to face,” Johnson said.

And “Real Talk” covers a full spectrum. The show’s audience is first greeted by a slideshow covering a range of published articles involving topics like, #blacklivesmatter, the transgender restroom debate, the rape allegations against a Stanford University swimmer, and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s “reap what you sow” tweet in the wake of the Orlando massacre.

But Johnson’s own students were the biggest inspiration for the work. “The students inspired me because they don’t want to speak in class, but they want to send you a 20-page email later,” Johnson says. “Converse: Real Talk is a series of white trees, and under the trees are two white chairs, therefore making the persons in the chair the color of the composition. People sitting in the chairs have to talk to the person in front of them. Because there are images of people watching printed on the leaves, when you sit under the trees, you have an audience.

“On the branches of the trees are images of people,” she says.

“And on the small leaves are what I call ‘trigger words.’

Things that ignite a conversation.

It may say ‘Trumped.’ It may say, ‘flag.’ It may say ‘Gray matters’ referring to Freddie Gray, or ‘A (Sandra) Bland Situation.’

– Ann Johnson

been deeply affected by Bland’s death in 2015, Johnson teamed up with them in putting her exhibition together.

“How Do I Say Her Name?” involved a glass quilt with a police transcript on one side, and on the other side were names of women involved in fatal incidents with police. “We don’t talk about the women like we talk about the men,” Johnson says. “We don’t protest or shut down highways when a woman dies like we do with the men. I thought that was something that needed to be said.”

CONVERSE:

Real Talk

“But you have to speak to each other, so it’s very interactive,” she says. “When I received the grant at Women and Their Work in Austin, Texas, I turned the entire gallery space into a park.”

Converse: Real Talk debuted at Houston Community College and at Texas Southern University later in 2016. Since then, the show has been featured at venues as far away as Syracuse, New York. The show recently played in the inaugural SculptTexas exhibition series in Brenham, Texas and also has been featured at the Galveston Art Center in Galveston, Texas.

Johnson says the turmoil of the 2016 elections helped fuel interest in the exhibit when it was featured through the entire summer of 2016 in Austin, Texas at Women & Their Work. Johnson says she was personally moved by the response. “At Women & Their Work, they told me they’ve never had a response to an exhibition like this. People would come during their lunch breaks and sit down and talk.”

Johnson is a prolific artist who is constantly creating new work when she’s away from the classroom. In 2017, she produced an exhibition inspired by the late Sandra Bland called, “How Do I Say Her Name?” After connecting with a number of other women artists who also had

Johnson is known for doing exhibits in a series format — although the topics have varied over the years. “I’ve always worked in series, but over the last five years or so, it’s been much more activist-oriented,” she says, adding she adheres to the belief of letting your creativity become your activism.

She has done exhibits about the Scottsboro Boys — nine African-American teen-agers accused in 1931 Alabama of raping two white women on a train — and about lynchings, including some that affected her own family history.

Johnson says she wants her work to reach beyond the African-American audience because a recurring problem in so many race-related tragedies is a lack of communication between different groups. “Part of it is, I want to sit in the chair across from a white person, because I want them to hear how this affects me,” she says. “I want to see how you see it, and I’ll show you how I see it.”

From that sentiment, another series has emerged that Johnson is currently working on called, “You Can’t See How You See Me” — involving text embossed on eyeglasses encased in glass bricks.

The themes of Johnson’s work are capricious, but her artistic productivity is a certainty. o

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

17

ONE HEROIC ENDEAVOR PVAMU researcher of HIV/AIDS uncovers how a lack of transportation prevents health care in rural areas

Comic book superheroes like Luke Cage and Spiderman are admired for going where most cannot or will not to right a wrong or to help those in distress. The world needs such people, both in fiction and in real life.

Dr. Mark Tschaepe does not present himself as a hero — certainly not like the collection of larger-than-life comic book figures and posters that adorn his office — but the potential results of his work could lead to life-saving results for HIV/AIDS victims who reside in rural areas.

Dr. Mark Tschaepe

HIV/AIDS and how it affects its victims and society as a whole has been a constant focus of researchers since the early 1980s. Back then, doctors had yet to accurately diagnose the disease and struggled simply to identify the cause of several life-threatening cases involving severe immune deficiency.

Since that time, effective treatment methods such as protease inhibitors have been discovered and made available to contain the disease’s impact.

But medical breakthroughs do no good if those afflicted lack the transportation to reach the health care facilities offering treatment.

Dr. Mark Tschaepe does not present himself as a hero — certainly not like the collection of larger-than-life comic book figures and posters that adorn his office — but the potential results of his work could lead to life-saving results for HIV/AIDS victims who reside in rural areas.

That’s the challenge in the spotlight of Tschaepe’s research. As an assistant professor in Prairie View A&M University’s College of Arts and Sciences with a background in public health and neuroscience, Tschaepe has been doing HIV/ AIDS research for about four years, enabled by the RR-6 Regional Research Project in Human Sciences, which is funded through the Evans Allen Research Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Social Systems and Allied Research Unit. What he’s found is a serious lack of treatment accessibility for patients in rural areas like Waller County.

Tschaepe’s research began with a focus on various science and methodology aspects of HIV/AIDS research and evolved into an ethical study. At the time, Tschaepe was researching how doctors at the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center learned in the early 1980s that HIV/AIDS was a disease that no doctor had ever diagnosed.

The renowned Houston-based physician Wayne Shandera wrote the first report about AIDS in 1981 while at UCLA Medical. While conducting his own research, Tschaepe realized Shandera was working at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Tschaepe contacted and interviewed Shandera, and gradually became inspired about focusing on accessibility to HIV/AIDS treatment as well as HIV/AIDS education.

“It became something very personal for me,” Tschaepe says. “I figured, ‘I’m in a professional position where I can actually give back to the community,’ so I got involved with AIDS Foundation Houston and became a board director there, which I still am.”

Working at PVAMU in a largely rural area like Waller County has proven to be an ideal location for the research goals Tschaepe is pursuing.

“There is what is known in the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) as the ‘Southern strategy,’ which involves targeting rural areas to try to solve this issue of the rates of HIV increasing,” Tschaepe says. “We see (HIV) rates decreasing in many urban areas of the North, however in the South, both in urban and rural areas, we see them rising.”

Tschaepe’s research soon revealed how Waller County residents badly needed access to basic health care in general — not just for major ailments like HIV/AIDS. “What the research opened was this entire medical desert,” he says. “This lack of health care within the county. My next step is to look at how this is affecting minority populations. This includes children and the elderly because those

are two populations that are not only overlooked with regard to HIV, especially in the rural South, but overlooked with regard to health care in general,” says Tschaepe.

And when a community survey on health care was conducted in 2010 by Texas A&M University, adequate transportation stood out as the No. 1 problem, Tschaepe says.

Currently, Tschaepe is preparing a survey for Waller County to more closely track health care accessibility issues. “If we have transportation, we don’t often think about it,” he says. “When we look at minority populations, as well as the elderly and children, are we considering whether these groups are able to access health care?”

Tschaepe has already noted that the average traveling distance to reach health care takes half an hour for many people. “There are very few primary physicians in Waller County,” Tschaepe notes. “Also, Waller County has no one who specializes in issues involving therapy with regard to African-Americans or Latinos and no one specializing in issues of sexuality or gender.

“For people within the transgender population in Waller County (for example), no one is facilitating their needs at all,” he says. “There is no one group more important than another. I’m interested in uncovering what the needs might be for groups that are being ignored.”

Securing statistical health information within the county can take time, he says. “There’s a lot of delegation and outsourcing,” he adds. “Waller County gets outsourced to Brazos, Brenham, and Cypress, but that does not cover the immediate needs of people within the county who lack the transportation to travel out of Waller for necessary health care treatment.”

Tschaepe will soon examine comparisons between Waller County and surrounding counties. After that, Tschaepe would like to propose methods on improving accessibility to departments of health and human services in rural areas across the Southern United States.

“Extending the work beyond Texas is the ultimate plan to facilitate more inclusive work that uncovers needs within other rural communities that may be facing similar issues (regarding accessibility),” Tschaepe says.

There’s a great deal of opportunity for PVAMU and the community-at-large to work together in resolving various challenges, he says. “Through this kind of needs assessment, we might be able to form stronger community-based partnerships between the university and Waller County that actually can provide some of the services that could fold into curricula re-development and student learning.” o

In Waller County, the disparity between the number of potential health care patients and available primary care physicians is 17,700 to 1. Compare that to Brazos County, for example, where the disparity is 982 people for every one physician. In Harris County, it’s about 1,500 people per physician.

Tschaepe recalls that he and a former graduate assistant who helped him gather research learned that some staff members at the Waller County Department of Health and Human Services assumed PVAMU actually had a direct role in providing health care services.

RESEARCH

needs

assessment “What the research opened was this entire medical desert. This lack of health care within the county. My next step is to look at how this is affecting minority populations. This includes children and the elderly because those are two populations that are not only overlooked with regard to HIV, especially in the rural South, but overlooked with regard to health care in general,” EXCELLENCE

T T Tschaepe HE VIEW –ADr.

21

Dr. Seungchan Kim

ARSENIC

BE AN ANSWER TO CANCER? PVAMU professor has key role in cutting-edge cancer research involving arsenic trioxide

Arsenic is known as a deadly poison and is often depicted as something mysteriously kept in a medicine bottle with a skull and crossbones on the label.

But leave it to those who work tirelessly on cancer research to find a potential healing quality in arsenic.

The proof is in Prairie View A&M University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department where Dr. Seungchan Kim is collaborating with a nationwide research team that has discovered how a low-dosage application of arsenic trioxide (ATO) can effectively treat brain tumors.

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

24

ARSENIC GLIOBLASTOMA potential healing quality in arsenic

effectively treat brain tumors

research progressing since 2012

650 chemical compounds screened against patient tissues

Funded by a grant secured through The Texas A&M University Systems’ Chancellor’s Research Initiative, Dr. Kim’s work is part of an ongoing collaboration he began at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (commonly called TGen) in Phoenix as part of a team handling bioinformatics — which combines computer science, biology, mathematics and engineering to analyze data collected through biomedical research.

Kim specialized in computational systems biology and biomedical research for 14 years at TGen and two years at the National Institutes of Health. The current research on arsenic trioxide has been in progress since 2012, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The specific cancer targeted by the research is glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive type of fatal brain tumors. In fact, the median survival rate of GBM patients is only 15 months and survival statistics on GBM have barely improved over the past three decades.

Arsenic trioxide’s role as a healing agent took on a new urgency at a conference where two of Kim’s colleagues, Dr. Harshil Dhruv, an assistant professor in TGen’s Cancer and Cell Biology Division, and Dr. Jonathan Bell of Northwestern University, stumbled upon each other.

“Dr. Dhruv presented our findings, and Dr. Bell from Northwestern approached Dr. Dhruv about [Northwestern’s] clinical studies using ATO, and wanted to collaborate to further understand the ATO mechanism of action on GBM,” Kim says.

At Northwestern, Bell and others already had tested the viability of arsenic trioxide in combination with temozolomide and radiation in treatment of GBM. “They (Northwestern researchers) wanted to know why arsenic trioxide has worked and said they wanted to collaborate with us,” says Kim.

As Dhruv and Bell increasingly compared notes, they discovered that a specific subtype of GBM cells was more responsive to the arsenic trioxide treatment. TGen researchers had placed arsenic trioxide among a library of more than 600 compounds that could potentially be used against different subtypes of glioblastoma.

“We were trying to identify a potential target for glioblastoma using various molecular biology tools as well as computational methods,” Kim says. “We used a set of 650 chemical compounds.

Most of them were not FDA-approved, so they were screened against cultures developed from patient tissues maintained in a research laboratory.” The cultures had been made to resemble actual tumors, Kim adds.

“GBM has three or four known subtypes and all respond to therapy in different ways,” he says.

“One of the compounds we identified is arsenic trioxide,” Kim says. “What they found is how a very small amount of arsenic can be used to treat tumors.”

Having arrived at PVAMU in 2016, Kim has continued his collaboration with TGen — specifically with Dr. Dhruv, who recently published a study about the cancer-fighting capabilities of arsenic trioxide. Kim’s other collaborators include TGen’s Dr. Michael Berens and Dr. Bell at Northwestern.

Kim’s work involves the analysis of data collected from various cancer patients through the ongoing collaboration between researchers at the various institutions — along with crucial input from medical doctors at various hospitals.

“We need people actually working with cancer patients who will collect the tissue samples, and transfer the samples to basic scientists who then use various platforms to generate data from the tissues,” Kim says. From there, Kim and others determine the most appropriate methods to analyze such data.

“Not all patients will respond to arsenic trioxide, only a specific type of brain tumor will respond to that therapy,” he says. As always with any chemotherapy treatment, Kim says the researchers are allowing for the potential side effects of arsenic trioxide treatment.

“Glioblastoma, once you get it, has an expected survival rate of a little more than a year,” observes Kim, and “… you’re willing to try almost everything (to prolong life).” o

“We were trying to identify a potential target for glioblastoma using various molecular biology tools as well as computational methods.”

RESEARCH

– Dr. Kim

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

25

Focused Like a Laser ‌ on a Cleaner Way to Test Water Distinguished engineering professor working to replace dye, chemicals with laser technology in detecting water toxins

It’s common knowledge that bodies of standing water carry harmful bacteria, and much of Houston and the Gulf Coast region received an all-too-personal lesson about toxic water during the massive flooding that accompanied Hurricane Harvey.

Waterborne disease is a global hazard and is estimated to cause more than 2.2 million deaths per year and an even higher number of illnesses every day, including diarrhea, gastrointestinal diseases and systematic illnesses. Waterborne infections are caused by ingestion or contact with contaminated water through a variety of infectious agents which includes bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths.

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

27

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

28

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE INDUSTRY

Musa’s research is funded by the National Science Foundation, Avaya, Cisco, Sprint, Boeing, Texas A&M Experiment Engineering Station (TEES), ConocoPhillips, AGI, Simio, and The Texas A&M University System Chancellor’s Research Initiative (CRI). Musa has developed an experimental procedure involving the use of lasers to detect waterborne microorganisms or pathogens without using dye. Among the pathogens that exist in drinking water, one, Giardia lamblia, poses a potent danger to public health through infection of animal and human intestinal systems and is a major focus of Musa’s research. This poisonous pathogen is common in rivers, lakes, streams and other surface waters where contamination from sewage or animal wastes is a constant threat.

“This (Giardia lamblia) microorganism lives primarily in cyst form with a distinctive, large oval shape,” Musa says. “Because of its translucent appearance and low concentration, Giardia cyst is not easy to detect in natural water, but even a few of them will suffice to make a person severely sick.”

Most never realize that dye and various potentially harmful chemicals are regularly applied to water systems to detect and remove harmful bacteria. Ending the use of chemicals in water has become a major project at Prairie View A&M University’s Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, where Dr. Sarhan M. Musa of the Department of Engineering Technology is conducting research that could replace chemical treatment of unsafe water with laser treatment.

Although the traditional use of microscopes remains as a chemical-free option to examine natural samples, doing so requires considerable experience and the process is lengthy in time and prone to error, says Musa. “In addition, water samples must be transported to a laboratory for testing, which can delay the detection of cysts in time,” Musa says. “Additionally, the viability of the cysts detected in this manner cannot be determined unambiguously without additional (dye) staining or other procedures.”

Laser detection of water toxins does not require any chemical manipulation, gives real time results immediately, and supplies information about the biological structure within the cell through its fluorophores, and it can provide real time monitoring capabilities with fast and accurate detection of water toxins.

Musa is using laser-induced, autofluorescence on the Giardia lamblia cysts, which are then studied and compared with other benign microorganisms. A fiber-optical fluorescence microscope is specifically designed to excite and collect the light emanating from Giardia lamblia cysts. Musa’s work is multi-faceted. He also is developing what would be a convenient and expedient device which enables individuals to test water for the presence of toxins. Musa says the ultimate goal would be to design the device for use on a massive scale to test water at treatment facilities serving large populations.

Most never realize that dye and various potentially harmful chemicals are regularly applied to water systems to detect and remove harmful bacteria. Ending the use of chemicals in water has become a major project at Prairie View A&M University.

Musa, who has taught at PVAMU for more than 15 years, says his dedication to the study of water microorganisms and pathogens emerged from his multidisciplinary background in engineering and physics. He has written more than a dozen books on various areas of study, including Induced Optical Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Laser Excited Microorganisms in Water.

In addition to his work involving waterborne pathogens, Musa is director of the Prairie View A&M University Avaya Networking Academy. The Avaya Networking Academy is a lab that prepares students in the School of Engineering Technology for careers in a fast-paced and rapidly evolving industry. “The aim is to give students a strong foundation in networking technologies for real world applications,” Musa says.

“We want them to be utilizing practical skills and also to understand leading-edge technologies.” o

Dr. Peter Ampim

GROWING Great Expectations:

Texas farmers could soon harvest spectacular benefits from PVAMU Specialty Crops Program

Farmers play a vital role in millions of daily diets.

Yet, many Texas farmers often struggle to earn a decent living despite farming in a state widely known for its agriculture.

So, the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences (CAHS) at Prairie View A&M University is on a mission to help Texas farmers diversify their farm operations, expand their output and improve their incomes through the Specialty Crops Program.

Dr. Peter Ampim is the CAHS research scientist directing the program, which kicked off in spring 2017 after funding was secured through a USDA-NIFA Capacity Building Grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the amount of $596,395. “According to US Census data, most of Texas’ farmers earn less than $25,000 per year,” Dr. Ampim says. “We saw a need and an opportunity to help Texas farmers improve their bottom line.

“Previous research shows that one way Texas farmers can improve the sustenance of their farms was to diversify their operations,” he says.

“So, that was the motivation for this project.”

The “specialty” part of the Specialty Crops program involves recruiting local farmers to start farming crops not native to Texas soil. PVAMU researchers put together a list of high value and highly nutritious fruits, vegetables, root crops and herbs not typically grown in Texas, but which could easily adapt to the climate.

These crops include fruits like pepino melon, goji berries and honey berries; vegetables like malabar spinach, Egyptian spinach, purslane, vegetable amaranth and grafted cucumber; a root crop known as cocoyam; and the herb epazote (Mexican tea). A piece of land 4 feet wide by 100 feet long is large enough to grow a combination of some of these crops.

Many immigrants residing in Texas are familiar with the selected crops and are viewed as potential regular customers once farmers

“According to US Census data, most of Texas’ farmers earn less than $25,000 per year.”

– Dr. Ampim in the program begin offering the produce.

“Immigrants are accustomed to certain types of foods,” Ampim says. “The problem is, they cannot find these foods here. When they cannot find these foods, they have to bring them in from somewhere else and pay more for those foods.”

Farmers are recruited for the Specialty Crops Program by PVAMU’s Cooperative Extension Program which identifies farmers who work in counties dealing with persistent poverty — designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as Strike Force Counties. Specifically, 30 farmers from Strike Force counties will be required to attend 10 workshops that cover the best ways to diversify farming operations.

Workshop topics include: “How do you market your crops” and “How do you keep records.”

The selected farmers will be provided with sufficient planting materials and will be encouraged to start small and hone their skills. Every farmer participating will be well-informed about what the potential challenges are, Ampim says.

In summary, Ampim cites a whole series of potentially life-changing results for farmers and trendsetting and leadership roles for PVAMU. “If we train these farmers to grow and market these crops successfully, they will improve their incomes. If we have enough farmers growing these crops, it will reaffirm PVAMU’s land grant mission.

“In the process, we’re building capacity and expertise on specialty crops,” Ampim says. “So, (both) the university and the college benefits. If this becomes our strength, other institutions in the U.S. may follow suit. Anything we develop, or new insights we gain, potentially can impact sustainable production worldwide.” o

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

31

GOAT FARMING

GOES HIGH-TECH AT PVAMU Research scientist secures 200K grant to develop state-of-the-art app for animal health issues There seems to be an app for everything affecting almost every profession or personal pastime.

But if you cannot see why an app for animal health would be popular, you’re obviously unfamiliar with goat farming, if not farming as a whole.

Many goat farmers are located in remote or mountainous areas, and veterinarians are not always nearby when a goat becomes ill. Also, goats are explorers and climbers, and are known for occasionally escaping from their farms and getting lost or injured.

Issues like these led to the goat app known as VetLink, developed by Dr. Paul Johnson, a research scientist in Prairie View A&M University’s Cooperative Agricultural Research Center (CARC). Johnson and his team are working on an app to assist farmers, especially those located in remote areas. Currently, the app is best suited for goat producers. Johnson recently received a grant of $217,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fully develop the VetLink App. He has also secured another grant for $50,000 to commercialize VetLink.

The device’s origin was a direct response to farmers who would inquire about ways to handle goat illnesses. “Farmers wanted to know if there was a central location where they could find information on goats,” Johnson declares.

Most farmers already know about VetLink — an online database that helps farmers link up with veterinarians. So, Johnson came up with an idea.

“Why not merge that database with an app?”

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

33

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

34

Johnson presented the concept to Dr. Yonggao Yang, department head of PVAMU’s computer science department. Yang teaches a course on smart device app development and agreed to design the app after realizing its potential. “(Dr. Johnson) had this idea that if you can build a system so farmers are able to report any sick animal and, at the same time, feed the details back to the department, you not only enable the farmer to get help with a sick goat, you’re able to see if there’s a pattern of goat illnesses affecting farmers in the same general area,” Yang says.

After thoroughly informing Yang on what he wanted the app to do, Johnson secured a $20,000 mini-grant from the PVAMU Office of Research, Innovation and Sponsored Programs to fund the app’s construction, and Yang was able to build the device. The server to house the collected data was built soon afterward.

“With this app, what I’m hoping is that when an animal is in some remote location, and a farmer has a sick animal on the ground, farmers will have some idea what to do when they can’t get to a vet right away,” Johnson explains.

“They can take out their phone, take a picture, type a symptom in and once they hit upload, the information comes to the main server in the College of Agriculture.”

.P

“We’re trying to target young farmers because they’re the future of agriculture,” Johnson says. “Agriculture as we know it, 15 or 20 years from now is not going D to be the same. r It’s going to be all technology and smart media devices will play an integral part.” au

son ohn lJ

–Dr. Johnson

From the mobile device, a description of the symptoms will be sent to the server, and then a picture or video is sent back to the farmer’s phone suggesting a possible cause of the animal’s illness, Johnson explains.

Additionally, Johnson wants the app to link to a county agent or veterinarian to allow farmers to find out whether an animal’s illness is an emergency or whether the farmer has time to simply schedule an appointment with the nearest veterinarian for treatment.

“We’re trying to target young farmers because they’re the future of agriculture,” Johnson says.

“Agriculture as we know it, 15 or 20 years from now is not going to be the same. It’s going to be all technology and smart media devices will play an integral part.”

A key market for the VetLink app, for example, will be young people who show goats at livestock shows. Johnson also sees the VetLink app’s potential in the event of a major catastrophe. “If you have a pandemic or epidemic, you can geo-catch the location and then form a perimeter around that (contaminated) area to prevent further outbreak,” he added.

A Jamaican native, Johnson came to PVAMU and majored in animal science. After finishing his master’s degree in 1993, he obtained a job as a research technician at the International Goat Center. He has since built an impressive resume on goat farming, and worked on the Decision Support System funded by USDA, which involved developing value-added products from goat meat. He’s been a selfstarter throughout his career, and built the first web page for his department. He has also developed videos and presentations for the department. In addition, he taught himself how to use software that could aid and enhance his research activities.

As for what inspired him to develop the VetLink app, Johnson states he let the potential for success take precedence over concern about possible setbacks. “I didn’t focus on the challenge,” he declares. “I focused on the opportunity.” o

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

35

A NEW PLATEAU for PVAMU Architecture…

Team of architects complete digital restoration blueprint of historic Hindu temple in Nepal

Three Prairie View A&M University professors recently took the College of Architecture’s status to new heights.

WILLIAM BATSON, STEPHON SONG AND PANKAJ CHHETRI are helping to restore the Keshav Hindu Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. In December, the three professors visited the temple and used 3D laser scanners to measure the damage done to the building by a 2015 earthquake. The use of laser scanners in such work is called digital restoration and serves as a blueprint for when the actual physical restoration of a building is launched.

38

“We scan in three dimension, using a point cloud,” Batson says. “The laser scanner recreates the building using a point dot matrix. We take the point cloud information and we insert it into a program called AutoCAD. Then, we reconstruct the building by drawing it on the computer.

“It’s almost like connect the dots. We reconstruct the drawing of the building,” says Batson. “The advantage is, we don’t have to go on the roof, we don’t have to walk on dangerous or unstable construction sites and we don’t have to use a tape measure.”

STATE-OF-THE-ART LASER SCANNER “The laser scanner is used to recreate the building as it is. We do the reconstructive drawings from the point cloud so that they have a record of the building.”

– WILLIAM BATSON

The origin of the work began when the College of Architecture secured a Title III grant to purchase the state-of-the-art 3D laser equipment worth about $650,000. “In 2015, we wrote a grant for this equipment for use in historic preservation,” Batson says. As required by the Title III grant, the College of Architecture team began attending conferences where they met people who had projects suitable for laser-scanning research. One of the first restoration projects the team conducted took place in Independence, Texas.

“We contacted the pastor there, and I asked if we could look at the church,” Stephon Song says.

“He told us that there was a Baylor University regional women’s dormitory. “We wanted to see if we could restore the entire women’s dormitory. The male dormitory was totally collapsed.”

The work in Nepal is the brainchild of PVAMU Professor Pankaj Chhetri. A native of Nepal, Chhetri suggested the architecture team travel to Nepal to digitally measure some of its historic buildings. Batson made the trip and met with representatives of various schools of architecture, engineering and with UNESCO Nepal. The Nepal trip was funded by the PVAMU School of Architecture CURES (Community Urban and Rural Enhancement Services) program.

“They offered us this building called the Keshav Hindu Temple,” Batson says. “If you look at the 2015 earthquake (in Nepal), the buildings just collapsed into dust and they had no record,” says Batson. “We have the as-built and existing drawings whereby they can reconstruct the building as it actually was.”

In essence, if another earthquake occurs and destroys another historic building in Nepal — and earthquakes are fairly common in that nation — the digital reconstruction work will be a blueprint for rebuilding the structure.

“The laser scanner is used to recreate the building as it is,” Batson says. “We do the reconstructive drawings from the point cloud so that they have a record of the building.”

Song, Batson and Chhetri are well aware of the prestige resulting from the College of Architecture’s restoration efforts in Nepal. “This is our finest hour,” Batson says.

Completion of the point cloud work in December was followed by the start of a new course for the 2018 spring semester — Architecture 4983: Historical Preservation and 3D Laser-Scanning Technology.

The pre-requisite is that students must already know how to use AutoCAD, the drawing software used in the digital restoration work.

“We’re going to give them the point cloud and they will retrace those points,” Batson says.

“They will reconstruct this temple using lines instead of dots.”

During spring break of 2018, the three professors will return to Nepal with a group of architecture students and Batson expresses supreme confidence about what the students will bring with them.

“The students will present the pre-final drawings of the temple to UNESCO,” Batson says.

“I have promised UNESCO that the Prairie View A&M School of Architecture students will present the finest drawing they have ever seen.”

Batson says the spring break visit also will present a chance for faculty and students to interact with Nepalese faculty and students and discuss the possibility of a future exchange program between PVAMU and various Nepalese universities. o

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

39

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

40

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT had not participated. Moreover, he states that every $1 spent on correctional education could reduce incarceration in the state of Texas as much as $4-5.

Derek Irvin

GRAD STUDENT takes in-depth look at role of HBCUs in correctional education Many of us still think of prison solely as a place of punishment for wrongdoing. For many inmates, however, prison can be an opportunity to educate themselves and prepare for a productive and crime-free way of life.

This is the focus of research being conducted by Derek Irvin, a graduate student of Prairie View A&M University.

“Inmates who take advantage of correctional education opportunities had 43 percent lower odds of recidivating, and those who participated in high school/GED programs had 30 percent lower odds of recidivating than those who had not,” Irvin says, adding that individuals who participated in vocational training programs had odds of obtaining post-release employment that were 28 percent higher than individuals who

The vast majority of people in U.S. prisons do not have a high school diploma, and for years, numerous studies have revealed a high correlation between the level of education attained by an incarcerated person and his or her recidivism rate. Local, state and federal governments in the U.S. spend a total of about $80 billion annually to maintain correctional facilities. Irvin’s research indicates many inmates, particularly non-violent offenders, can be rehabilitated through education and a chance to secure gainful employment.

Some of the questions raised in Irvin’s research are: 1) Why should we provide education to African-American offenders, particularly at an HBCU? 2) What are the experiences, beliefs and philosophies of those who direct and educate in a correctional education program at an HBCU? And, 3) In what ways are components of correctional education at an HBCU designed to enable full rehabilitation for former inmates?

“These are important questions in light of the fact that we’re looking at up to 700,000 people cycling in and out of prison and, disproportionately, these are minorities whose two main issues are finding jobs and housing after their release,” Irvin says. Key successes of the criminal justice reform movement include implementation of “Ban the Box” in several U.S. states — including Texas, Irvin says. “Ban the Box” prevents private employers from requiring job applicants to place a check in a box to answer whether they have a felony record. The question is generally seen as a way to screen out former inmates reaching the interview stage of applying for a job. o

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT As a member of the PVAMU Honors Program, Bryant completed a six-week stay in China studying the Chinese language and culture.

“My initial role will be an apprenticeship program involving the grant-writing process and the need to get seniors familiar with that process,” says Bryant. “I hope to provide other undergraduate students a better understanding about research skills and how they can open doors for you. It’s a benefit to show that you can do research.”

Ervin A. Bryant

2017 HBCU ALL-STAR encourages other students to see career-building benefits of research skills Prairie View A&M University’s Ervin A. Bryant is taking on a nationwide mission. Bryant, a junior history major from Spring, Texas, recently became a 2017 HBCU All-Star for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

HBCU All-Stars are able to take part in regional and national events. They also participate in web chats with White House Initiative staff and other professionals from many fields to foster professional and personal development.

Along with his China research, Bryant says his majoring in history strengthened his appreciation for being inquisitive. “The study of history can be dark and dismal, but can also be uplifting,” he says. “My natural approach is to try to learn from the past.”

Currently, Bryant is interested in pursuing an educational administration career and plans to build his knowledge of grant-writing extensively within the next year. o

Students selected as HBCU All-Stars serve for one year as ambassadors for the White House Initiative by establishing outreach to other college students about the overall importance of education and the value of the White House Initiative as a networking resource. Bryant is one of 62 HBCU All-Stars and the only student representing PVAMU. He credits his developing skills as a researcher as having been a key factor in his winning All-Star status.

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

41

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

42

“The Innovation and Commercialization Center for Entrepreneurs positions us to be competitive with our neighboring institutions.”

Dr. Cajetan M. Akujuobi

New ICCE

inspires promising long-term expectations for PVAMU Office of Research

Prairie View A&M University’s growing achievements in research combined with its intensified outreach to industry partners represent a powerful and promising future for the university’s new Innovation and Commercialization Center for Entrepreneurs (ICCE).

The ICCE offers laboratory and innovation space that coincides with a growing number of PVAMU faculty and students engaged in largescale research activities.

Dr. Cajetan M. Akujuobi, Vice President of the Office of Research, Innovation and Sponsored Programs, says the ICCE will be a meeting point for faculty, industry partners and students.

“We’re creating a space where industry partners bring prototypes they would want to market and we can help them with those prototypes,” Akujuobi says.

– Dr. Akujuobi

Key developments accompanying the soon-tobe-opened ICCE include: • N ewly built infrastructure (including new facilities) to accommodate prototype development for innovative commercial applications • S eminars and workshops for project directors and principal investigators • S erving as an incubator space where corporate partners, faculty and students can collaborate in innovative research and development of technology for commercialization.

Akujuobi says ICCE also enhances the university’s activities related to the Internet of Things (IoT) — a network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators and network connectivity which enable these objects to connect and exchange data.

“The Innovation and Commercialization Center for Entrepreneurs positions us to be competitive with our neighboring institutions,” Akujuobi says. “It provides an opportunity for us to expose and explore the endless possibilities of moving research to the global market.” o

RESEARCH

EXCELLENCE

AT

THE

VIEW

43

IGNITEYOURPASSION

EXPERIENCEPVAMU P.O. Box 519; MS 2800 Wilhelmina Delco Bldg., Suite 120 Prairie View, Texas 77446

The Office of Research, Innovation and Sponsored Programs

CONNECT WITH US! www.pvamu.edu www.pvamu.edu/research @pvamuresearch

RE

pvamuresearch

VOL2 RESEARCH

NO1

EXCELLENCE

© 2018 Prairie View A&M University

SPRING2018 AT

THE

VIEW