HARRISBURG, PA – Welcome to your September 2024 Harrisburg University of Science and Technology (HU) Research Roundup! Our talented faculty have been busy presenting at conferences, publishing boundary-pushing research, and building fruitful partnerships with other schools, agencies, and organizations. It’s been a great month for research and recognition at HU – let’s get to it!
1. Erin Buchanan, Ph.D., Publishes New Research in Journal ‘Assessment’
Erin Buchanan, Ph.D., Professor of Cognitive Analytics, has had a paper accepted for publication in the journal Assessment, entitled “visualizemi: Visualization, Effect Size, and Replication of Measurement Invariance for Registered Reports.”
According to Dr. Buchanan, the social sciences are having a renaissance after discovering that many published papers do not replicate. The project was in response to a special call for papers on replication. The transparency and open-science movement encourages the open sharing of data and materials from studies, along with pre-registration (setting study plans before the study starts) as a way to tackle some of the issues with replication.
“I have a specialty in helping individuals design and assess questionnaires to measure what they are interested in,” said Dr. Buchanan. “For example, a previous publication of mine helped developed a scale that measures meaning in life, which we’ve validated several times. One potential issue with replication failures is that the instruments we use to measure our variables aren’t reliable or that they show different patterns of responses in different groups of people (for example, older individuals answer differently than younger individuals because of their life experiences).
“The paper involved the development of an R package, [a collection of functions, data sets, and compiled code written in R] called visualizemi, to allow researchers to assess their scales and calculate the ‘like replication’ of their results, which was a gap in the tools available for scaling development to map onto the open science and replication movement.”
2. Drs. Tonya Miller and Francois Prizinski Published in ‘Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice’
Tonya Miller, Ph.D., PT, DPT, Associate Professor Academic and Program Lead Doctor of Physical Therapy, and Francois Prizinski, Ed.D., PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, have had their latest research paper published in Vol. 22 of Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. The paper, which was also Dr. Prizinski’s dissertation, is entitled, “The Impact of Relationship Building Through a Structured Coaching Program for Mentors and Mentees Within a Doctor of Physical Therapy Post-Professional Residency Program.”
“The paper is a foundation for how we plan to model our coaching program for the developing DPT [Doctor of Physical Therapy] program,” said Dr. Miller. “This project provided some great insight into how knowing DISC behavioral styles improves coaching interactions. What’s really cool is that we worked on this project together before there was even the idea of the HU DPT program. Shows how you never know where your journey will take you!”
The acronym “DISC” refers to a behavioral assessment model that classifies individuals into four primary personality traits based on their behavioral preferences and tendencies: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.
Dr. Prizinski added, “The project came about to learn more about the specific mentoring needs of novice physical therapists enrolled in a residency program. The approach was to use a coaching model based on DISC for both the mentor and mentee and to understand the impact on relationship building, confidence, and development of critical thinking skills through the mentoring process. It was helpful to gain insight from the residents – novice physical therapists – but also from the mentors as to how coaching allowed each to develop professionally. These insights are helping us develop a coaching program within the Harrisburg University DPT program.”
Doctors Miller and Prizinski will present their findings at the APTA (American Physical Therapy Association) Education Leadership Conference, slated for October 18–20 in Oakland, CA.
To learn more about Harrisburg University’s in-development Doctor of Physical Therapy* program and to apply, please visit HarrisburgU.edu.
3. Albert Sarvis Presents Keynote Address at GS1 XXVII Expogestión in Peru
On September 4–5, Albert Sarvis, PMP, GISP, Associate Vice President of Continuous Improvement and Program Lead of Geospatial Technology, traveled to Peru for XXVII Expogestión 2024, billed as an “International Forum on Logistics and Supply Chain Management.” This year’s theme was “Digital Supply Chains: Generating Value in Business.” The event gathered hundreds of experts and industry leaders from around the world for a collaborative and comprehensive summit on digital transformations and innovations within the supply chain management industry.
One of the highlights of this year’s event was the focus on geospatial technologies, a new area of exploration in supply chain management. Professor Sarvis delivered an impactful keynote entitled, “Geospatial Innovations for Supply Chain Management,” where he highlighted recent advancements in geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and drone technology. His presentation covered cutting-edge applications such as AI-integrated GIS, next-generation GPS, and the latest developments in drone delivery systems.
“Presenting the keynote address at the GS1 Conference in Peru was a fantastic opportunity for Harrisburg University to be recognized on a global stage,” said Professor Sarvis. “I had the privilege of discussing innovations in geospatial technology, and the research Harrisburg University has done with these technologies, to an audience of more than 400 logistics and supply chain professionals from the Peruvian region of South America.”
Harrisburg University’s Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Sustainability offers a concentration in Geospatial Technologies. To learn more and apply, visit HarrisburgU.edu.
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*Graduation from a physical therapist education program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, 3030 Potomac Ave., Suite 100, Alexandria, Virginia 22305-3085; phone; 703-706-3245; accreditation@apta.org is necessary for eligibility to sit for the licensure examination, which is required in all states. Candidacy is considered to be an accredited status, as such the credits and degree earned from a program with Candidacy status are considered, by CAPTE, to be from an accredited program. Therefore, students in the charter (first) class should be eligible to take the licensure exam even if CAPTE withholds accreditation at the end of the candidacy period. That said, it is up to each state licensing agency, not CAPTE, to determine who is eligible for licensure. Information on licensing requirements should be directed to the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT; www.fsbpt.org) or specific state boards (a list of state boards and contact information is available on FSBPT’s website. Harrisburg University is seeking accreditation of a new physical therapist education program from CAPTE. The program is planning to submit an Application for Candidacy, which is the formal application required in the pre-accreditation stage, on November 1, 2024. Submission of this document does not assure that the program will be granted Candidate for Accreditation status. Achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status is required prior to implementation of the professional phase of the program; therefore, no students may be enrolled in professional courses until Candidate for Accreditation status has been achieved. Further, though achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status signifies satisfactory progress toward accreditation, it does not assure that the program will be granted accreditation.
