College of Letters & Science
IN FOCUS
August 2020, Vol. 10, No.8
Journalism alum’s project travels to the heart of America Page 6
For updates on UWM’s fall 2020 re-opening, visit https://uwm.edu/coronavirus/reopening/
PCs and proble
Contents Feature Stories Communication students tackle online conflict English prof publishes book on Daytime TV Alum’s cross-country project aims to unite Biology prof wins grant to preserve kelp UWM Physicists tackle a black hole mystery Anthroplogy prof helps preserve monkeys
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Columns Planetarium Spotlight Alumni Accomplishments Passings Laurels and Accolades People in Print In the Media Video Stories Published College the
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Communication
You’ve downloaded Zoom. You’ve logged in to your work meeting. You’ve navigated your microphone and video settings and somehow managed to change your background. Now comes the hard part: Communication. Online group meetings are subject to the same pitfalls and miscommunications of face-to-face groups, perhaps even more so. Jessica Kahlow As the world rushed online to virtual meeting spaces during the coronavirus pandemic, two UWM graduate students began to wonder: How do group conflicts manifest online versus in person? How should group leaders manage those problems? Communication PhD candidate Jessica Kahlow and her co-author, Hanna Klecka, published a paper earlier this year exploring those questions. Klecka graduated from UWM with her Master’s degree in communication this spring. They and their mentor, associate professor of communication Erin Ruppel, examined existing research about online and face-to-face meeting conflicts and found they needed to account for a new type of group. “A more appropriate way to address or research these types of groups is actually looking at hybrid groups,” said Klecka. “For the most part, that’s the reality of today’s world, and we’ve seen that in a very aggressive way these past few months.” Hybrid groups are those that work with a mix of face-toface and online meetings. For example, a sales team that previously worked together in an office but now hosts meetings online would be considered a “hybrid group.”
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By examining hybrid groups, Kahlow and Klecka found some best practices to make online meetings run smoothly. Group leaders should: •
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Establish set norms from the beginning.
ems
n students research online group conflicts “Since there is, perhaps, more ambiguity with what to communicate or how to communicate, or what technology to use to communicate, establishing norms early is imperative because it sets up expectations,” Klecka said. That might mean laying out rules for when microphones should be muted, Hanna Klecka for example, or establishing methods to make sure everyone has a chance to talk. With expectations clearly laid out, there will be less chance for conflicts to arise from miscommunications. •
Make sure there are clear channels of communication outside of the meetings.
“If you’re teaching, for example, you don’t see the students before class or the ones who linger after class,” Kahlow noted. “That happens in the workplace too; the discussions before and after meetings aren’t as common, so it’s important to know who to go to get a response.”
Despite their findings, Kahlow and Klecka agree that more research must be done in this area, especially as the pandemic continues and online meetings become more necessary and commonplace. There is a distinct lack of literature and research concerning hybrid groups, they noted. That might be a problem for schools as classes resume in the fall. With many institutions, including UWM, relying on online classes, there is plenty of potential for conflicts and miscommunications between teachers and students. Have patience, Klecka urged. “As someone who has taught online, (I’ve noticed) students don’t ask questions for clarification. In a classroom setting, if one person asks a question, everyone benefits and gets the answer,” she said. “That doesn’t always happen depending on what the class is or how the class is formatted in an online context. So, have patience and be proactive in communicating.” Kahlow also encouraged students to make use of any “online office hours” that teachers and professors might offer, especially since students won’t be able to informally ask questions before or after class. And, if conflicts do arise, the answer is simple: More communication. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
In fact, much of school or workplace dynamics rely on informal meetings in the hallway or popping by a coworker’s cubicle. Without those small, in-person interactions, people need to make an effort to reach out beyond meetings if they have extra questions, Kahlow added. •
“Force” meetings if necessary.
“Right now, I work as a psychology lab manager. With my lab, we didn’t have a lot of consistent meetings,” Klecka said. “Once things changed, it felt needed to be more proactive in having standing meetings each week. Being proactive in ‘forcing’ communication was a significant change, and that, I think, helped us stay on the same page and not allow for the miscommunication or lack of communication.” College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 3
UWM TV and pop culture expert traces infl The history of the daytime soap opera sometimes reads like a story arc from a program in one of television’s oldest and most influential genres. Starting from humble beginnings on radio, soaps transitioned to daytime TV in the late 1940s and rose to become immensely popular especially in the 1970s and 80s. Since then, soaps have declined in number and popularity as TV viewing options have multiplied, though the sudsy dramas still draw loyal followings. Elana Levine, a professor of English and expert on American television and media, traces the genre’s past and present in a new book, “Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History.” A lifelong fan of daytime soaps, Levine looks at how they have influenced broadcast television overall, as well as how the genre has portrayed ideas about American women and social identities. “It’s tracing these two histories, looking at the history of ideas about femininity and women’s identity over a 70-year period,” Levine said, “and also thinking about how this particular form of television really shapes and helps us understand a lot of things about television as a business and as a storytelling medium.” ‘Kind of obsessed’ This is a labor of love for Levine. Her office is filled with TV and pop culture paraphernalia, including a photo cutout from a magazine spread of the “General Hospital” supercouple characters Luke and Laura. “I’ve spent decades watching mainly one soap since I was a teenager,” said Levine, a “General Hospital” fan. “I was kind of obsessed and knew all about them.” The book is rooted heavily in Levine’s study of thousands of pages of memos, correspondence and scripts during visits to archives around the country including the Paley Center for Media in New York, UCLA and the Wisconsin Historical Society. The research also involved watching hours and hours of soaps. Some of the older material came from her own collection. Other times, she found recordings on YouTube or received copies of old shows recorded on VHS tapes and DVDs by fans.
The study of soap operas is a labor of love for UWM English professor Elana Levine. (UWM Photo/Elora H
of television, meaning that storylines could linger over weeks, months or even years. The influence on nighttime dramas stretches beyond classic soaps like “Dallas” or “Dynasty.” Shows like the “The Sopranos,” “Big Little Lies” and even the fantasy epic “Game of Thrones” all draw in part on the serialized format. Serialized storytelling also existed in other forms, such as in novels or comic books. “But in terms of TV, the daytime soap opera was really the place where this kind of storytelling evolved,” Levine said.
Daytime to nighttime
Influence of women
Soaps hold sway over some of primetime’s most popular programs. Daytime dramas adapted their serialized radio formats to the small screen from the earliest days
Historically, women have played key roles on soaps both behind and in front of the camera. Daytime television also tends to adapt storylines to shifting societal norms.
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fluential history of daytime soap opera Wisconsin ties to soap operas In researching the book, Levine found some soap opera ties to Wisconsin: Doris Hursley, who created “General Hospital” with her husband, Frank Hursley, was born in Milwaukee. Her mother, Meta Schlichting Berger, graduated with a degree in education from the State Normal School in Milwaukee, a predecessor to UWM. In 1897, she married Victor Berger, the co-founder of the Socialist Party and the first Socialist elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Meta Berger later served a sixyear term on the UW Board of Regents. In the 1930s, Frank Hursley taught English at the school that would become UWM. Doris Hursley earned degrees from UW-Madison and Marquette. Irna Phillips, who is considered the matriarch of the soap opera genre, attended UW-Madison and her papers are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society. In 1930s, Phillips created “Painted Dreams,” one of the earliest radio soap operas. She also created “The Guiding Light” and was its writer for its transition to television.
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For instance, Levine notes that in the 1960s, with more women working outside the home, soap operas began depicting more female characters working. With most programs set around hospitals, more female nurses, and the occasional doctor, were introduced to fans. Soaps also were among the first shows to tackle once taboo topics like breast cancer, sexual assault, and same-sex relationships. “In the world of daytime soap operas, there have been many women in pretty powerful roles as creators of their own program, writers, and producers,” Levine said. “They’ve had this kind of this voluminous body of work that has been creative and influential in lots of ways,” she added. “They are telling their stories … We can learn from their experiences and understand how this might impact the present.”
The Hursleys’ daughter, Bridget Dobson, created the now-defunct soap “Santa Barbara,” with her husband, Jerome. A collection of scripts, correspondence and other documents written by the Hursleys and Dobsons is also at the Wisconsin Historical Society. The CBS soap “The Young and the Restless” is based in Genoa City, Wisconsin. But the fictional locale, which has an international airport and serves as headquarters for major makeup, fashion and entertainment corporations, bears little resemblance to the real-life Genoa City near the Illinois-Wisconsin state line. Levine suspects that the fictional Genoa City is based on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. William J. Bell, who created “The Young and the Restless” with his wife, Lee Phillip Bell, was from Chicago. The late couple’s son, Bradley Bell, the executive producer of the CBS soap “The Bold and the Beautiful,” has said that the family spent a lot of time in Lake Geneva. Like his father, Bradley Bell returns to
Wisconsin every summer to write for his soap.
By Genaro C. Adams, University Relations College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 5
We the Voters
Journalism grad travels
In Portland, Maine, Emily Topczewski met a lobsterman in a bar and talked her way into spending a day on his boat. In a small town in Georgia, she convinced a police chief to let her ride along with one of his officers following a Black Lives Matter protest. In Ohio, she mourned with the community after she witnessed an opioid overdose. She recorded it all – the good, the bad, the personal, the political. It’s part of her “We the Voters Project,” an ambitious endeavor to help Americans bridge some bitter political and social divides across the nation. “The idea of We the Voters is that this is an interview project where I’m conducting interviews in small towns and large cities across all 50 states, talking to people on the premise that most people are good, and that if we are willing to listen to each other and listen to each other’s stories, it’s a lot harder to draw those lines and boundaries,” Topczewski explained. Since she began her crosscountry trip one year ago, Topczewski has interviewed hundreds of people in 26 states. Currently, she’s taking a break in Georgia where she’s reviewing her material and riding out the COVID-19 pandemic. Every day, she posts snippets of interviews to social media and YouTube, updates the We the Voters Project website and her blog, and gives glimpses into the lives of ordinary Americans from every walk of life. The origin story Topczewski never wanted to be anything but a journalist.
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“I used to make these family newspapers on Microsoft Publisher – I have a very large Catholic family – about all of the news happening with my cousins and aunts and uncles, and then I would distribute them at family parties. And I did that for years,” she said with a laugh. Topczewski grew up in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and initially attended college at a smaller school before she transferred to UWM in search of a bigger journalism market. UWM’s Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies Department had everything she was looking for: Talented professors, internship opportunities, and, at the time, a news program called PantherVision which taught students how to create their own media broadcasts. “I picked up skills, from editing to tracking down stories to getting people to talk to me. I learned so much in that class and I still use all of that basically every day that I’m doing this work,” Topczewski said. “PantherVision was far and away the most important collegiate experience I had.” After graduation, Topczewski worked at the local WTMJ radio station before trying her hand at public relations as an intern in the D.C. office of a Wisconsin congressman. Deciding government was not for her, she found a job at PR firm and later transferred to that firm’s Chicago office. But, something was missing. “I kept going back to what I loved about Emily Topczewski celebrates in front of her packed car on the first day of We the Voters in July 2019. Photo courtesy of Emily Topczewski.
s the country to bridge political rifts
Emily Topczewski conducting an interview with Buz Wildmire for We the Voters in Springfield, Illinois in February 2020. Photo courtesy of Emily Topczewski.
journalism when I was at UWM and what I loved when I interned in a newsroom,” Topczewski said. “And my issue with the way the news is handled right now, is because you’re moving so fast and you’re so underfunded, there are so many stories that don’t get covered or they don’t get covered fully. “At that point, I was single and I didn’t have a house and I don’t have any kids. I said, what is really keeping me from being on the road? The only thing was my lease, which was ending. I took a leap of faith.” And thus was We The Voters Project born.
On the road In each state she visits, Topczewski spends a few days exploring three areas: The state’s largest city, a midsized town, and a small town of less than 15,000 people. She typically looks for local movers and shakers to interview: small business owners, the leaders of charitable organizations or nonprofits, etc. “I start there because those are people who are really ingrained in their community. If they’re not comfortable being interviewed, they can typically point me to someone who would be or who knows something or who has been here for 50 years,” Topczewski said. “Those are typically the people who can give me a better sense of what it’s like to live somewhere.” Continued on page 8 College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 7
We the Voters Project
Continued from page 7
She also stops people on the street – and in bars, churches, parks, diners, and town hall meetings – and asks to talk to them, a so-called “man on the street” interview. Each interview starts with surface conversation as Topczewski slowly convinces her subjects to trust her. By 45 minutes in, she has people telling her their life stories and their politics. “I’m interested in what makes people tick. My premise in this project is that most people are good and that we are more alike than different,” she explained. “You can watch an hour of MSNBC or Fox or CNN and get three completely different stories of what’s happening in the country right now, which fuels a very partisan fire. However, in my experience … if you can get one person away from the ‘pack’ and sit down and actually listen to them … you start to pull back the layers and start to get to what people are concerned about, which are typically very similar things.”
Emily Topczewski in front of the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan during the first week on the road. Photo courtesy of Emily Topczewski.
Jim in Lexington, Kentucky, spoke about his pride and worry for his son, a firefighter/paramedic. Ron in Detroit talked about growing up poor and how the gang activity in the city waxed and waned over the course of his life. Lynn in Glidden, Wisconsin talked about her small town’s struggle to survive and attract new businesses and residents. Scotty, the lobsterman from Maine, talked about the pollution in the ocean that he sees every day from his boat.
“People are worried about education for their kids and their kids’ future, and they’re worried about job stability for them and their families. You can come to Atlanta or you can come to a small town in the south or to California, and I’ve heard the same stories everywhere,” Topczewski said. A good interview is one where she walks away with a different perspective on issues like immigration, abortion, or other hot-button topics. Topczewski herself is an interesting mix of right- and left-wing ideologies – “too liberal for my parents but too conservative for all of my friends,” she joked – and has come to appreciate the many shades of gray of life across the U.S. For the future Right now, the We the Voters Project lives on its website and social media, but Topczewski has some big plans in the works. She’s launching a podcast in the fall and she plans to write a book about her experiences. She’s in the process of querying publishers now. Also in the works is a documentary series of short videos that share some of the major themes Topczewski has encountered in her travels. The documentaries should debut in winter of 2021. The coronavirus pandemic did throw a wrench in her plans. Topczewski is debating whether it’s safe to travel and continue her work, or if she should redefine the project’s scope. Either way, she hopes that it will inspire others to think about their neighbors across the country. “My interest is the theory that if you could look in the face of someone, who may look like you or not look like you at all, hear their voice, hear why they believe what they believe, then ideally, hopefully, you’ll be able to grant another person, a stranger, the same empathy that you reserve for your own friends and family.” By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science 8 • IN FOCUS • August, 2020
UWM biologist will create seed banks to aid dwindling kelp forests From 2013-16, the California coast was hit with a marine heatwave known as “The Blob” – a hundreds of miles-long patch of unusually warm water that devasted plant and animal life in the Pacific Ocean. Among the hardest hit was a species of kelp known as bull kelp, an underwater plant that, in addition to pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, provides food and habitats for other marine life. In fact, said Filipe Alberto, an associate professor of biological sciences at UWM, The Blob and associated ecological changes rendered bull kelp in danger of local extinction in northern California. Filipe Alberto In July, Sea Grant appointed Alberto and other scientists to do something about it. Sea Grant is a collaboration between the federal government, California state government, and California universities to create knowledge, products, and services benefiting the economy and environment. Funded by the California Ocean Protection Council and the California Deparment of Fish and Wildlife, Sea Grant chose Alberto and his team to be one of six projects to receive a combined total of $2.1 million in funding to help the recovery the dwindling population of bull kelp. Alberto already had a potential solution started. “It’s like a seed bank. Part of the life cycle of a kelp involves a stage that is microscopic, which is called the gametophyte. There are ways, in the lab, of preserving these gametophytes for a very long period,” he explained. “This buys us time to understand the methods to put the species back and if it’s a good idea to put the species back. (If it is), we will have this ‘seed bank’ to help with the restoration.” Alberto has long studied the genetic diversity of several species of kelp. Even before receiving the grant, he and his (now-graduated) graduate student, Lily Gierke, had been collecting samples across the bull kelp distribution in 2017 to analyze its genetic diversity. Gametophytes had also been collected from Washington in collaboration with the Puget Sound Restoration Fund. Those collections will form the basis of the seed bank, as well as samples that are currently being gathered. The second part of his project involves repeating that genetic analysis. Alberto and his team, which includes
researchers from UC-Santa Cruz and the University of Southern California, want to compare the bull kelp’s current genetic diversity with the samples collected back in 2017 to see if it has changed with several more years of ecological degradation. Finally, the genetic analysis will be enhanced as the team sequences a reference genome for bull kelp, which will allow for a population genomics analysis. “One of the things that genomics allows you to do is understand how this genetic differentiation between the samples that we collect is associated with different environmental factors,” Alberto said. “Having the genome also allows us to understand if different specimens might be differentially adapted to different environments. Often, it’s possible that the individuals collected further south where average waters are warmer might naturally select and adapt to that type of environment, just like people might have in different parts of the world in different climates.” Even so, he warned, temperature is not the whole story – there are several factors contributing to the decline of bull kelp, and using genomics might help pinpoint which genetic markers will help bull kelp survive a variety of environmental obstacles. That way, “in the future when people wonder how to restore a particular site, we will have not just the gametophyte banks to source those efforts, but also the knowledge to say, ‘In that location, we should use this particular material,’” Alberto added. Restoring the bull kelp in central California is important because those kelp forests have some of the richest genetic diversity in the plant’s range, and genetic diversity can help any species evolve and survive in changing environments. Bull kelp can grow from central California up the coast to Alaska. “Across all of that space, you’re going to have pockets of different genetic backgrounds, so it’s always a tragedy to lose one of these pockets,” Alberto said. “Especially in the south where there is so much genetic diversity and so much potential for this species, to have all of this southern range disappear … is disturbing.” By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 9
Exploring the mysterious gap between bl Scientists have discovered an object in a cosmic collision that is denser than previously detected neutron stars but still far less dense than known black holes, challenging the accepted description of neutron stars and black holes, two of the many forms of massive, dying stars in the universe. Physics professors Patrick Brady and Jolien Creighton and a group of 15 other researchers from UWM’s Center for Gravitation, Cosmology and Astrophysics contributed to the recent paper by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters that investigated the collision. The end game of massive stars often involves a smashup, called a “compact binary merger,” that is so violent it produces gravitational waves – ripples in space-time that can be detected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Now that these mergers can be detected, scientists want to further explore them using quick follow-up from telescopes and instruments that spot forms of radiation, such as visible light, radio waves, gamma rays and X-rays. This “multi-messenger” investigation is expected to reveal information that helps physicists piece together new knowledge about the universe. The researchers have detected a merger in which one object has a mass that defies the standard description. For decades astronomers have been puzzled by a gap that lies between the mass of neutron stars and black holes: The heaviest known neutron star is no more than 2.5 times the mass of our sun – or 2.5 “solar masses” – and the lightest known black hole is about 5 solar masses. This newly discovered object lies in this so-called “mass gap.” In this conversation, Deep Chatterjee, a UWM doctoral researcher and a co-author on the paper, discusses the mass gap and explains the importance of multi-messenger astronomy in determining whether more objects exist in the mass gap. Scientists don’t know if the object in the cosmic merger that LIGO/Virgo found is a neutron star or a black hole. But, since it falls into the “mass gap,” does that mean there could be neutron stars that are much denser than we thought? That is certainly a possibility. This observation means that the lighter object – if it’s a neutron star – is the heaviest one detected so far. Theoretically, neutron stars could have masses of about 3. However, scientists have only observed them with masses up to 2.5. So, this would change the present belief of how heavy neutron stars can be. 10 • IN FOCUS • August, 2020
This graphic shows the “solar masses” of detected objects in the stellar graveyard – the area in the pop neutron star mergers in yellow and black hole mergers in purple. Yellow and purple events were discove compact mergers between either two black holes or a neutron star and a black hole are that were detec Virgo. The arrows attached to some indicate they are the individual components of a final, more massiv Elavsky & Aaron Geller, Northwestern)
The other possibility is the existence of a lighter black hole. It is believed that black holes have solar masses of more than 5, the upper limit of the mass gap. This also is challenged in case this object is a black hole. What will scientists have to see in the future to solve the mystery of whether this object was a neutron star or black hole? Observations with electromagnetic radiation are a confident way to solve this. If the neutron star was torn apart by the black hole, the dynamics of the remnant matter could produce light, similar to the neutron star merger GW170817 in 2017. Observation of light would mean this was a neutron star. But, this particular event was pretty far away, so the light may be too dim.
lack holes and neutron stars We need superdense objects colliding in space to produce enough gravitational waves detectable by LIGO. Thus, binary compact object mergers are the most promising source in this regard. Also, these compact object mergers produce not Deep Chatterjee only gravitational waves but also other electromagnetic messengers like gamma-ray bursts and fast-optical transients, called kilonovae. Currently, there is a global focus on multi-messenger observations because each method provides different information. What aspect of this multi-messenger research effort do you work on? We stand to learn the most from multi-messenger observations, but the duration of these events in the sky is very short. We need rapid communication between LIGO and other partner observing facilities to coordinate.
pulation of objects that were once stars devoid of objects between 2.5 and 5 solar masses. These include ered using observations of electromagnetic radiation rather than gravitational waves. In blue are the cted by LIGO/Virgo. There also are two neutron star mergers, in orange, that were detected by LIGO/ ve remnant in blue. GW190814 is the one with the white glow around it. (Credit: LIGO-Virgo/ Frank
There is also the possibility that the neutron star was not torn apart but swallowed by the black hole, in which case there is no light. In the future, if we have a better understanding of what a neutron star is made of – its “equation of state” – we could rule out black holes with more confidence. Why is the mass of these objects important? What have we learned about super-massive objects by studying their movements in space? The masses are a part of the whole story. Compact objects are interesting because they are probes of both extreme matter and extreme gravity. These conditions cannot be reproduced in an Earth-based lab. Therefore, dense compact objects are high-energy astrophysical laboratories.
I’m involved with the LIGO low-latency group, where I develop scientific tools that predict if a merger is worth following up. I also develop automated software infrastructure within LIGO to relay the discovery information to astronomers for follow-up. Besides LIGO, I work with the Zwicky Transient Facility collaboration, an optical telescope in California that follows up gravitational-wave events to hunt the elusive kilonova. With Zwicky, I work on the sensitivity of such telescopes and develop strategies for follow-up. Besides Brady, Creighton and Chatterjee, UWM coauthors on the paper include: Caitlin Rose, Ignacio Magana Hernandez, Adam Mercer, Duncan Meacher, Mike Manske, Xiaoshu Liu, Patrick Brockill, Warren Anderson, Siddharth Mohite, Shaon Ghosh, Shasvath Kapadia, Tanner Prestegard, Sinead Walsh and Tom Downes. By Laura Otto, University Relations
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 11
Classification helps conservation of vervet monkeys book “Savanna Monkeys: The Genus Chlorocebus.” “Because of their diversity and adaptability, they can live anywhere.”
Vervet monkeys live across Africa and the Caribbean, and they’re so adaptable to their environments that human encroachment often results in conflicts with the animals. Although many people consider the monkeys a nuisance, many also want to save the animals, and rehabilitation centers across Africa house injured or orphaned monkeys. But when these centers want to release vervets back into the wild, they often meet with resistance from local authorities. The main concern: Releasing animals from one location into the domain of others could disrupt the gene pool.
That same diversity also makes vervet taxonomy a difficult task. Different conditions may drive physical variations: Vervets in one area can be larger, but smaller in another place. Vervets across Africa have also adapted to various environmental conditions and even to specific viruses, which has led to genetic differences. Trudy Turner
The case for releasing vervets in South Africa has received a huge boost from Trudy Turner, the go-to counselor for questions about vervet integration. The distinguished professor of anthropology in the College of Letters & Science is an expert in vervet taxonomy, which is the scientific classification that distinguishes one group of animals from another. For 40 years, Turner and her students have collected data on the monkeys. Their research has shown that rehab centers can safely release vervets from one location in South Africa to another because they’re genetically and taxonomically similar. Versatility is a hallmark of vervets. “They live in every conceivable habitat across a wide geographic area,” explains Turner, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and co-author of the 2019 12 • IN FOCUS • August, 2020
It’s these genetic distinctions, not size and shape, that are the key taxonomic factors. The taxonomic hierarchy, from broadest level to smallest, descends from kingdom, to phylum, to class, order, family, genus and species. Turner’s work proved the species in question were similar enough within South Africa that rehab centers could safely release them. Throughout her career, Turner’s research has helped redefine the vervets’ Chlorocebus genus to accurately reflect their evolution, which has played a big role in their conservation. “In order to help a population,” Turner says, “you must show that they’re distinctive or specialized and needing additional protection.” The conservation aspect is one of the most satisfying aspects of Turner’s work with animals on the ground. “I don’t know of anyone in the field who isn’t working with conservation in mind,” she says. “We can’t help it. You have to do what you can to protect what’s there.”
By Laura Otto, University Relations
Spotlight on the Planetarium Through these hard times, the UWM Planetarium may be closed, but the educational programs have not stopped!
Planetarium Show Many know shooting stars for the striking trails of light they give off, but their name is misleading since they are not shooting, nor are they stars. These light trails, also known as meteors, are fragments of either comets or asteroids. When our Earth travels through the orbit of a comet, we are treated to a dazzling meteor shower. Dr. Jean Creighton, Director of the UWM Planetarium, will describe how and when are the best times to see shooting stars. For questions, please email planetarium@uwm.edu.
The Planetarium rapidly shifted to online programs this summer, starting with the “Stars Have Stories” series sponsored by the UWM Alumni Association. Over 1,300 people tuned in to this weekly series, during which Planetarium director Jean Creighton encouraged viewers to learn about the stars above from their own home. Engaging live videos covered red dwarfs, quasars, and how stars themselves have contributed to our chemical makeup as human beings. All episodes from the “Stars Have Stories Series” are available on demand on the UWM Planetarium website plus hands-on activity guides for each episode: https://
uwm.edu/planetarium/stars-have-stories-activities/
In July, the popular “Moving to Mars” program took audiences on a tour of the latest discoveries in Mars exploration and research in anticipation of the launch of the NASA Perseverance rover this summer. in August, the program Shooting Stars and Meteor Showers will uncover how and when are the best times to see shooting stars – just in time for the Perseids meteor shower. Virtual planetarium programs are anticipated to continue through the fall, including a Harry Potter trivia series in October. Let us dive into space while keeping our space!
Registration is required for this virtual event. All are welcome, though the program is targeted for those ages 5 and older. Sign up at
https://uwm.universitytickets.com/
What: Virtual Planetarium Show Date: August 5 at 7 p.m.
August 7 at 7 p.m.
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 13
Alumni Accomplishments Taggert Brooks (’99, PhD Economics) was appointed the interim dean at UW-La Crosse’s College of Business Administration following the retirement of dean Laura Milner. Brooks will serve a two-year term before a national search for a new dean. Brooks is a professor of economics and currently chairs the UW-L Economics and Finance departments. https://bit.ly/3iYTxTL Stephanie Engebretson (’16, BS Biological Sciences) joined North Shore Eye Health and Wellness as an optometrist as the clinic expands to serve its clients in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. She completed the preoptometry course of study at UWM and graduated from the Illinois College of Optometry. https://bit.ly/30jJkZl Giorgio Sarro (’20, BA Atmospheric Science) was awarded the American Meteorological Society’s Father James B. Macelwane Annual Award in Meteorology. The award carries a $1,000 stipend and partial travel support to the next American Meteorological Society annual meeting. The Macelwane award supports undergraduates interested in meteorology by soliciting student papers concerning some phase of the atmospheric sciences. It is among the most prestigious student research awards in the field. Sarro is UWM’s first recipient of the award.
Langston Verdin (’02, BA History) was named to the board of directors of Community Care, Inc., in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The nonprofit organization serves older adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. Verdin is the program leader of strategic partnerships at Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin. https://bit.ly/30wTeqJ
Langston Verdin
Alexander Rassogianis (’82, MA History) released his fifth novel, a book entitled “Clouds Over the Aegean,” in May. The book follows Nick, an American investigator whose Greek mother was privy to a terrible secret in her childhood. As Nick sets out to investigate the murders of Greek Orthodox priests at Naxos, he and the daughter of his mother’s childhood friend begin to close in on the secret their mothers kept all of those years. https://amzn.to/2ZLMpT3 Grant Kilmer (’16, BA Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) was hired as a full-time reporter at Urban Milwaukee after working his way up through the publication’s ranks as an intern and later a part-time editor. Kilmer joined the paper’s team as a freelancer during his senior year at UWM. https://bit.ly/30gSEyn
Passings Dr. Millicent (Penny) Ficken, Professor Emerita in Biological Sciences at UW-Milwaukee, passed away on July 7, 2020. Ficken received her BS and PhD from Cornell University. She joined UWM in 1967 as a faculty member in the Department of Zoology (now Department of Biological Sciences) and as Director of the UWM Field Station. She retired in 1999 after 32 years of service at the university. Those who worked with her remember Ficken as a remarkable ornithologist and colleague. She did ground-breaking work on the song of birds, including the discovery that chickadees have complex calls that qualify as a language and that birds “take turns” singing in the morning to avoid overlapping the songs of others. For these and many other discoveries, Ficken was made a Fellow of both the Animal Behavior Society (the third woman in 1989) and the American Ornithological Society. She was the author of more than 100 scientific papers. She also participated in local ornithological activities and trained a large number of graduate students who now hold prestigious positions around the country. For additional information, please see Penny’s obituary online.
14 • IN FOCUS • August, 2020
Laurels and Accolades Abbas Ourmazd (Physics) led an international team of researchers who created a tool for accurately assessing a fetus’ gestational age. Their paper was published in The Lancet, one of the premier international journals in medicine. https://bit.ly/3efSomZ David DiValerio (History) received a 2020 Research Fellowship in Buddhist Studies from the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation for his study, “Mountain Dharma.” https://bit.ly/3iIWJms
Doctoral student Lisa Roth (Communication) recently received a $2,500 2020 Research Development Grant from the Organization for Research on Women and Communication for her project, “Rhetorical Analysis of the 1980s Lesbian Public Discourse: Reconstituting Lesbian Identity, Activism, and Community During the Rise of the New Right.” She was also awarded the Florence L. Healy Scholarship in Women’s and Gender Studies for her record of scholarship and commitment to the discipline. Shangping Xu (Geosciences), in collaboration with Yin Wang from UWM’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, was awarded $73,646 by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for research examining PFAS absorption by selected Wisconsin aquifer sediments. PFAS are a class of man-made chemicals produced in industry and manufacturing Shangping Xu that have been shown to linger in the environment and human body. Growing evidence suggests PFAS chemicals may have a negative impact on human health. https://bit.ly/30FpPuO
Kimberly Blaeser (English) was the featured author in the online journal “Siwarmayu: un río de colibríes/ Siwarmayu: a river of hummingbirds.” Her feature, “Balance on the Verge of Vision,” presents her poetry and picto-poems in Spanish and English. (https://bit. ly/3hoRXsF) She and recent PhD graduate Alessandra Simmons Rolffs (English) also landed poems in a new publication titled, “Rewilding: Poems for the Environment.” (https://bit.ly/2EioIJK) Tanya Tiffany (Art History) and her collaborator, Laura Bass from Brown University, were awarded a $156,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for their project The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Painter and Nun, Estefanía de la Encarnación (a bilingual scholarly edition and translation, from Spanish to English, of the only known autobiography Tanya Tiffany written by a woman artist during the early modern period). https://bit.ly/39KYqeV Wilfred Tysoe’s (Chemistry and Biochemistry) article, “Measuring and modeling mechanochemical reaction kinetics,” was selected by the handling editor as one of the most interesting articles published in Chemical Communications, the leading journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and is being promoted as a ChemComm HOT article. This selection is based on the significance, impact, and quality of his research and the positive reports his manuscript received during peerreview. https://rsc.li/2CV59ab
People in Print John Kahl (Atmospheric Science). 2020. Forecasting Andrew Kincaid (English). (2020). Review of Samuel Peak Wind Gusts Using Meteorologically-Stratified Gust Beckett’s “Happy Days”, Renaissance Theater, Milwaukee. Factors and MOS Guidance. Weather and Forecasting, 15. The Beckett Circle (publication of Samuel Beckett Society). https://bit.ly/3gepFRv Robert Jeske, Richard Edwards, and Katherine Sterner (all Anthropology), eds. 2020. Life, Death, and Rebecca Shumway (History). 2020. Naming our African Landscapes at Lake Koshkonong: Oneota Archaeology Ancestors: Pushing, and Respecting, the Limits. Journal of in Southeastern Wisconsin. Midwest Archaeological the Early Republic, 40(2): 195-200. Conference Occasional Publications / Taylor and Francis. https://bit.ly/3eogNI0 https://bit.ly/2DoLFL2
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In the Media and Around the Community In July, PhD student Renee Scampini (Urban Studies) moderated a panel discussion hosted by Radio Milwaukee that allowed white panelists to educate other community members how to better support black and brown people. https://bit.ly/2CjekQU
Kimberly Blaeser (English) presented a virtual poetry reading and lecture for the National Yat-sen University and the English and American Literature Association (EALA) of Taiwan in June. The event, titled “Poetry Reading and the Role of Native Arts in Indigenous Resilience and Fourishing,” was part of EALA’s summer series. https://bit.ly/38LysaM
Blaeser and Margaret Noodin (English) were quoted in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article discussing how Wisconsin’s indigenous people are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and recent protests against racial disparities in policing. https://bit.ly/3eiepBI
Milwaukee is a city with a socialist history, as explained by Aims McGuinness (History) and Joel Rast (Urban Studies) on WUWM. https://bit.ly/3gRHW79 News-medical.net described research performed by David Frick’s (Chemistry and Biochemistry) lab that suggests a possible avenue for treatments for SARSCov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. https://bit.ly/32kEJZw
Yui Hashimoto (’18, PhD Geography) decried the “tale of two Milwaukees” in an op-ed published in Urban Milwaukee. https://bit.ly/30nQBHZ MSN (https://bit.ly/2CZjiTa) and Huffington Post (https://bit.ly/30Fo9Bw) quoted Erin Winkler (African and African Diaspora Studies) in articles addressing how parents should speak to their children about issues surrounding race and discrimination. To mask or unmask: William Holahan (emeritus Economics) addressed the issue of public safety versus personal freedom in a column for The Cap Times. https://bit.ly/2CzwE91
Gladys Mitchell-Walthour (African and African Diaspora Studies) was quoted in the popular Brazilian magazine Claudia in an article that asked Black intellectuals in Brazil and other countries about racism and activism during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://bit.ly/3eSVYnw
Unemployment is decreasing as the state reopens, but James Peoples (Economics) warned TMJ4 News that a second wave of COVID-19 could drive unemployment up higher than before if it turns out that the state reopened too soon. https://bit.ly/2Cm7YAf
After Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Supreme Court’s liberal justices to block a Louisiana anti-abortion law, US News and World Report turned to Sara Benesh (Political Science) for insight into the judge’s character and views.
A rising number of younger people testing positive for COVID-19 makes some instructors and faculty want to teach the fall semester completely online, Joette Rockow (Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) said on TMJ4 News. https://bit.ly/2W1f7gr Paul Roebber (Atmospheric Science) explained how water temperatures affect water levels in the Great Lakes on TMJ4. https://bit.ly/3em8vjf The New York Times cited research by the UWM Psychology Department in an article discussing how women’s pain is often dismissed or viewed as exaggerated. https://nyti.ms/3gmyUzg
16 • IN FOCUS • August, 2020
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States with large agriculture industries seem to be doing better economically than those states without, Kundan Kishor (Economics) told Wisconsin Public Radio in a segment about COVID-19’s impact on the economy. https://bit.ly/3gOpXP3
Video Stories WUWM Radio asked Jean Creighton (Planetarium) for tips on how to view the Perseid meteor shower in late July. https://bit.ly/3gpIGkc
A new study by Marc Levine (emeritus History) outlined how black residents of Milwaukee are generally worse off today than 50 years ago. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (https://bit.ly/3jXXKaJ) and Urban Milwaukee (https://bit.ly/3152jr6) reported on his findings. Prison gerrymandering can disenfranchise communities of color, Margo Anderson (emerita History) told TMJ4 in an article about how prisoners are counted on the U.S. Census. a (https://bit.ly/2PbOqSB) Anderson was also quoted in an article by the Associated Press examining the Trump Administration’s efforts to bar undocumented people from being counted in Congressional districts. (https://bit.ly/3fj8htB)
There’s so much to love about Milwaukee and UWM! A few of our Letters & Science faculty members are teaching a free online summer class about Milwaukee. They shared what they find fascinating about our city and what makes our university special. Check out their responses and discover more about the city we call home! https://youtu.be/xb2AOS0sfZY
Though no cases of transmission have been observed, new research from Trudy Turner (Anthropology) and her colleagues suggest that vervet monkeys can theoretically contract SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and pass it to humans. Their findings were reported in Engineering News. https://bit.ly/3gk2Goa Merrie M. Schamberger (’93, BS Biological Sciences and Conservation and Environmental Science) was featured in several news outlets in Wisconsin for her work helping teach and connect farmers to educational resources to inform their agricultural practices. https://bit.ly/316JJ1Z
Though many delegates supporting Bernie Sanders will push for the Democratic platform to include Medicare For All at the Democratic National Convention, Thomas Holbrook (Political Science) told Courthouse News that he doesn’t think Sanders himself would embrace such an action. https://bit.ly/3jUa6R8 Matthew Pinix (’04, MA Philosophy) was a guest on WUWM Radio’s “Lake Effect” show to discuss the story of how a local teenager convicted of murder was released from prison after a judge found police had violated his rights. https://bit.ly/31aq3Ki
We love our university, but UWM didn’t always sport gold and black or have Pounce Panther as our mascot. Learn more about the university’s history and traditions from Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies major Luis de Leon! https://youtu.be/WSyLaKxCXtY
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