Arts & Sciences Fall 2015

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U N I V E R S I T Y O F MIA MI

engaging the world

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A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW A&S ALUMNI, FACULTY, AND STUDENTS ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN GLOBAL HEALTH

2015

DEAN’SMESSAGE At the core of a major financial and cultural hub connecting the Americas, Europe, and Africa, the University of Miami provides a unique environment in which to study problems facing humanity today. Through its multiple missions of teaching, research, and service, students and faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences participate in a wide range of international field experiences that generate solutions to the world’s most pressing problems in global health, environmental change, and economic/human development.

LEONIDAS G. BACHAS Dean of the UM College of Arts & Sciences

MAKE A DIFFERENCE Your gift to the College of Arts & Sciences helps us support student scholarships and retain leading faculty. Visit www.as.miami.edu/donate/ or scan this QR code with your smartphone to find out how your contribution can make a difference.

This fall issue focuses on the significant achievements and research initiatives of our alumni, faculty, and students as they help local communities address the many challenges they face brought about by global transformations.

In Ecuador, for example, a group of faculty and students have teamed up to help in the fight to eradicate dengue fever; they created GIS data and maps that enable strategies to eliminate adult dengue mosquitos from urban and remote areas of the country.

Our Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Michiko Kitayama Skinner, who grew up in Japan and was affected by the devastating tsunami that hit the country in March 2011, interviewed survivors of that natural disaster. In collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, she entwined their stories to create a play, “Tsunami,” which had its world premiere at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center in September 2015.

This issue also highlights how the Fulbright Program transformed the lives of our students who engaged in research projects in communities around the world.

Our Associate Professor of Anthropology

Louis Herns Marcelin, a native Haitian, and other colleagues established the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED), a “think and do tank” focused on addressing social, cultural, and health issues affecting Haiti today.

All these projects are true reflections of the College’s vital mission — to enhance individual growth and create a sense of civic responsibility in our students. It is because of the loyalty of our alumni and friends that many of these projects were made possible.

As President Julio Frenk reminded our freshman: “… knowledge is a truly powerful force for enlightened social transformation. It is knowledge about the world that allows us to understand it, appreciate it, and change if for the better.”

As we prepare for the 90th anniversary of UM, let’s celebrate the many accomplishments of our faculty and students who continue to have an impact that reaches far beyond the UM campus.

FALL 2015 VOLUMESEVENTEEN | ISSUEONE

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Dean Leonidas G. Bachas Senior Associate Deans Douglas Fuller Angel Kaifer Maria Galli Stampino Associate Dean Charles Mallery Assistant Dean Athena Sanders ADVANCEMENT

Assistant Dean of Advancement Jeanne Luis jluis@miami.edu

EDITORIAL

Director of Communications Papsy Mileti p.mileti@miami.edu Editor/Writer Deseraé E. del Campo deserae@miami.edu Melissa Peerless (interim) m.peerless@miami.edu Editorial Contributor(s) Marie Guma-Diaz Melissa Peerless Design and Illustration Christina Ullman and Alix Northrup, Ullman Design Copyeditor Carlos Harrison

MEET UM’S NEW PRESIDENT, DR. JULIO FRENK The College of Arts & Sciences welcomes UM’s sixth president, Dr. Julio Frenk, a distinguished leader in global public health, renowned scholar, and academic.

President Frenk joined the UM family on Aug. 16 and is the first Hispanic president in UM’s 90-year history. Prior to joining the U, the Mexican-born physician led Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health for the past six years.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PRESIDENT FRENK, VISIT WWW.PRESIDENT.MIAMI.EDU

CONTENTS FEATURES

9 | Children with Autism Hang Ten at CARD Surf Camp 10 | Research Roundup 12 | Addressing Global Challenges: A Closer Look at How A&S Alumni, Faculty and Students are Making a Difference in Global Health 19 | Stress Management and Cancer

DEPARTMENTS

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/UMCAS for photos, news, and events from the College Arts & Sciences is produced in the fall and spring by the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Miami.

Through the magazine, we seek to increase awareness of the College’s activities by telling the stories of faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Send comments, requests for permission to reprint material, requests for extra copies, and change-of-address notification to: Arts & Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, P.O. Box 248004, Coral Gables, FL 33124-4620. Telephone: (305) 284-2485. All contents © 2015, University of Miami. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

2 | News Briefs

Visit the College of Art & Sciences on the web: as.miami.edu

8 | Bookmarks

Past issues of the magazine are available at: as.miami.edu/news/magazine

18 | Class Spotlight 20

| Philanthropy

CLARIFICATION

The A&S magazine Spring 2015 issue is Volume Sixteen

21 | Tracking Hurricanes 24 | A&S Event Calendar

ARTS | SCIENCES

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NEWSBRIEFS A&S STUDENTS RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS RECOGNITION

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NIH OXFORD-CAMBRIDGE FELLOWSHIP

GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP

AUDREY WINKELSAS, BIOCHEMISTRY

ERIC KEEN, BIOLOGY/MICROBIOLOGY

udrey Winkelsas is on the fast track to achieving her career goal: becoming a principal investigator in academia studying spinal muscular atrophy.

The 2015 biochemistry grad – who minored in journalism, history, biology, and chemistry – earned a prestigious NIH OxfordCambridge Fellowship (OxCam).

OxCam is a unique program, which allows students to complete an individualized, research-based Ph.D. in approximately four years (compared with the U.S. average of 7.8 years). Students conduct research in labs at both the American National Institutes of Health (NIH), and at the U.K.’s University of Oxford or Cambridge, bringing international and interdisciplinary aspects to their work.

“Mentorship from two principal investigators with different backgrounds, both scientific and cultural, provides a robust education,” Winkelsas said. “I believe this diversity in science is vital, because when the ideas of many individuals are combined, realizations can be made that may not be otherwise.”

She will be investigating “molecular biology on the pathogenesis of spinal muscular atrophy.”

Winkelsas has been conducting research in this area since her sophomore year at UM, when she began volunteering with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Last summer, she studied RNA molecule targeting at The Scripps Research Institute through the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program.

Her work at Oxford will be a homecoming of sorts for the Apopka, Florida, native, who spent her junior year abroad in London – an experience she treasures.

“I decided to become a UM Global Ambassador because I wanted to stay involved with the Study Abroad office,” Winkelsas said. “Being a Global Ambassador has made me realize the importance of our being global citizens and having an international education.”

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ollege of Arts & Sciences junior in biology/microbiology Eric Keen is always thinking of potential scientific experiments.

“I keep a list of projects that could be achieved now, and down the road,” Keen said.

His commitment to research and science has been recognized by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, which awarded him one of just 260 coveted 2015 scholarships nationwide.

Keen has been conducting research on viruses and microbial ecology throughout his time at UM, working with Research Assistant Professor of Biology James Baker and Associate Professor of Geological Science Jim Klaus.

His research focuses on viruses that attack bacteria and how these organisms – called phages – affect bacterial DNA. For his experiment, Keen collected phages at 30 locations around campus, and introduced them to drug-resistant E. coli bacteria. His goal is to see if the phages destroy structures within the E. coli DNA called plasmids, which cause the bacteria to resist antibiotics.

“People have known about plasmids since the 1950s, but this is the first time that anyone is examining which phages affect them and how,” Keen said, adding that his work has environmental and medical applications.

The Goldwater Scholarship Program aims to provide a steady source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue careers in these fields.

Each scholarship provides up to $7,500 per year for undergraduate tuition, fees, books, and room and board.

SCHOLARSHIP

BOREN SCHOLARSHIP MAURA LAPOFF, NEUROSCIENCE

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ew alumna Maura Lapoff has been awarded a Boren Scholarship to study in Jordan this academic year.

David L. Boren Scholarships provide students with resources and encouragement to acquire languages skills and experience in countries deemed critical to the security and stability of our nation.

Lapoff is interested in finding ways to improve treatment for individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly refugees and asylum seekers.

“Ideally, I would like to attend medical school and work in international health care,” she said, adding that her research experience in the lab of Professor of Neurology Thomas Sick piqued her “interest in the relationship between physical trauma, psychological trauma, and the environment.”

Lapoff – a neuroscience major with minors in chemistry, international studies, and Arabic studies – studied in Istanbul, Turkey, in spring/summer of 2013.

“I wanted to study internationally again and wanted to continue to work on Arabic in a native Arabic speaking region,” Lapoff said. “I am also really interested in international studies and foreign policy, so this was a great way to combine this with my language interests and science interests.”

Lapoff is a passionate supporter of education abroad, serving as a co-Lead Global Ambassador for the Study Abroad Office.

“I think there are only so many things you can learn in a classroom, and studying internationally gives you the chance to learn about new things or things you already know but from a different perspective, which is an essential skill to have. You also learn a lot about yourself in the process,” she said. “Studying internationally helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses in new and stressful situations and I believe I have become a better person for it.”

The Boren program is sponsored by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), a federal initiative designed to increase foreign language and international relations skills among U.S. citizens.

For this year, the program received 750 scholarship applications and gave just 171 awards.

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FULBRIGHT U.S. STUDENT PROGRAM

Six students from the College will journey across the globe to study, teach, and research this fall through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Fulbright students travel to foreign countries to teach English, or to undertake an individually designed study/research or artistic project.

They live, meet, work, and learn with the people of their host countries.

The program operates in over 160 countries worldwide, offering annual grants to about 2,000 students across all fields of study. It is named for Senator J. William Fulbright, who founded the program in 1946 to foster bilateral relations between the United States and other countries.

HIRAM APARICIO, ’15, M.A. in liberal studies, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Grant to Spain. The son of Cuban immigrants, Aparicio has witnessed how difficult the immigration process can be – and how a strong command of English can facilitate the situation.

He plans to teach English both in Spain and after returning from his experience abroad.

SEAN DRISCOLL, ’15, A.B. in history, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Grant to Indonesia. Driscoll plans to become a history teacher, with a global perspective. He brings experience working with ESOL students to Indonesia; he hopes to help more fully integrate recreational sports (soccer and/or basketball) into Indonesia’s schools.

DALTON FOUTS, ’15, A.B. in political science, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Grant to Indonesia. He plans to use drama as an outreach program for community-based English instruction in Indonesia. Upon returning to the U.S., Fouts plans to pursue a combined M.B.A and area studies degree.

ALEXANDER GONZALEZ, ’15, A.B in English, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Grant to France. The outgoing editor-in-chief of The Miami Hurricane, Gonzalez will investigate how the French media affects communities. After returning from France, Gonzalez will attend medical school, with plans to become a medical correspondent.

MARIE HANEWINCKEL, ’14, A.B. in international studies, was awarded an English Teaching Assistant Grant to Taiwan. A proficient Mandarin speaker, she will promote cultural acceptance and help elementary school students build confidence through language instruction.

Hanewinckel will also help develop Model United Nations programs at local middle and high schools. She plans to attend law school and pursue a career in international law.

MACKENZIE SHELDON, ’15, A.B./M.A. in Latin American studies, was awarded an English Teaching Assistant Grant to Argentina. She will combine her expertise in teaching English with her passion for the diverse cultures of Latin America, hosting international film screenings followed by discussions. Upon returning, she will pursue a Ph.D. in transborder studies at Arizona State University.

ARTS | SCIENCES

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NEWSBRIEFS

ENGLISH | COMPUTER SCIENCE | PSYCHOLOGY | ANTHROPOLOGY | ROTC

Above: More than 20 students from across UM participated in the inaugural Lavender Celebration, honoring LGBTQ graduates. Top Left: College grad Dillon Knop and his mom at the Lavender Celebration. Bottom Left: Rainbow cords from the Lavender Celebration

INAUGURAL LAVENDER CELEBRATION HONORS LGBTQ GRADS Purple was the principal pigment at the University of Miami’s first-ever Lavender Celebration, a special ceremony recognizing the accomplishments of LGBTQ and ally graduates.

More than 20 students – representing most of UM’s schools and colleges – received rainbow cords at the event, organized by UM’s LGBTQ Task Force and Implementation Committee.

Welcoming grads, their families, and friends, LGBTQ Task Force Member and Director of the Butler Center for Volunteer Service & Leadership Development Andrew Wiemer said, “Today, it is a great day to be a Miami Hurricane! You have had an amazing journey at UM, and I’m looking forward to your bright futures.”

Carlos B. Zepeda received his M.S. in Latin American Studies from the College of Arts & Sciences. He called the event “fantastic,” adding, “It is nice to be included and to see the University acknowledging its LGBTQ student community.”

A leader in the College of Arts & Sciences PRISM (Advanced Program for Integrated Science and Math) group for LGBTQ graduate students, Zepeda said he has seen positive changes in the climate for LGBTQ students during his two years at UM. “It is a very welcoming and inclusive place,” Zepeda said. “At times, it was difficult to find a connection, but when I did it was immensely supportive.”

The Lavender Celebration was supported by the Toppel Career Center and the University of Miami Alumni Association (UMAA), with backing from the College of Arts & Sciences Program in Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS).

Associate Professor of Political Science Louise Davidson-Schmich 4 FALL 2015

said, “This is a great affirmation that the University is LGBTQ friendly,” adding that the first cohort of students minoring in LGBTQ studies were part of the group. “I’m glad to see that program coming to fruition, and I am so proud of our graduates.”

Kate Lake, senior director of alumni engagement in the UMAA, said, “The Lavender Celebration has been a long time coming.”

She is working with the existing LGBTQ group to become an officially chartered affiliate group of the UM Alumni Association Board of Directors.

“Your UM journey does not end with graduation. You are just turning the page to the next chapter,” she said, “Stay involved, and share your time, talents, and treasure.”

The first-ever Lavender Celebration took place at the University of Michigan in 1995, with just three attendees. Similar events are now held on more than 100 campuses nationwide.

The color lavender is important to LGBTQ history, a combination of the pink triangles that gay men were forced to wear in concentration camps and the black triangle designating lesbians as political prisoners in Nazi Germany. The LGBTQ civil rights movement combined these symbols of hatred to designate pride and community.

“It is nice to be included and to see the University acknowledging its LGBTQ student community.”

CARLOS B. ZEPEDA

A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS Army ROTC Students Celebrate Commissioning Ceremony The Army Song rang out in the Newman Alumni Center during graduation weekend, as 16 members of the Southern Strike Battalion transitioned from cadets to second lieutenants at a spirited and sentimental Commissioning Ceremony.

The Army ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) program has recently returned to the College of Arts & Sciences, offering students basic military training and officer training during their time at the College. Upon graduation, they are commissioned as second lieutenants and begin military service.

Former University of Miami President Donna Shalala opened the ceremony, noting, “Every generation of my family has served in the U.S. Army.”

2nd Lt. Robert Formica – who earned his A.B. in history from the College – served as the U-Co company commander. The future military intelligence officer called the Battallion “one of the most distinguished groups to come through this program in decades.”

Of 5,380 officers commissioned through ROTC this spring, two members of Southern Strike Battalion are in the top 100 nationwide.

Formica said, “Our journeys to this moment started with a dream to serve these United States, to give back to a country that has given so much.”

He called his fellow officers “a family of soldiers,” but noted the importance of support from family and friends on their journeys.

Guest speaker Col. Charles Samaris, who was Army ROTC at the University of Miami decades ago, agreed.

“The strength of a nation is its Army. The strength of an army is its soldiers. The strength of the soldiers are their families,” he said.

He advised the new officers to be “smart, tough, and adaptable.”

Formica urged: “Ask not how you can reinvent the wheel, but how you can add more traction to it.”

The highlights of the ceremony were the execution of the Army Oath of Office, and the Pinning Ceremony, when selected family members affix the officers’ new credentials on their uniforms.

These were followed by the First Salute, an Army tradition, whereby each second lieutenant receives his or her first salute from a non-commissioned officer of his or her choosing.

“Your exceptional education and military training have prepared you to thrive,” Shalala said. “You carry with you the promise of extraordinary service to our country.”

Above: Members of the Southern Strike Battalion at the ROTC Commissioning Ceremony Below: College of Arts & Sciences grad and U-Co Company Commander Robert Formica addresses his colleagues at the ROTC Commissioning Ceremony.

ARTS | SCIENCES

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NEWSBRIEFS

ENGLISH | COMPUTER SCIENCE | PSYCHOLOGY | ANTHROPOLOGY | ROTC

LITERARY MINDS CONNECT CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM HOSTS VONA/VOICES WORKSHOPS FOCUSED ON LITERARY SUCCESS FOR WRITERS OF COLOR For the first time, leading authors and aspiring writers from the United States and marginalized writers from across the world flocked to campus this summer to participate in the renowned Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation (VONA)/Voices Workshops for Writers of Color, the only multi-genre workshop for writers of color in the U.S. Previously held at the University of California, Berkeley, VONA/Voices partnered with UM’s College of Arts & Sciences Creative Writing Program to hold its inaugural two week-long sessions in Miami. Leading authors and aspiring writers gathered to share their literary works, personal achievements, and best craft practices during the VONA/Voices Workshops.

The workshop sessions connected VONA/Voices faculty—critically acclaimed writers from a spectrum of diverse literary genres, from political writing to fiction, poetry, travel, and memoir writing—with up-and-coming writers to engage in literary discussions, exchange their works, and explore the craft of writing and living as a writer of color in the U.S. During the two weeks of workshops, VONA/Voices faculty members, including fiction writer Junot Díaz, political writer Elmaz Abinader, and poetry writer Willie Perdomo, among others, had the opportunity to read their works at two public events held in June and July in Coral Gables.

VONA/Voices, founded in 1999 by Elmaz Abinader, Junot Díaz, Victor Díaz, and Diem Jones, fosters and develops emerging writers of color through workshops and programming taught by a spectrum of celebrated and wellknown authors. According to VONA/Voices, the literary workshops have inspired more than 2,000 up-and-coming writers of color.

For more information on future workshops, please visit as.miami.edu/VONA.

Above: Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Miami College of Arts & Sciences M. Evelina Galang (center) with VONA/Voices faculty.

Top: Gathering at the University of Miami for the VONA/Voices Travel Writing Workshop are, back row from left, Alice Kim, Faith Adiele, Bani Amor, Erica Woods Tucker, and Mary Ann Thomas. Front row are Agatha Roa, Beverly Murray, Tom Pyun and Nisha Purushotham.

REDUCING STRESS FOR FIRST RESPONDERS NEUROSCIENTIST DR. AMISHI JHA PARTNERS WITH MIAMI-DADE’S FIRE RESCUE DEPARTMENT FOR MINDFULNESS AND RELAXATION TRAINING

Dr. Amishi Jha, associate professor in the UM College of Arts & Sciences Department of Psychology and Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the UMindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, partnered with the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department to investigate how mindfulness and relaxation training can help firefighters manage pressure.

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Everyday, firefighters face challenging and life-threatening situations. To help cope with the high levels of stress and the demanding nature of the job, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department partnered with University of Miami neuroscientist Dr. Amishi Jha for an innovative research study to investigate how mindfulness and relaxation training can help firefighters manage the pressure.

“Our program aims to understand if the human attention system can be made stronger and more effective using these training programs,” said Dr. Jha, associate professor in the UM College of Arts & Sciences Department of Psychology and Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the UMindfulness Research and Practice Initiative.

As lead researcher in the study, Dr. Jha collaborated with Scott Rogers, Director of Programs and Training for the UMindfulness Initiative and of UM Law’s Mindfulness in Law Program. A recent study by Dr. Jha and her colleagues suggests that mindfulness training bolsters cognitive performance in pre-deployment military populations, and may be useful in other high-stress, high-performance cohorts.

“These programs have been found to reduce stress, improve sleep and mood, as well as protect against depression and improve relationships,” said Dr. Jha. “Through our work with the military, we’ve also found that mindfulness and relaxation-based brain fitness programs improves memory, attention, and situational awareness.”

The Jha-Fire Rescue collaboration, which began this summer, is one phase of a larger research project funded by the Department of Defense, which aims to determine if mindfulness and relaxation training might help protect individuals in high-stress, high-demand careers, an area of interest that is drawing national attention.

UNDERSTANDING DYING LANGUAGES INAUGURAL ANDREW CARNEGIE FELLOW, ANTHROPOLOGIST CALEB EVERETT, IS AWARDED $200,000 FOR GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH ON LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY

SCORING HIGH ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COMPUTER SCIENCE’S ROBOCANES WIN ROBOCUP U.S. OPEN The RoboCanes, UM’s team of autonomous soccer-playing robots developed by students and faculty in the Department of Computer Science, won the 2015 RoboCup U.S. Open – claiming victory for the first time since entering the competition in 2012.

Functioning as the American RoboCup playoffs, the U.S. Open is one of three key events leading up to the annual World Championships. This year’s contest took place in July in Hefei, China.

After defeating 2012 world champions Austin Villa (from the University of Texas at Austin), 3-0, in the semi-final match, the RoboCanes met the Bowdoin College Northern Bites in the finals. It was a close game, which showcased the impact of new rules in the robot soccer league.

“We have seen significant improvements among the teams. One of the new rules this year consists of the robots listening to the human referee starting a game with a whistle.

RoboCanes was the only team that could handle this situation. We gained from that by having an extra 15 seconds at the start of the game,” explained Ubbo Visser, associate professor of computer science in the College and leader of the RoboCanes project (alongside a group of dedicated graduate students).

RoboCup aims to promote robotics and artificial intelligence research by offering an integrated research platform that covers areas including vision, context recognition, strategy acquisition, motor control, and more.

Associate Professor of Computer Science Ubbo Visser (third from right) and students celebrate the RoboCanes’ victory in the 2015 RoboCup U.S. Open.

Caleb Everett, associate professor of anthropology, has received an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Just 32 scholars nationwide received funding through the new annual fellowship program, aimed at supporting in-depth research in the social sciences and the humanities.

Everett will receive $200,000, which will allow him to take two years to focus on his groundbreaking research on linguistic diversity.

Everett’s proposal, “Five dying worlds: Towards a truer understanding of linguistic diversity,” addresses the dramatic shift in our understanding of language that has occurred over the past decade, and how linguistic differences affect and reflect other variations of the human experience.

He will create an innovative e-manuscript that combines text, sound, and visual data, to bring the current knowledge on linguistic diversity to the general public and policymakers.

“This award will advance in numerous ways my ongoing research program. Through that research I’m seeking to better illuminate, with many colleagues, the full extent of human linguistic diversity in the world today, and to better understand the role of that diversity in shaping the human experience more generally,” Everett said.

College of Arts & Sciences Dean Leonidas Bachas said, “It is an honor to have our faculty’s scholarship recognized and supported by a world-class organization like the Carnegie Corporation.”

Other fellows represent such esteemed institutions as Stanford University, Harvard University, Georgetown University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Caleb Everett, associate professor of anthropology, has received an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellowship to research linguistic diversity.

ARTS | SCIENCES

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BOOKMARKS SOCIAL IDENTITIES IN THE CLASSIC MAYA NORTHERN LOWLANDS: GENDER, AGE, MEMORY, AND PLACE (2015)

Traci Ardren Anthropology Uses new archaeological data to explore how gender, age, familial and community memories, and the experience of living in an urban setting interacted to form social identities.

Berit Brogaard and Kristian Marlow Philosophy Takes readers inside the lives and brains of geniuses, savants, virtuosos, and a wide variety of ordinary people who have acquired truly extraordinary talents.

POWER, POLITICS AND CONFRONTATION IN EURASIA: FOREIGN POLICY IN A CONTESTED REGION (2015)

THE AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK 2014: THE ANNUAL RECORD OF THE NORTH AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITIES (2014)

Roger E. Kanet and Matthew Sussex, Editors Political Science

Ira M. Sheskin and Arnold Dashefsky, Editors Geography and Regional Studies

Combines analyses from experts in international relations, foreign policy, and domestic politics across the former USSR to unlock changing power dynamics in Eurasia.

Provides insight into major trends in the North American Jewish communities, lists Jewish institutions and other resources.

NOVEL NOSTALGIAS: THE AESTHETICS OF ANTAGONISM IN NINETEENTH CENTURY U.S. LITERATURE (2015)

THE PEOPLE’S NEWS: MEDIA, POLITICS, AND THE DEMANDS OF CAPITALISM (2014)

John Funchion English

Joseph Uscinski Political Science

Establishes how the longing to recover a lost home or past drove some of the central conflicts of the 19th-century United States.

A look at news not as a type of media but instead as a commodity bought and sold on the market.

COGNITIVE PHENOMENOLOGY (2015)

PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS: INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES (2014)

Elijah Chudnoff Philosophy Explores the philosophical issues related to thinking and reasoning, including what distinguishes cognition and sensation; and how thoughts fit into the general stream of consciousness.

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THE SUPERHUMAN MIND: FREE THE GENIUS IN YOUR BRAIN (2015)

Jonathan P. West and James S. Bowman Political Science Offers practical knowledge and insight into ethics in government, emphasizing both “how to” and “why.”

engaging the world through

CHILDREN WITH AUTISM HANG TEN AT

outreach

CARD

Campers, counselors, and volunteers (including CARD Executive Director Michael Alessandri, third from left) enjoy fun in the sun at South Pointe Park during CARD Surf Camp.

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he sun shone brightly and gentle waves lapped the shore as 12 young people with autism braved the surf for the first time.

The children, aged 8-12, were participants in spring break surf camp, a successful collaboration between the University of Miami-Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (UM-NSU CARD) and the City of Miami Beach Parks and Recreation Department.

2015 marked the seventh year of the unique camping experience offered by CARD, a comprehensive outreach center based at the College of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Psychology that serves over 9,000 individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families each year.

The camp takes place at South Pointe Park, where students spend two hours per day surfing. They also learn basic oceanography and meteorology, and practice swimming and other skills. The camp concludes with a surfing demonstration and a beachside awards ceremony.

“We all love surf camp because, not only is it a week full of smiles, it is also a week to focus on the kids’ abilities, rather than their disabilities,” said Maricarmen Saleta, an educational support specialist with CARD. CARD’s Executive Director and Professor of Clinical Psychology Michael Alessandri adds, “Each year, we are astounded by the transformative impact this week-long event has on the participants.”

Thanks to generous sponsorships, participants attend surf camp free of charge.

ARTS | SCIENCES

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I M PA C T F U L A N D I N T E R E S T I N G R E S E A R C H F R O M T H E C O L L E G E O F A R T S & S C I E N C E S

A&S FACULTYRESEARCH ROUNDUP

Minds at Attention:

Military and Mindfulness Neuroscientist Amishi Jha has discovered that one of the best ways to protect active-duty soldiers may be by training their minds.

An expert on mindfulness – the ability to be aware and attentive of the present moment without emotional reactivity or volatility – Jha found that mindfulness training (MT) reduced attentional lapses and mind wandering.

“Soldiers are experts at standing at attention,” said Jha, associate professor in the Department of Psychology and principal investigator of the project. “However, maintaining a mind at attention under the intense physical, emotional, and cognitive demands they face is a more difficult task.”

The study seeks to investigate which aspects of MT programs work best to curb attentional lapses and mind wandering when training is conducted for eight hours over eight weeks. This is typically the amount of time a soldier would have available for MT during the critical pre-deployment period.

The researchers studied three groups of military service members, offering MT to two of the groups, comprising a total of 75 soldiers at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, eight to ten months before deployment to Afghanistan. Soldiers in both groups who received MT reported being more aware of their attention compared to the control group at the end of the eight weeks.

The study, titled “Minds ‘At Attention’: Mindfulness Training Curbs Attentional Lapses in Military Cohorts” is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Discovering Age-Specific Brain Changes in Autism A new study from the Department of Psychology shows that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit different patterns of brain connectivity than typically 10 FALL 2015

developing (TD) individuals – and that these patterns adjust as the individual ages.

“Our findings suggest that developmental stage must be taken into account to accurately build models that show how the brains of individuals with autism differ from neurotypical individuals,” said Lucina Uddin, assistant professor of psychology and corresponding author of the study. “We believe that taking a developmental approach to examining brain connectivity in autism is critical for predicting response to treatment in young children with ASD.” Our brain is composed of more than one trillion cells called neurons. They interact with one another to form complex signaling networks. Uddin and her team found differences in the functional hypo- and hyperconnectivity of neurons in individuals with ASD, which change based on their age.

“This study helps us understand the functional organization of brain networks and how they change across the lifespan in autism,” said Jason S. Nomi, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at UM and lead author of the study.

The researchers are currently working to explicitly characterize an important developmental transition in individuals with autism: the onset of puberty.

The study, “Developmental Changes in LargeScale Network Connectivity in Autism,” was published in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical.

Traffic Fatalities Spike During Spring Break According to a recent study from the Department of Sociology, fatalities from car crashes are significantly higher during spring break compared to other times of the year at popular holiday destinations.

“We found that between the last week of February and the first week of April, a significantly greater number of traffic fatalities occurred in spring break hot spots compared to other locations in the same states and at other times of the year,” said Michael T. French, professor of health economics in the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts & Sciences, and one of the authors of the study.

“The primary implication is that roadways are dangerous during the spring break period, not only for spring breakers, but also for the residents and other visitors of popular spring break destinations.”

The study examined fatal passenger vehicle crashes for 14 popular spring break destinations located in seven states: Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.

It found that the weekly death toll from car crashes in the 14 spring break counties was 9.1 percent higher during the spring break season, equaling 16 more deaths per year across the counties examined. Additionally, fatalities involving drivers younger than 25 years old

Helping Patients with Schizophrenia and their Caregivers Psychologists at the College of Arts & Sciences have developed a family-focused, culturally informed treatment for schizophrenia (CIT-S) – one of the first to incorporate elements of the patient’s cultural background as part of therapy.

Amy Weisman de Mamani, associate professor of psychology and principal investigator of the study, explained: “We found that adding culturally based segments to an already established family focused treatment for schizophrenia reduced patients’ psychiatric symptoms, above and beyond an intervention that focused solely on educating family members about the illness.”

For the study, patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and their caregivers participated in 15 weekly one-hour sessions covering a range of topics and skills.

A control group received three sessions of psycho-education about the illness. Participants that completed the study came from 46 separate families of different ethnic backgrounds.

The findings indicated that patients who participated in the CIT-S program had significant reductions in their psychiatric symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, delusions, blunted affect) and their caregivers reported significantly lower levels of guilt, shame, and burden.

“We hope that the ease and accessibility of CIT-S will facilitate dissemination to hospitals and clinics that service individuals with schizophrenia and their loved ones,” Weisman de Mamani said.

The study, “A randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy of a family-focused, culturally informed therapy for Schizophrenia,” is published in the Journal of Family Psychology.

were far more common than fatalities involving older drivers.

However, there was no statistically significant difference between traffic fatalities involving alcohol impairment compared to those with no alcohol impairment, indicating that drinking is not a factor in these deaths.

Because spring break is an economic boom for host communities, the researchers recommended that local governments consider direct incentives for spring breakers to avoid driving during their stay. For example, any tourist with a valid college I.D. would be eligible for travel vouchers that can be used with taxis, public transportation, and shared ride programs.

The article, “Fast Times During Spring Breaks: Are Traffic Fatalities Another Consequence?,” was published in the journal Economic Inquiry.

Fighting Crime through Crowdsourcing Researchers at the University of Miami are developing a computing model that uses crowdsourcing – employing the input of a crowd of online users to collaboratively solve problems – to efficiently perform the complex tasks of face recognition, a common law enforcement tool. This represents a new approach to using social networks as a formal part of the criminal investigation process, explains Brian Blake, vice provost for Academic Affairs and dean of the Graduate School, and the principal investigator of the project.

“The breadth of the internet and popularity of smartphones have facilitated the onset of online crowdsourcing platforms,” Blake said. “Our project attempts to leverage the power of the crowd to solve complex problems, on demand.”

The study brings together machine and human computing elements to more accurately identify individuals in pictures.

Traditionally, in a criminal investigation, a workflow might use computers to sort pictures and information, then use people to identify pictures of interest. In the current approach, people and machines could sort the images simultaneously, and both people and machines could identify the images. The model is elastic, allowing it to adapt on a task-by-task basis.

“Elastically, we would like to decide who is best for a specific task, or what concentration of people or machines could be mixed for a specific task,” Blake said. “We also think that humans could do a first pass of a task, then machines do a second pass on the same task.”

Zebrafish Model Gives New Insight On Autism Spectrum Disorder Affecting about 2 percent of people around the world, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been linked to several genes, particularly SYNGAP1 and SHANK3. Assistant Professor of Biology Julia Dallman is using zebrafish to pinpoint the actual place and time where these genes affect brain development and function.

“The overall goal of our study was to generate and directly compare two zebrafish models of ASD, to gain an in vivo perspective on how ASD genetic variants impact neural circuit development in embryos,” Dallman said. “Our work begins to address a major gap in our current understanding of ASD.” The findings show that disrupting the expression or “knocking down” either SYNGAP1 or SHANK3 genes affects early brain development in the mid- and hindbrain regions and results in hyper-excitable behaviors.

Dallman used zebrafish for her research because the embryos are transparent and develop outside the mother, allowing her and her team to observe their early brain development. They injected some fish with a molecule that “knocks down” the SYNGAP1 and SHANK3 genes, and then observed their escape responses in the presence of a stimulus. The knock-down group demonstrated reduced escape responses and swimming velocity compared to the control group. Additionally, some exhibited spontaneous seizure-like behaviors and brain structure changes that indicate developmental delays.

The study, titled “Two knockdown models of the autism genes SYNGAP1 and SHANK3 produce similar behavioral phonotypes associated with embryonic disruptions of brain morphogenesis,” was published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

The preliminary results of this study were presented at the 10th IEEE International Conference on Collaborative Computing: Networking, Applications and Worksharing, where Blake gave the opening keynote address.

The findings will be published by IEEE press in a paper titled: “Combining Human and Machine Computing Elements for Analysis via Crowdsourcing.”

The Inside Story: How the Brain and Skull Stay Together In a new study, researchers at the University of Miami have described the signaling systems that tissues at the head-trunk region use to communicate with their surrounding neighbors.

Their discovery may have important implications for the treatment of congenital defects like spina bifida and Chiari malformations.

“Our work describes a network of tissue communication events that ensure that the brain stays in the skull and the spinal cord in the spinal column,” said Isaac Skromne, assistant professor

of biology and principal investigator of the study.

The study reports two major findings. First, it reveals that cells at the head-trunk junction communicate with each other not only to convey information on the type of tissue they will become, but also their location. Second, the study finds that signaling the identity and location of the tissues are separate events.

For the study, the researchers analyzed zebrafish embryos, knowing that the findings about the development of this organism would be applicable to other vertebrates, said Keun Lee, first author of the paper and a medical student at the Miller School of Medicine.

Lee carried out the study when he was an undergraduate student working in Skromne’s lab.

The researchers hope that their findings will lead to the development of therapies that target these signaling networks, to prevent abnormalities of the head-trunk junction.

The study, “Retinoic acid regulates size, pattern and alignment of tissues at the headtrunk transition,” was published in the journal Development.

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A CLOSER LOOK AT

“Health is about the security of human beings. It goes beyond medicine, to creating a healthy environment, ensuring access to water, protecting physical safety.”

HOW A&S ALUMNI, FACULTY, AND STUDENTS ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN GLOBAL HEALTH

DR. LOUIS HERNS MARCELIN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY

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Global health is a concept that ties in with the College’s goal of creating global citizens and addressing global challenges.

It is a concept that unites the College’s alumni and friends with faculty and students across disciplines as we travel far and wide, reaching beyond our campus to address global

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A&S Faculty Investigate Systemic Responses to Global Issues In Haiti, Uganda and Beyond

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FACULTY AT THE FOREFRONT

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challenges through research that is changing the world…

iti • ugan

n the nearly six years since a devastating earthquake shook Haiti to its core in January 2010, donor nations and private charities have pledged an unprecedented $13 billion in humanitarian aid to help the country rebuild. • Despite the massive expenditures, Haiti remains crippled by a lack of housing, an ongoing food crisis, rampant spread of disease, and education systems decimated by the quake.

>> l oui s h e r n s m a r ce l i n • hait i

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ssociate Professor of Anthropology Louis Herns Marcelin – a native Haitian who has been working on the ground there for more than three decades – is not surprised.

“Aid agencies need to empower people to assess their own reality, and know what to do to change,” he said. “If we replace adaptation and civic engagement with humanitarian aid, we are cutting off our feet.”

Marcelin – along with UM colleagues and faculty from other universities – has established the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED), a “think and do tank,” which creates a space for collaborative research and action on a wide range of issues affecting Haiti and its future.

Every INURED initiative includes initial and continuing collaboration with Haitian public, private, and community-based organizations to ensure that the projects are meeting people’s needs, and doing so in a culturally sensitive way.

“We go to them, intersect our work with their work,” Marcelin said. “We learn from them, they learn from us. There is a sense of equilibrium.”

Marcelin spent 14 years (1993-2007) building the concepts and uniting the partners that form

INURED; it has been active on the ground in Haiti for eight years, launching many programs just before the earthquake struck.

Much of INURED’s work focuses on Cité Soleil, a massive slum in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, where more than 300,000 people live in abject poverty – many without access to electricity or water – amid ongoing gang warfare.

INURED has two projects that empower Cité Soleil’s citizens to work toward solutions

to the problems that plague their neighborhood: The Community Forum, launched in 2007, trains community leaders to plan and implement interventions that improve lives; and the Youth to Youth project, which brings American students into the Cité where they work with local young people to build computer skills, communications, and more.

“Youth to Youth undermines the hierarchy, the stratified society,” Marcelin said. “The participants discover that communication leads

Associate Professor of Anthropology Louis Herns Marcelin helped establish INURED—the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development.

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“The quake killed so many people and decapitated society.

We are looking at how to train leaders who will help Haiti rebound. We have the human power to help them improve.”

LOUIS HERNS MARCELIN

to collaboration, humility, and engagement.”

INURED serves as a site for UM students and professors to conduct original collaborative research with Haitian partners at all levels.

Through the College’s Beyond the Book program, students have traveled to Haiti to conduct field experience with their peers.

Faculty members are involved with INURED as mentors, collaborators, think tank resources, and implementers of studies in a number of fields (particularly global health).

INURED is also conducting a study on

migration in Haiti, and undertaking an assessment of the country’s higher education system.

“The quake killed so many people and decapitated society,” Marcelin said. “We are looking at how to train leaders who will help Haiti rebound. We have the human power to help them improve.”

He added, “UM is very privileged to be at the core of a new concept – to talk about the world, but also do with the world. We are living the idea of globalization at its best.” •

Assistant Professor of Geography Justin Stoler conducted research on febrile illnesses in Accra, Ghana.

>> Jus t i n Sto l e r • G hana

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ther College of Arts & Sciences faculty also are investigating systemic responses to global issues.

In Accra, Ghana, located on the southern edge of West Africa, Assistant Professor of Geography Justin Stoler is conducting research on febrile illnesses.

His work shows that many individuals who come to hospitals with headaches and fevers are being treated for malaria – even if the cause of their illnesses cannot be confirmed.

Due to limited resources, many healthcare workers in Ghana use only a clinical examination to presumptively diagnose malaria, foregoing the laboratory test that would validate the diagnosis.

“Many diseases with classic fever and headache symptoms are currently being misdiagnosed as malaria on a massive scale,” Stoler said.

He adds that 40 percent of all outpatients at health care facilities in Accra were diagnosed with malaria – and prescribed medicines

14 FALL 2015

accordingly – in 2013. When blood tests were performed, however, typically less than 10 percent of individuals presumed to have malaria actually had it.

“If these patterns hold in Ghana, then the misdiagnosis burden in other large urban areas in Africa could approach one-third of all outpatient visits, given the large volume of presumed malaria cases in health care facilities,” he said.

The overprescription of anti-malarials increases the risk of drug-resistant strains of malaria – and means that patients’ real illnesses remain untreated.

These could include “a whole menu of bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections that people are dealing with on a regular basis,” Stoler said.

Stoler and his team (including researchers from the University of Ghana and Ghana Health Service) used archived blood samples from children with laboratory-confirmed malaria for a recent study. They found antibodies for dengue fever, another febrile disease carried by mosquitoes, in more than one-fifth of the patients.

Stoler adds that there is hope to improve diagnoses of febrile illnesses in the region.

“As the price and accuracy of rapid diagnostic tests and other diagnostic instruments improve, I think we have a chance to really make a difference in clinical settings facing huge burdens of acute undifferentiated febrile infections that I believe are being misdiagnosed,” he said. •

>> Dr. Whitney quaLls & douglas fuller • equ ad o r

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bout 5,500 miles away – just outside Guayaquil, Ecuador – Dr. Whitney Qualls is also investigating febrile illnesses.

Her focus, however, is the mosquitoes that transmit them.

A postdoctoral fellow with the Vector Biology Team at the Miller School of Medicine, Qualls is involved in a partnership with the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil (UCSG) that aims to transfer knowledge and expertise on vector-borne diseases. The focus is dengue fever – a tropical malady carried by mosquitoes that is rampant and resurgent in Latin America.

Douglas Fuller, senior associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Arts & Sciences and professor of geography, is a key player in the project.

“Dengue is an urban disease, so it is more prevalent than malaria,” he said, adding that cases have increased rapidly over the past 30 years, after mosquito-abatement activities started in the 1960s were discontinued.

Fuller’s role is to provide sophisticated maps that show Qualls and her team the places where mosquito populations – and, therefore, dengue – are most prevalent.

“I use satellite imagery to stratify the environment and find areas at high, medium, and low risk,” Fuller said. “These predictive maps guide the field teams to sample the environment and determine the prevalence of mosquitoes.

This gives them a better idea of how to design and implement control strategies.”

Through maps that analyze population density, green spaces, and other factors, he can effectively predict where mosquitoes are most

likely to flourish, and to spread disease.

Qualls said, “Dean Fuller has perfected an approach that our team uses to take the bias out of entomological sampling. This allows us to have a more representative sample of the mosquito vector population in relation to certain environmental factors of interest that are associated with an increase in vector abundance and the risk of dengue transmission.”

Although dengue fever is only fatal in less than 5 percent of cases, it is still a significant challenge in Latin America.

“Dengue is a burden overall. Almost everyone recovers, but it knocks people out,” Fuller said, likening the illness to a very bad flu. “People can’t work, hospitals are overwhelmed.”

Qualls and her team are trying a strategy to kill the adult mosquito population – using attractive toxic sugar bait traps, which mimic the sugars mosquitoes find in plants – that is untested in the region.

Dr. John Beier, professor and director of the Division of Environment and Public Health in the Miller School, is an internationally renowned expert on vector-borne illnesses and vector control. He initiated the partnership with UCSG, which provides research, results, and capacity building.

Fuller began working with Beier more than a decade ago, just after he joined the College as part of a “mini-cluster in geography.” The collaboration has proven fruitful for both of their research agendas.

“As a geographer, I am always interested to see how the maps I create have utility,” Fuller said. “To see folks hunched over my map, I know I made a contribution there, helping to solve global challenges.” •

using geography to fight illness Senior Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Douglas Fuller, a professor of geography, uses satellite imagery to design predictive maps that help the field team determine where to focus its research.

THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL

Natural Disaster Survivors Take Center Stage in “Tsunami”

rowing up in Japan, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Michiko Kitayama Skinner spent every summer in the Iwate prefecture visiting her grandmother.

• The first time she travelled to the Japanese region after the catastrophic March 2011 tsunami – which killed almost 16,000 people and caused more than $300 billion in total damages – she was shocked. • “I could not believe some cities and towns simply vanished after the tsunami,” she said.

“As an artist, I felt a great responsibility to tell survivors’ stories somehow through an art form.”

Kitayama Skinner decided to interview people who experienced the tsumani, and weave their stories together into a docudrama – a dramatized representation of real events.

“This play, ‘Tsunami,’ is written only with actual survivors’ voices,” Kitayama Skinner said, adding that the format is very experimental. “The survivors talked a lot about spiritual experiences such as their dreams and ghosts. We use a lot of surreal and stylized settings and movements in this play to tell these very real, sometimes gruesome, experiences. Often it helps the audience to be able to watch something so awful if it’s in a dream-like setting.”

Department of Theatre Arts Chair Stephen Di Benedetto notes that the sets and costumes are quite abstract, and that the actors are “double cast” to portray more than one character.

“The stories are devastating on their own,” he said. “The theatrical form gives it some distance, and makes it bearable.”

He added that the play addresses the “civic, personal, societal and cultural” aspects of the disaster. “It brings it all together, to investigate what the experience is.”

Kitayama Skinner collaborated with

celebrated Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz, whose magnum opus “Anna in the Tropics” won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, to co-author “Tsunami.”

Kitayama Skinner received three Provost’s Research Awards to support this project: one for her trip to Japan to meet with tsunami survivors, one for the writing process, and one to support production of the final play.

She said the role of producer takes her “completely out of her comfort zone” but she has found a perfect partner in the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, an institution with its own history rooted in natural disaster.

Kitayama Skinner believes that cultural initiatives are an important piece of healing after a disaster.

“I felt that it helped the victims to talk to us about their experiences in the interviews. It was, in a way, therapeutic for them to revisit their emotions and experiences, and to open up to other people,” she notes, adding that these lessons extend beyond Japan and the tsunami.

“Natural disasters are everywhere in the world,” she said. “It is important to share the amazing survival stories with the audience, but also to remind them that these characters are real – and they lost everything. These people are still there dealing with it every day.” •

Above: Actors represent a wave during a workshop performance of the docudrama “Tsunami.”

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ALUMNI ABROAD: A PASSION FOR GLOBAL HEALTH

A&S Pre-Med Alumni Selected for the U.S. Fulbrights Reflect on their Experience in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador

ou have to be flexible, and you have to realize you don’t really know anything,” said Rachel Libby, reflecting on what she learned during her Fulbright experience in the Dominican Republic. • A 2011 College of Arts & Sciences alumna of the highly selective honors Fellows in Latin American Studies (FILAS) program and a current student at UM’s Miller School of Medicine, Libby worked on various public health research projects in the Haitian migrant communities surrounding the island’s sugar plantations. •

Searching for life-threatening critters in Ecuador with the Ministry of Public Health.

“I won the grant with a perfectly planned research project, only to find when I got there that it had already gotten done and didn’t really work,” she said. “I spent a lot of time after that just showing up and following people around and asking them what they needed. I ended up working on some really meaningful projects that I never would have imagined being involved in on my own.”

Natalie Cain, a 2013 College of Arts & Sciences alumna (international studies major) also studying at the Miller School, had hands-on experience during her Fulbright in Ecuador – quite literally.

“I was on my hands and knees, searching for these little critters that Ecuadorians call the ‘chinchorro,’” Cain said. The bugs transmit Chagas disease, a potentially life-threatening illness that affects about 8 million people worldwide (mostly in Latin America).

“I feel the Fulbright has given me a huge advantage in understanding Chagas and its effect on the poor through the lens of an outsider, far more than what one reads in a textbook,” she notes.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Each year, almost 2,000 American students travel to more than 160 countries to engage in research projects and/or to teach English. They live, meet, work, and learn with the people of their host countries.

16 FALL 2015

Libby said, “Spending time in new environments with people who have completely different experiences than you do opens your mind in a way that nothing else can,” adding, however, that the same healthcare challenges she saw in the Dominican Republic exist in Miami as well.

“Lack of access to care, language and cultural barriers, immigration issues – we face these same challenges at Jackson every day.”

Cain agreed: “Here in Miami, our teaching hospitals serve those who can’t afford their care, as well as the homeless and less fortunate, and I feel that my Fulbright experience has taught me to understand the path, hardships, and background of the patient rather than just the disease that brought him or her to the hospital.”

Cain hopes to one day work for a global public health organization such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization.

Libby plans to pursue a career in emergency medicine, where she can draw on what she learned in the Dominican Republic.

“Being a good doctor is about more than knowing what to do when someone gets sick, it’s about being an advocate for your patient,” she said. “My experiences before medical school helped me learn how to do that.” •

STUDENT-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS

A&S Students Address Key Global Challenges and Win Multiple CGI U Funding Commitments

hen the University of Miami hosted the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) last spring, College of Arts & Sciences senior Sam Peurifoy left with more than just memories. • The chemistry major’s USolar project was selected for funding through the Resolution Project Social Venture Challenge.

• “USolar aims to educate future voters on the importance of alternative energy, and how easy it is to understand,” Peurifoy explains. “We intend to educate groups of students on the precepts of solar technology using handson demonstrations, and then help those same students present what they have learned to another class. In this way, we ensure that students learn how to become effective oral communicators while improving the education of a greater number of community members." •

Six other projects involving College of Arts & Sciences students were chosen to receive funding through CGI U itself. The initiatives – completely designed by students – are dubbed Commitments to Action. Each project received between $500 and $1,250 in support. They are: bio l o gy

Since its founding in 2008, CGI U has provided funding for close to 5,500 commitments from thousands of college students addressing key global challenges in five areas: education, environment and climate change, poverty alleviation, peace and human rights, and public health.

biology

ec osyst em sc ien c e

Catalina Vasquez-Carrillo

Steven Denyer and Carolina Puyana Barcha

Nika Hosseini and Elizabeth Tran

Building Local Human Capacity for Conservation of Species at Critical Habitats: Conservation Stewardship of Sea Turtles in La Guajira of Colombia

Project VERDE: Empowering a Vulnerable Community

SPLASH (Solar Purification for the Lives of All through Sanitation and Health)

Denyer and Barcha will travel to Siete de Agosto, Colombia, to initiate a gender-equal pottery factory. They will help residents develop an e-commerce site to market and sell the products, boosting sustainable economic activity in the community. The factory will also serve as a community health site, where workers can learn about infectious disease prevention, hygiene, and other issues.

Hosseini and Tran are working to install a water purification system to deliver clean drinking water to Kiburara, Uganda. They have partnered with water company AquaSolve Ventures and non-profit organization IDEAS for Us to purchase a POND (Purification on Demand) system for the community. They will travel to Kiburara to install the POND, and to train villagers on maintaining clean-water use and creating microbusinesses related to the system.

Vasquez-Carrillo’s project aims to protect habitats for endangered sea turtles through a community-based conservation program. She will train fishermen in an indigenous community in the Caribbean region of Colombia to monitor turtle habitat conditions and collect data on factors such as water quality.

b io l o gy

com m unity and social chang e

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Anuradha Gunathilake and Noeline Prins

Natalia Valbuena and Alexandra Hernandez

Ryan Durga, Natasha Koermer & Randall Seenandan

Toilets for Tots

HOPE (Helping our Parents Excel) for Tomorrow

Take Back the Tap UMiami

Toilets for Tots aims to install toilets in two preschools in the rural areas around Bibile, Sri Lanka. Attended by children from lowincome families, the schools currently do not have sanitation facilities. The schools will also provide training on hygiene to parents, helping to control the spread of disease in the area.

HOPE for Tomorrow will educate foster and adoptive parents – as well as parents of at-risk youth – to help them guide their children’s social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. It will address specific concerns related to abused and neglected youth, and will help caregivers access educational resources available through government sources.

Durga and his colleagues are addressing an issue closer to home: the prevalence of plastic water bottles on campus. They plan to educate students about the deleterious effects of bottled-water production and consumption, sparking discussion about these issues and shifting the paradigm to tap water.

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CLASSSPOTLIGHT

T H I S F E AT U R E H I G H L I G H T S C O U R S E S T H AT A R E C R E AT I N G S O M E C A M P U S B U Z Z

Common Readings,

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Common Ground

t the beginning of a semester, Joshua Schriftman said, students in his English Composition classes generally hold one of two views on incarcerated individuals.

Schriftman is an English Lecturer and the Community Outreach and Events Coordinator in the Creative Writing Program. “There’s the ‘Law and Order’ mentality – they did the crime, so they do the time,” he said about the predominant view. Alternatively, he finds those who believe that the prisoners are good people, who were forced into crime by circumstances beyond their control.

“They’re both wrong,” he said. “They are people who made bad choices – but they’re much more than the worst decisions they’ve ever made.”

Subtitled “Literature of Incarceration,” Schriftman’s class addresses writings about and by incarcerated individuals. Students read essays, poetry, and short fiction – and then exchange their reflections on these works with individuals who are serving time in Miami prisons.

“We discourage pen pal chitchat,” Schriftman said, explaining that the course offers “an exchange of ideas and personal experiences that relate to the text.” Students on both sides of the razor wire write and send a total of seven to nine reflections over the course of the semester.

All communication is anonymous, and all contact between the writing partners ends once the class is complete.

The program currently operates in partnership with the Dade Correctional Institution, the Everglades Correctional Institution, and the Homestead Correctional Institution for women.

The exchange partners on the “inside” are creative writing students in classes run by Exchange for Change, a non-profit organization created by Kathie Klarreich, an award-winning journalist.

She said that the class benefits her students on many levels.

“They gain a voice, and a sense of selfworth,” she said. “What they say matters to someone. They are more than a number, or a crime, or a sentence.”

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“Literature of Incarceration” Reaches Beyond the Razor Wire

For individuals who are close to being released, the exchange helps them reintegrate into society.

It is “their chance to have interactions with people not connected to crime,” Klarreich said.

For those with longer sentences, the exchange offers a critical connection to the world beyond the prison walls. She noted, “It makes them remember who they were, and who they can still be.”

The UM students benefit from the exchange as well.

Schriftman said his students “take significant responsibility for the relationships with their partners,” adding, “At the beginning of the class, they think they’re doing someone a favor – but they come to realize that someone is doing a favor for them.”

Cole Miranda, a sophomore computer science major, explained: “The actual exchange between my partner and me was flawless,” he said. “I was surprised with how smoothly our conversations went and how easy it was to begin.”

He adds that his partner “was clearly much smarter/wiser than I, for he was able to inspire me to be a better person.”

Junior Dezare Sellers (Africana studies and entrepreneurship major) said the exchange went beyond the reading assignments.

“Aside from the stories we talked about, we learned, indirectly, about each other, about how we’re incredibly different but still very similar at heart. This was incredibly humanizing because my partner wasn’t just a prisoner anymore. She was a person.”

2015 graduate Lauren Walter (neuroscience major), who plans to attend medical school, was surprised to learn that she and her partner share an interest in mindfulness meditation.

“The openness and depth of our exchange greatly exceeded my expectations,” she said.

Sellers left the class with a new perspective on the criminal justice system.

“When you really learn about someone and interact with them, it’s hard to label them and put them in a box,” she said, adding that her friends and family now call her a “bleeding heart” due to her views.

“Seeing prisoners as human seems easy, but it’s clear that most people don’t.”

Exchange for Change Board Member Betsy Murphy and English Composition Lecturer Joshua Schriftman, who teaches the class, discuss next steps for the program.

Stress Management and Cancer

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s women with breast cancer are living longer after diagnosis, Dr. Michael Antoni, Cooper Fellow and Professor of Psychology at the College of Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Sylvester Comprehensive Center at the UM Miller School of Medicine, is conducting a groundbreaking study aimed at helping survivors maintain their mental health.

His research shows that providing women with skills to manage stress early in their breast cancer treatment can improve their mood and quality of life – even many years later.

From 1998 - 2005, 240 women with a recent breast cancer diagnosis participated in a randomized trial that tested the effects of a stress management intervention developed by Dr. Antoni.

Dr. Antoni and his team in the Department of Psychology found that, compared with patients who received a one-day seminar of education about breast cancer, patients who learned relaxation techniques and new coping skills in a supportive group over 10 weeks experienced improved quality of life and less depressive symptoms during the first year of treatment.

In their latest report, the researchers found that the women who received the stress management intervention had persistently less depressive symptoms and better quality of life up to 15 years later.

“Women with breast cancer who participated in the study initially used stress management techniques to cope with the challenges of primary treatment to lower distress. Because these stress management techniques also give women tools to cope with fears of recurrence and disease progression, the present results indicate that these skills can be used to reduce distress and depressed mood and optimize quality of life across the survivorship period as women get on with their lives,” said lead author Jamie Stagl, who is currently at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Stagl noted that breast cancer survivors in the stress management group reported levels of depression and quality of life at the 15-year follow-up that were similar to what is reported by women without breast cancer.

The intervention proved helpful for women of various races and ethnic backgrounds. “This is key given the fact that ethnic minority women experience poorer quality of life and outcomes after breast cancer treatment,” said Stagl.

“Because depressive symptoms have been associated with neuroendocrine and inflammatory processes that may influence cancer progression, our ongoing work is examining the effects of stress management on depression and inflammatory biomarkers on the one hand, and disease recurrence and survival on the other,” said Dr. Antoni, who also serves as Director of the Center for Psycho-Oncology and Research Survivorship Theme Leader in the Cancer Control program at Sylvester.

Antoni’s findings demonstrate the possibility that psychologists and social workers may be able to “inoculate” women with stress management skills early in treatment to help them maintain long-term psychosocial health. His team is now exploring whether these mental health benefits are paralleled by biological changes (reduced inflammatory signaling) and improved health outcomes (decreased risk for recurrence and mortality).

His article was published in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

ARTS | SCIENCES

19

The Momemtum2 Campaign, the most ambitious in the University’s history, was a remarkable success for the Lowe Art Museum and the College of Arts & Sciences.

12,165 donors

$65

million

given to A&S

Thanks to the generosity of more than 12,165 donors, more than $65 million was given to establish scholarships and studentfocused initiatives, attract, retain, and support faculty and researchers who are shaping and re-defining their respective fields, and to launch interdisciplinary programs to enhance our local and global impact. These gifts also allowed the College's Lowe Art Museum to set the standard for providing high-quality curatorial opportunities and arts programming for students, as well as presenting new art exhibitions for the thousands of visitors who pass through its doors.

Together, with our giving, we empowered innovative instruction, groundbreaking research, and creative inquiry. Each and every gift, regardless of size, made a difference.

In the last decade, the College, the Lowe and the U have made historic progress, and we could not continue such remarkable advancement without the partnership of dedicated donors, alumni, friends, parents, students, and faculty and staff like you.

Thank you for your generosity.

It’s an exciting time at the U. We are transforming the College of today and reimagining the College of tomorrow.

Capitalizing on our momentum, we are leveraging big ideas into a bold future.

We look forward to partnering with you in our future success.

LEONIDAS G. BACHAS Dean of the UM College of Arts & Sciences

support by the numbers

5

New Chairs & Professorships

$6

million

Student Support & Scholarships

$18 million

Academic Programs

$20 million

Research & Faculty

$21 million

Lowe Art Museum

gif t h ighligh ts

The James A. Kushlan Chair in Waterbird Biology and Conservation was established through a generous endowment from DR. JAMES A. KUSHLAN, B.S. ’69, M.S. ’72, Ph.D. ’74. A writer, scientist, educator, and conservationist, Kushlan recognized the importance of attracting prominent scholars who can advance the College’s teachings and research.

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The generosity of JEFFRY B. FUQUA, A.B. ’67, M.S. ’70, Ph.D. ’72, funded graduate students and postdoctoral associates—springboards for rising academic talent and future mathematical development. Fuqua’s additional support to establish the Department of Mathematics’ McKnight-Zame lectures inspire new ideas and raise the department’s profile on the larger academic and national stages.

Artlab @ The Lowe, supported and established by STELLA M. HOLMES, A.B. ’95, provides hands-on museum experience to students working with the Lowe’s over 17,000 pieces of artwork, from the conceptual stage to the final installation.

Due to many thoughtful donors who have given gifts of all sizes, the CENTER FOR AUTISM & RELATED DISABILITIES (CARD) continues to provide treatment and support to thousands of families; and, through ongoing research, contribute to the field of autism spectrum disorders.

TRACKINGHURRICANES YOURNEWS

CLASS NOTES | ALUMNI PROFILES

Let your classmates know what is going on in your life. Share news about yourself in a future issue of Arts & Sciences magazine. Submit your information online using our convenient form: www.as.miami.edu/alumni/classnotes.

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EDWARD KEENAN DICK, III, A.B. ’52, was recently honored with the Manatee County Distinguished Citizen Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Manatee County Rural Health Services Foundation. A partner in the Dick, Johnson and Jefferson insurance agency for nearly half a century, Dick was recognized for his leadership in creating a volunteer consortium of over 1,000 people and 70 churches. He founded Refugee Inc. in 1979, is a founding member of Sheriff’s Youth Ranch refugee center, coached at the Manatee Boys and Girls Clubs for more than 30 years, and was a member of the Manatee County School Board. He leads the Guardian Angels of Southwest Florida, a group he founded to provide safe homes for children. He has been married to Joanne for 61 years, and they are the proud parents of eight adopted children.

FRED BLITSTEIN, A.B. ’66, owner and CEO of JFB Consulting Inc., is a member of the development team for SkyRise Miami, now under construction in downtown Miami. He developed the concept and joined with the Berkowitz Development Group to build the 1,000-foot observation tower.

While at UM, Blitstein was awarded the first (to the University of Miami) OAS Research Fellowship to study in Latin America at the invitation of Dr. Henry King Stanford and was the first student invited to be a member of the newly formed UM honors program.

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JO-ANNE ROSEN, A.B. ’66, M.A. ’69, has

published her first book, What They Don’t Know: Selected Fiction. Eighteen stories probe the lies and secrets, the “fictions” in the lives of parents and children, siblings, Germans and Jews, bewildered adolescents, and elderly lovers. It is available on amazon.com. For more details, see www.joannerosen.us. Rosen lives in Petaluma, California, where she is a self-employed book and web designer and small press publisher. She established Wordrunner Publishing Services in the 1980s, a print chapbook service in the ’90s, and a literary ’zine ( www.echapbook.com) in 2008.

RON BERGMAN, A.B. ’67, M.S. ’70, Ph.D. ’73,

is celebrating 42 years of continuing private practice in clinical and consulting psychology, with offices in Aventura and Plantation, Florida.

He is the author of Emotional Fitness Conditioning, available on amazon.com.

DOUGLAS R. ANDERSON, A.B. ’58, a world

renowned clinician and researcher, was presented his third degree, a B.S. in science,

by Dean of the UM College of Arts & Sciences Leonidas G. Bachas. Dr. Anderson, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, made pioneering contributions to advancing knowledge and treatment of glaucoma during his distinguished career. A founding member and past president of the American Glaucoma Society, Anderson is also the former president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the recipient of the Mildred Weisenfeld Award for outstanding ophthalmic research.

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MICHAEL STEPHANS, A.B. ’67, M.Ed. ’69, teaches

writing at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

An award-winning poet and writer, his recently published book Experiencing Jazz: A Listener’s Companion (Rowman & Littlefield/Scarecrow Press) has been hailed by Publishers Weekly as “a groundbreaking book” and has been equally praised by Eastman School of Music and other universities and colleges. Dr. Stephans (Ph.D., University of Maryland) is also a prominent jazz musician with credits that include performances and recordings with many jazz luminaries including NEA Jazz Masters, David Liebman, Bob Brookmeyer, and Phil Woods; Joe Lovano, Pharoah Sanders, Bennie Maupin, Freddie Hubbard, and many others. His 2006 recording,

“OM/ShalOM,” was named record of the year by Tom Barlow, writer for Jazzwise Magazine in the UK. Stephans is currently writing a book about the legendary musician and composer Ornette Coleman for Rowman & Littlefield Press.

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_______________________________ RAQUEL M. GONZALEZ, A.B. ’74, M.A. ’76, retired in March from the State of California Department of Justice, after a stellar 33-year legal career. She has been a leader in child abduction matters within the office, the state, and the international community. Among her many honors, Gonzalez has been asked to speak at The Hague in the Netherlands, at the State Department in Washington, D.C., and at Mexico’s Central Authority. She has received countless awards for her outstanding work, including the prestigious William E. James Award from the California District Attorneys Association. Even with all of these accolades, the most rewarding aspect of Gonzalez’s career has been the dozens of children reunited with their parents due to her efforts and expertise.

ROBERTO FERNANDEZ, B.S. ’75, chemistry, is a

physician specializing in gastroenterology in the Miami area. Fernandez received his undergraduate degree at UM, attended medical school at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic, interned and completed his residency at the Wayne State University School of Medicine Hospitals in Detroit, Michigan, and was awarded a GI fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals in New Haven. He is an avid cyclist, enjoys travel, golf, and spending time with his three children, Melissa, Nicole, and Robert, and his three grandchildren, Pedro, William and Olivia.

EMILIO ALONSO-MENDOZA, A.B. ‘76, J.D. ‘79, is the CEO of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell). He joined AG Bell at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C., on April 1, 2014. Alonso-Mendoza is a native of Miami, where he served ten years as the president of the National Parkinson Foundation, followed by leadership positions with the Catholic Community Foundation of the Archdiocese of ARTS | SCIENCES

21

TRACKINGHURRICANES

CLASS NOTES | ALUMNI PROFILES

JORGE RAMOS, M.A. ’96, international

Miami, the Children’s Home Society, and Take Stock in Children. He has two children, Bianca and Gabriel, and one grandchild, Sebastian, and resides in Washington with his wife, Marina.

CAROL DAMIAN, M.A. ’78, Ph.D. ’92, history, developed an interest in Pre-Columbian art which led her to pursue a degree in Latin American history with a focus on art in the College of Arts & Sciences at UM. She was the director & chief curator of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, and currently serves on the faculty at FIU. She has since been researching and publishing in the area of Pre-Columbian and Latin American art and art history. She currently serves as a consultant for the Department of Homeland Security.

Her passion for art has led her to continue providing her support and expertise in her community as a curator, teacher, writer, and popular speaker.

80s

studies, is one of the most eloquent, credible, and powerful voices of Hispanic America.

The veteran newsman – who hosts two Spanish-language programs on Univision and an English-language show on the ABC/ Univision collaboration Fusion network – can now add “cover model” to his long list of accomplishments.

Ramos was selected for a coveted spot on Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world; he was also chosen to grace one of five covers, alongside Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rapper Kanye West, and other luminaries.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, wrote the Time profile of Ramos. She noted: “Ramos wrangles with President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner; he swims the Rio Grande; he says he asks every question as if it’s his last, determined to get an answer or go down trying. What happened to immigration reform? He knows he has a voice and is not afraid to use it. He shouts

90s

_______________________________

_______________________________ WILFREDO A. FERRER, A.B. ‘87, was recognized

as the Latino Lawyer of the Year by the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA). The HNBA National Annual Awards were held during its 40th Annual Convention at the Westin Waterfront Hotel in Boston this past September.

JORGE L. ALONSO, A.B. ’88, has served as an associate judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, an Illinois state trial court of general jurisdiction, from 2003 to 2014. He received his J.D. in 1991 from the George Washington University Law School. Prior to being appointed as associate judge, Alonso worked as an assistant public defender in the office of the Cook County Public Defender from 1991 to 2003, where he represented indigent individuals in both civil and criminal proceedings.

JAMES VICKARYOUS, A.B. ’90, is the 2015

president of the Seminole County Bar Association and treasurer of the Central Florida Trial Lawyers Association. He also serves on the 18th Judicial Circuit’s Local Professionalism Panel for Seminole County, and was recently appointed to the Seminole County Parks and Preservation Advisory Committee. Vickaryous is listed among the Nation’s Top One Percent of Attorneys by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel, an organization dedicated to promoting the highest standards of legal excellence.

WILLEM ALEXANDER DAMAN, A.B. ’92, history, currently serves as associate general counsel at Navy Federal Credit Union. He attended law school at the University of Florida and had 17 years of experience in government, where he held positions at the Customs Service and Department of Homeland Security, working on border security and international trade issues, before joining Navy Federal in 2011. He lives in the

JACKIE F. NESPRAL, A.B. ’89, NBC 6 Miami anchor received the “Silver Circle” award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, honoring her excellence and more than 25 years of contributions to the television industry.

22 FALL 2015

from every rooftop that Hispanic rights are human rights.”

Ramos, 57, was born in Mexico City. He came to the United States as a student in 1983, and became the Univision national news anchor at age 28. His newscasts are seen in 13 Latin American countries each night.

He has received numerous awards, including eight Emmys and the 2002 Reuben Salazar Award from the National Council of La Raza for his positive portrayal of Latinos.

D.C. area and enjoyed a recent visit to Miami to introduce his children to the University.

RITA DARGHAM, B.S. ’92, is recognized as one

of South Florida’s leading family, cosmetic, and reconstructive dentists. She earned her D.M.D. from the University of Florida and completed her post-graduate training at the Miami Veterans Administration Hospital, where she concentrated on implant and reconstructive dentistry. Dargham is a member of the Florida Dental Association, the American Dental Association, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and more. She is an active volunteer with Operation Smile, traveling the world to donate her time and expertise to treat young people suffering from cleft lip and palate.

MARC M. CAMILLE, Ed.D. ’96, vice president for

enrollment management and communications at Loyola University Maryland, has been selected by the Council of Independent Colleges as one of 23 senior-level higher education administrators nationwide to participate in its year-long Executive Leadership Academy. Camille is the only representative from a Jesuit institution or a Patriot League institution in the 2015-16 cohort.

Individuals chosen for the program are vice presidents or cabinet officers in higher education who aspire to the presidency of an independent college or university and are nominated by their home institution’s president. Camille will participate in two seminars held in Washington, D.C., as well as readings, webinars, and a mentoring program. In addition, he will develop

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an experiential learning plan focused on specific areas of presidential responsibility.

CHARLOTTE COSNER, M.A. ’98, just published

her first book, The Golden Leaf: How Tobacco Shaped Cuba and the Atlantic World, by Vanderbilt University Press. After graduating from UM, Charlotte went on to get her Ph.D. in Atlantic history at Florida International University.

ALLISON HOLBROOK, A.B. ’99, has received the

Marian Porter Huffman Scholarship from Kent State University’s School of Information and Library Science. The scholarship is awarded to a student who has maintained an excellent academic record and demonstrates potential for future scholarly research and publication.

JENNIFER PAPP, A.B. ’99, and her husband, Leo Luciani, adopted their 3-year-old son, David, in Poland in November 2014.

00s

_______________________________ JOEL BRADLEY, A.B. ’01, is in his third year as an

international scout with the Baltimore Orioles.

ASMA UDDIN, A.B. ’02, has translated her interest in religious freedom law to a position with the prestigious law firm Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C. She has been with the firm since 2009.

A 2005 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, she has handled high-profile cases including Holt v. Hobbs, a U.S. Supreme Court case brought by a Muslim prisoner seeking the ability to wear a half-inch beard in accordance with his faith, and Islamic Center of Murfreesboro v. Rutherford County, Tennessee, which was the feature of the CNN documentary, “Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door.” She also worked on the controversial U.S. Supreme Court case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. Uddin lives in D.C. with her husband and two kids.

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BENJAMIN MORDES, B.A. ‘05, political science and economics, is managing

counsel for Imperial Fire and Casualty Insurance, a National General Insurance Company, in Miami. After graduation from the College, Benjamin graduated with honors from Emory Law in 2009. He went on to receive an LL.M. in taxation from NYU. He established the house counsel office of Imperial Fire and Casualty’s Miami office, which handles insurance litigation for South Florida.

Leadership and Service to the Law Center. She was nominated for the Larry Klevitch Service Award, and her community service projects were nominated for Service Project of the Year. While obtaining her law degree, Rahysa served as the president and vice president of the Student Bar Association and was an active member of the Pan Student Government and Student Affairs Faculty Committee. She was an active member in the Nova Trail Association and was an octo-finalist in the Buffalo-Niagara Mock Trial Competition. In her MARGARET KNUTH, B.S. ’03, physics and marine spare time she enjoys community service for the science, is the operations manager for the homeless community and homeless children.

National Science Foundation’s U.S. Antarctic GEOFFREY LANE, B.S. ’09, became a registered Program. In this role she has oversight of respiratory therapist, having passed his NBRC infrastructure and logistics at three remote National Board Exams and obtaining his license stations in support of cutting edge science.

This year she will head to the Antarctic for the from Florida in March 2015. He will be pursuing a career in pediatric and adult critical care.

11th time. She received her Master’s in civil engineering from Clarkson University and went on to work for the Army Corp of Engineers before starting at NSF. Knuth and her husband reside in the D.C. area, and in her time off enjoys kayaking, camping, and traveling.

DIVYA “DEVI” SRIDHAR, B.S. ’02, M.D. ’06, has

co-authored a review on overseeing global health with Chelsea Clinton, published in the International Monetary Fund’s Finance & Development magazine.

It shows how the Ebola outbreak highlights the need for global co-operation in health, and that governments cannot act in isolation when dealing with the spread of infectious diseases. The full article can be accessed at http://www.imf.org/external/ pubs/ft/fandd/2014/12/sridhar.htm.

ERIN LEWIS, A.B. ’06, J.D. ’13, and her husband, Robert M. Collins, J.D. ’11, celebrated the birth of their first child, Teya Lewis-Collins, on January 4, 2015.

NAPOLEON SANTOS, B.S. ‘05, psychology, is

the newest physician associate at the Florida Cancer Specialists branch in West Palm Beach.

Santos received his D.O. degree from LECOM in Bradenton, and recently completed his hematology and medical oncology fellowship at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

RAHYSA VARGAS, A.B. ’07, is an attorney in Kelley Kronenberg’s Miami office, focusing her practice on first party insurance defense, property and casualty and complex commercial construction disputes, and business transactions. Rahysa earned her J.D. degree from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center. While attending law school, Rahysa was the recipient of the Student of the Year Award, along with the Stephanie Aleong Impact Award and the Dean’s Award for

KENNETH B. “JR” WIGGINS, A.B. ’11, a first

lieutenant and 1-265th ADA soldier, supports the U from abroad.

ARTS | SCIENCES

23

CALENDAR

2015-16

A&S EVENTS NOVEMBER– JANUARY lowe art museum

CONTEMPLATING CHARACTER: Portrait Drawings and Oil Sketches from Jacques-Louis David to Lucian Freud Featuring 151 rare portrait drawings and oil sketches, this exhibit at the Lowe Art Museum explores the evolution of portraiture from the late 1700s to the present. The exhibit features works by Jacques-Louis David and Lucian Freud, as well as Aubrey Beardsley’s India ink portrait of Oscar Wilde. Also included is Alfred Hitchcock’s famous profile, as seen in the introduction to his television series “Alfred Hitchcock Admission to the Lowe Art Museum is $10 for adults, and $5 for Presents.” Los Angeles-based students and senior citizens. Admission is free for UM students, Landau Traveling Exhibitions in faculty and staff. For more information, visit www.lowemuseum.org. association with Denenberg Fine Arts organized the exhibition.

JANUARY center for the humanities

“The Art of Leadership: Lessons from the American Presidency” by Presidential Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Jon Meacham

FEBRUARY jerry herman ring theatre

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare Performances: February 17 – 27, 2016 Love, religion, circumstance, and justice collide in “As You Like It,” one of the Bard’s most famous and provocative comedies. The Forest of Arden serves as a refuge for exiles, mistaken identities, and the quest to uphold love at first sight.

Shakespeare put it best with penning the line from this masterpiece—“All the world’s a stage.”

The Jerry Herman Ring Theatre is located at 1312 Miller Drive on the University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus.

For more information and to purchase tickets, call 305-284-3355 or visit www.as.miami.edu/ringtheatre

Event: January 26, 2016, 7:00 p.m.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and best-selling author Jon Meacham explores what 21st-century leaders in different fields of endeavor can learn from the greatest moments of our common past.

Meacham discusses how history can inform the decisions all of us make every day in positions that demand creative and innovative solutions.

This presentation—non-partisan in content and tone—ranges from Jefferson's pragmatism to Jackson's management of public opinion, JFK's capacity to recover from his own mistakes, and the management of conflicting egos shown by Reagan and FDR. The lecture is open to the public and free of charge.

For more information, visit humanities.miami.edu.

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NOVEMBER–APRIL college of arts & sciences

A&S Golden Ticket Explore and discover the richness of arts, science, and culture in the College of Arts & Sciences with an A&S Golden Ticket. The Ticket allows you and a guest complimentary admission to events, performances, special programs, and lectures happening in the College.

For a full list of goings-on, visit www.as.miami.edu/golden.

S U P P O R T

A

W O R L D - C L A S S

E D U C A T I O N

The ARTS & SCIENCES A N N UA L F U N D

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to bright

futures

The UM College of Arts & Sciences educates and inspires the next generation of leaders, critical thinkers, innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs.

Your support will enable the Dean to enhance learning experiences that help our students make their dreams a reality.

YOUR SUPPORT WILL DIRECTLY IMPACT TODAY'S STUDENTS.

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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

Courtesy of UM Archives

From 1962 to 1981, Dr. Henry King Stanford served as UM’s third president. Under his administration, the University experienced a transformation during a time when the world was also changing.

He succeeded in bringing diversity to the University’s faculty and athletics, enhancing its funding for research, and increasing the size of the institution. Former President Stanford, photographed here with UM students in May 1972, passed away Jan. 1, 2009.

Copyright Jenny Abreu

UM recently welcomed its sixth president, Dr. Julio Frenk – the University’s first Hispanic president. Photographed here with students on moving day, President Frenk arrives with his vision and aspiration for the University’s future: to be a model institution embracing diversity, and building leadership in preparation for its next 100 years of higher learning and service on a national and global scale. It’s truly an exciting time to be connected to the U.