kudos to these faculty, staff and students
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- Politics and international affairs professor Glenn Phelps, assistant professor Lori Poloni-Staudinger and chair Fred Solop presented papers at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting this month in Chicago. Graduate students Bennett Grubbs, Robert Sammons and Doris Schartmueller also presented at the meeting.
- Paul Lavrakas, visiting scholar in politics and international affairs, recently was selected as president-elect for the American Association of Public Opinion Research.
- T. Mark Montoya, instructor of ethnic studies, presented a paper, “It Won’t Be Long ’til We Belong: (Im)migrant Social Movements in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands,” and chaired a panel, “Race and Ethnicity: Issues in Latino Politics.” at the 91st annual meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association last month in Las Vegas.
- Antonio De La Garza, speech communication master’s student and director of NAU’s Forensics Team, and T. Mark Montoya, instructor of ethnic studies, presented a paper, “But It’s a Dry Fascism: Arizona’s HR 2281 and the Banning Ethnic Studies,” at the 39th annual conference of the National Ethnic Studies Association last week in Claremont, Calif.
Also at the conference, Ethnic Studies Program Steering Committee members—Mark Beeman, professor of sociology and social work, Geeta Chowdhry, professor of politics and international affairs, Ricardo Guthrie, assistant professor of ethnic studies, Daisy Purdy, faculty in ethnic studies, and T. Mark Montoya, instructor of ethnic studies—presented a panel, “Surviving Arizona: Defending Ethnic Studies in a New Jim Crow Era?”
- William Culbertson, professor of health sciences, was recognized by his peers as NAU’s Health Sciences Teacher of the Year. Having taught at NAU since 1992, Culbertson also has served as president of Faculty Senate and streamlined pathways to master’s degrees in speech-language and audiology for graduate students who hold bachelor’s degrees in other fields.
- A. J. Martinez, philosophy and history dual major, was awarded $1,500 as the first place winner of the 2010-11 Louis Agassiz Prize for Excellence in Writing, sponsored by the College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences.
- Fourteen students have completed research projects funded by the 2010-2011 NAU/NASA Space Grant Undergraduate Research Internship Program. The students presented their results at the Arizona Space Grant Consortium’s 20th Statewide Internship Symposium at Arizona State University on April 9. The students, mentors and presentation titles are:
- Allison Baker, junior, biology/botany
“Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Respond to Elevated CO2 and Soil Depth in a Scrub Oak System”
Mentor: Catherine Gehring, associate professor, biological sciences - Matthew Bovyn, junior, physics
“Temperature Effects in the Near-IR Spectrum of Carbon Dioxide Ice”
Mentors: Stephen Tegler, professor, physics and astronomy; Will Grundy, Lowell Observatory - Christopher Christiansen, Coconino Community College junior; architecture
“Investigating Geomorphic Properties of Arabia Terra, Mars”
Mentor: Nadine Barlow, associate professor, physics and astronomy - Amy Cook, junior, mechanical engineering
“Towards an Artificial Bullfrog: Development of a Kinematically Realistic, Articulated Skeletal Model”
Mentors: Ted Uyeno, research associate, biological sciences; Perry Wood, manager, mechanical engineering - Michael Dacey, senior, exercise science
“Lung Diffusing Capacity Before and After Induced Inspiratory Muscle Fatigue”
Mentor: James Baldi, assistant professor, biological sciences - Laura Emrick, junior, history
“Archiving Photographs from the Training of the Apollo Astronauts throughout the Apollo Program”
Mentor: David Portree, U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center - Susan Klem, senior, physics and astronomy
“Mapping and Characterization of Lunar Volcanoes”
Mentor: Lisa Gaddis, U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center - Marilla Lamb, senior, environmental engineering
“Teaching Students and Teachers the Importance of Wind Energy through the Wind for Schools Program”
Mentor: William Auberle, professor, environmental engineering - Eric MacLennan, junior, physics and astronomy
“Martian Anomalous Pit Crater Study”
Mentor: Glen Cushing, U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center - Alex McCanna, junior, physics and astronomy
“Transit Timing Variations of Extra Solar Planets, Part 2”
Mentor: Stephen Tegler, professor, physics and astronomy - Erin Monk, junior, physics and astronomy
“Methods of Determining Stellar Ages”
Mentor: David Koerner, associate professor, physics and astronomy - Christopher Mount, senior, physics and astronomy
“Spatial and Temporal Density Analysis of the Mars Northern Seasonal Ice Cap”
Mentor: Timothy Titus, U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center - Denise Stoner, senior, mathematics
“Arid Southwest Herpetofauna Data Acquisition for Probabilistic Climate Change Models”
Mentor: Charles Drost, Southwest Biological Science Center - David Tollefsen, junior, physics and astronomy
“Transit Timing Variations of Extra Solar Planets, Part 1”
Mentor: Stephen Tegler, Stephen Tegler, professor, physics and astronomy
- Allison Baker, junior, biology/botany