Campus News
Inaugural Bonine Scholarship Recipients Named; Photographs on Display
Two undergraduates and one graduate student have earned the inaugural Michael Bonine Memorial Travel & Research Awards.
The inaugural Bonine scholarship recipients attended the opening reception of “The Middle East and Beyond Exhibition” at the Arizona Student Union Gallery. They are Audra El Vilaly, Anna Roder and Valeria Martinez. (Photo credit: Kevin Bonine)
The Bonine Award was established in 2012 in memory of Michael Bonine, founding director of the UA School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies (MENAS) and professor of geography.
Undergraduate awardee Valeria Martinez, a student in MENAS, will use the award to support her summer 2013 studies of the Turkish language and history at Boğaziçi University near Istanbul, Turkey. It will be her first trip overseas.
MENAS student Anna Roder will use her award to support her fall 2013 studies at the Qalam wa Lawh program in Rabat, Morocco, where she will study Modern Standard Arabic at the advanced level. She particularly looks forward to living with a host Moroccan family.
And Audra El Vilaly, a doctoral student in the School of Geography and Development, received the graduate student award to help support her summer 2013 travel to South Sudan. There, she will refine her selection of places, people, and questions important to her doctoral research on how trauma-laden memories of the environment affect women.
The Michael Bonine Memorial Travel & Research Award was created to supports educational travel by undergraduate students and the pursuit of research activities by graduate students who have an affiliation with MENAS.
Preference is given to undergraduate students who travel “off the beaten path,” and to graduate students planning to conduct original and creative research. These preferences honor the spirit of Michael Bonine, an enthusiastic and inveterate world traveler who valued and encouraged student travel and research.
Also, until May 31, the Union Gallery at the Student Union Memorial Center is presenting the exhibit “The Middle East & Beyond,” featuring the photography of the late Bonine, who passed in 2011.
Bonine's work and travel in photographs represents but a small selection of the tens of thousands of images he captured during his adventures in more than 120 countries and all seven continents over the course of 50 years.
Many of his photos were taken on travels with students and colleagues. Proceeds will support the Michael Bonine Memorial Travel and Research Award.
When asked his favorite travel destination, Bonine would say: “The place I’ve not yet been.”
Contacts: Anne Betteridge, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, at 520-621-5456 or anneb@email.arizona.edu; Scott Lucas, director of the School of Middle Eastern Studies and North African Studies, at 520-626-9562 or sclucas@email.arizona.edu
Categories: Social Sciences and EducationTeaching and StudentsThis is a Wildcat Corner feature: Images: Tags: EducationStudentsFacultyByline: UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences |UANow Image: Editor: La Monica Everett-HaynesInclude in UANow: 0Date of Publication: Friday, May 24, 2013Feature on Front: NoQ&A: The Importance of the UA's Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs
During the 1960s, the UA was a trailblazer in establishing a new type of interdisciplinary program for students: the Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs, or GIDPs.
Today, many of the UA's GIDPs are top-ranking programs in the nation, raising the institution's visibility and notoriety.
In a 2011 report the National Research Council of the National Academies released, assessing research-doctorate programs across the nation, the UA placed among institutions with at least 50 percent of doctoral students in ranked programs, with GIDPs receiving strong placement. The UA's GIDPs in Applied Mathematics, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience and Second Language Acquisition & Teaching are among those that persistently receive national high ranks.
And the UA has been in good company. Other institutions on the list included the University of California, Berkeley, John Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University and also Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities.
This feature previews an article about the UA GIDPs. Visit UANews.org May 29 to read about student and faculty experiences and research in the programs. .Andrew Carnie, who directs the UA GIDPs and takes great pride in the programs, said the attention and noteriety is well-deserved, largely because of the contributions of the students, faculty and staff engaged in such programs.
Also the UA Graduate College dean, Carnie answered some of our questions about the role and importance of the UA's GIDPs, explaining how the programs have long been and continue to be the "crown jewels" of the University.
Q: What are the functions of the GIDPs, and why are they distinctive?
A: The goal of the GIDPs is to bring together faculty who are in traditional disciplinary units that allows them to access a kind of student that they wouldn't get in their discipline: a student who sees new ways of thinking about old ideas. They may want to have an adviser from psychology, linguistics and maybe somebody from French because their work is about French language acquisition. Students choose these programs because they see internationally renowned faculty participating and know this is something that is really unique. Another example would be students who take courses in engineering and work with surgeons to develop new tools that surgeons would then use to save lives. Something like that is really exciting to students.
Q: What are some of the other advantages the GIDPs offer?
A: One advantage in having more than 600 faculty members involved in the GIDPs is that you have a wide variety of people to work with. Students in GIDP might have 40 faculty members they could choose to work with. What the GIDP does is to allow those faculty to interact with each other through the student. So another important purpose of GIDPs is to bring together faculty who would not normally be in contact with each other. GIDPs bring values in other ways, too. So, faculty applying for grants can point out that they are working with students whose expertise will push research to another level and interacting with colleagues they otherwise might not interact with. Additionally, we see increased intellectual value because as scholars we often get set in thinking in particular ways and sometimes it takes a little kick in the pants from outside our areas to help us to think in new ways.
Q: The GIDPs are often referred to as the "crown jewels" of the UA. What does that mean?
A: The GIDPs represent a core value of the institution, and the UA views them as the generators of new innovation. Interdisciplinarity is one of the core values of the institution. If you look at the University's strategic plan, a central vision is the investigation of new ways of doing research. Innovation comes by breaking down disciplinary boundaries. Because we already do this in the GIDPs in a systematic and effective way, the GIDPs are representative of this core. It also is the case that the GIDPs, as a whole, are highly ranked and well-known programs that are well respected across the nation.
Photo credit: Mark S. Thaler/BioCommunications, Arizona Health Sciences Center
Contact: Andrew Carnie, the UA Graduate College dean, at carnie@email.arizona.edu or 520-621-2802.
Categories: Science and TechnologySocial Sciences and EducationTeaching and StudentsThis is a Wildcat Corner feature: Images: Tags: StudentsStaffFacultyResearchEducationByline: La Monica Everett-Haynes |UANow Image: UANow Summary: During the 1960s, the UA was one of the first institutions in the nation to introduce Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs, called GIDPs. Many at the UA now are top-ranking programs, raising the institution's visibility and notoriety, said Andrew Carnie, the UA Graduate College dean and director of the programs. In this Q&A, Carnie answers questions about the UA's GIDPs.Editor: Jennifer FitzenbergerInclude in UANow: 0Date of Publication: Friday, May 24, 2013Medium Summary: At the UA, the Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs represent a core value of the institution. Because of the level, type and importance of training and research produced within these programs, they are considered "crown jewels" of the University. Feature on Front: NoGovernor Signs Telemedicine Bill at UA College of Medicine-Phoenix
Gov. Jan Brewer on May 23 participated in a ceremonial signing of Senate Bill 1353, also known as the Telemedicine Reimbursement Parity Act, requiring telemedicine services be covered by health insurance in rural areas of Arizona.
The bill was unanimously approved by both the House and Senate and was signed by Brewer in a ceremony held in the T-Health Institute on the campus of the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. The institute is part of the award-winning Arizona Telemedicine Program based at the UA College of Medicine-Tucson.
Senate Bill 1353, sponsored by Sen. Gail Griffin, says beginning in 2015 insurers must cover patient care services provided through the telemedicine service programs, if the insurers pay for the services when they are provided in a traditional clinic or hospital setting.
The Arizona Telemedicine Program was established by the Arizona Legislature in 1996. "This telemedicine network now links 70 Arizona communities, at 160 sites, and has handled more than 1 million cases," said Brewer in signing the legislation. "Senate Bill 1353 will make health-care delivery faster, more accessible, less expensive and more effective – particularly for those rural Arizonans."
"Our telemedicine program is a critical link to health care. We primarily are devoted to improving access to specialized medical care throughout the State of Arizona," said Dr. Ronald S. Weinstein, co-founder and director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program.
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Burns, a former Arizona legislator, credited Griffin for getting her bill passed with "no 'no' votes" in the House or the Senate – a rare case of unanimity, as it would be in any state Legislature.
Burns has championed the Arizona Telemedicine Program since 1996, when he and Weinstein obtained state funding for the program and got it up and running.
"There is so much to be proud of in terms of what's been done," Weinstein told the audience, "and there is so much more to do going forward."
Arizona telemedicine programs cover the state and even spill over into Utah and New Mexico, with a wide range of health services from teleradiology to telepsychiatry.
The new law defines telemedicine services as the delivery of health care, diagnosis, consultation and treatment and the transfer of medical data through interactive audio, video or data communications that occur in the physical presence of the patient.
The UA College of Medicine-Phoenix admitted its inaugural class of first-year medical students in August 2007. The college currently has 265 students training to be physicians. The UA College of Medicine-Phoenix inspires and trains individuals to become exemplary physicians, scientists and leaders who are life-long learners and inquisitive scholars and who will embrace professionalism, innovation and collaboration to optimize health and health care for all.
The Arizona Telemedicine Program is a membership-based Application Service Program telehealth consortium. Established in 1996 by Dr. Ronald S. Weinstein and former Arizona State Sen. Robert Burns, the program is recognized as one of the premier entities of its kind in the world for telemedicine clinical services, education and research. More than 1 million people in Arizona have received telemedicine services over the program's private telecommunications network. For more information about the Arizona Telemedicine Program and the T-Health Institute, visit www.telemedicine.arizona.edu, or call 602-827-2116 for training information.
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Arizona State Museum Holds Collections from Memorial Day Founder
As Tucson prepares to celebrate Memorial Day, few may be aware of an interesting connection between the UA and the man responsible for its becoming a national holiday.
Child's vest, front and back, Lakota, 1880-1900 (10.5 inches long, 12.5 inches wide)
In 1868, General John A. Logan – A Civil War hero, Illinois Congressman and leader of the Grand Army of the Republic – authored the Decoration Day proclamation: "The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit."
This led to the establishment of Decoration Day, now Memorial Day, as a national holiday.
Fast forward to 1942.
The general's grandson, Tucsonan John A. Logan III, donated a large collection – more than 100 objects – of mostly Plains and Southwest Indian materials to the Arizona State Museum. The majority of these had been collected by his grandfather, who became a U.S. Senator in 1871 and subsequently served on fact-finding commissions as a member of the Indian Affairs Committee.
The history of the general's relationship to native peoples could be considered conflicted.
On one hand, like many in his day, Logan felt that the answer to the "Indian problem" was Christianity and a white man's education. He publicly chastised the great Lakota (Sioux) leader Sitting Bull for having boycotted a meeting with U.S. Army officials. On the other hand, he spoke passionately against the Indian Affairs Department being transferred to the War Department on the grounds that the history of the Army's treatment of the American Indians was despicable.
Diane Dittemore, ASM ethnological collections curator, with pieces from the Logan Collection: Jicarilla Apache moccasins and shirt, 1870-1883.
Logan has a museum devoted to him in his birthplace of Murphysboro, in southern Illinois. One of their major events is an annual Memorial Day parade and other festivities to celebrate the role of their native son in the founding of the patriotic holiday. The John A. Logan Museum, which features materials from Logan's life and military career, was not even aware that he had collected American Indian objects until they were contacted by Arizona State Museum curators. It is hoped that in the future, selected pieces from the Arizona State Museum's collection can travel to Murphysboro for a special exhibit.
Some of the more remarkable pieces from the Logan Collection include a pictorial beaded tobacco pouch that portrays a Sioux horse-stealing episode at the Cheyenne River Agency in the Dakotas, and a rifle and powder horn that were surrendered from a Sioux battle. Other cultures represented in the collection are Arapaho, Cheyenne, Jicarilla Apache, Kiowa-Apache, Mescalero Apache, Navajo and Modoc.
Arizona State Museum curators Diane Dittemore and Andrew Higgins have researched the Logan Collection, among other reasons, to find out more about how the general came into the possession of the objects. It seems unlikely that they were "war booty"; instead, such items were typically purchased by or given to visiting government dignitaries. One particularly curious feature about the collection is that several of the pieces appear to have been added after the general's death in 1886, most likely by his widow, Mary, or daughter, Dolly.
The collection's donor, John A. Logan III, passed away in Tucson in the 1970s.
More about General Logan and his collection at Arizona State Museum can be found in American Indian Art magazine's summer 2007 issue, pages 78-89.
Leman flintlock rifle, 1845-1855, and powder horn probably used during the Battle of Rosebud (rifle 53 inches long, powder horn 18.5 inches long).
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Three UA Students Named Tillman Military Scholars
Joining military veterans and their spouses from across the nation, three University of Arizona students have been named to the fifth class of Tillman Military Scholars.
The Tillman Military Scholars program is providing the 60 recipients with nearly $1.4 million in scholarship funding in recognition of their service, leadership and high academic performance.
Established by the Pat Tillman Foundation in 2008, the scholars program helps servicemembers and their families complete higher education degree programs. To date, 15 UA students have earned scholarship through the foundation.
The UA recipients are: Felisa (Hervey) Dyrud, a doctoral student in Middle Eastern literature; Adam Ratesic, who is pursuing a medical degree with a focus in rheumatology; and Jose Cervantes, also a medical student. All three of them served in the U.S. Air Force.
"The Tillman Military Scholars program plays a vital role in transitioning veterans into civilian life by fueling their potential as leaders and game changers when they return home," Marie Tillman, the Pat Tillman Foundation's president and co-founder, said in a release announcing the scholars.
"During his life, Pat refused to standby on the sidelines as an athlete and a soldier, and each Tillman Military Scholar embodies the principles of service, learning and action that he lived by everyday," Pat Tillman also noted.
"These men and women are the determined few who stepped forward to lead when duty called. Through their studies in medicine, foreign affairs, urban planning and more, they are building on Pat's legacy of leadership and creating their own to impact and inspire our country for years to come."
Dyrud, who served from 2006-12 in the U.S. Air Force, said she is honored to have been named a recipient, saying she held great respect for Tillman's choice to leave his career as a professional football player to serve in the military.
Currently in Afghanistan, Dyrud has worked with a team to establish the nonprofit organization Civil Vision International, of which she is president. The organization connects citizens in Afghanistan with those in the U.S. to promote international freedom, peace and stability.
"Our vision is to educate, inspire and connect citizens," Dyrud said. "I firmly believe that the future we are fighting for together, not only in military ways but also through education, activism and many other creative means, is worthwhile and possible."
After the UA, Dyrud – a poet who studies Persian literature with a focus on the writings of women in Afghanistan – intends to remain connected in her work with Civil Vision International.
Dyrud's last assignment was serving as the civil society team leader for the International Security Assistance Force Anti-Corruption Task Force in Kabul, Afghanistan. She also published a book, "Hearts for Sale! A Buyer's Guide to Winning in Afghanistan," under the name of Farzana Marie and detailing her experience as a military officer.
"I have a deep sense of the importance of the mission there for which Pat gave his life," said Dyrud, who has been deployed for two years. "It is winnable, it is worth it, and Pat Tillman as well as those still serving deserve all of our respect and support."
Editor: Jennifer FitzenbergerWriter: La Monica Everett-HaynesByline: La Monica Everett-HaynesByline Affiliation: University CommunicationsExtra Info:Media members wishing to arrange an interview with Pat Tillman Foundation president and co-founder Marie Tillman or the Tillman Military Scholars should contact Michelle McCarthy at 201-675-1063 or mmccarthy@pattillmanfoundation.org.
Family and friends established the Pat Tillman Foundation following his death in 2004 while serving with the 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan. Created to honor Tillman's legacy and pay tribute to his commitment to leadership and service, the Pat Tillman Foundation is a national leader in providing educational support and resources to veterans, active-duty service members and their spouses. Inspired by Tillman's attributes of leadership, passion for education and spirit of service, the foundation annually awards educational scholarships through the Tillman Military Scholars program. Since the foundation's inception, more than $9 million in educational support has been invested in individuals committed to a life of service both in an out of uniform, including nearly $4.1 million awarded to 290 Tillman Military Scholars nationwide.
Header image: YesNo Image: Subheading: In advance of Memorial Day, the Pat Tillman Foundation announced its fifth class of Tillman Military Scholars. Three UA students are among the 60 new members. Include in UANow: yesInclude in Olympic Coverage: noFeature on Olympic Page: noUANow Image:Fundraising for Poetry Center Director’s Fund Underway
After serving for over a decade as the Poetry Center’s Executive Director, Gail Browne will officially step down on June 30.
In many ways, the Poetry Center is a testament to Browne and her work.
Today, the Poetry Center serves its growing communities in one of the most beautiful buildings in Arizona. It houses one of the largest library collections of contemporary poetry in the U.S., and hosts readings, workshops, lectures, exhibitions and educational programming that bring more than 30,000 people through its doors each year.
For those reasons, and others, members of the Poetry Center staff have dedicated this spring’s annual giving campaign to Browne and the work she has done for the Poetry Center.
In an announcement, the staff noted: "We can think of no better going away gift for Gail (Browne) than by making a gift to the Poetry Center in her honor."
To support a new new Director’s Fund, the staff is working to raise $100,000 before June 30. To learn more, visit "Give a Gift to Honor Gail" online.
For related UANews.org coverage, read:
- Poetry Center Head Leaving Post After a Decade of Impactful Leadership
- Poetry Center Executive Earns Arizona Humanities Council Award
- UA's Poetry Center, 50 Years and Counting
- New Poetry Center New Poetry Center Executive Director Named
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Italy-Bound Students to Learn Cooking the Mediterranean Way
Made-from-scratch pasta, fresh mozzarella, whole-grain bread and savory olive oil – those are the kinds of items you might expect to see on a menu in a fine Italian restaurant, but on a University of Arizona science class syllabus? You can find them there, too, if you're among the lucky students taking part in the UA's new Mediterranean Diet and Health study abroad program.
This week, 18 students will head to Verona, Italy as part of the inaugural program, which was created by Donato Romagnolo, professor in the department of nutritional sciences in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, to teach students about the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. Students in the program have diverse academic backgrounds in disciplines including nutritional sciences, dietetics, public health, biology, physiology and more.
A native of Padova, Italy, Romagnolo wanted to create a study abroad program that would expose students to the traditional diet and lifestyle habits of his native country while emphasizing the link between nutrition and health.
"The evidence is there that the Mediterranean diet has protective effects against a number of chronic diseases, and that includes cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes," said Romagnolo, who also is a professor of nutritional biology and a member of The University of Arizona Cancer Center and BIO5 Institute.
"In the U.S., we are dealing with a growing population of people who are overweight, about 68 percent, and obese, 34 percent, and the number of people with diabetes has been increasingly steadily since mid-'90s. These are nutrition-related diseases," he said.
The science-based Mediterranean Diet and Health program began this month on the UA campus, where students completed a week-and-a-half of classroom work in preparation for their trip abroad. They have been learning about the various components of the Mediterranean diet as well as the diet's role in disease prevention.
Lectures will continue in Verona, where students also will get hands-on experience making meals under the guidance of students and instructors from La Cucina di Casa, a nonprofit, traditional cooking school that emphasizes everyday cooking practices and blending of Mediterranean foods into easy-to-prepare dishes.
Rich in olive oil, fish, whole grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables, and low in refined sugars, the Mediterranean diet was recognized by UNESCO in 2010 as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Italy, Greece, Spain and Morocco.
During their three-week stay in Italy, students will get first-hand exposure to the Mediterranean diet and its components by visiting an olive oil processing plant, pasta factory, cheese factory, rice plantation and grape farm to learn how various foods are made, processed and stored.
"Students will have the opportunity to see how foods are prepared and actually participate," Romagnolo said.
The Mediterranean Pyramid is not just about food; it's also about lifestyle, Romagnolo notes. Behaviors like regular exercising, incorporating wine – which can have certain health benefits – in moderation with meals, and eating smaller portion sizes are key.
Skylar Tigert, a UA senior majoring in nutritional sciences, said she looks forward to learning cooking tips from the pros and hopes she will learn new culinary skills to help her improve her diet at home.
"I've been interested in learning about the Mediterranean diet for a long time, and its role in cancer prevention really intrigues me," Tigert said. "It's important that we learn as much as we can so we can bring it back to the states U.S. and to our friends and families to help impact their health."
Students will film their experiences and create personal documentaries on what they learned about diet and culture.
The six-credit Mediterranean Diet and Health program is open to UA students of all majors, as well as out-of-state students and non-students with some background in biological, biomedical or public health sciences.
"The idea behind the program is: What can we do as faculty to educate students about possible alternatives and solutions to some of the health problems we are facing?" Romagnolo said. "That's our mission, and we hope we can make a little dent in changing the way students and the general public relate to food for the prevention of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer."
Editor: Jennifer FitzenbergerWriter: Alexis BlueByline: Alexis BlueByline Affiliation: University CommunicationsExtra Info:More information about the Mediterranean Diet and Health program is available on the UA Study Abroad website or by contacting Kendra Corey, Italy study abroad coordinator, at kcorey@email.arizona.edu.
Header image: YesNo Image: Subheading: Eighteen students are heading to Verona, Italy this summer to learn about the Mediterranean diet and its health benefits.Include in UANow: yesInclude in Olympic Coverage: noFeature on Olympic Page: noUANow Image:Chasing Demons with a Microscope
When you're a scientist working in what is widely considered the most exact of all natural sciences – physics – it is not often you see a demon appear, much less publish a scientific paper about it. Yet that's exactly what a team of physicists in Charles Stafford's group at the University of Arizona did.
While developing complex calculations describing the measurement of temperature across extremely tiny distances such as individual molecules, the group caught a glimpse of "Maxwell's Demon," the hypothetical centerpiece of a famous thought experiment dreamed up by a brilliant 19th-century physicist, but deemed impossible in the real world. "Maxwell's Demon can't exist because it would violate the laws of thermodynamics," said Charles Stafford, a professor at the department of physics in the UA College of Science. "So you can imagine we were quite surprised to see it appear in our computer-based experiments." Stafford was quick to assure that his group's results are not at odds with the laws of physics, but that its observations have to do with quantum mechanics, where different laws are at play compared to what physicists call the macro world, or anything larger than atoms and molecules. But who or what is this demon anyway? Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell dreamed up a thought experiment in which a box filled with air is set up such that a wall in the middle divides it into two compartments. One is filled with hot air, the other with cold air. Maxwell was one of the first of his time to realize that heat is nothing but the combined motion of particles. One compartment of the box is hot because the air molecules inside bounce around fast and frantically. The other compartment is cold because here, the air molecules drift about slowly and sluggishly. To understand where the demon comes into play, one has to realize that the fast molecules are fast only on average, just as the slow molecules are slow only on average. Within a given compartment, there will be a whole range of molecules, from super-slow to super-fast and everything in between. It's just that the hot chamber holds more fast molecules, and the cold chamber holds more slow molecules. Now, what would happen to the temperature in both compartments if the apparatus were simply left to its own devices? Over time, the hot compartment will lose some of its heat to the cold compartment until both have reached equilibrium and share the same temperature. That, in a nutshell, is the second law of thermodynamics, which governs pretty much anything in the universe. What if, Maxwell mused, there was an invisible creature operating a little trap door in the wall dividing the two chambers? Whenever the demon spots a slow-moving molecule among the fast-moving crowd in the hot compartment, it opens the hatch and lets the molecule cross over into the cold compartment. Likewise, when it spots a fast-moving molecule in the cold compartment where most molecules are slow, it opens the hatch and lets that molecule cross to the other side. Eventually, all fast moving molecules would end up in the hot chamber, and all the slow ones in the cold chamber. As a result, the temperature difference between the two chambers would be greater than it was in the beginning. It's like water running uphill or a heap of shards spontaneously reassembling into a vase. It simply doesn't happen. Yet, the outcome of this scenario vexed physicists for 120 years, trying to figure out exactly why there couldn't be a Maxwell demon in nature. "The way one usually gets around this is by analyzing the energy the demon needs to keep track of all the information pertaining to each particle, and the energy necessary to carry out his actions, and showing that when this is included, all is well with the laws of thermodynamics," Stafford explained. Consequently, Maxwell's Demon has never been observed in reality. But, as Stafford's research team discovered, one only has to leave the familiar world around us and enter the realm of quantum mechanics, and the demon might just pop up in the data. "We show through our extensive numerical simulations that if you try to measure the temperature of a system of particles, in this case, electrons, not molecules in a box, with a spatial precision down to the size of individual atoms, then the laws of quantum mechanics result in an effect that is almost identical to what Maxwell's demon would do," Stafford explained. In their numerical experiments, the group simulated a system – Maxwell's box, if you will – consisting of a small molecule of carbon and hydrogen atoms with three electrodes attached to it. One electrode transfers heat into the molecule, the second electrode drains heat out of the molecule, and the third measures the temperature at different places within the molecule. The whole setup is called scanning thermal microscopy: A scanning electron microscope uses an ultrafine tip whose apex consists of a single atom to measure temperatures on an atomic scale. The idea behind this setup, although not directly applicable at this early stage, could one day be used in devices that turn heat into electrical power or vice versa. "In our simulations, we found that it is possible to separate the hot from the cold electrons within that single molecule without expending any energy to make this happen, which is exactly what Maxwell's Demon does," Stafford said. However, it turns out this sorting process does not violate the laws of thermodynamics because of the peculiarities of quantum physics, he explained. "In the quantum state of the molecule, the hot and cold electrons never mix despite the fact that they exist in the same place at the same time. But that's because they 'remember' where they came from due to quantum wave effects – not because there is a demon at play," he said. The research project and its unexpected results were several years in the making, Stafford said. The investigation began when undergraduate researcher Shauna Story, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in physics in 2010, discovered the strange effect while studying simple molecules. This led the group to tests with more complex structures, resulting in a publication co-authored by former graduate student Justin Bergfield and organic chemist Robert Stafford. Editor: Jennifer FitzenbergerWriter: Daniel StolteByline: Daniel StolteByline Affiliation: University CommunicationsExtra Info:Watch Maxwell's Demon work its magic in this video.
Header image: YesNo Image: Subheading: UA physicists glimpse a demon whose existence would violate the laws of physics – but in the strange world of quantum mechanics, they discover that subatomic particles sometimes behave in seemingly demonic ways.Include in UANow: yesInclude in Olympic Coverage: noFeature on Olympic Page: noUANow Image:UA Alumna: 'Passion' Found Studying Abroad
Spending a year studying and volunteering in Guatemala, witness to extreme poverty and the nation's ongoing struggle to reconcile the lingering effects of its long civil war, Chelsea Halstead discovered an important aspect of her college experience: passion.
Her sophomore year studying abroad was demanding, exhilarating and life-altering. Halstead returned to the University of Arizona engaged, focused and full of ideas.
She graduated with honors in 2012, began working as a research assistant and now is headed to Berlin on a prestigious fellowship as one of 42 U.S. students and recent graduates awarded the Humanity in Action Fellowship. It will begin May 27 with an orientation with the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.
"It's really going to be an intense, demanding, but invigorating experience," Halstead says, recalling her year in Guatemala as a springboard to the fellowship. "It's been a snowballing experience that started really small. One step led to another, and now I'm heading to Europe."
In Berlin, Halstead and the other Humanity in Action Fellows will take part in four weeks of lectures and seminars with political leaders, experts and activists, with topics changing daily, and tours of sites like former death camps. Next, the fellows will work to produce original research projects, which will be presented during a conference in Warsaw, with other Humanity in Action Fellows from programs in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Lyon.
"Germans are still working out how to deal with the Holocaust and how to memorialize it in a way that's respectful and conveys the gravity of what happened," Halstead says, comparing Germany's ongoing reconciliation efforts to what she saw and studied in Guatemala.
A first-generation college student from Flagstaff, Halstead came to the UA in 2008 on an Arizona Assurance scholarship before deciding to study abroad.
"It was a really challenging experience, but I learned a lot about myself, and it made it really clear what I wanted to pursue in life. It was a total wake-up call," she says.
Halstead studied the country's civil war – which started in 1960 and continued until the 1996 peace accord – and how the country is still grappling with that long conflict and its widespread human rights violations.
"It's really powerful to see how they're working through it" she says.
The study-abroad program itself was more rigorous academically than anything she faced her first year at the UA, with a focus on human rights.
"I remember being so intimidated by the level of reading and the amount of work we had. It was intense, but I loved it," she says.
Outside of class, Halstead volunteered, first with a group called Camino Seguro – Safe Passage – which worked getting school supplies and uniforms and providing after-school programs for children facing the most desperate poverty. In the second semester, she volunteered teaching biology to high school students and English classes to adults at night.
"It turned out to be the most formative, amazing experience of my life," she says. "I came back to the UA knowing what I wanted to study, engaged and joined the Honors College."
Also a 2011 Magellan Circle Scholar and recipient of the 2012 Hecht Award for Outstanding Student in Geography, Halstead wrote her honors thesis on humanitarian border activism in Southern Arizona and began volunteering for the Missing Migrants Project.
Her thesis advisor, Elizabeth Oglesby, an associate professor of geography and Latin American studies, says Halstead "sparkles with intelligence, commitment and fellowship in the best sense."
"Chelsea is extremely bright, intellectually curious, thoughtful, mature and self-motivated," wrote Oglesby in recommending her for the fellowship. "Chelsea's approach toward her academic work is always intellectually lively and service-oriented."
Crediting Oglesby and other professors with mentorship, guidance and support, Halstead graduated with a degree in geography and began working as a research assistant at the UA's Binational Migration Institute on a grant from the Department of Justice to improve the identification rates and methods of handling migrant remains along the border.
After the Humanity in Action Fellowship, Halstead will finish out her research contract with BMI and then plans to study for the LSAT. Her ultimate career goal is to work as an attorney advocating for communities that have been exploited, possibly specializing in human rights, immigration or indigenous law.
The UA's Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships facilitates the process by which students compete for national fellowships and scholarships. To learn more, contact Jeff Thibert, scholarship advisor for the UA Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships, at 520-626-5289 or thibert@email.arizona.edu.
Arizona Wins Fourth Straight Territorial Cup Series
For the fourth time in four years, the University of Arizona has captured the annual Territorial Cup Series trophy from rival Arizona State University.
The 2012-13 competition came down to the final matchups of the year, with the Wildcats baseball team winning the final point as it secured a season series victory over the Sun Devils last weekend. The point propelled Arizona to a 9.5-8.5 victory in the multi-sport competition.
"We are very proud of our student-athletes and coaches who helped us secure the fourth-straight Territorial Cup Series," Director of Athletics Greg Byrne said. "Among our goals is to be one of the top athletics departments in our conference, which, in turn, will make us one of the top departments in the nation.
"To accomplish this, we must be strong in our state," Byrne explained. "We will continue to emphasize our performance in the Territorial Cup Series as another way to continue to improve our department."
The Territorial Cup Series pits the two schools either in head-to-head games between the institutions, like basketball, or the higher finish in Pac-12 Championships events as in track and field. A half-point is awarded if the teams split an annual series, as in women's volleyball this year. There are 18 events or sports counted.
The Wildcats finished this year's academic calendar strong, winning full points in three of the final four sports in May. Softball opened the month by taking two-of-three contests at Hillenbrand Stadium, and the women's outdoor track and field team registered a full point for a higher finish at last weekend's Pac-12 Championship meet in Los Angeles.
Those victories, coupled with Arizona State winning the men's outdoor track and field point, set up a winner-take-all scenario in the baseball series in Tempe this weekend. After splitting two games in Tucson earlier this year, the Wildcats won two-of-three this weekend to win the season series on the diamond.
In addition to baseball, Arizona earned full points for women's cross country, men's basketball, women's swimming and diving, men's swimming and diving, women's gymnastics, women's golf, softball and women's outdoor track and field. The Wildcats claimed a half-point in volleyball.
Arizona won the initial competition, which began in 2009-10. The Wildcats since defended their inaugural title by winning again in 2010-11, 2011-12 and now 2012-13.
2012-13 Territorial Cup Series Results
Volleyball - Split point (head-to-head)
Football - ASU (head-to-head)
Soccer - ASU (head-to-head)
Men's Cross Country - ASU (Pac-)
Women's Cross Country - Arizona (Pac-12s)
Men's Basketball - Arizona (head-to-head)
Women's Basketball - ASU (head-to-head)
Women's Indoor Track and Field - ASU (Pac-12s)
Women's Swimming and Diving - Arizona (Pac-12s)
Men's Swimming and Diving - Arizona (Pac-12s)
Women's Gymnastics - Arizona (head-to-head)
Women's Tennis - ASU (head-to-head)
Women's Golf - Arizona (Pac-12s)
Men's Golf - ASU (Pac-12s)
Softball - Arizona (head-to-head)
Women's Outdoor Track and Field - Arizona (Pac-12s)
Men's Outdoor Track and Field - ASU (Pac-12s)
Baseball - Arizona (head-to-head)
UA Students Earn Competitive National Awards
The UA had an especially strong showing in this year's national Boren Awards competition, which supports students for international study to gain foreign language and international skills.
Few institutions in the U.S. had at least four students named recipients, but UA students were named, earning either a David L. Boren Scholar or Fellow, which are sponsored by the National Security Education Program for individuals who intend to work in federal national security.
The UA scholarship recipients are:
- Elizabeth McCahon, a student in the Department of Russian and Slavic Languages who also is studying creative writing, will travel to Moscow for the 2013-2014 academic year to participate the UA's Arizona in Russia program.
- Wynton El, a Honors College student majoring in East Asian studies and computer science, will spend the 2013-2014 academic year in Japan.
- Bryce Levitt, a global studies student in the Honors College, will spend the next academic year in Morocco.
- Jordan Olmstead, an Honors College student majoring in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, & Law, will spend the spring and summer of 2014 in India.
- Luke Yarnall, a chemical engineering and Spanish major in the Honors College, will spend the next academic year in Ecuador.
Jordan Olmstead is a student in the Philosophy, Politics, Economics, & Law program.
Luke Yarnall is studying chemical engineering and Spanish.
Also, UA doctoral student Julie Tippens, a doctoral candidate in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, was named a Boren Fellow.
With up to $30,000 in funding, the fellowship will enable Tippens to spend the next academic year in Tanzania, studying Swahili, household resilience and psychosocial coping among South Sudanese refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. The work will contribute to her dissertation research.
“I have always admired the strength, creativity, and hope exhibited by refugee families and communities,” said Tippens, who is in the UA maternal and child health program.
While her work is rooted in social theory, the public health project has pragmatic implications for programs and policies intended to facilitate refugee integration into local communities.
“Understanding why and how communities thrive in the face of past trauma and continued adversity provides lessons for programs and policies intended to support refugees and promote health and well being," she said. "My desire is that this project contributes to the growing research and practice that focuses on people's inherent resilience.”
Also, UA alumna Caitlin Milder, who is currently a first year master's student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has been named a Boren Fellow.
"When I was an undergraduate student, I participated in a foreign exchange program in Tokyo but had to leave after the triple disaster in 2011," said Milder, a 2012 UA graduate who earned degrees in physiology and East Asian studies. "I left feeling like there were a bunch of loose ends to my stay that I may never be able to tie. The Boren Fellowship gives me the chance to do just that, and much more."
The Boren Fellowship will provide the financial support while Milder takes an internship with the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, a Japanese-American collaborative organization that studies the effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings on the still-living World War II population and their decedents. The fellowship also will support Milder's language study while in Japan.
"Academically, it is a chance to better my understanding of the field of public health and a much-desired opportunity to improve my Japanese language skills," Milder said.
"Both academically and professionally, it means a big, open door that I am very fortunate to have," she also said. "Professionally, I am truly hoping this internship signals the beginning of my career. Even though I was not physically or deeply psychologically affected by the earthquake, tsunami, or radioactive incident, I believe it is impossible to live through something of that magnitude and not feel somewhat tied to it."
Contact: Jeff Thibert, the scholarship adviser for the UA Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships, at 520-626-5289 or thibert@email.arizona.edu.
Categories: Social Sciences and EducationTeaching and StudentsThis is a Wildcat Corner feature: Images: Tags: StudentsResearchEducationAlumniByline: University Communications |UANow Image: Editor: La Monica Everett-HaynesInclude in UANow: 0Date of Publication: Tuesday, May 21, 2013Feature on Front: NoYulex Pays Back UA with $3M Grant
"I Dream in Widescreen: BFA Thesis Films" Take Awards
The UA School of Theatre, Film & Television produced several award-winning graduates in 2013.
The FotoKem New Filmmaker Award, the grand prize in film services from Los Angeles-based postproduction facility, FotoKem, went to 2013 Bachelor of Fine Art graduate Jackie Hutchinson for "Unlovable," a short film she wrote, directed and describes as "Sesame Street" meets "Trainspotting."
UA School of Theatre, Film & Television student Jackie Hutchinson earned the grand prize – the FotoKem New Filmmaker Award.
Presented by Joe Garrity, the production designer and senior filmmaker-in-residence for the American Film Institute Conservatory, the Hanson Film Institute Award for Best Production Design went to BFA 2013 graduates Alex B. Preston, the production designer, H. Shane Gunther, the art director, and director Alex Italics for their work on the stylistic, 1950’s short film, "Sheltered Love." The award of $500 goes to support "Sheltered Love’s" film festival and promotion efforts.
The Entertainment Partners Award for Excellence in Producing went to "Sheltered Love, which Italics not only directed, but also co-produced with Stephen Purcell. The award also went "Grey State," directed by Brad Wong and produced by Victoria Tulk. The producers received copies of the Entertainment Partners Movie Magic Budgeting and Scheduling software.
Victoria Tulk is the winning producer for "Grey State."
Also, 2012 BFA alum Brody Anderson received a special citation for his cinematography on "Sheltered Love."
The jurors who chose the award-winning works among the 2013 thesis films from the UA's graduating film and television class were: Claudette Godfrey, the short film programmer for the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas; Brenda Lhormer, the Napa Valley Film Festival director; and Kathleen McInnis, film curator and director of industry programming for the Palm Springs ShortsFest.
Photography credit: Fiona Foster
Contact: Lisa Pierce, the UA School of Theatre, Film & Television director of marketing and development, at 520-626-2686 or lisapierce@email.arizona.edu.
Brad Wong is the director of "Grey State."
Categories: Arts and HumanitiesTeaching and StudentsThis is a Wildcat Corner feature: Images: Tags: StudentsAlumniThe ArtsByline: Lisa Pierce, UA School of Theatre, Film & Television |UANow Image: Editor: La Monica Everett-HaynesInclude in UANow: 0Date of Publication: Monday, May 20, 2013Feature on Front: NoConfluencenter Grants Fund Innovative, Interdisciplinary Research
The UA's Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry 2013 faculty grants will fund five innovative research projects, including television documentaries, a digital archive and a virtual seminar series.
The cross-disciplinary projects tackle a diversity of subject matter, and the Faculty Collaboration and Innovation Grants will provide start-up funding for professors to establish their research projects in position to leverage future funding in the form of competitive federal or private grants.
"These projects reflect our mission and vision under which we value creativity and innovation, collaboration and discovery, and community and public engagement," says Javier D. Duran, director of the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry and professor of Spanish and border studies.
The 2013 projects include:
The Crossing Boundaries Seminar Series
Linda Green, director of Latin American studies, working with Matias Bianchi in the School of Government and Public Policy, will create a virtual seminar series linking the UA with Latin American scholars. UA faculty and students from numerous disciplines will join Latin American scholars, government and business leaders, and NGO representatives in real-time conversations about four issues: human trafficking, the drug trade, natural resource extraction and U.S.-Latin American diplomacy.
"Often we don't have the opportunity to really hear what scholars and policy makers in Latin American have to say about what are important issues coming out of their countries and the continent itself," Green says. "Scholars on both sides of the borders are interested in talking to each other, and this is a way of initiating these types of dialogues. We see it as the opening salvo, a way to begin. We'd love to institutionalize this."
Satire News, Civil Discourse and the Political-Media Complex
Robin Stryker, professor of sociology and research director at the National Institute for Civil Discourse, will study how programs such as "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" shape student' understandings of and engagement with American democracy.
Political satire is not a new phenomenon, but the fact that college-age people are getting a disproportionate amount of their news from satirical programs is new, Stryker says. Also, very little is known about viewers' perceptions of satire news.
"There had been some work done to look at whether people who watch satire news were more or less knowledgeable, more or less cynical, or more or less engaged in the political process. The results were somewhat inconclusive, but more than that, there hadn't been a study like the one we want to do, where people got together to talk about what they had seen," she says. "We want to expose select focus groups to the same set of clips, but vary the groups by political ideology, liberal to conservative, and political knowledge, high knowledge to low knowledge."
Disciplinary Trading Zones: A Focus on Methodological Imports
Associate professor of sociology Erin Leahey's project will study interdisciplinary research itself, examining how the diffusion of three particular methodological techniques to understand how methods are transferred across disciplines. The integration of ideas or tools from multiple disciplines is encouraged and promoted at various levels, but Leahey's project will study cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer itself in an effort to enable additional creative interdisciplinary work in academic research, a mission of the Confluencenter itself.
New Blueprint for Success: Micro-entrepreneurs and Cooperatives in Brazil
Dan Duncan, a filmmaker at the Southwest Center, and Marcela Vasquez, associate professor in the School of Anthropology, will produce a series of television documentaries presenting innovative entrepreneurial grassroots ventures in the shanty-towns of Rio de Janeiro. The featured entrepreneurs will share their experiences in one of Brazil's most marginal urban contexts, revealing from an anthropological perspective the key contextual socioeconomic and cultural features for success or failure and creating a blueprint for other micro-entrepreneurs throughout Latin America and the developing world.
The Documented Border: An Open Access Digital Archive
A project bringing together journalism faculty Celeste González de Bustamante and Jeannine Relly, Lawrence Gipe from the School of Art and Verónica Reyes, the Borderlands Curator at UA Special Collections in the library, this archive will collect images and oral histories about the U.S./Mexico border. As both a repository and interactive tool, the archive will document wide-ranging explorations into the people, policies, conflicts and collaborations that characterize the almost 2,000 mile long boundary, both in the past and present.
The grant program began in 2009-10 with funding from the Office of the Provost as the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences grants. The competitive grants, open to faculty from the colleges of fine arts, humanities and social and behavioral sciences, have funded between five and eight research proposals each year.