SyndicateMizzou

SyndicateMizzou “Turns” 100

(Darcy Holtgrave) — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The occasion of the 100th feature of SyndicateMizzou is marked with both celebration and sorrow. Celebration because this publication now proudly has shared the work of over 100 members of the MU community; sorrow because the creator of SyndicateMizzou, John Miles Foley, is not here today to celebrate. Dr. Foley, who founded both the The Center for eResearch and the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, passed away in May of 2012. We continue our work in the spirit of Dr. Foley’s vision. Professor John Zemke has stepped into the role of Director of the Center for eResearch, and with his guidance we continue our mission of featuring the research and creative activities on the campus of MU.

Out of the Freezer

(Kyle Burton) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

“What does it mean to see an object?” Gavin King’s question at first seems philosophical. During last year’s Biophysics and Your Body summer program, King’s collaborators posed a task for a group of middle school students: determine the contents of a shoebox without opening it. The students were given some materials and left to their creative wills.

How Big Mess Begets Great Art: Papermaking at Its Best

(Darcy Holtgrave) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT

When Jo Stealey leans over and plunges her arms elbow deep into a tub filled with cream-colored slurry—a combination of fiber pulp and water—it seems plausible that her husband has dubbed her “Queen of Big Messes.” At MU’s Fiber Studio, located in a repurposed industrial dormitory kitchen, she greets us in a knee-length rubber apron, informing us, “I usually wear rubber farm boots, too.” Holding a frame and screen (called a mold and deckle), she reaches into the tub and sieves a rectangle of wet cotton-like fiber, shaking gently to strain out the water. A sheet of paper is born.

When We Have What She’s Having: Cultural Influence and Collective Scholarship

(Darcy Holtgrave) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Michael J. O’Brien, Professor of Anthropology, Director of the Museum of Anthropology, and Dean of the College of Arts and Science, studies culture through the lens of evolutionary theory. His research interests range from the tangible Indian arrowhead to more abstract theories of social influence on consumer choices. The common denominator is that evolutionary theory can be applied not only to the biological sciences but the social as well. He explains, “If humans evolved—descended from other humans—the information that they carry has evolved as well. We’re interested in those paths of transmission of cultural information.” Dean O’Brien’s study of human interconnectedness also fosters it; he maintains that collaborative scholarship, or “wired brains,” produces scholarship more rigorous and expansive than does individual work.

The Parts of the Sum

(Kyle Burton) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Dr. Michael Glascock defines archaeometry as the combination of several scientific practices—“chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, statistics, etc.”—used to analyze manmade and natural artifacts. Dr. Glascock is a research professor with the Archeometry Lab at the MU Research Reactor, where he tracks trade routes and preferred materials of ancient peoples. He has lectured around the world and promotes the philosophy he applies to his work here: archaeometry is, by definition, a cooperative field, and Glascock believes in the collaborative process. He says, “It’s really the team of archaeologists plus physicists and chemists getting together—they can produce a really good product.” His hope is that this successful approach can lend itself to other labs.

Hip Hop Feminism

(Kelly Washatka) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The title “Hip Hop Generation Feminist” may seem hard to grasp for some, but Dr. Treva Lindsey wears this title proudly. Dr. Lindsey’s PhD is in History, but she came to her current department—Women and Gender Studies—and her cultural role as a “Hip Hop Generation Feminist” by applying a historical perspective to the images she saw every day in pop culture. She is intrigued by images that continue to be reproduced in generations of pop culture and how they evolve in response to social changes.

The Fifth Chair

(Darcy Holtgrave) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A person attending a string quartet expects to see four chairs—two for the violins, one each for the viola and cello. According to the Esterhazy Quartet, though, there is also a fifth chair. This chair, an invisible but felt presence, is called into being by the synergy of the sounds of four instruments and the efforts of four musicians whose skill, dedication, and connectedness make the music possible. The Esterhazy Quartet, the University of Missouri’s String Quartet-In-Residence brings this “composite voice” alive in their performing and teaching on the Mizzou campus and across the globe.

More Bang for the Buck: Teaching Teachers and Harnessing Literacy through Media

(Kelly Washatka) — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Helping students achieve fluency in the English language, whether verbal, visual, or multi-modal, is a complex undertaking, as Professor of English Education and former Department Chair Roy Fox knows very well. Dr. Fox is a long-time advocate of using visual media to foster language fluency. Media literacy has been an important subject in both his classrooms and his research. Recently, he has been employing even more unconventional methods of teaching and continuously expanding the field of English Education and literacy.

The Untidy History of Sisterhood

(Kelly Washatka) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, a novel about the tribulations of two loving but very unalike sisters, ends on the happy note that “…though sisters, and living almost within sight of each other, they could live without disagreement between themselves, or producing coolness between their husbands.” Austen humorously addresses the reality of sisterhood—that any kind of sisterly accord or unity is not a foregone conclusion. For Devoney Looser, Professor of English and scholar of 18th-century women’s literature, the concept of “sisterhood” (figuratively and literally) in authorship is a complex exchange with positive and negative aspects. In fact, the “messiness” of women’s literary history is crucial to many aspects of her scholarship and teaching.

The Eyes Have It

(Kelly Washatka) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Pink elephants. It’s a silly image, but it’s one that Professor of History Mark Smith uses effectively to illustrate concepts in the otherwise dense material he translates. Dr. Smith works within a unique field, the history of science. There is a prominent duality in this work, as he translates medieval science into modern terms but also puts the work he translates into historical context. For the majority of his academic career, his research has concerned one single, massive editing project of The Book of Optics, which involved establishing a coherent, critical Latin text from several manuscript copies and translating it to English. The Book of Optics was written in Arabic in the eleventh century and translated to Latin in the very early thirteenth century. This work concerns not only the physical science of optics but also the philosophy behind it, which includes the process that happens when you hear or see the words “pink elephants.” Automatically, you call up a picture in your mind of a pink elephant, and that process is a key part of Dr. Smith’s work.

Who Will Tell Native Stories, and Who Will Hear Them

(Kelly Washatka) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Native Americans have long struggled for accurate representation in media, particularly in film. Whether the uncredited performances of the “documentary” Nanook of the North or the familiar racism of traditional Westerns, Indigenous cultures have rarely been given much truthful, let alone positive, attention. However, Native people have been slowly cultivating their own voice in film, and that voice is what Dr. Joanna Hearne has spent her academic career studying.

Putting Physics First

(Kelly Washatka) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:00:00 GMT

The shelves of Dr. Dorina Kosztin’s office are full of colorful toys and apparatus, all demonstrating the power of science. As a physics professor, she is particularly fond of these toys because they show the practical, real-world dimensions of her field, well beyond the abstract equations and formulas typical of textbooks. Indeed, Dr. Kosztin has devoted her life to making physics a more accessible subject for students. Through her ongoing work, she has initiated major changes not only for programs in American institutions but in the very foundations of its classrooms.

Collaborating for Conservation

(Kelly Washatka) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:00:00 GMT

For Associate Professor of Biology Lori Eggert, collaboration is at the heart of everything she does. From local to international projects, and even within her lab, collaboration is invaluable. Dr. Eggert’s life and research are a testament to the amazing feats that can be accomplished with coordinated, hard work from many different, devoted sources.

Technology and Society Intertwined

(Kelly Washatka) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Dr. Amit Prasad, Professor of Sociology, began his interest in MRI research as an undergraduate, when, due to a bad headache, he got a CT scan. When he was given the results, he was fascinated by the technology’s ability to create images of the inner body. At the same time he was curious about what he couldn’t see in the images. From that point on development and application of computer-assisted technology such as MRI became Dr. Prasad’s focus in his academic career.

Alcohol and Racial Bias

(Brittany Barr) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Ask Bruce Bartholow about his current research projects, and the associate professor of psychology at MU will likely direct your attention to the large whiteboard mounted on his office wall. Crowded with names of collaborators and topics ranging from alcohol and race bias to video games and aggression, this board reveals the breadth of Bartholow’s research.

On His Proverbial Plate

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Sandy Rikoon has a lot on his proverbial plate. His work is hard to pigeonhole, except to say that, in general, it’s grounded in concern over both people and the environment. Since his academic discipline in rural sociology lives “at the intersection of basic and applied research,” it is the pursuit of “seamless connections” between his research, teaching, and outreach activities that drives Rikoon’s work.

A Literary League of his Own

(Noelle Buhidar) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

The life of Speer Morgan is a literary playground where fictitious dreams come true. The author of five novels and a collection of short stories, Morgan’s writings have earned him national awards and bylines in publications such as Harper’s and The Atlantic Monthly. Along with these accomplishments, he has been the editor of the renowned literary magazine The Missouri Review for over thirty years.

Comparing Candy and Cocaine

(Brittany Barr) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Few people see much in common between candy and cocaine, aside from their identical first letters. Not so for Matt Will, Assistant Professor of Psychology. Will’s current research equates our cravings for fatty, high calorie foods with serious drug abuse.

The Economics of Education

(Noelle Buhidar) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Nothing will get a labor economist’s mental gears turning like the word “shortage.” At the very utterance of this term, Michael Podgursky’s ears perk up, his eyebrow rises, and he leans over his desk: “What do you mean by shortages?” It’s not that Podgursky isn’t accustomed to hearing the word—quite the contrary, actually. As a professor of Economics at MU, his query results from extensive research on education, a field that has fallen victim on numerous occasions to accusations of “shortages.”

Satellite Cell Exploration

(Noelle Buhidar) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Dawn Cornelison is on a mission to counteract the effects of aging, the effects of muscular dystrophy, and other neuromuscular diseases. The assistant professor of Biological Sciences must first find answers to the crucial questions regarding the robust nature of muscle regeneration.

Theatre Is Where The Heart Is

(Noelle Buhidar) — Tue, 18 May 2010 05:00:00 GMT

It all began with a church play featuring shepherds in choir robes and beards made from plastic bags. A young boy sat enthralled in the audience during this first encounter with theatre and let the characters performing on stage fascinate him. That boy, Clyde Ruffin, would eventually grow up to become Professor and Chair of Theatre at MU and Founding Director of the World Theatre Workshop. Years later, Ruffin admits that theatre is still where his heart is.

Between OT and IT

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Ever since the third grade, when an assistant principal generously offered to teach him and two classmates French, John Miles Foley has been curious about how languages work. Starting with the early epiphany that language is always embedded in culture, Foley followed this line of thinking until it led to oral tradition, which the MU Professor of Classical Studies and English has now been researching for over three decades. It will surely be a lifelong journey, for the field far outstrips written literature in size, diversity, and social function. In fact, all the written literature we have, Foley is fond of saying, “is dwarfed by oral traditions.”

Researching Retrovirals

(Tanya Sneddon) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Marc Johnson began his research career studying a rabies-like virus in fish. “Working with fish viruses is really cool research,” he notes, but there are just not a lot of people doing it,” and that sense of isolation was eventually too much. In search of collaboration and community, Johnson switched from fish viruses to HIV. Since then, the assistant professor in MU’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology has dedicated his research efforts to the study of these related humans viruses. He and his collaborators have made great progress in understanding how the HIV virus works in order to develop new therapeutics to combat the disease.

Evangelical Africanist

(LuAnne Roth) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Being a religious studies professor means that Robert Baum is frequently asked about his own religion, to which he responds cheerfully, “I’m an Evangelical Africanist,” a remark that reveals his “deep commitment to make sure Africa is included whenever we talk about the world.” Running through all of Baum’s work—whether teaching, research, or outreach—is a value on religious literacy, the desire to promote a better understanding of the world’s major religions.

Race for a Cure

(Tanya Sneddon) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is the leading genetic cause of infantile death and the leading genetic killer of children under the age of two. As an associate professor in MU’s Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Christian Lorson has dedicated his life’s research to the study of this devastating disease in hopes of someday developing therapies to replace the diseased gene with a ‘healthy” one.

All Things Jazz

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

From blues and punk to rock and roll, Arthur White has at one point in his life played in nearly every kind of band, but now he believes he has finally found “the perfect gig.” As the director of MU’s Jazz Performance Studies program and Assistant Professor in the School of Music, White now handles all things jazz at MU.

Between the Pistil and the Pollen

(Noelle Buhidar) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Solving intellectual puzzles is a rewarding activity for Bruce McClure, MU Professor of Biochemistry, as he seeks to unravel the mystery of plant mating. If McClure and his team of researchers can crack the code and understand how breeding barriers work within plants, they will be one step closer to their goal of “making the world better through agriculture.”

Distant Perspective

(Jessica Huang) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Sometimes, in order to see the status quo, it takes a little distance. When MU’s Peace Corps Fellows return to the United States, they bring their global perspectives to the University of Missouri campus in order to open the minds of students, staff, and community members. Nathan Jensen, Jennifer Keller, Amy Bowes, and Andy Craver are among this year’s fellows. Their work in distant countries has changed them, helping them grow. Now they're sharing their experience and newfound attitudes with MU.

“Leaving your face”

(Jessica Huang) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Talking about sex is uncomfortable. Such a conversation about private matters can be tough whether the discussion is with preteens or doctors. It is even more difficult when conducted in two different languages. But Marjorie Sable, Professor and Director of the Department of Social Work, works to break down the communication barrier when it comes to family planning.

Picture Book Romance

(Jessica Huang) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Anne Rudloff Stanton loves romance. She loves the way it looks, the way it sounds, and the way it smells—but only when it’s found in the margins of 14th-century books. The professor of Art History and Archaeology describes one example—a small drawing of a man leaving a woman—and she leans forward as if she were talking about a mutual friend of ours. “There’s this long sequence of the story of Moses, who, as you may not know, was married before he married Zipporah,” she begins. “He first married the daughter of the king of Ethiopia.”

Pulling Women from the River

(Jessica Huang) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Citing an analogy used by those in public health fields, Tina Bloom explains that health providers wait on the banks of the river to rescue people who have fallen in and are drowning. But Bloom wants to help more and help earlier. “At some point, you start to think about what’s happening upriver,” she says. As an assistant professor in the Sinclair School of Nursing, her research focuses on safety planning for women in abusive relationships; specifically, she is designing and testing a website that might help women find ways to lessen their danger.

This is Your Brain on Camera

(Jessica Huang) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

A rainbow of feathers floats upward like a psychedelic butterfly. Fingers of color, violet and lime green, seem to flow outward from the tips of the wings. If you didn’t know better, you might assume it is a work of art. Beyond their beauty, for Shawn Christ these images taken at MU’s new Brain Imaging Center reveal the brain’s activity and connections. In his role as Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of MU’s Clinical Neuropsychology Laboratory, Christ studies how the relationship between the brain and behavior changes as we develop. Christ chose a career in psychology because it would combine two passions— working with kids and solving puzzles.

“A Glass Half Full”

(Tanya Sneddon) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Ever since Enos Inniss came to MU as an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering a short time ago, he has kept remarkably busy on various research projects involving water quality and safety.

Cultural Connections

(Tanya Sneddon) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Brush in hand, Lampo Leong carefully dips the pointed tip into a small pool of jet black ink. He quickly moves the ink-laden brush towards the dry rice-paper on the table, a thin, tan sheet held down at the edges by paperweights. A brief pause, and then Leong dashes the brush to the paper, the tip and side jumping and dancing across the sheet with intense, determined movements. As the brush reaches the end of the paper, Leong steps back, sets it down, and clasps his hands together. “This is cursive Chinese calligraphy,” he explains.

The Size of the Future

(Jessica Huang) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Shubhra Gangopadhyay is the one of the few female faculty at MU’s Center for Micro/Nano Systems and Nanotechnology. She’s also the one in charge of developing the center. In the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, of which Gangopadhyay is the LaPierre Endowed Chair Professor, she is one of three women. “There is a shortage of female scientists and female professors, in general,” Gangopadhyay says. “And in engineering, it is really not good.”

Cooking Up Solutions

(Jessica Huang) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

He calls it “fire in the gut.” It’s the excitement, the burning drive to work through a problem and see the solution. It’s staying up at night, turning something over and over in your head and feeling exhilarated when you finally come up with an answer, says Chris Hardin, Professor and Chair of the Nutritional Sciences Department.

At First Sight

(Sean Powers) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Imagine waking to a bright, sunny day, but not really being able to see. Some people go their whole lives without witnessing that vivid red ball from their youth or the facial features of a loved one. Kristina Narfström, a veterinary ophthalmologist at the University of Missouri, is doing research that promises to provide some light at the end of the tunnel.

Treasure Troves from the Past

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT

“That’s where it all started,” begins Steven Watts, pointing to the bust on his bookshelf. “I was born and grew up in Springfield, Illinois, in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln.” Inspired at such a young age, the MU professor of history pursued his interest in American history. Concerned with the emergence of capitalist culture, Watts’ early research explored ideas about profit, success, and “the shaping of Victorian culture in the 19th century.” About 15 years ago, however, Watts became more interested in modern American history and eventually completed a series of biographies on issues related to consumer capitalism in a culture obsessed with self-fulfillment, entertainment, and leisure.

Zealous Mercenaries

(Jessica Huang) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:00:00 GMT

In a back corner of the University of Missouri’s medical building, a few floors above the hospital and tucked away to the right, Habib Zaghouani watches a cellular war. He has been up there for seven years, with an army of graduate students and a colony of mice, trying to understand why our bodies attack us and how we can make them stop.

From Plato to NATO

(Jessica Huang) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Marvin Overby has been described as the Political Science department’s "utility infielder" in American Politics, and over the years his expertise has only spread. His research interests range from legislative procedures in the U.S. House and Senate (and Canadian Parliament, too) to the politics of minority groups. And his interests continue to grow.

When Pottery Bolsters the Spirit

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:00:00 GMT

“Ceramics is a very demanding discipline,” explains Bede Clarke, MU Professor of Art. Even after 35 years in the field, he says, “it still takes a lot out of me to do good work.” Clarke’s creative activity focuses on two areas. One involves the use of color and drawing and painting on clay with abstract and figurative imagery, and the other is wheel-thrown pottery fired in a wood kiln to achieve glaze effects.

A Bacon of Hope

(Sean Powers) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Take a good, hard mental image of a long line of people stretched for blocks. If you expand the line to roughly 100,000, this is the number of people waiting for an organ transplant. The imbalanced patient-to-organ ratio leaves many to die while waiting their turn. In response, some researchers try to tap into animal organs to save human lives, but those organs do not always work. Research in the University of Missouri’s Division of Animal Sciences may help solve this medical debacle by using genetic modification. When an organ goes from one animal to another (like to a human), preexisting antibodies in the human bind to the organ’s sugar molecules and kill the organ, making it useless. “When you take a pig cell and transfer it to a human, the molecule is immediately recognized as foreign,” explains MU’s Animal Science Professor, Randall Prather. “Within minutes you’ll get hyperacute rejection, and the cells will be destroyed.”

Collateral Consequences

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:00:00 GMT

When S. David Mitchell leaves for work in the morning, he isn’t sure which hat to wear. Sometimes he is a law professor, and sometimes he is a sociologist. On most days he wears both hats at once—an interdisciplinary approach to research that seems to bode well. As an associate professor in MU’s School of Law, Mitchell’s teaching and research feed off each other, focusing on the intersection of society and the law. While his teaching covers topics ranging from torts and criminal justice administration—from “bail to jail”—the courses he gets most excited about involve his main area of research, including “Law and Society” and “Collateral Consequences of Sentencing.”

“Lovely to the Ears”

(Sean Powers) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Fifth-year senior Mitchell Drury stands upright with his violin resting on his shoulder. He zeroes in on a sheet of music and begins playing the notes, carefully gliding his bow across the violin’s strings. His teacher, MU violin and chamber music professor Eva Szekely, hums to her student’s rhythmic tranquility. “The note before is the one you want to emphasize. Sustain without rushing,” Szekely instructs her intrepid pupil. “That’s beautiful.” Drury plays a work by renowned nineteenth-century violinist/composer Niccolò Paganini, one of Szekely’s favorite composers.

Countering Media Stereotypes

(Sean Powers) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Lara Croft in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend is known as much, or more so, for her hyper-sexualized body as for her skills and adventures. This is often the norm for female characters in video games, saysElizabeth Behm-Morawitz, Assistant Professor of Communication at MU. Having recently finished her first year at MU, Behm-Morawitz actually began studying video games as a doctoral student at the University of Arizona. “Seeing these hyper-sexualized images of women caught my attention,” she recounts. Behm-Morawitz’s research focuses on the effects video games can have on college students: “This is a stage of life when you’re on your own for the first time. You’re doing a lot of identity exploration, making sense of the world, coming into your own. So, this is a time when media images might have an impact on how you think about gender and how you think about yourself.”

“A Place You Call Home”

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Peace Corps Fellowship Program at MU obviously benefits the returned Peace Corps volunteers with its financial support and tuition waiver, but there are also deep rewards to the campus community. That is, just having these remarkable fellows around the departments, classrooms, and hallways of MU helps to fulfill the university’s goal of globalizing the campus. The program, which has existed at MU since the fall of 2007, is currently sponsored by six graduate programs: Geography, Truman School of Public Affairs, School of Social Work, Agricultural Economics, Rural Sociology, and Political Science. For this special feature of SyndicateMizzou, we interviewed each of the first MU Peace Corps Fellows—Julie Feeney, Kate Fjell, Craig Hutton, Matt Rysavy, and Nick Spina It is a curious thing to consider theirs reasons for joining the Peace Corps. While none of the MU Peace Corps fellows reported having a long-term desire to do such intensive volunteer work right after college, one way or another they found their way to the agency. In several cases, the Peace Corps provided something to do while career goals were narrowed. In others, this kind of international volunteer work was already compatible with their career ambitions. Regardless of the reason for joining, all of these returned volunteers found that the decision had changed them and that they got more out of their experience than they felt they had given themselves.

Of Maize and Mutants

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Doing maize genetics, according to one geneticist, is “really cool.” It is exactly this kind of enthusiasm that fuels Karen Cone, Professor of Biological Sciences at MU, who specializes in plant genetics. Asked to summarize what researchers in her field actually do, Cone laughs and responds, “Geneticists make mutants…a geneticist learns about the way something works in real life by screwing it up, trying to figure out what’s wrong with the mutant, and then inferring what is normal when the mutant isn’t there.” The mutants that Cone makes involve corn and purple pigmentation.

Unintended Discoveries

(Sean Powers) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

As a child growing up in New Mexico, Christine VanPool remembers visiting museums and state parks with her family. By all accounts, VanPool was a normal kid who loved to ask questions. Living on the edge of the Mescalero Apache reservation, VanPool developed an appreciation for the rich cultural history of her Native American friends, which led naturally to her interest in anthropology.

The Future of Life Sciences

(LuAnne Roth) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Until now, SyndicateMizzou has been highlighting the research and creative activities of MU faculty and staff. This current feature represents the first step in a new endeavor—to offer a survey of some of the exciting work being done by MU graduate students. Beginning with the Life Sciences, we have interviewed a handful of exceptional students, asking questions about what forces drew them to their specific area of research, the differences between undergraduate and graduate school, and why this research is significant. Whether they seek to find treatments for breast cancer and muscular dystrophy or better understand the science behind microscopic earthworms, soybean pathogens, oilseed production, or the ecology of forest-dwelling songbirds, watching these students talk about their work in their own words is nothing short of inspiring.

“In Their Own Words” as SyndicateMizzou ‘Turns’ 50

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The idea for SyndicateMizzou, if I recall the story correctly, arose during a lunch conversation involving two Center for eResearch personnel, founding director John Miles Foley and Information Technology Manager Jamie Stephens, shortly after the center was born in April 2005. “Wouldn’t it be great,” remarked the latter, “if there were a website that could syndicate diverse content, be fully searchable, and bring MU’s innovation, accomplishment, and expertise to the rest of the world?” It was initially over soup and sandwiches that this conversation grew into a conception of SyndicateMizzou—a website created to document and promote research and creative activity at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In fact, the trajectory from idea to reality provides a worthy case study for imagining and executing an online project.

If Antiquities Could Talk

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Alex Barker wears several different hats in MU’s Department of Anthropology and the Museum of Art and Archaeology. One of these hats involves his research and fieldwork on the European Bronze Age and the ancient American southeast. The other involves the directorship of MU’s Museum of Art and Archaeology. Standing at the crossroads of several disciplinary fields, most of Barker’s field research has in recent years dealt with a single broad question: how social complexity grows out of egalitarian societies. His fieldwork in North America and the Old World follows this transition over different periods and regions.

The Science of Sound

(Sean Powers) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Picture a college professor standing at the front of a crowded auditorium and speaking to a group of three hundred students. The speaker, sharp-eyed and astute, has a glass of water and stands tall and mighty behind a podium. He projects a series of sounds toward the dreary-eyed students – a mouthful of verbs, adjectives and nouns, all carrying different meanings. The speaker’s information may be fascinating and well organized, but one MU researcher doesn’t ask why someone is speaking. He’s more interested in studying how the speaker is communicating.

Design in the Virtual World

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

So-Yeon Yoon admits that while she has always liked computer games, even as a young child, she has also always enjoyed painting and drawing. Yoon describes her watercolor paintings and how for her the creative process is “very addictive”: “I like colors and creating something beautiful, and creating things on the computer actually gives the same kind of fulfillment.” She is attracted to three-dimensional (3-D) images and experimenting with different textures and colors. Thus it is perhaps no surprise that Yoon found herself drawn to the field of architecture and interior design—“a perfect match” in which her creative desires and her interest in computers could merge. Today, the assistant professor of Architectural Studies focuses her research and teaching on the areas of Human Environmental Psychology and Interior and Architectural Design. Her current research combines information technology with interior design and architecture, a composite field in which she applies technology, particularly virtual reality (VR), to interior design problems.

"Make Some Noise"

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Bin Wu has been responding to real-world problems related to industrial systems design for twenty years. “When we talk about industrial system design,” he explains, “we are talking about how to put facilities, people, and information systems together so that this system can function for whatever purpose it was designed to serve,” whether to manufacture or to supply. Traditionally, says Wu, when designing an industrial system our main consideration was always productivity – how to produce or manufacture things more efficiently. Three years ago, however, the MU Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering received a wake-up call that changed the direction of his work.

A Multimedia Manifesto

(Sean Powers) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT

The segmented boundaries between radio, television, and newspaper that have long been associated with journalism are beginning to blur. The Edward R. Murrows of today are giving “more” by converging yesterday’s journalism with tomorrow’s technology. At the MU School of Journalism, more and more students are taking the opportunity to become more than just print journalists or broadcast reporters; they are classified as a new breed known as “convergence journalists.”

Reading the Visual

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT

The fact that Nancy M. West finds herself focusing so heavily on the visual in her research and teaching may at first seem to be “a sort of a curious thing,” but for the associate professor of English this fascination for the visual extends all the way back to a childhood devoid of photographs. “I love thinking about what photography means to people. Having grown up with very few photographs in my household, I’ve always been drawn to them,” she admits. It was no surprise, therefore, that West stumbled upon her first book project while scrounging through the bargain bin of an antique store: “I came across all of these old Kodak ads from the turn of the century, and I thought they were amazing. The images were just breathtakingly beautiful. The captions were unlike those we see now in ads. They were much more elaborate, much more descriptive. They addressed the consumer in very interesting, clever ways, and I just fell in love with them.” And at that serendipitous moment, the idea for _Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia_ (2000) was conceived.

“As Far as the Pi Can See”

(Sean Powers) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Great celestial bodies populate the solar system. For an untrained eye staring at the heavens, the starlight spectacles and endless seas of blackness are nothing short of a miracle. Researchers, however, have developed mathematical equations that may help us understand such mysteries of the universe. From Isaac Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation to Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, the scientific community has paved the way for a greater understanding of the great beyond.

Young Minds Performing Research

(Sean Powers) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Can nest conditions predict what kinds of predators can masticate a bird? What effects do controlled drugs have on the formation of persistent follicles in beef cows? How resourceful is the neglected art of video poetry? These were just some of the questions that approximately 120 undergraduate students were attempting to answer during the summer of 2007. The Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum, held at the end of July at the Bond Life Sciences Center, allowed students to present their scholarly research projects to the public. MU students specializing in an array of concentrations were stationed at posters describing their findings.

Performing the Self

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT

M. Heather Carver is framed by her clown shadow—a black mannequin head wearing a pink camouflage hat and red clown’s nose—as she joyfully begins to describe her place at MU. “I come from a background of performing,” the Associate Professor of Theatre offers. “As a means of studying something, we perform it.” As a way of studying autobiography, for example, Carver performs autobiography.

Thinking Outside the Box

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT

We began this interview with the intent of focusing, as we usually do, on one person’s research. However, this query soon became—like the collaborative work it highlights—a joint project involving James R. Koller and Karen Weston of the Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology in the College of Education, two individuals working together to “think outside the box” by creating the Center for the Advancement of Mental Health Practices in the Schools, now affectionately called “the Center” by its members. “The Center was created in response to the rising number of students in need of mental health services today,” states its homepage. It was initiated “as a paradigm shift that recognizes prevention as a fundamental element in supporting our nation’s youth facing developmental challenges, psycho-social issues, and environmental stressors within the school system and community . . . with the whole thrust being a paradigmatic shift from mental illness to mental health.” Of course, “you’re never going to get away from mental illness,” admits Koller, “but instead of waiting until pathology occurs, the question posed to me was how we can do something different. How can we better prepare consumers at all levels to be better informed so that we can create a positive learning environment for each learner and increase her or his self-concept, while academic learning flourishes?”

Speaking the Unspeakable

(LuAnne Roth) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Rangira Béa Gallimore has spent much of her research career speaking about the unspeakable, that is, the trauma of rape. As Associate Professor in the Romance Language department, Gallimore’s research history may be divided into two periods: pre- and post-Rwandan genocide. Her earlier work focused on African Francophone women’s writings, African women of the Great Lakes Region in the conflict and peace process, as well as the representation of African women in social discourse and the media. Following years of studying fiction, Gallimore began the second phase of her work in response to the Rwanda genocide of 1994, when the country was “plunged into a frenzy of ethnic butchery” stemming from long-standing tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi groups.

Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:19:26 GMT

José Garcia puts on and takes off many hats during the average week, owing to the extension, teaching, and research dimensions of his work as Extension Assistant Professor in Rural Sociology. For instance, as Coordinator of the Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Program at MU (CFSSA), Garcia spends most of his time doing outreach with rural communities throughout the state. A common misunderstanding some people have about the term “sustainable agriculture” is that it rejects technology, harkening back to an earlier time when people worked mainly with their hands. Quite the contrary, Garcia clarifies: sustainable agriculture uses the most recent technology in its approach to farming (and to food itself), in which economic viability and environmental impact, along with social responsibility, are at the center of every decision. In relation to this last dimension, approaches to sustainable agriculture ask such questions as the following: “How socially responsible are farmers? What is the impact of their operations on communities, families, and workers? And how connected to the community are they? ” Garcia explains the complexity of the situation: “All of those kinds of things need to be taken into consideration when making decisions because food and agriculture are totally connected to people, to communities, and to laborers.” Thus Garcia provides information and training to people about various aspects of agriculture – whether that involves farms, factories, schools, or other community organizations. He hopes to see a ripple effect, with the information he gives to various community educators in Missouri being spread throughout the state.

Actually, It Is Rocket Science

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:00:00 GMT

Craig Kluever’s dream was born as he found himself awestruck in front of a grainy black-and-white television screen watching Apollo 11 land on the moon. He was in kindergarten. As he puts it, “that just made a big impact on me. Of course, the first thing I wanted to be was an astronaut.” Those early dreams of becoming an astronaut turned instead into a pursuit of the science behind the rockets. Today, the MU Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering works behind the scenes to solve the kind of problems involved in designing space travel—such as how to take off, how to reach a target, and, more importantly, how to return safely to Earth.

Working Together to Find a Cure

(Tammy Ritterskamp) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:00:00 GMT

When asked to describe the field of comparative oncology, Carolyn Henry says, “You would probably get a different definition depending on who you ask that question, [but] when we think of comparative oncology here at the Vet School, we think of treating animals that develop cancer on their own just like people do and finding ways to treat that cancer better and that may translate into better treatments for people as well.” Henry’s interest in oncology began while she was working in private practice as a veterinarian. “It seemed like the cancer patients were the ones I found the most interesting and the most rewarding to treat,” she explains of her decision to pursue training and certification in veterinary oncology.

Reconstructing the History of Earthquakes, Mountains, and Volcanoes

(Tammy Ritterskamp) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:00:00 GMT

Becoming a geologist was not the original aspiration for Mian Liu, Professor of Geological Sciences. The Chinese government assigned him to the discipline when he was 17 years old, a course of study he later followed at Nanjing University. His initial lack of interest in geology had much to do with the way the subject was taught. “The focus was not on understanding the processes; we were forced to memorize lots of facts,” he explains. Instead, Liu’s earliest interest was in physics, which “just seemed more intuitive.” He began sitting in on a variety of lectures and found that he preferred learning about geophysics, the physics of the Earth, eventually earning a Ph.D. in that area from the University of Arizona.

Generating Graphic Designs

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:04:55 GMT

In an office immersed in brilliant lime green and blue, Deborah Huelsbergen sits in front of her computer screen, with its Fruitloops screen saver, digging through boxes to pull out examples of her artwork. An associate professor of art and graphic design at Mizzou, Huelsbergen highlights two recent projects--both illustrated children’s books.

Interrogating Social Ethics

(LuAnne Roth) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT

What a society counts as moral or immoral is subject to the particular _zeitgeist_—the spirit of the times. “At the time of the slave trade, for example, most people who were slave owners thought it was moral. Even a few blacks, once they were freed, had slaves,” explains Sharon Welch, Professor of Religious Studies. As a social ethicist, Welch researches not just the way individuals make moral choices, but how a whole society begins to decide “what counts as moral.” To that effect, all of her projects coalesce around such issues of social morality.

Looking at Landscape Ecology

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT

Traditionally a great deal of natural resources management has involved field-based surveys and plans, explains Hong S. He, Associate Professor of Forestry in the School of Natural Resources at MU. But recently these scientists and managers have come to realize that they also need to pay attention to the larger spatial configuration of natural resources. This realization has a lot of implications for wildlife conservation and biodiversity: “You can’t really consider one spot without considering the things around it,” he explains. Wildlife species require, for instance, multiple habitats, and watershed problems have shown that “if we pollute one area, it can spread over the landscape.” As an area of research, landscape ecology refers to the study of response to various natural and social factors over large spatial and temporal domains.

Speaking Freely

(LuAnne Roth) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT

Christina Wells speaks freely about political and legal issues, for as Professor of Law at MU, her research falls under the auspices of constitutional law, especially freedom of information and access to government information, both of which relate to the First Amendment. Wells “cut her teeth” as a law professor, so to speak, on matters related to protest law, looking specifically at how the government uses national security rationales to limit freedom of speech, for example by keeping protestors “penned in one area…more than one would think the law would allow.” While her early work focused on protests at medical and abortion clinics, she has recently begun to examine funeral protest laws, not only because both the protests and the laws governing them are bound up in First Amendment issues but also, coincidentally, because the protests that spawned this legislative action took place in Westboro, Kansas, the state in which Wells grew up.

Bridging Medical Systems

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT

After thirty years of research focused mainly on exploring biochemical and genetic questions in the laboratory, William Folk, Professor of Biochemistry at MU, has been pushing himself outside of the comfort and controlled environment of the lab with his newest project. As co-investigator on this nascent initiative, Folk explains its significance for him in moral and political terms—that is, how the reign of South Africa’s apartheid government contributed to the rapid and devastating spread of HIV in Africa, the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic. In South Africa, where an estimated 5 million people are infected by the disease, Folk feels an obligation to do what he can to help remedy this devastating statistic. With this call in mind, Folk and Professor Quinton Johnson of the University of the Western Cape have orchestrated a large collaboration of over a dozen colleagues from universities in South Africa and the United States, generously funded by a $4.4 million grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Creating a virtual center, which they’ve named The International Center for Indigenous Phytotherapy Studies (TICIPS—pronounced “Tee-Sips”), the center seeks to understand traditional healing practices in South Africa in terms of their safety and usefulness in treating infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS and the conditions associated with them.

Through the Eyes of an Infant

(Tammy Ritterskamp) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 05:00:00 GMT

How much do infants know about the world in which they live? At what age do humans begin to develop an understanding of object permanence and of the reality that people act in response to different things around them? These are the kinds of questions Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences, seeks to answer. In addition to teaching cognition development courses—from infancy to toddler—she runs the Infant Cognition Lab, which tests psychological and biological knowledge development through a series of lab experiments. Now in its second year of operation, the lab conducts experiments with participants as young as two and one-half months old.

Translating the Classics

(Tammy Ritterskamp) — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:42:01 GMT

As Professor in the Classics Department at MU, Daniel Hooley’s research includes Roman poetry, the classical tradition, and translation studies, about which he has written three books, including his most recent, _Roman Satire_ (2006). Hooley first became interested in studying the classics through an “accidental journey,” studying the western classics as an English and Humanities graduate student at the University of Minnesota, where he focused his studies on modernism and wrote his dissertation on how Latin poetry was translated by American modernists such as Ezra Pound or T.S. Eliot. The dissertation became his first book, _The Classics in Paraphrase: Ezra Pound and Modern Translators of Latin Poetry_ (1988).

Deeper Than Simple Enjoyment

(Tammy Ritterskamp) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:46:47 GMT

Serendipity led Tim Langen, Associate Professor of Russian, to his research field. A language requirement in college caught him at a crossroads; pondering the possibilities, he decided that “French, German, and Spanish seemed too familiar, and Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic maybe seemed too foreign. Russian seemed just distant enough and just close enough.” He soon discovered that he enjoyed studying the language and so decided to major in Russian history and literature, a combination that allowed him to connect two fields he cared about.

Mapping the Cultural Landscape

(LuAnne Roth) — Thu, 24 May 2007 16:38:29 GMT

Going far beyond maps, as one might presume, “Geography is the study of human-environment interactions,” explains Soren Larsen, Assistant Professor of Geography at MU. The discipline as a whole covers activity ranging from physical geography (e.g., wind erosion and weather patterns), techniques (e.g., modeling air pollution with GIS, or Geographic Information Systems, to understand the interactions between humans and the environment), and something called human geography, a subfield that focuses on the political, economic, cultural, urban, and regional elements of human-environment interactions. Human geographers cast their eyes on “the impact of the environment on human behavior,” as well as “the impact of human activity on the environment.” Within human geography Larsen specializes in cultural geography. While traditionally that may have entailed mapping the distribution of various cultural traits to track changes over space and time, cultural geography today is much more _process_-focused, drawing heavily upon the methodologies and theories of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and philosophy.

Adapting to an Ever-Changing Digital Revolution

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:25:13 GMT

Finding a way to transform MU’s School of Journalism into a think tank for the news and advertising industry has been the main research goal for Esther Thorson, who serves as Professor, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, and Director of Research for the Reynolds Journalism Institute. While medical schools, law schools, and engineering schools have long provided think tanks for their fields, journalism schools have never focused on the creation, research, and application of new industry ideas. Simply put, thus far journalism schools only “produce the fodder for the personnel in those companies,” but this is something Thorson aspires to change.

Beyond the Bologna and Cheese Metaphor

(LuAnne Roth) — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:06:49 GMT

Meera Chandrasekhar, Professor of Physics at MU, describes herself as "a condensed matter experimentalist," that is, a physicist who studies a class of materials called condensed matter systems (formerly known as "solids"). Within this class are three types of materials: insulators (Styrofoam, plastic, and rubber), which do not allow electricity to flow; conductors (metals), which do allow electricity to flow; and semiconductors, which "have conductivities in between that of insulators and conductors." Chandrasekhar has spent most of her research career seeking to understand the special properties of this "in between" class of materials, and she speaks lovingly about how these semiconductors are unusual by virtue of their limited electrical conductivity and their particular response to light.

Good Vibrations

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:27:25 GMT

MU biologist Rex Cocroft studies communication, something crucial to life at many levels, as it occurs within a cell, between cells, and between organisms within social groups. "Once we reach the level of communication between individuals," waxes Cocroft, "not only is there the fascinating intellectual challenge of studying communication, but there is also this tremendous aesthetic appeal…. The signals themselves are often beautiful—the songs of whales, the colors of butterfly wings, the scents of flowers." His first calling was that of a musician, so it's perhaps no surprise that Cocroft was drawn to this aspect of biology, and no accident that he enjoys being at MU. "I love it here [in Missouri] in the late summer," he says, "when the katydids and the cicadas are out and there's this din of calling insects."

Writing Music that Speaks to the Human Spirit

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:12:35 GMT

“There’s nothing quite like the high of hearing one of your own pieces played,” MU Professor of Music W. Thomas McKenney admits, “but to me the most important thing is the active, creative process itself.” Having internalized his teacher’s advice that music must be a balance of emotion and intellect, and that if you have too much of either one “things get out of whack,” McKenney focuses on both levels. His goal is to assure that “structurally and formally, a piece is going to work.”

Interview with David H. Jonassen

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:45:25 GMT

Professor David Jonassen humbly sidesteps the grander importance of his research, yet his work would appear to have very serious and broad-reaching implications for educational systems and seems to call out for educational reform. As a professor in the area of educational psychology, Jonassen’s past research has focused on designing constructivist learning environments, cognitive tools for learning (Mindtools), cognitive modeling/task analysis, and systems dynamics/modeling. Most recently, his attention has moved toward issues of problem-solving. To this end, he has begun working in the context of engineering education for obvious reasons—because engineering students are specifically trained (and will be eventually hired) to solve problems. The types of problems engineers encounter on the job, like those people encounter in everyday life, are relatively “ill-structured” ones—that is, they don’t necessarily have a correct solution, a well-defined method for finding a solution, or even well-established criteria for what determines a successful solution.

Fostering the Future of Undergraduate Research

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 21:23:11 GMT

Ted Tarkow, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science and director of the Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program, talks lovingly of the hundreds of students he has watched blossom into successful researchers throughout the history of the twelve-year-old program, and he reminisces about how it all began: “A group of us had thought for quite some time that anything we could do for bright and talented undergraduates to show the interconnection between research and teaching would enrich their undergraduate program of study. We thought also that by taking highly productive faculty and having them be mentors of really bright students, their own research agendas would be enhanced.” That was the goal. It was a win-win proposition. And the results have been dramatic.

The Economics of Race

(LuAnne Roth) — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:06:38 GMT

For two decades Robert E. Weems, Jr. has been studying interrelated aspects of African-American business and economic history at levels both local and national. The MU professor of History observes that the history of black economic development in Columbia, Missouri, with its once-thriving black business district, stands as a microcosm of national trends. “For a variety of social and economic reasons,” he notes, “we literally see black businesses disappearing from the landscape of America.” Weems’ first book, _Black Business in Black Metropolis: The Chicago Metropolitan Assurance Company, 1925-1985_ (1996), based on his dissertation research, explored the factors underlying this change. The history of this now-defunct black insurance company in Chicago has implications for the economics of race in America in general.

Celebrating Service

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 19:00:56 GMT

A study published in 1990 showed students less engaged in community service than ever in American history. “I found this a devastating and sad fact,” explains Anne-Marie Foley. Her original charge for the Honors College in 1990—to develop innovative programming for honors students—has expanded from “a desk and a phone” and a handful of students to a program that involves 10% of the MU undergraduate population. Drawing upon her own personal commitment to working with the elderly, Foley started gathering groups of students from the Honors College (“bribing” them with free pizza) to share their views.

In Search of Democracy

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:56:32 GMT

Like many researchers, Michael Ugarte finds his research to be rooted in his personal history. "My research is connected directly to who I am, what part of the world I come from, and where I grew up," begins the MU Professor of Romance Languages. As we sat in his tiny office, I found myself staring into the kind eyes of this gentle soul, mesmerized as he described the personal connections involved in his research.

Labor of Love

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:48:55 GMT

Peter Miyamoto characterizes his career as a classical concert pianist as "moonlighting." Although modest, this MU professor of Music has played extensively throughout the United States and the world and is widely renowned for his solo work. Performing classical music becomes by necessity a re-creative art, Miyamoto explains. Making "a bunch of black dots on the page" come to life isn’t easy.

The Uniforming of Students and the Construction of Multiracial Identity

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:28:04 GMT

There are a lot of anecdotal claims about school uniforms helping to level economic status, increase attendance rates, create a healthier school environment, curb school violence, increase academic achievement, and so forth. Unfortunately, none of them have been substantiated. And yet, according to recent estimates, today “roughly 25% of our elementary public schools have mandatory school uniform policies,” observes David Brunsma, whereas in the mid-1990s only 5% had such policies.

A Meditation on Nuclear Medicine

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:27:16 GMT

Those of you who didn’t catch Professor Silvia Jurisson at her Saturday Morning Science lecture on March 4th can get a summary here, given by the lecturer herself. Jurisson’s research falls into the area of chemistry called radiopharmaceuticals—that is, pharmaceutical drugs with a radioactive atom attached for use in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

“Armchair Philosophy” and Beyond

(LuAnne Roth) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:27:00 GMT

MU philosophy professor Robert N. Johnson found himself drawn to philosophy as a child who was always “lost in his thoughts.” Then, in high school, Johnson happened upon the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and just “got hooked.” The “Zen” part of the book was not what grabbed his attention; it was the discussion of Plato’s dialogues that framed the story. That encounter led him to check out the Collected Works of Plato from his local library. “I was obsessed… I still am obsessed,” he admits.

Watching Wildlife with an Eye toward Conservation

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 05:00:00 GMT

There are ways in which Matt Gompper's work is simultaneously disheartening and inspiring. As an associate professor in the Fisheries and Wildlife department, he pursues research that falls into an area of wildlife biology known as conservation biology. That is, he seeks to understand the theoretical and real-world causes that drive animal populations to decline or become extinct. While focusing on animal species on the brink of extinction is surely depressing, his efforts are also aimed at conservation—and that's the part that is encouraging.

Traversing the Digital Globe

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:24:23 GMT

Recently in the United States the majority of citizens have come to reside at the extremes of either the political right or the left. “Most people either love George Bush or hate George Bush,” Professor Wayne Wanta explains, with few people falling in the middle. Wanta carefully recounts his recent research concerning such polarization of attitudes, especially in terms of how the media contribute to this phenomenon. Initially he suspected that the internet (now about ten years old) was the primary factor affecting this polarization, that perhaps people were going online to get information that reinforces their already existing beliefs, resulting in those beliefs becoming more extreme.

The Rings of Commutative Algebra

(LuAnne Roth) — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:52:59 GMT

Ian Aberbach confesses that he thought about pursuing English as a major in college, but found the problems in a modern algebra class so engaging that he was drawn inescapably to mathematics instead. Taking that fork in the road has led Aberbach to a career in commutative algebra. During our interview, the math professor patiently allowed me to test the claim that “no question is a stupid question.” When asked to explain his research to the general public, Aberbach admitted that he wasn’t sure whether that was possible, referring to the highly specialized language, concepts, and theory in which his work is situated—concepts that are crucial for algebraists, but challenging for those outside of that subfield to wrap their minds around. In spite of the highly technical language, Aberbach does his best to explain his research in layperson’s terms.

A Life on Stage

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 31 May 2006 18:57:11 GMT

MU Theatre Professor Jim Miller emphasizes happenstance events, moments of inspiration, and intriguing connections as he talks about his work in the theatre—from a revelation while working on a Pepto-Bismol commercial in New York years ago (that he couldn’t “stomach” life as a struggling Broadway actor) to selecting which plays to direct at MU. Now, after twenty-six years of teaching and directing at MU, Miller has not only gathered a large repertoire of these stories, but has also come to believe in the power of such intangible resources as serendipity and instinct in the realm of acting and directing.

Bringing Tennessee Williams to Life

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:15:49 GMT

Professor Albert Devlin, a natural storyteller, sits back in his chair, crosses his arms, and proceeds to describe the fortuitous events that changed the trajectory of his professional life—that is, when in 1995 the estate of playwright Tennessee Williams placed the collection of his correspondence in the hands of Devlin and Nancy Tischler, professor emerita at Pennsylvania State University, giving them permission to edit these precious materials.

Imaging the Brain

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:15:49 GMT

In an animated style, John Kerns explains what scholars know about basic brain functioning, much of which has until recently remained relatively speculative – simply because we can’t penetrate the inner regions of the brain. An assistant professor of psychology, Kerns describes how he hopes to someday remedy that problem by using brain-imaging technology, which has been around for only about ten years but could eventually prove to be one of “the most important technological developments” in the area of brain science.

Bringing Music to Life

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 17 May 2006 21:19:35 GMT

Between teaching viola individually and in groups, directing the Missouri String Project, and playing professionally with several internationally renowned chamber music groups, music professor Leslie Perna keeps very busy. Yet you have the distinct impression in listening to her talk that all of her work is thoroughly enjoyable.

Rendering Reputations

(LuAnne Roth) — Wed, 17 May 2006 19:12:55 GMT

Betty Houchin Winfield has earned a reputation for her fascinating and illuminating research, whether it concerns the roles that the media play in the reputations of such public personas as presidential candidates' wives or those individuals who undertook the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition. As a University Curators' Professor, based in the School of Journalism, she also looks at the media's building of "social capital" in the United States, that is, people actively participating in the democratic process. In contrast to those naysayers who claim there has been a decline in social capital in the U.S., Winfield examines how the internet may reverse this trend. In fact, many internet sites actually stimulate "bridging and bonding" of like-minded individuals that seems to result in people becoming more politically involved.

Offering a Beacon in the Darkness

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:29:54 GMT

In her twelve years as a nursing home director, Professor Marilyn Rantz says that she has never once met an individual who wanted to be in the facility. Most view the idea of entering a nursing home as a dreadful specter that they would be happy to avoid. As a professor in the Sinclair School of Nursing, Rantz has developed a collaborative project designed to change that attitude from dread into anticipation and even excitement.

Begging the Bigger Questions

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:28:58 GMT

We see that as humans we are different from other modern primates, although we don't know exactly how that came to be. Unlocking this mystery has been Anthropology professor Carol Ward's life's work. While the fossil record is sketchy at times, it is crucial in estimating the chronology of certain key acquisitions of modern humans, be it walking on two feet, developing big brains, changing their diet, or changing their tool-making behavior. Working with fossils, Ward seeks to answer the bigger question—why did those changes occur?

"Googling" for Biomedical and Geospatial Informatics

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:28:43 GMT

With all the different projects Professor Chi-Ren Shyu has on his proverbial plate, it's hard to imagine he has any time to sleep. Yet with easy finesse and exuberance, Shyu describes just a few of his ongoing "joyful and rewarding" research initiatives, ranging from biomedical and geospatial informatics to computer imaging of medical images. Not surprisingly, Shyu has gained a well-earned reputation for his collaborative work. Although diverse, what these research interests share is the effort to create large-scale, fast, and multidimensional databases.

Interpreting Purchasing Power

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:28:16 GMT

There are some people in the online world who prove to be more influential than others in terms of the information they provide to the public. For example, exclusive and time-sensitive price data or reviews of new products are the types of information that these third-party individuals seem motivated, even compelled, to offer to as many people as possible. Much to the initial annoyance of companies, such information bears importantly on influencing actual purchasing behavior.

Finding New Uses for Old Clothing

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:28:04 GMT

The excitement of innovative research and teaching projects becomes palpable while listening to Jana Hawley describe her work. As an assistant professor in the Textile and Apparel Management (TAM) department at MU, Hawley manages several ongoing projects related to electronic commerce, yet the initiatives she is most passionate talking about involve aspects of textile recycling. Hawley has been looking at clothing at numerous levels of "the discard stage," that is, clothing that people have thrown away as unwanted items.

The Sundry Uses of Fuzzy Logic

(LuAnne Roth) — Fri, 12 May 2006 05:00:00 GMT

James M. Keller, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been engaged in interdisciplinary and collaborative research throughout his career. Currently, he is working on a project that draws upon the latest technological advances to improve elder care with a team led by fellow electrical and computer engineer Marjorie Skubic and a group of people from MU’s Schools of Nursing, Social Work, Health Management and Informatics, Physical Therapy, and Engineering, along with colleagues from the Medical Automation Research Center (MARC) at the University of Virginia.