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Faculty Notes for January 2016: Publications, quotes and more

By Kat Meads

Associate Professor Michael Cheers was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News at the unveiling of a downtown mural.

Associate Professor Michael Cheers was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News at the unveiling of a downtown mural.

The San Jose Mercury News interviewed Associate Professor Michael Cheers, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, regarding the December unveiling of a multicultural mural in downtown San Jose that depicts six barbers of Barbers, Inc. styling the locks of six icons, including Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Johnny Cash and poet Maya Angelou. “Imagine kids leaving here and seeking out Maya’s books of poetry,” Cheers said. The mural is located near the corner of Eighth and Santa Clara streets.

Department of Physics and Astronomy Lecturer Friedemann Freund, a senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, was a presenter at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in San Francisco. He shared his research on predicting earthquakes via electromagnetic anomalies that appear in the Earth’s crust minutes to days before an earthquake occurs.

This month, iSchool Assistant Professor Christine Hagar presented at the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Science and Technology Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Hagar shared research on her specialty, crisis informatics, concerning the role of information professionals and public libraries in disasters and collaborations with disaster and emergency management agencies.

In December, Professor of Art and Art History and Director of the Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery Jo Farb Hernandez presented her book “Singular Spaces: From Eccentric to the Extraordinary in Spanish Art Environments” at the Reina Sofia Museum in Spain. Hernandez’ book was presented along with books by three other women who have recently published on the theme of art brut/art environments in Spain, Cuba and Italy.

Last month Lecturer Sharmin Khan, Department of Computer Science and Department of Linguistics and Language Development, published “A Muslim call to fight radical Islam” in the San Jose Mercury News, calling on “all progressive Muslims to wake up to the peril within our midst.” Read the article online.

Assistant Professor Ellen Middaugh, Department of Child and Adolescent Development, was interviewed by NBCBayArea.com on how to discuss the recent Paris terrorist attacks with children. Most critically, parents should emphasize that the actions of Islamic extremists do not reflect the beliefs and actions of all Muslims, Middaugh stressed. Read more online.

Professor Scott Myers-Lipton, Department of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, is leading a San Jose business tax initiative. The proposed ballot measure would establish a gross-receipts tax, taxing businesses based on income. The proposal will go before voters in November if 20,000 signatures can be gathered in six months. Myers-Lipton, who also led the successful 2012 campaign to raise the city’s minimum wage, is the author of “Ending Extreme Inequality” (Paradigm 2015).

Assistant Professor Dustin Mulvaney, Department of Environmental Studies, published an article in the San Jose Mercury News on climate change and the importance of preserving desert habitats. “Permanently protecting large swaths of the California desert, such as Mojave Trails National Monument, will ensure that these landscapes continue doing the important work of sequestering carbon pollution,” he wrote. Read the article online.

New Scientist interviewed Assistant Professor Aaron Romanowsky, Department of Physics and Astronomy, about his team’s discovery of a dwarf spheroidal galaxy “in distress, orbiting NGC 253, a giant spiral galaxy 11 million light years from Earth,” the article reported. “It looks like it’s being ripped apart by the larger galaxy,” Romanowsky said. Read more online.

Lecturer Edward Webb, Department of Accounting and Finance, was promoted to partner at Burr Pilger Mayer, one of the largest California-based accounting and consulting firms. Webb leads the firm’s Consulting Practice Group. At SJSU, he teaches corporate finance and accounting.

Professor Elizabeth Weiss, Department of Anthropology, recently spoke at the Milpitas Public Library on the links among modern health problems, lifestyle and evolutionary history. Weiss teaches physical anthropology courses at SJSU and has presented her research findings at annual meetings of, among others, the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Canadian Association of Physical Anthropology and the Paleopathology Association.

The December issue of Nature Neuroscience featured an article co-authored by Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Katie Wilkinson on the discovery of a protein related to proprioception – a sense that allows humans and animals to tell where their body parts are relative to each other and the environment. Read more online.

Justice Studies students donate toys to mistreated children

Students in a justice studies class collected small stuffed animals to donate to mistreated students after learning about domestic violence.

Students in a justice studies class collected small stuffed animals to donate to mistreated students after learning about domestic violence.

San Jose State justice studies students enrolled in JS 136, Family and Community Violence, wanted to give back to Santa Clara children after learning about the impact of violence in their class that is designed to promote awareness about child maltreatment, domestic violence and the U.S. justice system. Students in the class gave back to the Santa Clara County Children Activity Center at the YWCA by donating small stuffed animals with a note of encouragement attached to each toy. The stuffed animals were donated to children who have experienced trauma. Two students designed a box where all the stuffed animals were collected in class. The box was presented to Adam Moreno, who works as an assistant for the Children Activity Center.

Moreno also works as a counselor for Piece it Together Domestic Violence Teen Center. He specializes in working with teens who are in abusive relationships. Moreno also works with sexual abusers and offenders. When he presented as a guest speaker to the JS class, he spoke about the different forms of domestic violence and the cycle of violence. The presentation informed students of the dangers of domestic violence, but also raised awareness of what takes place in the community.

Grant: Summer institute will focus on immigrant experience through literature and theatre

Matthew Spangler, a professor of Performance and Communications Studies, and David Kahn, a professor and chair of TV, Radio, Film, & Theatre, received a grant for $168,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The grant will allow Spangler and Kahn to put on a two-week summer institute for 25 school teachers that will explore the immigrant experience in California through literary works and theatrical adaptations. Previous institute faculty included Luis Valdez, playwright and author of “Zoot Suit,” Maxine Hong Kingston, author of “Woman Warrior,” and many others. The institute explores ways in which the immigrant experience to the United States, and California, in particular, has been represented through literary texts. the topics include: (1) the construction of political borders between geographic territories and social borders between groups of people; (2) intercultural interaction between settled and immigrant communities; (3) changing family and gender dynamics within discrete immigrant communities. Participants will explore these topics as they pertain to emigration from Mexico, China, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.

Scholars from the 2014 “The California Immigrant Experience through Literature and Theatre" program pose for a photo.

Scholars from the 2014 “The California Immigrant Experience through Literature and Theatre” program pose for a photo.

Entitled “The California Immigrant Experience through Literature and Theatre,” the institute will be held July 17-31, 2016. Applications are available online for qualifying K-12 teachers.

For more information, visit the Immigration Theatre Institute website.

Two faculty members recognized for Early Career acheivements

The SJSU Research Foundation will honor the 2015 Early Career Investigator award recipients at SJSU’s Celebration of Research. This year’s event will be Feb. 10, 2016, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

Virginia San Fratello

Virginia San Fratello

Aaron Romanowsky

Aaron Romanowsky

Research Foundation Executive Director Sandeep Muju announced the 2015 Early Career Investigator awardees in August. This year’s recipients include Assistant Professor Aaron Romanowsky, from the College of Science’s physics and astronomy department, and Assistant Professor Virginia San Fratello, from the College of Humanities and the Arts design department.

The SJSU Research Foundation Early Investigator Award recognizes tenure-track faculty who have excelled in the areas of research, scholarship or creative activity as evidenced by their success in securing funds for research, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, and carrying out other important scholarly and creative activities early in their careers at SJSU.

Romanowsky has been especially productive in his field of astrophysics with an emphasis on dark matter and galaxy formation. In less than three years at San Jose State, he has produced 47 refereed publications in journals such as the “The Astrophysical Journal,” including an article co-authored with then students that was published this summer on a “hypercompact cluster.” He recently received $40,718 from the National Science Foundation to continue his research.

San Fratello has a history of successfully securing funding from a variety of sources. Her research and scholarship in the field of design is focused on materials and fabrication processes, including 3-D printing. She recently received a $90,000 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Each year, one faculty member is selected from the College of Science or the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering, and one faculty member is selected from the other colleges. The awardees received a cash reward of $1,000 and will be recognized at the SJSU Celebration of Research in February.