2022 WMU College of Arts and Sciences Magazine

Greetings From the Dean to Our Alumni and Friends

Dear Friends and Alumni,

I am delighted to share this 2022 edition of our College of Arts and Sciences magazine. Campus has been humming with activity as we begin the fall semester—with the marching band practicing on Fountain Plaza, new students settling into the residence halls and the continued physical transformation of main campus. The $42 million Dunbar Renovation is now well underway and exciting (if a little noisy!) to observe from Friedmann Hall and Sprau Tower—for a time-lapse peek at recent progress, you can visit www.fm.wmich.edu/ap/webcam/dunbar.

I am so proud of the work our exceptional faculty, staff and students do every single day, working together to empower one another to attain our vision of achieving excellence in all aspects of learning and discovery across the humanities, social sciences and sciences, while fostering a climate of intellectual freedom, diversity and inclusion. In this issue of our College of Arts and Sciences magazine, we highlight just a few of their many accomplishments. You can learn more about the Cold Case Program, which allows students, particularly in our criminal justice program, to put their skills and knowledge to work collaborating with the Michigan State Police to help solve decades-old cold cases, or read about Drs.Chad and Autumn Edwards, who, together with their many students, have pioneered a new realm of scholarship focused on Communication and Social Robotics. Faculty and students in our biological sciences department opened their labs this summer to a cohort of science teachers, who had the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge research and will use this experience to inspire a new generation of students to consider careers in STEM. We are proud to be the home of the 2022 Michigan College Science Teacher of the Year, Dr. David Rudge, and to celebrate the many awards alumni like Mohammed Hashim, Alberto Cintron-Colon, Erica Wehrwein, Mark Rochon and Dylan Schmorrow have received for their teaching and scholarship.

As demonstrated in the stories highlighted here, Western Michigan University is truly a public institution of higher education with the power to transform lives and communities, from local to global. I hope you enjoy reading this edition of the College of Arts and Sciences magazine as much as I did!

Sincerely,

Carla Koretsky, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Plan

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Our Mission

Our mission is to ignite and sustain a passion for learning and discover y in the humanities, social sciences and sciences, to help students, staff and faculty succeed in life and contribute to the betterment of our communities, from local to global

Our Vision

Our vision is to achieve excellence in all aspects of learning and discover y across the humanities, social sciences and sciences while fostering a climate of intellectual freedom, diversity and inclusion

OUR CORE VALUES

Collaboration

We promote an atmosphere in which staff, faculty, students and community collaborate in their discovery, learning and engagement

Creativity

We cherish intellectual vitality and innovation, driven by curiosity and critical thinking.

Equity

We are committed to an inclusive and equitable community comprised of diverse faculty, staff and students.

Integrity

We seek to operate in an environment that features accountability, transparency and respect

Intellectual Freedom

In a spirit of civility, we value intellectual freedom and the open exchange of ideas in our inquiry, discovery and learning

Financial Sustainability

We work to be financially accountable and viable through sustainable operations, programs and outcomes

Student Success

We center students’ needs in our academic planning, policies and programs to enable learners to meet their educational goals

On the Cover

WMU student, McKenzie Stommen, working with Michigan State Police on cold case files.

Magazine Staff

Meghan Behymer, Managing Editor

Michael Worline, Art Director

Contributors

Erin Flynn, Writer Elena Meadows, Writer Melissa Priebe, Writer Deanne Puca, Writer Jennifer Townsend, Writer

Mark Bugnaski, Photographer Mike Lanka, Photographer Printer

Holland Litho Printing Service

Arts and Sciences is an annual publication of Western Michigan University’s College of Arts and Sciences, Kalamazoo, Mich., for alumni and friends of the college. The views in the magazine are not necessarily those of the University.

Questions or comments? Contact Meghan Behymer at meghan.behymer@wmich.edu.

Magazine masthead designed by Cori Ivens `20, student graphic designer.

Features

Arts and Sciences News 2

WMU professor’s research addresses global water supply crisis

BIORETS program gives local science teachers authentic research experience

And more —

Cold Case Program Gains 8 National Attention

From across the United States and around the globe, everyone, it seems, is interested in this first-of-its-kind partnership

A Lifelong Gift 12

1980 graduate gives back to the Department of Philosophy

Finding a Link 14

Four-time CAS alum probes the link between humans and their machines

Understanding the Ancient Past 17

Student project reveals novel insights into the chemistry of ancient oceans

A Perfect Partnership 18

Drs. Chad and Autumn Edwards are Western’s own Dynamic Duo

On the Tenure Track 21

Recent graduate pursues dream to ignite students passion for learning and discovery

Connect With Us!

2022/2023

New College of Arts and Sciences Chairs and Directors

Dr. Todd Kuchta

Chair, Department of English

Dr. Devin Bloom

Director, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Dr. Melinda Koelling

Chair, Department of Mathematics

Dr. Robert Berkhofer

Director, Medieval Institute

Dr. Asghar Kayani

Chair, Department of Physics

Dr. David Kutzko

Chair, Department of World Languages and Literatures

WMU professor’s research addresses global water supply crisis

There’s an urgency to academic research for Dr. Chansheng He, a professor and researcher of water resources management at Western Michigan University.

“We are facing a global water supply crisis,” says He. “Over two billion people have no access to safe drinking water, and floods and droughts such as the 2021 drought in the Colorado River and the 2021 floods in China and Europe continue to cause large economic losses.”

At a swift pace, He has been working to address these issues, research the roots of the problem and propose real-world solutions that provide access to clean water in affected areas. In honor of his achievements, He has been named a 2022 Fellow of the American Association of Geographers.

FIGHTING FOR CLEAN WATER

He earned a bachelor's degree in agronomy and a master's in agricultural zoning and natural resources management from Northwestern Agricultural University in his native China before coming to the U.S. to earn a doctoral degree in resource development.

Early in his career, He participated in many water quality projects studying natural resource management and developing water quality models that could track the sources of pollutants such as fertilizer, manure, pesticide applications and combined sewer overflows.

Dr. Chansheng He

2022/2023

New Western Michigan University Senior Leadership

Dan Bartholomae

Director, Intercollegiate Athletics

Dr. Remzi Seker

Vice President, Research and Innovation

Keith Hahn

General Counsel

His research interests were shaped by his experiences in the field, where he found people struggling to find clean water both in regions of China and in parts of the U.S.

Now an accomplished geographer and distinguished faculty scholar, He combines data collection through remote sensing with GIS analysis and data management to create water resource models at various spatial scales. He takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from fields across the social and physical sciences to address how land management affects water resources.

He is also the recipient of the Fulbright University of Leeds Distinguished Scholar Award, one of only 38 Distinguished Scholar Awards granted globally out of more than 440 Fulbright Scholar awards.

PROTECTING WATER INTO THE FUTURE

In the coming year, He plans to collaborate with colleagues in different countries to test, modify and refine watershed science frameworks.

“Scholars have stated the global water crisis is a governance crisis and that the missing link is effective interactions between researchers and decisionmakers at different scales,” says He. “Since the watershed is the natural unit for water resources management, we have proposed watershed science to bridge this missing link.”

He is also researching the impacts of large-scale vegetation restoration (LVR) programs, such as reforestation and afforestation, or establishing forests on new lands. ◆

Dr. Todd Kuchta

Dr. Devin Bloom

Dr. Melinda Koelling

Dr. Robert Berkhofer Dr. Asghar Kayani Dr. David Kutzko

Dan Bartholomae Dr. Remzi Seker

Keith Hahn

Longtime College of Arts and Sciences director of advising retires

Go to class. Do your work. Ask for help.

Emblazoned on the wall at the entrance of the College of Arts and Sciences advising office, those are the words of the college’s longtime director of academic advising, Kevin Knutson, who retired after 27 years at Western Michigan University.

Those words, which stemmed from a simple question posed to Knutson about what it takes to succeed in college, became a sort of mantra for students who engaged with the advising office over the years.

“As an advisor, you’re here to help solve students’ problems. The most rewarding (part of the job) is the students,” Knutson says. “You always really remember the students that were about to throw in the towel and then they started to listen to the things that you are saying. Then just seeing their face when they walk across the stage at Miller and they give you a big hug. That is what it is all about.”

Knutson started at the University in 1994 as a residence hall director, a role he says really prepared him to “advise students and really look at them as a whole,” not just from an academic success lens.

Mike Picchietti, a 2012 School of Communications graduate, was one of those students whom Knutson advised in this way. Picchietti first met Knutson at a recruitment event to learn more about the University, and was moved to introduce himself after Knutson “gave such a genuine, amazing speech to all these kids sitting there.”

In that first moment, Picchietti and Knutson bonded over their shared love for hockey; Picchietti for the Chicago Blackhawks, Knutson the Detroit Red Wings. Over the course of his education, Picchietti built what would be a lifetime connection with Knutson, who helped him not just find his place academically, but also navigate the challenges of college life.

“We would talk about life, family, my academics, my goals, what I wanted to do when I got out of here,” says Picchietti. “He did such a good job of balancing being your friend and giving you life advice but then being serious about classes. He really became almost like a father figure while I was there.”

Knutson continues to not only be a lifelong friend to Picchietti, but a “huge piece” in the lives of Picchietti’s wife and family. “My entire family knows all about Kevin. I think about him and what he’s done for me. He’s just one of those people in your life that you never want to lose.”

Reflecting on his tenure at the University and looking ahead to retirement, Knutson says, “It’s about the little contributions you can make to the greater good of the University. It was a rewarding 27 years. I put my heart and soul into WMU and I have a deep care and pride in the institution.”

Knutson is succeeded as the college’s director of advising by Diana Blouin, who previously served as the college’s assistant director of advising. ◆

College of Arts and Sciences faculty earn coveted rotations with federal programs

College of Arts and Sciences faculty are thought leaders in their f ields, and the nation's top organizations are taking notice. Two professors are among talented scholars recently tapped by federal programs to lead and guide the direction of national research funding priorities.

PHYSICS PROFESSOR BEGINS APPOINTMENT WITH NASA

Dr. Manuel Bautista, professor of physics, began a rotation with NASA on May 2, where he will work primarily in three areas for the next two years: as deputy program scientist for the Astrophysics Probe mission, as deputy program officer for Laboratory Astrophysics and as deputy scientist for one space mission.

Bautista is based at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he will be "managing their science portfolios and the different telescopes and missions they are running" as well as the calls for proposals for new projects. The probe mission, a new $1 billion program, is the second largest mission currently being run by NASA. Bautista's main field of research has been in laboratory astrophysics. This field has recently been prioritized for growth in the Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

Bautista is most looking forward to gaining a broader perspective of the astrophysics field.

"One can get involved in a very narrow field of study. You interact with a few people around the world, but then you see that there are so many other areas and expertise and things going on that we miss sometimes. At NASA, I will be seeing all of that—all the missions, all the people, all the money and how it all works to make real progress in science and space exploration."

POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR COMPLETES SECOND NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION APPOINTMENT

Dr. Mark Hurwitz, professor of political science, completed a two-year appointment with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Law and Science Program—a multi-disciplinary program that funds scientific research on issues that are related to the law—in 2021. He was able to explore areas outside of his personal expertise during the experience, working on interdisciplinary research projects with experts from an array of fields.

He was tapped for the rotation shortly after he wrapped up a prior two-year appointment as a program officer for the NSF, where Hurwitz was primarily responsible for the Law and Science Program. He was involved not only in funding research projects but in updating solicitations for areas the NSF has prioritized for future research .

One program he was particularly proud of collaborating on during his second rotation was Navigating the New Arctic, which is one of the NSF's 10 Big Ideas "that will drive important aspects of NSF's long-term research agenda, push forward the frontiers of U.S. science and engineering research, and lead to new discoveries and innovations." ◆

Philosophy professor awarded Core Fellowship at Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies

Dr. Charlie Kurth, a philosophy professor at Western Michigan University, was one of 11 international scholars chosen for the Core Fellowship Program at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.

As a fellow, Kurth will have the unique opportunity to focus on his research for two years without other administrative duties while collaborating with scholars across the globe representing diverse fields of study.

“My research aims to understand how emotions like anger, disgust, anxiety and compassion shape us and how we might be able to shape our emotions to make us better,” says Kurth. “It draws on philosophy, psychology and cognitive science to try to make a case that there are things we can do if we think carefully about our emotions to allow us to use them for the better.”

During this fellowship, Kurth plans to continue his research and work with other scholars to draft a book, “Taming the Passions: Emotion Cultivation and the Development of Moral Agency.” He has previously published the highly-regarded scholarly book “The Anxious Mind” which focuses on the nature and value of anxiety from a philosophical perspective.

As a Helsinki fellow, Dr. Charlie Kurth will spend the next two years researching and drafting his book, “Taming the Passions: Emotion Cultivation and the Development of Moral Agency.”

“What makes this opportunity so cool is that it gives me two years where I can just focus on writing. Which is just an amazing opportunity,” says Kurth. “And I can do it in an environment with scholars and perspectives from around the world from a wide variety of disciplines.”

While at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, located in Finland, Kurth will also have ample opportunities to give talks and engage with students and faculty at the university and throughout Europe. ◆

WMU faculty coach Chinese Dual Enrollment Program students in National Chinese Speech Contest

Two Western Michigan University Chinese Dual Enrollment Program students made it to the final round of the American Academy of International Culture and Education's National Chinese Speech Contest.

Ava Hamilton finished third out of almost 100 contestants in the Immersion Group 9–12, while Libby Kurt was given honorable mention. As part of the University's Chinese Dual Enrollment Program at Forest Hills Schools, they received preparatory help from Li Xiang, World Languages and Literatures faculty at Western.

The program, which began in 2017, enables Forest Hills students to enroll in Chinese language and culture classes with Western professors on the high school campus and graduate with up to 28 university credits. In 2020 and 2021, similar programs in Chinese were established at Holland Christian High School and Greenville High School.

In total, across all schools, 37 high school students have graduated from the Chinese Dual Enrollment Program. Since the first class graduated high school in 2021, four students have enrolled at Western, applying the credits they earned through the program to their undergraduate degree. ◆

BIORETS program gives local science teachers authentic research experience

The National Science Foundation awarded Western Michigan University (PI: Yan Lu; co-PI: Silvia Rossbach) a $525,569 grant to help create a research experience program for middle and high school science teachers, known as BIORETS: biology of plants, animals, microorganisms and their environments.

The program, which launched in June 2022, brought together eight biological sciences faculty and nine local science teachers for an authentic research and professional development experience over the course of seven weeks.

The ultimate goal of the program is to provide “teachers research and education opportunities that can enhance their classroom teaching and entice students to join biological fields,” according to Dr. Yan Lu, biological sciences associate professor and director of the program.

Teachers were paired with one of eight faculty mentors, including Drs. Lu and Rossbach, each focusing on a different aspect of the overarching theme of how biological entities interact with one another and their environment. One group explored how microorganisms receive and respond to environmental cues, while another considered how animals interact with their environment by investigating fish morphology and migration.

Across a variety of biological sciences areas, each lab gave teachers a distinct experience.

One participant in the BIORETs program, Amanda Solloway, worked in Lu’s lab for the duration of the program. Solloway, an eighth-grade science teacher at Cassopolis Middle School, spent her days in the program researching the impact of the environmental pollutant PFAS on plants.

“The things that I am learning (through the BIORETS program) are beyond any professional development experience I have had,” says Solloway. “As a teacher, I always think about how I am going to bring what I learn to the classroom.”

Solloway says that carrying out research in a "real science lab" experience highlighted the value of adhering to precise protocols for gathering data and challenged her to reconsider the sorts of practical experiences she might bring back to the classroom.

Solloway and the other participating instructors will use their experience in the BIORETS program to develop curriculum upgrades that will enrich teaching strategies, expand students' engagement in STEM classes, enhance their research literacy and motivate them to seek further education and STEM careers.

“For teachers who are passionate about science and learning, (the BIORETS program) is perfect to get hands-on experience,” Solloways says. “I think it is fascinating to do this work.”

The summer research experience was complemented with faculty research seminars, professional development workshops, demonstrations of hands-on laboratory teaching modules, lunch-time discussions on research and curricular development, written curricular materials, poster presentations on research and curricular development and fall semester classroom visits. ◆

Liz Ratashak (left) from Vicksburg High School and Jennifer Lacy (right) from Lakeview Middle School, investigating the WMU Finch Greenhouse at Wood Hall.

Amanda Solloway sowing tiny Arabidopsis seeds on a plate to test the effect of environmental contaminant PFAS on plants

Rudge named College Science Teacher of the Year in recognition of ability to inspire students

Discovering the structure of DNA, diagnosing sickle-cell anemia and explaining the evolution of peppered moths all have one thing in common. They were made possible by science. And behind each scientific achievement, there is also a story.

Named the 2022 College Science Teacher of the Year, Dr. David Rudge uses these stories to inspire his students. A professor of biological sciences and science education, he teaches both undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The annual award from the Michigan Science Teachers Association honors a teacher who uses and models best practices, inspires students, demonstrates innovative teaching strategies, serves as an excellent role model for students and teachers alike, demonstrates leadership and exhibits a passion for science and teaching.

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING

“A teacher is one who instructs. An educator, on the other hand, is one who imparts knowledge through compassion and demonstration,” says Allison Witucki, a doctoral student who studied with Rudge. “An educator guides their students on what it truly means to be a lifelong learner and pursuer of knowledge. An educator sparks curiosity and excitement. David Rudge is not just a teacher; he is the embodiment of a true educator.”

Students leave Rudge’s classroom excited to delve deeper into scientific study. In part, that’s because of his innovative approach to education. Rudge teaches science through a historical and philosophical lens, showing his students how stories from the history of science can explain scientific advancements and changes in the field.

“There are a group of people who are turned off to science, and there’s a lot of research to suggest it’s because of how science is taught. Oftentimes, it’s taught as a series of facts to be memorized,” says Rudge.

“In particular, a biology course often has more new technical terms than a foreign language course—really, it has that effect. So, the special advantage, to my mind, of using stories is that it engages students in a way that traditionally taught science classes do not.”

ENGAGING IN SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

Rudge prepares his students to be critical thinkers and engage in scientific inquiry. He encourages students to learn in groups from one another and also independently, being mindful that students come to class with different learning styles.

“We, as instructors, need to be innovative when it comes to how we teach,” says Rudge. “There’s a certain level of scientific literacy that everybody should have, and so we need to think of what things could we do to make science more interesting or relevant for the vast majority who aren’t pursuing careers as scientists.”

The special challenge of teaching science and science education, Rudge says, is reawakening the natural curiosity for the world that people experience as children. He believes too many people write science off as a boring subject with nothing new to discover.

“If you’ve ever done science, you know nothing could be further from the truth,” says Rudge. “As a philosopher, I think the thing that’s always intrigued me about science is: This is one domain where progress seems to be possible.”

Rudge holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Duke University and a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Pittsburgh. He has served in many leadership roles such as president of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group and project director of a National Science Foundation grant to improve middle school science teaching. In addition to teaching, he has published a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals. His past research focused on evolutionary biology and the work of H. B. D. Kettlewell, and his scholarship focuses on the ways the history of philosophy and science inform the teaching of science.

“It’s incredibly inspiring and enlightening to have instructors who are, at the very core of higher education, so vital to our students’ success,” says WMU President Dr. Edward Montgomery. “Dr. Rudge exemplifies excellence in the classroom as an innovator, a role model, a leader and a passionate teacher.” ◆

Dr. Mariam Konaté, an African-born scholar and professor of Intercultural and Anthropological Studies at Western Michigan University, worked with Kenyan counterparts this summer as part of the 2022 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program.

Dr. Konaté was awarded the fellowship in collaboration with her Tennessee Technological University colleague, Dr. Queen Ogbomo, and University of Nairobi host, Dr. Josephine Wairimu, to examine teaching, mentorship, and gender equity in STEM at the University of Nairobi.

“The motto (of the fellowship) ‘transforming the continent’s brain drain into brain circulation’ really resonated with me,” says Konaté, who acquired all her formative education in her home country of

Burkina Faso before coming to the United States to pursue graduate education. “The fellowship gives me the opportunity to give back to Africa by sharing my knowledge, abilities and skills with my colleagues on the continent.”

The fellowship project is intended to foster a collaborative partnership with Konaté’s Kenyan counterparts and to encourage African students to pursue STEM careers. Drs. Konaté and Ogbomo led training and mentoring sessions intended to help instructors develop and strengthen more inclusive approaches to online instruction to encourage and

empower elementary and secondary students, especially girls, to study and excel in STEM. They also provided mentoring to faculty and graduate students focused on conducting STEM research and provided training to graduate students in STEM, especially women, to become peer mentors.

Aside from the skills and experiences that the project will bring to those at the University of Nairobi, Konaté hopes that the project will help to strengthen the bond between WMU and her host university, leading to opportunities for study abroad, faculty and student exchanges, and the development of international and collaborative curricula that will produce more globally-aware and intellectually-empowered students and faculty. ◆

WMU Intercultural and Anthropological Studies professor’s project selected for funding by Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program

Student News

Journalism students gain professional experience through Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative

As newsrooms across the country struggle with diminishing staffs—a 57 percent drop since 2004, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—they are looking for ways to continue telling meaningful and accurate stories that matter to their communities.

Locally, the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative (SWMJC) strives, in part, to fill this gap. Since 2019, 12 local media outlets have worked together to report on some of the region's most important issues, including its latest effort: the Mental Wellness Project.

And thanks to this partnership, Western Michigan University journalism students are getting a firsthand look at the thrills and challenges of local journalism—all while gaining valuable professional reporting experience and providing an important service to the local community.

“This is an incredible educational opportunity for journalism students because this is real, it’s happening now and they have a shot at getting published,” says Sue Ellen Christian, a Presidential Innovation Professor in the School of Communication who has been a Collaborative member since its start.

Aptly named, the Collaborative formed after a chance meeting between two people—Sarah Lee, director of marketing communications for the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, and Kathy Jennings, managing editor of Second Wave Media Southwest Michigan—who share a passion for local journalism. The pair approached local media outlets about partnering, and the Collaborative was born.

The group has since obtained a $100,000 grant from the Solutions Journalism Network, as well as $50,000 in support from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, to launch its Mental Wellness Project. The intent of the project is to shape community conversation about mental health issues and challenges, as well as to identify potential solutions.

Beyond establishing a network and uniting media outlets to tell important stories, the Collaborative tackles another key local issue: increasing the talent pool of journalists.

“We’re seeing that quality talent is hard to find here, so working with the University is a great pipeline to help students connect with the work that we are doing,” says Lee, who earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Western’s School of Communication.

As a Western professor, Christian seeks to connect her students with the local journalism community. Two of those students—recent graduates Maggie Drew and Hailey Steinkamp—worked with Christian to craft a story as part of the Mental Wellness Project. The story, “A holistic approach is key to student mental health and retention” was published by MLive in April 2022.

“It was a great stepping stone into the professional world where I was working with these professional outlets as part of the collaborative, but also having the support of my professor who cared about my success,” says Drew, who also published in New/Nueva Opinion, a Battle Creek-based bilingual publication, as part of the Mental Wellness Project.

By working with the Collaborative, Drew and Steinkamp gained genuine insight into professional journalism and boosted their skillsets as they launch their own professional careers.

“I think the experience of going out and not being afraid to talk to people, doing your research and coming to an interview prepared—these are just really valuable life skills in general,” says Steinkamp. ◆

Molecular Biology Lab course uses the classroom for real-world research

Reading textbooks. Taking notes. Pop quizzes. Research papers. An experiment or two.

Those are often the first, and only, things that come to mind when you imagine a college biology course. However, this is not what happens in Dr. Todd Barkman's molecular biology lab.

“I wanted to bring together the techniques of doing science (in the classroom) and at the same time answering a scientific question that hasn’t necessarily been studied before,” says Barkman, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Western Michigan University.

As a result of such efforts to embed innovative research into a standard college course, more than 50 students, primarily undergraduates, were credited as authors in a March 2022 publication in the academic journal Molecular Biology and Evolution titled “A Collaborative Classroom Investigation of the Evolution of SABATH Methyltransferase Substrate Preference Shifts over 120 My of Flowering Plant History.”

FROM CONCEPT TO CLASSROOM

The molecular biology lab course didn’t always provide students with an authentic research experience. It wasn’t until 2012, after being approved for a National Science Foundation grant, that Barkman was able to implement his vision to move beyond “cookbook” labs.

“In my research lab, one or two students per year would get research experience. I wanted to deliver a research experience to as many people as possible,” says Barkman. “Training people on how to do science and what science is—this is really important.”

What used to be one or two students delving into the complete research experience quickly shifted into dozens of students plunging into scientific research each spring semester to answer one big question: how does plant metabolism evolve?

For seven years, students collected data by selecting a plant, often from the Biological Sciences Finch Greenhouse on campus, and meticulously learning and applying various scientific techniques to ultimately test what the protein from each plant does. Plants included in the study ranged from sunflowers to supermarket carrots.

Former WMU undergrad and current Ph.D. student, Samantha Hack, analyzes her semester-long experiment for BIOS 5260 using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

“Although (each student) has individual projects and plans, they’re all working to collect data that will work together,” says Barkman. “They all do every single (scientific) technique, but this breaks down for people at various stages because we don’t know what the results are going to be, and sometimes the correct but disappointing result is ‘no data.’”

Donovan Vitale, a geophysics major, was awarded a prestigious $1,500 National Undergraduate Student Scholarship from the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG). Vitale was sponsored for the award by his research advisor, Dr. Stephen Kaczmarek.

The Geology Club, which is also the Student Chapter of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG), was selected as a 2022 National AIPG Outstanding Student Chapter. This national award recognizes students for their achievements and contributions to AIPG. 2022 club officers were:

Sara Al Qamshouai – President Ashley Patti – Vice President Avianna Jackson – Secretary Brianna Salome – Treasurer Will Roosien – WSA Representative Dr. Tom Howe is the departmental staff advisor for the club.

Mohamed Elhebery, a Ph.D. student in Geological and Environmental Sciences and a member of Dr. Mohamed Sultan's remote sensing lab, was honored with the 2022 Geological Society of America Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Research. The Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the GSA bestows the prize, which acknowledges an outstanding body of work in desert research. Elhebery joins a distinguished roster of yearly worldwide honorees.

Jalen Williams, a School of Communications student and WMUK intern, received the Public Media Journalists Association’s 2022 best feature in the student category with his piece titled “An African American Union Army soldier gets a headstone for the first time.” Find the story here: bit.ly/JWilliamsStory

FROM PLANTS TO PUBLICATION

As a real-world research experience, students didn’t just complete the actual experiments. At the end of the semester, with all the data they cataloged in their lab notebooks, students would craft a paper that detailed their findings.

Seven years into the program, Barkman and graduate student Nicole Dubs, synthesized and further evaluated the lab notebooks of 54 students to develop the paper that was eventually published in Molecular Biology and Evolution.

“Students got to experience the entire publication process. Students were really involved from inception all the way to the complete publication,” says Barkman. He also noted that the vast amount of data collected would not have been possible without the contribution of each student in the class over the years.

Although this classroom research effort was ultimately successful in providing new and publishable insights into plant proteins, Barkman believes that even if that weren't the case, the classroom research model would still be valuable because students "come in not having much (scientific research) experience and they walk away being people I would be pleased to have on my research team."

“The students truly generated data that was completely surprising to me and we never predicted we were going to see,” says Barkman. “As we sit on the last day of the class holding our breath while waiting for the data to come out of this instrument, you’d see this peak (in the data) that proves that novel scientific data have been attained. Students would jump up and down hugging. That’s what it is all about.”

As for what is next, Barkman says his class is now working on an entirely new “big question.” And thanks to the support they receive from various departments across campus, Barkman will continue to be able to provide a critical research experience for students that they can carry into their professional careers. ◆

With a single Powerpoint slide and three minutes, one Western Michigan University doctoral candidate made her research stand out.

Tabitha DiBacco, a clinical psychology Ph.D. candidate, is the first Western student to win the regional Three Minute Thesis (3MT), in which graduate students have three minutes and one slide to summarize their research for a general audience.

DiBacco's presentation was based on her dissertation project, which contends that using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions can be a helpful strategy in times of crisis and that quick interventions for healthcare professionals can be effective.

Rising to the top at WMU’s 3MT Competition

To ascend to the regional 3MT Competition, DiBacco first had to compete in WMU’s 3MT hosted by the Graduate Student Association. Competing against nine others, DiBacco won first place at the regional competition by distilling her year-long dissertation into three minutes of engaging and educational content in front of six judges.

“As students, we’re really used to being taught to in-depth defend our work to experts in our field. What we don’t have as much practice with is very succinctly communicating with people who aren’t in our area of expertise. And that’s really what the Three-Minute Thesis is about,” DiBacco says of her experience in the competition.

Even after securing the regional spot, DiBacco continued to refine her presentation by working with School of Communication faculty to hone the message that “got to the severity and meaning of the project.”

One finding that stood out to DiBacco was that of the rising suicidality during the pandemic. Specifically, 20% of health care workers who participated in her study expressed thoughts of suicide not long before beginning to take part in the study. But by the end of the study, there were none. DiBacco noted that “while we can’t say that is all due to the (ACT) intervention, it’s a pretty salient change.”

“I think (suicide) is something that we don’t talk about enough in general, but we particularly don't talk about it in regard to providers because we tend to see this very distinct role in those who are helping and those who need help,” DiBacco says.

Making a mark in Milwaukee

With WMU’s 3MT experience under her belt and a refined presentation in hand, DiBacco traveled to Milwaukee for the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools’ regional competition in April.

She was placed in one of four groups of 10 students who each competed in front of a panel of judges. The top two competitors from each group competed in front of the entire audience.

Competitors are judged on a variety of factors, including how entertaining and clear the topic is, how well competitors dominate the stage and how engaged the audience is, among other things.

In the end, DiBacco’s presentation and research stood out as the best to the judges.

“The biggest challenge (for competitors) is to very quickly tell a story and really grab the audience’s attention with their findings,” says Dr. Christine Byrd-Jacobs, dean of the Graduate College. “I knew Tabitha did a fabulous job against pretty hefty competition.”

DiBacco will be representing the Midwest region at the Council of Graduate School’s annual meeting in December 2022. ◆

College of Arts and Sciences doctoral candidate wins first place in regional Three-Minute Thesis competition

From across the United States and around the globe, messages are filling Dr. Ashlyn Kuersten's voicemail and inbox. Everyone, it seems, is interested in her Cold Case Program—a first-of-its-kind partnership with Michigan State Police—which has already helped bring closure to one decades-old murder with possibilities for more solved cases on the horizon.

"I never expected all this media attention!" says Kuersten, the program's director and professor in the Department of Sociology's Criminal Justice Program. "I just thought this would be a good way to give students research opportunities while solving a murder case. I just figured it would spawn a million senior thesis and dissertation ideas."

But the program's immediate success and emotional impact also spawned headlines from small-town

newspapers to People magazine to coverage on national and even international television.

"My most rewarding experience with the Cold Case Program so far was attending Patrick Gilham's sentencing," says McKenzie Stommen, a criminal justice student who has been involved with the program since its launch. "Getting to be there and experience that moment of justice for Roxanne Wood, to meet her family and hear their victim

impact statements, was life-changing."

Wood's husband found her dead in their Niles home in 1987. Her family waited an agonizing 35 years for answers. The influx of fresh eyes in the form of college students hungry to learn more about criminal justice, and with the time, motivation and ability to provide much-needed additional support to law enforcement officials, helped to bring closure to the case at long last.

“One of the detectives said it best: 'If we do nothing, we get nothing,'" Kuersten says. The Cold Case program provides a framework for Western students to assist law enforcement agencies that may not otherwise have the staff and budget resources necessary to delve deeply into cases that might still be solved.

"I think it's genius," Sheinelle Jones, co-host on the "Today Show" said after the national program featured the work of Kuersten's students.

"Would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids," Al Roker chimed in.

Hundreds more families across the state, and exponentially more worldwide, are desperate for closure of cold cases involving their loved ones, which can linger unsolved for years or even decades.

NBC Today Show reporter and anchor Savannah Sellers interviews WMU students Carl Huber, Samantha Rogers, Michelle Wadas and McKenzie Stommen. The students were featured in a story about the Cold Case with Michigan State Police Program on NBC’s Today Show.

How did we get here?

After receiving a federal grant to create a Wrongful Conviction Program at WMU, Dr. Ashlyn Kuersten invited Michigan State Police Detective First Lieutenant Chuck Christensen to talk with her Criminal Justice Program classes about the investigative process, and how cases played out in law enforcement. The pair started talking about the state's backlog of cold case murders—there are more than 20 in the fifth district alone—and the value of a potential partnership.

And Kuersten's program may be the spark that ignites new hope—the media exposure has garnered interest from administrators at a number of other universities and law enforcement agencies.

"New Mexico, West Virginia, Oklahoma, New York, Kansas, Washington State—I'm getting calls from all over asking how other schools can set up a similar program," Kuersten says. She's going on the road this fall to consult with some of them.

Don Weber, director of information technology for the College of Arts and Sciences who set up the Cold Case Program's encrypted computer system, is also advising the institutions on the systems necessary to protect the sensitive cases.

"The expansion of the program at other universities is amazing to see. There is a massive number of cold cases across the country, and a partnership like this is a fantastic way to address that problem despite a systemic lack of resources available for cold cases," says Stommen, who took on a new role in summer 2022 as program coordinator.

"I wear a lot of hats—managing the students; serving as a point of contact for detectives and the public; and maintaining our social media to name a few, in addition to continuing to work on cases," she says. "I'm learning how to use this new position to innovate, whether that be finding new avenues in a case or expanding fellow students' educational experiences."

Stommen will supervise eight new undergraduate students in the fall who will be investigating four different cases.

"I am looking forward to seeing how I react and handle various situations and problems thrown at me throughout the program and am eager to learn more about the best ways to go about solving different cases. I truly believe everything I learn throughout this program will benefit my life and future career," says Savanna Dempsey, a fourth-year criminal justice and behavioral science student tapped to join the cohort. She had stiff competition—applications for the program came flooding in as the program gained national attention.

"I heard about it on the news," says Ruby Lauria, a second-year criminal justice student who will join Dempsey on the team. "I hope to learn more about forensic technology and certain limitations in cases."

"Most of my students are interested in either going into law enforcement or law school. They want to get into criminal law. So, this is right up their alley. It's teaching them these critical skills needed in a criminal law career," Kuersten says.

She started conceptualizing the program with Christensen's help in late 2019. After a pandemic pause, the first cohort of undergraduate students joined the Cold Case Program in fall 2021. The following semester, the first case the team worked on was closed and a killer was sent to prison.

The new cohort has already gotten a glimpse of some of that technology during a summer tour of the Michigan State Police Forensic Lab in Grand Rapids. Students learned what it takes to collect fingerprints from evidence and had a crash course on forensic genealogy, a fast-developing field that uses new DNA technology to help find criminals. It's the technique that ultimately led detectives to Roxanne Wood's killer.

"DNA is changing the battlefield for all these forgotten women over the last several decades," Kuersten says. "These students are studying genealogy and DNA evidence, along with forensics like blood splatter and gunshot residue. There are so many new forensic developments that are creating different career opportunities for our students."

The most rewarding part of the experience, Kuersten says, is watching her students become passionate about their research.

Detective First Lieutenant Chuck Christensen, MSP

"Since I was a young boy, I always knew I wanted to be an investigator, a detective," says Christensen. "I would have given anything to get into a program like they have at Western, to be working with investigators on cases that are the highest-level cases that an agency will handle. It's unbelievable to have that opportunity as a student."

"When the students read a cold case file and they get a look of magic in their eye, it shows me that they now see why we asked them to read their textbooks over their college career," Kuersten says. "All of a sudden, all of that disparate information that's been rattling around in their head makes sense. It's incredibly fulfilling to me as an educator."

And as an added bonus, Kuersten's students also have the opportunity to change lives.

"It would mean the world to me to be able to potentially help families find closure and bring killers to justice," says Dempsey. "The opportunity to work alongside good people to potentially make a difference is a privilege I am forever thankful for. No matter what 'evil' this world throws at us, I am so happy to be doing my part to try to make a difference in any way I can."

To support the WMU Cold Case Program with Michigan State Police visit: bit.ly/coldcasegiving

Dr. Ashlyn Kuersten

WMU students McKenzie Stommen, Liz Tackabury, Kaylee Meyer, Ruby Lauria and Samantha Rogers in front of the Michigan State Police headquarters facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Imagine the impact you can make for College of Arts and Sciences students.

With thoughtful planning, you can provide for an enduring and exciting future for the College of Arts and Sciences and the generations of students that follow in your footsteps. A promise of future support for WMU, a gift in your will or trust, a beneficiary designation of a retirement, investment or bank account, or a gift that pays you income like a Charitable Gift Annuity can make a lasting impact and be a part of a smart financial plan.

Because of the generosity of our donors, the College of Arts and Sciences is able to directly impact our students, empowering them to become the leaders and givers of tomorrow.

Support the college with contibutions to:

• Undergraduate Completion Scholarship Fund

• Departments, programs, endowments and scholarships

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Let’s talk about how you can establish your own WMU legacy and make a lasting statement of your commitment to the College of Arts and Sciences.

Jessica

Officer: 269-387-8873

Mark Rochon’s experience as a lawyer has taken him from courtrooms in Washington, D.C., to countries all over the world.

But for the 1980 College of Arts and Sciences graduate, Western Michigan University laid the foundation for that career.

In return, he has given back to the University and its students for the last decade through annual gifts to the Department of Philosophy, and he recently arranged for a gift in his will to create an endowment for the department that will directly benefit generations of philosophy students to come.

“I loved the philosophy department while I was at Western and got a lot out of it,” says Rochon. Recognizing the department’s value, and with a desire to provide lasting support for future students, Rochon met with department professors and Western’s senior director of major gifts, Kyle Herm, to discuss making a donation that will continue in perpetuity.

Rochon decided to provide funds “to allow graduate students to travel to conferences, to present papers and engage in the kind of networking that’s really important for graduate students in particular.”

“It’s super easy and it’s been rewarding,” Rochon says of the University’s gift-giving process, noting that in recent years he's had a chance to meet with members of the philosophy department and sit in on a graduate class. “I hope I have helped in some way to help the department to be as alive today as it was for me.”

Rochon himself—fresh out of the Navy on the GI Bill—had intended only to study political science when he enrolled at Western. But after taking one philosophy class, he was hooked.

“I enjoyed it so much that I then became a philosophy major as well … and I remember those classes to this day,” says Rochon. “Some of those classes helped me in practical ways—studies in philosophy are very useful for lawyers. But they also developed in me a lifelong interest in how we process and understand the world and ourselves.”

Like many Western students, Rochon’s family hadn’t had many opportunities to pursue a college education, and he might have found himself feeling like he didn’t belong. But “I found the university both to be a place of academic excellence and also very welcoming and not daunting for someone like me, says Rochon. “I was an enlisted guy in the Navy. I came out and wanted to go to college and felt that the kind of receptiveness I got at Western and the kind of contact I had with the professors there was extraordinary. I really loved that.”

After graduation, Rochon attended Stanford Law School and then began working in Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C. After seven years, he decided to go into private practice, serving as a criminal

defense lawyer for the next decade. During that time, he was lead counsel for more than 160 jury trials and argued cases before appellate courts across the country. “It was extremely emotionally intense and challenging—high stakes for my clients and high stakes in the murder cases for the families whose relatives had been killed,” Rochon says.

For example, a feature story on Rochon in the May 1, 1998 edition of the Washington City Paper detailed the trial of Alvoid Hamilton, whom Rochon defended on a charge of murdering a man who had attempted to purchase drugs from him. The jury ultimately acquitted Hamilton, and “as far as I know, Alvoid never got in trouble again,” Rochon says.

Interest in, and commitment to public defense is a family affair for Rochon. He met his wife—also a public defender—while litigating in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Their daughter attends law school and works at the Public Defender’s office in Colorado Springs, and their son serves as an investigator for the Brooklyn Public Defender’s office and is planning on attending law school.

“That wasn’t something we planned,” Rochon says of his children following in their parents’ footsteps. “But I’m gratified that they’re interested in this work because it’s incredibly important and very rewarding.”

In 2002, Rochon became a member of the firm Miller & Chevalier, “a completely different kind of practice.” Now, his clients value his trial skills, but don’t necessarily want to go to trial.

He frequently represents companies that are engaged in work overseas and have been alleged to have secured business through bribery. In connection with that work, he has traveled to more than 45 countries.

Rochon said these kinds of allegations can surface in many ways—sometimes another government learns of a possible concern and alerts the U.S. authorities (the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Department of Justice), other times a whistleblower raises the alarm or companies self-identify potential problems.

“These cases don’t go to trial, they don’t end up in conflict, they really turn on a responsible, reliable independent investigation that my firm and I conduct,”

Rochon says. “They tend to be high stakes cases where the company’s reputation and a sizable chunk of money can be on the line and tend to involve big groups of lawyers.” He leads those teams and works with the DOJ and the SEC on a regular basis.

Rochon also represented the Palestinian government in a significant case brought forward from the United States.

“The Palestinian government was being sued in the United States for claims it was responsible for violent acts of others,” he says. “People were seeking billions and billions of dollars from the Palestine Authority, and that had me traveling to the Sinai Peninsula, to the West Bank, to Nablus, to Jerusalem, all over.” This complex litigation also required Rochon and his firm to work with multiple U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. State Department, due to the potential domestic political and national security issues.

“I have not been bored!” Rochon says of his career. “I didn’t just plan on going out and having exciting work, but both as a public defender and then in private practice and my work at Miller, I’ve found all of it to be intensely interesting and have an emotional content that’s not what people usually associate with being a lawyer, and I like that. That’s what I go for. I like helping people, I like helping companies. Companies aren’t faceless and nameless. There are people who work there, and they care, and you work closely with them to try to get things right.”

A believer in continuing education, Rochon recently earned his master’s degree in classics at St. John’s College, a liberal arts school with campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Rochon attended. In his application essay, Rochon described a graduate-level philosophy class he took as a student at Western, reading and discussing Kierkegaard. Rochon said that experience and the way the class was conducted resonated with the St. John’s approach to learning.

“I think Western Michigan University, and the philosophy department in particular, is really at the foundation of a lot of my life,” Rochon says. “It grounded me in critical thinking, it grounded me in logical thinking and it gave me an appetite for learning that’s been lifelong. I am so grateful to play a role in supporting the department now, and going forward.” ◆

Department of Psychology Alumni Achievement Award, the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Award, and the College of Arts and Sciences “Discovery Driven” Pillar Award

Dr. Dylan Schmorrow displays all three WMU awards presented in the fall of 2020 —

Dr. Dylan Schmorrow has spent the better part of the last three decades exploring the link between humans and machines and figuring out how a better understanding of that link might improve human performance.

Schmorrow, a four-time Western Michigan University graduate, transferred to Western in his junior year because, unlike other schools he had attended, he felt welcomed into the Bronco family.

“I can’t emphasize enough that the magic for me in the late 1980s was the special feeling WMU somehow provided. There was something comforting and welcoming that was ubiquitous on campus,” says Schmorrow.

Schmorrow was so influenced by Western that he went on to get not only his bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology in 1989, but also two master’s degrees (experimental psychology, 1990, and philosophy, 1993), as well as his Ph.D. (experimental psychology, 1993) at WMU.

It was Schmorrow’s time studying psychology as an undergrad that launched his lifelong passion for probing the relationship between human behavior and artificial intelligence (AI).

FROM PH.D. TO THE NAVY

In 1993, the newly minted Dr. Schmorrow joined the U.S. Navy after his grandmother asked him to consider service.

“I couldn’t imagine a fresh Ph.D. would have any role in the military. However, my grandmother was an amazing woman and when she asked me to please investigate the possibility of military service as a gift to her, I could not say no,” says Schmorrow. He received a lot of “intriguing” offers from the different military branches, but the Navy flew him to Pensacola. If he attended and passed flight school, they told him, they would make him a Naval Aerospace Experimental Psychologist as a Lieutenant, skipping ahead in rank. The Navy won, and Schmorrow began what would become a twenty-year military career.

Following an initial deployment on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower supporting Operation Deny Flight and Operation Provide Promise, Schmorrow’s career with the Navy “ranged from bench level science and engineering work, to managing research funding, to serving at the highest levels of research and development, policy, and strategy within the Department of Defense.” Just a few of his titles included: Student Naval Aerospace Experimental Psychologist; John G. Jenkins Postdoctoral Fellow in Applied Cognitive Research; Human Factors Engineer Project Officer and Biomedical Support Branch Head; Assistant Professor at Naval Post Graduate School; Chief Scientist for Human Technology Integration at the Naval Research Laboratory; Executive Assistant to the Chief of Naval Research; member of the Defense Science Board; and DoD Human Systems Director.

SOLVING INTRACTABLE PROBLEMS

Perhaps one of Dr. Schmorrow’s more interesting positions was serving as Program Manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the government’s rather radical department designed to explore seemingly impossible ideas and, in many cases, make them a reality. In the December 2003 Genius Issue of Esquire Magazine, Schmorrow described his vision for human/technology interaction: “Wouldn’t it be interesting to be able to have a symbiotic relationship with your computational system?”

Captain Schmorrow acting in OSD’s Human Systems possible future movie showcasing emerging technologies.

At DARPA, Schmorrow had the opportunity to help transform an initiative focused on biomedical and cognitive systems-based IT for weapons systems. He led the creation of a research and development program focused on human-technology integration, with the goal of increasing the amount of information weapons systems operators could effectively manage.

“We were able to create and foster imaginative, innovative and high-risk research ideas that yielded revolutionary technological advances in science and technology in support of the U.S. military,” says Schmorrow.

The project, called Augmented Cognition, was designed to exponentially “extend the information management capacity of the ‘human-computer’ combination by developing and demonstrating enhancements to human cognitive ability in diverse and stressful operational environments.” The technologies developed under this program require fewer workers to operate and have led to enhanced operational capabilities and improved performance in challenging environments. In short, the project facilitated the development of “intelligent adaptive computational systems”— a paradigm-shifting achievement.

Schmorrow’s work with the Office of Naval Research has also led to a transformative method of combat training now being used by the U.S. Marine Corps. The Infantry Immersion Trainer is a virtual reality program that employs smells, sounds, pyrotechnics and holographic displays to immerse a soldier in the most realistic combat training environment imaginable “to prevent fatal errors before troops are exposed to the real threat.” From concept to prototype, the program was created in less than a year and has already trained thousands of Marines.

Dr. Schmorrow's professional career is filled with impressive successes, and he has won multiple accolades from both the Navy and Western Michigan University for his many accomplishments. In fall of 2020, Schmorrow was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Award, the Discovery Driven Pillar Award and the Department of Psychology’s Alumni Achievement Award. In addition to the Navy’s Top Scientists and Engineers Award in 2007, Schmorrow has earned nearly thirty awards and medals from the Navy in recognition of his accomplishments.

Personally, Schmorrow would like to explore the role of AI in sustainability efforts. SoarTech’s work on autonomous vehicle programming has inspired him to consider the other ways in which AI may promote environmental responsibility— he believes artificial intelligence will play a major role in stabilizing alternative energy production sources, such as wind and solar farms, which are impacted by weather conditions. “The goal would be for AI to consume as little energy as possible while producing as much energy as possible.”

Throughout his career, Schmorrow has recognized the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork to the success of any project. “Interdisciplinary research is at the forefront of progressive discovery. Leading large-scale programs requires the ability to understand multiple vectors.” Working with a range of experts in a variety of disciplines can guarantee success or at least the likelihood of it. By attacking a question from multiple disciplines, a physiologist may catch an angle missed by a psychologist, a cognitive scientist may ask a question that can be answered by a software developer, and so on—culminating in a more innovative, and ultimately, superior solution than could have been achieved using a narrow, single-discipline lens.

THE MOST IMPORTANT HUMAN LINK

While Dr. Schmorrow’s career has been undeniably impressive, nothing brings him greater happiness and pride than his family. His wife of twenty years, Laura, recently retired from her career as a business executive and is enjoying pursuing her passion for art—particularly painting. Their oldest child, Grace, is a psychology major at the University of Central Florida and will pursue a graduate program, likely in industrial/ operational psychology. She is also a talented singer and has released several recordings under her full name, SarahGrace. Their son, Maximus, is also a talented musician and spent his first year out of high school at a Los Angeles music conservatory. While there, he wrote, recorded and produced an album of his songs. His next step is to study business and marketing at Virginia Commonwealth University. Their youngest, Lily, will be a senior in high school this fall. Lily is also an artist who enjoys writing, digital art, photography and fashion. She has expressed interest in pursuing a degree that combines her artistic talents in those areas.

“My primary source of joy has been watching these kids grow into creative, smart, compassionate, articulate and aware humans,” says Schmorrow.

SOAR TECHNOLOGY

In 2013, Schmorrow retired from the Navy with the rank of Captain. Not one to rest on his laurels, he joined Soar Technology, a company focused entirely on his lifelong passion—human behavior linked with artificial intelligence. Schmorrow serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for the company.

SoarTech’s mission is focused on developing “human-centered artificial intelligence solutions” for the U.S. military. The company believes that the future of AI will consist of some combination of both human-centered and cognitive artificial intelligence.

“SoarTech focuses on the development of intelligent software that reasons like humans, automates complex tasks, simplifies human-machine interactions and models human behaviors. Our philosophy is three-fold: to augment—but not replace—the human; to think ‘top-down, not bottomup;’ and to be transparent so that decisions and processing are communicated to the human in human-like terms via Explainable AI.”

Schmorrow has some advice for current students, advice that in some respects, we could all take to heart. Be present, and perhaps just as importantly in a postpandemic world, don’t isolate yourself. “You will find your people, just be patient and open to it.” ◆

Schmorrow with his family: wife Laura, son Maximus, daughters Grace and Lily at the beach in South Haven, Michigan.

Schmorrow as a WMU psychology student in 1989.

Dr. Schmorrow demonstrates SoarTech’s AI trust calibration in action.

From a child growing up in Iraq, interested in geology, science and biology, Dr. Mohammed Hashim has become an award-winning researcher as well as a caring and inclusive teacher with a newly-minted Ph.D. from Western Michigan University’s Geological and Environmental Sciences Department.

Hashim, who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Baghdad, came to Western as a master’s student with an interest in the petroleum industry. But Dr. Stephen Kaczmarek’s class in carbonate petrology—which examines the origin of carbonate rocks—fascinated him. He switched to doctoral studies with Kaczmarek as his advisor.

From his dissertation study, “Experimental insights into the origin of microcrystalline calcites,” the pair have already published five peer-reviewed papers with another one just accepted.

“Mohammed is one of the brightest young geoscientists in the country,” says Kaczmarek. “He is academically talented, naturally inquisitive and an extremely productive researcher. His dissertation represents an original and impactful academic contribution to the geosciences that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries.”

During his time at Western, Hashim received a Schlanger Ocean Drilling Fellowship from the U.S. Science Support Program. This highly competitive award funded the last year of his Ph.D. studies, and in July 2022, he presented his research in New York City at the annual meeting of the United States Advisory Committee for Scientific Ocean Drilling.

Hashim’s other accolades include being named Western’s institutional nominee for the Council of Graduate School’s Dissertation Award in the Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering category; receiving the Outstanding Student Presentation Award at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting; and being selected for the Best Student Talk Award (Ph.D. category) at the Midwest Geobiology Symposium.

Now, he holds a postdoctoral fellowship at the world-famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, where he is focusing on ocean chemistry and Earth history and building on the findings and knowledge he gained while completing his Ph.D. at Western.

Hashim’s life journey began on the other side of the world. While times were difficult in Iraq and educational opportunities generally limited, two played a major role in his career trajectory.

“The first is the fact that education is free in Iraq, including going to college,” says Hashim. “Even though the quality of education in Iraq is not comparable to that in the U.S., it was still a great opportunity because it allowed students from low- and middle-class backgrounds, including myself, to attend school and earn a college degree without accumulating large amounts of student debts.”

“The second opportunity was related to the fact that Iraq is an oil-rich country, which helped me find a job in the oil industry. Although I ended up leaving this industry and decided to go back to graduate school, I feel that I got lucky in that my job allowed me to learn a lot, travel the world and live in a new country.” He chose to move to the U.S. out of a desire to live in a country where not believing in any religion is not a crime but instead is accepted by society and protected by law.

His experiences witnessing bias and discrimination against minority groups made him acutely aware of the need for attention to issues of equity and inclusion.

“During my graduate studies, I became committed to addressing these issues in my teaching and research,” Hashim says. “I learned that there are so many things that we can do to enhance diversity, improve students’ experience, broaden access to science, and create a welcoming and inclusive environment. I try to address important issues such as imposter syndrome, stereotype threat, implicit bias and belongingness uncertainty.”

Kaczmarek calls Hashim a natural leader who raises expectations for everyone around him, a generous and patient teacher, and one who respects and fosters diversity in his personal and professional life.

“He understands first-hand the challenges and barriers that underrepresented groups face in the world, and he helps those less fortunate,” Kaczmarek says.

Beyond his postdoc, Hashim hopes to pursue opportunities that allow him to continue scientific research, as well as mentor and encourage a new generation of scientists. ◆

WESTERN PROFESSOR LEADS NSF-FUNDED, MULTI-UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INTO ANCIENT ROCKS

Dr. Stephen Kaczmarek, associate professor of geological and environmental sciences, and his collaborators at the University of Michigan and Grand Valley State University have been awarded a three-year, $420,830 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The research is centered on dolomite, which is a calciummagnesium, carbonate mineral common in what’s called the "rock record." The team led by Kaczmarek will experimentally investigate the process by which dolomite is formed. Geologist have long observed that dolomite was formed in vast quanities in the ancient past, and have been puzzled by its space formation in modern environments.

Geologists have studied the so-called "dolomite problem" exhaustively to determine why conditions in the past were favorable to create the mineral.

"Dolomite is potentially an untapped record of past conditions on Earth," says Kaczmarek. "And once we better understand the conditions under which dolomite forms, we can better understand Earth history."

The findings from this research will provide insights into a variety of sedimentary and geochemical processes that occur near Earth’s surface, as well as allow geoscientists to improve both their understanding of the natural environments where dolomite forms and the usefulness of dolomite as a geochemical archive of Earth’s history. ◆

Dr. Mohammed Hashim researches microcrystalline calcites in his WMU lab.

Autumn and Chad Edwards grew up in West Texas. Chad in Midland, a smaller city that experienced a population boom in the early 2000s, and Autumn two hours north in Levelland, a small town named for its impressive flatness.

“They have a saying that the town motto is ‘Levelland: Where you can watch your dog run away for two weeks,’” Autumn shares with a laugh.

The two met in college when Autumn was a first-year student and Chad was a junior. Autumn had tried out for the debate team and remembers being immediately impressed with Chad’s skills as a seasoned team member. They began dating within a week and were married within six months. “From the first time we met, we haven’t been apart very long,” Autumn said. Daughter America was born soon after.

Autumn attributes their love of competitive forensics in guiding them to a career in the communication field. “If you can make a career out of researching things, persuading people about important issues, putting together logical, rational argumentation, being a critical consumer of news and science and communicating to the public, then we’re in,” says Autumn.

Autumn completed her undergrad studies at Texas Tech, while Chad worked on his master’s degree. Then it was on to the University of Kansas for Autumn’s master’s and Chad’s Ph.D. Finally, they ventured to Ohio University for Autumn’s Ph.D. They began applying for teaching positions around the country Western Michigan University made the offer, and they’ve been here ever since, professors in the School of Communication.

WE SHOULD GET A ROBOT

The Drs. Edwards are perhaps best known on campus for their work with robots. In fact, Autumn was named “one of the 30 women in robotics you need to know about” by Women in Robotics in 2020. One might not immediately draw a connection between the communication field and robotics, but as Chad and Autumn have now demonstrated, it’s a logical fit. Chad tells the story of how they got into robotics: he, Autumn and their colleague Patric Spence (now at the University of Central Florida) were sitting in their office suite one day and saw an ad for a telepresence robot—“essentially like Skype on a stick.” “We should get a robot and just test it,” Chad said. So, they bought one with their own money and a whole new world of possibilities opened up for them. From that initial, relatively primitive robot, the first-of-its-kind Communication and Social Robotics Lab was born at WMU. Over time, they’ve connected with faculty affiliates in other labs in Florida, North Dakota, Connecticut, Italy, Chile and Germany.

“When we first got that telepresence robot, we were just kind of exploring students’ reactions to it,” says Autumn. They were navigating the robot remotely from their lab in Sprau Tower, sending it to different floors and observing people’s reactions to it. They discovered that students were treating the robot much as they treated other humans particularly in the elevator where a certain etiquette is expected. When they turned the robot to “look” at others in the enclosed space, it made people incredibly uncomfortable.

“We’re learning about people!” Autumn realized. They found that Stanford University had done research in the ’90s that reached similar conclusions about the “computers as social actors paradigm.” Humans tend to anthropomorphize things that have a face. Certainly, we do this with our pets, but it was surprising to realize that we also do this with machines. This finding helped shape the focus of their research on the social psychology and communication theory of human beings. “When and to what degree does it explain what we do with Siri or Alexa or a social robot in the wild, and how will that matter?” Autumn asked.

“I think what we study when we look at machine actors is really just people,” says Chad. “It always comes back to how do we interact, how do we relate, how do we communicate with others? And it’s nice because robots are simple at this point. Whereas people are complex and messy, robots tend not to be, as long as they’re working. And so, you can sort of understand the mechanisms and the perceptions of what people are doing.”

Our tendency, as humans, is to want to “humanize anything we can,” Chad says. This extends to robots and internet bots as well we form relationships with these interactive artificial intelligences. Their research on human/machine interaction raises important philosophical questions about what it means to be human and how human/machine interaction influences and shapes society in this modern world.

BEING INTENTIONAL

One is, of course, tempted to ask how the two make it work living together and working so closely together, but Chad and Autumn have such a powerful connection with one another that it is easy to conclude that they wouldn’t work any other way. Their professional lives and their personal lives are so thoroughly intertwined, that the two have to be very intentional about making time for hobbies that have nothing to do with robots. “Even the art around our house is cyborg stuff, cyber-punk stuff,” Autumn says, grinning. “There are no firm lines anywhere.”

Chad is an avid golfer and makes a point to get out on the course several times a week. He also enjoys woodworking, and his cutting boards and other items can sometimes be found for sale in downtown Kalamazoo. Autumn loves gardening. “I think growing up in a region where cotton was the main crop made me super appreciative of the amazing variety of fresh fruits, flowers and vegetables that thrive here! Having four gorgeous seasons is pretty magical,” she says. She cultivates a wide selection of berries as well as some apple and pear varieties.

As a family, they enjoy hiking and exploring Michigan, spending as much time as possible in one of the state’s most beautiful areas, the Leelanau Peninsula, every summer. Whether by design or by coincidence, their hobbies are all activities that are notably unplugged.

Their oldest daughter, America, is currently finishing her Ph.D. in communication at the University of California Santa Barbara. America completed her bachelor’s in communication studies at WMU in 2018, graduating from the Lee Honors College. Their youngest daughter, Emerson, 15, is contemplating a degree in aviation at Western. Emerson enjoys raising a small flock of chickens in their backyard. Both America and Emerson also attended the Academically Talented Youth (ATYP) Program at Western.

As for what’s ahead—the Edwards family will be spending the first month of the fall semester in Germany where both Autumn and Chad will be Fellows at RWTH Aachen University. They also plan to visit Denmark to attend a conference where they hope to make new international connections in robotics.

Autumn is currently editing the DeGruyter Handbook of Robots in Society and Culture, alongside colleague and friend Leopoldina Fortunati, while Chad is the Chair of the Human-Machine Communication Interest Group for the International Communication Association.

The pair are also finalizing a series of studies with colleagues in the UK and Italy on the uses and perceptions of Amazon’s Alexa. The studies exploring crosscultural perceptions of Alexa’s gender will be published in Computers in Human Behavior and in Human-Machine Communication. ◆

Drs. Chad and Autumn Edwards, along with College of Arts and Sciences students, interact with “Niko” as part of the School of Communication’s Social Robotics Lab.

Faculty Notes

Dr. Pablo Pastrana-Pérez, Department of Spanish chair and associate professor, was tapped by the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language to collaborate in the Diccionario Historico de la lengua Española, one of the longest-standing projects in the codification of the Spanish language.

Dr. Gary Chartrand, emeriti professor in the mathematics department, was awarded the 2021 Stanton Medal of the Institute of Combinations and its Applications (ICA). Stanton Medals are awarded to those who have made substantial lifetime contributions to the field of combinatorics by advocacy, outreach, service, teaching and/or mentorship. With eleven separate textbooks and three monographs on the subject, Chartrand has played a significant part in popularizing graph theory.

FACULTY BOOKS

Intergenerational Mobility: How Gender, Race, and Family Structure Affect Adult Outcomes

By Jean Kimmel, Economics

A complex portrait of the interrelationships among parents’ marital status and education, child gender, and the nature and success of children’s transitions into adulthood.

Monique Haley, assistant professor in dance and the Institute for Intercultural and Anthropological Studies, was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts Grant for her work on “Cerqua Rivera, Soul Remedy.”

Dr. Sandra Borden, professor in the School of Communication and director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society, received a Fulbright Scholar award. Borden, along with colleague Mónica Codina, will jump-start an international research collaboration to rethink journalism's ethical obligations in Western democracies in light of evolving political, social and technological realities.

Jessica Van Stratton (Frieder), associate professor for the Department of Psychology, was awarded the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) Outstanding Advisor Award for the second time.

The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson

By Brian C. Wilson, Comparative Religion

The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson maps the public story of Emerson and his companions' travels onto the private story of Emerson’s final years, as aphasia set in and increasingly robbed him of his words. Engaging and compelling, this travelogue makes it clear that Emerson was still capable of wonder, surprise and friendship, debunking the presumed darkness of his last decade.

The Accidental Reef and Other Ecological Odysseys in the Great Lakes

By Lynne Heasley, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Illuminating an underwater world that, despite a ferocious industrial history, remains wondrous and worthy of care, readers journey through the Great Lakes, alongside fish and fishers, scuba divers and scientists, toxic pollutants and threatened communities, oil pipelines and invasive species, Indigenous peoples and federal agencies.

Sports in American History: From Colonization to Globalization

By Linda J. Borish, Gerald R. Gems, and Gertrud Pfister, History

Journeying from the early American past to the present, this text provides students with insights that will allow them to develop new and alternative perspectives, examine sport as a social and cultural phenomenon, generate a better understanding of current sport practices and consider future developments in sport in American life.

Poets and the Fools who Love Them: A Memoir in Essays

By Richard Katrovas, English

Katrovas’ freewheeling, wide-ranging essays consider, among other social constructs, the relation of crime and art, and the relation of both to the authority of the state, particularly in terms of race and class.

China’s Geography: Globalization and the Dynamics of Political, Economic, and Social Change

By Gregory Veeck, Clifton W. Pannell, Xiaoping Shen, and Youqin Huang, Geography

Named one of 7 Best New Regional Geography Books to read in 2022 by BookAuthority, China’s Geography explains the vast economic, political and social variations that exist throughout China's many regions, as well as how modern China is a product of internal and external forces.

Geology for Engineers and Environmental Scientists

By faculty emeritus Dr. Alan E. Kehew, Geological and Environmental Sciences

Published in January 2022, the 4th edition of this book gives students a fundamental foundation in geological ideas, as well as an illustration of how engineers must design and build structures with natural geologic materials while protecting them from potentially harmful geologic processes.

hen Dr. Alberto Cintron-Colon started his undergrad program at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, he was sure he was on a path to becoming a medical doctor. But two years into his studies, a chance encounter with a Western Michigan University professor would change that trajectory.

In 2012, Cintron-Colon met Dr. John Spitsbergen, a WMU professor of biological sciences who was on a trip to Puerto Rico to deliver a talk. Spitsbergen was looking for undergraduate students to work in his lab over the summer. After being interviewed, Cintron-Colon traveled nearly 2,000 miles from Puerto Rico to spend his summer in Spitsbergen’s lab at Western.

“I very quickly realized medicine wasn’t for me. That summer really changed a lot (for me) because I had never experienced research before on that level. That summer changed my opinion on what it is to be a scientist and certainly changed my track from medical to research,” says Cintron-Colon of his first experience at Western.

Cintron-Colon went on to complete his undergraduate degree at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. Still inspired by his research experiences, but uncertain of his next step, he became a high school science teacher in Puerto Rico. It was during that time that he recognized his passion for teaching, which pushed him to pursue a graduate education.

RETURNING TO WESTERN

With his summer lab experience in mind, Cintron-Colon decided to return to Western to pursue his master's and doctoral degrees in biological sciences, with a focus on neurobiology and physiology, under the guidance of his summer faculty advisor, Dr. Spitsbergen.

“His door was always open if I had a question or needed to brainstorm,” says Cintron-Colon. “He was also great at mentoring. Not a lot of advisors allow you to apply to different fellowships because they want you in the lab. But he was more like, ‘yeah, go for it. Just remember to keep doing your work, but experience as much as you can.’”

With that encouragement, Cintron-Colon took advantage of as many opportunities as possible. He completed an ambitious research project for his doctoral studies, focusing on the effects of exercise on the aging nervous system. He completed his Ph.D. in June 2022.

“(This research is) something that is easy to relate to anybody because everybody gets older. There’s no way of stopping it and we are all capable of exercise to some extent,” says Cintron-Colon. “Not all of us do it for many reasons, but exercise can be beneficial at any age—it doesn’t matter when you start.”

In addition to his studies, Cintron-Colon was also one of 40 doctoral students across the U.S. selected for the 2020 Yale Ciencia Academy (YCA) fellowship program, which emphasizes mentorship, networking, skill development and community contribution through scientific outreach.

As part of the year-long fellowship, Cintron-Colon says he was notably influenced by a scientific teaching workshop that focused on the value of diversity in STEM fields and tools to apply scientific teaching techniques to create educational resources. Additionally, Cintron-Colon along with his colleague, Carlos Perez, created a podcast focused on science and medical topics.

“Through YCA, a good friend and I created a podcast called ‘En Arroz y Habichuelas’—‘In Rice and Beans’—which is an expression often used in Puerto Rico meaning ‘in layman’s terms,’” says Cintron-Colon. “We focus on explaining science and medical topics to a general audience in Spanish to reach the Hispanic community better.”

The first mini-series of the podcast focused on COVID-19 and covered topics from the cell biology of the virus to the vaccines. Currently, the podcast serves as a spotlight for graduate students by interviewing them about their research, mentoring and scientific outreach.

Cintron-Colon also interned at Zoetis as a cell biologist and was selected as a 2021 Science Mentoring and Diversity (SMDP) scholar.

THE NEXT CHAPTER

While at WMU, Cintron-Colon also targeted opportunities to hone his teaching abilities, serving as a teaching assistant and as an adjunct instructor at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

“It’s been sometimes challenging but mostly gratifying. I find great joy in it,” he says of his time mentoring and teaching undergraduates. “There’s been a two-way street where I’m learning and they’re learning too. It’s been awesome.”

He will have the opportunity to apply all of these experiences as he steps into a tenure-track faculty position teaching anatomy and physiology courses at Blackburn College, a private college in Carlinville, Illinois.

At Blackburn, Cintron-Colon says he will be teaching many first-generation college students, and he is eager to use his knowledge and experiences to ignite these students’ passion for learning and science.

“I’m more of an entertainer, right? Anybody can read a book. So, how do I make you care about the information?” says Cintron-Colon. “How do I inspire you to actually study, or at least trigger your curiosity button that makes you ask questions?”

Cintron-Colon says he will draw on the teaching and mentorship he both received from others at WMU and also gave to his students, as well as the network of friends and colleagues he developed during his time at Western.

“I’m taking all that with me and I know it’s going to be a great help,” he says. “Western was a great help to build me up to who I am now and hopefully those building blocks will become even bigger and force me to, well, ‘become.’ Who will I become? I have no idea, but Western definitely had a huge influence in building me.”

While Cintron-Colon may not know exactly where his path will eventually lead, he hopes to develop a collaborative multi-national university summer research experience that will allow his students to gain essential research and professional skills.

“That’s really my ultimate goal and I think this new experience is going to help me in building to that ultimate goal.” ◆

Awards

Department of Biological Sciences

Dr. Sridhar Chalasani MS ‘94

Director of Clinical Practice, Digestive Health Clinical Practice Council and Chief of the Unified Medical Staff, Bronson Methodist Hospital

Chalasani, a board-certified colon and rectal surgeon, began practicing in the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo areas in 2002. He has served as the chair of the surgical section, deputy chief of medical staff and chief of medical staff at Bronson Battle Creek Hospital. Chalasani currently serves as the director of clinical practice, digestive health clinical practice council for the Bronson Medical Group, and as chief of the unified medical staff across the Bronson System.

College of Arts and Sciences

2021 Alumni Achievement Awards –

Western Michigan University takes pride in being learner centered, discovery driven and globally engaged. The College of Arts and Sciences 2021 Alumni Achievement Award winners were selected by faculty for exemplifying these pillars and for their remarkable contributions to society.

Three Alumni Achievement Award winners who have excelled beyond the normal scope of achievement in their professional field through global engagement, discovery driven or learner centered endeavors are selected as the college’s Pillar Award honorees and recognized at WMU’s Night of Excellence.

Department of Comparative Religion

Robert VanSumeren

BA ‘09, MA ‘15

Corporate Counsel and Vice President of Compliance, Starr Commonwealth

VanSumeren obtained his master's degree in comparative religion from Western Michigan University in 2015, then went on to Wayne State University Law School to earn his law degree and a graduate certificate in alcohol and drug misuse studies. VanSumeren’s personal story of years of struggle with addiction, as well as serving time in jail before turning his life around and working to support others who struggle as he did, has been featured in publications across the country.

Department of Geological and Environmental Science

Lisa K.J. Phillips BS ‘82, MS ‘88

President, Phillips Environmental Consulting Services, Inc.

Phillips is a skilled hydrogeologist who has dedicated her career to discovering, managing and cleaning environmental contamination in Michigan for more than 35 years. Since 2000, she has served as the president and owner of Phillips Environmental Consulting Services, Inc. She serves as the chair of the Van Buren County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and Treasurer of both the Michigan Land Trustees of America and the Van Buren County Conservation District Foundation.

Department of History

Dr. LaDale Winling

BS ‘02, MA ‘04

Assistant Professor of History, Virginia Tech University

Winling is an associate professor of history at Virginia Tech where he teaches public history, digital history and urban history to undergraduate and graduate students. He is an award-winning urban and digital historian whose work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Newberry Library, the National Building Museum and others. Winling earned his bachelor’s in 2002, and his master’s in history, from Western Michigan University, in 2004. He also has a master’s in Urban Planning (2007), as well as a Ph.D. in architecture (2010) from the University of Michigan.

Department of Chemistry

Dr. David Hoogerheide BS ‘04 Research Physicist, National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research Hoogerheide joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2015 as a research biophysicist, where he serves as an instrument scientist for the new CANDOR high-performance neutron reflectometer. Previously, in a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, he explored low-force transport measurements of single DNA molecules trapped in solid-state nanopores,leading to a patented method for pressure-driven control of biomolecular motion through nanopores. He was also awarded a National Research Council Joint Research Associateship between the NIST and the National Institutes of Health.

Department of Geography, Environment and Tourism

Dr. Michael Crimmins MA ‘98

Professor and Climate Science Extension Specialist, Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona

Crimmins is a professor in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona, as well as an extension specialist in climate science for the Arizona Cooperative Extension. He has published extensively on drought, precipitation and vegetation patterns in the U.S. Southwest desert with an emphasis on using climate science to inform decision making. Crimmins serves as a drought monitoring expert on the Arizona Governor’s Drought Task Force. Crimmins’ awards include the Early Career Leadership Award from the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals and University of Arizona's Extension Faculty of the Year.

Global and International Studies

Jaimie LeBlanc-Hadley BA ‘09

Economic Officer, U.S. Department of State

LeBlanc-Hadley is an economic officer in the U.S. Embassy NurSultan, Kazakhstan, focusing on Kazakhstan’s civil aviation, regional and bilateral trade issues, regional integration and intellectual property rights. Previously, she served as a political officer in the U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou, China, where she monitored and reported on human rights, labor issues, civil society and political developments in southern China. She is the recipient of Middlebury College’s Kathryn R. Davis Fellowship for Peace and the State Department’s Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship.

Institute for Intercultural and Anthropological Studies

Dr. Cassandra Workman

BA ‘00, MA ‘04

Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of North Carolina Greensboro Workman is a biocultural anthropologist who is concerned with how food insecurity and water and sanitation (WaSH) insecurity affect people physically, psychoemotionally and socially. She has conducted research in Lesotho and Tanzania, Africa, as well as in eastern North Carolina. In addition to conducting scholarly research, she has worked in international development for donor organizations and implementing partners in Mozambique, Tanzania and South Sudan. Workman uses her research as well as her professional experience in international development to show how anthropology may be used to address major global concerns.

Department of Philosophy

Dr. Ming Tang MA ‘14

Teaching Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Tang received her master's degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University in 2014, where she recieved the All-University Graduate Research and Creative Scholar Award, as well as the Graduate Research Award from the Department of Philosophy and the Heraclitean Society Annual Essay Award. Tang’s doctoral achievements include the UNC Royster Fellowship, the UNC Diversity Fellowship, the First-Class Graduate Fellowship Award and several research grants.

Department of Physics

Dr. Valentina Tobos MA ‘97, Ph.D. `01

Natural Sciences Acting Director, Center of Teaching and Learning, and Associate Professor, Lawrence Technological University

Tobos, born in Bucharest, Romania, earned her master's degree from Western Michigan University in 1997 and a Ph.D. in experimental solid-state physics in 2001, also from Western. Her current field of study is high-temperature superconductors. Tobos teaches physics classes at Lawrence Technological University, and was the recipient of Lawrence’s Mary E. And Richard E. Marburger Faculty Member of the Year Award in 2006.

Mallinson Institute for Science Education

Dr. Mary Brown Ph.D. ‘05

Former Professor of Introductory Science, Lansing Community College

Brown was a professor of physical science and biology for 35 years at Lansing Community College (LLC).

Throughout her career, Brown worked to help non-science majors develop an understanding of science by integrating its disciplines. She also sought to reduce science anxiety in non-science students by developing an instrument to measure their anxiety, as well as teaching students strategies for confidence building. Since retiring in 2013, Brown has become an active volunteer with Voters Not Politicians, as well as volunteering at her local public library, participating in multiple book clubs, genealogy research, supporting her spouse’s musical endeavors and traveling.

Department of Psychology

Dr. Amy Goodwin MS ‘99, Ph.D. `02

Research Scientist and PathologyTeam Leader, W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc.

Goodwin has been published in a number of notable journals, with first authorship on more than half of them. She is the only individual in the Department of Psychology to have earned National Research Service Award funding from the National Institutes of Health. She continues to teach as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland University College, as well as participate on research publications with former FDA colleagues.

Department of Sociology

Dr. Martin Hill BA ‘86, MA`91, Ph.D. `04

President, VIP Research and Evaluation

Hill, a three time graduate of Western Michigan University, is the president of VIP Research and Evaluation, where he has been able to put his applied social science research abilities to work conducting survey and public opinion research, program evaluations and needs assessments. He also works at the Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center (MKC) for survivors of state-sponsored torture as Associate Director of Research and Evaluation.

Department of Economics

Dr. Dawit Senbet MA ‘04, Ph.D. `07

Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, University of Northern Colorado

Senbet is an economics professor at the University of Northern Colorado, where he also serves as chair of the Department of Economics, chair of Faculty Welfare and vice chair of the Faculty Senate. He has published multiple articles in peer-reviewed economics journals, taught a variety of courses, and served in significant leadership capacities at the department, college and university levels.

Department of English

Department of Spanish

Martha Todd BA ‘06, MA `08 Chair, Board of Directors, Kalsec

Todd is the chair of the board of directors at Kalsec, Inc., the Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company. Kalsec is a homegrown family business founded by her grandfather, Paul H. Todd, Jr. in 1958. Over the course of sixty years, Kalsec has expanded operations to three continents. Kalsec continues under the direction of Todd, with the same respect and veneration for nature and the same passion for natural spices, herbs, vegetables and flavors as begun by her grandfather.

Dr. Dustin M. Hoffman Ph.D. ‘13

Assistant Professor of English, Winthrop University

Hoffman writes stories about working people. He’s the author of the story collection “No Good for Digging” and the fiction chapbook “Secrets of the Wild.” His first book, “One-Hundred-Knuckled Fist” won the 2015 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. His stories have appeared, or are forthcoming, in Black Warrior Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, Masters Review, Witness, Quarterly West, The Journal, Wigleaf, The Adroit Journal, Faultline and several other publications.

Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Tristan Brown BS ‘05

Acting Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation

Tristan Brown is the acting administrator for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is part of the United States Department of Transportation. Brown previously worked as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Gary Peters, where he handled matters before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Brown previously worked at Stinson LLP and Van Ness Feldman LLP. He was a member of USA Today's All-Academic Team and Phi Beta Kappa during his time at WMU, and a recipient of the Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship.

Two-time Western Michigan University alumna, Erica Wehrwein, stands with her high school biology teacher and lifelong mentor, Ferne “Bud” Ellis, at her Michigan State University Ph.D. graduation ceremony in 2008. Ellis is also a two-time graduate of Western, earning his bachelor’s in biology and chemistry in 1971 and a master’s in biology in 1973. Over his nearly 40-year teaching career, he was recognized as the 1983 National Exemplar in Biology Teaching by the National Science Teachers Association and the 1993 Michigan's Outstanding Biology Teacher by the National Association of Biology Teachers.

Western Michigan University alumna Erica

Wehrwein knows how important it is to have teachers who encourage and inspire you.

For Wehrwein, that encouragement came from her high school biology teacher Mr. Ellis.

“He really got me and my interest sparked in research through an independent study course. I just remember him showing me his master’s thesis book in class and at the time I thought ‘no way,’” says Wehrwein, who went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biomedical sciences from Western. “He was one of my biggest inspirations in life and he continues to mentor me to this day.”

Now, as an associate professor of physiology at Michigan State University (MSU), Wehrwein is being recognized for her teaching as the 2022 recipient of the Arthur C. Guyton Distinguished Educator Award by the Teaching Section of the American Physiological Society (APS).

To be considered for this award, Wehrwein had to be nominated by an APS member, provide summaries of student course evaluations, have letters of support from colleagues and students, and exhibit a strong dedication to the physiology education field in the classroom and community.

“I was feeling really intellectually stimulated, and inspired working in clinical research at Mayo, but over time I started to realize there was something missing in my heart. I loved the work that I was doing, but it just wasn’t quite as deeply fulfilling as teaching was,” says Wehrwein.

Wehrwein is now able to merge her diverse professional skills and passions at MSU, where she leads a capstone experience course, helping students through human physiology research projects while also mentoring them in grant writing, offering professional development and teaching. She uses her clinical experience from Mayo Clinic to teach in the medical school.

She also serves as youth outreach director for the physiology department, which includes hosting K–12 students on campus for camps, inviting students to visit classrooms for science fairs and organizing physiology understanding (PhUn) Day at the Impression 5 science center.

“I get to do it all. I didn’t have to pick one path. Isn’t that cool?” says Wehrwein.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

When Wehrwein first started developing the capstone course, she found herself with more

“I started calling up universities with similar physiology programs, and we slowly started forming this little grassroots network that launched into an official organization called the Physiology Majors Interest Group,” says Wehrwein, who founded the organization in 2014.

Made up of 300 worldwide university faculty involved in physiology education, this consortium of educators developed a set of recommended curriculum guidelines for undergraduate physiology majors. This group and its guidelines have been key in a new APS strategic initiative to launch a national Center for Physiology Education (CPE).

“The CPE is the single most exciting and important thing I think I’ve ever worked on. It is just a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to launch something like that and the potential impact it can have globally on our discipline is huge,” says Wehrwein, who serves as co-chair of the CPE developmental task force that developed the center's mission and goals and will serve on the advisory board when it launches in fall 2022.

With the data and research collected by her grassroots organization and the development of the CPE, Wehrwein says that it's a “real full-circle moment” providing a national means to address her initial questions regarding what her students need to succeed.

“It’s very humbling to realize that maybe I’m someone’s Mr. Ellis. I take that with a huge sense of responsibility,” says Wehrwein. “I was lucky I had really great teachers in my life and it’s a way of honoring that to pay it forward.”

A PATH TO TEACHING

In retrospect, it seems inevitable that Wehrwein would find herself teaching. But it took her some time to recognize this calling.

“During undergrad, I was taking advantage of every possible thing to explore different career paths,” says Wehrwein, who served as a tutor, teaching assistant, researcher, nurse’s aid and even coached cheerleading in Galesburg, Mich. “I remember having this breakdown at the time thinking, ‘but those are each different paths, right? What am I going to do?’”

That initial uncertainty about which path to take led Wehrwein to pursue her master’s degree at Western under the guidance of Dr. John Spitsbergen, then assistant professor of biological sciences and current department chair. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in Physiology from MSU and work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Mayo Clinic. But she continued to find herself seeking opportunities to teach at all grade levels from elementary to medical students.

questions than answers. She wanted to understand what the students really needed from this course and that information hadn’t been systematically collected.

Through the physiology department’s undergraduate curriculum committee, chaired by Wehrwein, she sought to determine how well the entire physiology program was servicing students’ needs.

“Now we have national guidelines and a network of programs and resources available to assess students and the curriculum,” says Wehrwein. “Everything has been synergistic and building on each other to come together for the benefit of students.”

Wehrwein was also the recipient of the 2020 Donald F. Koch Quality in Undergraduate Teaching Award as part of MSU’s All-University Awards. ◆

Wehrwein teaches elementary school students how to take blood pressure during a physiology summer camp for gifted 3rd and 4th graders as part of MSU gifted and talented education programming.

As a first-generation college graduate who emigrated to the U.S. with her family at the age of two, Touline Elshafei, B.A.’14, credits a strong support system and a handful of scholarships from Western Michigan University’s Department of Political Science as key factors in earning her degree.

Six years later, now-attorney Elshafei has made a gift to support scholarships in the Department of Political Science to help ease the financial burden for current and future students. Her contribution was motivated not simply by a desire to help political science students, but also by a heartfelt appreciation for the possibilities Western afforded her.

“Western gave me so much: great friends, my soul-mate, a wonderful education, courage, profound diversity and acceptance, and a staff/faculty and alumni community that wholly believes in its students,” says Elshafei. “That’s what WMU and the College of Arts and Sciences are about—making human connections through fundamental educational growth. My gratitude for the university will always run ever so deep."

Western is also where she met her husband, Ramsey Elshafei, who graduated from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 2015. The pair strongly encourage other alumni to give back in any way they can “the impact one person can have can make all the difference.”

Learn more about giving options and priorities by visiting wmich.edu/arts-sciences/giving or contact Jessica Hermann-Wilmarth at 269-387-8873.

“the impact one person can have can make all the difference”