SoundBites newsletter December 2015

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President: Tuajuanda C. Jordan, PhD

Solomon Seahawk December 2015

A newsletter for the community, faculty, staff and students.

Solomon Seahawk has pep in his step and slip in his slide. He entertains fans and players alike at varsity home contests. Did you ever wonder who was in the suit? It’s Nolan Wood, a sophomore from Leonardtown High School. Monica Vega, digital media and marketing coordinator for SMCM Athletics, conducted this interview with Nolan on being the big bird.

1. What size are your feet (meaning Solomon’s feet)?

Solomon’s feet are probably around size 30. Although they are so big they are surprisingly comfy. After being Solomon for over a year now, wearing huge bird feet doesn’t bother me anymore, but at first I kept knocking into everything I walked past. The big feet to me really complete the costume.

Solomon. Dancing is also fun, although my moves need some work.

5. How can Solomon’s skills apply to other jobs or the outside world in general?

Being Solomon the Seahawk has made me more outgoing as a person. This helps me in my social life and in dealing with people in general.

2. Do you have any advice for someone who would like to be the mascot?

6. How many pictures do you take on game day with fans?

My advice for anyone wanting to be a mascot is that you can’t be shy, or scared to joke around and have a good time.

You have to act like everyone is your best friend. Other mascot skills you need are, dancing, being able to communicate with your hands, and a funny walk.

I usually take my picture with approximately five families a game, and usually somebody wants me to pose for a picture by the court. Taking pictures with people is fun because they get to keep that memory forever, and I’m glad to be a part of that.

3. How does it feel to have everyone watching you?

7. How is it to be friendly and cheer with people you don’t really know?

I don’t mind everyone watching me, because I am wearing a giant costume.

Nobody knows who I am when I am dancing at half court or giving them a hug or a high five after a Seahawk win. With nobody knowing my identity, everybody watching me doesn’t bother me and can make being a mascot that much more fun.

It is pretty fun; you get to interact with hundreds of people each game. That is something that nobody else gets to experience.

4. What is your favorite thing to do as Solomon?

When a team calls a full timeout, I run across half court and slide on my knees.

This by far is the best thing to do as

CLINT SMITH, spoken word artist, captivated his audience on Friday afternoon, November 20, as part of the College’s 175th Anniversary celebration. A 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and two-time TED Talk speaker, Smith’s recorded talks have had more than 2 million views since 2014.

St. Mary’s Concludes 175th Anniversary Celebration with a Bang!

“St. Mary’s College of Maryland is the perfect place to show the country how our community can come together... it is about inclusion. At the end of the day, it is really what WE did. That’s the St. Mary’s Way.” –President Jordan, cutting the celebratory cake on November 20 with President Emeritus Ted Lewis, who was honored in a separate ceremony that evening.

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News, Student and Faculty accomplishments: www.smcm.edu/news Campus Events Calendar: www.smcm.edu/events/calendar 240.895.2000 | www.smcm.edu | SoundBites is produced by the Office of Marketing, Strategic Communications and Web Services at St. Mary’s College of Maryland Design by Rhonda Strong | Photography by Bill Wood

Lunchtime festivities marked the culmination of the College’s 175th year anniversary celebrations. The evening wrapped up, in true St. Mary’s fashion, at the waterfront, with fireworks!

F a c ulty Res earc h S po t l i g h t :

Kevin Emerson

DNA Sequencing Shows Divergent Genomes in Malaria Vectors of Brazilian Rainforest Researcher cites understanding mosquitoes’ biodiversity as key in preventing disease transmission.

The Amazon rainforest occupies more than 2 million square miles (5.5 million square kilometers) in South America, 60% of it in Brazil. Far from being homogeneous, this vast region contains rivers and mountain ranges that foster biodiversity. Scientists are currently studying whether these natural barriers affect genomic diversity in Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) darlingi Root, the primary malaria vector in this area.

Emerson

A new study by Kevin J. Emerson, assistant professor of biology and his international group of collaborators, assessed the extent to which geographical barriers affected genetic variation among Anopheles darlingi populations. Such barriers may greatly influence the approaches used by scientists and physicians to control the spread of malaria throughout Brazil.

Until recently, research on malaria and the vectors for its transmission primarily targeted sub-Saharan Africa: For example, the genome of primary African vector, Anopheles gambiae, was sequenced in 2001, while that of Anopheles darlingi (a species in the Neotropics or “New World tropics” – mainly South and Central America) was finally sequenced more than a decade later, in 2014. Over the past decade, advances in DNA sequencing technologies have enabled genetics researchers to expand their focus from a few so-called “model organisms” to many organisms of interest.

the divergent genetic clusters may be well-separated species, the authors proposed that the West Atlantic cluster represents Anopheles paulistensis. This possibility would support species-level differentiation between the Atlantic Forest (Southeast) and Parana Forest (West Atlantic) clusters.

Phenotypic differences between these populations are too minor to be noticed by a classical taxonomist. “There has been some small discussion, based on wing shape, that these might be different species, but the evidence hasn’t been very strong,” said Emerson. But genome sequencing provides good supporting evidence for divergence. The same is true in Africa: “In Anopheles gambiae ... the species are identified genetically. You can’t identify the different forms without knowing the genes. So that may be happening with the vector in the Neotropics as well.”

The genetic divergence of these three Brazilian clusters probably reflects ecological selection pressures as well as historical biogeographical processes that influenced contact and separation of these populations.

Drawing on his experience in evolutionary genetics, Emerson (with colleagues in Albany, NY, Eugene, OR, and São Paulo, Brazil) analyzed genomic DNA from 57 mosquitoes – pupae/larvae or adults collected from multiple habitats in each region to lower the risk of obtaining related individuals. Working at remote field sites in Amazonian Brazil, collectors placed specimens in tubes with desiccant to dry them as quickly as possible. DNA is stable in the tubes for up to a couple weeks, enough time to return to the university, preserve the specimens in alcohol, and eventually isolate their DNA.

But beyond their immediate observations and proposals regarding mosquito speciation, the findings of Emerson and his colleagues may contribute significantly to disease control: “When you’re interested in disease transmission among humans, most of the research effort is put into understanding the disease as it exists in humans,” said Emerson. “But one of the primary ways that the spread of these diseases has ever been controlled is by controlling the vectors of the disease, rather than controlling the disease after humans become infected.” Although malaria is a human disease, it is caused by a parasite (of the genus Plasmodium) that is transmitted among humans by mosquitoes. Understanding the biology of the vector mosquito, and its interaction with the malaria parasite, may lead to control strategies.

The DNA content of these mosquitoes was then determined at 11,533 positions in their genomes, using a new genotyping technique (NextRAD genotyping) that can determine the specific DNA sequence for each individual at each position. Analysis of the genetic diversity among these individuals showed there were three distinct genetic clusters of individuals (populations) that were geographically isolated – mosquitoes in the Atlantic Forest province (Southeast), the Parana Forest province (West Atlantic forest), and the Brazilian dominion (Amazonian). After weighing their own evidence, and that of others, that

“If you think about malaria, we spend a lot of money and effort every year looking for drugs or vaccines, and they work a little bit. But the best way to prevent malaria transmission is sleeping under a bednet and reducing the occurrence of standing water that mosquitoes use to lay their eggs. That just shows how understanding the biology of the vector itself is critical in controlling disease transmission,” noted Emerson. “The most effective disease controls have been at the level of the vector, and part of that is knowing what the vector is.”

What’s Happening in Sports Men’s and women’s swimming will wrap up the 2015 portion of their schedule on December 5-6 at the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Randolph-Macon College.

Ethics Bowl Team Qualifies for Nationals The St. Mary’s Ethics Bowl team finished 4th place in Clemson, SC on November 14, out of 18 teams -- ahead of teams from Univ. of Maryland, UMBC, Georgetown, UNC-Chapel Hill, and home team Clemson, among others. The finish qualifies the team for the national competition, to be held in Reston, Virginia on February 21, 2016. From left to right, Viveka Advani, Matt Flyr, Robert Bishop, Stern Christian, and Lauren Therriault.

Sensational Staff Staff Senate’s Fall Celebration was Sweet!

On November 12, the Staff Senate’s Social Connections Committee put on a fall celebration for staff. Not only were there fabulous food items, all donated by staff, there was a photo booth, “I’m thankful for” turkeys, games, and a prize to the winner who could most accurately count the candy corn in the jug (that prize won by Josephine Gordon, who guessed 660 and was closest to the actual 638). Well done, senators!

Kudos to...

The Mid-Atlantic Association of College and University Housing Officers (MACUHO), recently recognized Joanne Goldwater (assoGoldwater ciate dean of students) by naming an award in her honor. The “Joanne Goldwater Distinguished Senior Level Professional Award” was presented at the MACUHO 2015 annual conference on October 29 at Penn State University.

Christine Adams (professor of history) recently published her book, “Female Beauty Systems: Beauty as Social Capital in Western Europe and the United States, Middle Ages to the Present” (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015).

She co-edited the book with her sister, Tracy Adams. Jennifer Cognard-Black, professor of English, and Gail Savage, professor of history, were also Adams contributors.

Student María Mateo ‘17 has been working on translations into Spanish of Dan Vera’s poetry. Dan Vera is the recipient of the 2012 Letras Latinas Red Hen Press Poetry Prize. Two of his poems will appear in Zozobra Publishing’s bilingual anthology of DC Latin Mateo poetry. Mateo’s translation work has been accepted, and she will appear as the translator in that anthology for Dan’s poetry. The anthology will be published in December and launched at the Gala theater on January 16.

In November, St. Mary’s College was the site for the fall 2015 meeting of the Mathematical Association of America’s Maryland-District of Columbia-Virginia Section. Over 100 mathematicians gathered to discuss math, math teaching, and to Moon collaborate and socialize about mathematics. Heather Moon (assistant professor of mathematics) is vice program chair of the section.

Arvind Srinivasan ’17 and Chuck Adler (professor of physics) have each won prizes for presentations they gave at recent physics conferences. Srinivasan received the second place award for undergraduate and graduate students for his presentation titled “An Atom Interferometer Magnetic Gradiometer” at the 2015 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Section of the American Physical Society in Blacksburg, VA. He described research that he is pursuing in the laboratory of Dr. Frank Narducci of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

Adler presented “A Simple Inexpensive Timeof-Flight Srinivasan Adler Speed of Light Measurement” at the Fall 2015 meeting of the Chesapeake Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. He received the award for best demonstration at the meeting, which was hosted by St. Mary’s College of Maryland on October 24.