Monmouth University offers a minor focused on the interdisciplinary problems that impact and challenge  future human and non-human prospects into the future. This area of study is rooted in both ancient traditions (like Indigenous perspectives) and new and developing science that shed light on urgent questions of our time. This minor provides a directed focus on these threats across multiple fields of study with multiple, critical perspectives. This minor has recently been updated and made more accessible to all students interested in these broad, global problems and their potential remedies. The minor provides both empirical and theoretical insight so as to allow a holistic and informed literacy in global sustainability. 

The Global Sustainability minor provides a flexible and unique opportunity for students from any discipline and any major to participate and engage with complex systems, global ethical dilemmas, international politics, and changes to biological and geophysical planetary systems. This minor is one of several developments at Monmouth University that relates to environmental and sustainability studies that are increasingly relevant to our communities from the Jersey Shore to intercontinental earth processes that address the current pulse of extinctions, climate change, massive plastic pollution, and other major problems. You are invited to contact the Dean’s office in the School of Science care of Koorleen Minton (kminton@monmouth.edu), or Professor Peter Jacques (pjacques@monmouth.edu), who coordinates the minor, with any questions you may have.

Program Requirements

Requirements: (6 credits)

BY-221/PS-223 Introduction to Global Sustainability 3 credits
PS-332 Climate Change Adaptation and Policy 3 credits

Electives (9 credits):

AN/GO-275 Global Environmental Problems
BY-220 Environmental Biology and Policy
HE-340 Environmental Health Issues
PO/PS-330 Environmental Policy
PR-459 The Science and Politics of Climate Change
SC-130 Climate Science for 21st Century Citizens
SW-205 Global Human Rights and Social Justice

Total Credits 15

Computer Science Senior, Therese “Ez” Racancoj, traveled with Prof. Jay Wang to Kuching, Malaysia to attend the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics from October 6th-9th. During the conference, Therese presented her research work on an IEEE funded project titled “Comprehensive Humanoid Robot Control Project Design and Development”.

The goal of her research is to design and develop a set of reasonably challenging experimental projects that would allow students to fully explore the functions of humanoid robots and practice embedded software design skills for real-time robot control. The deliverables of this project can be used by scholars of the SMC society in their robotics related classes; they can also be used by industrial practitioners to learn about robot programming techniques.

“The opportunity to attend the international IEEE conference in Malaysia, especially while still an undergraduate, was an amazing experience of which I am extremely grateful to Professor Wang for. It was great being able to talk to people currently working in the tech field, not only to gain insight into what I have to look forward to in a future job but also because I was able to get to know some of the people who are dedicated to improving the field and making it that much more enjoyable.”

The school is pleased to present three new full-time faculty this fall.

Dr. Gayle Hallett is a new Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Physics. Dr. Hallett earned her doctorate (2013) from the University of Bristol, UK under the supervision of Professor Varinder Aggarwal. Gayle is a former adjunct here at Monmouth and comes to us with a wide range of experience in teaching undergraduates. In addition, Dr. Hallett brings industry experience from her time as a staff chemist at Merck and Co. She will be teaching a variety of courses and labs, including general and organic chemistry.

Amreeta Choudhury is a new Instructor in the Department of Mathematics. She specializes in Statistics, and Data Science with a Masters from Rutgers University. She has been a Lecturer since 2013 at several universities including Columbia University, New York University, Rutgers and NJIT. She has also been an analyst at Full Beauty Brands in New York City and developed a Data Science Bootcamp program at Sollers Institute. Amreeta loves preparing her students for careers of all paths and encourages thinking outside the box. She has helped prepare students for internships and competitions at companies such as Google. She is excited to join the team!

Arup Das is a new Specialist Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering. Arup’s area of interests includes AI & Generative AI. Arup joins us with a wealth of industry expertise. He served as the Head of AI & Gen AI Industry Specialists at UiPath, where he led initiatives to drive AI-powered automation across multiple sectors, including financial services, healthcare, and public services. Arup’s work focuses on applying AI to improve operational efficiency, revenue growth, and strategic agility for large enterprises. Professor Das will focus on elevating the graduate data science program and play a major role in building out similar curriculum and experiences at the undergraduate level for majors across the university.

Recent collaboration between Computer Science and Software Engineering faculty and Monmouth students results in the development of applications that are leading to patents.

Fludz:

Specialist Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering Raman Lakshmanan, Ph.D., and recent Computer Science graduate, Ava Taylor ’23, filed a non-provisional US patent (18/635,475) and trademark application for the Fludz™ app in April. Fludz is a crowd-sourced flood data distribution and analysis service that allows users to report and view local real-time data about flooding conditions.  The service came to fruition from Ava Taylor’s Honor’s Thesis research on the lack of flood data at a local level and finding a cost-effective way to report and track flooding. A provisional patent was first filed in April 2023 and was updated to a non-provisional patent in April 2024 with additional claims.

With Fludz service, users are able to report flooded areas, worsening conditions, road hazards, flood depth estimate, and more in real time, and get information on safe evacuation routes. According to Lakshmanan and Taylor, the current emergency alert systems are not as effective as they could be in protecting the public from dangers during flood events and this app aims to fill the void at a local level for the more than 167 million people in the United States that are exposed to flood risks – a number expected to increase as climate, urbanization, and land use changes progress. If approved, it will be the University’s first patent in the last 8 years. The system and method for local flood data collection and distribution developed for Fludz could be adapted for various other applications, such as pollution reporting, tree/plant disease tracking, reservoir overflow monitoring, and more.

ParkShark:

While working, Communication Assistant Professor Amanda Stojanov and student Gianna Piroso identified a need to have a more efficient system to assist college students to find parking spots on campus lots as they commute to campus. They approached Computer Science and Software Engineering Specialist Professor Raman Lakshmanan to develop their ParkShark app ideas into a viable product and service. CSSE department students Davian Albaran and Drew McGovern designed and developed an innovative combination of IoT (Internet of Things) hardware and software service to passively assist commuting students to find available parking spots.

Commuters can provide their class schedules, arrival times to campus, preferred lots, etc. to the ParkShark system. A geo-fenced service lets them know lot occupancy and available spots in their ParkShark app. As they park in an available spot, the service detects the spot as taken and updates to show the change to other commuters. When a vehicle leaves a parked spot, the service detects movement away from the spot and reflects the spot as available. Service also provides lot availability based on arrival time using historical data.

During the 2024-2025 school year, ParkShark Phase 2 work will test the product and service with 25 users, expanding to 250 users to perfect the technology before a non-provisional patent is filed in mid-2025. The goal in Phase 3 is to launch the service to all commuting students and faculty at Monmouth.

ParkShark service can be extended for use in commercial parking lots, city and town parking, and event parking.

On August 8th 10 groups of student researchers presented their faculty sponsored research in the School of Science’s 16th Annual Summer Research Program Symposium. A complete list of the the presenters and abstracts of their projects can be found in the 2024 Summer Research Program Abstract Book. To learn more about the Summer Research Program visit our site.

John Tiedemann, Assistant Dean of the School of Science and Director of the Marine and Environmental Biology Program, retired at the end of August. John contributed to the Monmouth University School of Science community as a teacher and scholar for 26 years, entering Monmouth University’s School of Science, Technology and Engineering dean’s office in 1999. John has been a mainstay of the School of Science Student Research Conference from its inception in 2001. The research conference has been a capstone experience showcasing student scholarship for over 24 years. For the last 16 years, John has contributed significantly to the school’s Summer Research Program, taking over the operation of the program over the last 9 years.

John taught a number of courses during his time here at Monmouth, always a student favorite in the classroom. He served as the inaugural instructor of the BY 317 Tropical Island Ecology course, traveling with students every January to the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas. In addition, John’s project, Stripers for the Future, has educated fishermen on the proper catch and release practices to reduce mortality rates along with a tagging program to track movement and breeding grounds of these sport fish. We will miss being regaled with tales from John with outstretched arms of catching a “fish this big.”

John has always been an avid surfer and it was easy to take the time to hear him speak about the history of the Jersey shore whether it was beach access, the development of environmental policies, or how the waves would break in a particular area. His humor combined with thoughtful insight made him a valued colleague. We wish John happiness, fulfillment, and good health in his retirement from Monmouth, and joy in the company of his family and friends. Surf’s Up.

The 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award recipient is Dr. Kathryn Lionetti, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, in the School of Science. Dr. Lionetti earned her Bachelor’s in Biological Sciences and Doctorate in Genetics from SUNY at Stony Brook. She has been an educator, mentor, and advisor for the Monmouth University community for over 30 years.

The Monmouth University Distinguished Teaching Award celebrates and encourages sustained excellence in teaching, with a commitment to providing Monmouth students with a transformative and engaging educational experience that promotes critical thinking and evidence-based pedagogical practices. Dr. Lionetti has taught and undertaken major revisions in teaching both general and applied microbiology for biology majors. When the COVID pandemic forced remote learning , She developed innovative ways to accomplish lab learning outcomes for students taking the General Microbiology (lab and lecture) remotely. Dr. Lionetti published on this work in the prestigious Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education in 2022 “Teaching Microscopy Remotely: Two Engaging Options”.

We are all very proud to recognize Dr. Lionetti’s accomplishment.