2023 Saint Louis University Research Institute Impact Report

Tapping into Transformative Research

The cover of the 2023 Saint Louis University Research Institute Annual Impact Report features a printed circuit board designed by Nicolas Prudencio, a graduate student in the Collaborative Haptics, Robotics, and Mechatronics (CHROME) Lab, under the supervision of Jenna Gorlewicz, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering, fellow with the SLU Research Institute, and director of the CHROME Lab. The circuit board was designed as part of a collaboration with Gallaudet University and the DeafBlind community to develop wearable touch-based technology — more information on this project can be found on page 86. Prudencio designed the circuit board in collaboration with a team of undergraduate students in SLU’s School of Science and Engineering.

This book covers research from September 2022 to October 2023.

The Saint Louis University Research Institute Impact Report is published annually for the University community, its alumni, friends, and benefactors.

04 / Opening Letters

06 / The Research Institute

14

Simplifying the Landscape of Economic Research

Explore the Sinquefield Center for Applied Economic Research’s cutting-edge economic research and its impact on data access and research productivity.

The Taylor Geospatial Institute

A conversation with Executive Director Nadine Alameh, Ph.D., a review of TGI’s first year of operations, and coverage from Geo-Resolution 2023.

Fred: A Goose on a Mission

Meet the goose on the move in St. Louis whose familiar name sparks ecological discoveries through its unique connection to the Saint Louis University community.

30 / Public Health Research — The Jesuit Way

Countdown to Launch

A look into the exhilarating highs and heartbreaking lows of small satellite launches as one professor and his students prepare for a NASA-sponsored launch in 2024.

38 / Por Amor a la Literatura — For the Love of Literature

Decades of Research Finally

Solve the Quest for RSV Vaccines

The Saint Louis University Center for Vaccine Development led three on-site clinical vaccine trials that helped bring the decades-old mystery of RSV vaccinations to a close.

46 / A Lingering Sense of Justice

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

Kevin Lynch — Editor

Katie

Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D. President

Michael Lewis, Ph.D. Provost

Sheila Manion Vice President, Development

1 North Grand Blvd.

DuBourg Hall 450

St. Louis, MO 63103

314-977-7742

research@slu.edu

slu.edu/researchinstitute

48

Who Do You Call When Your 15-Foot Dinosaur Needs a Doctor?

Researchers at Saint Louis University and the Taylor Geospatial Institute are answering the call to ensure that future generations of visitors to the Saint Louis Science Center will be amazed by their robotic Tyrannosaurus rex.

54 / Surging to Success

76

Coding Careers and Accelerating Research

Discover how Open Source with SLU, a grant-funded initiative in Saint Louis University’s Department of Computer Science, is enhancing research efforts and preparing students to enter today’s workforce.

80 / Blending Research With Care in Liver Disease

SLU RESEARCH

58

Painless Pursuits: Uniting Regional Experts in Pain Research

A new forum brings together scientists and students to forge research collaborations within the pain research community throughout St. Louis and the Midwest.

64 / Breaking Barriers in Female Entrepreneurship

82

On the Road With ADHD

Step into the driver’s seat alongside one researcher who addresses the limitations placed on adolescent drivers with ADHD and opportunities for improved driving programs.

86 / A Touch of Ingenuity

66

Roman History Emerges From Umbrian Soil

In the summer of 2023, Saint Louis University historian Doug Boin, Ph.D., unearthed the foundations of a building in central Italy that could help recover a forgotten chapter of ancient Roman history.

70

Finan Wraps Up Phase I of Rock of Lough Key Excavations

Thomas Finan, Ph.D., associate professor in history, has officially wrapped up the first phase of a project he started back in 2019.

74 / Sparking a Love for STEM

Kenneth A. Olliff Vice President for Research and Partnerships; Director, SLU Research Institute

Jasmin Patel Associate Vice President for Research; Chief of Staff

Bob Grant — Executive Director of Communications, Research and Taylor Geospatial Institute CONTACT

90

Hungry for Change

Explore the paths a new Saint Louis University research collaborative creates between academics, industry, and community to improve the regional food ecosystem.

96 / Celebrating 40 Years of Excellence at the Center for Health Law Studies

98 / A Rising Research Star in Mechanistic Studies of Metastatic Cancer

100

Water Under the Bridge

A first-of-its-kind study from the Water Access, Technology, Environment and Resource (WATER) Institute at Saint Louis University is bringing new awareness to bridge safety across Missouri.

106 / Creating the Next Generation of Researchers

108 / A Map for Better Public Health

110 / Newest Class of Research Institute Fellows

124 / Published Excellence

130 / Announcements

154 / Researchers Supported by the Research Institute

158 / Support Us

FROM THE

PRESIDENT

The mission of Saint Louis University is the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity.

This noble mission forms our foundation and serves as a constant source of inspiration.

Though the pursuit of truth is noble, the daily work of research and scholarship is often humble: managing the logistics of study design and data collection; sifting through artifacts and poring over archival texts; drafting findings, seeking feedback, facing setbacks, and beginning again.

SLU researchers and scholars devote their lives to advancing knowledge. They persist even when the obstacles are formidable, and the outcomes take years to emerge.

And so it is a special joy to share the University’s research accomplishments in this annual volume. Assembled together, the stories of our scholarly community create a clear picture: Research at SLU is nothing short of transformative.

As members of a global Jesuit university community, SLU researchers are committed to serving the greater good.

• Their efforts contribute to increased access to quality nutrition and clean air in our region and around the globe.

• They are reducing human suffering by advancing better pain management strategies and cuttingedge RSV vaccines.

• SLU undergraduate and graduate student researchers are leading innovation — developing and applying technological insight to support NASA missions and creating open-source software that further advances research discovery.

• And scholars at SLU are building understanding of human history and culture through methods as diverse as archaeological excavation and digital storytelling.

Propelled by the historic generosity of Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield in 2018, SLU’s Research Institute has nurtured an unprecedented level of research growth. Each year, our scholars and researchers are raising SLU’s research profile and amplifying the University’s impact.

They are shaping the future of this great University, and contributing to a better world.

I invite you to be inspired by their stories.

FRED P. PESTELLO, PH.D. President

As readers of our previous SLU Research Institute Impact Reports will know, Saint Louis University is in the midst of a decadelong transformation into a preeminent Jesuit research university. We have been fortunate to receive exceptional philanthropic investments from benefactors including Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield and Mr. Andrew C. Taylor that have propelled this growth. Their generosity is bearing fruit, and we have wonderful stories to share in these pages and beyond.

As you’ll see in this report, SLU Research covers the sweep of time and history, from 65 million years ago (T. rex story), through antiquity (Italian and Irish archaeological finds), to tomorrow (geospatial science and artificial intelligence)! Our approach to building world-class research is not simply to replicate how leading research universities already excel, but rather to innovate — to put creative public and private partnerships at the center of our research, to be radically interdisciplinary and inclusive in our inquiries, to collaborate with practitioners throughout, and to maximize impact with and for the communities we serve.

DIRECTOR FROM THE

The numbers also tell an exciting story. Since 2016, SLU has more than doubled research expenditures, growing at a rate of 12% annually and positioning SLU as one of the fastest-growing private research universities in the country. Our growing research stature has allowed us to recruit 130 high-caliber faculty over the past seven years, 55 of whom have been supported by the Research Institute.

In short, Saint Louis University is an emerging research powerhouse, carrying forward the 500-year-old Jesuit tradition of rigor, love, and service, reimagining how a research university can be a practical force for good in our world. We are so grateful that you are along for this journey!

KENNETH A. OLLIFF

Vice President for Research and Partnerships Director, SLU Research Institute

In 2018, Saint Louis University received a historic gift of $50 million from Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield establishing the SLU Research Institute. This immense act of generosity set SLU on a path to become one of the world’s premier Jesuit research universities, further aligning research as a core

part of its identity and impact throughout the world.

Since then, the Research Institute has committed itself to the relentless pursuit of discovery, stimulating innovative breakthroughs, collaborative approaches, and

distinctive growth. The Research Institute’s investments in research infrastructure and SLU researchers’ greatest ambitions have attracted new, world-class talent to the University. This gift is the initial spark that continues to propel SLU into an illustrious future that benefits all of humankind.

Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield on the Saint Louis University campus.

THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE HAS FIVE GOALS:

1 2 3 4 5

Achieve and sustain annual research expenditure growth that places SLU among the fastest-growing universities in the country

Establish eminence in strategic, University-wide research priority areas

Raise the profile and reputation of SLU as a world-class research university in the St. Louis area and around the world

Recruit and retain world-class research leaders and provide significant investments in their work

Leverage the initial gift from Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield and Mr. Rex Sinquefield to increase federal, industry, and philanthropic funding for research done at SLU

DISCOVERY IGNITED BY GENEROSITY

Our Year in Review

OVER THE PAST YEAR, THE SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE HAS SEEN TREMENDOUS GROWTH IN ITS RESEARCH OUTPUT, EXTERNAL INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS, AND EMINENCE ACROSS THE REGION AND THE NATION. TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF OUR MOST IMPACTFUL MOMENTS OF 2023:

The Second Cohort of Research Institute Fellows

Twenty-six researchers were named SLU Research Institute Fellows in honor of their outstanding contributions to the University’s research enterprise. This cohort includes experts from a variety of disciplines, and includes researchers from SLU’s Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Social Work, School of Law, School of Medicine, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Doisy College of Health Sciences, and School of Science and Engineering. Read more about our fellows on pages 110-123.

Exceptional Research Growth

SLU grew from $42 million in annual research expenditures in 2016 to $83 million in 2022. This is an 87% growth rate, making SLU one of the fastestgrowing private research universities in the nation.

TGI Welcomes Inaugural Executive Director

The Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI) hired worldrenowned geospatial expert, Nadine Alameh, Ph.D., as its inaugural executive director. She leads TGI's consortium of eight research institutions, and works hand-in-hand with Vasit Sagan, Ph.D., who has been named associate vice president for geospatial science at SLU. Hear more about Alameh’s story and her goals for TGI on page 18.

Bernard Rousseau, Ph.D., MMHC, FASHA

Dean of the Doisy College of Health Sciences

Leslie McClure, Ph.D.

Dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice

Gregory E. Triplett, Jr., Ph.D.

Dean of the School of Science and Engineering

New Leadership

SLU welcomed new deans in the Doisy College of Health Sciences, College for Public Health and Social Justice, and School of Science and Engineering. In addition to their proven leadership skills, these three individuals are distinguished researchers in their respective fields, and they have all been named SLU Research Institute Fellows in recognition of this.

Momentous Grants in 2023

In the past fiscal year, the following faculty and grants generated the most revenue:

Vasit Sagan, Ph.D. — TGI Academy: Taylor Geospatial Institute Advanced Computing, Analytics, and Big Data Education for Missouri.

State

Missouri

Robert Fleming, M.D. — Regulatory Role of Transferrin in Erythropoiesis and Iron Metabolism.

National Institutes of Health

Gina Yosten, Ph.D. — Identify and Validate Potential Therapeutic Targets to Prevent Hypoglycemia in Type 1 Diabetes.

Hemsley Charitable Trust

Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D. — Uncovering the Roles of Oxysterols in Neuropathic Pain.

National Institutes of Health

Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D. — Fingolimod and Ozanimod for the Treatment and Prevention of Chemobrain.

National Institutes of Health

Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D. — Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit at Saint Louis University (VTEU) (C6 Supplement).

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Zacharoula Oikonomopoulou, M.D. — A Phase 2 Randomized, Open-Label, Multisite Trial to Evaluate the Immunogenicity of Dose Reduction Strategies of the MVA-BN Vaccine.

Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc.

Collin Hitt, Ph.D. — MO Education Research Center (MERC) 2022.

Walton Family Foundation

David Ford, Ph.D. — Halolipid-Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Axis in Halogen Lung Injury.

National Institutes of Health

Jeffrey Scherrer, Ph.D. — Clinically Meaningful PTSD Improvement: Reducing Risk for Adverse Outcomes in Comorbid Cardiometabolic Disease.

National Institutes of Health

Signature Events from 2023

Research centers sponsored by the Research Institute hosted signature events in 2023 that brought together world-renowned researchers, industry leaders, and students to spark new collaborations across the region and world. Here is a selection of these events:

2023 SLU Summit for WATER

The SLU Summit for Water is the Water Access, Technology, Environment and Resources (WATER) Institute’s annual conference for convening leaders and experts across disciplines to share ideas, learn about the latest research, and tackle some of the most critical and persistent challenges facing our most fundamental resource: water. The fourth annual Summit focused on water research to build community resilience, engaging stakeholders across sectors and disciplines to join in the WATER Institute’s mission of advancing water innovation to serve humanity and translating research into real-world community impact. The Summit keynote event featured a conversation with Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D., the pediatrician recognized worldwide for her role in uncovering and addressing the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The conversation was moderated by Commissioner Susan Armstrong, a member of the Missouri Safe Drinking Water Commission, a civil engineer, and an environmental justice advocate.

The Inaugural St. Louis Translational Pain Research Forum

The Institute for Translational Neuroscience (ITN) at SLU, in collaboration with the Washington University Pain Center and the Center for Clinical Pharmacology, a joint venture between the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy and the Washington University Department of Anesthesiology, held their inaugural St. Louis Translational Pain Research Forum (STL-TPRF) in September 2023. The forum highlighted the growing, collaborative pain research community in St. Louis, and the organizers plan to host the forum every two years. Learn more about the STL-TPRF in our feature story on page 58.

The Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation (IDBI) Symposium

The second annual IDBI Research Symposium marked the completion of the inaugural IDBI Summer Program in Undergraduate Research (IDBISPUR). Thirty-six students took part in IDBI-SPUR activities, including four supported by a DeNardo Education and Research Foundation grant to IDBI.

Over 50 undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees presented posters and talks on drug discovery and development research at SLU, and heard from Angela Lam, Ph.D., vice president of biology at Arbutus Biopharma Inc., on her career in discovery and development of therapeutics for viral infections Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B.

The Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Big Data Research Symposium

The Advanced HEAlth Data (AHEAD) Research Institute at SLU and the Administrative Data Core Services at Washington University in St. Louis jointly organized the 2023 Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Big Data Research Symposium. The event featured a diverse array of presentations, including an opening keynote by Russ Waitman, Ph.D., who delved into the significance of PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, and the Greater Plains Collaborative. With the implementation of Biostatistics Core, the AHEAD Institute’s biostatisticians and data managers are excited to collaborate with more researchers and clinicians in the St. Louis area.

Translations, Transgressions, and Transformations:

The Global Movement of Objects in Catholic Cultures

The Center for Research on Global Catholicism (CRGC) hosted a dynamic, richly interdisciplinary two-day conference in October 2023. Scholars from nine different countries came together to share current work that explores the cultural mobility of Catholicism through the physical movement of objects. Papers examined phenomena from the global relic trade, to the circulation of missionary postcards and reports, to the reception, displacement, and transformation of Catholic texts and images, and illuminated connections between Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. An edited volume based on research presented at the conference will be published in the near future.

iInvestments in Excellence

“We thought a little bit outside the box,”

Shruthi Sreenivasa Murthy said. “We put it all on the cloud and made sure anybody who wants access gets immediate and secure access. They don’t have to wait, and it makes sure people who have ideas, and who want to use this data, can actually make use of it.”

Story by: Paradigm

EXPLORE THE SINQUEFIELD CENTER FOR APPLIED ECONOMIC RESEARCH’S CUTTING-EDGE ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND ITS IMPACT ON DATA ACCESS AND RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY.

When we have a question, our immediate response is to open our phones and find the answer online. In a matter of seconds, we have answers in hand that prompt us to continue our conversations or navigate to our destination. For economic researchers and policymakers, the world’s instantaneous access to large amounts of data is only a benefit in further increasing the rate of discovery.

Transforming Access to Data

SCAER hosts a large cloud database at Saint Louis University with over four and a half years of data files dating back to 2019. The cloud storage bucket receives large amounts of de-identified cell phone mobility data through its partner, Veraset. The collected data enables the creation of useful files for a wide range of research studies centered on the patterns of social mobility such as patient movement to dialysis centers, travel distances to obtain food, or where students attend high school.

Over the past year, the Sinquefield Center made significant strides in its data consolidation process. Through its utilization of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Center was able to establish a data workflow that quickly processes and cleans large data files by removing duplicates, addressing errors, and correctly formatting data for the researcher’s use.

Her role is integral to SCAER’s research data refinement process: simplifying researchers’ access to data, maintaining security, and enabling the ability to manipulate data to suit different researchers’ needs. But the most important aspect of her role directly correlates with SLU’s rate of discovery.

“For anyone doing data analysis, 90% of the work goes into data cleaning and organizing, and only 10% actually goes into analysis,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that the researchers do their research, and we take on that part of cleaning and organizing to make it easier for them.”

The current workflow is a solution that specifically addresses the pre- and postprocessing phases of the data process. Preprocessing involves preparing raw data by cleaning, organizing, and structuring it into a suitable format for researchers. From there, data goes through post-processing, where

Economic data unleashes the power to perform cutting-edge research on urban economic development, human behavioral patterns, and social policies. Since 2018, the Sinquefield Center for Applied Economic Research (SCAER) has produced transformative economic research aimed at creating new economic opportunities in St. Louis. With data readily at its researcher’s fingertips, SCAER actively provides researchers across the University with access to imperative data points.

Shruthi Sreenivasa Murthy, assistant director of research computing at SLU, leads the cloud transformation efforts throughout the University’s research community. She works within the SLU Research Computing Group (RGC), which was created to develop and improve the University’s computing infrastructure and technology services for research. The RGC offers an array of research computing services to SLU’s faculty, researchers, and students and manages the University’s high performance computing (HPC) environment.

data is compressed and research-based filters are applied so researchers can extract valuable insights and incorporate them into their work.

Oftentimes, the pre-processing phase takes a significant amount of time to complete. SLU’s previous process would take more than 15 minutes to retrieve requested data. With its new system in place, researchers can work with a data manager to submit one query in the cloud for a specific set of data, and in less than 30 seconds, they will receive what they need to continue their cutting-edge research.

Proposed solution architecture to create useful research data files from de-identified cell phone data from SLU’s partner, Veraset.

She explained the database now allows researchers to do their work at a much faster pace, and further reduces the cost and time spent on the pre-processing phase.

“We thought a little bit outside the box,” she said. “We put it all on the cloud and made sure anybody who wants access gets immediate and secure access. They don’t have to wait, and it makes sure people who have ideas, and who want to use this data, can actually make use of it.”

Putting Data Into Action

At its core, SCAER strives to advance research focused on economic growth and social welfare in order to shape our public policies and create opportunities for all. Throughout the year, the Center has supported a variety of projects using aggregated cell mobility data, including a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant focused on assessing community resilience to natural hazards.

Everyone has their own unique response to unforeseen disasters, and this phenomenon piqued the interest of Kenan Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the College for Public Health and Social Justice, to develop research based on human mobility data during times of uncertainty.

Li serves as the principal investigator of the study alongside his collaborators within SCAER and at Louisiana State University, University of South Florida, and Texas A&M University. The project delves into the intersection of human mobility data and movement patterns in order to understand individual reactions during some of our nation’s most preeminent natural disasters — hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.

“Previously, our insights were primarily based on census data, which often doesn’t provide a detailed and real-time perspective on how communities are affected,” Li said. “However, by utilizing human mobility data, we can now capture a more granular and timely

view of human responses, allowing us to better assess community vulnerability and resilience.”

For Li’s research, SCAER plays an important role in the project’s access to the data it requires to study community resilience on a much finer scale. Since mobility data can be overwhelming and noisy without the right pre-processing techniques, Li explained the computing system SLU has in place and SCAER’s collaboration provides an added benefit to his work and connects to the University’s Jesuit mission.

“Our research directly aligns with SLU’s broader mission of serving humanity,” he said. “By investigating human mobility patterns during natural disasters, we aim to better understand how communities respond and adapt to such events. This knowledge equips policymakers and emergency services with

insights to develop more efficient evacuation plans, ensuring the safety of residents during times of crisis.”

With the project in its early stages, Li and his collaborators are actively conducting case studies that will help gauge and verify community resilience and inform policymakers and emergency services with insights that will develop more efficient evacuation plans.

“We’ve successfully initiated a pilot case study that examines human mobility within the evacuation zones designated by the state of Florida during Hurricane Ian,” he said. “This preliminary study serves as a platform for our team to refine our data pipeline and methodology.”

“Our research directly aligns with SLU’s broader mission of serving humanity,” Li said. “By investigating human mobility patterns during natural disasters, we aim to better understand how communities respond and adapt to such events. This knowledge equips policymakers and emergency services with insights to develop more efficient evacuation plans, ensuring the safety of residents during times of crisis.”

As the project continues to progress, Li hopes the research — with the help of the SCAER database — will inspire more innovative community resilience studies at both the regional and national level and ensure the safety of others during times of crisis.

An Impactful Investment

Changing the trajectory of today’s economic landscape requires an ongoing spirit of innovation and a simplification of timeconsuming data collection processes. The

Sinquefield Center charts a path forward through its investment in large databases and research that fosters economic opportunities for all. SCAER makes a wide variety of research projects more accessible through its dedication to research database development.

As SCAER continually refines its innovations in data processing, its investments are yielding impactful discoveries, leading to lasting change and economic opportunities.

A view of the stock ticker in the atrium of the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business, reporting real-time updates from various stock market exchanges.

Nadine Alameh, Ph.D., was a mere toddler in 1975 when civil war broke out in her native Lebanon. A bloody conflict between different religious and political factions within and outside the country dragged on for years, transforming Beirut from a cosmopolitan capital (some referred to it as the Paris of the Middle East) into a scarred battlefield where bombs fell and bullets flew daily.

For the first 22 years of Alameh’s life, she, her brother, and her sister survived the daily challenges of a war zone. As children, they were shuttled by their single mother from temporary home to temporary home — trying to wrest some semblance of normalcy from

the chaos of their surroundings. Some nights they would sleep on the beach, others they would find refuge at a friend’s home. Alameh recalled one particularly jarring memory as her mother, Nada, drove the family through the treacherous streets of Beirut: “She had a VW Beetle. She put us in the back and put stuff on top of us. You could hear not just the bombs, but also the snipers,” Alameh remembered. “And she said, ‘If the car stops, you stay there. Because it means I got shot. You stay there, and if you don’t hear anything, then you just keep going.’”

Even as she navigated this peripatetic and traumatic early life, Alameh managed to excel

Alameh at six years old in Beruit, Lebanon.

Nadine Alameh, Ph.D., executive director of the Taylor Geospatial Institute, giving the opening remarks at the 2023 Geo-Resolution conference in St. Louis.

Story by: Bob Grant

in school, often using books as a refuge to escape the horrors of her reality. When she was 18, Alameh applied for a position in the highly competitive computer engineering program at the American University of Beirut. She not only passed the entrance exam, she scored in the top seven of all applicants and received a full scholarship even though she’d never seen a computer up to that point in her life.

The courage that saw Alameh through the extremely difficult circumstances of her early life in Beirut has been a hallmark of her career ever since. As she continually sought out challenges and excelled in fields that were foreign to her, Alameh has emerged as a leading thinker in the field of geospatial science.

When she was an undergraduate student in Beirut, Alameh said that one of her instructors encouraged her to apply for a scholarship to attend graduate school at MIT, even though she had no desire for such a long-distance move. “I never wanted to go anywhere because I didn’t want to leave my mom and my sister and my brother,” Alameh said. But she did apply for one of the four MIT scholarships, and she won. Alameh was randomly assigned to the master’s program in urban planning with a concentration in geographic information systems (GIS), a tool for visualizing and analyzing spatial data. This would be her introduction to geospatial science.

During her graduate program, which she started in 1995, Alameh interned at MIT’s

Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab, where researchers were creating geospatial simulations of the “Big Dig,” a massive infrastructure project to build a tunnel that rerouted Interstate 93 through the heart of Boston. Her advisor in that lab suggested that, with a few extra classes, Alameh might obtain a Ph.D. in addition to her master’s. She followed the advice and emerged from MIT in 2001 with a doctorate in information systems engineering in addition to two master’s degrees: one in civil engineering and one in city planning.

Through her graduate school experience at MIT, Alameh said she developed a sense for the all-encompassing nature of geospatial science. “Everything happens in space and time,” she noted. “This is the starting point. But also, there’s the spatial relationships of things that give you a whole new insight into anything.”

Alameh continued to hone her expertise in the emerging field of geospatial science as she secured various positions after grad school: as a project manager for a company that did contract work for NASA; as senior technical advisor to NASA’s Applied Science Program’s Geoscience Interoperability Office (GIO) mission; as the president of MobiLaps LLC, a software technology and professional services company; as CEO of software company Snowflake Software; and as chief architect of Innovations and Technology Strategy at giant aerospace firm Northrop Grumman. Starting in 2019, Alameh served as the CEO and president of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), a concentration of more than 500 industry, government, research, and academic organizations that strive to make location information

“FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).” During her tenure as head of OGC, Alameh also served as a member of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Geospatial Advisory Committee and as a board member of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management private sector network.

Throughout her journey in geospatial science, Alameh has made a point of building the field and increasing the ability of underrepresented groups to access it. Since 2022, she has been a board member of LebNet, a nonprofit focused on enabling tech entrepreneurs and professionals of Lebanese descent to succeed on a global stage. And in 2019, Alameh became the first ever Leadership in Diversity Award Recipient at GoGeomatics Canada’s GeoIgnite Conference. In early 2023, she won the 24th Annual Women in Technology Leadership Award in the Non-Profit and Academia category. Alameh said that her approach of fueling geospatial science and technology while simultaneously championing diversity and women in STEM fields is one of the reasons she chose to come to the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI) as its inaugural executive director in September 2023. “There’s a bigger mission here than geospatial,” she said. “It’s helping society, which is what we should really all be doing after all.”

Alameh also noted that she has had a front-row seat to a remarkable evolution in geospatial science, from desktop GIS to web GIS to web services to cloud computing to the growth of Earth observation to autonomous everything to artificial intelligence/machine learning to 3D and digital twins and now video gaming.

“There’s a bigger mission here than geospatial,” Alameh said. “It’s helping society, which is what we should really all be doing after all.”

Alameh at 12 years old with her cousin in South Lebanon.

“Geospatial science has expanded into more markets that can fit on a piece of paper,” she said. “This is the energy of geospatial, this is the energy of TGI.”

At the helm of TGI, she expressed her goal to steer the young organization into a bright future as the central node of a thriving geospatial ecosystem taking shape in the St. Louis region. “There’s no shortage of opportunities in geospatial. We can do many things and be successful and have the consortium and keep everybody happy,” she said. “But that’s not enough, at least for me. I want TGI to be known for its impact not only on geospatial but also on society and the planet. That’s the big idea.”

Established by a legacy investment from Mr. Andrew C. Taylor and led by Saint Louis University, TGI is a consortium of eight research and academic institutions including the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Harris-Stowe State University, the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, Missouri University of Science & Technology, the University of Missouri–Columbia, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Washington University in St. Louis. Together the consortium houses more than 100,000 students and 5,000 faculty, hundreds of whom are engaged in geospatial science and technology. Already, TGI has inventoried the geospatial expertise across this sprawling consortium and identified several application areas where researchers are applying emerging and exciting geospatial tools and thinking. These tools include artificial intelligence/ machine learning, geoinformatics, and remote sensing, and the challenges to which these methodologies are applied run the gamut, from health and agriculture to environment and national security.

Alameh pictured with members of the Lebanese Club at her graduation. She earned a master’s in civil engineering and civil planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1997.

Alameh with members of TGI’s Governing Council at a September 2023 meeting.

“I’m proud that I built on every move every time, consistent with who I am, which is taking what I know and trying something new,” Alameh said. “I like that when I look back, it’s like: This is crazy, but I had the courage somehow.”

With no shortage of raw material in the TGI consortium in terms of talent, expertise, and research excellence, Alameh said that an eventual goal is to position TGI as a hub of geospatial science that can not only characterize the dynamic world we inhabit but help predict what changes might be coming our way. “So you come to TGI for the, ‘What’s going to happen in 50 years? What’s going to happen in 100 years?’” she noted. “So not analytics today, but actually to anticipate the future.”

As a new war gripped the Middle East in the fall and winter of 2023, Alameh was forced to relive the trauma of her early life in Beirut even as she delighted in the promise of her new role at TGI. “For the first week [of the Israel-Hamas war] I could not sleep,” she said. “I see the bombs again when I sleep, because that’s what I see on the news.”

But as she has throughout her life, Alameh will marshal on and face new challenges with hope, focus, and above all, courage.

Alameh moderating the “Leader’s Look” conversation at the 2023 Geo-Resolution conference in St. Louis.

Collaboration is the mother of innovation, and convening expertise and experience is the shortest path to groundbreaking insight. Nowhere do these principles apply more than in geospatial science. Adding layers of geospatial data to myriad research questions enables humanity to connect the dots, inviting us to gain a deeper understanding of how location impacts our ever-changing world. Throughout its first year, the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI) has harnessed the power of its partnerships to develop its reputation as a global center of geospatial excellence.

A rich geospatial ecosystem in the St. Louis region is helping propel TGI toward its goal of fueling geospatial science and technology to create the next generation of solutions and policies that the whole world will depend on for sustainability and growth.

Laying the Foundation

Geospatial science has deep roots in the St. Louis community — planted by the Lewis and Clark Expedition and solidified by its

ongoing quest to accelerate geospatial science throughout the St. Louis region. Launched in 2022 thanks to a transformative gift from Mr. Andrew C. Taylor, chairman of Enterprise Holdings, TGI comprises eight partner institutions led by Saint Louis University, a consortium that hosts hundreds of researchers applying geospatial science and technology across multiple disciplines, including agriculture, public health, national security, and climate science.

Its firm foundation in providing opportunities for geospatial advancements supports its researchers, students, and faculty members throughout the consortium. In its inaugural year, TGI seeded 43 projects worked on by 115 faculty members. TGI seed grants have enabled TGI associates to secure further funding for their research.

Growing Research Capabilities

TGI’s researchers have explored grand societal challenges within our health, food, and national security systems with cutting-edge

GeoAI and data analytics techniques. From projects that are developing participatory geospatial public history to improving remote sensing measurements to helping predict locations of natural hazards, TGI researchers are actively building the fundamental field of geospatial science while applying emerging insights to humanity’s biggest questions.

Building a Cutting-Edge Infrastructure

The Institute’s support for researchers required an investment in talented people who contribute to growing its research capabilities. Throughout the past year, the Institute built a team of data scientists and geospatial computing engineers that enhance the consortium’s research services and build its computing infrastructure.

TGI team members gather for a photo at SLU.

Story by: Paradigm

Its infrastructure development was boosted by a three-year $1 million grant through National Science Foundation’s Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services and Support (ACCESS) program to create the Taylor Geospatial Institute Regional AI Learning System (TGI RAILS).

TGI RAILS is a high-performance computing and data analysis system that will be housed in the National Petascale Computing Facility at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign — one of TGI’s consortium institutions. Upon its completion, TGI RAILS will provide an advanced computing infrastructure to enhance the research, skills, and educational work of TGI researchers through its state-of-the-art computational platform.

its eight partner institutions, government organizations, and industry collaborators, further establishing itself as a leader in geospatial science.

With its long-term strategy to form fruitful relationships with external partners, TGI looks to build powerful connections that will enrich and expand its talent pipeline, research efforts, and technology capabilities. The Institute expanded its partnerships through its Industry Engagement Program. Its partners, Esri, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and Planet, collaborate with TGI to advance geospatial science in the St. Louis region and beyond.

The Institute has also focused its efforts on sponsoring activities to promote collaborative

Planet Fellowship, in partnership with Planet Labs, supports current doctoral students whose dissertations use Planet satellite datasets in their research.

The Institute has also worked on developing training that will impact the workforce — today and in the future. TGI received a $1 million grant from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development to create the TGI Academy. The Academy will help curate professional development opportunities, geospatial degree programs, and activities to support future innovations among students.

Navigating the Roads Ahead

Highlighting the First Year of the Taylor Geospatial Institute

While the TGI RAILS project is ongoing, the partnerships formed over the course of this year allowed this program to become a reality. In addition, SLU is currently establishing two on-site computing facilities, the first of which is funded by TGI through an external grant from the Missouri Department of Education. The system will include multiple of the latest GPU nodes, thousands of terabytes of computing storage, and seven high-performance computing clusters. This work further solidifies TGI’s dedication to enhancing its critical computing capabilities and accelerating geospatial science throughout the St. Louis region.

Forging Meaningful Partnerships

A community is only as strong as those who contribute to its success. TGI focused its early efforts on developing deep connections with

grant opportunities, industry networking events, and educational programs at campuses across the consortium. These efforts have built powerful collaborations that will generate more opportunities for innovation and research in the years to come.

Shaping the Next Generation

TGI spent a significant portion of its first year launching several initiatives to support students throughout the region. It launched two fellowship programs to encourage student research in geospatial science and to develop the next generation of research leaders.

The Taylor Diversity Fellowship is designed to support distinguished undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in geospatial sciences and to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field. The

The impact and opportunities within geospatial science is everchanging, and the ground the Taylor Geospatial Institute gained in its first year signifies a trajectory of excitement and engagement in the geospatial community. As it moves into its second year, TGI looks to continue to share its mission to advance geospatial science in order to solve the great challenges humanity faces.

Instrumental to furthering TGI’s mission is a steady hand at the tiller. To this end, TGI welcomed its inaugural Executive Director, Nadine Alameh, Ph.D., in September 2023. Alameh came to TGI after serving as the CEO of the Open Geospatial Consortium for more than four years. She brought with her a wealth of experience in geospatial science in the commercial, government, and academic sectors.

“I see TGI as a transformational actor in the geospatial ecosystem, accelerating our collective research, applications, and impact — on climate, disasters, health, food security, defense and beyond,” Alameh said in a message announcing her hiring.

TIN 2023, THE GEORESOLUTION CONFERENCE

CELEBRATED ITS FIFTH YEAR, BRINGING TOGETHER LEADERS IN GEOSPATIAL SCIENCE TO DISCUSS THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY WITH A FOCUS ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

he 2023 Geo-Resolution conference, co-hosted by the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) and Saint Louis University, brought together current geospatial leaders, students, and academics to explore the impact of AI and new digital technologies on geospatial research and analysis. The conference drew a sold-out crowd and many virtual attendees who considered big questions about AI and how new technologies can address the world’s greatest challenges.

An Intersection of Geospatial Industries

As we consider the problems of the world, there is a need for tools that address and prepare humanity so it can thrive in the years to come. Rapid advancements in AI, machine learning (ML), and digital automation sit at the forefront of our future, yet we have only scratched the surface of opportunity.

Industry leader Jack Dangermond, founder and president of Esri, a leading geographic information system (GIS) software and location intelligence company, SLU President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., and Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth, director of the NGA, spoke on stage in a “Leader’s Look” conversation moderated by Nadine Alameh, Ph.D., the inaugural executive director of the Taylor Geospatial Institute. They each reflected on the impact

Story by: Paradigm

Panelists speak at the 2023 Geo-Resolution conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

of geospatial technologies across their disciplines and the growth of the geospatial ecosystem in the St. Louis region.

Whitworth, Pestello, and Dangermond highlighted how the world’s problems can be addressed through work in geospatial science — from precision agriculture to combat preparedness. But, the incorporation of AI and geospatial tools will require a concerted effort by communities of researchers, policymakers, and officials.

Expanding Perspectives and Connections

With many opportunities ahead for AI, a series of discussions offered different perspectives on pertinent industry questions around its ongoing influence in the field. Panel moderators even incorporated AI platforms, like ChatGPT, into their discussions by generating questions for panelists throughout the day. Panelists gathered at SLU to speak on current geospatial topics, ranging from how AI models impact national security, its applications across industries and generations, and the emergence of AI-driven digital agriculture.

With the St. Louis region at the forefront of geospatial research, the conference also provided enriching opportunities for students through networking events, career exploration, and a poster session. In the “Engaging the Next Generation of Geospatial Professionals” panel, students were able to hear from young professionals and experienced geospatial leaders working in the industry and learn of the new career opportunities arising in St. Louis with the building of the NGA West campus.

“I have two words: generational diversity,” said Vietta Williams, director of the Human Development Directorate at the NGA. “I am excited right now that the NGA has five generations represented inside of its agency, and if we do this correctly, we will learn from one another, and the sky’s the limit in terms of what we can accomplish.”

“The idea of training AI tools with humans is a new kind of engineering,” Dangermond said. “In my world, building the tools to support organizations and different civilians is my main job. I like to build great tools that help our users do their work better.”

This collaborative effort of individuals across the geospatial landscape will create new opportunities for the greater good. Whether it improves search-andrescue operations, increases food security, or makes our jobs more efficient, AI and emerging digital technologies will shape and improve our lives moving forward.

“I can’t begin to imagine what 50 years is going to be like,” Pestello said. “I think [geospatial] science is going to help solve these problems and take us into a future that makes us, as individual humans, much more successful at achieving our ends.”

Yet, each panel considered one critical question: How will these decisions and innovations chart the paths ahead for our nation and our world?

“We need to not only look toward having the optimal technical solutions, but also the ethics and the legal compliance and governance frameworks in order to deploy models effectively aligned and consistent with our American values,” said Michelle Aten, director, Artificial Intelligence & Data Analytics, Directorate of Digital Innovation, CIA and panelist for the “National Security Considerations of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence” panel.

The promise of AI has opened doors for cross-generational collaborations that will further enrich the field of geospatial science and make the world a better place.

Our Future With AI

With new developments in AI, our world will continue to create pathways that work to solve problems and provide solutions to make life more efficient. The transformations instigated by AI and other digital applications will shape our world. However, it requires the involvement of humans to train, prepare, and use these tools to get our world to new heights. Geospatial science is an industry of opportunity, and the 2023 Geo-Resolution conference presented avenues in academia, government, and business that will guide us through the years to come.

FRED

Canada goose, Fred, wearing his newly fitted GPS tag in Forest Park.

Story by: Bob Grant

MEET THE GOOSE ON THE MOVE IN ST. LOUIS WHOSE FAMILIAR NAME SPARKS ECOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES THROUGH ITS UNIQUE CONNECTION TO THE SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY.

It’s not every day that you ride your bicycle up to Saint Louis University President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., and ask if it would be OK to name woodland creatures after him. That kind of incident has a much higher probability of happening, though, if you’re SLU biologist Stephen Blake, Ph.D. And that’s exactly what Blake did one warm spring day as he was commuting to his office on SLU’s midtown campus and happened to spot Pestello.

“The first time I stopped him and introduced myself, he was walking along in a suit and tie and a briefcase,” Blake recalled. “And here I am sweaty and unshaven. I remember saying, ‘Hi Fred. I think you are my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss.’”

After explaining that he was an assistant professor in SLU’s Department of Biology, Blake said that Pestello’s eyes softened and the two stood on the west side of Grand Avenue and chatted. After some small talk about bikes, Blake took the opportunity to describe the Forest Park Living Lab (FPLL), an urban ecology collaboration between nonprofit conservancy Forest Park Forever, the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, Saint Louis University, the Saint Louis Zoo, Washington University in St. Louis, and the World Bird Sanctuary. The group seeks to open a window into urban wildlife and inform conservation efforts by tracking animals as they use habitats in and around St. Louis.

Because there is a significant outreach component to the FPLL — which Blake coleads with Anthony Dell, Ph.D., from the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center and Sharon L. Deem, DVM, Ph.D., from the Saint Louis Zoo — Blake wanted to pique Pestello’s interest in the effort and increase its profile in a unique way.

“How can we draw institutional interest in this project?” Blake, who is also an associate at

the Taylor Geospatial Institute, asked. “Who better than the head man?”

Blake said he thought if he could get the president of SLU publicly engaged in the project and in St. Louis’s wildlife in general, it could help him and his collaborators not only dissect how urban ecology works but illustrate the splendor of the natural world and unlock interest and excitement in the people who share the same ecosystems. “That hopefully translates to a broader consciousness of the environment and sustainable ecological principles.”

Blake’s gambit worked. After describing his work with the FPLL, Blake asked Pestello if he could have his blessing to bestow the name “Fred” to one of the animals that the FPLL team would soon fit with a satellite tracking tag.

“Of all the unexpected requests I have received, this might have been my favorite,” said Pestello. “The Forest Park Living Lab is making exciting research advancements, and their outreach goals are inspiring. SLU is committed to advancing scientific inquiry, and to serving the greater good of our region. I was flattered by Dr. Blake’s proposal, and happy to support the lab’s innovative work.”

As they kept in touch over the ensuing weeks, the researchers’ tracking program focused on geese — Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) to be precise. Since the team wanted to tag male and female specimens of the waterfowl, Blake proposed naming a mated pair “Fred” and “Fran” after Pestello and his wife, Frances Pestello, Ph.D., the first lady of SLU and an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

Pestello said he was honored by the request, and in mid-June 2023, the team at FPLL affixed GPS-enabled collars to the slender necks of two Canada geese — Fred and Fran.

Chasing Wild Geese

Fred and Fran (the geese) were not alone. Since the spring of 2021, the FPLL team have tagged and tracked 15 other animals, in addition to the dozens of box turtles tagged beginning in 2012 as part of the St. Louis Box Turtle Project. The animals belong to seven species, from reptiles to birds to mammals, including several raccoons, a pair of mallard ducks named Daisy and Donald, a great horned owl named Astrid, a handful of common snapping turtles, three-toed box turtles, and two red-tailed hawks named Copper and Herrmann.

Stella Uiterwaal, Ph.D., senior scientist at the FPLL, said that the team’s approach to urban ecology efforts is somewhat unique. “Most people who are studying animal movement or movement ecology are tracking one species, or two species if they’re getting crazy,” Uiterwaal said. But few researchers have attempted “to track so many different species all using the same space.”

Dell of the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center agrees the data the FPLL team is collecting is special. “[Urban ecology] is a very nascent field,” he said. The collaboration between so many diverse institutions and the effort to track and characterize the movements of such a wide swath of animal species coexisting in an urban landscape “really is unique globally.”

An additional novel twist of the FPLL is that team leader and wildlife veterinarian Deem — who is also director of the Saint Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine — is evaluating the health of Forest Park’s wildlife community to assess disease transmission vectors among wildlife and potentially between wildlife and humans. “Few projects bring together movement ecology along with data on the health of wildlife in urban areas to the degree our team is doing here in Forest Park,” Deem said. “Gaining an understanding of the health status and infectious disease presence of wildlife that use the Park, alongside the movement data, such as we have for Fred and Fran, is imperative to ensure both wildlife and humans may thrive in our urban ecosystems.”

Uiterwaal — a postdoctoral researcher with the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis advised by Blake, Dell, and Deem — notes that tracking the movement of animals through an urban environment can elucidate a lot about the ecology of those areas and their animal and human inhabitants.

Louis, flying from Forest Park to Fairground Park to Lafayette Square. Fred spent a large amount of his time at the water features and new lawns on the under-construction, $2 billion North St. Louis campus of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and paid visits to the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.

“Movement is really fundamental for the connections between species in communities,” Uiterwaal said.

Movement determines what individuals and species encounter each other, which can result in predation, the transfer of disease, mate selection, and other ecological interactions. Researchers can garner many insights into how urban wildlife communities are structured and how they function just through understanding how they navigate and use habitats throughout a city’s landscape.

And that’s exactly the insight that Fred and Fran provided to the FPLL scientists. The researchers tracked Fred in particular as he traversed several different habitats in and around Forest Park for the three months that his tag was operational. (Unfortunately, the tag stopped sending data in late September 2023. Geese, with their hard-serrated beaks designed for grazing, are tough on tracking collars).

In that span of time, Fred traversed the patchwork of neighborhoods that make up St.

This brief window into the movements of a single goose has yielded key insights into how urban wildlife use the cities and surrounding areas they call home.

Tracking data from Fred and Fran the geese revealed expected patterns created by birds seeking food, water, shelter, and mates — the resources essential to their survival. But when the FPLL team overlaid those location data on a map of the St. Louis area, the patterns revealed how the human landscapes can intersect with attributes that animals like geese orient themselves to. For Fred and Fran, access to open water, such as the small lakes that dot Forest and Fairground Parks and the pond at the NGA St. Louis construction site, is a crucial component of living their best goose lives. And the grass and other vegetation that surround these urban oases provide them with abundant forage.

The FPLL researchers are gathering extraordinary data on how these seemingly disparate environs are related by observing and mapping the movements of Fred and the

other animals they’ve tagged and tracked. “All of us have been astonished by how Fred has linked these areas of habitat,” Blake said. “That one individual opens a pandora’s box of mystery and new research avenues in ways that you haven’t thought of.”

Scientists usually say that you can’t say much with a sample size of one. But Fred has shown a brand-new vision (a bird’s eye view) of the dynamic nature of urban wildlife.

Lessons from Fred

The FPLL scientists now seek to build on the data they’ve gathered from the dozen or so animals they’ve tagged and tracked. Uiterwaal said that the taxonomic diversity of their target animals can tell researchers a lot about ecological processes as they play out in urban environments, which are constantly changing. “By looking at how things like roads are impacting multiple different ecologically and phylogenetically diverse species, we can get a much better understanding of urbanization,” she said. She adds that her postdoctoral work will include integrating and connecting the movement data from all the Forest Park animals her team has tagged. This will likely yield unprecedented insight into urban ecology that might inform similar efforts in other cities around the world.

In the fall of last year, just before Fred’s tag fell quiet, the team in Forest Park was intensely tracking his movements around educational institutions in and around St. Louis. Fred

A snapshot of the path captured by Fred’s GPS through Forest Park.

and Copper, the red-tailed hawk, seemed to take a liking to habitats surrounding the KIPP Inspire Academy and Gateway Middle School just north of the downtown area. Blake and his collaborators were seeking to seize the opportunity to expose students at those institutions to the project and interest in the science and practice of ecology.

“Can we get out there and introduce them to Fred and get some students involved in observations of the geese?” Blake asked in an email to colleagues. “[Fred and Copper] are traversing every part of the city and visiting many schools in the region, including East Saint Louis ... opening gambits for collaboration, lesson plans in STEM, training, etc.”

As outreach remains a core goal of the FPLL, Blake also said that he’s continuing to think of ways to publicize the efforts and entice more

people to think about the animal communities that share the St. Louis area with its human inhabitants. And he thinks approaching people like Pestello and others on the front lines of local education and awareness might be just the ticket to accomplish that vision.

For his part, Pestello said he was happy to contribute to the cause. “If lending my name to a goose can inspire young people to engage in scientific inquiry and spark interest in ecology among the broader community,” he reflected, “then I am all for it.”

Blake looks forward to extending this particular outreach strategy. This is “definitely something that we can use here,” he said.

“I hope we can inspire local high school teachers or political figures to lend their interest and engagement — and maybe also their names — to this effort.”

- Stephen Blake, Ph.D.

Stephen

an assistant professor in

The main focus of

Department

research over the last 20 years has been on movement ecology and conservation

megavertebrates. This theme has targeted two species in particular — forest elephants in the Congo Basin and giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands. His forest elephant research developed by asking fundamental questions on migration patterns, distribution, and the environmental factors that shape ranging in order to promote landscape-scale conservation around national parks. His work in the Galapagos Islands centered on tortoise migration by using GPS telemetry data and field censuses, revealing a partial migration pattern driven by spatiotemporal distribution of foraging. Blake also collaborates with The Nature Conservancy

Blake, Ph.D., is

the

of Biology at Saint Louis University.

his

of

(TNC) on a prairie restoration initiative in northwest Missouri at Dunn Ranch and the Forest Park Living Lab on his ongoing work with migration patterns among St. Louis wildlife.

Left: Fred (at the back), Fran, and family enjoying a stroll along the cycle path near Jefferson Lake, Forest Park. Right: Fran the morning after being fitted for her new GPS necklace.

Public Health Research — The Jesuit Way

LESLIE MCCLURE, PH.D.

Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice; Fellow, SLU Research Institute

Leslie McClure, Ph.D., dean of Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice and fellow with the SLU Research Institute, reflects on the experiences that brought her to this new position and what it means to grow public health research in the Jesuit tradition — and having fun doing it.

YEARS BEFORE SHE WAS the dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University, Leslie McClure, Ph.D., was an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas. She had always been good with numbers, so it seemed natural for her to study mathematics. But a family health

scare soon inspired McClure to seek a higher purpose in her studies.

“When I was in college, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was a math major, but now I didn’t want to do pure math,” McClure recalled. “That’s what motivated me to go into biostatistics. I thought it was a nice marriage of my quantitative skills and the real application of public health.”

McClure went on to earn a doctorate in biostatistics from the University of Michigan. As a newly minted biostatistician, McClure’s first love was clinical trials. She enjoyed

the regimentation of them, and she soon developed a knack for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing trial data.

Early in her career, McClure became involved with a large cohort study examining why Black patients die of stroke at much higher rates than white patients. The experience was formative for McClure, and it allowed her to begin asking critical questions about racial and geographic health inequities — that is, how a person’s location and race affects their health outcomes.

“I’m motivated by a desire to eliminate inequities. We live in a world where how you live, what you look like, and what resources you have determine your health outcomes,” said McClure. “I want to help change that so that everyone has equal access and equal opportunity.”

McClure sees a Jesuit research university like SLU as an ideal place to pursue this passion. She believes there is a natural synergy between being an effective public health expert and the Jesuit value of cura personalis — caring for the whole person. As she steers the college toward a more rigorous research agenda, McClure believes holding to this mission is essential to research growth.

Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice.

“At its core, public health is aligned with our mission,” said McClure. “We want to continue to grow our research, but we don’t want to do it absent of our mission. So as we go forward and build our research infrastructure and applications, we can’t lose sight of why we do all of this.”

In addition to her responsibilities as dean, McClure is an active researcher herself. She is currently working with colleagues at Drexel University on two projects: one is to develop new tools for caretakers of people living with dementia, and the second is to better understand how early detection of autism may lead to better outcomes for school-age children.

Projects such as these have made McClure a renowned researcher, and in November 2023, she was named a SLU Research Institute Fellow in recognition of her outstanding contributions to her field.

McClure believes her experience as a researcher will enable her to better lead the college: “One thing I’ve tried throughout my career is to understand the different experiences of faculty so that I can better support them, advise them, and advocate for them. So as we grow research in the college, having been an active researcher myself, and continuing to be an active researcher here at SLU, will allow me to do just that.”

McClure is eager to get students involved, too. She believes that as the college continues to grow research, opportunities for students in public health practice and research will grow as well.

“Students are a great avenue for new ideas and insights. They bring an enthusiasm and idealism that we need in research. We need the spark in their eyes and their strong desire to make the world a better place,” said McClure.

As she continues to settle into her new role as dean, McClure is excited for the journey in front of her. There may be challenges, and

though the work may be serious, McClure hopes that SLU faculty and students don’t lose sight of one important detail: that they have fun doing what they do.

“I’ve had outstanding collaborators who have allowed me to have a really fun research career, and I think that’s something we can’t lose sight of: It should be fun!” said McClure. “We should enjoy what we’re doing, even as we’re tackling some really challenging problems. Too many people go through life not enjoying what they do, and I’ve really tried to take the opposite perspective: I really try to have fun doing what I do.”

Senior engineering student Michael Dompke prepping DARLA for space launch.

EXHILARATION — AND OCCASIONAL HEARTBREAK — AWAIT THOSE IN THE SMALL SATELLITE INDUSTRY. AS THEY PREPARE TO LAUNCH A SATELLITE MISSION SPONSORED BY NASA, ONE SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AND HIS STUDENTS ARE FINDING THAT THEY MIGHT JUST HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF TO MAKE IT IN THIS VOLATILE FIELD.

Michael Dompke has always been interested in space. As a high school student deciding where to attend college, Dompke toured a number of campuses, but it wasn’t until a tour at Saint Louis University that he could envision this interest evolving into something more.

As his tour group shuffled through McDonnell Douglas Hall, home to many of the University’s engineering classrooms and laboratories, Dompke’s eyes were drawn to one space in particular: the Space Systems Research Lab (SSRL), where SLU students are given the opportunity to design, build, and operate small spacecraft.

“Seeing that space,” Dompke recalled several years later, “that was the first time I realized this — space missions — was something I could do myself.”

Today, Dompke is a senior in SLU’s School of Science and Engineering studying mechanical engineering and minoring in computer science. He’s also the program manager for “The Demonstration of Artificial Reasoning, Learning, and Analysis” — more commonly called DARLA — a satellite mission sponsored by NASA that will launch in 2024.

DARLA will be Dompke’s first satellite launch, but his mentor, Michael Swartwout, Ph.D., professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering and director of the SSRL, has been building and launching satellites for years.

Before there was DARLA, there was Sapphire — Swartwout’s first satellite. At the time, only a handful of spacecraft had ever been built by universities, so the experience of building and launching Sapphire was novel for Swartwout. Sapphire’s launch in 2001 also launched Swartwout’s passion for building satellites and crafting original, educational experiences for the next generation of aerospace engineers.

Swartwout brought his satellite-building program to SLU in 2009. He was inspired by the University’s history in the space field. One of SLU’s most famous graduates is Gene Kranz, who, as chief flight director at NASA, oversaw several historic space missions, including the first lunar landing, Apollo 11. Kranz’s portrait is featured in a commemorative timeline in McDonnell Douglas Hall, just feet away from the SSRL.

“That history has always been a part of the University,” said Swartwout. “Despite the fact that there’s no space industry within several hundred miles of St. Louis, students can get involved with a lot of opportunities here. If you want to do space work in St. Louis, you go to SLU.”

Story by: Kevin Lynch

Swartwout holding “Sapphire,” his first satellite, in his college dorm in 1996 (left) and again in present day (right). The project that started it all.

Launching New Careers in the Space Systems Research Lab

The SSRL gives students hands-on experience in designing, constructing, testing, and launching low-cost spacecraft. It is both a student organization and a fully functioning research lab. The students recruit new members, and Swartwout directs them to different projects overseen by student managers like Dompke. Many of these project managers begin as freshmen and stay with the lab until graduation.

Since joining the University, Swartwout’s research has taken on three dimensions. First, Swartwout partners with an external company to curate a database related to the small satellite industry. Using this database, he publishes reports on the industry and measures degrees of success and failure across all missions. Soon after he began publishing these reports, Swartwout caught the attention of NASA.

“Suddenly, I was being invited to NASA meetings because NASA was trying to decide how much to invest in small satellites,” Swartwout said. “It’s one thing to present a paper at a conference. It’s very different when NASA starts quoting your statistics when making decisions about who to fund!”

Another, newer dimension of Swartwout’s research is autonomous systems in spacecraft — that is, teaching a spacecraft to make its own decisions. This is not often done in the industry due to various risks, but if NASA sends a spacecraft to Jupiter, for example, and something breaks along the way, it could take hours for a solution engineered on Earth to be relayed to the spacecraft.

“We can develop a logical progression so that if something breaks in flight, the spacecraft can correct itself without waiting for a message from Earth,” said Swartwout.

Both of these projects converge in the third and final dimension of Swartwout’s research: undergraduate workforce training centered around the SSRL.

“Students who are interested in these activities can do so from the day they walk through SLU’s doors. You don’t have to have the skills — we’ll teach you those,” said Swartwout.

Nathan Brubaker, a sophomore studying aerospace engineering and computer science, began working in the SSRL as a freshman. At 19 years old, Brubaker already holds an impressive title: chief engineer of the DARLA mission.

“I’ve learned a lot of things in the SSRL that you don’t learn in classrooms. In engineering, you need to get hands-on. Building a satellite, working with the Air Force — those are opportunities you can’t just get in a classroom,” Brubaker said.

As students gain more experience in the lab, they are given more responsibilities. Some of Swartwout’s grants have allowed him to hire interns, and he often pulls from the team leads within the SSRL.

“I get the fortune of working with them first — and I really am fortunate because they often go on to work for the likes of NASA or SpaceX,” Swartwout said.

Michael Dompke (left), senior mechanical engineering student and DARLA program manager working with junior engineering student Adrian Acevedo to prepare DARLA for launch.

The success of SSRL alumni at respected organizations like these has brought new attention to the lab’s current students. Swartwout was excited that, for the first time ever, SpaceX attended SLU’s career fair in 2023.

“Thanks to our alumni, we’re seeing the next group of SLU students get attention,” Swartwout said. “I credit the students for this: We get one student hired in a particular area, and they tend to be so impressive that now any other SLU applicant immediately gets slotted into a different category.”

Launching DARLA

One of the goals of the SSRL is to reduce the immense costs associated with professional space missions. Swartwout sees an opportunity for universities to reduce risk on such missions, and in doing so, provide novel

experiences for students interested in the field. One way that universities can absorb risk is by doing missions that test or demonstrate different components of larger missions. DARLA is one such mission.

DARLA is a single satellite mission designed to test a number of the components of a larger, eight-satellite mission called DORRE. DORRE is an experiment in spacecraft autonomy. Once DORRE’s eight satellites are in orbit, a team back on Earth will transmit various commands that the constellation will then perform.

“A while ago, a volcano erupted in Tonga, and half the island was gone. So there’s this sudden need to generate information about a specific region of the world. That’s the idea [of DORRE]. We’ll send a message to the network: We want everything on this geographic location — here’s the coordinate and the timeframe,” Swartwout said. “Risk retirement is the fancy term for [DARLA].

We’re identifying things that would make [DORRE] really difficult, and we’re testing or demonstrating them on a single spacecraft.”

That spacecraft is about 30 centimeters long and 10 centimeters on its side — kind of like a loaf of bread, as Swartwout put it. Through a bit of clever software and design wizardry from the students, one half of DARLA will be autonomously controlled while the other half will be controlled by a team of students back on Earth. The autonomous system and the student operators will be simultaneously given a set of identical problems to solve. This will produce quantitative evidence as to how effective an automated system is compared to a human-controlled system. The team anticipates that the autonomous system will be faster, but it may make more mistakes than the student team.

But the SSRL team needs to get DARLA into orbit first. As part of NASA’s CubeSat

Students working on the engineering precursor to DARLA, “Copper 2,” in the new Space Systems Research Lab.

ìGiving students a pathway here at SLU ó if space is something they want to do ó is something I really do enjoy.î

- Michael Swartwout, Ph.D.

Junior and sophomore engineering students working with engineering precursors in the new Space Systems Research Lab.

Launch Initiative program (CSLI), the mission empowers students to take the lead on every aspect of it.

As chief engineer of the mission, Brubaker is responsible for bringing DARLA’s various systems, such as power and communications, together into one working satellite. Brubaker drops into the lab whenever he has the time between classes. The work takes up a lot of his free time, but he doesn’t mind as a lot of the other students involved have become friends and mentors.

“It’s a pretty close group because we’ve been working on this together for a long time,” Brubaker said. “I’ve picked up a lot from working with [Dompke] and other upperclassmen, especially over the summer when we were spending like 40 hours a week working on DARLA.”

As program manager, Dompke works directly with NASA Launch Services to keep the mission on schedule; while final exams are more than enough for most college students to manage at the end of the year, Dompke was also taking meetings with NASA.

“You don’t find space missions like this at too many colleges,” Dompke said. “It’s really cool to be a part of all of it, to work with Launch Services to get your spacecraft on a missile system.”

Dompke is also fine-tuning DARLA’s telemetry system — a system which uses various sensors to collect and transmit data — testing the range of the satellite’s sensors, and working with the launch provider to plan vibration tests. These tests evaluate workmanship, ensuring that none of the satellite’s parts come loose in a high-vibration environment like the back of a rocket. They also evaluate vehicle safety.

“Your natural frequency is where your spacecraft will be most excited, so you need to ensure that you don’t match the natural frequency of the launch vehicle because that tends to end in explosion,” Dompke explained. “We’re looking good, though! All of our simulations show we’re way above that value.”

Details like these are absolutely critical; there’s little to no margin of error in space missions.

“If you’re driving down the highway and one of your lug nuts falls off your wheel, ideally that was not the only one on your wheel, so you’ll probably be fine. But losing one fastener could be the end of your space mission,” Swartwout said. “One thing going wrong can be enough to torpedo your entire mission.”

Launching in T-Minus —

As DARLA’s 2024 launch date approaches, Dompke and Brubaker are both excited and anxious for their first satellite launch. While everyone is feeling confident ahead of the date, they also know that, as with all small satellite missions, failure is a distinct possibility. Any number of things could go wrong. But they refuse to let that anxiety get the best of them.

“I’m a little worried about something going wrong during launch, but that’s out of our control,” Brubaker said. “I’m worrying about stuff that’s in our control.”

Swartwout can relate to his students’ mixed feelings. He’s experienced both successes and failures during previous satellite launches. He’s even tried to leave the field a few times, but he keeps getting pulled back in — not unlike one of his satellites in orbit.

Swartwout occasionally finds himself commiserating with colleagues and former classmates at professional conferences, reflecting on the exhilarating highs and heartbreaking lows of this work.

“We’ve had students work on spacecraft that haven’t worked. We’ve built spacecraft that failed and fell into the Pacific Ocean. It takes so long, and there’s so much potential heartache involved. Yet, here we all are at these conferences every year. So somehow, we can’t stop doing this!” Swartwout said. “And giving students a pathway here at SLU — if space is something they want to do — is something I really do enjoy.”

Swartwout is confident in his students and optimistic about DARLA’s chances. He laughed as his gaze drifted upward.

ìThereís just something about getting one into orbit.î

- Michael Swartwout, Ph.D.

Por Amor a la Literatura

(For the Love of Literature)

ÁNGELES ENCINAR, PH.D.

Professor Emeritus, Spanish Literature, SLU-Madrid

PASSION TRANSFORMS A CAREER INTO SOMETHING MORE THAN A JOB. This is certainly true for Ángeles Encinar, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Spanish literature at Saint Louis University’s Madrid campus. Encinar has spent almost 40 years at the University — that is, the entirety of her career which made her into an internationally celebrated scholar in the study of Spanish literature. Now, as she prepares to enter retirement, Encinar recalls her luck and excitement at receiving her first teaching position with the University.

“At the beginning, [Raymond L. Sullivant, S.J., the first director of SLU-Madrid] hired me as a part-time professor, and then I started combining teaching and research — focusing on contemporary Spanish literature from the middle of the 20th century to today,” she said.

Over the years, Encinar has taught courses across the spectrum of contemporary Spanish literature. Yet, she felt called to highlight a specific group of writers often excluded from the list of names credited for the Spanish Golden Age of literature: women writers.

“It is clear that women writers had less space to be in the literary canon and to be taught at universities,” she said. “When I started teaching in St. Louis, there was not a course about women writers in the Spanish department. There was usually a small space for them in the curriculum of Spanish programs, so I decided that I had to give them a place.”

Encinar has written and edited over 30 books spanning instrumental female and male writers of the Spanish language, including an edition of a story collection called “Celama (un recuento)” written by Luis Mateo Díez, the

winner of the 2023 Cervantes Prize. But it was her passion for the simple act of reading that set her on this prolific and successful path in Spanish literature, research, and education.

“I was not planning to do research or literature after I got my [bachelor’s degree],” she said. “When I moved to the United States, I changed to literature because I always loved reading. I think that reading shows you a lot about the world, people, and relationships. You can learn a lot about every culture, language, and person when you read a novel, essay, or article in a newspaper.”

This love for reading sustained Encinar throughout her career, leading her to receive one of the highest international honors for a scholar in her field: an appointment to the Spanish Royal Academy.

“I never thought I would be in the Spanish Royal Academy, and I was extremely excited when they were going to propose me as a candidate because you have to be proposed by three existing members of the Academy,” she said. “It’s a recognition for your whole career, and when I was admitted, I felt so much gratitude for the members who supported me.”

As she enters retirement, Encinar maintains an active presence in the classroom where her love of literature began. She shared how an open mind and patience not only opened doors for her, but it also transformed her life in ways she did not anticipate.

“My advice [to students] is to have an open mind,” she said. “You can do whatever you want if you work a lot, and you are eager to learn. It has been something that has always been present in my life. You have to work and have a desire to work in the subjects or the field that you really want.”

“It is clear that women writers had less space to be in the literary canon and to be taught at universities,”

Encinar said. “When I started teaching in St. Louis, there was not a course about women writers in the Spanish department. There was usually a small space for them in the curriculum of Spanish programs, so I decided that I had to give them a place.”

Encinar with students at SLU-Madrid library.

SLU nursing student administers a vaccine to a patient at a SLU-sponsored vaccine drive.

DECADES OF RESEARCH FINALLY SOLVE THE QUEST FOR RSV VACCINES

Story by: Paradigm

ETHE SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT LED THREE ON-SITE CLINICAL VACCINE TRIALS THAT HELPED BRING THE DECADES-OLD MYSTERY OF RSV VACCINATIONS TO A CLOSE.

very winter, it’s the same cold season symphony — a cacophony of coughs, heavy breathing, and ever-present sneezes. As millions combat the winter season’s recurring illnesses, many will receive a diagnosis of one of three common respiratory viruses: influenza, COVID-19, or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Since its discovery in 1956, RSV has been a leading cause of respiratory hospitalizations in young infants, older adults, and immunocompromised people throughout the world. Recent years have seen increased diagnoses, hospitalizations, and deaths related to RSV, with recent studies estimating over 58,000 hospitalizations in children younger than five years old. This prompted immediate action by researchers to develop a vaccine that would protect against the virus’s attack on the respiratory system.

An RSV vaccine has been a high priority among vaccine researchers since its discovery. For years, countless studies were conducted with the hopes of discovering a solution to such a contagious infection. When vaccines were ready for trial, Saint Louis University’s Center for Vaccine Development was selected to conduct three separate RSV vaccine trials, including two focused on adults and one on children. And in 2023, their work aided in the success of today’s approved Pfizer vaccine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and subsequent recommendations for use by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Yet, the first attempts at vaccine development for RSV were shrouded in a shadow for decades until the recent success cracked its over 50-year-old mystery.

The Darker Days of RSV

As RSV cases surged in the late 1950s, researchers immediately embarked on a plan to develop a vaccine to protect the critical age groups of young children and older adults against the virus. After the success of the polio vaccine in 1955, researchers began experimenting with a process that would create a similar vaccine that would create the necessary antibodies to protect against RSV.

In the mid-1960s, researchers developed a formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine that contained an inactive version of the virus. This was administered to young infants and children in four clinical trials beginning in 1966. But, the initial trials left complete devastation in its wake — resulting in two deaths and the hospitalization of 80% of the infants from enhanced RSV disease (ERD).

Sharon Frey, M.D., professor emeritus in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy and Immunology, served as a principal investigator for two of the three recent vaccine trials hosted at SLU. She explained that the shock of the early trials reverberated through the vaccine development field.

“In the early phase trial, it caused significant adverse events by inducing nonprotective antibody responses that actually enhanced RSV infection and disease,” she said. “This [realization] put a stop to all RSV vaccine testing in humans for several decades.”

The pathologic vaccine response discovered during initial vaccine trials was eventually shown to be caused by a mechanism called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of disease. This phenomenon occurs when the antibodies generated in an immune response bind to the pathogen and instead of blocking infection of cells in the body, lead to increased infection of cells and increased the amount of disease.

Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D., director of the SLU Center for Vaccine Development, explained that antibodies have two parts — a region that recognizes what induces a response and another constant region at the end of the molecule that binds to receptors on cells. If a vaccine fails to induce antibodies directed at blocking infection of cells, but instead induces nonneutralizing antibodies that bind to the pathogen and facilitates infection of cells, the

vaccine can lead to increased RSV infection among the vaccinated later infected with RSV.

“We think that’s probably the reason for the catastrophe,” he said. “You have to maintain the structure of the molecules in their native form so antibodies can be induced and bind to the portions that can block the virus from infecting cells.”

He explained the tragedy of the early trials, and new protein structure discoveries sparked a renewed focus that eventually cracked the code. In the years since, it has allowed for

new, safer vaccine trials at SLU and other institutions throughout the world.

“There were breakthroughs that were important, both for the COVID-19 pandemic and for RSV,” he said. “RSV has been a difficult pathogen to develop a vaccine for because it normally hides its vulnerabilities, preventing the induction of optimal immunity. In addition, over the last 10 years, there’s been a greater appreciation for the importance of RSV.”

Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D., and Sharon Frey, M.D., look through microscopes.

Unlocking the Shape

After a significant pause in RSV research, new studies began to emerge from scientists Barney Graham, M.D., Ph.D., and Jason McLellan, Ph.D., virologists working at the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center, centered around the structure of one of the virus’s proteins — fusion glycoprotein (F). Just before this particular protein fuses with a cell, it alters its shape. Their work looked into how to lock protein F into the prefusion state, to elicit more protective antibody responses with potent neutralizing activity.

Their in-depth research of the structure of RSV F protein enhanced an interest within the scientific community around structural biology, the science of how the shape of molecules alters their function. Their research was highly relevant for understanding how to induce the most protective antibodies against the spike protein expressed by SARS1, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses. Because of the research on RSV F protein, scientists were ready to produce similar structural changes in the spike protein that led to much more protective antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic viruses.

molecule structure for RSV and the protein prefusion state allowed for a quicker vaccine development process during the pandemic.

Conducting Three Trials

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic placed many trials on pause in the effort to quickly churn out a vaccine for the disease that infected millions throughout the world. Hoft shared that while the efforts for RSV vaccines slowed during the pandemic, the efforts were beneficial to its rapid start because the groundwork had been laid to begin RSV’s phase 3 efficacy studies.

“Once people had a chance to get vaccinated [against COVID-19], people started turning their attention back to things like RSV,” he said. “At the tail end of the emergency, we were starting to get involved in RSV vaccines because they were ready to be tested.”

The SLU Center for Vaccine Development’s Vaccine and Treatment EvaluationUnit (VTEU) served as the site for three separate phase 3 trials for RSV vaccines with principal investigators and researchers from across the University in pediatric medicine, infectious diseases, and internal medicine. The trials include an active study focused on a children’s vaccine and two studies focused on older adults.

Hoft, who also led COVID-19 vaccine development at SLU, said that the discovery led to the stabilization of the spike protein that was used for the first COVID-19 vaccinations. He explained the understanding of the native

The implementation of protein-structurebased design into vaccine development changed the outlook for RSV vaccines. Its early work paved the way for rapid COVID-19 vaccine development, and today’s research inches ever closer to a solution for this detrimental disease in young children.

The International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network (IMPAACT) 2021 clinical trial specifically works with children ages 6 months to 24 months and is actively enrolling for a trial that is under the leadership of Heidi Sallee, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics in the SLU

“A virus does not want to make better immunogens,” Hoft said. “It wants to hide its vulnerabilities. Learning how to open up the vulnerabilities of the SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen was greatly facilitated by previous research on analogous molecules from RSV.”

A close-up of the structure of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

School of Medicine. The multi-site trial is in its early testing phases, as no vaccines have been officially approved for young children.

The SLU Center for Vaccine Development also hosted an international clinical trial sponsored by Bavarian Nordic. Getahun Abate, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of internal medicine, served as the trial’s principal investigator until its closure in 2023. Abate and his team worked on a recombinant protein vaccine, which acts like a natural RSV infection in order to create a long-lasting immune response.

He explained the work they conducted within the trial is key to protecting those who are at higher risk for RSV.

“There are several epidemiological studies that show that [RSV] in this age group, or the very young, leads to severe disease, hospitalizations, and even death,” Abate said. “Having a vaccine is really important to protect these high-risk groups.”

However, the trial that produced fruitful results and ultimately led to the approval of a recombinant protein vaccine for older adults was sponsored by Pfizer. Frey currently serves as SLU’s principal investigator for this study. She said initially the vaccine — called Abrysvo — was only approved for adults 60 and older.

“Globally, [RSV] is a huge problem, and there was no vaccine against it until now,” Frey said. “Another problem for children is that after RSV infection, chronic lung disease is a common complication. Lung disease can be severe, and they may have to live with impaired lung function for the rest of their lives.”

Recent developments also allowed for the vaccine’s approval among pregnant women between 32 and 36 weeks gestation during respiratory illness season (September to January). The vaccine creates critical antibodies that pass from mother to fetus, protecting the child from RSV during the first six months of life. As the first vaccine yielding protection in children, it inches RSV vaccines one step closer to safeguarding the age groups most at risk: children from birth to two years old.

A Promising Outlook Ahead

The approved vaccines for adults and pregnant women are the first major steps the industry has seen in decades. While the road to RSV vaccines has been long and arduous, the latest developments only mark the beginning of lifesaving RSV prevention and future vaccines for similarly structured respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and influenza.

To propel research forward, SLU and the Center for Vaccine Development keep the goal of finding solutions to protect highrisk groups from RSV and other respiratory illnesses at the forefront of their work. Additionally, members of the Center are forming partnerships to strengthen pediatric vaccine research in the future.

As Hoft reflected on the history and recent accomplishments of the RSV vaccine, he shared that promising opportunities lie ahead for disease prevention:

(Left) A SLU doctor listens to clinical trial participant’s breathing during an appointment. (Right) Getahun Abate, M.D., Ph.D., with a patient during a clinical trial.

“By understanding the mechanisms important for safe and effective RSV vaccines, combined with understanding the mechanisms associated with historically poor RSV vaccine outcomes, we are in a better position to develop the best vaccines designed to protect against other important human pathogens.”

— Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D.

A Lingering Sense of Justice

MICHAEL DUFF, J.D. Professor, Law, School of Law; Fellow, SLU Research Institute

MICHAEL DUFF, J.D., grew up tough.

Born in California, he and his family moved to the metro-Boston area when Duff was a child, and then, at 13 years old, they moved to Philadelphia. “I was a working-class kid,” said Duff, now a professor in the Saint Louis University School of Law. “It was a very bluecollar environment. I was a street fighter.”

Duff’s self-described “hardscrabble” upbringing was preceded by a family history that sowed the seeds of his focus as a legal scholar — workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety chief among them. Duff’s grandfather was a coal miner in Kentucky who contracted

black lung and died when Duff was only 10 years old. “I wasn’t around him as much as he was dying, but I would hear reports as his black lung worsened,” Duff said. “He died by all accounts a horrible death.”

Not only did Duff’s grandfather die due to the dangerous and unhealthy work conditions to which he was subjected, he was neither compensated by the mining company nor benefitted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), bodies that were created after his passing.

These injustices stuck with Duff. “Even as a kid, I thought to myself, they put him in the ground until he died. And it was perfectly lawful to do it,” Duff recalled. “It’s something I never recovered from in terms of my evolving thinking about workplaces. I had that story emblazoned within me that I never quite lost.”

He progressed through his own workingclass career as a union fleet service agent at US Air in Philadelphia as he completed his undergraduate degree in philosophy from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. A mentor there convinced Duff to alter his

plan to continue union work and pursue further education. “Just on a lark, I applied to the top 10 law schools [in the country],” he said. He was accepted to all but one of them. “One day I’m working on the tarmac in the 100-degree heat in the Philadelphia afternoon, and the next Monday, I’m at Harvard Law School,” Duff said. “That was quite a transition.”

At Harvard, Duff maintained his focus on labor and employment law, carving out his own program and clerking at the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents. After graduating from Harvard Law, Duff worked at a private law firm and spent a decade at the National Labor Relations Board focusing on labor disputes and running workplace elections, before taking a faculty position at a law college in the Western United States.

“It was tough teaching there because we didn’t have in our mission statement the idea of justice,” Duff said. “It was almost like you couldn’t talk about justice.”

A job offer from SLU in 2021 changed that. SLU, he said, was explicit about the importance of justice in his study of law. “To me everything I do is grounded in this idea of justice,” Duff noted. “For example, if I had to give somebody an idea of what my research agenda is, it’s really the idea that embedded in the federal constitution is the right to personal security.”

Duff’s work at SLU has continued through the line of his family’s history with injustice in the workplace. “I’m very interested in the idea of protecting people from injury in the first place and recognizing the fact that people are injured. It sounds like a fairly simple thing, but it involves lots of money,” he said. “So there is a tremendous resistance in people acknowledging that somebody ought to have access to an adequate remedy when they’re hurt.”

Saint Louis University Law School.

Even though he knew little of his grandfather and the trials and tribulations he and his family faced, the generational experiences left a strong imprint on Duff and his scholarship at SLU. “I don’t know how much I was thinking about those things when I was younger, but now that I’m an old guy and I look back at the experiences I had ... I was really almost

sometimes consciously but also unconsciously motivated by a lot of those kinds of things,” he said. “I couldn’t allow myself to be blind to the things that were going on around me in light of my family history.”

“To me everything I do is grounded in this idea of justice.”

— Michael Duff, J.D.

The eye of the Saint Louis Science Center’s robotic T. rex

WHO DO YOU CALL WHEN YOUR 15-FOOT DINOSAUR NEEDS A DOCTOR?

RESEARCHERS AT SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY AND THE TAYLOR GEOSPATIAL INSTITUTE ARE ANSWERING THE CALL TO ENSURE THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS OF VISITORS TO THE SAINT LOUIS SCIENCE CENTER WILL BE AMAZED BY THEIR ROBOTIC TYRANNOSAURUS REX .

Story by: Bob Grant

If you’re more than 67 million years old — or in the case of the Saint Louis Science Center’s animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex, on daily display since the facility opened in 1991 — your parts may not move as swiftly as they had in the past, and you may need the occasional checkup. But, when the time comes for the Science Center to take steps to ensure the future of their guest favorite, a dilemma ensues: “Who can we call for help?” especially when the company that originally made the dinosaur went out of business long ago.

A Kink in the Neck

The summer of 2023 was like many summers before it at the Science Center. For months, throngs of guests filed through the building’s atrium, excited to be delivered from the jaws of vernal heat and humidity into an inviting space filled with wonder and discovery — and cool, conditioned air. As the crowds proceeded downstairs into the lower level, they were dwarfed — like countless visitors before them — by a 15-foot, rubber-skinned Tyrannosaurus rex that commands that space. The animatronic dinosaur would periodically swivel its massive head, bear its fearsome jaws, and bellow out a piercing roar. At its giant feet lay a vanquished Triceratops, side slashed open and bleeding.

But that June, the mighty head of the T. rex slumped forward, its animatronic machinery grinding to a halt and its internal steel skeleton hanging by a broken bolt just beneath its latex skin. The Science Center team quickly cordoned off the exhibit to keep guests from approaching the robotic reptile. Black plastic sheeting was draped over the head, which was eventually disarticulated and placed at the foot of the beast.

Chris Lucas, exhibit designer at the Saint Louis Science Center, and a crew of five or six team members who are responsible for the upkeep of exhibits were familiar with this particular problem. In 2006, the T. rex had malfunctioned in a similar way, its animatronic machinery breaking further back on the dinosaur’s neck. The Science Center team repaired the broken exhibit back then, patching together the internal metal armature, latex skin, and underlying foam to the best of their ability. To fix this more recent issue, the team worked with outside vendors throughout the summer and fall of 2023 to fabricate a new housing for the pneumatic parts that move the head, and they returned this fan favorite to the floor in time for the winter holidays.

Making the Old New Again

To prepare for future problems and to advance the model into a long-lived future, Lucas had been talking for months with Andy Hall, D.Sc., director of Saint Louis University’s Center for Additive Manufacturing (SLU CAM). The Science Center was interested in tapping into SLU CAM’s 3D-printing capabilities to create full-scale models of artifacts, such as fossils, that would give guests a chance to physically interact with such objects while avoiding harm or damage to the genuine articles.

“[The Science Center has] a lot of things that are behind glass, and things they don’t even show because they’re that valuable,” Hall said. “We had had many on-and-off conversations with them.”

This most recent T. rex breakdown provided a perfect opportunity for the Science Center to see what SLU CAM could do for its exhibits on a dino-sized scale. “Once I heard about the idea that [skin] molds could be created from a 3D scan,” Lucas said, “then I thought, ‘Maybe this is a good proof of concept for us working together.’”

Scanning for Collaboration

Lucas invited the SLU CAM team to come and test some of their 3D-scanning technology on exhibits at the Science Center, with a special focus on the broken-down T. rex Hall and his colleague Michael Borovik, SLU CAM lead engineer, used one of SLU CAM’s handheld scanners to capture a detailed image of one of the dinosaur’s legs. “In real time, it reconstructs the surface, including color, of whatever it is you’re scanning,” Hall said. The pair also scanned a fossilized Triceratops skull that sits near the dinosaur diorama, eventually 3D-printing a model of the fossilized relic.

Hall said that he and his SLU CAM colleagues quickly realized that their equipment was not up to the task of scanning the entire surface of the animatronic T. rex. Handheld scanners, he noted, are best at scanning things the size of a breadbox or perhaps a little bigger. While it was technically possible to scan the whole T. rex, doing so would be challenging, and extremely time-consuming.

Given these limitations, Hall’s thoughts went to the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI), which houses a data services team that is stocked with the latest sensors and geospatial

tools that are adapted to imaging large areas, such as agricultural fields or urban landscapes. “We took our hand scanner over there and scanned a leg,” Hall said. “After that, we thought [the job] was better suited for the TGI technology.”

So Hall reached out to the TGI data services team, which includes Justin Vilbig, a geospatial data scientist. Hall knew that Vilbig might be able to apply advanced imaging technology, such as laser imaging, detection, and ranging (LiDAR), to mapping the 3D surface of the T. rex’s latex skin. TGI could also map the diorama in which the dinosaur stands so that the whole display could potentially be replaced or repaired in the future. LiDAR works by bouncing light off a surface — usually the surface of the Earth — to determine its precise features and contours. “Andy reached out to us saying that there seems like there’s a need for a pretty detailed 3D model of the T. rex,” Vilbig said. “The underlying purpose of this is to get centimeter-level accuracy on the whole diorama, because they will eventually need to replace all the skin pieces of the dinosaurs there. They want to have accurate measurements of them, so they don’t have to redo it every time they have to order a new part for it.”

Vilbig planned to approach the project from two angles, using backpack-mounted LiDAR scanners to image the T. rex from the ground and optical sensors affixed to a small drone that would fly around the exhibit and capture detailed 3D images. These two methods, working in tandem, would capture the surface of the dinosaurs in unprecedented detail. “When you’re dealing with a target like this T. rex, if you’re off by 5 to 10 centimeters, you’re going to have error, and if you’re trying to recreate measurements for this latex skin, you won’t have your seams match up,” Vilbig said. “The LiDAR scanner allows us to get really precise measurements.”

Vilbig and his team of geospatial data scientists typically use drone-mounted LiDAR above agricultural fields or archaeological sites to characterize plant growth or to search for subtle features on the ground. But they jumped at the chance to apply the technology in a unique setting. “It’s not a huge lift for us, because it’s using the tech we use all the time. Just applying it in a unique environment,” Vilbig said. “For us, it was an opportunity to test the limits of the equipment we use all the time.”

A team member cleaning the T. rex’s latex skin for replacement and 3D-scanning.

Team members assessing the robotics of the T. rex head after removal.

Fix Now, Scan for Later

As the T. rex’s complex recovery continued, Lucas and the team at the Science Center made the decision to fix the dinosaur as they had in the past one last time. In midNovember, they installed new metal and pneumatic components that control the dino’s movements. And they used plenty of elbow grease to manually scrape away layers of paint and latex on the deteriorating skin so that they could apply fresh layers. “We’re grinding away the old paint that’s on there,” he said, “so we can get the new skin to adhere to the old skin underneath.”

But as it grows ever older, the animatronic dinosaur is almost sure to suffer the effects of its advanced age again. So Lucas said that once the T. rex is back up and running, he’ll invite the SLU and TGI teams back to the Science Center to complete comprehensive scans of the beast. That way, the next time it breaks, Science Center team members can have a detailed replacement skin 3D-printed using the TGI team’s scans. “In the future, that skin is going to break down eventually,” Lucas said. “Once we get the repair done, we want them to scan it, so that we know that’s where it’s at in the future.”

Taking this proactive approach will free the Science Center from patching up the aging reptile in the future and will relieve stress placed upon the T. rex from successive attempts to patch up its skin. “If we got a new fresh skin put on, we would probably

lose hundreds of pounds of material,” Lucas explained. That would hopefully also extend the lifespan of the internal components, which can operate more freely if the additional weight of repairs past is not stressing the entire structure.

Vilbig said the collaboration with the Science Center allows him and the TGI data services team to test and develop their equipment and scientific processes in a nontraditional environment and with a unique target. Vilbig and his TGI colleagues will return there to scan the T. rex and its surrounding exhibit mates in the nearby diorama to ensure a pathway to a quick fix in the event of future problems with the iconic exhibit. “It’s cool data for us to be able to test some of the new algorithms and new modeling approaches for photogrammetry where we try to see how this unique object can be reconstructed,” he said. This new forum for geospatial science and technology could instruct future projects at the Science Center or other spaces outside of the agricultural fields and archaeological sites on which the TGI team frequently works.

Lucas agreed that a collaboration with SLU and TGI could bear fruit beyond a new, 3D-printed dinosaur skin. “We look forward to continuing this relationship for sure,” he said.

Vilbig added that he’s thrilled to work at a venerated St. Louis institution such as the Science Center.

“I WENT TO THE SCIENCE CENTER AS A KID AND REMEMBER BOTH LOVING AND BEING REALLY SCARED OF THAT EXHIBIT. SO AS AN ADULT, IT’S REALLY REWARDING TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK THERE AND BE ABLE TO HELP THE SCIENCE CENTER CONTINUE THAT DIORAMA LEGACY, “

Vilbig said. “Because hopefully kids today

will

go and have that same reaction. That’s a fun continuity thing for me to feel that connection and to help the Science Center, which is such a cool institution.”

Team members working on the T. rex

Surging to Success

STEVEN ROGERS, PH.D.

Associate Professor, Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences; Fellow, SLU Research Institute

KAITLIN KLASEN

Political Science and Communication, College of Arts and Sciences, ‘24

“I’ve learned a lot about Missouri,” Klasen said. “I’ve gained an understanding of the kinds of issues that people care about here. In many ways, it’s given me an understanding of the state beyond perception and assumption.”

One student’s experience with the SLU/YouGov Poll and the University’s Scholarly Undergraduate Research Grants and Experiences (SURGE) program is leading to new career possibilities and more impactful research.

KAITLIN KLASEN may be from Illinois, but she probably knows more about Missouri politics than the average resident of the Show Me State. An undergraduate student studying political science and communication at Saint Louis University, Klasen has been a research assistant with the SLU/YouGov Poll for almost two years, a position that gives her a unique perspective on the state.

The SLU/YouGov Poll was established in 2020 with support from the SLU Research Institute. As the only regular academic, non-partisan scientific survey of Missouri voters, the SLU/ YouGov Poll fills a void in the study of public opinion in Missouri. All of the results and data are made available online, giving researchers, policymakers, and the general public a detailed look at how Missourians feel about a range of issues.

“I really like looking at the breakdowns of the results,” Klasen said. “You can look by political affiliation or by [region of the state], and sometimes those results are very telling. You can see where certain issues are very divisive.”

Klasen began working with the SLU/ YouGov Poll in June 2022. She connected with the group through the University’s Scholarly Undergraduate Research Grants and Experiences (SURGE) program. The SURGE program connects SLU students with faculty who are conducting research, creative endeavors, and other scholarly projects at SLU. The program gives students hands-on research experience and the opportunity to prepare for their future careers.

“A research assistantship through SURGE can help students develop skills they can use even in non-academic jobs,” said Steven Rogers, Ph.D., associate professor of political science and director of the SLU/YouGov Poll. Rogers has mentored Klasen since the beginning of her assistantship.

In August 2023, the SLU/YouGov Poll surveyed 900 likely Missouri voters on issues such as education policy, the 2024 presidential election, and LGBTQ+ issues. This was Klasen’s third poll, and she helped with nearly every aspect of it, from putting together an initial draft of poll questions to writing memos for the poll leaders that trace the history of the issues in the state. She also researched how other polls have gauged residents of other states on similar issues. This allows the SLU/YouGov Poll to ask questions that may call attention to critical degrees of gradation in how Missourians feel about the issues.

In August 2023, the SLU/YouGov Poll knew it would poll Missourians on LGBTQ+ issues, such as genderaffirming care for transgender minors. Klasen’s research found that residents in other states felt differently about access to gender-affirming surgery than to gender-affirming counseling.

A question regarding this distinction was added to the August poll, and the results highlighted a critical nuance in Missouri public opinion: a significant amount of respondents were supportive of genderaffirming counseling for minors even as they expressed skepticism toward surgery.

I really like looking at the breakdowns of the results,” Klasen said.

“You can look by political affiliation or by [region of the state], and sometimes those results are very telling. You can see where certain issues are very divisive.”

“One thing we really try to do with the SLU/YouGov Poll is show the gradation or nuance in people’s opinions,” said Rogers. “I personally would not have come up with that question on my own, but due to Kaitlin identifying these questions on other polls, we could include it. So it was very helpful.”

Klasen and Rogers reflecting on poll results.

Rogers hopes that by highlighting these nuances in public opinion, the SLU/YouGov Poll can help bridge the gap between elected officials and their constituents.

“Policymakers often tend to take more extreme positions, but the reality is that there’s more middle ground in the state than people sometimes think,” said Rogers. He is encouraged by the fact that state policymakers have cited findings from the SLU/YouGov Poll while considering new policy changes.

When the time came for researchers associated with the SLU/YouGov Poll to publish analyses of the August 2023 results, Klasen was wellpositioned to work in conjunction with Rogers on a piece herself.

“As an undergraduate, it’s really cool to see my work posted on the SLU/YouGov website alongside professors and other [SLU/ YouGov Poll leaders],” said Klasen. “It has been a great skill to learn how to synthesize all the information about these broad topics and condense it into write-ups that are understandable to the public.”

Klasen will graduate from SLU in 2024, and looking back on her time at the University, she’s grateful for the mentorship she’s received from Rogers.

“It’s been really great working with Dr. Rogers,” Klasen said. “He provides a lot of direction for me, and he’s put a lot of trust in me. I feel like a lot of the work that I do gets translated into the poll, and that’s really cool.”

Rogers, in turn, is proud of the impact Klasen has had on the SLU/YouGov Poll, and he’s confident her future is bright.

“Kaitlin is an extremely, extremely strong research assistant,” Rogers said. “We can do more in the SLU/YouGov Poll because of Kaitlin.”

As Klasen begins to make plans for her career after SLU, the skills and experiences she’s gained through the SURGE program and her work with the SLU/YouGov Poll leave her options open — from policy to research to marketing, and more.

Rogers and Klasen review poll results in the Academic Technology Commons in Pius XII Memorial Library.

“My time as a research assistant has allowed me to build on all of the things I have learned as a student at SLU,” said Klasen. “I am very grateful for the opportunity from the SURGE program and from Dr. Rogers to grow as a researcher and become more involved in the fascinating work being done in the SLU community.”

Walter Koroshetz, M.D., speaking at this year’s Translational Pain Research Forum.

Story by: Paradigm

Placing any discipline’s greatest minds in the same room for a forum is not an easy feat. It requires planning, connections, and space for all to converge and share their ideas. Throughout the world, thousands of pain researchers attend international and national conferences, symposiums, and meetings to share their insights and connect with others in the field. But, it is easy to get lost in the shuffle of such big events and never fully appreciate the research that might be happening just a few miles from your own lab.

This challenge became an opportunity, according to Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., William Beaumont Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and director of the Institute for Translational Neuroscience (ITN) at Saint Louis University. Salvemini said she noticed the need for a meeting of neuroscientists studying the ubiquitous phenomenon of pain centered on the St. Louis region in order to form collaborations, focus on the region’s centers of expertise, and increase the rate of pain research throughout the Midwest.

In September 2023, ITN launched the inaugural Saint Louis Translational Pain Research Forum (STL-TPRF), in collaboration with the Washington University Pain Center and the Center for Clinical Pharmacology. The goal for Salvemini and her co-organizers, Robert Gereau IV, Ph.D., vice chair for research at Washington University in St. Louis and director of the Washington University Pain Center, and Amynah Pradhan, Ph.D., director for clinical pharmacology and assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy, was to unify pain researchers

A NEW FORUM BRINGS TOGETHER SCIENTISTS AND STUDENTS TO FORGE RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS WITHIN THE PAIN RESEARCH COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT ST. LOUIS AND THE MIDWEST.

from the St. Louis region under one roof. Yet, the vision for the forum extended far beyond physically getting people into the same room. Salvemini said that through the forum, which was attended by more than 100 researchers and students, she hoped to inspire the next generation of skilled pain researchers.

“We are educating the next generation of researchers, clinicians, and educators in basic neuroscience, and we want to provide as many opportunities as we can,” she said.

An Idea Shifts Into Reality

When Salvemini began brainstorming ideas for a scientific forum in St. Louis, she knew she wanted to set up an event that would specifically discuss matters related to translational pain research. In December 2022, she got the ball rolling by initiating conversations with Gereau and Pradhan. These first discussions laid the foundation that would form the first STL-TPRF on September 22–23, 2023, hosted at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy campus.

“I wanted this to be based in St. Louis to showcase the great work of researchers from different universities in St. Louis that are

doing translational pain research and broaden it to bring in other researchers from more institutions within the Midwest,” Salvemini said. “The forum would showcase the research around pain that we do and provide the opportunity to increase collaborations among researchers.”

As the idea for the forum took hold, Salvemini, Gereau, Pradhan, and their teams immediately went to work executing a plan for a two-day event that would unite leaders in the field of pain research, facilitate the exchange of industry insights, and explore novel approaches to tackle the complex topic of pain management and treatment. But Salvemini knew they needed to act quickly to make it a success. Through their combined efforts and the organization and dedication of their assistants, Emily Helm of SLU and Emma Witzke of Washington University in St. Louis, they were able to pull the forum together in a matter of months.

“We started the [planning] in January 2023 so organizing everything to be ready in September was a big challenge,” Salvemini said. “But, it was amazing how this symposium went. We had 170 people that registered and 170 people that attended.”

Two Full Days of Success

Unifying the brightest minds in pain research requires many phone calls, email communications, and online marketing efforts. The STL-TPRF team secured two renowned pain researchers to provide a national perspective on the field.

Walter Koroshetz, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), served as the keynote speaker, and Vivianne L. Tawfik, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor at Stanford University, led talks that energized the audience and lent real credibility to the event and to the St. Louis region’s position on the pain research map. The STL-TPRF also invited speakers from all three partner institutions as well as other researchers from NINDS, Northwestern University, Indiana University Bloomington, and the University of Minnesota.

Salvemini remarked that having all those speakers present at the forum put St. Louis and ITN up at the forefront of this research, and it helps achieve SLU’s overriding mission of increased research growth within the University.

“The forum is providing these hubs and the ability to say this is what we are doing in terms of translational research, and it’s very powerful,” she said. “Our name counts and gives SLU this kind of prestige that helps increase research growth within the University, and bridges with other institutions like Washington University and the Center of Clinical Pharmacology.”

Highlighting SLU Researchers

The STL-TPRF invited a variety of scientists from across the Midwest and beyond to share their work in pain research. Two SLU researchers were among them.

Aubin Moutal, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology at the SLU School of Medicine, studies rare autoimmune clinical conditions to identify novel proteins involved in chronic pain. He discussed his research on the painful symptoms of many autoimmune disorders and his discovery of a specific protein involved in autoimmunedriven pain.

Christopher Arnatt, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology and physiology and chemistry, has been involved in drug discovery, and his lab focuses on the design, synthesis, and initial evaluation of drug candidates. In his presentation, Arnatt discussed the arm of his research that focuses on the role of a cellular receptor, called GPR138, which sits on the surface of some immune cells and plays a key role in driving inflammation. This protein is integral to the development of neuropathic pain in the human body, and Arnatt is now synthesizing compounds in his lab that specifically target the receptor to potentially block neuropathic pain.

Both Moutal and Arnatt said that the STL-TPRF was highly successful in showcasing current knowledge, sparking collaborations, and stimulating new ideas in pain research.

“Even though we’re living in the same city, we don’t actually meet often,” Moutal said. “It was nice to have this so we could chat with all of the other [researchers] from the other universities, and that is how we start collaborations.”

Arnatt added this forum also could increase the current community of researchers working on pain and produce more opportunities for students in and around St. Louis.

“There is a very active recruitment of people working on pain,” Arnatt said. “This meeting will benefit from staying local, but it will grow because the community is growing. We can also give a better platform for students, trainees, and postdocs to present their own work and shine within the community.”

Forum attendees visit with student researchers at the poster session.

Enriching Student Skills

Neuroscience has captured student interest at SLU since the late 2000s, when a dedicated group of students proposed the creation of a major in neuroscience. It later became a formal interdisciplinary degree program in 2014. As interest in neuroscience continued to grow, ITN began offering numerous research opportunities and events, including Neuro Day, which is ITN’s annual research symposium, and the STL-TPRF, for students in the neuroscience program and other degree programs.

“We provide a lot of opportunities for the undergraduate students that are in the undergraduate neuroscience program,” Salvemini said. “Undergraduates can join the labs of principal investigators (PIs) and be exposed to research and be trained in the research that we do in neuroscience and chronic pain.”

The STL-TPRF offered abundant opportunities for students and trainees to both hear from leading lights in the discipline and to showcase their own work in poster presentations during the forum. Students at SLU and other institutions presented 47 posters throughout the event and they displayed neuroscience and pain research findings in a variety of physiological contexts, including migraines, sickle cell pain, diabetes, and obesity-induced pain.

Salvemini explained that giving students the space to present allows them to develop the skills they need to grow before entering their own careers in neuroscience.

“Trainee engagement is at the top of the list,” Salvemini said. “The more we do it, the more engagement we will have and the more of these types of activities and community outreach we will see. When people start taking initiative, things will happen.”

SLU student presents her research at the forum poster session.

Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., speaking at this year’s Translational Pain Research Forum.

Ambitions Ahead

As scientists engaged in pain research continue their work, Salvemini and her colleagues are readying for the second STL-TPRF, which is slated to take place in September 2025. Their ambitions for this next iteration are simple — to grow the forum and spread the word throughout the St. Louis region.

“We will definitely have it again in September 2025, and by then, we will have more time to prepare ourselves in terms of the distribution of information,” she said.

The STL-TPRF provides another level of training, information sharing, and community building that can only enliven the field of pain research. But its true impact lies in discoveries to come. Salvemini said she is hopeful that this forum, now and in the future, contributes to successful growth within pain research and benefits the millions of people who are affected by chronic pain.

“Our goal is to help alleviate human suffering,”

Salvemini said. “The

education that we provide within these teams is all about training the next generation of scientists, educators, and clinicians who will hopefully continue our mission to help end human suffering through the understanding and discovery of novel treatments for pain.”

Breaking Barriers in Female Entrepreneurship

JINTONG TANG, PH.D. Professor, Management, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business; Fellow, SLU Research Institute

THE GREATEST IDEAS are oftentimes born from personal connections. For Jintong Tang, Ph.D., Mary Louise Murray Endowed Professor of Management in the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business, Faculty Fellow for the Division of Diversity and Innovative Community Engagement and SLU Research Institute Fellow, her latest research was sparked by judgments made in the media during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when overt anti-Asian rhetoric soared.

As an entrepreneurship scholar and member of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, Tang was immediately

drawn into how populist rhetoric not only affected the AAPI community, but also other communities such as those in female entrepreneurship — a field that has been male dominant for centuries.

“Women entrepreneurship is misaligned with traditional gender roles, and women entrepreneurs may be categorized as ‘outsiders,’” she said. “This increases women entrepreneurs’ fear of being ‘othered’ and losing privileged protections in the entrepreneurial arena.”

Her curiosity fueled her current research titled, “The Gendered Effect of Populism

on Entrepreneurship and Innovation,” which examines the impact of populism on entrepreneurship and innovation among women. Tang and her collaborators at the University of Missouri–St.Louis; Jinan University in Guangzhou, China; and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, proposed that the surge of populist discourse by a nation’s political leaders prevents women’s entry into entrepreneurship and decreases the innovativeness of new ventures, particularly among women.

“Entrepreneurship today embodies all crucial skills for our personal and professional lives:

creativity, innovation, open-mindedness, resilience, perseverance, bootstrapping, and the ability to turn aspirations into actions,” she said. “Researching and teaching these entrepreneurial skills, particularly for underrepresented groups, can help all individuals to cope with the unprecedented challenges and crises in the world.”

The project has received strong support from the University, including the 2023 Beaumont Scholarship Research Award from SLU and the 2023 Medart Women in Leadership Grant sponsored by Mike Medart, the dean’s advisory board chair at SLU’s Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business. It is also under review for presentations at two leading entrepreneurship conferences in 2024: the Diana International Research Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference in Munich, Germany.

Tang also puts her research into action by providing support and sponsorship to women entrepreneurs. She works directly with the International Institute of St. Louis to provide entrepreneurship training for immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs; she chaired the Research Symposium on Women Leaders and Entrepreneurs at the 2nd Annual Women in Leadership Conference held at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business, and she offered mentorship to early career faculty, particularly those in underrepresented groups.

The research conducted by Tang and her collaborators gives a voice to those in business who are being barred from the narrative by a higher power. Her critical research efforts support women in business amid a culture that has predominantly focused on traditional gender roles and give way to a more supportive era in entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship is not narrowly defined anymore,” she said. “It is timely and critical that we provide muchneeded support and sponsorship to women entrepreneurs.”

“Women entrepreneurship is misaligned with traditional gender roles, and women entrepreneurs may be categorized as ‘outsiders,’”

Tang said. “This increases women entrepreneurs’ fear of being ‘othered’ and losing privileged protections in the entrepreneurial arena.”

Tang speaking at the Be Heard Women in Leadership Conference.

The archaeological team observes and carefully unearths underground structures at their site.

It was a tense morning.

Doug Boin, Ph.D., and his Italian collaborators stood by on July 31, 2023, while a skilled excavator operator carefully scraped away layers of earth near Villa Fidelia in the central Italian town of Spello in the region of Umbria. “The team and I waited around about two and a half hours that morning for any indication that we were in the right area and that we had not wasted everyone’s time and money,” Boin said.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2023, SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY HISTORIAN DOUG BOIN, PH.D., UNEARTHED THE FOUNDATIONS OF A BUILDING IN CENTRAL ITALY THAT COULD HELP RECOVER A FORGOTTEN CHAPTER OF ANCIENT ROMAN HISTORY.

response to the Roman citizens of Spello seeking a reprieve from traveling to a faraway religious festival. Constantine granted their request and allowed them to hold their own festivities in Spello, but in return required them to erect a temple to Constantine and his ancestors, continuing a long-standing Roman tradition of the “imperial cult,” in which emperors and their families were worshipped as deities.

Boin and his team of archaeologists — which included independent researchers Francesco Giorgi and Danilo Nati; Stephen Kay, archaeology manager at the British School of Rome; and Letizia Ceccarelli, contract professor at Politecnico di Milano and British School of Rome research fellow — had identified their dig site using the advanced geophysical tools of ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry. These two technologies can help identify underground structures and characterize buried materials without having to disturb a single granule of soil, but the cutting-edge methods provide only estimations of what might lie beneath meters of earth. So as the hours passed on the morning of July 31, 2023, Boin and his colleagues were starting to get nervous.

“We’re standing there huddled around this 5-by-5-meter trench — 7:30, 8:30, 9 o’clock in the morning — waiting for some sign that the magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar have led us to the right area. And there was nothing.”

But then, Giorgi, who has more than two decades of experience conducting archaeological digs to uncover ancient Roman artifacts in Italy, called the team’s attention to a sign of hope — a layer of pinkish soil starting

to emerge as the excavator scraped away more material. “He said, ‘This is a very good sign. Because I’ve worked in Umbria before, and the pink rocks layer is an alluvial deposit from the hillsides that usually sits on top of Roman layers,’” Boin recalled him saying. “‘So if we’re about to find anything, it would happen soon.’”

With just a few more passes of its massive metal shovel, the excavator skimmed the top of the structures the team had seen in the subterranean scans of the site. They turned out to be human-made masonry. By the end of that first morning, the team, using hand tools after the excavator had ceased its rumble, uncovered the tops of what appeared to be three thick stone walls.

Boin and his colleagues were careful to not overstate the significance of their find, but it’s hard to contain the excitement over what they may have unearthed from the Umbrian soil.

Hints of a Temple

They were digging in Umbria because of a fourth-century stone inscription that historians found in the 18th century. The 1.5-by-0.5-meter stone slab contains a message from the fourth-century Roman Emperor Constantine, who famously converted to Christianity during his rule. The communication from Constantine was a

“The inscription always stood out because it refers to Emperor Constantine’s ancestors as divine,” said Boin. “And this is a part of Roman religion, which we would classify as pagan, but it’s happening at this period when the Roman Empire is trending Christian.”

Boin and his collaborators zeroed in on the resplendent, Renaissance-era property on the outskirts of Spello called the Villa Fidelia. The Villa Fidelia sits atop an ancient religious sanctuary that had been excavated by archaeologists and determined to have been used by the Indigenous people, the “Umbri,” of the area as far back as the eighth century BCE. It is also a likely origin for the stone slab that references the temple to Constantine. “That was generally the precise region that we were able to determine from the archival material where the inscription had been found,” Boin said.

Though historians had uncovered fragmentary clues to the cultural complexion of Spello in the time of Constantine from digs in and around Villa Fidelia, no one had ever located a structure that was sufficiently grandiose and properly aged to be called the “magnificent undertaking,” as referenced in the inscription, dedicated to the Christian emperor and his ancient relations.

Story by: Bob Grant

“There was a mosaic found, in the backroom of one of the properties. There was maybe the remains of a wall that was found marking out one of the terraces in the hillside,” Boin said. “But no major monumental structure has ever been associated with it.”

So he and his team trained their sights on the large open gardens and lawns that had not been excavated. In 2019, Boin received a Beaumont Scholarship Research Award from SLU to conduct a geophysical survey of Villa Fidelia and the surrounding grounds.

“We were hoping that in the best possible case, we would find maybe a large monumental temple that dated to the period of Constantine, or in the event that maybe we were overthinking things, that there would just be some other evidence for the history of the sanctuary between its founding in Indigenous times and its transformation through the Roman period, up to the late Middle Ages,” Boin said.

Boin and his collaborators conducted groundpenetrating radar and magnetometry surveys of the Villa Fidelia and its grounds in 2021. Local archaeological officials at Spello also extended an offer to scan a parking lot across the street from the Villa, which Boin accepted.

“What came back from ... the parking lot was clearly defined Roman walls that were joined at right angles and were identified at a depth of anywhere between [1 and 2 meters] beneath the surface. And it did look promising as an ancient structure.”

So in 2023, after receiving another Beaumont Award from SLU and permission from the local authorities and the Ministry of Culture in Rome, Boin and his collaborators spent that tense lateJuly morning watching a skilled excavator operator scratch away millennia of history until he reached the pink paydirt. Three stone walls emerged after another two weeks of careful digging, and these ruins may serve as the most solid evidence yet uncovered of

the overlap between the imperial cult and the gradual shift to Christianity during the rule of Emperor Constantine. They may be the walls of the very temple Constantine ordered the citizens of Spello to construct centuries ago.

“They were nothing like the foundations of what a potential Roman house would be, because they were twice as thick,” Boin said. “So the team ... instantly hypothesized [the excavated walls] were the interior walls and the potential exterior walls of a Roman temple.”

Layers of History

Not only did the dig beneath the parking lot reveal the remnants of a possible temple, but it unearthed clues to about 800 years of history, according to Boin. At the lowest point of the dig site, Boin and his team found small, bronze religious dedications and other artifacts left by the Umbri people around the fifth or fourth century BCE. These rare finds alone

Excavator operator digs at the archeological site near Villa Fidelia in Spello, Italy.

Scans of ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry surveys of the Villa Fidelia.

are noteworthy among archaeologists. Above that layer, the researchers found evidence of structure that could have been either a Roman water channel or part of a fountain from the second century BCE. But it was the monumental structure — in the form of the three adjoining walls — that most excited Boin and his colleagues.

Future Digs Into the Past

The task ahead of Boin and his collaborators is to return to Spello in 2024 to further excavate the site and seek confirmation that they’ve found the temple to Constantine. According to Kay, who oversaw the geophysical surveying of the site before digging began, the team will employ the same approach of scanning the site before excavating it in the next round of discovery.

“It was absolutely a stunning discovery,” said Ceccarelli. “For the past 300 years, historians and archaeologists have been guessing at the size, shape, and location of this ancient sanctuary space.”

Though Boin and his colleagues are careful to not yet conclude that they’ve found the temple to Constantine, if they do confirm their hypothesis, the find could represent a major signpost of the evolution from the imperial cult to Christianity in the Roman Empire. Such a material revelation in the reconstruction of Roman history is illustrative of the broader contributions of archaeology to the telling of the human story.

“The hard and fast dates of history that we use to create periods and we use to create our sense of neat and tidy chronology really fall apart when you get down to the level of daily life on the ground, especially during a period like the fourth century, when the Roman Empire is undergoing significant social, cultural, religious changes,” said Boin. “What you see in the archaeology is just how messy — literally — life was when people lived through these major moments of punctuated change. And that, I think, is just very important from a microhistorical point of view. So in many ways, archaeology can kind of come in and shake us and say, ‘You might think you know the way the story goes, but you don’t.’ That I think is the most fun part of doing the discovery. New evidence changes the way you tell the story.”

“I like [that] I can be involved from the very outset through the noninvasive work [to] the excavation and then the post-excavation work, as well,” Kay said. “Ideally, together with Letizia and Doug, we’d like to slightly extend further and confirm the ground penetration radar results, but that’s dependent on successful funding.”

Securing that funding is indeed essential not only to finishing up their work at Villa Fidelia, but to preserving their dig site if they can confidently claim that they’ve found the temple to Constantine, according to Boin.

“I would hope that that would be the next round of funding. Not only toward the study of the site, but toward the preservation of the site,” he said.

“Because it would be so historically significant at that stage that I wouldn’t want to just walk away knowing that it’s hidden in the ground after it’s been published and reported and extensively documented. I would love, if it did turn out to be a significant find, to be able to participate in making sure that it remained a part of Italy’s cultural heritage.”

A team member holds a piece of the structure present at the archeological site.

Finan Wraps Up Phase 1 of Rock of Lough Key Excavations

Crews work on the excavations on the Rock in 2023.

THOMAS FINAN, PH.D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, HAS OFFICIALLY WRAPPED UP THE FIRST PHASE OF A PROJECT HE STARTED BACK IN 2019.

Finan said his project in north County Roscommon, Ireland, on the Rock of Lough Key, the medieval castle of the MacDermot lords of Moylurg, keeps surpassing expectations.

“Last year, my colleague Sam Moore said that we completed a mighty campaign, and when he returned this summer in a visit of the Royal Irish Academy’s National Committee on Archaeology, he said, ‘Tom, somehow you managed to do it again,’” Finan said

The project began when Finan led a team that discovered extensive remains of medieval settlement on Castle Island, the castle of the MacDermot kings of Ireland in the summer of 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic derailed plans to return until 2022. For 2023, Finan and his colleagues John Soderberg of Denison University and Jim Schryver of the University of Minnesota Morris returned to the site. Despite having to battle daily monsoon downpours, the team wrapped up the first phase of research.

“The team worked hard daily, but the weather was our biggest challenge this year,” Finan said. “Even with that, the results were astounding, and the project has now reached a conclusion of the first phase of research. We have answered a number of base questions about the site, but there is so much more to consider, both on the Rock and in the surrounding landscapes around Lough Key.”

In 2022, Finan and his team also used aerial photographs to discover an underwater causeway leading to the island from the mainland nearly 300 yards away. The discovery was “huge,” Finan said.

“It explains how people likely moved large stone to the island and likely reveals the approach the English took to attack the island in the siege of 1235,” Finan said. “The narrative of that siege has often been confusing because the English siege engines would not have had the range from the mainland. I now believe that their approach was across the causeway.”

This year Finan and his team were funded by a Royal Irish Academy excavation grant, which significantly raised the profile of the project.

“We enjoyed loads of visitors this year from the National Monuments Office to the National Museum, to the National Committee on Archaeology of the Royal Irish Academy, and colleagues from various Irish universities,” Finan said. “Working on a project with such prominence is beyond what I had ever imagined, but the Rock and Lough Key continues to be a very fruitful research area.”

Finan said the Rock of Lough Key had, up until very recently, been seen as a 19th-century “folly,” or fake castle, built by the King family as part of their estate after acquiring the lands from the MacDermot family in the 17th century.

“I think most scholars considered the island a pure folly with no medieval elements,” he said. “I always thought that was unlikely given the significance of the site as the caput, or headquarters, for the MacDermots through the Middle Ages and because of the extensive historical evidence for the site. Geophysical surveying in 2017 and 2018, along with aerial surveys, led to a test excavation in 2019 which showed quite the opposite — the entire island is essentially a cake pan with two meters of medieval settlement.”

Finan said that they are still working on conclusions from the past three seasons of archaeological work, and the amount of data is staggering.

“We recovered well over 50,000 animal bones, mostly butchered for consumption within a feasting context — my colleague John Soderberg has his work cut out for him,” he said. “We discovered an early medieval cashel wall, likely dating to the eighth century, with another wall that we now believe dates to the 12th or 13th century. We excavated an area with layer after layer of intense burning, possibly from metalworking forges. We have

multiple interior buildings (although none that would appear to be a feasting hall), one of which is what we now believe to be a large stone entrance in the later wall.”

SLU history student Don Parker said, “I’ve worked with Dr.Finan for two seasons now.

The Rock is far more than just a ‘dig.’ He builds a crew that is like a tight-knit family with a singular focus of the project goals and uncovering the past. We eat, sleep, and breathe archaeology for four weeks.”

The post-excavation process has significantly changed for Finan and his colleagues due to advances in digital technologies, both basic recording methods and geospatial analysis.

“We shifted to a near 100% digital data collection model this year, and as a result, we have extensive 3D models of the excavation in progress as well as 3D models of artifacts and the overall site itself,” Finan said. “And with aerial and underwater surveying, my

graduate student Paul Smith and I were able to both survey a causeway to the mainland and identify two large underwater stone ports.”

Smith said, “Finan told me about what he figured was the causeway last year. I was skeptical at first. But we had one good day of sun during which Finan flew extensive paths over the causeway at the optimal lighting time after lunch, and there it was. We then got out on the lake with the surveying equipment and used a high-power GPS to mark points. Looking at the map and the photos we created … it was astonishing.”

All the artifacts discovered go into the care of an archaeological conservator and then the National Museum.

“We generally don’t go into detail about artifacts per se, but this year the amount of clearly medieval material was overwhelming,” Finan said. “Medieval nails, bone gaming pieces, metalworking, and small bits of

imported pottery — all indicative of highstatus activity. But, as often happens, the most amazing artifact was from the last day — a piece of clay molded as a top or toy and baked with a fingerprint. What a real connection to the past.”

With the first phase finished, Finan and his team will spend the next three years collaborating with colleagues in Ireland as part of a Fulbright Specialist Program.

“I first found out about the Fulbright Specialist Program from Karen Moore in nursing while marshaling graduation,” he said. “She said I should investigate it, and I submitted my application and was accepted, and now colleagues and I are working on the project proposal.”

Finan’s program looks at how the archaeology of Gaelic Ireland has developed in the last 30 years and how scholars now have both a better understanding of medieval Gaelic Ireland and the material culture.

Excavation work being done on the newly discovered medieval entrance feature on the Rock.

“Colleagues often can’t believe how much of a void 12-15th century Gaelic archaeology has been,” Finan said. “Through the efforts of some great colleagues, though, we have managed to create an extensive ‘Gaelic lordly assemblage,’ and can use digital and spatial technologies to build new resources for understanding this era.”

A ceramic “top,” with a fingerprint discovered at the site. Thomas Finan, Ph.D., reviews findings on-site with his team.

Sparking a Love for STEM

CHRISTA JACKSON, PH.D. Professor, Educational Studies, School of Education; Fellow, SLU Research Institute

THERE IS A COMMON DIVIDE among today’s students: some love and some hate subjects related to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. For Christa Jackson, Ph.D., this fuels her passion as an educator and researcher; Jackson wants to ignite young students’ excitement for STEM subjects at an earlier age.

When she was young, Jackson had an early interest in becoming a teacher. She spent many days gaining practice by teaching her younger sister the basics of adding, multiplying, and subtracting numbers. This simple joy as a child developed into her full-time profession: educating and conducting research related to STEM education.

Jackson has taken it upon herself to create meaningful and fun experiences that inspire students’ interest in STEM. She previously developed an integrated elementary school curriculum for science and mathematics programs called Newton, which allows students to use virtual reality to complete engineering concepts, solve problems, and unite their studies with today’s STEM careers.

“There is so much joy and beauty involved in mathematics,” she said. “I tell my students that even if they come into my class with a total disregard for math, my hope is that the course will transform their initial thoughts and fears into an appreciation for mathematics.”

In 2022, Jackson formed the Institute for STEM Collaboration, Outreach, Research, and Education (iSCORE) at SLU with a purpose of transforming the STEM community one mind at a time. iSCORE provides access and opportunities for scholars, particularly those historically excluded in the STEM community, including: Black, Latinx, and Indigenous populations; the economically disadvantaged; girls and women; emergent multilinguals; scholars with (dis)abilities, and potential first-generation college scholars. SLU undergraduate and graduate students are also able to help iSCORE by collecting and analyzing data to develop STEM learning

workshops in historically underserved student populations in K-8 and their own research skills.

Jackson hopes that iSCORE will serve 10,000 scholars (PreK-20) and 1,275 elementary, middle, and high school teachers by 2027 — paving the way for a STEM-literate workforce and a more just society.

“SLU is a great place to [conduct] research because it fosters growth and innovation, and it serves a higher purpose for the greater good, which are central to my own research,” she said.

With her passion for incorporating course materials into daily life, she teaches an appreciation for mathematics and science and uses her research to help others see the joys that can develop from a career in STEM.

“There is so much joy and beauty involved in mathematics,”

Jackson said. “I tell

my

students that

even if they come into my class with a total disregard for math, my hope is that the course will transform their initial thoughts and fears into an appreciation for mathematics.”

Students using virtual reality to do engineering concepts.

This story first appeared in a printed publication by the SLU School of Education, and it has been modified for the 2023 Impact Report.

The Open Source with SLU team poses for a group photo.

DISCOVER HOW OPEN SOURCE WITH SLU, A GRANT-FUNDED INITIATIVE IN SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY’S DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, IS ENHANCING RESEARCH EFFORTS ACROSS THE UNIVERSITY AND PREPARING STUDENTS TO ENTER TODAY’S WORKFORCE WITH PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE.

We can all recall a time when we brought an assignment home from school. Sometimes it would take us hours, and other times only minutes to complete before moving on to the next thing on our to-do list. This whole mentality — checking assignments off a to-do list like a routine — was something that bothered Kate Holdener, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science,

“I wanted to give students a more realistic environment for software development and also support the faculty that are doing research at SLU,” she said. “This grant opportunity was looking to support various initiatives that help train better workforce in open source because it is one of the reasons we have such rapid technological advancement [today].”

“We don’t have to reinvent,” she said. “Instead of writing the code from scratch [each semester], we’ll use a library, put code together, and write our own code from there.”

Open Source with SLU not only gives participating students practical software development experience, but it also helps researchers with their custom software needs. Holdener structured the program to allow

Coding Careers and Accelerating Research

when she considered her courses at Saint Louis University.

“What bothered me about [course] projects is that they were kind of toy projects or throwaway work,” Holdener said. “Students did the work, but it was not going to be used by anyone seriously or be maintained afterward. This felt like a waste because we have so many talented students that could be building something more useful.”

Holdener is a professional software engineer, specializing in software engineering, software development, and evolutionary algorithms. In early 2022, she received a two-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to create a center that would engage graduate and undergraduate students in open-source software development for SLU research projects. She founded the program called Open Source with SLU.

Software in the Open

For every piece of technology or automation, a piece of source code is needed to make it function. Once it is ready for release, the creator of the code must answer an essential question: Will the code be closed or open to the public?

The difference between closed and opensource code is in the name itself: It’s either open or closed to public visibility and modification. Open source allows anyone to adjust the code and collaborate to improve performance. It’s a critical learning opportunity for students interested in computer science.

Holdener explained that using open source has an added benefit on university campuses where students’ availability and involvement may change from semester to semester.

SLU researchers to submit a formal request for a software project, and then graduate students lead a team of undergraduate students to execute the work. Graduate students are hired to take on the role of a senior developer, overseeing all stages of the project and checking in with undergraduate developers along the way.

The program has a collaborative atmosphere. Students must develop an actionable plan that includes designing, prototyping, testing, and showcasing their work to their clients — much like a corporate software development team. Yet, the greatest takeaway for students is that their capstone project can now be used as professional experience in a job interview.

“Students make contributions to these projects, and all those contributions are visible

Story by: Paradigm

to anybody,” Holdener said. “As a potential employer, I can go and look at your profile and see these are the things you have worked on and these are the lines of code you wrote. It gives [students] a concrete foundation and proof of what they worked on.”

Purpose-Driven Projects

In its first year of operation, Open Source with SLU has contributed to various research projects on campus and in the St. Louis community. While each project is research-driven, they are also purposedriven, developing software that will benefit humanity in the long term. This supports the program’s three learning outcomes that guide student work on their projects — experience, service, and promotion.

Daniel Shown, program director for Open Source with SLU, explained that students are able to achieve these goals and gain professional experience as they support research that is interesting or valuable to them.

“First, we are trying to give students realworld software development experience,” he said. “Something more like what they will experience when they are out in the world and less like a class assignment. Second, we are building software that supports research, so we pick clients from across the University who are doing research. The

third thing we are trying to do is promote and be a center of gravity for open-source software development and broader conversations about open scholarship on campus.”

At the time of this publication, the program is working on over 13 capstone projects that contribute to research in fields such as mathematics, statistics, chemistry, theology, history, and community improvement. One community improvement project includes their recent work with an application that simplifies the process of volunteering at local homeless shelters. This project is in partnership with House Everyone STL.

“This project is a website, where volunteers can easily sign up for shifts at homeless shelters,” said Logan Wyas, SLU graduate student and developer on the project. “It has the ability to make a big impact on our world.”

The application will allow volunteers to sign up, view which shelters have open volunteer

shifts, and give shelters the ability to see who is on their schedule. For students, it is the opportunity to address real-world problems in research or the local community that most excites them. When they see the skills they’ve learned in the classroom give them the power to improve the world around them, it makes the work all the more meaningful.

Another mission-driven project is called the Lived Religion Project, which wanted a digital platform that would share media and notes about people’s respective encounters with religion in their everyday life.

“Dr. Adam Parks does research in ethnography, which is how people live, and he is specifically focused on religion and the different ways people experience or engage in religion or religious artifacts,” Holdener said. “He needed a platform that would allow ethnographers to go out in the world, make notes on various religious artifacts, and come home to make more detailed notes after.”

This need developed the idea for “Where’s Religion?” an application for both desktop and mobile that hosts a platform for collecting, organizing, and sharing images, videos, and sounds, along with textural notations sourced from a wide range of users. This collection of materials will not only give value to research stemming from history and religion, but also will provide a unique look at several viewpoints of American life.

Undergraduate student Massimo Evelti works on multiple projects within the program to further develop his skills, expand his knowledge of open source, and connect with classmates in a working environment. He said their roles as computer scientists and engineers within Open Source with SLU has an inherent capability to better the world now and into the future.

"Engineering is about creating things to help people, and many of these projects are for the betterment of society and its people," Evelti said. "If one puts helping others as a priority, there will be plenty of moments to flourish in this field."

Coding data on a computer screen.

Embracing a Collaborative Environment

Open Source with SLU requires a team effort, which is an expectation that not many of the students face in their other courses. Shown explained that the way scientists work across disciplines is more collaborative than ever, and putting the open-source work out into the community benefits all.

“Science is not a body of knowledge, and it’s not even just one person or one lab doing a process,” Shown said. “It’s a community engaged in a dialogue about discovery together. The way we do science is by building communities around delivering insights and discovering insights that are impossible if you keep everything locked away.”

Holdener built the program to foster a collaborative approach when working on open-source projects. Graduate and undergraduate students come together with their unique interests, varying experience levels, and personal skills to gain the experience they need to move into their careers beyond SLU.

Graduate student Yash Bhatia received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering in 2019 from Mumbai University in India before coming to SLU to obtain his master’s in computer science. He works at Open Source with SLU as a graduate assistant and tech lead for open-source projects,

including the “Where’s Religion?” desktop and mobile applications.

Bhatia believes the program helps students gain valuable experience working in a team environment that will prepare students for a career after graduation.

“There are many students who come to the United States with no experience working on real projects or real-time group efforts, where a group leader shapes the team and helps them to become better developers,” Bhatia said. “It is an excellent initiative that builds skills and makes students learn about different technologies.”

Holdener explained that the program gives students an edge in their resumes. She said most entry-level computer science positions require one to two years of experience, which makes it more challenging for a student entering the job market. This program presents a solution for students — helping them gain relevant and provable experience before entering an interview.

“Whether it’s these projects or some other projects, [students] can claim some experience through it,” Holdener said. “Also, it’s not just the claim — it’s something [they] can demonstrate. I tell my students to list and link their projects on their resume because it’s their development. We run this program in a professional manner just like any software development organization.”

Toward the Discovery of the New

Open Source with SLU is making an immediate impact with computer science students across campus, inviting them to dive into their chosen craft with vigor, innovation, and creativity. However, it’s not just for students who work in coding and engineering software, but also students who may have an interest in learning about open-source software.

“A long-term goal for me is to involve students at different levels in the program, and not necessarily from just the computer science department,” Holdener said. “There’s many aspects to these projects that are less technical, and it could be a playground where all students can come, jump in, and participate in projects.”

Current students encourage others to reach out and become involved in what projects pique their interest.

“This program is an amazing initiative,” Evelti said. “I highly recommend students to look through the projects, and if there is one that catches your eye, dive in and start with the easiest problem. From there, you will start to understand what you are good at and what you need to work on. The important thing is don’t be timid to ask for help and to finish a problem you have started!”

As Open Source with SLU continues to grow, Holdener is optimistic that this initiative is just the start of an impactful, flourishing open-source community at SLU.

“Students hear about this, and they’ll reach out to say ‘Hey, how do I get involved in this? I want to build up my skills and participate,’” she said. “We’re seeing more of this now, and it is exciting to me.”

To learn more about the current projects or to submit a project request to Open Source with SLU, visit their website at https://oss-slu.github.io/.

Students in a computer science class in Ritter Hall.

Blending Research With Care in Liver Disease

BRENT

NEUSCHWANDER-TETRI, M.D. Professor of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine; Fellow, SLU Research Institute

BRENT NEUSCHWANDER-TETRI, M.D., has been at Saint Louis University long enough to see a lot of change come down the pike. “We’ve always had a sustained, persistent effort to have a larger research footprint,” said the professor of internal medicine at SLU’s School of Medicine. “The driving energy behind it has always been the mission of the University to make a difference in the world.”

In his role at SLU, where he’s held a faculty position since 1991, Neuschwander-Tetri has contributed to the SLU mission of contributing to the greater good by studying steatotic (fatty)

liver disease, which killed more than 38,000 Americans between 1999 and 2022 according to a July 2023 study published in Hepatology Communications and was poorly understood when he started his research on it more than 25 years ago. “Now we have therapies that are looking very promising in clinical trials, and we’ve participated in some of those clinical trials, both with industry support, but also with National Institutes of Health (NIH) support,” Neuschwander-Tetri said.

Neuschwander-Tetri noted that he’s been funded by the NIH since 2002 to participate

in the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN). This has allowed him and his collaborators at eight other trial sites to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment options for the disease. This work has resulted in several major publications, most recently contributing genetic data to a Nature Genetics paper that reveals some of the genetic underpinnings of the condition and a New England Journal of Medicine paper that demonstrates the progression of liver disease in this large cohort.

In 2023, Neuschwander-Tetri and his colleagues celebrated the availability of a huge new dataset that contains the genetic sequence data of thousands of their patients, who consented to being a part of the sprawling study. “Over the next three years, that’ll be one of the major areas that we as a network will be focused on understanding,” he said. “We feel very strongly that this disease has major genetic underpinnings, and it reflects the interface between the genetics of obesity, which are very complicated, the genetics of liver disease, and the overlap between the two.”

Neuschwander-Tetri has also served as a co-author of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases guidance that was published in 2023 for medical practitioners who treat patients with steatotic liver disease.

In September 2023, Nature Medicine published a paper that NeuschwanderTetri co-authored reporting a comparison of different non-invasive, diagnostic biomarkers for steatohepatitis, the progressive form of steatotic liver disease — historically, this severe form of the disease was diagnosed with a liver biopsy, which is very invasive.

In addition to his research, Neuschwander-Tetri set up a clinic at SLU’s Salus Center more than 20 years ago to provide clinical care for patients with steatotic liver disease and to enroll them in the NASH CRN observational study. “It’s a big part of why our site has the highest rate of patient retention, I believe, in the whole (NASH Clinical Research) network,” he said. “We’ve really retained our patients very well over the years by combining excellent clinical care with their study participation.”

Neuschwander-Tetri noted that the funding tied to the NASH CRN is drawing to a close, but much work lies ahead. “We’ll wrap up the patient visits in their final year starting next summer and going through summer 2025,” he said. “And then two more years of basically

going through all the data to learn as much as we can and publishing our findings.”

Those papers, which will report crucial findings, will include genetic data, serum proteomic data, and liver RNA transcriptomic data that could lead to better diagnostic tools

or treatments for steatotic liver disease, Neuschwander-Tetri said. “It will be a lot of exciting work and a lot of opportunities to generate new knowledge.”

“It’s a big part of why our site has the highest rate of patient retention,

I believe, in the whole (NASH Clinical Research) network,” Neuschwander-Tetri said. “We’ve really retained our patients very well over the years by combining excellent clinical care with their study participation.”

Saint Louis University Hospital and SLUCare.

A teen participating in driving simulation training and assessments. All article photos courtesy of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Driving requires multiple facets of our attention. From blaring horns to other vehicles careening past us, there is plenty for our senses to take in. As we drive, we periodically glance away from the road to complete simple tasks such as adjusting our mirrors, putting on sunglasses, or talking with passengers in the backseat. Experienced drivers may not give a quick glance away from the road much thought because it has simply become routine.

Annie Artiga Garner, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and clinical psychologist, understands even the smallest glance away could lead to a dangerous crash — especially for a new adolescent driver. But for those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the rules of the road may be even more difficult to process while in the driver’s seat.

The Need for ADHD Research

Garner is a long-time researcher of ADHD and its impact on individuals across their lifespan. Early in her career, she recognized a distinct gap in existing research among teens with an ADHD diagnosis. Teens with ADHD are at an increased risk for car crashes. However, she said a majority of existing studies documenting ADHD-related driving problems have lumped young drivers with

With ADHD

STEP INTO THE DRIVER’S SEAT ALONGSIDE ONE RESEARCHER WHO ADDRESSES THE LIMITATIONS

PLACED ON ADOLESCENT DRIVERS WITH ADHD AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVED DRIVING PROGRAMS.

more experienced drivers which limits our understanding of the combined impact of being young and having ADHD.

“From childhood to adulthood, one area that has received less attention is driving, and driving is an area that has potentially deadly consequences,” Garner said. “It’s an overlooked area with public health implications.”

As one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders among children, ADHD affects a person’s level of attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Driving requires individuals to make quick decisions based on controllable factors, such as road signage, and uncontrollable factors, such as the driving tendencies of others.

“When we drive, we need to look away from the road to check our speedometer or look over our shoulder to merge into another lane,” she said. “Through our research, we found that when teens with ADHD looked away from the road, they looked away for extended periods of time.”

With previous research in hand, Garner and her team explored an additional research opportunity to help reduce extended eye glances while driving. This idea set in motion a study that would seek to improve driving among teens with ADHD by teaching them strategies and helping them keep their eyes on the road.

Taking a Digital Approach

In December 2022, Garner co-published an article in The New England Journal of Medicine about their study, “Trial of Training to Reduce Driver Inattention in Teens with ADHD.” She worked as the co-investigator, alongside collaborators at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The study analyzed two groups of teens with ADHD, aged 16 to 19, as they underwent five sessions within a training program to assess their eye glances while driving. After the sessions, participants were followed for one year through an in-vehicle recording system to assess their real-world driving skills.

The intervention program used the FOcused Concentration and Attention Learning (FOCAL) program to monitor eye glances. It is a single-session desktop software program that trains teens with ADHD to limit the amount of time someone glances away from the road. Garner’s research took this program one step further to create FOCAL+, an enhanced version that includes multiple computerized sessions, eye-tracking monitors, and immediate auditory feedback as they drove in a driving simulator.

Story by: Paradigm

“One of our main goals was adapting the interventions in a way that would work for teens with ADHD,” she said. “We feel like we were able to accomplish something significant.”

The computerized program showed teens a split screen, displaying both a driver’s perspective of the road and a map. As teens pressed or depressed the space bar, they would simulate multitasking while driving. If a map was present on the screen for more than three seconds, an alarm sounded.

After completing the computer program, the group engaged in driving simulation training, using a console with a steering wheel and pedals. Participants wore special eye-tracking glasses while they identified symbols on their dashboard. If they looked away for more than two seconds, an alarm sounded — notifying the teen of an extended eye glance.

Garner explained teens with ADHD learn to better estimate the length of their glances when they receive real-time feedback. The introduction of feedback within the study invited teens to form new habits by immediately recognizing their eye glances while driving and developing more confidence in their skills over time.

“Driving is significantly related to independence, job opportunities, and life

success in the U.S.,” she said. “If individuals with ADHD aren’t learning how to drive safely because they are concerned they may not be good at it or they’ve had lots of crashes before, then we have a situation where individuals’ lives are limited in terms of their potential, access to jobs, and overall life success. This intervention has the potential to change that trajectory for people.”

Evaluating Real-World Driving

New habits can be formed in the controls of a simulated environment, but it’s in the real world where driving skills are put to the test. A recording system was installed to assess their vehicle’s forward or lateral accelerations to examine the impact of the intervention on real-world driving. The accelerations were tracked as G-force events during the realworld driving period — allowing Garner and her team to evaluate if those events were due to prolonged eye glances.

“The camera would go off every time their car had an abrupt change in G-force,” she said. “If they had a hard stop or an event like it, we would code what was happening inside the car because it retroactively saved what was going on some seconds before.”

Garner and the team created a coding scheme for each of the 6,000 videos collected, and trained her team to assess each collected

G-force trigger. Codes included details such as what happened before the event, what was going on in the environment at the time, whether or not the teen had a crash or nearcrash, and if the driver engaged in extended eye glances or other distractions.

Throughout the year, the FOCAL+ group had 24% fewer long glances than the control group. Additionally, crash and near crash rates in the FOCAL+ group were 3.4%, compared to 5.6% for the control group — reducing 40% of crashes and near crashes among the FOCAL+ group.

“We think these findings really make a difference for not just the teens themselves, but also everyone else who is on the road with them,” she said.

Success Inspires Opportunities

As a result of the study’s success, the program is currently available through Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as a clinical service for all teens, including teens with ADHD, and anyone else who may want to participate. Additionally, Garner is working on implementing new studies that will broaden the initial research and hopefully expand the driving program to more cities, including St. Louis.

Left: A teen wearing eye-tracking glasses worn by participants during driving simulation training and assessments. Right: Computer screen viewed by researcher displaying teen’s eye glance behavior.

“I’ve been talking with my collaborators in Cincinnati about — once the clinical service is up and running — doing research on how the clinical service is working,” she said. “I’ve also been in conversations with the traffic safety office in Missouri to share my ideas about future projects here in St. Louis.”

Her ideas prompted additional research around ADHD and driving in her lab at Saint Louis University. As the principal investigator, Garner and her team of researchers at the lab explore the impact of ADHD on daily life with a specific interest on adolescent drivers. Current research has stemmed into emerging topics such as trends in delayed licensure, the impact of sluggish cognitive tempo, and family factors that predict safe or risky driving in this teen population.

One of her greatest opportunities for the future includes expanding more ways teens with ADHD can get this type of training without needing a driving simulator.

“Our next project is looking at developing a virtual reality version of this intervention that could be used more widely in the community,” she said. “It could be used at driving schools, or outpatient through occupational therapy where it might be more accessible to people.”

Expanding Research Endeavors

Throughout each phase of Garner’s education and research, one goal remains at the forefront: creating more opportunities for those who feel limited by an ADHD diagnosis. Garner believes the research she and her colleagues completed reaches beyond those affected by ADHD — impacting the lives of all those who get behind the wheel.

“The work I am doing has a long-term goal of supporting individuals whose diversity has often been looked at as a deficit and a problem,” she said. “Instead, I hope to provide opportunities to help individuals with ADHD live full and meaningful lives.”

As more research opportunities emerge, Garner has aspirations to expand her research topics to include more facets of neurodiversity. She hopes her existing and future projects will support those with neurodiverse conditions and help them develop strategies for daily activities like driving.

Garner is actively exploring research centered on neurodiversityaffirming practices and therapist education. Through her ongoing dedication to ADHD and neurodiversity, her work continues to shine a light on an underrepresented area of research, allowing others to navigate the roads of life with confidence — no matter their condition.

“When I think of humankind, I think about the diversity that comes with humanity, how beautiful diversity is, and how important it is for humanity to reach its full potential,”

Garner said. “If

we can embrace and celebrate each other’s diversity, then I think it benefits us all.”

Annie Artiga Garner, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Saint Louis University and a licensed clinical psychologist in Missouri. Garner was named a SLU Research Institute Fellow in November 2023. Her full bio can be found on page 115.

Distraction task performed by teens during the driving-simultation-based trainings.

A Touch of Ingenuity

JENNA GORLEWICZ , PH.D.

Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

NICOLAS PRUDENCIO

Graduate Student in Mechanical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

“In the lab, we’re very interested in understanding how to raise the touch channel as a primary mode of communication,” said Jenna Gorlewicz, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of the CHROME Lab. “Where better to do that than from experts in touch themselves, like the DeafBlind community?”

an innate human capacity,” said Gorlewicz, who is also the associate dean for research and innovation in SLU’s School of Science and Engineering and a fellow with the SLU Research Institute. “Imagine being on Zoom with 100 people. It’s hard to read the room. What could information conveyed via touch do to support that?”

One Saint Louis University lab is developing new touch-based technologies in collaboration with the DeafBlind community, exploring how a simple tap can transform how we all communicate.

THAT TAPPING YOU MAY NOTICE in Saint Louis University’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building is probably coming from the Collaborative Haptics, Robotics, and Mechatronics (CHROME) Lab. The CHROME Lab brings together faculty and student researchers to study haptics — that is, the science and technology of touch.

Protactile language is a touch-based form of communication consisting of intentional taps, presses, and other touch interactions that was created by the DeafBlind community. Protactile is an incredibly rich language, something that could never be captured via technology. It’s all about being “in touch” with one another. In a time when so many users are visually taxed from staring at screens and attending virtual meetings, unlocking the potential of touch could be transformative for all users.

“Insights about communicating through touch are much bigger than any one community. It’s

The CHROME Lab is collaborating with researchers at Gallaudet University and the DeafBlind community on developing wearable devices — a little bigger than watches — that send touch-based signals. The purpose of the project is to support fundamental research in linguistics in understanding how deafblind children make sense of touch cues. Gorlewicz said there is an array of possible applications for this technology, from navigation — drivers could receive directions through touch-based cues rather than dividing their attention between the road and their dashboard — to

remote communication, allowing for less visual overload in virtual meetings.

The project is supported by a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Gallaudet University, of which SLU has a subaward to develop the wearable, touch-based technologies for the study.

Nicolas Prudencio is a graduate student in SLU’s School of Science and Engineering studying mechanical engineering. With mentorship from Gorlewicz, he is designing and developing these wearable technologies. Prudencio’s role is to understand how the different electronic components of the devices relate to one another, and to bring them together in a functioning device.

Prudencio is using 3D printing to design the external housing for these devices. “The cool part of that is we can iterate very fast,” said Prudencio. “We can design it and print it, and in a few hours, we can know if it’s going to work or not.”

Prudencio is working with big components first so that he can more easily modify them, but once the design is finalized, he will need to reduce the size of the device to something a small child can comfortably wear and use.

“The cool part of that is we can iterate very fast,”

said Prudencio. “We can design it and print it, and in a few hours,

we can know if it’s going to

work

or not.”

Prudencio wearing the current prototype of the haptic device designed in the CHROME Lab in partnership with researchers at Gallaudet University and the DeafBlind community.

Nicolas Prudencio, graduate student in the SLU School of Science and Engineering, working with a wearable prototype he designed.

Prudencio said the experience of working on the project is invaluable as it allows him to test the concepts and theories he’s learned in the classroom. But he also believes it is vital for engineers to work alongside people from different backgrounds in developing new technologies. This extends to the undergraduate researchers Prudencio helps mentor as well, who work side-by-side with him on projects like this.

“I can build something that is amazing from my perspective but that will be completely useless if it doesn’t work for other people,” said Prudencio. This is one reason why he said of the deafblind individuals at the center of the project: “I think they’re doing more for me than I am doing for them.”

Before coming to SLU, Prudencio earned a bachelor’s degree in electromechanical engineering in his home country of Bolivia. As he reflected on his experience of coming to the United States, Prudencio expressed gratitude for the mentorship from Gorlewicz and the sense of belonging he’s found in the CHROME Lab:

“In my experience working back home, your boss is going to tell you what to do and how to do it, and you’re limited to doing what they say. Here, Jenna is a mentor. She’s very supportive, and she gives you many opportunities. If you think there’s another way to do something, she encourages you to do it,” said Prudencio. “It was good when I came to St. Louis and Saint Louis University, but I think it was even better when I joined the CHROME Lab. I really like working in the lab. This is a place where I feel at home.”

“It was good when I came to St. Louis and Saint Louis University, but I think it was even better when I joined the CHROME Lab. I really like working in the lab. This is a place where I feel at home.”

- Nicolas Prudencio

A student worker at Fresh Gatherings prepares breakfast.

Story by: Paradigm

EXPLORE THE PATHS A NEW SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE CREATES BETWEEN ACADEMICS, INDUSTRY, AND COMMUNITY TO IMPROVE THE REGIONAL FOOD ECOSYSTEM.

The bustling neighborhoods of St. Louis are hungry for change. Communities seek to uncover solutions to decades of food insecurity that have lingered far too long. This is where the story of a new Saint Louis University research collaborative comes together.

The Food and Justice Action Collaborative (FJAC) is unifying efforts across academia, industry, and the community to address long-standing food insecurity. This idea took shape from the realization that collaboration could help solve St. Louis’s recurring history of food and health access. By promoting research efforts and engagement opportunities, FJAC aims to work alongside the St. Louis community — merging its academic resources and community connections to ensure a healthier future.

“[There were people] working in public health, health sciences, and biology,” said Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., ATC, FASAHP, FNAP, vice dean of SLU’s Doisy College of Health Sciences and cocoordinator of FJAC. “It was also in law. It was in history. It was in education. It was all across our campus.”

Though food has been studied for years at SLU, researchers such as Breitbach saw the need to connect the important yet disparate projects across the University.

“We want to pull these people who are doing great work in the community together in an interprofessional collaborative where we can amplify our efforts and build new research collaborations,” Breitbach said.

Increasing Food Access

FJAC connects St. Louis organizations with the University’s vast resources and expertise, empowering the St. Louis communities that are leading the charge on regional food access.

“We did not want to take on a big project and impose it on our partners,” Breitbach said. “We want to take these existing organic relationships that we have with the community that are based on community-based needs and start to bring a greater capacity and infrastructure. Then, they can get support at the point where they need it.”

Barry Maciak, a social entrepreneur in residence at SLU, works alongside FJAC to pinpoint opportunities and partnerships.

He explained that his role as a social entrepreneur has encouraged him to look at all ways SLU can help build capacity at organizations that are working in food. One organization that has been directly impacted by FJAC’s formation and connections is Propel Kitchens, a nonprofit located at Carter Commons in Pagedale, Missouri, whose efforts feed the greater community, support local food entrepreneurs, and cultivate career development opportunities in food.

“Propel Kitchens uses food as a tool to advance equity and justice in order to improve nutrition,” Maciak said. “It’s focused on creating a social enterprise that produces

nutritious foods either under contract or directly for programs, and in the process of that production, we train people with the skills to get into the food industry.”

Propel Kitchens equips St. Louis residents and communities to combat existing economic and health inequities by feeding communities with healthy meal kits and school lunches, hosting culinary education programs, and supporting Black and Brown food entrepreneurs throughout the area.

SLU has supported Propel Kitchens throughout its development and offered resources to help build its infrastructure and support its program development. SLU’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics works closely with their organization to help with recipe development, food production, and bringing applied research into the community.

FJAC also connects SLU’s degree programs to organizations like Propel Kitchens to help pinpoint opportunities where they will be able to support their own communities. In the past year, SLU’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics housed a community kitchen called the Salus Center Kitchen. It was located in the basement of their building, and it supported the research, classwork, and skill development of its students. In addition, it also served the greater community through the coordination and production of school lunch programming at several local charter schools.

When the Salus Center Kitchen closed its doors, the department and FJAC were able to link Propel Kitchens to the existing school lunch programs. This connection successfully transferred the work into the community and gave Propel Kitchens another opportunity to expand its efforts in food preparation and culinary skill development. Currently, they have assumed the operation of two lunch programs, which includes the menu creation, preparation, and delivery of food to the schools.

“Now that Propel Kitchens has taken over [the lunch programs], it is going to be a main product line, and they have two schools this year with three locations,” Maciak said. “Next year, they already have leads for a number of schools that are interested in coming to Propel Kitchens.

With continued collaboration with FJAC, Propel Kitchens will keep growing as a critical community-based asset for food production and careers in and beyond the Pagedale area.

Improving Community Health

Food is an extremely personal experience that impacts all facets of our health and well-being. Our unique relationships with food are closely connected with our social determinants of health (SDOH), or the environmental conditions in which we are born, grow, work, live, age, and connect with others. In 2022, FJAC members Lauren Landfried, Ph.D., RD,

SLU students enjoy a meal together outside.

LD, FAND, and Ally Terhaar, M.P.H., SLU Ph.D. candidate, began working closely with St. Louis City’s Department of Health on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant to develop multisector action plans to address SDOH with food access.

Through focus group discussions with community members and partners, they were able to understand what current barriers exist in St. Louis, such as household food insecurity, the rise of chronic disease, malnutrition, and food stamp access. From there, they were able to take what they learned and begin enacting plans that would address food access and chronic health concerns in St. Louis City and County.

“It ended up working out nicely that [the work with the CDC] could roll over into this other collaborative effort that was already happening with [St. Louis County], and it’s a lot of the same people at the table,” Landfried said.

Now, Landfried and Terhaar are sitting side by side at that table to help enact community health improvement plans for both St. Louis City and County. But, the work they are doing now is only a continuation of the efforts they and other community members have been working on for many years. It is their hope that the formation of FJAC will help bring others into this lane, have a less siloed approach to increasing health by way of food, and amplify all individual efforts that exist in the community.

The work of the last 10 years has been dedicated to solving the questions: How do we get everyone to work together toward common goals in food access and security, and how do we make sure we’re optimizing all of our work to move the needle on these issues? The answer to these questions lies in connecting the community to a pipeline of existing resources.

With FJAC’s formation, both Landfried and Terhaar are excited about the possibilities ahead that will bring researchers from different disciplines together to work collectively on issues related to food.

“We’re able to translate the work we do as researchers — that is sometimes behind our computer and in our own brain — and start to bring it out into the community that we have around us that is struggling with food access in St. Louis,” Terhaar said. “It can be easy working at an institution to just stay within your bubble. But SLU does a really good job of being open to community members and organizations wanting to play a role in what’s already happening.”

“It can be easy for people to get excited about the one thing they are working on,” Terhaar said. “I think that a lot of the collaboration has come out of the work with the City and County, and our goal is to break down those siloes — help people focus on

Cross-Campus Collaborations

Since its formation, FJAC has brought many institutions, organizations, and people under its umbrella to further support their efforts. Over the years, countless student organizations, such as Fresh Gatherings Cafe + Farm, Billiken Bounty, and the Campus Kitchen, have formed to combat food injustice and serve the community on and off campus. And it all stems from a humble garden at the corner of Compton Avenue and Rutger Street.

SLU’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics has a long-standing commitment to giving students the opportunity to grow their culinary skills and learn how to support sustainable food practices. In 2002, SLU established its own urban teaching garden to improve access to healthy, local foods and provide nutrition and garden education opportunities to SLU and the greater St. Louis community. The garden has grown to serve as an education tool for departments beyond nutrition and dietetics.

Students and faculty members from education, culinary arts, physical therapy, and other disciplines come together to use the garden or host community activities such as summer camps. Since its inception, the garden has blossomed into a fully functioning cafe and farm that provides the SLU community with on-site food and nutrition research opportunities and daily fresh meals made from scratch by Fresh Gatherings.

Dan Brewer, M.S., RDN, chef and assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics, manages the operation alongside fellow members of his department. He explained that Fresh Gatherings is a student-run operation currently employing 52 students across a diverse set of majors to create a seasonal menu that utilizes food from the farm, garden, and a variety of local vendors.

“As a hub for community and belonging, we believe in food’s ability to unite people, creating a culture that parallels the University’s core values, [such as] Cura Personalis,” Brewer said. “We are proud that our kitchen is a space that fosters creativity, educational opportunities, and teamwork in order to share our culinary explorations with our customers.”

FJAC’s ongoing efforts to work alongside student organizations will only flourish as time goes on. By focusing on addressing longstanding challenges around equity and access, students will continue to develop key skills and their understanding of the issues that plague our community.

“Through campus organizations such as Fresh Gatherings, students have the opportunity to have a greater understanding of these issues, learn important skills to address them, and gain practical experience in community service and advocacy,” Breitbach said.

Focused on Amplifying Efforts

FJAC seeks to serve the food-related needs within St. Louis by binding its resources to help the organizations that are leading the charge in the community food ecosystem and supply chain. The Collaborative is a connector — pulling together different disciplines to support common goals and address specific needs.

“We want to show the support that we can provide through our actions, attention, and the collaborative relationships we build with them,” Breitbach said. “We want to be there for the long haul, and we want to take what we can add to the mix and build something bigger.”

As FJAC continues to grow, it will continue to connect the dots and carve new paths that will support those making a difference in food. By unifying researchers throughout the University, FJAC hopes to build connections that reach far beyond the walls of SLU to improve food access, justice, and security and help others lead healthy lives.

Team members cooking at an event on SLU’s campus.

Students sharing food at the 12th Annual SLU Food Day.

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE at the Center

for Health Law Studies

As the Saint Louis University School of Law Center for Health Law Studies celebrates 40 years as a nationally recognized leader in health law education, it’s the focus on advocacy through scholarship and research that has made the Center what it is today — a reflection of the world around it. This anniversary year has been no exception. Faculty in the Center have produced timely and meaningful scholarship that strives to make an impact in the greater community.

Robert Gatter, J.D.

Professor Robert Gatter is the director of the Center for Health Law Studies. He has spent much of his time since the COVID-19 pandemic focusing on the improvement of public health laws and policies. He has served as the reporter for the Uniform Law Commission, focusing on the model state law for public health emergency powers.

Kelly Gillespie, J.D., Ph.D., RN

Professor Kelly Gillespie, a former registered nurse, is an expert in drug policy. With practical experience in pain management care, Gillespie focuses her scholarship on the law and policy of substance abuse disorder and opioid prescribing. She is the co-author of an amicus brief in the recent United States Supreme Court case, Ruan v. United States, that examined a physician’s responsibility in the overprescribing of opioids. The Court’s ruling ultimately aligned with Gillespie’s brief, stating that the crime of prescribing controlled substances outside the usual course of practice requires that the defendant “knowingly or intentionally” acted in an unlawful manner.

Michael Sinha, M.D., J.D., M.P.H.

Amedical doctor by trade, Professor Michael Sinha focused much of his scholarship this year on pharmaceutical law and policy. He published a piece in the American University Law Review on the regulation of the generic pharmaceutical industry. He also published an article titled “Court Intrusion Into Science and Medicine – the Mifepristone Decision” in the widely read Journal of the American Medical Association. The article was written in conjunction with Daniel Aaron, M.D., J.D. and Teneille Brown, J.D., both of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.

Jamille Fields Allsbrook, J.D., M.P.H.

A

new addition to the School of Law faculty, Professor Jamille Fields Allsbrook comes to the University with a background in health law and policy. She focuses much of her research and scholarship on health equity and health outcomes in maternal health for Black women. She has published her policy research with the Center for American Progress and the Center for Health Affairs.

Taleed El-Sabawi, J.D., Ph.D., M.S.

Visiting from Florida International University College of Law, Professor Taleed El-Sabawi focuses her scholarship and research on health care access of incarcerated individuals, particularly those in withdrawal. Her recent article, published in November of 2023 in the UCLA Law Review titled “Death By Withdrawal,” focuses on the policies and practices in jails and prisons around the country that continue to facilitate the death, pain, and suffering of people who use drugs by refusing to properly screen and medically manage withdrawal for persons in custody.

A Rising Research Star in Mechanistic Studies of Metastatic Cancer

REZA

DASTVAN, PH.D.

Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine

REZA DASTVAN, PH.D., came to the Saint Louis University School of Medicine to start his lab in December 2019, as COVID-19 started to reshape the world.

“I was lucky enough to set up my lab just before the pandemic, and then the pandemic hit,” the associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) said. “So that was, I could say, a very stressful time in my career.” With few colleagues around to help guide him through the challenging process of establishing a lab, Dastvan struggled. But you wouldn’t know it from all that the young researcher has accomplished in just four years.

Dastvan has secured two major grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and in July 2023, he received early tenure and promotion from SLU, becoming one of the youngest tenured faculty members at the University. “I’m really honored that NIH actually recognized the innovative nature of our research,” Dastvan said. “And I appreciate the trust and support that I received from our department chair, Dr. Enrico Di Cera, my colleagues in the department, as well as the University administration.”

Metastatic cancer is Dastvan’s core research focus, and he is building a collaborative

network that extends beyond the SLU School of Medicine to characterize the stillmysterious molecular mechanisms that allow cancer cells to spread throughout the body and wreak havoc. Specifically, Dastvan studies the low-oxygen — or hypoxic — conditions that commonly accompany metastatic cells and seeks to understand the structure and function of several components of the molecular pathways that enable these cells to survive and thrive in the stressful condition of oxygen and energy starvation. Because hypoxia is also a feature of other deadly conditions like stroke and metabolic diseases, understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in

metastatic cancer could inform a suite of therapeutic approaches.

In July 2023, together with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Weill Cornell Medicine, and the University of Copenhagen, Dastvan received up to seven years of research funding via a prestigious Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award from the National Cancer Institute. This grant — also called an R37 Award — will fund Dastvan and his collaborators as they try to identify, using a variety of cutting-edge microscopy and spectroscopy methods, the unknown mechanisms that cancer cells use to secrete enzymes called kinases that help them survive and proliferate.

“So in the history of SLU, we had only three of these grants,” Dastvan said. “All of them were awarded to faculty at BMB, and two of them were about 30 years ago. We are honored to receive this grant.”

His other grant, an R01 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will help Dastvan and collaborators at Dastvan in his lab.

the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign to interrogate the functional mechanisms of membrane transporters associated with metastatic cell survival, as well as their bacterial homologs.

Dastvan said that he hopes to translate his success in the early stages of his academic career to help for human patients. “If you can basically inhibit those membrane transporters or the release of the kinases, it provides new therapeutic avenues to target these cancer conditions.”

“I’m really honored that NIH actually recognized the innovative nature of our research,”

Dastvan said. “And I appreciate the trust and support that I received from our department chair, Dr. Enrico Di Cera, my colleagues in the department, as well as the University administration.”

Equipment that measures bridge scour sits in the water beneath a bridge.

A

FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND STUDY FROM THE WATER ACCESS, TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCE (WATER) INSTITUTE AT SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY IS BRINGING NEW AWARENESS TO BRIDGE SAFETY ACROSS MISSOURI.

When people think of Missouri, their first thought is not usually of the many rivers that flow across the state. With two of America’s longest rivers carving their way through the state, water is an essential part of Missouri’s identity — as are the thousands of bridges built over these bodies of water.

Missouri is home to over 25,000 bridges on its state system, a majority of which cross a variety of waterways including small creeks and major rivers. Many Missourians cross these bridges on a daily basis without a second thought, but time takes its toll on the stability of these structures — as does bridge scour, or the erosion of the soil surrounding a bridge’s foundation in a body of water.

Bridge scour is the leading cause of bridge failure nationwide. This alarming statistic prompted the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to partner with an institution that would conduct bridge scour analysis on a list of “scour critical” bridges developed in the 1990s. The Water, Access, Technology, Environment and Resources (WATER) Institute at Saint Louis University was selected as this institution.

In April 2020, the WATER Institute was awarded the “Scour Analysis on Missouri Bridges” project by MoDOT. They compiled a research team led by Amanda Cox, Ph.D., P.E., associate professor of civil engineering and director of the WATER Institute, and Ronaldo Luna, Ph.D., P.E., professor of civil engineering. The goal was to examine bridge scour on several Missouri bridges and report on their long-term stability by evaluating how newer hydraulic modeling methods and improved data resolutions impact predicted scour depths. The team completed its work, and published their final report in July 2023.

“It’s a study that has never been done before,” Cox said. “It is the first study that we have found that looks at [bridge scour in this way], so it’s truly a first-of-its-kind study, and it will impact MODOT’s decisions on how they look at vulnerable bridges.”

Scouring Our State Rivers

Bridge scour is composed of three types: local, contraction, and long-term scour. Cox and Luna’s team specifically took a closer look at local scour, which is the removal of material that lies at the abutments and piers of a bridge, and contraction scour, which removes materials from the bed and banks across the water channel width.

The team examined how much scour is predicted to occur during major weather events — specifically, 100-year and 500-year flooding — and how this could impact a bridge’s future stability. They explored five different sites throughout the state, including two larger sites on the Gasconade and Missouri Rivers. Bridges were selected for their variety in water size, flow patterns, sediment levels, and other factors that were monitored by contrasting one-dimensional (1D) and twodimensional (2D) hydraulic modeling. Hydraulic modeling illustrates and computes the changes in water depth, quantity, and currents.

In addition, they also conducted fieldwork at each unique bridge site to support the scour risk assessment. SLU faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students participated in GPS mapping, the collection and analysis of soil samples, and surveying river bathymetry, or the investigation of underwater channel surfaces. Story by: Paradigm

Previously, bridge scour analysis in Missouri only went as far as utilizing 1D computer model to estimate the intensities from unique swirls, angles, and slopes of water movement against a bridge’s foundation. However, 1D modeling only captures the flow downstream.

“[Model techniques] have evolved over time to go from more simple, which we call 1D models that only look at the flow of downstream river direction, to more sophisticated numerical models [like 2D modeling],” Cox said. “It looks at the flow in both the downstream and lateral direction so [we] can see swirling flows and other more complex flow patterns that actually exist in the real-world environment,” she said.

Cox explained that hydraulic modeling techniques have evolved over time. For many years, 1D hydraulic modeling was the best way to estimate bridge scour, but the team’s research determined it was imperative to use the more advanced 2D modeling in order to gather the best results for the project.

Throughout their analysis, 2D modeling created a sharper picture of the complexities of water flow such as rivers with multiple bends or assessing obstructions in the water channels like logs and river debris. In their report, the SLU team was able to recommend that MoDOT use 2D modeling for future predictive scour assessments in order to best anticipate bridge scour in the state.

“With 2D modeling, they now have tools that will automatically determine required input parameters based on the results of the numerical modeling,” Cox explained. “This gives less subjectivity and more precision.”

Out in the Field

It’s not every day that your classroom goes from a desk to a boat. But Peter Kickham, a research assistant with the WATER Institute, and his fellow student researchers set sail to make large contributions to the bridge scour project.

“In less than a year as a WATER Institute research assistant, I have been able to go to six different streams or rivers to collect data, make observations, and learn while also having a great, immersive experience in nature and applying what I have learned in the field,” Kickham said.

Kickham is a recent graduate of SLU’s Master of Science in Civil Engineering program, and he chose to study water resources because of his early interest in weather and the necessity of water for all people.

His passion for water propelled him into his role as a research assistant within the WATER Institute and ultimately landed him a role as a leader of the bridge scour project alongside Cox and Luna. Kickham was able to not only participate in scour modeling, but he was also able to create graphics of water patterns

and physically go to field sites to collect data and deploy the equipment used to examine bridge scour.

Cox was impressed by the caliber of SLU students such as Kickham, and she’s grateful for their contributions to the MoDOT project.

“They helped with data collection, processing, numerical modeling, and scour calculations,” she said. “One of the main things they were able to do was help create all the visuals, graphs, and charts. We have some exceptional undergraduate students who learn quite quickly and make significant contributions.”

“I see water as the common factor between not only all people on Earth, but all living things,” Kickham said. “When we look for life on other planets, we don’t look for plants or animals, we look for water. That’s because it is our most important resource.”

One undergraduate student was Warren Radford, who has since graduated from SLU with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and now works as a hydraulics engineer for the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

“I really enjoyed collecting our own data because I got to

Left: SLU WATER Institute team adjusts equipment in the water. Center: Luna (left) and Kickham (right) hold equipment before placing it into the water. Right: A computer shows data collected from the bridge scour project.

see exactly how all that data collection went directly into the work we did,” Radford said. “I enjoyed my experience because all of the professors in the SLU [civil] engineering department are [licensed] professional engineers, and it was interesting hearing from them about their experiences in the field.”

The WATER Institute believes experiences like this are crucial to shaping students into well-rounded researchers and professional engineers. Cox shared that Radford, Kickham, and another undergraduate student, Harrison Wooters, were able to learn how to use industry-standard software programs, and Kickham and Wooters wrote portions of the final MoDOT report. This unique experience sets SLU students apart from other students looking for similar jobs in engineering.

“Our students are able to become trained on software programs that are being used in the industry that are not always used in an academic environment,” Cox said. “Introducing them to the concepts and getting them that expertise sets them up for success in jumping into projects when they end up getting an engineering position.”

Building Better Bridges

Bridge scour is not a new concern for Missouri bridges. However, recent weather events have made it even more important to assess our bridge’s structural integrity to ensure safety for all on the roads. The WATER Institute’s recommendations to MoDOT lay out a proactive plan that will reevaluate possible scour at other high-risk bridges throughout the state. MoDOT is evaluating these recommendations to construct its newest bridges and plan for the future impact of bridge scour throughout the state.

From the team’s extensive comparison of both modeling methods, 2D modeling will help in analyzing future scour risk along our state’s bridges. Its capability to show detailed models of terrain, flow velocity, scour depths, and other essential factors in assessing bridge scour will help improve bridge safety and Missouri bridge design.

“You want as much accuracy as possible in your predictions because of the significance of bridge scour, and its potential for bridge safety and our own safety,” Cox said. “What we really wanted is the best estimate so we can make informed decisions about which bridges need extra attention. If we can identify [bridges] that are vulnerable, we can then go out and make those stronger.”

The SLU WATER Institute team looks out at the river before beginning their fieldwork.

Creating the Next Generation of Researchers

RITA HEUERTZ, PH.D. MLS(ASCP) Professor, Clinical Health Sciences, Doisy College of Health Sciences

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS often find themselves eager for opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to reallife research scenarios. Whereas students at some universities are frustrated with hypothetical or scaled-back research opportunities, students at Saint Louis University are given opportunities to work alongside world-class researchers on real, externally funded research projects. A generous grant from the DeNardo Education and Research Foundation connects students at varying levels to get involved in such opportunities as early as freshman year.

Rita Heuertz, Ph.D., MLS(ASCP), professor of clinical health sciences, has served as the principal investigator for the DeNardo grant

since it was first awarded to her in 2013. Currently, her program “Active Learning Through Research’’ is in its sixth round of continuous funding and has enabled over 81 research scholarships to be awarded to students over the past decade.

“The program is all because of the DeNardo Education and Research Foundation,” Heuertz said. “This funding has provided scholarship funds to students for research experiences, helped faculty mentors purchase reagents to support the student research, and enabled students to attend national conferences to present their research results and participate in undergraduate research competitions. In doing all of this, the students take away from

the experience a deep respect for research that stays with them throughout their future years and careers.”

Students work alongside SLU faculty researchers from a variety of disciplines, including clinical health sciences, pediatrics, and nutrition and dietetics. They receive at least two or more semesters of mentored research experience, the opportunity to publish their research in peer-reviewed journals, and the ability to give presentations of their research at conferences in St. Louis and across the country. Students have completed research in fields such as cancer, neuroscience, bacterial biofilms and antimicrobial resistance, sickle cell anemia, and protein regulation.

Heuertz and one of her DeNardo Scholar undergraduate students, Nilan Patel, presented research results from the project “Swarming behavior of Pseudomonas aeruginosa,” a study that assessed swarming behavior of a pathogen responsible for many infections, such as those seen in patients with burns, chronic infections, and cystic fibrosis. Through funding from the DeNardo Foundation, Patel was able to present his research at three venues over the past year, including the 2023 SLU Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation (IDBI) Research Symposium, in which he was the 2nd place winner of the undergraduate research competition; the 2023 Discover BMB Conference, which is the annual conference of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and the 2023 Sigma Xi Research Symposium (SLU Chapter).

Because of this experience, students gain critical research experience early in their undergraduate studies and which leads them toward successful futures. DeNardo Scholars who have graduated from SLU have continued their education at impressive research institutions or pursued careers at industry-leading companies. Heuertz shared that

the program has cultivated not only an appreciation for research, but also a uniquely profound opportunity to put classwork into action.

“This is excellent for bringing the classroom into the laboratory,” she said. “It’s in the laboratory, when the students are there doing an experiment, where they learn firsthand the things that [we] teach in the classroom.”

Heuertz and the SLU community see the program as a pipeline — cultivating the next generation of researchers. With a decade of supporting undergraduate student research under its belt, the future of research continues to shine brightly across campus and into the world.

“The program is all because of the DeNardo Education and Research Foundation,” Heuertz said.

“This funding has provided scholarship funds to students for research experiences, helped faculty mentors purchase reagents to support the student research, and enabled students to attend national conferences to present their research results and participate in undergraduate research competitions. In doing all of this, the students take away from the experience a deep respect for research that stays with them throughout their future years and careers.”

Medical science student working on a research project in the lab.

A Map for Better Public Health

Story by: Paradigm

Enbal Shacham, Ph.D., M.Ed., points to a figure from her research about air quality’s impact on pediatric asthma.

THROUGHOUT HER CAREER, ENBAL SHACHAM, PH.D., M.ED., ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH IN THE COLLEGE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, HAS WORKED ON THE CRITICAL INTERSECTION OF HEALTH AND GEOSPATIAL SCIENCE. SHE HAS CONDUCTED RESEARCH TO PREDICT THE SPREAD OF SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST INFECTIOUS DISEASES, INCLUDING COVID-19, HPV, ZIKA VIRUS, AND HIV/AIDS. HER LATEST RESEARCH TELLS A SIMILAR STORY, YET IT IS SPECIFICALLY TIED TO A COMMON CHILDHOOD AILMENT — ASTHMA.

Pediatric asthma is one of the most prominent chronic health issues among U.S. children, with daily management being particularly challenging in areas with higher rates of public housing and poor air quality. Shacham and her team conducted a study in partnership with the Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) to examine the geographic factors of air quality and how the factors relate to pediatric asthma management. She focused their efforts on a group of children receiving Medicaid services in two counties of Southern California, where increased rates of air pollutants like ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide tend to exist in low-income communities.

Shacham explained that studying air quality and its impact on diverse health conditions helps researchers identify where and how to change health outcomes on a much larger scale.

“Air quality has an impact on many different health conditions; we studied asthma as it is one chronic condition that can be sensitive to exacerbations like asthma attacks,” she said. “Our health plan collaborators needed help prioritizing housing remediation services for their members, and this study was able to give actionable results and likely change health outcomes.”

Developing the best plans requires understanding how the rates of asthma

in children relate to the environment in which they live, using location data. Shacham and her team collected health membership data and asthma encounters between 2019 and 2021, public housing location data, air quality assessments, and air pollution exposure rates. The use of location data coupled with the air quality assessments was able to visually showcase air quality’s effect on those with pediatric asthma within a specific location.

“We identified that those that lived in public housing experienced more poorer air quality days and more often presented at a clinic for an asthma-related visit,” she said. “Further, individuals that lived in public housing units in this sample of more than 50,000 youth lived closer to manufacturing locations and major roadways.”

With the results of the study in hand, Shacham hopes this information will help pinpoint intervention opportunities that will benefit the health of not only children, but also all those living in areas plagued by lower air quality.

``My hope is that we conduct more research and promote policy interventions to address these inequities in air quality as they impact a diverse range of health conditions,´´ Shacham said. ``Managing Reducing air pollutants would help manage these conditions and would reduce morbidity and mortality of particularly vulnerable communities across the world.´´

Research Institute Fellows

THE SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES ITS SECOND COHORT OF RESEARCH INSTITUTE FELLOWS. THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE WELCOMED THE NEW CLASS OF FELLOWS, WHICH COMPRISES 26 RESEARCHERS FROM ACROSS SLU, IN AN INDUCTION CEREMONY ON NOVEMBER 8, 2023.

SLU Research Institute Fellows are chosen annually in recognition of scholarly accomplishments at the highest level of their fields. The distinction honors outstanding researchers who reflect the breadth of the University’s research enterprise, exemplify SLU’s aspirations of rigor and impact, and embody the University’s Jesuit research mission.

The 2023-2024 SLU Research Institute Fellows join a group of 66 fellows selected in August 2022.

“This year’s class of Research Institute Fellows represents a vibrant cross-section of SLU’s research excellence,” said Ken Olliff, Vice President for Research and Partnerships and Director of the SLU Research Institute.

“These outstanding researchers are leaders in their fields, from business and law to medicine and engineering, from history and social work to public health and marketing. We are proud to call these scholars SLU faculty, and it is a pleasure to recognize their contributions to the University and to humanity as Fellows of the Research Institute.”

SLU Research Institute Fellow Julie Birkenmaier, Ph.D., MSW, shaking hands with SLU President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., at the November 2023 induction ceremony for Research Institute Fellows.

MMARK J. ARNOLD, PH.D.

Chair, Department of Marketing, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business; Clarence and Helen Steber Endowed Professor of Marketing; Vice President for Global Membership, Academy of Marketing Science

ark J. Arnold, Ph.D., is the chair of the Department of Marketing and the Steber Endowed Professor of Marketing at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University. He also holds the position of vice president for Global Membership at the Academy of Marketing Science. Prior appointments at SLU include senior associate dean, director of the Ph.D. program, director for faculty development, and a faculty fellow for the Reinert Center for Teaching Excellence. Over the years, Arnold’s leadership has innovated academic programs and created global experiences for students and faculty, and his research and teaching has been award-winning and impactful. Arnold is involved in charitable activities which benefit historically underrepresented student populations. Prior to entering academics, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Google Scholar citations exceed 12,500; Web of Science citations exceed 3,500

• Winner of the 2023 Faculty Three-Year Research Award, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

• Appointment as Vice President, Global Membership, Academy of Marketing Science

SBRADLEY BAILEY, PH.D.

Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts and Sciences

cholar and curator Bradley Bailey, Ph.D., is an associate professor of art history at Saint Louis University. His research focuses primarily on the work of the artist Marcel Duchamp, and his publications include the book, “Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess” (2009), which he co-authored with Francis M. Naumann and Woman Grandmaster Jennifer Shahade. His recent articles include publications in the journals October (MIT Press), The Burlington Magazine, and The Brooklyn Rail. In 2013, he co-authored the book, “Marcel Dzama: Sower of Discord” (Abrams Books) with Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers. As a curator, his exhibitions “Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess” and “Out of the Box: Artists Play Chess” have been written about in The New York Times and ARTNews.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Co-curator of the exhibition “Sound Moves: Where Music Meets Chess” at The World Chess Hall of Fame, St. Louis, May 17, 2023 - January 28, 2024

• “Dada Meets Dixieland: Marcel Duchamp Explains Fountain,” October 182 (Fall 2022), pp. 61-96

• “Duchamp’s Fountain, the Baroness Theory Debunked,” Burlington Magazine, vol. 161, no. 1399 (October 2019), pp. 804-810

MREV. MICHAEL D. BARBER, S.J., PH.D.

Professor, Department of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences

ichael Barber, S.J., Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Saint Louis University. He completed his B.A. and M.A. at SLU, attended the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago from 1976-1979, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1979. He then pursued his doctorate of philosophy at Yale University, and after graduating, he returned to SLU where he has held the positions of dean of the College of Philosophy and Letters (2009-2011) and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (2010-2015). His research interests focus on phenomenology, social philosophy, philosophy or religion, and philosophy and race. Barber has authored eight books, edited over 20 volumes of articles and classic texts, and produced more than 100 articles in the general area of phenomenology and the social world.

Featured Accomplishments:

• The manuscript, “Resilience and Responsiveness: Alfred Schutz’s Finite Provinces of Meaning,” which had been under contract, has been accepted finally for publication by Springer Press, according to the Director of the Series within which it will be published, “Contributions to Phenomenology.”

• The paper, “Schutz’s Finite Provinces of Meaning and Robert Bellah on Evolution and Religion,” was presented at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology in New Orleans, on October 27, 2023.

• The Kavanaugh Lecture, “African-American Folkloric Humor as a Finite Province of Meaning,” was delivered at the invitation of the College of Philosophy and Letters, Saint Louis University, in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 13, 2023.

JJULIE BIRKENMAIER, PH.D., MSW

Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work; Faculty Director in Financial Capability at the Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis

ulie Birkenmaier, Ph.D., MSW, is a professor of social work at the Saint Louis University School of Social Work. She is also a faculty director in financial capability at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, and a fellow for the Society for Social Work and Research. Her research focuses on financial capability and asset building practice, financial access, and personal financial credit. Her research has been funded by the National Endowment for Financial Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Her recent publications on these topics have been published in journals such as the Journal of Consumer Affairs, the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, and Campbell Systematic Reviews. She is a co-author of “Financial Capability and Asset-Building in Vulnerable Households” (2018, Oxford University Press), and “Financial Capability and Asset Building with Diverse Populations” (2018, Routledge Press). She teaches financial capability and asset building practice, community practice, and policy practice. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and a B.A. and MSW from Saint Louis University.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Birkenmaier is proud of the following recent funding successes:

– Birkenmaier, J. M. & Huang, J. (2023). Financial services mistreatment, financial access, and financial well-being. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). $45,000.

– Birkenmaier, J. M., Huang, J. & Rigdon, S. (2023-2025). Developing a valid measure of financial access: From conceptualization to empirical testing. National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE). $295,632.

• Birkenmaier is also proud of her most recent article publication:

– Birkenmaier, J. M., Maynard, B., Shanks, H. & Blumhagen, H. (2023). Protocol: Medical-financial partnerships for improving financial health outcomes for lower-income Americans: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 19, E1364. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl12.1364

BBRAD D. CARLSON, PH.D.

Professor of Marketing, James J. Pierson Endowed Chair in Marketing, Department of Marketing, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business; President of the Academy of Marketing Science

rad Carlson earned his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University and began his academic journey at Texas Tech University before joining Saint Louis University in 2008. He served as the director of the Ph.D. program in the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business from 2016 to 2021 and currently serves as president of the Academy of Marketing Science, the preeminent international association for marketing academics. His research centers on consumer-based strategy, applying insights from psychology and social psychology to understand consumer behavior and inform marketing strategies. His work has garnered national and international recognition and has been published in top marketing journals, including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Applied Psychology, the International Journal of Research in Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research, among others. In addition to his research achievements, Carlson has been honored with multiple awards for excellence in teaching and service, including the prestigious Distinguished Faculty Member Award within the Chaifetz School of Business.

Featured Accomplishments:

• His co-authored paper “Deciphering Consumer Commitment: Exploring the Dual Influence of Self-Brand and Self-Group Relationships” was accepted for publication in Psychology & Marketing in 2023.

• His co-authored paper “Constituency Building: Determining Consumers’ Willingness to Participate in Corporate Political Activities” with former Ph.D. students was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Research in Marketing in 2022.

• His co-authored paper “The Match-Up Hypothesis Revisited: Matching Social Judgments and Advertising Messaging in Celebrity Endorsements” with former Ph.D. students was accepted for publication in the European Journal of Marketing in 2022.

MMICHAEL C. DUFF, J.D. Professor of Law, School of Law

ichael C. Duff, J.D., is a professor of law at Saint Louis University School of Law. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a scholar-member of the Center for Progressive Reform, and a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, the National Civil Justice Institute, and the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.

Duff attended college in his late 20s, while simultaneously employed full-time as a union-represented airline ramp worker. He was the first Black Teamster shop-steward in the history of U.S. Airways’ 800-person ramp group in Philadelphia and was much sought after by co-workers as an effective union advocate. The first member of his family to attend law school or college, Duff went directly from the airport tarmac to the Harvard Law School in 1992, after graduating summa cum laude from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 1991. He worked parttime as a law clerk with the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, while attending law school, and graduated from Harvard in 1995. He then went on to work for a small law firm in Maine from 1995-1997, where he represented injured workers and labor unions. Duff joined the National Labor Relations Board in 1997 and served for almost 10 years as a government labor lawyer in the Board’s offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In spring 2006, Duff was invited to apply for a professorship by the dean of the University of Wyoming College of Law and began his work as a law professor in July 2006.

Duff was appointed professor at the Saint Louis University School of Law in 2022 and teaches there in the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law. He teaches courses in torts, labor law, workers’ compensation law, and occupational safety and health. He is especially interested in the occupational segregation of employees of color, and the severe undercompensation of employees stricken by work-related occupational disease.

Throughout his academic career, Duff has focused his research on workers’ compensation law and the National Labor Relations Act. He has written on labor, employment, and personal injury issues, and has been frequently quoted on such matters in various national publications. He is the author (or co-author) of textbooks, treatises, and scholarly articles in these subjects. He is also the founder and coeditor of the Workers’ Compensation Law Professors’ Blog.

Featured Accomplishments:

• He authored the first treatise of workers’ compensation law in the history of the state of Wyoming, titled “A Treatise of Wyoming Workers’ Compensation Law” (this a free, open-source book available online to all lawyers in the state, many of whom are of limited means and represent clients of even more limited means).

• “In 2015, I delivered the keynote address on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. (I was a blue-collar kid giving a legal address to lawyers and judges in the state where I worked as a common laborer until my early 30s).”

• “I wrote a scathing critique of the conceptual underpinnings of workers’ compensation law, “Fifty More Years of Ineffable Quo? Workers’ Compensation and the Right to Personal Security,” 111 Kentucky L. J. 1 (2023). This work is part of a larger project in which I am arguing for a 14th Amendment constitutional right to a minimum baseline of remedies for negligent injury — whether inside or outside the workplace.”

MMONICA EPPINGER, J.D., PH.D. Associate Professor of Law, School of Law

onica Eppinger, J.D., Ph.D., is a comparative legal scholar and anthropologist of law and state formation with a focus on Ukraine and on the United States. She researches law as an investigation at the intersection of language and power and she is particularly interested in how our ideas and practices of organizing space affect social organization. This focus is evident in her work in property, in topics ranging from racial segregation to agriculture; and in national security, in topics ranging from comparative conceptions of sovereignty to law and the conduct of war. Eppinger’s current projects pursue several lines of inquiry, notably into: 1) post-Cold War state formation, 2) national security and executive power, 3) gender in the law and conduct of war, and 4) property and social precarity.

Eppinger has published in the American Journal of Comparative Law, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, the Journal of Food Law and Policy, Catholic University Law Review, Georgetown Journal of Gender and Law, Ewha (South Korea) Journal of Gender and Law, HAU: a Journal of Ethnographic Theory, and the Cultural Anthropology Fieldsights series.

In her first career as a U.S. diplomat, Eppinger worked on U.S. policy toward the former Soviet space, toward West Africa, and on energy security. She holds a B.A. from Yale College, a MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She is currently an associate professor of law and anthropology at Saint Louis University where she also served as co-director of the Center for International and Comparative Law from 2017-2023. She is spending the academic year 2023-2024 on research leave as a fellow of the Center for the Study of Law and Society at University of California, Berkeley. She is also proficient in Ukrainian and Russian.

Featured Accomplishments:

• She was awarded an individual Superior Honor award from the State Department in 1999.

• Her essays have appeared in scholarly online fora including Books & Ideas (published in French as La Vie des idées), the Comparative Law Prof Blog, and Anthropoliteia.

• She has been featured as an expert on CNN, public radio, and other popular media.

AANNIE ARTIGA GARNER, PH.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

nnie Artiga Garner, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Saint Louis University and a licensed clinical psychologist in Missouri. She obtained her doctorate degree in medical/clinical psychology in 2012 and completed her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) Center for ADHD. Her clinical and research expertise is in ADHD across the lifespan with a particular focus on the impact of ADHD on driving. She has published 42 peer-reviewed articles and three book chapters and serves on the editorial board of the journal Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology and the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Additionally, she is a co-investigator on two HRSA training grants where issues of graduate student mentoring and training are of particular focus. Garner is currently serving on the SLU JED Task Force.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Epstein, J. N., Garner, A. A., Kiefer, A. W., Peugh, J., Tamm, L., MacPherson, R. P., … & Fisher, D. L. (2022). Trial of training to reduce driver inattention in teens with ADHD. New England journal of medicine, 387(22), 2056-2066.

• Garner, A.A., Epstein, J. N., Kiefer, A. W., Peugh, J., Tamm, L., MacPherson, R. P., … & Fisher, D. L. (in press). Moderators of Training Response to a Driver Inattention Training Program for Teens with ADHD. Human Factors.

• Lynch, J. D., Tamm, L., Garner, A. A., Avion*, A. A., Fisher, D. L., Kiefer, A. W., … & Epstein, J. N. (2023). Executive functioning as a predictor of adverse driving outcomes in teen drivers with ADHD. Journal of attention disorders, 10870547231197210.

*Denotes a SLU graduate student co-author

CCLAIRE GILBERT, PH.D.

Associate Professor of History, College of Arts and Sciences; Director of Scholarly Initiatives, Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships

laire Gilbert, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of History at Saint Louis University, and was named the director of scholarly research initiatives in the Office of the Vice President for Research at SLU in 2022. In her director role, she works alongside the vice president for research and partnerships and faculty across the University to facilitate excellence in scholarship as it pursues its rigorous research growth agenda. Gilbert’s research specializes in the social history of translation and the political consequences of language contact in the Western Mediterranean in the early modern period. In summer 2023, she served as a co-director of the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute for Higher Education Faculty hosted at SLU. She obtained her B.A. from Stanford University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Co-director, 2023 NEH Summer Institute for Higher Education Faculty, https://geographiesofknowledge.org/

• Author, “In Good Faith: Arabic Translation and Translators in Early Modern Spain,” https://www.pennpress.org/9780812297393/ in-good-faith/

• Guest Editor, “An Age of Translation: Towards a Social History of Linguistic Agents in the Early Modern World”

• Special Issue of Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies vol. 21/4, https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/51105

KKELLY GILLESPIE, J.D., PH.D., RN

Professor of Law, Center for Health Law Studies, School of Law

elly Gillespie, J.D., Ph.D., RN, is a professor in the Center for Health Law Studies at the Saint Louis University School of Law and holds a secondary appointment in the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics. She is a three-time SLU alumna where she received her B.S. in nursing, J.D. with a certificate in health care law, and Ph.D. in health care ethics.

Gillespie is an expert on health law, ethics, and policy and researches and writes on issues related to public health policy, drug use and controlled substances prescribing, pandemic ethics, and health inequities and discrimination. Her work has been published in law and interdisciplinary journals including the Cato Supreme Court Review, Arizona State Law Review, American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Addiction Medicine, and others. Throughout her career, she has been interviewed by many media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, STAT News, LAW360, Vice.com, and NPR.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Co-editor and author of several chapters in “Prescription Drug Diversion and Pain: History, Policy, and Treatment,” published by Oxford University Press

• Active co-chair of American Bar Association Opioid Crisis Task Force since 2020

• Received the 2021 Robert W. Meserve Award from the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyers Division for high achievement, innovation, vision, leadership, and service to the Division

AAJAY KUMAR JAIN, M.D., DNB, M.H.A.

Professor of Pediatrics, Pharmacology and Physiology; Chief, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, School of Medicine; President-Elect, American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition

jay Jain, M.D., DNB, M.H.A., is a professor of pediatrics with a dual appointment in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology. He serves as the chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, and as president-elect for the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Jain is also the medical director of the pediatric liver transplant program as well as the co-director of the Saint Louis University Metabolic and Nutrition Institute. Jain’s seminal contributions include pioneering work in the field of parenteral nutrition associated with multisystem injury, interrogating pathways, and leading development of novel systems to study pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapeutic approaches for appropriate nutritional delivery and rehabilitation. He is also credited with the development of unbiased discovery platforms and excellence in diagnostic and therapeutic testing of pediatric liver diseases and for pediatric obesity. He is substantially funded for his research projects by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), foundations, and industry. Importantly, Jain has been a mentor for more than 50 students, trainees, and faculty, an NIH study section panelist, and prominently recognized through high-profile peer-reviewed publications and patents as well as multiple national and international invited presentations and awards, including the recent 2023 Grant and John B. Watkins Award for Excellence in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition from the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition (NASPGHAN), the 2023 best of ASPEN, the 2021 Gerard Odell Prize for Excellence in Liver Research from NASPGHAN and the 2020 International Stanley J. Dudrick Award, Recognizing Excellence in Nutrition. In addition to superlative research, he strives to deliver world-class care to his patients with liver and gastrointestinal diseases, including those getting isolated and multiorgan transplants, short bowel syndrome, and nutritional, metabolic, and other GI disorders. He has also received recognition as “Best Doctor” for multiple consecutive years.

Featured Accomplishments:

• National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH-1R01DK131136-01 - Role of bile acid receptors FXR and TGR5 in preventing injury in short bowel syndrome. Principal Investigator: Ajay K. Jain, $1,893,750.

• DREAM - Distal Recirculation of Enteral contents Augmented Mechanically**. Novel system to mitigate complications in short bowel syndrome. (Provisional Patent: US 63/413,988). He also won the 2023 Grand and John P. Watkins award in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, NASPGHAN.

• Stanley J. Dudrick Award: International award, recognizing excellence in Nutrition research from ASPEN

BBRANDY R. MAYNARD, PH.D., MSW

Associate Professor, School of Social Work

randy R. Maynard is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Saint Louis University. Maynard earned her Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago after 15 years of practicing social work and completed a post-doc at the University of Texas at Austin prior to her joining Saint Louis University in 2013. Her research focuses on the etiology, prevention, and intervention of externalizing behaviors, mental health, and educational risk among disadvantaged populations. She is an expert in research synthesis methods, has published over 25 systemic reviews, and serves in leadership and editorial roles with the Campbell Collaboration, an international research network that produces high-quality and impactful research syntheses to inform policy and practice throughout the world. She serves as an associate editor of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and has served on grant review panels for the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education, and several private foundations. Maynard’s work has been used to inform policy and practice guidelines in the U.S. and abroad and her research has received media coverage in over 118 media outlets in the U.S. and internationally.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Leonard E. Gibbs Award for Outstanding Contributions to Evidence-Based Practice

• Fellow, Society for Social Work and Research and elected member, Society for Research Synthesis Methods

• Ten publications have been ranked in the top 5% and 13 publications in the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric. Twenty-two publications have been cited in policy briefs, clinical, or practice guidelines or other governmental documents in the U.S., the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Vietnam, Luxembourg, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark.

ALESLIE MCCLURE, PH.D.

Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice

implementation of multicenter clinical trials, and specifically, issues arising from multiplicity in clinical trials. McClure’s applied research is focused on understanding health inequities, particularly racial and geographic inequities, and the role that the environment plays in them. She led a research team that explored why geographic disparities in diabetes exist, with a goal of informing policies that might reduce these disparities, as well as leading the coordination of a study exploring the impact of early screening for autism spectrum disorders on school readiness and other outcomes. In addition, McClure has interest in understanding the challenges among women and other marginalized groups in STEM and has been involved in research to help promote diversity and equity in science and mathematics.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Led the Faculty Development Core for a $14 million NIHFIRST Award at Drexel University, with a goal of recruiting and supporting a diverse cohort of health equity researchers.

• Collaborator on a $10 million NIH-funded Autism Center for Excellence, that has a goal of examining equitable strategies and reducing barriers for autistic individuals of all ages.

• Presented the inaugural Barry S. Katz Lectureship in Biostatistics and Health Data Science at Indiana University Medical School in 2022.

MMARCIA MCCORMICK, J.D.

Professor of Law, School of Law; Co-Director, William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law

s a biostatistician, Leslie McClure, Ph.D., not only engages in her own research, but also supports other scientists’ research as well. Her methodological research explores the design, analysis, and

arcia McCormick, J.D., is a professor at the Saint Louis University School of Law, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. Her courses focus on employment and labor law, criminal law, constitutional law, and sexuality, and her research in these areas is with an emphasis on discrimination, gender and sexuality, and constitutional issues. She earned her B.A. from Grinnell College and is an honors graduate of the University of Iowa School of Law. McCormick’s work has been published in a variety of law journals, including the Berkeley Journal of Labor & Employment Law, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, the Indiana Law Review, and others. She has contributed to several books, and co-authors a leading casebook on employment discrimination law and a leading treatise and hornbook on employment law. She is frequently sought out by the media for legal analysis of civil rights issues and engages in pro bono work. McCormick has received awards for her scholarship, teaching, and service.

McCormick began her legal career as a staff attorney with the International Human Rights Law Institute, working as the primary legal analyst of the use of sexual violence in the war in the former Yugoslavia. She then joined the Illinois Attorney General’s Office,

where she litigated civil appeals in state and federal courts. She left the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to join the faculty at Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology. McCormick then moved on to Cumberland Law School at Samford University, before coming to SLU LAW.

Featured Accomplishments:

• She was made a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, the American Law Institute, and the American Bar Foundation.

• She became principal author of a leading Employment Law treatise and hornbook.

• She was recruited to co-author “Employment Law Examples & Explanations,” a resource for students.

MMATTHEW NANES, PH.D.

Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences

atthew Nanes, Ph.D., is an associate professor of political science at Saint Louis University, where he studies policing and domestic security. His 2021 book with Cambridge University Press, “Policing for Peace: Institutions, Expectations, and Security in Divided Societies,” uses original survey data from Iraq and Israel to show that diverse police forces reduce insecurity. In other work published in Science and The Journal of Politics, he uses experiments to test the impacts of various policing policies and reforms in the Philippines. Nanes has worked with various NGOs, international organizations, and police departments to design evidence-based policies for peace. He holds a Ph.D. from University of California San Diego and a B.A. from Rice University.

Featured Accomplishments:

• “I recently published a book, ‘Policing for Peace: Institutions, Expectations, and Security in Divided Societies,’ which explores the effects of ethnic representation in police forces in conflictprone settings.”

• “In spring 2023, I worked with the Philippine National Police to design and implement an evaluation of their officer retraining program aimed at promoting respect for human rights and reversing institutional culture which led to past abuses.”

• “I was part of a large research team that conducted coordinated field experiments on community policing in six developing countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia over the past several years. The results, which show that Western-style community policing is largely ineffective in less-developed contexts, were recently published in Science.”

ABRENT A. NEUSCHWANDER-TETRI, M.D. Professor of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

fter completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon, medical degree at Yale, residency at the University of Wisconsin, and fellowship training at University of California, San Francisco, Brent A. Neuschwander-Tetri, M.D., was recruited to Saint Louis University in 1991 by Bruce Bacon to help build an academic Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. His specific area of interest is metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis, or MASH (previously called NASH), which is the type of steatotic liver disease that can progress to cirrhosis and liver failure and is now one of the most common reasons for liver transplantation. Since 2002, he has been a principal investigator in the National Institutes of Heath-supported NASH Clinical Research Network, a group that has conducted seminal studies in the causes, consequences, diagnosis, and treatments of steatotic liver disease. He speaks nationally and internationally on the molecular pathogenesis of MASH and potential targets of therapy. He is also actively involved in the clinical care of patients with all types of liver disease and has been the recipient of the regional Best Doctor or Top Doctor award every year since 2005. When not at his academic home at SLU, he can often be found hiking or skiing in the mountains of the West.

Featured Accomplishments:

• “As a principal investigator in the NIH NASH Clinical Research Network, I participated in seminal studies on biomarkers, serum proteomics, genetics, and outcomes of patients with steatotic liver disease.”

• “I was an active participant in the writing of our most recent national guidance document on the management of patients with steatotic liver disease.”

• “I mentored an undergraduate student in the development of a mouse model of fatty liver disease that is now the basis for the most commonly used models by researchers and contract research organizations to test drugs for metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASH, previously called NASH).”

RRUBÉN ROSARIO RODRÍGUEZ, PH.D.

Clarence Louis and Helen Steber Professor of Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

ubén Rosario Rodríguez, Ph.D. (Princeton Theological Seminary), is the Clarence Louis and Helen Steber professor of theological studies at Saint Louis University. He recently published his fourth monograph, “Theological Fragments: Confessing What We Know and Cannot Know about an Infinite God” (Westminster John Knox Press, 2023), and just completed a fifth, “Calvin for the World: The Enduring Relevance of His Political, Social, and Economic Theology,” forthcoming in 2024 from Baker Academic. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he currently serves as moderator for the Commission on Preparation for Ministry in the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy. Rosario engages issues of global migration and social justice as director of the Mev Puleo Program in Latin American Politics, Theology, and Culture at Saint Louis University, and through advocacy work with groups like Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates (MIRA). His first book, “Racism and God-Talk: A Latino/a Perspective” (New York University Press, 2008) won the 2011 Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Book Award in Theology. Other publications include “Christian Martyrdom and Political Violence: A Comparative Theology with Judaism and Islam” (Cambridge University Press, 2017), “Dogmatics After Babel: Beyond the Theologies of Word and Culture” (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), and an edited anthology, the “T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology” (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2019), which was nominated for the American Political Science Association’s Hubert Morken Best Book Award for best book dealing with religion and politics.

Featured Accomplishments:

• “My fourth monograph, ‘Theological Fragments: Confessing What We Know and Cannot Know about an Infinite God,’ (Westminster John Knox Press) was published in May 2023 and has been well-received in the field.”

• “In June 2023, I presented a paper at the European Academy of Religion annual meeting hosted by St. Andrews University in Scotland titled, ‘We Are the Church Despite Ourselves: The Role of Grace in Understanding Ecclesiology.’”

• “In October 2023, I was a presenter at Theology Beer Camp, an annual gathering of theology podcasters, speaking on the main stage on day two of the conference on the topic, ‘God After Deconstruction.’”

• “I am a firm believer that teaching informs research and research leads to better teaching. Every one of my book projects (except for my first book, which was a revision and expansion of my doctoral dissertation) began as a course I taught at SLU at either the undergraduate or graduate level.”

STEVEN ROGERS, PH.D.

Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of the SLU/YouGov Poll, College of Arts and Sciences

Steven Rogers, Ph.D., is a political scientist who researches accountability and representation in the American states. In his book, “Accountability in State Legislatures,” Rogers argues that instead of serving as a referendum on state legislators’ own actions, state legislative elections are dominated by national politics, posing profound problems for democratic accountability. Focusing on Missouri politics, Rogers is the founder and director of the biannual SLU/YouGov Poll, which highlights Missouri voters’ views to policymakers. Rogers is a St. Louis native, and outside of the classroom, he is a passionate Saint Louis University basketball fan who has run the fan website Billikens.com since he was 13 years old.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Rogers’s book manuscript – “Accountability in State Legislatures” – offers the most comprehensive study of whether elections hold state legislators accountable for their own performance.

• SLU/YouGov Poll findings made the front pages of all major Missouri newspapers and show that, even in a red state such as Missouri, there is nuance to voters’ opinions concerning issues, such as abortion rights, gun control, and even how to pronounce the state’s name.

• Rogers advised Gabby Chiodo with her successful 2023 Truman Scholar application.

BBERNARD ROUSSEAU, PH.D., MMHC, CCC-SLP, ASHA FELLOW

Dean of the Doisy College of Health Sciences; Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

ernard Rousseau, Ph.D., is a professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences and the dean of the Doisy College of Health Sciences at Saint Louis University. Over the course of his career, he has held several leadership and research positions at SLU, the University of Pittsburgh, and Vanderbilt University. His research interests include voice disorders, laryngeal biology, laryngeal physiology and tissue biomechanics, and surgical and pharmacological treatment optimization. Rousseau’s own federally funded research program is recognized nationally and internationally for its use of innovative experimental approaches in the fields of otolaryngology, hearing and speech sciences, and mechanical engineering. He is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health R01 research grant from the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication

Disorders and has maintained continuous NIH funding for more than 14 consecutive years. He has mentored more than 60 research trainees in his laboratory, many of whom have had success at top research universities across the country.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Research has provided critical new insights into the cellular and molecular pathophysiology underlying vocal fold tissue changes.

• Developed novel models that have provided a fundamental understanding of the physiological factors that influence tissue response to treatment.

• Awarded five-year $2.6 million National Institute of Health (NIH) R01 grant to optimize pharmacological treatments for voice disorders.

NNIL SANTIÁÑEZ, PH.D.

Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

il Santiáñez, Ph.D., is a professor of literature in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Saint Louis University. He has published, among other books, “Spanish Fascist Writing: (with Justin Crumbaugh; University of Toronto Press, 2021), “The Literature of Absolute War: Transnationalism and World War II” (Cambridge University Press, 2020), “Del mal y sus signaturas” (Alpha Decay, 2020), “Wittgenstein’s Ethics and Modern Warfare” (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2018), and “Topographies of Fascism: Habitus, Space, and Writing in Twentieth-Century Spain” (University of Toronto Press, 2013). In addition to scholarly critical editions of works by Lope de Vega and Ramón J. Sender, he is the author of numerous articles, prologues, and book chapters on 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century Spanish and European literature and culture. His research interests encompass the study of warfare and culture, contemporary biopolitics, necropolitics, fascism, cultural geography, and political philosophy.

Featured Accomplishments:

• 2021 MLA’s Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature, honorable mention for Spanish Fascist Writing, co-edited with Justin Crumbaugh

• The Literature of Absolute War: Transnationalism and World War II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Paperback edition: 2022.

• Wittgenstein’s Ethics and Modern Warfare. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2018.

RRACHEL GREENWALD SMITH, PH.D.

Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences

achel Greenwald Smith is a professor of English at Saint Louis University and the author of “On Compromise: Art, Politics, and the Fate of an American Ideal” (Graywolf Press, 2021) and “Affect and American Literature in the Age of Neoliberalism” (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

Smith’s work has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Yale Review, Novel: A Forum on Fiction, Post45 Peer Reviewed, American Literature, Mediations, Modern Fiction Studies, and elsewhere. Other projects include two edited collections, “Neoliberalism and Contemporary Literary Culture," co-edited with Mitchum Huehls (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017), and "American Literature in Transition: 2000-2010 (Cambridge University Press, 2018),” as well as a 2023 special issue of American Literary History, co-edited with Gordon Hutner, on Democracy and the Novel in the U.S.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Awarded a Macdowell Fellowship in 2023

• Recent book, “On Compromise,” reviewed in publications including The New Yorker, Bookforum, and The New Republic

• Appeared on St. Louis On the Air to discuss “On Compromise” in 2022.

AANNE STILES, PH.D.

Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences

nne Stiles, Ph.D., is a professor of English at Saint Louis University and is the author of “Children’s Literature and the Rise of Mind Cure: Positive Thinking and Pseudo-Science at the Fin de Siècle” (Cambridge UP, 2020) and “Popular Fiction and Brain Science in the Late 19th Century” (Cambridge UP, 2012). She edited “Neurology and Literature, 1866-1920” (Palgrave, 2007) and co-edited two volumes published by Elsevier in 2013 as part of their Progress in Brain Research series. She has held long-term grants from the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (AY 2016-2017); the Huntington Library (AY 2009-2010); and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AY 2006-2007).

Stiles’s research explores intersections between literature, science, and religion in 19th-century Britain and North America. She currently teaches courses on 19th-century British and American literature, science fiction, children’s literature, and medical humanities.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Recent and forthcoming publications:

– “Nauseous Fiction’: Mary Baker Eddy and the Christian Science Novel, 1900-1910.” Studies in the Novel 56.1 (forthcoming March 2024).

– “Religion and Science in the 1890s.” Nineteenth-Century Literature in Transition: the 1890s. Ed. Kristin Mahoney and Dustin Friedman. Cambridge University Press, 2023. 285-304. (solicited)

• Edited journal issue:

– Special issue of the journal Literature and Medicine, “Alternative Approaches to Health and Wellness in the Nineteenth Century.” Co-edited by Anne Stiles and Kristine Swenson. Vol. 39.1 (spring 2021).

CCYNTHIA STOLLHANS, PH.D.

Professor of Art History; May O’Rourke Jay Endowed Chair in Art History and Religion, College of Arts and Sciences

ynthia Stollhans received her Ph.D. in art history from Northwestern University. For her dissertation research, she lived and studied in Italy for three years to utilize the archives and libraries. Stollhans joined the faculty at Saint Louis University in the fall of 1986, holds the title of professor of art history, and is the May O’Rourke Jay Endowed Chair in Art History and Religion. Stollhans consistently offers courses in her specialty of Italian Renaissance Art. One of her most popular courses is The Life and Times of Michelangelo. Over the years, she has added thematic courses such as Christian Art, Saints in Art, and The Art of Rome. Stollhans has authored articles in prominent journals including The Sixteenth Century Studies Journal, The Women’s Art Journal, and The Journal of Early Modern Women. Following years of research in Rome, Stollhans wrote and published a monograph titled “Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Renaissance Roman Art” (Ashgate, 2014). In the following year, she published a co-edited volume called “Patronage, Gender, and the Arts in Early Modern Italy.” More recently, Stollhans’s research focus has been on papal mistresses as art patrons in Renaissance Rome. She currently has four articles forthcoming, including “Mistresses at the Borgia Papal Court: Lives, Lovers, and Art” and “Adriana de Mila and the Decorative Program in the Orsini Castle at Vasanello.”

Featured Accomplishments:

• Stollhans recently had her article titled “Adriana de Mila and the Decorative Program in the Orsini Castle at Vasanello” accepted for publication.

• Stollhans will present “Mapping the Renaissance Mistress at the Papal Court” in a session titled “Noble Wives and Courtly Mistresses in Early Modern Europe I: Mistresses in Early Modern Italy,” sponsored by the Medici Archive Project at the upcoming conference of the Renaissance Society of America.

• Stollhans was invited to contribute an essay for the upcoming book titled “Family Matters: Spiritual and Maternal Connections in European Art and Patronage.”

YYAN SUN, PH.D.

Gustave K. Klausner Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Accounting, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

an Sun, Ph.D., is the Gustave K. Klausner Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Accounting in the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business. She joined the SLU accounting department in 2007 and started serving as the department chair in February 2021. Sun’s research interests include financial reporting, corporate disclosures, accounting quality, and financial statement analysis. Her research has been published in notable academic journals such as The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, and Journal of Corporate Finance. She has also presented at various accounting conferences over the course of her career. Sun received the Fr. Thomas M. Knapp, S.J., Distinguished Faculty Member Award in 2023.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Fr. Thomas M. Knapp, S.J., Distinguished Faculty Member Award, 2023

• Ahmed, A., Chen, L., Duellman, S., & Sun, Y. 2023. Targets’ Accounting Conservatism and the Gains from Acquisition. Contemporary Accounting Research, 40(1), 7-40 (Lead Article).

• Jia, Y., Seetharaman, A., Sun, Y., & Wang, X. 2023. Relative Performance Goals and Management Earnings Guidance. Journal of Business Ethics, 183, 1045-1071.

AGREGORY EDWARD TRIPLETT JR., PH.D.

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dean of the School of Science and Engineering

fter graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014, Gregory Triplett Jr., Ph.D., began as an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri (MU). While there, he secured external research grants and championed numerous efforts focused on enhancing student success, broadening participation in research, and promoting intellectual curiosity. He worked with the Air Force Research Laboratory for many years on the development of infrared countermeasure technology and other Department of Defense-funded projects on the topics of protection and detection.

In his first leadership role as director of undergraduate studies, Triplett served as chair of the department’s course and curriculum committee, led accreditation activities, directed the undergraduate program, and transformed recruiting and advising efforts. He remained heavily involved in expanding research activities in the department and was appointed associate director of the NANO/MEMS Center. He also served as associate director in the MU Honors College, where he engaged campus constituents in collaborative efforts to expand the honors curriculum, worked with other unit leaders to enhance diversity and inclusion, and focused on strategically communicating reasons to partner with the Honors College. Triplett’s increased focus on helping students apply for national fellowships, such as the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, accompanied a rise in awards.

Triplett also sustained a research laboratory (the Compound Semiconductor Research Laboratory, CSRL — now called Precision Imaging Research Laboratory) that focused on the development and integration of nanomaterials and their potential in the DoD application space. Using advanced computational tools and semiconductor device fabrication technologies, core issues linking quantum phenomena and nanomaterial synthesis were fundamentally studied. At MU, Triplett received awards for teaching, service, and research.

In 2016, Triplett started a new role as associate dean for graduate studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. One year later, he was appointed as associate dean for graduate studies and research, where he laid a foundation that incentivized research activities and seeded new initiatives that are now externally supported. As senior associate dean for academic affairs, he was responsible for all aspects of undergraduate and graduate engineering programs. His efforts to advance the mission of the College of Engineering were centered around several core values: ensuring distinction in learning, adhering to scholarly ethics, cultivating discovery, maintaining a climate of trust, and fostering collegiality and cooperation — the structural pillars of VCU. In 2022, the college reached more than $30 million in annual research expenditures.

Triplett now serves as dean of the School of Science and Engineering at Saint Louis University, where he remains committed to enhancing campus-wide student engagement, harnessing the potential of university assets, and broadening the sphere of SLU’s influence within the state. He started two initiatives, Excellence in Engineering and V-4Mation, that serve to address equity and opportunity gaps.

Featured Accomplishments:

• Grants:

– Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration. “Build Back Better Regional Challenge: Virginia Commonwealth University — Virginia State University Joint Degree and Research Program,” Amount: $7.7 million

• Research Award:

– Air Force Office of Scientific Research: Young Investigator Award, “High-Efficiency Mid-Infrared (MIR) Sources using Beam Recycling,” Amount: $559,000

• Teaching Award:

– William T. Kemper Award for Teaching Excellence

PPHYLLIS WELIVER, D.PHIL. Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences

hyllis Weliver, D. Phil, is a professor of English at Saint Louis University. Her research makes connections among literature, music, and a range of 19th-century British discourses, including constructions of gender, class, and political identity. She is the author of the monographs, “Mary Gladstone and the Victorian Salon: Music, Literature, Liberalism” (Cambridge University Press, 2017); “The Musical Crowd in English Fiction, 1840–1910: Class, Culture and Nation” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006); and “Women Musicians in Victorian Fiction, 1860–1900: Representations of Music, Science and Gender in the Leisured Home” (Ashgate, 2000; Routledge, 2016). This work has contributed to BBC Two Television in the UK and to the “Essay” program on BBC Radio 3. Weliver regularly lectures internationally, including by invitation of the British Academy in London and the Royal Academy of Music, also in London.

Twice funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, she is a lifetime fellow of Gladstone’s Library in Wales. Her visiting appointments include the Macgeorge Fellowship at University of Melbourne (2024) and visiting research fellow at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge (2020). Weliver’s edited projects include the books, “The Figure of Music in Nineteenth-Century British Poetry”

(Ashgate 2005; Routledge 2016) and, with Katharine Ellis, “Words & Notes in the Long Nineteenth Century” (Boydell & Brewer, 2013) and “Reading Texts in Music and Literature of the Long Nineteenth Century” (Boydell & Brewer, 2025). She has also co-edited a special issue of Victorian Poetry with Linda K. Hughes (2022).

Under Weliver’s leadership, Sounding Tennyson (http:// soundingtennyson.org/) was the first test case for adding audio to the International Image Interoperability Framework (iiif.io) and has provided the origin for multiple fixtures in the IIIF A/V group. Sounding Tennyson is the original project of Tennysons Archive, a consortium of projects that she co-founded and co-leads, and which includes the Tennyson collection, Cambridge University Digital Library. From 2019 to 2022, she served as director of the Walter J. Ong, S.J., Center for Digital Humanities at Saint Louis University. Visit Weliver’s professional site for further information: https://www.phyllisweliver.com/

Featured Accomplishments:

• “(Invited) Macgeorge Fellow, University of Melbourne, AugustSeptember 2024.

• Co-editor, academic journal issue. Victorian Poetry 60.2. Special issue: Victorian Poetry and the Salon. Edited and introduced by Linda K. Hughes and Phyllis Weliver (2022): 105–275. ISSN 1530–7190.

• Interviewee. “Women of the Academy.” Short Stories: 200 years of the Royal Academy of Music. Royal Academy of Music, London, podcast. Presented by Anna Picard. Produced by Natalie Steed. 8 July 2022. Royal Academy of Music YouTube, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, Listen Notes, SoundCloud. Nominated: Best Music Special, ARIAS: The Radio Academy. awards.ram.ac.uk/ multimedia/short-stories-episode-1-women-of-the-academy

Newly inducted SLU Research Institute Fellows with Vice President for Research and Partnerships Ken Olliff and Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield.

PUBLISHED EXCELLENCE

In 2023, Saint Louis University authors published a variety of works, providing novel insights and contributions in language development, American history, creative writing and poetry, philosophical theology, and law. The following section provides a glimpse at a selection of these works published in the past year.

Allen Brizee, Ph.D.

Read, Reason, Write: An Argument Text and Reader; McGraw-Hill Education, 2023

“Read, Reason, Write” shows students how reading, argument, research, and analysis are interrelated and how these skills combine to develop each student’s critical-thinking ability.

A rich collection of readings provides practice for these skills, and new ideas and insights for readers. In the 13th edition, we have given greater attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion in text and illustrations, and when choosing the authors and subject matter of readings. Half of the professional readings in the text are written by Black or Indigenous writers or people of color. Decades of classroom experience join composition and rhetoric research and theory to guide the text’s content and presentation. This combination has made the text a best-seller for now 13 editions. “Read, Reason, Write” 13e is completely aligned with MLA 9e and APA 7e.

For decades, “Read, Reason, Write” has been a popular and successful textbook in composition and first-year writing courses, as well as in courses on rhetoric and argumentation.

https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/read-reason-write-seyler/M9781264455041.htm

Amanda L. Izzo, Ph.D. and Benjamin Looker, Ph.D.

Left in the Midwest: St. Louis Progressive Activism in the 1960s and 1970s; University of Missouri Press, 2022

Despite St. Louis’s mid-20th-century reputation as a conservative and sleepy Midwestern metropolis, the city and its surrounding region have long played host to dynamic forms of social-movement organizing. This was especially the case during the 1960s and 1970s, when a new generation of local activists lent their energies to the ongoing struggles for Black freedom, lesbian and gay liberation, feminist social transformations, environmental protection, an end to the Vietnam War, and more. This volume, the first of its kind, offers 15 scholarly contributions that together bring into focus the exceptional range of progressive activist projects that took shape in a single Midwestern city during these tumultuous decades.

In contrast to scholarship that seeks to interpret the era’s social-movement initiatives in a primarily national context, the works presented in this expansive collection emphasize the importance of locality, neighborhood, community institutions, and rooted social networks. Documenting wrenching forces of metropolitan change as well as grassroots resilience, “Left in the Midwest” shows us how PLACE powerfully shaped agendas, worldviews, and opportunities for the disparate groups that dedicated themselves to progressive visions for their city. By revising our sense of the region’s past, this volume also expands our sense of the possibilities that the future may hold for activist movements seeking change in St. Louis and beyond.

https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826222862/left-in-the-midwest/

Anne McCabe, Ph.D.

A Functional Linguistic Perspective on Developing Language; Routledge, 2021

This volume offers a comprehensive account of language development from a systemic functional linguistics (SFL) perspective, integrating theory and data from a wide range of research studies.

The book begins by taking an in-depth look at SFL theory and its focus on texts, highlighting the metafunctional nature of language and the ways in which individuals’ repertoires of meaning-making resources develop as they interact with the world and with others. Grounded in an SFL approach, the successive chapters consider, in turn, the key stages of language development, from infancy to

Evelyn Meyer, Ph.D.

Ethics in the Arthurian Legend; Boydell & Brewer, 2023

The purpose of this collection is to draw attention specifically to the manifold ways in which the Arthurian legend speaks to the broad subject of ethics. We are accustomed to reading the Arthurian legend for the themes of chivalry, courtliness, violence, honor, and treason, and all of these subjects are deeply implicated in the concept of ethics. Each narrative speaks to the sociocultural milieu in which it was penned, and this is

true when speaking of Arthurian texts from the Middle Ages through the present day. In texts as disparate as those represented in this collection including Welsh, English, French, German, Dutch, Old Norse Icelandic, and modern Arthurian narratives and games, we find clear and often intentional critiques of Arthur and his court, signaling a fundamental engagement with ethical considerations. The ultimate aim of this project was to answer the question, “Does Arthur have ethics?”

https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781843846871/ ethics-in-the-arthurian-legend/

Devin Johnston, Ph.D.

Dragons: Poems; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023

“Dragons” is a collection of sonorous, sensual poems from Devin Johnston, “one of the finest craftsmen of verse we have” (Michael Autrey, Booklist). Attentive to both the physical world and our place in it, his arresting images of nature and human life ring with quiet power. An elegy for a 10-year-old hen; a fourth grader seeing a fox, his “fur waistcoat

school settings to additional, second, and foreign language learning contexts. Each chapter incorporates a range of SFL studies to demonstrate shifts in language development across these stages, and also the discussion of other functional perspectives to examine the ways in which these different approaches inform one another. A concluding chapter considers the implications of these studies for future research as well as for pedagogical practices in literacy teaching.

In its consideration of the relationship between SFL theory and its application to language development, this book will be key reading for students and scholars in systemic functional linguistics, language and education, and literacy studies.

https://asfla.net/m-a-k-halliday-prizeshortlist-2023/

immaculate”; the sound of neighbors arguing set against the “pallid flames” of the setting sun: together, such scenes form a resonant, restrained meditation on life’s journey and “the feeling of time.”

https://bookshop.org/p/books/dragons-poemsdevin-johnston/18411167?ean=9780374607302

This book was first published in 2021, but was shortlisted for an international prize, the M.A.K. Halliday, in 2023.

Fabien Montcher, Ph.D.

Mercenaries of Knowledge: Vicente Nogueira, the Republic of Letters, and the Making of Late Renaissance Politics; Cambridge University Press, 2023

From Lisbon to Rome via the Gulf of Guinea and the sugar mills of northern Brazil, this book explores the strategies and practices that displaced scholars cultivated to navigate the murky waters of late Renaissance politics. By tracing the life of the Portuguese juristscholar Vicente Nogueira (1586–1654) across diverse social, cultural, and political spaces, Fabien Montcher reveals a world of religious con fl icts and imperial rivalries. Here, European agents developed the practice of “bibliopolitics,” using local and international

Steven Rogers, Ph.D.

Accountability in State Legislatures; University of Chicago Press, 2023

“Accountability in State Legislatures” makes the provocative claim that elections do little to hold state legislators accountable. Instead of serving as a referendum on state legislators’ own actions, state legislative elections are dominated by national politics. Voters do not appreciably reward or punish state legislators in the general election for their representation, state-level policy outcomes, management of the economy, or general performance, even

under favorable conditions for accountability. Meanwhile, voters’ assessments of the president have three times the influence over voters’ decisions in state legislative elections compared to voters’ approval of the state legislature. “Accountability in State Legislatures” raises serious questions regarding whether fundamental assumptions of democratic theory meaningfully apply to the “laboratories of democracy” and challenges prior work’s optimistic portrayals of statehouse democracy.

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/ chicago/A/bo199643199.html

Eleonore Stump, Ph.D.

Philosophical Theology and the Knowledge of Persons; Wipf and Stock, 2023

In the series of essays collected in this book, Eleonore Stump offers reflections that illustrate the nature and importance of learning from the Christian heritage in its development over the ages of the Christian tradition and its continued science. The essays show the power of this heritage in philosophical theology and in philosophical biblical exegesis. Central to the concerns they

systems for buying and selling books and manuscripts to foster political communication and debate, and ultimately to negotiate their survival. Bibliopolitics fostered the advent of a generation of “mercenaries of knowledge” whose stories constitute a key part of 17thcentury social and cultural history. This book also demonstrates their crucial role in creating an inter-national and dynamic Republic of Letters with others who helped shape early modern intellectual and political worlds.

20% Discount Promo Code: MOK2023

https://cambridge.org/core/books/mercenariesof-knowledge/66F0C703A3248FEBD263C7857B3 D1FD4

address is welcoming personal relationship offered to all human beings. The essays explore the nature of God and some puzzles about God’s interactions with human beings. They also examine the nature of human knowledge of God and argue that it can be achieved not only through propositional truths but also through knowledge of persons, and even through apprehension of beauty in nature or the arts. The book closes with an examination of what it is to will in accordance with the will of God for those who long for him.

Eleonore Stump, Ph.D.

The Image of God: The Problem of Evil and the Problem of Mourning; Oxford University Press, 2022

To show that suffering is defeated for a sufferer, a theodicy argues that there is an outweighing benefit which could not have been gotten without the suffering. Typically, this condition has the tacit presupposition given that this is a post-Fall world. Consequently, there is a sense in which human suffering would not be shown to be defeated even if there were a successful theodicy because a theodicy typically implies that the benefit in question could have been gotten without the suffering if there had not been a Fall. There is a part of the problem of evil that would remain, then, even if there were a successful theodicy. This is the problem of mourning: Even defeated suffering in the post-Fall world merits mourning. How is this warranted mourning compatible with the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, perfectly good God? The traditional response to this problem is the felix culpa view, which maintains that the original sin was fortunate because there is an outweighing benefit to sufferers that could not be gotten in a world without suffering. The felix culpa view presupposes an object of evaluation, namely, the true self of a human being, and a standard evaluation for human lives. This book explores these and a variety of other topics in philosophical theology in order to explain and evaluate the role of suffering in human lives.

Jonathan Sawday, Ph.D.

Blanks, Print, Space, and Void in English Renaissance Literature: An Archaeology of Absence; Oxford University Press, 2023

“Blanks, Print, Space, and Void” is a nearly 600-page inquiry into how gaps, empty spaces, pauses, and silence came to exercise their peculiar power over our imaginations in both the modern and the early-modern worlds. The book leads the reader through the history of the book and printing in the period 1470-1700 — the first age of the new technology of print. Traversing subjects as diverse as cartography, “race,” the Atlantic slave trade, the role of women in the production and distribution of books, the history and science of reading, censorship, and the creation of our modern idea of bureaucracy, the book is an “archaeology of absence.” It explores how women and men in the past began to use the spaces of the printed page as devices for storing, retrieving, and transmitting their experiences of the world around them. So, the book helps us to “see” the printed words of the past through the eyes of long-vanished readers. Although the book concentrates on many familiar writings from English literature — for example, the plays of William Shakespeare or the poetry of John Milton — it also discusses scientific texts, novels, dictionaries, almanacs, legal documents, blank forms, and even the contemporary experience of watching movies or TV shows.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/blanks-print-space-and-void-in-english-renaissance-literature9780192845641?cc=us&lang=en&

Constance Z. Wagner, J.D., LL.M.

A Guide to Human Rights Due Diligence for Lawyers; American Bar Association, 2023

This book explores the key components of the human rights due diligence (HRDD) process, considering practical implementation of HRDD into corporate practices and policies and treating key topics and cross-cutting issues related to HRDD. HRDD is a rapidly evolving area that is becoming a mainstay of global dialogue on corporate social responsibility. HRDD stems from the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which acknowledge that while states have a duty to protect human rights, businesses also have a duty to respect human rights in their operations. Both states and businesses have a duty to provide access to remedies for those persons who have been denied their human rights. HRDD is the process by which businesses monitor their operations to comply with such duties. This book will further lawyers’ understanding of HRDD and allow them to better advise their clients on adopting and implementing good practices to identify and address their potential and actual human rights impacts.

This book was co-edited by Corinne E. Lewis and Constance Z. Wagner and is a project stemming from their roles as co-chair and vice chair (publications), respectively, of the International Human Rights Committee of the American Bar Association Section of International Law. There are 15 chapters written by legal academics and practitioners, including both co-editors, with expertise on human rights and human rights due diligence.

https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/425551802/?login

Amy E. Wright, Ph.D.

Serial Mexico: Storytelling across Media, from Nationhood to Now; Vanderbilt University Press, 2023

No book until now has tied in two centuries of Mexican serial narratives —tales of glory, of fame, and of epic characters, grounded in oral folklore —with their retellings in comics, radio, and television soap operas. Wright’s multidisciplinary “Serial Mexico” delves into this storytelling tradition: examining the nostalgic tales reimagined in novelas, radionovelas, telenovelas, and onwards, and how their foundational figures have been woven into society.

This panorama shows the Mexican experience of storytelling from the country’s early days until now, showcasing protagonists that mock authority, make light of hierarchy, and embrace the hybridity and mestizaje of Mexico. These tales reflect on and respond to crucial cultural concerns such as family, patriarchy, gender roles, racial mixing, urbanization, modernization, and political idealism. “Serial Mexico” examines how serialized storytelling’s melodrama and sensationalism reveal key political and cultural messaging.

In a detailed yet accessible style, Wright describes how these stories have continued to morph with current times’ concerns and social media. Will tropes and traditions carry on in reimagined serial storytelling forms? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for the next episode.

https://www.amazon.com/Serial-Mexico-Storytelling-Nationhood-Critical-ebook/dp/B0BG8XFNNC/ ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pl_foot_top?ie=UTF8

Brian Yothers, Ph.D.

Why Antislavery Poetry Matters Now; Camden House/Boydell & Brewer, 2023

The poetry of the transatlantic abolitionist movement represented a powerful alliance across racial and religious boundaries; today it challenges the demarcation in literary studies between cultural and aesthetic approaches. Now is a particularly apt moment for its study. This book is a history of the 19th-century poetry of slavery and freedom framed as an argument about the nature of poetry itself: why we write it, why we read it, how it interacts with history. Poetry that speaks to a broad cross-section of society with moral authority, intellectual ambition, and artistic complexity mattered in the fraught years of the mid-19th century; Brian Yothers argues that it can and must matter today. He considers writers from the canonical — Whitman, Barrett Browning, Beecher Stowe, DuBois, Melville — to those whose influence has faded — Longfellow, Lydia Huntley Sigourney, John Pierpont, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell —to African American writers whose work has been recovered in recent decades — James M. Whitfield, William Wells Brown, George Moses Horton, Frances E. W. Harper.

https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781640140691/why-antislavery-poetry-matters-now/

For links to purchase books published by SLU authors in 2023, please visit the SLU Research Institute website for more information:

http://www.slu.edu/researchinstitute

Announcements

IJ. Cameron Anglum, Ph.D.

n spring 2023, J. Cameron Anglum, Ph.D., assistant professor, education policy and equity, School of Education, SLU Research Institute Fellow, was awarded a new grant from the Center on Reinventing Public Education. In collaboration with his colleague, Jason Jabbari of the Washington University in St. Louis Social Policy Institute, he will examine the intersection of heightened pandemic-era public school student and teacher mobility and their collective impact on student outcomes.

Anglum also published a research article in Urban Education, where he employs a brand-new data source — school-level funding — with an emergent methodological framework — quantitative critical race theory, often referred to as QuantCrit — to explore the racial/ethnic and wealth determinants of public school funding in the St. Louis region. He uncovers wide disparities in school funding efforts by the racial and ethnic makeup of local communities, highlighting some contemporary manifestations of systematic and institutional racism.

RRussell Blyth, Ph.D.

ussell Blyth, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, co-authored an article with Francesco Fumagalli and Francesco Matucci, titled “On some questions related to integrable groups” in Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata. The article was published online on January 3, 2023.

The article has also now appeared in print, with the following citation: Blyth, R.D., Fumagalli, F. & Matucci, F. On some questions related to integrable groups. Annali di Matematica 202, 1781–1791 (2023).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10231-022-01300-z

AAlejandra

Botero Acosta, Ph.D.

Chris Arnatt, Ph.D.

Chris Arnatt, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the chemical biology program, was named a Top 10 alumni for the last decade at Virginia Commonwealth University.

lejandra Botero Acosta, Ph.D., Water Access, Technology, Environment, and Research (WATER) Institute research scientist; and Amanda Cox, Ph.D., director of the WATER Institute, associate professor of civil engineering, led a stream bank restoration project, which is a part of the overall Shoal Creek Watershed initiative. The WATER Institute is a key research partner for a stream bank restoration design project that is part of the Shoal Creek Consortium Initiative. The main objective of this project is to propose a restoration plan for the unstable and degraded stream banks and riparian areas at the Hickory and Shoal Creeks confluence site in Southwest Missouri. For this, bioengineering and traditional measures were explored to reduce the bank instability.

Additionally, graduate research assistant Peter Kickham and laboratory technician Sofie Liang visited the Shoal Creek site and assisted in data collection for the project. WATER Institute teams have traveled to southwest Missouri during the course of the project to visit the Shoal Creek field site, collect data, and build connections with the lead organizations and regional partners. The project began in early summer 2022 and was completed in fall 2023.

Figure 3 from “Separate and Unequal in St. Louis? Strengths and Limitations of School-Level Funding Data Using a QuantCrit Framework”

Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., ATC, FASAHP, FNAP

Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., ATC, FASAHP, FNAP, professor and vice dean of the Doisy College of Health Sciences, was honored with the 2023 Sayers “Bud” Miller Distinguished Educator Award at the NATA Annual Clinical Symposia & AT Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana. This award is given to those who exemplify excellence in the field of athletic training education through professional service, instructional effectiveness, scholarship, and overall impact on education in athletic training. He served as director of the SLU Athletic Training Program from 2007-2022 and is widely recognized for scholarship and leadership in interprofessional education and the AT profession.

Breitbach also announces that faculty from the Doisy College of Health Sciences, Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing, Center for Interprofessional Education and Research, and the University Undergraduate Core Curriculum committee have been engaged, nationally and internationally, in disseminating research related to SLU’s unique and innovative alignment between the University Core and Interprofessional Education (IPE) courses. The faculty members are as follows: Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D. (Doisy College of Health Sciences), David Pole, Ph.D. (Center for Interprofessional Education and Research), and Ellen Crowell, Ph.D. (University Core) with additional collaboration from Kathy Kienstra (Doisy College of Health Sciences), Sarah Oerther, Ph.D., Renee Davis, D.N.P., and Kris L’Ecuyer, Ph.D. (Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing), Jessica Barreca (Center for Interprofessional Education and Research), Haley Cobb, Ph.D. (Louisiana State University), and Sarah Manspeaker, Ph.D. (Duquesne University).

This research explores the process and outcomes of aligning the three-course Interprofessional Practice Concentration with six attributes of SLU’s University Core Curriculum. This has been a transformational experience for the faculty and serves as a unique example for institutions looking to create a greater connection between health professions programs, interprofessional courses, and the greater University student learning outcomes. This collaboration has yielded one article in print and two in review:

IN PRINT

Breitbach AP. Celebrating the Culture of Interprofessional Collaboration in Athletic Training. Athletic Training Education Journal. 2023;18(1):26-30. doi:10.4085/1947-380x-22-065

Breitbach AP, Ulrich G. Job satisfaction in sport science and sports medicine, an international cross-sectional survey. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. 2023;9(2):e001542. doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001542

“Transforming Interprofessional Education Through Integration with a University Core Curriculum” in the winter 2022 issue of the Journal of Allied Health. CITATION: Breitbach, A., Pole, D., Kienstra, K., Barreca, J., & Crowell, E. (2022). Transforming Interprofessional Education Through Integration with a University Core Curriculum. Journal of Allied Health, 51(4), e125-e132. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asahp/jah/2022/00000051/00000004/art00019

IN REVIEW

Oerther S, Breitbach A, Manspeaker SA, Pole D, L’Ecuyer KM. Interprofessional Education for nursing students in the age of the Anthropocene. Nurse Education in Practice. 2022 Dec 16;67:103536. doi: 10.1016/j. nepr.2022.103536

“Learner Experiences of Identity, Global Interdependence, and Teamwork following Engagement with an Interprofessional Education Course” in review with the Journal of Interprofessional Care.

Additionally, this research has been presented at numerous national and international conferences, including:

• International Network of Health Workforce Education (INHWE) 3rd International Congress of Health Education and Research & Association of Medical Educators (AoME) Annual Academic Meeting. Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales UK (June 28, 2023)

• Collaborating Across Borders (CAB) VIII. (online May 16, 2023)

• National Academies of Practice - NAP Forum, Washington, DC. (March 31, 2023)

• Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Annual Conference. Chicago, IL. (March 26, 2023)

• Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA (October 20, 2022)

• Nexus Summit, Minneapolis, MN (August 22, 2022)

Breitbach posing with colleagues.

Stephen Blake, Ph.D.

PEER-REVIEWED:

Stephen Blake, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, published six works in 2023, including two as first author. Notably, he had a senior author publication in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). This is a remarkable publication record for one year, and his citations are as follows:

• Bastille‐Rousseau, G., S. A. Crews, E. B. Donovan, M. E. Egan, N. T. Gorman, J. B. Pitman, A. M. Weber, E. M. Audia, M. R. Larreur, H. Manninen, S. Blake, M. W. Eichholz, E. Bergman, and N. D. Rayl. 2023. A multi‐property assessment of intensity of use provides a functional understanding of animal movement. Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

• Berzaghi, F., F. Bretagnolle, C. Durand-Bessart, and S. Blake. 2023. Megaherbivores modify forest structure and increase carbon stocks through multiple pathways.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120:e2201832120.

• Blake, S., J. Palmer, M. Brenn-White, and S. L. Deem. 2023. Home ranges of box turtles in a rural woodland and an urban park in Saint Louis, MO; implications for turtle conservation. Urban Ecosystems.

• Deem, S. L., S. Rivera, A. Nieto-Claudin, E. Emmel, F. Cabrera, and S. Blake. 2023. Temperature along an elevation gradient determines Galapagos tortoise sex ratios. Ecology and Evolution 13:e10008.

• Pike, K., S. Blake, I. Gordon, F. Cabrera, G. Rivas-Torres, F. Laso, and L. Schwarzkopf. 2023. Navigating agricultural landscapes: responses of critically endangered giant tortoises to farmland vegetation and infrastructure. Landscape Ecology 38:501-516.

BOOK CHAPTER:

• Blake, S., and F. Maisels. 2023. Forest Elephant Movements in Central Africa: Megafauna Need Megaspaces. Pages 27-58 in R. Reyna-Hurtado, C. A. Chapman, and M. Melletti, editors. Movement Ecology of Afrotropical Forest Mammals. Springer International Publishing, Cham.

WTony Buchanan, Ph.D.

ith former graduate student Ashley Doonan, Ph.D., Tony Buchanan, Ph.D., published a review article on the impact of intrusive cognitions in addiction. Substance use disorders (SUD) represent a pervasive and ongoing public health crisis responsible for many deaths and hospitalizations each year. The goal of the review is to explore underlying cognitive processes which prolong SUD despite treatment.

They proposed a mechanistic model for how intrusive cognitions may jeopardize symptom improvement and SUD treatment success via risky decision-making. Intrusive cognitions — images, words, memories, or impulses — demand little cognitive effort and lend themselves to quick action and decisions. In the paper, they presented evidence that shows how intrusive cognitions, poorly inhibited, could impair the decisionmaking process in SUD and lead to subsequent addictive behaviors.

Michael Brickey, a Ph.D. candidate at Saint Louis University in American Studies, became the editor of the new St. Louis–based journal, Informal History, which aims to “promote the study of history through collective discovery and individual creative expression.” Brickey was featured in St. Louis Magazine with other editorial team members.

https://www.stlmag.com/history/informalhistory/

Allen Brizee, Ph.D., director of writing across the curriculum and associate professor of English, and his research team, Stephanie Hurter Brizee and Colten Biro, were awarded $8,000 for a Beaumont Scholarship Research Award for their public digital humanities project, “The Saint Louis Story: Learning and Living Racial Justice." The Saint Louis Story is the sister project to “The Baltimore Story: Learning and Living Racial Justice” hosted by Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore: https://www.thebaltimorestory.org/

Brizee also published two articles this year. The citations are as follows:

• Brizee, Allen, Stephanie Hurter Brizee, Colten Biro, Meha Gupta. “John W. O’Malley as a Guide for Eloquentia Perfecta, Community-Engaged Work, and Graduate Education.” Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal vol. 11, no. 2, 2022, Article 12.

• Gannett, Cinthia, John Brereton, Allen Brizee. “John W. O’Malley: Scholar of Eloquence and Eloquent Scholar.” Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal vol 11., no. 2, Article 11.

Bryonie Carter

Bryonie Carter, a Ph.D. candidate at Saint Louis University in American Studies, was promoted to the rank of full professor in English at St. Charles Community College in St. Charles, MO.

Allen Brizee, Ph.D.

Michael Brickey

Vincent Casaregola, Ph.D.

Vincent Casaregola, Ph.D., professor of English, authored several works of poetry in 2023. Two of his poems were published in the online journal, Topical Poetry. One poem, titled “Crush Depth,” examines how we respond to events like the loss of the Titan submersible, and the other, “Trinitite,” explores issues related to the aftermath of the first atomic test. Casaregola also published additional poems, including:

• “Six,” a poem in Ariel’s Dream Literary Journal (April 2023).

• “Fragments in COVID Time,” a poem published in the 2022/2023 edition of Blood and Thunder, a literary journal of the University of Oklahoma Medical School.

• “Call It” and “There Is Nothing to Say,” two poems published in Medicine and Meaning (Winter/Spring 2023).

Casaregola also authored two additional works in 2023:

• “Going” (flash fiction) — Compass Rose Literary Journal (online) featured prose for July 18, 2023.

• “‘Prior Justification’: Neo-World War II Films as Rhetorical Appeals for ‘Just War’ in the New Millennium.” LIT: Literature/ Interpretation/Theory (part two of a special issue) 34.2, 2023.

AYasar Caliskan, M.D.

The SSM Saint Louis University Hospital Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Center, led by Yasar Caliskan, M.D., was awarded the nationwide Polycystic Kidney Disease Center of Excellence.

Recently, the PKD Foundation announced SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital as one of seven community engagement grant awardees for 2023. A collaborative project to advance understanding of the underlying genetic causes of disparity and environment-gene interactions in Black patients with PKD was awarded a 2023 Research Scholars in Internal Medicine Grant. The results may provide a valuable resource for appropriate and patientcentered treatments for PKD patients with high risk APOL1 RRVs and will help with the integration of genetic testing into routine clinical care of patients.

Benjamin de Foy, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, published a paper in Environmental Research Letters, titled about his study, “Investigating high methane emissions from urban areas detected by TROPOMI and their association with untreated wastewater.” The paper is very relevant to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-wastewater-treatment-significantreduction-greenhouse.html

manda Cox, Ph.D., P.E., director of the WATER Institute and associate professor of civil engineering, is proud to announce seven Saint Louis University faculty and staff researchers joined the Institute as primary investigators in 2023. Each of them has expertise or active research initiatives in water-related areas and will lead and contribute to growing collaborative, interdisciplinary water research at SLU. We are excited to welcome them to the WATER Institute team!

• Orhun Aydin, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science in the School of Science and Engineering

Amanda Cox, Ph.D., P.E.

• Annesh Borthakur, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental engineering, Department of Civil, Computer and Electrical Engineering in the School of Science and Engineering

• Sayan Dey, Ph.D., research scientist at the Taylor Geospatial Institute

• Emily Hite, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Saint Louis University

• Kenan Li, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the College for Public Health and Social Justice

• Zachary R. Phillips, Ph.D., assistant professor of GIScience in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the School of Science and Engineering

• Jean Potvin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physics in the School of Science and Engineering

Benjamin de Foy, Ph.D.

Zackary Davis

Zackary Davis, a Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University in American Studies, presented a paper titled “King Sacrifice: Hero Worship and Individualism in US Chess Culture” at the Popular Culture Association national conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Alexei Demchenko, Ph.D.

ACass Dedert

Cass Dedert, a Ph.D. candidate at Saint Louis University, published an article, “Progranulin Protects against HyperglycemiaInduced Neuronal Dysfunction through GSK3β Signaling.” Dedert studies in the lab of Fenglian Xu, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, who also served as the senior author of this article.

lexei Demchenko, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, published two articles in Chemistry - A European Journal. The first article, “Cooperatively Catalyzed Activation of Thioglycosides That Bypasses Intermediacy of Glycosyl Halides,” discusses a new reaction that was developed in the Demchenko Lab. The second article, “Chemical Synthesis of Human Milk Oligosaccharides: paraLacto-N-hexaose and para-Lacto-Nneohexaose,” reports the first chemical syntheses of two oligosaccharides that are commonly found in human breast milk. The synthetic samples are needed to understand the properties and functions of each individual oligosaccharide.

Mary Dunn, Ph.D., professor of theological studies and director of the Center for Research on Global Catholicism, is proud to share an update on the center after it officially launched as a Big Idea in fall 2022.

The CRGC supports research at the nexus of Catholicism and culture and aims to make SLU a hub for research on global Catholicism. Last year, the CRGC hosted a robust series of events, which included a keynote lecture, two book symposia, and several research fora on topics ranging from Jesuit entanglements with Indigenous boarding schools, the role of epidemics in the constitution of the Catholic Church in early modern Mexico, and the global travels of the miraculous flying house of Loreto.

Through its programming and outreach, the CRGC has begun to build a broad network of scholars, both within and beyond SLU, who are invested in the study of global Catholicism. The 2023-2024 academic year promises to be a period of continued growth for the CRGC. This past October, the CRGC hosted a conference on SLU’s campus on the subject of global Catholicism and material culture, drawing participants from around the world. In January 2024, the first cohort of Seminar Fellows also met at SLU, gathering around the theme of mobilities, migrations, and circulations to share and workshop ongoing research.

Meanwhile, the CRGC continues to collaborate with the archives of local women religious in an ambitious project to digitize and make accessible their holdings. This digital humanities project is one that bridges the academy, the public, the global, and the local, with the aim of preserving the collected documentary and artifactual memories of Catholic religious orders and their disparate impacts on the St. Louis region.

Scheme 3 from Chemical Synthesis of Human Milk Oligosaccharides: para-Lacto-N-hexaose and para-Lacto-N-neohexaose; Chemistry – A European Journal

Mary Dunn, Ph.D.

Jason T. Eberl, Ph.D.

Jason T. Eberl, Ph.D., Hubert Mader Chair in Health Care Ethics, director of the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, professor of health care ethics and philosophy, delivered a presentation titled, “Does Enhancement Violate Human Nature? A Thomistic Appraisal,” at the 11th International Thomistic Congress in Rome, Italy; the congress included a private audience with Pope Francis.

Eberl also co-edited two special issues of scholarly journals. His article contributions included “Is COVID-19 Vaccination Ordinary (Morally Obligatory) Treatment?” published in The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly and “Disability, Enhancement, and Flourishing” published in the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.

In his work with the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Eberl was also invited to deliver the 2023 Laskin Lecture in Professional Ethics at the Indiana University School of Dentistry, appointed to the editorial boards of CHEST (Humanities) and the Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy, and elected vice-president/president-elect of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors.

DDerek Estes

erek Estes, joint-Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University in health care ethics and philosophy, was awarded a Seaver Faculty Fellowship from Pepperdine University.

Amy Cooper, Ph.D.

Amy Cooper, Ph.D., associate professor and associate chair of sociology and anthropology, signed a contract with the University of California Press to publish her book, “Liberating Medicine: How Colonialism Shaped Biomedicine and What to Do About It” (delivery date May 2025). This project received support from SLU in the form of a Beaumont Foundation grant and the BILCN mentorship program.

FFlavio Esposito, Ph.D.

lavio Esposito, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science and Saint Louis University Research Institute Fellow, was awarded a $1,22,7049 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a cyber-physical system to better share agricultural data among the scientific community. The three-year grant, “Collaborative Research: CPS: TTP Option: Medium: Sharing Farm Intelligence via Edge Computing,” was awarded to Esposito and Nadia Shakoor, Ph.D., principal investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The research team also includes SLU faculty Kate Holdener, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science; Reza Tourani, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science; and Vasit Sagan, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences.

Esposito is also thrilled to announce that the research efforts of his Ph.D. student, Andrea Pinto, in collaboration with researchers at the IMDEA Networks Institute in Madrid — just a metro stop away from the SLU-Madrid campus — has received the prestigious Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE Conference.

The research, titled “Characterizing Location Management Function Performance in 5G Core Networks,” was published in the Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks (NFV-SDN). This recognition celebrates contributions to geospatial science and technology in Next-Generation Wireless Networks. Congratulations to Andrea, Flavio, and the entire team on this outstanding achievement!

Jason T. Eberl, Ph.D., meeting with Pope Francis at the 11th International Thomistic Congress in Rome, Italy.

Jaigeeth Deveryshetty, Ph.D.

Jaigeeth Deveryshetty, Ph.D., senior research scientist in the Antony Lab, published an article in Nature Communications titled “Yeast Rad52 is a homodecamer and possesses BRCA2-like bipartite Rad51 binding modes.” Deveryshetty and his team’s work using CryoEM reveals yeast RAD52 is mechanistically similar to BRCA2 in mediating RAD51 filaments during repair of double-strand DNA breaks.

Uthayashanker Ezekiel, Ph.D., MB(ASCP), is a professor of clinical health sciences in the Doisy College of Health Sciences. Ezekiel’s laboratory research is to understand disease models using induced pluripotent cells (iPSC). The iPSC cell lines are differentiated into neurons for developing disease models and understanding underlying defects that cause pathogenesis. A missense mutation in the C terminal binding protein 1 (CTBP1 p.R342W) allele is associated with neurodevelopmental defects that lead to ataxia, hypotonia, intellectual disabilities, and tooth/enamel defects in patients. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the majority of down-regulated genes of these patients were those involved in neuronal development, signaling pathways and cell adhesion. His laboratory developed isogenic cell lines, and this work was done in collaboration with the Govindaswamy Chinnadurai, Ph.D., laboratory. Since cells from the patient-derived and age-matched control iPSCs may not reflect the actual outcome of the mutation as penetrance of the mutation, pathological damage, and environmental influences are highly variable from individual to individual. Currently, his lab is studying the mechanisms of how the corepressor (CTBP1) affects neurodevelopment. Another avenue of Ezekiel’s research is exploring the anti-cancer activities of phytochemicals and focusing on epigenetics and signaling mechanisms. He is a co-investigator on the DeNardo Education and Research Foundation grant for which Rita Heuertz, Ph.D., MT(ASCP), is the principal investigator.

Uthayashanker

Ezekiel, Ph.D., MB(ASCP)

Additionally, Ezekiel is actively involved in providing research training for undergraduate students. As the faculty advisor for the SLU chapter of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), he encourages research students to apply for grants, present posters, and present their research results at national meetings. Last year, six ASBMB student members presented posters at the national ASBMB Conference, Discover BMB, in Seattle, and two received travel awards. One of his research students, Suhjin Lee, received a 2023 ASBMB summer research award. Two of his students presented posters at the ASBMB-sponsored Discover BMB conference, which resulted in two abstract publications in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. His students also presented at the SLU Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation (IDBI) Research Symposium and the Sigma Xi Research Symposium (SLU Chapter).

Sarah George, M.D.

Sarah George, M.D., professor of infectious diseases, presented a poster at the National Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Group meeting in Washington, D.C., on results of 2 Zika vaccine trials (Sarah George, M.D., PI) done at Saint Louis University and an affiliated site at CAIMED in Ponce, Puerto Rico, showing that a candidate Zika vaccine was safe and immunogenic.

The vaccine induced durable B and T cell responses; antibody responses varied based on prior Flavivirus exposure.

She and her team have started a study looking at how obesity at time of vaccination affects durability of T and B cell responses after COVID-19 vaccination, and whether this correlates with insulin resistance and inflammatory cytokine levels. Additionally, they have, in the past year, completed or done ongoing work on vaccine trials of candidate vaccines for chikungunya virus, yellow fever virus, and our first influenza virus mRNA vaccine trial.

In addition, George received the VA Researcher of the Year award from the Saint Louis VA in 2023 based on her VA Merit Review grant-funded work on dengue immunity after vaccination and infection.

She is also a co-author on three new publications evaluating responses to COVID-19 treatment, including publications looking at how COVID-19 treatment evolved over time in hospitalized patients, changes in populations enrolled in COVID-19 treatment trials, and how treatment with an immune modulator (baricitinib) reduced risk of secondary infections.

Illustration of yeast Rad52-Rad51b

Julie Gunby

Julie Gunby, a joint-Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University in health care ethics and theological studies, won the International Philosophy of Nursing Society Doctoral Student Essay Award.

Gunby was also awarded a John Wesley Fellowship from the Foundation for Theological Education and received an honorable mention in the Student Essay Award competition sponsored by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

KKasey Fowler-Finn, Ph.D.

Elizabeth Hasenmueller, Ph.D.

WATER Institute Associate Director Elizabeth Hasenmueller, Ph.D., along with advisees T. Baraza, N. Hernandez, and C. Finegan, published cutting-edge research about microplastics being present in cave water and sediment. Their research findings have been published in countless external outlets, and Hasenmueller has been interviewed by STLPR. This project is a great example of SLU WATER Institute having huge societal impacts and of student research experiences.

asey Fowler-Finn, Ph.D., professor of biology, and the Fowler-Finn Lab received a grant from the National Science Foundation supporting work on human and environmental impacts on insect communities and published three articles in 2023. The citations are as follows:

• Rich acoustic landscapes dominated the Mesozoic. K Fowler-Finn, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 (3), e2220459120.

• Developmental temperature alters the thermal sensitivity of courtship activity and signal–preference relationships, but not mating rates. A Macchiano, E Miller, U Agali, A Ola-Ajose, KD Fowler-Finn, Oecologia 202 (1), 97-111. 2023.

• Shoenberger, T.W. & Fowler-Finn, K.D. Seasonal variation in the strength and consistency of tritrophic interactions among treehoppers, plants, and ants may favor generalist relationships. Arthropod Plant Interactions 18:129-163

JJin Huang, Ph.D.

in Huang, Ph.D., has achieved significant milestones in expanding his research and practice on building financial capability and assets for vulnerable populations worldwide. Securing funding from the U.S. Department of State and various foundations, his impactful research spans countries like Azerbaijan, China, Ethiopia, Finland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Singapore, Taiwan, and more. Huang’s focus on global financial social work development, incorporating education, research, policy, and practice, has advanced financial well-being for the most disadvantaged families. In 2023, he delivered keynote addresses at the National University of Singapore and Azerbaijan University, showcasing his expertise in asset-based social policies and the advancement of financial capability interventions. His ongoing project with Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia exemplifies his commitment to financial social work education in developing countries. Notably, Huang’s research on asset-based social policies provides empirical evidence to support the newly initiated children account policy in Kazakhstan for all children below the age of 18. Since 2018, Huang has pioneered financial social work in China, Japan, and Taiwan, supporting the establishment of financial social work degree programs, academic journals and conferences, and educational commissions. Over 10,000 Chinese social work students and practitioners have received foundational training, shaping the future of financial social work under Huang’s leadership.

Verna L. Hendricks-Ferguson, Ph.D., RN, FPCN, FAAN

Verna L. Hendricks-Ferguson, Ph.D., Irene Riddle Endowed Chair, research health fellow, professor of nursing, received the Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award from the Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Nursing (APHON) Organization at the annual conference meeting in September 2022.

Candidates for this award must meet the following criteria:

• A sustained program of substantive research that: Has made a significant contribution to the scientific foundation for pediatric hematology/oncology nursing.

• Advanced the care of children with cancer and/or hematological disorders and their families.

• Consistent dissemination of research findings as peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations at regional and national venues.

• Scientific career advancement culminating in substantial funding support (i.e., R01 level from NIH or major foundation) as a principal investigator.

• Mentorship of an emerging scientist(s) with independent or related programs of research.

• Contributions to APHON and other organizations with a mission to provide optimal care for children with cancer and/or hematological disorders and their families.

Hendricks-Ferguson also received the Outstanding Publication Award by the Midwest Nursing Research Society’s Palliative and End-of-Life Special Interest Research Group at the March 2023 conference for her article, “COMPLETE (Communication Plan Early Through End of Life): Development of a research program to diminish suffering for children at end of life.”

Hendricks-Ferguson published the following journal article:

Hendricks-Ferguson, V.L., Newman, A., Brock, K. E., Haase, J., Raybin, J. L., Saini, S., Moody, K. M. (2021). COMPLETE (Communication Plan Early Through End of Life): Development of a research program to diminish suffering for children at end of life. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 61, 454-456.

Additionally, Hendricks-Ferguson’s collaborative published research projects during 2023 include:

Bennett R, Raybin JJ, Glinzak L, Coates H, Gauthier K, Sousa K, Hendricks-Ferguson V.L. (2023). Art unfolds words: Expressing hope through creative art among adolescents and young adults who have advanced cancer. Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Nursing, 40(4), 245-258.

Raybin, J.L., Wenru, Z., Zhaoxing, P., Hendricks-Ferguson, V.L., & Jankowski C. (2023). Creative arts therapy among children with cancer: Symptom assessment reveals reduced anxiety. Cancer Nursing, 00(00), 1-8.

Armstrong, K. & Hendricks-Ferguson, V.L. (2023). Lung cancer patients and palliative care support: How do social determinants of health factor into the use of palliative care services for older adults. [Abstract]. Oncology Nursing Forum, 50(2), 185-186.

Cho, E., Dietrich, M.S., Friedman, D.L., Gilmer, M.J., Wray, S., Gerhardt, C.A., Given, B., Hendricks-Ferguson V.L., Hinds, P.S., Akard, T.F. (2023). Effects of a web-based pediatric oncology legacy intervention on the coping of children with cancer. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 40(1), 34-42.

Newland, P., Sargent, R., Van Aman, M. N., Leach, K. Hamilton, K., Hendricks-Ferguson, V.L. (2023). Use of video education with hospitalized acute stroke patients: A literature review. Journal of MEDSURG Nursing, Official Journal of Medical-Surgical Nursing. 32(2), 106-112.

Miller, R., Hendricks-Ferguson, V.L., Newland, P., & Hamilton, K. (2023). Mindfulness based art therapy and symptoms in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS): A pilot study. Journal of MED-SURG Nursing: Official Journal of Medical-Surgical Nursing, 32(3), 163-178.

Wallace, C.L. , Subramaniam, D. S., Hendricks-Ferguson, V.L., Wray, R., Dant, D., Bullock, K., Bennett, A., Coccia, K. & White, W. (2023,). Development of a hospice perceptions instrument for diverse patients and family members. [Abstract]. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 65(5):652.

Rita M. Heuertz, Ph.D.

Rita Heuertz, Ph.D., MLS (ASCP), professor of clinical health sciences in the Doisy College of Health Sciences, was nominated for the Carski Award for Undergraduate Education sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology. This prestigious national award recognizes educators for outstanding microbiology teaching to undergraduate students.

Heuertz was awarded grant funding from the DeNardo Education and Research Foundation for the continuation of her multi-investigator project “Active Learning Through Research.” This is the fifth continuous round of funding from the DeNardo Foundation and it has encompassed 10 years of research funding with Heuertz as principal investigator. During these 10 years, 81 SLU students have received scholarships to do research with SLU faculty: Uthayashanker Ezekiel, Rita Heuertz, Ajay Jain, Yi Li, Tim Randolph, and Edward (Ted) Weiss representing the departments of clinical health sciences, pediatrics, and nutrition and dietetics. These students received at least two or more semesters of mentored research experience and presented their research at conferences such as Experimental Biology (sponsored by five to eight scientific societies), Discover BMB (sponsored by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Academic Surgical Conference, and the Global Health Technologies Design Competition (sponsored by Rice University), to mention a few. These students have been awarded grant funding for their research, they have been recipients of travel awards to attend conferences where they presented their research, they have been winners of research competitions, they have had published abstracts of their research, and they have published their research results in peerreviewed scientific journals. DeNardo scholars who have graduated from SLU have gone on to be leaders and trendsetters in their professions. For example, former DeNardo scholars are now Ph.D. researchers, M.D. practitioners, and M.D. professionals with advanced degrees, such as Master of Public Health.

The newly funded Phase 2 of National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is a cooperative agreement between Lisa Jaegers, Ph.D., associate professor of occupational science and occupational therapy, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell). The research project, “Development of EvidenceInformed Learning Resources for the Reduction of Staff Trauma and Organizational Stress in Prison and Jail Settings,” expands on Phase 1 (completed 2020–2023) by including workers who have direct contact with people incarcerated beyond correctional officers, such as educators, health care professionals, probation and parole officers, and case managers, to provide the background evidence for understanding related workplace health issues. This will increase NIC’s capacity to serve a wider corrections audience by accessing and reviewing available and emerging research and information about critical incidents, vicarious trauma, secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, and job-related stress in prisons and jails, for related disciplines. The NIC project also will utilize and expand upon the National Corrections Collaborative (NCC) to serve as the Project Taskforce bringing together jail and prison workplace stakeholders and researchers across the U.S.

Lisa Jaegers, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA

Jaegers presented research findings from Phase 1 of the project at national conferences, including the National Institutes of Health, International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®, Correctional Leaders Association, American Occupational Therapy Association, and Society for the Study of Occupation.

Jaegers also directs the Occupational Therapy Transition and Integration Services (OTTIS) program under the Transformative Justice Initiative at SLU. This program was awarded its fifth grant from the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, Inc. (12/22–12/23), “Building a collaborative Reentry Alliance with occupational therapy and workforce development to advance employment of people incarcerated long-term since juveniles.”

Heuertz and one of her DeNardo scholar undergraduate research students, Nilan Patel, presented research results of the project, “Swarming behavior of Pseudomonas aeruginosa,” at the following venues.

• The 2023 SLU Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation (IDBI) Research Symposium where Nilan was recipient of the 2nd place undergraduate research award.

• The 2023 Discover BMB Conference, sponsored by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), which resulted in an abstract publication in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

• The 2023 Sigma Xi Research Symposium (SLU Chapter)

Published works from Jaegers’ projects, include the following citations:

• Hull, O. J., Breckler, O. D., Jaegers, L. A. (2023). Integrated Safety and Health Promotion Among Correctional Workers and People Incarcerated: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12;20(12):6104. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20126104. PMID: 37372691; PMCID: PMC10298485

• Fallon, P., Jaegers, L. A., Zhang, Y., Dugan, A. G., Cherniack, M., & El Ghaziri, M. (2023). Peer Support Programs to Reduce Organizational Stress and Trauma for Public Safety Workers: A Scoping Review. Workplace Health & Safety, 21650799231194623; doi: 10.1177/21650799231194623

• Bello, J. K. & Jaegers, L. A. (2022). Interprofessional and community engagement for evaluating and growing evidence-based criminal justice practice and policy. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 1-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ cts.2022.461

Grant Kaplan, Ph.D.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Grant Kaplan, Ph.D., professor of theology, authored several published works in 2023. Kaplan acted as author of the following journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews:

Nori Katagiri, Ph.D.

Nori Katagiri, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Political Science, published four articles included in the following citations:

• ““Hackers of critical infrastructure: Expectations and challenges with the principle of target distinction,” International Review of Law, Computers and Technology

• “Escalation to Academic Extremes? Revisiting Academic Rivalry in the Möhler/Baur Debate,” in Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 30 (Spring 2023). 163–82.

• “Enhancing Ressourcement: Johann Adam Möhler’s Retrieval of Anselm,” in Theological Studies 84:2 (2023): 312–36.

• “Catholic Theology and Catholic Higher Education in the United States: Looking Backward and Forward,” in Concilium: International Journal for Theology (2023/5): forthcoming.

CHAPTERS IN EDITED BOOKS

• “The Catholic Tübingen School in its First Generation,” in Oxford History of Modern German Theology. Volume 1: 1781–1848, eds. Grant Kaplan and Kevin Vander Schel (Oxford University Press, 2023), 422–38.

• (With Kevin Vander Schel) “Volume Introduction,” in Oxford History of Modern German Theology. Volume 1: 1781–1848, eds. Grant Kaplan and Kevin Vander Schel (Oxford University Press, 2023), 6–12.

• “Schleiermacher’s Influence on Roman Catholic Theology,” in Oxford Handbook of Friedrich Schleiermacher, eds. Dole, Poe, and Vander Schel (Oxford University Press, 2023), 554–70.

• Oxford History of Modern German Theology, Volume 1: 1781–1848, edited by Grant Kaplan and Kevin Vander Schel (Oxford University Press, 2023).

BOOK REVIEWS

• Reinhard Hütter, “John Henry Newman on Truth & its Counterfeits” in Modern Theology 39 (2023): 349–52.

• Dominic Green, “The Religious Revolution: The Birth of Modern Spirituality,” 1848–98 in First Things (November, 2023)

• Michael Seewald, “Theories of Doctrinal Development in the Catholic Church” in Theological Studies 84/4 (2023): 731–32.

• “The soft underbelly of cyber defence in democracy: How interest groups soften Japan’s cyber policy,” Journal of Cyber Policy, Vol. 7, No. 3

• “Defending medical facilities from cyber attacks: Critical issues with the principle of due diligence in international law,” International Review of Law, Computers and Technology

• “Learning Patterns and Failures: An Analysis of ISIS Operations between 2013 and 2019,” in Carolin Gorzig, et al., eds., How Terrorists Learn: Organizational Learning and Beyond (London: Routledge), https://www.routledge.com/How-TerroristsLearn-Organizational-Learning-and-Beyond/ Gorzig-Furstenberg-Kohler-Alsoos/p/ book/9781032421568

In addition, Katagiri advised U.S. armed forces as Senior Fellow, Irregular Warfare Initiative, Modern War Institute, U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

JJaime Konerman-Sease, Ph.D.

aime Konerman-Sease, recent Ph.D. alumna in health care ethics and theological studies at Saint Louis University, received the 2023 Emerging Scholar Award from the Institute on Theology and Disability.

Jennifer Bello Kottenstette, M.D., M.S.C.P.

Jennifer Bello Kottenstette, M.D., associate professor, and Richard Grucza, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, collaborated with Kevin Xu, M.D., instructor of psychiatry in the Health & Behavior Research Center Division of Addiction Science, Prevention and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, to develop a proposal to estimate the rate of postpartum contraceptive uptake by women with opioid use disorder (OUD) using resources from both SLU and Washington University.

On April 17, 2023, Bello Kottenstette, Xu, and Grucza were awarded the Collaborative Administrative Data Research Award (CADRA) JustIn-Time Core Usage Funding Program (JIT) for their project, “Using Administrative Data to Study Contraceptive Uptake in Postpartum Women with Opioid Use Disorder.” This one-year $19,971 grant will support the core services from The Advanced HEAlth Data (AHEAD) Institute at SLU and the Administrative Data Core Services (ADCS) at Washington University. Findings from analyses using both the SLUSSM Virtual Data Warehouse electronic health record data and Merative MarketScan® Commercial and Multi-State Medicaid databases from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2021, will provide needed information about the landscape of postpartum contraceptive uptake for women with OUD who experience high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality. By adopting behaviors in the postpartum period that allow pregnancies to be spaced out, women with OUD may increase their chance of entering a subsequent pregnancy when they are ready.

In preliminary analyses using the SLU-SSM Virtual Data Warehouse, Bello Kottenstette, Xu, Grucza, and Joanne Salas, AHEAD’s Director of Applied Research and Analytics, identified 61,221 women with 73,811 pregnancies during the observation period. Roughly 2% of pregnancies had a diagnosis of OUD in the year prior to the start of pregnancy through the delivery date, while 9.4% had any substance use disorder. In adjusted analyses, while there was no difference in the odds of initiating any contraceptive method within the 90 days after delivery for women with OUD versus no OUD, there was a 24% reduction in the odds of women with OUD starting a highly effective birth control method, such as intrauterine device, implant, or a sterilization procedure, compared to women without OUD. Among women who had a diagnosis of polysubstance use, defined as two or more diagnoses of alcohol, opioid, stimulant, or sedative use disorder, there was an even stronger association between polysubstance use and reduction in odds of starting a highly effective contraceptive method (44%). These findings highlight the importance of exploring the associations between polysubstance use and reproductive health behaviors to identify areas where health care providers can help meet gaps in care that will allow people with polysubstance use to improve their health and the health of their families. Bello Kottenstette and Xu presented these preliminary findings on September 13, 2023, at the ICTS Big Data Research Symposium co-hosted by AHEAD and ADCS in the presentation titled “Using Big Data to Optimize Reproductive Health in Pregnant Women With Opioid Use Disorder.”

As part of their presentation, Bello Kottenstette and Xu also presented on a collaborative project with their mentor, Grucza, using Merative MarketScan® Commercial and Multi-State Medicaid databases from 2011–2016 to explore the novel area of the impact of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) on women’s fertility. Due to the suppression of the hypothalamic pituitary axis associated with chronic opioid use, many women with OUD have irregular or no menstrual cycles and may believe they cannot conceive. However, the impact on fertility of starting treatment with opioid full agonists, like methadone, partial agonists, like buprenorphine, or antagonists, like naltrexone, is not known. The team used a retrospective case crossover study design where each individual acts as their own control to model the odds of conception on a given day as a function of exposure to MOUD. Among 19,133 women aged 16-45 years old with 21,922 pregnancies during the observation period, treatment with methadone and buprenorphine were associated with a 45% and 16% reduction, respectively, in adjusted odds of conception compared to no treatment. Treatment with the long-acting injectable formulation of naltrexone was associated with 75% increased odds of conception compared to no treatment. These findings highlight the need to utilize a reproductive justice approach when treating people with OUD capable of pregnancy; people need access to information about the impact of MOUD treatment on their fertility to inform their treatment decisions. A poster presentation of these study findings was chosen as a poster winner at the 5th Annual ICTS Symposium and Poster Display hosted by the Advancing Clinical and Translational Science at an Academic Healthcare System at Washington University on May 18, 2023. The findings will also be presented at the Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) annual meeting in Washington, D.C., and are currently under review in the leading journal, Obstetrics & Gynecology, the flagship publication of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Finally, a third, ongoing project (co-led by Xu, Bello Kottenstette, and Grucza) uses the MarketScan databases to evaluate rates of contraception uptake in reproductive-age women with OUD, with a specific focus on whether buprenorphine and methadone initiation may be a pivot point for increased contraception access. Notable collaborators include Hendrée E. Jones, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina; Ebony Carter, M.D., M.P.H, at Washington University; and Elizabeth Krans, M.S., MSc., at the University of Pittsburgh. Analyses are ongoing for this project.

Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor and interim department chair of behavioral sciences and health equity, conducted a statewide survey of school nurses in Missouri about period product resources and students’ needs in their schools. The survey produced some of the first statewide data, especially data from nonurban areas, from anywhere in the U.S. about period poverty and menstrual hygiene needs.

State laws and funding allocations around access to period products are changing rapidly throughout the U.S. Last year, the Missouri legislature allocated $1 million to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to support free period products for students in schools. Some of Kuhlmann’s previous work on menstrual hygiene and period poverty was cited in the MOST Policy Initiative’s Science Note for state legislators as they were considering this funding allocation. Since she and her team collected the data published in the Journal of School Health from school nurses across the state of Missouri during the prior school year (2021-2022) before the DESE funding became available, they are now working with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services School Health Program to do a follow-up survey with school nurses this academic year.

Atria A. Larson, Ph.D.

Atria A. Larson, Ph.D., associate professor of Theological Studies and director for the Center for Religious and Legal History (CRLH), shares a yearly update on the Center’s progress over this past year. Through the CRLH founded in 2020, Saint Louis University is making an impact nationally and internationally and establishing the University as a research destination for graduate students and scholars working in the specialized field of medieval canon law. For this young Center, the past year has been especially fruitful.

After a multi-year planning process and two years of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SLU hosted the weeklong 16th International Congress of Medieval Canon Law in July 2022. Coorganized by Larson and Steven A. Schoenig, S.J., Ph.D., associate chair and professor of history, the Congress included more than 130 scholars, mostly from North America and Europe. At this Congress, which meets every four years, the CRLH was named a study site of the Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law, a long-standing specialized institute housing materials related to the history of the law of the church in medieval Europe. Two attendees at the Congress, including the foremost expert on Roman law manuscripts, Gero Dolezalek, spent weeks at the University doing research in the Vatican Film Library, which houses tens of thousands of medieval manuscripts on microfilm. After the Congress, some attendees were inspired to organize a summer seminar that would bring the specialized scholarship of the field to a wider audience of medievalists and legal historians who do or did not have the benefit of learning from experts in the field in their graduate programs. A partnership quickly ensued that led to a successful two-week seminar in June 2023.

The seminar titled “A (Friendly) Introduction to Medieval Canon Law,” came to fruition through the partnership of the CRLH and Stanford University’s Department of History via the coordinated efforts of Larson and Stanford professor Rowan Dorin, Ph.D., Larson and Dorin spent months planning the delivery of the seminar, securing instructors, advertising the event, reviewing applications, and purchasing and distributing books to participants. Their efforts paid off. Other instructors who ran a session or two of the eight-session, two-week seminar were Abigail Firey (University of Kentucky), Melodie Eichbauer (Florida Gulf Coast University), and Schoenig (SLU). Participant applications came in from all over the United States. In the end, 10 participants

Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, Ph.D., M.P.H.

completed the course, ranging from endowed professors at Ohio State University and Colby College to graduate students at SLU, Fordham University, UCLA, the University of Notre Dame, and Princeton University. Participants have reached out to Larson and Dorin subsequently, and Larson continues to mentor the graduate students at Princeton University even as she remains a resource for the research of SLU’s own graduate students.

The CRLH is committed to providing exceptional research opportunities and educational seminars and workshops to students and scholars here at SLU, across North America, and around the world. The summer seminar is perhaps the most visible way it has done so in the past year, but it also continues to develop research guides and build a research collection through a partnership with the Vatican Film Library and the acquisitions department of Pius XII Memorial Library. The research collection now includes digitized reproductions of manuscripts held in various municipal libraries of France and the Austrian National Library in Vienna, in addition to printed volumes in the field of law and religion and the history of religious law, both canon law and law in other religious traditions. Through these efforts, the goal remains that top-tier researchers will regard and experience SLU as the preeminent place to do research on the history of canon law this side of the Atlantic.

Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D., RD, LD

Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D., RD, LD, assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics, published work by the Transgender Health Collaborative, which is supported by the Applied Health Sciences Research Grant Program in 2019–2020. The following completed grant applications, grants, publications, and presentations are included in the following citations:

COMPLETED APPLICATIONS FOR EXTERNAL FUNDING RELATED RESEARCH PROJECT:

• 6/23 (not invited to submit full proposal). LOI for Transgender Health Collaborative. Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. $100,000.

• 8/23 (under review). Transgender Health Collaborative. JustPax Fund. $60,000

• 6/23 (under review). Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions. Advancing Inclusion of Transgender and Gender Diverse Identities in Clinical Education: Translating Knowledge to Clinical Skills. $30,000

• 8/23 (under review). Transgender Health Collaborative. EPHT/St. Louis Community Foundation. $60,000.

• 1/23-12/23. Washington University in St. Louis, Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Just-in-Time Research Funding Program. Food Insecurity Among Transgender Adults: An Analysis of the 2015 USTS Data, $3,600.

• 3/23-2/24. Washington University in St. Louis, Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Clinical and Translational Research Funding Program. Free to Flex: Evaluation of a YMCA-Based Initiative to Support Physical Activity Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth in St. Louis, $50,000.

• 10/22-5/23. Saint Louis University, 1818 Grant, Advancing Inclusion of Transgender and Gender Diverse Identities in Clinical Education, $1,800.

• 6/22-6/23. BarBend. The TRANSforming Power of Strength Sports and Nutrition, $5,000.

EXTERNAL GRANT FUNDING RECEIVED:

• 1/23-12/23. Washington University in St. Louis, Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Just-in-Time Research Funding Program. Food Insecurity Among Transgender Adults: An Analysis of the 2015 USTS Data, $3,600.

• 3/23-2/24. Washington University in St. Louis, Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Clinical and Translational Research Funding Program. Free to Flex: Evaluation of a YMCA-Based Initiative to Support Physical Activity Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth in St. Louis, $50,000.

• 10/22-5/23. Saint Louis University, 1818 Grant, Advancing Inclusion of Transgender and Gender Diverse Identities in Clinical Education, $1,800.

• 6/22-6/23. BarBend. The TRANSforming Power of Strength Sports and Nutrition, $5,000.

PUBLICATIONS:

• Linsenmeyer, W, Garwood, S. A patientcentered approach to evaluating genderaffirming eligibility with respect to body mass index. American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. 2023;25(6):E398-406.

• Linsenmeyer, W. Should clinicians care about how food behaviors express gender identity? American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, 2023;25(4):E287-293. (Invited Article).

• Heiden-Rootes, K, Linsenmeyer, W, Levine, S, Oliveras, M, Joseph, M. A scoping review of the research literature on eating and body image for transgender and nonbinary youth. Journal of Eating Disorders. (Accepted for publication, August 2023).

• Heiden-Rootes K, Linsenmeyer W, Levine S, Oliveras M, Joseph M. A scoping review of the research literature on eating and body image for transgender and nonbinary adults. Journal of Eating Disorders, 2023;11(1):111.

• Linsenmeyer, W, Heiden-Rootes, K, Drallmeier, T, Rahman, R, Buxbaum, E, Rosen, W, Gombos, B, Otte, A. Advancing inclusion of transgender and gender diverse identities in clinical education: A toolkit for clinical educators. Health Promotion

Practice, [published online ahead of print]: 15248399231183643.

• Linsenmeyer, W, Stiles, D, Drallmeier, T, Heiden-Rootes, K, Rahman, R, Buxbaum, E, Gombos, B, Harris, N, Johnson, S, Lantz, C, Otte, A, Rosen, W, Lillioja, S. Advancing inclusion of transgender identities in health professional education programs: The interprofessional transgender health education day. Journal of Allied Health, 2023;51(1),24-35.

• Zickgraf HF, Garwood SK, Lewis CB, Giedinghagen AM, Reed JL, Linsenmeyer WR. Validation of the nine-item avoidant/ restrictive food intake disorder screen (NIAS) among transgender and nonbinary youth and young adults. Transgender Health. 2023;8(2):159-167.

• Linsenmeyer, W, Rahman, R. Working with transgender and gender nonconforming youth: Considerations for registered dietitian nutritionists. Weight Management Matters, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2023;19(3), 8-14.

PRESENTATIONS:

• Linsenmeyer, W. Nutrition research and practice with transgender and gender nonconforming populations. Nutrition Society, Irish Section. Athlone, Ireland. 2023.

• Linsenmeyer, W. Sex and gender data collection in nutrition science: Inclusion, visibility, and accuracy. American Society of Parental and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) 2023 Annual Conference. (Virtual Presentation). 2023.

• Linsenmeyer, W, Stiles, D, Drallmeier, T, Heiden-Rootes, K, Rahman, R, Buxbaum, E, Gombos, B, Johnson, S, Lantz, C, Otte, A, Rosen, W, Lillioja, S. Advancing inclusion of transgender and gender diverse identities in clinical education. Poster presentation at the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions Annual Conference, Long Beach PA, October 2022. Abstract published in the Journal of Allied Health (in press).

• Linsenmeyer, W, Rahman, R. Advancing inclusion of transgender and gender diverse identities in clinical education. MSU DenverPOHA Nutrition Diversity Conference. Virtual/Online, September 2022.

Yi Li, Ph.D.

Yi Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics, was awarded $9,838.90 for the Health Research Grant from Saint Louis University to study the effects of polyunsaturated fat on obesity via regulation of microRNAs from 05/01/2023–07/31/2024.

Additionally, Li also co-published two articles with citations as follows:

Obrenovich, M., Singh, S.K., Li, Y., Perry, G., Siddiqui, B., Haq, W., Reddy, V.P. (2023). Natural Product Co-metabolism and the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in Age-Related Diseases. Life. 2023, 13, 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/life13010041

Obrenovich, M., Li Y., Tayahi, M., Reddy, V.P. (2002). Polyphenols and Small Phenolic Acids as Cellular Metabolic Regulators. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 2022, 2, 4152–4166. https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb44090285

SSamar Maalouf, Ph.D.

amar Maalouf is a recent Ph.D. graduate in environmental engineering in SLU’s School for Science and Engineering, who passed her doctoral defense with distinction in August 2023. Her advisor was Craig Adams, Ph.D., P.E., one of the faculty founders of the WATER Institute (retired in May 2022). The title of her dissertation research is “Determination of Oxidation Rate Constant for Nodularin-r, Saxitoxin, dcSaxitoxin, and neo-Saxitoxin with Conventional Water Treatment Plant Oxidants and Advanced Oxidation Processes.”

The rate constants determined in her research will be used to expand a tool for drinking water utilities called CyanoTOX ver.4.0 to include the listed cyanotoxins and thus provide water utilities with guidance when assessing treatment approach to cyanotoxins. In addition to her research, Maalouf developed an advanced oxidation module as an add-on to CyanoTOX. She used the WATER Institute UPLC-QToF to develop a detection method for the target cyanotoxins, and has been using this method to study the oxidation of the cyanotoxins.

Cyanotoxins are created by cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria and the resulting cyanotoxins are increasingly becoming a critical challenge for drinking water utilities around the world. Maalouf’s (and Adams’s) research directly contributes to societal impact by generating knowledge and creating tools

that can be utilized by drinking water utilities to tackle this issue and continue to provide safe drinking water for consumers. It should also be noted that cyanobacteria is a problem exacerbated by climate change. Further, a significant portion of Maalouf’s research was done using a high-end analytical instrument called the Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry System (aka QToF), which was donated by American Water. The research has been done with advisors and scientists at American Water as well and has also been supported by Hazen-Sawyer, demonstrating the importance of the work as well as research collaborations.

Jordan Mason

Jordan Mason, joint-Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University in health care ethics and theological studies, was chosen as the winner of The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD) 2022 Student Paper Competition. Her paper will be published in CBHD’s peer-reviewed journal, Dignitas.

Quadrupole Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometer (QToF-MS) 2

S. Maalouf, Ph.D., presenting research to students.

McCabe, Ph.D.

In the past several years, Anne McCabe, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of English at SLU-Madrid, has conducted research within the field of functional linguistics, with a focus on its application to language development. It has taken an upward turn, leading to an increase in international recognition. McCabe’s recent works, include:

JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Llinares, A., & McCabe, A. (2023). Systemic functional linguistics: the perfect match for content and language integrated learning.

International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, 26(3), 245–250. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/13670050.2019.1635985. (Special Issue Editors – Introductory Article)

• Whittaker, R., & McCabe, A. (2023). Expressing evaluation across disciplines in primary and secondary CLIL writing: a longitudinal study.

International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, 26(3), 345–362. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/13670050.2020.1798869

• The International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism is a prestigious journal (Q1) in the field of language and educational linguistics. The above articles were initially published online ahead of print in 2020.

BOOK CHAPTER

• Fontaine, L., & McCabe, A. (2023) Systemic Functional Linguistics. In Wei, L., Hua, Z., & Simpson, J. (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 332-355). London: Routledge.

PLENARY SESSION

• McCabe has been invited to give a plenary session at the upcoming XIX Conference of the Latin American Systemic Functional Linguistics Association, hosted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in the summer of 2024. She gave a plenary talk titled “Using Systemic Functional Linguistics for Crossing Boundaries in CLIL” at the second International Online Systemic Functional Linguistics Interest Group Conference, hosted by the University of Tasmania, in November 2023.

INVITED TALKS

• “How to use Appraisal to Analyze Classroom Data”; part of a series of online talks, “Systemic Functional Linguistics Research in a Changing and Challenging World,” organized by Ruslana Westerlund, Ed.D., for TESOL-Ukraine (http://www.tesol-ukraine.com/1025-2/), May 5, 2023.

• “Transferability and Impact of Research: An ‘Appliable’ Linguistics”; part of the series “Knowledge Transfer and Impact.” Interdisciplinary approaches to scientific research, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid Doctoral School, 3rd CIVIS Edition. January

TJohn McEwan, Ph.D.

his fall, John McEwan, Ph.D., and a team of undergraduates — Weronika Grajdura, Chris Hopwood, Karson Million, and Aliénor de Smedt — used machine learning to study seals and sealing practices in 14th-century Europe. The team’s preliminary results point to dramatic changes in sealing practices in the mid-14th century, when Europe was afflicted by the plague.

Seals — wax impressions of a stamp usually combining an image and written legend — were used by individuals from all strata of medieval society to authenticate records. The words and images on seals thus enable scholars to explore the ideas, values, and beliefs of both men and women from many different social groups, from the nobility to the peasantry, and to trace changes in those beliefs over time. Consequently, seals are valued by historians, art historians, and archaeologists, and by members of the public interested in heraldry, genealogy, and local history.

To better understand how seals changed during this period of heightened mortality, the team is using machine learning to automatically refine the dating of thousands of seals. The

31, 2023. (CIVIS is Europe’s Civic University Alliance).

INTERNATIONAL BOOK PRIZE SHORTLIST:

• McCabe’s book, “A Functional Linguistic Perspective on Developing Language” (Routledge, 2021), was shortlisted for an inaugural international book award, the M.A.K. Halliday Prize.

RESEARCH PROJECT COLLABORATION:

• McCabe is also a member of the UAM-CLIL Research Group, which has very recently had this project approved for funding: 2023DisLitAs-CLIL “Students development of L2 disciplinary literacies and content and language integrated assessment in bilingual secondary schools across socioeconomic areas.” Project financed by Spain’s Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2022-140718OB-I00). PI: Dr. Ana Llinares Garcia, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Additionally, McCabe has two book projects that are forthcoming and under contract:

• McCabe, A. (in preparation) Systemic Functional Linguistics and Foreign Language Teaching. London: Equinox.

• Wegener, R., Fontaine, L., McCabe, A., & Sellami, A. (Eds.) (in preparation). The Routledge Handbook of Transdisciplinary Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Routledge

team is enhancing their dataset with new information gathered over the summer from archives in England: Leicestershire Record Office, Warwickshire County Record Office, and Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital Archives, London. Analysis of this new data shows with unprecedented clarity how quickly the types of seals in circulation changed following the advent of the plague. The team presented reports on their progress at the Association for Computers in the Humanities Conference in June and at the ‘Studying Written Artefacts: Challenges and Perspectives’ conference in Hamburg, Germany, in September 2023. Further information about the project and its results is available to the public on the project website — https://www. digisig.org.

The Digisig project, based in the Walter J. Ong, S.J., Center for Digital Humanities at Saint Louis University, is a leading resource for information about medieval seals and is used by scholars around the world.

Anne

Marvin Meyers, Ph.D.

Marvin Meyers, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, co-authored and contributed to several published works, many of which include undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and direct reports working under his direction at Saint Louis University. The full citations of his work are as follows:

• Schubert TJ†; Oboh E†; Peek H; Philo E; Teixeira JE; Stebbins EE; Miller P; Griggs DW; Huston CD*; Meyers MJ*. Structure Activity Relationship Studies of the Aryl Acetamide Triazolopyridazines Against Cryptosporidium Parvum Reveals Remarkable Role of Fluorine*. J. Med. Chem.*, 2023, 66, 7834-7848. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c00110.

• Oboh E†, Teixeira JE, Schubert TJ†, Maribona AS, Denman BN, Patel R, Huston CD*, Meyers MJ*. Structure-Activity Relationships of Replacements for the Triazolopyridazine of Anti-Cryptosporidium Lead SLU-2633. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2023, 86, 117295. doi: 10.1016/j. bmc.2023.117295.

• Gilbert IH, Alam SV, Striepen B, Manjunatha UH, Khalil IA, Van Voorhis WC, and the Cryptosporidiosis Therapeutics Advocacy Group (CTAG). Safe and effective treatments are needed for cryptosporidiosis, a truly neglected tropical disease. BMJ Global Health, 2023;8:e012540.

• Miron-Ocampo A, Beattie S, Guin S‡, Conway T, Meyers MJ, MoyeRowley W, Krysan D. CWHM-974 is a fluphenazine derivative with improved antifungal activity against Candida albicans due to reduced susceptibility to multidrug transporter-mediated resistance mechanisms. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 2023, e00567-23. DOI: doi:10.1128/ aac.00567-23.

• Wang X, Edwards RL, Ball HS, Heidel KM, Brothers RC, Johnson C, Haymond A, Girma M, Dailey A, Roma JS, Boshoff HI, Osbourn DM§, Meyers MJ, Couch RD, Odom John AR, Dowd CS. MEPicides: α,β-unsaturated Fosmidomycin N-Acyl Analogs as Efficient Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum 1-Deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase. ACS Infect. Dis. 2023, 9, 1387-1395. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00132.

MMelissa Ochoa, Ph.D.

elissa Ochoa, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, submitted a co-authored journal article in the Child Abuse & Neglect Journal, titled “Impacts of child sexual abuse: The mediating role of future orientation on academic outcomes.”

Ryan McCulla, Ph.D.

Ryan McCulla, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, received an award for his paper, “Two-step Two-intermediate Photorelease Bolm-McCulla Reaction: Dual Release of Nitrene and Atomic Oxygen Reactive Intermediates,” as one of the most downloaded within 12 months of its publication. This recognition helped gain funding for a grant where McCulla will be able to further his work in investigating the photochemistry of sulfoximines and sulfondiimines.

BBenjamin Parviz

enjamin Parviz, joint-Ph.D. student in health care ethics and philosophy at Saint Louis University, won student essay competitions both at the Conference on Medicine and Religion and at the Conference of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

Figure 2 from “Impacts of child sexual abuse: The mediating role of future orientation on academic outcomes.”

Figure 1 from “Two-step Two-intermediate Photorelease Bolm-McCulla Reaction: Dual Release of Nitrene and Atomic Oxygen Reactive Intermediates.”

Martin Nikolo, Ph.D.

Martin Nikolo, Ph.D., professor of physics, published an article, “Revealing a 3D Fermi Surface Pocket and Electron-Hole Tunneling in the UTe2 with Quantum Oscillations,” in the prestigious Physical Review Letters (PRL). It has published Nobel Prize winning research for the previous 13 consecutive years. The most recent PRL article by anyone at Saint Louis University Physics was in 2003, and the last PRL by anyone at SLU was in 2020 by Michael Sebek of Chemistry.

Nikolo’s work is a collaboration with Sheng Ran, Ph.D., at Washington University in St. Louis and scientists from National High Magnetic Field Lab (NHMFL) such as John Singleton, Ph.D., at the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). Spin triplet pairing, topological electronic states, and magnetic properties of UTe2 were explored to understand how its electronic properties can be tuned (on and off like qubits) by changing the magnetic field, both direction and magnitude, at different ultra-low temperatures, both below and above 1.6 K. The measurements required highly specialized experimental apparatus available only at the facilities at the National High Magnetic Field Labs in Tallahassee, Florida, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The quantum material uranium ditelluride, or UTe2, a superconductor at 1.6 K (below -271.5 degrees Celsius), shows that it could prove highly resistant to a key obstacle of quantum computer development — the difficulty with making a computer’s memory storage switches, called qubits, function long enough to finish a computation before losing the delicate physical relationship that allows them to operate as a group. The compound’s unusual and strong resistance to magnetic fields makes it rare among superconducting materials and offers distinct advantages for qubit design, chiefly its resistance to the errors that can easily creep into quantum computation. UTe2’s exceptional behaviors could make it attractive for the design of a reliable quantum computer.

Bruce O’Neill, Ph.D.

Bruce O’Neill, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology, published the lead article, “The Subject of the Underground,” in the Journal: Current Anthropology (64/1: 1-26). The journal published 10 commentaries from leading scholars on the article followed by O’Neill’s reply. The article benefited from the support of the Research Growth Fund at Saint Louis University.

Jamie Neely, Ph.D.

Jamie Neely, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, was selected for an ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Young Investigator Award for 2023. She presented her research at the Fall National ACS meeting in a symposium for awardees.

In addition, Neely was selected as one of six people to give oral presentations at the Organometallic Chemistry Gordon Research Conference based on their poster presentations, and she was awarded a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for her work toward sustainable transition metal catalysis.

Figure 4 from “Revealing a 3D Fermi Surface Pocket and Electron-Hole Tunneling in UTe₂ with Quantum Oscillations.”

Sofia Origanti, Ph.D.

Sofia Origanti, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, and the Organti Lab published three articles this year, including:

• Roshan P, Kuppa S, Mattice J, Kaushik V, Chadda R, Tumala B, Pokhrel N, Bothner B, Antony E & S. An Aurora B-RPA signaling axis secures chromosome segregation fidelity. Nature Communications. 2023, May 25;14(1):3008. (In collaboration with Edwin Antony, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry at SLU School of Medicine) (Impact factor of Journal: 17.69)

• Elliff J, Biswas A, Roshan P, Kuppa S, Patterson A, Mattice J, Chinnaraj M, Burd R, Walker SE, Pozzi N, Antony E, Bothner B, and Origanti S. Dynamic states of eIF6 and SDS variants modulate interactions with uL14 of the 60S ribosomal subunit. Nucleic Acids Research, 2023 Feb 28;51(4):1803-1822. (Collaboration with Edwin Antony, Ph.D., and Nicola Pozzi, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry at SLU School of Medicine) (Impact Factor of journal: 19.16)

• Biswas A, Peng YF, Kaushik V, Origanti S. Site-specific labeling of SBDS to monitor interactions with the 60S ribosomal subunit. Methods (Elsevier). 2023 Feb 11; 211:68-72.

Origanti and her team also obtained two National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, submitted for two NIH grants, attended multiple conferences, and formed two new collaborations. The first collaboration was established with Zachary Hamilton, M.D., Chief of Urologic Surgery at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital to understand gene expression changes in bladder cancer that has led to poster presentations and a manuscript in prep and planning NIH R01 grant submission in February 2023. The second was established with Haribabu Arthanari, Ph.D., at Harvard University for screening of small molecule inhibitors of eIF6. She has since received an NIH R01 award for her project Mechanism and Regulation of eIF6 in Translation. This project strives to understand the mechanisms that regulate protein synthesis. Deregulation of the protein synthesis machinery is associated with diseases such as cancer, ribosomopathies, and metabolic disorders. Uncovering the process of translational control will help to identify novel therapeutic targets.

Additionally, Kavya Harish, an undergraduate student researcher within the Origanti Lab, was selected as one of 15 national recipients of the Undergraduate Research Scholar award (AACR) for her work and was selected to present her research at the National Annual American Cancer Research (AACR) Conference.

Rob Perkins, Ph.D. and Brian Woods, Ph.D.

Professors Rob Perkins, Ph.D., and Brian Woods, Ph.D., recently published their work on their setup of a Lightboard recording studio to produce educational video content for their organic chemistry courses. Providing these videos outside of class better prepares students for class and allows time for more in-class active learning such as problem-solving and group work. Students have indicated that they enjoy these videos and find them more engaging than more traditional video formats. The chemistry department is now adopting the Lightboard studio for more classes and labs.

Figure 2 from “An Office-Space Lightboard Studio for Creating Professional Pre-Lecture Videos with Increased Student Engagement.”

Charnell Peters, Ph.D.

Charnell Peters, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication, published two articles in 2023. The first article, “Racial Genomic Interest Convergence and the Geneticization of Black Families,” is a study that examines the relationship between genetic ancestry testing companies and Black families’ construction of identity. The second, “Performing Blackness: A Composite Counterstory of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Ancestry Testing,” is an article that uses narrative research methods to illustrate the tensions and contradictions around biogenetic identities and race.

Emily Dodson Quartarone, a Ph.D. candidate at Saint Louis University in American Studies, presented a paper titled “Obscuring the Blame and Shifting the Other: The Americanization of Godzilla” at the Midwest Popular Culture Association (MPCA) conference in Chicago, Illinois. Quartarone won one of the MPCA’s four Gary Burns Travel Grants based on the paper.

Tim R. Randolph, Ph.D., MLS (ASCP)

The primary focus of the Tim Randolph, Ph.D., MLS (ASCP) research lab, operating with undergraduate students, is the development or repurposing of diagnostic laboratory test methods for use in underdeveloped countries. These diagnostic methods must be very inexpensive, simple, fast, and instrument-independent. Most methods

have a direct connection to Randolph’s work in Haiti through Randolph World Ministries, Inc. Thus far, they have earned two patents for testing methods to diagnose and monitor sickle cell disease with three more methods in the final stages of development. One method, Sickle Confirm, is currently being used in Haiti and is also undergoing field testing in Senegal, Africa, by Mor Diaw, M.D., Ph.D. Randolph has developed a collaboration with Diaw and a Saint Louis University graduate originally from Senegal, Awa Diop, who visited SLU in 2021 and again in October 2023 and November 2023 for additional training.

Randolph also collaborates with Sridhar Condoor, Ph.D., and his engineering students in the development of novel testing methods that meet the criteria for use in underdeveloped countries. These methods will take center stage in the clinical laboratory associated with the Sickle Care Center (SiCC), the first of its kind, being built by Randolph World Ministries, Inc. in Saint-Marc, Haiti. The goal of the SiCC is to dramatically reduce the high mortality rate of sickle cell disease in Haiti by improving the diagnosis and treatment of patients with the disease. This will be accomplished through the SiCC in three ways:

• By diagnosing and treating patients in the geographic reach of the SiCC;

• By providing ongoing education to Haitian physicians, lab staff, pharmacists, and nurses to integrate the SiCC testing and treatment algorithms into local clinics countrywide; and

• Through the education of patients and the general public about sickle cell disease.

Randolph, in collaboration with Katherine (Kitty) Newsham, Ph.D., ATC, is also evaluating the effect of exercise on blood and urine biomarkers in volunteers with sickle cell trait.

Mor Diaw, Awa Diop, Tim Randolph, and kids in October 2021.

Computer-aided design of the Sickle Care Center in Saint Marc, Haiti. Randolph with undergraduate students.

Emily Dodson Quartarone

Bahareh Rahmani, Ph.D.

Bahareh Rahmani, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science and artificial intelligence, published seven papers in several journals and proceedings including IEEE CAI, IEEE AIPR, APHA, and Discover Artificial Intelligence-Springer Nature in 2023 and 2024 in collaboration with the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and the Olin Business School and Medical School at Washington University in St. Louis. Rahmani is an editorial board member of Scientific Reports-Springer Nature and research fellow of the Artificial Intelligence Center of Europe’s Sciences and Arts Leaders and Scholars.

She was awarded an SLU internal Fund for Intellectual Renewal and Enrichment (FIRE) grant to undergraduates in 2023, submitted one external proposal for the American Association of University Women and submitted internal grants to the President’s Research Fund in 2024.

EDarby Ratliff

Darby Ratliff, a Ph.D. candidate at Saint Louis University in American Studies, received a competitively awarded Hilltop Fellowship for research at Georgetown University’s special collections in summer 2023, for a proposal titled “Education, Empire, and Americanization: Native American Boarding Schools & Catholic Education in the 19th Century.” Ratliff also gave the conference paper titled “Divergence & Development: Thinking Expansively About School Archives and Native American Boarding Schools” at the NEH-Sharp Grant Conference of the American Catholic Historical Association, held in Tucson, Arizona.

Jennifer R. Rust, Ph.D.

Jennifer R. Rust, Ph.D., associate professor and associate chair of English, published an article in the Ad Salutem Publicam. The citation is as follows:

• Jennifer R. Rust (2023): “Ad Salutem Publicam: public health and pastoral government in More’s Utopia,” Textual Practice, DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2023.2205708

Erica K. Salter, Ph.D., HEC-C

rica K. Salter, Ph.D., HEC-C, associate professor of health care ethics and pediatrics, graduate program director of health care ethics, published a high-impact consensus statement on the ethics of pediatric decision-making in the journal Pediatrics, which was the result of a June 2022 symposium of national scholar-experts in pediatric ethics hosted at SLU. Salter is the publication’s lead author and among the other 16 co-authors are another SLU faculty member, Johan Bester, MBChB, Ph.D.; a SLU graduate student, Lou Vinarcsik, who is a M.D./Ph.D. student; and a SLU alum, Jay Malone, M.D., Ph.D.

Salter was also awarded a scholarship from the Faculty Success Program of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity.

Laurie Shornick, Ph.D.

Laurie Shornick, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biology, is proud to announce the department hired four new tenure-track assistant professors who started in August 2023. Please join them in welcoming their new hires:

• Laibin Huang, Ph.D., Microbial Ecologist

• Laurence Lemaire, Ph.D., Developmental Biologist

• Haijun Liu, Ph.D., Biochemist

• Mohini Sengupta, Ph.D., Neuroscience

Erica K. Salter (right) with co-organizers and fellow lead authors

Lainie F. Ross, M.D., Ph.D. (left) and Micah Hester, Ph.D., HEC-C (middle).

Figure 3 from article: “Progranulin Protects against Hyperglycemia-Induced Neuronal Dysfunction through GSK3ß Signaling.”

Elena Bray Speth, Ph.D.

Elena Bray Speth, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, published an article in PLoS ONE. The citation is as follows:

• Sebesta AJ, Bray Speth E (2023). Breaking the mold: Study strategies of students who improve their achievement on introductory biology exams. PLoS ONE 18(7): e0287313. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287313

From: “Breaking the mold: Study strategies of students who improve their achievement on introductory biology exams.”

KKendyl Schmidt

endyl Schmidt, a Ph.D. candidate at Saint Louis University in American Studies, was invited to present a dissertation chapter at the Missouri Regional Seminar on Early American History at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri–Columbia. Schmidt also presented research at the Midwest Junto for the History of Science held at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.

Anne Meredith Stiles, Ph.D.

Anne Meredith Stiles, Ph.D., professor and interim coordinator of graduate studies in the Department of English, published a book chapter titled “Religion and Science in the 1890s,” published in the volume Nineteenth-Century Literature in Transition: the 1890s. Ed. Kristin Mahoney and Dustin Friedman. Cambridge University Press, 2023. pp. 285-304. (solicited).

Stiles also gave a conference presentation, titled “Nauseous Fiction”: Mary Baker Eddy and the Christian Science Novel, 1900-1910” at the Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee. April 15, 2023.

Devita Stallings, Ph.D., RN, FAAN

After Devita Stallings, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, won the National Institute of Aging’s 2022 Healthy Aging StartUp Challenge to foster entrepreneurial diversity for her hypertension selfmanagement app called Pressure Points and for starting Pressure Points, LLC, she is currently serving as an alumni mentor for the 2023 Startup Challenge Finalists. Mentors attend a virtual meet-and-greet with the finalists and join a Microsoft Teams chat for the duration of the program. Mentors answer current cohort questions, are available for occasional 1:1 virtual meetings, and virtually provide peer-mentoring sessions. Stallings received a free registration for the HLTH (health) conference, Healthcare’s #1 Innovation Event, which took place in Las Vegas Oct. 8-11, 2023, where she met the current finalists in person.

Stallings’ Pressure Points app is currently still in development. She is completing revisions and adding content to the app with the goal to pilot test the prototype app in the next few months. Additionally, Stallings was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in October 2023.

Madeline Stenersen, Ph.D.

Madeline Stenersen, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, was awarded the 2023 Influential Scholar Award from the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars.

NAAndrea Thornton

ndrea Thornton, joint-Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University in health care ethics and theological studies, was co-winner of the Student Essay Award from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

Nicholas Sparks and Benjamin Parviz

icholas Sparks and Benjamin Parviz, joint-Ph.D. students at Saint Louis University in health care ethics and philosophy, were both awarded fellowships with the Paul Ramsey Institute at The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.

SEleonore Stump, Ph.D.

Eleonore Stump, Ph.D., Robert K. Henle, S.J., Professor of Philosophy, gave the John Dewey Lecture at the central meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA). The APA describes the Dewey Lectures as a lecture “given by a prominent and senior philosopher … who is invited to reflect broadly and in an autobiographical spirit on philosophy in America.” Her Dewey lecture was published as “Dilige et quod vis fac” in Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 97 (2023). She also published an additional two articles: “Suffering and Flourishing: Ecclesiastes.” In Paradox and Contradiction in Theology, edited by Jonathan C. Rutledge. London and New York: Routledge, 2023. pp. 140-153; and “The God of Love,” Church Life Journal (2023). In addition, she published a book Philosophical Theology and the Knowledge of Persons (collected essays). Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2023, and sent to press two other books: “Knowledge Through Narrative: Biblical Narratives and Human Flourishing,” ed. with Judith Wolfe, Routledge, forthcoming; and “Grains of Wheat: Suffering and Biblical Narratives.” Oxford University Press, forthcoming. She also gave lectures at Wuhan University, the Templeton World Charity Organization, the World Congress on Logic and Religion, and the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics (among others).

Stephanie Tillman

tephanie Tillman, Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University in health care ethics, won the Best Student Paper Award at the Reproductive Ethics Conference.

Yolonda Wilson, Ph.D.

Yolonda Wilson, Ph.D., associate professor of health care ethics, philosophy, and African American studies, authored an article, “Is Trust Enough? Anti-Black Racism and the Perception of Black Vaccine ‘Hesitancy,’” that was recognized as a top-cited article in The Hastings Center Report. Wilson was also appointed to the Board of the National Humanities Center.

Brian Yothers, Ph.D.

Brian Yothers, Ph.D., professor and chair in the Department of English, published two articles with the following citations:

• Community College and University Partnerships in the Public Humanities: Creating a Partnership Between El Paso Community College and the University of Texas, El Paso, by Brian Kirby, Vincent C. Martinez, Margaret Nelson Rodríguez, and Brian Yothers, published in the ADE Bulletin 159, ADFL Bulletin 47.2, 2022, pp. 43-55 [[published in March 2023]]

• Yothers, Brian. “Whales, Mother Carey’s Chickens, and a HeartStricken Moose in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.” In Animals in the American Classics: How Natural History Inspired Great Fiction.” Ed. John Gruesser. Texas A&M University Press, October 2023. pp. 88-110

Community College and University Partnerships in the Public Humanities: Creating a Partnership Between El Paso Community College and the University of Texas, El Paso.

Additionally, he published an article in the special 25th Anniversary Issue of Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, vol. 25, no. 2 which is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Yothers is the editor of this journal, but in honor of the journal’s 25th anniversary, Yothers and associate editor, Jennifer Greiman, co-edited a special issue on Digital Melville and co-authored the introduction. Since this issue was released in August 2023, it was his first publication with a SLU byline. The journal is available in Project Muse through SLU’s library. https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/50421

Phyllis Weliver, D. Phil.

Phyllis Weliver, D. Phil., professor of English, published three articles over the past year. The published citations are as follows:

• Linda K. Hughes and Phyllis Weliver*,* editors. Victorian Poetry 60.2. Special issue: Victorian Poetry and the Salon. (2022): 105–275. ISSN 1530–7190. Peer-edited academic journal, edited and introduced by Hughes and Weliver.

• Phyllis Weliver. “Wanting More: Oliver Twist as Beggar’s Opera.” Opera and British Print Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century. Eds Christina Fuhrmann and Alison Mero. Clemson University Press, 2023. 249–76. Peer-edited academic book chapter.

• Phyllis Weliver, Historical Consultant for Zadie Smith, The Fraud (Penguin, 2023). Solicited by Zadie Smith.

Silviya Petrova Zustiak, Ph.D.

Silviya Petrova Zustiak, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering, published multiple articles over the course of this year, including:

• J. Bruns, T. Egan, P. Mercier, *S. P. Zustiak, “Glioblastoma spheroid growth and chemotherapeutic responses in single and dual-stiffness hydrogels,” Acta Biomaterialia, 2023, 163, 400414 (IF: 10.633). This article was also invited for special issue on “Mechanics of Cells and Fibers.”

• D. Shakiba, *G. Genin, *S. P. Zustiak, “Mechanobiology of cancer cell responsiveness to drug and immunotherapy: mechanistic insights and biomaterial platforms,” Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 2023, 196, 114771 (IF: 17.873) This article was also invited for a Special Issue on “Targeting the Physical Microenvironment of Tumors for Drug and Immunotherapy.”

• M. Khachani, S, Stealey, E. Dharmesh, M. S. Kader, S. Buckner, P. Jelliss, *S. P. Zustiak, “Silicate Clay-Hydrogel Nanoscale Composites for Sustained Delivery of Small Molecules,” ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2022, 5, 12, 18940–18954 (IF: 6.140)

• A. Clancy, D. Chen, #J. Bruns, #J. Nadella, #S. Stealey, Y. Zhang, *A. Timperman, *S. P. Zustiak, “Hydrogel-based microfluidic device with multiplexed 3D in vitro cell culture,” Scientific Reports, 2022, 12(1), 1-13 (IF: 4.379) This article was a TOP 100 downloaded Materials Science papers for Scientific Reports in 2022.

Zustiak was also a principal investigator for a grant and invited give an oral presentation for the following citations:

• 1 R01 AR081270-01A1: “Development of Injectable Super-Lubricious Microgels for Sustained Release of Platelet-Rich Plasma to Treat PostTraumatic Osteoarthritis,” Parent R01, NIAMS/NIH, $2,606,603, Dates: 04/01/2023 – 03/31/2028. Zustiak was a principal investigator for this work.

• *SP Zustiak, J. Bruns, “Glioblastoma spheroid growth and chemotherapeutic responses in single and dual-stiffness hydrogels,” (Oral), Society for Engineering Science Annual Meeting, October 1619, 2022, College Station, Texas. This was an invited oral presentation.

Researchers Supported by the Research Institute

Craig D. Adams, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE Civil Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

Ankit Agrawal, Ph.D.

Computer Science, School of Science and Engineering

SangNam Ahn, Ph.D., MPSA Health Management and Policy, College for Public Health and Social Justice

Ted Ahn, Ph.D.

Computer Science, School of Science and Engineering

Cameron Anglum, Ph.D. Education, School of Education

Edwin Antony, Ph.D. Biochemistry and Molecular Microbiology, School of Medicine

Heidi Ardizzone, Ph.D.

American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Mark J. Arnold, Ph.D.

Marketing, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Bradley Bailey, Ph.D.

Art History, College of Arts and Sciences

Kira Hudson Banks, Ph.D. Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

Michael D. Barber, S.J., Ph.D. Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences

Lori Baron, Ph.D.

Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Julie Birkenmaier, Ph.D., MSW, LCSW Social Work, School of Social Work

Jeffrey Bishop, M.D., Ph.D.

Health Care Ethics, College of Arts and Sciences

Matthew Breeden, M.D.

Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine

James Brien, Ph.D.

Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine

Paula Buchanan, Ph.D.

Health and Clinical Outcomes Research, School of Medicine

Richard Bucholz, M.D.

Neurological Surgery, School of Medicine

Andrew Butler, Ph.D.

Pharmacology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Brad D. Carlson, Ph.D.

Marketing, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Bidisha Chakrabarty, Ph.D.

Finance, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Niraj Chavan, M.D.

Maternal Fetal Medicine, School of Medicine

Vincenza Cifarelli, Ph.D.

Pharmacology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Denise Côté-Arsenault, Ph.D., RN

Nursing, Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing

Amanda Cox, Ph.D., P.E.

Civil Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

Dannielle Davis, Ph.D.

Higher Education Administration, School of Education

Helen De Cruz, Ph.D. Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences

Benjamin de Foy, Ph.D. Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Science and Engineering

Alexei Demchenko, Ph.D. Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering

Enrico Di Cera, M.D.

Biochemistry and Molecular Microbiology, School of Medicine

Richard DiPaolo, Ph.D.

Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine

Michael C. Duff, J.D. Law, School of Law

Emily Dumler-Winckler, Ph.D.

Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Mary Dunn, Ph.D.

Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Mark Dykewicz, M.D.

Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

James Edwards, Ph.D. Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering

Monica Eppinger, Ph.D., J.D. Law, School of Law

Flavio Esposito, Ph.D.

Computer Science, School of Science and Engineering

Ruth Evans, Ph.D. English, College of Arts and Sciences

Thomas Finan, Ph.D., FSA History, College of Arts and Sciences

Chad Flanders, Ph.D., J.D. Law, School of Law

Cathleen Fleck, Ph.D.

Art History, College of Arts and Sciences

David Ford, Ph.D.

Biochemistry and Molecular Microbiology, School of Medicine

Kasey Fowler-Finn, Ph.D. Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

Koyal Garg, Ph.D.

Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

Annie Garner, Ph.D. Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

Sarah Gebauer, M.D., MSPH Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine

Claire Gilbert, Ph.D. History, College of Arts and Sciences

Keon Gilbert, Ph.D.

Behavioral Science and Health Equity, College for Public Health and Social Justice

Kelly Gillespie, Ph.D., J.D., RN Law, School of Law

Lorri Glover, Ph.D. History, College of Arts and Sciences

Jenna Gorlewicz, Ph.D.

Mechanical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

David Griggs, Ph.D.

Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine

Richard Grucza, Ph.D., MPE

Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine

Andrew F. Hall, D.Sc.

Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

Elizabeth Hasenmueller, Ph.D.

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Science and Engineering

Dan Haybron, Ph.D.

Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences

Verna Hendricks-Ferguson, Ph.D., RN

Nursing, Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing

Leslie Hinyard, Ph.D., MSW

Health and Clinical Outcomes Research, School of Medicine

Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D.

Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Kate Holdener, Ph.D.

Computer Science, School of Science and Engineering

Jin Huang, Ph.D., MSW

Social Work, School of Social Work

Christa Jackson, Ph.D.

Education, School of Education

Brent Jagger, M.D., Ph.D.

Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Ajay Kumar Jain, M.D.

Pediatrics; Pharmacology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Devin Johnston, Ph.D.

English, College of Arts and Sciences

Kenton J. Johnston, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Health Management and Policy, School of Medicine

Grant Kaplan, Ph.D.

Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Malkanthi Karunananda, Ph.D.

Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering

Ajith Karunarathne, Ph.D.

Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering

John Kennell, Ph.D.

Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

Istvan Kiss, Ph.D.

Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering

Researchers Supported by the Research Institute

Jason Knouft, Ph.D. Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

Sergey Korolev, Ph.D. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine

Helen Lach, Ph.D., RN

Nursing, Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing

Atria Larson, Ph.D.

Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Krista Lentine, M.D., Ph.D. Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Sofie (Xuewei) Liang, M.Sc.Eng.

Laboratory Technician, Water Access, Technology, Environment and Resources (WATER) Institute

Yi Li, Ph.D.

Nutrition and Dietetics, Doisy College of Health Sciences

Katherine Luking, Ph.D. Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

Paul Lynch, Ph.D. English, College of Arts and Sciences

Thomas Madden, Ph.D. History, College of Arts and Sciences

Peter Martens, Ph.D. Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

R. Scott Martin, Ph.D. Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering

Brandy R. Maynard, Ph.D., MSW Social Work, School of Social Work

Leslie McClure, Ph.D. Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice

Marcia McCormick, J.D. Law, School of Law

Marvin Meyers, Ph.D. Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering

Allison Miller, Ph.D. Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

Nathaniel Millett, Ph.D.

History, College of Arts and Sciences

Adriana Montaño, Ph.D.

Pediatrics, School of Medicine

Kate Moran, Ph.D.

American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Aubin Moutal, Ph.D. Pharmacology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Laura Muro, Ph.D. Accounting, SLU-Madrid

Matthew Nanes, Ph.D. Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences

Brent A. Neuschwander-Tetri, M.D. Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Dan Nickolai, Ph.D.

French — Languages, Literatures and Cultures, College of Arts and Sciences

Takako Nomi, Ph.D.

Education, School of Education

Afonso Seixas Nunes, S.J. Law, School of Law

Marcus Painter, Ph.D. Finance, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Charles H. Parker, Ph.D. History, College of Arts and Sciences

Cristy Portales-Reyes Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

Ranjit Ray, Ph.D.

Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Ratna Ray, Ph.D. Pathology, School of Medicine

James Redfield, Ph.D.

Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Rachel Rimmerman, MBA

Director of Business and Outreach, Water Access, Technology, Environment and Resources (WATER) Institute

Gary Ritter, Ph.D.

Education, School of Education; Dean of the School of Education

Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, Ph.D.

Theological Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Steven Rogers, Ph.D.

Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences

Bernard Rousseau, Ph.D., MMHC

Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Dean of the Doisy College of Health Sciences

Mark Ruff, Ph.D.

History, College of Arts and Sciences

Vasit Sagan, Ph.D.

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Science and Engineering

Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D.

Pharmacology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Ness Sandoval, Ph.D.

Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences

Nil Santiáñez, Ph.D.

Languages, Literatures and Cultures, College of Arts and Sciences

Jonathan Sawday, Ph.D.

English, College of Arts and Sciences

Jeffrey Scherrer, Ph.D.

Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine

Scott Sell, Ph.D.

Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering

Enbal Shacham, Ph.D.

Behavioral Science and Health

Education, College for Public Health and Social Justice

Silvana Siddali, Ph.D.

History, College of Arts and Sciences

Nitish Singh, Ph.D.

International Business, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Damien Smith, Ph.D.

History, College of Arts and Sciences

Rachel Greenwald Smith, Ph.D.

English, College of Arts and Sciences

Paolo Soana, Ph.D.

Finance, SLU-Madrid

Anne Stiles, Ph.D.

English, College of Arts and Sciences

Cynthia Stollhans, Ph.D.

Art History, College of Arts and Sciences

Eleonore Stump, Ph.D.

Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences

Abby Stylianou, Ph.D.

Computer Science, School of Science and Engineering

Divya S. Subramaniam, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Health and Clinical Outcomes Research; Health Data Science, School of Medicine

Yan Sun, Ph.D.

Accounting, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Jintong Tang, Ph.D.

Management, Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

John Tavis, Ph.D.

Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine

Jeffrey Teckman, M.D.

Pediatrics; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine

Clarice Thomas, Ph.D.

African American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences

Warren Treadgold, Ph.D.

History, College of Arts and Sciences

Gregory Edward Triplett Jr., Ph.D.

Civil, Computer and Electrical Engineering; Dean of the School of Science and Engineering

Joya Uraizee, Ph.D.

English, College of Arts and Sciences

Michael Vaughn, Ph.D.

Social Work, School of Social Work

Kenneth Warren, Ph.D.

Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences

Jeremiah Weinstock, Ph.D.

Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

Phyllis Weliver, D. Phil.

English, College of Arts and Sciences

Amy Wright, Ph.D.

Hispanic Studies — Languages, Literatures and Cultures, College of Arts and Sciences

Jinsong Zhang, Ph.D.

Pharmacology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Lupei Zhu, Ph.D.

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Science and Engineering

Silviya Petrova Zustiak, Ph.D.

Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering; Pharmacology and Physiology, School of Medicine

One gift to Saint Louis University can transform big ideas into groundbreaking discoveries. Our cutting-edge research is making a difference in lives around the world, and our work would not be possible without you. Your contribution supports our long-standing Jesuit mission and sets change in motion — advancing us toward a stronger tomorrow. Explore our existing research portfolio to find a cause that inspires you.