College of Letters & Science
IN FOCUS
July 2020, Vol. 10, No.7
Fuel for thought UWM conservation students travel to Kenya to combat deforestation in a unique way through charcoal experiments. Page 6.
For updates on UWM’s fall 2020 re-opening, visit https://uwm.edu/coronavirus/reopening/
Virus politics oversh studies South Korea
Contents Feature Stories Geography student studies MERS response UWM tackles racial disparities on campus Students study charcoal production in Kenya Geoscientist unravels Tully Monster mystery Alum’s work at Black Holocaust Museum Physics profs win COVID research grants
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Columns Alumni Accomplishments Upcoming Planetarium Events In the Media Laurels and Accolades Passings Published College the
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This year isn’t the first time South Korea has weathered a coronavirus epidemic. In 2015, unlike many other countries except for a few in the Middle East, South Korea saw a virulent outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a strain of coronavirus in the same family as SARS-coV-2, the virus causing today’s COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike many countries, however, South Korea’s management – or lack thereof – of MERS turned the country into the second-largest site of infection worldwide. As a South Korean native, that made UWM graduate student So Hyung Lim wonder: What made the country so susceptible to the disease? The answer, she found, was not in biology; it was in politics. A history of corruption
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Lim is working toward her PhD in geography at UWM. Her recent paper, published in the journal Territory, Politics, and Governance with her advisor, associate professor of geography Kristin Sziarto, explores the South Korean response to MERS and how the nation’s policies led to a more severe outbreak than its neighbors. The severity of MERS came as a surprise, she said, because just 13 years before, South Korea had skated through an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
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2 • IN FOCUS • July, 2020
“It was a bit of a complimentary moment for South Korea, but I also saw that there were not any changes or planning for future outbreaks,” Lim noted. “Actually, circumstances worsened in terms of privatization and deregulation. Between 2002 and 2015, public health became worse, and worse, and worse.” That, she added, was a holdover of the country’s past under dictator Park Chung-hee, who assumed leadership in 1961 after a military coup and ruled as president until
So
hadow viruses: Geography student an response to MERS and COVID his assassination in 1979. While the country is technically a liberal democracy today, Lim describes its government as a “hybrid” – “between autocracy and democracy, between liberalism and authoritarianism,” she said. “In the dictatorship period, there was a coalition made between the state and the businesses, known as chaebols. (They) are strongly connected to each other via kickbacks and favors. That still impacts South Korea, of course in public health and this response,” Lim added. The South Korean response When early cases of MERS began to proliferate, the South Korean government’s response was to obfuscate. For three weeks after the first outbreak was detected, officials withheld information from the public, including the number of people infected and affected cities, according to Lim. The delay allowed the infection to spread rapidly. Lim gathered her data from government documents and through interviews with South Korean health professionals and activists. She blames the corrupt relationship that the government built with private businesses for the botched response. “The government wanted to protect big, especially private, hospitals. The government and hospitals were worried about the other patients – or their profits. They made agreements to (withhold) some of the information and that worsened the situation,” Lim said. Even after the government admitted fault, one private hospital still did not coordinate with officials to handle infections. Instead, it oversaw its own response, sometimes to the detriment of citizens. Samsung Hospital in Seoul is blamed as the site of half of the country’s MERS exposures. Learning from mistakes and making new ones Five years later, the South Korean government seems to have learned some lessons from MERS. She is currently researching the government’s COVID-19 response with UWM geography program associate and PhD student Niko Papakis. The two have a peer-reviewed manuscript submitted to the journal World Development and they will submit another to Political Geography.
“This time, from the very beginning, … everything was so quick, so transparent, and looked so democratic. All of the information was open to the public early,” Lim said. The South Korean government also implemented extensive medical testing and other forms of technology to track the spread of the virus. But, Lim worries, those efforts are a veneer over some authoritarian policies. “They are showing all of the information, including the locations and hospitals and streets that (infected people) passed. But that makes a lot of ‘Othering,’ and so people are really traumatized and victimized by the information without any protection from the disclosure,” Lim said, noting that the government has not afforded its citizens privacy. She also observes that officials have relied heavily on police and the military to enforce quarantines, as well as crack down on suspicious symptoms and behaviors of all sorts – but that more violent enforcement has been targeted towards vulnerable populations, especially those critical of the government. Cross-country parallels South Korea is halfway around the world, but Lim has noticed similarities between the South Korean government’s response to COVID-19 and the United States’, and not necessarily in a good way. “Both countries are capitalist, or liberal countries, and what they are doing to the public is pretty much the same. The state is violent and abusive sometimes, or hiding some things sometimes, or refusing accountability or responsibility sometimes,” she said. “In terms of those abstract things, such as abandonment, refusal, violence, and authoritarianism, I can say yes, they’re the same.” So how should these governments handle COVID-19? Lim says she’ll leave that question to further discussion, but there is one thing she is sure of: “So-called liberal governments should not hide behind the rhetoric of democracy, liberalism, transparency, or openness when they are not. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 3
Panelists explore how to better address ne What do we need to do better as a university in response to the racial injustices that led to the widespread civil unrest touched off by the death of George Floyd in police custody? A panel of faculty members discussed the multiple and complex issues involved in a Campus Dialogue on Racial Justice, held virtually via Microsoft Teams. (The session was recorded and can be viewed in Teams.) Panelists talked about their own experiences as well as the responses of their families and their students not just to current events, but to the historical and ongoing issues that underlie the protests. They also explored ideas about how to move forward as a university. Asked to consider her thoughts when she first heard about the killing of Floyd, Anika Wilson, associate professor and chair in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, said, “There was a feeling of ‘Here we go again’… It gave me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.” Giving voice But the protests were heartening, she said, because people were making their voices heard. “I went from a feeling of despair to a feeling of, ‘OK, this is something else we can do right now,’” Wilson said. The issues aren’t just about police misconduct, but also the unchecked violence against Black people fostered by ‘stand your ground laws’ and media depictions of protesters as thugs and looters, she added. David Pate, associate professor and chair in the Department of Social Work, said he was feeling anger, sadness and frustration. He sees the larger picture of the economic inequities Black students face as a result of centuries of systemic injustice. “We tout diversity, but we don’t understand the lives of our Black students” who have been affected by poverty and the unequal impact of unemployment and health care disparities, Pate said. He also sees the daily needs of Black students who may be sleeping in their cars, scrambling to pay bills or even buy lunch. The university needs to do more in providing financial support to students, he said. Sharing the wealth Black people were brought to this country 400 years ago and have helped build America’s wealth, but have not
4 • IN FOCUS • July, 2020
A panel of UWM faculty explored issues of racial justice in an online forum in June. Presenters were mode Anika Wilson and John Lane Hall. (UWM photo collage from screenshots)
participated in it, Pate said. A Black college graduate has less wealth than a white high school dropout, he noted. Young people give them hope, the panelists said. “If we have hope it is because of these younger generations,” Wilson said. Joseph Rodriguez, professor and chair in the Department of History, mentioned that his own children were taking part in protests, and how he’s learned more about racial injustices even from his own students. He mentioned one of his doctoral students, Steven Anthony, whose dissertation examined the 1919 Elaine race riots in Arkansas, and as a result, Rodriguez learned more about this area of history. Margaret Noodin, professor of English and director of the Electa Quinney Institute, said some of her students asked
eeds of UWM Black students and faculty students turn to Black faculty members when they run into financial or other difficulties because they have a certain level of trust in them. Faculty do this because they are passionate about their work, Wilson said, but suggested these extra efforts need to be recognized as much as teaching and publishing in promotion and tenure discussions. Pate added that giving professors a discretionary fund – above and beyond existing university financial supports – would make it easier for those like himself who often have to dig into their own pockets for these emergency requests. ‘Not doing enough’ In closing remarks, Chancellor Mark Mone stressed the importance of faculty telling the truth and being candid about dissatisfaction with areas that need improvement. He reiterated that UWM needs to increase efforts in anti-racist education, recruitment, retention and support of Black students and faculty. He added, “We need to acknowledge we are not doing enough.” The goal of the discussion was to create space for dialogue about the issues taking place in our community and nationally and explore ideas for moving forward, according to panel moderator Chia Youyee Vang, associate vice chancellor and professor of history. A subsequent panel discussion on June 26 in the series focused on students. The discussions are sponsored by the Division of Global Inclusion & Engagement and the Division of Student Affairs.
erator Chia Youyee Vang (clockwise from upper left), David Pate Jr., Margaret Noodin, Joe Rodriguez,
her how to say “Black Lives Matter” in Ojibwe, and her daughter posted it on Instagram to share with other young people. Space for discussion In teaching, faculty can provide open space for discussion in classes and can be candid with students, said John Lane Hall, professor and upcoming chair in the Department of English. “We all need to unlearn our own biases and be willing to be a little uncomfortable,” Hall said. Pate and Wilson talked about how Black faculty members often bear more of the burden for recruiting minority faculty members. Often the same faculty members are invited to serve on hiring panels over and over again, because there aren’t enough faculty members of color, Wilson said. At the same time, added Pate, Black
By Kathy Quirk, University Relations
Read more UWM students, including Letters & Science students Paulina Lim, Chris Chavez, and Emma Mae Weber, were panelists at a discussion on June 26 focusing on student thoughts regarding racial injustice and how the UWM community should respond. Read more about that panel at https://bit.ly/2NUCjZt.
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 5
Building a better briq
Conservation students improve charcoal In Kenya, a country where one in four people lacks access to electricity, charcoal is a staple fuel source. It’s light, small, easy to store, burns longer and hotter than wood, and is nearly smokeless. It’s also speeding up the country’s deforestation. “So, (we wanted) to see if there was a difference in charcoal yield from different species of trees that they were growing in the area,” said Jacob Rankin. “We were trying to determine if there was a significant difference in yield – if Kenyans can make charcoal more efficiently with a particular tree versus another.” Rankin and his research partner, Emily Ruder, graduated from UWM this spring with majors in conservation and environmental science. Last summer, though, the pair spent two months in Kenya experimenting with charcoal productions techniques at the Drylands Natural Resource Center, an NGO in Mbunbuni, Kenya that promotes sustainability practices in agriculture and land management. “Hopefully our research provides them with some more knowledge of their local resources to improve the way they do things – more sustainably,” Rankin said.
UWM conservation and environmental science major Emily Ruder (left) analyzes a piece of wood with a f Center. Ruder and her research partner, Jacob Rankin, were trying to improve charcoal production in Keny
Baking a briquette Most Americans thinking about charcoal will envision a Kingsford bag next to a Weber grill. “In Kenya, it’s a little bit more rugged,” Ruder said. “To make charcoal, you need an organic material, and you need to cut it off from any access to oxygen, and then put it under super-high heat. You can make charcoal out of any kind of organic material, as long as it’s thick enough.” Traditionally, Kenyans and other cultures around the world have made charcoal using earth mounds – piles of dirt where they bury branches and logs to prevent exposure to oxygen. Then, they light a fire beneath the mound and wait for the high heat to carbonize the buried wood. Finished charcoal sits in a bag, ready for use. Photo by Jacob Rankin.
quette
l production in Kenya
The Drylands Natural Resource Center The Drylands Natural Resource Center was founded in Mbunbuni, Kenya, in 2008 by Nicholas Syano. Syano is a UWM graduate who was mentored by Mai Phillips, the coordinator of UWM’s conservation and environmental science program. Phillips also mentored Rankin and Ruder. The DNRC is devoted to helping subsistence farmers practice better resource and land management to address issues like deforestation, land degradation, and climate change. The center holds sustainability and permaculture classes, drawing audiences from across Africa to learn new techniques. The DNRC has also established a program with local farmers to address the region’s fuel needs. “They have a tree nursery,” Ruder explained. “They sell those trees to the local farmers; the local farmers grow the trees and then they prune from those trees and sell the wood back to the DNRC to turn into charcoal. It’s kind of like a closed-loop charcoal system.” By experimenting to find the best practices for producing charcoal, Rankin and Ruder hope that farmers can provide better quality wood to the DNRC to produce higher charcoal yields and maximize profits for both parties.
fellow student from a local Kenyan university completing her internship at the Dryalnds Natural Resource ya. Photo by Jacob Rankin.
“You have the bark that was around the wood and then the actual, good hardwood inside the bark. When you carbonize that, you can literally peel the bark off of the wood and then you’re left with two types (of charcoal): One is the briquette, or non-premium kind of charcoal, which is from that bark, and then the other piece you have left is the premium charcoal,” Ruder said.
“The problem with that way of production is that it contributes to forest degradation. The forest resource is now of lower quality. It also has really low conversion rates The charcoal made from bark is lower quality, burning of wood to charcoal,” Rankin said. for less time at lower temperatures and producing more smoke than charcoal from hardwood. With that The Drylands Natural Resource Center improved the in mind, Rankin and Ruder were able to make some process by teaching farmers to create charcoal in steel recommendations. drums, which are more air-tight than earth mounds. But Ruder and Rankin were more interested in the raw material. Do different types of wood make for better charcoal? Does it matter how dry the wood is beforehand? Building a better briquette Rankin and Ruder tested seven different types of wood and experimented with different lengths of drying time. Their results were encouraging: They found it’s not so much the type of wood that impacts charcoal efficiency, but the part of the tree.
“For example, Terminalia brownii is a very dense wood. The premium charcoal that is yielded from it is really high quality. But it also has a lot of bark surrounding it, so it also makes a lot of non-premium charcoal,” Rankin explained. “Whereas with a species such as Senna spectabilis, it yields a lot of premium charcoal, but the bark is minimal.” Continued on page 8 College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 7
Students study charcoal in Kenya “We also found that there was a significant difference between drying the wood for two months versus drying it for three months,” Ruder added. “If you’re drying the wood between one and two months, it’s not going to make a difference. But drying it for three months will make that extra difference, so that’s what we recommended. It dries it out more, and once it’s drier, it produces a better yield of charcoal.” And, she noted, better yields of charcoal will lead to less deforestation. Next steps Rankin and Ruder presented their research at the virtual UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium in April, where they were awarded an “Outstanding Presentation” ribbon for their work. The pair are currently packaging their research into an official set of recommendations to present to the Drylands Natural Resource Center, and they’ve submitted draft of a scientific report on their work to the Proceedings of the National Conference of Undergraduate Research. It should be published sometime in the fall. “We’re hoping that this research can help the DNRC in their charcoal production and create a model and an example for other small-scale production,” Rankin said. “This is knowledge that they can share in their workshops, not only within their village, but maybe around Kenya and the region in general.” By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
8 • IN FOCUS • July, 2020
Continued from page 7
Abroad in Africa Performing research in Africa came with a bit of culture shock. “This was both of our first time living completely off the grid. There was no electricity, no running water. We had to wash all of our clothes by hand,” Rankin said. “It was an impactful, eye-opening experience living in a different country in those conditions. We were in a mud hut. It was a really nice mud hut! It had curtains and nice beds and mosquito nets.” Ruder recounts her experiences making friends with college students from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who were studying at the Drylands Natural Resource Center at the same time as she and Rankin. “We took a trip to Denali Beach, so we did a little bit of a vacation because my birthday was that week. That was amazing. There were beautiful white sand beaches and monkeys everywhere,” she said. Rankin and Ruder ended their abroad experience with a trip to Tanzania, where they climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. (From left to right) UWM conservation and environmental science students Emily Ruder and Jacob Rankin smile with a student from Kenya. The three met while Ruder and Rankin were conducting research to improve charcoal efficiency at the Drylands Natural Resrouce Center in Kenya. Photo courtesy of Jacob Rankin.
The Tully Monster mystery Fossil remains have helped paleontologists to determine that an extinct animal colloquially known as a Tully monster was one weird-looking organism. Soft-bodied and aquatic, it had a long proboscis, similar to an elephant’s trunk, extending from its body that ended in a toothed mouth resembling a crab claw. Its eyes were set on the ends of a slim, rigid bar. The organism, Tullimonstrum, is so bizarre it has defied classification. Scientists haven’t been able to agree on whether the Tully monster, which lived in shallow coastal waters 300 million years ago, was a vertebrate. While that term usually refers to an animal with a spine, there are a few vertebrates that do not have any bones, said paleontologist Victoria McCoy. Establishing the Tully Victoria McCoy monster’s biological classification would prove whether it was a jawless fish – similar to a lamprey – or more like a large worm. Now, McCoy, a UWM visiting assistant professor of geosciences, and collaborator Jasmina Wiemann at Yale University have found a way to extract telltale molecular information contained in the fossils that distinguishes between vertebrates and invertebrates. The composition of structural tissues, such as cartilage, that give shape to a body is distinct in the two groups. Invertebrates have structural tissues that contain mostly chitin, a fibrous substance that is the main component of the exoskeletons of insects. But vertebrates’ tissues are comprised of primarily of protein. McCoy and Wiemann used Raman microspectroscopy to identify the components of this tissue that partially decomposed before the fossil formed. This technique measures the energy in a microscopic sample – including the energy’s respective wavelength – which serves as a chemical signature. They analyzed brown stains on the fossils where the color told them minute amounts of organic material remained.
The strange Tully monster was an animal that swam in coastal estuaries at a time when the land that is now Illinois lay at the Earth’s equator. (Illustration by Sean McMahon, University of Edinbugh)
In addition to the Tully monster fossils, the researchers conducted the molecular analysis on a variety of other fossils found at the same site, including invertebrates like worms, arthropods and mollusks. “We looked at many different tissues in the Tully monster, and all of them had a chemical fingerprint of fossil proteins, and none had a chemical fingerprint of fossil chitin,” McCoy said. “Now we have a much stronger argument in favor of a vertebrate affinity than the previous morphological arguments.” The vertebrate/invertebrate debate has raged since the fossils first turned up at a well-known fossil bed 50 miles southwest of Chicago in 1958. Previous arguments for either side have been based on morphology – the animal’s appearance, said McCoy. As a graduate student, McCoy herself was part of a group that published a paper in Nature in 2016 arguing that the creature was a vertebrate based on a study of its physical features. “The morphology is so strange and difficult to interpret that I didn’t think studying that in more detail would resolve the question,” she said. “So I wanted to come back and study it from a different angle.”
The research was recently published in the journal Geobiology. By Laura Otto, University Relations
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 9
History alum helps tell the story of racism It’s a unique moment in history, and America’s Black Holocaust Museum is poised at its crossroads. For the past 12 years, ever since the organization lost its building in the 2008 Recession, ABHM has been a strictly virtual museum. That made it perfectly positioned to weather the coronavirus pandemic that has limited crowds and impacted other museums around Milwaukee. And, as protests have swept the nation in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville at the hands of police, ABHM saw its mission become more critical than ever. UWM alumna Mia Phifer is helping ABHM navigate it all. A 2018 graduate of UWM’s public history program with certificates in museum studies and nonprofit management, Phifer serves as the Executive Assistant to the museum’s President/CEO. She sat down to talk about her work. What is America’s Black Holocaust Museum? It all started with a man named Dr. James Cameron. When he was 16 years old, he survived a lynching attempt in August of 1930. Afterward, he became a well-known civil rights activist, educator, and self-trained historian. He came to Milwaukee and created this museum as a place for Milwaukeeans and people across the country to visit and get that unvarnished truth of our country’s racial history in order to promote racial reconciliation and forge a better nation. Unfortunately, the museum’s physical location did not survive the Great Recession of 2008. A group of people took what was in the physical museum, all of that content, and put it all online to create a virtual museum in 2012 to make sure it survived. We are currently re-opening the museum in the exact same location where it used to be on North and Vel Phillips. “Holocaust” seems like a provocative title. Dr. Cameron founded the museum after he had visited Jerusalem and the Holocaust museum there. He saw a lot of parallels between how African Americans are treated here in this country and how Jews were treated in the days leading to the Jewish Holocaust. He found that term fit what happened during slavery and Jim Crow, revealing the truth behind (history) that has been whitewashed over. How did you come to your current role? I really like bringing history outside of the classroom and producing a more honest, unvarnished history than what you normally get, especially in a high school classroom. Museums are one space to do that. 10 • IN FOCUS • July, 2020
(From left to right) Cyndey Key (ABHM employee), Mia Phifer (UWM alumna and ABHM employee), and Robert Davis (President/CEO of ABHM) stand in front of a Juneteenth flower installation outside American’s Black Holocaust Museum. Photo courtesy of Mia Phifer.
As an undergraduate at Coe College in Iowa, I began picking internships at museums. When I found out about UWM’s public history program, it was a no-brainer. During graduate school, (a UWM professor) introduced me to America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Every time I had the opportunity to use their history as part of my projects in my classes, I did. For a nonprofit management course studying nonprofit finances, I picked the museum to study. For an exhibit review of a museum, I picked their website. When the posting for an assistant to the president/CEO went up, I had literally 10 different people send it to me. I went into the interview for that job specifically, and they ended up creating a whole different position for me to utilize those skills that UWM equipped me with. They found me work more on the nonprofit management side and on the museum studies and public history side. Since then, I got a promotion in March and I am doing some of that executive assistant work for our new president and CEO, Dr. Robert Davis. He’s very conscious of the fact that I’m a public historian and he’s always having me help with different research projects that allow me to use my background that I got at UWM. What does a typical day look like for you? People with a museum studies background will recognize the phrase, ‘Around a museum, you wear many hats.’ That’s what’s always attracted me to a smaller, more grassroots museum. Even though I have a formal title, (my job) is very organic and team-oriented, especially with our team being so small. There are only four of us who are part of th core staff.
m at America’s Black Holocaust Museum I handle Dr. Davis’ schedule. I do some administrative stuff and field emails so we can get different community partners on board. I also help with grant writing, but my favorite part of my job is when I get to use my historical training and do different research projects for programs. What kinds of exhibits are in the virtual museum? One of the cooler pieces is a remnant of a slave ship, and also an auction block. Seeing the physical structures of this very harsh experience can be very striking and moving. What is really striking about America’s Black Holocaust Museum is that this is a national narrative, but the exhibits really speak to how the national narrative shows up in the Milwaukee context. People will see those in person when the museum reopens, but for now, you’re still virtual. It seems like ABHM was perfectly poised for the pandemic. We are very nontraditional as far as museums go. The fact that they had built this virtual museum way before most museums were really thinking about that is a huge advantage. Before the pandemic hit, we were working on our website, so that should be finished in August. The information is going to remain the same, but the interface is going to be a much more user-friendly experience. And, we are shifting right now to more virtual programs. This is an opportunity to ramp up those programs and it still will be a part of it when we physically open. America is experiencing a pivotal moment with protests against police violence and racism towards black Americans. What is ABHM’s role? We just put a statement on our stance on the current moment. Really we looked to Dr. Cameron to try to think of how to carry forward his legacy, the things that he envisioned or would be doing at this moment.
We’re going to take on this convener role – be a place where people can come and have these very difficult conversations in a safe place where they feel these issues can really be addressed, and then from those conversations, hope to pull out different solutions of what we can do in the future to affect real change. When Dr. Cameron created this museum, he really intended it to be for all of Milwaukee and for all people. Just because it’s located in Bronzeville and it has ‘black’ in the title, I want people to know that this is their museum too. Everybody has a place in this conversation about race leading to reconciliation, and we all need to be a part of this to have real change. As a white person, how do you handle being a voice in conversations about black lives and the legacy of slavery and racism? I know there’s a long history of scholars not necessarily being respectful to the communities that they’re studying. What it’s meant for me is having to decenter myself and assume that support role with a lot of listening and not speaking to, but speaking with others. (I do) a lot of listening, supporting, and asking my colleagues and friends of color what I can do to support, rather than speak over. It’s different for me than for my black colleagues who have lived with racism, experienced it in their physical bodies for their entire lives. I try not to get too fatigued or turn away from when things get trying or emotionally exhausting, because I know that that’s not a choice that my black colleagues or my black friends have – to turn off that emotional labor or the emotional trauma that comes from knowing these things. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
The new exterior of America’s Black Holocaust Museum. The building is ready to reopen once it is safe to do so. Photo courtesy of Mia Phifer.
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 11
New grants support research into SARS-coV-2 Researchers in UWM’s Department of Physics have recently been awarded special funding that will allow them to probe different aspects of SARS-coV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using molecular imaging techniques. Their work, chosen on merit, is funded by two grants from the National Science Foundation that support exploratory research designated for an urgent need. What affects the coronavirus’s severity? The proteins in nearly all biological forms, including the current coronavirus, undergo “conformational” changes – a morphing of their atomic shape as they respond to their environment. Scientists think seeing these changes in action will help clarify what happens when SARS-coV-2 and its later mutations turn virulent. Obtaining molecular pictures over split-second intervals requires advanced imaging techniques – methods that, in turn, rely on creative data science. In this project, machine-learning algorithms developed by a group led by Distinguished Professor Abbas Ourmazd will allow scientists to see relevant proteins in the virus change both by themselves and also while interacting with antibodies produced by the body’s immune system. The goal is to reveal insight into the way the virus functions and, ultimately, provide a foundation for the development of therapeutic strategies against coronaviruses.
Abbas Ourmazd
How the virus becomes infectious SARS-coV-2 can’t reproduce on its own. It has to first infect a cell and then use the cell’s machinery to replicate. The 3CLpro protein of the virus acts as “molecular scissors,” custom-cutting virus proteins, so that they can form new virus copies. Like real scissors, 3CLpro accomplishes that by rearranging its atomic structure. Scientists want to use advanced molecular imaging equipment, called X-ray Free Electron Lasers, or XFELs, to film each atomic component as the protein does its job. Results will aid the design and discovery of new drugs that would block the 3CLpro protein so that new virus particles cannot assemble and become infectious. Professor Marius Schmidt and his students will introduce small compounds that interrupt the protein’s work at the XFEL facilities at Stanford University and in Hamburg, Germany. The XFEL can capture a molecular picture every 100 femtoseconds (a quadrillionth of a second), which Schmidt and the other researchers will piece together to form a slow-motion movie of the protein changing in real time. Associate Professor Ionel Popa will help in the production and crystallization of the 3CLpro. By Laura Otto, University Relations
12 • IN FOCUS • July, 2020
Marius Schmidt
Alumni Accomplishments John Witczak (’06, BA Political Science) joined Caleffi North America as a customer service representative. The company manufactures products for heating, cooling, plumbing, and other industries. Witczak has almost 10 years of customer service experience. https://bit. ly/2XCpmZZ
Pamela Caserta Hugdahl (’16, MA Art History) was named the new executive director of the Rochester Art Center in Rochester, Minnesota. In her new role, she will be responsible for the art center’s overall management, from marketing to personnel to financial development and executing the center’s mission. Hugdahl has several years of experience in arts organizations and facilities around Wisconsin. https://bit.ly/2zVjn9D
Planetarium Show Pamela Hugdahl
Diandra Prutton (’13, BA Pyschology) was interviewed in Poets and Quants as a 2020 “MBA to Watch.” Prutton attends the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University after several years in the private sector.
NASA is working to send humans to Mars, and the launch of the Perseverance rover is the next step in their ambitious plan! Join us online as Dr. Jean Creighton, Director of the UWM Planetarium, explores what we’ve learned about the habitability of the red planet and how we are preparing for this next great space adventure.
https://bit.ly/373KxqQ
Christina Clancy (’11, PhD English) debuted her first novel, The Second Home, this spring, delivering a book that, while featuring a Cape Cod summer house, nevertheless features Milwaukee as a character of its own. Her book drew praise from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. https://bit.ly/3gZJywk
Edward Somers (’95, BA Economics) is the new head of Clearview Nursing Home in Dodge County, Wisconsin. Somers began working in nursing homes as a custodian when he was just 17, and has been interested in the industry ever since. Somers hopes to continue the home’s mission of providing quality care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Registration is required for this virtual event. All are welcome, although the program is targeted for those ages five and older. Sign up at
https://uwm.universitytickets.com/
What: Live Planetarium Show Date: July 10 at 7 p.m.
July 12 at 2 p.m.
July 15 at 7 p.m.
https://bit.ly/2XPk7Gp
Karen Johnson (’82, BA Ethnic Studies) will become the Divisional Director of Women’s Ministries in the Indiana Division of the Salvation Army. Johnson is accompanying her husband, Marc Johnson, to Indiana where he takes over as the Salvation Army’s Indiana Divisional Commander. https://bit.ly/31L2D0e
Cost: $5 per person
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 13
In the Media and Around the Community Communication is key in long-distance relationships, especially for those couples separated by COVID-19 quarantines, said an article from Her Campus UCT quoting research by Erin Sahlstein Parcell (Communication). https://bit.ly/2AGe2Tt
Extreme weather is becoming more frequent due to climate change, even though the typical day-to-day weather hasn’t changed significantly, Clark Evans (Atmospheric Science) told CBS 58 News in a segment about flooding in southeastern Wisconsin.
On WUWM, student Josiah Barnett (Communication) shared his reasons for participating in the Milwaukee protests after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. https://bit.ly/2BE0ZT9
Catch the buzz about bees from Jeffrey Karron (Biological Sciences), who went on WUWM to explain his research into these crucial pollinators.
Jeffrey Sommers (African and African Diaspora Studies) outlined solutions to halt police violence against African Americans in a piece for Project Syndicate. (https://bit.ly/3dE21g3) He was also interviewed on the Republic of Latvia’s main news portal, Delfi, in June about jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. (https://bit. ly/3f6FKbc) CBS 58 News re-reported on “Poetry in the Park,” an event co-founded by Lindsey Daigle (’16, PhD English) that has been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. https://bit.ly/2UsNcFu As racial tensions boiled over in the United States in late May and early June, several publications, including MSN (https://bit.ly/372FhUi), NBC (https://bit.ly/2UikBCO), Huffington Post (https://bit.ly/2BD3cy9), and Parents.com ( https://bit.ly/2UpKdgP) turned to Erin Winkler (African and African Diaspora Studies) to learn how to talk to children about race and racism. Her work was also quoted in an article on PBS.org (https://to.pbs.org/3hfs92T). Get to know fund manager David Herro (’85, MA Economics) in this profile piece published on Money Inc. https://moneyinc.com/david-herro/
National crises tend to lead to a rise in antisemitism, Rachel Buff (History and Jewish Studies) said in an article published by the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. https://bit.ly/2BM8kQq
14 • IN FOCUS • July, 2020
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Gladys Mitchell-Walthour (African and African Diaspora Studies) organized a June 2 webinar for the U.S. Network for Democracy in Brazil covering “COVID-19, Racism, and Necropolitics in Brazil.” One of the panelists included PhD student Dalila Negreiros (African and African Diaspora Studies). (https://bit.ly/2Y7yoyo) Walthour also penned a piece for The Cap Times discussing Milwaukee’s structured racism in the wake of George Floyd’s death. (https://bit.ly/3d30VsV) Negreiros also explained the need for more black studies programs across the country, citing the devastating effect of COVID-19 on black communities, in an opinion piece for The Cap Times. https://bit.ly/2C83ahW The Shepherd Express highlighted a study conducted by the UWM Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management that showed the negative toll the COVID-19 pandemic took on Wisconsin’s nonprofit sector. The article quoted Bryce Lord (Nonprofit Management). (https://bit.ly/30NByJh) He also urged caution in an article on WellandGood.com when choosing charities to support. (https://bit.ly/3f50Bfd) A “mystery object” that falls in the “mass gap” was discovered by scientists at the Virgo and LIGO observatories, and it could change the way the scientific community thinks about neutron stars and black holes, Patrick Brady (Physics) said in his role as LIGO spokesperson. He was quoted in the New York Post (https://bit.ly/3e7Ujdk), MSN news (https://bit.ly/3e4mmKP) and Yahoo.com (https://yhoo.it/3iCWfxR).
Jolien Crieghton (Physics) was also quoted in a Post Crescent article about the discovery, as was Brady. https://bit.ly/3f6gYZ1
Kimberly Blaeser (English) participated in Split This Rocks’ virtual poetry reading, “Poems of Provocation and Witness,” on May 29 alongside poets Marilyn Chin, Mahogany L. Browne, and Leah Lakshmi PiepznaSamarasinha. The performance was part of the semiannual Washington, D.C. festival that was moved online and the performance is housed on the Split This Rock YouTube channel. The coronavirus pandemic has interrupted efforts to reach rural American residents through in-person visits to count them in the 2020 Census. More needs to be done to reach those people, Margo Anderson (emerita History) opined in a Congressional Quarterly article reprinted in the Leavenworth Times. https://bit.ly/31QThQs How is it that science can produce such a wide variety of theories and solutions to the same questions? UWM adjunct professor Jonathan Hanes (’11, PhD Geography) explained in a blog post for EuroScientist.
Russian president Vladimir Putin just saw an election that could make him president for life. John Reuter (Political Science) helped interpret what these results mean for Russia and the world in a Vox article. https://bit. ly/31QPItu
PhD student Charmaine Lang (African and African Diaspora Studies) reminded white LGBTQ+ activists and allies that claiming to be inclusive isn’t enough; they must actively support black people in their movements. Her oped was published on ColorLines.com. https://bit.ly/31Otet9
Martha Carlin (History) recounted her discovery of an Elizabethan-era document mentioning Shakespeare in a podcast called “That Shakespeare Life.” The episode aired on June 22. https://www.cassidycash.com/ep114/
Meet Marissa Cecot-Peterson (‘17, BA Global Studies), who puts her degree to work at travel company Trivago. She was recently featured on the company’s website. https://bit.ly/2Z6fisV
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USA Today quoted a new report by Marc Levine (emeritus History) outlining the extreme racial disparities and segregation in Milwaukee’s and the surrounding areas’ public school systems. https://bit.ly/2DcP5Ah
Laurels and Accolades
School districts should consider which nations and tribes their native students belong to and have educators reflect that makeup, Margaret Noodin (English) said on Wisconsin Public Radio. (https://bit.ly/3f8es4y) In June, Noodin also held a webinar entitled, “Milwaukee’s Long History on the Lake” as part of UWM alumni’s “Mobile Master Chats” series. Her talk was discussed in The Madison Times (https://bit.ly/322nM6n).
Incoming student Arleth Nelson-Cooper (International Studies) was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County in recognition for her volunteering spirit. Nelson-Cooper has served as a medical translator for medical professionals in Honduras, helped rebuild houses after Hurricane Florence, and assisted at food pantries in New York City.
How do you celebrate Independence Day in the midst of a pandemic and racial protests? Amanda Seligman (History) gave some suggestions for Americans grappling with a fraught holiday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Sarah Riforgiate and Ali Gattoni (both Communication) were named 2021-2022 Wisconsin Teaching Fellows & Scholars. The pair are among 26 faculty and staff chosen from the entire UW System to receive the honor, which facilitates collaboration between campuses to improve student learning and foster excellence in teaching system-wide.
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NASA’s Perseverance mission to Mars will launch later this month, so Jean Creighton (Planetarium) went on WUWM to explain some of the work behind the upcoming voyage. https://bit.ly/38wnPIF
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William Velez (emeritus Sociology) has been named the recipient of the 2020 American Sociological Association (ASA) Latina/o Section Julian Samora Sociology Distinguished Career Award. There are more than 5,000 members of the ASA and Julian Samora was a pioneer in the study of Latina/os. This is a high honor and will be announced in the ASA Annual Conference program (the in-person conference has been cancelled due to the pandemic) and the NOTAS newsletter.
https://bit.ly/2BbVYRp College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 15
Passings Dr. Howard James “Jim” Shey, associate professor emeritus of classics, passed away on May 19, 2020. Shey graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Creighton University. The recipient of a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, he pursued graduate studies in classical languages, earning his Master’s from Indiana University and his PhD from the University of Iowa. From his arrival at UWM in 1968 until his retirement in 2000, Shey taught numerous courses on ancient Greek, Latin, and classical literature and civilization. In addition to his service to the Classics Department at UWM, Shey served as book review editor for Classical Journal (1968-73). His doctoral dissertation on the Roman poet Valerius Flaccus continues to be cited, and while at UWM he published articles on Tyrtaeus, Horace, and Petronius. A fluent reader of hieroglyphs, he developed and taught the Classics program’s first course in Egyptian civilization. Shey’s books on Latin works by Petrarch are his most outstanding scholarly legacy. With his UWM colleague in Italian, Davy Carozza, he authored a translation of Petrarch’s Secretum with introduction, notes, and an anthology of critical scholarship (1989). A few years after his retirement, Shey published his magnum opus, an edition of Petrarch’s Itinerarium with translation and commentary (2004). His friends and colleagues who regularly chatted with him in Curtin Hall will greatly miss his easy-going conversation and his witty sense of humor. For additional details, please see Shey’s obituary online at https://bit.ly/3iFxotE.
Dr. Magda Kandil, a former professor of Economics at UW-Milwaukee, passed away recently. Magda received her Master’s in Economics from the University of Notre Dame, her MBA from Indiana University, and her PhD in Economics from Washington State University. Magda joined UWM in 1992 from Southern Illinois University where she was an assistant professor. During her time at UWM, she served as department chair in Economics, and was a full professor when she left UWM in 1999 to become a senior economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In the last six years, Magda was the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.
Dr. Stephen “Steve” Meyer, professor emeritus of History at UW-Milwaukee, passed away on June 22, 2020. Meyer served in the Air Force, and following his service, graduated from the State University of New York, Stony Brook with a degree in history. He received his PhD in History from Rutgers University. After graduation, Steve taught social and labor history and the history of technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and over the years, at four University of Wisconsin campuses: Baraboo, Parkside, Madison (School for Workers), and Milwaukee. Meyer was a member and former chair of the UWM History Department, and became a professor emeritus of History upon his retirement from UWM in 2011. Steve wrote widely on Midwestern labor history, particularly the history of auto workers. His books included The Five Dollar Day; Stalin Over Wisconsin; and most recently, Manhood on the Line. Our condolences to Meyer’s family, including his wife Margo Anderson, distinguished professor emerita of history and urban studies at UWM, and to the many others whose lives he touched. Visit his obituary online at https://bit.ly/2ZJkAtj.
