Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine: Fall 2010 by West Virginia University-Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Dear friends, This is my first official letter for Eberly magazine since joining the College as dean. It covers a topic that I am personally passionate about and one that is increasingly important to the University— graduate education. The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences has 11 PhD programs and 23 master’s programs. We have the opportunity to significantly raise our production of graduate degrees. An increase in PhD graduates will be particularly important as the University strives to obtain Carnegie Very High Research status, a mark of excellence that we believe is attainable. The stories in this edition give you a taste of what is currently happening at the graduate level. We are attracting talented students in the hard and social sciences and in our humanities programs. You will see the strong threads of teaching, research, and service running through the graduate education-themed edition, just as you did in each edition before it. Currently our researchers collaborate with numerous disciplines and colleges at WVU as well as with government, private industry, and other institutions of higher education at home and around the world. Our faculty are doing cutting-edge, grant-funded research across disciplines and giving graduate students opportunities to participate and contribute to the academy. In this edition you will find stories about discovery, research, teamwork, creativity, passion, and possibility. There is something to interest everyone, whether it is graduate student Stephanie Archer-Hartmann’s desire to contribute to the global high-tech economy, John Tudek’s forays to underground worlds of wonder, the inspirational writings of members and alumni of the Department of English’s MFA program, or the University’s recent receipt of a grant that will transform how we nurture and promote leaders in science. Right now my most important priority is to ask questions, listen and to absorb the essence of Eberly. My first three months on the job have been a whirlwind of activity. Every day I learn more about West Virginia University and the important role of the Eberly College (on page 38, you can learn a little more about me). In closing my first post, I would like to express sincere gratitude for the leadership and generous service that Rudy Almasy provided for the College, not only in his role as your leader during this past year (and at two other critically important times in the past), but also in his many other roles including professor, scholar, teacher, fund raiser, moral compass, and visionary. Rudy, the college staff, and the advisory committee have worked miracles to build a smooth transition for me. Success comes from that kind of team effort. I am very grateful to them and to all of you. Sincerely,

Robert H. Jones, PhD Dean

ADMINISTRATION James P. Clements, PhD, President, West Virginia University Michele Wheatly, PhD, Provost Robert Jones, PhD, Dean Joan Gorham, EdD, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Fred King, PhD, Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies Asuntina Levelle, JD, Associate Dean, Financial Planning and Management Katherine Karraker, PhD, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies L. Christopher Plein, PhD, Assistant Dean, School of Applied Social Sciences Bonnie Fisher, Director of Development EDITORIAL STAFF Rebecca Herod, Executive Editor Kathy Deweese, University Editor Dustin Mazon, Web Designer ART DIRECTION Angela Caudill Forrest Conroy Sue Crist Chris Schwer CONTRIBUTING EDITORS John Bolt Jessica Hammond Abby Freeland Mackenzie Mays Dianna Mazzella Lauren Peretti Ashley Wells PHOTOGRAPHY Daniel Friend, Photography Manager M.G. Ellis, Photojournalist Brian Persinger, Photojournalist Allison Toffle, Photojournalist Taylor Jones, Photography Intern COVER ART Brian Persinger EDITORIAL OFFICE Rebecca Herod Director of Marketing and Communications PO Box 6286 Morgantown, WV 26506-6286 E-mail: Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu CHANGE OF ADDRESS WVU Foundation PO Box 1650 Morgantown, WV 26507-1650 E-mail: wvuf@wvuf.org VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT eberly.wvu.edu

Contents IN THIS ISSUE

2 Around the College 6 Vox Populi

6 High-Tech Mind, High-Tech Future 8 The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

10 Alchemy in the Chemistry Research Building

14 The Clean, Green Team: Advancing National Energy Security

18 Ten Years of Creative Writing at WVU

23 Taking on the Texting Generation:

National Writing Project and Young Writers Holiday

28 Hidden Waters 30 New and Notable

Stephanie Archer-Hartmann, doctoral candidate in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry

30 ADVANCing Women in Science 36 The Golden Hour 38 Meet Dean Jones

41 Awards and Honors 41 Star Formation 42 Jim Nolan is on the CASE 44 What the Universe Holds 46 CAREER‑making Research 48 Burke Wins Presidential Teaching Award

Look for the Entrepreneurship edition of Eberly in the spring. If you would like to access archival editions of the magazine, go to eberly.wvu.edu and select the Alumni link.

Correction: Page 30 of the 2010 summer edition “Eberly Tears into Service,” contained an error. The “Lady Luck” sculpture created by Burl Jones is 18.25”, not 8.25”. If you are interested in purchasing the limited edition sculpture, please contact:

wmst@mail.wvu.edu.

WVU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution. West Virginia University is governed by the West Virginia University Board of Governors and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

Matt Boyce works on core samples in the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Norman Cave in Greenbrier County, W.V., is part of the Bone-Norman Cave System, a 14-mile-long system. eberly.wvu.edu

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Around the College

The laser machine has three lasers, green, red, and blue, but can create any color imaginable. It moves at 30,000 points a second. So if a square is on the screen, the laser is drawing the shape of a square so quickly that the human eye doesn’t see the drawing action, only the square itself.

Happy Birthday LASER: WVU Celebrates LaserFest Do you know how many times a day lasers are used? When you check out at a store a laser reads the bar code on your purchase; your DVD player, iPod, and computer all use them, and many surgeries are now done using the pinpoint precision of lasers. This year is the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser, an acronym developed based on the name of the process, light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. To mark the occasion, West Virginia University Society of Physics Students and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Student Branch have partnered to present LaserFest, a traveling laser show for schools in rural West Virginia and cities such as Charleston, West

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Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The goal is to increase young students’ interest in science and laser technology. The show consists of three sets of laser shows accompanied by music from the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and the movie Slum Dog Millionaire. The laser was constructed by WVU engineering students. After the show,

physics students Dorothy Nelson and Ethel Perez demonstrate how to make a laser at home out of just a clothespin, cheap laser pointer, a tiny mirror, a few Legos, and a spring from a pen. “I think a lot of kids are under the impression that science is geeky and nerdy and for the smart kids. This gives them a chance to see how cool it really is,” Nelson said. Michael Vannatta, a student in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry, has also been working with WVU’s Extension Service to put on laser shows for 4-H camps. “The number-one goal is to get kids excited about science,” Vannatta said. Ian Hathaway, a 12-year-old who attends South Middle School, attended a LaserFest event. He said he uses lasers as a cat toy. However, this presentation widened his view of their capabilities. “I’ve been intrigued by lasers. I’ve seen videos about them on YouTube, and they’re so interesting,” he said. Linda Wessels, a Morgantown resident, brought her 12-year-old son, Cole Prescott, to a show because he is interested in science. “I like having the opportunity to expose him to things he isn’t exposed to on a daily basis and having him meet and interact with scientists,” she said. LaserFest is funded by a Physics Sponsored Research Grant obtained by James Lewis, professor of physics, in the amount of $8,000. For more information about LaserFest, please visit www.laserfest.org.

WVU students perform a Bollywood-style dance routine to kick-off Diversity Week.

Flash, Dance! It was a day like any other during the first week of classes. Woodburn Tower chimed at the stroke of noon. Then, it happened. A flash mob of students, faculty, and alumni surprised bystanders by putting on a dance performance to Lady Gaga’s “Telephone.” Russian language and literature professor Lisa DiBartolomeo planned the event with her students. She got the idea from TV show Glee and decided to turn it into an opportunity to promote the Department of Foreign Languages. “My main goal with the flash mob was to just draw attention to the dynamics and fun within the Foreign Language Department,” DiBartolomeo said. “It gave us a chance to show a bit of our personality.” Gathering about 60 participants and receiving permission from President James P. Clements, DiBartolomeo called on former students to choreograph the dance and help her promote the event via an exclusive Facebook group. West Virginia University graduate and former student of DiBartolomeo, Bethany Fisher, created original choreography and an instructional video for participants to study before their single rehearsal the Sunday prior.

Fisher was impressed with the enthusiasm of the participants, most with no professional dance background, and praised the spirit of the mob. “This fun event was great, and it really says a lot about the WVU community and our school spirit,” Fisher said. “It was a crazy event to start off the year.” Clements also recognized the event. “I thought it was awesome. And I’m proud of the professor (DiBartolomeo) who put it together,” Clements said. “Mountaineers have a lot of spirit and pride, and their passion showed.” DiBartolomeo was pleased with the outcome and was proud to give her audience a taste of the fun side of Foreign Languages. “Events like these show that we’re student centered and can be academically oriented, but we don’t have to take ourselves too seriously,” she said. “WVU students get the whole college experience here. They can enjoy themselves while they learn, and that’s great.” See a video of the flash mob performance on WVU’s YouTube site. Select the YouTube icon at the bottom of any WVU webpage and search for Flash Mob: Department of Foreign Languages. excerpt by Mackenzie Mays from the Daily Athenaeum

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Around the College

Holly McCall, third-year doctoral candidate in chemistry

Developing Safe Cleanup Methods for Meth Labs According to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, between 2003 and 2008 there were 621 methamphetamine incidents, including labs, dumpsites or chemical and glassware seizures in West Virginia. Include national incidents over the same five-year period and you have 67,185 incidents. Remediation of these toxic meth lab sites raises environmental issues; do the dangerous particles remain in the air? If that is the case, painting the walls and cleaning the carpets doesn’t solve the problem, but simply covers it up temporarily. Suzanne Bell, assistant professor of forensic and analytical chemistry in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry at West Virginia University, is doing research to help clean up in the aftermath of these dangerous drug crimes.

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Bell received the Characterization and Validation of Ion Mobility Spectrometry in Clandestine Laboratory Remediation grant for $77,471. The research is a joint grant effort with the Environmental Protection Agency. Bell and her research group will investigate if the standard cleaning and purifying procedures used to clean homes and apartments previously used as meth labs really work. “It’s important to clean it up properly because so many toxic chemicals are used in the preparation of methamphetamine, and demolition of the site is not always possible or appropriate. The danger to future occupants is chronic exposure to residuals of these hazardous compounds,” Bell said. Bell and graduate students Rona Nishikawa, Lucy Oldfield, Travis Doria, and Holly McCall will simulate meth labs to gauge the effect of the chemicals used on living environments. They also hope to

visit former labs to gather samples. Field sites provide the best research environment because it is impossible to simulate an entire meth lab in the academic laboratory. Third-year doctoral candidate and research team member Holly McCall knew she wanted to work with Dr. Bell when she applied to WVU. “Her research is a nontraditional application of analytical chemistry, which we base in forensic science,” McCall said. “Since the toxicity of methamphetamine in airborne particles remains unknown, the health of those personnel in charge of cleaning up clandestine labs and the future inhabitants of the location are at risk. It is our goal to determine whether these locations can be safely remediated, ,” McCall said. The findings of this research will have applications for all 50 states, as they deal with the cleanup of these dangerous and toxic drug labs.

WVU Press Releases Roll out the Carpet: 101 Seasons of West Virginia University Basketball West Virginia University Press is pleased to announce the publication of Roll out the Carpet: 101 Seasons of West Virginia University Basketball. Roll out the Carpet is written by John Antonik, director of new media for intercollegiate athletics at West Virginia University, with a foreword by Rod Thorn and an afterword by Bob Huggins. The book is the story of West Virginia University men’s basketball. This comprehensive history chronicles over 100 seasons of the game, from the early years of the Tri-State and Eastern conferences, to the golden era of Hot Rod Hundley, Jerry West, and Rod Thorn, to the Mountaineers’ most recent triumphs under coaches John Beilein and Bob Huggins. For Mountaineers, it’s not just about winning a prize, trophy or title— it’s about the work ethic, pride, and loyalty that embody the spirit of the state. With unparalleled insider access, alumnus and longtime athletic department official John Antonik details the vibrant history of the players, coaches, and fans who created the finest moments of Mountaineer basketball. These pages overflow with accounts of nail-biting tension leading to buzzerbeating shots, thrilling game-saving moments, and rich, intimate details of the superstar players and coaches who built an institution of gold and blue. From the first game in 1904 against rival Pitt to West Virginia’s glorious return to the 2010 NCAA Final Four, Roll out the Carpet celebrates the tradition of Mountaineer basketball. With over 500 photographs—many of which have never been published before—and articles of memorabilia from the WVU Athletic Department, University archives, and personal collections, this book is a must-have for any WVU men’s basketball fan. Antonik is also the author of West Virginia University Football Vault: The History of the Mountaineers. Visit www.wvupress.com to purchase Roll out the Carpet and to learn more about this book. Watch a videocast with the author at: wvupressonline.com/vidcast/roll_out_the_carpet.

Sergei Urazhdin

Spin(tronics) Master Communications companies are competing to squeeze the most technologically advanced memory and media features into the tiniest of devices, but some design ideas for the smallest cell phones and music players are not practical yet. Sergei Urazhdin, assistant professor in the Department of Physics at West Virginia University, is conducting research to better understand the scientific potential of miniaturizing these devices and making them more energy efficient. He has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, titled Development of Tunable Nanomagnetic Microwave Oscillators and Circuits, valued at nearly $341,000 over three years. The grant will support research by Urazhdin and two graduate students aimed at developing miniature spintronic devices to replace the electronic components used in today’s communication technology. This study extends research supported by the NSF CAREER grant Urazhdin received in 2007. Urazhdin is leader of the WVU Spintronics Group in the WVNano Initiative, West Virginia’s focal point for nanoscale science, engineering, and education research, workforce development, and economic development. Spintronic devices use the direction of the electron’s spin to encode information, and Urazhdin’s group works to develop these popular electronic devices on a nanoscale. This research is made possible in a large part by access to WVNano’s research facilities.

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High-Tech Mind, High-Tech Future by Stephanie Archer-Hartman Photos by Dan Friend

am a West Virginian. I’m originally from Glenville, a small town located in the center of the state. In grade school I sang “The West Virginia Hills,” before saying the Pledge of Allegiance. It was in Glenville that I learned the value of community and that nothing is achieved without hard work. My husband and I grew up a few miles from each other and were high school sweethearts. We both pursued undergraduate degrees in the sciences at WVU, where he studied computer science and I pursued chemistry. We married shortly after graduation. Glenville was a great place to grow up, and is a great place to live—like most people living in small towns, I also saw some of the problems, the most pressing being the lack of available high-tech jobs. In high school, it was through summer experiences provided by the West Virginia Governor’s Honors Academy and internships provided through the Mollohan Foundation, that I got my first taste of the emerging hightechnology future that our state is aiming for. Conversing with people who were very, very good at what they did provided me with an understanding of entirely new opportunities in industry. I was surrounded by them— academics, researchers, and the business professionals who together were turning great ideas into companies (and jobs) in West Virginia. Additionally I was seeing how the state’s industries were expanding into a more technology-driven business model.

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I continued my scientific training by studying chemistry at West Virginia University, in part, because of the research I was exposed to at the Governor’s Honors Academy. I realized I wanted to be challenged by my education, and also wanted to contribute back into the state. As an undergraduate fascinated with biotechnology, I started to work with Dr. Lisa Holland, who would later become my graduate advisor. It was through her guidance, and the camaraderie of my lab mates, that I developed a passion for studying how biomolecules could be manipulated and used to enhance and better understand medical testing. The opportunity to do cutting-edge research as an undergraduate, through both internships and research at WVU, was part of an invaluable experience. Through this work I solidified what I wanted to do post-graduation—to further my education and continue doing the research that I really enjoyed. I also realized that WVU was well-equipped to provide that education. My research at WVU focuses on developing new and better ways to separate and analyze biomolecules to better understand and improve the treatment of disease. In the last few years, I’ve worked on instruments and methods to detect markers for cancer, including steroids, antibodies, proteins, and glycans. This research combines creative thought with the fundamentals of scientific principles,

resulting in the kind of practical results that inspire further study. The methods that are created can then be further developed for use in fields such as environmental and medical testing, or in quality assurance. To do this research, I use a method known as capillary electrophoresis that separates molecules based on their size and charge that are placed in a very small glass tube held under a high electric field. This method is effective for the analysis of biomolecules because it uses very small samples, separates molecules quickly and efficiently, and, with the use of commercial instrumentation, can easily be automated. The methods I develop can be further adapted for more portable analyses through the use of small microfluidic devices. I am currently working on a number of new separation strategies using a class of smart materials based on phospholipids that spontaneously self assemble. In the lab we use these materials in capillaries, automated instrumentation, and microfluidic devices to study a number of different types of biomolecules in complex samples such as cancer cells, plasma, and tissues. During graduate school, I was supported through WVNano and the EPsCOR STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs, which provided a great environment for me to develop as a research scientist. This training provided me with the expertise of some of the best minds in research

Stephanie Archer-Hartmann working in the Holland Research Group lab.

in an interdisciplinary environment. Good scientific communication was heavily emphasized in STEM, something that is often very difficult, especially when your colleagues have been trained in widely different fields. This is a requirement to effectively participate in collaborative work. It’s through these programs that I learned how critical good communication is in the sciences and how invaluable the connections fostered by interdisciplinary STEM research are. I was recently awarded a national fellowship through the United States Pharmacopeia; only four were given this year. Through the

support of this fellowship, I will be working on new ways to characterize glycosylation of therapeutic antibodies. A number of new treatments for chronic diseases and cancers are developed from a class of drugs based on recombinant antibodies, or rMAbs. The usefulness of such drugs, however, is found to be dependent on the type and amount of sugars decorating these antibodies. My aim is to develop new technologies that would allow for quick and inexpensive methods of monitoring new rMAb-based therapeutics as they are being developed and produced for wide-scale medical use.

Vox Populi

STEM and WVNano provided me with a glimpse into some of the highly innovative research that is currently happening at WVU. My training in the shared user facilities gave me access to a class 10,000 clean room and cutting-edge fabrication instrumentation. Through these advancements WVU is proving itself to be a major player in research and in the advancement of high-tech business in West Virginia. These programs allow me to witness the development of novel ideas and have inspired me to consider the high-tech industry in West Virginia. I am particularly interested in transforming scientific discovery into the groundwork needed to transition into a successful company. It is also through the support of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Chemistry that I was able to travel to national conferences to present the work that I, as part of WVU, am doing. I know I’ve received a top-notch education. I’ve been trained, not only to understand and perform new research, but how to turn these ideas into jobs. I find even now, I’m not done learning. I am a graduate student in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry, with only one year left to learn as much as I can before I graduate. I am a West Virginian. I am soon to be a WVU alumna. I can’t wait to get to work.

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The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same by Mark Mabry

ecently I had a discussion at work with friend with a pharmacology PhD who is about ten years younger than me. We were comparing notes about our graduate school experiences. She was talking about using the Internet as a tool to find academic articles and software that would automatically keep track of online literature sources for quickly building reference lists. I interjected with the fact that the Internet was not widely available during the late eighties and early nineties. In fact, I observed that we were just getting access to a rudimentary form of e-mail while I was finishing my thesis. She seemed surprised by this and asked without thinking, “but how did you do your literature research?” I quipped with comments about places called “libraries” with “stacks” of hard-bound journal articles. I can hope she was as amused by the turn in conversation as I was. Then I started thinking about my graduate school experience and which types of experiences had changed with the evolution in technology during the past 20 years, and which sorts of things haven’t. The Internet has certainly changed how literature and information searches are conducted. But, there has also been a significant improvement in the scientific equipment we used to collect our data. As an example, I once informally repeated a few of the experiments from my thesis study on modern equipment. Some data sets that used to take ten to 15 hours per experiment could be performed in a few minutes, with improved accuracy and reliability. No more going to the lab in the middle of the night to change samples! There have been great improvements in computer applications used to process and share our data. PowerPoint and

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web-based team sites have changed how teams collaborate. Even with all of these technology advances, the fundamentals of science and independent learning have not changed. Academic exposure to a breadth of knowledge in the science of chemistry and focused study in a specialized field were only part of the picture of my education experience at West Virginia University. Like most graduate students in the Chemistry Department, I served as a teaching assistant for many years. My first assignment was in the general chemistry laboratory course, supervising about 20 undergraduates. Over the semester, I learned to be patient while helping students grasp new concepts and how to walk the fine line between providing too much assistance and not enough. I came to understand that it was important to let students explore and make mistakes, while being ready to provide support and direction when needed. These teaching skills have proven useful when interacting with junior scientists and customers during my career. As a teaching assistant, I also developed an understanding of the importance of safety in the chemical laboratory. Once a student was using his mouth to pipette (a narrow tube into which fluid is drawn by suction) concentrated acid and I had to quickly intervene. The idea that I was partly responsible for the personal safety of the students and others working in the laboratory began to crystallize for me that day, and this focus on safety has been important throughout my career. I was first attracted to WVU when Dr. Kung Wang, a synthetic organic chemist, gave a seminar at the chemistry department of Miami University in Ohio, where I was a

Mark and Stephanie Mabry

senior undergraduate student. When I had completed my undergraduate degree in 1988, I knew that I enjoyed science and wanted to continue studies in chemistry. However, I did not have a strong sense of a career path. In fact, I did not even have a focus on a specific discipline within chemistry and was not sure if I were ready to commit to a doctoral program. Most chemistry graduate programs at large universities only offered a PhD at that time, and a few small universities offered only a terminal master’s degree. West Virginia University offered the option for either or both degrees. I researched the Department of Chemistry at WVU. It had an excellent reputation and the flexibility that I could register as a master’s degree candidate and switch to the PhD program at a later time if I chose. Then I visited the Morgantown campus, met the professors and graduate students, and WVU became my first choice for graduate school. As a bonus, the University had a certain reputation as a football powerhouse with Major Harris as quarterback. Who could resist? I certainly couldn’t, and loaded my belongings for the move to Morgantown, not able to begin to predict the personal, scientific, and professional development that I was about to undertake. I registered at WVU expecting to specialize in organic chemistry, but quickly

found that it was not really a good fit for my interests. Next I began exploring the disciplines of physical and analytical chemistry. Chemical kinetics, the study of reaction rates and mechanism, along with thermodynamics, the study of energy and energy transfer, were of interest. I tried a couple of different research groups. I looked at a career in technical writing. During the time spent deciding on a field of study, I had the opportunity to learn and develop a breadth of knowledge in the chemical sciences that has led to my continued growth as a scientist. I discovered that molecular spectroscopy, the study of the interaction of light with matter, was my real passion, and I joined the research group of Dr. Paul Jagodzinski. Our research used laser light to study molecules in solution. In graduate school, I learned it is not only the interaction with your professor/advisor that shapes your research and education, but the influence of the other members of your research group and other professors in the department. In particular, Dr. Charles Jaffé, Dr. Harry Finklea, Dr. Fred King, and Dr. John Penn played a role in my development as a scientist. Many of the casual conversations I had with these mentors turned into opportunities to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to handle self-learning and independent study. My relationships with many of these professors lasted past my graduation and continue today.

Graduate school at WVU was a great place to begin learning about cultural diversity. I moved to Morgantown from southwestern Ohio and hadn’t had many opportunities to interact with students from abroad. The Chemistry Department had attracted students from Eastern Europe, as well from Asia, Africa, and other places around the globe. Some of the best occasions for cultural exchange occurred around shared meals. One of the professors traditionally offered his house to graduate students from China for the traditional New Year’s celebration and I had the opportunity to attend. I recall being amazed by the variety of foods provided by the students and that these were so different from what you might expect to see in a typical “Chinese” restaurant in the United States. One of the senior graduate students had recently returned from a trip home to Shanghai and had returned with traditional liquor. While I tasted it, the student described many health properties associated with drinking the vaguely soy flavored potion, including virility. I started to inquire about the ingredients, but it seemed like a better idea to not ask. On a separate occasion, I invited several friends over for chili only to learn the students from Hungary couldn’t imagine eating cornbread as corn was considered food for swine. As part of a global pharmaceutical company with a diverse workforce, I certainly appreciate the sense of cultural awareness I

learned at WVU. I have no doubt that two of the realities I learned during graduate school are still true today: 1. Graduate school is a form of indentured servitude, and it is the student’s responsibility to actively seek an education. This can be a positive, yet difficult, experience and builds the drive to succeed. 2. Selection of a research advisor is nearly as important as finding a compatible spouse. You may be interacting with that individual to some degree or another for the rest of your professional life. Mark Mabry graduated from West Virginia University with a master’s degree in chemistry in 1992 with thesis work in molecular spectroscopy. He worked as an environmental chemist in Illinois until 1996. He then became an analytical research scientist with Rayonier, a chemical cellulose manufacturer in southeast Georgia. In 2000, Mabry relocated to Baltimore to take a position as a spectroscopy applications specialist for Thermo Fisher Scientific. He is currently a senior product development scientist for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and has lived in Richmond, VA, since 2004. His work entails method development, validation, and technology transfer for over-the-counter medications and medical devices. He is very involved with the local American Chemical Society and is Exposition Chair for the 2011 Southeast Regional ACS meeting. In his spare time, Mabry is an avid sailor who enjoys racing on a nearby lake and sailing on the Chesapeake Bay with his friends and family. His wife, Stephanie (BS, ’92), is also an alumna of the WVU Department of Chemistry.

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in the

Chemistry Research Building by Jessica Hammond

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Photos by Brian Persinger

The basement of the Chemistry Research Building houses a secret group of alchemists who are charged with transmuting common substances into materials of great value. They arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t practicing magic, but their contributions to the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry are as a good as gold. eberly.wvu.edu

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Sherman Adams, Allen Burns, and Randy Eaglen support the research of faculty and graduate students by creating the specialized equipment needed for their experiments. Sherman Adams is a scientific glass blower who has been perfecting his craft at WVU for the last 31 years. When you enter his office, a fire torch, oven, and shelves and surfaces full of glass meet your eyes. His duties include fixing broken glass apparatus. He also creates all of the test tubes for the introductory chemistry courses. His skills have been recruited to support various projects in the Department of Environmental Protection, the WVU Health Sciences Center, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Students and professors need specialized

tools or equipment for their research, and Adams takes care of making those as well. “If it doesn’t work, I’ll fix it. Sometimes professors come to me with a drawing or a concept, and I make it,” he said. Professor Jeffery Peterson uses an Adams-made glass apparatus to keep the chemicals in his lab under vacuum. He works with air- and moisture-sensitive molecules, so the vacuums Adams makes are essential for successful results. “Sherman is a very skilled individual. Not many people can do what he’s doing. We are very fortunate to have him,” said Peterson. Adams has made Elizabeth Ward, a third-year doctoral candidate in chemistry, a glass tool that makes her experiments safer. “It is a piece that goes into an oil bath and prevents any splashing,” Ward said. “He

also repairs a lot of our glassware. He saves us so much money and time,” she added. In addition to being the creator and fixer of most things glass, Sherman Adams has taught more than 300 students the how-to basics of glassblowing over the years. He said it is a valuable skill for chemistry and physics majors because if they go on to become a researcher or professor they can fix and create their own glass. This special skillset makes them more marketable. Allen Burns, a scientific lab instrument specialist, performs his magic with different materials. He uses a computerized numeric control (CNC) machine to make equipment from one piece of plexiglass, sheet metal, or wood. The CNC is a computerized system that can read a design created on a comput-

Sherman Adams used a single tube of glass, about as long as a two-foot ruler and as thick as a roll of quarters, to make an elephant during our photo session. His talents with glass extend beyond science, into the world of art.

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er and then quickly create the device. Plexiglass and plastics are generally used because they do not react with chemicals. Prior to the 2008 purchase of the CNC, Burns used a machine that required everything to be made and cut by hand. His favorite part of the job is working with students because so many of them come from different cultures and backgrounds, and he likes learning about them. In addition to creating research equipment, he services the liquid nitrogen generators. These machines, on campus since 1969, make liquid nitrogen from the air. WVU is one of the only universities in the United States that still makes liquid nitrogen. “It is sold to other institutions and provides an important revenue stream,” said Chemistry Departmentchair Terry Gullion. Randy Eaglen, another scientific lab instrument specialist, specializes in work in the woodshop, but he is truly a jack-of-alltrades. He tackles electrical, plumbing, or welding work. “I’m never bored, that’s for sure. I don’t do the same thing every day,” Eaglen said. Gullion feels lucky to have such a strong support staff. He said if WVU researchers had to contract with outside companies for glass repairs or pieces for their projects, they would not be competitive for grants and other research opportunities. “Everything would take longer and be more expensive if WVU had to travel for their glass and machine repair and creation needs. We would lose time and money.” He went on to say that because of the exploratory, cutting-edge nature of research there are some things needed in a lab that simply are not available commercially. “The point of science is that it is novel and original,” Gullion added. “If you can’t buy it, but you have an idea, they can make it for you.” The alchemists in the basement are an integral part of the scientific process.

Randy Eaglen made the table holding the computer that controls an atomic force microscope used by Elizabeth Yates, a third-year doctoral candidate.

Sherman Adams

Elizabeth Yates

Allen Burns

Randy Eaglen

Allen Burns

Jeffrey Petersen, PhD eberly.wvu.edu

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The

Advancing National Energy Security by Lauren Peretti

West Virginia is an energy stateâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it is an important energy producer and today is an innovator and leader. West Virginia University is training the next generation of engineers and scientists who will pioneer new strategies and technology platforms to make cleaner, more affordable, and reliable energy from fossil fuels and produce alternative energy sources. Three professors in the Eberly College and their graduate students have been awarded grants from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to provide a range of research and engineering services that are collectively valued at more than $465 million over five years. By combining NETLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expertise in fossil-energy technologies with the capabilities of Eberly faculty and graduate researchers, WVU is at the forefront of identifying and improving the use of fossil-energy resources and assisting the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transition to more energyefficient technologies like fuel cells and fusion.

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Harry Finklea and Xiaoke Chen

Harry Finklea, professor in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry, and his doctoral student Xiaoke Chen and his postdoctoral associate, Yun Chen, are working with NETL researchers to save energy by combining heat and electrical generation capabilities into one source of generated energy, a fuel cell. The collaboration includes Mechanical & Aerospace

of the cathode, the electrode at which oxygen is reduced. This research could lead to higher efficiency and lower cost for the manufacture of solid oxide fuel cells,” explained Finklea. Chen earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from China in 2007 and is pursuing a doctoral degree at WVU. New energy is a hot topic, and Chen’s knowledge of analytic

“We’re experimenting with novel structures and compositions of the cathode, the electrode at which oxygen is reduced. This research could lead to higher efficiency and lower cost for the manufacture of solid oxide fuel cells,” explained Finklea. Department faculty members Dr. Ismail Celik and Dr. Nick Wu, and members of their research groups. Fuel cells provide a means of reducing or even eliminating pollution of the environment. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device where a chemical reaction produces energy that is converted directly into electricity. Once used primarily in space travel, fuel cells are now being considered for use in cars, homes, power plants, computers, smart phones, appliances, and heating devices. Finklea explained that a solid oxide fuel cell is a special type of device that operates at high temperatures up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, the solid oxide fuel cell can use syngas, a fuel mixture manufactured from coal or common liquid fuels such as diesel. “We’re experimenting with novel structures and compositions

chemistry is very applicable in this field. “I get to team up with experts and professors from other departments and institutions who give me helpful advice,” Chen said. “I gain valuable work experience in a cross college environment working with different people. It has helped me become a better researcher in the relative area which I plan to continue pursuing after graduation.” Finklea and Chen conduct the majority of their research at NETL’s facility in Morgantown. There they can use a special test bed that is capable of reaching the high temperatures required for conversion and use state-of-the-art facilities for characterizing the solid oxide fuel cells. The collaboration on this project extends to the National Institute of Fuel-cell Technology (NIFT), a multi-disciplinary cluster of energy researchers from vari-

ous departments at WVU that strives to make fuel cells an affordable, efficient, and clean source of energy. Several professors in WVU’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources have contributed, including NIFT Director Ismail Celik, NIFT Associate Director Bruce Kang, Nick Wu, Xingbo Liu, Edward Sabolsky, John Zondlo, and Xueyan Song.

FINDING MARCELLUS SHALE DEPOSITS Thanks to Tim Carr, Marshall Miller Energy Professor of Geology and his doctoral candidate Matt Boyce, it’s become easier than ever for geologists to predict and find important fossil energy sources. Carr and Boyce are applying formulas to existing and extracted data, to find reservoirs of Marcellus shale in one of the world’s largest natural gas fields here in the central Appalachian region. Thanks to these unconventional resources, they are supplying a number of nearby oil and gas companies with predicted fuel source locations using geographic information systems (GIS) to produce large mass infrastructures of more than 2,900 regional wells. “The goal of the research is to understand where deposits are and why in order to make better predictions, understand the formation process, and analyze the history of the area to more accurately look for other places where gas is prominent. Then, companies go to these places to extract it,” said Boyce.

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Matt Boyce

Carr and Boyce are part of a network of geologists who have uncovered hundreds of years’ worth of gas, making important contributions to energy conservation and economic security, and now that the nation is abundant in fuel sources, there is less of a need to import.

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology from the University of Arkansas, Boyce followed Carr to WVU in 2007 and began developing tools that analyze core samples, measure physical properties and critical rock data in a more economical and efficient manner. Since his graduation in August 2010, master’s candidates in the “This is an infrastructure and economic driver for West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Department of Geology and Geography, Anne Yanni and the surrounding area, because it provides Roy Sexton, have extended alternative, unconventional energy for things like public transportation and power Boyce’s work into northern Pennsylvania. plants, and supplies new jobs,” said Carr. Not only does predicting “This is an infrastructure and ecothe location of gas depend on existing data nomic driver for West Virginia, Pennsylat WVU, but the research has encouraged vania, and the surrounding area, because cross-college collaboration with Mohindar it provides alternative, unconventional Seehra, Research Professor and Eberly energy for things like public transportation Family Distinguished Professor Emeritus and power plants, and supplies new jobs,” in the Department of Physics, and his said Carr. “It also has a positive impact research associate, Vivek Singh. on the environment as a low cost and low “My role in this research was to quancarbon energy source.” tify the mineral composition of about 40 16

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samples of core rock content from Marcellus shale wells using x-ray diffraction and data analysis software,” said Singh. “This joint project is a good example how expertise of different disciplines is often needed to tackle important technical problems,” said Seehra, who has previously worked with researchers from other disciplines in the the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry, Departments of Chemical and Mechanical Engineering, and Department of Orthopaedics at WVU.

APPLYING PLASMA PHYSICS Earl Scime, Eberly Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Physics, is researching fuels and fuel burning by-products for the NETL’s Office of Fossil Energy with doctoral student Mike Lindon. They are part of another interdisciplinary collaboration with chemists and chemical engineers at NETL and WVU to discover new applications for plasma physics that could reduce the environmental impact of fossil fuel combustion.

Earl Scime and Mike Lindon

Scime and Lindon are using non-thermal plasmas to drive chemical processes that generate hydrogen and carbon monoxide from coal and that can dissociate carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen. Normally these chemical processes require very high temperatures to occur. However, by putting the energy into specific energies of the electrons in a plasma, less energy is needed to drive the chemical reactions. Such plasmas are called non-thermal plasmas. “This research could lead to a cheaper and more effective method of energy extraction that uses plasmas to react chemical systems, which will help further more advanced research in this field,” said Lindon, who received a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from Purdue University and has worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the plasma physics division. Lindon hopes that, with strong results, NETL can advance the plasma physics lab to provide future WVU students with more chances to pursue a degree in the plasma sciences. He also sees this research as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the different approaches

of physicists and chemical engineers and move ideas across multiple disciplines. “Partnering with NETL has proved to be a very good work environment that provides the funding, resources, and freedom I need to pursue research towards my doctoral degree,” said Lindon. “I hope being at the forefront of this research will allow me to continue working on such innovative work in the future.” The National Energy Technology Laboratory is a federally owned and operated laboratory that funds research and development partnerships with industry, universities, and government entities to support the Department of Energy’s mission of advancing the national, economic, and energy security of the United States. NETL formed the Regional University Alliance for Energy Technology Innovation (RUA) in partnership with five nationally recognized universities, including Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and West Virginia University.

Advanced Energy Initiative The WVU Advanced Energy Initiative coordinates and promotes University-wide energy research in science, technology, and public policy. The plan consists of three major focus areas: • Fossil Energy Focus— deals with fossil energy resources, conversion, utilization, sequestration, and environmental management. • Sustainable Energy Focus— addresses energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy sources. • Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs Focus—provides analysis of energy policy, carbon management, environmental, and infrastructure issues. To learn more about the University’s Advanced Energy Initiative, and the many other research projects and partnerships associated with it, visit researchtrust.wvu.edu/energy. eberly.wvu.edu

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Building a body Building a

bodyofof

work The MFA Program Celebrates Ten Years of Success

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Renée Nicholson (in blue) finds inspiration for her writing in dance.

West Virginia University’s Master of Fine Arts Program will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year. The only MFA program in Appalachia, it offers specializations in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Ten years ago Poet James Harms wrote the proposal that started the program. In 2002, the first three MFA students graduated—Maryann Wolfe, Alvis Minor, and Natalie Seabolt Dobson. They transferred from the master’s program in English, which formerly allowed students to substitute a creative project for the scholarly thesis requirement. “The Department of English already had such a wonderful group of writers and an established master’s degree program—so the MFA program was the next logical and necessary step, said Harms, professor of English and founding director of the program. WVU’s MFA faculty members include

Mark Brazaitis, James Harms, Mary Ann Samyn, Ellesa Clay High, Kevin Oderman, and Ethel Morgan Smith. They have published more than 20 books between them and have won many prestigious prizes and honors including the PEN/ Revson Foundation Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowship, Fulbright Fellowship, Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, Iowa Short Fiction Award, George Garrett Fiction Award, and the Bakeless Prize in Nonfiction, amongst others. With no other MFA program offered in the area, enrollment grew quickly. “We have had students from as far as Alaska and California; the reputation of the program has really grown,” said Mark Brazaitis, current director of the Creative Writing Program. Renée Nicholson was drawn to the program after hearing Brazaitis read at the West Virginia Writers Workshop in 2003.

“He read a short story titled, “The Priest’s Daughter.” It’s from his first collection of short stories and it completely blew me away. I wanted to write stories like that; I knew right then and there that Mark was someone I wanted to work with,” she said. “Mark totally shaped the way I write and approach writing. He is a wonderful mentor. A big part of the reason I was able to write a draft of a novel is because Mark took so much time to work with me,” she added. After establishing a main character, Brazaitis helped Nicholson understand how to dramatically shape the narrative around what happens to her and what she most desires. He then helped her bring out aspects of the narrative that might have been lost otherwise. “While I am a disciplined writer and disciplined person, Mark helped me to direct that discipline in a way that allowed me to write a cohesive draft— eberly.wvu.edu

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something I could really work with and continue to shape,” she said. “In the early going working on my novel, I struggled with finding a strong, consistent voice. I tried various things—first person, present tense, first person past tense but the recent past, and third person narrations, but they weren’t working, she said. “The one afternoon that I’ll never forget is when he had written at the top of the first page of the first chapter ‘This is the voice!’ I knew I had success, and was so excited because I knew all the work of revision was paying off,” she said proudly. WVU’s MFA graduates have published in hundreds of literary journals, including prestigious venues such as: AGNI, Southern Review, Gettysburg Review, Field, Prairie Schooner, Tar River Poetry, Ninth Letter, Northwest Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Journal, 32 Poems, Georgetown Review, Controlled Burn, Colorado Review, PANK,

Malahat Review, Mid-American Review, Paste, Chelsea, Washington Square, Laurel Review, Slant, New Orleans Review, and in the anthology Layers of Possibility: Healing Poetry. Recent MFA students have won Intro Prizes sponsored by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and the GreenTower Press’s chapbook prize which have published their book-length collections of poetry and fiction. Molly Brodak, a humanities and English professor at Augusta State University in Georgia was in the MFA program from 2005-2008. While attending WVU, she published a chapbook of poems, Instructions for a Painting. “I chose WVU primarily because I wanted to work with Mary Ann Samyn, who is a stellar poet and teacher. I also liked the beautiful location and relative isolation from big-city distractions,” she said. A year after graduation she won the

2009 Iowa Poetry Prize for her book, A Little Middle of the Night. Brodak credits the design of the MFA program for her success. “One great thing about the program is that it is three years instead of two. I think this really helped me focus on my thesis as a book, not just a requirement for graduation,” said Brodak. In exchange for her tuition waver and a living stipend, Brodak taught undergraduate courses—this financial support is a popular draw for the program. “Getting a lot of teaching experience and time to write and reflect during my years at WVU was crucial to helping me find a job,” she added. Donald Hall, Jackson Family Distinguished Chair and chair of the Department of English would like to see the program grow. He reports that the applicant pool has increased 300-400 percent.

Nicholson demonstrates the proper position to one of her dancers.

Excerpt from Raked Stages: A Twelve Step Program by Renée Nicholson

1. How I remember Russia: a girl with two low pigtails, dressed in a pink leotard and white socks folded at the ankles; her feet tucked into white slippers, shuffling against the floor as she sprinkled it with a watering can. Her face was the delicate pink of the insides of shells, soft, light, almost translucent. Her hair was dark, darker than my own, polished ebony. She was preparing the room for class, wetting the floor for traction. A dirty light filtered through a filthy window. No one cared. The girls filed in and helped each other stretch. The girls had perfect turnout. Their faces were serious; not smiling, just concentrated. Their faces were scrubbed to a rosy shine. What I also remember is color. Russia was full of peacock blues and bruised purples and tarnished silver. The colors of an eerie feeling, like the sun had turned to ash but never set. 20

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On Beauty and West Virginia at the Blue Moose Café by James Harms

Make Them Howl or Breathe Fire by Mary Ann Samyn from Beauty Breaks In I was strung up. I was my own angel. Repeat: I was my own angel. Something beeped to signal the end of mercy. Oh well— Weather swirled just beyond my shoulder. Had I not been on my knees already. Had I not grasped the concept. God likes firm resolve. I detest all my sins. Above all, ingratitude, the color of which pales, like my skin.

Folkways by Molly Brodak Distant anger clouds together. As terrified ones tend to do. The after, the vacuum— heat of imperceptible sadness gone before it’s known. So Jupiter lugs comets to and from the sun and a woman in Managua fires a gun into the sky. Somewhere, belly-white, a plume of dust replaces a building, like some unintelligible word. Still. A chime, a blush of with what waste shall we rebuild? resurfaces. All is waste.

The Monongahela flows north at the will of Mellons and Carnegies to join the Allegheny and the Ohio, to give away its name and what’s left of West Virginia coal and limestone to our beloved Pittsburgh, vanishing point of minerals and rivers. And there’s a boy who comes here often whose face and scalp are a tattoo wing, as if a bird once worn as a hat has left behind its shadow. When it’s cold he covers his wing with a red knit cap, the face of Che Guevara embroidered on one side. He’s old enough to know how his commitments have limited his life. I try to remain astonished, not condescending, though the truth is I could love her whose bad choices are a cost of fashion, who’s wearing this moment the latest boots from New Zealand, and not him who simply cares more than I do about things neither of us can change. I met her at a Christmas party the year before it all came apart, a sort of postmodern get-together, pepperoni rolls and paté, Budweiser and Krug. We talked about Reynolds Price in the kitchen, smoking cigarettes out the window above the sink. She’d known Price at Duke, and as she took the cigarette from my fingers, she leaned in a little, as if to hear a secret. Of course she was lovely, and that’s the problem – her boots and her loveliness, an awareness of her loveliness, which in West Virginia can lead to a sense of privilege, though such entitlement isn’t exclusive to Appalachia. Still, beauty as a form of currency has more value, one could argue, where the common coin is uncommonly rare, where so many are so damn poor. The snow blew in the window, so our hands shook a little as we passed the cigarette back and forth. I remember feeling awake in my body in a way I’d never known when I turned away from her to answer a question. There was no one there, no one waiting for an answer, and no one anywhere when I turned back. eberly.wvu.edu

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Currently, about ten percent of the 70-80 applicants to the program are accepted—so between 22-30 students are in the program at one time, and seven to nine are accepted into each new class. Hall says the size of the faculty limits the number of students they can physically accept into the program. “Keeping the class size small is an important part of our MFA experience. The program cannot get much bigger unless we hire more faculty members.” Founding director Jim Harms adds, “It’s both a blessing and a curse, because we are filling such an important niche, we reached capacity almost as soon as we began offering the program.” Hall continued, “We already have an excellent track record for producing award-winning writers, and I hope, as the program matures, we will see more private support for our graduate students and for the creation of named professorships to attract additional faculty.” For more information about the MFA in Creative Writing visit creativewriting.wvu.edu.

To read more works of short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction by other students, alumni, and faculty involved in the MFA program at West Virginia University visit creativewriting.wvu.edu.

ANATOMY OF THE MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING The Master of Fine Arts is the terminal degree in creative writing. MFA students at West Virginia University study within a three-year academic/studio program that combines an apprenticeship to the craft with more traditionally academic elements. This approach seeks to train students in ways that reflect the realities of the writer/artist’s evolving role in the academy. Because writers, when hired to teach, are often asked to handle a variety of courses 22

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beyond the creative writing workshop, the academic/studio format requires students to take literature and pedagogy courses in addition to writing workshops. The ultimate goal is to produce writers who publish literature and contribute to the culture; a secondary goal is to offer practical skills and opportunities to writers interested in pursuing writing-related professions. West Virginia University’s MFA is both an academic and a professional degree. As part

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

of WVU’s comprehensive Center for Writing Excellence, this degree allows students to prepare for careers in teaching or professional writing/editing. Our objective is to nurture and mentor the many writers in the region seeking professional training. We also intend to attract student writers from all over the country to West Virginia for the opportunity to live and write in this culturally rich state and to work with our faculty.

by Jessica Hammond Photos by Taylor Jones

National Writing Project and Young Writer’s Holiday LOL, BFF, I<3 U, C U 2 nite. This is the language of the American adolescent, efficient shorthand that doesn’t follow the rules of grammar or spelling. While it may be a concise way to express oneself in a quick text or e-mail, it will not serve teens well when they go on to college or enter the job market. The more popular texting and social media become the more teachers struggle to impart good writing skills to their students. The National Writing Project poses a solution to this problem: ways and techniques to educate young writers about the importance of quality, professional writing by engaging their creativity and self-expression. “My approach to teaching writing has

changed dramatically since becoming involved with the National Writing Project,” says Stephanie Runion, an elementary school teacher in Harrison County. “I used to give a lot of neat writing assignments that were fun and engaging, but these assignments really didn’t teach my students much about the actual process of writing.” Since the project, Runion provides her students with much more time to write independently on topics of their choice, to enhance the creative process. In addition to helping in the classroom setting, the Project also helps Runion connect with other teachers of writing around the state. “It is wonderful to have the opportunity to collaborate and network with other teachers who value writing and the importance of highquality writing instruction as much as I do,” she adds. Runion also says she gathered some new

ideas on ways to involve parents in their child’s writing. Instead of focusing solely on writing instruction within the school day, she is able to include parents in their children’s writing process at home. This really helps transform students into strong, developed writers. “The National Writing Project has helped me grow as both a writer and a teacher of writing,” she says. For Carrie Beatty, an English teacher at University High School in Morgantown, the project influences her in two ways: both as a student and as a consultant. “As a student, the project showed me new and creative ways to approach teaching the standards. For example, the simple act of taking notes doesn’t have to be boring,” she says. The trick for Beatty is that the notes needed to be different than notes in standard format. “I made mine into a game board. Move ahead two spaces for successfully writing using the giant

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Alex Berge, third-year creative writing MFA candidate, assists during the Young Writers’ Holiday

fish prompt. Move back five spaces if you complain about the coldness of the room,” she adds. These exercises made her more comfortable using PowerPoint and other technologies. Beatty also experienced the project as a consultant. She says she really learned about the craft of writing and about the different approaches teachers can use. “During a course at WVU with JoAnne Dadisman, I learned about the multigenre project. Basically it is a research paper flipped to the creative side. Instead of telling, students can show about their topic,” she says. She was told to read a five-page essay on the immigrants of Ireland in the coal camps of West Virginia or read a five-page short story that includes the same details and research-based events. “Stories entertain and allow students to express themselves in a way that a standard, formal research paper does not. The multigenre approach isn’t limited either. With that same topic a student may include pictures, poems, perhaps a song, they may write a newspaper article, an obituary for a fallen miner, or a flyer announcing a festival that is celebrated in the area; the genres are only limited to

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the imagination,” she says. These experiences allow Beatty to create projects that incorporate writing and creativity together in one unit. “This is important because too many times a teacher is expected to diversify his or her instruction and yet meet the educational standards set by the state with a ratio of 30 students to one teacher,” she says. “Those students’ writing abilities range from mastery to barely able to write a coherent paragraph. This past school year I taught three classes: ninth grade English collaboratively with a special education teacher, tenth grade English with ‘on level’ students, and eleventh grade English in a collaborative setting,” she adds. Beatty says she uses the creative notes strategy to have students retell the main events of a short story or novel. Her sophomores did two new projects this year; they completed a multigenre biography with a presentation, and the three classes all contributed to a cookbook where they submitted a recipe and a short story that went along with the recipe. After the book was completed, they brought in the dish to share with the class.

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

“I am an English teacher because I love to read, write, and discuss literature and I want to share that joy with students,” Beatty says. “I believe in the goals of the NWP because it has helped me to become a better teacher. I can draw together my passion for literature, my creativity, and the enjoyment of teaching, stir them together and channel that into student-focused, fun writing projects,” she adds. “Isn’t that the goal of every teacher? Get students excited about a subject and help them to learn about that subject and about themselves at the same time. The National Writing Project helps to give teachers the tools to make this possible. It offers teachers of any subject another tool in their arsenal to cultivate learning.” Keisha Kibler, a middle school English teacher at West Preston Middle School, said the Project can be beneficial for teachers of all experience levels. “I developed a network of teachers that I’m really close to—and they give me a lot of different ideas and research to back up my philosophy of teaching writing,” she adds. In a partnership with the National Writing Project, a program called the Young Writer’s Holiday was developed to provide a creative outlet

History of the NWP The National Writing Project was started in 1987 as a public schooluniversity partnership linking WVU with Marion and Monongalia county schools. Preston and Wetzel counties are also now a part of the partnership. Some 275 teacher consultants have been trained to work with teachers and administrators to promote writing and classroom research in 60 schools. A major emphasis includes training teachers on using computers in the classroom.

for young writers. Students from across the state gather in June for a day camp. Kibler is the director of the Young Writer’s Holiday. She says the three-day camp just follows the trends and standards of the National Writing Project. “My favorite part of the Holiday is getting to meet all the talented young writers from the northwestern part of West Virginia, and listening to their creative pieces,” Kibler says. Kibler has been running the Holiday since it started, four years ago. Charity Gingerich, a third-year MFA student at WVU, said this is her first time teaching at the Young Writer’s Holiday. She feels the younger kids are when they start writing, the better. “The kids aren’t told what to write; they can explore on their own. I have loved writing ever since I could remember, and I’m glad they can develop their love as well. I like working with these kids because there is such openness about the joy of writing,” says Gingerich. Gingerich has taught English 101, the University’s freshman-level composition course, at WVU for the past two years. She also works with Mary Ann Samyn in the dorms as part of the Bolton grant at WVU. Sita Sunil, a seventh grader from Suncrest Middle School, says her teacher Ms. Muendel suggested the Holiday to her. Sunil hopes to be an environmental scientist

someday and she knows that will mean writing reports. She says the Holiday really showed her how she can think creatively while still following the “rules” of writing. Amy Purpura, a junior political science major, was a helper for the Holiday. She is a tutor at the WVU Writing Center, so helping college students with their writing is what she’s used to. She said it was a pleasant adjustment to helping younger writers. “From what I remember about English classes, it’s a lot about the grammar. They already know how to write. Now they can focus on what is good quality writing,” she adds. The other aspect Purpura enjoyed was the friendships that formed between the participants. They were able to make new friends with a shared interest. Walter Harms, an eighth grader at South Middle School, says his dad, James Harms, an English professor at WVU, told him about the Holiday. “I am having the time of my life, the younger Harms said. This is the fourth year for the Young Writer’s Holiday, and Kibler is all ready in the planning stages for next summer. For information or to receive updates about the June 2011 Holiday, please contact Keisha Kibler at Keisha.Kibler@mail.wvu.edu.

Each year, the National Writing Project at WVU receives about $45,000 in federal grant funding, which depends on a dollar-for-dollar match. That match comes from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Human Resources and Education, and from Monongalia, Marion, and Wetzel counties. The majority of the funding provides stipends and tuition waivers for the ongoing professional development of area teachers. The Writing Project is an outreach partnership between the WVU Department of and Schools in West Virginia. The program currently serves 200 teachers in K-12 classrooms in the Northern West Virginia network. The National Writing Project at WVU follows a list of eight assumptions: • Student writing can be improved by improving the teaching of writing. • The best teacher of teachers is another teacher. • Programs designed to improve the teaching of writing must involve teachers at all grade levels from all subject areas. • The writing problem can best be solved through co-operatively planned university-school programs. • Change can best be accomplished by those who work in the schools, not by transient consultants or by prepackaged systems. • Meaningful change can only occur over time. • What is known about teaching writing comes not only from research but from the practice of those who teach writing. • Teachers of writing must write. eberly.wvu.edu eberly.wvu.eduSUMMER FALL 2 0 1 0

by Lauren Peretti Photos by Brian Persinger

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Dorothy Vesper (in blue) in the field with members of her research team.

Underneath the surface of nearby rolling hills and meandering streams is a hidden world of natural drinking water and rare species. They are buried in caves and springs just waiting to be unearthed by geologists. In these hidden karst aquifers is 40 percent of the United State’s drinking water that forms some of the nation’s most distinctive landscapes, like the sinkhole plains of Kentucky, the artesian waters of Texas, the clear springs of Florida, and even the complex caves of West Virginia. Karst regions such as these house valuable water resources, but are poorly understood and easily polluted. Not only is public health a concern when it comes to karst water, but these sites are also home to many endangered species and undiscovered microbial communities. In an effort to improve public health, reduce contamination and identify fragile ecosystems, Dorothy Vesper, associate professor in the Department of Geology and Geography, has joined two national research

grants each valued at about $100,000 that explore local and global karst issues. As part of a National Park Service grant, Vesper, along with John Tudek, a doctoral student studying karst geochemistry, is consolidating geographic information systems (GIS) data and developing a conceptual mapping model for karst groundwater on some of the nation’s most popular and nearby historic sites, natural areas and Civil War battlefields, like Harper’s Ferry, W.V., Antietam, MD., and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (CHOH). “Karst water is a different kind of hydrology that changes the game of geological research,” explained Tudek. “Not only are karst systems hidden underground, but they move contaminants so quickly and in unseen ways that studying them is very important to answering some big environmental and heath questions.” The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park extends nearly 185 miles eberly.wvu.edu

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along the Potomac River in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Along the park’s bike trail are isolated springs, caves and sensitive karst sites that house 80 percent of Maryland’s endangered species. Understanding the rarity of these sites requires a knowledge base of karst species, ecosystems, and sensitivity to environmental contamination, which is both Vesper and Tudek’s area of expertise. Beginning in fall 2010, Vesper and Tudek began another two-year project with the National Park Service focusing on the endangered species at the C&O Park. They survey potential karst sites to identify their vulnerability and prioritize them based on risk level and impact. “Most visitors are unaware of how important and fragile geologic, biologic, and cultural resources are along the C&O Canal,” said Vesper. “This project will guide CHOH managers on how to best protect the most vulnerable species living in their ecosystems.” Vesper and Tudek work with a multidisciplinary team to test the water, further

KARST PROCESS Carbon Dioxide Dissolves into Rainwater Volcanic Rock

Disappearing Stream

Acidic Rainwater Soil

Cracks in Limestone Limestone

Limestone

Cave Spring Volcanic and Sedimentary Rock

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John Tudek in the Norman Cave system.

identify the species present, and select the priority sites for study. They also use microbial tracking and dye tracing to link source areas to vulnerable locations downstream. “It’s two of my favorite things coming together,” said Tudek, who is somewhat of a history buff and caving guru. “I get to wander around Civil War battlefields exploring history, and unanswered geological aspects, like abnormal rock patterns, and how cave structures form differently in these mostly uncharted areas.” Tudek grew up caving in New Jersey, and is author of two self-published guide books, which led him to be featured in several New York City publications. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Rutgers University in 2004 and a master’s degree in geology from WVU in 2010. Previously, his research centered on hydrogeologic investigations in the Davis Spring Drainage Basin in Greenbrier County, W.V., and he is looking forward to exploring new territory with this grant.

Many of the techniques Vesper will use to study karst in the United States will crossover to research being conducted on the North Shore of Puerto Rico, an area of land now preserved, but once historically contaminated by pharmaceutical companies. Beginning in fall 2010, Vesper and one WVU graduate student will partner with Northeastern University (NU) and the University of Puerto Rico to consult on water quality clean up and contamination movement. The four-year National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH) Superfund, called Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT), brings together experts in engineering, public health, and biomedical and environmental sciences with a dual goal to reduce exposure to environmental contamination and the preterm birth rate in Puerto Rico, which is nearly 20 percent. “PROTECT will link human health and medicine with the environment and engineering sciences by addressing challenges

posed by environmental contamination in Puerto Rico, as well as the U.S., like health risks, toxicity, exposure predictions, contaminant transport and remediation,” said Vesper, whose role as karst geochemistry consultant centers on the transport of organic contaminants and green remediation techniques. “This research will help develop new technology for karst remediation and build future partnerships for WVU students with several institutions, like Northeastern University and the University of Puerto Rico,” explained Vesper. Vesper earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from Juniata College in Huntingdon, P.A., in 1986. She received a master’s degree in environmental pollution control and a doctoral degree in geosciences from Penn State University in 1988 and 2002, respectively. Between 1988 and 1998, she worked as a geologist for Arthur D. Little, Inc., in Cambridge, M.A., and a project hydrogeologist at ERM-New England, Inc., in Boston.

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ADVANCing Women in Science

by Rebecca Herod

Members of the ADVANCE grant submission team (from back row to front) include Michelle Withers, assistant professor of biology; Melissa Latimer, associate professor and chair of sociology and anthropology; Maura McLaughlin, assistant professor of physics; James Nolan, associate professor sociology and anthropology; Katie Stores, PhD, grant development officer; Leslie Tower, associate professor of social work and public administration; Marjorie Darrah, associate professor of mathematics; and Kasi Jackson, assistant professor of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s studies.

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Brandi Howard received her undergraduate degree in biology and is now in dental school at WVU. Stacey Anderson received her doctoral degree in biology in 2004.

West Virginia University has received a $3.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematic disciplines, and to encourage these scientists with advanced degrees to consider academia as a viable and attractive career option. The grant, one of only six given this year, is awarded under the NSF’s ADVANCE program, which is dedicated to developing systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers and contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. It is the first ADVANCE grant the University has received. “This announcement marks a significant day in the life of West Virginia

“This ADVANCE proposal was conceived in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and was developed in partnership with the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. However the intent is to improve the recruitment, retention, and advancement of STEM women wherever they reside in the academy and so we expect the initiative to affect women in Davis, Business and Economics and also in the basic sciences in the Health Sciences Center,” said Provost Michele Wheatly. University as it underscores the University’s commitment to being a global, diverse research university with an even greater emphasis on becoming more competitive for federal research and education dollars,” President James P. Clements said. “This grant is central to our efforts to promote participation and leadership by women in STEM fields, which in turn is essential to making WVU internationally competitive in research and education. I want to congratulate and thank all of the

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faculty and staff members who worked so hard to earn this great opportunity for our University.” The NSF grant will support creation of the WVU Program for Retaining Institutional Diversity and Equity— otherwise known as WVU PRIDE—and include establishment of the WVU ADVANCE Center. The WVU PRIDE program will be a university-wide, multi-level project to assess, engage and support change at

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Goldwater Scholar Kellen M. Calinger graduated summa cum laude in 2009 with a degree in biology.

the department level. The University’s long-term goal is to ensure the success of all faculty members by creating a diverse scientific community within WVU that supports constructive interactions leading to professional and personal development. “This ADVANCE proposal was conceived in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and was developed in partnership with the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. However the intent is to improve the recruitment, retention, and advancement of STEM women wherever they reside in the academy and so we expect the initiative to affect women in Davis, Business and Economics, and also in the basic sciences in the Health Sciences

Center, said Provost Michele Wheatly. “The bottom line is that this grant heralds an institution-wide impetus to become a more diverse academic community, a prerequisite for any worldclass research university,” she said. “Personally I am tickled pink to chair the internal advisory board and draw from my own experiences as a STEM researcher to mentor other young women faculty and students wherever I have the opportunity. WVU owes a debt of gratitude to the team that captured this large grant. They did everything right, spent two years building the case and brought home a major win on first submission. Bravo!”

WVU PRIDE has three specific goals: • To make direct connections between individuals and the policies and practices of WVU. • To engage faculty from departments and disciplines throughout the university in a process that promotes collective engagement in institutional transformation and the achievement of gender-equity and diversity goals. • To recruit, retain, and promote more women science and engineering faculty, beginning in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at WVU, but eventually spreading through the entire University where women are engaged in STEM fields.

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Allison Owens is a tutor in the successful Peer Led Team Learning Program (PLTL) in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry.

“West Virginia University is poised for significant changes, funneled by new leadership that is committed to equity and diversity,” said Melissa Latimer, co-principal investigator on the grant and the new interim director of the WVU ADVANCE Center. “Strong campus-level support for increasing STEM diversity and improving the work-life conditions for all WVU faculty was evidenced throughout the proposal development process. “By receiving an NSF ADVANCE award, we can combine these substantial and competitive resources with our current campus commitment in order to profoundly and positively transform our institution,” she added.

Those involved in the application and successful receipt of the grant include: James P. Clements; Michele Wheatly; J. Kasi Jackson, assistant professor of women’s studies; Professor Fred King, associate dean of research and graduate studies in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences; Melissa Latimer, associate professor and chair of sociology and anthropology; Leslie Tower, associate professor social work and public administration; Marjorie Darrah, associate professor of mathematics; Maura McLaughlin, assistant professor of physics; James Nolan, associate professor sociology and anthropology; Katie Stores, PhD, grant development officer, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences; and

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Michelle Withers, assistant professor of biology. In addition to the internal stakeholders, an external advisory board will assess the effectiveness of the program. Jim Hougland, professor of sociology at the University of Kentucky, will act as external reviewer. Members of the external advisory board include faculty and administrators from Auburn University, Iowa State University, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Purdue University, University of Oregon, University of Rhode Island and Utah State University.

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6° Degrees of Separation Diandra L. Leslie-Pelecky has

Bruce deGraff, Kathy Hall-deGraff and her parents, Drs. John E. and Judith C. Hall.

been appointed the first full-time, permanent director of WVNano, West Virginia’s focal point in nanoscale science, engineering and education. In addition to directing WVNano, she will be a tenured professor in the Department of Physics in the Eberly College. Leslie-Pelecky said she was attracted to the WVNano position because of the progress already made in the multidisciplinary approach and the growing collection of laboratory equipment at WVU that facilitates advanced research.

Making it Happen One Gift at a Time WVU Alumna Kathy Hall-de Graaf was once asked by a coworker how it felt to be the only woman in a room full of engineers. “My reply was that I can’t ever stop to think about that, or I’d start to doubt myself,” she explained. “When you are part of a minority, it can make you feel self-conscious and afraid to take chances or contribute your ideas.” To help build a society where contributions are gender-blind, Kathy and her husband, Bruce R. de Graaf, have donated $25,000 to the WVU Foundation to establish the Hall-de Graaf Endowment for Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE). The WiSE Giving Circle is a new collaborative effort to bring together WVU alumnae who want to make a difference in the academic field of science by encouraging

Her research has focused on using

and mentoring young women in pursuit of professional careers within the STEM

nanomagnets (magnets less than one

disciplines – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The group’s main

thousandth the diameter of a human

goal will be to foster a positive impact on WVU and the community while financially

hair) to improve magnetic resonance

supporting faculty initiatives and student scholarships.

imaging, chemotherapy and other

The gift will support a variety of research initiatives to promote, champion and

cancer diagnostic and treatment

broaden the efforts of female faculty researchers and graduate and undergraduate

processes. Look for more on Diandra LesliePelecky in future editions of Eberly. Learn about WVNano at wvnano.wvu.edu.

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students by advancing STEM disciplines in the WVU community. “I believe in giving back, and, as a female engineer, I understand the need to encourage women to go into technical fields and develop their full potential,” said Kathy about her support of the program. Recipients’ research will fall within one or more of the WVU Research Initiatives, including: energy and environmental sciences; nanotechnology and material sciences;

biological, biotechnological, and biomedical sciences; and/or biometrics, security sensing, and related identification

All About

technologies. Funding opportunities will include resources for ongoing research efforts equipment and instrumentation for STEM faculty research labs; research fellowships for graduate students; and research scholarships and enrichment opportunities for undergraduates that encourage young women to pursue science degrees. The

The WiSE Giving Circle brings together West Virginia University alumnae and friends who want to impact the field of science by encouraging and mentoring young women in their pursuit of professional careers within the STEM disciplines—science , technology, engineering, and math. This collaborative effort supports faculty initiatives and

dean of the Eberly College, along with

student scholarships.

the WiSE Giving Circle, will approve the

The WiSE Giving Circle was developed to strengthen WVU’s commitment to insti-

research projects.

tutional change as a companion to the federal ADVANCE Grant whose purpose is

The endowment honors the donors

“Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and

and Kathy’s parents: John E. Hall, PhD, professor of microbiology, and Judith C. Hall, PhD, assistant professor of mathematics at WVU, for their support and encouragement of their children’s education and career choices. Kathy Hall-de Graaf is a Morgantown native and member of the Eberly College Advisory Committee. She studied music through the preparatory program of the

Engineering Careers.” The goal of the ADVANCE program is to develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. When you join the WiSE Giving Circle, you encourage and mentor young women pursuing professional STEM careers within the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and help achieve the objectives of the ADVANCE Grant. Circle members form a collective voice through their annual membership in WiSE Giving by making a minimum annual investment of $1,000. Circle members hope to inspire women to actively participate within the world of science as professionals, students

WVU Division of Music, and earned a

and knowledgeable donors. There are two levels of membership for the giving circle.

bachelor’s degree in history from Wake

• Gold Membership, which requires a commitment of at least $1,000 per calendar year.

Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., before returning to WVU to earn a master’s degree in computer science. Bruce, a native of Santa Barbara, Calif., served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam before earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. The couple met while working in software engineering in Silicon Valley, Calif., and later settled in Massachusetts. Currently, Kathy works at Juniper Networks developing software for networking devices, and is also an avid beekeeper and

• Blue Membership, which is a special rate based on an increasing scale of support for eligible alumnae who have received their first WVU undergraduate or graduate degree in the last ten years. By joining the WiSE Giving Circle, members are entitled to one vote in determining which projects or scholarships the circle will financially support. As a group, circle members will annually vote on the distribution of available funds for applicants meeting the objectives within the area of science, technology, and mathematics. Additionally, by joining the circle, members will be invited to return to WVU for the Women in Science and Engineering Annual Retreat. During the retreat, members will have exciting opportunities to meet and network with fellow donors and award recipients. This event will advance the education of members on the accomplishments and achievements of the University’s female STEM faculty and student scholars. The retreat will also provide an opportunity for the circle to conduct business.

musician. Bruce works at General Electric

You can make your gift today using the enclosed business reply envelope.

developing software for train systems and

For more information, to give online, and for stories about the exciting work being done

enjoys astronomy and music.

by women in the sciences at WVU, visit wisewomen.wvu.edu.

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THE GOLDEN HOUR: IMPROVING CARE FOR RURAL TRAUMA PATIENTS

Matthew M. Martin, E. Phillip Polack, MD, and Theodore A. Atvgis on the helipad of the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center at West Virginia University Hospitals.

by Rebecca Herod Photos by Dan Friend Picture this: Your best friend has been injured in a car accident in a rural area. You manage to safely and successfully get her to the nearest rural hospital and discover that a transfer to a major trauma hospital is needed. Within trauma medicine there is a concept called “the golden hour” — patients treated within the first hour of injury have a mortality rate of 10 percent. That jumps to 75 percent if the treatment occurs within the first eight hours. Rural patients are already at a disadvantage because of distance and terrain, but poor communication between staff at a rural hospital and staff at the trauma center can also lead to increased transfer times, and time is a critical factor in

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patient survivability. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education identifies communication as one of the six core competencies that post-MD medical training students must exhibit in order to graduate. Recently a team of researchers at WVU undertook an experiment to observe the effects of a one-hour addendum to the Rural Trauma Team Development Course (RTTDC). The addendum focuses on streamlining information transfer and quality communication between Level 3, 4, and 5 rural hospitals and Level 1 and 2 trauma medical personnel. The Rural Trauma Team Development Course (RTTDC) teaches health care providers at rural hospitals to identify injuries requiring transfer within the first

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15 minutes and effectively communicate the key issues to the Level 1 or 2 center when they call for transfer. The WVU School of Medicine funds the course and donates its faculty time. A recent collaboration between faculty in the Department of Communication Studies and the School of Medicine has resulted in improvements in the protocol that successfully reduces transfer times between rural facilities and larger trauma centers by 40 minutes. The improvements have been adopted as the new standard for the American College of Surgeons (ACS), an organization of over 73,000 physicians around the world. This new standard trains Level 3, 4, and 5 trauma personnel in effective and affirming communication. Matthew M. Martin, PhD.,

West Virginia University Hospitals’ Ruby Memorial Hospital.

professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Theodore A. Avtgis, PhD, associate professor of communication studies and adjunct associate professor of surgery, E. Phillips Polack, MD, clinical professor of surgery at WVU, and Daniel Rossi, DO, a former surgical resident at WVU, found problems encountered during the patient transfer process from rural facilities to major trauma centers included hostility, condescension, and dismissive behavior. Conversely receiving level 1 and 2 trauma centers reported wasted time due to ineffective communication and extraneous information from the staff at the smaller facilities. “Doctors and personnel at larger trauma centers were engaging in behavior that caused their counterparts at the rural facilities to become angry, defensive, and frustrated,” said Avtgis. “They were second-guessing diagnoses and asking a number of redundant questions in ways that were adversely affecting the teamwork and coordination necessary to treat patients in effective and timely ways. Level 1 and 2 trauma center personnel were frustrated by the quality and type of information provided by their rural counterparts. The lack of mutual respect was eroding effective communication and information exchange.”

“You can have the best and most highly trained medical personnel out there, but transfer is about logistics, it’s about communication. That is why this multidisciplinary approach gets results. It combines excellent medical care with excellent communication,” said Avtgis. Avtgis and Martin attribute this type of breakdown to the tendency for relational and personality factors of the healthcare team to adversely influence efficient and effective information transfer. They say that the same types of breakdowns can happen in any organization. “You can have the best and most highly trained medical personnel out there, but transfer is about logistics, it’s about communication. That is why this multidisciplinary approach gets results. It combines excellent medical care with excellent communication,” said Avtgis. To address a breakdown, Polack administered communication training, designed by Martin and Avtgis, to personnel in Level 3, 4, and 5 medical facilities throughout West Virginia. The training consists of a 30-minute lecture on communication competence and 30 minutes of role playing with the participants. The team found that the communication training significantly reduced the amount of time it took the smaller hospitals to decide to transfer a patient, the time it took for a transfer squad to arrive, and the number

New & Notable

of squads contacted before finding one to transfer the patient. Facilities with no RTTDC training had a 77-minute transfer time, facilities with the medical portion of the training showed a 67-minute transfer time. Those with both the medical and the communication training showed a 37-minute transfer time. “Hospitals can spend enormous amounts of money on technology to reduce transfer times with limited success. By focusing on concise and competent communication we have an inexpensive and incredibly effective training which based on our findings, yields benefits for both the patient and healthcare practitioners,” said Martin. “West Virginia University is consistently the benchmark of excellence and an incubator for unique and effective solutions in the area of rural medicine and health communication. Adoption of this new protocol by ACS is yet another indication that the collaborative academic work done at WVU saves lives and improves communities.”

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Dean Robert Jones welcomes Karenne Wood, an enrolled member of the Monacan Indian Nation and Ford Fellow in anthropology at the University of Virginia. Wood was the guest of honor at the annual Peace Tree Ceremony this October.

MEET DEAN JONES by Rebecca Herod Photos by Brian Persinger The first thing you should know about Robert Jones is that he loves trees—trees of every type, age, and size and in every season. His eyes light up when he talks about them. On a recent fall day he paused during a meeting and pointed out toward the banks of the Monongahela River. “Just look at how wonderful those colors are—fantastic,” he said. His love affair with the study of trees as a profession began in earnest on another beautiful fall day during a field

him, zoology majors at Clemson were required to take one plant ecology course. Bob’s schedule just happened to coincide with the one and only course Jeri ever took in plant biology. They have been together ever since. It is rather amazing that a man who has spent more than — Dean Robert Jones 30 years studying forest ecology can still be awed and inspired by world better than this.’” a vista of fall foliage, but that kind of He found the other great love wonder, passion, and excitement are of his life, his wife, Jeri, during his what make Bob Jones the man he is college career too. Fortunately for and what make him a perfect fit for the experience in which he was studying the rooting process of oak trees. “I looked around at the beauty and stillness of the forest and thought, ‘this is it. There is nothing in this

“I feel like I’ve grabbed a tiger by the tail, but it’s a great ride.”

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Eberly College. When people meet the new dean, they lean in to pay attention. He is a soft-spoken man who spends more time listening than he does talking. He is measured and thoughtful in his responses to questions and engaged and inquisitive when asking them. His quiet diligence, broad smile, and collaborative attitude have quickly garnered the respect and admiration of staff and faculty. Jones has been on the job as dean of the Eberly College since August 31. He spends 12 to 14 hours working. When asked what he does in his spare time he laughs. Normally he can be found hiking in the mountains or communing with the trees he loves so much. In the past two months, he was able to visit Cooper’s Rock for one hike. He doesn’t think he’ll have much “spare time” for the next year or so, but he doesn’t mind. “I feel like I’ve grabbed a tiger by the tail, but it’s a great ride. This is the place I need to be right now. This University and this College are a perfect fit for me,” he said. Jones came to WVU from the biological sciences department of Virginia Tech—a fact he hopes you won’t hold against him during his first WVU football season. There he oversaw more than 100 faculty and staff members, 90 graduate students and 1,600 undergraduate students pursuing careers in research, medicine, biotechnology, conservation, and environmental science. He has spent the first several months of his appointment becoming familiar with the programs in the College, and working with faculty, students, alumni, and staff to match up the Eberly strategic

6° Degrees of Separation Bob Jones’ favorite books are the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov. He loves the threads of science, psychology, history, and philosophy that run through the series. A collection of over 600 books, games, audio recordings, videos, and wall charts are housed in the West Virginia University Libraries’ Asimov Collection. It is the largest known collection in the world. On October 26, WVU held Isaac Asimov Day; it was the first in a series of events that will explore science communication. Molly Simis, a senior biology and environmental geosciences major, coordinated Isaac Asimov Day and is planning an accompanying science communicators’ conference in April. Asimov Day was a preview of the conference, which will work to improve the link between scientists and the communicators who strive to explain their work. The April event will include a Festival of Ideas speaker. Look for details later this spring. For more information on the Libraries’ Asimov Collection visit, www.libraries.wvu.edu/exhibits/asimov.

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plan with that of the University. He is immersing himself in the culture of the college and discovering the best places to apply his energy to help improve graduate education, undergraduate student retention, a reputation for world-class scholarship, and research funding. “Eberly has an excellent team of faculty and staff in place, which provides a good foundation for serving our students and the public, he said. “Now is the time to focus on the quality of our product. Higher education is an investment and we need to ensure that our undergraduate experience provides real value for our students. We need to offer graduate programs that encourage applications from the highest-caliber students,” he added. One thing that has really impressed him about the Eberly College is how everyone pulls together to get the job done. He has made a commitment to address salary inadequacies and move the personnel closer to national averages. “This College is consistently doing more with less. Faculty and staff here work extremely hard and are frequently the innovators of practices adopted by the entire University. I have not experienced this level of commitment to the work at any other institution.” He acknowledges that Eberly has some highly productive faculty stars who are doing cutting-edge research, generating a number of high profile grants, and attracting some of the brightest graduate candidates the University has seen in recent years. “To retain these excellent faculty members, and to continue to recruit more as the university fills the 100

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In college, a longhaired Jones loved Emerson, Lake and Palmer. His music tastes now run the gamut from classical to heavy metal; most recently he’s been enjoying an album by the band Porcupine Tree.

His favorite author is Charles Dickens, in whose 19th century writings he sees many parallels to current growth and development in China. (Former Interim Dean Rudy Almasy also listed Dickens as his favorite author.)

He and his wife, Jeri, a veterinarian, have a dog named Chutney and two cats, Vitis and Gouda.

Bob and Jeri are Francophiles; they love French food and culture and have traveled to France several times. Jones’ academic research has taken him to China five times. He hopes the relationships he has developed there will lead to exchanges for WVU students and their Chinese counterparts.

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

New & Notable

new positions promised by President Clements, we must move towards parity in salaries with competing institutions.” Whether it is facility improvements, like those currently under way at White Hall, student scholarship support, graduate assistantships, research opportunity, or named professorships and chairs, Jones believes that private giving will allow WVU to meet the challenges it currently faces. Dean Jones plans to reach out to alumni to help shape and guide the future of the College. He says they will be instrumental in helping the College achieve its goals. “I want the Mountaineer family, the Eberly College family, to identify what they think is important as we strive to reach the next level of international prominence. Together we have an opportunity to move the institution forward so that the entire world can see what we already know— WVU is a world-class academic research institution on par with any ‘big-name’ university out there.” Robert Jones graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s of science degree in forest management in 1979 and a master’s degree in 1981 from Clemson University. In 1986 he received a doctorate in forest ecology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. After post-doctoral work at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, he joined the School of Forestry at Auburn University. In 1995, he moved to Virginia Tech, becoming department head in 2002. At Virginia Tech, Jones led efforts to remodel general education programs, enhance first year experiences, and construct new academic buildings. He has taught study abroad, undergraduate, and graduate courses in ecology, and has earned five awards for teaching.

Awards & Honors

D.J. Pisano in the Tomchin Planetarium

STAR FORMATION By Lauren Peretti Photos by M.G. Ellis D.J. Pisano, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, is exploring nearby, starbursting galaxies using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, W.V., to study star formation in its earliest stages. He has received a National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) student

observing support grant in collaboration with astronomers at the University of Virginia and the NRAO worth more than $27,000. Pisano is measuring the physical conditions of the star-forming gas in galaxies, ranging from small dwarf galaxies and the Milky Way to galaxies undergoing massive collisions, to determine how many stars have formed, how long the star formation is likely to continue, and

how the star formation is affecting the rest of the galaxy. “Our motivation is to better understand how galaxies form and evolve so we have a better idea of how the universe works,” said Pisano, who is also an adjunct assistant astronomer at the NRAO. “Similar studies have been done, but not for such a large sample of galaxies or with such capable instruments as the Green Bank Telescope.” Traditional methods for studying star formation use visible emission lines, but dust in galaxies can decrease their brightness, often leading to an underestimate of the star formation activity. Pisano is searching for the radio recombination line (RRL) emission to measure star formation, because similar to the way you can listen to the radio even when it’s foggy or cloudy, emission from RRLs is unaffected by dust. “This type of work is valuable for training future scientists and engineers whether they continue doing astronomical research or not,” he added. Physics graduate student Katie Rabidoux is involved in all stages of the research, including observations, data reduction, and data analysis. She will also author the first paper describing the results. Pisano began working as a post-doctoral researcher at the NRAO in Green Bank, West Virginia, in 2009, and currently teaches astronomy and astrophysics at WVU. Previously, he worked at the Naval Research Laboratory and the Australia Telescope National Facility. He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale in 1996 and a doctoral degree from the University of WisconsinMadison in 2001. His research uses radio telescopes around the world to study neutral hydrogen in the Milky Way and other distant galaxies. He is also studying high-velocity clouds around the Milky Way using the Galactic All-Sky Survey, a recently completed neutral hydrogen survey of the southern sky using the Parkes radio telescope in Australia. eberly.wvu.edu

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Jim Nolan is on the CASE By Dianna Mazzella Photos by M.G. Ellis

Jim Nolan interacts with one of his students.

Jim Nolan admits his story is kind of cinematic. A Delaware cop takes drugs off the streets, polices local neighborhoods, works toward a PhD, makes it to the FBI and gives it up to teach students at West Virginia University about the realities of the criminal justice system. Now he takes students into communities to survey residents about local problems and into prisons to live a moment in offenders’ shoes. He always sees some form of transformation in the students who realize during their studies that the number of years in a prison sentence isn’t the definition of justice. It was Nolan’s own higher education experience that showed him his calling, and it is the act of passing on his knowledge to a decade

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of students that has earned him the title of West Virginia’s Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. For Nolan the award is like his current career, an unexpected, pleasant event. “I was a cop, and I was happy doing it,” he said. “I was happy being a soldier in the war on drugs. And I did it pretty well. “I worked hard, and I did wiretap cases and search warrants and thought that it was working. But once I was in graduate school, I realized it was like a joke what we were doing. It was a wake-up call; I couldn’t go back.” From that moment he left the drug unit behind, entered community policing—a

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

more preventative approach to coping with crime—and completed his formal education that allowed him to become a professor. He has a lower pay grade and a different title, but his work is still about understanding crime. “I can’t imagine doing anything else,” he said. “In some ways though I’m doing the same thing I always did. It’s not like I was a cop and then I’m doing something different. I’m still doing investigations. I’m still working in the community. I’m still dealing with the topic of policing.” His list of contributions since he began teaching at WVU are extensive. In 2000, around the time he began at WVU, about 250 students had majors within the Division of Sociology and Anthropology. Now more

Awards & Honors than 900 students call that department name and face. He knows where you’re from, their academic home, and most of them are your family, your favorite teams, etc. criminology majors. “All of this helps students become more He’s introduced courses that bring comfortable in the classroom setting, and students close to the issues, people, and it also goes hand in hand with his teaching problems they will face in law enforcement style because he will call upon a student at or as part of the criminal justice system. any time to get their insight on a subject. He One is Inside Out, a national curriculum instills the drive for his students to not only developed by faculty at Temple University, absorb the information he is giving them, but where he received his PhD. His version to also question it and see if it’s still relevant of the course brings college students to in today’s world. the Pruntytown Correctional Center in Another of Nolan’s students Michael Lupi Grafton, W.V., to learn from inmates what Jr. wrote in 2009 that Nolan’s criminology the criminal justice system is really like. classes gave him more knowledge than all of his Another is The Justice Roundtable, which other classes combined. works to alleviate problems identified in “He was teaching us information, but he Inside Out and find solutions related to was also teaching us how to live a better life prisoner re-entry into society. “In some ways though I’m doing the same thing I always “I can’t think did. It’s not like I was a cop and then I’m doing something of education for its different. I’m still doing investigations. I’m still working in own sake,” Nolan the community. I’m still dealing with the topic of policing.” said. “If it doesn’t — Jim Nolan benefit society in some way it’s virtually useless to me. One with everyone being seen as equal, and I really thing I like about being at a land-grant appreciated that,” Lupi said. “I took this class university is that idea, that mission.” one year ago and til this day, and probably If you ask his students what makes him a for the rest of my life, I remember certain talented teacher, it is not just his creativity in things I learned in that class about the proper passing on material, but his attention. treatment of people.” Richie Rodriguez, a former student of Joan Gorham, an associate dean in Nolan’s who graduated from WVU and now the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, works in a defense contracting firm, transferred nominated Nolan for the professor of the to the University as an upperclassman. He year award and calls him an “innovative and arrived in Nolan’s class, knowing few people at energetic professor.” the University among groups of students who “His teaching at WVU is informed by had formed bonds in freshman year. both professional and academic experience, “His classroom environment makes getting and he provides both to his students,” she to know people unavoidable, and many of the said. “All of his courses, as much as possible, people I met in his classes remain good friends take the students outside the classroom of mine today,” Rodriguez said. to (in Jim’s words) ‘places where dialogue, His attentiveness to students further helped action, and reflection are likely to occur.’ Rodriguez feel at home. He is genuine, passionate, engaging — “He goes out of his way to get to know an extraordinary asset to West Virginia each of his students on a more personal level,” University, and to the teaching profession.” Rodriguez said. “He doesn’t just learn your Through his second career, Nolan learned

his own lessons. As a police officer, he estimates that he made more than 1,000 arrests, yet his only significant prison experience was while working a case in which the guards were found to be smuggling drugs. “Now I’m inside a prison, and it’s in a much more positive light,” he said. “And I’m getting to know people as human beings rather than as potential suspects.” He tries to impress on his students how situations influence people’s actions and that each person influences everyone else. “If anyone’s failing, then we all fail,” he said. Nolan, who says he’s not a particularly skilled lecturer, believes this award is for his department that has worked together for students and allowed him the freedom and given him the support to do what he’s done. “I’m accepting it for the department,” he said. “They have given me the opportunity to do what I do.” Eighteen of WVU’s professors have received the award since it began in 1981. “We are proud of Dr. Jim Nolan for being named one of the best professors in the country and this year’s best in West Virginia,” said WVU President James P. Clements. “His award exemplifies the quality of our faculty and the quality of education offered at WVU.” WVU’s Professor of the Year honorees over the years are: Sophia Peterson, political science (1987); Carl Rotter, physics (1988); Judith Stitzel, English, women’s studies (1989); Robert DiClerico, political science (1990); Pat Rice, anthropology (1991); Jack Hammersmith, history (1992); Richard Turton, chemical engineering (1993); Gail Galloway Adams, English (1994); Bernard Allen, history (WVU Parkersburg, 1996); Christine Martin, journalism (1998); James Harms, English (1999); John “Jack” Renton, geology (2001); Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, history (2002); Laura Brady, English (2004); Carolyn Atkins, speech pathology (2005); Ken Martis, geography (2007); and Ruth Kershner, community medicine (2009).

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C. Henze, NASA

Frame from a 3D simulation of gravitational waves produced by merging black holes. The honeycomb structures are the contours of the strong gravitational field near the black holes.

WHAT THE UNIVERSE HOLDS by Rebecca Herod Photos by M.G. Ellis

Astrophysicists at West Virginia University, working with colleagues around the world, may soon open a new window into the universe through the direct detection of gravitational waves, a key prediction of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Maura McLaughlin, assistant professor of physics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, is the principal investigator on a $6.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Astronomical Sciences as part of the Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program. “This landmark research grant is yet another achievement by Dr. McLaughlin and the faculty in our nationally renowned Physics Department,” WVU President 44

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James P. Clements said. “It speaks volumes about the quality of our faculty and their dedication to research and their students, as well as to their commitment to excellence in academic scholarship.” The PIRE project will set in motion the International Pulsar Timing Array partnership between the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) and Australian, European and Indian scientists, focusing a coordinated effort with dedicated research power on detection of gravitational waves. Indirect evidence points to the existence of these waves, but they have never been directly detected. “In their recent Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the National Academies of Science named NANOGrav as

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

one of eight mid-scale astrophysics projects recommended as high priorities for funding in the next decade, placing WVU at the cutting edge of astrophysics research,” said Curt Peterson, vice president for research and economic development. And WVU Provost Michele Wheatly said the award “is a significant grant, both because of its size and its international aspect. This further affirms the direction the University is moving in its commitment to research. It also comes on the heels of a record year in which WVU saw an 18 percent increase in sponsored research to more than $177.7 million.” McLaughlin explained that direct detection of gravitational waves is one of the most transformational prospects of modern physics, with the potential to revolutionize our knowledge of the universe by enabling studies of black holes within massive galaxies and the space-time dynamics of early stages of the universe. “By combining data taken at the world’s best facilities, with the highest-precision detection techniques, with experts from around the world, the PIRE team expects to detect gravitational waves within five to ten years,” McLaughlin estimates. The award will establish an international team for the detection and study of low-frequency gravitational waves using timing observations of millisecond pulsars. The team will use radio telescopes around the world, including the two largest: the 105-m Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank,WV, and the 305-m Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. The Green Bank Telescope is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and the Arecibo telescope is operated by the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, both under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. “This program further elevates the importance of our unparalleled radio facilities in Green Bank, WV,” said

Awards & Honors

Maura McLaughlin, principal investigator for the $6.5 million PIRE grant.

Duncan Lorimer, associate professor of physics at WVU and a co-principal investigator on the grant. The grant brings together a diverse group of researchers from colleges and universities across the United States. It will be managed by McLaughlin and coprincipal investigators Lorimer; Fredrick

Goddard Space Flight Center and Joseph Lazio at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The team of international collaborators and U.S. researchers and students will use radio telescopes to observe signals from dozens of pulsars over several years. This will enable the team to directly test for the existence of gravitational waves and,

“In their recent Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the National Academies of Science named NANOGrav as one of eight mid-scale astrophysics projects recommended as high priorities for funding in the next decade, placing WVU at the cutting edge of astrophysics research.” —Curt Peterson, vice president for research and economic development.

Jenet, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Texas, Brownsville; Andrea Lommen, associate professor of astrophysics at Franklin and Marshall College; and Daniel Stinebring, professor of physics and astronomy at Oberlin College. Other senior investigators involved in this project are James Cordes, Cornell University; David Nice, Lafayette College; Joanna Rankin, University of Vermont; Scott Ransom, NRAO; and Xavier Siemens, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The team also includes affiliates Zaven Arzoumanian of the Universities Space Research Association and NASA

after detection, measure their distribution, polarization and spectrum and identify and characterize their astrophysical sources. Detecting gravitational waves using pulsars is complementary to other detection efforts using ground-based detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory. “Both international collaboration and coordinated use of worldwide resources are critical for detecting low-frequency gravitational waves. Detection sensitivity increases the longer the pulsars are monitored, so observations over many years are required,” Jenet said.

Pairs of pulsars widely separated in the sky must be observed to maximize sensitivity, requiring observing sites in both hemispheres. Additionally, long, frequent observations at several radio observing frequencies are required for high precision and must be done for as many millisecond pulsars as possible. All of these factors combine to place a substantial demand on the world’s radio telescope time. “One of the most exciting things about this project is that we are exploring the unknown. There will be a lot of discoveries along the way,” Lommen said. PIRE will support postdoctoral researchers and graduate and undergraduate students at nine U.S. institutions, yearly international science meetings, workshops, and research and observing trips. Once established, a consortium-wide memorandum of understanding for the planned research/study abroad programs will continue to provide valuable opportunities for current and future generations of students at these institutions. “We are enthusiastic about the international research experiences this project will afford our students. These types of experiences are vital in today’s worldwide research enterprise,” said Stinebring. The institutions that will be part of the international partnership are Monash University, Swinburne University and Australia Telescope National Facility, Australia; McGill University and University of British Columbia, Canada; L’Observatoire de Paris at Nançay/ Nançay Observatory, France; Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy at the University of Bonn, Germany; National Center for Radio Astrophysics, India; Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Italy; Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Netherlands; and University of Manchester, United Kingdom. For more information, visit nanograv-pire.wvu.edu.

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CAREER-making

1 2B1 B 2 RESEARCH E c B 1 + B V2out L2B1 B 2 by Lauren Peretti Photos by Chris Schwer and M. G.

Paul Cassak 46

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B1 + B2

Awards & Honors From the vastness of space to the inner workings of the smallest cells, West Virginia University faculty are being recognized for their approach to the practice and teaching of cutting-edge research. Paul Cassak and Feruz Ganikhanov, assistant professors in the Department of Physics at West Virginia University, have each received National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards worth more than $941,000. Cassak’s grant, entitled “CAREER: The Effect of Shear Flow on the Scaling of Magnetic Reconnection and Solar Wind-Magnetospheric Coupling,” will provide solutions to questions about magnetic reconnection, an important component of space weather research. He will help develop a predictive understanding of how solar wind energy enters the magnetosphere and potentially minimize its capability to destroy satellites, affect polar routes of airplanes, and endanger astronauts. “The sun ejects matter known as the solar wind into space, which can interact with the region of influence of the Earth’s magnetic field, known as the magnetosphere. Through magnetic reconnection, which occurs in hot gases called plasmas, energy from the solar wind can be transferred into the magnetosphere through an event called a substorm, where it can harm man-made objects in space,” explains Cassak To examine magnetic reconnection, Cassak uses techniques like simulations, calculations, and analysis of observational data, in various settings, including solar eruptions like solar flares and coronal mass ejections, and disruptive events in fusion devices. Over the next five years, Cassak will receive more than $426,000 to develop a program of theoretical and computational plasma physics. His results could assist the interpretation of observations from existing satellites, as well as future missions like the Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission, a $700 million, multisatellite NASA mission to be launched in 2014 that will study magnetic reconnection in the Earth’s magnetosphere. As part of the CAREER grant funding,

Cassak will also develop educational resources to help recruit lower socioeconomic students in West Virginia and women into the space sciences. This will include outreach programs about space weather using movies shown in WVU’s Tomchin Planetarium and other planetaria throughout the region and the country. Cassak graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Arizona in 1998, a master’s degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin in 2001, and a doctoral degree in physics from the University of Maryland in 2006. In 2008, he was awarded the Fred L. Scarf Award for outstanding dissertation research in solar-planetary science. Prior to joining WVU in 2008, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware. Feruz Ganikhanov’s research, entitled “CAREER: A Novel Approach to Nonlinear Microscopy System and its Application to Biological Media Characterization,” could develop a diagnostics instrument to access the processes of biological cell division, differentiation, and more that could advance the medical industry. Over the next five years, he will receive $515,000 to develop new experimental approaches to molecularly sensitive imaging and microspectroscopy techniques. The ultimate result will be a laser-based instrument capable of detecting and tracking major biological cell constituents derived from central molecular vibrations, which has not yet been demonstrated due to a lack of detection sensitivity. With the help of the CAREER grant, Ganikhanov will also facilitate collaborative research between the University's research groups and other institutions through a variety of activities, including participation in the statewide Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program and hosting a summer research camp for high school students from underrepresented and minority groups. Additionally, he will work to improve an existing graduate course, develop a new graduate course, and add laboratory modules

Feruz Ganikhanov

to an existing undergraduate course. Ganikhanov earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1985 and 1987, respectively. He received a doctoral degree in laser physics from the R.V. Khokhlov Nonlinear Optics Institute at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1991. He holds three U.S. and one international patent. Two patents related to his nonlinear laser microscopy work were licensed by leading manufacturers of light microscopy equipment, who now offer laser-based microscopes designed along the ideas outlined in the patents as a commercial product. Prior to joining WVU in 2006, he was a research scientist in Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and at Wellman Laboratories for Photomedicine researching the area of nonlinear optical imaging with applications to biological media. He joined Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies working in the area of digital lasers for high bit rate communication systems, was a senior laser physicist for Inrad, Inc., and spent his postdoctoral years in the Quantum Electronics Laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique in France and in the ultrafast optics lab at Cornell University. The National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program offers the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, education, and the integration of education and research.

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Awards & Honors

Burke Wins Presidential Teaching Award

by Jessica Hammond Photos by Brian Persinger

Cynthia Burke, who received her master’s degree from West Virginia University in mathematics, is a winner of the 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. This is the highest recognition that a kindergarten through 12th-grade mathematics or science teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the United States. Enacted by Congress in 1983, the program authorizes the President to bestow up to 108 awards each year. The National Science Foundation administers the award on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. President Obama and Vice President Biden will present the award. Burke was nominated to complete an extensive application a year ago. In July 2009 she was told she was a state finalist, and in June 2010 she received a notice that she and 103 others were receiving the award. When Burke discovered that she had won, her first reaction was how proud she was to be in such good company. She also stressed her love of teaching. “I love seeing the enthusiasm in students when they understand what you’ve been trying to explain to them,” she said. 48

Burke has been teaching at Sherrad Middle School in a town near Wheeling, W.V. since 1976. She teaches seventh- and eighth-grade math, which includes algebra and geometry. Joyce Cole, the principal of Sherrad Middle, said Burke is an exceptional teacher, and deserves this award. “We are both honored and pleased to have such a distinguished member of our faculty receive this well-deserved award,” Cole said. “Cindy Burke is a caring person who is loyal to her school and students. She is self-motivated and a teacher leader,” Cole added. She also said Burke is an innovative teacher who has unique and effective methods of teaching. “She is a proponent of problem-based learning, enhancing student engagement with differentiated instruction, and believes all students can learn. She makes even the most difficult math concept easy to understand,” Cole said. Cynthia’s daughter, Kathleen Burke, is pursuing a doctorate in chemistry at WVU. She said her mom stressed the importance of an education ever since she and her three brothers were young. “One of my brothers is an optometrist, one is a physical therapist, and the other is in aerospace engineering. She wanted me to know that it’s just as important for women to have powerful, successful jobs,” Burke said. “I’m very grateful for what she instilled in me about education,” she added. As for her mom winning this award, Kathleen Burke couldn’t be more proud. “I can honestly say I hope I end up with this woman’s work ethic,” she said. “She never stops and is involved in so much.”

DRAFT Strategic Plan Summary

Give your feedback on the draft of the 2020 Strategic Plan for the Future. You can view video footage of President Clementsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; October 11, 2010, State of the University Address. We value your input and want you to be a part of defining the future of WVU, West Virginiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flagship land grant institution since 1867. Visit strategicplan.wvu.edu for full details and to make your voice heard.

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Eberly College of Arts and Sciences 201 Woodburn Hall West Virginia University PO Box 6286 Morgantown, WV 26506-6286 Address Service Requested

Mark your calendar for Emeritus Reunion Weekend, May 6-7, 2011. Fifty years after they went their separate ways, members of the class of 1961 will celebrate their golden anniversary. All who graduated in or prior to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;61 are invited back to meet up, remember, and renew ties to their alma mater. For more information, contact the WVU Alumni Association at (304) 293-4731.