10.01.08
Posted in Cognitive Science, Education, Gender Bias, Jacob Canon, Politics, Psychology, Racism, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, elections, ethics, history at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, we share comments and reflections from the UVa Faculty Roundtable concerning Race and Gender in Politics.
Last Thursday, the Miller Center of Public Affairs hosted the UVa Faculty Round Table on Race and Gender in Politics. Sponsored by the University of Virginia’s Arts & Sciences Magazine, the forum was moderated by Douglas Blackmon, the Atlanta bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. The panel included UVa faculty members, Paul Freedman, Brian Nosek, Lynn Sanders, Vesla Weaver and Nick Winter.
Moderator, Douglas Blackmon called this point in time “an extraordinary moment in American history and American discourse,” while Associate Politics Professor Paul Freedman referred to this time as “Christmas” for political scientists because of the multicultural base of the presidential candidates.
Reflections on Race and Gender in Politics Forum [7:30m]:
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Freedman said the implicit message in political advertising is the important element of political ads. An example of this was a 2006 Republican ad run in Tennessee, concerning Democrat, Harold Ford, Jr. Freedman said, the ad included “a white woman who claimed to have had met Harold at the Playboy Party and she suggested that he call her, the ad concluded with the text on the screen, Harold Ford…’he’s just not right.’ And many people suggested that the implicit message was, ‘he’s just not white.’” Freedman added this year’s election has seen less of these types of messages.
Associate Politics Professor Lynn Sanders, spoke to the question, “will Obama lose this election due to race.” Referring to a recent Stanford AP poll and the subsequent media spin that Obama will lose the election by six to fifteen percent simply because he is black, Sanders said, “I think that it is really, really interesting how tied we are to that kind of pessimism. There is an alternative framework that we could be focusing on, which is… that we’re living in a time when we have accomplished such a feat that we can have these different kinds of candidates.” Referring to the Bradley/Wilder effect - when voters tell pollsters they are undecided or likely to vote for a black candidate, yet, on Election Day, they vote for the white candidate - Sanders said this effect has lessened over the past forty to fifty years and the reverse was observed in the 2006 Tennessee race between Ford and the Republican candidate.
Assistant Politics Professor Nick Winter spoke about the book he is working on, “The Secret History of Gender.” Winter said, looking at data from the last three decades, the Democratic party is associated with stereotypically feminine traits such as being “… compassionate, generous, egalitarian, and so forth and conversely they like the republican party for relatively stereotypically masculine characteristics, it’s efficient, supports the work ethic…” Yet, when it comes to Presidential candidates, he said the electorate tends to feel “… that our ideas about what it makes a good leader are themselves very associated with ideas about men and masculinity.”
Associate Professor of Psychology Brian Nosek’s data suggests that some political choices we make are influenced by “implicit” feelings toward blacks, women or the aged without us even realizing it. Nosek said of people who participate in his online surveys, “… 80% of white Americans who come on and try this task have a stronger association of black with bad, than white with bad, suggesting that they have associations in their minds that are quite distinct from the egalitarian values that they tend to express. Likewise with gender, it’s harder to associate female with leader or female with career than males, even if they will explicitly say, ‘no, I’m egalitarian minded… we don’t necessarily know that these things are happening.”
Mr. Blackmon observed that the research of the panelist had led to potentially opposed ideas of how much race and gender effect the election process.
Answering this question, Assistant Politics Professor Vesla Weaver satirically noted, that this may be the first time that professor Sanders and she had been considered the “racial optimist in a room.” She went on to say, “I’m certainly not saying that there aren’t negative racial attributions that happen. I do think we need to question how much the Bradley Effect has been overstated, how much the negative aspect of race is the thing that makes headlines, and what effect that has on perceptions, on people, on raising sensitivities, on looking for it.” Professor Sanders added that it was interesting “…the way conservative and optimistic, and liberal and pessimistic, are associated. And this is a real consistent theme in this year’s election.” She said that none of the panelist felt that bigotry and racism were no longer issues, yet much had changed in the short time since the 1960’s.
The goals of the panel to open public discussion on these issues were summarized by Professor Weaver’s salient comments concerning what would occur if the topic of race and gender were not brought to the public’s attention. Weaver said, the danger is not only, not having this type of public discourse, but that “it opens up space for a powerful counter narrative to develop on November 5th. And that is the counter narrative that, for blacks, for young voters, for anyone that was mobilized… and saw this as the first time their constituency was being spoken to, the counter narrative would be, if not now, then when.” She added, “it opens up a rift in that powerful American dream logic. It opens a rift in the notion that this is an egalitarian society. That we can move forward together… And so if we don’t have that very public conversation now about race, the public conversation that going to get had when we look in the mirror on November 5th is going to be a conversation that is going to be uglier.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when we will discuss the work of Brad Cox, professor of physics and a principal investigator with the University of Virginia’s High Energy Physics Group and his involvement with the new Large Hadron Collider in Geneva Switzerland.
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09.24.08
Posted in Cognitive Science, Education, Jacob Canon, Politics, Social Psychology, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, elections, ethics, history, sociology at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, we introduce the Moderator and UVa Faculty panel participating in the Race and Gender in Politics Forum being held tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, located at 2201 Old Ivy Road, in Charlottesville, VA. This event is free to the public.
With the election season upon us, and the diverse nature of the major candidates, Americans are faced with unique challenges when they go to the polls this November 4th. With the notable exception of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, the major candidates for the office of President of the United States have been white males. But this election season, both major political parties have offered candidates that begin to explore the multicultural basis of our nation.
Race and Gender in Politics [5:48m]:
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Tomorrow evening, September 25th at 7:00PM, the Miller Center of Public Affairs will be hosting the UVa Faculty Round Table on Race and Gender in Politics. This event is sponsored by the University of Virginia’s Arts & Sciences Magazine will be Moderated by Douglas A Blackmon, the Atlanta bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. This forum will discuss many of the issues that face the electorate this season. The panel will include UVa faculty members, Paul Freedman, Brian Nosek, Lynn Sanders, Vesla Weaver and Nick Winter.
The moderator, Douglas A. Blackmon, has written extensively about the American quandary of race. Many of his stories in The Wall Street Journal have explored the interplay of wealth, corporate conduct and racial segregation.
Associate Politics Professor Paul Freedman, has written about the negative advertising that is present in American politics, and has come to the conclusion that this type of discourse has positive effects in educating the public concerning issues. Freedman found that voters who saw more campaign advertising were more energized and knowledgeable.
Associate Professor of Psychology Brian Nosek’s interest in politics emerged while he was doing research in implicit cognition, which examines thought and feeling outside of awareness and control. His data suggests that some political choices we make may be influenced by “implicit” feelings toward blacks, women or the aged without us even realizing it.
Associate Politics Professor Lynn Sanders, has found another dynamic at work in the American political system. Sanders research has found there are differences in survey data received depending on the race of the interviewer and interviewee. If they are the same race, prejudices are more likely to be revealed. She found this evidenced by the differing results in the public vote of caucus states versus the private vote found in primaries states during the recent Democratic campaign.
Assistant Politics Professor Vesla Weaver’s research has detailed the disparities between the outcomes of whites to darker- and lighter-skinned blacks and Hispanics, including lower incomes, high incarceration rates and higher execution rates for the dark-skinned. Her data appears to show that the gradient of skin tone also appears to have an effect, and that this disparity carries over to politics as well.
Assistant Politics Professor Nick Winter’s book, Dangerous Frames explores the ways that political leaders can mobilize our ideas about race and gender in ways we don’t realize; his current project is exploring the ways that ideas about masculinity and femininity shape political discourse and public opinion.
So, as this multicultural dynamic changes the Presidential debate continues across America, you are invited to the Miller Center tomorrow evening, September 25th at 7:00 PM to hear this panel discuss gender and race and how they effect the political landscape.
The Miller Center address is 2201 Old Ivy Road, Charlottesville, VA. For more information or direction to the event please call 434-243-8974 or email Cristina Martinez de Andino at clm6q@virginia.edu.
For those who can’t attend, you can watch the forum online by going to www.millercenter.org and the link will appear on the home page shortly before the panel starts.
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when we will follow up this show with comments and reflections from the UVa Faculty Roundtable concerning Race and Gender in Politics.
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09.17.08
Posted in Boson, Energy, Higgs, Jacob Canon, Physics, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Fariss Samarrai, Senior News Officer with the Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of a multi-institutional team of scientists, including Bob Hirosky, a University of Virginia associate professor of physics, and their attempt to verify or refute the existence of the Higgs boson, which is theorized to be the essence of all matter, and the ultimate basis of everything in the universe.
Man’s eternal quest to understand the world we live in has led to a series of discoveries that questioned the conventional thinking of the time. In centuries past the great minds that have advanced human knowledge have either been lauded or treated as heretics. Today’s more tolerant and informed world of science has delved into the deep reaches of space, as well as the smallest inner workings of all matter.
The Heart of the Matter [5:06m]:
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Just recently, an international effort to understand the most basic structure of matter has yielded a particle that is critical to further understanding of the universe and its evolution.
The multi-institutional team of scientists, including Bob Hirosky, a University of Virginia associate professor of physics, has announced the first observation of pair production of Z bosons, force-carrying particles in electroweak interactions, in proton-antiproton collisions.
Properties of the ZZ diboson particle states make this discovery an essential prelude to eventually confirming—or refuting—the existence of the Higgs boson, which is theorized to be the essence of all matter, and the ultimate basis of everything in the universe.
The basic structure of matter evolved from the first nanoseconds after the Big Bang. This explosion of energy is now generally accepted throughout the science community as the creative force of the universe. And a better understanding of the basic makings of everything could provide insight into how the universe will further evolve.
Hirosky said, “What we learn could lead to new interpretations of the forces of nature and possibly to an understanding of dark matter, the mysterious substance that is believed to contribute the bulk of the mass of the universe.”
The experiments were carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermilab near Chicago, home of the Tevatron, a high-energy particle accelerator.
The accelerator collides intense beams of proton and anti-protons. The collisions shatter the protons, producing new particles and allowing physicists to study the most basic elements of matter and forces that form the basis of all matter.
A new, much higher energy collider, the $3.2 billion Large Hadron Collider near Geneva on the Franco-Swiss border, went online September 10, 2008, and may ultimately prove whether the elusive Higgs particle exists.
Hirosky said, “Only about one in 10 billion collisions might produce a pair of Z dibosons, which we observed. The Higgs is predicted to be at least 10 times rarer than the ZZ. Our observation of ZZ puts us deeper into Higgs territory. The observation of ZZ is perhaps the last experimental stepping stone before finding the Higgs.”
The questions that remain to be answered ultimately will create new questions. Whether the Higgs particle’s existence is proven or refuted, the scientific quest of man to explain the world we live in continues to bring the understanding that we seek.
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we introduce the Moderator and UVa Faculty panel participating in the Race and Gender in Politics Forum being held tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, located at 2201 Old Ivy Road, in Charlottesville, VA. This event is free to the public.
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09.10.08
Posted in Engineering, Jacob Canon, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, physical health, physiology, stress at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written for the U.Va. Engineer , the Alumni Magazine of the UVA School of Egineering and Applied Science, by freelance writer Charlie Feigenoff, we discuss the research of Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who is trying to identify reasons and mechanics of hamstring pulls.
When the world’s best sprinters stepped up to the mark at the 100 meter final during this summer’s Olympic Games in Peking, they were moments away from subjecting their leg muscles to thousands of pounds of force as they fought to be first across the finish line less than 10 seconds later. By and large, their leg muscles handled the strain well, but inevitably one or more of these elite runners, despite intense conditioning, will suffer a hamstring pull during the track and field season.
Identifying Reasons for Hamstring Pulls [5:35m]:
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As Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science has said, “Of all the muscles that work together when we run quickly, the muscles in the hamstring group are most subject to injury, and one particular hamstrings muscle, the biceps femoris long head, is most commonly injured.”
Blemker has the expertise in three-dimensional muscle modeling to find out why this muscle is so susceptible to pulls. Collaborating with Darryl Thelen, an associate professor of mechanical engineeering at the University of Wisconsin, she has embarked on a project to identify the points of strain as the biceps femoris moves dynamically and compare it to the other two hamstring muscles. Their research is supported by a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The hamstrings run along the back of the thigh and attach on both sides of the knee joint. They are responsible for pulling the foot from the ground with each stride. In the past, researchers treated these muscles like anatomical rubber bands, uniformly elastic along their length.
Blemker said, “This simplistic view made it difficult to understand why one muscle is prone to injury while another isn’t.”
Blemker’s approach is more detailed. She has developed models that incorporate the muscle’s intricate internal geometry, which she is combining with a model of the whole-body dynamics of sprinting, developed by Thelen. By combining the model of the hamstrings with the framework provided by Thelen, Blemker will be able to predict how the muscle behaves in the course of real movement.
Blemker and Thelen face a number of challenges. The first is to merge these two models. Second, they then have to validate their new model by comparing predictions with MRI-imaging techniques that measure muscle strain distribution.
Blemker said, “Ultimately, we hope to learn how the internal structure of muscle changes when it is injured, which will help us suggest more effective rehabilitation strategies.”
As director of the U.Va. Multiscale Muscle Mechanics Laboratory, Blemker is also developing computational models that connect the properties of muscle fibers and the extracellular matrix that binds them together with the properties of the muscle as a whole. This line of research will help us understand how aging and diseases such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy affect muscles.
Blemker’s work straddles several fields. She has appointments in biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery as well as mechanical and aerospace engineering, but muscles have always been her focus. “I’ve been fascinated by the fact that muscles, which are so strong, are so easily injured,” she said. “Now I am finding out why.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we will well discuss the research of a multi-institutional team of scientists, including Bob Hirosky, a University of Virginia associate professor of physics, and there attempt to verify or refute the existence of the Higgs boson, which is theorized to be the essence of all matter, and the ultimate basis of everything in the universe.
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09.03.08
Posted in Energy, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, climate, efficiency, electricity, environmental conditions, fuel costs, sensory inputs, technology, visual processing at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Brevy Cannon, general assignment writer for UVa’s Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of Ron Williams, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his teams research of how to make more intelligent climate control systems, to aid in energy efficiency.
It’s not a new energy-saving concept to turn down your thermostat at night, or leave your air conditioner off when no one is home. A research team plans to take that concept to the next level by using automated sensors and sophisticated software to enable heating and cooling systems to respond to the number of occupants in a room at any given time.
Smart Climate Controls [6:32m]:
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The research team, which recently won a new UVa Collaborative Sustainable Energy Seed Grant worth about $30,000 to investigate how to make more intelligent climate control systems, includes Ron Williams, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, fellow electrical and computer engineer Paxton Marshall, John Quale, an assistant professor of architecture and director of UVa’s ongoing ecoMOD project, which involves studies of the energy efficiency of modular housing prototypes, and Cheryl Gomez, UVa’s director of utilities.
Williams said, “The volume of outside air that must be heated or cooled when 20 people are in a room is double that needed for 10, opening the possibility of significant energy savings from a climate control system that can respond to occupancy.” The most cost-effective measures to ensure adequate energy supplies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions come from energy conservation rather than new energy technologies.
Williams went on to say, “the idea of “intelligent building control” has been around since the 1970s. Only in recent years have computers and networking technology become so powerful and inexpensive that they could potentially be widely implemented in buildings at costs that could be justified in energy savings. Because the overall electric supply system is only about 33 percent efficient from fuel to end use, a one-unit reduction in consumption saves three units of new energy supply.
Williams has estimated that occupant-sensing technology could produce as much as a 9 percent energy savings during the heating season, but said he would be happy with even 2 to 3 percent energy savings.
To help keep down the cost of such systems, the U.Va. research team will create a sophisticated, but simple-to-customize, computer model of a building space that accounts for how the occupants and outside temperatures impact heating and cooling needs.
The team will monitor one University space, a student activity room called “The Forum” in the Observatory Hill Dining Hall, seeking to better match the amount of heating and cooling of the space to the precise number of occupants, without diminishing their perceived comfort.
Williams said, “the schedule of reservations for the room will be used as a starting point for predicting occupancy.” The team will install sensors — probably video cameras with image recognition software — to detect the comings and goings of people.
The team will correlate the occupancy data; predicted and actual, with measurements of air temperatures; inside and outside, air flows and electricity usage, to gradually improve their software model and controls.
The detecting poses several challenges, since people often come and go through the double doors in large groups and clumps, sometimes in both directions at once. Williams said, “it’s straightforward engineering, but — like the iPod — there are a lot of little problems that have to be overcome to make it all come together.I actually view this is as more of an embedded computing and information management problem rather than an energy management problem.”
Gomez said that she hopes that energy savings realized by this research can eventually be implemented more widely around Grounds. About one-third of the University’s 13.3 million square feet of space (in about 550 buildings) has been built or renovated since 1999, meaning the climate control systems are modern enough that they would benefit from intelligent building controls. In much of the rest, the heating and cooling systems are antiquated or in need of upgrades and would be largely unresponsive to short-term thermostat changes.
Gomez went on to say, “this problem has not yet been addressed aggressively, other “lower hanging fruit” offered more energy savings for lower costs, like installing fluorescent bulbs, LEDs and low-flow fixtures across Grounds… reducing climate control costs may be one of the next targets for saving energy at UVa.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we will well discuss the research of Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, trying to identify reasons and mechanics of hamstring pulls.
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08.27.08
Posted in Forensics, Jacob Canon, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, biology, genetic, technology at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Fariss Samarrai, senior news officer for UVa’s Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of Jessica Voorhees Norris, a Ph.D. candidate in forensic chemistry at UVa, who has developed a method for handling rape kit evidence that reduces part of the DNA analysis time from 24 hours to as little as 30 to 45 minutes.
With approximately 250,000 items of sexual assault evidence mired in three- to 12-month backlogs as they await analysis in U.S. forensic laboratories, there is an alarming nationwide need for a time-efficient way to get this work done. And according to Jessica Voorhees Norris, a Ph.D. candidate in forensic chemistry, she has found a better way. She developed a method for handling rape kit evidence that reduces part of the DNA analysis time from 24 hours to as little as 30 to 45 minutes and improves the sperm cell recovery rate by 100 percent. If her method is adopted by forensic labs – and the results accepted by courts – the backlog could potentially be reduced within months.
New Method to Process Rape Kits [5:35m]:
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Norris, who conducted her research in the lab of UVa chemistry professor James Landers, long ago realized that new methodologies would be needed to keep up with the growing accumulation of unanalyzed samples. She devoted her doctoral research to developing more effective and time-efficient methods.
Norris said, “There is an overwhelming demand for DNA analysis of sexual assault evidence, but laboratories have neither the funding nor the manpower to handle the caseload in a timely manner. Juries have come to expect DNA evidence in sexual assault cases, but forensic labs are not able to perform in a timely and efficient manner due to limitations in the currently used technologies.”
When a woman is sexually assaulted and comes forward to the police, a sample is taken and then sent to a forensic lab. In high-profile cases, the analysis is usually performed immediately, though overnight incubation is required to achieve a result. In most routine cases, though, the sample is put into storage, sometimes for as long as a year, before it finally reaches its turn in the cycle to be analyzed or when the case approaches a court date. The sample may degrade during the waiting period, resulting in a compromised finding.
Lab technicians must perform a number of steps to get their results. First, female and male cells must be removed from the swab with a special detergent. DNA from the vast number of epithelial cells from the victim must be separated from the far fewer sperm cells from the perpetrator. To do this, cells must sit overnight in an enzyme that bursts open the relatively fragile female cells to release their DNA for analysis. After the female DNA is removed, the highly durable sperm cells are burst open using stronger reagents.
Once the DNA is extracted, profiles, in effect, are generated for both the victim and the attacker. It is a time-consuming process, one that has been in use for more than two decades. Norris’ method streamlines the method for separating the male and female DNA fractions, eliminating the need for the overnight incubation while doubling the recovery of sperm cells.
Norris said, “This new process works extraordinarily well and could be implemented in forensic labs today. Unfortunately, getting labs to adopt a new protocol and getting legal systems to accept a new technology may take several years. In the meantime, the backlog of unanalyzed samples will continue to grow.”
Norris noted that forensic science is not simply about proving guilt. She said, “Forensic science is about finding the truth in a timely manner. It is about using science to identify the guilty and exonerate the innocent.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we discuss the research of Ron Williams, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his teams research of how to make more intelligent climate control systems, to aid in energy efficiency.
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08.20.08
Posted in African, Education, Jacob Canon, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Anne E. Bromley, Senior Writer, Editor for UVa’s Office of Public Affairs, we discuss UVa’s outstanding graduation rates among African-American students at all public universities in the nation.
For the 14th straight year, the University of Virginia’s African-American students posted the highest graduation rate among those at all public universities in the nation, according to the annual compilation published in the winter 2007-08 issue, of the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. The journal reports that U.Va.’s graduation rate of 87 percent makes it “the leader by far in successfully graduating black students” at flagship state universities.
UVa African American Grad Rates [6:16m]:
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William Harvey, U.Va.’s vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity, pointed out, “when comparing other Association of American Universities member institutions, the U.Va. graduation rate is the only public institution in the top 10.”
The next closest public universities are the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California-Berkeley, both with 73 percent, and the University of Michigan, with 70 percent. The national average is 44 percent, compared to 63 percent for white students.
The journal, using data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association, deliberately highlights public universities because three-fourths of African-American students in college attend them.
Overall, U.Va. ranks 19th nationally, behind 18 private universities and colleges of varying sizes. The top group comprises 28 schools with black graduation rates of 86 percent to 96 percent, postaed by Harvard. In addition to comparing black and white students at highly ranked institutions, the journal analyzes the data several other ways, comparing by gender, comparing historically black colleges and universities to predominantly white institutions and comparing different types of institutions.
U.Va. reflects a trend across the country: African-American women’s graduation rates are surging ahead of their male counterparts. According to data from U.Va.’s Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies, 91 percent of black women graduate in a six-year period, compared to 83 percent of black men. The University’s overall graduation rate is about 93 percent, which includes white and Asian-American students.
Nationally, the graduation rate for African-American women rose to 48 percent compared to 37 percent for African-American men. Peter Yu, assistant dean of African-American Affairs said, “We need to do more for males. Women utilize support services and resources much more than males.” One of the key factors in the success of black students at U.Va. is the Office of African-American Affairs’ nationally known Peer Advisor Program. Associate dean Sylvia Terry, founder and director of the program, said, “the Peer Advisor Program picks up where the Admissions Office leaves off.” She credits the University’s Office of Admissions to the integral part it plays in recruiting the best students.
Terry said, “We want them to be successful and continue the excellence they bring to our institution. Our Office of Admissions is phenomenal in its work in recruiting students. They are attentive to students in responding to questions, presenting opportunities and working with parents. Our office picks up in the summer writing families and inviting t hem to the University of Virginia family.”
Dr. Maurice Apprey, who has headed African-American Affairs since 2006, recently said his office’s latest initiatives are designed to set the bar higher for black students, urging them to reach beyond the goal of graduating and improve their academic performance, take full advantage of all of the University’s opportunities and increase the number going on to graduate and professional schools. Despite the low national average graduation rate, the good news for African-Americans is that those who graduate have a median income close to that of white college graduates.
Terry noted one of the ideas of Freeman Habrowski, president of University of Maryland in Baltimore County, a leader in diversity in higher education: “the importance of recruiting the family when attracting [minority] students to predominantly white institutions. She said, “We have done this for years.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we will well discuss the research of Jessica Voorhees Norris, a Ph.D. candidate in forensic chemistry at UVa, who has developed a method for handling rape kit evidence that reduces part of the DNA analysis time from 24 hours to as little as 30 to 45 minutes.
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08.13.08
Posted in Biology at the University of Virginia, Brain Tumor, Cancer, Jacob Canon, Pediatric, Skalak, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, biomedical engineering, physical health at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by David Foreman, writer for UVa’s Health System Media Relations Department, we look at University of Virginia researcher; Richard J. Price, who has received a three-year grant from The Hartwell Foundation to further his research on an innovative method to treat pediatric brain tumors.
Technical advancements in the past decade have made it possible to extend the basic principles of non-invasive, high-intensity, focused ultrasound for destroying organ-confined tumors. However, ultrasound beam aberrations and localized non-specific heating created by the skull are impediments to brain tumor treatment, which could be especially profound in developing children.
Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Grant [5:14m]:
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But a University of Virginia researcher, Richard J. Price, has received a three-year grant from The Hartwell Foundation to further his research on an innovative method to treat pediatric brain tumors. Price will receive $100,000 annually for three years, and is the first U.Va. scientist to receive a Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award.
Frederick Dombrose, Hartwell Foundation president said, “It is an honor for The Hartwell Foundation to provide financial support to this outstanding researcher. The competition for awards this year was remarkable, making the final selection very difficult.”
Price aims to use much lower power levels by deploying “ultrasound-activated” delivery agents comprised of chemotherapeutic drug-bearing nanoparticles adhering to gaseous microbubbles, the size of red blood cells. After injection into the bloodstream and traveling to the site of the tumor, the microbubbles will receive pulsed, focused low-intensity ultrasound treatment that will not heat the skull but will cause the microbubbles to release their contents and thereby initiate destruction of the tumor.
Price said, “By activating the nanoparticles with ultrasound, we can hopefully get a more targeted and more sustained release of the chemotherapy drugs. This will potentially provide for fewer treatments with the same efficacy.”
Pediatric tumors respond well to radiation therapy, which is the conventional option according to Price. However, in very young children (less than 4 years old), the side effects of radiation are particularly debilitating, for example permanent cognitive deficits, learning disabilities, and psychological disorders, because the brain is still actively growing.
Price said, “… the clinician is faced with a difficult Catch 22 – wait until the child is older and risk that the tumor can’t be controlled, or treat at an early age knowing that there will be permanent damage. Because our treatment approach obviates the need for radiation, these side-effects from radiation are not a concern. Children, who are most sensitive to these side-effects, stand to benefit the most.”
Price is an internationally recognized authority on the behavior of small blood vessels and their interaction with drugs and ultrasound-targeted therapeutics. He is a pioneer in the area of microbubble interactions with capillaries.
Thomas C. Skalak, chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the School of Medicine said, “This new project will allow him to harness that prior expertise with a new concept for brain tumor therapy that could revolutionize our ability to help patients with this disease. It is a terrific example of how biomedical engineering can help bridge the gap between complex diseases and the new technologies needed to treat them.”
Dr. Sharon L. Hostler, interim vice president and dean of the School of Medicine said, “We are very grateful for The Hartwell Foundation’s generous support of our research approaches in children’s health. Dr. Price’s work on pediatric brain tumors may bring new hope and treatment options to children and families facing cancer.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we will well discuss the University of Virginia’s outstanding graduation rates among African-American students at all public universities in the nation.
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08.06.08
Posted in Education, Jacob Canon, Relationships, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, ethics, sociology at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Rebecca P. Arrington, Assistant Director of Media Relations, we look at the annual Walter A. Ridley Distinguished Lecture at the University of Virginia, held in April in the Rotunda’s Dome Room.
“In an increasingly diverse nation and interconnected world, educators must teach students to be global citizens committed to justice for all people,” a leading voice in multicultural education told a audience at the annual Walter A. Ridley Distinguished Lecture at the University of Virginia. The Ridley Lecture Series honors U.Va.’s first African-American graduate, who received his doctorate in education from the Curry School in 1953 and went on to a distinguished career in higher education administration.
Educating Students to Be Global Citizens [5:35m]:
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According to James A. Banks, director of the University of Washington’s Center for Multicultural Education and the Kerry and Linda Killinger Professor of Diversity Studies, “schools across the nation and the world are becoming increasingly diverse due to immigration.”
Banks said, “there were 191 million migrants worldwide in 2005, and one in every five children in the U.S. is the child of an immigrant. If current trends continue, the number of persons of color in U.S. public schools will equal or exceed the percentage of whites within one to two decades — a situation that is already true in six U.S. states.”
In Banks lecture, titled “Diversity in America: Challenges and Opportunities for Educating Citizens in Global Times,” He stressed that this increased diversity requires changes in the way students are taught.
Banks said , “Because of the way in which people are moving back and forth across national borders today, we must educate students to function across borders, to become global citizens and to develop cosmopolitan values and commitments.”
He added that this focus on global citizenship requires educators to look beyond a curriculum limited to the “testing and assessment” of basic academic proficiency.
Banks went on to say, “All students of course need to master basic skills in reading, writing and math. However, these skills are necessary, but not sufficient. I am deeply concerned about education that is narrowly defined as academic achievement in basic skills. … Reading, writing and arithmetic are only important if they serve to make students humane.”
Banks said that students should be taught not only “the ability to master, access and use factual knowledge, but also the ability to challenge assumptions, to interrogate and reconstruct knowledge” and learn “to know, to care, and to act,” the three goals of global citizenship education. This type of teaching will educate “students’ heads, but also their hearts,” and create “transformative” citizens who are prepared to take an active role in their society and work for social justice.
Banks said, ‘The notion of simple patriotism to one nation has become obsolete and our society needs to accept the multi-dimensional nature of diversity. A person is not simply a citizen of one country or a member of one ethnic group. Instead, one’s identity incorporates a variety of factors, including nation and race, but also factors such as sexual orientation, religion, language and class.”
Banks encouraged educators to nurture three levels of identification in their students: cultural, national and global. This will help create a necessary balance between unity and diversity because, according to Banks, “unity without diversity leads to hegemony, and diversity without unity leads to chaos.”
This balance between respecting a student’s individual, cultural background and at the same time, encouraging national and global identification is what Banks said will ultimately nurture students who are global citizens and answer the question, “How can we educate our students so they grieve for people dying in Darfur and Iraq as much as they do for our own?”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us for our next show, when we will well discuss a University of Virginia researcher has received a three-year grant from The Hartwell Foundation to further his research on an innovative method to treat pediatric brain tumors.
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07.23.08
Posted in African, Jacob Canon, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Anne Bromley, senior writer and editor for UVa Media Relations, we look at well-known writer, scholar and editor of African-American literature for both academic and general audiences, Deborah E. McDowell who was recently named director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at UVa.
Well-known writer, scholar and editor of African-American literature for both academic and general audiences, Deborah E. McDowell, was recently named director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at UVa.
Deborah McDowell [5:12m]:
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The Woodson Institute, an interdisciplinary teaching and research center, was established in 1981 in response to student and faculty requests for a more coherent African-American and African Studies program and a more aggressive program of minority recruitment at the University. It is named after Carter Woodson, the “father of African-American history,” to honor the Virginia-born founder of African and African-American Studies who also inaugurated Black History Week (now Black History Month).
William B. Harvey, U.Va. Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Equity and a member of the institute’s advisory board, said her appointment is great for the University. “She is an outstanding scholar and a visionary leader. She has the qualities to make the Woodson Institute one of the best centers in the nation.”
The institute selects scholars working in the humanities and social sciences for two-year pre-doctoral or one-year postdoctoral fellowships. The program is intended to facilitate the completion of dissertations or manuscripts in African-American and African Studies and related fields. In addition to overseeing undergraduate majors and minors, the interdisciplinary institute sponsors pre- and postdoctoral fellowships and a visiting scholars program. About 120 graduate students have benefited from the fellowships.
Dr. Maurice Apprey, dean of the Office of African-American Affairs said, “McDowell is strongly motivated to advance the educational mission of the Woodson Institute, in ways that would propel the University into the forefront of African, Caribbean and African-American studies nationally. A professor of English with a strong interdisciplinary fund of knowledge and conceptual rigor, she is very much suited to promote the transfer of knowledge and methods of application that our undergraduate, graduate students and fellows need to succeed.”
McDowell, a member of UVa.’s English department faculty since 1987 and the Alice Griffin Professor of Literary Studies at the University of Virginia said, “Over the years, we’ve had an impressive record of fellows moving to academic appointments here and elsewhere.” Her plans include doubling the number of fellowships per term from five to 10 next year and to go up to 12 the following year.
McDowell, who received her master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University and her B.A. from Tuskegee University said, the institute has been allotted faculty positions dedicated to supplementing gaps in the curriculum, especially to better represent Africa. With the Department of Religious Studies, for instance, a concentration in religions of the African Diaspora is taking shape.
Another new program begun this year under McDowell is an occasional series, “Currents in Conversation,” which aims to bring together members of the University and the broader community to discuss a topic from current events. The first one followed Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s speech in March about the campaign, “A More Perfect Union.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon… Join us next week when we look at the Walter A. Ridley Distinguished Lecture at the University of Virginia, held recently in the Rotunda’s Dome Room.
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