Faculty Focus-April 15, 2025
Faculty members put their knowledge into action so students and others are able to benefit from it. Recently, faculty were featured in high-impact academic journals and magazines, appointed to prestigious consulting positions, and gave expert presentations across the world.
Antun Husinec
James H. Chapin Professor and Chair of Geology and Mineralogy Antun Husinec’s research, "Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a in the shallow, carbonate-dominated intrashelf Kazhdumi Basin, Zagros Mountains," published in Sedimentology on behalf of the International Association of Sedimentologists, has been recognized as one of the journal’s top 10 most-cited papers of 2023.
Sedimentology is a leading international journal in the field, known for publishing high-impact research on sedimentary processes, environments, and records of past climate and environmental change. This distinction highlights the significant influence of Husinec’s work in advancing our understanding of ancient oceanic and environmental shifts.
In this paper, Husinec’s international research group uncovered new insights into the Selli Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (120 million years ago), a period of major climate, biodiversity, and geochemical upheaval. Analyzing sediment and carbon-isotope data from the Kazhdumi Intrashelf Basin, the group has identified key shifts in marine environments and life, from shallow-water limestone to deep, plankton-rich deposits. These findings provide a high-resolution record of sea-level and carbon-cycle changes, helping clarify the timing of environmental disturbances across the Arabian Plate. The study highlights the critical role of carbonate intrashelf basins in preserving evidence of ancient global oceanic disruptions.
Ivan Ramler
Jack and Sylvia Burry Associate Professor of Statistics, Ivan Ramler, was recently featured on StatTLC, a national blog focused on the teaching and learning of statistics and data science. His article, "Engaging Students with Sports Data: The SCORE Network Approach to Statistics and Data Science Education," highlights his work with the SCORE Network (Sports Content for Outreach, Research, and Education), a National Science Foundation-funded initiative using real-world sports data to inspire and educate the next generation of data scientists.
Ramler, along with Professor of Statistics Robin Lock, former St. Lawrence Professor of Statistics Michael Schuckers, and Director of the Peterson Quantitative Resource Center A.J. Dykstra, is helping develop open-access educational modules that teach core statistics and data science concepts using data from professional and collegiate sports, esports, and fitness. These modules are designed to support instructors and engage students by connecting data science to a topic many students already know and love: sports.
Alexander Stewart
Associate Professor of Geology Alexander Stewart was recently elected the National President of the Earth Sciences Honorary Society Sigma Gamma Epsilon at its 47th national convention in Moline, Illinois.
Founded in 1915 at the University of Kansas, SGE promotes academic excellence and professional development in the geosciences. Since 2010, Stewart has advised the Eta Xi chapter of SGE at St. Lawrence.
Stewart is a U.S. Army veteran of the Cold War and three foreign wars. His experiences in the Army in Alaska directed his interests to obtain a PhD in glacial geology and be a glacial geology/geomorphology professor from eastern Kentucky to western Texas and north to St. Lawrence University.
As National President, Stewart aims to help reactivate dormant chapters of the honorary society, establish new chapters, and enhance the society’s visibility through better communication and digital outreach.
Robin Rhodes
Director of ESOL and Multilingual Student Academic Support Robin Rhodes recently gave a conference presentation, “A Digital Story Map: Sustaining Multilingual Identity in Academic ESOL” at the International Association of Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Rhodes shared theory and research into preserving multilingual identity while teaching academic English and how to use effective pedagogy with multilingual students. She also shared conceptual frameworks to connect theory and practice for the multilingual English writing classroom.
Mert Kartal
Associate Professor of Political Science, Mert Kartal, was recently selected as an anti-corruption consultant by Transparency International, the leading global civil society organization dedicated to the fight against corruption.
In this role, he will contribute to TI’s efforts by producing policy-oriented reports on a wide range of corruption-related topics, with a focus on Europe. These reports are intended to inform and support national policymakers, international organizations, and civil society actors by providing analysis of key challenges, emerging trends, and effective strategies in the fight against corruption.
Howard Eissenstat
Laurentian Associate Professor and Chair of History, Howard Eissenstat, recently co-wrote an essay in The Atlantic highlighting the parallels between Trump's crackdown on student activists and authoritarian moves undertaken by Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He was also quoted recently in several German press outlets regarding growing tensions between Turkey and Israel in Syria—among them, Stuttgarter Nachrichten and Allgemeine Zeitung.
Eissenstat also recently presented on Kurdish responses to the wave of protests currently underway in Turkey at a roundtable organized by Stockholm University's Institute of Turkish Studies.
Jungjun Park
Assistant Professor of Economics, Jungjun Park, recently had one of his research papers accepted for publication in Mathematics and Financial Economics. The paper, titled “Black-Litterman Asset Allocation under Hidden Truncation Distribution,” co-authored with Andrew Nguyen, introduces an innovative extension to the well-established Black-Litterman model—widely used in the hedge fund industry and institutional investment industry for asset allocation.
This research enhances the classical Black-Litterman framework by incorporating the hidden truncation skew-normal distribution as a flexible statistical tool for modeling asset returns. The study makes both theoretical and empirical contributions to portfolio optimization, illustrating how the extended model more effectively captures complex market dynamics and asymmetric return behavior.
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