Science/Math Faculty News

Professor Marie Turner was one of 40 faculty leaders nationwide to be accepted to attend the prestigious Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) and Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) 2012 PKAL Summer Leadership Institutes for early and mid-career STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) faculty at the Baca Campus of Colorado College in Crestone, Colorado. Read more...

Professor Jerold Touger published a paper, "Which Observations Should We Believe?: An Activity Using the Pulfrich Pendulum" in a 2010 issues of The Physics Teacher, a journal of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

The article details an activity that Professor Touger developed over a period of years in his Science 1010 class at Curry, in which a mirror is used to distinguish between appearance and reality.

Professor Abigail Hafer was featured in a 2010 radio special on "UN-intelligent Design" with host Ken Gale, WBAI New York. Dr. Hafer, who teaches anatomy and physiology and who received her doctorate in Zoology at Oxford, addressed the question, 'How right was Darwin?'

Dr. Hafer discussed the human eye, the throat, reproduction (men AND women), teeth, pre-natal gill slits and vestigial anatomy to explain how humans are not that intelligently designed and how evolution explains these things, along with ways in which birds, whales and squid are designed better.

Dr. Hafer has also spoken on this topic at recent conferences, including an invited talk at the American Humanist Association annual conference in 2009.

Professor Tracy Wang recently attended the 20th ART Forum (Advanced Research Techniques) conference as part of her ongoing collaboration on quantitative marketing techniques with Dr. Sharon Hu, Associate Director of Marketing Science at Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

ART is a unique conference that provides an opportunity for academics, practitioners, and research clients to exchange ideas and solutions. During the conference, Professor Wang had opportunities to interact with colleagues in marketing research and academia. She plans to implement new statistics and research methods from the conference into her upper level math and statistics courses.

Professor Marlene Samuelson et al.'s paper, "Exploring the Effectiveness of a Comprehensive Mind Body Intervention for Medical Symptom Relief," was published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 16 Issue 2, February 2010 (187-192).

This is the culmination of work Professor Samuelson conducted during a sabbatical and follow-up Research Track semesters, with Dr. Herbert Benson and his group at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

It reviewed over 300 outpatients with chronic medical symptoms who had completed a 12-week mind body medical symptom reduction program. Significant post-treatment improvements were found in medical symptom frequency, in health-promoting lifestyle parameters, and in psychological symptoms. Such a mind-body intervention program is useful, therefore, as a complementary or adjunct therapy for treatment of chronic medical symptoms.

Professor Rebecca Vessenes was accepted as a fellow in the Mathematical Association of America's Project NExT program in 2011. Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is a nation-wide mentoring program for new mathematical sciences faculty in their first or second year of a full-time teaching position. It addresses all aspects of an academic career: improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, engaging in research and scholarship, and participating in professional activities. The fellows receive mentors, plus access to resources, free classes at conferences, etc.