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JMU Research, Scholarship & Creative Endeavors

Volume 5, Issue 2

Hello from the Shenandoah Valley!   Virginia Clean Cities (VCC) hosted state legislators and clean energy advocates for a Clean Fuel Policy Day in Richmond last month, which included remarks from Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. Earlier in February, VCC joined clean cities coalitions from across the country for the 2020 Energy Independence Summit in Washington, DC. VCC Executive Director Alleyn Harned provided welcome remarks, while VCC Board Member and School of Integrated Sciences alumna Chelsea Jenkins of Roush CleanTech served on the panel – The Importance of an “All of the Above” Clean Transportation Approach .   Mary Lou Bourne, Director of Technology Innovation & Economic Development, received a big shout-out from Virginia Business , when she was named to the “ 100 People to Meet in 2020 ” list. Additionally, Mary Lou was recently quoted in a story announcing the Staunton Creative Community Fund’s (SCCF) selection in the 2020 Rural Innovation Initiative. “We are thrilled our region was selected for this opportunity, recognizing the strong level of collaboration in the Shenandoah Valley region with SCCF and our ecosystem partners,” said Mary Lou. JMU Libraries will host 3D Printing Across the Curriculum   (3DPAC) on April 24-25, 2020, a new academic conference for college and university faculty who incorporate 3D printing and design into their curriculum and scholarship from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives for increased academic achievement. You are invited to   submit a proposal (by March 1st) or   register now   to save your seat. Space is limited to 100 participants, and the cost to attend is $50. Office of Research & Scholarship   James Madison University

Virginia Clean Cities staff and partners brief U.S. Representative Denver Riggleman on Capitol Hill.

Faculty Grant Awards

For a monthly listing of recent faculty grant awards, please visit the JMU Office of Sponsored Programs website . Here are some notable awards from November and December 2019:  John Haynes (Geology and Environmental Science) received $11,092 from the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to support geologic mapping projects by mapping the geology of the northeast quarter of the Eagle Rock 7 and one half minute quadrangle.   Paul Mabrey (Learning Centers) received a funding award of $17,500 from the Colonial Academic Alliance to collaborate with five other institutions to develop capacity to support the integration of debate-based pedagogy for positively impacting student civic learning.   Carmen Moreno (Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services) received $101,955 from the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority to promote health careers and access to primary care for medically underserved populations through community-academic partnerships.   Nick Swayne (JMU X-Labs) received $20,000 from Northrop Grumman and Conservation International to add sensors to animal trackers and create a database of the data collected to identify particular behaviors from the sensor data.

Expanding students’ spatial reasoning capabilities

Collaborating with a team of researchers, Bob Kolvoord, Dean of the College of Integrated Science and Engineering, is working to understand the effect of spatial education on reasoning skills in high school seniors . This research examines the impact of the Geospatial Semester on high school students, a program launched by Kolvoord and Kathryn Keranen in 2005 that introduces high school students to geospatial technologies and projects. Kolvoord commented, “We initially found that the GIS students used more spatial language and exhibited stronger problem-solving skills than other students. We then added other collaborators to the team to more fully examine how the cognitive and behavioral aspects of the testing results connect.”

Art professor completes residency in Australia

Lisa Tubach, faculty in the School of Art, Design and Art History, completed an artist residency at the Bilpin International Ground for Creative Initiatives (BigCi) in Australia during the fall 2019 semester. Tubach commented on the experience, “The BigCi residency was a continuous feast of natural beauty. I resided/worked in the Barn, which provided an incredible array of bird sightings, gecko and lizard sightings, a wallaby sighting and so much more.”

Political Science professor to research conflict in Yemen

“Dr. Bernd Kaussler, professor of political science, has been awarded the first Cinquegrana Presidential Chair of Faculty Teaching Excellence and Research to conduct research on proxy war and civilian victimization in Yemen, and work with students to create a human security map. An expert on the Middle East, Kaussler earned his PhD in International Relations from the University of St. Andrews and has taught at JMU for thirteen years. His research focuses on Middle East security, U.S. foreign policy, international security, political trends in the Middle East, diplomacy and conflict resolution.”  Read the full profile on Kaussler’s scholarly efforts.

Education faculty write book on assessing student learning

Middle, Secondary & Mathematics Education faculty Kristina Doubet and Eric Carbaugh collaborated with Jay McTighe to co-author Designing Authentic Performance Tasks and Projects: Tools for Meaningful Learning and Assessment . Across the nation and beyond, schools are moving toward assessing student learning through authentic means such as performance tasks and project-based learning. Such experiences emphasize the meaningful application of disciplinary knowledge while also engaging the 21st century skills—critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration—valued in the wider world. Although the promise of performance tasks and projects is immense, the challenge lies in the details of design and implementation at the district, school, and classroom levels. This book – by international curriculum expert, Jay McTighe and JMU professors, Kristina Doubet and Eric Carbaugh – provides a comprehensive exploration of how to overcome these challenges by designing and implementing tasks and projects that give all students access to high quality learning experiences tailored to their academic, developmental, and social-emotional needs.

Virginia Humanities awards funding to CAL faculty

Faculty members Mollie Godfrey (English) and Sean McCarthy (Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication) received a $10,000 award from Virginia Humanities to advance the Celebrating Simms project, which “celebrates the life of pioneering African-American educator, Lucy F. Simms, and the school named in her honor.” In addition to an exhibit that spans 150 years of Harrisonburg history, the project makes available to the public “an interactive timeline that situates the development of African-American education in Harrisonburg in the context of national events; an interactive map that situates key locations that are important to this story; and educational resources that can be used by K-12 teachers to incorporate this exhibit into classroom activities.”

Economics professor co-authors article and Finance professor quoted in The Chronicle

Department of Economics faculty Zachary Gochenour published an article with Christopher Fleming (George Mason University) in the Journal of Private Enterprise . “Self-Government, Political Economy, and the Christian Tradition” develops a theory of self-government that is specifically Christian, then explores how different schools of thought in social science can further the understanding of this conception, looking deeply at classical public choice in the Virginia school, behavioral public choice and new institutional economics, specifically in the tradition of the Bloomington School. A Chronicle of Higher Education article by Alexander Kafka quotes JMU finance professor Pamela Drake. In “ Why More Colleges Are Teaching Financial Wellness ” Drake addresses the importance of educating students about the gritty details of finance and financial responsibility.

College of Health and Behavioral Studies student wins 3MT competition

Brianna Craig receiving a first place certificate from Graduate School Interim Dean John Burgess.

Brianna Craig, a graduate student majoring in psychological sciences, is the 2020 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition winner . Hosted by the Graduate School, the competition provides an opportunity for graduate students from a number of disciplines to “…present a current thesis or dissertation project to an audience while competing for a cash prize and the chance to participate in the regional competition.” Craig presented her thesis Propensity Score Matching and Generalized Boosted Modeling in the Context of Model Misspecification , and is advised by Sonia Jeanne Horst, faculty in Graduate Psychology and an associate assessment specialist in the Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS).

JMU faculty receive Northam Administration appointments

Carole Nash, an associate professor in the School of Integrated Sciences, was recently appointed by Governor Ralph Northam to the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Also receiving an appointment from the Northam Administration was Karina Kline-Gabel, a lecturer of Spanish in the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, who was reappointed to the Virginia Latino Advisory Board.

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