Boise State Explore Magazine 2009

T H E R E S E A R C H M AG A Z I N E O F B O I S E S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

Photo caption here Photo caption here... Photo caption here... Photo caption will go here... Photo caption here... Photo caption here...

WINTER | 2009

Memor y Makers Boise State Leads the Way in Microelectronics Research

Worldwide Discoveries

Dr. Kris Campbell

The Beauty of Metals

Undergraduate Research

Health Policy for Idahoans

The Research Magazine of Boise State University

WINTER | 2009

Features

4

Incredible Journeys From the waterways of Cambodia to the tundras of Siberia, Boise State researchers are engaged in scientific studies that are furthering our understanding of the world.

4

8

Health Policy For Idahoans Quality health care is important to all Idahoans. Boise State’s Center for Health Policy works to ensure that policymakers have the information they need to make good decisions.

8

12

Artful Approach Art professor Anika Smulovitz creates stunning objects from metal and explores the non-neutrality of materials in her work.

12

On the cover:

Dr. Kris Campbell, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at work in her lab.

Cover story on page 16.

Photography by Joshua Roper.

Boise State University Explore Magazine Winter 2009 Vol. 1, No. 1

PRESIDENT Bob Kustra

EDITOR Janelle Brown

DESIGNER Ann Hottinger

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Suzan DiBella

VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH/ EXECUTIVE EDITOR Mark Rudin

WRITERS Kathleen Craven Julie Hahn Mike Journee Erin Ryan Sherry Squires

PHOTOGRAPHERS John Kelly Carrie Quinney

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR Scott Swanson

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Joshua Roper

INTERN Nick Bock

Departments 2

Research Record

24

Undergraduate Research

Highlighted in this issue: field studies at the Idaho Bird Observatory, programs to enhance student achievement in math and science and grants to study invasive species in the western United States and geologic processes in the Himalayas.

Many Boise State undergrads work alongside professors on research projects. Seven of these students from across the campus discuss their projects.

28 In Print JOSHUA ROPER PHOTO

Brady Udall discusses his critically acclaimed book, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint; Charles Odahl, author of Constantine and the Christian Empire, explains why Constantine remains relevant today.

32

Cover Story

16 Inventing the Future

Perspective Boise State’s commitment to undergraduate research sets it apart from many institutions and brings enormous benefits to its students.

Boise State is Idaho’s leader and a national player in efforts to develop new types of computer memory. The university’s interdisciplinary research program could provide the technology needed to launch new missions to space or develop the next generation of microelectronics devices. Engineering professor Kris Campbell has more than 150 pending or awarded patents for her work and is collaborating with colleagues at Boise State, at other universities and with industry on new projects.

Boise State University is Idaho’s metropolitan research university, located in the state’s population center and capital city. The university is the largest in Idaho, with nearly 20,000 students enrolled in its undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs.

Explore, the research magazine of Boise State University, is published annually by the Division of Research with support from the Office of Communications and Marketing.

Explore is available online at: http://boisestate.edu/research

Member of: University Research Magazine Association Division of Research Boise State University 1910 University Drive Boise, ID 83725-1135 (208) 426-5732

http://boisestate.edu/research

Welcome

News Briefs on Boise State Research A sample of medusahead STEVE NOVAK PHOTO

Biologist Studies Invasive Species

Explore Highlights Research Excellence at Boise State

Welcome to the premier issue of Explore, the research magazine of Boise State University. On these pages, you’ll meet outstanding faculty and students engaged in innovative collaborations across disciplines with partners in business, government and industry.

Boise State’s strengths in a number of cutting-edge areas are helping to drive an ambitious research agenda. As a relatively young university, Boise State enjoys an entrepreneurial and nimble, forward-thinking culture. Our ability to attract top-notch faculty from diverse backgrounds has been a key factor in our growing reputation.

As we look to the future, there are a number of factors that require mid-tier universities such as Boise State to rethink traditional missions and expand the research portfolios of their faculty and staff. One of the most compelling is that America’s premier research universities cannot alone provide the research to compete with scientific discovery and innovation from the rapidly growing numbers of universities in China, India and other nations intent on charting their own educational destinies. The Task Force on the Future of Innovation reports that from 1988 to 2001 the United States increased its number of published academic articles in science and engineering by only 13 percent while China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea collectively increased their number by 492 percent.

We must find a way to spread the investment in the process of discovery if America is to remain competitive in the global economy. What you will discover in this premier edition of Explore is the role our faculty play not only on a state and local level, but also in realizing our national purpose of assuring America’s preeminence in knowledge creation and innovation across the globe.

– BOB KUSTRA, PRESIDENT 2 | BOISESTATE.EDU

A Boise State University biologist is studying the genetic relationships between native and introduced populations of a common invasive grass as part of research that could lead to better ways to manage the weed on Western rangelands.

Stephen Novak received a $99,929 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for his continuing research on medusahead, which infests semi-arid habitats throughout the West.

Medusahead grows rampantly, crowding out native species, degrading rangeland and serving as a fuel source for range fires.

Novak’s research focuses on the genetic and evolutionary consequences of the introduction of medusahead to new environments. His work will help identify source populations in Eurasia, will shed new light on how medusahead invaded new range in the western United States and will help scientists develop more effective management practices.

Later this year, Novak will travel to Europe to obtain additional samples from native populations of medusahead. He is collaborating with Rene Sforza, a biologist at a USDA laboratory near Montpellier, France, on the project.

Grants Target Math, Science Skills

The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded two grants totaling more than $450,000 to Boise State University for research aimed at increasing the proficiency of Idaho students in math and science.

Education professor Jonathan Brendefur is the principal investigator on a $261,829 Mathematics Science Partnership grant. The partnership involves four high-need elementary and middle schools in Caldwell, Idaho, and is intended to increase student achievement by providing teachers with additional training in math.

In a separate grant, faculty members Janet Callahan from the College of Engineering and Louis Nadelson from the College of Education were awarded $191,593 to establish the Idaho SySTEMic Solution – a multi-disciplinary institute and continuing education initiative that prepares K-5 teachers in instructional methods related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Project goals include increasing student knowledge and interest in STEM fields.

Research Record

Graduate student Matt Stuber holds a peregrine falcon that was captured during the 2008 field season.

Songbirds, Raptors Studied at Idaho Bird Observatory

E

IBO PHOTO

very fall, tens of thousands of migratory birds fly along the Boise Ridge on their journey southward, a seasonal ritual that provides researchers at Boise State’s Idaho Bird Observatory (IBO) with unique opportunities for study.

Founded in 1993, IBO is a research unit of the university devoted to monitoring migrating raptors and songbirds and educating the public about their greater ecological significance. Boise State is the only university in the nation that offers a master’s degree in raptor biology.

“Because raptors are top-level predators, they are indicators of overall environmental health,” said IBO director Greg Kaltenecker. “All migratory birds are good indicators because they depend on many different habitats.”

The Boise Ridge is a crucial link in a chain of breeding and wintering areas. It was deemed so crucial, in fact, that it was designated an “Important Bird Area” of international significance by the National Audubon Society. During the 2008 field season, more than 5,000 songbirds were captured, examined, banded and released by IBO researchers at field sites near Lucky Peak, including the first varied thrush ever captured. Nearly 6,000 raptors were counted and close to

1,000 captured and quickly released, including hawks, eagles and owls.

The 2008 totals for raptors and songbirds were generally consistent with long-term data, said IBO research director Jay Carlisle. The results of previous annual counts and other journal articles and background are online at www.idahobirdobservatory.org.

Some of this year’s data were included in the Raptor Population Index Project’s 2008 report, “The State of North America’s Birds of Prey.” Such exposure distinguishes the science supported by IBO, but Kaltenecker said outreach is paramount.

“The research is important,” he said, “but it means nothing if the public doesn’t understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and the results.” – Erin Ryan

MATTHEW KOHN PHOTO

Himalayan Mountains Focus of a New Study

India’s Yamuna Valley is among Kohn’s research sites.

With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a Boise State geology professor is studying the forces responsible for creating the world’s tallest mountains.

Matthew Kohn is the principal investigator on a $274,969 NSF award to conduct research in the Himalayan Mountains of northwest India.

Kohn and his research group are analyzing data

collected last fall during a three-week field trip to the region. Kohn plans to return to northwest India later this year for further studies.

The researchers are examining the effects of pressure and temperature in Himalayan mountain building and will compare rock samples collected in northwest India to samples collected in Nepal. The data will help identify how the continental crust deforms and will increase scientific understanding of how the mountains developed.

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 3

WOR

BOISE STATE RESEARCHERS TRAVERSE THE GLOBE AND BRING INSIGHTS BACK HOME

SHAWN BENNER PHOTO

SHAWN BENNER PHOTO

SHAWN BENNER PHOTO

SHAWN BENNER PHOTO

Monsoonal rains that annually flood Cambodia’s farmland also drive arsenic into the underlying groundwater, according to research conducted by Boise State’s Shawn Benner.

Clockwise from top: Cambodian farmers paddle canoes through flooded fields; graduate student Mat Weaver shows a group of Cambodian children his photos; workers drill a well that Benner and other researchers will use to collect water samples; a motorbike is used to transport equipment and pipes between drill sites.

Opposite page: Benner (in hat) works in a lab used to analyze water samples.

2 | BOISESTATE.EDU 4

RLDVIEW Story by SHERRY SQUIRES

C

licking through dozens of images on his computer screen, Shawn Benner studies pictures of playful children with warm smiles, farmers at work in lush fields and boatmen rowing their crafts across ponds that dot the Cambodian landscape. But hidden among these idyllic images is a story of profound poverty in a region where life’s most basic necessity, healthy drinking water, is out of reach.

Elevated arsenic in Asia’s groundwater is well documented as the cause of the largest mass poisoning in human history, adversely affecting the health of more than 100 million people, including those whose images Benner recently brought home.

These people and the health challenges they face are still very fresh in Benner’s mind. “We’ve been aware of the arsenic problem for almost 20 years, but figuring out what is causing it has proved more difficult than people expected,” he said.

A Boise State geosciences professor who specializes in water quality, Benner is one of many university researchers whose work reaches beyond national boundaries, crosses cultures and defies time zones. Five of these researchers, including Benner, are featured in this article.

Boise State faculty and students are conducting research around the globe, in both tangible and virtual worlds, to address some of the major health, environmental, technological and social issues of the day. Not only are they contributing to scientific knowledge, but their studies are providing research opportunities for their students and improving the communities where they do their work.

GROUNDWATER STUDIES

Shawn Benner, geosciences professor

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 5

SCOTT FENDORF PHOTO

Benner’s work is a case in point. In 2004, he and his students began working with a team of researchers from Stanford University to examine why arsenic levels are so high in Cambodia’s drinking water. The quest took Benner to the upper Mekong Delta, where the groundwater system is still relatively undisturbed.

With the help of Cambodians who were eager to assist,

the researchers used rudimentary equipment to drill numerous test wells. Their study showed that arsenic is released from wetland sediments and transported through underlying aquifers back to the Mekong River. It is a natural cycle, but scientists believe it is being accelerated by land use changes such as increased irrigation pumping, intensified farming practices and urbanization.

After years of uncertainty about the causes of the elevated arsenic levels, Benner’s findings provide valuable information. “This study provides a basis for predicting future concentrations,” Benner said.

Benner’s work caught the attention of the editors of Nature, the world’s most-cited interdisciplinary science journal. The journal published the article “Near-surface Wetland Sediments as a Source of Arsenic Release to Ground Water in Asia,” co-authored by Benner, last July.

Benner has shared his findings on Asia’s water supply at conferences in Europe and will participate in an upcoming conference in Cambodia. He also is conducting a study of arsenic levels in southwest Idaho’s groundwater and expects to have preliminary results later this year.

“This has profound implications for millions of people,” Benner said. “To be able to make even a small contribution means a lot to me.”

Boise State graduate student Mathew Weaver, who conducted research in Cambodia alongside Benner, had similar feelings about the 18 weeks he spent in the country.

“The research was invaluable to me,” said Weaver, who is pursuing a master’s degree in hydrologic sciences while working as an engineer for the Idaho Department of Water Resources. “I helped put together a large project and did it overseas with little support. It was certainly a learning experience that I can carry forward to my job.”

CULTURES OF THE CIRCUMPOLAR NORTH John Ziker, anthropology professor

JOHN ZIKER PHOTO

Anthropologist John Ziker also is gathering knowledge – in this case, age-old knowledge accumulated over the centuries by the indigenous peoples of Siberia.

As part of the National Science Foundationsponsored “Home, Hearth and Household in Siberia and Northern Canada” project, Ziker is looking at how indigenous economies work given the environment of the circumpolar north. He conducts in-person interviews with native people in remote locations to learn about their cultures and daily lives.

“We can learn a lot about what is sustainable by learning from people who have been living in the north for thousands of years,” he said.

Ziker’s team includes Russian archaeologists, Boise State graduate student Tayana Arakchaa from Siberia and Canadian indigenous consultants. The project is making use of a recently digitized copy of the 1926-27 Polar Census of Siberia to focus archaeological investigations and oral history research.

TAYANA ARAKCHAA PHOTO

Anthropologist John Ziker brought home these images from the remote reaches of Siberia, where he conducts research.

JOHN ZIKER PHOTO

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN ZIKER

6 | BOISESTATE.EDU

Counterclockwise from top: Buddhist monks hold a mountaintop sanctification ritual for the spirit owner of Bai-Taiga Mountain; Ziker poses with a 62-year-old retired reindeer herder and hunter after interviewing him at his summer camp; Boise State graduate student Tayana Arakchaa holds a goat at the Meetings Valley camp; Ziker, left, and his wife, Rebecca, far right, with a seminomadic family outside their yurt.

Ziker has been doing research in Siberia since 1992. Traveling there is quite a commitment. Ziker strings together two overnight flights with travel by helicopters, jeeps, small boats, snow machines and treks in order to reach families to interview. He’s been to Russia 15 times and Siberia nine times, most recently spending a month there in summer 2008.

“When I talk to my students about my research in Siberia, it’s so much different than talking about the work of others,” he said. “I think it really brings it to life for them.”

A VIRTUAL WORLD OF RESEARCH

Lisa Dawley, educational technology professor

Boise State educational technology professor Lisa Dawley has traversed the globe, too. But she’s done it largely without ever leaving her office. Distance isn’t an issue when you teach and conduct research in a virtual world.

Dawley’s work is done on EdTech Island, a threedimensional teaching and learning environment located within the online world dubbed Second Life, located at secondlife.com. Second Life is a free virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create interactive experiences using voice and text chat.

“We have users from around the world, and we are trying to understand who they are, why they come and how they learn in this virtual environment,” she said.

Second Life is not the only online site that is expanding the boundaries of virtual interaction. It may sound futuristic, but the entire Internet is expected to be largely three dimensional by 2011. And opportunities for teaching within that world are limitless. They also are without standards when it comes to educational outcomes or teaching certifications.

Boise State is one of only two universities in the country that has a program for training K-12 teachers to teach online. Idaho alone has more than 10,000 K-12 students who take at least one class online; there are more than a million of them across the nation, and countless more are learning via the Internet worldwide.

Dawley, along with Kerry Rice, assistant professor in educational technology, is working with the Idaho State Department of Education to establish standards and best practices, along with the first endorsement for online teachers. “We are truly a leader in this area,” Dawley said.

A SEARCH FOR ROOTS

Nina Ray, marketing professor

While the Internet is invaluable, marketing professor Nina Ray wants to know what makes people go beyond it. She studies legacy tourism, the idea of traveling to discover one’s heritage.

It has grown increasingly popular worldwide.

“Understanding what triggers people to journey to their homelands in search of their roots is important information for industries that hope to capitalize on this trend,” Ray said.

Ray set up shop at the National Mall during the 2008 Smithsonian National Folklife Festival to interview tourists for her study. She also spent time recently in Scotland, working with the country’s top genealogists and interviewing members of family history societies.

With Boise’s proximity to the largest family history library in the country in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ray’s work also is relevant closer to home.

“There are a number of Welsh Americans in eastern Idaho who celebrate their heritage with a festival each year, and many also choose to visit the homeland of their ancestors,” Ray said. “While today’s technology allows people to learn more about their past, it appears that many are seeking a stronger connection.”

AN EXPERT WITNESS

Nick Miller, history professor

Boise State history professor Nick Miller’s work began as a journey of self-discovery. He was curious about a grandfather from Slovenia who talked little about his heritage. The personal connection was one of the reasons he pursued a doctoral degree that took him to the lands of the former Yugoslavia, where he lived as a student for several years.

Shortly after defending his dissertation in 1991, war broke out in the region and the various ethnic regions that made up Yugoslavia broke apart. In the ensuing years, Miller’s expertise in the history of this troubled part of the world has been sought by many academic, government, and civic groups.

An authority on Serbian history, Miller has testified as an expert witness in two cases before The Hague international war crime tribunal. Miller served as an expert witness during the trial for Jadranko Prlic, former president of the rogue state of Herzog-Bosna, and in a separate trial, he evaluated the policies of the breakaway state.

Miller also penned a book on nationalism in Serbia after World War II, The Noncomformists: Culture, Politics and Nationalism in a Serbian Intellectual Circle, that he likely would never have written were it not for his connection to the Bosnian War that erupted in 1992. Last summer, he worked at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., looking at how war criminals were treated, an issue that has worldwide significance.

Like many Boise State professors who travel the globe, Miller has found his experiences abroad have had a profound impact. “Any way that we can better understand the world around us and our history is to our benefit,” Miller said. “It’s all part of the process by which we can conceptualize our own behavior.”

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 7

for

8 | BOISESTATE.EDU

EXCELLENCE ED BAKER and the CENTER for HEALTH POLICY work to help Idahoans stay healthy Story by MIKE JOURNEE Photography by JOHN KELLY & CARRIE QUINNEY

E

d Baker brings an enthusiasm to his work that fills any room – whether it’s a medical clinic, a government office or a college classroom. It isn’t just his Philadelphia accent and fastpaced style that set him apart. Though he’s an academic, Baker isn’t afraid of sounding like a business consultant.

Baker, the director of Boise State’s Center for Health Policy (CHP), is comfortable with phrases like “analyzing business problems,” “meeting or exceeding client expectations,” and “producing high-quality deliverables.”

His lexicon reflects 20 years of experience on the business side of the $2 trillion health

Ed Baker is director of Boise State’s Center for Health Policy. The center partners with public and private organizations on health care studies. care industry and the results-oriented business model behind CHP’s growing success.

The “deliverables” in Baker ’s line of work are information – comprehensive information about health care issues in Idaho.

Whether focusing on the effectiveness of tobacco cessation programs, the numbers of physicians practicing in rural areas, the benefits of wellness programs or the percentage of state dollars spent on Medicaid recipients, Baker and his colleagues collect and analyze data from literally thousands of reports, documents and interviews. Their work is having a profound and growing impact on the health care services utilized

by Idaho’s 1.3 million residents by helping define health care policy at the highest levels in the state.

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 9

Ed Baker, right, discusses a recent study with David Schmitz, M.D., associate director of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho.

A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH

Comprised of faculty and students from the College of Health Sciences and other academic units of the university, CHP works on a contractual basis with government agencies such as the Idaho Division of Medicaid and with nonprofits, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Terry Reilly Health Services. In addition, the center often partners with agencies and organizations on a variety of health policy studies.

A results-oriented business model has been a key factor in the success of the Center for Health Policy.

Under Baker ’s leadership, the center has earned a growing reputation for providing insightful research and analysis. Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) is just one of a number of repeat clients. During the past two years, CHP has conducted more than 20 studies under contracts worth more than $600,000 with various departments of IDHW, the region’s major health care providers and physician associations, among many others.

The current year is shaping up to be even bigger for the center as a growing number of groups that otherwise wouldn’t have the manpower to do it

10 | BOISESTATE.EDU

CARRIE QUINNEY PHOTO

“I want to help people be healthy,” Baker said. “My main focus is to make the center a good partner and to provide accurate, timely information so that we can help every Idahoan have access to high quality, affordable health care.

By helping to create understanding about the costs and benefits of programs and policies, we can help shape the policies and choices that will allow that to happen.”

themselves are turning to CHP to conduct surveys and provide analysis on the state of health care.

The center ’s success is attributable to many factors, including an entrepreneurial, results-oriented approach, said James Girvan, dean of the College of Health Sciences. The Boise metropolitan area’s role as the medical and governmental center for the state of Idaho gives the center ’s relatively small staff a unique opportunity to have a profound impact in the critical area of health policy, he added.

Baker ’s consultant-like approach has earned him a certain degree of distinction among his colleagues. While fun-loving, Baker is also direct, with a dynamic “East Coast” style. Ultimately, though, his loud, rough-and-tumble, Philly-tinged irreverence and banter endears, while his professional abilities and commitment earn respect.

“Ed’s not going to talk around an issue because it’s uncomfortable for a client,” said Girvan. It’s that forthrightness, matched with Baker ’s 20 years as a health care industry consultant and employee in a broad scope of capacities, that has made CHP a key partner for a wide range of clients and community collaborators.

“We’re here to provide the best information we can to help policymakers make the best possible decisions about the health care of Idahoans,” Girvan added. “Ed is certainly a top-notch academic.

But his understanding of health care as a business gives him an edge that makes his work very valuable to clients. They trust that his perspective and style will provide them with unbiased, relevant and accurate information to act upon.”

Baker’s clients back up Girvan’s assessment.

Leslie Clement, director of Idaho Health and Welfare’s Division of Medicaid, hired Baker and CHP in 2006 to research and evaluate health care premium assistance programs in six sample states for possible adaptation in Idaho. The end product was a report that included costs modeling and identification of funding sources, as well as an evaluation of how well other state models would fit the unique aspects of Idaho’s health care system.

“The things we work on with Ed are very practical,” Clement said. “I’m not looking for studies that are just interesting, or high-altitude programmatic policy pieces. We’re looking for information that goes to the heart of our mission and services. We want research that gets down to identifying resources, data systems and potential partners. We want a how-to, not something that’s theoretical and will have no application for us.”

According to Clement, it’s essential for agencies such as the Division of Medicaid to have a relationship with centers such as Boise State’s CHP. “The complexity of the system requires strong analytical skills, and we don’t have the capacity to meet those needs,” she said. “I don’t think we’d have the products we have without that relationship.”

Success breeds success. An endorsement by Clement’s Division of Medicaid led directly to the landing of CHP’s biggest fish yet. In conjunction with a $400,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant awarded to the Urban Institute, Baker and CHP were contracted to provide Idaho data for a study of the impact of Medicaid reform on access to care, program sustainability, administrative efficiency and impact on the state budgets in Idaho and Kentucky.

Other projects on tap for the center include a joint project with Boise State’s College of Business and Economics and the Idaho Meth Project, a publicprivate prevention program aimed at reducing firsttime use of methamphetamine through public service messaging, public policy and community outreach.

The study will determine the economic impact the use of meth has on Idaho’s economy.

“These are times when health policy issues are of paramount significance and the decisions that we make will have an impact for decades to come,” said David Schmitz, associate director of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho, a CHP partner in a study examining recruitment and retention challenges faced by rural hospitals and family physicians in Idaho.

“The work of Ed and the center gives us invaluable data on which to build those policies.”

Schmitz is one of a number of associates with

whom Baker has built a close working partnership.

Many of these associates, including students who work for CHP, “would run through a wall for Ed,” Girvan said.

“Students really love him because he takes care of them,” said Ayaka Nukui, a graduate student in health sciences who works with Baker at CHP. “He’s fun, very friendly and easygoing. But when he needs something done, it’s time to work. He gets very focused and gets it done. I can see why clients like him.”

“It’s really interesting to learn about these important health issues and also to feel like you are contributing information that could help address them,” said Ayaka Nukui, a graduate student in health sciences.

As part of her work for CHP, Nukui analyzes computer databases and writes reports for a number of the center ’s ongoing projects. Nukui said she finds the work both challenging and rewarding, and that it also is providing her with valuable hands-on experience. After finishing her master ’s degree later this year, she plans to pursue a career as a health policy consultant.

“It’s really interesting to learn about these important health issues and also to feel like you are contributing information that could help address them,” Nukui said. “I have been really impressed with how many community partners are working with CHP.”

According to Girvan, CHP’s results-oriented philosophy, along with its desire to partner with organizations in both the public and private sectors, will help drive the center’s continuing success.

“Optimally, the CHP is the first place policymakers and program directors will look when seeking assistance to obtain the unbiased analyses needed to inform health policy decisions,” Girvan said.

JOHN KELLY PHOTO

HEALTH CARE QUESTIONS

Ayaka Nukui, a graduate student in health sciences, reviews government documents as part of her work for CHP.

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 11

Art professor Anika Smulovitz uses a specialized hammer to form a sheet of brass. At right is Smulovitz’s “Loss and Longing,” a sterling silver bracelet and keys.

12 | BOISESTATE.EDU

JIM WILDEMAN PHOTO

the the Art rt of of Adornment dornment

Anika Smulovitz explores relationships between objects and wearers in her exquisite work Story by JULIE HAHN Photography by CARRIE QUINNEY

nika Smulovitz sees as much opportunity in a hunk of dull lead as she does in a block of burnished gold.

It is her unique understanding of the potential of each metal that sets her apart as an artist.

A

Smulovitz, an associate professor of art metals at Boise State, explores issues of adornment and beauty, taboo and culture in her work in the medium of jewelry.

In large part, her approach to her art relies on perceptions about the materials she uses to shape her pieces, which include necklaces, rings and a variety of other ornamental items designed to be worn.

Smulovitz chooses the raw materials for her art very carefully, exploring the “non-neutrality of materials” as part of her work. “All associations with these metals come into play if you choose to use them,” she explained.

For example, gold represents love and affluence, while lead is commonly associated with more mundane objects, EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 13

Smulovitz stands inside Boise State’s art metals studio, holding a sterling silver cup raised out of a flat sheet of metal.

CARRIE QUINNEY PHOTO

like fishing weights and the shields used during X-rays.

These associations allow the artist to experiment, to add more meaning or context to a particular piece, Smulovitz said.

She also is interested in how an adornment interacts with the body – how a necklace with a delicate chain will feel against the skin, or how a ring’s heft will affect the way a hand moves.

“One of the things that excites me the most is the personal and physical interaction people have with objects,” Smulovitz said. “Rarely are you allowed to touch the art, but in this field it’s all about touching. It’s meant to be touched.”

The Art of Metalsmithing

The traditional craft aspect of art metals, or metalsmithing, often is misunderstood by the broader art world, Smulovitz said. Metalsmithing is a field based in traditional craft, a word often associated with the everyday items and kitchentable art projects.

While the historic roots of metalsmithing go back to the blacksmith’s shop with its roaring fires, bellows and heavyhanded hammering, the work Smulovitz and her colleagues are engaged in is based on artistic vision and physical precision.

She explores ideas and concepts to create pieces that are sophisticated, visually stunning and highly original. It is artistry, rather than craft, that defines her work.

The physicality of the metalsmithing process appeals to what Smulovitz describes as “the need and desire to work with my hands.” When she is at her workbench, she is finessing the metal. She meticulously cuts, files, solders, measures and sands her materials to create earrings, necklaces, brooches, key rings 14 | BOISESTATE.EDU

and other decorative pieces.

She is fascinated by the potential her pieces have to inspire a new sense of understanding of the objects and topics her work explores. “That has power, and I find that very exciting,” she said.

“Anika is an incredibly gifted metalworker,” said Richard Young, chair of the Department of Art. “She’s very focused, and that lends itself to the complicated work that she does.”

Experimenting with Materials

In Smulovitz’s 2002 “Chocolate” series, including a choker made out of more than 400 Ferrero Rocher gold-colored candy wrappers, the materials play a pivotal role in how the art is perceived. The wrappers are used to envelop chocolate, “an indulgent, delicious and sensual experience,” Smulovitz noted.

And yet this “luxury” that often is given as Smulovitz explores issues a Valentine’s Day gift of adornment and beauty, is mass-produced and costs less than $5. taboo and culture.

“That series uses the quality of materials to make the piece what it is,” she said. In another work, Smulovitz added gold accents to small, plastic white doves that are “kind of ubiquitous symbols of weddings or peace.”

“To some degree, I was either bringing attention to that and poking fun at it, or raising the value by pairing them [the doves] with gold and saying that, well, it might be mass-produced in China, but the symbols still have a lot of power,” Smulovitz said.

For Smulovitz, artistic expression doesn’t end when she’s completed each piece. What interests her most is what happens after her creations have left the studio. Her “Body in Motion: Gravity” series focuses on pieces that mark or record the wearer’s movements. The pieces, made of sterling silver and 18-karat gold, are pendulum-like objects that move with the wearer and release tiny streams of watercolor that remain on clothing or skin, recording the object’s trajectory.

Her jewelry can be challenging for some wearers, she said, but many people are immediately attracted to the pieces and collect them. “You have to be a particular kind of person to wear these pieces because they are very large and make a statement,” she said. “A few years ago, I decided that I had to be able to wear them myself – which is an interesting standard, because I am not an extrovert.”

Smulovitz also finds enormous meaning in the everyday. While she was still studying she became very interested in Judaica, the ritual objects used by Jewish people. “These objects, for me, feel like they have more power because people interact with them on a physical level,” she said.

Working with Students

Smulovitz brings her personal artistic explorations into the classroom on a number of fronts. For example, she challenges students to think carefully about the materials they choose to use.

“She asks, ‘What do things mean?’” said Carrie Gibson, a senior art history major who has taken several classes from Smulovitz and serves on the student Art Metals Club.

“Rather than just making things for the sake of making them, we’re making them for a reason.”

Smulovitz is an organized and demanding instructor, said Young. “She is really invested in the area and has integrated theory and practice in highly innovative ways,” he said.

Among the outreach efforts Smulovitz and her students

Smulovitz’s “Chocolate Series” includes a choker created from Ferrero Rocher chocolate wrappers.

ANIKA SMULOVITZ PHOTO

This pendant is from the “Body in Motion: Gravity” series. It releases tiny streams of watercolor as it moves.

ANIKA SMULOVITZ PHOTO

TOM McINVAILLE PHOTO

ANIKA SMULOVITZ PHOTO

Glass, botanical specimens and sterling silver were used by Smulovitz to create her “Herbarium Specimen” rings.

The “Love Token” is another piece from the “Chocolate Series.”

have pursued are service-learning projects to create site-specific art for the Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge; the wall-mounted, hammered pieces are renderings of the insects and animals found at the refuge. She also has brought a number of influential metalsmiths to Boise to lecture and give workshops.

And her students annually hold a silent auction of their work at a local jewelry gallery, donating the proceeds to help buy new equipment for the art metals studio.

Smulovitz also contributes to the art metals field on a national level. Many of her pieces have been included in books published by Lark Books and in Metalsmith magazine, and she has appeared around the country as a lecturer and as a judge for the Society of North American Goldsmiths Awards 2008 Educational Endowment Scholarships.

The Role of Creative Activity

The work that Smulovitz and other Boise State professors in the arts and humanities pursue is integral to the university’s progress as an emerging metropolitan research university, said Vice President for Research Mark Rudin. “Creative activity is to the arts what research is to the sciences. Both contribute to the overall strength of the university,” he said.

According to Lisa Gralnick, an art professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Smulovitz is part of a “very, very small crop” of educators who will determine how art metals will be taught and perceived in the future.

“My own feeling is that she will have a truly world-class metalsmithing program at Boise State and that people will flock to the university to study with her,” said Gralnick, one of Smulovitz’s former professors. Smulovitz earned an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003.

“Anika is able to successfully wear a lot of hats,” Gralnick said. “She helps keep our metalsmithing field functioning in a more traditional way. At the same time, her work is stretching the boundaries of the field.”

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 15

Boise State engineering professor Kris Campbell, standing, talks with graduate student Beth Cook as Cook inspects a silicon wafer she has just processed. A close-up of the wafer, with its grid of nanoscale electrical circuits, is shown on the page at right.

0011010100010111001001011101010001010110101001001010110101010001110

16 | BOISESTATE.EDU

MEMORY MAKERS

Boise State takes a leading role in microelectronics research

Story by JANELLE BROWN

Photography by JOSHUA ROPER

Inside a brightly lit lab at Boise State University, Kris Campbell peers through a powerful microscope and glimpses the future.

She likes what she sees.

The future Campbell envisions is brimming with technological advances, from energy-efficient computers that power up in an instant, to space vehicles guided by electronic systems unaffected by solar radiation, to satellites that can quickly reconfigure their circuitry for new tasks.

Campbell sees the promise of inventions few have imagined, and all of them depend on objects so tiny they cannot be seen by the naked eye. For Campbell, the future resides inside a complex grid of nanoscale circuits – each thousands of times smaller than the thickness of a human hair – that are etched on the surface of the shiny disk beneath her microscope’s lens.

01011001101010001011100100101110101000100101101

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 17

Campbell, an associate professor in Boise State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is at the forefront of a field of study in nanotechnology that seeks to develop new types of “non-volatile memory” (NVM), components that enable computers to store information over the long term.

“Our goal is to address some of the fundamental limitations of computer data storage,” said Campbell. “By focusing on issues such as size, speed, volatility and power, we can help pave the way for a new generation of microelectronics products.”

The recipient of more than 150 pending or awarded patents, Campbell hopes her research will someday enable NASA to launch new space missions made possible by advances in the reliability, power needs and radiation resistance of crucial instrumentation. She also hopes her research will enable private industry to develop digital devices with “neural networks” that function like a primitive brain to make decisions.

At present, NVM is primarily used for secondary computer storage; it allows users to “save” information displayed on a computer screen, switch off the computer and

later retrieve the data. NVM has its limitations, however. Some types of NVM wear out with repeated use and can’t tolerate radiation, while others are bulkier than their faster, more powerful cousin – volatile memory. Volatile memory, commonly known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, is powerful and instantaneous but fleeting. It retains information only while the computer is on.

One of Campbell’s research goals is to eliminate the need for DRAM in computer systems by developing new forms of NVM – a major breakthrough that could greatly expand how and where computers could be used.

At the heart of Boise State’s NVM research program is the development of new materials.

Some of these materials are formed from novel chemical compounds; others are formed from the building blocks of DNA and other biological structures. Campbell and other Boise State researchers not only are developing these new materials but also are using them to fabricate memory components with a greatly expanded capacity to store information. These components are then incorporated in nanoscale systems with a broad range of applications.

Post-doctoral research associate Jennifer Regner grasps a wafer holder that is used to position wafers inside a thermal evaporator, shown beside her. Materials called chalcogenides are heated to high temperatures inside the evaporator and then deposited in thin layers on the wafer’s surface. The research is part of ongoing efforts to develop new computer memory devices.

On the opposite page, Kris Campbell inspects a wafer prior to further testing.

18 | BOISESTATE.EDU

A RECORD OF SUCCESS

Campbell already has achieved considerable success. Her research, conducted with an interdisciplinary team of Boise State engineers and scientists, has garnered national attention and millions of dollars in federal grants. It also has led to innovative collaborations with private companies and to Boise State’s role as host of an international scientific symposium, formerly sponsored by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, that each year draws top researchers from around the world.

“Discovering new technology is a huge motivation for me,” said Campbell. “I find it very rewarding to work with a talented team of researchers on developing the technology for new products.”

It has been a fast and impressive rise for what has become one of the university’s signature research programs. In the span of a decade, Boise State has emerged as Idaho’s leader and a national player in efforts to develop new types of non-volatile memory.

“I’m very proud that Boise State has achieved a national reputation for its research in this important area of microelectronics,” said Vice President for Research Mark Rudin. “It’s truly exciting to look at what we’ve accomplished and at the opportunities that lie ahead.”

As Idaho’s high-tech sector continues to play a role in the state’s economy, the university’s expertise

in NVM research will serve as both “a stimulus and resource,” Rudin added. “As we look ahead to the innovations of the future, it will be programs such as ours at Boise State that will help lead the way.”

NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory are among federal agencies that support Boise State’s NVM research programs. Campbell also has collaborated with high-tech firms such as Micron Technology and Intel, as well as with colleagues at other universities in Idaho and throughout the nation.

A key indicator of the program’s momentum is the recent approval by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory of $1.5 million in funding to establish a statewide Non-Volatile Memory Research Initiative headquartered at Boise State. Campbell is the principal investigator on the project, which includes researchers at Boise State, the University of Idaho, Rochester Institute of Technology and Columbia University. The project also involves collaborations with a number of industry partners and year-round research assistantships for graduate and undergraduate students.

“This new award is a great endorsement of Boise State’s research capabilities,” said Rudin. “It is a sophisticated, multi-stage endeavor that requires researchers with expertise in many areas.”

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 19

COMPUTER STORAGE 101

To understand the scope of Boise State’s NVM research, consider the humble punch card.

Two generations ago, the paper punch card was the cutting-edge form of non-volatile memory; it was followed by the tape cartridge and the floppy disk. In ensuing years, new types of NVM such as computer hard drives, USB flash drives and ZIP drives greatly expanded the capabilities of computer data storage. But along the way, computer memory also has been a limiting factor in the development of new inventions because of its propensity to “wear out,” its intolerance of radiation and the amount of space it requires inside computers.

Campbell and other Boise State researchers are working to address some of these current limitations. For example, they are developing new types of data storage capable of withstanding the intense radiation in the harsh environment of space. They are fabricating new electrical-based components, that, unlike computer hard drives, don’t have mechanical parts that can wear out or break. And they are harnessing the unique properties of new materials to fabricate multi-state, or “layered,” memory that exponentially increases digital capacity, allowing much more information to be stored in a much smaller space.

Boise State’s ability to develop new materials is a core strength of its NVM research program. Unlike most laboratories that work solely with silicon-based systems commonly used for fabricating microchips, Boise State’s facilities allow researchers to process a broad range of novel materials. University researchers also are investigating ways to integrate silicon technologies with technologies for novel materials, thereby eliminating the contamination issues that occur when silicon is processed in a

lab that handles other materials. Boise State’s broad-based approach has greatly increased the scope of its research and has led to a number of patents for materials-related inventions.

Among the new materials Campbell and other researchers are studying are chalcogenides (pronounced cal-CAW-jeh-nides), novel materials formed from sulfur, selenium and tellurium.

A number of Campbell’s patents were awarded for inventions involving chalcogenides, and research on this novel material is continuing as part of the new state NVM Research Initiative and other grants.

“Because of their unique electrical properties, these novel materials hold great potential for use in the microelectronics industry,” said Campbell.

CULTURE OF COLLABORATION

For Campbell, working with talented colleagues at Boise State and other universities is critical to her research success. While she is the principal investigator on a number of grants and programs, Campbell is quick to note that she also is part of a team of researchers who are contributing to the university’s progress.

“This research is so complex we really do need to work as a team,” she said. “It’s critical to assemble researchers who have different areas of expertise and who are also able to cross boundaries and collaborate on a systems approach.”

Boise State’s NVM research program has brought together faculty in the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, along with undergraduate and graduate researchers from these departments, and collaborators from other universities.

The success Campbell and her colleagues have achieved is the result of hard work, tal-

An Interdisciplinary Approach Boise State University faculty with a broad range of expertise are collaborating on computer memory research. Undergraduate and graduate students work alongside faculty on most of these projects.

Here is a look at a few of these researchers.

BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY PHOTOS 20 | BOISESTATE.EDU

JEFF PELOQUIN Peloquin works to synthesize and test at the atomic and molecular level novel materials called chalcogenides (pronounced cal-CAWjeh-nides) that hold great promise as next-generation computer memory.

Campbell points to a computer image that shows thin films of chalcogenide materials used to develop new memory devices. The image is magnified many thousands of times. She discusses the next step in the research with Antonio Oblea, an electrical engineering Ph.D. student in Campbell’s research group.

ent and a focused strategy to encourage collaboration, said College of Engineering Dean Cheryl Schrader.

“We intentionally set up research programs that cross disciplines, that focus on what is important now, and that respond to the needs of our high-tech industries,” said Schrader, who joined Boise State in 2003, just seven years after the College of Engineering was established. “These niche areas have fueled our success.”

The culture of collaboration at Boise State

has allowed research to take off in new directions, added Bill Knowlton, a professor with joint appointments in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

“Once you have a collaboration, then the ideas start to fly,” said Knowlton, who uses his expertise in several areas to partner with colleagues on NVM projects. “The nice thing about mixing science and engineering is that it can lead to both new ideas and new applications.”

JACOB BAKER

JOHN CHIASSON

SIN MING LOO

Baker is designing a microchip for testing new chalcogenide-based memory devices that use multi-state memory.

This type of memory is capable of storing much more data than memory that only operates in a single state.

Chiasson’s research is in the area of statistical signal processing for new memory systems.

He is developing techniques to detect multi-frequency electrical signals in order to be able to “read” these memory systems.

Loo has developed a wireless sensor platform to measure contaminants in airliner cabins.

This same platform will be used to test new memory technologies, allowing faults to be identified and corrected early.

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 21

BROAD-BASED BACKGROUND

Campbell’s academic background in both electrical engineering and chemistry, and her 12 years working in private industry, including six years at Micron Technology, provide her with a broad base of training and experience. Campbell joined Boise State’s College of Engineering in 2005.

“Kris is a fantastic researcher. She’s truly a national expert in her field,” said Micron Technology’s Mike Violette, who collaborates with Campbell on new memory technologies.

Chuck Barnes, who heads an office in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is among national experts who tout Campbell’s expertise and experience. He frequently contacts Campbell to ask about her progress and to encourage her to apply for new awards.

The success Campbell and her colleagues have achieved is the result of hard work, talent and a focused strategy to encourage collaboration.

“Kris is working in a technical area that is of great interest to us. We’d love to have a spacecraft with really good NVM that is low power, high density and radiation resistant,” said Barnes, director of JPL’s Assurance Technology Program.

Barnes foresees continued collaboration with Boise State.

“There’s a lot of work to be done in this area, and it will take some time,” he said. “We are very hopeful that our long-term involve-

22 | BOISESTATE.EDU

ment with Dr. Campbell and with Boise State will have some major pay-offs in the long run.”

A PASSION TO INVENT

For Campbell, each day working in her research lab, teaching classes or consulting with students is another opportunity to be creative and learn something new.

“Working with both undergraduate and graduate students is rewarding,” said Campbell. “It’s great to see students apply what they’ve learned in class to the research they conduct in my lab.”

On a quiet afternoon, Campbell is seated in her laboratory on the first floor of the Micron Engineering Center. She looks up from her microscope as graduate student Morgan Davis steps inside, holding a “boat,” or compartment, of shiny silicon wafers used in the manufacture of microchips.

Davis explains that the wafers were successfully processed using a slightly different material-based configuration. The achievement is a minor breakthrough, since the new configuration holds promise for improved performance over earlier prototypes.

Campbell and Davis celebrate with an expansive high-five, followed by a victory whoop that is shared by other students and faculty at work in the lab. Then it’s down to the serious business of looking at the wafers under the microscope, and talking about what’s next.

“Each new step leads to another – that’s the way research works,” said Campbell.

“It’s an exciting time to be involved in research and help Boise State lead the way in this area.”

MARIA MITKOVA

DMITRI TENNE

BERNARD YURKE

Mitkova has six patents for inventions that utilize the electrochemical properties of chalcogenide glasses to develop new types of “nanoionic” NVM. This type of memory relies on ion transport and chemical change at a nanoscale level.

Tenne’s research involves ferroelectric thin films – materials only a few nanometers thick that can be polarized into switchable electrical states. He uses optical spectroscopy techniques to study the properties of these films, which have great potential for NVM applications.

A process called “DNA origami” that forces a long strand of DNA to fold into a nanoscale structure is the basis for Yurke’s innovative work, which has applications for developing new types of NVM. Yurke collaborates with Knowlton (right) and others on this research.

Illustration by Scott Swanson

BILL KNOWLTON

¨ PETER MULLNER

ALEX PUNNOOSE

DNA-based memory materials that can self assemble – similar to the way Lego building blocks hook together – and research involving magnetic shape memory alloys are among collaborative projects Knowlton is pursuing.

Multi-state memory devices fabricated from an alloy that changes shape in the presence of a magnetic field is the focus of a project that builds on Müllner’s earlier work. Müllner and Knowlton (left) have a patent pending on this process.

Punnoose is studying how magnetic materials can be used to create new types of non-volatile computer memory and spintronics-based computer processors.

Spintronics is an emerging field of nanoscale electronics involving the detection and manipulation of electron spin.

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 23

Undergraduate Research

Hands-on Learning

Undergraduate students at Boise State University have tremendous opportunities to conduct hands-on research in a wide range of disciplines. Across campus and farther afield, they are working on projects that at many universities are offered only to graduate students. In this section, a few of these undergraduates talk about their research and its impact.

JOSU ZUBIZARRETA Senior, double major in Biology and Spanish Career goal: Medical doctor and researcher Research: I work with Dr. Greg Hampikian on genetic studies involving the Basque population in southwest Idaho. This DNAbased research could help us trace immigration patterns of this unique ethnic minority. I also collaborate with researchers at the University of the Basque Country in Spain to better understand health risks for Basque people, including an increased incidence of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Impact: I am Basque myself. Both my grandfather and grandmother died of Alzheimer’s disease, so I have a personal stake in determining whether there is a genetic link to the increased prevalence of this devastating disease among the Basque population.

Benefits: This hands-on research is providing me with the experience I need to successfully apply to medical school.

JOHN KELLY PHOTO

24 | BOISESTATE.EDU

JOHN KELLY PHOTO

CARRIE QUINNEY PHOTO

MARTHA MENDOZA

MATTHEW REINHOLD

Junior, Bilingual Education major

Senior, Materials Science and Engineering major, Physics emphasis

Career goal: School teacher and scholar Research: I am conducting a study of Spanish-language children’s literature, based on the critical literacy approach of educators Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo. I plan to create a curriculum based on my research that can be used by educators and others to explore issues of social inequity and injustice portrayed in this literature.

Impact: This curriculum will enable elementary school teachers to provide their students with relevant literature that encourages discussion of topics such as social, economic and political injustice, in an effort to aid young readers in overcoming any internalized feelings of oppression.

Benefits: I hope to contribute to positive social change by encouraging children to become advocates for social justice, thereby promoting transformation within our communities.

Career goal: Engineering professor Research: I work with Drs. Bill Knowlton and Peter Müllner on research involving magnetic shape memory alloys, materials that, after deformation, return to their original shapes with a change in temperature or with magnetic force. Using atomic force microscopy techniques, I’m studying the properties of these unique materials on a nanoscale level.

Impact: The materials we’re studying have great potential for use in sensing devices, computer memory, and even for generators that run on green energy.

Benefits: I grew up working on our family farm, then I worked at a fish processing plant and as someone else’s farmhand. I wanted a different life. When I first came to Boise State I kind of coasted.

Getting into research motivated me to invest more in my education.

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 25

Undergraduate Research

JOHN KELLY PHOTO

CARRIE QUINNEY PHOTO

BENJAMIN LOVE

DEMENEE MAY

Junior, Bachelor of Fine Arts major, Sculpture emphasis

Senior, Criminal Justice major, Psychology minor

Career goal: Full-time artist Research: I work with “found” materials that were originally used for another purpose. I work mainly with wood, but I also use steel, fabric scraps from a local sewing shop and aluminum in my art. About 90 percent of these materials are reclaimed.

Impact: I hope that my sculptural work offers people opportunities to slow down enough to connect to the piece, think about what it is made of, and then realize the implications of the material.

Benefits: I’m able to create art and have my socio-ecological perspective be part of my work. People who experience this art have the opportunity to re-evaluate their preconceived value structures, and to consider that there is no such thing as garbage.

26 | BOISESTATE.EDU

Career goal: Juvenile corrections or public agency crime research Research: I work with Drs. Andrew Giacomazzi and David Mueller on a project for the Idaho Criminal Justice Commission. We are compiling a database of best practices nationwide and in Idaho for treatment of juveniles with substance abuse and mental health issues. We are measuring recidivism rates and the success of juveniles who finish programs like drug court, counseling and assessment, family-focused therapy, etc. We then will make policy recommendations to the state on what is currently lacking and how to better handle juveniles in the corrections system.

Impact: We hope to control juvenile incarceration rates by encouraging the state to adopt successful programs that lower recidivism rates.

Benefits: I get hands-on research experience and the chance to positively influence how Idaho runs its juvenile corrections program.

CARRIE QUINNEY PHOTO

JOHN KELLY PHOTO

SELINA CARVER

KYLER JAMES

Senior, Health Sciences major

Senior, Economics major, History minor

Career Goal: Health policy work in government or private sector

Career goal: Professor of Russian studies and economics

Research: I work with Dr. Holly Beard at the Center for the Study of Aging on an analysis of the needs of long-term care, paying particular attention to rural areas. I also work with Dr. Ed Baker at the Center for Health Policy on research to examine the economic impact of methamphetamine use in Idaho, from the cost of incarceration to the cost of medical treatment and rehabilitation.

Research: I work with Drs. Scott Lowe and Samia Islam to look at the impact federal environmental regulations have on entrepreneurial activity in the U.S. Specifically, the research targets small businesses such as grocery stores, dry cleaners and restaurants that enter and leave an area surrounded by bigger businesses.

This is an extension of current studies that focus on the location choices of large, heavily polluting businesses.

Impact: Policy is a great way to move health care in positive directions. By helping state and local governments identify the needs of their citizens, we can help create a more efficient health care system.

Benefits: This research has helped me become a better writer and a better researcher. I’m also learning how to more efficiently allocate resources for health care.

Impact: This research will help small businesses better judge their likelihood of success and the government better understand the results of its actions concerning small businesses.

Benefits: As graduate school emphasizes research, this experience will improve my marketability and give me the hands-on experience to be more successful in both a master’s and a Ph.D. program.

EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 27

In Print

Photo Credit Here

Fact and Fiction

Boise State faculty publish books in a broad range of genres. Here’s a look at two authors and their work.

Brady Udall: A NOVEL APPROACH

T

he inspiration for Brady Udall’s critically acclaimed first novel, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, came from an unlikely source.

“My wife’s ex-boyfriend – he was actually her boyfriend while I was still her boyfriend – was run over by a mail truck when he was a kid,” said Udall, a creative writing professor at Boise State.

28 | BOISESTATE.EDU

“When she told me that she was seeing another guy, for some reason she told me this story.”

The conversation occurred about 20 years ago. Rather than dashing out to confront the boyfriend, Udall was intrigued. He paid him a visit. The ex showed him the scars on his neck and described how, as a boy of 7 or 8, he had suffered injuries when the mail truck slammed into him.

In Print

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

By Brady Udall W. W. Norton, 2001 Paperback edition, Vintage, 2002

THE ROOTS OF INSPIRATION JOHN KELLY PHOTO

Boise State creative writing professor Brady Udall stands in the doorway of his home office, holding the manuscript for his new novel, The Lonely Polygamist.

That wish became the foundation for The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, a follow-up to Udall’s first book, a collection of short stories called Letting Loose the Hounds.

Published in 2001, Edgar Mint has sold more than 100,000 copies and has been translated into 20 languages.

Udall’s first novel also has garnered critical accolades and comparisons to the works of John Irving. The Chicago Tribune called Edgar Mint “a poignant, picaresque odyssey.” The Los Angeles Times observed that “Edgar Mint is nobody’s Everyman, but he is the hope and the pain of a child looking for, and eventually finding, a home.” Newsweek described the book as “extraordinary,” “fall-down funny” and “like nothing you’ve ever read.”

Mint has continued its success in paperback. A movie version, produced by musician Michael Stipe of the band R.E.M., is in the works, and the novel also paved the way for Udall’s new book, The Lonely Polygamist, due out later this year from W. W. Norton.

Udall’s editor at Norton, Carol Houck Smith, said that she is “clamoring” to read The Lonely Polygamist. “Brady manages to be direct and clear-eyed about human beings and their flaws – but is tender,” she said. “He loves his characters. Writers must do that; otherwise how can readers become attached to them?”

The ex said he wanted to let the driver of the mail truck know that he hadn’t died in the accident. He was alive, and he was OK. “I thought that was the perfect idea for a novel,” Udall said. “I knew that the first novel that I would write would be about a child who had been run over by a mailman and who was searching for that mailman to tell him he was OK.”

Both Edgar Mint and The Lonely Polygamist are based on real-life experiences that intrigued Udall and set him on investigations to learn more. For Edgar Mint, Udall spent hours gathering background at a school located at the old Fort Apache near his hometown of St. Johns, Ariz., that he remembered from his adolescence. His fictional character Mint is half-Apache and attends the ferocious Willie Sherman School, which is loosely based on the Fort Apache school.

Udall recalled an incident that occurred after a junior high football game at the reservation school: Students from the opposing team went back to their dormitories and threw rocks through barred windows at Udall and the other players who were waiting to go home on the bus. “They were throwing things out of the windows at the bus, breaking windows and stuff,” he said. “They had to haul us out of there, and so that stuck with me … the place itself EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 29

In Print was such a strange place.”

Years later, Udall returned to the school, eventually gaining the trust of the students and faculty and gathering enough material to work with.

“There was definitely a lot of hands-on, journalistic-style research,” he said.

That persistence also led to the genesis of Udall’s next book, The Lonely Polygamist. Udall is a descendant of one of the West’s largest Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints families; his relatives include Stewart Udall, the former secretary of the interior, and Morris Udall, the longtime Democratic congressman from Arizona. Udall said that he was always curious about his family’s polygamist past and decided to find out more about how the now-underground practice, which is no longer part of LDS church doctrine, is carried out today.

He had a friend who had polygamy contacts and was put in touch with a family that was willing to share its story. “You have to be very circumspect; what they’re doing is technically illegal, and so I promised them that I would respect their privacy if they would talk to me. If they didn’t want me to write about anything, I wouldn’t,” he said. “And so what happened was that they were kind and talked to me, and I spent days with them.”

Udall’s success has led him to pass on to his students the hard lessons he learned while writing his own novels. “It’s completely different than writing short stories, and students are trained to write short stories (in MFA programs),” Udall said. “It’s odd, because the only way most writers can make their living, at least fiction writers, is to write novels.”

He now teaches a form and theory class on novel writing to help make up for the hole in his own education. “It would have been great to have had pointers,” he said. “It could have saved me a lot of time.” Instead, he said that he spent about three years writing the first 100 pages and six months writing the rest.

But the result is a novel that has allowed him to travel to places like France, where Edgar Mint was a bestseller, for readings. Its success has been beyond anything he had hoped for, he said.

“I used to think that writing is kind of a completely frivolous, narcissistic activity that had no real merits beyond the fact that a few people might read it and you enjoyed yourself writing it,” he said. “But I found that it can actually touch people and have an effect in ways that you may not have intended.” –Julie Hahn 30 | BOISESTATE.EDU

Charles Odahl: A SEARCH FOR CONSTANTINE

C

harles Odahl was on a mission. For more than 25 years, he traced the subject of his quest across deserts, into crypts and through catacombs. He explored cities in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, dug up dozens of late antiquity coins and other early Christian artifacts and translated innumerable ancient texts.

Odahl, a Boise State University history professor, lived, ate and slept the life of the first Christian emperor of the Roman world.

Finally, in 2004, he published his magnum opus, Constantine and the Christian Empire.

Two years later, it was released as an expanded paperback and e-book.

Today, the book is considered the definitive work on Constantine. It is cited repeatedly in scholarly papers, articles and books. It has been translated into Romanian and is found in libraries and college classrooms worldwide.

Considering there were approximately 82 recognized Roman emperors from 31 B.C. to A.D. 476, focusing one’s life’s work on just one may seem obsessive. But consider who this emperor was, and what he did. Commonly known as Constantine the Great or Saint Constantine, he transformed pagan Rome into the Christian empire of Byzantine times, freeing early Christians from centuries of tyranny and persecution while serving as a role model for medieval kings in western Europe over the next millennium.

“Ultimately, we owe so much to Constantine,” said Odahl, an expert on ancient and medieval history, and classical and patristic Latin. In addition to changing the course of Roman history, Constantine “pulled Christians out of the catacombs and into civilization and he created Christian architecture as we know it,” Odahl said. “He created the weekend by making Sunday a religious holiday, and he also created Christmas.”

Odahl’s 424-page Constantine has received critical praise for its depth, clarity and comprehensive approach. “A splendid volume …

The scholarship is impeccable,” wrote Hans Pohlsander of the State University of New York. Irish reviewer David Woods predicted that Odahl’s book will stand as “the standard account of the reign [of Constantine] for many years to come.” And Jacquelyn Winston of

In Print Boise State history professor Charles Odahl displays some of the artifacts he collected during his 25-year quest to research the life of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome.

CARRIE QUINNEY PHOTO

Constantine also built a number of church monuments, including those at the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem and the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome. He’s also responsible for founding Constantinople, one of the greatest cities in the world. It was Constantine who closed the New Testament canon at 27 books.

Azusa Pacific University called the book “one of the most balanced and finest works on [Constantine’s] life that has been published.”

During 15 trips to Europe, Odahl immersed himself in the world of the first Christian Roman emperor while leading tours and teaching classes. That hands-on experience was critical to the volume he ultimately produced.

“Most researchers who have studied Constantine have done so from their offices,” he said. “I thought I needed to get out in the field to see where he fought his battles, minted his coins, built churches and transformed Rome into the Christian capital.”

AN EMPEROR LIKE NO OTHER

Born Flavius Constantinus around A.D. 273 in the ancient town of Naissus in modern-day Serbia, Constantine emerges in Odahl’s writing as one of the shrewdest political leaders and field commanders, and most sincere religious reformers and extensive imperial builders among all the Roman emperors.

Constantine’s avid devotion to Christianity was born in the year 312 on a march to Rome. Believing he had received a revelation from the God of the Christians, he adopted this deity as his divine patron.

Placing the Christian cross on his soldiers’ shields, he easily defeated his rival and became a lifelong Christian disciple.

In addition to building Christian churches in a design that distinguished them from pagan temples,

CONSTANTINE REMAINS RELEVANT

A study of Constantine continues to be relevant as we journey through the 21st century, Odahl said, because many of the current issues about the relationship between politics and religion have their roots in Constantine’s world. It was Constantine who set up the model for the Christian imperial theocracy; it wasn’t until the American and French revolutions that the modern idea of the separation of church and state emerged.

Today, the sentiment “God Bless America” commonly Constantine and heard at political rallies, and the “God is the Christian Empire Great” of Muslim theocracies, indicate how the line between church-state sepaBy Charles M. Odahl ration again may be shifting. “Whether Routledge, 2004, the theocratic or secular model of govexpanded edition 2006 ernment wins out in this century, studying Constantine is most relevant today,” Odahl said.

Odahl is working on his next book, expected to be published this spring. Cicero and the Catilinarian Conspiracy examines the concepts of power and status in the late Roman Republic, the republic’s fall and the rise of the new system of government dominated by a single ruler, the emperor. – Kathleen Craven EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 31

Perspective

O

By MARK RUDIN

ne of the strengths of Boise State University – and a source of pride for the entire campus community – is the prominent role that undergraduate students play in research conducted at the university.

At Boise State, undergraduates have opportunities to participate in research that are more traditionally enjoyed by graduate students. Their work contributes to scientific knowledge, enhances classroom learning, benefits the community and state, and has the potential to improve the quality of life in the 21st century.

Our students also have tremendous opportunities to pursue creative activities that strengthen their education and enrich our culture. Creative activity in the arts and humanities is equivalent to research in the sciences; both are integral to the excellence of our university.

This premier issue of Explore magazine offers a glimpse into the range of projects Boise State undergraduates are pursuing. Our student section, beginning on Page 24, features seven undergraduates from across campus who are engaged in re-

32 | BOISESTATE.EDU

JOHN KELLY PHOTO

The Value of Undergraduate Research

search and scholarly endeavors. They are just a few of the many hundreds of Boise State undergraduates who gain hands-on experience in labs, studios, libraries, corporate and government offices, and field sites in Idaho and around the world.

In addition, most of the faculty highlighted in this issue include undergraduate students on their research teams. Given the importance of research to this institution, it’s fitting that the first issue of our new research magazine acknowledges the impact of undergraduate research contributions.

Boise State undergraduates have presented research at major scientific conferences around the world and have published papers in top scientific journals. Their research posters are routinely displayed alongside those of graduate students at these conferences. Boise State faculty note that their undergraduate students sometimes are mistaken for graduate students or even post-doctoral fellows because of the high caliber and scope of their work.

Boise State graduates who have gone on to medical school, Ph.D. programs or jobs in the private or public sectors cite their

Last Word undergraduate research experience as a key factor in their success.

Their background sets them apart from their peers, enhancing their competitiveness for top academic programs and jobs and providing them with skills and experience to succeed in their new pursuits.

Our institutional commitment to undergraduate research is reflected in programs such as the annual Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Conference, which brings hundreds of students from disciplines across campus together each year to present their research projects. This conference is the culmination of many months of work for these students, who not only conduct hands-on research, but also prepare written reports and poster presentations and then communicate their results to other students, a panel of judges and to the public. The process develops research skills and also reinforces the notion that for research to have an impact, it must be shared in a way that is both understandable and relevant.

Boise State’s McNair Scholars program provides opportunities and support for students who are first-generation college students or from under-represented groups to work with faculty mentors on research projects in preparation for graduate studies. Additionally, Boise State receives funding from the National Science Foundation for a scholarship program encouraging research participation for engineering students in their first two years of college. These are among a number of programs on campus that support undergraduate research.

The benefits of these diverse research and scholarly programs are manifold. National research studies, corroborated by work conducted at Boise State, show that student retention rates are significantly higher for undergraduates who participate in research. This is not surprising: Research engages and empowers students, changing their perceptions of what they believe they can accomplish. This, in turn, builds confidence that fuels continued commitment and success.

Research also strengthens classroom learning by enabling students to apply challenging concepts and ideas. It encourages critical thinking and open-ended questioning, enabling students to develop new skills and to expand their perspectives in regard to future career choices. It also provides them with the opportunity to develop close working relationships with faculty, who benefit from the exchange as well. In the words of one professor, “Working with undergraduates in my lab challenges me to clarify my thinking at all levels. I am a better researcher, and a better teacher, as a result.”

Undergraduate students also provide invaluable support to faculty by conducting lab experiments, compiling results and completing other research-related tasks. The opportunity to work one-onone with bright, motivated students in a dynamic research setting is cited by many professors as the most rewarding part of their jobs.

We are fortunate to have such a wonderful group of dedicated students who support our research mission. As Boise State continues to advance as a metropolitan research university, undergraduate research will remain a critically important factor in our success. Research has a transformative effect on all of our students, the culture of the university, and even our community. Hence, our ongoing commitment to this endeavor will enhance our institution and will help us prepare our students to make a difference in an increasingly complex world.

A Willingness to Explore Is Key to University’s Success I hope you have enjoyed reading the premier issue of Explore, and that you have found it both interesting and informative.

In this issue, we have featured just a few of the many outstanding research programs and creative endeavors that are flourishing at Boise State University. Together, these articles offer a “slice of the university.” In subsequent issues of Explore, we look forward to sharing more stories about our talented faculty and the diverse projects they are pursuing across our campus.

The decision to launch a new research magazine at this point in Boise State’s history is significant. It speaks to the importance of research to our future as an emerging metropolitan research university of distinction, and to the strength and dynamism of our growing programs.

We chose the name Explore for a number of reasons.

First, it underscores Boise State’s commitment to open-ended inquiry in both the sciences and the humanities. Exploration also is a key concept in the university’s map-themed strategic plan, titled “Charting the Course,” which identifies routes, or strategies, that Boise State should explore to reach its goals.

Finally, “explore” speaks to the process that is integral to all great discoveries – the ability to think beyond what is to what might be. Boise State is an institution that values vision as well as expertise. Both are important, and both will fuel our progress in the years ahead.

As our university charts its future course, it is our ability and willingness to explore that will determine our contributions and success. I invite you to join us on this journey.

– MARK RUDIN, VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH EXPLORE—WINTER 2009 | 33

1910 University Drive Boise, ID 83725-1135

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT NO. 170