In the first 20 hours of the campaign, 13,000 people were reached and there were an amazing 4,300 views of our video. Even more amazing, the average drop-off for videos on Facebook and Instagram is 2 seconds, the average drop-off for our video is 20 seconds, 10X the normal.

Watch the videos here:

https://wdrv.it/2f993a364

https://wdrv.it/bad41047b

Please keep sharing the video and links wherever possible.

STEM fields The Garden State LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) program, is a non-medical science program initiated by the National Science Foundation. The LSAMP program was designed to greatly increase the number of professionals in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields from minority groups who are traditionally underrepresented. The program provides support services at many levels to help interested students be successful in STEM majors.

Accepting Sustainable Raritan Awards Nominations

The Sustainable Raritan River Initiative is accepting nominations for the 2017 Sustainable Raritan Awards to recognize outstanding achievement in efforts to revitalize, restore and protect the Raritan River resources and promote the area as a premiere place to live, work and raise a family. Nominations are due May 15. The awards will be conferred at the 9th Annual Sustainable Raritan Conference and Awards Ceremony at Rutgers’ Douglass Student Center on Friday, June 9, 2017.

“The purpose of these awards is to recognize some of the more creative and impressive accomplishments by genuine leaders throughout the Raritan Watershed,” said Michael Catania, Executive Director of Duke Farms Foundation and a member of the Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative and the 2016 Awards Committee.

The Sustainable Raritan Awards were established in 2010 to promote innovation and energize local efforts to restore and protect the rivers, streams and habitat of the Raritan River, Basin and Bay. There were originally six categories of awards. Due to the breadth of nominees, additional awards have been added over the years. This year, nominations will be accepted for achievement in Government Innovation, Leadership, Non-Profit Innovation, Public Access, Public Education, Remediation and Redevelopment, Stewardship, and Sustainable Business, as well as for a new category – Citizen Action. The awards have highlighted extraordinary accomplishments and inspired other groups across the watershed to achieve comparable levels of excellence.

“We noted last year that there had been an increase in citizen involvement in projects throughout the watershed, and we received several nominations for those actions, which did not fit neatly into the existing award categories. So, beginning this year, we are adding a new award category – Citizen Action – in order to encourage and recognize these types of individual commitments to projects such as stream clean ups, water quality monitoring, and similar critical citizen actions,” said Bill Kibler, Director of Policy for Raritan Headwaters and a member of the 2016 Awards Committee and the Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative.

Nomination submission guidelines and information about past Award recipients can be found on the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative Website at www.raritan.rutgers.edu.

To read more stories about Rutgers, scroll down:

Rutgers-Camden: Professor’s Artwork Selected for Display at New U.S. Embassy in Suriname
Rutgers-Camden: Capital Goodness: Political Climate May Boost Social Enterprises, Says Business Researcher
Rutgers-Camden: Computer Science Major Earns Prestigious National Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research
Rutgers-Camden: Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden Dean Selected for Prestigious National Leadership Program

Rutgers University launched the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative in 2009 to bring together concerned scientists, environmentalists, engineers, businesses, community leaders and governmental entities to craft an agenda that meets the goals of the U.S. Clean Water Act to restore and preserve New Jersey’s Raritan River, its tributaries and its bay. The Initiative, a joint program of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, partners with other Rutgers schools, centers and programs to ensure the best contributions from the sciences, planning and policy.

The Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative is a growing network of over 130 organizations, governmental entities and businesses in the Raritan River region working together to balance social, economic and environmental objectives towards the common goal of restoring the Raritan River, its tributaries and its estuary for current and future generations. Each member organization in the Collaborative contributes to the overall restoration and preservation of the River.

To learn more about the Sustainable Raritan Awards, the conference, or the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative, visit www.raritan.rutgers.edu, or contact Sara Malone, Facilitator, Sustainable Raritan River Initiative, raritan@ejb.rutgers.edu.

Rutgers-Camden: Professor’s Artwork Selected for Display at New U.S. Embassy in Suriname

Over the course of her distinguished career, Margery Amdur has served as a veritable ambassador of the arts.

The associate professor of art at Rutgers University–Camden has displayed her inspired, mixed-media constructions in solo and group exhibitions and installations throughout the world, while offering countless students insight into her intuitive, meticulous, and methodical approach to the artistic process.

“Amass #17″ by Rutgers University-Camden Associate Professor of Art Margery Amdur

It is fitting, then, that Amdur’s original artwork now hangs prominently in the atrium gallery, to the delight of visitors, at the new U.S. Embassy in Suriname, located in the South American country’s capital city of Paramaribo.

The U.S. Department of State selected the piece, “Amass #17,” for its permanent collection via curators of its Art in Embassies (AIE) program. For more than 50 years, the AIE program has promoted cross-cultural dialogue and understanding through the visual arts and a dynamic artist exchange.

According to Patrick Geraghty, public diplomacy and public affairs advisor for the U.S. Embassy in Suriname, the opening of a new American embassy brings with it amazing potential for public engagement. A key component of that outreach, he says, is the artwork of the AIE program, and Amdur has helped to fulfill that mission.

“Art is true soft diplomacy, transcending national borders and building connections among peoples,” says Geraghty. “The choice of Margery Amdur to be a visiting artist in Suriname has benefited our embassy on several fronts.”

Geraghty notes that the “bold and bright three-dimensional piece” has already provoked numerous discussions on art and its role in society. Amdur also took time to work with local art students, he says, not only explaining her influences and journey as an artist, but also leading a workshop wherein students created their own pieces. In addition, at a public outreach event, the Rutgers–Camden professor “won over a large and diverse crowd with her animated and informative presentation,” which was followed by a question-and-answer session with the artist.

In October 2016, Amdur was invited to participate in the AIE program. In addition to visiting Paramaribo, she flew to Riga, Latvia, where she also led workshops at different institutions, each including a public presentation on her work and career.

Amdur also recently had a piece, “Amass #16,” purchased by U.S. Ambassador to Latvia Nancy Pettit for her personal collection at her residence.

“Margery is a fantastic ambassador for the United States and has fulfilled the Art in Embassies’ ideal to engage, educate, and inspire global audiences,” says Geraghty. “We are truly thankful for her contributions.”

The influence of 20 years as an installation artist is evident in the complex works that Amdur assembles, combining aspects of installation art, painting and sculpture.

She explains that “Amass #16” and “Amass #17” are large wall constructions made out of thousands of small foam pieces that she initially glues together, making small units that she then attaches to a canvas. These units were then colored with ink, gouache, and pastel pigment and sealed.

“I create the works on unstretched canvases, however, when installed, I stuff the pieces from behind, creating mounds that are reminiscent of what we experience in nature,” explains Amdur. “When finalized and attached to the wall, the works feel as if Mother Nature has inserted herself into ‘man’s constructed nature’ – the built landscape.”

A resident of Philadelphia, Amdur previously created “Walking on Sunshine,” a colorful resin floor installation spanning 4,000 square feet, in a Philadelphia subway station. In addition, she has had more than 50 solo and two-person exhibitions, and has appeared in numerous group shows. Her international exhibitions have been in Turkey, Hungary, England, Iceland, and Poland. She has curated and organized national exhibitions and is the recipient of more than a dozen grants and awards, including most recently as a senior artist in residence at Central European University in Budapest.

Her work has been reviewed in national and international publications, including Sculpture Magazine, New American Paintings, Fiber Arts, and New Art Examiner, and was selected as a finalist for the Aesthetica Art Prize. Originally from Pittsburgh, Amdur received her bachelor of fine arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University and her master of fine arts degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Since 2004, Amdur has served as head of the studio program in the Department of Fine Arts at Rutgers–Camden. She took students to Iceland in 2014 and 2015, and plans to continue to participate in the immersive Learning Abroad program offered at Rutgers University–Camden.

Rutgers-Camden: Capital Goodness: Political Climate May Boost Social Enterprises, Says Business Researcher

Given the rise in social awareness and activism across the nation these days, the political climate may very well be a boost for social enterprises – businesses established with the express purpose to make a social impact, posits Shoko Kato, an assistant professor of management at the Rutgers School of Business–Camden.

“There are many instances of boycott and buy-cott movements going on in this country right now, so social enterprises, such as TOMS Shoes and GoldieBlox, may be in a better position to promote their goods and services emphasizing social benefits,” explains Kato, whose research explores the perseverance of entrepreneurs and the performance assessment of social ventures. “At the same time, however, social enterprises should continue to focus on retaining their customers; their products and services must be good enough for repeat purchases.”

Shoko Kato

We check in with the Rutgers–Camden scholar, who explains the traits of successful social entrepreneurs, the challenges that they face, and the advantages and disadvantages that they have over traditional business owners. She also shares her outlook on the future of social enterprises.

Do you think that the current political climate may also lead to an uptick in more people starting social enterprises?

Because social and environmental issues are being increasingly highlighted, people may see more opportunities to tackle and solve these problems. Furthermore, in areas where government funds may be cut, social entrepreneurs and enterprises may play a greater role than they have had in the past.

Do social entrepreneurs typically consist of successful business owners who use their businesses to make a social impact, or those who create businesses to accomplish this goal?

Typically, the latter is the case – social entrepreneurs intentionally create businesses that would generate both social and economic, and sometimes environmental, gain.

What are some traits of successful social entrepreneurs?

It is actually really hard to distinguish social entrepreneurs from “traditional” entrepreneurs in this sense. They share so many of the same traits: passion about realizing their ideas; ethical and trustworthy; tenacious, despite so many bumps in the road; good at execution; and good negotiators, networkers, and producers. This probably comes from the fact that money is not a good motivator for starting any business since businesses usually don’t see a profit for several years.

What are some of the challenges that social entrepreneurs face?

Many aspiring social entrepreneurs believe in their causes and, because of this belief, may become blind about the fact that they actually have to sell in order to become successful. “Sell” may not be the right word here, but even starting a nonprofit organization involves lots of sales, such as appealing to donors, grant makers, and benefit recipients. Passion alone will not make it.

Secondly, the market for social products, which usually are priced at higher than similar products, can be small because not many people are willing to pay the premium price. Ideally, you would want to have a company that sells social products to enjoy enough profits in order to serve more populations, but often making profits from sales alone may not be feasible. Also, traditional investors and lenders may be skeptical about investing in social enterprises, which hinders raising a startup capital.

Another issue is the difficulty in evaluating the business. Often the social issues that they tackle are so complicated that they take a long time to be solved, and the social impact may not be seen in the short term. For-profit businesses are ultimately evaluated by their profit, but the true impacts of social enterprises cannot be captured easily by financial measures, which is a barrier for investors and donors who want to see clear returns on their support.

What are the pros and cons of opening a social enterprise over a nonprofit?

What I advise is that, based on the work you are planning to do, set up your organization accordingly. In other words, if your work will have to heavily rely on donations and grants, you should set up your organization as a nonprofit or 501(c)3. Opportunities to work with the government may also give credibility to the organization.

There are many organizational forms that social entrepreneurs can choose: nonprofit with earned income, nonprofit with a for-profit arm, and some special forms of for-profit, such as a benefit corporation, L3C (low-profit liability company), and limited liability company.

The biggest challenge for nonprofits is securing investments. Donations and grants cannot match what for-profit counterparts can raise from venture capitalists and investors.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages that social entrepreneurs have over for-profit businesses?

If the only goal of a business is to make more profit regardless of its method, surely for-profit businesses solely focused on making profit should make more profit. But I don’t believe what moves social entrepreneurs is solely making a profit, so it isn’t necessarily a disadvantage.

Because of their social mission, social enterprises should be able to reach out to a new market where existing, similar businesses cannot. At the same time, because what social enterprises sell may be easy to copy or imitate, other for-profit ventures may start selling inferior quality products to the new market, which may damage the social enterprise’s brand image.

What makes social entrepreneurs stay committed to their missions even when business suffers?

Passion – why you do what you do. This is true for all entrepreneurs. I also need to point out the need to have a level head – being passionate about fulfilling their ideas, but also the need to be realistic and practical about pursuing their passion. If it’s not working, they need to admit it and correct their courses; they cannot be blind.

Rutgers-Camden: Computer Science Major Earns Prestigious National Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research

Hoon Oh, a senior computer science major at Rutgers University–Camden, has earned a 2017 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award from the Computing Research Association – one of the most prestigious honors in the United States awarded to an undergraduate student majoring in computer science.

The Pemberton resident is the first Rutgers–Camden student to earn the nod. Two Rutgers–Camden graduates, Brian Brubach and Robert MacDavid, had previously earned honorable mentions in the competition as students.

“The honor is well deserved – not only is he very talented, he has a strong work ethic, has a positive attitude towards learning, and above all, he is a wonderful human being,” says Rajiv Gandhi, an associate professor of computer science at Rutgers–Camden.

Oh competed for the award, which recognizes undergraduate students in North American universities who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research, with nominees from other non-Ph.D. granting institutions throughout the country.

The Rutgers–Camden undergraduate’s research focuses on algorithm design and analysis, with applications to complex problems such as radio aggregation scheduling, capacitated broadcast scheduling, and the stable matching problem with couples. While only an undergrad, he has already published two research papers: “Radio Aggregation Scheduling,” which appeared in Proceedings for the 11th International Symposium on Algorithms and Experiments for Wireless Sensor Networks – ALGOSENSORS 2015; and “Minimizing the Maximum Flow Time in Batch Scheduling,” which appeared in Operations Research Letters in November 2016.

“We aren’t focusing on the coding aspect so much as the theories of computation in programming,” explains Oh. “We want to come up with algorithms that most efficiently run computations in order to solve different types of problems. If you were to try every possible solution, without considering what is most efficient, then it would take an inordinate amount of time – like thousands of years.”

Oh credits his exponential growth to the nurturing academic environment at Rutgers University–Camden, especially the opportunity to work consistently with Gandhi, whom he praises as a major factor in his progress.

“This award is validation of everything that I have learned from him,” he says.

Any way you do the math, Oh has made quick work towards academic excellence since his early high school days at Cherry Hill East High School. A native of Korea, he recalls that he was still struggling with a language barrier and his grades suffered as a result.

However, the universal language of mathematics came much easier. He first had the opportunity to study with Gandhi at the Program in Algorithmic and Computational Thinking, a precollege summer program at Princeton University partially funded by the National Science Foundation and Rutgers University. He then jumped at the opportunity to continue working with Gandhi at Rutgers–Camden.

In addition to his studies, the senior computer science major worked as a teaching assistant at Rutgers­–Camden, and returns to the Program in Algorithmic and Computational Thinking to serve as a guest lecturer.

Hoon, who plans to pursue his Ph.D., focusing on algorithmic game theory, will be featured with his fellow award recipients in the January 2017 issue of Computing Research News.

Rutgers-Camden: Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden Dean Selected for Prestigious National Leadership Program

Marlton resident Joanne Robinson, the inaugural dean of the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden, has been named as one of nine fellows of the National League for Nursing’s Executive Leadership in Nursing Education and Practice program.

Joanne Robinson

The highly selective program is for experienced executive leaders in nursing education and practice who have held their positions for more than five years. The NLN program prepares participants to become champions for change and to design and implement strategies to innovate and meet the ever-changing demands of nursing education and health care. During the year-long program, participants will engage with peers and experts from across the nation to examine issues related to leadership and organizational systems.

A noted scholar in the area of nursing care for the elderly, Robinson was named as the founding dean of the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden in 2012. As the leader of a rapidly growing nursing school committed to preparing nurses to deliver the highest levels of patient care while advancing nursing and health science, Robinson has led the relatively new nursing school through impressive growth, including the addition of a doctor of nursing practice program and a graduate certificate program in wound ostomy continence nursing, and the merger of nursing programs at the former UMDNJ campus in Stratford into Rutgers–Camden.

Later this spring, the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden will relocate into the new Rutgers Nursing and Science Building which currently is being built next to Camden City Hall. The 100,000-square-foot facility will serve more than 1,000 Rutgers–Camden nursing students and will offer greater classroom and lab capacity, including state-of-the-art clinical simulation labs, a case-study classroom designed for a “flipped classroom” approach to instruction, and Scale-Up Discovery classrooms devised for team learning.

Robinson is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, one of the highest honors in the field. Her early work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Teaching Nursing Home Project helped to shape an agenda for gerontological nursing research, reforms in nursing home care, and education of nurses to care for older adults. Later, her work helped to seed the evidence base for restraint-free care of nursing home residents.

In New Jersey, Robinson co-founded the NJ End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium; served on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Elder Care and the New Jersey Commission on Aging; and has participated in multiple statewide initiatives to improve nursing home care and access to senior services. She is the immediate past chair of the New Jersey Association of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs in Nursing.

Robinson’s research on lower urinary tract symptoms in older adults has been supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research for Health and recognized with six awards. Her publications include two books, five book chapters, and more than 30 articles that have appeared in professional clinical and research journals. Her current research addresses the management of urinary symptoms in men with prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

In 2011, she was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing, which is one of the nation’s highest honors in nursing scholarship.

Robinson received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from William Paterson University in 1975 and her master’s degree in community health nursing from Rutgers–Newark in 1982. She then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her master’s degree in social gerontology (1994) and her Ph.D. in nursing (1995).