James Madison University

Faculty Educational Leave Projects

On leave 2007-08 Jack Gentile, Ming Ivory, Jon Miles [continuing]

Jonathan J. Miles, Ph.D., Energy Specialist

Jonathan Miles, Professor of Integrated Science and Technology at James Madison University, is presently serving on an IPA assignment at the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE). He provides support to the DoE’s Wind Powering America (WPA) program with emphasis on mid-Atlantic and southeastern states, and to the Regional Wind Energy Institute (RWEI) at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE). Wind Powering America assists states in their efforts to promote wind deployment in order to achieve targeted regional economic development, enhance power generation options, protect the local environment, and increase our energy and national security.

Dr. Miles also supports the Wind for Schools (WfS) program being developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and piloted with six western state universities. His emphasis in this effort is on curriculum development. The three primary project goals of the Wind for Schools Project are to engage rural school teachers and students in wind power; educate college students in wind power applications which will equip engineers for the growing U.S. wind industry; and introduce wind power to rural communities, initiating a discussion of wind power’s benefits and challenges.

A third area of support is the development and implementation of strategies to promote the increased use of mid-size and small wind turbines and community-scale projects in the mid-Atlantic region with an emphasis on agricultural applications, the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding/affected communities, and federal facilities.

Finally, Dr. Miles provides general and miscellaneous assistance and support to the Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program (WHTP) at the U.S. Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C. This includes presentations to stakeholder groups; response to queries from citizens as well as state and federal officials; and assistance to developers, communities, and other entities engaged in wind power efforts.

“Sustainable Living Costa Rica Style Punta Mona: A Case Study”
Dr. Jack Gentile

In Costa Rica there are a number of communities that are working to create a balance between the conflicting desire for urban and economic growth, and the preservation of agricultural and natural lands. One of the most successful
communities is the Punta Mona Center for Sustainable Living and Education. This study will examine the alternative agricultural methods being developed at Punta Mona and other similar communities throughout Costa Rica. It is the intent
of this project to gather information about where these communities are located, what methods they are developing, and what is and is not working. It is also of interest to determine if there is any networking and transfer of ideas among these communities and how that might enhance their efforts.

"Warhol in Iran by Brecht: Sadegh Ghotbzadeh's Telecom Tragedy"
Dr. Ming Ivory

This educational leave will allow me to do extensive research on the biography of an Iranian revolutionary government official, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh [1936-1982], who had his "15 minutes of fame" during the hostage crisis (1979-1981). The trajectory of Ghotbzadeh's life and his public statements are a unique window into three lines of research: (1.) Public Policy Practice--the Faustian bargains public servants make during rapid governmental restructuring, (2.) The role of religious and secular loyalties in governance, and (3.) The effects of changing telecommunications technology on information transfer across cultures. Ghotbzadeh was educated at Georgetown University, and a founder of an Iranian Student Organizations there. Returning to Iran in revolutionary times, he was arrested and exiled to Paris with the Ayatollah Khomeini, returning with him for the Iranian revolution. Shortly before radical students took American Embassy workers hostage, Ghotbzadeh became the Director of the Iranian National Radio and Television Agency. In this role, and subsequently as Foreign Minister, he was one of the few English-speaking officials with whom the Western Press communicated. Often interviewed on television, he became the “public face” of revolutionary Iran, interpreting for American audiences the demands and progress of the revolution, and for Iranians, explaining American reactions. He both provides publicity for the hostage-takers and participates in negotiations that free the hostages in 1981. Defeated at the polls for the Iranian Presidency, and protected by the Ayatollah in subsequent political battles, he is eventually executed for plotting against him in the fall of 1982.

1 In 1968 pop artist Andy Warhol predicted that " In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." In 1979 he declared that his prediction had come true.

On leave 2006-07 Geoff Egekwu, Abdelrahman Rabie

“Complexities of Sustainable Development for Sub-Saharan Africa:
Opportunities and Challenges”
Dr. Okechi Geoffrey Egekwu

There is great opportunity for ISAT and CISAT to develop collaborative working arrangements with educational institutions in sub-Saharan Africa to access and use the available resources for a lasting contribution to a critical world problem. The role of education in any region’s development is vital and all proposals aimed at confronting the problems of sustainable development have substantial monies earmarked for education.

Industrial Management magazine reports that the future of world commerce will be influenced by twelve “global tectonics”: biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, population, urbanization, disease and globalization, resource management, environmental degradation, knowledge dissemination, economic integration, conflict, and governance. Each of the above tectonics presents great opportunities for third world development, but also harbor serious challenges that are not fully understood by analyzing them separately. The factors that will facilitate sustainable development are many and complex; it is also a very rich field of study that cuts across many disciplines. Understanding the interdependencies between the primary and secondary factors would lead to focused and effective deployment of resources by donor nations. Large amounts of resources (as high as $25 to $70 billion per year until 2015) are being proposed to combat endemic poverty in Africa and other parts of the world.

This project will focus on identifying and matching resources with partners in African (and in particular, Nigeria) universities to work on technological projects that will impact the peoples of the countries involved. Food production, water, environment, health, and regional industrial development projects would receive particular attention. Another goal of this effort is that it will lead to continuous faculty and student exchange programs to work on challenging and rewarding projects in the developing world. Travel to Nigeria, and possibly other West African countries will be mandatory, because in that part of the world no partnership is developed without a face-to-face meeting. Universities in Nigeria will be the target of this effort because the reality is that sustained development cannot happen in any country without the participation of institutions of higher learning.

I also feel that I can devote approximately 20 % of the leave to focused research in the RFID technologies and get the RFID lab to recently ratified Class 1, Generation 2 standards.

“Visiting Professor at Zayed University , United Arab Emirates ”
Dr. Abdelrahman Rabie

There has been an increasing demand for multilingual professionals, which in turn lead to the increased demand and resurgence of bilingual programs. Globalization have attributed to this resurgence, where there is an ever-increasing demand for ‘mobile’ workforce capable of communicating in both social and professional environments. This trend has been recognized by the progressive Zayed University (ZU), Dubai/AbuDhabi, in the United Arab Emirates where bilingual English/Arabic programs are being developed. The Arabic language is the heritage language of students and it is the essence of their cultural and national identity. English, as the most widely spoken world language, is equally important. It is now embedded in the educational philosophy at ZU that the University graduates will gain a distinct world class identity if they are proficient in both Arabic and English.
It is in the core belief that ZU graduates who are proficient in both languages will have access to a much wider range of resources and opportunities than graduates who have only one language. Dr. Rabie joined the Arabic and Islamic Studies (AIS) department at ZU where he actively collaborated in the efforts of developing bilingual curricula for the Information Technology (IT) program. He taught selected professional IT courses in Arabic.

On leave 2005-06 Maria Papadakis, Helmut Kraenzle, Bob Kolvoord, Abdelrahman Rabie

“Developing a Scope and Sequence for
Building Spatial Thinking Skills with GIS for Grades K-12”
Dr. Bob Kolvoord

In order to help build student spatial thinking skills in grades K-12 (as called for in a recent report by the National Academy of Science), teachers and administrators need to have a roadmap of concepts and curricular connections to help them bring new technologies, such as GIS, GPS, and remote sensing into the classroom. We have developed such a roadmap to provide a scope and sequence of concepts and activities for teachers to use as they introduce the technologies and build students' spatial thinking skills. While many technologies are used in K-12 classrooms, little work has been done to think through how they articulate across multiple grade levels. The scope and sequence and associated activities will be made available on the Internet.

“Implementing the Geospatial Semester Dual Enrollment Project”
Dr. Bob Kolvoord

The Geospatial Semester is a dual enrollment effort offering high school students the chance to earn JMU credit as they learn about geospatial technologies and apply them to projects of local interest. By learning about these technologies and performing project-based research, students build their spatial thinking skills and can apply them to future endeavors, whether in higher education or the workforce. This represents a sharp change from the standardized testing regimen that has severely limited high school student’s opportunities in science and technology in recent years. The project has grown from 4 schools and 40 students in the inaugural year to 8 schools and 140+ students in the 2006-2007 school year.

“Visiting Professor at Zayed University , United Arab Emirates ”
Dr. Abdelrahman Rabie (SPRING SEMESTER)

There has been an increasing demand for multilingual professionals, which in turn lead to the increased demand and resurgence of bilingual programs. Globalization have attributed to this resurgence, where there is an ever-increasing demand for ‘mobile’ workforce capable of communicating in both social and professional environments. This trend has been recognized by the progressive Zayed University (ZU), Dubai/AbuDhabi, in the United Arab Emirates where bilingual English/Arabic programs are being developed. The Arabic language is the heritage language of students and it is the essence of their cultural and national identity. English, as the most widely spoken world language, is equally important. It is now embedded in the educational philosophy at ZU that the University graduates will gain a distinct world class identity if they are proficient in both Arabic and English.
It is in the core belief that ZU graduates who are proficient in both languages will have access to a much wider range of resources and opportunities than graduates who have only one language. Dr. Rabie joined the Arabic and Islamic Studies (AIS) department at ZU where he actively collaborated in the efforts of developing bilingual curricula for the Information Technology (IT) program. He taught selected professional IT courses in Arabic.