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| August 18, 2023 | Submit a Note |
 Koons Ruins: Peephole Diorama "Lobster" by Kathy Aoki. See below for more about Kathy's latest exhibition.
We are officially one month away from the start of classes, with lots taking place between now and then, including Convocation (September 12 - save the date) and Welcome Weekend! Congratulations to Molly King (Sociology) and Amelia Fuller (Chemistry and Biochemistry), who each received an NSF award in support of their research! Awards like these are hard to get and so impactful. I also want to congratulate Associate Dean Kathy Aoki (Art and Art History) for the successful launch of her new exhibition in Sacramento! You can read more about both of these in the note below. Lots of time and effort go into the research and creative work our faculty engage in, so it’s great to acknowledge these types of achievements as they happen. As we approach the beginning of the new academic year, I know that many of you are working very hard to onboard new faculty and staff. There are instructional technologies to navigate, offices to move into and a myriad of other preparations – thank you for all of it! Sincerely, Daniel Highlights
Kathy Aoki (Art and Art History, Dean's Office) is presenting a solo exhibition at b sakata garo gallery in Sacramento through Sept 2, 2023. In addition to the Koons Ruins series, Kathy presents work from her Fall of Patriarchy theme and classics from her Museum of Historical Makeovers series. The installation is set up as an ersatz museum, with tongue-in-cheek didactic wall panels. Kathy will give a free, humorous performance as "Curator" on August 26. Meet the artist at 4 pm, Performance at 5-5:30 pm. Kathy worked with three Studio Art minors to prepare for this exhibition: Sara Wheeler '25 (Web Design and Engineering), Michelle Yavorskiy '24 (Web Design and Engineering), and Rachel Choy '24 (Marketing).
Amelia Fuller (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received a $330,000 award from the NSF to support her project "Developing predictive guidelines to stabilize gold nanoparticles with peptoids." Gold nanoparticles are versatile materials for environmental sensing and medical diagnostics. To function in water-rich environments, gold nanoparticles need to be coated with specially tailored molecules that prevent nanoparticles from forming insoluble, non-functional aggregates. Prof. Fuller and undergraduate research assistants in her laboratory will investigate the use of a class of molecules called peptoids for their capacity to coat gold nanoparticles. Dozens of peptoids with different molecular properties will be synthesized and purified, and the ability of each of these to prevent nanoparticle inactivation through aggregation will be measured. The research team will determine the specific molecular features of peptoids that confer optimal stability to the nanoparticles; this understanding will enable new applications of gold nanoparticles in a range of settings. In parallel, undergraduate students who participate in the research will cultivate their technical and problem-solving skills, and their research experiences will equip them with proficiencies they need for successful careers in science.
Molly King (Sociology) received a $242,570 award from the National Science Foundation to support her project "Gender Differences in Co-authorship across a Global Landscape: The Role of Network Structure in Men's and Women's Scientific Productivity." Molly will be looking into whether men and women researchers benefit equally from resource-rich collaborative ties, and central network positioning in collaborative networks. This research will investigate how gendered relational processes complicate the ways in which preferential attachment and homophily operate in scientific collaboration networks. The grant will support several undergraduate research assistants for 3 summers and 3 years, a post-doc for a collaborative project investigating the role of network relationships in scientific careers, as well as conference travel for the undergraduates and post-doc.
Lindsay Halladay (Psychology, Neuroscience) was awarded $81,386 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to investigate the long-term neural and behavioral detriments stemming from exposure to early life adversity. The Halladay lab has identified two neural projections that regulate social and emotional responses in the brain, and are working to understand which specific cells in these projections are affected by early life stressors to permanently alter social motivation and stress responsivity. This grant will fund recent SCU graduate Janet Ronquillo'23 (Neuroscience) in a full-time postbaccalaureate position to work on this research question as she prepares for the medical school application process. Janet has worked under Lindsay's mentorship in the lab since March 2021. She was awarded the De Novo Fellowship in 2021 and the DeNardo Science Scholar award in 2022. Janet is also the first author on a manuscript currently under peer review.
Di Di (Sociology) has published a manuscript titled "Religion, Spirituality, and Mental Health Among Scientists during the Pandemic: A Four-Country Study," as the lead author in the Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. Drawing upon nationally representative survey data from physicists and biologists in India, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States (N = 3442), this study examines the relationship between religion, spirituality (R/S), and mental health among scientists, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the results indicate a positive correlation between R/S and mental health that extends to scientists. The study's findings hold implications for future analyses exploring the connection between R/S and the well-being of individuals in various professions. Co-authors of this manuscript include Stephen Cranney and Brandon Vaidyanathan from the Catholic University of America, as well as Caitlin Anne Fitzgerald from the University of Notre Dame.
Rohit Chopra (Communication) co-authored a 44-page comprehensive reporting guide for journalists on Hindu nationalism, along with colleagues in the South Asia Scholar Activist Collective (SASAC). A collaborative project with ReligionLink (a service of Religion News Association) several months in the making, the guide is a public scholarship initiative meant to support and educate journalists across the world on all aspects of the global Hindu Right.
Gaby Greenlee (Art and Art History) received a 2023 Project Development Grant from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) to go towards developing her work based on her dissertation, Inka Borders and the Power of Volatility: at the Fringes and Edges of Textile and Territory. Gaby's research focuses on the Inka state and how Inka visual culture was used to express their relationship to the land. In its claim to power, the Inka empire relied on a narrative of rootedness in the landscape and embedded relational practices to propel their ideology and to expand territorially. The ACLS project grant contributes to Gaby's ongoing research concerning how the Inkas used elite textiles within this narrative, visualizing how they understood themselves in relation to others and their surroundings, as expressed in cloth. Textiles conceptualized spatially and materially insider-outsider relations across different categories, for example in matters of kinship, warfare, and spiritual belief. In the different spatial and scale aspects that their textile artifacts convey—for example, from the structures of their woven fabrics to the surface and design aspects of the same—the Inkas articulated how they may have seen and experienced their territorial space and, more particularly, their territorial border areas in a manner that underscored a relational understanding of the Andean world.
Camino classes (Virtual)Camino BasicsAugust 23 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Camino QuizzesAugust 24 1:30 - 3:00 PM Camino Course DesignAugust 29 1:30 - 3:00 PM Camino GradebookAugust 30 10:00 - 11:30 AM Optimizing Teaching and Learning in CaminoAugust 30 1:00 - 4:00 PM The Mobile ProfessorSeptember 1 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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Inka Miniature Mantle, ca. 1400-1532. Camelid fiber, 5 7/8 in. x 4 15/16 in. Brooklyn Museum.| College of Arts and Sciences |
Questions? Contact Sandy Boyer |