SIUC Research

Research at SIUC | It MattersSunday, April 10, 2011 | The Southern Illinoisan | Page 1

‘I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.’

– Thomas Jefferson

It Matters

A Special Section The Southern Illinoisan | Sunday, April 10, 2011

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

research


Research at SIUC | It Matters

About this section

Welcome to the world of discovery and creativity that is Southern Illinois University Carbondale. This special section offers you a snapshot of the meaningful work our talented faculty and scholars and students are engaged in on a daily basis.

We’ve selected stories that appeal to a wide variety of interests — health care, coal mining, business, agriculture, writing and the arts, and environmental issues, just to cite a few examples. Our goal in producing this section mirrors that of our research efforts: To enhance and expand awareness and understanding of the important work you’ll find on the campus every day.

Our research and creative activities have a significant economic impact on the communities served by the University. During the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2010, our researchers and scholars attracted a record-setting $78 million in external grants and contracts. Those funds support our faculty, staff and students, and pay for goods and services that are essential to our efforts.

Attracting that level of financial support speaks to the reputation of the members of the University community. We appreciate the support and confidence of public and private agencies, organizations and foundations, such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

The University’s reputation for excellence attracts future funding, as well as faculty and students. In fact, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching lists SIUC as among only 4 percent of doctoral-granting universities in the nation rated as a high-research activity institution. SIUC is among just 139 public institutions rated

as research universities. To put that in perspective, there are more than 1,700 public universities in the country.

That’s important for our students, because that reputation for conducting cutting-edge research adds value to their degrees. They are learning what’s in today’s textbooks, and what will be in tomorrow’s, while engaging in enriched problem-solving experiences that better prepare them for career success. By sharing our passion for research with students, we inspire the next generation of problem-solvers and explorers.

The excellence of our students is recognized well beyond the campus. Our graduate students receive prestigious Fulbright, National Science Foundation and Phi Kappa Phi graduate fellowships, among many others. Undergraduate students earn recognition as Udall and Goldwater Scholars, as members of the USA Today’s All-USA College

Academic Team, and through invitations to participate in the prestigious Posters on the Hill in Washington, D.C.

Our students know they are learning from leaders in their fields, faculty members who win significant awards and honors from national and international agencies and organizations, who achieve recognition for their poetry, art, music and playwriting, who earn the designation of Fellow in their respective fields, who become Fulbright Scholars.

Our reputation for conducting world-class research also leads to productive partnerships in academics and with business and industry, social service agencies, local school districts and governmental agencies. Faculty members and students benefit from relationships with universities in the U.S. and abroad, as well as with a wide array of companies, ranging from EMAC Inc. of Carbondale, Wildlife Materials of Murphysboro and The H Group of West Frankfort, to Caterpillar Inc., Boeing, and Honeywell.

We conduct research to create new ideas and solve problems, to chart the previously uncharted, to transform lives in the communities we serve and throughout the global society.

I hope you enjoy learning more about our efforts.

Rita cheng is the chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Faculty, students make a positive difference

Rita Cheng

I am pleased to join Chancellor Cheng in introducing this new venue to showcase selected research activities at SIUC that collectively have many positive benefits to our students, the University, and the southern Illinois region.

Teaching and research go hand-in-hand as a faculty member and student work one-on-one to solve a nationally competitive, cutting-edge research problem, or create new concepts together, leading the student to a higher plane of performance and activity than the student may have ever imagined. Transforming students’ lives is one of the amazing impacts that a research university can have.

This mentoring, research experience is expected in most graduate students’ curricula, but at SIUC we also have as extensive a portfolio of programs for undergraduate research as can be found at any university in the nation. Undergraduate students who have taken advantage of these opportunities at SIUC have competed with the best students nationwide for prestigious scholarships or awards, such as USA Today Academic All-America –

opportunities that change their lives forever!

You’ll find an entire section in this issue that describes the many undergraduate research opportunities at SIUC, along with examples of the variety of research projects in which our students are engaged.

Considering the natural beauty and assets with which we are blessed here in southern Illinois, it should be no surprise that many faculty have research expertise in the inter-related areas of ecology, environment and energy, that are well represented in the examples given in this issue. These topics range from ways to harvest the invasive Asian silver carp species found in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and turn it into an economic advantage, to a study of the projected response of Midwest agriculture to climate change during the rest of the century, to prairie restoration, and studies of energy policy as it relates to biofuels, water and

oil. Our campus is internationally known for its energy research, particularly related to coal, and extending to mine safety, which is also represented within.

We have many activities at SIUC that reach out to the southern Illinois community. Learn about our National Science Foundation GK-12 program, which places our graduate students within eight schools throughout the region to assist with the teaching of science.

The public service work of our law school is also described. And our research is increasingly leading to new innovations and technologies that are being commercialized, creating new jobs in the region. These examples provide you with a taste of the research activities on the campus that I hope will kindle your interest in the many other great things going on at SIUC.

John Koropchak is vice chancellor for research and Graduate School dean at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Teaching, research go hand-in-hand

John Koropchak

This special section on research and creative activities at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a collaborative effort with The Southern Illinoisan. Staff of SIUC’s University Communications and the SIU School of Medicine’s Public Affairs Office provided all stories and photos.

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Outreach | economic Development

Undergraduate research

health research

energy | ecologyenvironment

social sciences

Pages 15-16

Research at SIUC | It Matters Research at SIUC | It MattersSunday, April 10, 2011 | The Southern Illinoisan | Page 3

Just hearing the phrase “pink slip” is enough to make people nervous.

But could attitude play a critical role when it comes to how people deal with layoffs and downsizing? Can employers and employees “prime” positive attitudes? That’s what research by Steven Karau, Gregory A. Lee Professor of Management in the College of Business at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Sean C. Walker, a doctoral candidate in organizational studies from Poplar Bluff, Mo., indicates.

They sought to answer a number of questions. What influences our attitudes about organizations without us being consciously aware of it? If we feel self-reliant does that make us more open and accepting of layoffs and downsizing than if we feel employer-reliant? Do situational indicators, managerial actions and the culture of an organization influence the perceptions and behaviors of people where they work? Through a series of studies, Karau and Walker worked to find out.

In three studies, participants were “primed” with messages related to self-reliance. The messages were either subliminal (below one’s conscious awareness) or supraliminal (noticeable, but unlikely to be the focus of one’s attention). Essentially, priming is using stimuli to activate concepts in the mind that may influence perceptions and behaviors

without someone being aware it is happening. It’s something akin to why restaurant commercials work or why companies pay for product placement in movies.

Karau said while extensive research exists from social and cognitive psychologists about priming and other subliminal processes, it’s something management scholars have paid little attention to.

“This lack of attention is unfortunate, as non-conscious influences may have effects on a host of judgments and perceptions that are important to managers and organizations. Our research sought to partially fill this void,” Karau said.

Karau said their studies found that people primed with messages of self-reliance “had less negative views of downsizing” and “recorded perceptions of higher levels of fair treatment and decreased levels of anger in response to a termination scenario.”

Work relationships have changed over time and in today’s world, the landscape frequently includes layoffs and corporate downsizing, according to Karau. Individuals can increase their skills and abilities to be more marketable, which in turn increases their confidence and feelings of self-reliance, Karau and Walker said. But, the

research revealed much more. “Our research suggests

that people who feel self-reliant are more comfortable and confident and can better handle whatever may come their way in the work environment,” Walker said.

One study involved presenting participants with a series of 25 phrases, each containing five words. They were to choose the four words in each grouping that made a sentence. The participants were unaware that the point wasn’t to unscramble a sentence. Some taking the test received sentences that encouraged feelings of worthiness and self-reliance, while some test-takers found sentences encouraging dependence and reliance on others. The third group got sentences that were neutral in nature.

Two additional studies seemed to test visual acuity as numbers flash in the center of a computer screen. Test-takers were told to keep a running total adding the numbers up while clicking a button to indicate which side of the screen a “flash” came from. Turns out, the “flashes” were actually words shown on the screen for just 60 milliseconds. Again, the words were ones fostering self-reliance, reliance on others or just neutral words.

In the first two studies, right after the priming task, participants rated their attitudes toward downsizing by responding to a number of statements using a scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” In the third study, participants read a scenario about an employee being laid off and were told to imagine they were that employee. They then reported how they would feel about the situation, answering questions about whether they would feel angry and whether the manager’s treatment was fair and appropriate.

In talking with Walker, participants universally did not realize there were any hidden messages coming their way. But, he found consistent differences in their reactions to job loss depending upon which hidden

messages they got. “Those primed with

messages of self-reliance reacted much more favorably and felt much better about downsizing and layoffs,” Walker said.

He and Karau say the message is clear: Employers and managers can influence how their employees deal with job loss scenarios. Moreover, Walker said the natural inference is that when companies build a culture of trust and feelings of self-reliance in their employees, it will result in more content, more efficient employees and that ultimately benefits all involved.

“The more you can master the ability to prime employees and build a culture of trust, the more efficient they and the business will be and the more that will be accomplished.

When people feel valued and important they will be more productive,” Walker said.

“Companies can give persistent primes to their employees by talking in terms of ‘us’ and ‘we,’ by sharing goals and by setting a tone of working together to reach objectives,” Karau said. “Managers and employees serve as models for each other and mimicry often happens unconsciously.”

“Automaticity of Workplace Behaviors: The Influence of Non-conscious Processes on Perceptions of Downsizing and Terminations,” the paper detailing their research, is currently under review at “The Journal of Applied Psychology.” Priming of downsizing attitudes was also the subject of their 2010 presentation at the Academy of Management in Montreal.

‘I look for what needs to be done. after all, that’s how the universe designs itself.’

– R. Buckminster Fuller

outReAch | economic Development

Electronic embedded systems are everywhere. They can do everything from controlling manufacturing plant systems, to tracking inventory or wildlife.

Thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation, Southern Illinois University Carbondale is now home to a national consortium of electronics research centered on making embedded systems better, cheaper and more reliable.

The Consortium for Embedded Systems is a joint effort between SIUC’s College of Engineering, the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University and private industry, said Spyros Tragoudas, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and leader of the effort at SIUC.

The consortium is the only one of its kind funded by NSF in the nation, he said. That means other universities that wish to conduct research in this way will have to join the center and meet the requirements to do so.

“It was a very tough competition and I’m very happy NSF approved it,” said Tragoudas, who works in the computer engineering specialization. “They felt we have good quality faculty here, so that by itself is big. This puts SIUC in the forefront in this area.”

Embedded systems use embedded microprocessors to control systems and provide

feedback. Research issues for the consortium include finding ways to achieve and maintain access to the microprocessors, testing and verifying their reliability. It also involves the design, size and weight of such microprocessors, which may be critical based on their intended application.

For example, some companies are developing microprocessors that are small and light enough to attach to butterflies to study their movements. On the other end of the scale, embedded systems are used to control the flight of a rocket as it races toward space.

Like all computer and electronic technologies, embedded systems are rapidly evolving, which is why Tragoudas and others sought to create an NSF center for studying them.

“This consortium is needed because this field is fluid and ever changing. Nothing is static and the changes are drastic, month by month,” he said. NSF will fund the effort for up to 10 years.

Since SIUC received the grant in 2009, several companies have signed on as partners. Some of those include Caterpillar Inc., Dickey-John, Intel Ultra Mobility Group of California, EMAC Inc. of Carbondale and Wildlife Materials of Murphysboro. Intel’s Microprocessor Research Laboratory in Oregon, and the U.S. Navy also are involved.

Tragoudas recently returned from Rockford, where he visited with Hamilton-Sundstrand, which also is interested in joining the consortium.

Industry partners pay a fee annually for membership in the consortium and to sit on its Industrial Advisory Board, Tragoudas said. The board will select projects proposed by for funding.

“Several companies have also joined through Arizona State University,” he said.

“Research by SIUC investigators on security, embedded control, intra processor communication, processor testing, special-purpose embedded sensors, analysis of signals for security-related aspects and imaging-based analysis have been of very high priority to member companies.”

SIUC is known for its ability to test the reliability and speed of microprocessors, as well as their power consumption, Tragoudas said. Faculty from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will participate in the consortium, and faculty from other departments might also eventually become involved.

SIUC faculty and students currently are working on 10 projects funded through the consortium. Six University faculty members, 12 graduate students and two undergraduates are involved.

Tragoudas said the consortium boosts research opportunities for the University and raises SIUC’s overall profile.

“Faculty and students get

to participate with industry in research and development that otherwise would have been very difficult to accomplish,” he said. “This leads to more and higher-quality job opportunities for SIUC graduates. It also improves the image and visibility of SIUC nationally and internationally, as this is the only NSF center in the USA for embedded microelectronics.”

Industry partners, each of whom must provide at least $25,000 to join, will work with the consortium in a variety of ways, including providing internships to students who will be paid through the grant by their respective university. The internships will give companies a head start on

recruiting academically talented students to eventually work there.

“This is more attractive to students, too, “ Tragoudas said. “So this kind of center helps attracts students and helps companies recruit qualified individuals inexpensively.”

The consortium solicits proposals from qualified faculty based on the interests of companies that are its members. The member companies then review the proposals and recommend to Tragoudas and his counterpart at ASU which proposals it funds, based on each proposal’s merits and competitiveness. The NSF also provides matching funds for the research.

NSF chooses SIUC for embedded systems centerBy tim crosby

Photo by Jeff GaRneR

Testing the circuits – Students and faculty design and study intricate electrical components like this as part of their work for the Consortium of Embedded Systems at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Some companies are developing microprocessors

that are small and light enough to attach

to butterflies to study their movements. On the

other end of the scale, embedded systems

are used to control the flight of a rocket as it races

toward space.

Employers can gain insights from ‘priming’ studies

Photo by Chelsea stuRGeon

Priming Test — Jaeho Yoon, a senior management major from Seoul, South Korea, takes a computerized subliminal priming test administered by Sean Walker (seated at left), a doctoral candidate in organizational studies from Poplar Bluff, Mo. Watching is Steven Karau, Gregory A. Lee Professor of Management in the College of Business.

By christi mathis

Why iT maTTers

Managers and employers can influence their employees. How we communicate and our behavior send messages

that can inspire confidence and trust or the opposite.

Why iT maTTers



Great promotional plans don’t just happen. They’re the result of extensive research, planning and thinking.

Students in Professor Gordon Bruner II’s strategic promotion class in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s College of Business learn that first hand while creating promotional plans for business clients.

“In this course, students not only learn in class, but by experimenting and trying things out, by finding practical applications for what they’re learning by working with businesses and non-profit organizations in the real world,” said Bruner, who is also director of the Office of Scale Research.

He said that since he began teaching the course in the mid 1980s, the required class project has led to the development of hundreds of promotional plans for businesses and organizations. Each class has an average of about 100 students and they divide into groups of three-five for the semester-long project. Students usually seek out their own clients.

Bruner said the promotion plans essentially help a business or organization determine “what it is they want to say and how they want to say it.” Perhaps a non-profit organization is seeking more volunteers or an increase in donations. Or, a business may seek to increase sales or improve its image. The “problems” are as diverse as the clients, Bruner said. There is no cost involved for

the clients other than taking the time to work with the students. What clients get at the end is a professional, written promotional plan.

“The students research their client’s business or organization and the problem they are trying to solve. They’ll brainstorm different ways to reach the goal, the costs of doing it and try to justify the expense of recommended promotions. These students take a thoughtful, managerial approach to helping a real client deal with a real situation,” Bruner said.

Each group becomes a consulting firm. Members choose a name for their group, talk with the client to determine a problem and goal, develop objectives, gather information about their target market, strategize, generate numerous promotional ideas, revise concepts and ultimately, prepare a final report for delivery to the client.

While students do not execute the plan, they offer the client a coherent strategy for solving the problem, Bruner said. It is up to the client at that point to decide how much of the plan will be executed and who will do it.

Several times in recent years, a group of students from Bruner’s class has prepared a promotional plan for Black Diamond Harley-Davidson of Marion.

“They’ve been a lot of help and have great ideas. They’ve helped us and we’ve helped them,” said Shad Zimbro, co-owner of Black Diamond Harley-Davidson with

Rodney Cabaness.Black Diamond marketing

director Jeremy Pinkston, an SIUC alumnus, said he finds working with the students rewarding and a good way to give back to the University that provided him with a good education. Students have created plans designed to attract a younger demographic, maintain customer loyalty, expand the sales territory and bring in new customers from more than 100 miles away.

When Lesley Batson went about looking for ways to increase traffic on her global website, she thought of her alma mater. Batson, a Toronto native, came to SIUC on a track scholarship and earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing in May 1997 and her MBA in December 1998. She said the University and the education she received at SIUC “have served me well” so it was natural to think of seeking help from faculty and students with her project.

Now living in the Orlando, Fla., area, sports remain an important part of Batson’s life. An absolutely avid Chicago Bears fan, she couldn’t miss the chance to see her team play in the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami. She also couldn’t help but notice how many other women were in attendance.

“Yet, there was nowhere for them to go on a regular basis to engage with each other

about the sport, or any sport, for that matter. That’s when Fanatchicks was born. Fanatic + chicks = Fanatchicks. It’s the first site where the focus is on female sports fans of all sports and on fitness as well,” Batson said.

The website, http://fanatchicks.com, features sports commentary, fitness information, blogs, videos, women’s health information, contests and more.

Helping Batson figure out how to achieve some of her business goals is giving SIUC students a chance to get some hands-on learning experience this semester. Hannah Rummel, a senior marketing major from Carbondale, and her group is one of the two in Bruner’s class this semester working with Batson.

“Fanatchicks is a great website. More people just need to know about it. It’s just a

matter of getting the name out there and we’re trying to help Lesley do that,” Rummel said.

Her group’s goal is to increase the hits on Batson’s Fanatchicks website by 20 percent, primarily in the target group of college-age women. The students have been brainstorming ideas and initial thoughts include promoting the website through e-mail, e-cards, Facebook and Twitter campaigns.

“You feel more accountable working with a real client. It is a great lesson in how to communicate with people, how to organize a group, have ideas to present, keep in contact and present things professionally,” Rummel said.

Batson is one of 20 clients Bruner’s students are working with this semester.

Meanwhile, 39 College of Business students in the

marketing research class of John Summey, associate professor and distinguished teacher in the marketing department, are helping Batson with market research.

They are researching the who, what, when, where and how of college females’ interest in sports and the use of sports and fitness-related social media and technology.

“An experiential learning marketing research project for a firm like Fanatchicks.com engages students with real client information needs resulting in a higher level of involvement with the learning process. The outcome, in addition to very good information for the client, is a very beneficial increase in retention of the knowledge and skill set to which students are exposed,” Summey said.

Student ‘consulting firms’ aid business clientsBy christi mathis


Promotion team — Gordon Bruner II, marketing professor, with one of the strategic promotion class teams working on the fanatchicks.com website (shown behind) for alumna Lesley Batson. Pictured with Bruner, from left, are marketing majors Zack Boeckmann from Germantown, Hannah Rummel from Carbondale, Jake Norrenberns from Albers and Chris Damrat from Glenview.

Working with business clients grounds students in reality. The students feel more accountable and learn research techniques, how to communicate more effectively,

organize themselves and their work and how to make professional presentations.

PHoTo PRovIDED

alumna — Lesley Batson, an alumna now living in Florida, is working with students from SIUC to create promotional plans for her website, fanatchicks.com.

Why iT maTTers

No matter the measure of success — be it award-winning faculty, widely published students and alumni, or in national rankings – the creative writing program in the English department at SIUC is making a name for itself.

If anyone is surprised, it isn’t the faculty. They knew what they were building.

This year, the creative writing MFA is in the national rankings as published by “Poets and Writers,” a professional journal, for the second time, coming in at 47th overall – the highest of any MFA program in Illinois. Moreover, for poetry, SIUC ranks 27th, and scores even higher for annual funding, coming in 14th.

The program, of course, is more than numbers on a ranking scorecard. It is people and ideas and shared vision and even dreams.

The creative writing master of fine arts (MFA) program got its start in 1991 when then-chair of the English department, Richard Peterson, hired five creative writing faculty with the intention of initiating a creative writing MFA. SIUC is the first public institution in Illinois to offer an MFA.

Beth Lordan, one of the 1991 fiction hires, said the faculty agreed on a program based on workshops and forms classes, forms meaning categories of literature. They also decided to make the MFA a three-year program.

“That extra year makes all the difference,” Allison Joseph, poet, and now the head of the MFA program, said.

Joseph singled out several factors she believes contribute to the overall success of the program.

• TeachingStudents work in their craft

from the start by teaching freshman composition. All students in the program are funded.

“SIUC, unlike other places I considered, offers more than the opportunity just to study your craft,” Lane Kareska, graduate student, said. “MFA students receive assistantships that allow us to be the instructors of record in undergraduate classes. Not having to seek outside employment has kept me focused.”

• Faculty“Rodney Jones, who had a

hand in hiring all of us and who has been here from the program’s very beginning, is one of the most prominent poets today,” Joseph said. “We’ve had great faculty here, good writers and good teachers.”

• CarbondaleJoseph noted that

Carbondale is an ideal college town for a young writer. It’s small size limits available distractions, and the relatively low cost of living allows students to live on their assistantships. In addition, she said, Carbondale is friendly to the arts, welcoming student-

run writing programs and providing off-campus forums for readings.

• The students“It has been incredibly

rewarding to see the students coalesce into a group of peers,” Joseph said. “They don’t just work on their own projects – they are listening to their fellow students, and they are inviting outside writers to share their work with the community.”

Joseph noted, too, that SIUC students get published, and they get hired. She started her blog, “Bulletin Board: MFA Carbondale,” (http://mfacarbondale.blogspot.com/) as a way for students to share news about jobs, publications and awards.

• Other resourcesUndergraduate students

run the annual Devil’s Kitchen Literary Festival, and manage the undergraduate literary journal, “Grassroots.” Graduate students are in charge of the Little Grassy Literary Festival. Graduate students may also serve an internship at the literary journal “Crab Orchard

Review,” or help staff the Young Writers Workshop (YWW), a summer program for high school-age writers.

Some of those Young Writers come back, and Joseph said that is one of the best rewards. One YWW alumna now an SIUC undergraduate is Mary Meadows, editor of “Grassroots.”

“I came to SIUC because of the creative writing program,” she said. “I love the energy I feel here and the passion everyone has for writing. Every creative writing professor has always been willing to discuss my work outside of class, to sit down and guide me or give me their opinions. I feel like my horizons have opened.”

Alumnus Benjamin Percy, now on the creative writing faculty at Iowa State University, is an author with a slew of publications and awards. Recently, he sold film rights to his novel, “Red Moon.”

“The program was like a refiner’s fire from which I emerged a stronger, cleaner, better writer,” he said. “Today,

when at the keyboard, I still recall the wisdom of my professors at Carbondale, whispering over my shoulder, encouraging me and berating me. I would not be in the position I am today without their support and instruction.”

If there is a downside to the increasing success of the program, it’s turning away good writers.

“I think we always assumed that word would get out that this is a very fine program,” Lordan said. “Over the years, as our students began to publish and gain attention, and as Allison created on online presence for the program, the pool from which we choose students has widened and deepened. I hadn’t anticipated how sad it would make me to reject good young writers.”

Lordan said the student selections are based not just on writing potential but also on “fit” — which students can benefit from this specific program, which students can help create a class with enough variety to foster “creative tension.”

The faculty selections are made in similar fashion, when it’s time to hire. The hiring committees look not just for accomplished writers, but also for writers who can and want to teach.

“The future of literature is too important to be left to chance,” Joseph said.

The faculty include: Pinckney Benedict, Rodney Jones, Judy Jordan, Allison Joseph, Beth Lordan, Alberta Skaggs, Jacinda Townsend, and Jon Tribble. For faculty biographies, see http://english.siuc.edu.

Creative writing program respected, popularBy Andrea hahn


Creative Writing faculty – Clockwise from the bottom right are Rodney Jones, Allison Joseph, Alberta Skaggs, Jon Tribble, Jacinda Townsend, Beth Lordan and Pinckney Benedict.

Why iT maTTers

The creative writing program, especially

the master of fine arts program, is creating an environment that today is attracting the writers

of tomorrow. The program is increasing awareness of and respect

for SIUC, and carving a place for the University

in the broader world of arts and letters.

Photo by andRea hahn

Teaching the craft of writing – Judy Jordan in her classroom, where she uses a workshop format and also critical interpretation of literary works to inspire and teach both undergraduate and graduate students.


a sample – A portion of the combined publications of the creative writing faculty shown here is also only part of the picture. Students, both undergraduate and graduate, also publish in a wide variety of journals, magazines and anthologies while in the program.


What began with a conversation between two SIUC faculty members is now an international health care education business, and the University and its Office of Economic and Regional Development have been important to the company’s evolution.

The SIU School of Medicine’s first-year students study on the Carbondale campus and by the mid-1980s, problem-based learning was in use. School of Medicine faculty Hurley Myers, then a professor of physiology and internal medicine, and Dr. Kevin Dorsey, then a clinical professor of internal medicine, discussed this form of learning and the challenges it presented for students. Partnering with software engineer Eldon Benz they created a computerized simulation program, “Diagnostic Reasoning,” allowing medical students to examine a virtual patient with instructors able to study how the exam happened.

The medical education program wasn’t just a hit at SIUC; other schools wanted it, too. And, the company founders, all employed at SIUC, realized there was a market for other health care education training and testing tools. Initially, they worked within SIUC but by 1992, the men established DxR Development Group, Inc. as an independent business and moved into a small office in the Illinois Small Business Incubator within the University’s Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center.

In the ensuing years, DxR has partnered with various public and private organizations to develop and commercialize an ever-expanding line of products, including patient simulations,

tutorial courses, online performance-based testing and more. Myers is the company president while Benz is vice president for operations. Dorsey, now dean and provost of the SIU School of Medicine, concluded his affiliation with DxR.

DxR has created patient simulations covering a variety of specializations and more are in the development stage, Benz said. The company’s repertoire is extensive, including educational, business and web services. The company (http://www.dxrgroup.com/) also offers web services hosting, custom web application development, E-commerce solutions and support and maintenance.

“SIUC has remained a strategic partner with DxR Development Group,” said Kyle Harfst, director of technology and enterprise development at SIUC and executive director of the

Southern Illinois Research Park.

“DxR was a client of the Small Business Incubator and the recipient of technical assistance from the SIUC Small Business Development Center, Southern Illinois Entrepreneurship Center and the SouthernTECH ITEC programs. Those programs, within the SIUC Office of Economic and Regional Development, have provided technical assistance in areas ranging from business plan development aid to help with funding opportunities,” Harfst said.

DxR Development Group, now employing 15, moved in 2006 to its current home in the University’s One Enterprise Place, located in the Southern Illinois Research Park. The company continues to expand not only its product development and commercialization but also its market, with many of the

products already translated into numerous languages and utilized in countries all over the world.

“DxR is currently working with its business partner in Taiwan, Chun Shin, Ltd., to finalize a distribution agreement with Laerdal China, Ltd., a global health care education company that is well known for providing high-quality medical education content, and we are confident the collaboration will expand our opportunities in mainland China significantly,” Myers said. “DxR also has similar partnerships in Japan and in the Middle East where there is currently a major effort under way in Saudi Arabia to expand the number of medical schools. Many of these schools have already licensed or expressed considerable interest in licensing and incorporating DxR software programs into their medical

curriculum. Moreover, several of these schools are interested in collaborating with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to incorporate medical education innovations SIU uses into their curriculum.”

He attributes “a significant part” of his company’s success over the past 20 years to the “ongoing support of the University, and in particular, the staff of the SIUC Office of Economic and Regional Development. Having my office in the Research Park, just short drive from the medical school, has made it easy for me to maintain an essential connection to medical education while at the same time, allowing me to conduct business worldwide.”

The mission of the Office of Economic and Regional Development (OERD) is to enhance growth and build prosperity in the region through entrepreneurship, innovation and community engagement, Harfst said. Headquartered in the Southern Illinois Research Park, the economic development arm of the University oversees the Small Business Incubator program and works with clients with start-up and existing businesses throughout the region.

In addition to OERD, the Dunn-Richmond center is home to a computer lab,

conference rooms, an atrium and rental space for new and expanding businesses.

The Research Park actually includes two facilities: Dunn-Richmond and One Enterprise Place, a nearby multi-tenant building for growing businesses.

There are currently 11 tenants in the Dunn-Richmond facility. One Enterprise Place serves as a mixed use facility housing six tenants. Planning is under way for a third building, slated for completion in early 2012.

“At any given time, there are usually several park tenants with businesses based on research or technologies discovered or developed at SIUC,” Harfst said.

Operation Mousetrap, a pilot project providing SIUC faculty and staff with entrepreneurship training enabling them to commercialize their research and innovation technologies, debuted in 2010 at the Dunn-Richmond center. The program utilizes FastTrac TechVenture, an entreprenuership and business program from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, an organization fostering U.S. entrepreneurship. Partnering in the program at SIUC are the College of Business’s Center for Innovation, the Illinois Small Business Development Center, the Small Business Incubator Program and the Southern Illinois Research Park.

Program graduates are eligible for three months of free rent through the Small Business Incubator program, along with other business and technical assistance. A number of University faculty members have created “spin-out” businesses following participation in the program, Harfst said.

Wireless networks aren’t just for getting our laptops on the Internet. They are finding a place in agricultural fields.

Research under way with the assistance of Martin A. Hebel, an associate professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, could assist farmers wirelessly measure surface temperatures of crop canopies to determine a crop’s stress level and the need for irrigation. Hebel, who is in the Electronics Systems Technologies program in the School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies, is working with researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Bushland, Texas, in developing a wireless infrared temperature system to monitor crops.

The research applies to center pivot irrigation systems, which involve elevated rolling sprinkler equipment that rotates on a fixed pivot and moves in a circular pattern in fields. Crops in need of irrigation are “stressed” and run hotter than healthy crops, Hebel said.

By positioning infrared sensors on irrigation pivot arms, the sensors can look down at the crop canopy as the arms move through the field and wirelessly send data to a control system that determines irrigation needs.

The collaborative research began in 2007 when Susan O’Shaughnessy, a research agricultural engineer with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, contacted Hebel because of his work with microprocessors and wireless

radio frequency modules. O’Shaughnessy needed to expedite a wireless prototype for field deployment, and Hebel’s “expertise and previous work in agriculture fit well,” she said.

Hebel helped facilitate a design and improved designs for a narrow field-of-view infrared thermometer (IRT) by testing two different infrared sensor types and developing code to manage

and transmit data from the IRT, O’Shaughnessy said. The IRTs measure the surface temperature of the crop canopy and with GPS, or global positioning system, the system determines the location of the stressed crops in a field. Temperature data from the IRTs are transmitted to a computer at the center pivot, and the computer automatically manages the data at midnight to determine the stress level of the crop. Irrigation begins later in the morning if the stress level is above an established set point, she said.

Hebel and O’Shaughnessy said that the wireless IRT is less expensive than wired counterparts.

“The cost savings come from not having to run thermocouple wire and the elimination of dataloggers,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Wireless sensors can easily be relocated and there is no maintenance of wires from weather and rodents.”

Machines going through the

fields can destroy sensors set in the ground, Hebel noted.

“If you can irrigate more specifically where the water is needed you can practice water conservation, which is a important consideration in several areas of the country,” he said.

The current field test involves two sensors that view each treatment plot from opposite sides, O’Shaughnessy said. The plots are 45 feet in width. There are 24 wireless sensors on the pivot lateral covering a radius of 856 feet or a circular 52-acre field

Hebel’s work “was key to prototyping our wireless sensors in a timely manner and in developing code that allowed the IRT sensors to send data every five minutes and sleep in between transmissions to reduce battery consumption,” O’Shaughnessy said.

Hebel said the technology continues to evolve, with a push for low-powered devices that can operate off a small

set of batteries that can last for months.

“What we have found is that wireless sensor networks are feasible in production agriculture if a moving sprinkler system is used as a platform for these sensing devices,” O’Shaughnessy said.

The technology for using wireless infrared thermometers to monitor crop canopy temperatures has widespread application in agriculture, she said.

“We are using this technology to automate irrigation scheduling to make the process simpler and less time intensive. This is important since many farmers are now managing multiple fields,” she said. “Others use crop canopy temperatures to identify the drought stress characteristics among the varieties of the same crops to help breed the most suitable variety for a particular region.”

Hebel’s research also includes other various

agricultural applications, including using a microcontroller, accelerometer, and wireless system network transceiver to measure forces when “shaker” machines vibrate trees while harvesting the citrus. He has assisted in the project at the University of Florida Citrus and Research Education Center, developing sensors that measure the “shakers” distribution of force on citrus at the time it breaks free from the tree. The goal is to find the optimum forces for harvesting to not damage the citrus or tree.

Work is now under way on what force is needed for best uniform yields, he said.

Hebel said he enjoys the programming for data collection, instrumentation and monitoring. He is able to apply this work in his undergraduate classes, and many of his students are going into fields that include agricultural applications, he said.

Wireless system helps farmers better monitor cropsBy pete Rosenbery

SIUC plays ‘significant part’ in firm’s successBy christi mathis


Gauging water needs — Martin A. Hebel, an associate professor in SIUC’s Electronic Systems Technologies program, discusses the wireless infrared thermometer, or Wireless IRT. He is working with researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in developing a system to monitor a crop’s stress level and need for irrigation.


a tiny sensor with important purpose — This third generation wireless infrared sensor looks down over crops from elevated rolling center pivot irrigation systems to measure crop temperatures and send data back wirelessly to a control station, which determines if irrigation is needed.


Technology commercialization — Kyle Harfst (left), director of technology and enterprise development at SIUC and executive director of the Southern Illinois Research Park, and Hurley Myers, president of DxR Development Group, Inc., look at health care education products developed by DxR, with assistance from SIUC, and marketed worldwide.

The Office of Economic and Regional Development

enhances growth and prosperity in the region

through entrepreneurship, innovation and community

engagement.

Why iT maTTers

Wireless infrared technology that can measure surface

temperatures of crop canopies to determine a crop’s stress level and irrigation needs allows farmers to automate

irrigation schedules in less time and lower cost.

Why iT maTTers



Students in the Southern Illinois University School of Law are involved in legal research that could ultimately mean freedom for wrongfully convicted prisoners.

Students Jennifer Donnelly and Angela Rollins last fall began assisting the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project, an organization whose work is to not only assist wrongfully convicted prisoners prove their innocence, but also aims to reform the state’s criminal justice system. Four additional students are involved with the program through unpaid externships this semester

Prior to taking a case, the project needs “strong evidence” that inmates are actually innocent — such as bad eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, ineffective counsel, unreliable forensic evidence and misconduct by prosecutors and police — and once a case is taken, the services are free. The project assists attorneys who represent convicted inmates in appellate cases where there is a strong chance the inmate is innocent, and concentrates on non-death penalty cases that carry long sentences.

Donnelly, a third-year law student from Chillicothe, near Peoria, said the externship opens up the realization that “there are real situations where there are innocent people out there serving time for crimes that they didn’t do.”

“That is a big issue in the criminal justice system today which I think a lot of people don’t understand really happens — people can falsely confess to something they didn’t do, or an eyewitness can falsely identify someone who wasn’t even there,” she said.

Under the direction of Professor William A. Schroeder and Assistant Professor Christopher W. Behan, the students worked last semester on case research that involves the first-degree murder, armed robbery, and attempted aggravated kidnapping conviction of Thomas McMillen in the June 1989 death of 18-year-old

Melissa Koontz. The woman’s body was found in a cornfield west of Springfield after she disappeared while on her way home from a grocery store where she worked. McMillen is one of five people convicted in connection with Koontz’ slaying and is serving a life sentence.

The innocence project is reviewing the evidence and seeking post-conviction advanced forensic DNA testing for McMillen, who maintains his innocence.

The project’s previous work has resulted in exonerations of three people, including Julie Rea Harper, a Lawrenceville woman initially convicted in 2002 of the October 1997 stabbing death of her 10-year-old son, Joel Kirkpatrick. Bill Clutter, the project’s director of investigations, and innocence project students presented evidence to exonerate Harper and cast the focus on convicted serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells.

In 2004, the Fifth District Appellate Court vacated Harper’s conviction on procedural error and ordered a new trial. In July 2006, a Clinton County jury, which heard details of Sells’ confession to killing Kirkpatrick, found Harper not guilty.

Those types of results with student participation are important in shaping a student’s legal training, Behan said. Donnelly worked with the project while an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Behan and Schroeder both said it is important that the legal system is “clean.” That does not happen when there are wrongful convictions.

“There’s a very real human cost to miscarriages of justice,” Behan said. “When you have somebody who is wrongfully convicted you take years and years and years away from them that can never be given back. The best we can do for these people who have been wrongfully convicted is to try to get them out so they can enjoy whatever years of their lives they have.”

The innocence project is important both in Illinois and

nationally, said Cynthia L. Fountaine, dean of the SIU School of Law. Those involved “are serving a crucial role in ensuring that justice is served in our criminal justice system by obtaining exonerations for those wrongfully convicted of crime,” she said.

“I am delighted that our students have the opportunity to be involved with this project,” Fountaine said.

“Many of them will work as criminal prosecutors or defense attorneys once they graduate, so this is an excellent opportunity to get practical experience working on criminal cases. Working hands-on with real people who may have been wrongly convicted is more likely to leave a strong impression on them than reading about it in a text book would have. This type of experiential learning is critical to help us address the flaws in the system that lead to wrongful convictions so that they can be prevented in the future.”

Schroeder, a former prosecutor, believes some wrongful convictions happen when the legal system focuses too much on process — such

as whether suspects receive their Miranda Rights, and if searches are conducted pursuant to a proper warrant — rather than guilt or innocence.

Many wrongful convictions hinge on bad witness identifications, false confessions, and police concentrating solely on one suspect.

“This work could not only exonerate wrongfully convicted persons, but could ultimately lead to police and

prosecutors reopening old cases to track down the real criminals,” he said. “Wrongful convictions do not just hurt the wrongfully convicted person: they hurt society because a wrongful conviction means the real bad guy is still on the street.”

Students in the program have the opportunity to learn how to write legal motions and arguments, go into court, and interact with clients, Schroeder said.

Being involved in exonerating a wrongly convicted person will give students “a tremendous sense of accomplishment for rectifying a really grievous wrong,” Schroeder said.

“To me, in some ways, that is the biggest selling point,” he said.

The University of Illinois at Springfield houses the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project through its Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies.

Last fall, the Project received a Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that includes support for the collaborative efforts with the SIU School of Law and University of Illinois College of Law. Experienced appellate attorney John Hanlon began as the program’s legal director on Feb. 1. He is overseeing the case work of students and educating them in the field of wrongful convictions. The grant supports the screening of cases received by the Project where DNA testing might prove guilt or innocence. And the grant defrays costs of post-conviction DNA tests.

Rollins, and law school classmates Heather Dragoo, Amanda Reed, Christine Hummert, and Nicole LaForte are now evaluating cases referred to the Project to see whether the cases qualify under the Bloodworth grant, Behan said.

Reed, who is from St. Louis, is in her third year at the law school. Rollins, who is from Royalton; Hummert, who is from Belleville; LaForte, who is from Indianapolis, Ind.; and Dragoo, who is from Evansville, Ind., are all

second-year students in the law school.

Larry Golden, the project director, said the legal capability that both law schools possess is an important component. The project now has reviewed about 40 case files with inmate requests from downstate Illinois that may be resolved through DNA tests, he said. Developing supporting materials, such as trial transcripts, takes time, he said.

The focus is on non-death penalty cases, Golden said.

The program’s benefit can be a “life-changer,” and not just for exonerated inmates, but also for the students involved, several of whom Golden expects will remain with their cases after they graduate.

Golden said he anticipates a long-term relationship with the law school. Innocence projects without direct legal capability in other states may also see the benefit of collaborating with law schools, he said.

“We are absolutely delighted we can establish this,” Golden said. “What we are putting together is a model I think is going to eventually gain some national attention.”

Dragoo is beginning her first semester with the project. Dragoo said she knew the national Innocence Project in New York was a “great project,” and she “jumped at the chance” when the opportunity arose to work with a similar project in Illinois.

“Such projects provide a valuable service to society, and it’s nice that lawyers are able to help right such wrongs,” Dragoo said. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Ball State University, and a Master of Public Administration and Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, both from the University of Southern Indiana.

She came to law school with an interest in biotechnology, the field responsible for many of the techniques used in DNA testing.

She said the externship will help her law career because it will allow her to learn about

the criminal justice system while also learning how to analyze, investigate and compile case files, she said.

Donnelly has done a lot of research into McMillen’s case, which she started on when she was an undergraduate student. Four years later, “we are closer, but we still have a long ways to go,” said Donnelly, who is looking for issues not argued at McMillen’s trial but which could be raised on appeal.

“It’s definitely helping me form good arguments that may seem small and minute, but could really be a huge deal and be the difference between guilt and innocence,” she said.

Donnelly said she is very passionate about the project, and her “dream job” is to work with an innocence project when she graduates. She said she would like to remain involved in this case, even on a pro bono basis.

The work provides valuable lessons for law school students, she said.

“I hope they really have a better understanding the ramifications of being falsely convicted have on somebody and their families for their entire life, and that we, as young, almost attorneys, can really play a large role in fixing those wrongs,” Donnelly said.

“It’s priceless to know that you might have a hand in setting someone free who should have never been in prison in the first place.”

Behan echoes Donnelly’s thoughts.

“There’s an inspirational aspect of working with this that I believe will be good for the students; to feel that they are on the side of social justice,” Behan said. “It’s also good to see how the wheels of justice can grind somebody down to powder. As they go through the files it’s easy to see where prosecutors might have over-reached or where defense attorneys didn’t do enough — which will give them hopefully the background not to make the same mistake themselves, whether they are prosecutors or defense attorneys.”

Law students assist downstate Innocence ProjectBy pete Rosenbery

Photo by Chelsea stuRGeonGaining valuable experience — Six students in the SIU School of Law are involved in legal research through the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project, whose work is to not only assist wrongfully convicted prisoners prove their innocence, but also reform the state’s criminal justice system. The unpaid externships began last semester. Participating this semester are, from left: Christine Hummert, Heather Dragoo, Jennifer Donnelly, Amanda Reed, Angela Rollins, and Nicole LaForte. Donnelly and Reed are third-year students; Hummert, Dragoo, Rollins, and LaForte are in their second year of law school. With the students are, from left, Professor William A. Schroeder and Assistant Professor Christopher W. Behan.

Students gain practical experience in researching criminal cases involving

appeals of convicted prisoners where there

is ‘strong evidence’ of innocence.

Why iT maTTers


unDeRgRADuAte ReseARch

For Kristen Jordan, a research project means the world.

Jordan, a senior from Indianapolis majoring in zoology, is a first-generation college student. Not only is she the first in her immediate family to pursue a college degree, she is also the first in her extended family. She chose Southern Illinois University Carbondale for two main reasons: one, because of the University’s strong emphasis on undergraduate research, and two, because she felt herself to be at a disadvantage at other universities less willing to accept a lower income student with little college preparatory experience.

“I’ve known what I wanted to do since middle school,” she said. “When I arrived at SIUC, I could see that the faculty really do want to help their students — it’s just in the atmosphere of the university. I contacted several professors in my department and said, ‘Here’s what I want to do,

here’s where I am, how do I get there from here?’”

For Jordan, step one was the McNair Scholars Program. McNair is a research-based scholarship program designed for lower-income, first-generation college students. Students pair up with faculty mentors to conduct original research, and to participate in professional and educational activities with other McNair scholars.

Jordan began to work on a project she designed with the help of Marjorie Brooks, assistant professor of zoology at SIUC. Jordan’s research furthers her career interest in marine conservation ecology. She chose to study copepods, a group of small crustaceans found both in the ocean and in fresh water. Jordan wanted to study the possible effects of global warming on copepods. She explained that the tiny animals are important as a primary food source for a variety of species, and also play an important role in several areas of carbon cycling.

Jordan said she gradually increased the water temperature for her experimental group, following a temperature pattern projected for the next 50 years. She also varied food availability, she said, to reflect how these temperature changes might affect their food source.

“I observed changes in reproduction, consumption and behavior,” she said. The changes occurred, she said, after a four-degree increase in temperature, from a normal of 20 degrees Celsius to 24 degrees Celsius.

“The most interesting data I found was that, regardless of food availability, with an increase of four degrees Celsius, the copepods reproduced faster, and had more offspring at one time. The rate of reproduction also increased, so they were having more offspring per clutch, and having more clutches.”

Jordan also established a protocol by which to study the behavior of the tiny animals. She found that with increased

temperature, the animals became more sedentary, and slower to respond to stimuli. This sluggishness, she said, would make the animals more susceptible to predation in some water depths and environments, and less susceptible in other water depths.

“It is important to know how global warming trends may affect these animals, because they are a primary food source for fish, sea birds, whales and other crustaceans,” she said. “They also play a role in carbon cycling in several layers of the ocean.”

Jordan attended the Aquatic Sciences Meeting of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) in Puerto Rico to present her findings. She is now in the process of preparing her manuscript and data for submission to professional publications, and in preparing for graduate school.

“Right now, I feel like there are endless possibilities for me,” Jordan said. “Had I not been accepted in the McNair Program, I would not be going to grad school. I would have been lost in the application process, my GRE scores would be significantly lower, and I would simply not be able to do it. Because of my involvement in this program, I have received more than $15,000 in financial support to focus on my education, to conduct this research, and to

further my involvement in the science community.”

Jordan said a side benefit of the McNair program is the collegiality with fellow McNair scholars. She said she learned to communicate scientific ideas to fellow students in areas other than science, and that experience reminded her, she said, of how important it is for scientists to maintain communication with people not directly involved in the sciences.

“Sometimes there is a miscommunication between the world of science and the ‘real world,’” she said. “But ultimately, the point of the research is applying it to the real world. I want to be able to communicate the importance of marine conservation not just to the scientific community, but to non-scientific people as well.”

Brooks said she enjoys working with students who

are new to science, who come to the laboratory without pre-conceptions and biases.

“Someone who hasn’t much experience in science sees the questions and the problem-solving with a holistic and fresh approach,” she said. “They often ask the most relevant question in science: ‘So what?’ not to mention other important questions such as ‘Is that really likely?’ and ‘How does that work?’ and ‘Why?’”

Brooks said undergraduate research gives students insights that a lecture cannot. In addition, she said, students who conduct their own research, on topics they choose, personalize their learning experience.

“For example,” she said, “by observing their own ‘water bugs’ that they raised themselves, they understand the importance of water temperature to an organism that is suddenly struggling to breathe when we warm the water. Yes, they’ve learned in physics that warm water holds less oxygen, but until they see their own experimental results, global warming has no relevance to them.

“They also learn that knowledge doesn’t come from books any more than food comes from a grocery store,” she said. “Hard thinking about known facts, then stepping up the game with new facts makes research into a spiral of ideas that’s always new and exciting.”

Student’s emphasis is marine

conservation ecology

‘research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.’

– Zora Neale Hurston, American playwright


mcNair scholar – Kristen Jordan draws a sample of the tiny crustaceans, copepods.

By Andrea hahn

• ReseaRCh enRiChed aCademiC Challenge (ReaCh): Makes competitive one-year grants to students to carry out a research, scholarly or creative-arts project under the guidance of a faculty or staff mentor. The program also sponsors an Undergraduate Research Forum, open to all undergraduates, every spring.

• saluki ReseaRCh ROOkies: Provides funds on a competitive basis for high-achieving freshmen interested in conducting research and learning more about their intended major. Working with a faculty mentor, students plan a research project in fall semester to be carried out the following spring.

• mCnaiR sChOlaRs PROgRam: The federally funded Ronald McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program prepares first-generation-college/low-income and underrepresented minority students for doctoral study. It includes an emphasis on research and an intensive Summer Research Institute.

• illinOis lOuis sTOkes allianCe FOR minORiTy PaRTiCiPaTiOn: This statewide coalition funded by the National Science Foundation aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority students in science, mathematics and engineering. It provides paid, mentored research experiences for undergraduates.

• undeRgRaduaTe assisTanTshiPs: This SIUC program gives students paraprofessional experience in their chosen fields. Although not a research program per se, about 80 percent of the positions are research-oriented.

Undergraduate Research opportunities


In addition to showing the impact of global warming

on small crustaceans that are a key food source

for other marine life, Kristen Jordan wants to improve communication between the scientific community

and ‘the real world.’

Why iT maTTers


mentoring research – Marjorie Brooks, Kristen Jordan’s mentor for the McNair Scholars research project, works in her laboratory on her own research.



Sometimes it takes a team decades to establish itself as a contender. The robotics team at SIUC has done so in just four years.

The Saluki team, made up of students from various programs within the College of Engineering, again distinguished itself during this most recent contest, placing second overall at the Association of Technology Management and Applied Engineering’s (ATMAE) 2010 competition held in Panama City, Fla.

Prior to that, the SIUC team won five team awards and two individual awards at the 2009 competition in Louisville, Ky., and in 2008 it won first place as a team with one member placing as an individual, as well.

The team got started in 2007, placing ninth in the field after getting a late start and fielding a competition robot from scratch in just 40 days.

Bruce DeRuntz, associate professor of technology in the College of Engineering, said as undergraduate research goes, the robotics team is an outstanding venue.

“There are several reasons for having a robot team, or project team in the college for that matter,” DeRuntz said. “These projects challenge our students to apply what they are learning in the classroom to a real-world problem. It forces them to develop critical thinking skills, learn to work together as a team and develop their project management skills. In terms of research training, the students have developed several novel designs that could possibly be patented.”

DeRuntz said the team members often also are part of a unique leadership cadre within the college, sponsored by and named for Richard W. Blaudow and his wife. Brigitte. Blaudow is an SIUC alumnus who works in the industrial technology field. The program, The Blaudow/ATS Technical Leadership Program in Manufacturing, provides scholarships for students who show leadership potential in the field.

SIUC consistently competes with top schools from around the country, including the University of Northern Iowa, Missouri State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, University of North Dakota, Central Connecticut State University, Cal Poly, Iowa State University and Millersville University and others.

Each year, ATMAE stages a weekend-long contest that pits student-designed-and-built robots from colleges and universities across the country. Contest organizers set the parameters and identify the challenging environment that each year’s creations must overcome to win.

For example, the SIUC team’s most-recent creation, dubbed the “Saluki Flux,” was tasked with autonomously finding pipes buried in the famous white sands of Panama City. This required a robot that could traverse the fine particles without getting stuck, find a pipe and pick it up.

SIUC students met these challenges by wrapping Saluki Flux’s wheels in old bicycle tires and ultrasonic sensors to find the pipes buried in the sand.

In what was essentially a photo finish in the robot competition world, SIUC squared off with Millersville University of Pennsylvania in the final. Both robots performed the tasks well, but Saluki Flux was edged when it lost a tire tread near the end.

Ross O’Connor, a senior in industrial technology from Decatur, credited the team’s work ethic with the most-recent strong showing.

“We have a lot of dedicated people on our team who plan ahead and stick to our goals,” O’Connor said. “We work very hard and put in long hours to get everything accomplished. Every year we look at what we did right and what we did wrong and try to learn from it.”

Being on the team teaches lessons that go beyond the classroom environment, O’Connor said.

“One of the biggest things I learned was how to lead a team. You have to be able to look at the big picture and help motivate and steer everyone to keep them moving toward the goal,” he said.

Logan McNear, a senior in electrical engineering from Norris City, said everyone on the team contributed to its success. For instance, when the team realized the original four-wheel-drive system they planned for the Saluki Flux wouldn’t work in the sand, it took group thinking to come up with bicycle tire track system that ended up working.

“There was constant innovation and teamwork,” said McNear, who is president of the student team club. “It took the creative input of each individual in order to overcome obstacles as they were presented to us.”

Previous design teams have been just as ingenious, dedicated and creative. The 2009 model, known as “The Juggernaut,” was a speedy, agile 80-pound aluminum creation that proved itself a top performer

in picking up racquetballs and bocce balls and depositing them in an assigned area during a series of three-minute robot-on-robot matches.

DeRuntz said students who join the robotics team come from many different departments within the College of Engineering, and typically have been tearing things apart and putting them back together their whole life.

“They love to learn how things work and to build their own versions,” he said. “Building these robots requires a combination of skills associated with the various majors in the college. For example, project management skills are found in Industrial Technology, control system programming is found in Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Technology, and of course the design aspect from Mechanical Engineering.”

Even the moments of frustration have become learning opportunities and team-building moments, DeRuntz said.

“The reason why our team has repeatedly challenged for the national championship is the students’ relentless desire to develop their team and leadership skills,” DeRuntz said. “They constantly challenge themselves to get out of their comfort zone and learn to take risks in leading the team and working on the team. This is a very difficult thing for a college student to do when you ask them to organize, direct or motivate their own friends.”

By tim crosby

Photo PRovided

Where it all began — The first robot built by SIUC engineering students to compete in 2007 at the National Association of Industrial Technology’s annual robot competition. Its task involved finding a magnet buried in the sand on the beach.

Photo PRovided

Work in ‘Flux’ — Members of the 2010 Saluki robotics team work on their creation, known as ‘Saluki Flux,’ during the Association of Technology Management and Applied Engineering’s 2010 competition held in Panama City, Fla. The team, which has become a national contender after only four years in existence, captured second place overall at the competition.

Robotics team members develop critical thinking skills, learn

to work together, and develop their project management skills.

In terms of research training, the students have developed

several novel designs that could possibly be patented.

Why iT maTTers

Bridget Munoz knows how to take an idea and run with it.

The Vernon Hills freshman already sees herself in a clinical social work career — she knows that’s where she wants to be after she graduates. She also knows that when opportunities appear, taking advantage of them will help her get there.

Munoz is a Saluki Research Rookie, a participant in a research-based program designed to engage freshmen in a mentoring relationship with a faculty member and to get them involved right from the start in research, academic, or creative projects.

For her project, Munoz is exploring Hospice, a program available nationwide to offer palliative care rather than treatment to patients in their last stages of life.

“I realized the Research Rookies program offered me a great opportunity,” Munoz said. “I studied the biographies and research interests of faculty in the social work program, and I found that Dona Reese’s research really interested me.”

Reese, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work, agreed to become Munoz’ mentor. The two of them worked together to establish Munoz’ project, one that suited her career interests and contributed something new to the field. Munoz is studying diversity — or, more specifically, the lack thereof — in Hospice, both in staffing and in those who turn to Hospice for help. Reese’s research established that blacks are not well represented, either in Hospice staffs or among Hospice clients. Munoz is asking why.

“I’m interviewing black students in the social work program here at SIUC,” Munoz said. “I want to find out what they know about Hospice, if they know anyone who has used Hospice services, and if they would be willing to work in Hospice themselves.”

Munoz said her goal is to determine if cultural differences and religious perceptions prevent blacks from using Hospice services, and if so, what those differences and perceptions are.

Munoz is at the beginning of her research, but will present the findings at the University-wide Undergraduate Research Forum. She hopes to expand her research with an eye to presenting it at a future meeting of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization conference.

“I see great potential here,” Reese said. “And it’s important for young women like Bridget to take advantage of resources to help them acquire an education.”

Freshman takes

advantage of research opportunity

By Andrea hahn


research rookie – Bridget Munoz is doing more than conducting a research project in the Saluki Research Rookies program. She is gaining a mentor in Dona Reese, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work. Here, the two discuss Munoz’ methodology for her project.

Bridget Munoz is exploring whether cultural differences

and religious perceptions prevent blacks from using Hospice services,

and if so, what those differences and perceptions are.

Why iT maTTers

Robotics team has to solve variety of challenges

Photo PRovided

meet ‘The Juggernaut’ — The 2009 robot model, known as ‘The Juggernaut,’ was a speedy, agile 80-pound aluminum creation that proved itself a top performer in picking up racquetballs and bocce balls and depositing them in an assigned area during a series of three-minute robot-on-robot matches. The Juggernaut helped the students rack up an impressive showing in 2009. Awards they captured included 2nd Place overall, 3rd place Head to Head Robotics Competition, 1st Place Robot Design (along with a first-ever perfect score in competition history), 1st Place Poster Design and Best ATMAE Student Chapter Award.


Prairie restoration projects have helped to re-establish ecological diversity in Illinois, a state that at one time claimed more than 22 million acres of prairie, and now holds only about 2,000 acres of original prairieland.

Kimberly Elsenbroek, a Saluki Scholars Research student from Kingston majoring in plant biology with a minor in geography and environmental resources, realized the importance of understanding which prairie grasses would thrive in these restoration areas despite anticipated climate change. She undertook a research project, using three source populations of the tallgrass prairie plant known as Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), to determine which ecotype would fare best in different precipitation models. An ecotype in this case is a population of Indiangrass that has adapted to its specific environment, and has some physical differences from other Indiangrasses in other environments.

Elsenbroek, working with Sara Baer, a plant biologist at SIUC, selected varieties of Indiangrass from three sources — Illinois, and two sources in Kansas. She also created a fourth group using a combination of the three grasses.

She divided the grasses into groups, with pots of plants in each group containing samples of each of her three individual Indiangrass types and her mixed treatment.

Over a 12-week period, she varied the precipitation levels for each group to mimic some of the different precipitation patterns that may occur with predictable climate change scenarios. She measured plant

height five times throughout this experiment, and plants were watered every four days.

“We know the climate is changing, and we can predict some of those changes,” she said. “It is difficult to predict

precipitation patterns for the Midwest.”

To determine how well the grasses were faring, Elsenbroek measured their photosynthesis rates. She also measured the below-ground plant productivity (the root system) and the above-ground plant (its leaves, stem and flower heads) to determine nutrient use efficiency.

Elsenbroek found that photosynthesis varied by source population regardless of watering treatment. Productivity measurements, however, did vary by watering treatment. Elsenbroek used three forms of standard productivity measurements. She found that the watering treatments affected the productivity measurements, but not in the way she expected.

“Overall, production did not increase with an increase in water supply, as predicted,” she said. “It seemed that ecotypes adapted to lower precipitation rates and invested more energy in their roots, but the ecotypes adapted to higher rates of precipitation and invested more energy in their above-ground biomass.”

Most interestingly, she said, the mixed ecotype she created showed no variation in productivity despite the different watering treatments.

“These results suggest that combining ecotypes of a dominant grass may stabilize productivity under a wider range of precipitation regime,” Elsenbroek concluded, noting, though, that she believes

more field tests using more mixed ecosystems should be conducted in order to predict how a whole ecosystem might respond to climate change and variable precipitation.

Elsenbroek presented her findings at the Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America last year.

Baer said Elsenbroek should be a model for undergraduates at SIUC because of her willingness to get involved in research and to interact with her teachers. She noted that Elsenbroek came to her wanting experience, and that helped to distinguish her from other non-majors in a large lecture class.

“I believe the opportunity to interact with faculty and graduate students transforms a large university environment into a personal experience,” she said.

“Being engaged in research is the ultimate form of hands-on learning that enhances education in ways that can’t be achieved in a classroom setting. Interacting with research-active faculty exposes undergraduates to a very important mission of our University, which is to generate new knowledge, in addition to disseminating existing knowledge through teaching.”

Baer said she knows firsthand, from her own

undergraduate experience, that engaging in research early in a student’s college career helps students discover and open doors for their own futures.

She said Elsenbroek’s research has given her firsthand experience with the scientific approach, including acquiring, analyzing, interpreting and disseminating knowledge.

She noted that Elsenbroek has been involved with several research projects and other campus service activities.

As a Research Rookie, Elsenbrok conducted an energy audit in Faner Hall to determine how often lights are on in that building during times when natural light provides sufficient illumination. Her goal was to find ways to reduce unnecessary artificial lighting both as a way to save money and also to waste less energy.

She currently holds a REACH assistantship, for which she restored prairie habitat near Giant City School in Carbondale, and created a teaching model for first and second graders using the restoration as an outdoor laboratory.

She is student representative on the Carbondale Sustainability Commission, and the SIUC Green Fund committee.

Kimberly Elsenbroek’s research has given her first-hand experience with the scientific approach, including acquiring,

analyzing, interpreting and disseminating knowledge.

By Andrea hahn


saluki scholars research – Kimberly Elsenbroek conducted research on Indiangrasses used for prairie restoration to determine which types would fare best under differing precipitation models.

Why iT maTTers

Elsenbroek explores prairie restoration

Antwuan Donley, a senior chemistry major from Chicago, is becoming quite familiar with high-tech instrumentation in the Mass Spectrometry Facility.

Donley is comparing two approaches of laser desorption ionization as part of his research into proteins and peptides. The two approaches under his consideration are Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption (MALDI) and Nanostructure Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (NALDI).

Basically, Donley is looking for better ways to study proteins, and learning how the two approaches differ and where they overlap, which can lead to improvements in detecting smaller quantities of protein within a sample. The research ultimately could, for example, aid in earlier detection of cancer by identifying potential peptide or protein markers for the cancer.

But what are MALDI and NALDI? Both are mass spectrometry desorption and ionization techniques. Mass spectrometry has many uses, from astronomy to geology. Donley is using it to identify complex biological molecules — namely, for his research, proteins. To do mass spectrometry, the substance must be in a gas form, and the molecules must possess an electronic charge.

In MALDI, Donley explained, he mixes an excess of a small molecule, known as the “matrix,” with a sample typically consisting of peptides, proteins or polymers. The MALDI sample is then introduced into the vacuum chamber of the instrument. He then fires a laser at it, sending a gaseous, electrically charged plume airborne where the instrument can analyze it based on its mass-to-charge

ratio. NALDI, on the other hand, does not use a matrix, employing instead a nanowire or nanostructure target for the laser.

“It is very important in many areas of research to be able to detect increasingly small quantities of a sample,” Donley said. “I enjoy the idea of potentially discovering a newer reproducible method for protein research that could enhance the scientific understanding of proteins and peptides. If such a discovery is made, I can proudly say I was involved in making it.”

Mary Kinsel, director of the Mass Spectrometry Facility and Donley’s mentor in the REACH program in which Donley is doing his research, said that furthering understanding of MALDI and NALDI techniques can suggest modifications to the approaches that may lead to improvements in technique sensitivity.

The REACH program — Research-Enriched Academic Challenge — is a competitive undergraduate research program offering grant awards to 20 students annually. As part of his REACH requirements, Donley will present his findings at the University’s annual Undergraduate Research Forum.

Kinsel said the program is valuable for undergraduates both for the opportunity to conduct research and for the opportunity to present the

findings in a public, scholarly forum.

“Undergraduate research provides students with the opportunity to gain real-world experience with instrumentation and modern laboratory techniques,” she said. “Antwuan is learning how to apply the scientific method as he design experiments to test a hypothesis. He has the opportunity to discuss his outcomes and interpretations with other undergraduate students, but also with graduate students and with me, his mentor for this project.”

Kinsel said participation in REACH and other undergraduate research

programs is particularly helpful for students who want to go on to graduate school. She said she sees her role as a mentor as one of a guide.

“With my help, I want the student to develop the ability to design an experiment, critically evaluate the resultant data, and put the results in context with what others have observed and published.”

Donley first began his mass spectrometry studies as a McNair Scholar last year. He received funds from the Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation to attend the annual conference of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

By Andrea hahn

Photo by Russell bailey

reaCh scholar – Antwuan Donley, a senior in chemistry from Chicago, is comparing two types of mass spectrometry in an effort to find a better way to identify certain proteins using smaller samples.

Chemistry student focused on protein research

Antwuan Donley is gaining real-world experience with instrumentation

and modern laboratory techniques.

Why iT maTTers


mentoring is about guidance – Director of the Mass Spectrometry Facility Mary E. Kinsel works on one of the many instruments in the facility. Gary R. Kinsel, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Science, looks on.



Hearing loss is a common illness for millions of people in the U.S., affecting one-third of Americans over the age of 65 years and about half of the population over 75 years old. It causes difficulty on a daily basis for those communicating with family and friends as well as in professional and business settings.

Several researchers at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield have been conducting research for more than 30 years on hearing loss problems. Donald Caspary, professor of pharmacology and SIUC distinguished scholar, heads up an auditory research group that studies hearing loss related to aging and to tinnitus, ringing in the ears.

Caspary is the principal investigator of a research grant to examine how the brain’s ability to process sound decreases with age. This problem may lead to a person losing the ability to clearly understand speech and is only partially helped with hearing aids.

The goal of his research is to determine whether specific drugs can improve hearing. Using animal models, he measures how individual cells in the hearing circuits respond to sound and how their properties change with age. Figuring out how the

normal process is disrupted during aging will help to identify treatments that can be used to reverse or prevent the disruptions.

Caspary’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), a division of the National Institutes of Health, American Federation of Aging Research and the American Tinnitus Foundation. His research funding at SIU has totaled $7.6 million since joining the faculty in 1973.

Hearing loss is usually attributed to age, but it can be caused by other factors such as exposure to very loud noise over time. “There is a lot of evidence that the damage that occurs in youth is cumulative with aging and may produce tinnitus. In both age-related hearing loss and tinnitus, the inner ear is damaged,” Caspary said.

Dr. Carol A. Bauer, professor

of otolaryngology head and neck surgery, leads another auditory research team at SIU. Her research focuses on understanding the process in the brain that is responsible for the development of chronic tinnitus. She studies noise-induced tinnitus using animal models to find out what parts of the inner ear and brain are responsible for causing the ringing sound.

A perceived sound in the head or ears such as ringing, tinnitus affects 50 million people in the U.S. “For a majority of people, the tinnitus sound is continuous and very bothersome. It can be caused by damage to the ears as a result of very loud noises from machinery, electronic devices and the effects of active military combat,” said Bauer.

Her research has included two clinical trials approved for testing with patients. One trial investigated the effect of a drug called gabapentin on tinnitus. The other study investigated how sound therapy can reduce the loudness and annoyance of tinnitus in people.

“We have made progress in our research, but we have not yet found an effective drug that can actually eliminate tinnitus,” said Bauer.

Currently, she is investigating the idea that specific areas of the brain and

changes in nerve and chemical activities in these areas that allow the hearing may be the source of tinnitus.

For her next clinical trial with patients, she plans to investigate whether sound therapy will help people who have tinnitus and hearing loss. The project is awaiting funding approval.

Bauer’s research has been funded for more than 20 years by NIDCD, the American Tinnitus Association and the Tinnitus Research Consortium and totals more than $3.5 million. Thomas J. Brozoski, professor of surgery, is a co-investigator on her research.

A third auditory research group at SIU studies ototoxicity and is headed by

Dr. Leonard Rybak, professor of otolaryngology, SIUC distinguished scholar and member of Simmons Cancer Institute at SIU.

Some drugs used to treat cancer cause hearing loss. His research is focused on administering protective drugs through injection through the ear drum or though the abdominal cavity in order to safe-guard the inner ear, while not interfering with the cancer treatment.

He also has discovered that some drugs protect against noise-induced hearing loss.

Rybak’s research has been funded for 28 years by the NIDCD and the Deafness Research Foundation and now totals $6.8 million.

He has collaborated with

Vickram Ramkumar, associate professor of pharmacology at SIU, on the development of a therapeutic compound related to the research, and has two patents pending.

SIU School of Medicine’s mission is to assist the people of central and southern Illinois in meeting their health needs through education, patient care, research and community service. SIU’s research efforts cover a wide range of basic and clinical sciences. Currently more than 220 research projects funded by outside organizations, primarily federal agencies, are underway in 100-plus laboratories. For information, call SIU’s main number, 217-545-8000, or go online, www.siumed.edu.

‘the goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.’

– John F. Kennedy

heAlth ReseARch

A reproductive biologist, Dale “Buck” Hales, has been directing a research team that is studying a way to decrease the severity of ovarian cancer, the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the U.S.

“Ovarian cancer is a silent killer in women and we need to find ways to help treat it as well as diagnose it earlier, before this disease has developed into an advanced and late stage level when the mortality is so high,” says Hales, who joined the School of Medicine faculty in the summer of 2009. He is professor and chair of the physiology department and a member of Simmons Cancer Institute at SIU.

“We are working to reduce the severity of the disease and promote overall better health in women. In other words, we want this to be a disease that people die with, not a disease they die from,” he adds.

Laying chickens provide a natural animal model for the project because they are always ovulating in order to produce eggs. A woman normally would ovulate, that is, have a menstrual cycle, 400-500 times in her lifetime. A chicken has the same number of cycles in about two years, allowing researchers to study the reproductive process in a compressed time frame as the chickens develop their own version of the disease, which closely mimics the human disease.

Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality of all cancers of the female reproductive system,

according to the National Cancer Institute. This is due in part to a lack both of symptoms that allow it to be diagnosed early and any effective screening tests. The most recent estimates for ovarian cancer in the U.S. are for 2010 from the American Cancer Society — 21,880 women are diagnosed each year and 13,850 die.

Hales has been studying ovarian cancer for six years and was the principal investigator for the first major study of using a nutritional intervention — flax seed — to moderate this cancer. Published in the journal “Gynecologic Oncology” in 2010, the study involved 387 chickens and the results generated considerable interest. Flax seed, the richest plant source of one of the omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid), was added to enrich the hens’ diet.

Hales worked on this study

of flax seed with colleagues at his previous post, the University of Illinois Chicago, and currently with his wife and research colleague, Karen H. Hales, who also has joined SIU’s faculty. He continues collaborating with UI researchers and their experimental poultry facility in Urbana-Champaign, where the white Leghorn hens are raised.

“The use of flax seed holds so much potential because if the results hold, we will be moving toward a fundamental finding for ovarian cancer that if you change your diet you will change the course of your health and make a difference that can lengthen your life span and provide a better quality of life at the end of your lifetime,” says Buck Hales.

The current research has been funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Cancer Institute, both part of the National Institutes of Health. The team is awaiting confirmation of a third major national grant.

“Many people have been touched by the tragedy of a missed diagnosis for this cancer,” Buck Hales explains. “This work is very gratifying and the reactions of the people that we talk to, even those outside of the university like the parents from our son’s soccer team, are very encouraging.”

The research team is finishing a second study that is four years in length, which involves 1,200 laying hens. This time, flax seed has been added to the diet as soon as the hens began laying eggs,

rather than at a later age that is similar to a woman’s menopausal age.

Karen Hales’ contribution to this research effort is to develop a parallel research path, studying the isolated cells from the chickens, not the entire animal. “The pathology exam of each chicken is observational and involves looking for both obvious and subtle changes in the reproductive organs such as signs of tumor,” she explains. “But with the molecular or cell studies, we can break down the process of cancer growth to a very basic level.”

In the lab, Karen Hales is looking at why these cancer cells are growing and what is helping them grow.

“As we gather results and we find that the same things happen at the cell level that

happen in the chickens, then we know we are on the right path with our research ideas,” she adds.

The two researchers have separate laboratories on the Carbondale campus and share a team of about 10 students and research staff. “We have a group of talented people and have found both the undergraduate and graduate students at SIUC to be excellent additions to our group.”

The Carbondale research team is excited about the recruitment of a gynecologic oncologist to the medical school’s clinical faculty in Springfield. Dr. Laurent Brard will become an essential part of their research, according to Buck Hales. “We will have fantastic synergy between the researchers and the physician faculty as well as

other affiliates of Simmons Cancer Institute at SIU such as Southern Illinois Healthcare.”

He expects that the group can move into Stage 1 clinical trials with select patients in a few years, if the results continue to support the idea that omega-3 fatty acids will help fight this cancer. “Because this is a natural substance, there should be lower regulatory hurdles,” he explains.

Buck and Karen Hales met when they were both graduate students in Colorado and believe working and living together has great advantages. “We both bring work home with us and we don’t have to wait until the next day to share an idea,” says Karen Hales.

“We are science geeks who see this work as more than our jobs,” adds Buck Hales.

Team hopes to decrease severity of ovarian cancerBy nancy Zimmers


Assistant Professor Karen Hales and Professor Dale ‘Buck’ Hales talk with graduate student Sara Ladley of Taylorville (seated), who is pursuing a master’s degree in molecular, cellular and systemic physiology.

Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality

of all cancers of the female reproductive system,

according to the National Cancer Institute. The most recent estimates

for ovarian cancer in the U.S. are for 2010 from the American Cancer Society

— 21,880 women are diagnosed each year

and 13,850 die.

Med school researchers work to improve hearing

Photo PRovided

Donald Caspary (left), professor of pharmacology and SIUC distinguished scholar, and Dr. Carol A. Bauer, professor of otolaryngology head and neck surgery.

By Ruth slottag

Why iT maTTers

Hearing loss affects one-third of Americans over the age of 65 years

and about half of the population over 75 years old.

Why iT maTTers


Friends, family, law enforcement officials, the court system — none of them had much hope “Olivia” would ever change.

After all, her battle with methamphetamine addiction began at the age of 15. By the time she was 18 she had stolen from her family, lied to all who knew her and faced a three-year prison sentence for manufacturing the drug. But, the Southern Illinois woman has now experienced two years of drug-free life thanks to a collaborative program from SIUC’s Rehabilitation Institute and The H Group, formerly Franklin-Williamson Human Services Inc. And, the lessons learned through that program are going into a new program to treat teen substance abusers in the region.

“Olivia,” a pseudonym for a very real person, was one of the 227 clients who completed the “Matrix of Hope” program, an intensive, three-year, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA)-funded meth addiction treatment program for area residents that ended in December 2009. The program has continued with state funding and expanded to other populations, as the approach has also demonstrated effectiveness for treating alcoholism and cocaine and opiate addiction, said Teresa Williams, assistant director of Adult Behavioral Healthcare Services for The H Group.

D. Shane Koch, associate dean for academic and student affairs for the College of Education and Human Services, is the former coordinator of SIUC’s Rehabilitation Counseling and Administration Program and director of addictions studies. Along with a number of graduate and undergraduate students, Koch assisted with the program until the

SAMSHA grant ended.“This project dealt with

people who were sometimes dangerous, people who were deemed by some to be untreatable. When we got this grant, people thought these folks could not recover. In 2006, most people thought meth addicts were hopeless,” Koch said.

What they found through the Matrix of Hope is that meth addicts are not lost causes. In fact, 97 percent of the clients completing the program reported at their six-month follow-up that they weren’t using methamphetamine, a very significant finding, according to Koch.

Client referrals to The H Group came from parole agents, probation offices, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the court system and via self-referrals. The $1.5 million grant program utilized a modified version of an existing cocaine-treatment model from the 1980s, the Matrix Model, featuring a mix of therapeutic techniques. The SIUC team researched contingency management, innovative techniques to encourage participation in the program, program success and employment outcomes.

Ann Johnson-Melvin, of Johnston City, and Alice Mbugua, of Kenya, both doctoral candidates in Rehabilitation Counseling and Administration, were involved since the early days of the project.

They collected performance data and results, performed analysis and completed follow-up assessments with clients. Both are using what they’ve learned in their doctoral dissertations.

The project led to multiple discoveries. Typically, one of the difficulties of a non-residential treatment program is getting people to show up. Although some programs seek to force attendance, research showed that people

would come to this program if offered a small incentive, the chance to draw a slip from a bowl to earn a small “prize,” Johnson-Melvin said.

In studying the correlation between employment success and beating addiction, another fallacy was shattered, Koch said. Koch said traditional treatment philosophy during his more than two decades as a recovery/rehabilitation counselor tells addicts to focus on their treatment and then return to work. But, Koch said findings from this program indicate employed clients actually fare better.

“The people who went back to work stayed in treatment. Work is really an important piece here,” Koch said.

When doing follow-up assessments with clients who completed the program, the researchers found a 224 percent increase in the number of clients working full time.

The assessments delved into the drug history of clients, their education, mental health status, criminal justice records, details about their housing and family, employment and substance use.

“Another thing that stands

out to me in the assessments is the relationships the clients had with their counselors. Some people would say this was their only support system,” Johnson-Melvin said.

“The partnership between SIUC, The H Group and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) provided a unique opportunity for those in need of methamphetamine treatment in Southern Illinois,” said Wendy S. Bailie, director of Adult Behavioral Health Services for The H Group. “This

working relationship allowed us to implement evidence-based treatment, increase the capacity for that treatment and demonstrate the effectiveness of those treatment outcomes through six-month follow-up evaluations. The results were exceptional, both in the reduction of methamphetamine use (approximately 97 percent were meth-free at six months) and in the reduction of neglect and abuse reports to DCFS (94 percent had no new founded reports).”

The research and lessons resulting from the Matrix of Hope form part of the basis of a new collaborative program for SIUC researchers and The H Group. The focus of the new project, funded by nearly $1 million in grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is on teenage substance abusers and their

families or caregivers in Franklin, Jackson, Saline and Williamson counties.

Counselors at The H Group are accepting referrals and beginning to see adolescent clients.

During the next three years, The H Group staff anticipates working with 90 adolescents with substance abuse problems, according to Kimberly Darnstaedt, director of the Youth and Family Division at The H Group. For information about the program or participating, call 618/973-6483.

Koch and his Rehabilitation Institute students are again playing a vital role in this project, evaluating the program and results, assuring a factual assessment of the program and its results.

Data collection will happen when a client begins the program, at times during treatment and again at the end.

The social, ethical and legal issues surrounding organ donation are often highly emotional on a personal level and controversial on a national level.

In considering how to increase organ donation rates in order to reduce the disparity between demand and supply, research from current and former faculty at Southern Illinois University Carbondale suggests there is no one-size-fits-all legal solution for governing organ donation.

Rather, research by Michele L. Mekel and Wayne Paris indicates that to be successful, the legal system a country adopts to govern organ procurement and distribution must match with the country’s overarching value system. Mekel, an assistant professor at the SIU School of Law, and Paris, an associate professor at Abilene Christian University School of Social Work, began research last year on identifying and assessing various international legal approaches governing organ procurement and distribution.

Mekel is also with the law school’s Center for Health Law and Policy, and has a cross appointment as an assistant professor in the SIU School of Medicine’s Department of Medical Humanities. Paris is a former assistant professor in the School of Social Work at SIUC.

Increasingly, the quality

of life — and even survival — for many people depends on receiving an organ transplant. The demand is not keeping pace with the supply. According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, the number of people in the United States awaiting an organ transplant as of Feb. 10 stood at 110,324, an increase of more than 84 percent from the 59,862 people on a waiting list in 1998. In 2008, the number of people needing an organ transplant was 100,597, while the total number of U.S. organ donors was 14,203, including 6,219 living donors, according to federal data.

Mekel said research goals are two-fold: identify the legal structures and underlying social values in place in selected nations around the world with regard to organ

procurement and distribution, and assess how differing legal approaches might align with underlying social values in order to create systems that are both socially and legally viable, and that, as a result, increase organ donor rates.

There are four primary donation systems found throughout the world — presumed consent, opt-in, registered donor priority for transplants, and legalized donor compensation.

Presumed consent systems have a legal presumption that individuals will donate their organs upon death. There are two forms of presumed consent systems. In “soft” presumed consent systems, people may choose to decline to participate by voluntarily opting out prior to their death, or the person’s attending physician or family can also decline to donate the person’s organs after they die, Mekel said. A “hard” presumed consent system, such as the one in place in Austria, is much more strict, and typically only the individual organ donor can opt out in writing prior to death, she said.

Great Britain and the United States use an “opt-in,” system, in which donors must explicitly decide whether to donate their organs, Mekel said. In an opt-in system, the legal presumption is that people do not wish to donate their organs unless they expressly choose to become

organ donors and take specific steps to make that choice known, Mekel said.

The U.S. system has a few limited exceptions, created by state law, in which presumed consent can come into play, Mekel said. Some states, including Illinois, have narrowly tailored presumed consent laws, which provide that, in certain circumstances, specific tissues, such as corneas, may be taken for transplant without donor consent, she said.

Several countries use a combination of systems. Austria, for example, has both

a “hard” presumed consent system and a priority system, where those who opt out go to the bottom of the donor list in the event they need a transplant.

“This combination of hard presumed consent for organ donation and donor priority for organ distribution reinforces a societal norm that strongly favors organ donation in the Austrian system,” she said.

Singapore and Israel also utilize registered donor priority systems. In Israel, a person who is a registered donor or previous donor receives priority on organ recipient waiting lists.

Iran utilizes legalized donor compensation, where there is a combined government and private funding mechanism to pay people for donating a kidney. The compensation applies only to kidneys, the most needed organ, and Iran is the only country in the world where demands for kidney transplants do not exceed supply, she said.

Mekel said she is not surprised by the disparity between organ demand and organ supply in the United States and in most other nations. People are living longer and there is an increasing prevalence of obesity and hypertension, which can contribute to chronic conditions such as diabetes, which, in turn, can lead to conditions that include kidney failure. The increased

emphasis on traffic safety is also helping lower the number of donors due to a decline in fatal vehicle accidents, historically another resource for organ donations, she said.

In the United States, it is illegal to buy and or sell organs. Mekel said the laws that govern the U.S. organ procurement system — including the National Organ Transplant Act and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act — “make it very clear that the American system is based on altruism,” she said.

As for augmenting the nation’s current system with additional approaches to enhance donation rates, Mekel said a priority system, such as the kind used in Israel, might work well because “it comports with the current altruistic, opt-in system,” and is also in line with the nation’s “entrenched” values that favor individual rights.

Mekel’s expertise is in bioethics and the law. The research helps to address the legal, bioethical and social implications that organ procurement and distribution systems raise, and examining various systems in use around the world and values underlying those systems, she said.

“There is no one size fits all system. Nations must adopt an organ procurement system and distribution system that fits with their overarching values or it will not be successful,” she said.

Researchers study approaches to organ donationBy pete Rosenbery


Organ donation research — With the demand for organs outpacing supply, Michelle L. Mekel, an assistant professor at the SIU School of Law, is involved with research into various systems that are socially and legally acceptable to possibly increase organ donations.

With an increasing number of people waiting for organ transplants, the study looks

at how other countries govern organ procurement

and distribution. Taking into account different

approaches that are socially and legally viable could result in increased organ

donor rates.

Program helps adult, teen substance abusers


Drug research — D. Shane Koch, associate dean for academic and student affairs in the College of Education and Human Services, discusses drug research and study results with Ann Johnson-Melvin (center) of Johnston City and Alice Mbugua of Kenya. Both women are doctoral candidates in rehabilitation counseling and administration.

By christi mathis

Why iT maTTers

Through the Matrix of Hope, 97 percent of meth addicts completing the program

reported at their six-month follow-up that they weren’t using methamphetamine.

type of employment Intake Follow-up

Full-time 12.9% 41.8%

Part-time 5.1% 12.7%

emPlOymeNT raTe ChaNGes

Why iT maTTers



With the increasing focus on alternative-fuel vehicles, a project at Southern Illinois University Carbondale looks to pave the way in helping the local environment.

With the assistance of the University’s Green Fund, students in the Electronic Systems Technologies (EST) and Automotive Technology programs are spending this semester building an electric vehicle. The goal is to return an existing, but inoperable campus grounds utility vehicle to service as a zero-emission electric vehicle.

If the project is successful, Ralph F. Tate, associate professor in Electronic Systems Technologies and interim director of the School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies, believes it will be possible to convert other University-owned vehicles from gas to battery powered and make the campus more environmentally friendly.

“Most of these vehicles never leave campus so range is not an issue,” said Tate, who is project director. “If you were to convert some of the vans or other work vehicles, they would have all the capabilities they have now except you would never have to put fuel in them and you would just plug them in at night.”

The Bobcat utility vehicle resembles a mix of an all-terrain vehicle and golf cart. The vehicle will be in use at the University’s vermicomposting facility, or the “worm farm.”

Students began gutting the vehicle’s internal combustion engine and everything connected to it in late February. Four Electronic Systems Technologies students are in the project as part of an independent study

course. Part of the work includes researching systems to determine the required components and also design the instrumentation hardware and software.

It’s easy to understand the increasingly important relationship between students in both programs if you take a quick glance underneath the hood of your new car or truck. The mechanic who is handy with a hammer can no longer rely on that tool for a quick fix when something goes wrong in today’s vehicles.

Omar Trinidad, an assistant professor in the Automotive Technology program, expects conversions to electric-powered vehicles will expand future opportunities for automotive technology students. Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Nissan have their own electric vehicles, said Trinidad, who along with associate professor Sean Boyle is also involved with the project.

Trinidad sees three benefits for automotive technology students, beginning with the chance to collaborate with another program on campus.

“We have such a deep and rich amount of resources

within our community and University that we actually haven’t tapped into yet,” he said. “Having the automotive and electronics programs come together helps them learn about what we do and helps us learn about what they do,”

Students will also learn how to interact with people who have expertise in a specific area — introducing them to real-world applications and situations. Technical-minded people and engineering-minded people sometimes work well together, but knowing how to communicate with one another is vital, he said.

The project also gives students real-world examples and applications for electric vehicles, Trinidad said. The utility vehicle, or UTV, will use state-of-the-art Lithium Iron Phosphate battery technology, Tate said. The battery chemistry is the safest and most efficient available and will result in a compact, lightweight and efficient power source, Tate said.

Retrofitting an inoperable gas-powered electric vehicle into an all-electric vehicle will

save the University money, Tate said. He anticipates the project will cost $10,000; a new gas-powered vehicle costs about $12,000, and new electric UTVs cost about $13,000.

Because there is no need for tune-ups, oil changes, and several other basic mechanical fixes, Tate expects maintenance and operational costs will be lower. The battery system will last about eight years, with the cost to charge the battery estimated at 50 cents per day, he said.

Sean Neil and Michael Ahner, both seniors in electronic systems technologies, were recently writing programs for the various elements that will be on the LCD display board. They are studying the various kinds of processors, motors, batteries, charging units and sensors available to select the correct ones for the project.

“You have to research it and determine what is compatible and if it will work before you try because selecting the wrong component here can mean failure down the road,” said Neil, who is from Chicago.

‘research is creating new knowledge.’

– Neil Armstrong

eneRgy | ecology enviRonment

When he was a boy in the 1950s, Yoginder “Paul” Chugh’s future was somewhat decided for him.

“My parents and my older brothers decided that one of the six brothers must be in the earth sciences area,” the SIUC professor said. “Since mining engineering was the highest-paying profession at that time and very difficult to get admission into, I was slated to study mining engineering.”

Though it wasn’t his own, the choice led to a flourishing career in finding better, safer ways to harvest the valuable materials buried beneath the soil, while also sending dozens of students along his same path. Chugh, a professor of Mining and Mineral Resources Engineering in the College of Engineering, recently has enjoyed an especially consistent string of successes that included appointment to strategic international committees abroad as well as advances that benefit miners and mine operators on the ground.

Chugh, a U.S. citizen since 1975, began his underground career in his native India, earning his Bachelor of Science degree from Banaras Hindu University in 1961. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in

mining engineering at The Pennsylvania State University in 1968 and 1971, respectively, landing at SIUC in the late 1970s.

During his career, Chugh has been a lead researcher in more than 90 research projects that received more than $20 million in funding from sources outside his university. He owns or co-owns eight patents and has designed everything from mine roof truss systems to dust control systems to systems to manage the waste products associated with coal mines. He’s authored around 200 articles for journals and presented papers at top conferences all over the world while shepherding dozens of advanced-degree-seeking students through their dissertations and research projects.

Chugh was named the outstanding teacher in his department in 1984-85 and again for 2003 and 2005,

as well as the College of Engineering’s outstanding teacher in 1984-85 and its outstanding faculty member in 2007.

And his success has continued in recent years, as well. Chugh recently received yet another patent on a mine-related invention called Atlas Cribs, clearing the way to market the engineered cribbing devices to mines all over the United States.

Atlas Cribs are designed to brace ceilings in underground mines. They are specially designed stackable wood braces that are lighter and stronger than conventional wooden blocks used by miners for centuries. The product has undergone several years of testing and use in three coal mines in the area, where it performed well.

The U.S. Patent Office issued the patent late last year, which will provide financial and intellectual protection for the

University and Chugh. With three area manufacturers onboard, and a western Kentucky mine equipment supply company distributing the product, Chugh said the product has moved to the next phase.

“We are by and large out of the testing phase and into the marketing and commercialization phase. It has been tested enough that nobody should have any qualms about using them,” said Chugh, who along with former miners Harrold Gurley, John Pulliam and Bill Bell, worked on the design. “Our goal is to try to market our cribs in a big way.”

Another invention Chugh and his team are perfecting has the potential to greatly cut down on the dangerous and unhealthy dust that is suspended in the air inside

underground mines.Chugh is leading an effort

to cut down on the huge amounts of dust created by the large machines miners use to chew coal from the veins beneath the ground. The system, which uses water spray technology and strategic placement of the spray nozzles to create “curtains” around dust clouds, can be retrofitted on continuous coal mining machines.

All of his work has not gone unnoticed abroad. In 2009, China invited Chugh to participate on a council that examined that country’s current and future approach to coal-based energy. As a member of the China Council Task Force on Sustainable Use of Coal, Chugh joined scientists and engineers from France, Canada, Denmark and China in studying the issue.

This year, the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration named Chugh a Distinguished Member for his many contributions to technology and professional works. Meanwhile, Chugh continues to work on inventing and improving technologies that will keep miners safer and the world supplied with the materials it needs.

“There is a famous saying: ‘What can not be grown must

be mined,’” Chugh said. “It is as true today as it was when it was written perhaps centuries ago. Having established the never-ending need for mining energy and non-energy minerals to fuel economies globally, it is also important to assert that miners work in highly challenging environments that are neither totally safe nor totally healthy. We respect and salute all those who struggle deep down in the earth to provide us the high standards of living that we have.

“Another challenge that faces the mining industry is sustainable development and management of mining communities so that the future generations are offered opportunities for good land, water, and air environment and personal and professional growth,” he said.

And that decision his parents’ made in choosing his career?

“I am not complaining about the choice because I like adventure and challenges and mining engineering has given me both,” she said. “Having been in underground environment all my life, I am now ready to go to space and explore it. That wish is not likely to come true in this life. So, I just have to wait my turn.”

Mining engineer’s impact felt far and wideBy tim crosby

Photo PRovided

Yoginder ‘Paul’ Chugh, is professor of mining and mineral resources engineering.

During his career, Paul Chugh has been a lead researcher in more than 90 research projects that received more than $20

million in funding from sources outside the University. He owns or co-owns eight patents and has designed everything

from mine roof truss systems to dust control systems to systems to manage the waste products associated with coal mines.

Students learning how to build electric vehicle By pete Rosenbery

Why iT maTTers

With an increasing emphasis on lowering emissions and costs associated

with internal combustion engines, applied research

into converting a University grounds utility vehicle

to a zero-emission electric vehicle saves money, and gives students experience

for their future careers.

Why iT maTTers A graduate student at

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is helping lead a group of grade school students in exploring the wonders of science.

Juliette Donatelli, a graduate student in plant biology, is a fellow in SIUC’s Heart GK-12 program, a science outreach program at the University funded by the National Science Foundation. Donatelli is working with students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades at Creal Springs School, visiting the school once per week and helping break down barriers between science and the classroom. Creal Springs School, a pre-K-eighth grade facility, is one of eight Southern Illinois schools working with the University on the project.

The “heart” in Heart GK-12 stands for Heartland Ecological/Environmental Academic Research Training. The fellowship program primarily targets underrepresented minorities in science.

SIUC graduate students, under the direction of faculty advisers, work with area teachers and students to explore a wide and rich variety of scientific experiences in ecological habitats.

The program is aimed at increasing scientific literacy, assisting teachers by providing them the opportunity for scientific research, and enhancing the partnership between SIUC and area schools.

Donatelli began working with the Creal Springs students in August 2009, partnering with their teacher, Fran Wachter. Donatelli plays the part of “resident

scientist,” teaching fun, hands-on lessons in science and ecology.

“I see my job as making science fun and attainable,” she said. “It’s not so much about the white coat, but about reaching out and showing them how to connect with science.”

Wachter said having a “real scientist” in the classroom has been a tremendous opportunity for her and the students.

“In our classroom this has been an excellent resource for innovative science activities and laboratories,” Wachter said. “The students appreciate (Donatelli’s) role as mentor and look forward to her weekly sessions. Her environmental ecology message is well received and she has had a positive impact on my students’ attitudes about conservation and science literacy.”

Other schools involved in the project are Anna Junior High School, Jefferson Elementary School in Marion, Carterville High School, Herrin High School, Unity Point School in Carbondale, Murphysboro High School, and General John A. Logan Attendance Center in Murphysboro.

By tim crosby

The Heart GK-12 program is aimed at increasing

scientific literacy, assisting teachers by providing them

the opportunity for scientific research,

and enhancing the partnership between SIUC and area schools.

Why iT maTTers

Partnership promotes science in area’s schools


Programming the future — Sean Neil of Chicago, left, and Michael Ahner of oak Forest, seniors in electronic systems technologies, write the program for various elements that will be on an LCD display board of the zero-emission electric vehicle.


An interdisciplinary group of researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will use a $1.43 million grant from the National Science Foundation to examine the response of Midwest agriculture to climate change during the rest of the century.

The four-year project, entitled “Climate Change, Hydrology and Landscapes of America’s Heartland: A Multi-Scale Natural-Human System,” is under way now, in the first stages of the necessary data collection.

Christopher L. Lant, a professor in the geography and environmental resources department in the College of Liberal Arts, heads up the research team and serves as the spokesman. Rounding out the team are Justin T. Schoof, assistant professor in the geography and environmental resources department; John W. Nicklow, professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering; Silvia Secchi, assistant professor of agribusiness economics in the College of Agricultural Sciences; Steven Kraft, professor emeritus of agribusiness economics; and Girmay Misgna, GIS Lab supervisor for the Environmental Resources and Policy doctoral program.

The research requires several steps, beginning with plotting probable climate changes in the Midwest over the next 90 years. Data from global super-computers can be “downscaled” to predict future climates at specific locations. Schoof, whose research

specialty includes climate variability, climate change and climatological methods, has already begun collecting data.

A major goal of the project is to forecast agricultural land use patterns, and, in particular, how climate change and human activity will affect the watersheds in the study area. The study area includes Illinois and other Midwest farming states, with special emphasis on eight watersheds within that study area (see map).

“We’re looking at how the landscape can adapt to a changing climate,” Lant said, summing up some of the goals of this major research project. “We’re looking at how the resulting patterns may affect water usage, availability and quality.”

Water use now and how climate change may affect demand for water is a major concern of the research team.

“Water is caught in the middle,” Lant said. “Intensive agricultural production is very polluting. If the changes lead to increased agricultural production, will the pollution in the water increase significantly? What happens to water use if an area begins to rely more on irrigation than in the past?”

In addition to looking at climate change, the team will use agent-based modeling to include such factors as economic and policy changes, and advancements in agricultural techniques. Agent-based models are computational models used for simulating possible scenarios. For example, in this

case, if the Midwest sees an overall warming trend that causes the growing season to lengthen, what might happen if the agriculture community responds by changing its current crop selection, or by investing in irrigation — how might this affect the quantity and quality of water?

Lant noted that economics is a primary driving force in the agent-based model the team uses. For example, many farmers want to maximize their profits, naturally, and climate changes may offer different opportunities for different regions as the landscape and land use shift. But other landowners may want to minimize labor or maintain the value of their land.

“Crops are grown where they are because of factors like climate and soil fertility,” Lant said. “As the climate changes, will the location of the Corn Belt change? Where will it be in 50 years? In 100 years?”

He stressed that climate changes can mean different opportunities for farmers, and not necessarily spell disaster. Farmers in the northern Midwest who find the growing season too short for some major cash crops such as corn may find themselves able to grow those crops 50 years from now. Conversely, farmers currently growing those cash crops may find a need to cultivate other crops to accommodate a changing climate.

“This study will give us an early glimpse at different adaptations and different problems,” Lant said. “We will have an idea of new agricultural opportunities and also challenges. However, the hardest part to predict is biotechnical advancement. We can guess at genetic engineering, but it’s easier to predict climate change than to predict technological changes.”

The study will also examine how policies and land use might maximize environmental benefits. “We’ll look at issues such as compensation — should a landowner receive monetary compensation for practices that reduce pollution, sequester carbon, or filter water?” he said.

Another component of the study is education and dissemination of the findings. With the guidance of assessment guru Rhonda Kowalchuk, associate professor of educational psychology, the team will work with local middle and high school teachers to develop and test teaching modules using systems modeling concepts.

“We’ll look at basic concepts

such as ‘what is a watershed?’ and more in-depth examinations of land use and nature-society interaction,” Lant said. The modules could fit into grades 6-12 science and 9-12 social studies education curriculums.

By “in-depth examinations” Lant means in part learning by doing — or learning by playing anyway. “The Carbon Game,” a Lant invention, is an educational tool that teaches students about the carbon cycle by having teams compete against each other to reduce global warming the most within a given budget.

“They learn what roles in the carbon cycle are played by forests or by pastureland and crop land or cities,” he said. “If you neglect the ocean in your scenario and increased

carbon makes it more acidic, how will that affect other actions in your scenario?”

This is a four-year project, and the team is only about six months into it — study results will not be immediate.

“We anticipate that climatic change will diminish agricultural and ecologic potentials in some regions, such as through reduced water availability, while expand it in other areas, such as through lengthening of the growing season,” Lant explained, referring to the project abstract presented to the National Science Foundation. “However, these effects will be greatly influenced through market and policy developments such as biofuel production and carbon credits.”

Major study examines agriculture, climate changeBy Andrea hahn

A major goal of the project is to forecast agricultural land use patterns, and, in particular, how climate change

and human activity will affect the watersheds in the study area. The study area includes Illinois

and other Midwest farming states.

Why iT maTTers

Photo PRovided

map of UsDa regions and Watersheds – This is the area covered by the team’s climate change research. The map shows the watersheds included in the study as well.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a major player in a national effort to train the next generation of watershed scientists, thanks to a major grant from the National Science Foundation that funds an intensive, interdisciplinary approach.

The NSF in 2009 awarded SIUC a $3.2 million Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship grant. SIUC’s IGERT grant was one of just 20 NSF funded from a pool of 412 applicants. The highly competitive grant funds a six-year effort aimed at educating up to 20 leading watershed scientists while they earn their doctorates at SIUC.

The program’s “classrooms” includes rivers and watersheds near the University and around the world. Such features are among the most complex systems in nature and have enormous impact on human life, for good and ill.

Nicholas Pinter, professor of geology and principal investigator on the project, said the Watershed Science and Policy program also involves SIUC researchers from educational psychology, forestry, agricultural economics, microbiology, and fisheries.

“The IGERT award is a demonstration that SIUC can compete at the highest levels of research and external funding in the country,” Pinter said. “In addition, the award is an important and practical tool for raising the profile of

SIUC. We are receiving Ph.D. student applicants from top programs across the U.S.”

Equally importantly, Pinter said, faculty and university administrators see the SIUC IGERT booth at national meetings, ads in nationwide scientific publications, and see that SIUC has an IGERT program when University faculty contact colleagues to encourage student applications.

“The IGERT raises the whole profile of SIUC in a wide variety of ways,” he said.

Plans call for three groups of students working as a team and conducting research toward earning their doctorate. The first cadre of students began working in spring 2010, with the second cohort starting this spring.

Each group will work in a target river basin of key interest, including the Cache River, Atchafalaya River, Middle Mississippi River and the Tisza River in Europe. In addition to classes and seminars, students also will perform internships with

various government agencies and other organizations and all will take at least one extended, two-week tour of a foreign country to observe watershed management practices there, Pinter said.

So far, the first group of students has accomplished a huge amount in the time they’ve been at SIUC, Pinter said.

“They’ve organized and run a major symposium on Cache River research and management and they’ve studied and traveled watershed issues in Panama,” he said. “They’ve also now begun their team project that will be the keystone of the new interdisciplinary model of doctorate education.”

By the time they are finished, the students will be leaders in the field, studying floodplains, water resources, ecosystems, economics, public use and best management practices to protect and utilize these natural resources.

And IGERT is drawing top students from around the country to SIUC.

Kimberly Erndt, for example, is an IGERT doctoral student with research interests in aquatic ecology and its effects on land-use and management practices. Before coming to the University, she worked six years as an aquatic ecologist for Prairie Rivers Network, a non-profit organization, where she served as watershed organizer doing community outreach, education and planning. She also served as interim

executive director and as a river restoration and habitat conservation specialist for the organization.

Erndt said she wants to protect water resources and wildlife, and that she pursued the IGERT program because it will help her understand both the science and the policy sides of this effort.

“I realized that there is a great need for scientists and policy makers that can speak both languages and work well with other professional fields in order to make informed effective environmental protection policies,” Erndt said. “The IGERT program was an ideal opportunity for me to have an interdisciplinary education that focused on watershed science and policy, and I’m very fortunate to be a part of the program.”

Erndt said working on the Cache River Basin has helped her gain insight into water systems that have been heavily altered by humans. Scientists and public policy makers consider its wetlands extremely important, and she and her fellow IGERT students hope to protect the resource for all stakeholders.

Amanda Nelson was a research assistant at North Carolina State University who earned her Master of Science degree in water science and worked for a county conservation district in Illinois and for the state of Kentucky’s Division of Water. She has two years of doctorate-level work in entomology and hopes to combine GIS and bio-

assessment data to improve watershed management planning.

Nelson said she was having trouble finding the right doctoral program when she saw an advertisement for the IGERT program at SIUC.

“I was immediately attracted by the interdisciplinary emphasis of the IGERT program because I’m a firm believer that watershed issues cross all boundaries and affect all people,” Nelson said.

“All too often, professionals and professors get pigeon-holed into their narrow aspect of their particular field and either miss the big picture or fail to make a measurable difference in an issue. I applied immediately and was told that it was a very competitive program. That made me a little nervous, but I knew that I was a

competitive candidate, so I had hope.”

Along with Pinter, SIUC faculty members who are co-investigators on the project include Lizette Chevalier, professor of civil and environmental engineering and acting associate dean of the College of Engineering; Christopher Lant, professor of geography and environmental resources; Matt Whiles, professor of zoology; and Sara Baer, associate professor of plant biology.

Chevalier said the IGERT approach to doctoral students, while demanding and anchored in scientific rigor, is more flexible than the traditional approach.

The students, immersed in a multi-disciplined team, defined their research projects and collaborations in a real-world environment.

IGERT trains up-and-coming watershed scientists

Photo PRovided

exploring the Cache – Future watershed scientists set out on a canoe trip down the Cache River last summer. The six students, fellows of the $3.2 million Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship grant from the National Science Foundation, studied the Cache River watershed in depth as part of their training.

By tim crosby

The students will be leaders, studying floodplains, water

resources, ecosystems, economics, public use and best management practices to protect and utilize these

natural resources.

Why iT maTTers



The intersection of farm policy, commodities prices, energy prices and environmental quality can be like a tangled knot of string: Pull on one end, the others tighten or loosen, depending on how they are connected.

An SIUC researcher focuses much of her work on understanding the complex and relatively new relationships between these economic sectors, striving to give consumers, farmers and the environment the best chance at living in harmony.

Silvia Secchi, assistant professor of agribusiness economics in the College of Agricultural Sciences, concentrates on the nexus of farm policy, energy policy and environmental sciences. An energy economist by training, Secchi examines how and why fuel prices relate to farm commodity prices, farmer decision-making and the overall impacts on the environment of such activities.

The rise of biofuels, which use farm products as raw materials once used only as food and feed sources, has tightened the relationship between oil and food prices over the last few decades, Secchi said. Understanding this complex relationship has important consequences for people all over the world.

“If oil prices go up then the price of corn tends to go up, too. But the price of natural gas also tends to go up, which raises the cost of fertilizer,” Secchi said. “So it’s an input-output effect, and the way we manage the land has implications for environmental quality.

“So that’s what I’m interested in; How these macro-level policies affect farmers’ decisions about how to use the landscape, and the effects in turn on the environment.”

One of the first projects Secchi worked on at SIUC looked at so-called “first generation” biofuels — corn ethanol and biodiesel — and the effects of their economics on water quality. The study looked at farmers in the Upper Mississippi River Basin and focused on central Iowa and central Illinois, two of the most productive farm regions in the world.

Collaborating with researchers at Iowa State University on the Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture-funded study, Secchi found farmers responded reliably to economic forces such as prices in their planting decisions. She found more farmers, for instance, stopped rotating their crops between corn and

soybeans — a practice that helps maintain soil nutrients — and went strictly to corn production when prices benefited them.

The group also measured environmental impacts of these decisions by simulating impacts on water quality near the town of Grafton on the Mississippi River and estimating the nitrogen and phosphorus load. A portion of nitrogen in such water bodies is attributable to farm fertilizers, and nitrogen in too great an abundance can be detrimental to life.

The simulations also showed that planting more corn resulted in less sediment washing into the river, which is beneficial for farmers and environmental concerns.

“So there were some benefits, too,” Secchi said. “You can see we are often looking at trade-offs in these systems.”

The study also found it would cost a lot to entice farmers to return to crop rotation because planting only corn was so profitable under such economic conditions.

Another project Secchi is working on, funded by

the Nature Conservancy, is looking at crops or “feedstocks” for second-generation biofuels. Such biofuels, which are still being explored, would use the husky, fibrous portions of plants to create energy.

This project focuses on levy districts along the Illinois River south of Peoria where farmers have drained wetlands to make agriculture possible. Secchi, along with Steve Kraft, emeritus professor of agribusiness economics, is examining whether planting perennial second-generation biofuel feed stocks, such as switch grass, poplar or willow trees, might be economically viable for farmers who allow their land to return to wetland status.

Such feedstock crops and wetlands also provide environmental benefits. The crops are more tolerant of flood conditions and help hold more water in place, decreasing flooding downstream. The land also sequesters more carbon and recycles nutrients into the water. It also provide habitat to animals, which have been displaced by agriculture.

Because of its locations in low-lying land near the river, the land is of limited agricultural value because of flooding issues. Secchi’s research, therefore, is aimed at benefiting both farmers and the environment through an innovative economic approach.

Because second-generation biofuels are currently being developed, Secchi said it’s not yet economically viable for farmers to make the switch.

“But what we’re trying to see is if it will make sense in the future, based on projections,” she said.

One thing that might make it more economically viable is payments to farmers from other interested parties. Downstream communities that benefit from decreased flooding might pay into a fund that compensates farmers, for instance. Also, environmental markets, which buy and sell emissions credits, might play a role. The government also could develop a program aimed at subsidizing such crops.

“We try to figure out how to devise polices that are

good on a variety of fronts,” Secchi said. “You have to show people how it benefits them to do these things, and sometimes that means paying them.”

Another project Secchi is working on involves decreasing agricultural-based carbon emissions by emphasizing no-till planting. Such an approach, which uses special equipment to plant seeds in individual holes rather than plowing furrows, helps keep carbon dioxide stored in the soil, instead of helping release it into the atmosphere.

Among all the approaches and technology aimed at carbon sequestration, no-till farming is among the easiest and most readily available. It also has other benefits, such as cutting down on soil erosion.

“It can help solve our problems now,” Secchi said.

Secchi is examining the economic forces at work in this setting, trying to place a monetary value on certain aspects and ultimately trying to find what it might cost to entice farmers to adopt the no-till approach.

Researcher studies nexus

of farm, energy policies

By tim crosby

Photo by Russell d. bailey

economic inquiry – Sylvia Secchi (left), assistant professor of agribusiness economics, and her undergraduate research assistant, Kristen L. Woods, review material Woods has turned up in her hunt for online information on policies promoting renewable energy. Secchi concentrates on the nexus of farm policy, energy policy and environmental sciences.

The rise of biofuels, which use farm products as raw materials once used only as food and feed sources,

has tightened the relationship between oil

and food prices over the last few decades. Understanding

this complex relationship has important consequences

for people all over the world.

Why iT maTTers

Humans all over the world live in proximity to one danger or another. But an SIUC researcher is working with people in India to keep them safe from a particular variety of next-door danger that weighs 400 pounds, walks on four legs and is a hunter and stalker by nature.

Clay Nielsen, an assistant professor with the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory and the Department of Forestry, is assisting wildlife managers in central India as they look for ways to protect local villagers from tiger attacks. In the last five years alone, tigers have attacked members of the rural population 70 times, with 65 of those attacks being fatal.

The point of conflict centers on the interface between the estimated 79,000 people populating small villages around edges of the approximately 435-square-mile Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve, which is home to 35 to 40 tigers. Tigers, like many animals, normally disperse as they search out their own territory, and Nielsen hypothesizes many of the attacks stem from this naturally occurring behavior.

“Of course, as many wildlife do, they don’t always stay within the reserve. It’s an unfenced area. So animals disperse naturally from the reserve,” Nielsen said. “And that’s a big concern. When tigers leave the reserve,

they’re in a rural landscape where there are lots of people, mostly farmers.”

Nielsen’s past efforts include work on dispersing cougars in the United States and jaguars in Mexico. He’s also worked on reducing human-animal conflicts in other areas where civilization and the wild exist in close proximity.

With this track record, a non-governmental organization in India called the Tiger Research and Conservation Trust (TRACT) contacted Nielsen during the summer and invited him to collaborate on its effort to cut down on the often-fatal interaction between the big cats and local villagers living around the reserve.

TRACT’s main method of reducing such attacks now consists of conducting patrols around the reserve’s perimeter, looking for signs of a wayward tiger. If they spot such signs, they warn local villagers to be extra vigilant.

Its members also have collected data about the 70 attacks, recording parameters

such as location, time of day, type of victim and topography.

Nielsen hopes to use the data to identify similar characteristics inherent in the attacks in an attempt to predict where and when they are most likely to occur.

Also, a large proportion of the victims have been female, who are typically smaller in stature than males, Nielsen said. A large proportion also were attacked while sitting or squatting, which might fool the tigers into thinking the victim was a common local species of monkey that often assumes the same pose.

“Tigers look at humans as prey; they’re killing them as a prey species,” he said. “They might be confusing them with other wildlife in the area that they’re used to eating.”

The sheer number of attacks is concerning as well, Nielsen said.

“It is a high number of attacks. And what’s unique is that there haven’t been a lot of research efforts of tigers in this type of landscape that

is so dominated by people,” he said. “A lot of studies that are done have been in the more pristine areas. But this is the interface between people and tigers that exists a lot in India and certain parts of China. This area is loaded with people, yet in the middle of it we have this pristine tiger reserve. As a researcher, that interested me.”

So much so, that Nielsen — looking for a “cool” place to visit over winter break, anyway — paid his own way to India for a nearly two-week visit, spending about a week of it with TRACT members and seeing the area in question up close.

The group spent a great deal of time hiking and driving around the reserve, looking for signs of tigers

and leopards, another concerning species, though less troublesome than the tigers. They found tracks for both species and observed the landscape both within and outside the reserve, noting the stark difference between the two.

The reserve is home to the ideal tiger environment, with a thick growth of bamboo plants down low and teak trees towering overhead. It’s thick, dark and great for a silent, deadly predator that stalks its prey and pounces.

Just outside the reserve, however, it’s a much different story. Villages, rice fields, degraded forest and grazing livestock dominate the landscape. A tiger, used to the dark, lush forest, is out of place there and Nielsen

believes humans kill many such animals as they disperse from the reserve.

“You think of a tiger getting out there, after leaving the jungle where there’s lots of prey, lots of cover. Outside, there’s not nearly as much prey, because the villagers are using that prey in some cases. There’s also not as much cover. But there are a lot of other prey sources (villagers) out there working in the fields,” Nielsen said.

Globally, there are probably fewer than 5,000 tigers living in the wild, Nielsen said, with only about 1,500 throughout India. So getting the lay of the land in and around the reserve was important to understanding the challenges of keeping both humans and tigers safe.

“There’s not a whole lot of places for the tigers to live other than the reserve,” he said. “Even in the reserve itself, they are threatened by poachers who are collecting tigers for their body parts for use in traditional medicines.

“But if we’re going to reduce human-tiger conflict we have to work with the people who live with the tigers. It’s the villagers who are threatened, who are scared and who are having their livelihoods or their lives threatened by the tigers. We’re hoping this research can really focus on educating local folks on how to minimize fatalities or injury from tiger attacks,” he said.

Nielsen looks for answers to tiger attacks in IndiaBy tim crosby

Photo PRovided

Danger sign – A tiger walks along a road near a tiger reserve in central India. Clay Nielsen, an assistant professor with the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory and the Department of Forestry, is working with people to keep them safe from the tigers that live on the reserve, near many farming villages.

Wildlife managers in central India are looking for ways to protect local villagers from tiger attacks. In the last five years alone, tigers have attacked members of the rural

population 70 times, with 65 of those attacks being fatal. The point of conflict centers on the interface between the estimated 79,000 people populating small villages

around edges of an approximately 435-square-mile reserve.

Why iT maTTers


In today’s world, the lines between dressing for success and casual comfort are often blurred, but the way we dress does matter. That’s what research by a multi-disciplinary team from SIUC indicates.

Beth Winfrey Freeburg, associate professor and chair of the workforce education and development department in the College of Education and Human Services, and Jane E. Workman, professor and director of the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program in the School of Architecture in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, have spent more than a decade studying how people perceive, judge and react to the way others dress. The focus of much of their recent research is on teacher attire and its relevance.

Previous studies indicate that what teachers wear can affect their students’ learning as well as classroom discipline, work habits and attitudes, Freeburg said. But, she and Workman say that the “dress for success” line of thinking is butting up against trends in more recent years toward a more relaxed atmosphere and dress standards in workplaces, leading to sometimes unclear expectations and perceptions about what is appropriate.

Society has “rules” about how people should look and act in certain circumstances, Freeburg and Workman said. But, they note that although trends for workplace appearance norms move from

formal to business casual, research on expectations for work attire is limited. Their recent research focus has been on teachers — both pre-service and in-service — and the impact of what educators look like in various school settings on dress code requirements, school culture, competency judgments and student learning. They’ve studied expectations, dress codes and effects of how teachers dress.

With grant funding from the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois University Council for Career and Technical Education, Workman and Freeburg conducted an Award for Innovation Project. Assisting were J. Robin Robinson, doctoral candidate in Workforce Education and Development from Carbondale and visiting instructor in the fashion design and merchandising program, and other students.

Through online surveys of 162 superintendents, 67 school board members, 106 principals, and 35 other administrators throughout Illinois, they gauged perceptions of appropriate professional dress for teachers. Survey participants viewed 25 pictures, each depicting a teacher in a school setting. They rated each as to whether the teacher’s appearance was

professional, unprofessional, appropriate or inappropriate.

They all agreed that the large gentleman wearing a too-tight, tummy-exposing T-shirt with shorts and sandals wasn’t dressed professionally or appropriately to teach. But, somewhat surprisingly, most survey-takers rated a man wearing a suit and tie as dressed professionally but not appropriate for classroom duty.

“Appropriate does not always equal formal. Khaki pants and a polo shirt or a sport coat and dress slacks received high rankings as professional and appropriate,” Freeburg said.

“Blue jeans almost universally draw negative responses,” Workman added.

The results of their study formed the basis of a virtual seminar entitled “A Clear Definition of Appropriate Professional Dress for Teachers.”

She and Workman also recently completed a study focusing on “What dress norms and related rationale are found in teacher dress policies?”

“Pre-service teachers are typically so young and in their social roles, they make appearance choices that may be fitting for those circumstances but there are different expectations for them in a professional role as

a teacher,” Freeburg said. Likewise even seasoned

teachers don’t always know what’s appropriate to wear to work, she said. And yet, studies consistently indicate that suitable appearance is a factor in getting hired, retaining a job and getting promotions, Workman and Freeburg said.

They developed a scale for determining the restrictiveness of dress codes. They studied

102 employee handbooks from school districts in 29 states, examining teacher dress codes. They found that about 80 percent listed rationales for the guidelines.

The various rationales given throughout the country suggested teachers should dress according to dress codes because they are role models, to create an environment conducive to learning and to instill respect for authority and traditional values. Some codes also cited disciplinary or safety as reasons or suggested it is important to create a distinction between teachers and students. While some codes give specific instructions for dress, some

simply state employees should dress in a clean, neat, professional way.

Simply put, one way schools and their administrators can manage the image of a school is through written dress code policies, said Freeburg. The “Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences” published their analysis of teacher dress codes.

Their research regarding workplace appearance is very important not only in helping prepare teachers of tomorrow for their roles, but in assisting those who are already teaching.

There are applications for society as a whole, Freeburg and Workman say.

‘research serves to make building stones out of stumbling blocks.’

– Arthur D. Little

sociAl sciences

Research by Dafna Lemish, professor and chair of the Department of Radio-Television at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, suggests that with a few exceptions, character roles, gender, and even the ethnicity of children’s television programming continue to reinforce stereotypes.

An international scholar on the media’s role in children’s lives, Lemish came to SIUC in July 2010. She hopes her research serves not only as an anchor to help current producers reverse existing trends, but also just as importantly, offers her students a “practical education” for making change.

“We are training future producers of television for children,” Lemish said of the students in her course, “Media in the Lives of Children and Adolescents.”

“We want them to be the kind of producers who care about equality; who understand that you can use television to promote gender equality and racial equality,” she said. “This is transferable to real-world issues and the quality of education of our students.”

Lemish said her five-year study and research based on interviews with 135 producers of children’s television from 65 countries shows a concern with what children see on television. The producers she spoke with were mostly

not from large corporations, but affiliated with public broadcasting and educational broadcasting. Only about 15 percent of them also were not from the United States, she said.

“I was positively surprised to find out how many wonderful professionals who are involved in the media around the world are doing innovative, substantive great work,” she said. “I was surprised at the diversity of concerns these producers have and how they think of television as a tool for positive change — which is quite different from most of the market-driven commercial television we have here.”

Lemish said there are many producers of children’s television shows in the United States who also are “wonderful and creative.”

However, a large factor in this country is the amount of commercially driven programming where even young children, and their parents, become consumers of the latest program-related toys, clothing and accessories.

Lemish’s 2010 book, “Screening Gender on Children’s Television: The Views of Producers around the World,” which she utilizes in her class, has what she describes as “eight working principles for change.” The principles, she said, are a compilation of what media professionals shared with her in her research.

The concepts involve equality, diversity, complexity, similarity, unity, family, authenticity and voicing, she said. Equality involves boys and girls both having equal roles in television while their differences are respected and recognized, Lemish said. Diversity involves the importance of showing a wide range and variety of characters with various categories of race, gender, ethnicity and disability.

Complexity, Lemish said, involves showing boys and girls who are more complex, rounded, and not stereotypical, while at the same time highlighting the life experiences that boys and girls share.

The concept for unity looks at friendships and relationships between boys and girls built upon equal terms, while family refers to

social contact of a child’s life that features positive role models for parent-child and adult-child relationships.

Authenticity refers to the need for television programs to depict true-to-life characters, narratives and social contexts, and voicing involves presenting programs that reflect the perspectives of children themselves as they view and express them, Lemish said.

Another study Lemish was involved with looked at 20,452 children’s television programs from 24 countries – more than 2,400 hours’ worth. The study found that 68 percent of the main characters in the programs around the world were male with 32 percent of the main characters female, Lemish said. In addition, the about half of

programs shown throughout the world come from the United States, she said.

Excluding the children in the United States, United Kingdom and China, approximately 85 percent of the programs children view are produced outside of their own countries, with most programs originating in the United States, Lemish said.

“It’s not like this is an act of God or fate … it’s a market-driven culture,” she said.

Much of what international producers say and do is in comparison to the U.S. industry, Lemish said. In addition, children in the United States receive very limited programming from other countries. The same study from the 24 countries shows the skin color of characters of the television

children around the world to be 72 percent white, 11.6 percent Asian, 6.4 percent African-American, and 2.7 percent Latino.

While male characters have personality traits that include being a leader and involved with action and adventure, female characters, including in cartoons, are often defined by their appearance, emotions, and interest in romance. Of course, there are exceptions. The popular cartoon “Dora the Explorer” is a program that breaks many stereotypes — a lead female character that is inquisitive, independent and diligent, Lemish said.

The findings are particularly important when a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation Study shows an increase in total viewing consumption — via television, the Internet, cell phones and iPods — to four hours and 29 minutes a day, or more than 31 hours a week, for children eight to 18 years old.

Children are spending more time with media than any other activity, including time spent in school and sleep, she said.

Lemish said she also hopes her research helps parents to realize that television is not “just plain entertainment and doesn’t make a difference,”

“All television is educational. The question is, ‘What does it teach?’ You have to check whether it is teaching the values you want to teach your children,” she said.

Professor focuses on stereotypes in children’s TvBy pete Rosenbery


Children and the media – Dafna Lemish, professor and chair of SIUC’s Department of Radio-Television, discusses the role television plays in children’s lives during a recent class.

What children watch on television, including a majority of characters,

roles, gender, and ethnicity, continues to reinforce

stereotypes. Understanding the need for more diversity and change in what children

see on television is important.

Studies say appearance matters in the workplace


appropriate appearance — Beth Winfrey Freeburg (from left), associate professor and chair of the workforce education and development department; J. Robin Robinson, doctoral candidate in Workforce Education and Development form Carbondale; and Jane E. Workman, professor and director of the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program in the School of Architecture, look at the book, ‘Dress and Society,’ that Freeburg and Workman authored.

By christi mathis

Why iT maTTers

The ‘dress for success’ line of thinking is butting up against trends in more recent years toward a more relaxed atmosphere and dress standards in workplaces, leading

to sometimes unclear expectations and perceptions about what is appropriate.

Why iT maTTers


Christopher Mullins, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at SIUC, could probably be an expert auto thief himself, for as many experts as he’s talked to on the subject.

He’s not interested in the mechanics of stealing a car. But he is interested in the culture of those who do. And by culture, he means their lifestyles, their biographies, and their belief systems.

Mullins’ research gives a voice to people who don’t often get to tell their stories without fear of reprisal. In practical terms, the analyses Mullins prepares can help policy makers understand better how to reduce recidivism, or to enact early intervention programs.

“I look at offenders, active or incarcerated, of specific crimes, and I look at their lives, their neighborhoods, their outlooks on life. What are some of the belief systems of those who commit violent crime or who are repeat offenders? How does this affect their decision-making?” he said, describing some of his current street and prison research.

Because he is interested in the culture of repeat offenders and not their methodology, the exact truthfulness of their narratives is not important.

“If they come in and brag a little it doesn’t invalidate my research,” he said. “In fact, it helps provide insight into their values and what they perceive as accomplishments.”

Mullins is particularly interested in gender roles of repeat offenders. He looks at how male repeat offenders view masculinity and what, to them, it means to be a man. He also looks at women repeat offenders to find differences in how women experience a life of crime and prison sentences.

For example, as he studied

perpetrators of motor vehicle theft, he found that men control the profit. While women may learn how to steal cars, they don’t have the credibility with male-dominated chop shops to profit from the auto theft. Even if a woman is involved in repeated auto thefts — for example, with a boyfriend — she is not considered a good business risk should she steal a car on her own and attempt to profit from it without her male counterpart. Consequently, women who steal cars often use them for immediate purposes, such as temporary transportation. While men who steal cars may also use them as personal vehicles for a while, the goal is to make money from the auto theft, and that means access to a chop shop or auto parts dispersal system.

Besides profiting from stealing a car, a male auto thief also gains less quantifiable benefits, Mullins said. He gets respect from his peers.

“The usual ways for a man to establish his identity as a man are not available, so they go with what they have,” Mullins said. “The qualities they admire are independence and toughness.”

The desire to be independent, Mullins said, is one of the several factors that make employment difficult for many repeat offenders. Not only do they often lack education and skills, they also bear the burden of a criminal record and an attitude.

“They’ll say they don’t want anyone telling them what to do, that a 9 to 5 lifestyle just isn’t for them,” Mullins said. “Some of this is saving face, and some is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Mullins said many repeat offenders were first cut off from education, partly by inadequate schools in their neighborhoods and partly by behavior issues. The lack of

education contributes to the lack of employment.

“When you take away two of the stabilizing features of society — education and employment — peers become much more important,” Mullins said. “Those who become repeat offenders don’t see other options open to them. They have anecdotal

evidence and personal experience to tell them that betterment through education doesn’t happen, or that there is no significant advantage to steady, minimum-wage work.”

In addition, Mullins noted, many repeat offenders have cut themselves off from their own families.

“They’ve burned so many bridges,” he said. “Many times their family members have been victims of their thefts or their violence.”

The only real solution, Mullins said, is in getting repeat offenders to re-label themselves, to see themselves as something other than a criminal with street credibility.

“Many repeat offenders want to change while they are incarcerated,” Mullin said. “Prison is a controlled environment, and they perceive things differently there. Once they are back in their neighborhoods, it’s easy to fall into a former pattern, and difficult to put good intentions into action.”

Mullins said studies show that when a male repeat offender enters into a relationship with a female non-offender, that relationship can be a life-changing factor. Similarly, for a woman repeat offender, severing a relationship with a male repeat offender can lead to a crime-free life.

“I talked with one repeat offender, and he’d been out of trouble for several years while he was with a woman who didn’t tolerate the criminal behavior and didn’t let him associate with his former friends,” Mullins said. “When that relationship ended, he went back to the peer group and to the behavior. He didn’t have a negative attitude about the time he wasn’t committing crimes — he seemed fairly positive about it. But he didn’t have any particular regrets about going back to the old ways either.”

Mullins acknowledged that gathering data is sometimes dangerous. Generally, he

conducts interviews in an academic environment. With team research the norm in his field, Mullins often has colleagues at St. Louis-based universities working with him or on similar projects. The researchers have a reputation among St. Louis repeat offenders for confidentiality and anonymity, and that helps when it comes to finding a base of interview subjects.

“I tell them absolutely not to talk to me about any crimes they might be planning, because then I would be obligated to talk with authorities,” he said. “If the research is funded by a federal grant, then my interviews often can’t be subpoenaed.”

Mullins is analyzing his interviews with incarcerated women offenders about handgun use. The findings from his auto theft research, conducted with a colleague from the University of Missouri, will appear in Justice Quarterly.

An ongoing documentary research project at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is exploring the history of civil rights in the region.

Angela Aguayo, an assistant professor in the Department of Cinema and Photography, said the project began with her interest in how the civil rights movement played out in a rural environment.

“Most of the time when we think of civil rights, we think of a large urban environment,” said Aguayo, who grew up in Los Angeles and lived in Austin, Texas, prior to coming to SIUC in 2008. “You don’t think of small towns or rural life in regards to where those same struggles potentially happened, and how they were instrumental or essential to civil rights history.”

Aguayo and several students, including Jamal Easley, a junior majoring in cinema from Chicago, and Eric Robinson, a graduate student from Peoria, are collecting oral histories of people who experienced the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. The project started about a year and a half ago to “uncover a sparsely documented history of political struggle for racial equality” through interviews, document preservation, cataloguing historical events, and generating community

feedback, Aguayo said.While Southern Illinois

was important in the anti-war movement, not as much information is available about the civil rights movement in the region, outside of Cairo, during the same time period, she said. Aguayo said the group has been talking with people associated with Carbondale’s Eurma C. Hayes Center, the African American Museum of Southern Illinois, and local residents to understand how the movement manifested itself in a rural environment. In addition, WSIU digitized most of its civil rights archive, which the group is also utilizing.

The research includes scouring case files in the Jackson County Courthouse to assist in producing a short documentary, “778 Bullets,” which looks at a November 1970 shootout in Carbondale between members of the Black Panthers and police from several agencies.

The documentary looks at the before-dawn shootout from the perspective of people inside the off-campus house at 401 N. Washington St., and nearby neighbors. A total of 778 bullets were shot into the house. Accounts say that 10 people were injured, including one police officer. An all-white jury later acquitted three of the six defendants, known as “the Carbondale

Six,” of all charges including attempted murder. Prosecutors subsequently dropped charges against the three remaining defendants, said Jeffrey Haas, one of the attorneys representing the defendants.

The Black Panthers did operate a storefront in Carbondale for a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Aguayo said.

The documentary is a good starting point for the research, Aguayo said. One of the main goals in this research is to connect the past with present-day events.

“It’s not just we are telling this tale, but we are telling this tale in order to shed light on the situation now,” she said.

While the research primarily focuses on Carbondale at this point, Aguayo said the history also reaches out to other communities. There is a fear that much of the region’s history regarding civil rights is in danger of being lost due to a lack of adequate documentation and archiving.

Easley said he became intrigued with the project as a freshman when Aguayo mentored him as a research assistant through the University’s Saluki Research

Rookies program. Easley said he’s intrigued with redevelopment in urban areas. Some of the same issues from four decades ago remain relevant, he said.

“This isn’t just something that happened decades ago and is done with,” he said. “The issue is still here. That is the hope of getting this project out and letting people see it and making them aware of it.”

Easley and Aguayo hope to cultivate more interviews and continue to investigate the civil rights era in Southern Illinois. Easley will graduate in May 2012 and plans to attend graduate school and become a

documentary filmmaker.“I want to continue taking

on social activist issues and raising awareness of issues,” he said.

Aguayo said there are several other areas she wants to touch on in upcoming documentaries, including the role sports played in the integration of Carbondale and the region. The documentaries, typically under 30 minutes, are good for community screenings because they give people an opportunity to be involved in discussions after the films.

The project’s time frame is unlimited. Aguayo and Easley said at times it has been difficult for people to come

forward to talk due to the pain and trauma of some events.

But the effort is important for several reasons, Aguayo said.

“Without a clear sense of where we come from it is difficult to know how to grow,” she said. “Historical documentary plays an important role in bringing communities together through public memory. As time marches on, important aspects of this history in Southern Illinois risk being erased.”

Anyone interested in participating in the documentary series can contact Aguayo at [email protected].

Project explores region’s civil rights history

By pete Rosenbery


Documentary research on civil rights — Angela Aguayo, left, an assistant professor in the Department of Cinema, and Jamal Easley, a cinema major, discuss the first short documentary from an ongoing research project that includes collecting oral histories of people who experienced the civil rights movement in the region in the 1960s and 1970s.

Not as much information about the civil rights movement in Southern Illinois, outside of Cairo, is available, and there is a fear that much of the region’s history regarding civil rights is in danger of being lost due to a lack of adequate documentation and archiving.

Mullins studies ‘culture’ of repeat offenders


Gaining perspective – Christopher Mullins joined the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2008. His research interests here focus on interviews with current and incarcerated criminal offenders. In other research, he analyzes violations of international law.

By Andrea hahn

Why iT maTTers

Christopher Mullins’ research into the lifestyles,

biographies, and belief systems of repeat

offenders can ultimately help policy makers better

understand how to reduce recidivism

or to enact early intervention programs

aimed at reducing crime.

Why iT maTTers

Documents

SIUC Research