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An inspired community of scholars and innovators Welcome to the 2015 edition of Discover magazine! This has been a year of exciting changes, most notably the inauguration of Marquette’s 24th president, Dr. Michael R. Lovell, who is inspiring the entire campus to be innovative and entrepreneurial in support of the goals of our strategic plan, Beyond Boundaries. A special insert, the “Spark” section, explores President Lovell’s vision for Marquette as well as some of the creative work of our faculty that demonstrates how the the university makes a difference in the world through innovation. Our cover story describes Marquette’s participation in a regional collaborative effort designed to translate biomedical research into better health of our community through the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin. Dr. Nancy Snow from the Department of Philosophy is leading another major effort to build interdisciplinary collaborations with the Self, Motivation and Virtue Project, supported by the Templeton Religion Trust. A third example of collaboration is the teaming up of Drs. Jim Holstein and Rick Jones from our Department of Social and Cultural Sciences with Dr. George Koonce to provide a view of life after professional football that is informed by the theoretical social science frameworks that Holstein
and Jones bring, along with Koonce’s own personal experience and doctoral dissertation research. The cutting-edge robotics research of Dr. Joe Schimmels, recently elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, is a great example of innovative engineering research. The complementary research programs of Drs. Allison Abbott and Jennifer Evans, both aimed at decoding complex biorhythmic behaviors, provide great examples of how basic scientists develop model systems that may eventually lead to insight into human health. Finally, Dr. Abdur Chowdhury is providing the first academic analysis of the regulatory issues that are emerging due to the virtual currency Bitcoin. Additional short features and “Bookshelf” explore more of the breadth of faculty research at Marquette. To facilitate some of President Lovell’s initiatives, we are also creating a new Office of Research and Innovation. I am looking forward to strengthening our support infrastructure and to helping foster our growing community of scholars and innovators. Visit marquette.edu/research and marquette.edu/innovation to learn more.
Dr. Jeanne M. Hossenlopp Vice President for Research and Innovation
We appreciate your feedback on Discover. Please send all comments to the editorial director at stephen.filmanowicz@marquette.edu. Editor Sarah Painter Koziol Editorial director Stephen Filmanowicz Art director Sharon Grace
Editorial team Becky Dubin Jenkins and Jennifer Russell Photographers Dan Johnson, Jesse Lee, John Nienhuis, Kat Schliecher, John Sibilski, Ben Smidt
Editor’s note: Although faculty titles in this issue of Discover are current as of its March 2015 publication, a number of featured faculty members will be promoted to new positions effective fall 2015. See a full list at go.mu.edu/promotions.
table of contents 0 2 T HE MYSTERY OF VIRTUE Dr. Nancy Snow leads a multidisciplinary mission to tackle this complex topic. 0 4
O UTSIDE THE BUBBLE A comprehensive — and personal — study of life after football.
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OBOTS TO THE RESCUE R Making robots more like people.
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PACEMAKERS Two professors seek to unlock the powers of rhythmic behaviors.
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H EADS OR TAILS An economics professor tackles the intangible Bitcoin trend.
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S PARK Innovation starts with a good idea, and Marquette has no shortage of them.
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collaboration of research institutions aims to change health care.
2 6 R ESEARCH IN BRIEF An exclusive invitation, false starts, math talk and more. 3 2
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Unlocking the mystery of virtue How does one become a virtuous person? Philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, theologians, neuroscientists and other scholars from around the world have been invited to explore that question as part of a landmark new project at Marquette. Dr. Nancy Snow, professor and acting chair of philosophy in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, is co-director of the Self, Motivation and Virtue Project, along with Dr. Darcia Narvaez, a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame. The project’s three-year $2.6 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust is Marquette’s largest humanities grant to date. “The grant’s focus aligns very well with Marquette’s values,” Snow says. “It’s important because we
are a Jesuit institution and formation of the person is a big deal for us.” The project’s scope is ambitious: It provides seed funding for 10 new interdisciplinary research projects, as well as a Moral Self Research Group, interdisciplinary conferences with international scholars, a project website and several books. Snow has been fascinated by virtue ethics for the past decade. “The study of virtue has really taken off in the past
By Nicole Sweeney Etter
Learn more about the Self, Motivation and Virtue Project at mu.edu/smvproject.
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So she immersed herself in psychological readings for the next two years before penning her response to philosophical situationism, a book titled Virtue as Social Intelligence: An Empirically Grounded Theory.
Whatever direction the project takes, Snow thinks that a philosophical concept of virtue needs to be firmly based in empirical study. “If you’re going to advise people how to act well, how to be good people, we should know what we’re starting with,” she says.
“Human creativity is just astounding. You never know what directions this will go.”
As part of the Self, Motivation and Virtue Project, Snow and Narvaez will co-author a book and co-edit two others: a collection of essays from the Moral Self Research Group and another essay collection from the seed grant recipients. Even before the virtue project officially began in September, Snow was fielding inquiries from researchers who were eager to get involved. The first conference will bring international scholars to Marquette’s campus this spring and include presentations from scholars who are applying for project funding. The chosen research projects will start in September 2015, and each team will receive $190,000. Each team must include one scientist and one humanist who must contribute equally from conception to completion. “We want to foster true interdisciplinarity in these teams,” Snow says. “The project is really about character development, self, motivation and virtue, and it seems quite limited to think you could fully understand such a complex notion through the lens of one discipline alone.” Though the project is just getting started, Snow sees countless possibilities. For
The Templeton Religion Trust funds “discoveries relating to the big questions of human purpose and ultimate reality,” and the goal is for those discoveries to have a real impact on the world.
Chair and Professor, Philosophy
“Human creativity is just astounding,” she says. “You never know what directions this will go.”
Dr. Nancy Snow
Snow’s interest was sparked after the concept of traditional Aristotelian virtues came under fire by “situationist” philosophers. “Traditional Aristotelian virtues are virtues that manifest consistently in behavior,” Snow says. “That means if a person is honest, in the Aristotelian sense, you can expect her to be honest in a wide variety of situations: under oath in court, when talking to her spouse, on her income tax returns. Situationist philosophers use some studies to argue that those types of traits really don’t exist or don’t have much to do with behavior, that some traits are indexed very narrowly in certain types of situations. I read this material and thought something was wrong with it.”
example, a medical humanities researcher might study how illness can help one become more virtuous, while a computer scientist could study the influence of technology on virtues.
RESEARCHER
10 years or so after some innovative scholarship came out that got people thinking in new and interesting ways,” she says. “This area is just cutting edge.”
“Templeton-funded projects start with academic research, but they don’t stay there,” Snow says. “They’re meant to place these questions in the public eye and have applicability outside of academia.” Bullying prevention is one potential application. “If we could figure out how character develops a little better than we have, how motivation counts, what the relationship of virtue is to the concept of self, then maybe we can come up with practical programs that help cultivate virtues that might impact and someday lead to a decrease in bullying,” Snow says. Although it is often a challenge to find funding for humanities research, Snow says that it’s an exciting time for humanities scholars at Marquette. This fall, the university announced plans for a future Center for the Advancement of the Humanities, which will be funded by a multimillion-dollar legacy gift from an anonymous alumna. Snow hopes that the virtue project also inspires others to think about alternative funding venues. “Marquette is on the rise in terms of its research,” she says. “I hope this grant will be a catalyst for future efforts.”
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Outside the bubble
Two veteran sociologists team up with a former NFL linebacker and doctoral-program graduate to create the first comprehensive study of life after professional football On the spring day in 2012 that former Green Bay Packers linebacker Dr. George Koonce completed his Marquette doctoral dissertation on the difficulties National Football League players encounter transitioning beyond football, the sports world received a jarring reminder of those difficulties. With a gunshot to his chest, Hall of Fame linebacker Junior Seau joined a growing list of ex-pros who have taken their lives. Despite the pride he felt about his dissertation that day, Koonce thought back to the sense of isolation
consuming him nine years earlier when he took a corner near his North Carolina beach house at three times the speed limit, landing his truck upside down in a ditch. By then, two years had passed since he’d played a productive 2000–01 season with the Seattle Seahawks, who’d nevertheless found another veteran to replace him. Months of “staying ready” for his next playing opportunity had marched on in an
By Stephen Filmanowicz Photos courtesy of Dr. George Koonce 0 4
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For Holstein, in particular, the project represented gear shifting. During three decades here, he has made his mark on his field — garnering a whopping 14,544 citations of his work — principally by cocreating and advancing methodologically a form of sociology known as narrative ethnography. It focuses on how people in social settings use language to define the contours of their daily lives — for example, how members of college fraternities build “social kinship” by calling each other brothers or how unrelated friends in inner-city communities do something similar in greeting each other as cousins. For the football project, however, Holstein led the group in a more conventional sort of sociology, a naturalistic ethnography that looks broadly but systematically at the living conditions and life outcomes of a distinct group of people. Together, they assembled a vast collection of indepth interviews, accounts from the media, player biographies and autobiographies, and information
Finding themselves outside this bubble, former players struggle in ways resembling those who leave life-defining institutions such as the military, the clergy, the police force or even prisons. Yet players who earlier resisted pressures to pursue football glory and riches with what Jones describes as “great single-mindedness” are often best equipped to navigate their postfootball lives. “A lot of guys who tend to do better have lived their lives on two tracks,” concludes Holstein, including Koonce in that group. Coincidentally, work on the book helped Holstein and Jones merge two tracks they’d been living — as sociologists and ardent sports fans. “I’ve always had an urge to work on something from my personal life that really grabs me,” says Holstein. “This has probably been the hardest writing project I’ve undertaken, but it’s also been the most fun.”
Professor, Social and Cultural Sciences
So began the two-year academic project that produced Is There Life After Football? Surviving the NFL, the first academic examination of the aftermath of football careers, published this winter by New York University Press. The nuanced insights the book brings to this much-debated subject owe much to its authorial “dream team.” A true participant observer, Koonce (now vice president of advancement at Marian University) contributed first-person reflections that frame critical issues and build narrative momentum. Jones brought experience as Marquette’s NCAA faculty athletics representative and a record of well-regarded scholarship on topics such as the re-entry of former inmates into society. And then there is Holstein, the 2014 recipient of the university’s top research honor, the Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award for Research Excellence, with 42 books to his credit — nine authored or co-authored, five translations and 28 edited volumes.
The authors fit timely discussions of brain trauma, domestic George Koonce’s personal experience difficulties and other transitioning from life in the NFL helped inform the book co-written with his issues into an indelibly thesis advisers. drawn larger context. Key is the experience former players share in Even friends and the enveloping world — or “bubble” — of former teammates the NFL. In addition to training at the typical avoid players who have team complex, players been dropped from get their meals, receive medical care and hang teams because being out with teammates cut is viewed as a there as well. Players even worship with disease that could teammates but lose access to these forms be contagious. of support quickly when their playing days end, often involuntarily. “Getting cut from a team can feel like being cut off from everyday routines, support systems and churches,” observes Holstein. “Even friends and former teammates avoid them because being cut is viewed as a disease that could be contagious.”
Dr. Richard Jones
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Dr. James Holstein
Professor, Social and Cultural Sciences
With the Seau case feeding speculation about these kinds of post-NFL struggles and the lingering effects of football-related concussions, Koonce and his dissertation advisers — professors of social and cultural studies Drs. James Holstein and Richard Jones — decided the timing was right to expand Koonce’s research into a full-scale book. “The ‘life after football’ question had become even more pressing,” explains Holstein, “because people were recognizing that indeed sometimes literally there wasn’t any.”
gleaned from systematic studies, surveys conducted by the NFL and other scientific and academic works.
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alcohol-numbed blur. Only a talk with his wife, Tunisia, at the hospital after the crash got him to face a painful truth: He’d been a de facto retiree for a while now and needed a new path for his life.
Read Is There Life After Football?, available from NYU Press: go.mu.edu/after-football. outside the bubble
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Robots to the rescue
After a devastating 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Japan’s northeastern coast suffered a complete power failure. Outmatched only by Chernobyl in its release of radioactive material, Fukushima’s still active cleanup has underscored the relevance of robotic rescuers, which have been sent into the plant to perform repairs that could kill their human counterparts. Although these programmed machines have succeeded in many missions, the limitations of current robotic technology leave Dr. Joseph Schimmels wondering what more can be achieved. By Sarah Painter Koziol
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You build a more compliant robot, Schimmels suggests. Backed by a three-year $750,000 NSF grant, the professor of mechanical engineering is changing the way robots are normally controlled. Rather than just programming the robot motion, he proposes programming the motion and its multidirectional elastic behavior to execute constrained tasks more like humans. To do this, he has designed a new type of robot-joint motor with programmable stiffness. His new motor allows a robot to have lower stiffness (increased flexibility) in some directions and higher stiffness in others to make the robot “softer” and safer when collaborating with people. Schimmels’ arched flexure variable stiffness actuator is a compactly designed robot joint that is more human-like. He accomplishes this by using a cantilevered arched beam flexure and four rotating contactors. The device’s stiffness varies by changing the locations of where the contactors meet the flexure. When the contact point is close to the motor shaft, the stiffness is high; when the contact point is farther away, the stiffness is low. To reliably perform constrained manipulation tasks, both the joint’s position and compliance will be programmed per the assigned task.
As robots are called into tighter spaces and closer proximity with people, joints with variable stiffness help make them “softer” and safer.
Schimmels, Eng ’81, has long had an interest in the intelligent design of multidimensional mechanical behavior applied to
“First we need to ask: What are the task uncertainties? Where is the crank access of rotation? Where is the valve handle relative to this axis? How much force can the robot tolerate? How much force is needed to move the valve? These questions help us answer the larger question of: What level of elasticity in each direction is needed as the valve is turned? We’re designing compliance in multiple directions simultaneously, not on a single axis,” Schimmels adds, which is what differentiates his approach from most existing ones. Their second objective is to determine how the VSA properties will change in time in each individual joint — there are three total — by controlling its position and how flexible it needs to be. The third objective is to improve and refine the VSA design, then demonstrate it in a robot that can successfully turn a crank and in another robot that performs a more complicated task.
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
In the robotics project, Schimmels’ team will first identify what the robot’s appropriate compliance should be, given a specific task. In the first proof-of-concept case study, the task — to turn a crank — was inspired by a Fukushima failure, in which robots were unable to turn off a valve.
Dr. Joseph Schimmels
“Any task where there is constrained manipulation — that is, moving an object or performing a task that is impeded by the environment — is difficult for conventional robots,” Schimmels explains. “In these tasks, manipulation requires some level of cooperation: Either the robot needs to comply with its environment or with a person. How do you accommodate the situation when a robot’s programmed motion is in conflict with the environment’s geometry or could harm a human co-worker?”
physically interacting systems; it motivates his research in prosthetics as well. Now he’s sharing his research passion with graduate students who will work with him on his robotics and prosthetics projects.
RESEARCHER
He’s not alone. In a National Science Foundation/NASA/ National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering joint review, “manipulation and physical interaction with the real world” was listed as the most fundamental challenge in the use of industrial, service or personal robots. Schimmels notes standard robots are built to complete tasks in open, unconstrained spaces, such as in the automotive industry, where robots move freely when spray painting car parts. People power, however, is preferred for any jobs that involve restrictive space.
“We want the compliance to change over time at each individual joint. This will make robots more like people,” he says. “Our ultimate goal is to pick any task and know what the appropriate task compliance should be and quickly realize it.” Schimmels’ VSA has a provisional patent, and he has applied for a PCT, or international, patent, which he hopes to have approved this year. He thinks his invention will have strong industry interest once his investigation is complete. In December, he was elected as a National Academy of Inventors Fellow in recognition of his innovations. In addition to his own research, Schimmels is also leading an effort to improve the Opus College of Engineering’s cooperation with Milwaukee’s manufacturing community. As associate dean for research, he is chairing the search for a director of the college’s Center for Flexible Assembly Systems, whose mission is to bring together universitybased research and industry funding to solve manufacturing assembly challenges. “With approximately 152,000 manufacturing jobs in the area, corresponding to more than 15 percent of the local workforce, the center’s influence on the region’s manufacturing industry could be significant,” he says.
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Pacemakers By Josh Garlich
Two Marquette researchers in distinct biological and
biomedical fields converge in their goal to define the governing principles behind rhythmic behaviors
he next time your flight lands and you pick up your phone to find that its clock has automatically synced to the local time zone, you probably won’t think of Dr. Jennifer Evans and her research on the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the brain. But maybe you should. Inside most cells in the human body — and they number in the trillions — there exists a suite of internal processes that are harmonized with circadian rhythms. Tiny cellular clocks control daily oscillations in a multitude of physiological functions that change depending on the time of day. The pacemaker that keeps this system of clocks in precise synchrony, and to which each clock is realigned daily, lies deep within the brain. “The suprachiasmatic nucleus,” says Evans, “is the ‘master clock’ in your brain, but now we appreciate that almost every single cell in your body is a little clock.” Evans, a second-year assistant professor in the Biomedical Sciences Department, is focused on understanding the network properties of the master clock system, a neural nexus located in the hypothalamus of the brain. Each of the 20,000 neurons that comprise the master clock contains intrinsic timekeeping properties. Essentially, every cell in the suprachiasmatic nucleus can itself function as a pacemaker. What becomes critical, then, is that these master clock cells are cohesive in their timekeeping and output to effectively harmonize the functions of small clocks throughout the body. Precisely how master clock cells communicate with each other is the focus of Evans’ research.
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“If they’re not able to coordinate, it would be chaos, and the normal behavior and physiology of the animal would suffer,” says Evans. This normal physiology includes functions such as gut metabolism, insulin release and electrical signaling rhythms, all of which oscillate between periods of high and low activity during a 24-hour time span. With the help of several undergraduates, Evans aims to elucidate the method by which the two compartments of the master clock — the inputreceiving core and the output compartment known as the shell — exchange information. She does this by looking at the behavior of individual cells functioning within the context of the network. The strategy, which Evans developed, involves pulling apart the core and shell so they cycle 12 hours apart, rather than on the same 24-hour schedule. The means of accomplishing this temporal separation is simply a matter of light.
two separated components of the master clock. However, her results suggested that this was not the only signal governing resynchronization. “Now that we’ve developed the assay and developed the ability to quantify this re-establishment of cohesion, we can test other signals,” says Evans. In her office, she draws an illustration that depicts the classic way of thinking about the network — an avocado shape containing the two master clock compartments of the inner core and outer shell. In this widely accepted model, signals enter the core where they are processed, then, like a GPS, the core tells the shell which way to shift, basically a one-way flow of information from core to shell. Evans’ findings challenge this view of one-way communication as the master clock’s mode of re-establishing synchronized function.
“... almost every single cell in your body is a little clock.”
The process, Evans explains, “is driven by an environmental manipulation, exposing animals to very long summer days, 20 hours of light a day. This causes the two compartments to functionally dissociate.” Once that happens, she then extracts brain tissue slices from the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the animal. Using these slices that will continue to function in a culture dish, Evans tracks how the two compartments communicate as they re-align their rhythmic processes. By using chemical inhibitors to block the ability of these cells to send or receive specific communication signals, she discovered a previously unknown function of the fairly common signaling molecule vasoactive intestinal polypeptide — VIP for short — in re-establishing cohesive behavior between the
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As she fills in the master clock avocado with multiple lines that she hypothesizes could account for a more complex, yet nuanced, communication network, she hints at the future of her research: “We know a lot about how information flows down the street one way. The big question is, how is it coming back?” The gravity of Evans’ question becomes evident when one sees the extensive number of health problems that are linked to the disruption of circadian rhythmic functions, including increased risk of cancer, aberrant immune response and reduced fertility. The work Evans is doing seeks to define clock function, thereby establishing the groundwork needed to understand its role in general health. The line that is drawn between disruption of circadian rhythmic function and negative health consequences is one that is becoming ever clearer, and
mysterious, regulators of biological functions. “There’s been a lot of work to show that certain microRNAs are up-regulated or down-regulated in specific sub-types of cancer. So we have this correlation, but we don’t know their normal function,” explains Abbott. If the concept of biologically functional RNA is not new, what was novel was how Abbott and her team discovered biological roles for individual microRNAs, which has proven to be a significant challenge to the field. Since then, Abbott has set out to characterize microRNA function using two different rhythmic behaviors in worms — the defecation cycle and ovulation — as a way to identify how and when microRNAs elicit effects over normal processes.
it is a line that connects Evans’ work to that of another talented Marquette researcher. A stone’s throw away from Evans’ lab, Dr. Allison Abbott, in her research into how microRNAs regulate rhythmic cellular processes, has landed pay dirt in an unlikely place: worm poop. Abbott, an associate professor of developmental biology and genetics, is studying rhythmic behaviors in the worm C. elegans as a way to understand the functions of small RNA molecules called microRNAs. Abbott’s path into the study of rhythmic behavior was not planned. “We stumbled into it because we had a microRNA that was regulating the defecation motor program in worms, which involves a rhythmic calcium wave that regulates muscle contractions to expel the waste of the worms,” she says. Abbott elaborates on the current focus of her lab, adding, “We’re using this very simple model organism of C. elegans, the worm, to probe the functions of microRNAs.” The phenomenon of regulatory RNAs — though not necessarily new — blatantly interrupts the overly simplistic, so-called central dogma of molecular biology, a succinct paradigm that describes the flow of genetic information; simply stated, that DNA makes RNA, and RNA makes proteins. Stopping short of making proteins, the stereotypical final form of functional biological molecules, microRNAs have recently emerged as important, albeit
The defecation cycle — a series of coordinated muscle contractions that occur every 45 seconds in worms — is triggered by a wave of calcium that originates from one single cell. Abbott’s lab discovered that a microRNA regulates this process. Remove it and uncoordinated calcium release ensues, ultimately resulting in sporadic defecation cycles. Abbott points out the significance of microRNAs in this system, saying, “What’s really fascinating is this microRNA is regulating how one cell can act as the pacemaker for that system,” as she eludes to the potentially grand impacts of these small molecules in a wide variety of physiological processes, from development to heart function. Her lab’s second project, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, examines the role of microRNAs in ovulation, a complex rhythmic system in which she found microRNAs to be essential. She aims to tease apart the precise role of microRNA in the process, determining the effects of altered microRNA levels and defining the exact type of microRNA involved and in which cells they are present. Abbott is optimistic in her pursuit of foundational knowledge about microRNAs and its value in rhythmic behaviors and beyond. “We’re at that simple level of trying to understand what they do normally in development and physiology, and we hope that extrapolates understanding what happens when they’re misregulated in human disease,” she says.
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Professor, Economics Dr. Abdur Chowdhury RESEARCHER 1 2
For 30 years he has studied conflict. Now, economist Abdur Chowdhury looks to decipher controversial Bitcoin Dr. Abdur Chowdhury is a thoughtful, unassuming economist. Yet he boasts a prolific career that’s known worldwide, and his reputation in David A. Straz, Jr., Hall, home to Marquette’s College of Business Administration, is that of a research powerhouse. But he’s no glory hound — just a smart, mildmannered professor who, by the way, chases conflict. Not his own, mind you. Chowdhury, a teenager in Bangladesh during the country’s Liberation War in 1971, admits that conflict left an indelible impression on him,
By Christopher Stolarski
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shaping the lens through which he has examined the monetary policies of troubled nations for more than 30 years. Throughout his career, Chowdhury has pulled back the curtains on a variety of contentious issues and their impact on the economy: defense spending, terrorism, presidential popularity, infant mortality and divorce. The macroeconomist recently turned his attention to Bitcoin, that prickly virtual currency that’s giving everyone from global investors to counterterrorist organizations fits. “The Bitcoin phenomenon, and the technological innovation that made it possible, is interesting,” says Chowdhury, whose
currency experience includes counseling the Chicago Federal Reserve as part of its academic advisory council. “But for investors, the more pertinent question is whether they should even buy it.”
Nevertheless, Chowdhury is cautious. Calling Bitcoin a “tail-risk option” for investors, he equates investing in the currency to buying a lottery ticket — it only pays off if a highly unlikely event occurs.
According to research Chowdhury published in early 2014, Bitcoin’s strength has been predicated on three supposed qualities: It’s anonymous, difficult to hack and requires no financial middlemen, such as banks.
“Taking a tiny risk won’t damage a portfolio if Bitcoin goes bust, but will have a sizable impact if it takes off,” he says.
The problem: It’s not regulated. “No nation owns it, and no one can control it,” he says, adding that during the past few years Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies have been used to transfer illegal funds, particularly for drug trafficking. Valuation is also problematic. When Bitcoin currency hit the market, its value against the U.S. dollar was nearly 1-to-1. At its peak, the ratio was 1-to-1,200. (It hovers at about 1-to-380 today.) For all its hitches, however, Bitcoin’s popularity and momentum are very real. In the first study to apply academic research to Bitcoin’s investment prospects, Chowdhury uses an econometric test called mean-variance spanning. In that paper, “Is Bitcoin the ‘Paris Hilton’ of the Currency World?,” he writes: “The momentum behind Bitcoin is coming from around the world, as amateur investors, venture capitalists and technology enthusiasts pump money into businesses that are trying to figure out how to use Bitcoin to buy and sell goods.” His analysis further shows that Bitcoin’s low transaction costs relative to credit and debit cards are attractive to a growing number of merchants.
Is Bitcoin irreparable? Chowdhury doesn’t think so, suggesting that simply regulating the currency would solve a lot of problems. “We need to set up a new regulatory body or assign an existing body, such as the Federal Reserve, to regulate Bitcoin,” he says, pointing out that the majority of Bitcoin transactions have occurred in the United States. “The disadvantage there, however, is the way Bitcoin was created. There was no regulatory agency in mind.” Despite Chowdhury’s cautious optimism, Bitcoin remains fraught with volatility, misuse, regulatory issues and all the trappings of a passing fad. It seems like a currency on life support. “Will Bitcoin die?” Chowdhury wonders aloud. “It’s possible. But given the developments we see in emerging technologies, we will see some sort of digital currencies take hold. We need to be ready for that.” Chowdhury will surely keep an eye on Bitcoin and its inevitable mimickers and successors. After all, there’s conflict — tension — to study.
How Bitcoin works Mining
Wallets
Making a purchase
Verification
Bitcoins enter circulation through a process called “mining.” A miner’s computer solves complex equations for the Bitcoin network. If it successfully solves an equation, the miner receives bitcoins, which come in the form of a long string of numbers and letters known as an “address.”
The miner stores bitcoins in a virtual “wallet,” which saves the addresses on a hard drive or the Internet. Wallets can hold multiple bitcoin addresses that each hold a balance of bitcoins.
Say a bitcoin owner wants to use coins to purchase a muffin. The muffin retailer gives the owner a bitcoin address, to which the muffin buyer sends the bitcoin or fraction of a bitcoin.
The bitcoin-mining community verifies the transaction and stores it in a public ledger, making the transaction irreversible. In return for processing transactions, miners can be rewarded with bitcoins.
Source: Adapted from a U.S. Government Accountability Office report and first published in Investments & Wealth Monitor, March/April 2014, “Digital Currency and the Financial System: The Case of Bitcoin,” Dr. Abdur Chowdhury and Barry K. Mendelson
Read “The Case of Bitcoin” working paper: go.mu.edu/bitcoin-paper. heads or tails
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A closer look at some unconventional ways the Marquette community is igniting problem-solving and innovation
When you think of what’s most cutting edge at Marquette, it’s natural to think of the labs with the newest imaging equipment or the scholars taking the deepest dives into rare archives — of the peer-reviewed research covered throughout Discover. But innovation here takes a range of forms, including unique partnerships, influential polling, and new approaches to problems in our community and around the world that cry out for solutions. Read on to see how Marquette is setting the pace in that kind of innovation, too. REPORTING BY STEPHEN FILMANOWICZ, PATRICK LEARY AND CLARE PETERSON
Power poll, talent pool The Law School Poll proves to be about way more than just who gets the votes.
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Midwifery yields more healthy arrivals
Water management for the masses
This mother-centric approach has advantages over conventional care.
Changing the way the public consumes water, one person at a time.
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Reporting for change The O’Brien Fellowship program is pioneering a counter trend in journalism.
Giving democracy a tuneup The Democracy Lab offers community organizations ways to evaluate and improve outreach.
INNOVATION: BEYOND BOUNDARIES Good ideas: In the weeks after he became Marquette’s 24th
president last summer — the first lay president in the university’s history — Dr. Michael R. Lovell found no shortage of them, he says.
“One of the things I really was heartened by, as I met people from across campus, was that we have a lot of great ideas here waiting to be implemented,” President Lovell told a campus audience during the fall. “So it became a priority for me to provide a mechanism and some funding to get some of these great ideas started.” True to his reputation as a catalyst, President Lovell quickly put this vision into motion, announcing a set of initiatives that encourage innovation and entrepreneurship to propel Marquette forward as a leading Catholic, Jesuit university. The vigorous involvement of the university community is helping these efforts gain momentum. They include a nearly $6 million Strategic Innovation Fund that provides seed money campuswide for entrepreneurial ideas that advance priorities in Marquette’s strategic plan, Beyond Boundaries. Marquette is also dramatically strengthening its presence at two key regional hubs for innovation and research. From new space in Milwaukee’s Global Water Center, faculty, staff and students will partner with leading water companies and pursue exciting solutions to the world’s water challenges. And at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa, partnerships among Marquette and the region’s key research institutions are poised to flourish, including a joint academic venture between the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette’s Opus College of Engineering. Besides being a great fit for President Lovell — whose academic career includes earning seven patents and 14 provisional patents and being inducted into the National Academy of Inventors in 2014 — Marquette’s new innovation-oriented priorities also align closely with key themes in Beyond Boundaries, including “Research in Action” and “Pursuit of Academic Excellence for Human Well-being.” “This really is an exciting time,” said Interim Provost Margaret Faut Callahan at the same fall forum. “We are now in a position where we can dream big and move forward with the great ideas of our faculty, staff and students.” To learn more about the drive to innovate at Marquette — and to consider the difference you can make by supporting it — visit marquette.edu/innovation. Watch members of the Marquette community participating in an Innovation Ideas Fest: go.mu.edu/ideas-fest.
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Power Poll, Talent Pool 1 As the largest independent polling project in Wisconsin history — and the second-largest Marquette generator of media mentions behind men’s basketball — the Marquette Law School Poll has indelibly impacted how Wisconsin elections are covered and how well Wisconsin voters are understood. In a lesser-known way, the poll and its director, Dr. Charles Franklin, professor of law and public policy, also serve as invaluable resources for Marquette faculty looking to take their research in new directions. Here are a few examples of such collaborations:
• In addition to using the poll as a teaching resource in the courses she teaches, Dr. Amber Wichowsky, assistant professor of political science, inserted questions in the poll to support research on outside spending in state elections and another one on the influence of social position on attitudes toward income inequality and social welfare policy. The latter earned her a grant from the National Science Foundation. • Dr. Robert Griffin, a journalism and media studies professor,
cooperated with Franklin during the unseasonably warm winter of 2012 to test theories that recent weather experiences impact people’s views on global climate change. Griffin included similar questions in a March 2014 poll to assess whether the harsh winter chilled by the “polar vortex” would move public perceptions in the opposite direction. • Dr. Darren Wheelock, associate professor of social and cultural sciences, and Michael O’Hear, professor of law, collaborated with Franklin
Professor Michael O’Hear
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Dr. Amber Wichowsky
to assess Wisconsinites’ opinions on criminal sentencing. The collaboration helped questions from Wheelock reach the review stage of the long-running national General Social Survey, a coveted step in the career of a social scientist. “The Law School Poll’s rich data on demographics and political attitudes is helping us better understand what factors drive support for different sentencing policies,” says O’Hear, who will have his research with Wheelock published this year in the Brigham Young Law Review.
Dr. Robert Griffin
• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Craig Gilbert says the depth of Franklin’s polling was key in launching his influential “Dividing Lines” project, which he wrote for the Journal Sentinel as a fellow at the Law School. The series chronicled extreme political polarization in the greater Milwaukee area, generating favorable coverage from The New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News and other media organizations.
Dr. Darren Wheelock
Midwifery’s mothercentric approach yields more healthy arrivals 2 The nurses behind
Marquette’s midwifery master’s program and midwifery practice at the Neighborhood Health Center have long believed in their holistic, mother-centric approach to pregnancy and delivery. Now, a look at the latest patient outcomes reinforces the value of this approach. “We provide many resources and support that a traditional obstetrics and gynecology practice might not,” says
Water Management for the Masses 3 Marquette associate
political science professor Dr. McGee Young developed MeterHero in 2013 with the goal of changing how the world tracks water conservation. A year later, people across the United States are analyzing their water use through
Dr. Kathlyn Albert, C.N.M., F.N.P.-B.C., midwifery service director. Attentive CNMs gather context through careful listening and work collaboratively with the client to determine her health goals. The health center has documented positive outcomes for pregnancy and delivery compared with traditional one-to-one care on a national scale. The heath center is seeing 98 percent of its clients to full-term pregnancies. The national average is 87.5 percent. Additionally, the national average of babies delivered by C-section is 32.8 percent, whereas the clinic reports a 7 percent rate. As for continuing care, 97 percent of the center’s clients
Young’s innovative program. “It puts the power of reading a meter into anyone’s hands,” Young says. Young originally came up with his conservation concept in 2011 and called it H2O Score. Immediately, American cities were interested in using his technology to track their residents’ water use. However, while working through the Brew startup program of Milwaukee’s Global Water Center, Young realized that H20 Score needed to reach individuals more directly.
M I D W I F E R Y: T H E P R O O F I S I N T H E N U M B E R S
98% 07% 97% return for postpartum exams. “While the outcomes prove this approach provides an innovative, safe alternative for expectant clients, the midwifery model extends
of the center’s clients are seen to a full-term pregnancy, 10.5 percentage points better than the national average.
of the center’s clients deliver by C-section. The national average is 32.8 percent.
of the center’s clients return for postpartum exams.
to primary care across the lifespan,” said Dr. Leona VandeVusse, R.N., C.N.M., F.A.C.N.M., associate professor and nurse-midwifery program director.
As a result, Young changed results. And a Young-authored curriculum, STEMHero, uses course and rebranded his his software to help middle venture as MeterHero, a school students build interest similar program designed to in STEM subjects. allow everyday people to track their water use — and even With MeterHero gaining earn a few bucks when they momentum, Young will leave cut back. All participants need Marquette this summer to is a few old water work full time on his startup. bills and access to He aims to change human their meters, which water use, person by the website helps person. “I want to them read. He MeterHero make MeterHero the plans to partner place everyone goes with city utilities to learn about in the future for saving water,” real-time he says.
Read Craig Gilbert’s influential exploration of political polarization: jsonline.com/dividinglines. Watch Dr. Lisa Hanson, associate professor of nursing, discuss Marquette’s nurse-midwifery graduate program: go.mu.edu/midwifery-video.
Reporting for Change 4 With the media often focusing obsessively on conflicts du jour — and the trend growing as traditional news operations struggle to find new business models — Herbert Lowe, Jour ’84, director of Marquette’s Journalism for Social Change Initiative, is excited that the Diederich College of Communication is pioneering a counter trend.
Made possible by an $8.3 million gift to the college in early 2013, the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism brings leading journalists to Marquette to “do the best
work of their careers on issues of vital importance.” It also changes the scholastic careers of Marquette journalism students by having them work alongside these professionals on reporting that seeks promising responses to vexing challenges. “Rather than focusing only on the problem, let’s focus on what the solutions are,” says Lowe in summing up the fellowship’s aims. The 2013–14 fellows, Hal Bernton of The Seattle Times, Dan Egan of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Lillian Thomas of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, conducted in-depth examinations of important issues and produced professionally published,
The O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism brings leading journalists to Marquette to “do the best work of their careers on issues of vital importance.” multipart stories featuring the work of more than a dozen students. Bernton, whose project, “Losing Ground: The Struggle to Reduce CO2,” ran last May, traveled with students to Denton, Texas, and Inner Mongolia, China. He credits Zhu Ye, Grad ’14, for her translating, troubleshooting and camera work in China. “I don’t know how the China trip would have come together without her,” he says. Erin Heffernan, Comm ’14, followed Bernton back to The Seattle Times for the summer internship each fellow offers and then leveraged her O’Brien
experience by landing a job with The Daily News of Galveston County, Texas. “Hal was more than willing to come with me on my reporting trips and tell me how to do journalism right,” she says. This academic year, journalists from Milwaukee, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., are leading reporting teams and keeping Marquette on the cutting edge of journalism education, in Lowe’s opinion. “The Marquette student comes here to learn how to do the very best journalism. These fellows have been enormously generous with their time and their instruction,” he says.
Joining O’Brien fellow and Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton in Inner Mongolia, Zhu Ye, Grad ’14, photographed a coal gasification plant where China is undertaking its most significant effort to store carbon emissions underground.
Learn more about the O’Brien Fellowship: marquette.edu/obrien-fellowship.
Watch a video about the fracking in Denton, Texas: go.mu.edu/fracking
Read The Seattle Times series “Losing Ground: The Struggle to Reduce CO2”: go.mu.edu/losing-ground.
Watch a video about the quest for renewable energy in Inner Mongolia, China: go.mu.edu/renewable
YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE THE IDEA TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION.
At Marquette, there is no shortage of great ideas. As a Catholic, Jesuit university, problem-solving, innovation and collaboration are part of who we are. But great ideas need support to be realized. With a gift to our innovation fund, you can be part of something that’s moving toward greatness — that will Be The Difference. Imagine what your investment will do. To support innovation at Marquette, visit marquette.edu/innovation.
Giving Democracy a TuneUp 5 For years, Dr. Amber Wichowsky has toiled with the problem of civic engagement in urban communities. Through the Marquette Democracy Lab, which she founded in early 2014, she’s beginning to find solutions.
An extension of a loose network of university-based applied research offices
focused on better policy outcomes, Wichowsky’s lab offers community organizations methods through which to evaluate their outreach. It first partnered with the Harambee Great Neighborhood Initiative, an organization founded in 2007 with the goal of revitalizing an impoverished neighborhood on Milwaukee’s north side. “The Harambee Great Neighborhood Initiative got it,” Wichowsky says. “They were really excited to do this rigorous study of their outreach efforts.”
With help from students in two of her political science classes and three student assistants, Wichowsky surveyed how homeowners responded to various invitations to an upcoming housing fair. The survey found that letters appealing to a resident’s sense of place and community worked best, while traditional door-to-door canvassing did not yield strong results. The success of the first survey led HGNI to reach out to Wichowsky for
another one, this time to evaluate what types of businesses Harambee residents would like to see on the neighborhood’s major thoroughfare, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. In the meantime, she seeks opportunities to test new strategies to increase civic engagement and improve communities. “Let’s identify what’s working and let’s share that so we can build on that research,” Wichowsky says.
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the prism of patient care By Chris Jenkins
Translating biomedical research into real-world patient care takes a multifaceted partnership committed to collaboration
For a textbook example of how Marquette’s involvement in a regional collaboration of biomedical research institutions can provide a springboard to faculty members, meet Dr. Allison Hyngstrom. Hyngstrom, an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, has received training, mentoring and pilot-study funding through the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin. Those resources helped Hyngstrom become the principal investigator on a pair of six-figure grants she secured, with hopes of even bigger things to come. “CTSI has been wonderful, especially for me,” Hyngstrom says. “Because as a junior faculty member, funding now is very tight, very competitive. Marquette gave me tremendous resources when I arrived, but you still need grant money to go, and CTSI has really helped get me to where I needed to be.” Operating on a five-year $20 million National Institutes of Health grant, CTSI has brought together eight institutions — Marquette, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and the Zablocki VA Medical Center — with the goal of transforming the region’s biomedical research to advance patient care and education. That’s the essence of translational science: turning laboratory discoveries into something that can help real-world patients. Toward that end, CTSI has funded a wide variety of pilot studies, using an application process that not only encourages collaboration between researchers across multiple institutions but it requires researchers to work in cross-institutional teams to submit a grant proposal. “If you had the whole range of faculty available to you at all of these institutions, you might think differently about the kinds of projects you would try to do,” says Dr. Jeanne Hossenlopp, who serves as Marquette’s vice president for research and innovation. CTSI also has streamlined the review process for studies that involve human subjects, establishing a single institutional board review that has saved
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researchers hundreds of hours of redundant paperwork; previously, researchers working on cross-institutional teams would have their work reviewed separately by boards from each institution. And Hyngstrom is just one of several faculty members to go through training programs, seminars and mentorship programs funded and administered by CTSI. Hyngstrom was accepted into CTSI’s mentored career development award program, which provides mentoring and training to junior faculty members who want to pursue careers as independently funded clinical and translational investigators. “It allowed me to have a lighter service load in the department and focus a lot on research,” Hyngstrom says. “It was instrumental in giving me protected time to collect data and formulate hypotheses for two NIH grants that I got in the last year.”
week immersion program in the labs shared by Schmit and Hyngstrom. “For them to get a better understanding of research, the best place for them is to be immersed in our laboratories here,” Hyngstrom says. The fellows now return to campus one day per week to continue their research.
Partnering with the Medical College of Wisconsin, Marquette researchers can explore different questions, applying their research techniques to new groups of patients.
RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP When it comes to collaborative efforts at Marquette, it should come as no surprise that Hyngstrom and one of her mentors, Dr. Brian Schmit, are right in the middle of it. Hyngstrom and Schmit, a professor of biomedical engineering and co-director of Marquette’s Neurorehabilitation Engineering Research Center, are interested in research to help stroke victims. It was only natural for them to begin sharing their labs and other resources — so much so that her students often spend more time in his lab and vice versa. Through CTSI, their collaboration now extends to other institutions. In July 2014, Marquette welcomed a pair of fellows from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Drs. Karin Goodfriend and Erin McGonigle, who wanted a better grasp of research techniques that can be applied to stroke victims. Taking advantage of Marquette’s unique stroke research resources, Goodfriend and McGonigle spent a two-
Partnering with MCW allows Hyngstrom and Schmit to explore questions they couldn’t have tackled in the past by taking research techniques they’re already using and applying them to new groups of patients. Most of their previous work, using techniques such as brain imaging and the measurement of muscle force and control, has been done with chronic stroke patients who are no longer in the hospital. Having the MCW fellows gives them access to more recent stroke victims, a patient population they weren’t able to work with in the past.
“We want to help everyone, but that’s a gap in our current program here at Marquette because we don’t have the clinic here,” Hyngstrom says. “So this will give us access and broaden the scope of our research questions by giving us a window of opportunity in these more acute cases.” Goodfriend is focusing on a brain imaging study of recent stroke victims who experience spasticity, stiffness in their muscles. The fellowship has taught her how to navigate the aspects of research projects that can be unfamiliar, or even intimidating, to clinicians. “It’s been great to work with people who are so wellversed in how to do this. They have great ideas and have been tremendously helpful,” Goodfriend says. “It is definitely something I would have struggled with. I think that’s what holds up a lot of clinicians — taking all of this on while you’re trying to balance a clinical load, often times a full clinical load, and being intimidated by what it takes to design and launch a research project. To have the mentoring and the guidance has been very helpful.” Continued on page 24
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ctsi pilot grant awardees
In addition to the three pilot projects covered in our story, Marquette faculty from diverse disciplines are conducting CTSI-sponsored research with experts from across the region. Pilot studies listed here are from 2012–14, with 2015 awardees being announced in April.
• Family influences on Type 1 diabetes management in young children: Dr. Astrida Kaugars, psychology, Marquette University; Dr. Amy Heffelfinger, neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin; Dr. Bethany Auble, pediatrics, MCW/Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin • Using new imaging technology to study changes in tissue structure after spinal cord injury: Dr. Tugan Muftuler, neurosurgery, MCW; Dr. Brian Schmit, biomedical engineering, MU; Dr. Shekar Kurpad, neurosurgery, MCW/Zablocki VA Medical Center
100 Marquette faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students are CTSI members.
• Identifying potential markers of future Alzheimer’s disease in middle age patients: Dr. Kristy Nielson, psychology, Dr. April Harkins, clinical laboratory science, and Dr. Anthony Porcelli, psychology, MU; Drs. Thomas Prieto and Thomas Chelimsky, neurology, MCW • Assessment of acute lung injury to develop clinical means for early detection: Dr. Said Audi, biomedical engineering, and Dr. Anne Clough, mathematics, statistics and computer science, MU; Drs. Daniel Beard and Brian Carlson, physiology, MCW
• Assessment of coupling between mass neural activity and the hemodynamic response on humans: Dr. Scott Beardsley, biomedical engineering, MU; Dr. Einat Liebenthal, neurology, MCW • Inflammatory markers, physical fitness and pain in children: Dr. Marie Hoeger Bement, Dr. Paula Papanek, Stacy Stolzman, physical therapy, and Dr. April Harkins, clinical laboratory science, MU; Dr. Amy Drendel, pediatrics, and Dr. Steve Weisman, anesthesiology, MCW/CHW • A novel target for the treatment of schizophrenia: Dr. M. Behnam Ghasemzadeh, biomedical sciences, and Dr. Dan Sem, chemistry, MU; Dr. Joe McGraw, School of Pharmacy, Concordia; Dr. Kambiz Pahlavan, Psychology, Rogers Memorial Hospital • Changes in body mass index and intestinal microbiota with prebiotics, probiotics and synbiotics: Dr. Marilyn Frenn, nursing, MU; Dr. Nita Salzman, gastroenterology, and Dr. Pippa Simpson, pedatrics, MCW/CHW • Role of tactile sensation on hand motor control and functional recovery after stroke: Dr. Na Jin Seo, engineering, and Dr. Wendy Huddleston, kinesiology, UWM; Drs. Brian Schmidt and Michelle Johnson, biomedical engineering, MU; Dr. Guenaddy Tchekanov, physical medicine and rehabilitation, MCW • Bridging the gap between patient perception of quality and the engineering performance of assistive lower limb devices: Drs. Joseph Schimmels and Philip Voglewede, mechanical engineering, Dr. Stephen Guastello, psychology, and Jessica Fritz, biomedical engineering, MU; Dr. David Del Toro, physical medicine and rehabilitation, MCW
ctsi
has brought together eight institutions
—
Marquette, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and the Zablocki VA Medical Center —
with the goal of transforming biomedical research in the region to advance patient care and education. That’s the essence of translational science: turning laboratory discoveries into something that can help real-world patients.
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Marquette already did brain imaging on long-term stroke patients, but Schmit believes imaging might be useful in predicting patients’ recovery outcomes early in their treatment process. Goodfriend’s work gives Marquette the ability to study recent stroke victims and follow their long-term outcomes. “All the pieces come together,” Schmit says. “And, together, we’re bigger than the sum of our parts.” Meanwhile, McGonigle is partnering with a student in Hyngstrom’s lab on a study of how well stroke victims can predict how much muscle force they’re using; one common problem among stroke victims is that they can turn muscles on and off but struggle to control the amount of force they’re using. Along the way, McGonigle is learning how to use new software, analyze basic data and design experiments.
Marquette plans to continue the CTSI-sponsored program with two new fellows in the next academic year. And these connections are beginning to build an even bigger idea: What if Marquette and MCW partnered to establish a center that, in time, became the place to go for stroke survivors to receive treatment and rehabilitation? Schmit credits the idea to Dr. David Harder, an associate dean for research mentoring at MCW who became more familiar with Marquette’s strokerelated research through his role as CTSI’s director for mentoring. “He said, ‘We have something potentially important here where we could have a big impact clinically,’ ” Schmit says. “There was strength in both areas. He felt we should really bring this together and we could become a center of excellence in the region and in the country.”
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CTSI’s impact also can be seen in the work of Dr. Paul Gasser, an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Health Sciences whose research focuses on how humans respond to stress — including post-traumatic stress disorder. Only about 10 percent of people who are exposed to a traumatic event end up developing PTSD. The intensity of the event has an impact, but could brain chemistry make a difference as well? “We’re interested in trying to identify what makes some individuals resilient, and some susceptible, to developing PTSD,” Gasser says.
“All the pieces come together. And together, we’re bigger than the sum of our parts.”
“The goal is to give her some sustainable skills that you need as a researcher — she’s going to be a research clinician — that she can take with her when she goes to her permanent position,” Hyngstrom says.
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TOOLS TO UNLOCK PTSD
In previous research at Marquette, Gasser studied how animals respond to stress, gathering data that suggests animals with naturally occurring high levels of the stress hormone corticosterone — the equivalent to cortisol in humans — may be more resilient to PTSD, while animals with naturally occurring low levels of corticosterone are more susceptible. But why do some animals, or humans, have naturally higher levels of that stress hormone than others? And does their stress hormone level determine how they’ll respond to drugs that may be able to help PTSD victims? To take the next step, Gasser needed help. He and fellow Marquette biomedical sciences professor Dr. Linda Vaughn are collaborating with Dr. Cecilia Hillard of MCW on a CTSI-funded pilot study. Hillard is an expert on endocannabinoids, neurochemicals in the brain that regulate a wide variety of physiological responses, including those evoked in stressful or emotional situations. “Dr. Hillard is, arguably, one of the world’s experts on the cannabinoid system,” Gasser says. “She gets requests for collaboration from all over the world. But we’re right here in the same town, we have common interests, so it just made sense.” The study includes a pair of experiments: first, an examination of animals with high and low levels
of stress hormone to see if there are any baseline differences in their endocannabinoid systems. That will be followed by an examination of whether drugs that have shown promising but inconsistent results when used to treat PTSD in humans might be more effective for one of the two groups. Though CTSI pilot grants aren’t particularly large — $50,000 for one year — that funding was critical to keep Gasser’s research going. “This is the only funding we have for this work,” he says. “This is what did it. And that’s one of the goals of this whole system, to get small grants so you can start building new stories.” Given the already close working relationship between neuroscience researchers at Marquette, MCW and UW–Milwaukee, Gasser can envision even more partnerships forming in the future. “Because there’s a good, and growing, neuroscience core in these three institutions, it really has made sense for us to do that,” Gasser says. “I think we’re ready to run with that. The community is pretty strong already.” COMMUNITY IMPACT As a professor in Marquette’s Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Dr. Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed doesn’t always work directly with people in the community who need help. Through CTSI, Ahamed has had the chance to work on a pair of projects that directly impact the community. Working in a CTSI partnership, Ahamed developed an iPad app to help with a brain imaging study of children with autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Robert Scheidt, a professor of biomedical engineering at Marquette, is principal investigator on the project. Co-investigators include Dr. Amy Van Hecke, an associate professor of psychology at Marquette; Dr. Norah Johnson, an assistant professor in Marquette’s College of Nursing; and Dr. Jinsung Wang, an associate professor in UW–Milwaukee’s College of Health Sciences. Another CTSI-funded group paired Ahamed with researchers from MCW, the VA and a peer support group for veterans called Dryhootch of America to develop a mobile phone app to help monitor potentially risky behavior displayed by veterans.
One example: If social isolation is considered a risk factor, a veteran’s support network could be notified if he doesn’t leave his home for an extended period of time. “I’m so happy that I’m doing something for real people that has an impact,” Ahamed says. As CTSI begins formulating its application for a renewal of the NIH grant that led to its creation — program administrators have been working on strategic planning for the past year and were scheduled to reapply in early 2015 — expect community impact to become an even bigger focus. “In the next iteration, there’s a much stronger sense of integrating the community into all aspects of the work of CTSI,” Hossenlopp says. “I think we can make a great contribution, just given the nature of our mission here at Marquette.” Marquette already has been transformed by CTSI funding, including a new graduate program in clinical and translational rehabilitation in the College of Health Sciences. But extending partnerships with other local institutions might mean even bigger collaborations in the future. The group also will try to form stronger bonds with other regional CTSI centers. “NIH is viewing us as one hub that will connect with a group in Madison or the group in Minnesota,” Hossenlopp says. “We will be looking at, how do you share expertise nationally?” Going forward, Hossenlopp thinks the CTSI partnerships fit perfectly with Marquette’s mission — and are a good example of President Michael R. Lovell’s broad vision of forming local partnerships that benefit the community. “We are training our students to make that impact on the world and to choose pathways once they move on in their careers that will allow them to continue to make an impact,” Hossenlopp says. “This is research in action, one of the key themes of our strategic plan. We also know that any time you’re doing this type of research, there are ethical questions. The societal impact really needs to be looked at carefully. I know that Marquette will play an even stronger role as we move forward into exploring these broader issues.”
Learn more about the Clinical and Translational Science Institute: ctsi.mcw.edu. the prism of patient care
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research in brief
Exclusive circle: Scholar joins European academy Dr. Ulrich Lehner received a letter last fall that caused
coexistence among religions. “I talked with the dean
him to whisper, “Oh, my.” The letter notified the assistant
of my class, who is at the forefront of the Christian
professor of theology he was nominated to join the
pacifist movement in Europe, and he said we want
European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
your expertise especially on Catholicism and modernity,
Lehner attended a ceremony in Salzburg, Austria, as one of seven inductees to the academy’s world religions class and is listed on its roster of 1,200 scholars, a membership that includes 25 Nobel Prize winners. “I was deeply honored,” says Lehner. The director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Theology was recognized for his research of the Enlightenment and Catholicism. “The challenge now is to live up to the expectations.” The academy was founded in 1990 to build a “knowledge pool” of European scholars who bring the insights of their disciplines to bear on critical questions affecting Europe. In the 1990s, the academy expanded to fold in scholars worldwide who have European roots — Lehner is German and joined Marquette’s faculty in 2006 — or who work at universities with strong ties to European universities. One of the major tasks of the world religions class, according to Lehner, is to foster dialogue and peaceful
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on important questions such as ecumenism, tolerance and world religions,” Lehner says. “I would like to contribute to the discussion to what extent Catholicism and modernity are compatible because there are some theologians who think you cannot be Catholic and embrace major areas of modern thought. I believe that is not the case. You have to be in dialogue with modern philosophies and worldviews so you can communicate your faith tradition in ways that are relevant to a modern audience.” Having specialized in the study of religious history and historical theology from the late 15th to the early 19th century, Lehner has significant experience exploring how Catholicism responded to the emergence of modern thought. In fact, it’s ground he covers thoroughly in his forthcoming book, The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement, to be published in 2015. JONI MOTHS MUELLER
QUALITY MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN A TIME OF PHYSICIAN SHORTAGES With a physician shortage looming — in part because of the Affordable Care Act and more people having greater access to health care — the role of nonphysician health care providers is more important than ever. But according to Dr. Abiola Keller, director of clinical research in the Physician Assistant Studies Department in the College of Health Sciences, it’s equally important that these providers are able to address not just the physical needs of their patients, but the mental and emotional needs as well.
The two-year grant will allow her to study how nonphysician providers manage patient depression, specifically examining if there are differences in care based on a patient’s race or ethnicity. “We intuitively think that, yes, nonphysician providers are giving equal care when it comes to mental health, but we don’t have the research evidence to back that up,” Keller says. “It’s also important to look for any disparities and ensure equity in care. Ultimately, the research will help us move forward with designing primary care teams that effectively use non-physician providers to improve accessibility to depression services while maintaining high-quality and equitable care.” JESSE LEE
research in brief
Dr. Abiola Keller
The grant was awarded as part of the New Connections program, which, according to the foundation, is designed to “expand the diversity of perspectives that inform the foundation’s programming.” Keller is among a select group of emerging scholars who were chosen to receive similar awards.
RESEARCHER
"...having insurance and having access to high-quality health care aren’t the same thing. We need providers who can give that complete level of care.”
Keller recently received a $100,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading philanthropic group concerned with building a “culture of health in America.”
Director of Clinical Research, Physician Assistant Studies
“Even before the Affordable Care Act, we knew there wouldn’t be enough physicians in the places of greatest need to keep pace with demand,” she says. “But having insurance and having access to high-quality health care aren’t the same thing. We need providers who can give that complete level of care.”
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FINDING THE PATHWAY THAT LEADS BACK TO DRUG RELAPSE “There’s no FDA-approved medication to combat addiction,” says Dr. John Mantsch, professor and chair of the Biomedical Sciences Department. “Despite the huge impact addiction has on society, there’s little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to enter that space. That’s why government-funded academic research is our main hope.” Mantsch received a $2.6 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health — its highest funded grant — to examine stress-induced relapse in cocaine addiction. His hope: to better understand the motivation behind drug-seeking behavior and underlying changes in brain function. “There are fundamental gaps in understanding the neurobiological processes that promote drug relapse, which we aim to address,” he says. Mantsch and his team will study how the activation of endocannabinoid receptors, molecules that become highly activated during stress, can regulate the brain’s reward system to trigger drug use. Specifically, they’ll look at how these molecules control neural circuits that lead to relapse in cocaine use, focusing on the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that is critical to higher-order cognitive functions including decision-making. Though the aim of this particular study is to understand cocaine addiction and relapse, Mantsch thinks the research can be applied to other issues, like schizophrenia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. “We have to define the mechanisms through which stress alters the brain’s motivation and reward system,” he says. “By doing that, we’ll be in a position to better understand the wide range of neuropsychiatric diseases in which this same system is altered.” JESSE LEE
First to explore a fiction giant's final false starts The papers of renowned science fiction writer Octavia Butler were sent to the Huntington Library in California after her death in 2006, but they were unavailable to scholars until 2013. By luck, Dr. Gerry Canavan, assistant professor of English, was one of the first researchers to access them. What he found were dozens of false starts for what was to be Butler’s third narrative in her Parables series. According to Canavan, she was frustrated by writer’s block and blood pressure medication she believed inhibited her creativity. The long-awaited novel was never completed.
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“Butler was no utopian; in fact, she rejected utopian thinking in the strongest possible terms. She believed evolution had made humans clever but mean, creative but selfish, and short-sighted,” Canavan observes. “The unfinished Parables sequels would have been Butler’s chance to imagine that we might find some way to be better human beings out there than our bad history has ever allowed us to be here.” Canavan has published two articles on this research in the Los Angeles Review of Books. He plans to return to the Huntington this year to continue work on a book for the University of Illinois Press about the writer he calls “one of the most influential” in recent decades and “a personal favorite of mine.” SARAH PAINTER KOZIOL
RESEARCHER
Dr. Marta Magiera
Associate Professor, Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
fpo
A major grant aims to help teachers understand, and leverage, how children think and talk about math Interpreting and responding to students’ mathematical arguments is a critical element of mathematics teachers’ work. Dr. Marta Magiera, a nationally recognized researcher of mathematics education, is seeking ways to improve the education of future middle school teachers, helping prospective teachers become proficient in understanding how students share mathematical ideas. “Mathematics teachers need to know the mathematics they teach, but they also have to be able to make sense of mathematics expressed by their students,” she says. That idea garnered Magiera, associate professor of mathematics, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the most prestigious recognition for junior faculty members in fields supported by the NSF. The award provides research funding for faculty who exemplify their organization’s mission by integrating education and research. Supported by $792,000 in NSF funding, Magiera’s five-year project will study how to best enhance prospective teachers’ understanding of mathematical argumentation in elementary and middle school mathematics.
More specifically, her research will examine prospective teachers’ abilities to formulate mathematical arguments; analyze and critique mathematical arguments constructed by elementary and middle school students; and recognize situations that have the potential to engage K–8 students in formulating and critiquing mathematical arguments. Understanding these factors will allow mathematics teacher-educators to create richer learning experiences for prospective teachers and enhance their preparation for making mathematical argumentation an integral aspect of K–8 mathematics instruction. “Research shows middle school mathematics is a critical time for students to engage and gain proficiency in constructing mathematic arguments and justifications,” Magiera says. Once completed, she will present her research at conferences, in journal articles, and on a website where classroom activities and other relevant materials will be available to college professors to use as they instruct future teachers. WYATT MASSEY, ARTS ’16
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Shared Instagram photos such as these can help strengthen intergenerational ties, according to Turner’s research.
Instagrammy: How grandparents and grandchildren can connect through social media Can social media bring digital natives and older generations closer together?
this conference also gave Turner the opportunity to chat in person with Ely, who lives in Berkeley, Calif.
That’s the topic of Dr. Lynn Turner’s new family communication research, which is informed by her relationship with her two grandchildren on Instagram.
Naturally, their conversation stemmed from a shared experience — something Ely posted on Instagram.
Turner’s thesis is that by being connected with her teen grandchildren on Instagram, they discover tidbits about each other that spur conversations and enrich their longdistance relationships. Social media makes this possible where it otherwise might not exist because they live in different parts of the country. “Instagram reminds me of when I listened to my kids in the back seat when I drove them around,” Turner says. “I liked listening to them conduct their business.” Turner, who has written extensively on family relationships, is a professor of communication studies. She and her co-author, Dr. Richard West from Emerson College, were honored with the National Communication Association’s 2014 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship for Distinguished Service in Family Communication. Her new paper on Instagram — which was co-authored by her grandchildren Sophie and Ely — was presented to the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender in San Francisco in October 2014. Traveling to
View Marquette’s Instagram account: instagram.com/marquetteu.
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“Ely’s teacher had told him to post something about a class activity on feminism,” Turner says. “Then we had an offline conversation about that for an extended period of time. We probably wouldn’t have had that talk if it wasn’t for Instagram.” In an interview via text message — he is a digital native, after all — Ely echoed his grandmother’s sentiment. “For kids and the average person looking to share their life experiences, a photo is simple and all you really need,” he writes. Turner says much of what gets posted on social media, like selfies and food photos, may seem trivial, but according to the communication theory that Turner studies, these small things become a kind of social lubricant. This social lubricant paves the way for ongoing interactions that build bonds between people. It establishes the climate of relationships. “The stuff we are tempted to dismiss as trivial,” Turner says, “is really what’s the most important thing.” TIM CIGELSKE
Local activists, outside influences and impacts In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency held a public hearing in St. Louis to gather feedback on proposed changes to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for lead. At this hearing, the administrator acknowledged the influence that activities in the small Missouri town of Herculaneum had on this significant change to national environmental policy about lead. Dr. Jill Birren, professor of education, examined two perspectives of resident activist groups involved in Herculaneum’s lead controversy in her research paper “Public Understanding of Local Lead Contamination,” which appeared in the September 2013 issue of Public Understanding of Science. Birren used storyline analysis and ethnographic data collection to track the evolving, divisive views of the resident activist groups — one contingent concerned about the health impacts of lead contamination and another focused on the economic and social implications of lead regulation on the community. Birren noted that their views were influenced by outside voices, such as representatives of the regulatory agency and environmental activists. Her research served not only to bookmark a community’s knowledge of lead contamination, but it also ultimately captured how that knowledge is framed by the sources that surround it. Birren approaches science education with a “deep interest in justice” and says there are two things she found “irresistible” about the Herculaneum research: “the opportunity to consider, first, how citizens come to know science to defend the health and well-being of their families and, second, the processes through which such community efforts influence wide-ranging management.” ANN CHRISTENSON
Virtually eas ing pre-clin ic stress in children with asd Parents preparing their child for a medical exam or procedure face a difficult verbal task. What if talking only increases the anxiety, as often occurs with children with autism spectrum disorder? Dr. Norah Johnson, assistant professor of nursing, has devoted her research to mitigating the stress in children with ASD. Johnson has published four iPad apps that use Social Stories™ — resources developed by Carol Gray, director of Michigan’s Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding — to better prepare children with ASD for what they will experience in a medical setting. The stories present a situation and offer cues for responding appropriately. “The pictures help foreshadow what will happen,” says Johnson. The iPad’s visual and multimedia capabilities are particularly helpful for facilitating the social story format, says Johnson, who worked with Marquette’s Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science to adapt the stories for the iPad. Touch-enabled tablets are seen as promising communication tools for children with ASD. Johnson’s recent research involves a flashcard app that parents can customize to suit their child. Following that lead, the nursing professor is also part of a larger pilot study — led by Marquette biomedical engineering professor Dr. Robert Scheidt — quantifying differences between children with high-functioning autism and children with normally functioning brains. The study is expected to help develop therapies to reduce challenging behaviors in children with ASD. ANN CHRISTENSON
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Marketing
Nursing
Since he was last covered in Discover 2013, Dr. Craig Andrews, professor and Charles H. Kellstadt Chair in Marketing and recipient of the 2013– 14 Way Klingler Fellowship Sabbatical award, spent a year as a senior scholar and social scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C. At the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, he served on the evaluation team for the $115 million “The Real Cost” Campaign, which focused on tobacco prevention and cessation among at-risk youth in the United States.
Drs. Marianne Weiss, Kathleen Bobay and Ronda Hughes, associate professors of nursing, received an award from the American Nurse Credentialing Center for their “Readiness Evaluation and Discharge Interventions” project. This multisite study will determine how a standard discharge readiness assessment by a registered nurse impacts postdischarge outcomes. The team will also determine the costs of implementing these assessments as a standard nursing practice for adult medical-surgical patients discharged to home.
Andrews also presented the “Effects of Plain Package Branding and Graphic Visual Health Warnings on Adolescent Smokers in the U.S. and the European Union” at the Marketing and Public Policy Conference in Boston. Findings show that more graphic cigarette health warnings result in increased thoughts of quitting in adolescent smokers in the United States, France and Spain, whereas plain pack and graphicness impact shorter-term measures such as craving and fear/emotion. Andrews’ work with colleagues on nutrition claims, graphic tobacco health warnings, and public health issues has appeared this past year in the Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, among others. His FDA experiences and research have benefited his students and a recent textbook on integrated marketing communications.
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Here is what faculty have been up to since being featured in previous issues of Discover.
updates
Problems with hospital discharges are well-documented, according to Weiss, who, along with Bobay, was last covered in Discover 2012. Perceived inadequacies in discharge planning, teaching and coordination are associated with a greater likelihood of post-discharge problems, emergency room use and readmission. Most readmissions within 30 days are viewed as preventable, and hospitals no longer receive reimbursement for many of their readmissions. Reducing readmission rates has been central to health care improvement and reform efforts. “We have 34 Magnet-designated hospitals from the United States and abroad participating in the study, which provides these hospitals with an opportunity to engage their professional nursing staff in research about an important component of everyday hospital nursing practice, the discharge process,” Weiss says. “Hospitals will gain valuable information about the contributions nurses can make to patient outcomes after discharge and reduce avoidable expenses incurred when patients are readmitted.”
Biomedical Engineering Dr. Gerald Harris, P.E., professor of biomedical engineering, and his co-investigator, Dr. Peter Smith of Chicago’s Shriners Hospital for Children, received $500,000 in funding from the National Institutes of Health as part of a $6.25 million grant awarded to the Brittle Bone Disorders Consortium of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network. This fiveyear, multicenter initiative will focus on understanding and providing better therapeutic options for brittle bone disorder, also known as osteogenesis imperfecta, a congenital disorder that results in fragile bones that break easily and an array of associated nonskeletal symptoms including dental, respiratory and cardiac conditions. The consortium comprises eight sites in the United States and Canada and involves two clinical projects. Harris, last covered in Discover 2013 for his efforts to improve the quality of life for children with OI, will be involved in the study focused on correlating genotype to phenotype; the natural history of vertebral fractures in OI type I; pregnancy in OI; and scoliosis and craniofacial/dental features in severe OI. He will contribute to mobility assessments of participating children living with the disorder. Harris and Smith will also be involved in training graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
Marquette Bookshelf The Presidential Leadership Dilemma: Between the Constitution and a Political Party by Dr. Julia Azari, assistant professor of political science, examines how the president balances the competing demands of leading his political party while leading the nation. Contradictions by Dr. Bonnie Brennen, Neiman Professor of Journalism, is a novel that begins in 1938 Berlin and flashes forward to 1980, when Rachel, a young Jewish woman and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, is hired as the first female assistant professor of American history at a prominent university. Preventing Adolescent Depression and Suicide among Latinas: Resilience Research and Theory by Dr. Lisa Edwards, associate professor of counselor education and counseling psychology, offers a concise summary of contemporary research on the trend that Latina girls have a documented higher rate of depression and suicide ideation compared with other ethnic and gender groups. An Introduction to Ethics by Dr. Kevin Gibson, associate professor of philosophy and interim dean of the Graduate School, provides readers with the critical questions needed to be considered in decision-making. The book enhances a reader’s ability to form arguments and conclusions to develop a coherent ethical view of his or her own.
Afro-Cuban Theatre of the Diaspora: Critical Essays edited by Dr. Armando GonzálezPérez, professor of Spanish, contains 11 essays written by highly regarded critics focusing on the work of several Cuban playwrights in exile. Each essay examines the subject of blackness with sensitivity and analysis. Connecting Jesus to Social Justice: Classical Christology and Public Theology by Rev. Thomas Hughson, S.J., associate professor emeritus of theology, challenges public theology to reforge the link between social charity and social justice in the minds and hearts of Catholics, addressing the collaboration of politics and religion affecting social injustices. An Exposition of Genesis by Dr. Mickey Mattox, associate professor of theology, presents Iohannes Oecolampadius’ lectures from the early days of the Protestant Reformation, which were delivered just months before his untimely death. Heavenly Priesthood in the Apocalypse of Abraham by Dr. Andrei Orlov, professor of theology, examines the Apocalypse of Abraham, a vital source for understanding Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism. Written anonymously soon after the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple, the text envisions heaven as the true place of worship and depicts Abraham as an initiate of celestial priesthood.
Wenn sie das Wort Ich gebraucht: Festschrift für Barbara BeckerCantarino edited by Dr. John Pustejovsky, associate professor of German, comprises original essays celebrating Barbara BeckerCantarino, whose prolific publications on German literary culture from 1600 to the 20th century are major milestones in the field of German cultural studies. Environmental Justice and Climate Change: Assessing Pope Benedict XVI’s Ecological Vision for the Catholic Church in the United States by Dr. Jame Schaefer, associate professor of theology, takes a closer look at the papacy of Pope Benedict, often called the “green pope” for his ecological commitments in his writings, statements and practical initiatives. Understanding the Modern Russian Police by Dr. Olga Semukhina, assistant professor of social and cultural sciences, represents the culmination of 10 years of research and provides a timely and comprehensive analysis of the historical development, functions and contemporary challenges faced by the modern Russian police.
Interested in more books?
Check out all the offerings written and edited by Marquette faculty at marquette.edu/research/books.
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