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Bucknell February Tip Sheet

LEWISBURG, Pa. — The following may be Bucknell University story ideas in February.

CRITICAL CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS — The first votes in the 2020 presidential election will be cast in the Iowa Caucuses Feb. 3 and the New Hampshire primary Feb. 11. In a presidential campaign that promises to be the most contentious in history, Bucknell has experts who can provide perspective. Both political science professors Scott Meinke and Chris Ellis can comment on the politics of the race. Religious studies professor Brantley Gasaway has written on “American Evangelicals in the Age of Trump” and continues to track the evangelical vote. Eric Santanen, a Freeman College of Management information systems professor, has studied the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal and the current state of data security in a forthcoming journal article “Weaponizing Personal Data to Undermine Democracy.” And economics professor and Bucknell Institute for Public Policy director Amy Wolaver has health insurance research background and just presented on the different healthcare plans of the Democratic presidential candidates. CONTACTS: Meinke, 570-577-3512, smeinke@bucknell.edu; Ellis, 570-577-1960, chris.ellis@bucknell.edu; Gasaway, 570-577-3180, brantley.gasaway@bucknell.edu; Santanen, 570-577-3652, esantane@bucknell.edu; Wolaver, 570-577-1699, awolaver@bucknell.edu

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW — Those visually impaired individuals who need more than just glasses but are not blind have spent their lives struggling to find products that work for them. Bucknell senior biomedical engineering major Rebecca Rosenberg is no different, having been born with oculocutaneous albinism, which causes involuntary eye movements and reduced sharpness. She is making strides for people like her through her revolutionary tech startup, ReBokeh. Rosenberg has progressed to the semifinal round of the Student Startup Madness competition and is vying to present her assistive technology app in the national finals at South By Southwest Interactive in March. Rosenberg previously won the 2019 Bucknell SBDC BizPitch competition, providing her funds to launch her own enterprise. Her winnings are helping further grow Rosenberg’s startup ReBokeh, which provides comprehensive assistive technology solutions for those with visual impairments. Rosenberg designed ReBokeh as an assistive technology system for smartphones, allowing the user to adjust live images with external lenses to correct for visual impairments. She has begun taking steps to patent the system. CONTACT: Rosenberg, 732-608-3917, rer020@bucknell.edu

SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE — More than 2,200 stores are already closing in 2020 as the “retail apocalypse” drags on. That’s on top of the more than 9,300 store closings in 2019, the new record according to Business Insider. Dwindling in-store foot traffic seems to be the fate of the brick and mortar stores, while the popularity of online shopping shows no sign of receding. Jimmy Chen, a Freeman College of Management analytics and operations management professor, points out that the multi-channel retailing strategy is “not a zero-sum game” — both consumers and producers can take advantage of the evolution of the ways transactions take place. At the heart of both demand and supply market activities are convenience and operational efficiency, which, according to Chen, are values that a transition to online retailing would not only stimulate new demand but also “[divert] the overwhelming in-store traffic that can be challenging for store managers,” alleviating the “crowded shopping environment.” Store closings are frequently accompanied by sometimes misleading corporate messaging to investors. Kate Suslava, an accounting professor, created a dictionary of corporate communication euphemisms by analyzing 78,000 earnings call transcripts for U.S. companies over a 14-year period. She can make sense of the corporate doubletalk. CONTACTS: Chen, 570-577-1678, jimmy.chen@bucknell.edu; Suslava, 570-577-3385, kate.suslava@bucknell.edu

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CONTACT: Mike Ferlazzo, 570-577-3212, 570-238-6266 (c), mike.ferlazzo@bucknell.edu

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