Mountain Talks

Bruce Bunnick and Sarah Bombard will provide a comprehensive overview of how institutions like Lehigh are adapting to new precedents and offer insights into what colleges are focusing on in a student’s application, what students can do to present their best selves in the process, and how parents can empower their students to navigate a competitive and rapidly changing environment.

Lori Goldstein ‘95, author of a just-released adult contemporary novel, ROMANTIC FRICTION, an NPR Book of the Day, and also featured on NPR’s Here and Now, is primed to lead this discussion. We will explore issues of not what we can do with the technology but what we should do. 

Join educational consultant and Lehigh alumna Janice Lee Holowka ’89 for an important conversation about the current state of U.S. public education — and why the challenges facing today’s students and educators affect us all.

In this session, Professor Burak Eskici will shift from the big-picture trends to the practical realities — what generative AI can actually do today across modalities like text, code, images, and video and how it’s being applied in real-world tools and business functions.

Join Assistant Professor Burak Eskici for a discussion on how businesses, individuals, and policymakers can prepare for a future where AI is not just an enabler but a game-changer.

This year, we are celebrating our anniversary with a focus on Jewish contributions to the arts. Come learn about the history of the center, recent research and courses, and our exciting slate of events.

The world anticipates tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and perhaps even the rest of the world. Professor Jesus Salas discusses what avenues Trump could take to impose such tariffs and the potential consequences.

Lynch Syndrome is surprisingly common but mostly unknown. It is 43% more common in the population than the more widely known Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome (BRCA1/2), yet almost no one in the general population is aware of it (as well as many in the medical field). Those with Lynch Syndrome have higher risks of several cancers compared to the general population. If you know you have Lynch Syndrome, you can take advantage of strategies to prevent cancer or detect it early when it can be treated successfully.

The lab is bringing together faculty and students from across the university to research and develop solutions to challenges faced by small cities. Launched in January, it offers an interdisciplinary approach to issues such as a lack of affordable housing, environmental justice, community health, access to green space, energy policy, and food insecurity – specifically, how these issues play out in smaller places (cities with populations below 250,000).  

In this talk, Dhruv Seshadri will summarize his efforts to develop algorithms and wearable devices directed for human health monitoring and performance optimization, ranging from adolescents to collegiate athletics and to warfighters. He will provide an overview of his multifaceted approach to overcoming critical challenges via the design and integration of innovative tools and discuss their application as a means to provide objective assessments to guide clinical decision making for cardiovascular, orthopedic, and neuromuscular disease. 

Established in spring 2024, the Lehigh Oceans Research Center is a hub for collaborative oceanographic research, aiming to understand and predict how biological systems respond to environmental changes from the surface to the deep sea. This presentation will introduce the center's faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and students and highlight key research initiatives.

Anand Ramamurthi will discuss efforts in the lab to develop technology platforms directed at biomimetic regeneration and repair of elastic fibers and fiber networks which render tissues the ability to stretch and recoil like rubber bands. Ramamurthi seeks to apply these methods to growing elastic tissues in vitro and to restoring integrity of soft tissues compromised by chronic proteolytic disruption of the structural extracellular matrix (ECM). Restoring intact elastic fibers and their higher order structures is crucial since their absence, malformation, or pathological disruption can adversely impact tissue recoil properties and cell behavior and health.  

Ramamurthi will provide an overview of the multifaceted approach to overcoming these critical challenges via the design and integration of innovative tools (e.g., biomolecular agents, biomaterial scaffolds, nanotherapeutics, and stem cells) and, more specifically, discuss their application as a minimally-invasive, non-surgical treatment modality to treat proteolytic disorders (e.g., pelvic organ prolapse, COPD-associated non-small cell lung cancers, aortic aneurysms). 

This talk will focus on the ongoing efforts to arrest growth of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), which are localized and irreversible expansions of the aorta wall.

Ahmed Rahman’s research analyzes the economics of naval history to better understand the economics of current military policies and operations. The various "natural experiments" and rich data sources that naval history affords can provide needed answers to tackle today's global leadership challenges

Ahmed S. Rahman, Ph.D., is the program director of the College of Business at Lehigh. He is also a research fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics. His research areas include economic growth, economic history, immigration, and the economics of education. Some of his current work focuses on the effects of peers and teachers on college student performance, the impacts of different experiences in military service on private-sector employment, and the wage and employment effects of immigration on native workers.

Laura Katz Olson, AGF Distinguished Professor of Political Science, has taught at Lehigh University since 1974. She teaches U.S. Health Care Policies, the Politics of Health Care, the American Presidency, and the American Political System. She directs the political science department’s internship program. To date, she has published nine academic books, focusing on U.S. healthcare.

Ethically Challenged: Private Equity Storms U.S. Health Care was published in March of 2022. The book won a gold medal in The North American Book Awards, the Axiom Business Book Awards, and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Benjamin Franklin Awards and a silver medal in the Nautilus Book Awards. In addition, it won a National Indie Excellence Award and was a finalist in both the American Book Fest Best Book Awards and Montaigne.

This Mountain Talk will give an overview of why high-impact opportunities are critical for students, offer you a snapshot of the high-impact opportunities currently offered at Lehigh, introduce some of the game-changing technology Lehigh 360 is developing to increase access to these programs for all students, and present opportunities for alumni to further engage with and support these transformational programs. 

Bill Whitney was named assistant vice provost for experiential learning programs in 2022. Prior to that, he served in the role of administrative director for the Office of Creative Inquiry at Lehigh University since its inception in January 2017. He holds a Ph.D. in theatre and drama from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been an adjunct professor in the Department of Theatre at Lehigh and the Department of Performing Arts at Cedar Crest College. Prior to his current role, he served for six years as executive assistant in Lehigh's Office of the President.

In his assistant vice provost role, Whitney champions the Impact Fellowships and Mountaintop Summer Experience programs through the Office of Creative Inquiry and serves as the lead instigator of the Lehigh 360 initiative. He works across disciplinary borders to support and strengthen current experiential learning opportunities at Lehigh University, as well as those yet to be created. He also holds a master's degree in drama from Washington University in St. Louis and B.A. degrees in English and theatre arts from Nebraska Wesleyan University. His past research and scholarship has included questions of reception and production in contemporary experimental theatre of the U.S. and the phenomenon of fringe theatre festivals as cultural tourist artifacts.

Michelle Spada 
Michelle Spada is the program manager for Lehigh 360 with the Office of Creative Inquiry. She joined the Creative Inquiry Team in 2023 and was previously the assistant director of the Iacocca International Internship Program at Lehigh. Her background is in experiential learning and international and community development. She holds a B.S. from Vanderbilt University in human and organizational development, with a concentration in international leadership and development. She is also currently working on her MBA at Lehigh. 

Prior to Lehigh, Spada served as the program director for Princeton in Africa, a year-long fellowship program for young professionals that offers work opportunities across the African continent. She is a Princeton in Africa alumnae herself having completed a fellowship with the International Rescue Committee in Liberia in 2012. She continued working in Liberia after her fellowship in the fields of girls’ education and public health and also started a small community football business. After returning to the U.S., she worked with Habitat for Humanity, increasing access to affordable housing and leading neighborhood revitalization initiatives. Spada believes in the power of experiential learning and is passionate about helping students connect their skill sets and passions to real world challenges and opportunities. She is excited to be a part of the creative inquiry team and continue to expand the Lehigh 360 initiative across campus. 

The NeuroSalon project is using existing neuroscience to create new neuroscience, making artistic and musical creations that can "speak" the language of scientific knowledge in a way that bridges both of these usually separate worlds.

Julie Miwa, neuroscientist and associate professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Lehigh University, initiated "NeuroSalon" in 2021 as a Mountaintop Summer Experience project, supported by the Office of Creative Inquiry. Since then, 20 students representing 13 different majors, all of whom are motivated by exploring the intersection between the sciences and the arts, have participated in the project, creating their own artworks which reflect neuroscientific principles and presenting live performances to showcase their work. 

Celebrating first-generation college student experience at Lehigh. In this presentation, we discuss current resources and avenues of support, how first generation alumni can be supported, and how all alumni can become more engaged with current students and campus efforts.

Alec Bodzin is a professor in the Teaching, Learning, and Technology program and is a core faculty member of the Lehigh Environmental Initiative. His research interests involve the design of immersive virtual reality learning environments, engagement and learning, learning with spatial thinking tools including GIS, learning design, design and implementation of inquiry-based science and environmental curriculum, learning technologies, game-based learning, and environmental literacy and education for sustainable development.

In the past year, applications rose over 21%, and this is the first year in Lehigh's history where more women applied than men!  

In this Mountain Talk, Sarah Bombard ’06 ’08G, senior associate director of admissions, will talk about trends in the admissions process at Lehigh, the holistic selection process used by the admissions staff, and possible impacts of the Supreme Court's rulings on affirmative action. 

Sarah Bombard graduated from Lehigh’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2006 and the College of Education in 2008. She has worked in the Office of Admissions for 15 years and is currently a senior associate director, leading the office’s marketing and communications team in addition to reviewing applications for admission, scholarships, and integrated programs. Sarah lives with her husband and two children in Bethlehem Township.

The college has grown substantially over the last 4 years and most recently under the guidance of Dean Elizabeth Dolan. 

In this Mountain Talk, Dolan will provide a progress update on the growth of the college over the last 4 years and the direction faculty and staff are working towards. She will cover a number of topics, including the college’s mission, strategic plan, faculty and research, students and programs (undergraduate and graduate), staff hiring, student experiential learning, corporate and community partners, and more.

Dolan has served as the interim dean of the College of Health since December 2020. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in literature at the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill, where she was also the senior fellow in literature and medicine in the College of Medicine for three years. A specialist in health humanities, Dolan studies the expression of suffering in literature and in life from the eighteenth century to today. Her previous administrative roles have included serving as the founding director of the Health, Medicine, and Society Program at Lehigh, the chair of the board of directors of the PA Medical Humanities Association, and the first deputy provost for graduate education at Lehigh. She won Lehigh's Junior Faculty Teaching Award, the Frank Hook Assistant Professorship for Excellence in Mentoring and Teaching, and the Hillman Faculty Award for Excellence in Administrative Work.

One million people visit the Normandy American Cemetery each year. Another 1.5 million visit Pearl Harbor, and nearly 4 million visit Arlington National Cemetery. Never Home: Remembering the Military Heroes Who Never Returned by Richard Sherman ’89 is a book composed principally of photographs accompanied by brief descriptions of dozens of individuals who died in war and are interred in America’s overseas military cemeteries. It is designed for individuals and corporations who want to preserve the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending our nation.  

The book is structured in three sections to take the reader on a virtual journey to America’s overseas military cemeteries. The structure is intended to stimulate the same emotions a person experiences on a visit to any one of these 26 memorial cemeteries. An introductory essay explains the subject and identifies the important work of the American Battle Monuments Commission, the agency charged with maintaining and protecting the hallowed sites outside the U.S. where our nation’s fallen are buried. The first section includes beautiful photographs of the grounds as well as the honor guards who patrol them and visiting veterans and civilians. These images convey feelings of awe, respect, and pride one feels upon arrival at one of our military cemeteries. The second section includes portraits of the headstones and some of the individuals interred there: Sherman researched military records, made contact with families of the fallen (with permission to use photographs of their loved ones), and wrote brief biographical details of their service. This is intended to engender feelings of gratitude and intimacy just as one would experience when standing before a headstone. In the final section, the photographs turn darker to evoke the sadness a person feels toward the end of a visit to these honored grounds.

Sherman has been a full-time professional photographer for the last 12 years. He uses natural light and space to reveal the peace and tranquility of our world. His subjects range from sailing images to florals, from classic landscapes to water abstracts. He sells his artwork primarily to the healthcare, hospitality, and corporate markets. As a former Navy officer, he is proud to count more than 30 VA medical facilities as clients.

In 2017, he embarked on a multi-year project to photograph the American overseas military cemeteries and to share the stories and emotions of the 207,000 Americans who perished during the World Wars and have still never made it home. The forthcoming book is aptly titled, Never Home: Remembering the Military Heroes Who Never Returned. 

Over the last six years, he has visited the nine World War I cemeteries and all 15 World War II cemeteries spanning eight countries and three continents. In 2019, he visited Normandy American Cemetery for the second time and photographed the events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

“A visit to any of our overseas military cemeteries is wrought with emotion. It is an indescribable experience. I think the language of photography is the best way to convey those feelings,” Sherman said. “A few years ago, I began to think about how I could thank these men and women for all they did to protect the freedoms that we enjoy each day. And so this project was born. It has added purpose and meaning to my life, and I hope this book will help us to always remember these heroes,” he concluded.

Sherman is a Gulf War veteran and previously worked as a Wall Street analyst. He holds a B.A. from Lehigh University and an MBA from Georgetown University where he was a Master’s Scholar. He has certificates in professional photography and videography from the New York Institute of Photography. To learn more, you can visit Sherman's photography website, or you can visit the Never Home Heroes webpage.

In his role, he provides ESPN’s television, radio, digital, and social media platforms with statistics, context, and historical perspectives to drive the company’s differentiating content. He uses expert-level knowledge to identify and pitch storylines to show producers, builds graphics to best illustrate the intended context, and writes scripts for anchors to read on air.

In this talk, Gordon will discuss his various assignments across his six years with the company and share what it’s like to work behind the scenes in a fast-paced environment. He’ll also touch on the tactics, tips, and challenges of working in an ever-changing television and sports industry. During his time there, he has worked on several talk shows, including Golic and Wingo, Get Up!, SportsCenter, and the Emmy-award-winning Scott Van Pelt Show.

Professor Beibei Dong is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Lehigh University. Her research lies in services marketing and digital marketing with a particular focus on consumer engagement and co-creation. Recently she studies emergent topics related to consumer engagement in digital marketing including AI, digital advertising, and sharing economy. Her research appears in leading marketing and management journals. 

Professor Eric Fang is a professor of marketing and Iacocca chair of marketing. He is also the founding director of the Center of Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics. His research focuses on digital marketing strategy in a data-rich environment and international business. He has more than 30 articles in leading marketing and management journals. His research includes online community user-generated content, online advertising, digital customization, and online platform strategy. 

Which coupons are you more likely to redeem? Coupons shared by your friends or coupons distributed directly from businesses? In this talk, Professors Beibei Dong and Eric Fang will discuss their recent publication in the Journal of Marketing, a top journal in the marketing field. Their work investigates shared coupons, a new coupon type that combines economic savings and social sharing. Their research indicates that sharing coupons with friends can create a conflict between economic incentives and social relationships, while experience co-creation can mitigate this conflict and make customers more likely to share and redeem coupons.

His research explores the inferences that consumers draw about both themselves and companies based on the information they have available in the marketplace and how these inferences impact their consumption behaviors. 

In this talk, Zane will discuss consumer response to special day-themed sales promotions (e.g., a sale on Pi Day, March 14) and the unique psychology behind these types of promotions compared to more traditional promotions seen in the marketplace. He will highlight how marketers can use special day-themed promotions to their advantage and discuss how consumers might unknowingly reward marketers for their creativity in offering them.

When Steve Nazarian performed in his first play at Lehigh, the director made a point of explaining to the cast how a Friday night audience is different from a Saturday night audience, and different still from a Sunday afternoon audience. Ever since, he have been both fascinated in, and focused on what it takes to properly connect with an audience.

An audience is not just a collection of theatergoers perched in velvet seats; no an audience is anyone to whom you’re trying to get through… from everyone watching the Super Bowl, to a Fortune 100 boardroom, to your stubborn 3-year-old. The key to effective communication is finding the sweet spot where your message and their understanding intersect. It isn’t easy.

In this Mountain Talk, Nazarian will share secrets, tactics, tricks and tips for better audience connection and engagement, taken from his 30+ years of experience as a marketer, salesperson, inventor, entrepreneur, author, husband and father. No matter what kind of audience with which you're trying to connect, this presentation with have something you can take away and use immediately.

Steve is the Founder and Chef Storyteller at The Best Why, a communications consultancy focusing on helping companies and organizations tell better stories.

Scott Willoughby '89 is the vice president and program manager at Northrop Grumman for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space telescope ever sent into space. In his role, he oversees all aspects of the flagship program, including the design, build, and total system integration. Willoughby has over 30 years of experience in aerospace and received a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in electrical engineering from Lehigh University.

In this Mountain Talk, Willoughby will discuss the complex engineering and technological advances that power the world’s first space deployable telescope and the incredible engineering team enabling a new era in space.

Webb is poised to answer age-old questions such as: “How did the universe begin?" or "When were the first stars and galaxies created?" or "Are we alone?” and "How do we fit in the cosmos?”

Time after time, Black people are often portrayed as the minorities in the film and media industry. What would be the best medium to solve this problem? With aspirations to diversify the media industry, Nadia Sasso ’14G and her partner have worked towards a solution. In this talk, Sasso will discuss the development of Blaytorbox — an app dedicated to helping brands discover and hire vetted Black creators.

Sasso, who earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University, is a high-powered, creative cultural producer and unconventional scholar based in Los Angeles. Sasso's expertise is developing engaging creative content and driving strategy across various platforms and media. She has 10 years of relevant professional experience, with documented success in the areas of social innovation, strategic partnerships, and new media.

In this talk, Dominic DiFranzo shared Social Media TestDrive, a platform he helped design and build, which offers a number of modules about key digital citizenship topics for middle school students.

DiFranzo is an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Lehigh University. His research in human-computer interaction translates established social science theories into design interventions that encourage social media users to stand up to cyberbullies, fact check fake news stories, and engage in other prosocial actions.