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2025 Cardozo Life (Winter), Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Life Magazine

Table of Contents:

Top News & Events, page 3

Alumni News, page 15

50 Years of Daring to Illuminate, page 18

A Fearless, Undaunted Approach to Building a New Law School, page 26

50 Years of Daring to Innovate, page 42

Faculty in the Media, page 66

Faculty Scholarship, page 70

Retirements, page 76

Student Briefs, page 79

Alumni Signature Events, page 83

Classnotes, page 87

Cardozo in a Word, page 92

Curriculum, Assessment, & Learning Materials Lab Renovation: A Space For Pre-Service Teachers, Joanna L. Neel Dr., Vandy C. Dubre Mrs.

Presentations and Publications

Pre-service teachers increasingly require access to current instructional materials, test-preparation resources, and hands-on manipulatives to meet rising state expectations and certification demands. This article presents a case study of the multi-year renovation of a School of Education resource room at a mid-sized regional university in the south-central United States. Through a sustained partnership between an Education Faculty member and the Education Librarian, the space evolved from a cluttered storage area into a structured, student-centered Curriculum, Assessment, and Learning Materials Lab. The narrative outlines the historical context, redesign process, cataloging system development, collection weeding, student worker training, and ongoing assessment plans. …

Genetic Causes Of Classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: Investigating A Pathogenic Single Nucleotide Variant In The Col5a1 Gene, Annika Gulling

Undergraduate Research Awards

Classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (cEDS) is a rare genetic disorder affecting connective tissue in the body. Common symptoms of classical Ehler’s Danlos syndrome include skin fragility, atrophic scarring, joint instability, and generalized hypermobility. Despite an increasing understanding of cEDS within the medical and scientific community, its complex and multisystem nature can make clinical diagnosis challenging. This paper examines the clinical features, diagnostic criteria, and genetic causes of the disease with a focus on the role of type V collagen and the COL5A1 gene in regards to cEDS. The specific genetic variant investigated in this paper is a single-nucleotide variant in the …

Women’S Movement And Mobility In New York City: Restriction, Rejuvenation, And Resistance In The Progressive Era, 1900-1920, Helene Martinez Erlbaum

Undergraduate Research Awards

In this thesis, I aim to explore the implications of women and girls travelling unaccompanied in New York City during the time before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment (circa 1900-1920). By exploring specific examples of societal measures and responses to the phenomena of widespread female mobility – including responses to these original measures by both affirming and opposing parties – and increasing existence in the public sphere, I hope to discern the public attitude towards the growing social freedoms of women as they possibly move beyond the more strict Victorian or Edwardian social rules of the previous generation. Of …

Exploring The Ephemeral: California’S Light And Space Artists, Shasta Power

Undergraduate Research Awards

Advancements in technology during the 20th and 21st centuries have allowed for new forms of art to be created, and new mediums to be explored— evidenced by the Light and Space Movement which emerged out of Southern California in the 1960s. Artists of this movement occupied a unique position within the larger scene of art history at the time; they were at the center of political turmoil and technological revolution, working in the same spaces and at times even alongside the engineers and psychologists interested in space: both outer and inner. Mary Corse, a painter, Fred Eversley, a sculptor, and …

Navigating The Market: Challenges And Success Factors For Independent Wedding And Event Planning Businesses In The United States, Madeleine Castanon

Hospitality Student Publications

Wedding and event planning is a growing part of the hospitality industry in the United States. It brings in more than five billion dollars each year and supports thousands of small business owners. Even so, independent planners do not get much attention in academic research. Most studies on small businesses do not focus on the specific problems that event planners face. This paper looks at those challenges and what helps planners succeed. The research method used is a review of existing literature on topics like cash flow, seasonal businesses, vendor relationships, and social media marketing. The main finding is that …

Granulomatous Cellular Signatures In Nontuberculous And Tuberculous Mycobacterial Infections, Brianna M. Doratt, Ethan G. Napier, Mahdi Eskandarian Boroujeni, Sarah Douglas, Michael H. Davies, Luiz Bermudez, Eliot Spindel, Erin F. Mccaffrey, Ilhem Messaoudi

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are acid-fast bacilli that trigger granuloma formation, a hallmark immune response aimed at containing infection. While the biology of Mtb granulomas has been widely investigated, far less is known about granulomas caused by NTM infection, despite the increasing prevalence and clinical challenge of NTM cases worldwide. Because granulomas influence infection control, pathology, and treatment response, understanding their cellular organization and signaling is critical to improving therapeutic strategies. Therefore, we characterized granulomas formed following infection of rhesus macaques with Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis (MAH) and compared them to granulomas from cynomolgus macaques infected with …

From Couriers To City Dwellers: The Changing Human-Pigeon Relationship, Mallory C. Peterson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Their coos echo off the walls of skyscrapers and their wings beat faster than the cadence of footsteps. Whether dodging cars or pecking at food scraps, pigeons are a constant character of urban environments. Their unique history has allowed them to raise their young under bridges and on windowsills. Pigeons and humans are inextricably intertwined, to the joy and dismay of many. Once celebrated as couriers, pigeons carried messages of war, love, and survival across vast distances, shaping human connection and history. Today, they are more often dismissed as pests, their presence flattened into the city noise.

This narrative piece …

Long-Term Banding And Encounter Patterns Of Cinnamon Teal Banded In Utah (1960-2025), Gracie A. Henrie

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Utah is a valuable breeding and nesting ground for a number of waterfowl species, largely because of the Great Salt Lake, which supports over 400,000 acres of wetland habitat (Ducks Unlimited, n.d.). The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources manages 24 wildlife management areas (WMAs) with the purpose of creating high quality waterfowl habitat in these wetlands that can be enjoyed by hunters, recreators, and birds alike (Wildlife/Waterfowl Management Areas (WMAs), 2025). Effective management is supported with an understanding of the movement and demographic patterns of the waterfowl species the WMAs are designed to support. Bird banding is one tool managers …

Be The Mentor, Sydney Mace, Alison Blee, Noah Waltz, Molly Woods, Brooklyn Grimm

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

No abstract provided.

Learning For A Sustainable Future: Embedding Sustainability Literacy In Honors Curricula Within Higher Education, Zoe E. Belinda

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This research investigates the sustainability literacy levels of first-year Davidson Honors College (DHC) students at the University of Montana (UM) to develop a baseline for average sustainability knowledge at the beginning of students’ post-secondary education. The goals of this research are to (1) determine if there are differences in sustainability literacy scores between students in sustainability-related fields of study and their counterparts, (2) identify weaknesses in students’ current sustainability literacy, and (3) develop curriculum suggestions to improve sustainability knowledge. To address these research questions, all first-year DHC students in 2024 and 2025 were surveyed using a modified version of the …

Extreme, Outrageous, And Reawakened: Reforming Iied To Address Stalking And Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Abuse, Tatijana Brienza-Underwood

California Western Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Zero-Sum Reorganization: Realigning The Code For Hospital Sale-Leasebacks, Belecia Villafan

California Western Law Review

No abstract provided.

Array Signal Processing And Machine Learning In 5g/6g Networks, Roopesh Kumar Polaganga

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation investigates advanced methodologies in Array Signal Processing (ASP) and Machine Learning (ML) to enhance the performance, efficiency, and intelligence of next-generation wireless networks, with a primary focus on 5G and emerging 6G systems. As wireless networks face rapid traffic growth, increasingly heterogeneous service requirements, and more complex propagation environments, conventional design and optimization approaches become insufficient to meet evolving demands in reliability, capacity, spectral efficiency, and energy efficiency. On the network intelligence side, this work develops data-driven frameworks for causal discovery, scheduler enhancement, session-duration prediction, and Radio Resource Control (RRC) state optimization using real-world telecommunication network data. On …

The Patroon System Of New Netherland And Its Lasting Influence On Landlord-Tenant Law, Liam Edward Cronan

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Put Me In, Coach: Enhancing Foundational Lawyering Skills Across The Curriculum With Neurodivergent Law Students In Mind, Erica M. Lux

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

As more adults discover that they are neurodivergent, the law student population is likely to be no different, and legal education must adapt to support the skill development needs of neurodivergent students as they prepare to enter the profession. Neurodivergence is a non-medical term that refers to a variety of conditions resulting from changes to a person’s brain structure and function. More commonly, academic discussions around neurodivergence focus on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—both of which have not been properly diagnosed over the past several decades. However, neurodivergence also incorporates anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), …

The Impact Of Food Insecurity And Associated Variables On Colon Cancer In Kentucky: An Ecologic Study, Claire E. Lynch

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Objective: Given colorectal cancer incidence rates are increasing, especially in socioeconomic disadvantaged areas, this study aims to determine if there is an association between specific socioeconomic variables, such as food insecurity, and colon cancer at the county-level in Kentucky.

Methods: Colorectal cancer age-adjusted incidence rates at the county-level were collected from the Kentucky Cancer Registry. Conty-level data was collected from County Health Ranking, The U.S Census Bureau, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 2019 to 2023. R was used to run statical analyses such as a linear regression and a …

Elite Perceptions Of The Us’ Commitment To Nato After Russia’S Invasion Of Ukraine: “The Direction Of Travel Is Clear”, Jason W. Davidson

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

This article seeks to explore elite perceptions of the US’ commitment to NATO in the leadup to the 2024 election. It presents findings from ninety-two interviews from 2023 and 2024 with policymakers and analysts from six leading NATO allies. Analysis of the interviews demonstrates that only roughly half of interviewees were concerned with the US’ future commitment to NATO. The bulk of the article seeks to make sense of the variety of responses by categorizing them according to five different worldviews. A domestic political worldview provides an explanation for why some elites were concerned with the prospect of Donald Trump’s …

Amorphous Selenium Photodetectors For Liquid Noble Detectors, Michael Rooks

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Physics offers a way to connect deeply with the mysteries that surround us. Advances in detector physics, particularly in neutrino experiments and rare-event searches, have expanded our ability to probe phenomena that challenge how we describe the universe. Each discovery brings us closer to understanding the unknown, returning us to a sense of wonder that motivates exploration. My work on detector technology was inspired by a concept paper from Professor David Nygren, in which he noted the speculative possibility of integrating photon detection into a charge readout for pixelated liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) using the photoconductor amorphous selenium …

Hika - 2025-2026

HIKA Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

Community Place Attachment As A Significant Correlate Of Motivation To Change Substance Use Behavior Among Adults Who Inject Drugs In Rural U.S., Janet K. Otachi, Shawndaya S. Thrasher, Keith J. Watts, Juma S. Mwenda, Hilary L. Surratt

Social Work Faculty Publications

Introduction: While motivation is critical for substance use disorder (SUD) recovery, many individuals fail to engage in treatment. The need to belong is a fundamental human motivation, yet the role of community place attachment (CPA) as a social asset in fostering motivation to change substance use behaviors (MCSUB) among people who inject drugs (PWID) is understudied. This paper examines the effect of CPA on PWIDs’ MCSUB.

Methodology: Cross-sectional data were collected from 350 PWID recruited from syringe service programs in rural Appalachian Kentucky (2018–2021). We used hierarchical multivariable linear regression to assess the association between CPA and MCSUB, controlling for …

"Just Friends:" The Linguistics Of Queerness In Lady Audley's Secret And Carmilla, Kelley A. Peters

English

Many queer studies scholars have debated the legitimacy of queer coding within Victorian literature, such as Marc Milton Ducusin, who wrote Queer Doubles: The Victorian Sensation Novel and English Sexology, and Sharon Marcus, the author of Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England. These authors analyze real-life and fictional behaviors of those within Victorian England to argue that queerness is present in certain Victorian works. However, these arguments do not adequately address the linguistic significance of the queer coding present in these works, and they specifically ignore the label of “friend” and its many meanings in Victorian …

Hepatitis C Virus Transmission Among People Who Inject Drugs In Rural United States: Mathematical Modeling Study Using Stochastic Agent-Based Network Simulation, Lin Zhu, Jennifer R. Havens, Abby E. Rudolph, April M. Young, Golnaz Eftekhari Yazdi, William W. Thompson, Liesl M. Hagan, Liisa M. Randall, Jianing Wang, Rebecca Earnest, Shayla Nolen, Benjamin P. Linas, Joshua A. Salomon

Center on Drug and Alcohol Research Faculty Publications

People who inject drugs (PWID) account for the majority of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in the United States. The injection-equipment-sharing network likely plays an important role in shaping the dynamics of HCV transmission. Recognizing the emerging HCV epidemic in rural communities, we developed an agent-based network simulation model of HCV transmission via injection equipment sharing and used data on rural PWID networks to inform model parameterization and calibration. We then simulated an array of networks that varied key network properties to understand their impact on the magnitude and distribution of HCV incidence. The results show substantial heterogeneity in HCV …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Relationship Between Mentoring And Professional Development Outcomes Of Public Senior High School Teachers In Ghana’S Central Region, Frank Ayim

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined the relationship between mentoring and teacher professional development among public senior high school teachers in Ghana’s Central Region. Although mentoring is widely promoted as a strategy for strengthening instructional quality, limited empirical research has investigated how specific dimensions of mentoring influence in-service secondary teachers within Sub-Saharan African contexts. Grounded in social cognitive theory and adult learning theory, this study addressed that gap by differentiating among structural participation in mentoring, duration of mentoring involvement, and mentorship participation intensity. A correlational research design was employed using validated instruments measuring mentoring engagement, instructional effectiveness, and classroom management. Data were …

An Analogue Of Carmichael Numbers, Or Six For Infinity, J.D. Phillips

Journal Articles

We find all non-negative integers n such that congruence modulo n is stable under exponentiation by positive integers, i.e. we show, that n = 1, 2, 6, 42, 1806 are the only numbers for which the condition a ≡n b and c ≡n d imply that a c ≡n b d , a, b, c, d ∈ N is satisfied. We also show in what sense this condition is close to the conditions for Carmichael numbers.

“Legendary Comebacks”:The Refiguring Of Iliad 2’S Thersites, Steven A. Heil

UNH URC Open (2026 and after)

“Legendary Comebacks”: the Refiguring of Iliad 2’s Thersites

Cultivating Holistic And Mindful Rest Practices: A Workbook, Cecelia V. Murray

Mindfulness Theses

In a cultural moment that conflates productivity with self-worth, rest is often undervalued or seen as indulgent. This thesis explores mindfulness as a means of reframing rest as an essential human right and a cornerstone of holistic wellness. Drawing on Bill Hettler’s Six Dimensions of Wellness (i.e. physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and occupational wellness), this project situates mindful rest as a multidimensional practice that supports balance across body, mind, and spirit. This work also highlights the social, structural, and psychological barriers that affect individuals’ access to rest. It argues that while mindfulness alone cannot resolve systemic inequities, it can …

Mindfulness And Psychedelics: Rethinking The Fifth Precept, Ernesto Londono

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The fields of psychedelics and mindfulness have a long history of cross-pollination in the United States that dates to the counterculture movement in the 1960s. As the use of these mind-altering compounds in therapeutic and spiritual contexts has become less stigmatized and more popular in recent years, psychedelic retreats and therapies are once again drawing people who also value contemplative practices. This paper explores the historic and contemporary tension people with overlapping interests in mindfulness and psychedelics have faced as they interpreted the Fifth Precept, the Buddhist guideline that advises people to abstain from intoxicants. Taking stock of the history …

What Truly Drives Graduate Earnings?, Aiden Akbarov

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026

The goal of my project, Predicting the Paycheck: What Factors Truly Influence Graduate Earnings?, was to see if we could actually predict a college graduate's starting salary using data instead of just guessing. I used a dataset of 172 majors from the American Community Survey to look at how a student's field of study, the gender balance of their major, and the current job market all impact their first paycheck. I wanted to create a tool that helps students understand the financial reality of their degree before they even graduate.

To get my results, I used a Multiple Linear Regression …

Examining Any Differences Between Genders’ Activity Levels During Recess, Kara M. Wells

2026 Honors Symposium

Physical activity in children is significant for all aspects of their development, including cognitive, physical, emotional, and social aspects. Recess is important for children to be given a designated time to exercise and get physical activity. For some children, recess is the only time they get to exercise in a day. This study aims to examine differences in activity levels between genders at Leverett Elementary School. It is important to know if there is a disparity between boys and girls at recess, so that educators, parents, and administrators can work to bridge any gaps and ensure that all kids are …