The Academic Minute

On Flagler College Week: Do you like to watch others eat?

Minji Kim, assistant professor of communication, explores the psychology behind an online trend.

MinJi Kim, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Flagler College, where her teaching in courses such as Media Literacy, Social Media Management, and Health Communication is deeply informed by her research on how media shapes health decisions and societal well-being. Beyond the classroom, MJ serves as Social Media Director for the Department of Communication and leads the User Research Lab, mentoring students in consumer psychology, user experience, and digital marketing analytics. She is also an active member of the editorial board of the Korean Journal of Communication and professional associations including the Korean American Communication Association, American Marketing Association, and Public Relations Society of America, where she advances cross-cultural dialogue and inclusive scholarly exchange.

Mukbang (this Korean term meaning “eating broadcast”) has exploded from a small trend in South Korea into a worldwide phenomenon. Whether it’s a single piece of fruit or a feast of noodles and desserts, millions of viewers tune in to watch.For some, it feels like eating together. For others, it’s pure entertainment. But what does watching someone else eat actually do to us?In my research, we explored how both the type of food and the portion size in these videos shape viewers’ responses. The patterns were striking. When people watched mukbang videos featuring healthy, low-calorie foods like fruit, they reported more positive feelings and higher emotional engagement. But when the food was relatively unhealthy and high-calorie, like macaron ice cream, the reactions were less upbeat. Portion size mattered, too. Seeing bigger servings nudged viewers to snack more themselves, even when they were not hungry.And here’s the twist: small servings of indulgent foods were fun to watch, but watching someone finish large portions often made viewers uncomfortable. Overindulgence on screen can be unsettling, even when it’s just to entertain.Mukbang, then, is more than just a quirky online trend. It shows how media can quietly shape our emotions, spark cravings, and influence what we choose to eat—reminding us that what we watch can end up on our plates.

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On Flagler College Week: Educators often have to do more with less, so how can we still make it work?

Ashley Ryder, assistant professor of sport management, examines one way.

Dr. Ashley Ryder is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Flagler College. Her teaching and research interests focus on sport ethics, sociology, and pedagogy, with a particular emphasis on reflective and experiential learning practices in higher education. She is passionate about bridging the gap between theory and application, supporting faculty development, and fostering authentic classroom engagement.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or SoTL, is the systematic study of teaching and learning processes aimed at improving student outcomes. It encourages educators to move beyond intuition and tradition by using evidence-based practices to enhance learning.

Especially at a teaching-focused institution – where faculty often have to do more with less – SoTL bridges the gap between teaching and scholarship by transforming classroom experiences into opportunities for research, growth, and innovation. At its core, SoTL invites all faculty members to be intentional and reflective educators.

In sport management, SoTL plays a particularly vital role. Our field is rooted in experiential and project-based learning, from facility management simulations to ethics debates and marketing campaigns. Because the sport industry is constantly evolving, SoTL provides a structured, research-informed way to assess and improve these teaching methods, ensuring students are prepared for the real-world challenges of the profession.

One current SoTL project takes place in a sport ethics class. This project involves collecting focus group data and reflective essays to evaluate the semester-long project of a public forum debate. This structured yet approachable format requires students to argue both sides of current ethical issues in sport, helping them explore multiple perspectives, think critically, and communicate effectively and respectfully; skills that are crucial in both sport and professional settings.

Preliminary findings demonstrate that debate-based learning strengthens collaboration as well as listening, public speaking and research skills.

By reflecting on teaching methods and listening to student feedback, I’ve chosen to introduce in-class debate training sessions to help students feel more confident and better prepared. This process of continual reflection and improvement is at the heart of SoTL. Through the study of our own teaching, we not only improve student learning but also cultivate our own development as teachers.

Read More:[World Scientific] – Innovative Pedagogical Practices in Sport Management Education[High Tops Media] – Teaching Innovations in Sport Management

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On Flagler College Week: What if you make a mistake when giving an alibi?

Joshua D. Behl, associate professor of criminology, examines this scenario.

Dr. Joshua Behl received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in August of 2016 where he also received his BA and MA. Dr. Behl’s research interests are found at the intersection of psychology and the law. Using criminological, psychological, and sociological theories, he has researched the topics of witness behavior, alibis, and jury decision-making. Dr. Behl applies this research to real world cases in his work as a trial consultant. Most importantly, he is the proud husband of his wife, Taylor, and father to his daughter, Luna.

Consider this: the police come to your door and ask where you were on a Monday evening approximately six months ago. Without much thought, you reply, “I was at home with my family eating dinner.” You have just offered the police an alibi.

These statements are seemingly innocuous. Those who are innocent should have an alibi – or a claim that they were elsewhere at the time of the crime. However, that claim is a lot easier to generate than it is to support. And even when you can support it, convincing a court to believe it can be even more difficult.

In our research, we explore the complex task of accurately remembering what you were doing and with whom on a day and time that may have been inconsequential. And what happens when you may make a mistake in that memory retrieval.

What if you misremembered the day of the week and suggested you were at home with your family, but in reality, you were at a friend’s birthday party? Would the police view this as a simple mistake or an attempt at deceit? How will jurors view this lapse in memory?

Claiming to be elsewhere during the time of the crime is not a new phenomenon; however, the field of alibi research is still somewhat young. While researchers have established an understanding of some basic concepts related to alibi use, there are many other factors we do not yet understand. We hope our research will inspire a new generation of researchers to focus on alibis and corroborating evidence, pushing the field to build on this foundation and expand the reach and understanding of the topic.

However, one thing is clear: what you remember, what you can prove, and what will be believed rarely align as neatly as one would imagine.

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On Flagler College Week: We’re still learning how climate changes will impact aquatic habitats.

Matthew Brown, professor of natural sciences, looks into one such quandary.

Preceded by an undergraduate degree in Chemistry (B.Sc.,Old Dominion University), Dr. Matthew Brown completed an M.Sc.(Oceanography) at the University of Hawaii and a Ph.D. (Ocean Sciences–Marine Chemistry) at the University of California Santa Cruz . Prior to beginning his doctoral work, Dr. Brown worked for 2 years as an oceanographic research specialist at the University of Hawaii where he took part in several major oceanographic cruises related to the US CLIVAR program. To date, Dr. Brown has spent over 300 days at sea, performing shipboard analysis of both macronutrients and dissolved trace metals. As of Fall 2025, Dr. Brown is in his 15th year at Flagler College and teaches courses in oceanography, general chemistry, science methods, and global climate change. He worked for 2 years with researchers at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve on a water quality project in relation to the restoration of the Summerhaven River south of Matanzas Inlet. With the help of undergraduate students, he finds purpose and enjoyment in continuing research in the fields of water quality and marine chemistry, recently in the areas of marine primary productivity and ocean acidification/carbonate chemistry in the Matanzas River estuary. When not teaching or doing research, Dr. Brown enjoys spending time with his wife Rachel and daughters Liliana (8) and Vivian (5), surfing, swimming, meditation, and yoga.

How might changes in water chemistry impact oyster and other shellfish in a Florida estuary system? Northeast Florida’s Matanzas River estuary is home to one of the densest populations of the Eastern oyster on the East Coast. These oysters are a valuable fishery and provide significant ecosystem services such as filtering pollutants out of the water.

The impact that carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning has on open ocean marine ecosystems is well understood. About 25 percent of emitted carbon dioxide gas accumulates in the ocean, leading to an increase in the acidity of the water, or ocean acidification. This increase in acidity makes it harder for organisms with a calcium carbonate shell to form their shell. The impacts of acidification in coastal estuaries are less understood as estuaries are so dynamic, with tidal mixing, freshwater input, and coastal runoff.

My current research, with the help of undergraduate research assistants, monitors two sites in the Matanzas River estuary for changes in pH and alkalinity. Since May 2024, we have measured pH, temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen every two weeks. We also collect water samples to measure alkalinity, a measure of the buffering capacity of the estuary, in addition to phytoplankton biomass. Using these variables, we can determine how favorable or not the water is for shell formation.

Our most significant research finding thus far shows that the estuary water becomes much more acidic after major rain events, which are common in Florida particularly during hurricane season. The estuary can actually become corrosive to a shell, meaning that it would be tough for an oyster to actually form its shell. Next, we hope to determine how long these acidic events persist in our estuary, and to what extent these acidification events are related to either the input of fresher water or the decomposition of organic matter in our estuary.

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On Flagler College Week: How do we show up for children with histories of trauma and neglect?

Justin Forbes, assistant professor of Religion and Director of the Center for Religion and Culture, takes a communal look.

After graduating from Flagler College in 2002, Justin spent ten years in youth ministry. During that time, he was responsible for building and leading teams that worked with middle school, high school, and college-aged students from a broad spectrum of racial, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds.

In 2012, Justin attended Princeton Theological Seminary. At Princeton, Justin discovered his love for teaching and developing future leaders in youth ministry. Justin continued his education, completing his PhD in Divinity at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

He joined Flagler College in 2015 and serves as assistant professor of Religion, the Director of the Center for Religion and Culture, and the faculty advisor for the Youth Ministry program. His research interests include the intersection of trauma and theology, disability studies, and adolescent culture. Justin is married to Bethany Forbes and they have six children together.

Every year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of children experience foster care due to neglect, abuse, or other forms of relational harm. Research also shows that healing happens through safe, consistent connection — through people who show up and stay.

Our work explores how communities of faith can better welcome, love, and serve children who have experienced trauma. We draw on Trust-Based Relational Intervention, a research-based model of care, developed at Texas Christian University that equips caregivers to build trust, help children regulate their emotions, and ultimately recover a sense of belonging. We hope to unearth new possibilities for the most vulnerable children in our communities.

This work is deeply rooted in the academic life of our college. We place these insights at the intersection of child psychology, practical theology, and pastoral counseling, inviting students to explore how trauma affects development — and how communities of care can support healing. In courses across various disciplines, students examine both the data and the human stories behind it, learning what it means to translate research into practice.

We believe local communities of faith can play a vital role in healing. Not by offering easy answers, and not by assuming we can “fix” kids — but by becoming relationally safe spaces. In our work, we train ministry leaders to recognize the impact that trauma has, to respond with compassion rather than punishment, and to create rhythms of hospitality that honor the dignity of every child.

When communities learn to embody this kind of presence, they tell a counter-story: that every child is more than their past, that they are wanted, and that love can outlast fear. Trauma may shape someone’s story — but it doesn’t have to define it.

Through our work, we are forming scholars and practitioners who believe this: healing is possible and it happens in relationship.

Read More:[Flagler] – Fostering Congregations Initiative

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How we teach STEM courses could be undergoing a revolution.

Rosie Dutt, instructional consultant and former adjunct lecturer at the Engineering Communication Center at the Washington University in St. Louis, gets hands-on with learning.

Dr. Rosie Dutt teaches interdisciplinary computational neuroscience and engineering communication courses that integrate data science and design thinking. In this talk, she discusses her work on how 3D printing can enhance engagement, accessibility, and spatial reasoning in STEM education. She also draws on her background in communications and entrepreneurship to support student success and career development.

Traditional lecture-based methods often leave students detached from the hands-on experiences that define scientific discovery. When teaching engineering communication courses, I decided to explore how 3D printing can transform STEM education by providing students with opportunities to design, manipulate, and test physical models, bridging the gap between abstract theory and tangible understanding.

Incorporating 3D printing into undergraduate courses allows students to create custom models of molecular structures, brain regions, or cellular components. This tactile engagement strengthens spatial reasoning—an essential yet often overlooked skill in engineering-adjacent fields such as engineering communications, as well as in general science courses like biology and neuroscience. Students who physically construct and analyze 3D models demonstrate improved conceptual understanding and problem-solving ability compared to those who only view two-dimensional images.

Low-cost and open-source 3D printing tools make this approach highly accessible. Using freely available design software and inexpensive materials, students can bring complex scientific ideas to life while developing confidence in their technical skills. Moreover, this technology enhances inclusion: learners with visual or spatial processing differences benefit from interacting with models that can be touched, rotated, and explored.

Survey results from my work show that more than 75 percent of students found 3D printing made learning more engaging and accessible. They reported greater collaboration and critical thinking during projects, as well as a stronger connection between coursework and real-world applications.

By integrating 3D printing into STEM education, we can reimagine classrooms as spaces of creativity and discovery, where abstract concepts take shape in students’ hands, and learning becomes both inclusive and deeply experiential.

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There may be an easy solution to reducing incarceration for missed court dates.

Alex Chohlas-Wood, assistant professor of computational social science at New York University, looks to his phone for answers.

Faculty Bio:

Alex Chohlas-Wood is an Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science. His research investigates how computational approaches can improve public policy. In recent work, he designed an algorithm that uses generative AI to help prosecutors make race-blind charging decisions, tested whether automated text message reminders reduce incarceration for public defender clients, and developed a utility-maximizing framework to guide equitable algorithmic decision making. He is particularly interested in prototyping and evaluating scientific and technical innovations in applied collaborations with government agencies.

Transcript:

Have you ever forgotten an important date—like a birthday for a loved one? Imagine if forgetting meant ending up in jail.

Courts across America require people to appear in person as their cases proceed. If people fail to appear, judges can issue a warrant for their arrest. The next time these people encounter a police officer, they can be arrested and held in jail to ensure they don’t miss their next court date.

These arrests come at a high cost. Imagine trying to keep a job—or trying to arrange childcare—while you’re held in custody. It’s also harder to argue for your innocence while you’re in jail.

My co-authors and I wanted to know if simple text message reminders about an upcoming court date could reduce incarceration for missed court dates. We worked with the public defender’s office in San Jose, California to conduct a randomized study with over 5,700 low-income clients. We found that simple text message reminders reduced incarceration for missed court dates by over 20%.

A broad swath of clients appeared to benefit from these reminders—even people facing low-level charges. Think of a minor misdemeanor: you make a bad mistake one night, then forget a court date, and suddenly you’re in jail for a few days. A quick brush with the law just became much more serious.

Reminders help everyone by saving precious public resources instead of paying for wasteful jail stays. The reminders themselves cost about 60¢ per case—less than the costs of paying for someone’s arrest and incarceration.

Interventions like these are one way to make the justice system a little more humane. Stacking them with other common-sense reforms could substantially improve our justice system.

Read More:[Science Advances] – Automated reminders reduce incarceration for missed court dates: Evidence from a text message experiment[The Mercury News] – Study: Text reminders to South Bay public defender clients reduced jail time from court no-shows

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Suffering a traumatic brain injury may come with an additional risk besides concussion.

Ross Zafonte, Executive Vice Dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, explores this.

Faculty Bio:

The University of Missouri, School of Medicine selected Dr. Ross Zafonte, DO, to serve as the Executive Vice Dean, effective October 1, 2024. In his role, Dr. Zafonte oversees the development and assessment of the medical school’s 23 academic departments.

Dr. Zafonte is a nationally and internationally recognized physician-scientist, whose work in the field of rehabilitation medicine focuses on traumatic brain and spinal cord injury recovery. Dr. Zafonte came to MU from Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham, where he served as the president of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network and as the Earl P. and Ida S. Charlton Professor and chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Previously, Dr. Zafonte has also served as chief medical officer and designated institutional officer of Spaulding.

Under Dr. Zafonte’s leadership, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital consistently achieved top rankings in U.S. News & World Report and research funding tripled under his guidance. This enabled Spaulding to become the only center national to host three National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research-model research centers, focusing on pioneering studies in neurorehabilitation.

Dr. Zafonte has played a pivotal role in the establishment and leadership Mass General Brigham/Red Sox Foundation Home Base Program, dedicated to serving veterans with traumatic brain injuries and psychological health conditions. He has also been at the forefront of research to improve the health and well-being of athletes through his role as principal investigator of the Football Players Health Study at Harvard.

Dr. Zafonte earned his DO from Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his residency in Rehabilitation Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Zafonte also completed his postdoctoral training and faculty role at MU in 1991.

Transcript:

A blow to the head can change a life in an instant.

And, as our new research shows, it may also change the brain’s future.

Much of my career has focused on brain injuries and recovery.

Recently, my research team took a closer look at the connection between traumatic brain injury—often called TBI—and brain cancer.

Earlier studies showed that veterans who sustained TBIs during their service faced a higher risk of developing brain tumors.

But those findings raised an important question: was that risk related only to the unique experiences of military service, such as combat stress or exposure to toxins, or would we see the same outcomes in the civilian population?

To answer that, we studied more than 150,000 civilian adults across three large health systems.

This is the most comprehensive study of its kind to date.

What we found is significant.

While patients who experienced a mild TBI, such as a concussion, did not face a higher risk, those who suffered a moderate to severe TBI were about 50 percent more likely to develop a malignant brain tumor later in life.

We don’t yet fully understand why this happens. It may be due to changes in the way brain cells handle energy or because of increased inflammation in the brain and nervous system after an injury or even perhaps related to additional radiation exposure.

But what we do know is that this research highlights an opportunity.

Patients with a history of moderate to severe TBI could benefit from more careful screening. Detecting tumors earlier makes treatment far more effective and improves patient outcomes.

This study is an important step toward protecting the health of people who have endured serious brain injuries, and it opens the door to further research that could save lives.

Read More:[JAMA Network] – Traumatic Brain Injury and Risk of Malignant Brain Tumors in Civilian Populations

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What is a spillover crisis and how can AI contribute to it?

Dan Laufer, professor and head of the School of Communication Studies at the Auckland University of Technology, explains.

Faculty Bio:

Dr Daniel Laufer, PhD, MBA (The University of Texas at Austin, USA), is a Professor and Head of the School of Communication Studies at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand. His primary area of expertise is Crisis Management, and his research focuses on crisis communications, and gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders react to crises. In addition to publishing articles in leading academic journals, he currently serves as Contributing Editor for Crisis Management at the managerial journal Business Horizons, and he also is a member on the editorial board of Public Relations Review. The article “Managing spillover crises in the age of generative AI” was published in the journal “Business Horizons” in 2025, together with Professor Yijing Wang from Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

Transcript:

In 2023, Levi Strauss’ announcement about the use of AI-generated virtual models led to widespread concerns about the displacement of human labor in the fashion industry, adversely impacting its competitors. Essentially, the reputational damage spread beyond Levi Strauss, to other companies in the industry, highlighting the risk of crisis spillover in the age of AI.

This research identified five types of AI spillover crises by applying the accessibility/diagnosticity framework: authenticity/integrity crises, labor displacement crises, technical failure crises, data security and privacy crises, and discrimination crises

Accessibility relates to belonging to a shared category such as industry, and diagnosticity refers to whether a crisis can be linked to the category. For example, in the case of Levi Strauss other competitors in the fashion industry relates to accessibility, and the perceived connection between AI and layoffs relates to diagnosticity. If both accessibility and diagnosticity exist, there is a high risk of a spillover crisis.

It is worth noting that unlike solutions involving people which are viewed as heterogeneous, researchers have found that AI solutions are viewed as homogeneous, which makes AI-related crises more prone to spillover to other AI-integrated organizations.

An effective strategy to manage a spillover crisis is to differentiate the company from the organization experiencing the AI-related crisis. By communicating how one’s system, governance structures, or human oversight differs, companies can reduce their perceived similarity to the organization involved in the crisis and protect their reputation.

Read More:[Science Direct] – Managing spillover crises in the age of generative AI

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Heatwaves are an issue now and moving forward.

Yann Quicalle, postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, looks at the reasons behind them.

Faculty Bio:

Dr Yann Quilcaille is a climate scientist, who works to bridge the gap between climate and economic modelling. Thanks to a dual background in climate science and economics of sustainable development, he gained a deep knowledge of this interface. Dr Yann Quilcaille has conducted his PhD in France, worked as a research scholar in Austria and pursued as a postdoctoral researcher in Switzerland. His research is focused on climate extremes (e.g. heatwaves, wildfires and droughts) and climate emulators. Recently, Dr Yann Quilcaille extended his work to climate attribution.

Transcript:

Thanks to more and more detailed observations and a better understanding of the Earth system, scientists have already established that our climate is changing at an alarming rate, mostly due to the combustion of fossil fuels, and that it causes extreme weather events to become more frequent and more intense. Among other methods, attribution studies analyze whether and how much climate change influenced a specific extreme weather event, for instance the Pacific Northwest heatwave in 2021. Recently, my coauthors and I have filled in two scientific gaps in climate attribution.Instead of analyzing a single event, we have applied a well established attribution framework to each one of the 213 heatwaves reported in a disaster database, meaning that each had significant societal impacts. This enhanced coverage shows that every analyzed heatwave have become more intense and more likely due to climate change. The heatwaves over 2000-2009 have become 20 times more likely compared to pre-industrial levels, but over 2010-2019, this influence rises to 200 times. Besides, about one quarter of the heatwaves were made so much more likely that they would have been virtually impossible without climate change.Then, we extended the attribution to the sources. Knowing the emissions from 180 fossil fuels and cement companies, we disentangled their contributions to global warming and each heatwave. While some entities are bigger than others, we prove that each substantially contributes to heatwaves. Even the sole emissions of relatively minor players can enable the occurrence of virtually impossible events.While we aimed at filling in scientific gaps, we were aware of the implications. Such scientific evidence informs about legal responsibilities, but there are other aspects. For instance, blaming the producers or the consumers may depend on the perception on the manipulation of markets through lobbying and misinformation.

Read More:[Nature] – Systematic attribution of heatwaves to the emissions of carbon majors

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