News briefs and announcements
Grant to fund research on nuclear stockpile
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Cornelius Beausang, associate professor of physics, a grant to conduct non-classified research and measurements relevant to the maintenance of the nation’s nuclear stockpile.
Beausang will receive $170,109 for the first year of a three-year project. Two years’ additional funding is expected for a total of more than $510,000. Beausang and his graduate and undergraduate assistants will travel to Yale University in Connecticut and Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories in California to collaborate with other scientists.
University to prepare health care leaders
The Claude Moore Charitable Foundation has made a grant to the University to help prepare students for leadership roles in health care.
“The project will increase students’ understanding of and ability to address ethical and policy challenges in health care,” explained John Vaughan, director of pre-health education. Vaughan and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies are jointly administering the $80,000 grant.
Activities will include offering a physician-led healing arts course on a permanent basis as part of a proposed medical humanities minor and creating a course called “Leadership and Ethical Decision Making in Health Care.” Also, the University will establish Claude Moore Internships so students can apply skills learned from the courses. A Claude Moore Lecture, part of the Jepson Leadership Forum, will extend the study of ethical leadership in medicine across the campus and community.
NSF awards grant to physics professor
The National Science Foundation has awarded Mirela Fetea, assistant professor of physics, a grant to support theoretical nuclear structure studies at the University.
Funding of $35,924 has been committed for one year, with two additional years’ funding possible for a total of $109,254. The grant includes summer support for Fetea and her students, plus supplies and travel to meet with collaborators at Yale University and to present results at national and international meetings.
Grants fund research on blood potassium and protein biosensors
Two members of Richmond’s chemistry department have received grants to study the measurement of potassium in the blood and protein biosensors.
Mike Leopold, assistant professor of chemistry, received $48,000 from the Commonwealth Health Research Board in Virginia for a project titled “Crown Ether Modified Nanoparticles Films as Metal Ion Sensing Materials.”
Research Corp. has awarded Jonathan Dattelbaum, assistant professor of chemistry, $33,420 through the Cottrell College Science Program for his project on “Design of Novel Fluorescent Protein Biosensors.”
2006 graduates receive Fulbright grants
Nina Bhattacharyya of El Paso, Texas, and Anne Johnson of Mattapoisett, Mass., 2006 Richmond graduates, received grants for study abroad in the 2006–07 U.S. Student Fulbright Competition.
Johnson, a political science-Spanish double major and English minor, won a teaching assistantship in Madrid, Spain. Bhattacharyya, a biology major, won a biology research grant for her proposed project, “Investigation and Analysis of Conservation in Trinidad.” She will spend a year in the Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago.
Peer tutoring available
The Academic Skills Center will begin its peer tutoring program on Sept. 11; however, tutors will be on call starting Aug. 28 for students needing tutoring prior to the opening date. Assistance is provided in study skills and time and stress management. The center provides tutoring in calculus, chemistry, foreign languages, physics, logic, accounting and a variety of other disciplines. Students should call ext. 8626 or come by the center to schedule an appointment. Tutorial support will be provided from 4–9 p.m., Monday–Thursday.
One Book, One Campus selects Class Matters
The One Book, One Campus: Dialogues in Social Justice Committee has chosen the book, Class Matters by correspondents of The New York Times, as its 2006–07 book.
“The book has something for everyone, whether you define yourself as working, middle or upper class. The essays are thought-provoking and will challenge our understanding and definition of the increasingly shrinking middle class,” said Camisha Jones, One Book coordinator.
Interested in reading this book and participating in the discussion? Contact Jones at cjones2@richmond.edu to get a complimentary copy of the book.
Read more about the book as well as the mission of One Book, One Campus: Dialogues in Social Justice.
Keck Initiative has Web site
The University now offers an online resource for its Keck Initiative on Leadership and the Liberal Arts. The Web site augments the collaboration among Claremont McKenna College, Loyola Marymount College and Richmond.
The site will serve as a clearinghouse for initiative updates, conference proceedings and agendas, biographies and contact information for fellows, as well as resources such as syllabi and essays supporting development of interdisciplinary courses. In 2005, the W.M. Keck Foundation awarded a three-year grant to the Jepson School to manage the partnership, integrating topics of responsible leadership across liberal arts disciplines.
Raiser places third in composition contest
David Raiser, ’06, won third place in the instrumental category of the NITLE student composition contest. He and Benjamin Broening, associate professor of music, attended the NITLE New Music Festival in June at Rollins College. Raiser’s piece, “Redox,” was premiered, and Broening’s “like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment” was performed by the Luna Nova New Music Ensemble. NITLE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the liberal arts.
Barlow wins second in national competition
Paige Barlow, ’06, won second place in a national competition, “Genomics Education Poster Scholarship,” sponsored by Li-Cor, the manufacturer of the DNA-sequencing equipment used on campus. She will use the $450 prize to travel to Africa to present her research.
CCE selects Burhans fellows
Five Richmond students have received the David D. Burhans Civic Fellowship. Supported by an endowment established to honor Chaplain Emeritus David Burhans and coordinated by the Center for Civic Engagement, this competitive fellowship awards up to $4,000 to students who complete 10-week academically grounded internships in organizations that serve the community. The 2006 recipients are John Farmer, Margaux LeSourd, Rorie Norton, Tara Sulzen and Kristen Tilley.
Council, School Board praise Build It
Richmond city councilwoman Ellen Robertson praised the Center for Civic Engagement and the Build It initiative for “dedication to the community, collaborative partnerships and youth development” at the May 22 council meeting. Before presenting Build It co-chair Betsy Kelly with a plaque, Robertson highlighted the University’s efforts to improve the grounds of Overby-Sheppard Elementary School and the Hotchkiss Community Center, as well as Build It’s ongoing educational programs and community work. Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman and the RPS board also awarded a certificate of appreciation to Build It organizers.
Internationalization efforts lauded
The University will be one of three “spotlighted schools” for its internationalization efforts in a report of NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
The report, which will come out in October, is called “Internationalizing the Campus 2006: Profiles of Success.” The other two spotlighted schools are Old Dominion University and Babson College in Massachusetts.
On its Web site, NAFSA says it “seeks to recognize institutions where international education has been broadly infused across the fabric of the institution.” Criteria for inclusion comprise curricular initiatives, innovation in educational philosophy and pedagogy, education, teaching, research and work abroad by U.S. students and faculty, and study by international students and scholars in the United States.
Senior selected for leadership institute
Ashley Vickers, ’07, is one of 50 students from around the nation who participated in the Collegiate Women of Color Leadership Development Institute Aug. 10–13 in Baltimore.
Vickers, of Martinsville, Va., was one of six Virginia students chosen for the program. The institute was sponsored by the Foundation for Independent Higher Education through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Institutional animal care and use committee sets meetings
The IACUC will hold fall semester meetings at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, Oct. 19 and Nov. 16. All meetings will be held in the Arts and Sciences deans’ conference room, Boatwright administrative wing.
All faculty contemplating research on animals are reminded that the federal government requires all such research be cleared by the University’s IACUC. Applications are available at the IACUC Web site.
Protocols must be submitted well in advance to be considered at a meeting (at least two weeks prior to the scheduled meeting date). Federal regulations also require that the University provide training and education for all individuals working with laboratory animals. In order to comply with those regulations, IACUC is requiring that all individuals—faculty, staff, lab assistants, undergraduate and graduate students—working with laboratory animals (i.e., vertebrates) view the film Animal Care Matters before beginning work. Students and/or faculty putting forward protocols for approval will be asked to indicate that they have viewed the film. Copies of the film are available in the animal facility in Gottwald, the Graduate School Office and the Media Resource Center.