SyndicateMizzou Video Podcast

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Collaboration at TigerPlace

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:30:56 GMT

Interdisciplinary and collaborative projects on technology for elder care at TigerPlace, especially applying "fuzzy logic" to these problems.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Fuzzy Logic Explained

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:31:47 GMT

How "fuzzy set theory" and "fuzzy logic" are useful in dealing with events that are vague or contain variation. Getting computers to think more like humans do. How fuzzy logic is used in modern technology (e.g., video camcorders). Why many scientists in the West have been suspicious of fuzzy logic. More on why it is a useful tool to make so-called "soft decisions" that call for intervention.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Fuzzy Logic Applied

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:32:17 GMT

Funding for the TigerPlace project and how fuzzy logic technology is beginning to be implemented in elder care (e.g., assessing mobility and range of motion, detecting accidents, and identifying the need for early intervention by health care providers).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Robotics

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:32:42 GMT

Another interdisciplinary project involving cognitive psychology, computer science, and engineering. Robotics applications of fuzzy logic and simulating human "working memory" in computers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Bioinformatics

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:33:04 GMT

Keller's work in the realm of bioinformatics-trying to make sense of microray experiments with DNA and cancer treatment.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - On Collaboration

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:33:35 GMT

The challenges and benefits of interdisciplinary research; trying to figure out how to speak the same language with collaborators from other disciplines.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Applying fuzzy logic to landmine detection

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:34:08 GMT

Applying fuzzy logic to landmine detection.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Lazy Eye Detection in Infants

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:34:36 GMT

Using technology for early detection of "lazy eye" in infants.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - On Being a Mathematician

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:35:29 GMT

Being a mathematician in an engineering department.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Applying fuzzy logic to improvised explosive devices

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:36:02 GMT

Applying image processing and pattern recognition to new challenges: roadside bombs.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Sensory Data Overload

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:36:33 GMT

Using sensors. The problem of possessing an overload of sensory data and how to effectively summarize sensory data.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: James Keller - Fuzzy Logic Origins

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:37:00 GMT

The history of fuzzy logic and why it didn't catch on right away in the U.S., in contrast to its quick adoption in other countries.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - Textile Recycling

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:38:37 GMT

Hawley describes facets of her textile recycling projects.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - Savvy Seconds

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:38:58 GMT

Savvy Seconds, the used clothing store that opened in December 2004 in Boonville, where adults with disabilities gain valuable life skills and work training experience while putting discarded clothing to good use.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - Savvy Seconds, cont.

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:40:23 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - Amish Entrepreneurship Research

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:40:51 GMT

Hawley's ongoing research regarding the business practices of an Old Order Amish community in Missouri, which emphasizes cooperation and sharing of resources over competition.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - Amish Quilting

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:41:29 GMT

Amish women's quilting practices and codes for in-group use and out-group use; how the process of creating reflects community values whether creating "for hire" or "for family."

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - The Amish and Technology

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:41:10 GMT

American mainstream misunderstanding of Amish communities, particularly their institutional rite of passage called rumspringa and their rules for the use of technology.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - Tartan Plaid Project

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:41:50 GMT

Hawley’s newest teaching project in collaboration with other TAM faculty: Laurel Wilson, Lynn Boorady, and Pam Norum.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jana Hawley - Various Other Projects

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:42:16 GMT

Hawley's e-commerce research; her collaboration with Textile and Apparel Management professor Laurel Wilson and students to digitize the Missouri Historical Costume and Textile Collection, creating a virtual museum of the costume collection.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Marketing Mavericks

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:43:09 GMT

"Marketing Mavericks"—people who exercise a new kind of power in the online world by influencing consumer behavior online. How people use this online information from specific purchasing websites (such as Amazon.com), where people post reviews of products and where other people read those reviews as part of their decision-making process. Research methods: using the internet to unobtrusively gather data about people’s real behavior, prior to more direct investigation by questionnaire or interview.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Research Tools

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:43:31 GMT

How open source tools, which are free to the public, are employed to gather data--for example, bots that are programmed to gather specific kinds of information from the web.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Longitudinal Tracking on the Internet

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:43:52 GMT

Issues and ethics involved in tracking individuals' online behavior in publicly archived forums.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Preliminary findings

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:44:24 GMT

The complex world in which the Marketing Mavericks live and work.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Rating Trends

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:45:17 GMT

Fast-paced changes—the dynamic nature of the online purchasing world.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - When the Wife is the Primary Bread-Winner

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:45:17 GMT

Who controls the proverbial purse strings? Husband and wife decision-making in nonconventional households (in which the wife is the primary income earner).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Disguising Roles

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:45:42 GMT

Couples in these households going to elaborate lengths to avoid or disguise the wife's role as primary earner.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Revisiting the Old Theory

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:46:35 GMT

Revisiting the old theory: Who is actually playing the "gatekeeper" role in household purchases?

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Suraj Commuri - Going Inside People's Homes

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:47:14 GMT

The time-consuming but gratifying process of data-gathering via face-to-face interviewing and observing couples in their natural contexts.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Chi-Ren Shyu - "Googling" for 3-D Protein Structures

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:57:27 GMT

The new database that offers real time, high-accuracy searches for researchers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Chi-Ren Shyu - "Googling" for Geospatial Imagery

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:57:41 GMT

GeoIris: a project supported by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Chi-Ren Shyu - Searching Visual Phenotypes in Plants

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:57:59 GMT

"Googling" for visual phenotypes in plants to examine for mutations or disease.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Chi-Ren Shyu - GeoIris Demo I

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:58:20 GMT

Demonstration by doctoral student Matt Klaric of how the GeoIris system works.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Chi-Ren Shyu - GeoIris Demo II

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:58:35 GMT

Demonstration by doctoral student Matt Klaric of how the GeoI system works.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Chi-Ren Shyu - Protein Database Demonstration

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:58:51 GMT

Demonstration by Shyu of the protein database.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carol Ward - Walking Upright is a Pain in the Back

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:59:15 GMT

Anthropology professor Carol Ward’s overall goal of understanding human evolution. Comparing fossils and modern primate anatomy to determine the chronology of human development.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carol Ward - Evolution of Intelligence

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:59:31 GMT

Collaborating with Mark Flinn (psychology and anthropology) and David Geary (psychology) on how and why human brains developed as they did.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carol Ward - Collaboration for Arthritis Treatment

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:59:43 GMT

The potential at MU to create profoundly innovative and viable research collaborations, for example, with MU’s Veterinary School, Medical School, College of Engineering, and Department of Anthropology. More specifically, Ward discusses the exciting joint project to examine the effect of exercise and mechanical load (weight) on joint and bone growth, with implications for arthritis treatment.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Introduction to TigerPlace

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:20:16 GMT

The history of how TigerPlace came to into being.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Introduction to TigerPlace (continued)

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:54:47 GMT

Staffed by nurses and a nurse practitioner, the Tiger Care Center conducts a complete medical assessment upon admission, working to manage chronic illnesses so that residents can stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Example Living Quarters

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:03:16 GMT

Come on a virtual tour of one of the apartments at TigerPlace.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Studio Apartment

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:03:35 GMT

Come see a studio apartment at TigerPlace.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Exercise Facility

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:03:58 GMT

That the building is licensed as an intermediate care facility is important because it satisfies regulations associated with most insurance plans (including Medicare); thus residents will not be forced to move when their needs increase.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Additional Services at TigerPlace

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:04:20 GMT

Marilyn Rantz talks about some of the additional services available at TigerPlace.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Example Alcove Apartment

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:04:41 GMT

Social programming at TigerPlace (e.g., poker night, the "happy feet" group, landscaping, and other volunteer-run activities)

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - Examples of Sensors in an Apartment

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:05:02 GMT

See how sensors operate in one resident's apartment.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - The Research Team - I

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:05:19 GMT

The TigerPlace project is a collaboration across multiple departments of the MU campus. Listen to different team members introduce themselves and explain their involvement in the project.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Marilyn Rantz - The Research Team - II

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:05:36 GMT

Continuation of the research team introductions.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - The Internet and Social Capital

Wed, 17 May 2006 18:52:38 GMT

Is there a decline in social capital in the U.S.? Winfield discusses how the internet may increase political involvement in the democratic process.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - Moveon.org

Wed, 17 May 2006 18:54:34 GMT

Winfield discusses the use of Moveon.org as a case study of an Internet site that increases social capital.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - Mass Media's use of Historical Context

Wed, 17 May 2006 18:57:31 GMT

What influences the mass media process? Winfield discusses how journalists use historical context when trying to explain something to the public.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - Mass Media's use of Historical Context (continued)

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:02:50 GMT

Winfield further discusses how journalists place a particular story in a certain context to deliver to the public.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - Chinese media in transition

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:04:12 GMT

The philosophical underpinnings in the media of China and Japan.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - Examining public perception before mass media

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:08:59 GMT

Winfield's current book project on public perception before the advent of public opinion polls and the national media. Reputation-building and the development of the hero designation in nineteenth-century U.S. as revealed by the media coverage of the Corps of Discovery expedition along with other public references, such as textbooks, maps, trail guides, histories, and children’s books.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - The making of a hero

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:10:48 GMT

Winfield discusses differences in the processes of celebrity hero-ification today.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Betty Winfield - The model presidential wife

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:12:55 GMT

WInfield discusses how presidential candidates' wives are framed by the media. What happens when a candidate’s wife doesn’t fit these molds?

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Leslie Perna - Drawn to performance

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:26:14 GMT

Perna found herself drawn to viola performance, and especially chamber music, because of the collaborative and democratic nature of the music-making process. The Esterhazy Quartet, the string quartet with whom Perna performs chamber music, focuses particularly on work from contemporary living composers. The Esterhazy Quartet established residency at the Berklee College of Music in Boston six years ago, where they experience the magic of the collaborative process while working with the best student composers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Leslie Perna - Perna's philosophy of music

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:22:22 GMT

Considering the universal drive to make music, Perna appreciates the magic of bringing music to life.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Leslie Perna - Teaching music moves humankind forward

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:25:23 GMT

Perna discusses how teaching others about music is her part of moving humankind forward.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Leslie Perna - Teaching music at Mizzou

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:26:00 GMT

Perna discusses what it means to teach music in a group context at Mizzou.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Leslie Perna - The Missouri String Project

Wed, 17 May 2006 16:20:03 GMT

The Missouri String Project, which Perna directs, provides outreach to the community and valuable teaching experience for music majors.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Leslie Perna - Perna's Current Projects

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:26:33 GMT

Perna's recent work with the Concordia String Trio is now in its fifth season. The challenge and excitement is in playing 21st century music commissioned by living composers and being able to work directly with the composers themselves.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Leslie Perna - Viola Performance

Wed, 17 May 2006 21:26:45 GMT

Watch Perna in a short viola performance.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:41:23 GMT

Devlin describes the content of The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams. Volume I covers the period from 1920 to 1945 (with the success of The Glass Menagerie), while volume II concerns Williams’ “major period” from 1945 to 1957, during which A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof were introduced.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - Performances of Devlin's Letters

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:41:56 GMT

Devlin disscusses various performances of his works by actors such as Sean Leonard and Richard Thomas.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - More on the Performances of Devlin's Work

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:42:39 GMT

Devlin continues to discuss performances of Tennessee Williams' letters and how Steve Lawson of New Your City Center scripted and staged them.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - Sean Leonard as Tennessee Williams

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:43:11 GMT

Devlin discusses how an accomplished actor such as Sean Leonard can bring the letters of Tennessee Williams to life.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - Embarking on the Kazan Project

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:43:51 GMT

Having finished the first two volumes of letters of Tennessee Williams, Devlin discusses how he is now beginning his approach to the collection of letters by Elia Kazan.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - On the differences between Kazan and Williams

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:44:33 GMT

Devlin briefly discusses the difference in the writing styles between Williams and Kazan.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - Tools for researching a project

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:45:03 GMT

Devlin discussess how he goes about researching and gathering content for a new project.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Albert Devlin - Collaboration on Campus

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:45:50 GMT

Devlin discusses work he is doing with others on campus, including his joint appointment in the Theatre department.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Introduction to Research

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:12:41 GMT

Kerns gives an introduction to his research on cognitive processes and the brain.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Introduction to Research (continued)

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:12:59 GMT

Kerns continues to give an overview of his research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Cognitive Control

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:13:15 GMT

How cognitive control processes work. What scholars know about the human brain.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Cognitive Control (continued)

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:13:36 GMT

How cognitive control processes work. What scholars know about the human brain.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Analyzing Cognition in the Lab

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:13:55 GMT

Kerns discusses how activity in different parts of brain can be observed in the lab.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Cognitive Control (continued)

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:14:16 GMT

Kerns discusses more on cognitive control.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Brain Regions

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:14:35 GMT

Kerns discusses activity in various brain regions as a result of different cognitive process.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Brain Imaging - Viewing Your Cognitive Activity

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:14:56 GMT

Kerns discusses the technology used in his research to view brain activity.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - FMRI in Psychology Resesarch

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:15:23 GMT

Kerns discusses the use of FMRI in his research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - FMRI in Psychology Resesarch: How it Works

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:15:43 GMT

Kerns discusses the process a person goes through to have the cognitive activities imaged.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - FMRI in Psychology Resesarch: Viewing Brain Activity

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:59:02 GMT

Kerns discusses how brain activity is viewed during an FMRI scan.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - FMRI in Psychology Resesarch: History

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:16:29 GMT

Kerns discusses how FMRI technologies started to be used in psychology research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: John Kerns - Stages of Schizophrenia

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:16:58 GMT

Kerns discusses the characteristics of the different stages of schizophrenia.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - Miller reads the letters of Tennessee Williams

Tue, 30 May 2006 17:07:41 GMT

MIller talks about how he got involved in the performance of the letters of Tennessee Williams.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - Beginnings

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:00:25 GMT

Miller discusses his journey through New York, commercial advertising, and art school—ulimately leading to his position in the Department of Theatre here at Mizzou.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - A passion for theatre

Tue, 30 May 2006 17:14:59 GMT

Miller talks about theatre, his love for it, and the challenges it presents.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - The instinct of directing

Tue, 30 May 2006 20:12:42 GMT

Miller discusses his philosophy of teaching the disciplines of directing and acting.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - A passion for all the arts

Wed, 31 May 2006 12:12:36 GMT

Miller discusses some of his original works in costume design, painting and music composition.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - Costume design

Wed, 31 May 2006 12:14:32 GMT

Miller shows some of his original costume renderings.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - Costume design process

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:41:46 GMT

Miller discusses the process of costume design from conception to the final product.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - The Mizzou difference

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:42:36 GMT

MIller talks about the extraordinary talent at Mizzou and the difference it has made.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - Film vs. Theatre

Wed, 31 May 2006 14:28:26 GMT

Miller talks about his preference of film over theatre as an actor's medium.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - Miller discusses his own performances

Wed, 31 May 2006 14:33:42 GMT

Miller discusses his changes in roles over the years, including his recent role as Tennessee Williams.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - The Midwest likes stories

Wed, 31 May 2006 14:35:52 GMT

Miller discusses how he chooses a production and what audiences seem to like the most.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Miller - Miller performs Tennessee Williams

Wed, 31 May 2006 15:17:23 GMT

Miller performs eight short pieces of Tennessee Williams letters as edited by Albert Develin, Professor of English. Miller is accompanied by singer and professional actress, Jennifer Gray.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 1

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 18:57:41 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 2

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:20:46 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 3

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:06:11 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 4

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:06:47 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 5

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:07:30 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 6

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:05:28 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 7

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:08:54 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 8

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:09:31 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ian Aberbach - Aberbach Clip 9

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:06:03 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Wayne Wanta - Polarization of attitudes in America

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:34:26 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Wayne Wanta - More on the polarization of America

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:34:40 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Wayne Wanta - The evolutionary stages of media

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:35:04 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Wayne Wanta - Multitasking on the Internet

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:35:23 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Wayne Wanta - A call for more comprehensive research on the Internet

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:35:45 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Wayne Wanta - Activities of the University of Missouri’s Center for the Digital Globe

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:36:06 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Wayne Wanta - More about the Center for the Digital Globe

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:36:28 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - Matt Gompper - Research in Conservation Biology

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:42:25 GMT

Introduction to Gompper's research in conservation biology. Gompper discusses animal disease and evolutionary ecology.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - Not your average skunk

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:43:49 GMT

The Eastern Spotted Skunk is on the verge of extinction. Gompper discusses work in the region that aims to understand why various animals are on the decline and what can be done about it.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - Technology, Tracking, and Habitat Maps

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:45:22 GMT

Gompper discusses using radio telemetry, infrared cameras, and track plates as non-invasive techniques for tracking various animals.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - Outreach and Awareness in the U.S. and India

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:46:44 GMT

In order to raise awareness of their research, Gompper and his team work closely with a number of agencies, including the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Arkansas Fishing Game Commission, and the U.S. Forest Services.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - Tigers for Tigers

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:47:49 GMT

Without active management and conservation of tigers in the wild, tigers will disappear from the wild in our lifetime. Tigers for Tigers is a student group that raises money to help tigers continue to survive in the wild.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - Tigers for Tigers (cont.)

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:51:42 GMT

Students work as a non-profit organization to promote the awareness of species extinction, animal ecology, and environmental issues to elementary students.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - Collaboration on Campus and Beyond

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:53:23 GMT

Gompper and his team work with parasitologists at the School of Veterinary Sciences to learn more about the effects of various diseases on wildlife and how wildlife can act a resevoir for diseases that humans may contract. Gompper discusses many other collaborations as well.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Matt Gompper - The Life of an Ecologist

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:54:34 GMT

Gompper's work has also become his hobby. He discusses how his family has also become involved in his work.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Introduction to Research in Philosophy

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:58:52 GMT

Johnson discusses the discipline of philosophy and its subfield of ethics

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Doing "armchair philosophy"

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:00:20 GMT

How much we can know simply by reflecting? What is the nature of moral judgment? Johnson discusses practical reasoning and whether it really has an effect on our behavior.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Types of reasoning

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:00:48 GMT

Johnson talks about prudential reasoning, ethical reasoning, and moral reasoning and how they can affect our our behavior.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Moral Reasoning

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:01:01 GMT

Why Johnson believes that some kind of reasoning is involved in moral thinking.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - What "data" means to a philosopher

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:01:16 GMT

Johnson discusses how ethicists today form their assumptions and draw conclusions.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - The impact of empirical research on ethical philosophy

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:01:31 GMT

Many experiments in social psychology have shown that we overestimate the importance of enduring character traits in the explanation of people's behavior. Johnson discusses some examples.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - The state of ethics today

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:01:50 GMT

The state of contemporary debates on the nature of right vs. wrong and on virtue. Johnson discusses the shift of focus from the two primary camps of ethics, utilitarianism and deontologists, to virtue ethics, which takes human psychology into greater account. What place do circumstances and empirical studies on character traits have in the debate?

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Collaboration with other philosophers at MU

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:02:18 GMT

Johnsons discusses the growing interest in the philosophy of biology at Mizzou.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Johnson's path to philosophy

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:02:41 GMT

How reading Plato's dialogues influenced Johnson to become a philosopher.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Johnson's current book project

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:02:54 GMT

Johnson’s discusses his current book project, What We Owe to Ourselves, which defends the controversial idea that we have a moral obligation to ourselves to honor our talents and skills and to develop our natural capacities.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Johnson - Teaching at Mizzou

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:03:06 GMT

Johnson discusses his courses and teaching at Mizzou.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Using radioisotopes for diagnosing disease

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:30:43 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Imaging and Therapy

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:33:23 GMT

Elements that have isotopes that are useful in imaging and therapy.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - An abbreviated history of nuclear medicine, from 1895

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:34:59 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - What are radiopharmaceuticals?

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:36:27 GMT

Radiopharmaceuticals are basically drugs containing a radioactive atom that are used for either imaging or therapy. Ninety-five percent of radiopharmaceuticals are employed diagnostically, the rest therapeutically.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Types of radiation and their uses

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:38:39 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Isotopes used in diagnosing disease.

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:40:19 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Development of bone agents

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:51:12 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Therapeutic uses of radioisotopes

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:52:48 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Designing radiopharmaceuticals

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:54:36 GMT

Designing radiopharmaceuticals involves combining the right radioisotope with a targeting molecule, in order to take it to the tumor. The selection of the targeting molecule depends upon the type of cancer. In the case of breast cancer, for example, a hormone molecule might be used.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Jurisson’s current research

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:34:36 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Collaborating with students and other faculty

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:35:23 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - How Jurisson became a chemist

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:38:09 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - The MU Saturday Morning Science program

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:39:17 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - Nuclear waste recycling

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 19:17:55 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - MU facult in radiochemistry

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 19:19:13 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Silvia Jurisson - How Tc-99m is made

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 19:20:15 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Brunsma - School Uniforms in America

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:56:25 GMT

Brunsma describes the research that led to _The School Uniform Movement and What It Tells Us About American Education: A Symbolic Crusade_ (2004).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Brunsma - Brunsma's Follow-up Book on School Uniforms

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:01:07 GMT

Brunsma’s follow-up book, _Evaluating Public School Uniforms: A Decade of Research_ (2006), consists of a collection of empirical studies by scholars on the subject.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Brunsma - Concerns over School Uniforms

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:00:33 GMT

Brunsma discusses various concerns about the growing school uniform crusade.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Brunsma - Beyond Black: Mixed Messages

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:04:04 GMT

Brunsma explores the construction of racial identity in _Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America_ (2001), with Kerry Ann Rockquemore, and _Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the “Color-Blind” Era_ (2006).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Brunsma - Understanding Race

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:04:29 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Brunsma - Teaching at MU

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:04:55 GMT

Brunsma teaches jointly in Black Studies and Sociology at MU.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peter Miyamoto - Teaching and research as a pianist

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:37:31 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peter Miyamoto - How Peter Miyamoto came to be a pianist

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:42:18 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peter Miyamoto - Teaching Piano

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:43:08 GMT

Teaching piano at MU involves intensive one-on-one lessons between the student and the teacher.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peter Miyamoto - On Performing

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:42:50 GMT

Along with his schedule of national and international performances, Miyamoto values the opportunity to play locally with the Odyssey Chamber Series and the upcoming Plowman Chamber Music Competition.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peter Miyamoto - Miyamoto's Recordings

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:45:04 GMT

Miyamoto describes the preparation for his recent CD - _Chopin: Ballades and Fantasies_ (2004) - as “a labor of love.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peter Miyamoto - Chopin’s _Ballade No.1 in G minor, op. 23._

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:48:55 GMT

Although our recording can’t do Miyamoto’s music justice, listen to and watch him perform a sample from Chopin’s _Ballade No.1 in G minor, op. 23._

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Michael Ugarte - Exile and Spanish Literature

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:00:46 GMT

Making connections between his intellectual work and his political work, Ugarte has explored how being in exile has had a significant impact on important Spanish writers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Michael Ugarte - Madrid in 1900

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:01:01 GMT

Madrid in 1900: How the city became so central to the work of so many Spanish authors.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Michael Ugarte - Afro-Hispanic Relations

Fri, 12 May 2006 17:01:22 GMT

Ugarte's current project: Looking at the relationship between Spain and Africa from the late 19th century through the 21st century.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Michael Ugarte - Cultural Studies

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:29:21 GMT

Ugarte talks about the study of culture as found in literature, film, and the press.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Michael Ugarte - African influence in Spain

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:49:49 GMT

Ugarte discusses the relationship of various ethnic groups in Spain throughout history and how the African "Other" is absorbed in the consciousness of Spaniards.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Michael Ugarte - Learning about Africa

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:52:40 GMT

Ugarte discusses how a better understanding of Africa has become essential to his understanding of Spain.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Michael Ugarte - Activism and Pedagogy

Wed, 17 May 2006 19:55:26 GMT

How does activism fit in with pedagogy on campus? What is a just war?

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - History of the Service-Learning Program

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:36:36 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - Impact of the Service-Learning Program on the community

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:37:50 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - Service-learning sets up students for a future life of service

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:32:42 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - Service-learning success stories: Women of Worth and Civic Leaders Internship Program

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:50:49 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - MU’s new academic minor in Leadership and Public Service

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:48:07 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - A week in the life of Anne-Marie Foley

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:48:52 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - Foley's Courses

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:36:30 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Anne-Marie Foley - The Community Leadership Seminar

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 13:56:39 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - Weems’ current research project

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:34:36 GMT

Robert Weems’ current research project, with colleague Lewis Randolph, looks at the history of U.S. government interest in black business development with a special focus on Richard Nixon’s “Black Capitalism” initiative.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - What primary research looks like for a historian

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:36:35 GMT

What began as a one-book project, with Lewis Randolph, has turned into a two-volume work. The first looks at the 1920s Division of Negro Affairs up to the Nixon administration, while the second poses the question, “Whatever happened to black capitalism?” and looks at the Ford administration.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - Drawing on secondary historical literature

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:37:36 GMT

Crucial to any historian is the preexisting secondary literature. Weems draws upon this kind of information to establish the framework and general parameters of his own research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - The African-American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographic Guide (2001)

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:39:05 GMT

Not only is this a useful reference book, containing a full bibliography and essays that examine a variety of historical topics in terms of how perspectives have changed over time, but it’s also significant personally for Weems because it was written with Arvarh E. Strickland—the first full-time African-American faculty member at MU—and because it draws on the expertise of a number of MU faculty.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - Why are black businesses disappearing from America’s landscape? The economic dimension of desegregation

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:41:36 GMT

The fate of black economic development in Columbia, Missouri, represents a microcosm of national trends. “For a variety of social and economic reasons,” Weems observes, “we literally see black businesses disappearing from the landscape of America.” Looking at the economic dimension of desegregation reveals a bitter irony that has animated much of Weems’ work. As a result of so-called desegregation, “on one level, we see white companies making great inroads among the African-American consumers,” he explains. “But we don’t see black companies being able to make similar inroads in the mainstream community.” In economic terms, this one-way situation is not true desegregation.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - Desegregating the Dollar: How white corporate America profited from desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:03:18 GMT

By examining the economic results of desegregation in the insurance industry, Weems began to notice how corporate America profited as well from the Civil Rights Movement. The result was his second book, Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century (1998)—a comprehensive look at the African-American community as a consumer base in the U.S.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - Practical applications for understanding history: Weems’ recent work

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:45:11 GMT

“One of the scariest things I found in researching Desegregating the Dollar was that as early as the 1930s,” explains Weems, “corporate marketers figured out that black people had an especially acute case of status anxiety” because of their particular history of slavery. Weems’ current project reacts against the conspicuous consumption celebrated in the realm of hip-hop as “bling-bling.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - The need for further national discussion about stimulating black economic development today

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:47:05 GMT

Examining the Nixon administration’s role in the unprecedented national discussion about black economic development in the 1960s reminds us of the continued relevance of such economic policies and discussions in America today. “In America— whether it’s right or wrong—it all comes down to money and economics,” Weems observes.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - The personal motivation for Weems’ research

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:48:05 GMT

Weems’ personal motivation for working in this area is to reach out beyond the halls of the academy to have real world applications.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Robert Weems - Weems’ personal background and advice to graduate students

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:48:55 GMT

Weems recounts his dissertation research and offers advice to graduate students about selecting a viable research topic.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - How the Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program began

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:40:06 GMT

The Arts and Science Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program, begun in 1994, aims to support undergraduate participation in faculty research. Students in the program have the chance to be immersed in a research career and learn that “good research, good creativity, and good teaching go hand in glove.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Individualized research programs

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:41:29 GMT

The duration of each project varies depending upon the discipline and the student’s background, and the Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program allows for such individualization of research projects.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - More on the program’s history

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:42:28 GMT

“The program has evolved, when all is said and done, very insignificantly. We’ve taken what we think is a good idea and built on it…. We’re still dealing with talented faculty working with talented students in ways that show the interconnectivity of research and teaching.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Funding for Undergraduate Research Mentorship fellows

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:43:40 GMT

Beyond the invaluable learning experience, successful student applicants are also awarded stipends (ranging from $500 to $3,000) to support their research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Corinne Alinea - A Potential Role for Programmed Cell Death in the Formation of an In Vitro Neural Stem Cell Niche

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:45:16 GMT

###Corinne Alinea, Biological Sciences ###Mark Kirk, Mentor Our main focus in the Kirk Lab is developing stem cell therapies for Batten Disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disease in children. We propose that transplanting an entire self-sustaining population of cells, a neural stem cell (NSC) niche, would greatly enhance survival of patients and alleviate some symptoms; and we have developed a way to produce a NSC niche-like structure _in vitro_. My part in the project is to test for cell death within this structure by using Trypan Blue Exclusion and TUNEL assays. My preliminary results show that cell death is present in no overt pattern within the structure. After proposing that cell death is taking place in more differentiated cells that cannot be maintained in these basic culture conditions, our next step is to prove that these differentiated cells are actually the ones dying and to attempt to prevent death by the addition of serum. Ultimately, we hope one day to develop a method for _in vivo_ transplantation of the entire NSC niche-like structure.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Reconstruction of Free Energy Profiles from Fast Nonequilibrium Processes

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:15:56 GMT

####Michael Forney, Department of Physics and Astronomy #### Ioan Kosztin, Mentor In order to establish the structure-function relationship of nanoscopic biomolecules, one needs to follow their dynamics on a mesoscopic time scale that is beyond the reach of current all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A viable approach to this daunting problem is a multiscale modeling approach that requires as input the detailed free energy profile (potential of mean force [PMF]) of the system. In the present study we report PMF calculations based on a recently proposed method that employs fast (~10ns long) nonequilibrium MD simulations. Our PMF calculation method, which is more efficient than previously used ones, has yielded very good results for the folding/unfolding of deca-alanine and for the potassium ions transport through the gramicidin A channel protein.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Stress and the American Toad

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:18:57 GMT

####Emily Fountain, Biological Sciences ####Raymond Semlitsch and Matthew Lucy, Mentors The purpose of my project is to measure corticosterone levels of the American toad (_Bufo americanus_). In my study the physiological effect of stress on the toad is quantified using a commercial kit called RIA. Currently, the only available option to measure hormones in amphibians involves long and complicated homemade assays. The result of my research provides an easy and quick method of measuring corticosterone levels for the American toad. In combination with continuing studies on the behavioral effects of habitat fragmentation and deforestation, the commercial RIA kit will be used to determine the impact of stress on population size and/or possible extinction.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Effect of Parental Intervention and Toddler Distress in Fear eliciting Situations

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:21:38 GMT

####Corie Geary, Psychological Sciences ####Kristin Buss, Mentor This study assessed the relation between parental behavior and toddlers’ coping in fear eliciting situations. Parental behaviors were categorized as either over-protective or controlling. Over-protective parents inhibited their children’s interactions with a fear-eliciting stimulus, whereas controlling parents insisted their children interact with the fear-eliciting stimulus even when their children were hesitant. The results revealed that children whose parents were over-protective showed an increase in distress (e.g., as measured by facial expression) after the parental intervention, whereas children whose parents were controlling showed a decrease in distress.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Valuation, Information, and Bidding in Real Estate Auctions

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:25:34 GMT

####Chance Harper, Economics ####Ron Harstad, Mentor Auctions have grown in importance as a way of trading a variety of goods, but more recently as mechanism of trade for real estate. Current research shows that sellers have the potential to gain higher revenues through auctions than through private negotiations, and bidders may manipulate different auctioning systems to their advantage. This research project will investigate the components of how bidders and sellers estimate value to land, how public and private information affect auctions, and how optimal bidding strategies may be constructed. When discussing value of real estate several factors must be accounted for, including location, quality, housing characteristics, and the state of the market.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Synthesis of an Analog of the Novel Anti-neoplastic Agent Leinamycin

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:29:19 GMT

####Andrea Hicks, Chemistry ####Kent Gates, Mentor Leinamycin is a potent anti-tumor antibiotic that was isolated from a culture of _Streptomyces_ in 1989. The unique compound features a 1,2-Dithiolan-3-one 1-oxide heterocycle which can cause DNA damage through multiple pathways. Hydrolysis t ½ of previous leinamycin analogs containing only the 1,2-Dithiolan-3-one 1-oxide group was approximately two hours, as compared to twenty-seven hours for leinamycin. The purpose of this project is to synthesize the leinamycin analog. This compound will be used to investigate the effect of a leinamycin-like vicinal amide group on the hydrolysis half-life of the 1,2-dithiolan-3-one-1-oxide.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Classifying Cicero’s Catilinarians

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:32:18 GMT

####Tiffany Lee, Department of Classical Studies ####Barbara Wallach, Mentor This project is examining the traditional classification of Cicero’s orations against Catiline. Usually these four orations are classified as invective speeches, or speeches of blame. I have been comparing the content, motives, and context of the first and fourth Catilinarian orations to the precepts given in rhetorical texts written by Cicero and other texts on oratory used in the same time period. I have found through my comparisons of the texts that these orations against Catiline fit the ideal model for judicial speeches much more closely than they fit the pattern for epideictic speeches.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Seismic Station Installation in Isparta, Turkey and Surrounding Regions

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:38:48 GMT

####Amanda Lough, Geological Sciences ####Eric Sandvol, Mentor Research conducted this summer was in preparation for field deployment beginning August 5, 2006, in Isparta, Turkey. During this experiment temporary seismic stations will be installed and monitored. Data collected will be shared among several research teams on a variety of projects. At the University of Missouri-Columbia the data will be utilized to study anisotropic flow within the mantle. Local shear waves will be analyzed to determine the degree of “splitting,” indicating the direction of “fast” mantle flow. Directions and velocities will be compared to published SKS data in hope of constraining the vertical location of mantle anisotropy.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Embryonic stem cells cross-correct for defects found in a mutant mouse model for the neurodegenerative disorder known as Batten Disease

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:45:31 GMT

####Megan McFerson, Biological Sciences ####Mark Kirk, Mentor Our research focuses on a class of hereditary diseases called the neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinoses (NCLs), also known as Batten Disease. The NCLs are a group of autosomal, recessively inherited, progressive neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the accumulation of autofluorescent lipopigment in various tissues, including the retina and CNS. We are focusing specifically on Early Infantile NCL, caused by a mutation in the Cln1 gene, the gene responsible for production of the lysosomal enzyme Palmitoyl Protein Thioesterease-1. PPT-1 breaks down lipopigments,so that when it is mutated lipopigments accumulate in lysosomes. Working on a mouse model with the Cln1 gene knocked out reveals an accumulation of autofluorescent lysosomal lipopigment in the brain. Our goal is to use murine embryonic stem cells to cross-correct for defects in the Cln1 mice. Preliminary results reveal that brain slices of Cln1 knockout mice transplanted with B5 stem cells show a reduction in the number of lysosomal lipopigments. In the future, we will transfect stem cells with the PPT-1 gene under the control of a regulated promoter, resulting in neural stem cells that will produce the PPT-1 enzyme on demand. We hope that these stem cells will be able to produce PPT-1 to reduce and possibly eliminate all the lysosomal storage bodies in the deficient cells, thus preventing cell death.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Altered Nuclear Gene Expression in Response to Mitochondrial Mutations in Maize

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 19:56:25 GMT

####Scott Nichols, Chemistry ####Kathleen Newton, Mentor Maize non-chromosomal stripe (NCS) plants are defective plants with mutations within mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). NCS mutants are known to synthesize several stress proteins in response to defective mitochondria. The purpose of my study was to discover which other proteins have altered expression in the mutants. Changes in RNA levels can indicate which proteins differ in expression. Using microarrays, this study compares the RNAs of the NCS2 mutant to those of a normal relative. Many differences in RNA levels were observed. Results are still being analyzed to determine how many of the apparent differences are statistically significant.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Autonomy, Uncertainty, and Brute Luck Egalitarianism

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:48:28 GMT

####Kirk Rankin, Philosophy ####Peter Vallentyne, Mentor This research project explored some issues within political philosophy, specifically within egalitarian theory. After reading major contemporary political philosophers and discussing them with Professor Vallentyne, I ultimately wrote a paper entitled “Autonomy, Uncertainty, and Brute Luck Egalitarianism,” in which I argue against Alan Carter’s pluralist egalitarian theory in favor of what is known as a “brute luck egalitarian theory.” I do so within the context of deciding what role of respect for autonomy should play within an egalitarian theory, which I try to show as related to the uncertainty involved in the practice of politics. The paper will be submitted for publication in an undergraduate or graduate philosophy journal.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Clean Cells, Liberating Prisons?: American and British Housewives after World War II and Women of Today

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:54:46 GMT

####Amanda Schmid, History ####Linda Reeder, Mentor This project focused on the selling of motherhood, specifically through technological innovations and the medicalization of women, to American and British housewives after the Second World War and examined how the politics of mothering after the war still resonate with women today. My research found that housewives in both America and Britain were remarkably similar in the way they looked at housework as well as how they reacted to the culture of the time. Today, many women in both countries are also beginning to question the feminist goal of “having it all,” yearning to become the typical housewives whom the media portrayed in the 1950s.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Clarifying Prehistory

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:31:18 GMT

####Matthew Schroeder, Anthropology ####Michael J. O'Brien, Mentor Americanist archaeology has seen several major paradigm shifts, with changes in methodology, focus, and purpose accompanying with each paradigm. However, there is a commonality among all of the different paradigms that hinders productive scientific study: what I refer to as the “essentialist/materialist paradox.” It is this paradox that has led to the current state of the discipline with hypotheses and conclusions built on speculative data and ideas. This study attempted to explain that paradox, demonstrate why it is problematic, and offer a way out in order to rebuild the discipline with organic evolution as the foundation.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - Effects of Endocrine Disrupters on the Zebrafish Embryo

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:59:10 GMT

####Andrew G. Turner, Biological Sciences ####Anand Chandrasekhar, Mentor Previous data shows the specific endocrine disrupter Bisphenol-A (BPA) causing a reversible reduction in the heart rate of zebrafish embryos. Results indicate that BPA’s effects are not limited to a certain time period. A closer look at the decrease in heart rate shows a gradual decline, while the recovery is quite rapid. This suggests that BPA has a transient effect, not causing any permanent damage or modifying cardiac or vascular physiology. Three other assays were performed to determine if BPA had any other effects on the developing embryo: motor neurons, sensory response, and swim bladder inflation. My research reveals that motor neurons remained unaffected while sensory response and swim bladder inflation were compromised. Future experiments will focus on a more in-depth look at neurons using antibodies and explore the possibility of an electrical defect.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Ted Tarkow - The Benefits of Online Emotional Disclosure

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:50:59 GMT

####Kylie L. Woodbury, Psychological Sciences ####Laura King, Mentor This study addressed two questions: 1) Can written emotion disclosure over the internet produce psychological benefits? 2) Does writing about positive and negative topics produce the same benefits? Participants were randomly assigned to write (for twenty minutes, once a week, for three weeks) about one of three topics: a negative life event, a meaningful event in the past week, or a non-emotional control topic. Participants completed measures of depression and subjective well-being two months later. Results indicate that writing online does produce benefits: negative emotional disclosure leads to decreases in depressive symptoms and positive emotional disclosure leads to heightened psychological well-being.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Solving Ill-structured Problems

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:35:44 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - The Nature of Complex Problems

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:36:02 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Solving Ill-structured Problems in the Classroom

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:36:19 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Problem-based Learning

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:54:47 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Research Methods

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:37:24 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Assessment

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:37:53 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Learning on Campus

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:38:16 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - K-12 Learning

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:38:35 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Game Learning

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:38:49 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Problem Solving in the Humanities

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:39:07 GMT

Jonassen describes some practical examples of this model at work: the successful utilization of problem-based learning in the MU medical school and in the department of Religious Studies. He calls for education reform that includes more problem-based learning in other fields.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: David Jonassen - Teaching Learning

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:40:08 GMT

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - What research and creative activity looks like for music composer W. Thomas McKenney

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:45:58 GMT

Research for composer Thomas McKenney often takes the shape of such activities as score studies. That is, before McKenney begins to write a piece, he examines what other composers have done. While research informs his creative process, helping to get the creative juices flowing, McKenney then strives to put aside the research and focus on what he wants to do with his own composition.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - From score study to original musical composition: How research and creative activity inform each other

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:50:28 GMT

Johann Sebastian Bach was very much a tonal composer who wrote contrapuntal compositions, “which are linear in design with some vertical concepts as well.” For example, Bach would have the basses sing the melody at one point, and the altos later, creating a linear, contrapuntal design. Through such research into the work of other composers, McKenney seeks to understand how other composers have handled a certain idea, concept, or technique.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - Employing harmonic vocabulary

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:53:34 GMT

Tonality refers to the tendency of music to gravitate toward or around a pitch (or pitch class). It’s a kind of harmonic vocabulary frequently used by composers, so that “as long as there’s some pitch that’s pulling everything to it, we refer to it as ‘tonal,’” he explains, playing some chords to illustrate the tonal concept that influences and is defined by Western ears. According to legend, when Mozart sat down one evening and wrote the overture to _Don Giovani_, the ink was still wet when he gave it to the players. We marvel at this kind of prolific genius, yet music theorist Morton Subotnick contended that “Mozart was really improvising within a tonal system that was already set for him. He didn’t have to be concerned about the harmonic function of stuff.” One chord seemed to lead naturally to another. “The problem for twentieth-century composers,” says McKenney, “is that they must design their own tonal systems.” One might see this freedom as a blessing, but McKenney contends that, as far as composing music goes, sometimes too much freedom isn’t a blessing at all: “At some point in time, you have to put shackles on yourself and limit yourself; otherwise, it can be chaotic as far as the piece goes.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - More on tonal systems and McKenney’s philosophy of music

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:50:34 GMT

“I believe that all art is a product of that society in which it exists, and our society has become much more conservative over the last number of years,” McKenney suggests. During the 1960s and ‘70s, America was experiencing social upheaval. “You had some composers who were using mathematical processes to write pieces and everything was intellectually conceived.” At the other extreme were composers who didn’t notate anything but geometric shapes. It was in this period of great experimentation that electronic music began to take hold. “Music is more tonally conceived now,” McKenney observes, and less experimental than it used to be.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - McKenney's compositional process: Combining old and new technologies

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:54:06 GMT

McKenney’s own compositional process depends on the genre for which he is writing and often involves high-tech computer programs such as Csound and Finale.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - More on the pros and cons of using computerized software to compose music

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:52:15 GMT

McKenney combines pencil and paper composition methods with Finale, a professional musical transcription program. McKenney describes the pros and cons of using computer software to compose music. Mostly he uses such programs for playback (comparable to a word processor)--to check for wrong notes--and to transcribe his writing into a form that other people can read and then perform accurately. “You can’t really know until the live performance whether everything is going to work together the way you think it’s going to. You hope your ear hasn’t deceived you.” In spite of its speech synthesis ability, however, “the computer can’t sing a text.” Lacking the nuances of live performance, the computerized voices “sometimes sound like a dead woman’s choir.” Although these programs can’t reproduce the real musical instruments faithfully, McKenney still finds them useful. Listen to his recently composed choral piece, “Come Spirit Come,” as rendered via the music software program Finale.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - The types of musical pieces McKenney composes and the compositional process he employs

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:11:30 GMT

The nature of McKenney’s work ranges from dissonant, angular pieces that could be featured in science-fiction films to beautiful, balanced choral pieces intended to be sung in church. “The vocabulary that I use for a particular composition will depend upon the genre I am writing for.” He is often commissioned to compose something for a particular instrumentation, such as orchestra, symphonic wind ensemble, woodwind quintet, marimba and electronics, choir, or brass and percussion.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - The dilemma of publishing for composers

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:12:44 GMT

In the realm of publishing, composers face a dilemma. With no professional, peer-reviewed music journals, publication opportunities instead become commercial. Presses accept pieces for publication because of their marketability.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - "Music needs to balance emotion and intellect"

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:52:50 GMT

“There’s nothing quite like the high of hearing one of your own pieces played,” McKenney admits, “but to me the most important thing is the active, creative process itself.” While he seeks to try to write the best music he can, McKenney believes his teacher’s advice that music needs to balance emotion and intellect. If you have too much of either, “things get out of whack.” Furthermore, “there should be a communication process in all art,” McKenney adds, an interactive process between composer, performers, and the audience. If one part fails, it negatively impacts the process.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - McKenney’s philosophy of music

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:53:09 GMT

“Music has to speak to the human spirit. That’s what it’s really all about,” McKenney states. The violin is a wooden box with metal strings, “yet, put in the hands of an artist, the most beautiful things in the world can come out of it.” Consider as well the human voice. “We could scream and say really nasty, horrible things to other human beings, or we could sing and make beautiful sounds,” McKenney explains. “That’s really what the human spirit is all about.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - Writing music to elicit an emotional response

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:16:02 GMT

One of the potentials of electronic music is the ability to imitate other instruments. When making electronic music, McKenney tries to compose sounds a person can’t make.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Thomas McKenney - Teaching music at MU

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:17:05 GMT

“I take teaching as a serious responsibility, hence, it’s very time-consuming.” McKenney discusses some of his methods for teaching music and composition at MU.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Rex Cocroft - The beauty of animal communication

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:33:43 GMT

MU Biologist Rex Cocroft studies animal communication, something he was drawn to at a very young age. Communication is crucial to life at many levels, occurring within a cell, between cells, or between organisms within social groups. “Once we reach the level of communication between individuals, not only is there the fascinating intellectual challenge of studying communication, but there’s also this tremendous aesthetic appeal – that the signals themselves are often beautiful: the songs of whales, the flapping of butterfly wings, the scents of flowers.” Beyond its inherent beauty, communication is very important for the biology of organisms, since the evolution of the signals has much to do with the evolution of the species itself.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Rex Cocroft - How tree-hopper communication signals evolve and influence species evolution

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:35:03 GMT

With the tree-hoppers Cocroft demonstrates how sexual reproduction relies on elaborate communication. The vibrational signals sent through the stems and leaves of plants are “very important in mate choice.” If the signals of two populations of the same species diverge for some reason, individuals from one group may be less likely to recognize individuals from the other group as mating material – “and these can eventually become separate gene pools, whereas if their signals stay the same they are likely to interbreed. That’s a very strong homogenizing force that can prevent them from differentiating into different species.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Rex Cocroft - The challenges of researching insects

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:36:23 GMT

Researching insects is both fascinating and difficult. With 4-5 million different species and a corresponding diversity in communication signals, “once you get into the insect business you’ve got plenty to do.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Rex Cocroft - The tree-hopper’s life cycle and its relationship with its host plant

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:37:42 GMT

Tree-hoppers are intimately adapted to the host plant on which they live. “Their whole life cycle is timed to the progression of their plant,” explains Cocroft. In the fall they lay eggs in the bark; later, in the spring, the tree’s sap rising triggers the eggs to develop and hatch just as the leaves begin to emerge, providing the nymphs with new growth to eat.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - Chandrasekhar’s research as a condensed matter experimentalist

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:58:03 GMT

Meera Chandrasekhar 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, which do not allow electricity to flow; conductors, which do allow electricity to flow; and semiconductors, which “have conducting properties that are 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.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - Quantum mechanics 101

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:59:09 GMT

“As an electron travels around, it keeps bumping into stuff,” Chandrasekhar offers as a simple explanation. “So the behavior of the electron gets defined not just by all the other stuff around it, but by the fact that it is bumping into the edges” of different materials. Quantum mechanics helps to explain the different kinds of behaviors that occur when dealing with very small scales.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - Chandrasekhar’s contribution to the study of semiconductors

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:00:31 GMT

All of this background history is necessary in order to appreciate the important contributions Chandrasekhar has made to this field. That is, once people realized that these “bologna and cheese” heterostructures could be reliably constructed, a whole bunch of new questions arose. This is where Chandrasekhar’s research comes into play. “We don’t really ‘grow’ the devices…or even the materials,” she stipulates. “The work we do is on studying the properties of these devices: how to control them, what drives them, how far you can be off and still be within your range.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - Building a pressure cell to apply hydrostatic pressure

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:01:33 GMT

Chandrasekhar and Uma Venkateswaran, her graduate collaborator, designed and built a low-temperature pressure cell to conduct optical studies on semiconductor heterostructures. The device can apply pressures up to 1 million pounds per square inch, changing the energy levels so that the researchers can study the properties of these materials.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - Using high-pressure techniques with organic materials

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:02:36 GMT

The early semiconductors were all inorganic materials (such as silicon), of which there is a limited supply. Chandrasekhar is now looking at organic semiconductors, which present many exciting possibilities.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - Chandrasekhar’s research collaborations

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:03:16 GMT

Chandrasekhar’s research simply could not be accomplished without a good deal of collaboration with other people.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - Hands-on physics programs for K-12 students and teachers

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:04:05 GMT

Beyond her research, Chandrasekhar is passionate about education at the university level, as well as at the elementary and secondary levels. To this effect, over the years she has spearheaded a number of hands-on physical science programs for K-12 students and teachers to learn about force, motion, and energy. Some of those programs include Saturday Scientist, Exploring Physics, the Summer Teacher Institutes, and Physics First.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - How Chandrasekhar found herself drawn to physics in her youth

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:04:48 GMT

Chandrasekhar thinks back to her youth in India, where she found herself inexplicably drawn to the study of science and physics.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Meera Chandrasekhar - The Cultural Association of India

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:05:39 GMT

In addition to her work as a scientist, Chandrasekhar is active with Columbia’s Cultural Association of India. Among other things, the organization emphasizes classical Indian dance, song, and food.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Esther Thorson - Thorson’s research and the process of developing a model

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:19:37 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. Her first major effort, in collaboration with Margaret Duffy, was to address the news and advertising crisis caused by the “digital revolution,” reacting to the reality that newspaper and television audiences have been plummeting as consumers and advertisers alike are shifting toward the Internet and other new media technologies.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Esther Thorson - Examples of the “media choice model” in different news media

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:31:18 GMT

Thorson highlights a few examples of how the model is being used for newspaper, television, and radio organizations. Working with two newspapers in the South, they are designing a series of phone and Internet surveys to test the wants and needs of audience members in terms of four variables. The results will help them adapt to the changing environment. They have also been working with Minnesota Public Radio to apply the media choice model to a radio medium. In this situation they are figuring out how to make the public radio station “a forum for community discussion about significant issues.” Working with WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa, Thorson and Duffy are trying to find a way to drive traffic from broadcast television shows to the station’s website.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Esther Thorson - Building a research center for MU’s School of Journalism

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:32:12 GMT

When Thorson came to MU in 1993, she was asked to build a research unit for graduate students and faculty in the School of Journalism. After revising the entire doctoral program, hiring new faculty members, and writing research proposals, Thorson has made it possible for MU’s School of Journalism to spend approximately $1.5 million per year on research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Esther Thorson - The PRIME Lab

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:32:56 GMT

Thorson’s early research involved the Psychological Research on Information and Media Effects Lab conducts advanced research on the physiological responses people have to mass media messages.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Esther Thorson - Thorson’s early research projects

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:17:20 GMT

Having a Ph.D. in psychology has aided Thorson in observing and understanding people and how they respond to messages, and her research program calls upon her to be a “jack-of-all-trades.” She spent a lot of her early years in advertising research, looking at people’s responses to ads and figuring out what kinds of visual images or auditory stimuli grabs and holds their attention.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Esther Thorson - Using the Internet to advertise

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:34:39 GMT

_Internet Advertising: Theory and Research_, which Thorson co-edited with David W. Schumann (University of Tennessee) and now in its second edition, was the first book on Internet advertising. Its contributors are some of the most innovative scholars in the area of advertising and the Internet.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Esther Thorson - Thorson made a fellow of the American Academy of Advertising

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:35:27 GMT

The American Association of Advertisers is a group that includes both scholars and practitioners. Though originally advertising was considered a man’s field, Thorson wonders why no other women have yet been voted into the organization’s fellowship.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Soren Larsen - The discipline of geography and the subfield of cultural geography

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:04:51 GMT

“Geography is the study of human-environment interactions,” Larsen says of his discipline. It covers activity ranging from physical geography (e.g., wind erosion, weather patterns), techniques (e.g., modeling air pollution with GIS to understand the interactions between human and environment), and human geography. Human geographers focus on the political, economic, cultural, urban, and regional elements of human-environment interactions, looking at “the impact of the environment on human behavior,” as well as the “impact of human activity on the environment.” Within this subfield Larsen specializes in cultural geography, seeking to understand traditional land-use practices, naming practices, and sense of place.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Soren Larsen - Examples of Larsen’s research projects

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:05:07 GMT

Larsen, who started out as an undergraduate English major, found himself writing about place, a sense of place, and the identities associated with it. Seeking to understand cross-cultural variations in terms of a sense of place led him to the discipline of anthropology, and it was through ethnographic research that Larsen finally reached geography. His past research projects have involved sharecroppers in the Tennessee River Valley, who were relocated by the TVA dams, as well as with the Cheslatta, “a small Indian band in British Columbia, Canada, that had been relocated from its traditional lands in 1952 in order to make way for a hydroelectric project that was being constructed by the aluminum company of Canada.” In each case, Larsen sought to understand traditional land use practices, naming practices, and what places mean to people of different cultures.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Soren Larsen - The Canadian land claims treaty process

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:05:30 GMT

“There is a land claims treaty process that is going on in Canada,” Larsen reports, “but generally the native people in the province of British Columbia are very dissatisfied with it because it asks them to do things in terms of Western court procedures as opposed to their own indigenous ways of knowing and establishing these things. The Cheslatta are among two-thirds of the native bands that are withdrawing from the treaty process completely--as a matter of protest and also as a matter of expediency” as they seek to join forces with other groups. As a matter of fact, the lumberyards in Columbia will likely contain Cheslatta forest products that derive from this band of 500 individuals partnering with a multi-national timber firm.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Soren Larsen - Joining together to stand up to outsiders

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:04:28 GMT

“One of the most fascinating things I discovered in the course of my research,” reflects Larsen, is that both the Anglo and Cheslatta residents seem to use scales “in which they construct their identity for different purposes.” More specifically, he notices that, generally speaking, “when an outside force comes into the area . . . they call themselves Southsiders . . ., forming this unified front” against outside firms and corporations that tend to harvest the resources and then just leave. Their collaboration proved successful in preventing a new dam from being constructed, and “their success has bred more collaboration in these coalition politics.” Yet Larsen also noticed that when that outside force is removed, “they tend to fall back into their distinct little cultural groups”—Anglo and Cheslatta.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Soren Larsen - Transferring environmental knowledge in Colorado

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:03:48 GMT

Larsen’s newest project is located just north of Canyon City, Colorado, where the ranches that dominated the area since the late 1800s have been subdivided into parcels of 35 acres or more, creating a residential rural sprawl. Working at a field school facility that overlooks the valleys, Larsen and his research team have been interviewing the residents of this area “on the fringe, where residential development interfaces with wildlife.” The interviews reveal that “these ex-urban residents actually knew very little about the dangers, the environmental limitations, and issues that they were going to face”—from wildfire, bears, and rattlesnakes to how to deal with erosion and localized rain events that turn suddenly into flooding. As such, the residents were engaged in a process of knowledge transmission in order to learn about the environment. Larsen seeks to understand how this informal transmission of environmental knowledge might impact the future landscape.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Soren Larsen - Gathering data

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:06:10 GMT

Larsen gathers his data through a variety of different methods ranging from ethnographic field research to content analysis and GIS. But the method he prefers is called “participant observation,” an approach in which “you go and live with the people for an extended period of time, so you can start to learn how they think and feel and act.” In fact, Larsen considers participant observation to be a base line for all the research he does because “you gain an insight by participating in the culture.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Soren Larsen - Collaboration with other researchers

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:07:25 GMT

At first, when asked about collaborative research, Larsen joked that cultural geographers “usually fly solo,” because the projects are so time- and field-intensive. Yet Larsen has been involved in a number of collaborations. He worked closely with the Cheslatta people in British Columbia on various projects. At the Colorado field school he shares ideas with a cultural geographer, a GIS specialist, and a physical geographer. And he also collaborates with Matt Foulkes, a population geographer from MU’s Geography department, and Ann Bettencourt, a social psychologist from the Psychology department. Larsen has recently begun collaborating with Jason Dittmer, a geography colleague at Georgia Southern University, to compare the U.S.-based _Captain America_ books with those of _Captain Canuck_, its Canadian parallel. Using content analysis, they have found these comics shed light on matters of nationalism, national identity, and cultural values, as well as responses to cultural change.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Timothy Langen - How Langen was first drawn to Russian studies

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:37:05 GMT

A language requirement in college caught Langen at a crossroads where he decided to give Russian a try. He soon discovered that he enjoyed studying the language and decided to major in Russian history and literature, a combination that allowed him to make connections between a scholarly field and other things he cared about.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Timothy Langen - Why study the humanities and Russian literature?

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:37:46 GMT

Langen highlights three major reasons to study Russian literature and humanities more deeply than for simple enjoyment.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Timothy Langen - Langen’s collaboration

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:38:42 GMT

Langen describes the rewards of two collaborative projects: _Eight Twentieth-Century Russian Plays_ (2000) is an anthology of Russian plays that he translated and edited with Justin Weir. He also worked with his brother, Jesse Langen, examining how the music by Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich drew upon the poems of Alexander Blok.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Timothy Langen - Langen’s most recent project

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:39:37 GMT

Langen’s most recent project, _The Stony Dance: Unity and Gesture in Andrey Bely’s_ Petersburg (2005.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Timothy Langen - Gearing up for the next research project

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:40:44 GMT

Langen is gearing up for his next research project that will focus on late nineteenth-century Russian intellectual history. “These people thought of literary studies as something you could do scientifically,” Langen explains, and he plans to begin by exploring “the rules for responsible, scholarly discourse.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Timothy Langen - Langen’s research process

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:41:36 GMT

Teaching a general course on Russian civilization has helped Langen’s research process by allowing him to connect literary studies to other aspects of Russian life.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Timothy Langen - The Russian Program at MU

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:42:20 GMT

Being part of a small but thriving Russian Program, within the Department of German and Russian Studies, is an enriching experience that allows professors and students a great deal of one-on-one contact.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Daniel Hooley - An accidental journey

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:21:41 GMT

Dan 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.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Daniel Hooley - How the classics have influenced our culture

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:21:58 GMT

For a long time the classics were thought of as foundational texts of western culture. Hooley sees the role of classics now as “one body of relatively coherent, related texts that constitute a tradition in themselves.” He says they have become the intellectual currency of our culture and are “great to think with.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Daniel Hooley - Theories of translation

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:22:39 GMT

Hooley talks about his first book, _The Classics in Paraphrase: Ezra Pound and Modern Translators of Latin Poetry,_ and how it opened a door for him to begin studying the various theories of translation.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Daniel Hooley - Fostering the human spirit with satire

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:22:59 GMT

While Hooley’s first book focused on Latin translations, his second book, _The Knotted Thong: Structures of Mimesis in Persius_ (1997), is a study of Roman satire—namely of Persius, one of the three major Roman satirists. Hooley was drawn to this man and his work partly because Persius was considered such a “strange guy.” Satire, Hooley says, “fosters all those things that are healthy for the human spirit—it makes us laugh at silly things and sometimes makes us laugh at things that are egregious and wrong.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Daniel Hooley - “Funnily critical, or critically funny?”

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:22:22 GMT

Most recently, Hooley has completed an introductory book on Roman satire. It covers the historical development of satire, explaining the genre as inherently human: “It’s in our blood; it’s hardwired into our brains.” Satire carries a very broad definition: it is partly a reaction to power and a way of expressing resistance, but at other times it provides a vehicle to poke fun at things.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Daniel Hooley - Hooley’s personal philosophy about studying the classics

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:25:14 GMT

Through Hooley’s work in classical studies he has developed a philosophy about why one should study the classics: “Classics is just good material. The historical distance makes it more refreshing because you see the difference and how we’re the same animals. These texts don’t dictate our ethics and laws, but help our imaginations, which I think is a good reason to study them.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Yuyan Luo - What infants know about the world in which they live

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:10:14 GMT

Psychologist Yuyan Luo explains how she first became interested in studying infant cognition and the types of “looking-time studies” she uses to study how much infants understand about object permanence.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Yuyan Luo - Experiments and the Infant Cognition Lab

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:12:18 GMT

Luo runs the Infant Cognition Lab at MU, in its second year of existence. Luo describes some of the experiments she began in graduate school concerning transparency and object permanence.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Yuyan Luo - Understanding infants’ psychological reasoning

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:14:16 GMT

Luo describes her current research project, which focuses on determining infants’ knowledge of psychological reasoning. Using the looking-time method, she is testing infants as young as three-months old to see if they understand the concept of object preference.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Yuyan Luo - More complex experiments

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:17:59 GMT

Luo furthers her research about infant psychological understanding by conducting similar experiments with non-human agents.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Yuyan Luo - Luo’s future goals

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:19:28 GMT

All of the subjects in Luo’s experiments are volunteered by their parents. Luo talks about research she hopes to pursue in her future work.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Yuyan Luo - Courses in cognition development

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:20:57 GMT

In addition to running the Infant Cognition Lab, Luo also teaches cognition development courses at MU, ranging from infancy to toddler psychological and biological knowledge development.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Yuyan Luo - Infant Conition Lab demonstration

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:17:37 GMT

Yuyan Luo uses “looking-time studies” to learn how much infants understand about the world around them. In this lab video, the top half of the frame will reveal what the infant is shown, whereas the bottom half reveals the infant's reaction.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Understanding traditional healing practices

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:01:48 GMT

Studying traditional healing practices in South Africa in terms of their usefulness in improving human health and treating certain diseases.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Collaborating across nations

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:04:24 GMT

William Folk and 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 to create a virtual center that seeks to understand traditional healing practices in South Africa.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Crucial need for trust

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:06:03 GMT

The team has completed phase one of the project, which involved establishing the administrative structure for TICIPS and conducting a small-scale clinical trial of the safety of the South African plant Sutherlandia in healthy adults. The next step will involve trying to find scientific evidence about the plant’s safety.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Just a drop in the bucket

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:07:21 GMT

The outcomes of this study will define a process by which these plants can be studied and evaluated. Folk hopes that others will be able to carry on with similar studies to begin to learn and inform the public about these plants.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Why South Africa?

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:08:30 GMT

Twenty million people have been infected with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the availability of drugs and health care is far below what is needed to stop the pandemic. Responding to this problem, scientists from MU and the University of the Western Cape have joined forces. Their relationship is built on trust and about 400 visits back and forth over the past two decades.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Challenges for the project

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:41:11 GMT

Some of the challenges of this project have included building trust with traditional healers, but the American team members have benefited from the deep trust that has developed between the South African colleagues and traditional healers. Folk’s team has budgeted for compensation, preferred in the form of cattle, for traditional healers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Phases of the project

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:10:47 GMT

In its second year, TICIPS has three out of four projects underway. The highest priority is a human clinical trial that will take place in a hospital outside of Durbin, South Africa.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: William R. Folk - Why is Sub-Saharan Africa the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic?

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:11:56 GMT

The answer to why Sub-Saharan Africa is known is the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic is complex. But Folk states that while “we don’t know all the answers, in part the apartheid government worked to destroy the traditional culture and society of South Africa,” which clearly exacerbated the problem.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - Freedom of speech, freedom of information, constitutional law

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:07:26 GMT

Generally speaking, all of Christina Wells’ research falls under the auspices of constitutional law, especially the areas of freedom of information and access to government information, both of which relate to the First Amendment.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - The benefit of the first amendment

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:44:14 GMT

“Sometimes the law is absolutely clear and every scholar will agree, but usually you’ll find some disagreement about the answer to it. That’s the good thing about hard cases – they involve a public discussion and some sort of public resolution…. That’s what I see as the great thing about the First Amendment – that you are allowed to talk about these things.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - How fear and prejudice negatively impact governmental decision-making

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:44:14 GMT

In a recent paper, “Questioning Deference,” Wells brings principles from both psychology and law to examine how people make decisions in times of crisis. She shows, for instance, how fear and prejudice can skew the government’s decision-making, citing the prosecution of anti-war protestors during World War I, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the legal battles against Communists during the Cold War as painful reminders.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - The dangers of excessive government secrecy

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:44:08 GMT

Wells’ research reveals that the current Bush administration “has used secrecy very broadly without justifying why it wants to keep things secret.” “That’s a very dangerous thing to have happen,” she cautions, “because then you literally have no accountability,” and history has shown the sometimes devastating consequences of this scenario.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - Federal law that limits protests at funerals

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:44:08 GMT

Recently Wells has begun examining state and federal laws that limit protests at funerals. In hasty reaction to the infamous protests begun by the Westboro Baptist Church in 2005, twenty-six states and the federal government have enacted laws limiting the timing and placement of demonstrations near cemeteries.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - The internet’s role in shaping public opinion

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:44:02 GMT

The internet is still an unknown quantity, says Wells, and it needs to be studied. “Some have argued that people have great access to information because of the internet, and to some extent that’s true,” she observes. But many people, in fact, experience information overload. However, Wells cautions, “getting information and knowing whether it is true can be very difficult.” Moreover, people tend to search the internet with preconceived notions and, predictably, wind up reinforcing their existing beliefs rather than nuancing, challenging, or debunking them.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - Primary research for Wells

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:43:55 GMT

In order to understand the complexities of these legal issues, Wells monitors state legislatures in terms of bills that have been enacted, examining the history of the legislative debates that ensued as the law was being passed. She obtains this information through governmental websites and through the Westlaw database, but she also looks at newspaper articles that describe the protests and even requests documents (such as complaints, depositions, and affidavits) from the attorneys involved to see how the demonstrations are described and what reasons are given for challenging a particular law.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - How Wells found her way from chemistry to law

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:43:46 GMT

Wells majored in chemistry at the University of Kansas, assuming she would eventually become a physician. She eventually realized, however, that what she liked most about chemistry was the theory part of problem-solving. After taking some humanities courses, she found herself drawn to law, and when she took a constitutional law course Wells simply “fell in love,” finding multiple connections between chemistry and law in terms of problem-solving, philosophy, and the testing of hypotheses.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christina Wells - The law casebook Wells is co-authoring

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:11:21 GMT

Wells’ current project involves collaboration with co-authors Ron Krotoszynski, Steven Gey, Lyrissa Lidsky on a law casebook called _First Amendment: Cases and Theory_ (forthcoming 2008, Aspen Publishing).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - Hong S. He’s research into landscape ecology

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:04:15 GMT

Hong S. He’s research projects in landscape ecology include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing applications (such as satellite imagery and aerial photography), both of which are put to work in making important forestry management decisions.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - The innovation of computerized landscape modeling work

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:04:37 GMT

A computer model called LANDIS addresses the larger spatial and temporal dimensions involved in effective forestry management, whether that means looking at the long-term effects of fire management or at tree harvesting practices. In lieu of an ecological crystal ball, this computer model is becoming a crucial tool that employs current science “to simulate the long-term effects of various management decisions.” With LANDIS, it becomes possible to estimate how frequently a fire needs to occur in order to maintain the forest’s ecological health.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - Landscape modeling, continued

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:57:40 GMT

Computer modeling is an important tool used by landscape ecologists when they need to answer large-scale questions and consider several management scenarios such as suppressing fire or using prescribed fires, as well as the future impact of climate warming on certain species of trees. LANDIS shows the predicted results of various management policies 50-100 years from now. “Using some active management alternatives, hopefully we’ll end up with different, more desirable ecosystems,” says He.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - MU’s GIS certification program

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:58:13 GMT

Hong He has observed that many students tend to be drawn to MU’s School of Natural Resources because of their desire to be outdoors studying wildlife in forests and woods. One of He’s goals was to bring students back into the classroom by building up their knowledge and skills with GIS and spatial analysis. Owing to He’s efforts, MU now has both a successful GIS certification program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - Collaborative research

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:58:32 GMT

“In my field, the individual is very limited,” reflects He. Thus he finds himself involved in a number of collaborations with other people – from other MU faculty to the U.S. Forest Service, the USDA, and international landscape ecology experts.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - Crossing political boundaries

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:58:54 GMT

“We know fire ignores country boundaries. We know insects and disease cross country boundaries. However, as human beings we have to get a visa to go to another country.” He insists, “I find science really doesn’t have a boundary.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - How He came to this field

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:55:49 GMT

He started out in the area of soil research, which was highly field-oriented at the time, consisting largely of digging up samples and identifying types. “When the GIS became available, that drew me into the technology. . . . I realized that a lot of the mapping and analytical work can be done with a computer.” He has now spent a decade in forestry research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Hong S. He - LANDIS

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:59:28 GMT

LANDIS, an imprecise acronym that stands for Landscape Disturbance and Succession Model, is co-owned by Hong He and creator David Mladenoff (University of Wisconsin). The model has different components that foster exploration by interest (for example, fire, wind, harvest, insects and disease, fire management, or forest succession), and is free of charge to the public.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - An interactive theatre project

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:41:34 GMT

Welch has been working for the past six years with Suzanne Burgoyne of MU’s theatre department to employ an interactive theatre technique in classrooms and workshops that teaches conflict resolution skills. This research and pedagogical approach is on-going. Recently it morphed into something called the Difficult Dialogues Project—an interdisciplinary initiative involving MU and 42 other institutions to address the threats to academic freedom at the university. The project is designed “to empower students to express opposing views respectfully and in the spirit of open-mindedness.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - What happens after empire?

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:43:21 GMT

Regarding her book _After Empire_ (2004), Welch says: “One of the things I’ve always been very interested in is the ethics of peace and war and the kind of debate that is going on now about whether the United States should take on proudly and without hesitation the mantle of empire.” Examining both sides of the issue Welch notes that “every empire becomes one of domination and coercion. And a basic lesson of history is that people don’t like to be dominated, and they’re going to resist. There’s a cost to empire. There’s a cost not just to the people who are controlled, but there’s a cost to us who are the empire.” Hence, it is crucial at this uncertain historical juncture that “rather than use our power to be an empire, we use our power to put in place a kind of world order that we would like to see when we’re no longer the dominant political power, bringing the rule of law to the international sphere” between nations.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - After Empire (continued)

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:45:46 GMT

In _After Empire_ Welch offers practical suggestions for moving toward an international rule of law: “A lot of people are opposed to war, but really don’t know what the alternatives are. They don’t know that there are millions of people all over the world trying to put in place those alternatives.” She speaks especially about one group of which she is a part, Global Action to Prevent War, an international consortium of NGOs and peace studies programs in over thirty countries. Having worked with the coalition that established the International Criminal Court, they are now working on the formation of a United Nations emergency peace service. Although Welch describes many “little successes,” they are not given much attention in the crisis-driven media. “We don’t really have a cultural script for the little successes,” she observes. “It’s not as glamorous to prevent a war. And how do you know you’ve prevented it? Maybe it wouldn’t have happened anyway.” Moreover, while war may be averted, racial and economic problems still remain: “With war, there’s a least the illusion of a definite end—one side surrenders,” whereas, with peaceful solutions “there’s no defined end; the struggles are ongoing.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - Sweet Dreams in America: how society addresses morality

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:46:51 GMT

“What I’m really interested in is called social ethics,” Welch explains. What a society counts as moral or immoral is subject to the particular _zeitgeist_—the spirit of the times. For example, at the time of the slave trade, “most people who were slave owners thought it was moral. Even a few blacks, once they were freed, had slaves.” As a social ethicist, Welch has been trying to understand not just the way individuals make moral choices but how a whole society begins to decide “what counts as moral.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - America’s “moral disengagement”

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:49:37 GMT

“One of the most dangerous stories that as Euro-Americans we tell ourselves is that we can defeat evil,” Welch explains. “Whether we think we defeat it through violence, or persuasion, or coercion, the notion of _defeating evil_ is often the cause of some of the greatest evil.” This becomes most obvious in the case of war, “where in order to defeat the enemy we become the enemy. In order to stand up to torture, we ourselves become torturers. To protect the rule of law, we give up the rule of law.” Welch contends that “a great deal of evil is done by people who are just doing their jobs, being efficient, following orders.” The Holocaust is a painful example of this syndrome. Welch seeks a way for our culture to break through this moral disengagement, observing: “It’s really easy to see someone else doing it, but much harder to see it when we are the ones doing it. How do we begin to see through the rhetoric that justifies evil—the euphemistic language, the demonizing, and the dehumanizing that goes on?”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - Humanities research

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:51:21 GMT

Humanities-related research involves studying the work of other scholars (e.g., philosophy and comparative religious ethics) and then synthesizing those ideas. For example, Welch has taken up the challenge to dominant ethics by Native American and Engaged Buddhist philosophers. Using certain techniques like interactive theatre in the classroom, she is applying qualitative measures to determine the effect of these pedagogical techniques. So far she has learned that these interactive theatre experiences can really change the way many students see the world around them.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - Moving beyond the “good guys versus bad guys” script

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:52:16 GMT

The real challenge for Welch is how “to help people see that they too can be the agent of evil.” Given that most of our stories involve “good guys versus bad guys,” those are the cultural scripts we are given. Taking some ideas from Theophus Smith’s _Conjuring Culture_ (1995), Welch argues that “it’s not just a simple divide of oppressor/oppressed.” While clearly there is blatant oppression, sometimes excessive shaming occurs—“the people who have been oppressive need to be shamed, need to be called to account,” yet, “there’s no way all that suffering is going to be redeemed.” When a single event or person becomes a scapegoat for all the suffering groups of people have experienced historically, “it becomes a way of driving a deeper and deeper wedge.” The goal is to find a way of balancing accountability without demonizing the oppressor.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - MU’s Difficult Dialogues Project

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:53:35 GMT

One of Welch’s projects involves the Center for Religion, the Professions, and the Public: “As the professions become aware of the different religious traditions with which people work, it raises questions about what constitutes ethical behavior. People have different meanings of what counts as ethical. How do we learn to adjudicate these in a better way?” CRPP’s ethics consortium brings people from multiple disciplines together to look at deep ethical issues. Another project with which Welch is active is MU’s Difficult Dialogues Project, a collaborative initiative that joins the forces of various administrative, faculty, and student groups. Using interactive theater, the project aims to address difficult multicultural issues in “an environment in which differing views are defended, heard, and considered by those who hold conflicting ideas and values across cultures.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Sharon Welch - A Feminist Ethic of Risk

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:54:42 GMT

As her first foray into comparative ethics, Welch recounts the origins of her book _A Feminist Ethic of Risk_ (2000, 2nd edition): “I wrote it because one of the things I noticed, as a graduate student and then teaching at Harvard University, was how easily white middle-class people give up. At first people wouldn’t want to take a stand on an issue, whether apartheid or nuclear weapons, because they thought they didn’t know enough about it. Once they learned more about the issue, they were still unable to act, but now for a different reason—they thought the problem was too big to do anything about. I saw this as a phenomenon of cultured despair, being aware of large issues and arguing against the futility of partial efforts.” By contrast Welch learned from the work of the ethicist Katie Cannon about a type of “moral wisdom in the black women’s literary tradition,” an ethic of resisting over the long-haul in spite of seemingly overwhelming oppression, and the “confluence of spirituality and aesthetics” that sustained their activism over time.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - Design Philosophy 1

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:51:17 GMT

Huelsbergen discusses her service philosophy as a graphic designer.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - Design Philosophy 2

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:51:55 GMT

Continued from above.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - On Fostering Trust in the Classroom

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:52:19 GMT

Huelsbergen talks about fostering trust in the classroom.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - On Graphic Design

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:52:48 GMT

Huelsbergen talks about graphic design versus the manual arts.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - Illustration Examples I

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:53:27 GMT

Huelsbergen shows examples of her recent artwork.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - Illustration Examples II

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:01:59 GMT

Continued from above.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - Illustration Examples III

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:54:59 GMT

Continued from above.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - More Examples

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:55:39 GMT

Continued from above.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Deborah Huelsbergen - On Teaching the Creative Process

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:57:02 GMT

Huelsbergen discusses how she encourages students to take risks with their designs.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mian Liu - Liu’s journey to Geological Sciences

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:38:05 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. Liu’s earliest interest was in physics, which “just seemed more intuitive.” He currently teaches and researches geophysics at MU. Liu explains to his students that “anything you are interested in you can find in geosciences.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mian Liu - Intraplate earthquakes in Northern China

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:48:39 GMT

Liu is a part of a collaborative pilot study with colleagues at MU and partners in China, trying to understand why intraplate earthquakes happen so frequently in northern China. Their research involves installing seismometers to image the Earth’s structure, using GPS to monitor crustal motion, and conducting computer simulations in order to understand how earthquakes occur.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mian Liu - Liu’s early research

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:48:55 GMT

Liu’s dissertation research focused on Hawaiian “hotspots” and volcanic eruptions. In his postdoctoral position, Liu studied “mantle convection,” trying to understand how the earth’s mantle flows, a force that is the “primary driving mechanism of everything we see on earth today.” When he came to MU in 1992, Liu shifted his interest once again, this time to continental dynamics.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mian Liu - Computer Simulation as an approximate of nature

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:49:37 GMT

“I always have to remind my students that computer simulation is an approximation of nature," says Liu. "The most useful part of computer simulation is to allow us to better understand the fundamental physics.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mian Liu - Collaborative work in metamorphism

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:49:55 GMT

In collaboration with another colleague at MU, Peter Nabelek, Liu has been studying metamorphism, “the change in mineral composition of rocks when the pressure and temperature conditions change.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mian Liu - Changing the way geoscientists store data

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:50:44 GMT

As if Liu’s “plate” isn’t full enough, he also has his hand in a research project called GEON (Geoscience Network) supported by the National Science Foundation. This initiative involves a dozen institutions along with the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The goal is to create a prototype of geosciences cyberinfrastructure, so “that any scientist can have any kind of data at his or her fingertips.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carolyn Henry - Explaining Comparative Oncology

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:07:40 GMT

Henry explains that “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, finding ways to treat that cancer better, and translating our discoveries into better treatments for people as well.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carolyn Henry - The Comparative Oncology Trial Consortium

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:08:28 GMT

Under the umbrella of the National Cancer Institute, 13 universities were chosen to participate in the Comparative Oncology Trial Consortium, which conducts research trials to develop new and better cancer treatments.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carolyn Henry - Henry’s Other Research Projects

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:09:25 GMT

Henry is also involved in a number of research projects outside of the COTC, focusing on spontaneously occurring cancer in animals, more specifically breast cancer, bone cancer, and bladder cancer. Chuckling, she remarks, “so I guess any tumor that starts with a ‘b’ is what I’m focused on right now.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carolyn Henry - Collaborative Efforts

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:10:13 GMT

Some of the collaborative efforts Henry has been a part of include research with pharmaceutical companies, the MU Research Reactor, and the Veterinary Cancer Society.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carolyn Henry - The Concept of One Medicine

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:11:03 GMT

A prevalent attitude about comparative oncology at MU is the concept of one medicine: “It doesn’t matter if you’re a dog, a cat, or a person. If you have cancer you’re fighting the same disease, and so let’s work together and find a cure for it no matter what the species.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carolyn Henry - Barkley House and Cell Culture Lab

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:11:53 GMT

The veterinary oncology program at MU is growing very quickly: “Right now we’ve got four boarded veterinary oncologists, a veterinary radiation therapist, and residents and interns that are interested in oncology.” In September 2006, the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital opened a Cell Culture Lab that has made tumor cell research easier to conduct. The Barkley House, Henry’s brainchild, is in the first stages of becoming a reality.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carolyn Henry - A Tour of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:53:33 GMT

Henry gives a tour of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, including the Cell Culture Lab, the oncology ward, radiation therapy, and CT scans.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - What does an engineer do?

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:20:46 GMT

In the most basic definition of his field, Kluever explains that engineers apply math and science knowledge to real problems, taking existing knowledge from mathematics and the physical sciences to construct some real device or to make some system better. “What do engineers do at work?” he laughs irreverently, “they go to a lot of meetings, they work on projects, and they try to stay on budget!”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - How Kluever came to aerospace engineering

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:21:08 GMT

Asked how he was drawn to aerospace engineering, Kluever responds: “Well, really it’s from the Apollo days. When I was in kindergarten, I remember watching the Apollo 11 landing—the first lunar landing—on a grainy black-and-white TV. That just made a big impact on me, and of course the first thing I wanted to be was an astronaut, and when that didn’t work out I found out that engineers are really what’s needed to design these missions, so aerospace engineering just seemed like a logical thing for me.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - Solving NASA’s mission design problems

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:21:42 GMT

Craig Kluever’s childhood dream of becoming an astronaut turned instead into the pursuit of the science behind the rockets. Today, the Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering seeks to solve the kind of problems involved in space missions—like how to take off, and most importantly, how to return safely to Earth. Kluever came to this area of research in graduate school when he had a fellowship with NASA, developing computer programs to help solve problems involved with mission designs that use electric propulsion (as opposed to chemical propulsion). At the time, Kluever recalls, electric propulsion was a brand new technology, and NASA needed predictive computer models to calculate missions, for example to map a trajectory from Earth to Mars using electric propulsion.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - The Current Status of Electric Propulsion

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:22:03 GMT

The first space mission to use electric propulsion was Deep Space I. Launched in 1998, it was a test mission for electric propulsion, one on which a lot of people worked to see the mission to success. “It had a very modest target,” Kluever says – basically just to fly by an asteroid – “and it was able to complete that mission.” Since then there have been some very big plans to send spacecraft to Jupiter or other outer planets using electric propulsion. “But the problem with electric propulsion (and NASA) is that these technologies cycle,” observes Kluever. “Sometimes they’re politically in favor and sometimes not. Right now they’re out of favor,” largely due to budgetary restraints.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - New Directions in Aerospace Engineering

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:22:28 GMT

For the first six years as an assistant professor, Kluever primarily focused on space missions that used electric propulsion. He worked with NASA on a lot of feasibility studies—aka “paper studies” (e.g., missions to the moon, to Mars, to the outer planets, to Pluto), studies that go into rounds of proposals that compete for selection. Unfortunately, none of the studies Kluever worked on have been selected, though he has come close. He worked on Diana, an early version of Dawn, which did get selected. Kluever has also worked with the X-33 program. In this project he looked at the approach and landing guidance system for this unpowered vehicle, which would have been the next-generation space shuttle (if the program had not been cancelled). Now the hot topic is the Crew Exploration Vehicle, the capsule in which NASA hopes to send astronauts to the moon and to Mars. Kluever is focusing on the atmospheric phase of the entry guidance system, particularly the Earth return, and also working on the ascent guidance system for the vacuum-flight phase of the Crew Launch Vehicle.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - Building robustness into mission designs

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:22:51 GMT

The guidance system Kluever worked on for the X-33 shuttle was to have robustness built into its designs for guidance and control systems. Although the existing Shuttle works very well, Kluever says, “it does not have a lot of robustness built in.” If it comes in on a flight path that is too steep, too shallow, or too fast, it has very limited capabilities for altering that flight path and still making the planned approach for landing. “Fortunately the Shuttle hasn’t had any major mechanical failures (like a broken rudder) on the way down. But if failures occurred, it would have limited maneuverability.” Kluever’s contribution to this project will allow a new shuttle’s guidance system to not only maintain the exact amount of energy to reach the landing area, but also to recognize and steer toward the runway. “Robust” describes a new guidance system that is more automated and adaptable, and therefore, a new generation of safer shuttle vehicles – “so that if some major failure occurred—like the rudders didn’t work and it had limited banking ability, or the elevators didn’t work, and it had limited pitching capability—you could recalculate a trajectory that would still take it to a safe landing. That’s what’s meant by robustness.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - Should we send more people to the moon?

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:23:18 GMT

Asked why this research was important, Kluever responded in a surprising way. In an era of tight budgets, most researchers are accustomed to arguing for the importance of their work. However, Kluever answers ambivalently: “That’s the hardest question.” He could cite the many technological advances that were outcomes of the space program (from Teflon and computers to mammograms), advances that impact many lives. But that kind of response has become something of a cliché, he believes. Presently, roughly 75% of NASA’s budget is tied up in the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, with only the remainder left to fund basic science, biological, earth science, and robotic missions (to Jupiter, Pluto, and Mercury). Whether there’s a direct benefit to human spaceflight, Kluever admits, “I myself struggle with that question. In this day of tight budgets, I’m not sure if that money is justified to send a person to the moon.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Craig Kluever - Teaching at MU

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:23:35 GMT

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering has recently developed an emphasis area in aerospace engineering. Kluever teaches such required courses in the general areas of dynamics (how bodies move and how forces produce certain velocities and accelerations) and controls (how to design a control system to do a particular task), and he teaches such elective courses as Space Flight Mechanics and Aircraft Flight Mechanics (how to design a space mission or determine such performance characteristics as take-off, landing, range, endurance, and stability with an airplane).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - “Doing” sustainable agriculture

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:22:54 GMT

Most of Jose Garcia’s work involves doing outreach and teaching about sustainable agriculture to various groups of people, from farmers in rural Missouri communities to students, faculty, and staff at MU. There are three dimensions emphasized by use of the term “sustainable agriculture” explains Garcia. “Because food and agriculture are totally connected to people and to communities and to laborers,” sustainable agriculture refers to an approach to farming and food, in which economic viability, environmental impact, and social responsibility are considered in any decision.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - Examples of Garcia’s outreach activities

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:25:30 GMT

Garcia describes a few projects within the realm of sustainable agriculture. For example, Garcia trains extension educators on various sustainability issues. The educators may then go back to their communities and work directly with farmers and workers, “so that those farmers are more exposed to sustainable agriculture issues, including, for example, sustainable agriculture practices, natural resources, conservation issues, and funding opportunities for sustainable agriculture projects for their farms.” Garcia works as well with MU’s community of students, staff, and faculty, offering a monthly seminar called, “What’s New in Sustainable Food and Farming.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - MU’s new undergraduate major in sustainable agriculture

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:26:36 GMT

In addition to teaching farmers and extension educators, Garcia teaches a class at MU in sustainable agriculture, part of the undergraduate major in sustainable agriculture that began last fall.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - Working with minorities in agriculture

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:28:11 GMT

While he sometimes presents workshops directly to Latino farmers and agricultural workers, often Garcia targets employers of food and agricultural workers. He provides them with information about legal issues, communication, and culture necessary in order to hire and retain Latino agricultural workers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - Issues arising from increased Latino labor force in Missouri

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:29:42 GMT

“There are a number of issues that impact the Latino labor force in rural parts of the state of Missouri,” explains Garcia. Immigration is obviously a big one, along with education, poverty, health, and vulnerability to abuse. Sometimes the main challenges involving Latino agricultural workers results from their past negative experiences with authority and the government. To address these issues, Garcia has coordinated a series of workshops and institutes on cultural competency for extension workers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - Another recent event

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:30:45 GMT

Garcia and his colleagues across the state rely on “virtual meetings” over the Internet with extension agriculturalists to touch base about certain issues related to sustainable agriculture.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - How Garcia’s work leads into research

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:32:11 GMT

As the Missouri Coordinator for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE), Garcia tries to “keep the discussion on the table that Latino farmers (and other minority farmers) need to be more exposed to sustainable agriculture,” and he helps people better understand the need to reach out to those audiences. Garcia also serves on the steering committee for the National Immigrant Farming Initiative, a network of organizations across the country working with immigrant and refugee farmers (in Missouri that means Latino and Hmong workers).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - How Garcia came to this line of work

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:33:22 GMT

“I do these things not because it’s only part of my job responsibility, but because I believe in the things that I’m doing….I don’t think that industrial agriculture is that sustainable. …I think we need to give a long-term perspective to the things we do, and sustainable agriculture has that long-term approach. It’s about future generations. It’s actually leaving our kids and our kids’ children the same opportunities, the same natural resources and the same access to services that we enjoy now.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - Garcia’s outreach work with Hmong farmers

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:34:48 GMT

Beyond the Latino farmers and workers, Garcia does similar workshops and presentations for extension people working with Hmong and other immigrant farmers in Missouri. Part of his work involves bridging existing services, and facilitating partnerships and connections. “It has to be collaborative,” he says, “I’d kill myself if I tried to everything on my own. Success relies heavily on those collaborations.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: José Garcia - Garcia’s research on Latino farmers

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:35:53 GMT

Garcia has been conducting research on Latino farmers and their access to financial services, an extension project that became integrated with a research project.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - Francophone novelist Jean-Marie Adiaffi

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:52:52 GMT

Gallimore’s early research addressed how African Francophone writers subvert the French canon by drawing from their culture’s oral tradition to create different levels of meaning. In Gallimore’s first book, _L’oeuvre romanesque de Jean-Marie Adiaffi. Le mariage du mythe et de l’histoire: fondement d’un récit pluriel_ (1996), Gallimore examines author Jean-Marie Adiaffi, particularly the novel _La Carte d’Identité_ (1995). The main character in the book, who was a prince before colonization, loses his I.D. card. In the system imposed by the colonial French government, the loss of this I.D. card results in the loss of the man’s name and identity, so it becomes an allegory for the impact of colonization on the identity of the colonized.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - Francophone author Calixthe Beyala

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:53:42 GMT

Rangira Béa Gallimore’s second book, _L’oeuvre romanesque de Calixthe Beyala: Le renouveau de l’écriture féminine en Afrique francophone sub-saharienne_ (1997), focuses on contemporary Francophone writer Calixthe Beyala. Whereas her first book subverts “the master’s language” by using the French of the slums (_les bidonvilles_) instead of classic French, her second book attempts to subvert patriarchy itself. Providing counterpart to male writers “who idealized the African woman as this beautiful symbol of the earth,” Beyala offers main characters who are forced into prostitution because of sexual abuse or poverty. “It’s very clear in her writing that she’s using the female body discourse. The body in writing is exposed, it is displayed,” explains Gallimore, and indeed Beyala’s tendency to address taboo subjects has created controversy. “It was very shocking for an African woman to write such things,” yet women’s bodies in Beyala’s novels stand as a “symbol of the violated earth, of the bad and the evil” that they have had to endure through their bodies. “You cannot deny the reality of Africa,” responds Beyala to her detractors.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - Why Gallimore is drawn to Beyala’s novels

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:54:14 GMT

Gallimore has been drawn to Beyala’s novels because of their powerful realism, which deeply resonates with her own experience of growing up in the Congo. “When I first read her book, I was amazed. I was looking at things I had seen myself. It was a reality in Africa we cannot deny; you maybe don’t want it in writing, but it’s a reality for women. Those are the things women have to endure to survive.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - Responding to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:54:39 GMT

In 1994, work on Gallimore’s second book came to a screeching halt because of the Rwandan genocide, in which roughly one million people were massacred. Included in the numbers of the murdered were Gallimore’s mother, three brothers, and a sister, as well as her extended family. Among the genocide survivors are an estimated 250,000 women and children who were raped. Gallimore eventually returned to working on her book about Beyala’s work, “but it was very hard because I was working on a book about fictional characters who were victims of rape. On the other side, in Rwanda, there were real women who were victims of rape. I have really had to juggle my feelings, and my writing, because it didn’t really make much sense then to write about fiction when reality was so cruel.” Hence, it is no surprise that even as she was finishing her second book, “there was a book about Rwanda right in front of me.” That book, co-edited with fellow Rwandan Chantel Kalisa (University of Nebraska), was called _Dix ans après_ (2005) and features both academic articles and creative pieces on the Rwanda genocide.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - Testimony of rape survivors

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:55:11 GMT

Gallimore speaks of the obstacles to overcome when trying to speak the unspeakable, to comprehend the incomprehensible, that is genocide. Her next book involves literary criticism as well as sociolinguistic and anthropological methods, drawing upon data collected in Rwanda as well as archival data and transcripts of the testimonies of women who survived the genocide. She has been working with an organization in Rwanda called ABASA, a group made of rape survivors. (_Abasa_ is a Kinyrwanda word that means “we are all the same.”) Interviewing women from this group, Gallimore hopes to give voice to their stories and identify their various needs so that Step Up can try to address them.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - From literary research to real-world problems

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:55:45 GMT

Gallimore has merged her academic research with social activism. While her background in linguistic theory is useful in understanding certain linguistic phenomena, she acknowledges that “if I go speak about the semiotics of the language of the genocide, that’s something that academicians would understand, but it may not be useful for someone outside of the association.” Realizing this limitation, she founded Step Up! American Association for Rwandan Women, an organization that recognizes the reality that “the needs of the Rwandan women are enormous. Not only are there concerns for practical things such as jobs, food, and school supplies, but the mental health needs have largely remained unaddressed. Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety remain as an aftermath of the intense horror of the genocide.” Step Up has developed a number of projects to help redress these problems.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - Taft Research Fellow

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:56:03 GMT

Within the Romance Languages Department, Gallimore has been teaching French composition, French literature and drama, and Francophone studies. During the Winter 2008 semester, Gallimore served as a Taft Visiting Research Fellow in a seminar about racism in French and Francophone literature. “Your research gives you insight for teaching,” she says, as she develops a new course on Afro-Persian writers and a new graduate seminar on testimonial writing.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bea Gallimore - Step Up, continued

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:56:50 GMT

Béa Gallimore will return to Rwanda periodically to meet with the ABASA women, check on the projects that Step Up has spearheaded, and determine what further steps need to be taken to help these women become financially independent. Their next priority is to build a counseling center, which is becoming increasingly urgent as primary school children, who were not alive during the genocide, are showing signs of trauma. They may be withdrawn, have difficulty with attendance and learning, report nightmares and sleep disturbances, and show signs of anxiety and distress. From studies of the children of the Holocaust survivors, we know that symptoms of trauma may be transmitted down through the generations. Step Up’s mission of improving mental health availability, therefore, is of vital importance. To learn how you can help, go to http://www.stepuprwandawomen.org/.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Founding the Center for the Advancement of Mental Health Practices in the Schools (Koller)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:38:38 GMT

Most of Jim Koller’s past research and practice as a licensed psychologist was directed toward pathology, that is, “abnormal behavior.” But he became disillusioned with the then-current state of affairs, realizing that “we have to do something _different_ to stop the escalating incidence of mental illness vis-à-vis mental health problems in the country.” With the cooperation of the Missouri state legislature and the Department of Mental Health, the Center for the Advancement of Mental Health Practices in the Schools was conceived—“with the whole thrust being a paradigmatic shift from mental illness to mental health.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Several of the Center’s ongoing projects (Weston)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:39:02 GMT

Weston describes several of the Center’s current projects. For instance, one of them seeks “to integrate mental health systems with education systems,” starting with the Moberly Public Schools, and eventually applying the model elsewhere. For this purpose, they have begun an organization called the Moberly Community Coalition for Children and Families to address children’s mental health. “It’s been a fantastic learning experience,” observes Weston. “They have really built awareness in the community around the need to address children’s mental health and to _promote_ mental health. We take a preventative approach, arguing that we should be paying attention to children’s social and emotional development, that we should be promoting mental health the same way we promote physical health.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Online mental health degree program (Weston)

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:04:45 GMT

At the first and only sanctioned online-degree program with a focus on mental health issues in schools in the country, students can take individual courses based on their unique needs through continuing education, and even earn a degree at the Masters or Education Specialist level. Recognized as a national model, the Center’s online program focuses on evidence-based practice and on current, practical application-driven principles and tested theories; people working in the field can take coursework in areas with which they are being confronted professionally.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Thinking outside the box (Koller)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:39:31 GMT

Koller observes that one of the biggest obstacles is getting people to do more than just nod and agree that mental health is important. “Of course, it’s important: but what are we willing to do to encourage it in our youth?” he asks. “We have to do something that’s more proactive than reactive. Mental illness is continuing unabated in our society in particular,” thanks in part to high levels of stress and the drive to succeed. He perceives this challenge as an ethical and moral responsibility: “When you have a chance to do something about it, when you have people who are willing to look outside the box at a different world, why not take it? At least you can’t be judged that you didn’t try.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - More on the Center (Koller)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:39:45 GMT

Koller offers more history on how the Center came to be, as well as on his teaching philosophy.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Like teaching an old dog a new trick (Koller)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:40:49 GMT

In its mission to convince lay people and the professional community about the importance of early intervention, the Center has encountered several obstacles. Trying to modify teacher certification requirements to include coursework in this area, for example, has been like “trying to teach an old dog a new trick,” Koller recounts. For one thing, people tend to think that mental illness problems and substance abuse don’t exist in their own community. “There is a naiveté that befits the general society as well as the professional ones. We really have to work on shaping and re-shaping the mentality towards mental health; it is a systemic problem that is going to take a long time.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Healthy Minds, Healthy Learners, Healthy Schools (Weston)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:41:06 GMT

Last July, the Center received a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. By holding focus groups with mental health professionals, the public schools, parents, child service workers, juvenile justice personnel, and so forth, they are seeking to address the question: “What could we do in schools and communities to help support healthy social and emotional development in children?”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Missouri Bright Futures (Weston)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:41:21 GMT

One of the Center’s new projects is funded through the Department of Health and Senior Services. This interdisciplinary effort is working across the state on community development, with a focus on children’s mental health.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - The Suicide Project (Weston)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:41:37 GMT

“We are seeing an increasing number of suicides. We have one district [in Missouri] that has thus far this year had six adolescent suicides. It’s just devastating in that small school district. More and more school districts are having to grapple with this issue,” says Weston. How to respond to this problem involves some controversy about which is the best approach to suicide prevention. The Center has recently developed an online course on suicide prevention. They have also undertaken research with school leaders to understand their perceptions on suicide prevention. As Weston explains, “some people think if you talk about it in the schools that’s going to make kids more likely to attempt suicide, which is not true. It’s a huge misunderstanding that’s out there. There are some prevention programs that promote screening of kids to see whether they’re potentially at risk for harming themselves, and that’s highly controversial.” Naturally, suicide prevention relates to the Center’s work in schools as well, “because we want kids to have good coping skills so that they’re not thinking about taking their own lives.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Training nurses to focus on mental health issues (Koller)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:41:53 GMT

Through the Center, nurses are being trained to focus on mental health. “If we keep focused on looking at the whole person, continue to be as proactive as we can, we will be better off,” Koller says.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Seeking paradigm change (Weston)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:42:08 GMT

Weston’s personal vision for the Center is to change the way that schools operate so that there is better access to children’s mental health services. “In schools we can be academically oriented, which is important,” she says, “but we know that kids don’t do well in school if they’re not emotionally healthy. So it’s very important for their academic success as well as their long-term success in life that we start focusing on mental health promotion.” Happily, Weston reports that “the whole school mental health movement is really taking off,” but she also notes that “the needs are just profound in terms of the crisis in children’s mental health.” Whereas there are programs for childhood immunization, no such comparable program exists to address mental health – although mental health problems outnumber physical health problems. The Center’s premise is that “many of those mental health problems could be prevented if we take a more proactive approach. We’re going to have to wake up and start dealing with these issues.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Jim Koller and Karen Weston - Collaborations (Koller)

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:42:24 GMT

The Center has been working with the School of Nursing and the College of Education at MU to provide mental health training for nurses, teachers, principals, and school counselors. Thanks to the collaboration with Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Health, the national centers on mental health, and other federal agencies, they have been able to do outreach, sharing, collaboration, and program development. “That’s the only way we’re going to be able to surmount some of these issues,” Koller remarks. “Without that collaboration, we would not be where we are today.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: M. Heather Carver - Teaching theatre at Mizzou

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:56:49 GMT

Heather Carver describes herself as “a performance studies artist/scholar,” someone who investigates an issue through performance—“so we study autobiography, and we do autobiographical performance.” Carver teaches several kinds of creative writing, at both the undergraduate and graduate level, in adaptation and performance of literature for theatre and the screen. She also co-directs the Writing for Performance Program, which helps students adapt different kinds of writing for the stage or screen, including poetry, short stories, autobiography, or ethnography. And Carver serves as creator and artistic director of the Life and Literature Performance series to showcase original and adapted work by MU students for the stage.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: M. Heather Carver - Performative writing

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:57:05 GMT

Performative writing is a way of writing about performance that engages the reader as one would engage the audience when performing in theatre: “So instead of performing over _here_ and then writing about it over _there_, writing about the work as if the reader were not involved in any kind of audience relationship, performative writing takes the combination of audience, performer, and text and moves that into the writing of performance.” By involving those different levels, Carver suggests, writing “is more accessible to people.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: M. Heather Carver - “Methodology of the Heart”

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:41:50 GMT

In her article, "Methodology of the Heart," Carver does several things to draw attention to writing itself as performance: “I was trying to expose the nature of the self in this writing. That’s really what it’s about – trying to make our experiences more raw, more real for the reader.” While this kind of writing takes a lot of courage, because it leaves the writer vulnerable and exposed, Carver adds that “it also takes a sense of play; play is such an important part of performance.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: M. Heather Carver - Auto-performance

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:57:42 GMT

One of Carver’s research areas involves “auto-performance”—a style that “brings the self to task in writing and in performance.” Whether this involves the autobiography or autoethnography, “performative writing is very much a part of it, because you’re writing about your_self_.” Rather than taking other people’s perspectives and points of view, Carver tries to make clear her position from the get-go: “What I try to do in my performative writing is say, ‘this is about me,’… Because I really just want to write about what I’m experiencing for people to understand as a way of opening the conversation.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: M. Heather Carver - The Troubling Violence Performance Project

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:58:01 GMT

With her background interest in women’s health, it was no surprise to find Carver collaborating with Elaine Lawless, MU Professor of English. After adapting some of the survivor stories for performance, in 2003 they formed the Troubling Violence Performance Project “to create a venue for people to communicate about intimate partner violence.” While they began performing stories from Lawless’ book, the stories soon emerged from elsewhere: “People starting coming up to us after the performances and asking if they could give us their stories,” many of which were then incorporated into subsequent performances. “If one out of every four women likely to suffer some kind of intimate partner abuse, then we need to really speak out. We don’t think we’re going to come in and perform and all violence is going to end. We just know that if people don’t talk about it…it’s going to be swept under the carpet.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: M. Heather Carver - Booby Prize, an ever-evolving comedy about breast cancer

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:58:21 GMT

Since October of 2006, Carver has been developing _Booby Prize_, a comedy about the unfunny subject of breast cancer. “It’s a one-woman show featuring me [laughs],” and how she was “lucky” to be the one of every seven women to get the disease. Through _Booby Prize_, which is ever evolving, Carver is able to combine her interest in social activism, women’s health, and autobiography: “I decided that I _could_ have breast cancer and still have a sense of humor, and still do my work. And so that’s when _Booby Prize_, you know, became born, the idea that—unfortunately—I won the prize. I won the Booby Prize, which you don’t want to win, you don’t want to be the 1 out of 7 who wins, but I won, and so that’s how I start off the performance.” Much of the performance features Carver performing actual stories that happened to her, infusing humor into the reality of her situation. At the conclusion of _Booby Prize_, Carver warns the audience against expecting closure and a happy ending. Despite the clean bill of health at her last medical checkup, the possibility of cancer returning lingers on, and so Carver reminds the audience, “I don’t have a pretty ending; my ending is still up in the air.” Among audience members, Carver has observed not only laughter and tears, as might be expected, but “people doing both at the same time, and not quite knowing what to do about it.” The thread that runs through _Booby Prize_—like Carver’s other scholarly and creative projects—is storytelling. Some of the stories are painful, and some are funny. Either way, Carver always tries “to keep it raw.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Linda Blockus, Preparing Students for Graduate School

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:40:31 GMT

Graduate students are often required to spend a good portion of their education as researchers. The Undergraduate Research program at MU offers students a preview of what graduate school is all about. Blockus explains that the summer research program is helpful to students considering graduate education: “Students who do research in the summer get a real taste of that so they can confirm that that’s what they want to do.” The undergraduate students regularly work with professors, scholars, and post-doctorate fellows during the course of their research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Linda Blockus, Making a Difference

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:36:23 GMT

Even though the student researchers are usually not going to get their studies published in an academic journal, these researchers have an opportunity to make a difference with their findings. For example, every summer approximately twenty researchers go to Jefferson City to present their finding to lawmakers. “We work with the students to take their posters, turn those posters into something that very accessible to the public and elected officials,” Blockus explains. “This is our way of reminding the state officials of some of the things we do, and the special ways we are adding value to student experiences here at MU.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Linda Blockus, Research isn’t all about the work

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:41:42 GMT

Some of the images that people have about research include laboratories, as well as boring and solitary confinement. Well, Blockus tries to dispel some of these misconceptions. These undergraduate researchers have an opportunity to work one-on-one with researchers from a variety of countries (including Pakistan, South Korea, Australia, England, and Israel). “It really helps broaden their understanding of how science is a global experience” says Blockus. “The students are really working in a team environment, learning how to interact with other people on projects.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Linda Blockus, Not just at MU

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:42:28 GMT

Student researchers have an opportunity to present their research at academic conferences across the country. Not only do they get to expose their work to a new audience, but they can also observe other projects outside of MU. “There are plenty of opportunities for students to see what’s happening not only in their own research group, but also in other research groups,” Blockus says. In the past, undergraduate researchers have traveled to major cities including Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City. “That’s a really neat experience,” she explains, “whether it is interacting with other scholars on campus or with scholars across the country or world.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Linda Blockus, A Road Not Forgotten

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:37:56 GMT

The undergraduate research experience is a unique opportunity. Blockus reports that aside from preparing students for graduate school, research is a growth experience in which students will be “perhaps encountering some of the same frustrations, challenges, and problems as well as some of the same successes and accomplishments.” She observes that students “learn from each other, feed off of each other, and hopefully form friendships as well.” Blockus herself is living proof of the power of research on a young mind. As a college student she spent a summer working for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, OARDC, a “very valuable experience.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Anne Binder, Multimedia metaphors: the film and literature hybrid of videopoetry

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:34:11 GMT

My research examines both the creation of and theory behind the widely neglected art of videopoetry. Videopoetry is a filmic form of poetry that combines a written or spoken text with visuals and multiple audio tracks to produce a multi-sensual approach to a poetic work. The idea of film as a poetic medium has long been explored; early avant-garde artists and filmmakers of the 1920s through the 1940s created film poems, films that did not necessarily contain a poetic text but that could be recognized as containing poetic images and relationships. Videopoems borrow many of the filmic techniques and rhythms pioneered by these modernist film poets, but include a poetic text as the film's focus. Currently, increasing numbers of poets and media artists are able to use inexpensive digital technology to create videopoems, some of which are showcased annually at the Vancouver Videopoem Festival. In my research, I review the art form's evolving role and, drawing from Scott MacDonald's recent article on the development of videopoetry, reconsider his view of videopoems as new "editions" of the original poem. By applying recent novel to film adaptation theory work by Robert Stam, Linda Hutcheon, and other scholars to videopoetry, I construct another lens for videopoems, suggesting that they be viewed not as the same poems simply "re-published," but as adaptations: intentional revisitations of works modified to suit new conditions. Thus, these works are not replications of the original texts, but visual and audio representations of poetic constructs and re-presentations of the adapted texts in a new medium. In order to understand the role of videopoetry from both academic and creative angles, I have also filmed and edited a few short videopoems of my own based on the poems of W. S. Merwin and Kathleen Flenniken. Anne Binder Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Amelie Mafotsing Fopoussi, Characterization of the Mechanism of Action of the ultra-potent HIV inhibitor 4'-Ethynyl-2-Fluoro-2'-Deoxyade

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:24:24 GMT

Retroviruses rely on the enzyme reverse transcriptase (RT) to perform the reverse transcription of its genome from single-stranded RNA into double-stranded DNA, which can then be integrated into the host's genome by the action of the viral integrase enzyme. There are currently sixteen antiretroviral agents used for the treatment of HIV infections. Highly active antiviral therapy (HAART) is based on a combination of at least 3 anti-HIV drugs. It has slowed down the progression of AIDS and decreased mortality. RT is one of the main targets for these antiretroviral drugs. One class of drugs targeting the reverse transcriptase is the nucleoside analogue RT inhibitors (NRTIs). NRTIs compete with natural nucleotides for incorporation in the elongating DNA chain by HIV-1 RT. Once incorporated, they act as chain-terminators because they lackthe 3'OH group which is required for further nucleotide incorporation. Prolonged use of these drugs leads to drug-resistant HIV strains. To overcome drug resistance, novel inhibitors that are active against NRTI-resistant viruses are being developed. NRTIs containing a modification at the 4' position of their sugar moiety have been synthesized by Hiroaki Mitsuya and his colleagues. One of these analogues, 4'ethynyl-2-fluoro-2'-deoxyadenosine (4'-E-2-F dA) was shown to be ultra-potent against wild-type and drug resistant HIV-1. Unlike other nucleoside analogues, 4'-E-2-F dA has a hydroxyl group at the 3' position. The purpose of this project is to understand the mechanism of RT inhibiton by 4'-E-2-F dA. In order to determine its mechanism of action, in vitro primer extension assays as well as gel mobility shift assays were used. Using primer extension assays, we determined that the active form of 4'-E-2-F dA, 4'-E-2-F dA-triphosphate (TP), acts as a chain terminator at physiological concentrations of nucleotides, despite the presence of a 3'OH. We first hypothesized that the presence of 4'-E-2-F dA-monophosphate (MP) at the 3' end of the primer destabilized the RT/DNA complex. The RT/DNA complex is not affected by the presence of 4'-E-2-F dAMP as observed in gel mobility shift assays. We next hypothesised that RT was not able to bind to the next incoming nucleotide to form a ternary complex. Indeed, we found that the presence of 4'-E-2-F dAMP at the 3' end of the primer severly impair the formation of a stable ternary complex. In conclusion, we found that 4'-E-2-F dA inhibits DNA elongation by RT. Amelie Mafotsing Fopoussi Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Antionette Gray, Resolution of Phylogenetic Patterns Within Monocots

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:47:57 GMT

Monocotyledons or monocots are one of two groups of angiosperms that comprise ca. 60,000 species, 92 families, and 12 orders. Exemplary monocots include agaves, grasses, sedges, bromeliads, palms, gingers, orchids, irises, lilies, yams, pondweeds, and aroids. Even the most comprehensive evolutionary phylogenetic studies leave numerous relationships unresolved and inadequately supported. Thus, various questions remain for monocots in regards to their origin, phylogeny, patterns of morphological divergence, geographic diversification, and ecological radiation. To address these questions, we will create new nuclear monocot multigene phylogenies and compare them to previously established chloroplast/mitochondrial multigene phylogenies. Since nuclear and plastid genes have different patterns of inheritance, we will analyze conflicts and sources of incongruence of gene trees before combining all the data into a consensus phylogeny. After tissue collections, DNA/RNA extractions, and synthesizing cDNA from taxa across 39 families of monocots, I will utilize conserved low copy nuclear genes generated by our lab to construct a nuclear multigene phylogeny. In previous analyses, we identified 13 challenging nodes found in a phylogeny of 125 monocots based on several chloroplast and mitochondrial plastid genes chloroplasts. Our primary experimental approach is to generate nuclear multigene phylogenies from sequence data to resolve these 13 ambiguous nodes. We have over 100 nuclear gene primers available to screen to find phylogenetic informative variation. Upon completion of all experimentation, I will construct gene tree phylogenies for each nuclear gene independently, conduct incongruence tests, and if appropriate combine all the nuclear genes into a single analysis. Ultimately, we will construct a resolved, strongly supported higher-level phylogeny for the monocots using data from all three genomic compartments (ncDNA, cpDNA, and mtDNA). This phylogeny will then be used to interpret morphological evolution and ecological/biogeographical patterns among monocot lineages. Antionette Gray Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Mallory Heaton, Effect of progestin treatment on formation of persistent follicles in beef cows.

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:25:34 GMT

Effective estrous synchronization protocols frequently utilize progestins (melengestrol acetate [MGA] and Controlled Internal Drug Release [CIDR] inserts) to synchronize estrus and ovulation. Previous research demonstrated that long-term treatment with MGA, in the absence of a corpus luteum, caused formation of persistent follicles and resulted in low fertility. The specific aims of this project were to determine if the presence of a new or used CIDR, in cows without a corpus luteum, would induce the formation of persistent follicles and to compare the pattern of serum concentrations of progesterone in postpartum cows treated with a new or used CIDR to luteal phase concentrations of progesterone (P4) in non-treated cows. Normally cycling cows were allocated by days postpartum, age and body condition score into four treatment groups: Control (n=10), MGA (n=11; 0.5 lbshdday), new CIDR (n=9; 1.38 g P4), and used CIDR (n=9; new CIDR's previously inserted into cows for 7 d). Progestin treatment (MGA or CIDR) began on d 4 post-estrus and PG was injected on d 6 to induce luteolysis (d 0 = estrus). MGA or CIDR treatment continued for 14 d and length of a follicular wave was defined as the interval from follicular recruitment to ovulation or initiation of a new wave. Length of the first follicular wave (d) was 10.7, 15.6, 15.4, and 13.2 (P=.07) and maximum diameter (mm) of the dominant follicle was 14.1, 17.3b, 16.7, and 16.1 (P.50) in the used CIDR, new CIDR, and MGA groups. In summary, treatment with a new or used CIDR induced formation of persistent follicles in beef cows. Mallory Heaton Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Blair Meister, Immigrant women and domestic abuse: Barriers to seeking services

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:54:03 GMT

The experience of an immigrant woman in the United States who has been abused by an intimate partner presents an especially complex legal and social service situation due to her status as an immigrant. Any added complications may be seen as barriers to a woman seeking assistance, and can include such things as her cultural perspective on domestic abuse, her knowledge of the U.S. legal system, her immigration status, and her English language skills. In the United States there are many services available to victims of domestic abuse, as well as legal protection, yet there are still many immigrants who are not aware of these resources. The purpose of this work is to identify how barriers affect a woman's likeliness or ability to seek out assistance and how these barriers contribute to the extremely complex dynamics of domestic violence. The two barriers selected as the focus for this research project are cultural perceptions on domestic abuse and immigration status. Working in cooperation with the Columbia Domestic Violence Shelter, shelter case files of immigrant women were examined and one interview was conducted. A review of legal literature was conducted to identify the pathways to permanent residency and procedures that are in place to prevent residency status from being used as an abusive tool. Based on current results, it was found that due to their native cultural perspectives, some women did not even know that domestic abuse was a crime in the United States. In addition, some women reported they were told by their partner they would be deported if they sought help. The U.S. legal system does offer protection for immigrant women who have suffered abuse through legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act, which allows women to self-petition for permanent residency. Unfortunately, however, before these protections can be truly valuable, it is necessary to reach these women and inform them of their newfound American rights. One outcome from this research project is to develop literature explaining women's rights, and U.S. legal procedures and to make this information available in multiple languages for distribution in local shelters. Blair Meister Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Jesus Santiago, Perceived entrepreneurial ability and business relationships among minority business owners in the Midwest

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:37:52 GMT

This is a study of perceived entrepreneurial ability and perceived obstacles to important business relationships of business managers/owners in the Midwest. It was expected that the self perceived entrepreneurial ability of these owner/managers would lead to formation of stronger business relationship network and enhanced business performance. Also it was expected that entrepreneurs that perceived major obstacles to forming important business relationships with buyers, suppliers, and investors would report reduced firm performance. In contrasting minority and non-minority businesses it was expected that minority entrepreneurs would report greater obstacles to forming key business relationships but that these obstacles would decrease with increasing firm age. It was also expected that they would report lower levels of business performance. Finally, it was expected that minority entrepreneurs would do a better job of finding alternative paths to increase firm performance in the face of relationship obstacles than their counterparts in non-minority firms. Over 900 firms were contacted in two waves over a one year period to participate in an online survey, 68 surveys have been collected from these firms and responses are still being received. From the analysis of the respondents it was found that Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy had a negative effect on relationship obstacles and a positive effect on firm performance as expected. Our hypothesis which stated that having high levels of perceived relationship obstacles would lead to lower performance was supported. Counter to expectations, it was found that minorities did not report a higher level of relationship obstacles overall. Also surprising, relationship obstacles increased rather than decreased with firm age for minority-owned firms. Minority firms did have lower performance as expected. They also found ways to lessen the negative performance effects of relationship obstacles as expected. Jesus Santiago Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Anthony Smith, Radiative transfer modeling of low to intermediate mass stars

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:39:19 GMT

Most stars in the universe, ~95%, are low to intermediate mass stars (LIMS), meaning that their masses range from 0.8 to 8 solar masses. When these stars near the end of their lives, they enter the AGB phase during which they return a significant percentage of their mass to the interstellar medium (ISM) as dust. A good understanding of the nature of what the LIMS return to the ISM is essential in understanding how the ISM behaves. As gas drifts away from the star, it condenses into dust forming shells around the star. As starlight passes through this dust, it can be absorbed and/or scattered differently depending on the nature of the dust leading to a change in the spectrum of light seen from the star. We can then use this spectrum to diagnose the nature of the dust shell. The spectra of these stars/dust shells can be divided in categories according to the shape and strength of the spectral features. The oxygen-rich LIMS are divided into eight spectral classes based on how broad or narrow the silicate feature is; where SE1 has the broadest feature and SE8 the narrowest. Using a computer program, called DUSTY, a 1-dimensional radiative transfer code that solves the spherical radiative transfer problem, we alter the parameters that describe the dust shell such as its size, density, composition, crystal structure, and the size/shape of the dust grains. DUSTY then produces synthetic spectra which are matched to observed spectra. We aim to match the eight spectral classifications of oxygen-rich LIMS by comparing them to DUSTY models produced using laboratory acquired optical constants of candidate dust species. These results will constrain the composition, size, shape and other characteristics of the dust that the star is scattering back into the ISM. The dust grains cast into the ISM are the building blocks for new stars and planets and our understanding of this dust is crucial to our understanding of galactic chemical evolution. Anthony Smith Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Krystal Purnell, The influence of increased contact rate among raccoons on a directly transmitted nematode, Baylisascaris procyonis

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:28:41 GMT

Human encroachment on wildlife habitat can result in anthropogenic food sources that aggregate raccoons. This may have unintended consequences to wildlife and human health, as theoretical models predict parasite transmission is highly dependent on the contact rate and density of individuals within a population. We examined the influence of contact rate on a directly transmitted nematode (Baylisascaris procyonis) of raccoons that can infect and cause disease and mortality in a wide range of accidental hosts, including humans. Twelve populations of free-ranging raccoons were monitored for three years. After one year of baseline data collection, we experimentally altered the contact rate and resource availability of randomly selected populations via dispersed or clumped food distributions. Prior to manipulation, prevalence of B. procyonis averaged 9% across all sites (range 0-35%). During the experiment, prevalence of B. procyonis averaged 4% at control sites (no food added), 18% at sites that had dispersed food additions (which did not increase contact), and 22% at sites with clumped food additions that aggregated raccoons. Data collected prior to the experiment indicated that sites that were assigned to the dispersed food treatment had a naturally-occurring higher prevalence (13%) than the sites assigned to the control (5%) and aggregation treatment (9%), indicating that the high values observed in the dispersed food sites during the experiment may be due to site-specific differences rather than the addition of dispersed food. These results support the hypothesis that increased rates of contact can increase transmission of directly transmitted parasites such as B. procyonis, and emphasize the potentially important role of anthropogenic activity in the ecology of diseases when dealing with wildlife species that can take advantage of such resources and tolerate large aggregations conspecifics. Krystal Purnell Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Miles Walz-Salvador, What nest condition tells us about predators and nest success for birds

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:30:03 GMT

Since the 1990s scientists have become concerned about the declining population of migratory birds. A reduction in available habitat in wintering grounds and stop-over sites during migration may contribute to the decline in migratory bird populations. Another hypothesis for this decline in population is overwhelming nest predation on breeding grounds. This may be due to forest fragmentation which increases depredation of nests. Even though we understand why landscapes affect the bird population, knowledge of what types of predators are affected by fragmentation would determine how to manage land effectively. In this study, I test the hypothesis that nest condition would predict predator types by the amount of damage caused to the nest. To do this I found and monitored nests in Missouri and took pictures from different angles. I then set up video cameras to monitor the nest continuously. Once a nest failed, I took pictures to compare to the earlier ones. I will be scoring nests based on categories 0-3, which are based on the percentage change in nest condition from original photos. Miles Walz-Salvador Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Mark Wolf, Synthesis of a prosthetic group for radiolabeling of Melanoma targeting peptide Re-CCMSH

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:31:16 GMT

There is currently no cure for malignant melanoma and the best hope for a patient is early diagnosis and surgical excision. A promising approach to early cancer diagnosis is the use of radiolabeled peptides for tumor imaging. Dr. Quinn's lab has developed a cyclized peptide analog of alpha-Melanocyte stimulating hormone called ReCCMSH which binds to over expressed melanocortin-1 receptors on the tumor cells. A common radioimaging technique in nuclear medicine is positron emission tomography (PET). The radionuclide, fluorine-18, is widely used as a labeling agent for PET studies because of its 110 minute half life and low energy and is thus a good candidate for radiolabeling of our peptide. However, direct fluorination of the peptide is not possible. To radiolabel the peptide, a prosthetic group must be developed that can be attached to the peptide and act as a fluorine acceptor. This prosthetic group must not alter the biological properties of the peptide including receptor affinity, rapid body clearance, and absence of side reactions. The organic synthesis of this prosthetic group was the focus of my research. Previous attempts at radiolabeling of the conjugated peptide have been inefficient multi-step syntheses and thus impractical. For my research, a benzyl aldehyde was modified through a series of reactions to create carboxyl-3-cyano-4-N,N,N-trimethylanilinium triflate. This compound can be coupled to the end of the peptide and subsequently radiolabeled in one efficient step. The peptide was synthesized via solid phase peptide synthesis and cyclized via rhenium metal coordination. The actual radiolabeling of the conjugated peptide along with the in vivo biodistribution studies on mice will be pursued over the next academic year. Mark Wolf Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Gregory Yeckel, Characterization of soybean genes involved in soybean cyst nematode (SCN) resistance

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:32:22 GMT

The expansion of the soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycines) across soybean producing regions of the United States shows no signs of slowing. Resistant soybean germplasm has been used as the primary strategy to manage this pest. However, soybean resistance against SCN is derived from a narrow genetic base and repeated plantings have selected for populations of SCN that can break the resistance. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms of soybean resistance is critical for designing novel strategies to improve crop plant resistance to SCN. To identify genes potentially involved in SCN resistance, we previously coupled laser capture microdissection with microarray profiling to compare gene expression profiles of nematode feeding cells induced in resistant and susceptible near-isogenic lines (NILs) of soybean. We identified 390 soybean genes that were differentially expressed between the resistant and susceptible NILs. Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) pools of soybean DNA were then screened for the presence of a subset of these genes. Three genes, believed to be involved in soybean stress and defense responses, were selected for further functional studies. Full-length gene and cDNA sequences have been isolated using genome walking and RACE PCR approaches. To gain insight into the regulation of each gene, the endogenous promoter sequences are being isolated and fused to the GUS reporter gene for expression studies. RNAi and overexpression constructs will be used to test the function of these genes in resistance to SCN. Gregory Yeckel Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Linda Blockus - Si Yol Yi, Wading in the gene pool: female preference for long mating calls in gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor)

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:33:59 GMT

Female gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) exhibit a clear preference for long mating calls. Moreover, the expression of this preference varies. The "good genes" model of sexual selection suggests that this is because females with extreme preferences mate with males with the most exaggerated traits, so their offspring will carry the genes for the extreme values of both trait and preference. Another possible explanation for variation in preference is that females in good physical condition will be better able to travel longer distances to find a longer calling male, resulting in a stronger call preference. We assessed the preference strength of lab-reared female frogs that are the offspring of short and long-calling fathers. We manipulated the condition of these females by placing them on a high and low feeding treatment. Frogs were tested in an anechoic chamber to determine preference strength, which was measured by using unequal playback levels of synthetic mating calls. We defined preference strength as the amount that the intensity of a long call can be reduced relative to the short call before the female prefers the shorter call. We found that preference strength was not significantly affected by father's call length, family, food treatment, or weight. Additionally, the response time for testing showed no relationship with either preference strength or weight. While there were no trends in the data, our sample size was small. Further testing with a larger sample size will give us a better idea of whether or not preference strength is affected by male call length or condition. Alternatively, female preference might be linked to variables we did not measure, such as age or past experience. Si Yol Yi Abstract

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carmen Chicone - The Fundamental Importance of Science

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:13:25 GMT

Chicone discusses the fundamental importance of mathematics for the natural world, observing that mathematics serves an array of practical purposes. He gives the example of one of his students, who freezes tissue for a project in cryobiology. The researchers working on this project are using mathematical models to make predictions about the behavior of living cells.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carmen Chicone - Contributions to Science

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:13:42 GMT

Chicone contributes to other fields of science outside of mathematics, cooperating, for example, with MU’s Medical School and School of Engineering to produce the kind of mathematical models that now play an integral role in designing predictions for scientific experiments.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carmen Chicone - Math: A Symposium of Art

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:14:06 GMT

Chicone believes math is an artistic expression like music, painting, and theatre. Not everyone can identify with this art, he admits, but those who can are able to develop a strong appreciation for problem-solving.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carmen Chicone - How Math Found Him

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:14:41 GMT

Chicone describes how he became interested in studying mathematics. Beginning with positive experiences he had as a student, his love for the subject continued

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carmen Chicone - Working with Students

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:14:46 GMT

As a researcher at MU, Chicone spends a large portion of his time working with students. As an instructor involved with both graduate and undergraduate students, Chicone says that he learns a great deal from those he teaches.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carmen Chicone - In the footsteps of Newton and Einstein

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:15:45 GMT

Chicone discusses his recent work on the velocity of particles moving near a black hole. Based on his research, particles moving faster than 70% of the speed of light that travel along the black hole’s axis decelerate, but objects moving perpendicular to that axis accelerate. These findings defy Newton’s Laws and obey Einstein’s Laws of General Relativity.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Carmen Chicone - From Numbers to Woodworking

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:16:37 GMT

Beyond his passion for mathematics, Chicone’s favorite pastime is building furniture. He finds it amusing that people try to find a connection between his interests, and insists that woodworking is a love completely outside of math.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - West’s first book, Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia (2000)

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:26:20 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 photographs, and especially snapshots, extends all the way back to a childhood devoid of photographs. Traveling to Rochester, New York, home of the George Eastman House, West spent a week digging through boxes of advertisements (both published and unpublished) and documents ranging in date from 1888 to 1932. Her research eventually resulted in _Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia_ (2000), an interdisciplinary study that examines the advertising campaigns of the Eastman Kodak Company and reveals certain key fascinations in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century American culture.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - Looking at the Visual in Victorian Studies

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:27:32 GMT

West also works in the field of Victorian Studies, yet even in this regard her work still revolves around visual culture. Recently West researched how Charles Dickens’ novel _Great Expectations_ was serialized in the American magazine _Harper’s Weekly_ from 1860-1861. Specifically interested in some of the trans-Atlantic issues involved, West considered how an American audience might have read the novel differently from a British audience and how an American illustrator drew decidedly American scenes for the British story. West argues that scholars need to pay more attention “to the places where novels were originally serialized…to look at how the stories were illustrated by different artists, and pay serious attention to those artists as collaborators on the work of the fiction.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - From Celluloid to Tabloid—West’s current book project

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:28:07 GMT

West is currently finishing a book, _From Celluloid to Tabloid_, in collaboration with Penelope Pelizzon (University of Connecticut), on Hollywood crime films and tabloid journalism from the 1920s through the 1940s. Unlike the tabloids of today, which West decries as “pretty trashy scandal magazines and newspapers…often designed to expose and ruin people’s careers,” the tabloids of the earlier era contain much more liveliness and inventiveness. “Although the cliché is that the tabloids have always been pitched to the uneducated, these early ones from the 1920s are surprisingly literary, replete with metaphorical word play, allusions, wit, and irony.” Tabloid writers often went on to become celebrated novelists and screenwriters for Hollywood. Beyond their literary value, these tabloids also teach us about urban culture and modernity, especially about New York in the 1920s and 1930s. West and Pelizzon refer to these tabloids as “adaptation-ready sites,” because they know how to spin information so quickly from one source.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - West’s favorite “docu-noir” films

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:28:27 GMT

Asked to recommend films from this era “where you have journalists exhibiting all the characteristics of gangsters,” the first two films West mentions are _The Picture Snatcher_ (1933) and _Blessed Event_ (1932), which were produced just as the gangster film genre seemed to be disappearing from the Hollywood screen, owing to the Production Code’s restrictions. But Hollywood—in its need to continue profiting from the gangster’s popularity—found ways to “get around the censors,” explains West. “All of the gangster’s characteristics (his penchant for violence, his street smarts, his flashy style, his witty repartee) are put into the figure of the newspaper reporter,” who rarely works for a legitimate newspaper, West adds, but for a tabloid newspaper—“So, they get to have it both ways!” In the area of noir documentaries, where filmmakers experimented by combining film noir style with a documentary style, West recommends _Naked City_ (1948).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - West’s next collaborative project on Masterpiece Theatre

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:29:32 GMT

With her continual interest in adaptation study, West has already visualized her next research project, which will reflect on what it means to adapt a novel to the screen, specifically in the case of _Masterpiece Theatre_. “_Masterpiece Theatre_ fascinates me because it’s an example of what’s called ‘good television.’” Released in the 1970s, it was “designed to appeal to more intellectual, educated viewers. It was designed for our parents,” reports West, and for years it thrived on that identity. “But if you watch _Masterpiece Theatre_ now, it’s totally different…. It’s clearly geared to a much younger audience. Instead of writing faithful adaptation, they radically re-write the plots, interject back-stories, introduce new characters, and use some of Hollywood’s hottest actors to play the roles. They are tailoring these films toward a twenty-first century audience—a younger one, a sexier one, one that is impatient with the idea of fidelity, one that wants a more experimental adaptation.” West plans to look at _Masterpiece Theatre’s_ last ten years so see what those experiments might reveal. “If nothing else,” she jokes, “it will allow me to watch a lot of old _Masterpiece Theatre_ episodes with my mother, who is a huge fan!”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - Teaching at Mizzou

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:30:13 GMT

West teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in the English Department on subjects bridging—like her research—the literary with the visual. She offers courses, for example, on British literature, film history, crime films, film adaptation of novels, novel illustration, and photography.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - West’s teaching philosophy

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:30:33 GMT

The teaching honors awarded to West bear witness to her pedagogical skills, including the Gold Chalk Award (1999, 2005), the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching (2004), and the English Graduate Student Association’s inaugural award for Outstanding Graduate Faculty Member (2005). Reflecting on her teaching, West states: “I really believe in interdisciplinary work—not just to present students with a reference every once in a while to an artistic or scientific movement, but to really see things from _inside_ those disciplines. I think there are very rich connections to be made, and so I try to get students thinking in interdisciplinary ways.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - Valuing collaboration

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:30:50 GMT

Collaboration has been at the forefront of West’s research from the beginning. Although collaboration is said to take twice a long as working on something by yourself, West reports “I’ve always thought it was really sad in some ways to be an academic, working so much in isolation. Questions arise, such as ‘whom am I writing this for, how many people are going to read it, and what social good am I doing?’ For me collaboration helps alleviate some of those anxieties about the usefulness of the work. Whenever I get anxious, I can turn to my co-author and ask, ‘Why are we doing this project again, and why is it important?’ We can sort of borrow each other’s energies at different times. There is truly that spirit of doing it together—a joint venture.” In this spirit, West has collaborated on a number of conference papers and articles with graduate students and other colleagues because she finds that collaboration pushes her in different ways. For example, working with Pelizzon, with whom she wrote _From Celluloid to Tabloid_, challenged West to be a better writer. “She is a wonderful stylist,” says West of her poet collaborator, so that “whenever I write a sentence and revise it, I wonder if it is a sentence she would like, or how I could make it better. She also tells great narratives, knows how to tweak anecdotes really well, and knows how to make a critical book read like a narrative, which is a real gift.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - The personal element of West’s research

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:31:10 GMT

With her first book, West’s motivation came from a personal source: “What could be more personal than a photograph, especially when my childhood contained so few of them?” “To be totally honest,” she says, “my second book was very hard for me, and I think one reason was because crime books are discussed so much. How to make an original intervention really worried me.” West reflects on her motivation for working on her third book: “I think it’s about the anticipation of watching all those _Masterpiece Theatre_ episodes with my mom. I know that sounds corny, but it’s really true!”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nancy M. West - What inspires West’s research interests?

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:31:30 GMT

Reflecting on “the ways in which personal interests affect the professional and how personal motivation often guides professional motivation,” West recalls a story about how she chose her career. “When I was in college at Rutgers University, I thought I would go to law school…. I was very committed to that…. Then one day it was career day, and a lawyer came and talked about her work. She looked so beleaguered and so unimpassioned. And she was followed by an English professor, who totally enchanted me. And that was it! I already had the law school applications and thought, ‘I can’t do this,’ and I told my professors. This was at one of the moments when the job market was just awful, and they told me, ‘Don’t do it…. You’re not going to be able to get a job in English. You’re just going to waste your time. You’re just going to end up really sad and disappointed. Don’t do it.’ I just thought this is a part of who I am. I just had an instinct that it was going to be okay. So I did it and I never regretted it.” Because of this life-changing moment, West tells students curious about pursuing English in graduate school, “You have a really hard road in front of you in terms of the job market, and there is a good chance that you won’t find a job right away. But if this is who you are, if it is part of your being, if you can’t imagine yourself _not_ doing it, then you really don’t have a choice, do you?”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - What Brought McKean to Convergence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:03 GMT

McKean talks about his background in journalism and what inevitably brought him to become chair of the newly created convergence sequence at the Missouri School of Journalism.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Defining Convergence Journalism or Media Convergence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:17 GMT

McKean describes the process of starting the convergence sequence, and what needs to be done to expand the program.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - The Mindset of Creating the Convergence Sequence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:29 GMT

McKean explains how the new journalism sequence was created in 2005. He says convergence teaches the “best ways to teach digital media skills to our students.” After looking at the strengths and failures of other journalism sequences (for example, magazine, photojournalism, news editorial, and broadcast), McKean and his colleagues were able to construct a curriculum that would introduce all sorts of media skills and apply those to reporting, editing, and producing.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - The Convergence Curriculum

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:42 GMT

The convergence sequence is broken down into classes, each introducing essential skills for a convergence journalist. The classes range from a basic fundamentals course introducing convergence to reporting, editing, and a capstone.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Backpack Journalist

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:57:56 GMT

McKean explains the concept of the backpack journalist, an all-in-one journalist who can do anything without the help of others. “The backpack journalist idea is one notion of how convergence works;” however, he proclaims, “nobody can do everything equally well, and nobody can go out on any given story and do everything and come back with a really compelling story.” A major part of the convergence sequence is to prepare students to be able to work in many different mediums of storytelling, but also to understand the importance of teamwork.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - MU Convergence Reporters Are Getting a Taste of the Real World

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:10 GMT

Unlike students in other sequences at the Missouri School of Journalism, convergence students work for media outlets across the country, including CurrentTV, MSNBC, and ESPN.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Convergence on a Global Level

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:26 GMT

In recent years, McKean has helped universities in other countries start their own journalism sequences. He says the experience has opened his eyes up to the barriers to journalism in other countries and what other institutions must do to clearly report news and information.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - Why is the Convergence Sequence Growing?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:42 GMT

McKean says because of the current technological age, many young journalists have grown up with multimedia platforms (such as facebook, cell phones, and blogs), and there is an unconstrained desire to implement many of those media with the news. “I think students that are coming to us now do not want to be shackled by one way of telling stories, ” McKean says.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - The Value of Storytelling with Convergence

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:58:55 GMT

McKean says a journalist who can tell a story in multiple media bridges the gap between the audience and the reporter. “They have to interact much more closely with the audience and not just assume that they are passive receptacles for the content that we create,” McKean explains. “There are multiple correct ways to tell the story depending on the story itself and the content that is available to tell it.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Mike McKean - How Newsrooms View Convergence Journalists

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:59:07 GMT

For many newsrooms, convergence is still a new idea being tinkered with on a daily basis. “They are increasingly realizing the need to have reporters with a convergence mindset. That is just a practical survival instinct,” McKean says. “But it is still difficult to try to do all of those things, and do them well, in an environment."

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - What Does an Industrial Engineer Do?

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:41:50 GMT

Bin Wu, Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, has been researching, teaching, and consulting within the field of industrial engineering 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 is designed to fulfill – for example, to manufacture or to supply. Traditionally, when we designed a system, the main efficiency considerations were related to productivity.” About three years ago, however, Wu received a wake-up call: his son’s birth created a sense of urgency to address environmental issues, and specifically energy efficiency. He realized then that when designing and improving systems, particularly industrial systems, “energy has got to be a very important consideration, if not the most important consideration.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - The Missouri Industrial Assessment Center

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:42:05 GMT

Officially opened on September 1, 2006, the Missouri Industrial Assessment Center’s purpose “is to be the center in the state to provide services and resources to promote energy efficiency, particularly industrial energy efficiency.” The IAC carries out activities in the areas of research, education, and outreach. Since its establishment, the IAC has been busy conducting energy audits and workshops for manufacturing organizations throughout the state. Because the IAC provides practical experience for students, helps manufacturers improve energy efficiency, and develops best practices in industry, Wu calls it a “win, win, win situation.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - Requesting an Energy Audit

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:42:24 GMT

To request an energy audit through the Missouri Industrial Assessment Center , visit the center’s website for details or contact Bin Wu directly. Because the number of audits the IAC can do per year is limited, companies are encouraged to apply early.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - The Cost of Implementing Energy Efficiency Measures

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:42:39 GMT

As to whether energy-efficient measures are more costly, Wu remarks that the IAC tries to identify opportunities that are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement so that “the recommendations normally have a payback period of one year. There are so many things that are not costly. Lighting is one example. It doesn’t cost much to replace regular light bulbs with energy-efficient ones, but the savings are almost immediate because the payback period is only about one year. So after this initial investment it’s all pure savings.” While energy-efficient measures are easy to set up, “in some cases, it does involve a more substantial amount of initial investment.” Even in those cases, Wu says, his group still tries to identify opportunities with a payback period of less than three years.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - Teaching at MU

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:42:56 GMT

Wu teaches a number of classes, at both the undergraduate and graduate level, in the area of industrial systems analysis and design.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - Wu’s Publications

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:43:09 GMT

Wu has published four books, all in the area of manufacturing and systems design, several of which have become internationally adopted as textbooks: _Manufacturing Systems Design and Analysis_ (1992, 1994), _Manufacturing and Supply Systems Management_ (2000), and _Handbook of Manufacturing and Supply Systems Design_ (2001).

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - How Wu Came to This Area of Work

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:43:24 GMT

Following years principally involved in research, Wu now spends more time working with both students and the public on energy efficiency and the environment. As he puts it, “I feel very strongly that every one of us needs to do something and behave in responsible ways, individually or collectively, [to] do _something_ about it.” As an educator, Wu gets the message out to his students, who he says are the future: , “It’s really a very fulfilling thing to do. I have been a professor for all of my professional life—doing research, writing books and other publications, and teaching. I can honestly say that what I’m doing now regarding energy efficiency is absolutely the most fulfilling.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Bin Wu - Even Small Changes Matter

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:43:40 GMT

Wu says it is important to raise awareness on energy efficiency in an academic setting. “If I have to scream, I will scream,” he says so earnestly. Wu provides an array of helpful examples on how to converse energy, such as replacing one light bulb: “All we need to do is to change our habits, leave our way of living a little bit. In the end, it is quite significant. There are so many things we can individually do that will collectively have an impact on our environment and on the next generation… and I just hope we all begin to take this with a sense of urgency.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Virtual Reality (VR) Research

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:19:37 GMT

Because of her lifelong interests, So-Yeon Yoon was drawn to the field of architecture and interior design. It was “a perfect match,” one in which her creative desires and her interest in computers could merge. Today, this assistant professor of Architectural Studies teaches focuses her research and teaching on the areas of Human Environmental Psychology and Interior and Architectural Design. Yoon’s current research combines information technology with interior design and architecture. That is, she applies technology, particularly virtual reality (VR), to interior design problems.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Information Technology and Architectural Design in the Furniture Industry

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:19:53 GMT

Yoon’s work combines architectural and interior designs with information technology. Applying the latest computer initiatives, Yoon studies how technology can assist people–for example, by improving their decision-making process.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Virtual Reality Technology

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:20:08 GMT

Yoon recently published _Impact of Desktop Virtual Reality on System Usability: A Case Study of Online Consumer Survey Using a VR Integrated Decision Support System_ (2004). The book offers basic knowledge about VR technology and focuses on the dimension of human-computer interaction. For example, she addresses the utility of VR software, how users actually interact with the tools, and what kinds of advantages can be expected when adopting this technology.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Teaching at MU

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:20:25 GMT

Yoon teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Architectural Studies. Her courses tend to focus on emerging technology (including Interior Design, Visual Design, Computer Graphics and Design, Photoshop, 3-D Computer Animation, and Web Graphic Design). Asked how she manages to stay at the cutting edge of technology, Yoon replies that she relies on her students: “Teaching is an essential part of my research, because I can use my students’ help.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - How Yoon Became Interested in Virtual Reality Architecture

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:20:44 GMT

Yoon admits she has always liked computers and computer games, even as a young child, and was encouraged because it was something she could do better than her siblings. Also engaged with painting and drawing, Yoon found herself drawn to the field of architecture and interior design, one that could merge her creative impulses and her interest in computers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Using Virtual Reality for Online Learning

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:20:59 GMT

Education is one area in which virtual reality holds great potential. “Some people don’t have access to the real world, but they can take advantage of this virtual environment, which is generated in 3D,” Yoon explains. That means students can meet in the Louvre Museum in Paris, and walk around the buildings and study the art. Because the program employs a multi-user-based system, students can interact with each other in a virtual world. “So we are exploring the possibility of using that technology to deliver our studio courses,” says Yoon, who someday hopes that students will be able “to create and critique in a virtual environment without actually meeting the person face-to-face.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Collaborative Projects

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:21:16 GMT

Most of Yoon’s projects are collaborative in nature. She works with specialists from computer programming, data-base design, and hotel and restaurant management. “Collaboration is essential in this field,” she observes. Her colleagues are in fact scattered across the nation: “It doesn’t really matter these days because we can use live chat or GoToMeeting. This kind of technology allows us to actually work together quite seamlessly without meeting face-to-face.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - MU’s Graduate Program: Design with Digital Media

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:21:36 GMT

Yoon speaks proudly of the Design With Digital Media program, which includes M.A., M.S., and Ph.D. tracks. “We have a great program,” she says. “We have a good group of teachers and students coming from all over the world” to study the intersection between technology and architectural and interior design.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Example of Student Projects

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:21:55 GMT

Yoon shows some examples of her students’ studio projects—designs made from computer-generated images by undergraduate and graduate students. “I’m very proud of what our students are doing,” she says of students on the cutting edge of technology. “I’m very anxious to see what our future will give us, especially in Design with Digital Media.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Research and the Creative Process

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:22:10 GMT

In terms of influences on her research, Yoon describes her watercolor paintings and how the creative process can be “very addictive.” As she explains, “I didn’t study art, but I like drawing and painting. I like colors and creating something beautiful, and creating things on the computer actually gives the same kind of fulfillment. I like creating things in 3-D and experimenting with different options in terms of materials, texture, and colors.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: So-Yeon Yoon - Standards for Virtual Reality Tools

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:22:22 GMT

While some virtual reality software is better than others, Yoon avoids devaluing others’ work. What really bothers her is development of VR tools for personal publicity and profit. “I don’t think that’s right,” remarks Yoon, who believes that educators and researchers should “work for everybody’s benefit and try to make a contribution to society,” rather than concentrate on their own self-interest.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Common Voice Problems

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:03:55 GMT

Radhakrishnan talks about some of the common voice problems people can have.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Voice Measuring Tools

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:03:55 GMT

The non-invasive tools Radhakrishnan uses to study voice production are sophisticated, and apparently accurate with their results. He demonstrates how he records the voice levels of his subjects.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Why a Career in Voice

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:03:51 GMT

As a young boy, the idea of using his voice in a performance setting fascinated Radhakrishnan. “I wanted to be in movies, be an actor, director, and all sorts of stuff,” he says. “Coming from a family of doctors, my dad, his dad, and grandparents were all doctors; they wanted me to be in the medical field.” Instead, Radhakrishnan chose a career that fell in between vocal performance and medicine: speech pathology.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - How Does Someone Improve Their Own Voice?

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:44:00 GMT

The first step in improving voice is listening to oneself. It is not always a simple process, but once people learn to manage their voice in a healthy way, they should experience less fatigue and vocal dryness.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Types of Voice Exercises

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:44:20 GMT

Radhakrishnan offers a rundown of some tips to improve the voice.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Professional Voice Course

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:44:33 GMT

During the school year, Radhakrishnan teaches a professional voice course offered to all MU students. Many of the students who sign up for this course are aspiring performers and professional voice users like broadcasters and education majors.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - How Are Professional Broadcasters Doing?

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:40:36 GMT

After several years of studying voice, Radhakrishnan even assesses professional broadcasters. He says many TV and radio anchors get carried away in front of a microphone, and as a result they lose their breath support.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Western Classical Singing versus Indian Classical Singing

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:44:46 GMT

A major part of Radhakrishnan’s research entails comparing voice production between Western classical singers and Indian classical singers. After studying the voice levels of both cultures, he concludes that Indian classical singers do not rely on breath support nearly as much as Western singers.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Taan Gestures

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:45:12 GMT

Taan gestures are a fraternal fluctuation used by Indian classical singers. Western classical singers tend to use involuntary mechanisms for vibrato that require very little voluntary control and more breath support. Taan gestures are voluntarily controlled, and can be used rapidly or slowly depending on the singer’s emotions.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Nandhu Radhakrishnan - Changing Perceptions of Voice

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:44:59 GMT

Now that he has become an expert on voice production, Radhakrishnan says he has a greater appreciation for voice and all of the training public speakers must endure.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - A Survey of Alex Barker’s Work

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:56:38 GMT

Alex Barker wears several different hats. As an anthropological archaeologist, Barker’s research and fieldwork resolves around the Bronze Age of Europe and the late prehistoric period of the American southeast, digging for and studying evidence for social change. Barker also serves as the director of MU’s Museum of Art and Archaeology.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Barker’s Fieldwork in Romania

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:57:13 GMT

Almost all of Barker’s field research in Romania focuses on a single broad question: how does society go from the sovereign individual to the individual sovereign? Barker is trying to understand the relationship between that process and the economics underlying those societies, seeking answers to questions about the economic basis of political change, and the development of economic mechanisms like taxation and charity relief, as well as why people would be willing to forsake their rights as autonomous individuals for more autocratic control by some kind of hierarchy. Barker surmises that individuals must have somehow perceived themselves as benefiting from the change.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Barker’s Fieldwork in the New World

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:57:34 GMT

Barker has also being doing fieldwork in the New World, especially in ancient Missouri and the Ancient Southeast and in more recent historical periods, from 1000 to 1500 CE across the American midcontinent. Art styles of all of those regions used the same basic symbols, apparently referring to the same basic concepts.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - The Museum of Art and Archaeology

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:58:07 GMT

Barker has worked in several kinds of museums—natural history museums and anthropology museums. “No one feels uncomfortable going into a natural history museum without knowing about bird taxonomy or going into an anthropology museum without knowing the latest details about the origins of humans,” he says. “But a lot of people are uncomfortable coming to an art museum if they don’t know a lot about art, and that is not a good thing.” Fortunately, the Museum of Art and Archaeology combines art with classical archaeology, offering a view of the changes of art over a very long period of time. Barker has been trying to make people more comfortable with the idea of coming into the museum and having their own experience with art—engaging authentic objects, whether from antiquity or from more recent periods, on their own terms.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Museum Ethics

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:02:37 GMT

Gone are the days of Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, who could raid tombs without consideration of ethics. Part of Barker’s work concerns museum and cultural property ethics. Both as an archaeologist and as a museum professional, he is concerned about who should own and control cultural treasures. From an archaeological standpoint, cultural property largely concerns the prevention of looting and curbing illicit trafficking in antiquities. The rate of site destruction is huge, and archaeologists worldwide are working to protect the integrity of remaining sites.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Museum Ethics (cont.)

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:03:12 GMT

As a museum director and archaeologist, one of Barker’s most pressing research agendas concerns ethics and the question of who owns the past. Although many objects in the museum’s collection predate modern acquisition guidelines, this remains a real concern for museum staff. Finding himself torn between competing and often contradictory claims to the past’s remnants, Barker struggles with how to ethically handle the acquisition of antiquities in a way that seeks to protect the archaeological record and the sovereignty of the countries from which the objects originate, but also to benefit the public today.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - More than the Object’s Label

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:02:56 GMT

Barker refers to a certain tension between curators, who have all this 'stuff' they want to communicate, and exhibit designers, who want to keep the exhibit as clean and simple as possible. “Ultimately, we want people looking at the art, not at the labels,” he indicates; but the Museum still wants to educate. In that spirit, the museum is experimenting with technology to showcase the art and the significance of art to everyone by creating MP3-based audio tours of the museum that can then be played on any personal audio device, including iPods, notebook computers, and even cell phones. Barker hopes this will allow greater flexibility for visitors, whom he imagines selecting a tour and walking through the galleries at their leisure while looking at the art and listening to the audio information, “instead of looking back and forth between the label and the art.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Collaborative Research

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:02:53 GMT

“Collaboration is necessary for someone like me because I don’t have a field,” says Barker. “Am I an anthropological archaeologist or am I a museum director? I’m both. We often talk about interdisciplinary research; by necessity, mine is completely interdisciplinary. It is always sitting between and spanning multiple disciplines.” He collaborates, for example, with other museums and research centers, for example with Michael D. Glascock of the Missouri Reactor Center’s Archaeometry Laboratory.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Beyond the Moundbuilder Myth

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:02:49 GMT

“Most people don’t realize how complex ancient North America was,” notes Barker, and for a long time its history was based more on imagination than investigation: “One of the most important myths energizing the nineteenth century imagination was that of the moundbuilder. This was the idea that the ancient mounds of the southeastern and eastern United States had to have been built by an advanced race that was far too complex and far too ‘civilized’ to have been the ancestors of modern Native Americans. It is probably not a coincidence that this myth took off just about the time Indian lands began being taken away, reached a zenith during the period when lands were being taking away most rapidly; and when all the land had been taken away, the myth vanished.” Barker studies the myth to better understand how the past is constructed and construed in the present.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - How Barker Came to this Field

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:02:43 GMT

“I could never decide what I wanted to do,” recounts Barker. “I was interested in everything. People have described archaeology as being a discipline that takes from all the other disciplines. He began his career in archaeology at a very young age—during middle school, in fact—doing field camps through a Northwestern University program in southern Illinois, where he helped to excavate a series of very large sites. After doing a few seasons there, Barker was hooked.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - The Bronze Age

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:02:28 GMT

Barker talks about his work studying the European Bronze Age, which refers to a period of cultural history that succeeded the Stone Age and was characterized by the use of tools made of bronze and by metal smelting. The dates for the Bronze Age vary according to location, he explains, and the site he's currently investigating is deeply stratified, meaning it has many levels of successive cultural occupation.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Inside the Museum of Art and Archaeology

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:02:22 GMT

Barker takes us into the Museum of Art and Archaeology, heading immediately to a Mayan vessel that dates from sometime between about 600 to 900 CE. He is confident about the vessel’s authenticity because of the glyphic inscription across its lip describing the fruity cacao that the vessel’s owner would be drinking. The Mayan glyphic code was not broken until after the vessel was accepted and accessioned into the museum’s collection, he explains, and only because of subsequent scholarship are they able to read the inscription. That the vessel was created for cacao—chocolate—is also interesting, for cacao was one of the most important economic resources, along with salt, circulating as valuables in complex societies in Mesoamerica, even though cacao is not native to the region but to areas further south.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Alex Barker - Romanian Surrealist Artist, Victor Brauner

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:16:06 GMT

One of the paintings Barker was pleasantly surprised to find in the museum’s collection is a self-portrait by the Romanian surrealist Victor Brauner. Dating from 1923, the painting reflects the period immediately before the artist moved fully into surrealism as a means of representation. “It is a remarkable portrait,” explains Barker, “because it is the last time he paints himself with both eyes.” In his subsequent work, that is, the artist always paints himself with one eye missing—whether there is a gaping wound, an automaton of some kind, or his eyes placed on his hands. In 1938, Brauner was in a bar fight, during which his eye was poked out—the very eye he had been painting himself without for a decade and a half. Barker says, “Surrealism holds it up as an example of sort of a premonitory knowledge that this was going to happen, proof that time is not linear to the unconscious mind.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: SyndicateMizzou - How did you come to this research or creative activity?

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:44:41 GMT

When asked about why they were drawn to this area of research or creative activity, MU faculty provide interesting and compelling responses. In some cases, they continued in school because the drive to learn new things was so great, because family provided a sense of identity and career direction, or because of initial interest in a related field. In other cases, they stumbled upon the field quite by accident. Regardless of the reason, the passion they hold for their work is obvious.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: SyndicateMizzou - Why is this research or creative activity important?

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:44:42 GMT

Whether their work seeks to counter domestic violence and ethnic genocide, identify cancer treatments, or employ literature and music to understand humanity, these MU faculty describe in their own words why this work is important to society.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: SyndicateMizzou - How do research and creative activity intersect with teaching?

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:44:43 GMT

In this segment, faculty members talk about how their research and creative activity contribute to better teaching, as well as the relationship between these two aspects of their work. Frequently, the two endeavors intersect, profitting both. Carmen Chicone remarks, “If you are actively involved in your subject, you’re bound to be a much better teacher.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: SyndicateMizzou - Why was the Center for eResearch established?

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:44:43 GMT

The Center for the Studies in Oral Tradition, founded in 1986 by John Miles Foley, became the model for the Center for eResearch. The mission of the CeR is to bring together people from diverse fields doing innovative research on Internet or digital projects so that they might profit from the exchange of ideas.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: SyndicateMizzou - What was the motivation behind SyndicateMizzou?

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:44:38 GMT

Founder and director John Miles Foley explains the thinking behind the creation of SyndicateMizzou, with its mission to make research and creative activity occurring at MU accessible to the public on a 24/7/365 basis.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: SyndicateMizzou - Cooperative ventures between CSOT and CeR

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:44:27 GMT

John Miles Foley explains how the two centers—the Center for the Studies in Oral Tradition (est. 1986) and the newer Center for eResearch—are cooperative ventures: “All of our activities at both centers have in common the philosophy of sharing intellectual content (knowledge, art, ideas) across barriers…to make it as easy as possible for everyone in the world to participate.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - How They Became Interested in Their Research

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:40:53 GMT

It is fascinating to hear about how these graduate students were drawn to their chosen area of study. While in some cases, their graduate program was a logical next step, for other students there is the sense that serendipity played a bigger role. In all cases, however, the sense of “something just clicking” becomes evident. Once they chose an area in which to specialize, that is, other aspects of their research and study just seem to fall into place.

William Donald Thomas, for example, recalls his college days: “I was an art major and then an English major, but I couldn’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life.…I looked at what I liked most, and that was biology. I wasn’t always interested in exactly what I’m doing now. I sort of fell into it. I like the simplicity in the system we are using; that is probably what attracted me to it.”
Similarly, Erica Racen admits that she did not begin in the basic sciences. As an undergraduate student, however, she did research in the area of cardio-thoracic surgery. “I was excited about science and research, and after graduating, I decided to get my Ph.D.” While doing rotations in different labs, she states: “When I tried out Karen Bennett’s laboratory, I found that it was the right fit for me. I liked the research, and as I have slowly learned more about it, it has kind of become my own.”

Brian Bostick recounts that he enjoyed science and medicine in high school, saying, “I always thought I would be a doctor.” While taking classes to prepare for medical school, he was exposed to the research aspect of academia. “I got really interested in how the stuff in the textbooks got there. I wanted to become one of the people who discovers those things.” After doing a rotation in Dongsheng Duan’s laboratory, says Bostick, “I think that’s when it all clicked. It was really exciting. Duan is really energetic and believes in the work he is doing. He is always thinking back to the actual patients. I think that is what really got me interested in research, but also in combining research with the clinical side.”

“Growing up, I was fascinated by nature and plants,” tells Amy Replogle. Intending to pursue plant biology in college, an internship at The Ohio State University in plant pathology triggered greater interest. Afterward, Replogle came to MU for an internship with Melissa Mitchum, who later became her advisor.

“I’ve always liked plants,” says Severin Stevenson about his own path to graduate school. Not only are plants relatively easy to study and hold multiple opportunities for studying, but they are also a good starting model. “Biochemistry is biochemistry,” suggests Stevenson. “No matter what system you are working on, you can apply it to other systems as well.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - Differences between Undergraduate and Graduate School

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:34:36 GMT

Asked about how the experience of being an undergraduate student compares with that of being a graduate student, each of these students responds with parallel remarks about the added work, responsibility, and pressures, as well as the opportunity for autonomy in their research and the personal rewards gained from their work.
As an undergraduate student, for instance, Erica Racen recalls that while she went to classes and studied for exams, she felt she could “leave school at school.” Graduate school has been very different in that regard. Now finished with her coursework, she explains: “I don’t take classes anymore, so I am in the lab all day long. It’s fun!” Similarly, Amy Replogle recalls the biggest change she experienced in becoming a graduate student: “As an undergraduate, going to class was my job. When I came to MU for graduate school, this was reversed. While class is still important…my job has become my research project. So it is like having to go to school full time and having a full-time job. That balance was the hardest thing for me to get used to.”

Several individuals note that, as graduate students, they must be independent and self-motivated. Racen, for instance, describes her weekly routine: “I wake up every day and plan my own experiments. I decide what I need to get done, and I do the research. I have to think about it constantly to figure out what is the right experiment.” Brian Bostick agrees: “Graduate school is a lot more self-directed. When you are an undergraduate student, you take classes and tests. While you have some of that in graduate school, a lot of it involves learning on your own what you need to do your research, about the field, and where your research fits into it. At the same time, beyond the science, you are also working on your writing and communication skills to be able to present what you’ve learned.”
Andrew Cox likewise recalls having fewer responsibilities as an undergraduate student. Now finding and funding his own research, writing academic papers, and taking graduate-level classes, Cox finds himself being far busier than ever before. However, Cox appreciates the increased autonomy in his work: “I have an advisor, but I am essentially my own boss, and all the responsibilities that come with that keeps me busy.” Before coming to MU, Cox “worked at a desk in the corporate world.” He admits that there are times now when he wishes he could just go home and turn off his brain at 5:00 pm as before. “That doesn’t happen in graduate school,” says Cox, “because you are always struggling just to keep up with your work load. But I would never ever go back to what I was doing before. This is much more rewarding. I loved being an undergraduate student, but there are deeper rewards available to graduate students.”
While being a graduate student is a lot more work than being an undergraduate student, acknowledges Stevenson, “it is definitely worth it.” In fact, “it’s phenomenal; I’ve learned an insane amount in a short amount of time.”
All of these students agree that undergraduate and graduate school present two different learning styles and environments. While the former provides an introduction to the subject matter, “the questions and the problem-solving skills become more refined in graduate school,” suggests William Donald Thomas, whose advice for undergraduate students is as follows: “Regardless of your major, pay attention to those core classes that you take, for example, chemistry and general biology, because those are your foundations and will help you progress in graduate school.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - Plans after Graduate School

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:36:42 GMT

When asked, each individual reveals ideas about their post-graduation plans. When he graduates, for example, William Donald Thomas plans to continue the same type of research in molecular biology, in search of better treatments for breast cancer. Brian Bostick is a MD/Ph.D. student, earning a medical degree alongside a Ph.D. He explains: “My hope is to combine both clinical work as an MD, working with patients, but also to keep a research career going.” As such, Bostick intends to keep developing treatments for heart disease and “try to transfer those breakthroughs we are having in the laboratory to the bedside and help human patients.” Regarding his own ideal plans following graduation, Severin Stevenson says he would like to work in private industry for a while, but hopes that after some years of this he will return to teaching.

“There’s actually a lot you can do with a Ph.D.,” says Erica Racen. “Traditionally, people think that you go into academia and have your own lab. But I have a passion for teaching. Having come from a small liberal arts college, I would like to go back to that environment and teach.” Amy Replogle similarly reports a passion for teaching, saying, “I would love to become a professor at a small institution.”

While Andrew Cox is not certain what direction to take after graduation, he knows that he loves doing research. “I am less thrilled with the grant writing, the constant rejection, and the cut-throat nature of academia,” he responds. If he had to guess, Cox suspects that he will eventually teach: “I love interacting with students. There is really not much more thrilling than getting someone interested, involved, and engaged in research.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - Brian Bostick, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:18:53 GMT

As a graduate student in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology in MU’s School of Medicine, Brian Bostick works with professor Dongsheng Duan in the area of gene therapy. Bostick’s research seeks to develop a treatment for the most common form of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in which patients are missing a gene called dystrophin. Gene therapy involves the replacement or addition of a missing gene. Bostick’s research involves inserting this gene into a virus and then injecting it into an animal body. “Just by using the normal properties of how a virus works,” Bostick explains, “we can actually replace genes that are missing.”

Bostick’s research focuses specifically on the heart disease associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, where a gradual weakening of the muscles occurs—starting with the larger muscles—so that patients have trouble breathing by the time they are teenagers. For a long time, such respiratory problems had been the major cause of death among DMD patients, but doctors are now better able to treat the respiratory disease. Because the heart muscle also needs dystrophin to function properly, heart disease worsens as these patients live longer. Heart disease, in fact, is now a major cause of death among DMD patients, a problem that Bostick and his mentor Duan seek to address by developing a heart disease model in mice.

Bostick offers a quick tour of Duan’s laboratory, illustrating the processes involved in several research projects—from the mouse treadmill to the surgical area and where the mice are kept under observation. Delicately selecting several mice, Bostick shows examples of a normal mouse, one with MD, and another with MD undergoing gene replacement therapy. The difference, in both size and activity, between the untreated mouse and the one given gene therapy is remarkable and promising for future applications of this research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - Andrew Cox, Division of Biological Sciences

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:19:59 GMT

Broadly speaking, Andrew Cox’s research interests within biology include ecology, evolution, and the conservation of birds. “Many people don’t realize,” says Cox, “that even in the best of circumstances a bird in the most pristine forest probably loses half of its young to predators.” Cox's work, with his mentor John Faaborg of the Division of Biological Sciences, focuses on forest birds, particularly migrant birds, which winter in the south and come north to breed. “We know that the way people have used land has changed the breeding habitat of birds,” explains Cox. In Missouri, for example, much of the state was once comprised of forests. “As forests become more fragmented, it affects the lives of birds. We know that the more fragmented the forest becomes the lower the chances a particular bird has of producing young successfully.” Cox’s research seeks to understand why this is the case.

Focusing on two birds in particular, Acadian Flycatchers and Indigo Buntings—both of which reside in Missouri and surrounding areas—Cox uses constant surveillance cameras to monitor nests around the clock in order to identify the types of animals responsible for nest failure. He shows an example of a black rat snake attacking a young nestling. “Historically, we thought snakes and hawks were important predators, but we never had video evidence like this to prove it. You rarely witness the predation of an animal in the wild….We didn’t really know which animals were primarily responsible for overall predation pressures on these birds.”

Cox is also examining how predation impacts bird behavior. “There are a lot of predators out there who are visually oriented—for example, blue jays and hawks—so that the more frequently a bird goes to the nest to feed its young, the more likely it will draw attention to the nest.” Some research has shown that birds who visit the nest more often, in particular cases, are more likely to lose their nests to predators than those who visit less frequently. Cox seeks to understand the relationship between the types of predators and when they are most active, which can help to explain variation in the way birds behave. “As a small bird, you can only do so much to protect the nest,” Cox reflects. “A famous poet once said, ‘bread, tooth, and claw.’ It breaks your heart sometimes…but it’s the rule of the land, really, it’s just how things go.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - Erica Racen, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:20:24 GMT

A graduate student in the School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Erica Racen works with professor Karen Bennett to study germline development in a small worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans. The germline are the cells that go on to become the next generation of the eggs or the sperm. “Our lab studies four proteins which are important for that development,” Racen explains. “When one of those proteins is missing, the worm becomes sterile.” Racen describes the worm in question, which is only one millimeter in length. Because it has a large germline, it is a good organism to study germline development.

“When I first started studying the protein GLH-1,” recounts Racen, “I knew it was important for fertility, but I did not know why. So I started to look at what things are different when GLH is missing. I found a relationship to the protein Dicer, that when GLH-1 was missing, so was Dicer. I also found that when Dicer was missing, so was RNA.” Trying to understand this relationship, Racen has conducted a series of experiments. She describes an actual experiment, one that involves mutants in which the gene has been knocked out or uses the process of “RNA interference” (injecting double-stranded RNAs into the worm, so that in the next generation those proteins are not produced). In this manner, Racen is able to study different genes in the worm.

Racen describes “a typical day in the lab,” providing a tour of Karen Bennett’s lab and showing some of the equipment used for her experiments. A typical day begins at sunrise when Racen plans her experiments, and will likely involve grinding worms to extract the cell lysate and problem solving with colleagues doing similar experiments.

Racen refers to her research as basic science. While the protein she works with is also found in humans, as of now there are few direct applications of this kind of research. Racen explains, however, “The more we learn about basic science, it will help us develop better treatments down the road. If we can understand how an egg develops from the very beginning, including all the proteins involved, we will have a better understanding of how to treat it.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - Amy Replogle, Division of Plant Sciences

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:25:37 GMT

Of her typical day, Amy Replogle, a graduate student in the Division of Plant Sciences, responds: “When I am not in class, I am in the lab doing research.” Replogle focuses on plant microbiology and pathology with professor Melissa Mitchum in the Bond Life Sciences Center. Specifically, she is working on the interaction between the plant parasitic cyst nematode and its host plant the soybean. These plant cyst nematodes are microscopic round worms that live in the soil and feed off the roots of plants. When they feed, they cause damage to the roots so that they can no longer uptake the water and nutrients needed for proper development. When a high percentage of soybean cyst nematodes reside in the soil, they result in yield losses for the farmer, a huge problem for Missouri soybean farmers.

Replogle demonstrates some of the steps involved in her experiments—from hatching the eggs and germinating soybean seeds to examining the infected roots with an inverted microscope. Replogle describes the life cycle of the soybean cyst nematode, which begins with the adult female cyst, which contains hundreds of eggs, and which may lie in wait in the soil for thirty years. “That is just one of the reasons it is so hard to control,” she says. When hatched, the nematode seeks a root, enters it, and penetrates the cell walls, "spitting" secretion into the root to induce the breakdown of cell walls and the formation of a feeding site.

“This is where my research project comes in,” Replogle explains. “I am actually studying one of the particular proteins that the nematode secretes that enables it feed from the plant for the rest of its life.” Through this research, Replogle seeks to better understand this problem in order to propose better solutions.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - Severin Stevenson, Department of Biochemistry

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:27:00 GMT

Severin Stevenson introduces a subfield of biochemistry called quantitative proteomics. Proteomics deals with absolute quantification of proteins at any given time in a given sample compared with other protein samples. Because certain plants produce seeds that are valuable for their oil (e.g., cottonseed, peanuts, grape seed), scientists are interested in the plant’s physiology, specifically, its process of “seed-filling”—a period of development during which the seed produces oil. If scientists can understand the processes that contribute to the seed’s production of oil, they may be able to increase this production for economic gain.

Stevenson has been working with Jay J. Thelen’s Proteomics of Oilseeds Lab in the Bond Life Sciences Center. A typical experiment for Stevenson may involve adding fatty acids to cells growing in a sucrose suspension, taking a sample every hour over a period of days, extracting and treating protein from these samples and, finally, re-suspending the protein and then injecting samples into the mass spectrometer in order to quantify and analyze the chemical composition of the protein samples.

Stevenson and his team are working to elucidate the mechanism behind oil accumulation in seeds during seed filling. Plants sense the levels of various metabolites differently in different tissues, and seeds are unique in the ways in which they do this. Some seeds are well over 40% oil by dry weight, whereas leaves are under 5%. The differences in oil accumulation between these tissues provide evidence for the presence of a unique regulatory mechanism that they wish to understand and which may eventually benefit agricultural industries.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Graduate Students - William Donald Thomas, Division of Biological Sciences

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:21:27 GMT

As a graduate student in the Division of Biological Sciences, William Donald Thomas works in the area of molecular and protein biology. Specifically, his research--with mentor George P. Smith in the Phage Display Lab seeks to find peptides that bind to breast cancer cells in hopes of developing better diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Thomas explains: “Right now, the imaging and treatment of cancer is pretty nonspecific. The hope is that we can make or discover molecules that are specific to cancer, because the current treatment for cancer basically just targets cells that grow fast and, in doing so, they make people sick. The whole motivation is to find something that can specifically target cancer cells, in this case, breast cancer cells.” As such, Thomas’ research involves cloning different proteins and selecting a protein that is over-expressed in breast cancer cells called ErbB2.
A typical week for Thomas actually begins the previous week, meeting with his adviser, planning experiments, and discussing problems encountered. “Right now my goal is to find peptides that bind to cancer cells, but that is going to take a lot of little steps. A lot of proteins are going to have to be made and designed. I spend a fair amount of time designing the experiments and then doing them.” When the experiments don’t work, Thomas must re-design them. “In a nutshell, I play with proteins all day,” he jokes. “Fundamentally, I’m studying protein to protein interactions, so that I can find things that could be used to bind breast cancer cells.”

“Cancer treatment, as it stands now, is like going at a very particular problem with a sledge hammer, when we need something more fine-tuned like a scalpel. Otherwise, we are making the patient sick by indiscriminately killing cells; the pain endured from cancer treatments can take its toll. We want to be able to increase the patient’s health and not decrease the quality of life.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christine VanPool - Growing up in New Mexico

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:23:45 GMT

VanPool talks about growing up in New Mexico, where she lived just a few miles from the Mescalero Apache Reservation and soon discovered that she had an interest in North American and Mesoamerican Indian cultures.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christine VanPool - Shamanic Rituals

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:23:45 GMT

VanPool describes her research into shamanic practices among different groups of people. In order to develop a connection with the gods, some tribes use mind-altering drugs to slip slowly into a temporary altered state.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christine VanPool - Ceramic Analysis

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:23:42 GMT

VanPool describes her work with ceramic analysis in which she studies the configuration and design of pots and jugs.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christine VanPool - Different Birthing Practices

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:18:49 GMT

VanPool talks about her undergraduate research at Eastern New Mexico University where she studied several cultural groups to understand their different birthing practices.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christine VanPool - Understanding Other Cultures Generates Acceptance

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:19:07 GMT

VanPool believes that learning about other cultures has helped her to step out of her own cultural shell. Taking the time to understand other groups, she explains, paves the way towards accepting others.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Christine VanPool - Studying Language in the Field

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:19:33 GMT

VanPool talks about her archeological field research in Chihuahua, Mexico. Not only does she have the opportunity to study the culture, but she also gets to study the language.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - Why do Maize Genetics?

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:50:46 GMT

According to Karen Cone, Professor of Biological Sciences, one can learn a lot about any kind of genetic organism by doing genetics in a model: “Maize is considered to be a model genetic organism because what we learn in this organism is translatable to others.” Because it is a plant, she explains, there is the added advantage of seeds that can go dormant, stored for years until one wants to run additional crosses with them. Maize has other positive attributes as well; for example, it has separate male and female parts, and every kernel is a baby. With just one cross producing 300 to 800 progeny on each ear, Cone finds maize to be an ideal organism for genetic research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - The Maize Genome Mapping Project

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:51:15 GMT

One of Cone’s earlier research projects on corn genetics is the Maize Mapping Project. Funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Plant Genome Research Program, the project involved a collaboration of investigators at MU, the University of Arizona, and the University of Georgia. Of the four-year project that was completed in 2002, Cone recounts: “Our goal was to make a map of the maize genome.” Using molecular methods and a genetic population tailored specifically for the project, Cone’s research team set about placing DNA "landmarks" onto the chromosomes. “When we finally finished the map,” she says, “there were over 10,000 landmarks on it!”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - In Search of Chromatin: Cone’s Current Research

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:51:45 GMT

Cone’s current research seeks to understand the function of a group of genes called chromatin: “Chromatin is the complex of DNA and protein, which allows us as humans–or plants like corn–to pack a lot of DNA into the tiny nucleus of a cell.” The DNA duplex for both corn plants and humans is huge. As she explains, “we have about the same size genome, about three billion base pairs, but ours is really long. We pack about six feet of DNA in every cell,” each of which is only five microns across. That’s a heck of a lot of DNA!” How does all that DNA fit in there? “We’re smart,” suggests Cone, adding that “corn and humans do it the same way,” as does every organism with a nucleus. Therefore, her research on DNA packaging is applicable to every organism, because “from yeast, to mice, to humans, to plants—we all wrap up our DNA basically the same way.” It amounts to a sort of microscopic compressor system, which Cone describes as “amazing.” If researchers can better understand how this chromatin packaging occurs, they might eventually be able to control the process to their advantage.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - Basic Questions about Genetics Research

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:52:14 GMT

Cone responds to some basic questions about doing genetics research with plants, discussing such matters as reporter genes, gene activity, pigmentation, and the impact of environmental factors on the research.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - From Calico Cats to Humans

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:52:54 GMT

This research on DNA packaging is applicable to every organism, Cone observes. Using the example of a calico cat, she explains: “Tortoise-shell and calico cats have orange and black fur patches on their body. That is due to a DNA packaging phenomenon.” As it turns out, the fur color gene is on the X chromosome. Just as human females have two X chromosomes, so do these calico cats, which are almost always female. In fact, they have one X with an orange-fur gene and one X with a black-fur gene: “so back when that little calico cat, with her different X chromosomes, was a 16 or a 32-cell embryo, in each cell, one of the X chromosomes got really tightly packaged, so tightly that the genes on that chromosome weren’t expressed.” If the X with the orange-fur gene is packaged, she continues, then the X with the black-fur gene remains active. As the cell divides further in the embryo, it will eventually give rise to a black patch of fur. The orange patches, of course, derive from the fact that in another cell, the X with the orange-fur gene, was the one left active, while the black one was balled up too tightly to be expressed. That is one concrete example of how DNA packaging influences whether or not a gene is turned on.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - Why this Research is Important

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:53:19 GMT

If researchers can better understand how this DNA packaging occurs, they might eventually be able to control the process to their advantage. As Cone observes, “being able to understand that process might give us a chance down the road to manipulate it, to potentially improve features of the plant for crop production.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - Cone’s Teaching and Outreach Activities

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:53:48 GMT

Cone teaches first-level genetics to biology and biochemistry students. “It is a lot of fun to teach introductory genetics,” she says, her enthusiasm obvious. She also teaches a capstone genetics course called “Human Inherited Diseases,” which explores the underlying molecular basis of certain inherited diseases in humans. “I’m not a human geneticist,” Cone specifies, “but I’ve learned about human genetics by teaching that class.” In addition to her teaching and research, Cone has done several major outreach projects.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Karen Cone - How Cone Came to this Area of Research

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:54:12 GMT

“I don’t know exactly why I got interested in biology,” recounts Cone. “I was interested in medicine, so I started college thinking that I would be a medical doctor… But pretty soon I realized that wasn’t the kind of work that I wanted to do. So I started leaning more towards research.” Because of her own experience, Cone advises students accordingly: “You can turn out okay even if you don’t know what you want to do right now. So you just have to look for opportunities and keep your eyes open. Listen to what people are telling you, and to what sounds cool, and believe that nothing is impossible. In science it is common to totally change fields, to do your Ph.D. in one thing and eventually end up working on some other topic. Getting a Ph.D., after all, is about learning to be a critical independent thinker.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Why They Joined the Peace Corps

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:17:24 GMT

It is a curious thing to consider their 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 they tried to determine their career goals. In others, it was already compatible with their ambitions. Regardless, all of these returned volunteers found that the decision had irreversibly changed them and that they got more out of their experience than they felt they had given.

• Julie Feeney, originally from Boston, Massachusetts, joined Peace Corps right after college to help her narrow her career goals. “I knew that I wanted to work in the non-profit sector helping people…but I didn’t feel ready to jump into the work world. I met someone who was doing Peace Corps, and it just seemed like a perfect fit—a way to travel and a way to get work experience in a safe setting, so I decided to apply.”

• Matt Rysavy, originally from Austin, Minnesota, also thought about joining the Peace Corps after college, during a time when his job search “was floundering.” Having majored in sociology, he wanted to experience another culture. “It’s a nice system because the agency pays for everything while you’re there,” says Rysavy, “and it’s world-renowned as being a good development agency.”

• Nick Spina, from Michigan, also joined Peace Corps because its connection to his area of study. “I was an economics and political science major, and did a lot of international studies.... I found out about the Peace Corps during my sophomore year, and it really seemed to fit into what I was studying. I’d also done a good amount of volunteering…so it seemed like a good combination of several things that I enjoyed doing.” Moreover, joining the Peace Corps provided a solid way to learn a language. “That’s very difficult to do in a classroom,” Spina adds. “When you live in a country, you have a much better opportunity to learn the language fluently.”

• Craig Hutton, having grown up outside of Macomb, New York, explains that he is “one of those people who absolutely has to see what (and who) is on the other side of the next hill.” He switched colleges, in fact, to find an internationally focused academic program and campus, and he even studied abroad twice. “When I arrived at my senior year, I hit that familiar “what next?” point. I knew that graduate school was in my future, but I didn’t know where, and I certainly had no idea in what.” At a career fair, Hutton found himself standing in front of the blue-clothed Peace Corps table. “The more I read about the Peace Corps volunteer experience," he remembers, "the more I realized this was the right opportunity at the right time. Looking back on it now, I see my Peace Corps service as the place where it all came together.”

• Kate Fjell, hailing from Seattle, Washington, already had a significant history of volunteerism, beginning in the third grade, and had previously studied abroad. “I had heard about the Peace Corps, and it was just one of those nuggets that plants itself in your brain. And it just dawned on me one day—that’s what I should do. I should just go into the Peace Corps. I want to travel, I want to see the world, I want to go some place amazing and off the beaten track, but I want to be able to immerse myself in the culture. I don’t just want to be on a tour bus or in the big cities or just passing by to check it off my list. I want to say that I have lived there and have a feeling about what living in this place is like.” And, Fjell adds, “I wanted to feel like I left something good behind, instead of just money. So I applied and, as they say, the rest is history.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Expectations versus the Actual Peace Corps Experience

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:02:06 GMT

When they think about the Peace Corps prior to going, many volunteer trainees have basic questions and fears about such things as bathrooms and living conditions, and many expectations get shattered. “I had a really idealized vision of what the country would look like and the language that people would speak,” Julie Feeney recalls. “All these preconceived notions that you come with, I think they are your biggest obstacles.” For example, ahe chuckles when remembering how she had expected it to be “like a fairy tale, where everything is green and beautiful,” only to discover that Paraguay’s industrialized cities do not fit that image. Likewise, Nick Spina had imaged that he “would be living in a hut in the middle of nowhere.” Instead, he was assigned to an Armenian city of 60,000 people.

Many Peace Corps volunteers discover that they have underestimated the language barrier or the technical assignment. For instance, Feeney expected that she would use Spanish principally, but soon discovered that people in the countryside in Paraguay speak Guarny instead. “It was a struggle,” she says. “I hadn’t expected to feel that kind of dependency on others for communication…. I didn’t expect to be a child again. So there were many different things that I had to reevaluate.”

Having already volunteered, worked with non-profit groups, and traveled abroad, Kate Fjell felt prepared for certain aspects of her assignment in Malawi. Yet, she remembers; “it totally blew me away. It was nothing like my expectations. It was so much harder, so much more rewarding, so much more challenging. It was just more. Everything was ramped up by a power of ten, I’d say, or maybe even a power of 100!”

Moreover, Fjell adds, she hadn’t expected to feel so socially isolated and awkward: “Peace Corps volunteers will always talk about it being like living in a fish bowl. I was the only white person for forty miles, so I definitely stood out…and that was really hard. People were so fascinated. People would follow me to the bathroom, you know, because they wanted to know if I went to the bathroom the same way…. I wasn’t used to being watched all the time, and it took me a long time to get used to it.”

Because of these kinds of experiences, Spina reached an interesting conclusion: “I think the most successful Peace Corps volunteers are those who don’t set high expectations. You have to be flexible. Those who go in, saying ‘I want to do this, I want to do it there, and I only want to do that’, end up having a really hard time. The fun of it, the adventure of it, is in the randomness, the unknown, the difficult stuff that you face.” Beyond flexibility, one of the most important bits of advice for anybody considering the Peace Corps, according to these Peace Corps, is re-evaluating the meaning of success. “It’s not always tangible,” Feeney cautions, “it’s not always quick, it’s not always something that you can expect, so we learn to appreciate little victories.” Agreeing, Matt Rysavy adds: “You really think that you can go and make these humongous changes. In reality, they are just small dents,… but it’s still positive change. That’s what you have to remind yourself of when it’s all said and done.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - What the Fellows Bring to MU

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:13:47 GMT

The Peace Corps fellows are enrolled in one of six programs: Geography, Truman School of Public Affairs, School of Social Work, Agricultural Economics, Rural Sociology, and Political Science. The Peace Corps Fellowship Program benefits the returned volunteers with financial support, but there are also deep benefits to the MU community. Just having these remarkable fellows around the departments, classrooms, and hallways of MU helps to fulfill Chancellor Deaton’s goal of globalizing the campus.

The Peace Corps is active at MU on several levels, explains Donald Spiers, Coordinator for the Peace Corps Fellows Program, which was adopted by MU in the summer of 2007. “Going through the Peace Corps experience, immersing yourself in the culture, speaking the local language: that all opens different cultural doors and different ways of looking at the world,” Craig Hutton observes. “I think that is part of what we bring to MU’s campus and hopefully to the larger community as well.”

Kate Fjell offers similar sentiments: “Having been a Peace Corps volunteer, my entire perspective is so different. I think globally, or at least I try to. It is really hard for me just to think about what something means just for Missouri or for my town or my family. I’m always thinking about other people out there in the world.”

Because few Americans know much about Malawi, Ecuador, Paraguay, Niger, the Caucasus, and Armenia, having someone at MU talking and writing about these places helps to educate others about these faraway locations. Nick Spina, for instance, sees how his unique Peace Corps experience benefits the field in which he is currently studying: “Political scientists do a lot of work in international relations, and I bring a unique perspective to that. I was in a developing country for two years doing hands-on development work, so I know more than just what you would read in a book.”

“There are a lot of students who don’t have international experience,” Matt Rysavy notes, “so just being able to be in class and add a different idea or a different way of looking at or structuring problems… I think is very useful for other people. The American value system is so much different from a West African value system, so just incorporating that into different discussions, group projects, and papers [is helpful]. There have been a lot of times after class when people have said, ‘I never really thought of approaching a problem that way.’”

Offering another example from the classroom, Julie Feeney explains: “A lot of people say, ‘You went to a developing country? You must have seen so much poverty.’ I can say, ‘Well, there is poverty here in the United States, which I have seen and is equally as horrifying.’” “I think class discussion is always enriched by having as many different view points [as possible],” concludes Fjell. “They all enrich the conversation…. I’m just another of those people who can help provide a different perspective.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Peace Corps in Columbia

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:39:19 GMT

After two years of volunteering in a foreign community, the returned Peace Corps Fellows now turn their attention to a service project in the local community. Convening to discuss their vision and mission, the group gathered ideas about possible community service projects. “And one of the things we agreed upon was that we were interested in food—not a surprise for Peace Corps folks,” Craig Hutton said.

After many months of meeting with key organizations in Columbia, the Peace Corps Fellows identified food security as the issue to be addressed. Partnering with Sustainable Farms and Communities (SFC), a local nongovernmental organization, they plan to implement a research project in order to assess food security in Columbia. The group has been working with key community leaders –from non-governmental organizations and churches to businesses and city government—to design a survey to assess food security. When the survey is finished, it will be used by SFC to apply for a grant to build a pavilion on the site of the Columbia Farmer’s Market, which will function as a community center hosting health, cooking, and nutrition classes.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Training

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:38:35 GMT

Peace Corps volunteers are trained for about three months before being set loose in their assigned countries. The first step involves staging, which offers a general orientation and a place to meet the other volunteers in their group. “You get your first round of shots and this really quick and dirty cultural training,” Kate Fjell explains. Then they go to the assigned country, where they train intensively for three months. “You learn a lot about the culture, how to fit in, basically, and important cultural clues you should know about,” Julie Feeney laughs, “so you don’t end up getting married by accident!”

This phase is sometimes referred to as “the honeymoon stage,” says Nick Spina. “Everything’s new, everything’s exciting, every experience is the first time. You laugh a lot. You joke a lot because you don’t know how to communicate, so you use a lot of sign language, and you just try whatever you can to get across to people,” Spina recalls. “It’s challenging too, because they dump you with a host family immediately, and you are automatically in a situation where you are completely out of your element for the first time.”

For most of the volunteers, the language training is intense, covering every conceivable topic—“from how to buy things from the market to how to greet people, how to tell people you don’t feel good, and then how to have a conversation about AIDS.” Of course, language learning doesn’t end there. Once the volunteers arrive at their assigned site, the training continues. For instance, Spina had a language tutor, with whom he met once a week: “I would continue memorizing vocabulary and practicing my speaking skills with her, and I steadily improved. Some people work harder at the language than others, and some people learn it better than others. By the end of my service I could communicate whatever I needed to. I could have meaningful conversations. In hindsight, I’m proud of how much I accomplished, but it was a struggle. I mean, Armenian is not a language they teach you in schools, so learning it from scratch was a hard thing to do.”

Beyond language training, which is crucial to the survival of the volunteers, the technical training is also indispensable. “While you’re there, there may be ongoing training that happens throughout the service, depending on your project,” Craig Hutton says.

“We would go on fieldtrips and learn about the soil and different trees,” Matt Rysavy recounts. “We’d talk to different professionals in the government to get their feedback and see how systems worked, to make sure we were on a good starting page, so when we got to the village we knew we had a good background of their local customs, their local culture, and how we were going fit into the bigger national scene.”

“The technical portion was really good, especially for me,” recounts Fjell, “because I had an archeology degree coming out of college. I had done some work in the HIV/AIDS field, and knew the basics, but I didn’t feel very confident teaching about AIDS. The technical training really helped. “

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Their Future Plans

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:35:11 GMT

Regardless of the reason for joining the Peace Corps, all of these returned volunteers found the decision had changed them, and that they took more from their experience than they felt they had actually given.

* “People always say, ‘oh, that must have really changed you.’” Matt Rysavy says. “It’s true that living in a different culture for two years, you can’t ever get away from it. I’m not going to go into international work, but in everything that I approach, I do so differently because of that experience.” While he is keeping his career options open as a graduate student in MU’s Truman School for Public Policy, Rysavy hopes to work with non-profits someday, helping them become more efficient in how they operate and utilize public funding.

* Julie Feeney is currently studying social work: “I went through a lot of transitions when I first came back from Peace Corps, still kind of searching, which I think is pretty common for someone my age. I really enjoyed working with the youth group when I was in Paraguay. I tried teaching, and I like that connection with adolescents, so my goal as a social worker is to work on youth empowerment.” This interest derives from multiple influences, the strongest of which, Feeney finds, is the work she did in Paraguay.

* When he finished his own service in 2001, Craig Hutton took a job working for the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., at the organization’s headquarters. “My Peace Corps experience really influenced that. I was interested in international development, definitely interested in what was international but also really interested in the agency itself, so I worked there for five years in a couple of different positions,” he explains. “My experience in Peace Corps made me start thinking about graduate school and graduate education.” Hutton sees himself working in the area of international development and community development training.

* “When I graduated from school, frankly I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Nick Spina remembers. “I knew I wanted to do the Peace Corps, but after that it was kind of up in the air.” Serving in the Peace Corps, he said, “solidified my desire to become a teacher, because at the heart of it all every Peace Corps volunteer is a teacher. And I really found that I enjoyed communicating with people and talking about international issues. So when I returned to the United States, I started looking for programs to pursue a graduate degree in political science.”

* Upon her re-entry to the United States, it took Kate Fjell some time to decompress and think about her Peace Corps experiences before determining her next step: “I knew that I was really interested in doing community development work. I really started to understand the power of working with individuals and having those individuals make change for themselves.” Fjell came to this realization upon encountering a surplus of non-governmental organizations in Malawi. “They’re doing some really good work, but the challenge, of course, is that if you give people everything, then they sort of stop trying to figure out how to do it for themselves,” she says. Fjell is now in the Rural Sociology program at MU, where she hopes to continue giving rural communities the means to help themselves.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Julie Feeney, Paraguay 2001 - 2003

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:30:26 GMT

Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Julie Feeney joined the Peace Corps right after graduation to help her narrow her career goals: “I knew that I wanted to work in the non-profit sector helping people, but those are very broad goals. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I didn’t feel ready to jump into the work world.”

From 2001 to 2003, Feeney worked in Paraguay. While there, Feeney served as a municipal development volunteer, working with the local government on matters related to decentralization. “We did everything from workshops on budget transparency to working with the local health center. But my biggest project, I would say, was building a community center in a rural area and working in conjunction with a youth group,” she explains.

“It was a long, long process. And, actually, I [initially] didn’t want to get involved,” Feeney admits. “But then they started having fundraisers on their own. We did a Peace Corps course on family planning and career goals, and they came every Saturday for three hours. Their dedication really impressed me, so we started working on this project.” Feeney helped the community apply for grants from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the local government. She also helped with the health center’s construction.

When asked which moments stood out for her, Feeney recalls a hot morning under a shade tree when an elderly man epitomized the Guaraní value of giving. “I really saw how people who had so little gave everything that they could,” she began. “We had been working in the morning, which in the summer can be more than 100 degrees and heats up very quickly, and we were taking a rest under a shade tree when an older gentleman comes with this really, really big bundle on his horse. He stops and takes off the bundle. And we’re talking for a while, drinking a tea everyone shares in Paraguay, and he opens up the bundle, and it’s bananas. He had gathered as many bananas as he could and ridden probably four or five miles just to bring them. Once we had eaten together, and shared for a little while, he got back on his horse and went back home. It was just a really incredible moment for me, realizing how much he had sacrificed.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Kate Fjell, Malawi 2001 - 2004

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:28:40 GMT

Kate Fjell graduated from the College of Wooster, in Ohio, with a degree in archeology. The Seattle native watched her friends pursue different graduate degrees, but didn’t know what she wanted to do after graduation. “I knew that I wanted to go to graduate school at some point, but I was also aware of how much grad school cost, so I didn’t want to go unless I knew it was something I was really passionate about and interested in,” she says.

Fjell already had a significant history of volunteerism, beginning in the third grade and continuing through high school. She went abroad in high school and studied abroad in college. The Peace Corps, therefore, seemed to make sense: “I had heard about the Peace Corps, and it was just one of those nuggets that plants itself in your brain. And it just dawned on me one day—that’s what I should do. I should just go into the Peace Corps. I want to travel, I want to see the world, I want to go some place amazing and off the beaten track, but I want to be able to immerse myself in the culture. I don’t just want to be on a tour bus.” Moreover, Fjell adds that she wanted to leave something good behind; “so I applied and, as they say, the rest is history.”

From 2001-2004, Fjell worked in Malawi, a small country in southeastern Africa that is neighbored by Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. "While I was there, I was doing community health and HIV/AIDS work. Like a lot of places in southern Africa, Malawi has really been hit hard by the AIDS epidemic,” she explains.

Fjell was assigned to work at Kalaluma Health Center, in the central rural region of Kasungu. By the end of her time in Malawi, Fjell was primarily working on three projects: 1) a drama group on the topic of HIV/AIDS, 2) a group of high school girls on the topic of life skills and self-esteem, and 3) a youth success team, which did similar things in the context of soccer. “In Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, there isn’t a word for ‘self-esteem’ or ‘confidence’ or any of those things, so we did a lot of teaching about what it means to like who you are, and that, if you like who you are, you are not going to make poor life choices or risky behavior choices,” Fjell says.

While Fjell’s approach toward her work was holistic—ranging from education and economic development to agriculture and self-esteem training—whenever possible she focused her attention on women’s groups. “Women really are the key, in my mind, to change in Malawi,” she observes, and so she tried to connect with women’s networks: “I always wanted to be sure I was seen as a woman, and not just a white person, or an HIV/AIDS person.” As such, Fjell made a special point of getting involved in traditionally female activities like pounding maize and cooking nsima (the Malawian staple food).

For Fjell, language acquisition was one of the most challenging parts of being a Peace Corps volunteer: “I remember, after all those hours of language training, I felt pretty confident, and I went into the village and I was surprised that they didn’t talk as slow as my teacher, and they didn’t speak in such formal tones.” In the end, Fjell says she learned from young children: “They taught me a lot. I learned so much of my language from going to primary school! I remember that one of the first phrases I learned was ‘what is that?’”

About sixteen months into her service, Fjell experienced a major accomplishment: “I still remember [when] I got my first joke in Chichewa, when I knew I understood the language. We were all waiting for the prenatal clinic to start, just hanging out, talking, and somebody cracked a joke, and I started laughing. And they all looked at me, and someone said, ‘Did you understand that?’ and I said, ‘I get it! I get it!’ It was so amazing. It was just like everything clicked. From that point on, my work was better, my relationships with people were better, and it started to really feel like home instead of just somewhere I was trying to survive. And that was a major shift in my service.”

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Craig Hutton, Ecuador 1999 - 2001

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:58:22 GMT

Craig Hutton’s background on a dairy farm in upstate New York came in handy while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador from 1999-2001. He had studied French and Spanish for years, and had even participated in a study-abroad program in Ecuador, so Hutton wasn’t worried about language or cultural issues. “What I was nervous about was the actual technical assignment,” he recalls. “I’d grown up on a dairy farm, but I didn’t know anything about cattle or fish in Ecuador at all.” While Hutton’s major projects involved animal production and animal health, like most Peace Corps volunteers he ended up “doing a little bit of everything.”
Hutton analyzed the farming techniques of the community of 85 people and also introduced a greenhouse to the local school. Parents enlisted him to teach English as he gardened with the students, he explains: “We ended up using the food that was grown for the elementary school lunches. It was really good.” Taking advantage of the cloud forest environment in this region of Ecuador, situated between the mountains and the Amazon, Hutton also helped spearhead a fish-farming cooperative: “It was something the community wanted to do, and they talked to me about it. We went on a couple of fieldtrips to learn more about it, and then started a small cooperative of our own.” The environment was ideal for this venture, says Hutton; "not many people live there, and the water was really cold and clean, which is something we needed for the fish.” There were a few other communities in the same zone that had tried that before and had had success,” he reports, in terms of both economics as well as learning different business skills.
When asked to recount some of his most memorable moments in Ecuador, Hutton mentions a particularly embarrassing moment at a wedding, when he was served blood soup, a local specialty: “I remember just sitting there thinking, ‘Everyone is watching, and I don’t want to eat this. What am I going to do?’ So I just swallowed as quickly as I could without tasting it.”
When Hutton finished his volunteer service in 2001, he worked five years for the Peace Corps agency at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. His Peace Corps experience also made him start thinking about graduate school, and Hutton is currently enrolled in MU’s Geography Department. “I’m studying human geography, how humans and the environment interact,” he explains. When he graduates, Hutton hopes to continue working in the area of international development.

SyndicateMizzou Podcast: Peace Corps Fellows - Matt Rysavy, Niger 2004 - 2006

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:55:23 GMT

For Matt Rysavy, originally from Austin, Minnesota, joining the Peace Corps was a solution when his job search floundered after college. Rysavy majored in sociology and wanted to experience another culture. From 2004-2006, he worked in Niger as a natural resource management volunteer in a village named Kobe, a Zarma word that means “in the shade of the baobab tree.” Saddened upon his arrival to learn that all the baobab trees had died in this region, Rysavy determined to help repopulate the area with these once majestic trees. “I thought it was wrong that the name of the village didn’t actually stand for what it was,” he explains.

Zarma was a very challenging language to learn, he comments, partially because the initial training program offered inconsistent phonetic spellings. “Looking at two different manuals, you’d get two different pronunciations of the same word, which is very frustrating,” Rysavy notes. He relished those moments that marked some degree of success, as when the person with whom he was bargaining would stop and say, “I swear to God, you know the language,” or when he spoke up at a village meeting: “Having the majority of people understand you…getting your point across to a hundred people is very satisfying.”

Beyond language training, he took fieldtrips to learn about the soil and trees. “You go into the village being a jack of all trades,” he explains, emphasizing the importance of being open to what the community desired. “Every village is so unique and has its own needs,” he says. “If a village isn’t behind a project, it’s not going to work.” Projects were initiated by the villagers themselves, he goes on.

One of the most remarkable moments during Rysavy’s tenure was when a natural disaster derailed his plans: “I was there when locusts came and, in 45 minutes, destroyed all the crops within a couple hundred miles radius. It was straight out of the Bible. All of my village’s fields were absolutely gone. They had no food for the next year.” In response to this catastrophe, most of the village’s young men left the next day for work elsewhere. Rysavy was struck by the strong sense of community: “Everyone was very generous and wanted to help. If you were ever hungry or thirsty or needed to talk, there was always someone there.” A big social faux pas, in fact, was being alone. “Other than when you’re sleeping,” he explains, “you should always have someone around and always be connected to the greater village.

Whether thinking of the projects, the people he met, or the amazing events that took place while he was there, Rysavy finds that there are certain moments he will always remember. He thinks, for example, about “jockeying for a little bit more butt space” in the back of a bush taxi that was barely road-worthy. Many of these experiences are of the character-building kind, he has decided, experiences “that make you slow down and rethink what you’re doing and if you really need to get there on time.” “If there’s nothing you can do about it,” he concludes, “just sit and relax and try to enjoy the ride.”