BOISE STATE 2013
THE RESEARCH MAGAZINE OF BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY
quest for Excellence Doctoral Students and the Role of Research
Katelyn Watson Ph.D. Student in Geosciences
Power of Place
NSF Scholars
Digital Future
Promising Vaccine
BOISE STATE 2013
THE RESEARCH MAGAZINE OF BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY
Features for 12 Quest Excellence From computer modeling and cancer research to methods for introducing critical literacy into classrooms, Boise State doctoral students are engaged in a broad range of research pursuits.
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On the cover:
Katelyn Watson, a Ph.D. student in geosciences, checks field instrumentation located at a test site at the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in the Boise Foothills.
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Digital Future As the demand for computer scientists grows, Boise State is playing a pivotal role in meeting the need. Many computer science graduates work in the Boise area, and an expanded university program is in the pipeline.
Power of Place
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Boise State’s location in the state’s capital and metropolitan center is pivotal to its success in building local research collaborations that strengthen the university and help fuel Boise’s economy.
Boise State University Explore Magazine 2013 Vol. 5, No. 1
PRESIDENT Dr. Bob Kustra
EDITOR Janelle Brown
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kathleen Tuck
VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/ EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dr. Mark Rudin
PHOTOGRAPHERS John Kelly Carrie Quinney
WRITERS Mike Journee Sherry Squires
DESIGNER Ann Hottinger
CONTRIBUTING WRITER Anna Webb
Perched on the summit crater of Villarrica, a 9,341-foot volcano in Chile, Dr. Jeffrey Johnson deploys infrasonic microphones to measure low-frequency sound vibrations as part of his research on volcano acoustics. Johnson is the recipient of a 2012 National Science Foundation CAREER award.
Departments
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Research Record
Dr. Emily Wakild researches national parks in South America.
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Faculty Spotlight
A potential vaccine to prevent MRSA has won honors for Dr. Juliette Tinker.
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In Print
CAREER Boost For a diverse group of Boise State faculty, receiving the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER award represents both an honor and an opportunity. The award offers a stable source of funding when researchers need it most – early in their academic careers.
Boise State University is Boise’s university and Idaho’s metropolitan research university, located in the state’s population center and capital city. Boise State is the largest university in Idaho with more than 22,000 students enrolled in its undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs.
Explore, the research magazine of Boise State University, is published by the Division of Research and Economic Development with support from the Office of Communications and Marketing. Explore is available online at research.boisestate.edu
Member of: University Research Magazine Association Division of Research and Economic Development
Boise State University Albertsons Library Room 153 1910 University Drive Boise, ID 83725-1135 (208) 426-5732 research@boisestate.edu
Dr. Janice Neri is the author of The Insect and the Image.
WELCOME
RESEARCH RECORD
study aimed at helping teachers assess math learning
NSF Funding Showcases Interdisciplinary Focus
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– DR. BOB KUSTRA, PRESIDENT
Dr. Keith Thiede
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One of the most dynamic and enduring change agents at work at Boise State University is a deepening research culture among our faculty. The National Science Foundation – perhaps the leading arbiter of an institution’s research portfolio – has discovered our university. With more than 85 active NSF awards and subawards and about 100 faculty members conducting NSF research, Boise State and its faculty have shown an interdisciplinary acumen that sets their work apart and contributes to their allimportant success in attracting research funding. Inside this magazine, you will read about four Boise State faculty members currently doing work under the NSF’s CAREER award, its most prestigious award for early-career researchers. In coming years, these amazing scholars and scientists will set new farseeing agendas, become our most important faculty mentors and lead our never-ending efforts to increase the value of a Boise State education. Once you read their stories, I’m sure you’ll agree that Boise State’s future is in very good hands.
In a new three-year study funded with $1.2 million from a U.S. Department of Education grant, Boise State education researchers hope to help teachers better understand when their students have fully learned their math lessons. Dr. Keith Thiede, a professor of education and the principal investigator on the grant, said recent studies have shown that many elementary teachers may not have adequate skills for assessing whether their students understand their math curriculum. Without that perspective, Thiede said, teachers cannot challenge students who are doing well nor provide additional help to those who are struggling with materials. Using the principles emphasized by Dr. Jonathan Brendefur’s Initiative for Developing Mathematical Thinking, a professional development program for K-12 teachers at Boise State, Thiede will work with elementary teachers from more than 20 Idaho schools over the course of the grant. Thiede hopes to create a more universal professional development program to improve the accuracy of teachers’ monitoring of student learning and to study how monitoring accuracy affects student achievement. He is working with Dr. Brendefur, Dr. Jennifer Snow and Dr. Rich Osguthorpe, all education faculty, on the project.
Boise State
Research Record
History Prof Probes Park Connections
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Since the creation of the first national park in Argentina in 1903, conservation efforts have preserved some of the most stunning landscapes of South America. Parks covering nearly a fifth of the continent and featuring topography ranging from stands of tropical forests to extensive ice sheets are now under various types of protection. But these parks exist in a historical vacuum. “Little comparative work has been done on their origins, evolution and societal meaning,” said Dr. Emily Wakild, assistant professor in the Department of History. “As a result, basic interpretive comparisons have not been made and these incredible cultural artifacts are left out of global assessments.” Wakild is the recipient of a $196,000 National Science Foundation award, “Comparative Histories of Scientific Conservation: Nature, Science, and Society in Patagonian and
Dr. Emily Wakild in Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina.
Amazonian South America,” that focuses on these protected landscapes and their collective importance. Amazonian parks include tropical forests with the highest biodiversity on the planet. Patagonian parks protect the most extensive sheets of ice outside the polar regions. Importantly, they also are home to tens of thousands of native peoples and hundreds of thousands of mixed-race and European settlers. The project aims to enter the history of conservation in South America into contemporary debates about
land management and nature protection by re-focusing attention on how science is produced in the field. Wakild will work in archives in Chile and Brazil and add this information to work she has previously done in Peru and Argentina. Wakild’s interest in this topic grew out of her first book, Revolutionary Parks: Conservation, Social Justice and Mexico’s National Parks 1910-1940 (University of Arizona Press, 2011), which explains the history of national parks and social policy in Mexico. – KATHLEEN TUCK
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HEATHCOCK HONORED WITH WHITING WRITERS’ AWARD “Fairly dazzled” is how the selection committee for the prestigious national Whiting Writers’ Award described their reaction to Alan Heathcock’s fiction. He is among 10 writers honored with the $50,000 prize in 2012. A faculty member in Boise State’s MFA program in Creative Writing, Heathcock is the author of the acclaimed short story collection Volt, named a Best Book 2011 by many magazines and newspapers. “One feels throughout the welcome influence of Mr. Heathcock’s progenitors – Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O’Connor, Faulkner,” according to the Whiting Award citation, “but the work feels mature and wholly his own.”
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Solar Light Poles Provide Research Opportunities A pair of light poles on the east end of the Boise State campus do more than illuminate a nearby path. They comprise ongoing research that has helped a Boise-based solar street lighting company refine its product. In 2010, Inovus installed the two poles at a prototype site on Bronco Circle. During the night, the poles’ lights are powered by electricity from the power grid, while during the day their solar panels collect energy from the sun to offset their energy usage. Since installing the poles, Inovus has added a wireless control system that allows for remote monitoring of the lights and related data. “The relationship we have with Boise State has been a huge boon for us and helped us evolve our wireless lighting system over time,” said David Gonzalez, Inovus’ director of platform architecture. As a senior project, Boise State engineering students researched ways to convert the power
supply inside the poles to accommodate a new wireless control module. The student relationship is particularly important to Inovus, said channel marketing manager Nic Kawaguchi, who started working for the company while he was completing his MBA at Boise State. Inovus CEO Clay Young also is a Boise State graduate. “Inovus has worked with Boise State students on class projects and internship programs and, as a result, has hired several students,” Kawaguchi said. The partnership with Inovus is facilitated by Boise State’s Office of University and Industry Ventures. and It is illustrative of the increased David Gonzalez industry collaborations the university has undertaken to help create jobs and support research and innovation. – SHERRY SQUIRES
Cobourn studies impact of Climate Change on Ag Sector
Dr. Kelly Cobourn studies the implications of climate change and water rights allocations for agricultural land use patterns.
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the Department of Economics, examines how changes in climate and water have impacted the Snake River Basin in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Her work will assess how producers have adapted to changing weather patterns by looking at irrigation decisions over the last 30 years, taking into account how water rights institutions have played a role in the decision-making process. “There’s a disconnect between the climate signal the region receives and the amount of water a grower gets to apply to his field, and that disconnect often is the water rights institu-
tion,” said Dr. Cobourn. “Our goal is to understand how these institutions impact what growers choose to grow, and how these institutions might evolve to better support growers and their economic welfare into a future of changing weather and climate patterns.” Cobourn will analyze data collected from NASA satellite images as part of her research, which is supported by a NASA award. She is collaborating with Dr. Alejandro Flores in geosciences, and Dr. Scott Lowe and Dr. Sian Mooney in economics, along with two master’s students in geosciences and a number of undergraduates in economics. – SHERRY SQUIRES
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In addition to wreaking havoc on vulnerable coastlines, climate change and shifting weather patterns heavily impact the agricultural sector, and those whose economic livelihood depend on it. New work by Dr. Kelly Cobourn, an assistant professor in
RESEARCH RECORD
Perceptions of scientist drive research quest
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ARCHIVES
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Dr. Lynn Lubamersky was not really looking for a new research subject. But now that the Boise State history professor has gotten to know the life and work of Marie Curie, the world’s most famous female scientist, she really cannot help taking on this new project. In particular, Lubamersky wants to know why Curie, often the first female scientist Americans name when asked, is something of a nonentity in her homeland of Poland. She recently presentMarie ed her emerging research at the fourth international Polish Studies Conference in Chicago and plans to travel to Poland later this year to conduct more research. Curie was born Maria Salomea Skłodowska in Warsaw in 1867 and emigrated to France as a young woman to pursue her studies. She eventually married a fellow scientist, Pierre Curie. Her pioneering research on radioactivity made her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in more than one
Dr. Lynn Lubamersky began exploring the life of Polish scientist Marie Curie as part of a collaborative Boise State project to develop a monologue-based play.
Curie
“So why is the most famous female scientist in the world not the most well-known or most thoroughly studied historical figure in the land of her own birth? This is what I need to find out.” –Dr. Lynn Lubamersky
science. She died in 1934 of aplastic anemia aggravated by years of exposure to radiation. “She was martyred to science,” said Lubamersky. “So why is the most famous female scientist in the world not the most well-known or most thoroughly studied historical figure in the land of her own birth? This is what I need to find out.” Lubamersky began exploring Curie’s life as part of her work in “Off the Record: Untold Stories of Women
in Science and Technology,” a monologue-based play being written by an interdisciplinary team at Boise State. Interestingly, Lubamersky found very little research on Curie that originated from Polish historians. While a bridge over the Vistula River in Warsaw is named for Curie, and there is a small museum in her hometown in her honor, Curie has not yet gained the visibility in Poland that befits her global stature. –Mike Journee
Computational models used to study human biological processES
Dr. Grady Wright
While research mathematicians may not be of much use in the operating room, they can be quite useful for increasing our understanding of the body and how it functions. Dr. Grady Wright, an associate professor of mathematics, is the Boise State principal investigator on a collaborative National Science Foundation grant to study “Chemically-active Viscoelastic Mixture Models in Physiology.” The team also includes researchers from the University of Utah, University of California-Davis, and the Florida Institute of Technology, and the total award is $1.1 million. Wright and collaborators will use mathematical and computational models to provide researchers with a better understanding of certain biological processes in the human body where viscoelastic fluids such as mucus play a fundamental role. “Viscoelastic fluids found in the body are difficult to study experimentally,” Wright said. “Mathematical modeling and simulation of these processes provide a powerful, cheap and harmless way to understand the dynamics, mechanics and function of these fluids.”
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CAREER A prestigious
Boost
National Science Foundation award gives outstanding faculty support when they need it most – early in their professional lives. By MIKE JOURNEE
For most of us, making eight strenuous 4,000-foot climbs to the top of an active glaciated volcano high in the Andes over just nine days while carrying car batteries, spools of cable and other back-breaking equipment does not sound like a good time. But Dr. Jeffrey Johnson was living his dream. An assistant professor of geosciences at Boise State University, Johnson studies volcano acoustics or, more specifically, how the extremely intense low-frequency sound vibrations produced by erupting volcanoes relate to the type of volcano they are and the kinds of eruptions they produce. His work has focused on more than a dozen volcanoes in South America, Central America,
“By helping [faculty] early in their careers, we hope to foster their immediate and future success, and ultimately influence the culture of their universities as they grow to become tomorrow’s leaders.” – Theresa Maldonado, National Science Foundation North America, Italy, Russia and Antarctica, and recently helped earn him the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development award, arguably the nation’s most prestigious award for junior university
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faculty members. Known as the CAREER award, the fiveyear NSF grant is designed to give young researchers like Johnson an early-career boost of coveted and stable research funding over an extended time period – an uncommon luxury for someone just starting out in their research career. He is one of four Boise State faculty members with active CAREER awards – the others are Dr. Megan Frary, materials science and engineering, Dr. Inanc Senocak, mechanical and biomedical engineering, and Dr. Wan Kuang, electrical and computer engineering. “I have the best job in the world, because while most of the world is sitting behind a desk, I have the privilege of watching – and studying – geological processes happening right in front of my eyes,” said Johnson, whose office shelves sport mountaineering books alongside texts on volcano geology and the physics of sound. The award will allow him to continue his volcano acoustics studies at erupting volcanoes in Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala and Hawaii, as well as geothermal sites in Yellowstone National Park. “Anytime you get funding from the NSF is a good day, but I’d be doing this anyway,” Johnson added. “My work is the best job that I could ever imagine for myself. I have fun doing it – it is my passion.”
A geyser basin in Yellowstone National Park provides a field lab and teaching site for Dr. Jeffrey Johnson.
Dr. Jeffrey Johnson
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Geosciences, 2012 NSF CAREER award recipient VOLCANO ACOUSTICS: Johnson’s research is focused on better understanding the relationship between lowfrequency infrasound made by volcanic eruptions and the type of eruption that occurs. Used in tandem with seismology and other geophysical observations, this work is helping to refine remote tracking of volcanic eruptions and the understanding of eruption dynamics.
The graphs show infrasonic pressure waveforms recorded from exploding geysers and provide data on eruption physics.
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Dr. Inanc Senocak
Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, 2011 NSF CAREER award recipient
Tomorrow’s Leaders Johnson’s passion and unique expertise is exactly what the NSF is investing in. With NSF seed money, CAREER award recipients have an invaluable opportunity to establish themselves as authorities in a niche of inquiry of their own choosing. In the process, they develop confidence, build laboratory resources, gain experience coordinating a research team, assemble a network of colleagues with similar research interests and lay the groundwork to successfully apply for future awards. In return, the NSF expects these “teacher-scholars” to find dynamic ways of translating their research for their students. For example, Johnson’s CAREER funding will help him continue his intensive, month-long field classes for international students at research locations in Yellowstone National Park, Ecuador and Hawaii. Yellowstone’s geysers provide a nearby stand-in for distant active volcanoes
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and are an ideal place for integrated research and education. “Super-heated gas turns into steam and explodes from different geysers with great regularity,” Johnson said of how Yellowstone’s geysers relate to his research on volcanoes. “In many ways this activity is analogous to magmatic eruptions, where gas violently escapes from molten rock.” Quite simply, the NSF sees the award as an investment in the academic leaders of tomorrow, according to Theresa A. Maldonado, chair of the NSF’s CAREER award coordinating committee. “By helping them early in their careers, we hope to foster their immediate and future success, and ultimately influence the culture of their universities as they grow to become tomorrow’s leaders,” said Maldonado. “We hope their success will make them mentors among their colleagues and soughtout advisors to the university administration about the direction of the university’s research aspirations.” It’s a dynamic that’s taken hold at Boise
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WIND ENERGY FORECASTING: Senocak is developing massively parallel wind simulation software designed to enhance the speed and accuracy of wind forecasting. The overall goal is to better understand turbulent air flows over complex terrain under different atmospheric stability conditions, so that these wind energy resources can be harnessed reliably for electricity production.
embraces the notion that CAREER award winners should be leaders in Boise State’s growing research culture. “These are the mentors of our future here at Boise State and this award really highlights their importance to our future,” said Rudin. “It is exciting that the NSF is investing in our young faculty, as well as our institution. They understand that there is a niche for a university like Boise State, where we are working to advance our research while preserving our undergraduate education mission.”
education is at its heart
Education’s place at the center of the CAREER program is a theme the Boise State recipients have taken to heart. The work of past CAREER award recipi-
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State. Dr. Janet Callahan, who received the CAREER award when she was at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is now the associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering and plays a leading role in the university’s efforts to develop STEM education. And Dr. Alex Punnoose, a professor of physics and 2005 CAREER award recipient, was named a Distinguished Professor by Boise State in 2011, one of the highest honors given to its faculty. He also was recently presented the prestigious 2012 Jean’ne M. Shreeve NSF EPSCoR Research Excellence Award for his nanotechnology research. Dr. Elisa Barney Smith’s 2003 CAREER award and subsequent work on digital document degradation has made her a central player in the university’s collaborations with Hewlett-Packard. Dr. Mark Rudin, Boise State’s vice president for research and economic development,
Past recipients of NSF CAREER awards include Dr. Alex Punnoose, physics, left; Dr. Janet Callahan, materials science and engineering; and Dr. Elisa Barney Smith, electrical and computer engineering.
Boise State achieves A-Z success in garnering
awards
Boise State University’s success at procuring funding from the National Science Foundation extends far beyond its CAREER awards. From anthropological studies to zircon geochronology, Boise State faculty are engaged in a broad range of NSF-funded research programs. The university currently has more than 85 active NSF awards and subawards, with about 100 faculty conducting NSF research as principal and co-principal investigators. “Boise State faculty have been extraordinarily successful in the merit review process. They have excellent ideas and also take great care in presenting their proposals,” said Sue Kemnitzer, the NSF’s Deputy Director of the Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Division in the Directorate for Engineering. “I think one of Boise State’s strengths is that its proposals have a very healthy and genuine interdisciplinary character, which is very special. It’s actually quite rare,” Kemnitzer added. “This enhances the success of people who submit proposals, and it’s also excellent for students because it’s how the world works.”
“I think one of Boise State’s strengths is that its proposals have a very healthy and genuine interdisciplinary character, which is very special. It’s actually quite rare.” – Sue Kemnitzer, National Science Foundation EXPLORE—2013 | 9
Dr. Wan Kuang
Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2009 NSF CAREER award recipient
ents has fostered whole areas of focus for Boise State’s research agenda and been the catalyst for the creation of new advanced degree programs – not to mention the merging of a burgeoning research agenda and long history of strong undergraduate education. The work associated with the CAREER awards of both Punnoose and the College of Engineering’s Frary significantly contributed to the recent creation of two new doctoral degrees in biomolecular sciences and materials science and engineering at Boise State. Punnoose’s grant to research ways to make semiconductors smaller and more effective by making use of the magnetic behavior of electrons included the development of an interdisciplinary master’s degree in materials science and engineering, a precursor to the new doctoral program. But Punnoose is most proud of the opportunity the grant gave him to support 15 undergraduate researchers – all of whom co-authored papers in leading journals about the research. “That is very satisfying,” said Punnoose, whose materials research on the CAREER grant helped feed his wide-ranging work in nanotechnology, including a highly effective method for the preferential killing of cancer cells while leaving ordinary cells healthy. It also is a major part of the new doctoral pro10 | BOISESTATE.EDU
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NANOPHOTONICS: A largely unexplored area, nanophotonics is the study of the behavior of light at the nanoscale. Kuang’s research involves the study of certain nanophotonic materials and devices, and could help lay the groundwork for miniaturizing optical devices. Such technology would be useful in communications and for other nanoscale products and applications.
gram in biomolecular sciences. “Rarely do undergraduates appear in such publications at other universities.”
‘science for science’s sake’ Typically, funding agencies like the NSF expect the research they support to answer questions that have a clear application or fit into a very specific mission. But the NSF CAREER awards often give unusual latitude to researchers in defining the scope of their work under the grant. “To me, this is what is so great about the CAREER award. You can do science for science’s sake,” said Frary, whose 2007 CAREER award funds her research into the interactions between the grains of various metal alloys at the nanometer scale and how to process those metals to make them either stronger or more deformable. “Finding funding is so competitive that too often you have to find a way to fit what you’re doing into what they want to hear about.” This “pure science” approach to the CAREER award gives young researchers incentive to think big and answer fundamental questions in their field that often lead to unique niches.
Grain Boundaries
Dr. Megan Frary
Materials Science and Engineering, 2007 NSF CAREER award recipient
For example, Kuang’s CAREER grant, awarded in 2009, focuses on nanophotonics, or more specifically, how gold nano-structures interact with light. He says his research could be part of the early steps for miniaturizing optical devices in the way electronic devices are already being created at nanometer scale. Such technology would be useful in communications and he likens it to the step Internet communications took in the 1990s with the use of fiber optic cable. Yet his work is still very theoretical. For Callahan, giving a young researcher an opportunity to do such “big idea” research is invaluable. “It helps you recognize that you do have the ability to do this kind of work – to answer those big questions and have your work accepted by your peers,” Callahan said.
success breeds success
One of the premises behind the CAREER awards is that success breeds success. Early on, researchers have few tools at their disposal to explore their theories. But with a feasible idea and at least some preliminary results, the modest NSF CAREER award funding might be enough to pay for that next essential piece of lab equipment or
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HIGH TEMPERATURE STRENGTH OF MATERIALS: Frary studies the microscopic role of grain orientations and the interaction of boundaries between differing grains in certain metals, including how those metals can be manipulated through processing to make them either stronger or more deformable. Her research involves both physical experiments and computer modeling.
a few undergraduate or graduate student lab assistants. “It’s a starting point,” said Kuang. “The NSF is really taking a gamble on your vision and giving you a chance to prove your theories work.”
With NSF seed money, CAREER award recipients have an invaluable opportunity to establish themselves as authorities in a niche of inquiry of their own choosing. Simply being awarded the grant provides an instant boost in reputation and prestige that will only grow with more results and success. Ultimately, their work could be the foundation of an academic community of their own at their universities, complete with colleague collaboration, doctoral candidates, and master’s students and undergraduates pursuing and learning about their research. Over time, these newly-minted mentors begin to influence the culture of their departments, colleges and universities through their success. “It creates a snowball effect,” said the NSF’s Maldonado. “And as an institution builds a critical mass of these awards among their faculty, like Boise State is doing, the impact multiplies.” EXPLORE—2013 | 11
Quest for
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DOCTORAL STUDENTS BRING CURIOSITY,
Katelyn Watson hikes to a research site located in the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in the Boise Foothills.
“In the arid West, water is precious. By developing more sophisticated computer models, we can better understand our water systems and how they will change in the future.” KATELYN WATSON
Ph.D. student in Geosciences Watson uses Boise State’s high-performance computer cluster at the Idaho National Laboratory to refine and test numerical models that describe water resources and climate. The research could be used to help develop more powerful tools to forecast changes in water distribution and weather variables in specific areas, information vital to farmers, recreationists, city planners, energy providers and industry. Watson earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees at Michigan Tech and chose Boise State’s doctoral program in part because of the “particularly strong group of scientists” in the Geosciences Department. She is part of Dr. Alejandro Flores’ research group.
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Excellence RIGOR TO RESEARCH PURSUITS By KATHLEEN TUCK
From building a better cellphone to helping doctors detect lung disease sooner, Boise State doctoral students are working to advance critical technologies, improve the quality of life for Idahoans, and create new knowledge that could open doors to tomorrow’s innovations. Sakkarapani Balagopal’s research involves reconfigurable
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computer chips.
“This work could lead to an improved chip for use in cellphones, digital cameras, MP3 players, computers, iPads and other digital devices.” Sakkarapani Balagopal
Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering Balagopal is working on improving the “interfaces” between the real world, which is analog in nature, and the simulated digital world of computer chips. Interface circuits called analog-todigital converters are a vital component of a wireless radio chip and are built into cellphones and wireless devices like Kindles and iPads. Reconfigurable radio chips will allow consumers to switch between several standards (GSM, CDMA, 4G, LTE, etc.) and allow government agencies to communicate in disaster recovery and relief scenarios. Balagopal earned his undergraduate degree at Sathyabama University in Chennai, India, and his master’s in electrical engineering at the University of Idaho. He chose Boise State because of its reputation for research in analog and mixed signals circuit design. He works with Dr. Vishal Saxena.
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Anthony Saba, who lives in South Korea,
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is interested in mobile learning.
“Simulations work well in training because you have to practice knowledge and apply skills. Research shows a gap between the skills people know and what they actually do.” ANTHONY SABA
Ed.D. student in Educational Technology Saba became interested in earning a graduate degree in educational technology while teaching at a college in Korea. After researching online options, he chose Boise State because of its personal touch and the quality of its program. He is particularly interested in augmented reality and mobile learning, as well as the use of simulations and game-based training for use in corporate training programs. Saba earned his undergraduate degree in history and philosophy at Binghamton University, SUNY, in New York, and his master’s in educational technology at Boise State. He is working on adapting his studies in game-based learning to employee training for Hyundai Motor Group. He is completing his degree online from his home in South Korea.
Hunter Covert conducts research on
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the metastasis of breast cancer.
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Christina Nava studies how to implement critical
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literacy in the classroom.
“I want students to have their own voice and be able to take a stance on issues. And you have to be informed and know how to question to be able to do that.” CHRISTINA NAVA
Ed.D. student in Curriculum and Instruction An Idaho State Department of Education administrator, Nava’s project is titled “Exploring Critical Literacy through Teachers’ Professional Learning.” She is working with a select group of middle school teachers to understand how critical literacy can be implemented in the classroom. In this information-rich world, texts and media have multiple messages and Nava is developing methods teachers can use to help kids understand, question and interpret those messages, while recognizing issues of power and ways to promote social justice. Nava earned her bachelor’s degree in bilingual education and two master’s degrees (in literacy, and curriculum and instruction) at Boise State, where she feels a sense of connectedness to both the university and the College of Education faculty. She is part of Dr. Stan Steiner’s research group.
“This work is exciting because it’s really groundbreaking. The signaling factors we are trying to target are relatively new and could lead to slowing down, or hopefully preventing, metastatic cancer.” HUNTER COVERT
Ph.D. student in Biomolecular Sciences Covert uses a mix of molecular biology, biochemistry and physics in his doctoral research on the metastasis of breast cancer. Specifically, he is focusing on a process called epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), which plays a major role in tumor progression and metastasis. By finding a therapeutic agent that will bind with specific proteins involved in EMT signaling, researchers can theoretically keep tumors from spreading to the bone, liver, lungs or brain. Covert earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in biology at Boise State. A first-year doctoral student, he has been part of Dr. Cheryl Jorcyk’s research group for about three years.
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Sara Goltry uses DNA nanotechnology to
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study new ways to detect lung cancer.
“We’ve seen results that could really open doors in biology and medicine. This could move far beyond cancer detection to application in disease detection, drug delivery and therapeutics.” SARA GOLTRY
Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering Goltry’s DNA nanotechnology project looks at biomedical applications as they relate to lung cancer detection. The ultimate goal is to develop and distribute a simple test that will detect the user’s risk of developing lung cancer. Since enzymes in the body naturally degrade foreign DNA, her research is focused on how to provide stability against attack. Goltry earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics, with a minor in physics, at the College of Idaho. Her work in Dr. Will Hughes’ lab aims to contradict the general belief that DNA is inherently vulnerable to enzymatic degradation.
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Doctoral Programs Enhance University’s
Dr. Jack Pelton
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Boise State awarded its first doctoral degree, in curriculum and instruction, in 1997. Since then, doctoral research has grown to embrace programs in the sciences, engineering, educational technology, and, beginning in fall 2013, public policy and administration. Explore magazine visited with Dr. Jack Pelton, dean of the Graduate College, about the university’s doctoral programs, their impact and future.
Q: How do strong doctoral programs benefit Boise State University? A: Universities are places of learning and research, and doctoral programs contribute heavily to both activities. Academic departments with doctoral programs have an enviable learning environment. You’ll find a continuum of learners, all teaching each other, both formally and informally: undergraduate students, master’s students, doctoral students, postdoctoral appointees, members of the research faculty and the tenure-track faculty. Doctoral programs also
attract top faculty to Boise State and increase our competitiveness for research funding. This in turn attracts better students and top-notch faculty, enabling us to expand the scope and quality of our research programs. Q: Why offer doctoral programs in these particular areas? A: Boise State has launched doctoral programs in areas of existing strengths and natural ties with the community. The Ed.D. program is built around the compelling idea of school improvement. Our geosciences, geophysics, electrical and com-
Scott Havens is developing tools to
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measure water content in snowpack.
“Snow is a big issue here in Idaho. It’s important to estimate how much is stored in the mountains for future irrigation or drinking water here in the valley. Understanding snow will help avalanche forecasters more accurately predict avalanche hazard.” SCOTT HAVENS
Ph.D. student in Geophysics As a NASA fellow, Havens’ work centers on Idaho’s snowpack and developing tools to more accurately measure its water content. Because snow layers vary in depth, density and location, current predictions are not always correct. He is working with ground-based radars and satellites to provide better estimates of the amount of water in the snowpack. A second project with the Idaho Transportation Department aims to help avalanche forecasters predict how current weather may affect avalanche hazards and detect avalanches along Idaho’s mountainous roads. Havens earned his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He enjoys being able to combine his lifelong love of skiing with research that provides tangible benefits to Idahoans. He is working with Dr. H.P. Marshall.
‘Continuum of Learners’ puter engineering, materials science and engineering, and biomolecular sciences Ph.D. programs emerged from a history of grant-supported research, and are aligned with federal and state agencies, government and private laboratories, and industry. In addition, our Ph.D. programs are broad enough in scope to draw faculty participants from many different academic units. Q: How does doctoral research differ from undergraduate research? A: The typical doctoral student spends about three years doing fulltime research under the guidance of a panel of faculty experts. However,
simply gaining research experience is not enough; doctoral research should contribute significantly to the body of knowledge in a field of study. Examples include producing a book-length manuscript that is sought by other scholars, or multiple journal articles that have passed the test of peer review. Students who earn a doctoral degree are forevermore responsible for the intellectual health and integrity of their discipline.
have a significant research experience; however, it is not feasible to provide the resources necessary for high-quality doctoral research in every academic unit. Nearly all universities engaged in doctoral education struggle with this basic limitation – there never seems to be enough money to do what the faculty would like to do at the doctoral level. Given these circumstances, it makes sense for Boise State to grow doctoral research programs in a controlled manner.
Q: Ideally, what is the balance of doctoral and undergraduate research?
Q: What is ahead for Boise State doctoral programs?
A: I support the idea that every undergraduate student should
A: As we grow our doctoral programs, our graduates will strength-
en Idaho’s economy by filling critical roles in industry, public policy, education, research and beyond. We currently are accepting applications for a new Ph.D. program in public policy and administration, and are seeking approval to launch a Doctor of Nursing Practice program. The public policy program supports the university mission and is a natural fit to our metropolitan setting in the state capital. The nursing program would respond to the growing need for health professionals in Idaho, and would be our first doctoral program to have a major clinical element.
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The demand for computer Boise State University
Many Boise State computer science graduates work in Boise’s growing technology sector including, from left, Lora Volkert, Jose “Joey” Mazzarelli, Penny Garrison, Walton Hoops and Shannon Heck.
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scientists is growing. is helping meet the need. By SHERRY SQUIRES
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Lora Volkert was a working journalist when a routine story interview with a Boise State University faculty member awakened her to possibilities she hadn’t considered in years. The newspaper world was shrinking around her, she realized, but another industry was burgeoning — computer science. “I always did well in math and science and I wondered what would have happened if I had pursued it more,” said Volkert, who interviewed Dr. Amit Jain, an associate professor of computer science, for her story about the need for more graduates to fill jobs. “I thought it might be worth a try giving the other part of my brain a chance to solve problems and come alive again.”
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Lora Volkert
2011 Boise State graduate Clearwater Analytics, software developer
V
Computer Science and Creativity Computer science may be a big switch for a creative writer like Volkert, but the field doesn’t lack in creativity. Computer scientists are challenged to find solutions in areas as diverse as health and education or security and the environment, said Jain. From improving business processes to advancing mobile technology, software engineers undertake a wide variety of tasks. Working at companies both large and small,
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olkert enrolled at Boise State, graduating in 2011 with a B.S. in computer science. She is now among about 200 Boise State computer science graduates who are contributing to a rapidly growing field that is critical to Idaho’s future. As the need for trained computer scientists continues to grow, Boise State’s Department of Computer Science also is gaining momentum, with more faculty members, more research and more graduates in the pipeline.
“I felt really prepared to take this job, and they made me a good offer and really made it clear that they valued having me here. I work on software that helps investment firms keep track of their assets. Our team focuses on writing code that deals with foreign securities, basically any kind of stock or bond that you would buy from a country with currency other than from the U.S.” they analyze data, develop solutions and write software code. “Computer science graduates can basically work in any field they want,” Jain said. “They are surprised to find the wide range of industries that seek them.” The need for software engineers has ballooned as the technological age has advanced. In past decades,
the manufacturing sector built the machines so vital in today’s world. But today’s machines don’t operate solely with gears and levers; they require software developed by computer science experts to perform intricate and complex tasks. “Water is to agriculture what software is to the digital world,” said Jay Larsen, president and founder
Jose “Joey” Mazzarelli 2004 Boise State graduate Keynetics, web developer
“The thing I like about programming is that I’m only limited by my own imagination and capabilities. I can think of something and it’s totally up to me to make it happen. I like that blank slate – creativity with no limitations.”
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The Student Experience There are currently about 330 computer science majors and nearly 70 minors at Boise State. They include junior Jared Ostyn, who
Dr. Amit Jain, left, discusses coursework with Nilab Mohammad Mousa and Jared Ostyn, both juniors majoring in computer science.
expects to graduate in spring 2014. “I’ve always wanted to do things with computers ever since I was little,” he said. “I had an original LEGO Mindstorms kit that let me build and program robots. That gift really solidified what I felt all along about computers and how much could be done with them.” In addition to attracting more students like Ostyn to the field, the computer science department is focused on retaining those currently working toward their degrees. Because computer science is a challenging major, the department has opened a new tutoring center to increase the help available, particularly for first- and second-year students. “That is the dangerous time, the time when we are most likely to lose students who struggle with concepts and give up,” Jain said. “We are
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of the Idaho Technology Council in Boise. “As we move into a knowledge-based economy, software is a major catalyst in everything from improving agricultural yields to manufacturing processes.” The rapid demand has led to a mass shortage. In a recent 90-day period, Larsen estimated there were 1,200 unfilled computer sciencerelated jobs in Idaho, 900 of them in the Treasure Valley alone. “How quickly we can deal with the scarcity of software developers will determine whether we are just an adopter of technologies when they come out or a leader in new technologies with a software-centric community and thriving economy,” Larsen said. Producing more computer science graduates helps two-fold. Those graduates fill existing jobs, and a pipeline of qualified professionals helps attract new companies to Idaho.
convinced if we can give them more individual help we can retain more computer science majors.” Those who are successful in the program land jobs that are good for them and good for Idaho. By the time students complete their third year, about 90 percent of them have begun internships and many already have job offers with starting salaries upwards of $60,000. “Here’s the perspective I can offer,” Volkert said. “Computer science is a very hard major but if you can stick with it, you will have plenty of job opportunities. This is a very satisfying field for people who like digging into interesting problems, exercising their brain and being rewarded for it.”
Penny Garrison
2004 Boise State graduate Hewlett-Packard, project manager in the core firmware lab for print devices
“One of the most fascinating fields in computer science is the whole mobile development that is going on, along with cloud development. It has really changed the way we as individuals not only do business but communicate. It’s more than what traditional computer science used to be.” EXPLORE—2013 | 21
More Classes, More Faculty, Computer Science Gets an IGEM Boost
“I think we’ve always tried to figure out the best connection that higher education and industry can make, and the right things are happening at Boise State to help Idaho’s economy grow.” –jay larsen, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT IDAHO TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL Boise State is helping meet the need for more computer science graduates in Idaho with an ambitious plan to hire additional computer science faculty to teach, conduct research and recruit and mentor computer science students. The program is funded with $700,000 from the State Board of Education’s Higher Education Research Council as part of IGEM, the Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission. IGEM is a statewide initiative to create new enterprises and high-paying jobs in Idaho’s knowledge economy by increasing strategic areas of research and development through targeted partnerships
among industry, higher education and government. With IGEM funding, the computer science department has plans to double the number of graduates to 50 per year. Given that more than 90 percent of Boise State’s computer science graduates take jobs in Idaho, the prospects are exciting for the state. “I think we’ve always tried to figure out the best connection that higher education and industry can make, and the right things are happening at Boise State to help Idaho’s economy grow,” said Jay Larsen,
Walton Hoops
2009 Boise State graduate PinnPointe Consulting Group, software developer, database/system administrator
“A computer science degree gives you the basic foundation to learn whatever job you want to do. I’ve seen that the field just can’t get enough graduates, particularly in data science, which is focused on managing big amounts of data and drawing some conclusions from that data.” 22 | BOISESTATE.EDU
More Research founder and president of the Idaho Technology Council in Boise. “We are very encouraged by the IGEM partnership.” Hiring more faculty members in computer science will provide more seats in more classes and offer students a broader and deeper education, said College of Engineering Dean Amy Moll. “The department is well positioned to make a positive impact for the state,” Dr. Moll said. “It is well recognized for the quality of the graduates that come out of the program. Local industry consistently tells us that they are very happy with our graduates and that they are terrific employees, and local companies regularly take on the students as interns.” Those companies include Clearwater Analytics, a software development company that has partnered with the computer science department for several years. About 25-30 interns work at Clearwater each year, said company senior recruiter
Mike Thiel. “We take on as many from Boise State as possible. Software developer is such a hard position to fill and by working closely with Boise State we get access to the students sooner,” Thiel said. “In addition to good students, our great relationship with the computer science department allows us to get recommendations on emerging technologies. It is a collaborative dynamic that keeps everybody progressing in the right direction.” Increasing the number of Boise State graduates is vital for the company. “It will be a great help not only for us but other organizations in the valley,” Thiel said. “There are not enough students to fill all the roles we have going forward and that forces us to have to recruit out of state. Our success rate with hiring employees and having them transition well is much higher when we can get somebody already familiar with the Boise area.”
IGEM funds also will increase Boise State research efforts and help directly funnel research results into the private sector. New faculty researchers will bring new research endeavors to Boise State, and work will continue on already successful research projects. These ongoing projects include Dr. Tim Andersen’s collaborative work with Dr. Greg Hampikian in biology to identify tiny DNA and protein sequences that might serve as drugs to kill pathogens and even cancer, and Dr. Alark Joshi’s visualization technology that holds potential for interactive exploration of neurosurgery, hurricane visualization and evaluating image-guiding navigation systems. “We are so enthused about IGEM and the prospects it holds,” Larsen said. “In the last 11 years there’s really been no expansion of the computer science department but demand for graduates has grown three- to fourfold. This is clearly so important to the economy of Idaho.”
Shannon Heck
2011 Boise State graduate Hewlett-Packard, firmware engineer in the Enterprise Laserjet R&D lab
“I work with the testing infrastructure team on testing firmware code. I was a stay-at-home mom for 12 years and when my youngest child entered kindergarten, I decided to go back to school. It was a challenging but very rewarding experience and it has paid off. “ EXPLORE—2013 | 23
THE POWER
OF PLACE Dr. Marcelo Serpe, left, and graduate student Jacob Cragin examine Montepulciano grapes cultivated in an experimental plot southwest of downtown Nampa.
T
he peaceful vineyard where biology professor Marcelo Serpe and graduate student Jacob Cragin conduct research feels a world apart from the vibrant cityscape where Boise State University is located. Actually, it’s not far away at all. Located southwest of downtown Nampa, the experimental plot along
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Research collaborations Here at Home Strengthen University and Community By JANELLE BROWN
a bucolic stretch of countryside is a short commute for the researchers, who are studying how 15 different grape cultivars fare given the region’s relatively short growing season and cold winters. The research could enhance the long-term competitiveness of the area’s wine industry by encouraging viticulturists to plant less common varieties of wine grapes that studies show are viable. “The global wine industry concentrates on a few grape varieties, but
there also is excellent potential for minor cultivars from the Old World to expand the industry and do well here,” said Dr. Serpe, an expert in plant physiology who is collaborating on the project with Dr. Krista Shellie, a research horticulturist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service. “This will not only increase genetic diversity, but could help establish a niche market where the area is known for a certain wine variety.”
The study, funded by the USDA through an Idaho State Department of Agriculture specialty crop block grant procured by Shellie, is part of Cragin’s research for his master’s thesis. It is among dozens of Boise State collaborative research projects that draw on the university’s location and infrastructure, its relationships with private and public sector partners, and the expertise of its faculty to drive mutually beneficial investigations in the greater Boise area. EXPLORE—2013 EXPLORE—2012 | 25
students are among the beneficiaries of local collaborations, which provide opportunities for hands-on research and lay the groundwork for future careers. While the projects vary widely, they share this in common: They are propelled, at least in part, by the power of place. “We talk about six degrees of separation, but in Boise it’s three degrees,” said Dr. Kent Neupert, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business and Economics and a professor of management. “You’re often only three phone calls away from connecting entrepreneurs to the right person on campus, in the community or in government.” Boise State’s location in the state’s capital and metropolitan center is pivotal to its success in building collaborations, added Neupert. “Proximity is key. People are invested in this area, they want it to succeed. Everybody is pulling together and helping it get better.” At Boise State, faculty partner with regional health care providers to improve quality of care and research new treatment options, conduct geophysical studies to determine where to best site local bridges, roads and buildings, work with Boise area schools on research-based programs to improve teaching and learning, and collaborate with local industries and institutions to analyze products and improve designs. These are just a few examples; the list goes on and on. Other Boise State research programs have developed around the area’s natural environment, from 26 | BOISESTATE.EDU
studies of raptors to understanding the area’s unique watershed and geology. The National Science Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. De-
and eastern Oregon. An AVA identifies a wine-growing area as having unique soil, climate and geography, or “terroir,” and the appellation can play a major role in boosting a wine region’s reputation.
“Proximity is key. People are invested in this area, they want it to succeed.” –Dr. Kent Neupert, Boise State University partment of Defense and other state and federal agencies support faculty conducting studies tied to a sense of place. Boise State students are among the major beneficiaries of strong local collaborations, which provide opportunities for hands-on research and lay the groundwork for future careers in the Boise area and across the nation. “It’s hard to overstate the value of Boise area research partnerships and programs,” said Dr. Mark Rudin, vice president for research and economic development. “They continually strengthen the university and the community and make our area an even better place to work and to live.”
boise’s unique backyard
The experimental vineyard where Serpe and Cragin conduct their studies is located in one of the nation’s newest American Viticulture Areas – the Snake River Valley AVA, encompassing more than 8,000 square miles in southwestern Idaho
Geosciences associate professor David Wilkins and several colleagues, including Shellie, submitted the scientific study that led to federal AVA approval in 2007, while economics professors Geoffrey Black and Donald Holley and student Kristin Bierle (MBA, 2010), completed an economic impact study of the wine industry the following year for the Idaho Wine Commission. “It’s a great way of applying science to local industry,” said Dr. Wilkins. “It’s all about the climate and soils and that’s all earth sciences.” Added Dr. Black: “The fact that these wineries were nearby and we were able to drive out and talk to owners in person was key to gathering the information we needed.” Boise’s unique backyard is the setting for many other research endeavors that add knowledge about the area’s natural systems. Fourteen years ago, geosciences professor Jim McNamara founded the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in the Boise Foothills to investigate hydrologic processes. Only a dozen miles from
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Dr. Jim McNamara founded the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in 1999. His computer screen displays realtime meteorological data delivered by radio from the site.
“The Idaho Bird Observatory is an incredible education resource for us.” –Vicky Runnoe, Idaho Department of Fish and Game
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Ayla Kaltenecker releases a Northern Goshawk at the Idaho Bird Observatory’s field site at the summit of Lucky Peak.
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A collaboration brought together Martin Gabica, M.D., Healthwise chief medical officer, left; Dr. Tim Dunnagan, dean of the College of Health Sciences; Shawn Adams, Healthwise professional services consultant; and Dr. Lee Hannah, Department of Community and Environmental Health.
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“Boise State provides the academic rigor needed to be able to publish our study.” –Shawn Adams, Healthwise
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Dr. Rick Ubic, director of the Boise State Center for Materials Characterization, uses a transmission electron microscope to study a large range of materials structurally down to the atomic level and chemically on the microscale.
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MEETING FACE TO FACE INCREASES THE EFFECTIVENESS AND ENJOYMENT OF COLLABORATIONS. the Boise State campus, the watershed extends from high desert to forest and rain- and snow-dominated terrain, providing students and researchers easy access to a well-instrumented and diverse field laboratory. NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey are among agencies that have funded research at the site, and more than 20 journal articles and 25 master’s and doctoral theses have been published based on Dry Creek research. Alison Burnop (M.S. Hydrologic Sciences, 2012), now a hydrologist with the IDWR, utilized data from the Dry Creek experimental site for her master’s thesis. “It worked out great,” she said. “Because I had conducted field work in the watershed I had an intuitive sense for the lay of the land and what hydrologic processes should dominate in particular areas, which was helpful as I initiated the hydrologic model used in my research.” Farther along the Boise Foothills’ rugged crest, Boise State researchers at the Idaho Bird Observatory’s field site atop Lucky Peak conduct raptor and songbird studies. In the valley below, Boise State researchers and students at the university’s Boise Hydrogeophysical Research Site collaborate with colleagues from across the country and overseas. Both of these internationally recognized research sites were also developed by Boise State researchers.
“The Idaho Bird Observatory is an incredible education resource for us,” said Vicky Runnoe, conservation education supervisor for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. “It is a great place to go and learn about different kinds of research.”
in-demand expertise
More than any other factor, the expertise of Boise State faculty is the cornerstone of local research partnerships. Dr. Lee Hannah, a senior researcher at the Center for Health Policy and an associate professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Health, used her knowledge and skills as part of a collaboration with Healthwise, a Boise-based nonprofit that develops health content for health plans, companies, hospitals and consumer health portals.
Healthwise prepare a Human Subjects Institutional Review Board report required to conduct the study at local medical clinics. According to Hannah’s assessment, the software tool worked well and both medical providers and patients found the health information useful. In addition, her study found that patient interest in receiving the health content was even higher than what the providers thought. Both Boise State researchers and Healthwise touted the benefits of the collaboration. “We work around the world and don’t often get the opportunity to partner locally, but we look for opportunities to do so that are mutually beneficial,” said Shawn Adams, professional services consultant at Healthwise. “Boise State provides the academic rigor needed to be able to publish our study.”
“I’ve worked in basic labs in medical school and as part of residency and fellowship programs, and the talents and tools at Boise State are as good as anywhere.” –Paul Montgomery, M.D., St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute Working with Dr. Tim Dunnagan, dean of the College of Health Sciences, Hannah evaluated a pilot study Healthwise had conducted for a new software tool that connects patient demographics and diagnostic codes so that patients can receive health information about their medical needs at the time of their appointment. She also helped
Meeting face to face increases both the effectiveness and enjoyment of local collaborations. Each month, Dr. Julia Oxford, a professor of biomolecular sciences, meets with Kevin Shea, M.D., and other colleagues at a downtown medical office to discuss in-progress federal grant applications and current projects. Their collaborations already have had pay-
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AS WE BRIDGE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY AND THE UNIVERSITY, WE ALL MOVE AHEAD. offs, including publication of a joint paper on osteochondritis dissecans, a problem affecting knee cartilage, in the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. “We get a lot done by sitting down together,” Oxford said. “There’s a spontaneity that can happen that can take us in new directions.” Paul Montgomery, M.D., has collaborated with both Oxford and biology professor Cheryl Jorcyk as part of his work at St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute. “I’ve worked in basic labs in medical school and as part of residency and fellowship programs, and the talents and tools at Boise State are as good as anywhere,” said Montgomery. “I’m hoping we have a lot more collaborations in the future.”
physical assets
Boise State’s sophisticated instrumentation, much of which was obtained through federal research grants, is integral to many research partnerships. At the Boise State Center for Materials Characterization, a powerful analytical transmission electron microscope and other imaging systems provide clients with an atomic-level analysis of materials, information that is invaluable as they seek to refine designs and improve the reliability of prototypes. Over the past five years, the BSCMC has seen a five-fold growth in its revenue, said Dr. Rick Ubic, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and the center’s director. “All the instrumen30 | BOISESTATE.EDU
tation is paying for itself in terms of research contracts,” he said. For clients like Chris Kossow, an etch engineer at Photronics’ Boise facility, the center provides a valued service. “I like the fact that I can sit down with the scientists at Boise State, and that it is so hands on,” he said. Geosciences professor Paul Michaels uses subsurface imaging and seismic tools and his extensive
able to save time and avoid environmental damage by having their experts involved,” he said.
A Bright Future
Boise State students who gain research experience at the university are finding creative ways to apply their knowledge and skills after graduation, including developing ongoing relationships with their alma mater.
“I like the fact that I can sit down with the scientists at Boise State, and that it is so hands on.” –Chris Kossow, Photronics know-how to help agencies and companies determine the best location and design for roads, bridges and other structures. Last summer, Dr. Michaels and several students conducted down-hole seismic surveys at the Broadway Bridge east of campus to characterize soil properties at various depths. The study for the Idaho Department of Transportation will help engineers determine the best design for a foundation when the bridge, which was built in 1956, is replaced in the next few years. Michaels said he enjoys the practical aspect of the work. “It serves the public need and helps ensure public safety,” he said. Keith Nottingham, a geologist with IDT, values the university’s contributions. “Boise State has the equipment and expertise for subsurface characterization that we don’t have. The bottom line is that we are
Benjamin Stein (M.S. Exercise Science, 2012) is among them. A competitive mountain biker, Stein completed his master’s thesis on cycling mechanics using motioncapture cameras and other imaging equipment at Boise State’s Center for Orthopaedic and Biomechanics Research. Now Stein has launched his own custom bike-fitting business, On the Bike, LLC, as part of a research partnership with COBR. “Working with Boise State, I’ve been able to follow a passion and dream of mine,” Stein said. As Boise continues to grow and diversify, so too will opportunities for its university to expand partnerships and programs, said Boise State’s Neupert. “People in Boise are ready to connect,” he said. “As we bridge back and forth between the community and the university, we will all move ahead.”
Using motion-capture cameras and other imaging equipment at Boise State’s Center for Orthopaedic and Biomechanics Research, Benjamin Stein, owner of On the Bike, LLC, custom fits a bicycle for customer Keith Anderson.
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“We are able to save time and avoid environmental damage by having Boise State’s experts involved.” –Keith Nottingham, Idaho Department of Transportation
Dr. Paul Michaels, right, conducts down-hole seismic surveys at the Broadway Bridge, with help from geophysics doctoral student Mike Morrison, left, and Krista Heindel (B.S., Civil Engineering, 2012).
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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Promising Vaccine MRSA and staph infections wreak havoc on human and animal health. Dr. Juliette Tinker’s research could provide a pathway to thwart them.
“In this era of antibiotic-resistant emerging infectious disease, there is a great need for the promotion of new vaccines.“ –Dr. Juliette Tinker MRSA, (pronounced Mer-sa), the common name for methicillin-resistant Staph aureus, was responsible for more than 65,000 cases of invasive disease and more than 11,000 deaths in 2010, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, with hospitals, nursing homes and similar environments at much higher risk for MRSA infections. MRSA also is the most common cause of mastitis in dairy cows and as such has huge economic ramifications. Because cows with mastitis produce significantly less milk, the dis-
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Dr. Tinker at work in her lab.
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For many people around the world, the By KATHLEEN TUCK very word “cholera” strikes fear to the heart. For Dr. Juliette Tinker, associate professor of biological sciences, cholera translates to possibilities. Tinker recently won an Early-stage Idaho Innovation Award for her research on a vaccine for the prevention of staph and MRSA infection in humans and dairy cows. The vaccine is being created through a fusion of cholera toxin and a protein from Staphylococcus aureus, which causes the infection. The prestigious award, presented by the Idaho Technology Council, recognizes the potential of Tinker’s vaccine to address a serious and growing health concern: the spread of a “superbug” that is unaffected by antibiotics that normally kill bacterial infections. “In this era of antibiotic-resistant emerging infectious disease, there is a great need for the promotion of new vaccines,” Tinker said. “The technology we are developing at Boise State has the potential for increasing vaccine acceptance, reducing cost, and most importantly, preventing significant disease.”
ease each year can result in more than a billion dollars in losses for the nation’s dairy industry. Findings by the CDC suggest that MRSA and S. aureus should be considered a national priority for disease control. “There are compelling public health and economic reasons why MRSA and staph are of such concern,” Tinker said. Working in her Boise State University laboratory, Tinker studies bacterial toxins – the proteins produced by disease-generating bacteria. Because bacterial toxins activate an immune response in their host, they are good additives, or adjuvants, for vaccines. “An adjuvant acts as a ‘helper molecule’ in a vaccine, and cholera is a preferred choice for this because it has been studied so thoroughly,” Tinker explained. Most of the toxin in the cholera sample Tinker works with is removed and she uses just a non-toxic part of the molecule fused to a protein from S. aureus for the vaccine. The resulting combination is a promising vaccine that can be delivered through the nose, mouth or skin – modes of delivery that are less painful and invasive than needles and also have other advantages such as reduced costs, and increased safety and accessibility. Tinker also is researching a bovine version of the vaccine that can be delivered as a nasal spray. Because farmers can easily access cows’ faces during the milking process, a nasal vaccine is the preferred delivery method.
A scanning electron micrograph shows clumps of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, at a greatly magnified size.
JANICE HANEY CARR PHOTO / CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
“Delivering the vaccine as an intranasal spray has another advantage – it has the potential to induce an immune response that can prevent colonization, or the initial binding of the bacteria to the human or animal host,” Tinker added. Boise State holds a pending patent for Tinker’s invention. In addition, a university MBA class will use Tinker’s research as a basis for a case study. Tinker came to Boise State in 2005 from the University of Colorado in Denver. Fascinated by pathogenic bacteria since her graduate days at the University of Iowa, she was fortunate to work with Dr. Randall Holmes at UC-Denver, who is an expert on bacterial toxins. “I was able to take some ideas on the fusion of cholera toxins with me from Colorado,” Tinker said. “I knew how antibiotic resistant staph is, so it seemed like a good fit.” At Boise State, the pre-clinical studies for the new MRSA vaccine are expected within the next year, and Tinker is looking at several possible funding sources. But she warns that a vaccine is still several years out. “The average lab-to-market time for a human vaccine is 10-15 years. A veterinary vaccine could take less than half that time,” Tinker said. Working with undergraduate student Shandra Jeffries, Tinker also is working to develop a vaccine for staph that uses a different antigen. (Antigens are substances that stimulate the production of antibodies when introduced to the body). As there are often different strains of an infection, multiple antigens in the same vaccine are beneficial, Tinker explained. The new antigen would go through the same rigorous testing as the current one. “A staph vaccine, if you can get it to work in clinical trials, is the holy grail,” said Tinker. “That hasn’t been achieved yet, but such a vaccine would have an enormous impact on public health. That’s great incentive to continue our research.”
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In her book, Dr. Janice Neri charts the emergence of the insect as legitimate, artistic subject matter.
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IN PRINT
An Exotic
W rld By collecting, studying and creating images of insects, artists served as trusted observers of the natural world.
A
By ANNA WEBB
s a graduate student, Dr. Janice Neri had a daunting task – finding a dissertation topic in Renaissance art history that was, if not entirely new, one she could explore in a new way. After her first year of graduate school, she traveled to Paris. She was browsing in the flea market when she passed a merchant selling old prints. The beauty of the pages teeming with life, leaves, flowers, birds and insects fascinated her. “I realized I could write about the natural world. It was an area of study that hadn’t been exhausted. And I realized what a huge topic it was,” said Neri, an associate professor of art history and visual culture. That realization became her dissertation and then her book, The Insect and the Image: Visualizing Nature in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700. An interest in the natural world and its elements – insects et al. – was a hallmark of Renaissance artists. Neri charts the emergence of the insect as legitimate, artistic subject matter during those years and into the early modern period. She explores what adopting that subject matter meant for artists. By their very intricate form, insects offered artists a way to demonstrate their skill. The insect served as an ideal vehicle for the artist to develop his or her identity, said Neri. “It’s the idea of the artist as a reliable observer, one who can be trusted, a gatekeeper of the natural world.” That role came with a lot of power. Albrecht Durer was one of the first to move insects from the margins of manu-
scripts to the center of the page, as in his iconic “Stag Beetle” from 1505. The creature, Neri notes, is “painstakingly worked in watercolor and gouache.” Neri coins a term, “specimen logic,” to describe this bold step taken by artists to remove insects from their natural context and collect and observe them as individual, often exoticized objects. Portraying insects in such a way meant taking a kind of ownership of them. Ownership, in turn, implied commodification. This leads to another theme in Neri’s book. She asks the question of what it means when humans can control nature, can “take something like an insect out of its habitat, and enter it into a network of buying and selling.” Neri is part of an interdisciplinary early modern studies group on campus that includes Dr. Stephen Crowley, an associate professor of philosophy with a background in the history of science, along with literature professors, political theorists and others. The Insect and the Image, touching as it does on aesthetics, economics, society and philosophy, has been “a great joy for the group to share,” said Crowley. He considers the book an ideal text for interdisciplinary studies. He’s even passed it on to an entomologist friend, who also loves it. Neri’s book, he added, presents a portrait of artists beginning to operate in a commercial system that Adam Smith would describe in the definitive economic text Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, just at the end of the period Neri covers. “In the 21st century it’s easy to forget
The Insect and the Image By Janice Neri University of Minnesota Press, 2011
EXPLORE—2013 | 35
IN PRINT
War Upon the Land By Lisa M. Brady University of Georgia Press, 2012
Konrad von Megenberg, Buch der Natur, Augsburg, 1475. The Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Reproduced by permission.
how central art was in the creation of the modern era,” said Crowley. “Neri’s book is a reminder; taking us back to a time when people who had money to spend were spending it on art.” The book’s illustrations detail how that art evolved. Konrad von Megenberg’s 1475 woodcut from Buch der Natur shows naive renditions of smiling grasshoppers, flies, a snail, and a frog free-floating in space. Two centuries later, when Dutch merchant and insect collector Levinus Vincent commissioned the catalog Wondertooneel der Nature to document his trophies, the idea of nature as a controlled commodity had reached a high point. Here, creatures exist in the antithesis of nature. They’re regimented in numbered drawers, captured on satin backgrounds, embellished with embroidery. This particular illustration hints at Neri’s next area of academic inquiry, the intersection of science and the decorative arts. “I thought the insect thing was done. But I can’t seem to get away from it,” she said. Dr. Paula Findlen, co-chair of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology program at Stanford University, reviewed The Insect and the Image for the summer 2012 issue of Renaissance Quarterly. Findlen writes, “Neri compels us to look at insects with both artists and naturalists as our guide, and to recognize that they were not at the margins but at the center of the conversation about early modern natural history. Her passion for and delight in her subject shines Albrecht Durer, Stag Beetle, 1505. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. through on every page.” Reproduced by permission.
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INTO THE WILD
The changing concept of wilderness is central to Dr. Lisa Brady’s War Upon the Land: Military Strategy and the Transformation of Southern Landscapes during the American Civil War. The book captures a time during the Civil War when Americans’ perception of nature was transforming “from a place to be conquered, to a place to be preserved,” said Brady, associate professor of history and editor of the journal Environmental History. Those who described the war’s destruction commonly referred to the ruined landscape as a “wilderness,” she said. The word conjured a place that was uncontrolled and frightening. But the environmental trauma also inspired a desire for recovery. Around the end of the war, Frederick Law Olmstead – a designer of New York’s celebrated Central Park – led efforts to preserve Yosemite. In his report to California officials, Olmstead referenced the “darkest hours” of the war, when paintings of the region by Albert Bierstadt and photographs by Carleton Watkins, gave “people on the Atlantic” some notion of sublime landscapes far from the war zone. Along with that notion came a belief that those landscapes should be kept intact for the good of the republic. “Wilderness is no longer frightful, but becomes a place of peace and redemption,” said Brady. A movement also began to preserve Civil War battlefields as parks. Over time those parks, Brady wrote, “have inadvertently helped protect valuable ecological systems,” allowing birds, mammals and plants to flourish. Her book complete, Brady continues to study war and its intersection with the environment. She’s looking at how the Korean War affected nature in that country. Remarkably, she said, some of the language, familiar from the Civil War, appears in the accounts of U.S. soldiers who wrote of this foreign landscape as “being in a wilderness.”
LAST WORD
Turning HighPoverty Schools into High-Performing Schools By William H. Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2012
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Dr. William Parrett and Dr. Kathleen Budge spent 18 months researching schools across the country to write Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools. Their aim: find challenged schools that have defied the odds and succeeded. These are schools “where kids come to school with less,” explained Parrett, “and schools figure out how they can do more.” Parrett, director of the Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies, and Budge, coordinator of the Leadership Development Program, both in the College of Education, set about distilling the schools’ strategies. Their book, a bestseller for its publisher, is a hands-on guide for educators. The writers found the successful schools they studied have three shared traits: They “build leadership capacity,” meaning teachers and principals share responsibilities and are mutually accountable; they often create a safe atmosphere in neighborhoods where students’ homes are chaotic; and they foster an atmosphere where students learn, but so do educators who are refining techniques and improving the system overall. Budge and Parrett focused on seven schools of different sizes in different parts of the country. Taft Elementary in Boise shares the spotlight for its creation of a healthy school culture. Beyond its classroom applications, the book offers vignettes to draw in general readers – the story of the Washington community that comes together to celebrate graduation at Tekoa High School, where more than half of the student body qualifies for free and reduced lunch; the story of the New York K-8 grade school so close to JFK International Airport that students can hear planes on the runway. Ninety percent of students at the Osmond A. Church school are low-income. They continue to meet or exceed state standards anyway, because their school works. – Stories by ANNA WEBB
A Culture of Collaboration Benefits University and City The vibrant relationship between Boise State University and its home city is on full display in this issue of Explore. From an article on research collaborations with local partners to a look at our computer science graduates working in Boise’s technology sector, we highlight a few of the many ways the life of our university and community are intertwined. While many of the connections between Boise and Boise State are obvious (after all, we share a name), some are more subtle, and it is my hope that this magazine provides new insight on the value of our shared ties. Boise State’s location in Idaho’s metropolitan center is a defining characteristic that has pervasive and positive impact on who we are and what we accomplish as a research institution. By partnering with colleagues in the public and private sector, our faculty tap into new sources of expertise and tackle challenging issues with outcomes that affect us all. Our students gain invaluable skills and knowledge through research collaborations that deepen their overall educational experience and prepare them for challenging and vital jobs that grow our economy and enhance our quality of life. Boise and Boise State are strengthened by the bonds between us. We are invested in this place, because it is our home.
– DR. MARK RUDIN, VICE PRESIDENT
FOR RESEARCH and ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
EXPLORE—2013 | 37
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