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JMU Research, Scholarship & Creative Endeavors

Volume 4, Issue 2

We’d like to kick off this issue by recognizing Dr. Paul Raston, assistant professor of chemistry, whose efforts to integrate science teaching and research earned him a 2019 Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The recognition comes with a $100,000 award, which Raston will use to “…investigate the forces that drive atmospherically important reactions and enhance the active-learning environment in undergraduate chemistry labs.” This achievement extends an impressive trend of highly selective recognitions for JMU chemistry and biochemistry faculty (listed below). Linette Watkins, academic unit head for the department, commented, "This recognition will allow us to bring in additional resources and continue to recruit the highest caliber faculty committed to undergraduate chemistry research and teaching." Paul Raston – 2019 Cottrell Scholar Linette Watkins – 2018 AAAS Fellow Nathan Wright – 2018 Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Ashleigh Baber – 2018 Cottrell Scholar   Barbara Reisner – 2016 ACS Fellow Gina MacDonald – 2015 Cottrell Scholar Collaborative Award Linette Watkins – 2014 ACS Fellow Brycelyn Boardman – 2014 Cottrell College Science Award Alleyn Harned, Director of Virginia Clean Cities, was elected Board President for Transportation Energy Partners (TEP), a national nonprofit organization that provides support for approximately 90 Clean Cities coalitions (and their 15,000 stakeholders) across the U.S. One of TEP’s primary roles is to facilitate federal dialogue on clean energy fuel policies, which includes hosting the annual Energy Independence Summit in Washington, D.C.   ICYMI – The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a feature story about JMU X-Labs titled “No Textbooks, No Lectures, and No Right Answers. Is This What Higher Education Needs?” The story explores JMU X-Labs’ innovative approach of blending transdisciplinary courses, project-based learning, and professional collaboration to align higher education with industry needs and develop creative, confident, and market-ready leaders.     Office of Research & Scholarship   James Madison University

Team USA Wheelchair Basketball player Trevon Jenifer participates in a JMU Paralympic Skill Lab, which combines Paralympic ideals and values with educational activities to promote engagement and education related to adapted sport, inclusion, and sociocultural norms.

Faculty Grant Awards

For a monthly listing of recent faculty grant awards, please visit the Madison Scholar website . Here are some notable awards from January 2019: Sara Snyder and Keri Bethune (educational foundations and exceptionalities) received $61,610, while Dannette Bronaugh and Keri Bethune (educational foundations and exceptionalities) received $26,633 from George Mason University to maintain and implement a statewide program to meet the initial and continuing education needs for teachers of students with severe disabilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia.   Raymond Enke and Oliver Hyman (Biology) were awarded $40,187 from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to support broad implementation of course-based undergraduate research experiences into large enrollment undergraduate core curriculum courses in an effort to increase student retention and graduation rates in STEM majors.     Patricia Kennedy (early, elementary, and reading education) received $249,513 from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation to enhance quality through professional development and coaching to address social-emotional learning and to design a data management system to track program impact and children’s progress through grade 3.

From the Lab to the Marketplace

More than 50 JMU students studying chemistry and biochemistry attended The Innovation and Entrepreneurial Path : A Roadmap for Life’s Ventures , a seminar designed to shed light on how an idea moves from the laboratory to the marketplace. Led by JMU’s Executive Director of Technology Innovation & Economic Development, Mary Lou Bourne walked the students through the different components of the research and discovery cycle – from funding sources, to research and discovery, to disclosure and patenting, to licensing, to entrepreneurship and company growth, and finally back to reinvestment in research. The Office of Technology Innovation & Economic Development (TIED) is one of a growing number of campus resources for both faculty and students interested in learning how to navigate the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Communication Studies Professor Receives Research Award

Dr. Sharon Mazzarella, professor of communication studies, was named the 2019 Provost Award Winner for Excellence in Research & Scholarship. Mazzarella’s research takes a critical/cultural approach to interrogating mediated representations of youth, particularly girls and girlhoods. Her forthcoming book, Girls, Moral Panic, and the News Media: Troublesome Bodies (Routledge) takes a critical look at U.S. print media constructions of girls and girls’ bodies/sexualities through a series of in-depth case studies of contemporary events. Awarded annually since 2007, the award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated significant achievement in research, scholarship, or creative work.

Biology Student Wins Three Minute Thesis Competition

Hannah holding a brook trout at Cabin Creek Falls in Grayson Highlands State Park

Biology graduate student Hannah Eisemann took first place during James Madison University’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for her presentation Assessing Brook Trout Populations Above and Below Waterfalls in Virginia . Hosted by The Graduate School, the JMU 3MT includes cash prizes and an opportunity for the winner to participate in a regional 3MT competition. Hannah’s winning presentation introduced the audience to her graduate research focus -- examining ecosystems above and below waterfalls where brook trout live, and comparing the populations found above to those found below waterfalls. Hannah expressed her gratitude for the departmental support provided to graduate students studying biology, “From the field equipment to the advice and guidance of faculty who are always willing to work with you, I don’t know how else I would have gotten it done!”

Professor Wins Media and Civil Rights Award

Dr. Gwyneth Mellinger, director of and professor in the school of media arts and design (SMAD), has won the 2019 Farrar Award in Media & Civil Rights History for her article An Idea Before Its Time: Charles S. Johnson, Negro Columnist . The Farrar Award recognizes “the best journal article or chapter in an edited collection on the historical relationship between the media and civil rights,” and honors Dr. Ronald T. Farrar, University of South Carolina professor emeritus, and his late wife, Gayla D. Farrar. The research for the article was supported by two grants -- The Joseph McKerns Research Grant from the American Journalism Historians Association and the Rockefeller Foundation Archives Grant-in-Aid.

Psychology Professor Publishes NIH-funded Research

Assistant professor of psychology David Szwedo recently co-authored “Adolescent Peer Relationship Qualities as Predictors of Long-Term Romantic Life Satisfaction” with colleagues from the University of Virginia. The team of researchers sought to determine what factors during adolescence might best predict satisfaction in romantic relationships later in life. The longitudinal study revealed that friendships with peers of the same gender play a more significant role than adolescent romantic relationships. Published in Child Development , the study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Mental Health.

JMU to Participate in DOE Wind Competition

James Madison University has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to participate in the 2020 Collegiate Wind Competition (joining Virginia Tech as the only other school representing Virginia). Before that contest, students who participated in the 2018 Collegiate Wind Competition will get a chance to improve on their performance by implementing lessons learned for a 2019 competition at the National Wind Technology Center in Boulder, Colorado in May. “We had to be selected to participate in 2019 and we were,” said Jon Miles, professor of integrated science and technology. Miles worked with Keith Holland, associate professor of engineering, and C.K. Lee, assistant professor of management, to assemble the 30-member student team that competed in 2018.

JMU Food and Place Summit Hosts 26 Universities

The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) hosted its sixth Emerging Creatives Student Summit at James Madison University in February. The 2019 theme was “Food and Place,” and included an examination of food insecurity, the impact of food production on the environment, and the relationship between food and place. Designed to bring together emerging scholars, engineers, artists and scientists to explore interdisciplinary research, practice, and collaboration, the summit convened more than 80 students and 10 faculty from 26 different research universities. Featured speakers and panelists included Ian Cheney – documentary filmmaker and producer of the Peabody Award-winning film King Corn ; Kate Daughdrill – artist, urban farmer, writer, speaker, and founder of Burnside Farms in Detroit; Ross Gay – award-winning poet, author, editor, and professor at Indiana University, and Stephanie Williams – multi-media artist whose work focuses on food culture and professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

College of Education Students Study Abroad in Spain

Follow JMU College of Education students during a Semester in Salamanca, as they capture their learning experiences through a blog . Students studying abroad in Spain during the 2019 Spring Semester are sharing their perspectives on a variety of topics. The most recent post, authored by Molly Steadman, examines how learning is assessed in Spanish classrooms, and compares the methods observed in Salamanca with those used in U.S. classrooms. Molly, a junior from Alexandria who is preparing for a career as a social studies teacher, writes in her March 6 th post, “Spain, unlike the U.S., places emphasis on exams for entrance into universities. Therefore, assessment based on recall and demonstrating informational knowledge makes sense to prepare students for these important exams.”

Practicing the Procedure

See how College of Health and Behavioral Studies graduate students studying speech-language pathology receive hands-on, educational experiences through an augmented reality simulation program.

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