Latest Faculty Accomplishments
News
Submit scholarly news—publications, paper presentations and professional awards and service (appointment to boards, etc.)—to Janet Smith in Public Affairs at smithjl@jmu.edu or 568-8008.
GRANTS (awarded June 2013)
Emily K. Akerson (Associate Director, Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services) received $800 from the Shenandoah County Community Service Act for “Healthy Families Shenandoah County” to continue to meet the needs of at-risk families by providing education, resources and support.
Dr. Jo Anne Brewster (Professor, Graduate Psychology) received $3,300 from the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology to perform administrative tasks for the society.
Dr. Daniel M. Downey (Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry) and Dr. Gina M. MacDonald (Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $63,189 from the National Science Foundation to provide undergraduate chemistry research students with the opportunity to develop improved communication tools and methods in science, as well as enhance day-to-day communication between hearing and deaf students.
Dr. Beth A. Eck (Head, Sociology and Anthropology; Professor, Sociology) received $41,018 from Carmeuse Lime & Stone to complete the archaeological investigations at the Stickley Quarter Site on the Middle Marsh parcel west of Middletown, Va.
Kimberlee Hartzler-Weakley (Administrator, Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services) received $113,211 from DuPont for Promotores as health information specialists to increase knowledge of fish consumption advisories and the possible health effects of mercury exposure within the Spanish- and Kurdish/Arabic-speaking immigrants throughout the Shenandoah Valley. Hartzler-Weakley received $40,000 from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Community Services Board to provide interpretation services to non-English-speaking clients.
Dr. W. Christopher Hughes (Professor, Physics) and Dr. Brian H. Augustine (Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $112,666 from the National Science Foundation for “RUI: Modification and characterization of polymer surfaces with applications in microfluidic neural circuit development” to use a range of experimental and theoretical tools to predict, design and optimize experimental conditions resulting in polymeric surfaces which stimulate improved metal and cellular adhesion.
Dr. Christine L. May (Assistant Professor, Biology) received $1,000 from the National Wildlife Federation to test the relationship between predatory brook trout and sculpin on the aquatic invertebrate prey species, stonefly, and the role that sedimentation takes in that relationship.
Dr. Carole L. Nash (Assistant Professor, Integrated Science and Technology; Affiliate Faculty, Sociology and Anthropology; Instructor, Geography) received $50,000 from the National Park Service to provide archaeological services for Shenandoah National Park.
Gary S. Race (Grants Administrator, Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services) received $41,069 from Rockingham Memorial Hospital for Home Visiting Consortium training development to offer motivational interviewing to home visiting staff with families with children in out-of-home placement or at risk for out-of-home placement due to substance abuse.
Dr. Trevor F. Stokes (Director, Alvin V. Baird Attention and Learning Disabilities Center; Alvin V. Baird Centennial Chair in Psychology; Professor, Graduate Psychology) received $18,000 from Matthew’s Center to sponsor two master’s-level students in connection with an internship field experience provided by the center.
Dr. Brian C. Utter (Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy) received $37,768 from the National Science Foundation to understand the influence of surface chemistry on the jamming and flowing of submerged granular flows.
Dr. Steven J. Whitmeyer (Associate Professor, Geology and Environmental Science) and Dr. Shelley J. Whitmeyer (Instructor, Geology and Environmental Science) received $21,984 from Google for “Using Google Earth to Model Geologic Change Through Time” to facilitate the development of time- and space-dependent geoscience and environmental educational modules.
HONORS
Dr. Steven J. Whitmeyer (Associate Professor, Geology and Environmental Science) has been named a fellow by the Geological Society of America.
PRESENTATIONS
Dr. Peter K. Bsumek (Associate Professor, Communication Studies) presented “Competing Rhetorics in Contemporary U.S. Coal Controversies,” with co-authors Steve Schwarze of the University of Montana, Jen Schneider of the Colorado School of Mines and Jennifer Peeples of Utah State University, at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on Communication and the Environment in Uppsala, Sweden, in June.
PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Heather J. Carmack (Assistant Professor, Communication Studies) published “More than just good grades: Dialectical tensions in the construction of good student identity,” with co-author Dr. Gloria Galanes of Missouri State University, in Qualitative Communication Research, 2(1), 81-108.
Dr. Heather J. Carmack (Assistant Professor, Communication Studies) published “‘It may not be pretty, but it’s honest’: Examining embodied parental grief on the Callapitter blog,” with co-author Dr. Jocelyn DeGroot of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, in Death Studies, 37(5), 448-470.
Dr. Bernd Kaussler (Associate Professor, Political Science) wrote “Iran’s Nuclear Diplomacy: Power Politics and Conflict Resolution,” which was published by Routledge in June as part of its New Diplomacy Series.
