The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 25

March 9, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 3 News Get the scoop on events happening on campus and around campus The Bounce Back Showcase Razor’s Edge Shark Talent presents the Bounce Back Showcase, an opportunity for NSU students to showcase their unique talents. At this annual showcase, Shark Talent provides a platform for all NSU students to participate and present their art to the NSU community. Submissions will be accepted in the form of 2-5 minute videos byMarch 19. The showcase itself will stream via Zoom at 7:30 p.m. on April 2. For more information, visit the Shark Talent Instagram page, @nsu.sharktalent, or contact sc2831@mynsu. nova.edu and gelbmann@nova.edu . Student Choreography Showcase The annual Student Choreography will be held April 16-17. Each year NSU’s dance program puts on a performance involving several dance pieces all choreographed by current NSU dance majors. This year, the showwill be held virtually, like last semester’s DanceWorks, with each piece being prerecorded. Auditions took place in January and students are now in the rehearsal process. For more information, contact lanczi@nova.edu. CommunityFest 2021 This year CommunityFest will be a drive through event with a designated route on the Davie campus. Volunteers are taking part in virtual training sessions to ensure the event goes smoothly. The event will be hosted on Saturday, April 3 from 12 - 2 p.m. Visit www.nova.edu/campuslife/communityfest/ for more information. YOU GOT THIS The NSUAlvin Sherman Library presents YOU GOT THIS, a series of free financial literacy, entrepreneur and workforce education workshops, sponsored by the Truist Foundation. The workshops provide important information regarding your personal finance and success. There are two remaining workshops taking place via Zoom, which are “Establishing Winning Technology and Data in Small Business and Startups” on March 10 at 7 p.m. and “How to Develop Effective Presentation Skills” onMarch 17 at 7 p.m. You can register to join these presentations at the following website: www.lib.nova.edu/ yougotthis. Telehealth Case Competitions TheU.S.ArmyMedicalTeamishostingaTelehealth Case Competition on April 14 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This event will provide attendees an opportunity to learn from experienced U.S. Army Medics about trends in Telehealth and developing skills in virtual healthcare. Students who participate will receive one course credit and an ExEL unit for participation, as well as a chance to win $400. The live event will be hosted via Zoom. Prior to the event, students will have to attend or listen to the recordings of three workshops. To sign up or get more information, email casecompetitions@nova. edu. Crossroads Humanities Student Conference The NSU Center for the Humanities in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences host the third annual Crossroads Humanities Student Conference on April 10. The conference will be virtual this year and focus on the theme of “Networks.” Topics for the conference include disease and culture, viral media, collective and individual identity and sources of social action, among many others. In response to all that has occurred this past year, the ideaof networks andnetworkinghas become increasingly prevalent. In addition to the fear of socializing and spreading disease, this concept of connectivity and networking has also propelled social movements. Aileen Farrar, associate chair of the department of humanities and politics and director for the Center of Humanities, was able to provide insight on the importance of this year’s theme. “In particular [with] the ‘Networks’ theme, there’s a lot in the past year that we could be talking about. The ‘Networks’ theme, for instance, lends itself to biological networks, viral transmissions -- or the viral metaphor of networks itself in the way that things go viral on the internet -- or the way that we have established new social media networks in the past year,” Farrar said. “There are so many different kinds of networks that have become apparent in the last year because, ironically, we have been physically separated from each other, but we are still impacting each other in very significant ways, and in the past year, we have seen how these networks function.” In addition to the conference itself, a unique part of this year’s Crossroads is the Digital Humanities Crossroads Contest. “With this networks and networking theme that we have this year, we have also added on more emphasis in the digital humanities, recognizing how everything has moved to the virtual in this past year, but also [how] digital humanities have been a growing area for the past several decades. So, we are instituting a digital humanities conference that is sponsored by the dean’s office,” said Farrar. The digital contest invites NSU students to showcase their digital humanities research at the Crossroads Conference. Those participating in Crossroads are eligible to submit their conference projects to this contest connecting to the theme of “Networks.” The top three contestants will be announced during the conference with a first-place prize of $200. The first and second runner up with a $100 and $50 prize, respectively. The deadline to submit for this contest is March 27. While the deadline to submit research for the Crossroads Humanities Student Conference has passed, students are still encouraged to attend the virtual event on April 10, with more information on the registration to come. “Over the course of this coming month, in March, we are going to be releasing our conference program. So, we invite students to look over that program and see which panels they would like to attend. You do not have to be a presenter here or a contestant to be a part of the conference, you can come and be a part of the discussions and hear what other people are doing,” said Farrar. NSU partners with CRF for promising future in coral research On Feb. 16, NSU announced that The Halmos College of Arts and Sciences researchers will partner with the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF), the leading coral research non-profit organization. The project aims to install a new coral nursery of 19 “Coral Trees,” focusing on 180 unique genotypes of Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) coral, both considered critically endangered species. According to Morgan Hightshoe, research assistant and former NSU graduate student, these species have experienced a significant decline in populations -- up to 98% in some cases. Since these species are critical reef builders throughout the Caribbean, this has impacted the overall health of the reef ecosystem. The idea behind taking these genotypes and raising them through a nursery is to preserve the genetic diversity and help these populations recover for future generations. According to David Gilliam, assistant professor in NSU’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the principal investigator for NSU’s coral nursery, for the past 10 years, NSU has been maintaining an offshore stone coral nursery, which is currently managed by Grace Hanson, graduate student and research assistant at NSU. The objective of this nursery is to move some of the corals that have matured in the nursery and plant them in the reef ecosystem to help those particular species recover, and overall, help coral restoration and expose students to this hands-on experience. “Having partnerships like this really opens up opportunities for students to experience new people and places that might lead to employment and the types of careers they might be interested in. It’s a great opportunity that is very hands-on. Partnerships have a lot of great science, but also provide funding and we can’t overlook the value of that as that keeps us going. I think this nursery is perfect in all those aspects. It’s hands-on, which I know is great for students and it’s tangible in a short amount of time. You can see the benefit that this effort gives to the reef rather quickly and that’s nice for graduate students. It keeps everyone’s hopes alive for restoration and it’s a very positive project,” said Gilliam. The NSU nursery also utilizes the “Coral Tree” technology that will be implemented in the joint NSU and CRF effort nursery. “Coral Trees are a relatively simple design and accessible methodology. You have a PVC pipe in the center with holes drilled through that hold fiberglass branches, which the coral is hung from with fishing line. A really great advantage of Coral Trees is their footprint,” said Hanson. Hanson also said, “The only real impact they have is an anchor that holds the tree suspended from the benthos. From that perspective, they have a really low impact on the environment and provide the corals the ability to be hoisted up away from their predators like snails. Research has shown that corals grow fantastically through this method and we have seen that in our own nursery, especially when it’s the summer when the water is warm.” This additional nursery will support both organizations as a secondary genetic “bank” of Acropora corals. According to Hightshoe, who will manage NSU contribution to the partnership nursery, genetic banking provides an opportunity to store these genotypes in a safe place. Particularly, in a location that can be generally undisturbed to protect them as they grow. The CRF already has these genotypes in their nursery, but by sharing them in this partnership provides an additional safeguard in case of natural disasters and other significant weather events, like Hurricane Irma, which had a major impact on coral nurseries in Florida. By having multiple nursery sites, it provides an opportunity for more reliable restock of populations as well as more efforts of propagation. By: Christina McLaughlin Co-Editor-in-Chief By: Rick Esner News Editor