Petersheim Academic Exposition's 'Great Minds' Winners  

Inspired by Seton Hall's "What Great Minds Can Do" branding campaign and in partnership with the Petersheim Academic Exposition, the Office of Public Relations and Marketing has selected the winners of this year's Great Minds competition.

During the annual academic exposition, members of the campus community were invited to nominate a student, staff or faculty member as a "Great Mind" in recognition of their contributions to the University. The winners will be featured as a "Great Mind of the Week" on the University's website and will receive a "Great Minds" prize package that includes a $50 gift card.

"We want to make the world aware of all the great minds we have at Seton Hall who are making a positive impact on the world through their research, scholarship and service," explains Dan Kalmanson, associate vice president of Public Relations and Marketing, who developed the "What Great Minds Can Do" branding campaign for the University. "That is why we wanted to partner with the Petersheim Academic Exposition to showcase some of our greatest students, faculty and staff."

The 24th Annual Petersheim Academic Exposition featured hundreds of creative presentations by both undergraduate and graduate students. Due to the coronavirus, the academic exposition was transformed into a weeklong digital gathering from April 20 through 24 for the first time in its history.
The winners of this year's Great Minds competition are:

Student Award Winner: Joshua Steier

Student Award Winner: Joshua Steier 
A graduate student pursuing Physics, Steier presented original research at this year's Petersheim Academic Exposition that has never been conducted by the Physics Department before. Prior, as an undergraduate student, he pursued Mathematics with minors in Computer Science and Physics. The research focused on identifying novel Dirac Semimetals, which could provide applications for quantum computing. This research is the only condensed matter physics research that was presented at the exposition. Steier and a faculty mentor recently submitted a paper for review to the Physica B journal. Additionally, Steier was selected to give his presentation at another university.

Staff Award Winner: Susan Malcolm

Staff Award Winner: Susan Malcolm
Susan Malcolm, a secretary in School of Diplomacy and International Relations, tirelessly has been working remotely to manage faculty affairs during the outbreak of the coronavirus. In addition, she has taken it upon herself to be a student mentor during this challenging period. Every workday, she reaches out to Diplomacy students (five undergrads in the morning and five graduate students in the afternoon) to provide valuable assistance. According to Diplomacy Professor Martin Edwards, who nominated Malcolm, "she is the public face of the school, and for her to be doing this personal outreach right now is incredibly extraordinary and well worthy of support as a Great Mind."

Faculty Award Winner: Margaret Huryk, D.N.P., A.P.N.-C.

Faculty Award Winner: Margaret Huryk, D.N.P., A.P.N.-C.
An assistant professor in the College of Nursing, Margaret "Peg" Huryk is a hardworking and compassionate faculty member dedicated to supporting her students. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, she has continued to make herself available to her students — while at the same time caring for the sick on the front lines. Graduate student Kristin Donadio, who nominated Huryk, noted, "I have learned so much in her graduate pharmacology course in the adult-gerontology nurse practitioner program at SHU this spring. She is an inspiration to RN's and NP's everywhere." Huryk is a past board member of the New Jersey State Nurses Association and a member of the American Nurses Association. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurse Association (GAPNA). She was the 2017 recipient of the Sara M. Erickson Medal for outstanding leadership in professional nursing education.

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