Volume 10 | April 5, 2019
COLLEGE CELEBRATES AT ANNUAL KALEIDOSCOPE EVENING
On March 8, nearly 300 guests attended Kaleidoscope Evening to celebrate the college and honor our faculty, alumni and distinguished service awards winners. To view photos from the event on the college Facebook page, click here. The college appreciates all who attended this special evening and those who contributed to help support student scholarships. For their contributions on the local, state, national and international levels, Rick Bayless, Frank Higginbottom, Brooke Murphy and Joseph Trimble were recognized as the 2019 Distinguished Alumni of the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences. In addition, higher education civil rights pioneer George Henderson, whose OU career has spanned over half a century, was honored as the 2019 Distinguished Service Award recipient for his exemplary service to the college. The faculty award winners were:

Irene Rothbaum Award
Ying Wang , Assistant Professor, Mathematics

Longmire Prize for Teaching
Mark Norris , Assistant Professor, Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics

James and JoAnn Holden Faculty Award
Alberto Marino , Assistant Professor, Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy 

John H. and Jane M. Patten Teaching Award
Robert Lemon , Associate Professor, Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics

Kinney-Sugg Outstanding Professor Award
Edward Cokely , Professor, Psychology
CARL ALBERT AWARD WINNER NAMED
Noah Collins of Verdigris, Oklahoma, a University of Oklahoma student majoring in anthropology, is the recipient of the 2019 Carl Albert Award , presented each year to the outstanding senior in the OU College of Arts and Sciences. He will graduate summa   cum laude  with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a master’s degree in medical anthropology during OU’s Commencement ceremonies on May 10. Collins is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and White Mountain Apache Tribe . He has been awarded a Fulbright research fellowship to New Zealand, which he plans to pursue before obtaining his doctorate in biological anthropology. Collins ultimately hopes to become an elected leader of his tribe, where he aspires to increase the quality of life, provide new opportunities and bridge gaps between nations.   The Carl Albert Award, the most prestigious honor given to a student by the OU College of Arts and Sciences, is based on academics, moral force of character and promise of future service to the state and nation
OU TO HOST SEVENTH ANNUAL NATIVE CROSSROADS FILM FESTIVAL
Native Crossroads Film Festival is back for a seventh year with the theme “Futures” and highlights feature films, documentaries, animations, and short films that consider how Indigenous people and communities are shaping the future. The Festival invites the public to explore the frontiers of Indigenous cinema. Native Crossroads Film Festival runs from April 4-6 at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES ANNOUNCES EARTHMONTH@OU2019 EVENTS IN NORMAN
A number of events are scheduled for EarthMonth@OU2019, the University of Oklahoma’s fourth annual celebration of Earth Month®. Typically celebrated between World Water Day on March 22 and Earth Day, April 22, the university highlights the importance of environmental awareness in collaboration with Norman community environmental events. 

Highlighted events this year include a distinguished speaker panel series on human-environment interactions, including Evangelical climate scientist and 2014 TIME Top 100 Most Influential’s Katharine Hayhoe. Her discussion, titled “Faith, Climate and Our Culture,” is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in the Thurman J. White Forum Building.

Additional distinguished speakers include pollinator conservation experts, environmental historians and SuperFund Site researchers, with panels of OU and partnered statewide professionals to discuss relevance, progress and ongoing action in Oklahoma and throughout the nation.

Further details of events planned during this month-long celebration of environmental awareness can found on the  EarthMonth@OU2019 website .
SOCIAL WORK PROPOSAL AWARDED BY NATIONAL CHILD WELFARE WORKFORCE INSTITUTE
The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute has awarded a proposal written in collaboration between the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s Child and Family Services Administration and the Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work. The four-year award is for up to $500,000 and is to be used to offer tuition and fee stipends to MSW/BSW students who then commit to working for tribal child welfare programs upon graduation. Clinical Assistant Professor Dallas Pettigrew (pictured) authored the university partnership part of the proposal and serves as Principal Investigator. Kimee Wind-Hummingbird (director of the MCN’s Child and Family Services) and Terra Branson (Self-Governance coordinator) were the primary authors from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
THOUSANDS STRONG CAMPAIGN EXCEEDS GOAL
The college recently completed a successful Thousands Strong campaign seeking support for the Emergency Scholarship Fund and we thank all who contributed. With the generous support of our donors, the campaign raised nearly $5,000, which was 130 percent of its goal. The fund allows the college to empower students experiencing hardships so that an unexpected financial setback doesn’t prevent them from graduating on time or at all. Click here to help support the OU College of Arts and Sciences.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
CHUANBIN MAO INDUCTED INTO MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING ELITE
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering has announced the induction of Chuanbin Mao (professor, chemistry and biochemistry) to its College of Fellows.  Fellows are nominated each year by their peers and represent the top two percent of the medical and biological engineering community. They are considered the life-blood of AIMBE and work toward realizing AIMBE’s vision to provide medical and biological engineering innovation for the benefit of humanity. A formal induction ceremony was held during the AIMBE Annual Meeting at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C, on March 25. Mao was inducted along with 156 colleagues who make up the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2019. AIMBE’s mission is to recognize excellence, advance public understanding and accelerate medical and biological innovation.
LINDA ZAGZEBSKI'S BOOK HONORED IN IRAN
Linda Zagzebski’s book  Virtues of the Mind  (Oxford University Press, 1996) was chosen as the book of the year in Iran in the field of Western philosophy (among translations). The book was translated into Persian by Amirhossein Khodaparast. Iran’s Book of the Year Awards are the most important annual awards for books in the categories of religion, philosophy, social sciences, language, applied sciences, art and literature. This remarkable book is the first attempt to establish a theory of knowledge based on the model of virtue theory in ethics. The book develops the concept of intellectual virtue, and then shows how the concept can be used to give an account of the major concepts in epistemology, including the concept of knowledge. In the book, Zagzebski argues intellectual virtues like open-mindedness, intellectual courage, intellectual fairness and intellectual carefulness and thoroughness are good traits of character on a par with the traditional moral virtues. The way we govern our thinking is as important as the way we govern our acts for our own flourishing and the flourishing of the communities in which we live. Khodaparast is currently translating Zagzebski’s most recent book,  Exemplarist Moral Theory. Zagzebski is a George Lynn Cross Research Professor and Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics in the Philosophy Department.
COLLEGE FACULTY MEMBERS HONORED BY ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
Three faculty members from the college were honored by the Athletics Department at the 21st annual Max Weitzenhoffer Scholar-Athlete Breakfast. Gary Barksdale (Mathematics) Samuel Huskey (Classics and Letters) and Motoko Miura (Japanese) were named the Most Inspiring Faculty, which is awarded to faculty members who have motivated and inspired OU student-athletes. These faculty members were nominated by the student-athletes and selected by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). The event, which celebrated the academic achievements of Oklahoma student-athletes, was held April 2 in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Pictured (L to R):
Joe Castiglione, VP for Intercollegiate Athletic Programs, Motoko Miura, Samuel Huskey, Gary Barksdale
MICHAEL GIVEL NAMED RECIPIENT OF THE MURIEL WRIGHT AWARD
Professor of Political Science Michael Givel has won the Muriel Wright Award from the Oklahoma Historical Society for his article, “Sundown on the Prairie: The Extralegal Campaigns and Efforts from 1889 to 1967 to Exclude African Americans from Norman, Oklahoma,” published in The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 96. He will be honored at the annual Oklahoma Historical Society History Conference on Friday, April 26. 
2019 COLLEGE OUTSTANDING ADVISOR NAMED
Please join the college in congratulating  Susan Blossom (right) on being named the Dean’s Outstanding Academic Advisor for 2019 . The purpose of this award is to recognize college advisors who have demonstrated the qualities associated with outstanding academic advising. Each award recipient will receive $500 and have their name inscribed on a plaque in the Hobson Academic Services office.  Blossom was nominated by the Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and was presented the award by Rhonda Dean Kyncl, associate dean for students (left). The college values the role of all academic advisors.
JUSTIN LUND HONORED BY AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS
Justin Lund, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology, is the recipient of the inaugural Michael Crawford Award. Presented as part of the 88th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Cleveland, Ohio, the Michael Crawford Award is a student diversity award presented by the American Association of Anthropological Genetics to students who demonstrate a commitment to studying genetics and who exhibit service to communities.
Pictured: Justin Lund and Michael Crawford
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
OU neuroscientists Christian Lemon (principal investigator on the grant and associate professor in the Department of Biology) and Jinrong Li (research associate) in a new study have found a pathway in the brain where taste and pain intersect that originally was designed to look at the intersection of taste and food temperature. This study was the first time researchers have shown that taste and pain signals come together in the brain and use the same circuitry. OU neuroscientists received a five-year, $1.6 million National Institutes of Health grant to study this concept. Lemon and Li recently published the first paper on this study in the Journal of Neuroscience .
A project led by Daniel Allen (assistant professor, biology) is showing how citizen science programs provide valuable data on rivers in the southwestern United States. The datasets of ecological and hydrological data obtained from intermittent rivers (rivers that dry at some point in space or time) in Arizona are input into a nationwide network. Trained citizen scientists are mapping three rivers in Arizona: the San Pedro River, Cienega Creek and Agua Fria River. The wet and dry data collected yearly from these programs map information on how to best manage water resources under a changing climate.
Jizhong Zhou an d team in the OU Institute for Environmental Genomics have published a paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution on climate warming in an Oklahoma tallgrass prairie. The study has implications for understanding and predicting ecological consequences of climate change and ecosystem management strategies. More rapid changes in biodiversity are expected in a warmer world. In addition, ecosystem functions and services may become more vulnerable as the structure of an ecosystem is linked to the functions it performs, which may provide positive or negative feedback to climate warming.
The National Endowment for the Humanities announced gr ants for  233 humanities projects across the country, including a $6,000 summer stipend for Kimberly Marshall , associate professor anthropology. Marshall's project study “Re-Membering the Boise Valley People: Rethinking Sovereignty in Contemporary Cultural Planning,” will research the conciliation efforts by Boise City officials and Native-American groups in order to better understand the meaning and role of sovereignty in such contexts
Andreea Marculescu , lecturer in French, has been awarded a Franklin Research Grant grant in the amount of $6,000 in support of research for her new book project "Happiness in the Late Middle Ages." She plans to travel to Europe this summer to consult archival materials for the upcoming book.
HANK JENKINS-SMITH - POLITICAL SCIENCE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR RISK AND RESILIENCE

CAROL SILVA - POLITICAL SCIENCE
DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR RISK AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

$50,000 - SANDIA LABORATORIES

PROBABILISTIC ASSESSMENT COMMUNICATION

OU scholars are working with scientists at U.S. national laboratories to develop a fuller understanding of how complex probabilistic risk analyses play a part in shaping and informing public responses to government efforts to manage societal risks. The specific focus is on the safe management and disposal of very long-lived (hundreds of thousands of years) radioactive materials, for which regulatory agencies require a PRA. Among the research interests is understanding how communication of complex technical analyses informs public views when the issue - the siting of a storage and disposal facility — is highly contentious.


$50,000 - THIRD WAY

CODING, TRACKING AND ANALYZING NUCLEAR DEBATES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

This project consists of collecting all Twitter posts (tweets) concerning nuclear energy, employing human coding to identify the relevance and content of samples of the data, then applying machine algorithms to code all tweets for analysis. The analysis consists of tracking the narratives about nuclear energy and mapping the networks of participants in those narratives over time. The theoretical interest is in understanding how actors and coalitions seek to shape policy debates and public policies over time.
CARA MONROE - ANTHROPOLOGY

$477,609 - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE

DNA DEGRADATION OF CO-MINGLED HUMAN CONTAMINATION AND ASSOCIATED MICROBIOMES

Forensic science has entered into a new technological era of big data and whole genome analyses that has the potential to retrieve increasingly more nuanced and detailed genetic profiles data from degraded material. However, adopting these approaches does not eliminate fundamental problems with the study of forensic samples that includes recovery, contamination and authentication, especially in regards to “touch” DNA (DNA left from handling or touching an object). This research will utilize metagenomics to study how “touch” DNA evidence degrades through time. The results will inform forensic science and criminal justice practitioners about “touch evidence,” DNA contamination and transfer, as well as best practices for interpretation.
JEREMY ROSS - BIOLOGY

$12,444 - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE

MANAGEMENT AND CAVE PROTECTION FOR FEDERALLY LISTED BATS AND CO-OCCURRING STYGOBITIC FAUNA IN OKLAHOMA

With a focus on species listed under the Endangered Species Act, Ross is coordinating efforts to protect Eastern Oklahoma caves and take stock of the rare and unique fauna found therein. This extends a decades-long project founded by Keith Martin of Rogers State University, which has been fundamental in preserving karst cave environments for roosting bats, blind cavefish, grotto salamanders and a whole suite of species found nowhere else in the state.
- PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

$20,822 - BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

ATLAS SILICON PIXEL MODULE TESTING

In 2026, the intensity of the colliding proton beams at the Cern Large Hadron Collider will increase by a factor of 10. Hence the current detectors will undergo an upgrade to handle the higher radiation levels. The OU high energy physics group has taken on the responsibility of ensuring that the new detector elements are robust and will survive in this high radiation environment.
The College of Arts and Sciences Research Discussion Series continued March 30 with short presentations and discussions on Social and Behavioral Research on Data, Technology and Ethics. The series will continue from 3 - 5 p.m., April 12 in Ellison Hall Room 132 with "Interdisciplinary Social Science and Wicked Problems."
On April 18, Tom Fenn (assistant director Anthropology) and Scott Robinson (department chair and professor, Political Science) will present. Details for their presentation will be announced shortly. Please visit the college website for the most up-to-date information on the research series.
The work of postdoc student Qingze Guan was featured by Physical Review Letters
The paper is the result of a theory-experiment collaboration (the experimental team is at Heidelberg University); it was highlighted in Physics through a Synopsis. A new experimental setup allows researchers to observe collisions between two ultracold atoms while tuning how hard they hit.  
April 11
The Clara Luper Department of African and African-American Studies presents Nikki Giovanni "Racism 101". She will offer an honest discussion of what it means to be racially marginalized in 21st-century America. The event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center.

April 19              
Deadline for academic units to submit copies of progress toward tenure letters to the Dean’s office.

April 19          
Deadline for academic units to submit post-tenure review dossiers to the Dean’s office.

April 24                  
CASFAM Staff meeting, 9 a.m., Dale Hall Tower 906

April 25        
Chairs and Directors meeting by area, 9 a.m., Ellison Hall
May 1          
Deadline for academic units to request reimbursements from the college to departments.

May 1                    
Deadline for academic units to submit Regular Faculty Recruiting Applications (RFRAs) to the Dean’s office.

May 1         
Deadline to request a NEW Online course or to REDESIGN an existing Online course for the upcoming the fall 2019 semester.     

May 10         
The University of Oklahoma Commencement will be held at 7 p.m. in the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, 180 West Brooks St. For more information about the University's Commencement, visit the Commencement website by   clicking here .

May 11  
This year, the College of Arts and Sciences will celebrate the achievements of our graduating students on Saturday, May 11, at the Lloyd Noble Center. We will have two ceremonies, which will begin at 5 p.m. with the Graduate College Convocation for Arts and Sciences master’s students. The College of Arts and Sciences Convocation for students receiving their undergraduate degrees will begin at 8 p.m. For more information click here.  

July 15           
Sabbatical leave applications for spring 2020 or spring 2020 and fall 2020 (two-semester sabbatical) are due to the Dean’s office.