Fin-Tastic Vol. 11 - June-December 2025
The USCB faculty and staff research and scholarship newsletter.
Message from Dr. Al M. Panu, Chancellor
Dear Fellow Sand Sharks,
This message celebrates the dynamic environment at the University of South Carolina
Beaufort and recognizes the continued accomplishments of our faculty and staff throughout
last semester. The momentum within our community remains strong, and excellence continues
to guide our institution. Growth, innovation, and progress are central to our mission,
and this year has brought meaningful advancements across programs, partnerships, and
learning experiences. Our commitment to student-centered engagement remains the foundation
of our success, with every achievement by our faculty and staff reflecting the shared
accomplishments of our students and elevating our university as a whole. In times
of opportunity and in times of challenge, USCB stands united in supporting our students
and strengthening the future of our institution.
To our dedicated and forward-thinking Fin-Tastic Sand Sharks, we extend our sincere
appreciation for your continued efforts!
Research, Scholarship & Intellectual Contributions
Barnes, Mollie, PhD • Associate Professor of English
(Department of English, the Arts, & Interdisciplinary Studies)
Published. “Harriet Tubman, Romantic: What Tubman Teaches Us about Anti-Racist Pedagogies through
Her Niagara Falls Stories,” Nineteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 37, Winter 2025, pp.
151-170. (Single Author). Link
Published. (with Susanna Ashton) “A staircase in a small, decorative arts museum tells a harrowing
story of terror, abuse and enslavement,” The Conversation, September 29, 2025. Link
Presented. “Recovering Over Her Shoulder: Laura Towne, Edith Dabbs, and the Affordances of Reading
Women’s Reconstructions Archives in Community.” Society for the Study of American
Women Writers, Philadelphia, PA. November 2025. Link
Presented. “In Her Own Words: Amoretta Daise’s ‘Memory’ of the First Years at Penn School.” Association
for the Study of African American Life and History Conference, Atlanta, GA. September
2025. Link
Invited Speaker. “Paper Heroines: Researching and Teaching Lowcountry Women Writers.” USCB Family Weekend
Faculty Book Talk. Beaufort, SC. October 2025. Link
Invited Speaker. “Paper Heroines: Women Relief Workers’ Diaries and their Feminist Recoveries.” Writers
& Scholars Series, Department of English, Agnes Scott College. Decatur, GA. September
2025. Link
Elected. Vice President of Organizational Matters, Society for the Study of American Women
Writers. 2026-2029. Link
Brown Farrell, Carmen, PhD • Assistant Professor of Psychology
(Department of Humanities & Social Sciences)
Presented. “Resources for Conducting Research on a Budget” and “Maximizing Student Learning and Minimizing Academic Misconduct with Generative AI,” Annual Conference on Teaching, Society for the Teaching of Psychology, Minneapolis, MN, October 16–18, 2025. Link
Canada, Brian, PhD • Department Chair of Computer Science and Mathematics
(Department of Computer Science & Mathematics)
Awarded. Clemson University/SC EPSCOR. VIA-LLM: Visually Impaired Assistive Tool with LLM reasoning
($6,000). Link
Awarded. Playthrough Gaming Con 2025 (Raleigh, NC.) Honorable Mention for Best Indie Video
Game ('Bugs 'N Boo Hags'). Link
Catma, Serkan, PhD • Professor of Economics
(Department of Business, Communication Studies & Hospitality)
Published. “Recreational value of beach width: an application of travel cost and contingent behaviour
models,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 1-18. Link
Presented. “Measuring Urban and Rural Gentrification in Tennessee, 2013-2023” October 17, 2025.
Southern Demographic Association 2025 Annual Meeting, Lexington, Kentucky. Link
Presented. (Session Chair). “Estimating the Recreational Value Losses of Beaches Using Revealed
and Stated Preference Data”. April 18, 2025. 39th International RAIS Conference on
Social Sciences and Humanities; Princeton, NJ. Link
Cobb, Warren, MLIS • Research & Instruction Librarian
(Beaufort Campus Library)
Presented. “Robots vs. Zombies: Enfleshing the AI Storyline with Primary Sources,” South Carolina Library Association Conference, October 2025. Link
Cohan, Deborah J., PhD • Professor of Sociology
(Department of Humanities & Social Sciences)
Published. Second Book titled The Complete U: Over 100 Lessons for Success in and out of the
College Classroom. Books that Save Lives Publishing, 2025. Link
Published. “McDonald’s Changed the World, McDonaldization Changed Sociology,” in the special
issue, Celebrating George Ritzer’s Theory of McDonaldization, Festschrift in Thesis
11. Edited by J. Mi-chael Ryan, Chris Rojek, and Peter Beilharz. Sage Publications.
November 2025. Link
Published. (2025) 15 Articles for Psychology Today reaching over 2 million views on the site. Link
Published. Publications on rage and black women’s activism were the inspiration for an art exhibit
in Denver, Colorado. Link
Interview. Family Labs, a podcast that explores all sorts of issues related to resilience and
adaptation in families. Released in March 2025. Link
Organized and Presented. Co-organizer and presenter for professional workshop titled “Let’s Talk About Writing”
at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, with Dr. Barbara Risman,
professor of sociology at University of Illinois-Chicago, August 8-12, 2025. Chicago,
IL. Link
Invited Speaker. Gave presentation to 40 faculty members at Ohio University on writing and publishing
for a general audience. Presented with Dr. Barbara Risman of the University of Illinois-Chicago.
April 8, 2025.
Presented. “How to Facilitate Deep Conversations about Charged Topics” for a Teaching Workshop
at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, March 5-10, 2025. Boston,
MA. Link
Media Coverage. Higheredjobs.com, August 7, 2025. Link
Media Coverage. The Guardian, August 14, 2025. Link
Media Coverage. Wallet Hub, November 17, 2025. Quoted in article about sinful cities. Link
Media Coverage. HigherEdJobs, October 24, 2025. Quoted in article about quitter phases of a career. Link
Media Coverage. Sociology at Work Network. Quoted about the importance of sociology. Link
Media Coverage. Bored Panda, October 17, 2025. Quoted in article about manipulation tactics used by
men against women. Link
Media Coverage. The Tennessee Tribune, September 17, 2025. Extensively quoted in article on environmental
racism. Link
Dudas, Kimberly, PhD • EVCAA & Provost (Interim)
(Academic Affairs)
Invited. Panel Speaker. Beaufort Community Partnership, September 27, 2025.
Published. Op Ed. “Federal loan proposal puts advanced nursing, education, healthcare at risk."
The Bluffton Sun, December 9, 2025. Link
Heiens, Richard, PhD • Professor of Marketing
(Department of Business, Hospitality & Communication Studies)
Published. “Examining the Presence of Customer Service-Based Strategic Clusters in Online Retailing and the Impact of Service Features on Conversion Rates,” International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 16(2), 159–174, 2025. Link
Montie, Eric, PhD • Professor of Biology
(Department of Natural Sciences)
Published. Wall, C.C, McKenna M., Hatch, L.T., Van Parijs, S.M., Bochenek, R., Dugan, P., Parcerisas,
C., Ryan, J., Anderson, C.D., Becker, K., Berchok, C., Biddle, M., Boebel, O., Canino,
A., Canonico, G., Cline, D., Davis, G.E., Frasier, K., Gedamke, J., Haver, S.M., Khazmutdinova,
K., Kinneging, N., Kumar, A., Marian, A., Miksis-Olds, J., Montie, E.W., Ponirakis,
D., Rice, A.N., Rowell, T.J., Rueda, C., Shumchenia, E., Shyka, T., Staaterman, E.,
Thomisch, K. (2025). Big data, sound science, lasting impact: a framework for passive
acoustic monitoring. Big Earth Data, 1–35. Link
Published. Flem, S., Berns, G., Iglis, B., Niederhut, D., Montie, E.W., Deacon, T., Miller, K.L.,
Tyack, P., Cook, P.F. (2025). Lateralized cerebellar connectivity differentiates auditory
pathways in echolocating and non-echolocating whales. PLoS ONE 20(6): e0323617. Link
Presented. “Lowcountry Dolphin Conservation Program: Tracking Dolphins from the May River to
Pritchards Island”, on October 14th, 2025 at the Colleton River Plantation.
Presented. “Ten Years of Listening to Estuaries and Tracking Bottlenose Dolphins in the Lowcountry”,
on February 21, 2025 at the Port Royal Sound Foundation.
Neff, Victoria, MSLS• Research & Instruction Librarian
(Bluffton Campus Library)
Presented. “Poetry in the Library: Fostering Community.” Metrolina Library Association. June 2025. Link
Peterson, Jason, PhD • Associate Professor & Program Coordinator of Communication Studies
(Department of Business, Communication Studies & Hospitality)
Presented. “Rebel with a Cause: Jimmie Roberston’s Tenure as Editor of the Mississippian,
1961-1962.” 44th Annual American Journalism Historians Association Convention. Long
Beach, California. Sept. 25, 2025. Link
Awarded. Runner-up, Wm. David Sloan Award for Outstanding Faculty Paper for “Rebel With a Cause:
Jimmie Robertson’s Tenure as Editor of The Mississippian, 1961-1962.” 44th Annual
American Journalism Historians Association Convention. Long Beach, California. Sept.
25, 2025. Link
Skees, Murray, PhD • Associate Professor of Philosophy
(Department of Humanities & Social Sciences)
Presented. “A Return to the Cave,” 2025 Annual Meeting of the South Carolina Society for Philosophy,
Columbia, SC, March 28–29, 2025. Link
Presented. “Feeding on the Living: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and the Paradox
of Undead Labor,” 17th International Critical Theory Conference, Rome, Italy, May
12–14, 2025. Link
Wurster, Suzanne, PhD, RN • Associate Professor of Nursing
(Department of Nursing)
Presented. Poster. “Implementing a Homeless Veteran Simulation in a Senior Mental Health Clinical Course,” Nurse Tim Nuts & Bolts Conference, August 2025. Link
USCB Collaborations
Montie, Eric, PhD • Professor of Biology (Department of Natural Sciences) - PI, Fusi, Davide, PhD • Associate Professor of Mathematics (Department of Computer Science & Mathematics) - CoPI, Thrasher, John, PhD • Assistant Professor of Computational Science (Department of Computer Science & Mathematics)- CoPI, Zhang, Xiaomei, PhD • Assistant Professor of Computational Science (Department of Computer Science & Mathematics) - CoPI
Awarded. USC ASPIRE AI. (7/1/2025 – 9/30/26): ($29,342). “Applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to The Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network in the Southeast (ESONS) to Quantify." (Collaborators - Ahmed ElSaid (UNCW), Yiming Ji (Kennesaw State University). Link
McNulty, Allison • Office Manager (Registrar’s Office) and King, Peyton • Regional Admissions Recruiter (Admissions Office).
Presented. Leadership in the Middle – Growing Where You’re Planted. December 7th, 2025. CACRAO Annual Meeting. Link
Villena-Alvarez, Babet, PhD • Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of French, Spanish,
and Global Studies (Department of Humanities & Social Sciences) and Weir, Carol, MA • Senior Director of Communications, Public Communications and Adjunct Faculty (Department
of Business, Communication Studies & Hospitality)
Co-Directed. Asian Cultural Studies Conference. October 24, 2025. Link
USCB Honor Memberships
Murray, Cynthia, MEd • Associate Registrar (Registrar’s Office)
Awarded. Vice-President for Registrar’s – South Carolina. December 2025. Link
Shelley, Justin, MS • Director of Housing and Student Conduct (Housing & Student Conduct)
Awarded. Outstanding Senior Housing Officer Award, 2025. South Carolina Housing Officers Association. Link
USCB Grants
Beachkofsky, Sarah. Town of Bluffton, $40,000 (Renewal & budget increase). Bluffton Ambassador Program.
Brown Farrell, Carmen. USC Office of the Vice President for Research (ASPIRE AI), $14,993 (NEW). Developing
“AIced It!”: Programming to Maximize Student Learning and Minimize Academic Misconduct
with Generative AI.
Brugler, Mercer. SC INBRE (South Carolina IDeA (Institutional Development Award) Networks of Biomedical
Research Excellence), $108,776/year; $652,449 total (NEW). US(Sea)B(iomed): Marine
Biomedical Research @ USCB.
Canada, Brian. SC EPSCOR via Clemson University, $6,000 (NEW). VIA_LLM: Visually Impaired Assistive
Tool w/LLM Reasoning.
Dudas, Kimberly. Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)/Health & Human Services, $1,000,000
(Ongoing). USCB: Increasing Pre-Licensure Educational Capacity in the Lowcountry.
Dudas, Kimberly. Hutchinson, Lynne; Shroyer, Ashley. $3.8 million, HRSA Grant 24-098. Nursing Education, Practice, Quality and Retention
(NEPQR) – Workforce Expansion Program WEP, 2025-2029.
Hutchison, Lynne. Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). $998,015/year; $3,873.441 total
(NEW). Lowcountry IMPACT: Increasing Nursing Workforce in Acute and Long-Term Care
through Academic Practice Partnerships Serving Underserved and Rural Populations.
Littlefield, Valinda. Richard H. Stewart, $25,000 (Ongoing). USCB’s Institution for the Study of the Reconstruction
Era.
Montie, Eric. NOAA/IOOS via Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA); (2025-2027):
$70,000 (NEW). Infrastructure Needs for the Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network
in the Southeast (ESONS).
Montie, Eric. NOAA/IOOS via Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA)/University
of Delaware, $115,000/year; $495,000 total (Ongoing). Inflation Reduction Act: Sharing
Passive Acoustic Monitoring Data from the Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network
in the Southeast (ESONS) with the IOOS Association.
Montie, Eric. NOAA/IOOS via Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA), $100,000
(Ongoing). Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network in the Southeast (ESONS).
Montie, Eric. SC Aquarium; (6/1/2025 – 5/31/2027): $20,000/year; $40,000 total (NEW). Analyzing
Historical Datasets to Understand the Impacts of Dredging and Commercial Vessel Noise
on Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops erebennus) and Their Prey in Charleston Harbor, South
Carolina.
Montie, Eric. Port Royal Sound Foundation, $15,000 (Renewal). Bottlenose Dolphin Monitoring in
the Port Royal Sound Area.
Pettay, Daniel. Sea Grant Consortium & Clemson University, $26,817/year; $51,558 total (Ongoing).
Determining bacteria and turbidity sources to inform management and outreach across
the Edisto Island Watershed.
Pettay, Daniel. Town of Bluffton, $185,000 (Renewal). Town of Bluffton Water Quality MOU.
Pettay, Daniel. Town of Bluffton, $50,000 (Renewal). Bacterial source tracking for the Town of Bluffton
in the May River.
Pettay, Daniel. Beaufort County, $170,000 (Renewal). Beaufort County Water Quality MOU.
Pettay, Daniel. SC EPSCOR, $42,930 (NEW). Acquisition of Fluorometric Equipment to Expand Educational
and Applied Research Experiences at USC Beaufort.
Sawyer, Caroline. USC Office of the Vice President for Research (ASPIRE), $14,870 (NEW). Voices of
Mather – Oral History Project.
Shinn, James. SC State Historical Records Advisory Board, $1,000 (NEW). SC State Historical Records
Advisory Board Grant in Support of the Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction
Era (ISRE).
Shinn, James. Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, $6,000 (NEW). Gullah Geechee Cultural
Heritage Corridor Support to USCB ISRE 2026 Spring Symposium.
Villena-Alvarez, Juanita; Cavanagh, Kim; Kelley, Kim; Lahar, Cindy; Nadeau, Angela;
Weir, Carol. Sea Islands Institute. $7,520 (Extended). The 2025 Lowcountry and Coastal Empire
One-Day Conference on Asian Studies (Second Year Conference).
Webb, Emily. SC INBRE, $14,908 (NEW). SC INBRE DRP Award - Launch PP: Integrating Environmental
Surveillance for Early Detection and Prevention of Arboviral Disease Outbreaks.
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