Kathleen Galotti, professor of cognitive science, presented a poster entitled, "Missions and Goals and Decisions, Oh My! How Much Do Overarching Goals Frame Decisions for Young Adults?" at the 2013 meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, held in Washington D.C.

Matt Whited, assistant professor of chemistry, was recently awarded an international patent with co-workers at the University of Southern California and University of Michigan for "Compounds Capable of Undergoing Symmetry Breaking Intramolecular Charge Transfer in a Polarizing Medium and Organic Photovoltaic Devices Comprising the Same." The invention describes a new photovoltaic cell design inspired by the biological photosystem that is capable of highly efficient charge separation for energy storage.

Carol Donelan, associate professor of cinema and media studies, has had her article "Vampires Suck! Twihards Rule!!! Myth and Meaning in the Twilight Saga Franchise" accepted for publication in Quarterly Review of Film and Video. The article analyzes the meaning uncovered in the Twilight films by loyal fans known as “Twihards.” Donelan recognizes that these films have a lot to say, and whether one is a “Twihard” or a “Twihater” depends on whether one is willing to attune to the peculiar way the films make meaning.  In the article, Donelan notes that the trivial surfaces of the films often camouflage the deep structure and implicit meanings of myth, and Twihards are the ones willing to rummage through the rubbish and make sense out of nonsense.

Scott Carpenter, professor of French, has published a debut novel titled Theory of Remainders. A suspenseful literary novel set in the lush backgrounds of Normandy, Theory of Remainders tells the story of a father seeking the truth about a traumatic past and explores the secret ties between love, trauma, and language. Kirkus Reviews has called it "a stellar achievement," and it was recently selected as a Midwest Connections "Pick" by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association. 

Noah Salomon, assistant professor of religion, has been awarded a portion of a grant from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft or DFG) to work on a collaborative project on the conceptualization and transmission of Islamic knowledge in contemporary Africa. The grant, directed by Professor Ruediger Seesemann at the University of Bayreuth, will support Salomon's fieldwork and writing. The DFG looks to provide sustainable support for young researchers, the interdisciplinarisation of the sciences and humanities, and facilitate networking in the field of research.

Steven Schier, Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor of Political Science, has published a new book, The American Elections of 2012, out this month from Routledge publishers. The book assembles leading political scientists and political journalists to explain the 2012 election results and their implications for America’s future. In addition to assessing election results, the book examines the consequences of the large ambitions of the Obama presidency and the political and policy risks entailed in the pursuit of those ambitions. Schier coedited the book with Janet Box-Steffensmeier of Ohio State University, as well as co-authoring a chapter in the book on the 2012 general election campaign.

Mikaela Schmitt-Harsh, Robert A. Oden, Jr., Postdoctoral Fellow for Innovation in the Liberal Arts in Environmental Studies, published an article in the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening entitled “Zoning, land use, and urban tree canopy cover: The importance of scale.” Given the declines in urban tree canopy cover in the United States, the paper discusses the current importance of understanding the factors that influence the distribution of urban trees. The article is co-authored with colleagues Sarah Mincey and Rich Thurau at Indiana University.

Jack Goldfeather, William H. Laird Professor of Mathematics, Computer Science, and the Liberal Arts, published a paper "Methods to Identify Individual Eddy Structures in Turbulent Flow" in the April 2013 ed. of Tsinghua Science and Technology. The journal aims to aims to highlight scientific achievements in computer science, electronic engineering, and other IT fields. Goldfeather’s article discusses turbulent flows, which are intrinsic to many processes in science and engineering. The paper explains the critical importance of understanding the physics of turbulence, despite the difficulty that comes with quantifying their complex interactions between the individual eddies in these flows. Goldfeather and his co-authors propose several new approaches for addressing these challenges.

Qiguang Zhao, Burton and Lily Levin Professor of Chinese, has been invited to talk weekly on Phoenix TV, an influential Chinese TV channel located in Hong Kong, about international affairs. Zhao comments on a range of topics from Obama’s election to North Korea’s nuclear tests, and the show is broadcasted to millions of Chinese viewers. Additionally, Zhao plans to begin hosting a series of documentary shows about the travel of Marco Polo from Venice to Xanadu with Phoenix TV, along with several other channels, which will air in 2014.

Laurence Cooper, professor of political science, recently gave a lecture, "Me, Myself – and Rousseau: The New American Spirituality and Its Origin," at Christopher Newport University on April 8. The discussion analyzed the increasing tendency in America to think that the proper way to live is to turn inward and get in touch with oneself. Cooper, however, discussed the importance of former belief, where people looked beyond themselves for guidance and validation. Previously, Rousseau had promoted these ideas, which urge for less rigorous self-examination and more spontaneity and sincerity. The source of these features is belief in the natural goodness of human beings and the idea of a perfect true self.

Hsianghui Liu-Spencer, cataloging and digital services librarian, and Tom Lamb, cataloging and metadata librarian, presented their study "A batch solution to the death date problem: a case study" at the Innovative Users Group 2013 Annual Conference held in San Francisco on April 25. The presentation discussed the impacts of recent policy changes on the library catalog and their ‘batch solutions’ to these new obstacles. They shared their experiences of what worked and what didn’t with other catalogers as they experimented with unique solutions to these challenges.

Al Montero, professor of political science, and Kathryn Hochstetler of the University of Waterloo (Canada), have had their article titled, “The Renewed Developmentalist State: The National Development Bank and the Brazil Model,” accepted for publication in the Journal of Development Studies. The study examines how Brazil operationalized a renewed developmentalist project during the country’s democratic period.