Yori - Fall 2016

FALL 2016 • VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1

THE MAGAZINE FOR THE UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA COLLEGE of LIBERAL ARTS and SCIENCES

The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts, but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks. — ALBERT EINSTEIN

Cover: Artist’s concept of a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

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The popular language program says one thing, but Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Studies Gillian Lord, who has studied the efficacy of Rosetta Stone’s Spanish instruction, says another. — By Rachel Wayne

The biggest science news of the year is that Einstein was right about his general theory of relativity, but what most people don’t know is that UF’s Department of Physics played a major role in the discovery. — By Rachel Wayne

DOES ROSETTA STONE WORK?

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THE BIG “CHIRP”

Above: Professor and paleoclimatologist Andrea Dutton studies fossilized coral, such as that seen here, to learn about the future of climate change.

Joshua Bright

QUESTION

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Settling a 13th-century Debate?

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Ten Things to Know about Zika

29

Old Family Recipe — Really, Really Old

49

The Economics PhD Returns

DISCOVER

25

Einstein Goes to the Movies

CONNECT

32

The Japan That Can Say Yes

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“Industry of the Floridians in Depositing Their Crops in the Public Granary” is an illustration by the Flemish engraver Theodore de Bry (1591) of the Timucua people of Florida.

The origin and accuracy of the de Bry engravings is a subject of considerable academic controversy.

We are pleased to present the first issue of Ytori (pronounced ee-TOR-ee), the magazine of the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This publication opens a new chapter in our communications with our alumni, students, staff, and friends of the college.

We also recognize our University of Florida home through the title of our new magazine: Ytori means alligator in the Timucuan language. The Timucua were a comparatively large indigenous group, containing between 50,000 and 200,000 people, who moved into north-central and northeast Florida as early as 1100 CE. Their language is preserved in Spanish missionary texts, whose translations allow scholars such as UF’s Professor of Anthropology Aaron Broadwell to reconstruct both the grammar and lexicon of the language.

Professor Broadwell’s project has attracted the interest of many students, who are in turn further expanding our knowledge of the language as caretakers of this important part of the history of our region.

This project shows how, through careful textual analysis, the humanities can enrich our understanding of our own 6 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

culture and history, an undertaking every bit as important as the work of our researchers who are making breakthrough discoveries in science and technology.

As you read Ytori, you will become aware of the many fields in which our faculty and students are contributing to the future well-being of our nation and our world. Our goal is to present the best of our college in an entertaining and informative publication. In addition to this print version, the magazine also will be available through the UF CLAS mobile app and on the college website.

Finally, I thank all of the authors, editors, writers, photographers, and designers who have brought this project to fruition.

With best regards,

David E. Richardson Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Illustration: Courtesy of Florida State Archives

From The Dean

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s an undergraduate, JOAN FORREST ’77 interned at the Dean of Students Office. She was so inspired by Dean of Students Tom Goodale that her dream was to one day become a dean herself. Today, she is leading an educational institution — not as dean, but as president and CEO of the Dawson Academy, a highly regarded post-graduate institute for dentists. She credits her success to the many leadership opportunities the University of Florida and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences provided her and wants to ensure that others will have similar opportunities.

Upon graduation, Joan was named the Outstanding Female Leader Graduate. During her time at UF, she served as president of the Panhellenic Council, was a facilitator for UF’s Leader Shop, and initiated the Order of Omega, a leadership honor society for fraternities and sororities in 1977.

Joan Forrest ’77, left, and Jan Barwick Chmela ’75 in front of the Chi Omega house in 1974.

A longtime annual donor, Joan upped her giving in 2009 with a gift to the Bob Graham Center for Public Service for students to intern in Tallahassee. Recently, Joan made a stronger commitment by leaving a portion of her estate to the college. “This is important to me,” she says, “because of the leadership development I learned as a student.

I’m grateful to be in a position to make a significant contribution to the school.”

To learn how you also can make a difference, contact the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Office of Advancement at 352-294-1971 or alumni@clas.ufl.edu.

ABOVE AND BELOW Geologist Stephanie James applies a novel technique to understand permafrost thaw.

By Rachel Wayne

S

itting on a sun-drenched picnic table outside the Hub at the University of Florida, STEPHANIE JAMES PHD’17 recalls the more pleasant summers she’s spent in Alaska. At the tail end of the hottest summer on record, James discusses how her PhD research on seismic waves can promote understanding of permafrost thaw. Her unique application of seismometry in shallow depths has been the cornerstone of her two PhD projects in the Department of Geological Sciences and two research internships with Sandia National Laboratory.

Geologists are often misperceived as scientists with impressive rock collections. As much as James appreciates a fine schist, she is the type of geologist who studies contemporary changes in the subterranean world as they relate to

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UF Photography — Bernard Brzezinski

Thesis

seasons and overall climate change. To understand these dynamics, she measures the energy of naturally generated, high-frequency seismic waves that travel downward through the earth.

James’ first project at UF was a pioneering effort to use ambient noise, from traffic, construction, and other human activities, to create images of the Florida aquifers using these seismic waves. This research used “a novel technique that’s never been tried at this shallow depth for imaging aquifers,” she says. Usually, destructive techniques such as explosions are needed to produce acoustic waves for this type of measurement.

Seismic waves change velocity as they move through underground structures, and that change can be measured by seismometers. Geologists use those measurements to map everything from aquifers to mountains to get a better picture of what’s underneath. If that picture changes, it could have above-ground ramifications. Major shifts in the solidity of the underground cause subsidence, which can devastate the structures built atop it. For example, as groundwater passes through and erodes the limestone that composes most of Florida, it alters the composition of the aquifer. Thus, changes in groundwater flow contribute to the development of sinkholes.

James’ shallow-depth seismometry of ambient noise also works in a very different landscape — the Alaskan tundra.

Permafrost is permanently frozen sediment and water that forms a substantial portion of the topography of the Earth’s colder regions. The upper layer of the Alaskan tundra thaws to a certain degree every summer. For James’ primary PhD project, she’s examining whether changes in this “active layer” can be reliably measured using seismic waves.

However, as global temperatures rise, the lower layers of true permafrost are thawing as well. James’ most recent project targets this phenomenon directly. “We could monitor active layer dynamics and see if the active layer is getting thicker with time, which means permafrost is thawing.

This can lead to breaks in infrastructure — roads, pipelines — and changes in groundwater flow patterns, as well as exacerbate climate change,” she says. In other words, in areas with permafrost, subsidence can cause a house to end up slanted, or, more seriously, trigger rockslides, and the release of carbon stored in previously frozen permafrost may contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Through her first internship at Sandia National Laboratory, a key environmental research outlet for the US Department of Energy, she’s applying her technique to two years of ambient noise data to analyze and predict changes in subterranean structures due to seasonal thaw of the sediment above the permafrost. In her second internship, she’s focusing on permafrost thaw related to global warming.

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“ W E COULD MONITOR ACTIVE LAYER DYNAMICS AND SEE IF THE ACTIVE LAYER IS GETTING THICKER WITH TIME, WHICH MEANS PERMAFROST IS THAWING. THIS CAN LEAD TO BREAKS IN INFRASTRUCTURE AND CHANGES IN GROUNDWATER FLOW PATTERNS, AS WELL AS EXACERBATE CLIMATE CHANGE.” James’ research in Alaska aims to discover “where it’s thawing, how fast it’s thawing, and how best to measure it.” She has three seismometer stations set up around a controlled thaw site in Fairbanks. Because the composition of the earth has slightly changed, the waves pass through it at different velocities depending on how much of the permafrost is thawed. “The waves move faster in the winter when the ground is fully frozen and slower when the active layer is thawed in the summer,” she explains. “A deeper thaw would produce a notable change in seismic waves.” In the long game of global warming, she’s looking for “changes in the velocity of scattered waves across time.” By modeling those changes with seismic waves, she and her colleagues at Sandia hope to be able to predict the endgame and its environmental effects.

James’s passion for geology evolved from her childhood interest in paleontology. She started her higher education at Colorado State University, where she double-majored in geology and zoology. “I fell in love with geology,” she says.

“I loved hydrology and geophysics, and I’d always liked math.” She appreciates the balance between traveling to the field site and analyzing data in her office. Appropriately, her extracurricular activities of choice involve quality time spent with the earth; she loves hiking and camping, and she recently visited the Grand Canyon for the first time. Her on-campus life includes her presidency of UF’s chapter of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), which hosts “Bad Science Movie Nights,” the first of which featured the rare disaster movie with a geologist hero, 2003’s The Core.

“Any scientist character in any movie just knows everything,” she says with a laugh.

Perhaps the issue with popular conceptions of scientists is that the range of each field is largely cut down to what suits the story. Geology is a lot more than the study of rocks; the breadth of research topics actually undertaken by geologists is comparable in size to a mountain range. A deep understanding of the interactions among rocks, soil, water, and trees is crucial to sustainable engineering, environmental protection, and disaster prevention. With two internships under her belt, James is primed for an eventual job at Sandia or another such laboratory, or, she says, with the United States Geological Survey. Her efforts to study the world below may help save the tundra — and, perhaps, show the world what a real geologist hero looks like. q

The summertime tundra in Denali National Park and Preserve.

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Settling a 13th-century Theological Debate?

UF professor publishes first-ever medieval graphic history.

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© Oxford University Press

Copyright © 2017 Oxford University Press

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ina Caputo, an associate professor in history, collaborated with illustrator Liz Clarke to create the first medieval graphic history. The fourth in a series of graphic histories published

by Oxford University Press, Debating Truth: The Barcelona Disputation of 1263, uses this novel approach to present a medieval public debate about the Messiah from both Jewish and Christian perspectives. “A theological disputation in comic form might seem improbable,” remarks Caputo, but she is confident that it will be effective. Students who saw the book in an early test-run in a colleague’s class expressed

Copyright © 2017 Oxford University Press

excitement about this innovative way to learn about history.

The storyline comes from the historical records of the disputation between Rabbi Moses ben Nahman and Friar Paul, a convert from Judaism to Christianity. Caputo, who wrote the text, worked closely with Clarke to make the captivating graphic representations of people and places historically accurate as well. The images shown here demonstrate how comics will bring history to life for students. The volume also contains translations of historical documents, historical essays, and bibliography and questions for further study. q LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 11

UF Photography — Bernard Brzezinski

Pop Quiz

Grab a pencil and put on your math hat for a chance to win a free T-shirt!

By Professor of Mathematics Kevin Knudson

QUESTION 1 A dog park is a square field a meters on a side.

Four dogs are standing on each of the four corners. At the same instant, all four dogs begin to chase the dog which is simultaneously departing from the corner to their left. What distance does each dog run before they all collide in the center?

(A) a2

meters (B) a meters

(B) 12 + 13√3

(A) 1/2

(B) 1/4

(C) 1/64

(C) a√2 meters

QUESTION 2 Find the area of the octagon shown below.

(A) 25

QUESTION 3 Person A has six fair coins, and Person B has five fair coins. Both players flip all their coins, and Person A wins only if he or she flips more heads than Person B; otherwise B wins. What is the probability that A wins?

BONUS Find the exact value of

(C) 13 + 12√2

3 2

2

3

3

2

2 3

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In each issue of the magazine, we will feature a quiz prepared by one of our professors. Send your answers to gigimarino@ufl.edu. One person will win a T-shirt from a random selection of all correct answers.

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Ask the Archivist

Laurels

WHAT ARE DANCE CARDS?

Congratulating and celebrating faculty and student achievement.

Courtesy of University Archives

University Archivist Peggy McBride explains a quaint tradition from another century.

Originally used for formal balls, a woman’s dance card recorded the names of the gentlemen with whom she intended to dance. Usually tied to her wrist with a cord that had a small pencil attached to it, the card was typically a booklet with a decorative cover that indicated the sponsoring organization. Inside, the dances were listed by number and type of dance. At a time when a waltz was considered risqué, the card allowed a woman to choose whether or not to “sit that one out” or choose a partner who she did not mind holding her closely. Dance cards were used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Today, “dance card” often is used metaphorically, as when someone says, “Pencil me into your dance card,” or “My dance card is full.”

The US Air Force flight crews use the term to refer to a card that contains information about a flight mission.

Dance cards from the early days of the University of Florida can be found in the University Archives.

Donated by alumni, the cards portray a part of student life in the early days of the university.

DANIEL ALDRIDGE ’16, NEUROSCIENCE, AND NICHOLAS PASTERNACK ’16, IMMUNOLOGY Ȫ 2016 Frost Scholarship for Master’s study at the

University of Oxford CENTER FOR EUROPEAN STUDIES Ȫ 2016 National Endowment for the Humanities

grant for “Dialogues on the Experiences of War” GEORGE CHRISTOU, CHEMISTRY Ȫ 2016 Nyholm Prize in Inorganic Chemistry Ȫ 2016 Fellow of the American Chemistry Society Ȫ 2016 Southern Chemist Award from the American

Chemical Society PAMELA K. GILBERT, ENGLISH Ȫ 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship

BARBARA MENNEL, ENGLISH: FILM STUDIES AND LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND CULTURES Ȫ 2016 Marie Skłodowaska-Curie FCFP

Senior Fellowship BRENT SUMERLIN, CHEMISTRY Ȫ 2016 Hanwha-Total IUPAC Young Scientist Award

from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ROBERT WALKER, GEOGRAPHY, CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, WITH YANKUIC GALVANMIYOSHI, POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER AT UF Ȫ $375,000 grant from the National Science

Foundation’s Geography and Spatial Sciences program in 2016 LUISE WHITE, HISTORY AND CENTER FOR AFRICAN STUDIES Ȫ 2016 National Humanities Center Fellowship

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UF’s Gillian Lord conducts the first study comparing learning Spanish in the classroom and from the popular language program.

By Rachel Wayne IF YOU WANT TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, high school and college can provide an excellent opportunity to do so. However, even in an increasingly global society, enrollment in college language courses is declining nationwide, while the marketing of the popular language software Rosetta Stone, and others like it, is increasing. Rosetta Stone launched in 1992, but until UF Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Studies Gillian Lord conducted a study of the effectiveness of Rosetta Stone comparing it to in-classroom experience in 2013, no such evaluation had been carried out. So, to continue the question that Lord says she gets a lot, “Does Rosetta Stone work?”

Between Rosetta Stone — named after an ancient Egyptian artifact that delivered a decree from Ptolemy V in three languages — and the recent release of Waverly Labs’ The Pilot, a “real life Babelfish in your ear,” instant gratification for communicating between languages is clearly desirable.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence that any standalone language program can meaningfully contribute to second language acquisition — or, people argue, there’s no need to learn other languages if it can be instantly translated. Of course, anyone who’s played with Google Translate has seen how ill-equipped computer algorithms are to render comprehensible speech — or art. Try entering a Shakespearean sonnet into it.

Yet the appeal of a computer program to replace human teaching of languages is very strong for some decision-makers. “K-12 school districts are literally disbanding their language departments and purchasing [Rosetta Stone] licenses,” says Lord. “And even some universities are tempted to try to reach the same outcomes with a computer program as they would get with teaching classes.”

They’ve certainly fallen for Rosetta Stone’s multimillion-dollar advertising campaign: Rosetta Stone promises to be the “fastest way to learn a language — guaranteed.” Yet anyone who’s traveled to a foreign country after learning

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Q UESTI ON a handful of words and phrases can attest to how limiting vocabulary-based learning is. For example, one could look up the Spanish words for “how much does it cost” and end up saying, “cuanto es lo costo.” Yet the appropriate phrase is, “¿cuánto vale?” Of course, Rosetta Stone helps second-language learners with the major hurdle of memorizing a large amount of vocabulary that native speakers pick up as children, when their sponge-like brains pick up the words they hear every day.

“We, as a country, do not tend to value the early instruction of language,” says Lord. Indeed, early childhood language education is often limited to numbers and the phrases for “hello” and “goodbye,” if they even get that. Most public schools in Alachua County, for example, do not begin world language instruction in public schools until the 8th grade. So, unless children are raised in multilingual households or are able to attend dual-language immersion schools, they are at an immense disadvantage when they attempt to learn a new language later on in life, after what most linguists accept as the “critical” or “sensitive” period for language learning ends around puberty.

It’s understandable to want to catch up if you’ve missed that short window. However, memorization of vocabulary is just that. Observes Lord, “Everyone has heard of Rosetta Stone, and their marketing is so powerful and omnipresent that everyone has come to just assume that they are indeed as effective as they say they are.” According to Lord, Rosetta Stone relies on a fallacy: that one language simply translates to another. Monolingual speakers tend to assume that words have an inherent meaning; learning a second language seems to be a process of translating the “real” words into a “foreign” word. As many pundits demonstrate, there is a tendency to think that there is a “real” language that stands above others. This illusion stems from the brain’s wiring of words, which are symbols, to perception of objects, feelings, and experiences. A large part of language education is to get students to reconsider why they use the words they do. “Think of a word like ‘bread,’” advises Lord. “If you asked speakers of different languages to bring up a mental image of ‘bread,’ the results would likely be very different from speaker to speaker and culture to culture, ranging from Wonder Bread loaves to a French baguette.”

In her study, which was published in 2015 in the Modern Language Journal, Lord focused on acquisition of the Spanish language. She compared the perceived benefits, language proficiency, and conversational fluency of native Englishspeaking students in three groups: a typical Beginning Spanish class on campus, a class that also used Rosetta Stone instead of their regular textbook, and a group of students only using Rosetta Stone, with no required class attendance. She found that although many students liked the “self-teaching” aspect

“ THINK OF A WORD LIKE ‘BREAD.’ IF YOU ASKED SPEAKERS OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGES TO BRING UP A MENTAL IMAGE OF ‘BREAD,’ THE RESULTS WOULD LIKELY BE VERY DIFFERENT FROM SPEAKER TO SPEAKER AND CULTURE TO CULTURE, RANGING FROM WONDER BREAD LOAVES TO A FRENCH BAGUETTE.” of Rosetta Stone, students using Rosetta Stone were less able to communicate at the end of the semester, having to ask for more clarification or explanation and needing to resort to English to get their point across.

Remarking on these preliminary findings, Lord says, “What language instructors know, but standalone companies fail to realize, is that in our classes, regardless of delivery medium, we teach our students much more than the simple words and phrases offered by a self-paced standalone experience. Not only do we teach culture and pragmatics, which Rosetta Stone does not even attempt to include, but we also provide our students with an understanding of the elements of successful negotiation of meaning, with strategies to assist in real-life communication and breakdowns thereof, and, crucially, how to put all those words and phrases together to create new meaning.

Language is so much more than isolated words, and the ability to put them together, to know how to use language — and how to learn language — are invaluable aspects of the learning process.”

The Rosetta Stone website’s FAQ includes the question “Does it work?” Their response is that it does, and that they have helped people discover a new language. Based on Lord’s findings, it seems that discovering, rather than learning language, may be a more accurate assessment of the program’s abilities. q LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 15

Global Studies

Ten Things to Know about Zika UF’S EMERGING PATHOGENS INSTITUTE (EPI) is on the front lines of defense against Zika, which has traveled through Central America into the United States, with the first Florida cases in July 2016. EPI researchers include UF biology professor Derek Cummings, who with research assistant Kyra Grantz collaborated on an international project studying the genetics of the Zika virus, and geography professor Sadie Ryan, who studies the ecology of the mosquitoes that transmit Zika. Following is a shortlist of what we know about Zika, with crucial input from EPI.

1.

ika is not a new species, but it is new to the Americas Z and is becoming endemic to Central and South America. Its origins are in the Zika forest of Uganda.

2.

ika is a flavivirus, related to dengue and West Nile.

Z Flaviviruses are typically spread through a vector, i.e. an uninfected species that transmits the virus from

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one host to another, usually mosquitoes, ticks, or other blood-sucking arthropods.

3.

laviviruses may make infected people more suscepF tible to other flaviviruses or worsen their symptoms and side effects.

4.

laviviruses often cause brain and nerve complicaF tions. Zika shows few symptoms in the infected, but raises the risk for Guillian-Barre syndrome, a neurological disease, by 10 times.

5.

regnant women infected with Zika may pass it on P to their fetuses, causing microcephaly at a risk rate of 20 to 30 percent. Microcephaly is the only birth defect caused by a mosquito-borne disease and is characterized by an undersized brain, usually accompanied by poor motor function and speech, seizures, and intellectual disability. There is no cure.

6.

nly one in five infected people will experience O symptoms, which may include rash, joint pain and body ache, headache, conjunctivitis and eye pain, vomiting, and mild fever. People with these symptoms who have recently traveled to Central and South America or have been in intimate contact with someone who has should seek medical assistance.

7.

ika may be spread among humans through sexual Z contact, and it can survive in semen for six months.

Both strains of Zika may spread among non-human primates and may be passed from non-human primates to humans. There is no evidence that other animal groups (e.g. cats and dogs) may pass Zika to humans.

8.

rbanization and globalization are major factors in U pandemics, as mosquito breeding grounds multiply and people travel over greater distances. Removal of standing water, wearing of protective clothing, and regular use of insect repellant are the best methods of personal protection.

9.

ika is spread by females of two species of mosquiZ toes: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. A. aegypti is the primary vector and easily breeds in waterstorage containers of any kind.

10.

s of press time, there are 3,951 travel-related cases A in US; in Florida, 708 travel-related cases and 139 locally acquired cases.

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Extracurricular

THIS GATOR HITS THE BOOKS ON THE FILM SET TAYLOR ROUVIERE ’18 is a biology and psychology double major who plans to become a doctor. What sets her apart from her fellow pre-med students is that she does much of her studying from a film set. Rouiviere is a recurring cast member of the Netflix original series Bloodline set and shot in the Florida Keys. She made time out of her busy schedule to chat with us about what it’s like to be a Gator and an actor.

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR PSYCHOLOGY STUDIES AFFECT OR INFORM YOUR ACTING, AND VICE VERSA? Learning about how different people act in certain situations has enabled me to read the scripts in a different way since I now have a better understanding of why certain actions result in certain types of reactions.

CONSIDERING YOUR ACADEMIC GOALS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACT ON A MEDICAL DRAMA? Absolutely. I actually just binge-watched most of Grey’s Anatomy this summer, and it would be so fun to be able to do the two things that I love all at once. Plus, it would be a really unique way to learn a lot about medicine rather than just reading everything from a book.

AS SOMEONE WITH A BUSY AND EXCITING LIFE, HOW DO MANAGE YOUR TIME AND ENERGY IN BALANCING YOUR STUDIES WITH YOUR WORK ON BLOODLINE? I spend a lot of time studying while traveling and on set, and when I’m in Gainesville, I try my best to be diligent about my schoolwork and spend a great deal of time at the library. I also have really great professors and friends who help me out when I miss class.

Courtesy of Netflix

WHICH OF YOUR CELEBRITY CO-STARS WERE YOU MOST EXCITED TO MEET/WORK WITH? I grew up watching so many of the shows and movies that they were all in, such as Carrie, Scooby Doo, Legally Blonde, Friday Night Lights, The Dark Knight Rises, Wicked, etc., that it was just so overwhelming — in a good way! — to meet everyone at once.

Taylor Rouviere ’18

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With considerable involvement of UF researchers, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, has detected two “chirps” of gravitational waves — a cute phrase for an epic cosmic event, the merger and collapse of two black holes.

By Rachel Wayne

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John Jernigan

DI S COVER

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Courtsey of NASA/Swift/Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University

Professors Guido Mueller and Bernard Whiting with a scaled-down version of the LIGO optics.

he chirps are the first time scientists have detected gravitational waves and give compelling evidence in support of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and the discovery has established gravitational astronomy as an exciting new field of study.

The general theory of relativity posits that gravity moves at the speed of light (671 million miles per hour), disturbing the fabric of space-time. Distortions in this fabric are caused by immense gravitational force such as that created by a black hole. Einstein proposed that when a large mass, such as a star, accelerates, it generates gravitational fields that are time-dependent and convert to wave energy that travels at the speed of light. A black hole, or a collapsed star, would generate an enormous amount of energy that would warp space-time. Until now, this phenomenon has been in the realm of theoretical physics and is the basis of time travel in films such as Back to the Future and Interstellar.

LIGO’s research isn’t intended to help develop time travel, though; gravitational astronomers seek answers about the

composition of the universe. “Imagine you live in a house, but you don’t know what all is in the house,” says UF physics professor Guenakh Mitselmakher, the principal investigator of the UF LIGO group who co-created the algorithm used by LIGO for the first detection. “Once you’ll explore, you’ll find something useful — ways to survive difficult situations. The universe is our house. We must go learn about our house.”

Scientists often use the metaphor of the ripples in a pond after a stone falls in to explain the gravitational effects on space-time. Typically, such ripples have been “seen” through radio astronomy, which measures the electromagnetic spectrum; that is, the stone has fallen into the water far from the shore, and astronomers observe the ripples from afar. For the first time, the ripples of gravitational waves have been detected without a telescope, as they arrived at the edge of the cosmic pond.

LIGO has been met with skepticism since its origins in the late 1980s, but through an international collaboration and the essential contributions of a team of UF physicists, it has finally achieved what seemed impossible: a snapshot of an ancient cosmic event. Advanced LIGO, a recent upgrade of the LIGO instruments in Louisiana and LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 19

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Courtsey of Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab

Washington State, had been online for less than 72 hours before the first chirp was detected on September 14, 2015.

The team of roughly 1,000 scientists from around the world intended to operate the instruments in “engineering mode” for one month, but the universe had other plans. Two weeks before the “science mode” of the project was set to be deployed, the search algorithm developed at UF discovered a gravitational wave signal detected by twin LIGO interferometers. The finding was so unexpected that only after months of analysis did LIGO researchers confirm the waves produced by two merging black holes; the magnitude was enough that the chirp is very unlikely to be anything else, making the detection a monumental discovery. “I don’t think anything like that exists in any other field. This is a miracle,” says Sergey Klimenko, a professor of physics at UF who has worked to develop the detection algorithm with Mitselmakher since 1997.

The waves arrived at LIGO’s twin detectors within seven-thousandths of a second of each other, just past 4:50 a.m. in Livingston, La., and 2:50 a.m. in Hanford, Wash., showing that the two black holes, 29 and 36 times the mass of our Sun, had merged in a similar time frame after orbiting each other at a speed of approximately 100 orbits per second.

While this may seem like current events, cosmically speaking, the collision occurred approximately 1.3 billion years ago.

The interferometer is a humorous yet accurate name: it involves the use of mirrors to split and reunite a laser beam, then reflect it back onto itself, which cancels out the light beam’s waves in a condition known as “anti-phase.” Because gravitational waves distort space, the distance between the mirrors changes, and the light goes out of anti-phase. That interference, however small, can be measured, albeit only after intense efforts to detect a tiny event in an enormous instrument. The LIGO detectors are approximately four kilometers wide, and the laser beams must be perfectly aligned to detect the wobble between the mirrors. It is striking that the mirror displacement caused by gravitational waves is 10,000 times smaller than the size of a proton and yet can be measured, says Klimenko.

Klimenko was brought onboard by Mitselmakher, who arrived at UF in 1995 to work in high energy physics. In 1995, David Tanner, along with fellow physics professors Bernard Whiting and David Reitze, responded to a call from Mitselmakher to join a LIGO research consortium led by Caltech and MIT. Guido Mueller joined the project in 1998.

Funded by the consortium, UF was tasked with developing the input optics system for the interferometer (the largest funded experiment to date) and creating the crucial algorithm to interpret the signals it would receive. The team says they expected to first detect gravitational waves from a neutron star collision — the aftermath of a supernova. As

DI S COVER

An aerial view of Advanced LIGO Livingston, La., shows the full length of the interferometer, which features precisely aligned mirrors in the two arms, which are each 4 km. (2.5 mi.) long.

THE WAVES ARRIVED WITHIN SEVEN-THOUSANDTHS OF A SECOND OF EACH OTHER … SHOWING THAT THE TWO BLACK HOLES, 29 AND 36 TIMES THE MASS OF OUR SUN, HAD MERGED AT A SPEED OF 100 ORBITS PER SECOND.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 21

Courtsey of Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab

A scientist works with a 40-kilogram test mass in the Livingston, La., interferometer’s core optics. The test mass is designed to reduce scattering of the laser beam to ensure accurate measurement.

the field was still theoretical at that time, “the challenge was to design an algorithm that can detect absolutely anything,” notes Mitselmakher. “It’s like looking for a black cat in a black room.” Laughs Tanner, “You just know it’s warm and fuzzy and may scratch.”

It turned out that the room was full of cats: LIGO’s twin detectors heard a second chirp on December 26, 2015; another pair of black holes had combined, creating a mass 21 times that of our sun and warping space-time. One sun’s worth of mass was converted into energy and carried away by gravitational waves, which reached Earth over a distancetime of 1.4 billion light-years. Analysis of the signal showed that the pair of black holes had orbited each other for years, producing the waves in the last 55 orbits before their epic merger. In other words, the experience of time and space on Earth is infinitesimal compared with the cosmic magnitude of black hole formation and collision. What the discovery confirms is that gravity isn’t just that thing that keeps your things on the table. It’s a curvature in space-time, and movement of a celestial body creates that curvature if it has 22 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

enough mass. It’s the difference between a mouse running around a trampoline and a human doing the same thing.

“This second detection confirms our expectations that binary black holes are abundant in the universe, and LIGO will see many more in the future,” says Klimenko. The idea that black holes are a common feature of the cosmos is supported by Einstein’s general theory of relativity and the model of the universe as a shifting, expanding sphere.

An infinite, static universe is not supported by astronomical evidence (and doesn’t allow for time travel either).

Astrophysicists have largely accepted the Big Bang Theory, a misnomer as the model actually describes a convergence of energy so intense that it created matter.

The Big Bang Theory is a comprehensive explanation of the expanding universe and is well backed by evidence from radio astronomy, but scientists have not yet been able to analyze data from the Big Bang itself. Whiting, who has been at UF since 1989, hopes to detect “relic” gravitational waves from the event; this gravitational background is so weak, it requires him to essentially “distinguish noise from noise.”

DI S COVER The Big Bang is theorized to have occurred 13.8 billion years ago; in terms of human time, the Big Bang was the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve, and the advent of modern humans is six minutes before the following New Year’s Day. That six minutes has been filled with humans pondering the night sky: “Astronomy has existed as long as people have,” says Mitselmakher, “and has exploded in the last 50 years.” The detection of gravitational waves heralds a new era of multi-messenger astronomy: a confluence of methods and instruments that observes these cosmic events from multiple perspectives.

Indeed, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, which runs the project, is an international and interdisciplinary group of almost 1,000 scientists, including 26 from UF. “It’s amazing that Reitze was able to coordinate all these people,” says Mueller. “Many of us are not astrophysicists. The strength of the LIGO collaboration is its various enterprises.” Because multiple detections of gravitational waves are the only way to confirm the signal, data is corroborated with that of the Virgo Collaboration, a similar project in Europe. As other detectors set up shop, scientists anticipate a steady stream of discoveries through gravitational astronomy. Interferometers around the globe “may give us triggers to look at our data,” says Tanner. UF’s algorithm was 15 years in the making, says Mitselmakher, and allowed LIGO the unique opportunity to identify the gravitational waves, which arrived at other instruments that did not have sufficient algorithms to pick it up. The program that first detected the waves seen in September 2015, Coherent WaveBurst, was developed in 2004 by the UF LIGO

THE BIG BANG IS THEORIZED TO HAVE OCCURRED 13.8 BILLION YEARS AGO; IN TERMS OF HUMAN TIME, THE BIG BANG WAS THE BALL DROPPING ON NEW YEAR’S, AND THE ADVENT OF MODERN HUMANS IS SIX MINUTES BEFORE THE FOLLOWING NEW YEAR’S.

group, a team of faculty, graduate students, and postdocs, and has since undergone continual updating and improvement.

Although LIGO was constructed and is operated by scientists at Caltech and MIT, UF has had an instrumental role (pun intended) in the latest stage, the Advanced LIGO project. From 1996 to present, UF has engineered the “input optics” system, which takes the light from the laser conditions and expands the beam size, and delivers it to the main interferometer, for all of LIGO’s projects. After leading UF’s input optics (IO) program beginning in 1996, Reitze relocated to Caltech, where he currently serves as executive director of LIGO. “The IO was in such a good shape and the entire IO team at UF was so strong that finishing the $5 million project turned out to be fairly straightforward,” said Mueller, who with Tanner has led the team since Reitze’s transfer to Caltech in 2011. Additional support came through a 17-year umbrella grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is still growing, with a third LIGO detector planned for location in India. In the next five years, LIGO hopes to become sensitive enough to detect individual black holes, not just their mergers. Other gravitational wave detector projects include space-based instruments to detect signals from slower events, such as the acceleration of supermassive black holes. The team’s timeline had anticipated these projects to be rolled out by 2034, but Whiting says that they now may be operational as soon as 2030 or 2029.

“We won’t be there to see it, but will guide others,” says Whiting. That hope is shared by the full LIGO team, who have seen many of their students and postdocs go on to work on gravitational wave detection around the world. It’s an exciting new field of cosmic proportions for young scientists, who must work on international collaborative projects at major laboratories. “The idea of the lone professor sitting in his corner inventing something won’t go away,” says Mitselmakher with a sigh. For the UF LIGO team, this new era of multi-messenger astronomy is a paradigm shift towards the collaborative empowerment of extraordinary scientific discoveries.

So is time travel on the horizon? Unlikely. “Interstellar is close to reality [only] as a good way to introduce people to physics,” says Klimenko. Tanner shakes his head in disagreement, but says he does enjoy science-fiction tales of humanity in the face of eternity, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke’s 1968 novel (adapted to film by Stanley Kubrick) and Time Enough for Love, the 1973 award-winning novel by Robert A. Heinlein. “The general public is more interested in fantasies than precision,” observes Mitselmakher. Those fantasies of time travel and journeys through the galaxies have gripped humanity since its beginnings. And in this latest millisecond of human existence, cosmically speaking, might be its origins of those fantastic journeys. “This is just the beginning,” says Whiting with a smile. q LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 23

Courtsey of NASA/JPL-Caltech

24 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

DI S COVER

Ȫ Interstellar and many other space-travel films forgo the inaccurate warp-drive model made famous by Star Trek, in favor of a WORMHOLE, or a connection between two tears in the fabric of space-time. An immense amount of energy is needed to “fold” the fabric in this way. The astronauts travel through a wormhole created by future humans who knew from their history that they would need to do this to ensure their survival. This is a prime example of a paradox: two events in space-time that depend on each other’s cause, instead of having a logical cause-and-effect. Ȫ The dark side of time travel is explored as characters undergo RELATIVE AGING: because gravity makes time move more slowly as it warps space-time, astronauts leaving Earth and approaching a black hole age in an hour what their families on Earth age in years.

EINSTEIN GOES TO THE MOVIES

Ȫ The film portrays backwards time travel as a function of a TESSERACT, the four-dimensional version of a cube. This phenomenon occurs as gravity bleeds through dimensions at the singularity of the black hole. The fifth dimension is the immensely compact realm at the singularity that connects the three dimensions of space with the fourth dimension: time. Because of the connection through gravitational waves, the astronaut is able to communicate with someone on Earth in a different time.

Einstein’s general theory of relativity has made some science-fiction films a little less fictional.

Einstein’s general theory of relativity lent itself to the science of the classic Back to the Future films (1985, ’89, ’90), which portray traditional time travel but suggest that human travelers could move to alternate universes to affect reality in their “home” timeline.

Interstellar, a 2014 space-exploration film, relied upon theoretical physics for its premise: a group of astronauts seeks a new planet for humans to inhabit and jumps time and dimensions in the process. LIGO co-founder Kip Thorne served as science consultant and executive producer. With Thorne’s assistance, the film explores some concepts drawn from the science of gravitational waves.

Ȫ The general theory of relativity suggests that humans can only travel forward in time, if they were to approach the speed of light. However, QUANTUM MECHANICS might allow for a being to exist in two states. In that sense, Doc Brown’s DeLorean-turned-timeship doesn’t create a wormhole but instead “jumps streams” because time flows like a river. That’s why it needs to reach a high speed.

Ȫ Similar to what LIGO is collecting, the astronauts need to collect data from the singularity of black hole in order to “solve gravity.” They’re referring to the calculations of a gravitational constant, called “BIG G,” needed to harness sufficient gravitational force to launch a space station containing the human race. The singularity is the point at which objects cannot return from passing through a black hole, and thus time and space are permanently distorted.

Ȫ The FLUX CAPACITOR stores the energy of the flow of time in order to keep a point of reference so that the DeLorean doesn’t end up in the far reaches of space. Ȫ When Marty travels back in time, he’s not actually rewinding his past, he’s popping into an ALTERNATE REALITY. The second film demonstrates this by showing Marty and Doc existing in duplicate in this reality.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 25

With his iPhone, UF President Kent Fuchs captured a panoramic view of the Spring 2016 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ commencement, which was held in the Swamp due to the renovation of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

By Rachel Wayne

UF physics researchers continue to improve optics for future detectors in the department’s clean room.

UF’s History with LIGO

By Steve Orlando The University of Florida has been involved with LIGO since its inception. That involvement began with an email message sent in October 1995 to the physics faculty by Guenakh Mitselmakher, who had just joined the physics department as a senior professor. The message was about research opportunities in LIGO and was motivated by Mitselmakher’s knowledge of the LIGO project from his work with Barry Barish (then LIGO laboratory director) in high energy physics. A number of faculty responded. The initial group of active participants consisted of Mitselmakher, Bernard Whiting, and physics professors David Reitze and David Tanner. Shortly after this beginning, two other current faculty members joined the UF LIGO group: Sergey Klimenko in 1997 and Guido Mueller in 1998.

Florida’s interest was well timed, as the LIGO Laboratory, the consortium managed by Caltech and MIT, was just beginning to design the initial LIGO detector. There were a number of meetings, conferences and lab visits between UF scientists and LIGO scientists.

A critical meeting took place in February 1996, when Mitselmakher, Reitze, Tanner, and Whiting visited the LIGO laboratory to discuss whether and how UF could contribute to the initial LIGO detectors, then beginning their construction. The outcome of this discussion was that the University of Florida took responsibility for the Input Optics (IO) of LIGO, one of the most complex and diverse systems in the entire interferometer. In doing so, Florida was the first institution outside the original Caltech–MIT collaboration to have an essential role in LIGO. 28 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

Historians consider astronomy to be the world’s first science. Since ancient Babylonia in 1600 BCE, people have mapped the heavens, tracked eclipses, and developed calendars. Until the early 17th century, scientists used measurement devices with the naked eye to observe and track the movement of planets and stars. In 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe discovered a new star, challenging the prevailing notion that the universe was unchanging.

Throughout the following century, refracting telescopes were invented and improved, and in the late 17th century, developed into the more efficient reflecting telescope, through the work of Sir Isaac Newton. Optical telescopes were used in the significant astronomical accomplishments of the 18th and 19th centuries, such as mapping the Milky Way and the surface of Mars. In the 20th century, radio telescopes were developed to survey the universe beyond the Milky Way; by mapping cosmic radiation, astronomers have garnered much evidence for the Big Bang Theory to explain the origins of the universe. With LIGO, which maps gravitational waves caused by immense distortions in space-time, such as black holes, yet more answers are on the horizon.

Sixteenth-century astronomer Tycho Brahe was the first person to challenge Aristotle's idea of an unchanging celestial realm.

John Jernigan

A Brief History of Astronomy

DI S COVER

Old Family Recipe — Really, Really Old UF anthropologists collaborate to recreate an ancient Peruvian beer.

By Rachel Wayne

Courtesy of the Field Museum

Although resurrecting dinosaurs isn’t possible, there is still hope for beer. Over the past two decades, archaeologists from the University of Florida have collaborated with Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History on a 1,400-year-old Peruvian site. In 2004, the team excavated an ancient mountaintop brewery—a major ceremonial site of the Wari, predecessors to the Inca. The Wari, who thrived between 100 and 600 CE, brewed a distinctive beer from maize. Now, the Field Museum has brewed the Wari recipe to produce a vivid pink beer.

Chicha de jora, or corn beer, is still common throughout South America, and in each region involves unique rituals and roles in its preparation. The Wari added molle berries from a native Peruvian evergreen tree called Schinus molle.

The molle berries were thought to have healing properties and brought a delightful sweetness to the beer.

In many societies, there was a distinctive subculture surrounding brewers. For the Wari, the purpose of brewing was more than simple production of libations; the brewery, atop a remote mesa 2,000 feet high, was a demonstration of power against the rival empire, the Tiwanaku, and a gathering place for the Wari’s allies. “This is the only place where two empires were making face-to-face contact — it’s both defensible and very impressive,” explains Mike Moseley, distinguished professor of anthropology at UF, in an article published in Explore Magazine.

In 1981, Moseley co-founded a research consortium to map and excavate the mesa, called Cerro Baúl, while serving as

The Field Museum partnered with Off Color Brewing to produce Wari, a beer named for its ancient creators. Wari, shown here surrounded by purple corn and pink peppercorns, has a 4.0% ABV and IBU of about 3.

curator of the Field Museum. The archaeological collaboration between the Field Museum and UF began in 1997 and focused on the Wari site at Cerro Baúl (“trunk hill,” so named for the treasure kept there). The Wari (not to be confused with contemporary Wari') began to thrive in the sixth century, occupying most of modern-day Peru. They turned Cerro Baúl into their citadel, complete with sophisticated terracing, irrigation systems, roads, and, of course, the brewery.

THE ROOMS COULD PRODUCE 1,500– 2,000 LITERS, OR 396–528 GALLONS, OF CHICHA. THAT’S ENOUGH TO GIVE A PINT EACH TO 3,000–4,000 PEOPLE. UF and the Field Museum excavated two rooms of the brewery that covered 200 square meters of the site. The fermenting room could hold up to 20 55-liter vessels that held the wort over fires. The Cerro Baúl brewery is the earliest known brewery of its size, but was likely larger and encompassed gathering places for the festivals. Examination of ceramics found at the site showed traces of molle berries.

The rooms could produce 1,500–2,000 liters, or 396–528 gallons, of chicha. That’s enough to give a pint each to 3,000– 4,000 people. As such, the beer was brewed for festivals that affirmed ally relationships with neighboring empires.

Because the drinking cups recovered at the site held a liter, or about two pints, of liquid, the brewery was likely larger to meet demand.

Moseley, with professor of anthropology Susan deFrance, also excavated ancient shawl pins from the brewery floor.

The discovery indicated that elite women were the brewers, and thus, women held significant political power in the Wari empire.

Cerro Baúl appears to have been ritually abandoned around 1000 CE. The Wari’s exodus included a ceremonial dumping of chicha-related artifacts, including shawl pins and chicha cups. Evidence points to socioeconomic struggles in the face of prolonged drought that forced the Wari to leave.

They returned on an unknown date, but were conquered by the Inca in 1475 CE. However, because the Wari sealed off many parts of the citadel upon departure, much of Cerro Baúl remains well-preserved — an exciting venue for archaeological discovery about this early Peruvian empire.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 29

Fieldwork

UF biology professor Todd Palmer teaches and conducts research in Kenya, examining the ecology of the African savannas. Here, Palmer and his students are learning to identify and track different wildlife species at the Mpala Research Center in Laikipia, Kenya. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Sentman.)

Ryan Raaum, postdoc in anthropology, collects blood samples from local residents on a road outside of Dhamar, Yemen, as part of Professor Connie Mulligan’s NSF-funded study to trace migrations of anatomically modern humans out of Africa. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Raaum.)

• Assistant Professor of Chemistry WEI DAVID WEI discovered that gold nanostructures can be synthesized with light, making nanotechnology for medical and industrial purposes more affordable and effective. The findings were published July 4, 2016 in Nature Materials.

30 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

•P rofessor of Geological Sciences THOMAS BIANCHI studied controlled flooding in the Colorado River Delta and found that such efforts may release stored carbon that contributes to the greenhouse effect. The findings were presented at the 2016 Goldschmidt Conference in Japan.

James Davidson, professor of archaeology, draws the slave cabin arrangement on the dirt in front of Cabin W-15 at the Kingsley Plantation field school Jacksonville, Fla. The occupation of the cabin itself dates from circa 1814 to circa 1839. (Photo courtesy of Scott Hussey.)

Kelly Deuerling, graduate student in geological sciences, collects samples of water melting from the Greenland Ice Sheet near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, to study the effect of glacial melting on the carbon cycle. (Photo courtesy of Pamela Haines.)

• UF astronomer JIAN GE made the first discovery of binary planets orbiting a binary solar system 240 light years away. A giant planet and a brown dwarf orbit the primary star in the binary system. The research is published in October’s Astronomical Journal.

•U F biologist DOUG SOLTIS has created the first tree of life to include Earth’s 2.3 million named species. The tree was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Sept. 25, 2015. He also has an appointment at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

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Personal Essay

The Japan That Can Say Yes

A UF professor discusses what she learned on a study tour to the Land of the Rising Sun.

By Ann Wehmeyer, photography by Yasuo Uotate In the late ’80s, a bold volume titled The Japan That Can Say No appeared on the scene. Penned by Ishihara Shintaro, leading Japanese political figure, and Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony and chairman of Sony at the time, it sought to lead the vanguard of a new, aggressive Japan that would take its rightful place as a world economic power. This was to be the Japan that could be as blunt as the United States, leaving the notoriously ambiguous and agreeable, but unreliable, Japan in its wake. No more slippery expressions like zensho shimasu, which on its surface means something like, “I will take an appro32 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

priate step in the matter,” but most often has the intended meaning of “certainly not.”

Author and interpretation researcher Masaomi Kondo discusses the problems such words have posed historically for interpreters in high-level negotiations, such as the 1969 discussions on textile export quotas and the return of Okinawa between President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. In the ’90s, Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times remarked on the emergence of a new, direct-speaking Japan, citing the example of Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa’s explicit rejection of President Bill

CON N ECT Clinton’s demand for measurable trade targets in 1994.

Hosokawa’s negotiators did not mince words, stating totei doi dekimasen, or “There is no way I can agree with that.”

So, what do I mean by the title, “The Japan That Can Say Yes?” In December 2015, my colleague at the University of Florida Yasuo Uotate and I served as chaperones to 23 UF students on a nine-day study tour of Japan, with all expenses paid by the government of Japan. Before leaving on our Kakehashi Project study tour, I had fully expected that lecturers and local officials would try to inculcate us on the industrial productivity, cultural vibrancy, and political importance of Japan.

Rather than disseminating propaganda, however, those experts, local leaders, students, and families we met during our trip showed a side of Japan that is willing to say “yes” to joining the global community and facing major sociopolitical challenges. There are several cases in point that will inform my thinking and teaching in the future.

On waste and recycling Considering Japan’s cultural uniqueness and superiority, I expected to see arguments extolling the philosophy of mottainai (“avoiding wastefulness”) and pointing to the Edo period (1600-1868) as the exemplar. Instead, the speaker directed our attention to, at the personal level, the need to separate out combustible and non-combustible waste, and at the public level, the new facility for burning combustible waste that is designed to fit into the Tokyo cityscape in a bold architectural manner. They also introduced us to the slogan “reuse, reduce, recycle.” Thus, the discussion was not about why the Japanese way is better or even best, but rather the way a small country is dealing with large amounts of waste in an environmentally sound way.

On shared history Our speaker on Japanese government, Mr. Hideki Yanagi, Senior Coordinator, North American Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented a history of American impact on Japan. He discussed the firebombings of Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka in WWII; the educational, military and land reforms during the U.S. occupation of Japan; the writing of the Constitution of Japan; the Korean War; and the 1960 protests against the Japan–US Security Treaty. Mr. Yanagi also delved into the significance of Article 9 of the Constitution, which renounced the ability to wage war, and on the implications of Prime Minister Abe’s recent reinterpretation that allowed Japan to provide military aid to its close allies. What I sensed keenly is how intimately and deeply our two nations have been intertwined over the past century.

Mr. Yanagi did not hesitate to point out that certain pre-war

The Akihabara shopping district in Tokyo.

political philosophical differences among government officials and the Japanese people still remain, and stand to affect foreign policy. It was also good for students to hear about Japan’s take on key moments in our shared history, such as General MacArthur’s goal to make post-war Japan “as weak as possible” and not a full-fledged modern democracy.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 33

with other countries have shaped the nation that Japan is today — a nation that is no better than other nations and that, like other nations, has the potential to take a number of different paths into the future. I also found these speakers challenging our students to always understand that there are costs and benefits to any policy and that opposing parties will see things differently. I found a Japan that said “yes” — we face problems just like you, but starting a dialogue with others may be the best way to figure out its path.

On Kuji City

Statue of the great samurai Kusunoki Masashige at the East Garden outside Tokyo Imperial Palace.

On corporate and government mentality Our speaker on Japanese politics, Dr. Akira Nakamura, professor emeritus of Meiji University, has extensive knowledge of both the Japanese and US governmental structures, and is the first Japanese member of the US’ National Academy of Public Administration. At the risk of doing an injustice to his highly engaging and instructive talk on Japanese politics, I would like to highlight two cases in point where his critical perspectives on the Japanese government’s reactions and policies surprised me. The first was his exploration of why new political parties in Japan, such as the Democratic Party of Japan, have not been able sustain their successes in leadership. The DPJ, in office in 2011 during the tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima of March 11, delayed until March 18 their announcement to mothers with infants that they should not use tap water, thereby causing much distress for new mothers, and also a rush on bottled water that resulted in total depletion of stocks. In Professor Nakamura’s view, the DPJ was incapable of dealing with a disaster. The other case highlighted the costs of the traditional sacrifices made to personal life in throwing one’s priorities to one’s employer — an American Hanshin Tigers baseball player was not permitted to go home upon learning that his son in the US had developed a tumor. When the player did so, he was fired from the team. Here, rather than highlight the strengths of the Japanese government, or of the Japanese corporate mentality, Professor Nakamura chose to give examples of weaknesses and points of contention.

How these two talks relate to my impression of the Japan that can say “yes” is that I found leaders in the public domain outlining not the superiority or uniqueness of Japan, but rather elaborating on the ways in which Japan’s relations 34 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

The tour leaders did not seek to deploy the soft power of Japanese manga and animation. The cultural perspectives on our study tour were local, those of Kuji City in the Iwate prefecture. The woman in charge of the tourism promotion office presented a lecture on the region’s characteristics.

A great speaker with excellent English, she confided to me during one of the breaks that she was a single mom. The region, like many others in Japan, suffers from decreasing birthrates and aging population. The local products include short-horn beef, amber, sea urchins, abalone, and spinach.

Traditionally, with 87 percent of the city lying in forested area, charcoal production has also been an important industry. The area’s mascot character is a female sea diver named “Amarin,” and she echoes the main character of a very popular 2013 NHK drama about a young woman from Tokyo who becomes a diver in Kuji City, Amachan. When we asked to be taught a bit of local dialect, we learned a phrase

Amarin, the "yura-kyara," or mascot character, of Kuji City.

CON N ECT

Students in front of the Meiji Shrine, Tokyo.

that became a nationwide hit due to its use in this drama; it’s an expression that mimics the feeling of surprise, je, and repeats it if the feeling is amplified into astonishment, jeje, or stupefaction, jejeje! In this leg of our journey, as well, we were introduced to local culture, but were not lectured on its preciousness or uniqueness.

Finally, what we experienced in Iwate is a domestic version of the Japan that can say “yes.” In this case, elite, central Japan is saying a very strong “yes” to its regional areas and cultures. By scheduling these Kakehashi Project study tours to all parts of Japan, the government is strongly asserting both the right and the duty of everyone in Japan to contribute to Japan’s joining the global scene, by incorporating some of those global stances at the individual level.

Since 2013, some 2,500 North American university students have been treated to Kakehashi Project study tours. In our case, we selected students who were studying Japanese but had never been to Japan. It was a great pleasure for us, and I am certain for them as well, to find that their Japanese language skills actually worked in Japan.

It remains to be seen whether they will carry these new perspectives on Japan with them into the future. I am very glad, however, that the message of the tour was a mixed one, posing challenges and questions rather than answers for many of the issues of global concern. q Ann Wehmeyer is Associate Professor of Japanese and Linguistics at the University of Florida.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 35

MARTIN MALDONADO ’09 He empowers the poor with technology.

By Shayna Tanen ’15 In the same way that people take daily actions toward protecting the environment, MARTIN MALDONADO ’09 believes they should do the same toward ending poverty.

But some people just don’t see the value in it, an attitude Maldonado cannot understand. “How is it possible that all of us are not looking to alleviate the plight of the poor, to build a more inclusive world?” he asks. “How can people not care for other people in need?”

Maldonado, a native of Cordoba, Argentina, is devoted to studying poverty. He chose to pursue higher education in the United States for its sophisticated study of political science.

UF’s prestigious comparative politics field, along with the top-ranking Center for Latin American Studies, motivated Maldonado to earn his PhD at UF. With the aid of a generous scholarship and fellowship, he and his wife moved to Gainesville in 2002, and Maldonado immediately found a new home. “The quality of the student’s life was perfect,” he says. “It also offered to me a very diverse theoretical spectrum.” There were liberals, conservatives, and everyone in between. There were faculty from around the globe. There 36 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

were people of different religions. And they were all within Maldonado’s reach in the political science department.

His dissertation, which was awarded the James W. Button Memorial Award for research related to poverty, focused on the role of public housing for low-income families and the role of non-governmental organizations in helping those housing projects. He found that NGOs have their own interests that help, but sometimes hurt, the functioning of housing projects. Upon graduation, Maldonado says he was offered “very attractive” jobs and opportunities in the U.S., but chose to return to Argentina.

“It’s where my heart is,” he says. “I want my research to improve the quality of life of my people in my country.”

Having many lifelong friendships from his time in the political science department, Maldonado says that two of his professors have visited him in Argentina since he moved back. He is now a full-time researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), which is the federal agency of Argentina aimed at funding scientific and technical activities in the country. Maldonado studies alternative and sustainable mechanisms that will help create social inclusion of the extremely poor.

“ THIS IS NOT ‘WE’ — YOUNG, MALE, WHITE, EDUCATED, UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS — HELPING ‘THEM’ — THE POOR. THIS IS A GLOBAL PLANET WHERE WE ALL BELONG TO, AND WE DESERVE EQUAL TREATMENT.” But at work, he doesn’t sit in a lab or office all day. He uses a range of social scientific methods, including interviews, surveys, and focus groups. “Then, when I get the results, I go back to the people and they make sense of what they see,” he said. “They make their own interpretation of the data.”

In 2015, Maldonado was named an Early Career Social Science Fellow by the International Social Science Council.

The ISSC’s mission “is to increase the production and use of social science knowledge to help solve global problems,” and it is the primary international NGO representing the social, economic, and behavioral sciences.

His degree, career, and accolades signify Maldonado’s passion for ending poverty. But to him, it’s almost inhumane not to be passionate about it. He cautions against viewing the poor as the sociological “other.”

“This is not ‘we’ — young, male, white, educated, uppermiddle class— helping ‘them’ — the poor,” Maldonado says. “This is a global planet where we all belong to, and we deserve equal treatment.”

CON N ECT

SUJAYA RAJGURU ’19 This aspiring doctor embraces music, sport, and history.

By Paola Asencio ’16

Robert Landry

SUJAYA RAJGURU ’19, an ambitious pre-med and history sophomore from Lakeland, Fla., is preparing herself for a life as a physician in the most realistic way: by filling up every bit of her free time.

“I definitely don’t just stay home and study every day throughout the week,” says 19-year-old Rajguru. After coming to UF with a fair number of AP classes, Rajguru has some spare time normally spent taking core courses.

“Working hard is an important value to me,” she says.

“Staying disciplined and focused is important.” That she does. Firmly against stereotypical student types, Rajguru

Sujaya Rajguru ’19 plays piccolo in the UF marching band.

is both the artist and the athlete. She plays piccolo in the marching band and writes poetry; she also plays basketball.

Naturally, this Renaissance woman wants a well-rounded understanding of the world. Rajguru’s education in European and American history has taught her how to communicate with people from different backgrounds in Western culture.

“History teaches you how society works and how people are,” she says. “I think it’s important to have that kind of balance. When you’re a doctor, you don’t just work with science, but you also work with people. It’s really important to understand both.” That understanding of humanity is crucial to Rajguru’s volunteer work at UF’s Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration, where she shadows neurologists working with patients who suffer from tremors. “It was fascinating to learn about the advances being made in medicine and how we will be able to better help these people in the future,” she remarks.

“ H ISTORY TEACHES YOU HOW SOCIETY WORKS AND HOW PEOPLE ARE. I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE THAT KIND OF BALANCE. WHEN YOU’RE A DOCTOR, YOU DON’T JUST WORK WITH SCIENCE, BUT YOU ALSO WORK WITH PEOPLE. IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND BOTH.” The Center is an appropriate position for the aspiring neurologist, who was inspired by her home life: “My father is a neurologist, so I have grown up around medical terminology. He would talk to me about patients and how he would help them. I learned the basics about stroke, Parkinson’s disease, etc. very early on. It has become fun to be able to communicate with my father on this level.”

Indeed, Rajguru is big-hearted and occasionally shares her emotions through poetic expression. In January, she won second place in the Florida Collegiate Honors Council’s Writing Contest in Poetry. “The poem is written from the perspective of Hester Prynne [from The Scarlet Letter], how through her circumstances and the downfall of her character, her heart turns to stone figuratively.” For Rajguru, such an exercise in empathy is a critical part of her training to be a physician.

“When you’re a doctor, you aren’t just working with mice and bacteria. You have to interact with patients. I’ve learned more about the patient–physician interaction in my shadowing, and it’s crucial to understand people in general and, specifically, the background that they come from.”

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 37

IN HER FOURTH FLOOR TURLINGTON HALL OFFICE — she’s still unsure of the exact number — Amy Hempel sits half cast in shadow. The white filtered light simultaneously illuminates her long silvery-white hair and hides her face in darkness. In her third semester as a professor of creative writing in the Department of English, Hempel is still deciding which books she’d like to have close by. She hasn’t even brought them into the office — they’re sitting in boxes at home. The only items around her on a warm March afternoon are a large purse, an unread book, a few pieces of paper (so out of place that she thinks they don’t belong to her), and her phone. Each time it buzzes, she checks to see if it’s the vet confirming she can board her dogs.

“There are three parts of my life,” Hempel says. “Writing, teaching, and working with dog rescues.”

Hempel is best known for her short stories, but she began writing as a journalist doing “creative mind” pieces for big magazines, such as the New York Times Magazine and Esquire. She profiled artists such as William Wegman — artists she wanted to get to know.

Her first published and most celebrated work of fiction, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried,” was published in 1983. Since then, she has published four short-story collections: Reasons to Live, At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, Tumble Home, and The Dog of the Marriage.

Hempel’s newest work is The Hand that Feeds You, a thriller coauthored with colleague Jill Ciment, under the pseudonym A.J. Rich. It was written for a friend of theirs who passed away and was unable to tell her story about a man who wooed her and asked to marry her, all while doing the same to other women across the globe.

Hempel has taught creative writing at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton, Duke, Bennington College, and most recently, Harvard. In spring 2015, while still at Harvard, Hempel was offered a professorship at UF. Hempel knew the good reputation of the MFA program and also knew the campus from visiting friends who are faculty of the MFA@FLA — Jill Ciment, David Leavitt, and Padgett Powell — and reading at the Florida Writers Festival. She loved Harvard, she says, but the commute from New York City to Cambridge “was kind of killing me.” She was ready for a change.

“My mantra was, you don’t have to dislike a place to leave it,” she says. “You can just opt for a new experience.” And her UF experience has been positive. The students here 38 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

For fictionist Amy Hempel, life in the liminal exists among writing, teaching, and animal rescue.

By Shayna Tanen ’15

are, in her words, “open for business.” She’s surrounded by engaged students and faculty, which, to her, is refreshing in any teaching environment.

A key concept in Hempel’s teaching is to instill in students what standards are worth having. She is not pretentious. She says anyone can write fiction, and she truly means it. She simply wants her students to raise the bar and not be too pleased with their work. They should always strive to improve, because “it’s thrilling to see what’s possible if you push yourself.” To her, good writing is strictly a matter of will.

“Anyone who really, really wants to write a good story — I can get them there,” she says. “It’s not always the most

CON N ECT

UF Photography — Bernard Brzezinski

Amy Hempel has won a number of awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction.

talented person who succeeds, it’s the person who wants it the most.”

Perhaps it is this determination that led Hempel into the third (but not least important) aspect of her life: dog rescue.

Hempel is an avid, compassionate dog lover, and she is a founding board member of two dog rescue shelters in the Northeast, one in New York, and one in Connecticut. She still works with them, even from Gainesville.

“That’s where I’m happiest in my life, with dogs, especially rescues,” she says. Hempel has two dogs, Wanita and Gandhi, who have an endearing sense of spirituality and nobility about them, she says. It is the upfront, true personalities of dogs that draw her in. They are unapologetic in who they are.

This purity of emotion and spirit reminds Hempel of the best moments in her classroom. When students start to laugh or cry in a workshop, Hempel knows that they are writing about the right things.

“They’ve gone to a place that matters or a place of jeopardy in their lives,” she says. “And that’s a pretty good signal they’re looking in the right place for their stories.”

Place — an actual physical place — is something that Hempel responds to on a cellular level. In Gainesville and at UF, Hempel doesn’t have to worry about the stimuli of NYC consuming her thoughts. She can walk around the campus or go to Paynes Prairie and just think. She’ll think about stories she wants to write, and, probably, dogs. q LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 39

UF climate scientist Andrea Dutton looks into Earth’s past to predict the patterns of future sea level rise.

By Heather Dewar

B

Close-up of a brain coral (Diploria clivosa) exposed on the quarry floor at the Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park (Fla.).

efore Andrea Dutton was a geologist, she was an amateur gymnast. So, when her field research on sea level rise requires her to free-climb granite cliffs in search of fossil corals, while carrying a surveyor’s tripod, a drill, and a jug of seawater, that ingrained nimbleness is a big help.

On the beaches of the Seychelles Islands off the coast of Africa, Dutton and colleagues looked for intact corals that once grew just below the surface of the Indian Ocean some 125,000 years ago, the last time Earth was warm enough to cause glaciers to retreat. Today, some of those corals stand 25 feet above the beach, resting on granite boulders.

The tropical rains and sea air have eroded the granite into billow as smooth as gray silk, and few of the ancient corals are intact. But those that survived may help us understand how much sea levels could rise if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their present rate.

Dutton, an assistant professor of geological sciences, is an expert on the paleoclimate, or Earth’s climate at earlier periods in geologic time. Since climate models alone cannot narrow the uncertainty about sea level rise, paleoclimatologists look to ancient corals, sediments, ice cores, and other records that shed light on past patterns of sea level rise.

40 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

Though the geologic record can’t tell us what will happen in this century, it can give us longer-term information that we would be wise to take seriously, Dutton believes.

“In discussions about climate change and sea level rise, the year 2100 comes up a lot,” Dutton says. “But sea level is not going to stop rising in 2100. And so, people latch into the numbers describing what sea level is going to be like in 2100 but don’t realize that the decisions we’re making now could commit us to consequences that are much higher than that.”

Melting glaciers and expanding seas have contributed to most of the sea level rise recorded since the start of the industrial age, but for the rest of this century scientists expect the melting of the polar ice sheets to be the main factor. Recent studies show the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting faster than in the 1990s. But are they nearing a tipping point of rapid ice loss? And does that mean sea level rise will speed up?

In 2015, Dutton headed a team of experts from the United States, Canada, Britain, and Germany who used multiple lines of evidence to reconstruct sea levels during three past warm periods. In each case, the results showed that when either temperatures or atmospheric carbon dioxide reached today’s levels or a little bit higher, sea levels rose by 20 feet or more.

CON N ECT The study was published in the July 2015 issue of Science and did not pin down how much time it took to reach peak sea levels in each of those warm periods. But Dutton’s fieldwork in the Seychelles suggests that most of the increase came near the beginning of Earth’s last warm period, when temperatures at the poles were a few degrees warmer than they are today.

That warming cycle, which took place between 120,000 and 130,000 years ago, was brought on not by higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but by natural variations in Earth’s orbit that increased the amount of sunlight reaching the surface. So, it isn’t a perfect analog to today’s climate, but it is the period with the most reliable geologic evidence.

Dutton chose the Seychelles because the islands’ elevation is not affected by geologic factors that could confound sea level measurements. Resting more than 900 miles off the East African coast, the islands are not part of an active

tectonic plate — that is, they are not on a moving piece of Earth’s crust. Nor are they close to landmasses that sank into Earth’s mantle, weighted down by massive ice sheets during the last ice age, and have been slowly rebounding ever since the ice sheets withdrew more than 18,000 years ago.

Cars are not allowed on some parts of the Seychelles, so the geologists usually walked or biked, carrying their gear.

They subsisted mostly on cans and jars from local shops — pasta, tuna, mayonnaise, and Nutella. Lacking Wi-Fi access, Dutton had only one brief Skype conversation with her two young children.

The team sampled many ancient corals that were still intact, carefully surveyed their elevations, and took samples. Since corals can grow at different depths, they used clues like the corals’ species, or the types of fossilized algae attached to them, to reconstruct each specimen’s position on the reef and estimate the depth where it formed.

Joshua Bright

Riding out to Lignumvitae Key past the mangroves on a Florida State Park boat.

Drill hole in the center of a coral head on Lignumvitae Key that penetrates down through the fossil reef.

The canopy of lignum vitae trees provides the backdrop while Professor Andrea Dutton operates the drill, standing on the tripod custom built by Harold Hudson (Reef Tech Inc.). Dow Van Arnam, an engineering technician in the Department of Geological Sciences, operates the winch on left.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 41

On the left, PhD students Peter Chutcharavan and Karen Vyverberg and on the right, Professor Andrea Dutton and Professor Gregor Eberli from the University of Miami inspect a fresh drill core of the approximately 125,000-year old fossil reef on Lignumvitae Key.

Back at UF, the samples were purified in Dutton’s clean lab, where researchers wear gloves, goggles, and jumpsuits to avoid contaminating the corals with trace metals. Next, a mass spectrometer scanned each sample for variants of uranium and its daughter element, thorium. The corals take up uranium, but not thorium, from seawater, and uranium breaks down into thorium at a fixed rate, so the researchers could calculate the age of each sample by comparing the ratio of the two elements in it.

By plotting each sample’s age and elevation on a graph, the researchers were able to track the rising seas on the Seychelles some 120,000 to 130,000 years ago. They found that seas had risen by about 20 feet overall.

The team found that thermal expansion of the oceans could account for less than 2 feet of the sea level rise they saw in the Seychelles. They hypothesized that a sizable fraction of the Antarctic ice sheet melted, raising sea levels about 15 feet, before the Seychelles corals began growing.

After that, seas rose gradually due to the slower, partial melting of the Greenland ice sheet, they concluded.

After those results were published in 2015, Dutton’s research team reviewed all the available evidence from field studies, climate models, ice sheet models, and sea level models to assess patterns of sea level rise during two earlier warm cycles and the last interglacial period.

For all three time periods, they found temperatures 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than today’s led to sea level rise of 42 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

“ THAT’S ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS MY GROUP IS TRYING TO ANSWER. AS THE POLAR ICE SHEETS RETREAT, ARE THEY GOING TO DO IT GRADUALLY, OR ARE WE GOING TO SEE A SUDDEN COLLAPSE OF SOME SECTOR OF AN ICE SHEET SO THAT WE GET A STEP-LIKE RISE IN SEA LEVEL?”

Tools of the trade: a water-resistant field notebook, a measuring tape, and drill core of the fossil reef that has been marked to denote orientation.

CON N ECT

Joshua Bright

at least 20 feet. The temperatures at the poles during the past warm periods were comparable to those predicted in the next few decades if carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere do not level off at 450 parts per million or less.

Only the oldest time period they studied, about 3 million years ago, also had atmospheric carbon dioxide levels close to today’s. Because scientists can’t reliably estimate the planet’s shape so long ago, and because of other uncertainties, the team considered estimates from that period, called the Mid-Pliocene warm period, unreliable. But for the other two warm cycles, only the loss of large amounts of polar ice could explain such extensive sea level rise, the researchers found.

In April 2016, Dutton and her colleagues traveled to the Florida Keys, where the fossil corals that underlie most of the islands began forming about 120,000 years ago, in synchrony with the Seychelles reefs. She sampled corals at Windley Key, unearthed in the early 1900s when crews working for Henry Flagler quarried the ancient reef for stones to build the Overseas Railroad. Applying the dating technique she used on the Seychelles samples, which is accurate to within about 50 years, she is hoping to find out how quickly sea levels rose and whether the pace varied over time or stayed constant.

“That’s one of the fundamental questions my group is trying to answer,” Dutton says. “As the polar ice sheets retreat, are they going to do it gradually, or are we going to see a sudden collapse of some sector of an ice sheet so that we get a step-like rise in sea level?”

No one alive today will live long enough to see 20 feet of sea level rise, but this generation may be the last one with the opportunity to prevent sea changes that would be calamitous for the world’s coastlines.

“It has become all the more relevant now that I have children,” Dutton says. “I worry about them and their children.”

“We may not be committed to the whole 20 feet yet,” she says, although “that argument is becoming more difficult to make as time marches on. I think it’s extremely important for the whole society to understand what is happening to our Earth, how much of it we are responsible for, and not only what’s going to happen but, maybe, how we can change that future pathway.” q Heather Dewar is an environmental writer and editor of Second Nature News. This article originally appeared in When the Seas Rise published by the University of Florida Press and is reprinted with permission.

Professor Andrea Dutton stands beside the quarry walls on Windley Key that cut through a massive coral head (e.g., to the right of the tree roots) that grew when sea level was approximately 20 to 30 feet higher than present, submerging the landscape that we now know as the Florida Keys

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 43

Creative License

BOOKS Aging in the Right Place, Stephen M. Golant

alism and instead focus on the commonplace problems of domestic disputes, veteran suicides, and accidental firearm discharges that constitute the bulk of American gun deaths.

Diaz reframes and demystifies the gun violence problem.

Health Professions Press With age comes wisdom — but also increased health risks, as well as grief and stress because of loss of friends, community, and identity. In Aging in the Right Place, UF geographer and gerontologist Stephen M. Golant combines sociological, historical, and anecdotal data with legal and policy analysis to explore potential solutions to unhappiness among senior citizens by addressing a key problem: where to live and how to retain a sense of home. The book is more than a how-to guide for senior citizens and their families. It offers insights and data for scientists, housing providers, and policymakers.

The Last Gun: How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What It Will Take to Stop It, Tom Diaz ’62 The New Press The Last Gun combines semantic analysis of news and policy with a review of peer-reviewed studies to craft a comprehensive portrait of gun violence in the United States. Tom Diaz examines the American form of gun violence in the context of current and proposed regulation (or deregulation), political rhetoric, and law enforcement reports. Each page compares and corroborates excerpts from the dialogue about gun violence, both national and international, to create a verifiable analysis of the US’ overlapping gun issues. Diaz uses this portfolio of primary sources to counter the rhetorical effects of pro- and anti-gun punditry and media sensation44 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

Stamped from the Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi Nation Books In this National Book Foundation-honored text, Ibram X. Kendi, professor of African American studies, examines the words and actions of American powerhouses, such as Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. DuBois, Angela Davis, Zora Neale Hurston, and Barack Obama, throughout our country’s history to illustrate how deeply ingrained and complex racist thought is in the United States. The book illustrates the roles of three rhetorical groups — the segregationists, the assimilationists, and the anti-racists — in the continuation of institutional and casual racism in the United States.

Chica Lit, Tace Hedrick University of Pittsburgh Press Tace Hedrick, associate professor of English, examines how the archetypes and tropes of the beach-read romance novel, or “chick lit,” are imported into a genre of romance geared towards Latina women: “chica lit.”

Each page is packed with examples drawn from select novels Hedrick analyzes; Hedrick also ropes in various blog posts and ethnographic writings to explain the role of chica lit in multi-ethnic American countries. Hedrick shows how chica lit offers guid-

CON N ECT ance in how “ethnic” to be and differs from typical chick lit in that it is exceptionally didactic, full of factoids about Latin culture. Not dissimilar from the novels it discusses, Chica Lit is a juicy read, packed with insightful ethnographic and literary commentary.

Gone Again, James Grippando ’80, JD’82 Harper Collins James Grippando, creator of criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck, offers a compelling detective novel about the effort to spare a death-row inmate after his alleged victim’s mother claims the dead girl has been calling her. Grippando earned his BA in political science from UF and also studied under English professor Sid Homan. His powerful one-two of legal knowledge and adept writing gives him a winning formula: the tough-guy yet accessible hero Swyteck navigating murder mysteries.

With his finger on the pulse of current sociopolitical issues, Grippando’s experience as a trial lawyer is palpable in his thrillers, which introduce key legal concepts through tonguein-cheek dialogue and twisty plots about human nature.

MUSIC Genius Boy Music, Chuck Martin Charles “Chuck” Martin, distinguished professor of chemistry at UF, is also a musician. The title of his fifth studio album refers to his band.

His self-described “funk-filled” album represents his wide range of musical stylings, from the swing-dance worthy “Heppest Cat” to the Beatles-esque “Love Springs,” concluding with a low-key, wistful country

rock song “Best Days.” Among the lighter-hearted songs on the album is the ode to his beloved cat, “Me and Stella,” a lyrically quirky crowd-pleaser packed with self-referential humor and, when performed live, accompanied by a toy replica of Stella. Martin says the album “packs a mammoth slice of Americana and more – R&B, show tunes, rock, jazz, pop, country – mixed, matched and minced into 12 threeminute songs.” His next album, Dragonfly, will be released in late 2016.

FILM Cojot, Director Boas Dvir, Producer Gayle Zachmann

Michel Cojot Goldberg

Courtesy of the Cojot family

Cojot offers a “micro-history” of issues facing European Jews since WWII through the life story of Michel Cojot Goldberg, whose extraordinary achievements ranged from negotiating the release of hostages held by Palestinian nationalists in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976 to confronting his father’s killer, a Nazi named Klaus Barbie who stood trial in 1987. In the second collaboration between UF Jewish studies professor Gayle Zachmann and filmmaker Boas Dvir, they have interviewed over two dozen people to illuminate the effects of “the Jewish Question” as exemplified by Cojot. The documentary, which will be released on PBS in 2017, combines interviews with archival footage, Cojot family photos, and historical graphics to chart the story between Cojot’s negotiation with the Entebbe terrorists and the trial of Klaus Barbie. Zachmann, who serves as historical consultant and co-producer on the film, says, “France did not recognize this man as a hero.” This film, however, will.

Each issue of Ytori will cover creative works by faculty and alumni. Please submit suggestions to gigimarino@ufl.edu.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 45

Nirav Patel demonstrates his appreciation of a global worldview and a Gator education.

NIRAV NIKUNJ PATEL ’11, M’13 If you can dream it, you can do it.

“Choosing to go to UF was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life thus far,” says NIRAV NIKUNJ PATEL ’11, M’13.

“If I hadn’t gone to UF, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”

That person is a forward-driven scientist with the heart of a philosopher. As an undergraduate, Patel double-majored in geography and philosophy. He then went on to receive a Master of Science degree in geography with a specialization in medical geography.

While the connections between geography and philosophy might not seem obvious at first, for 26-year-old Patel, 46 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

the two disciplines are natural extensions of one another. “In a broad sense, geography offers an empirical description of the world. It gives you the tools to study the spatial aspects of human existence,” he says. “However, philosophy is the foundation of analytic thinking that allows me to explore geography further.”

Since 2014, Patel has worked full-time at Dito (currently as a director of data science), one of six Google Maps premier partners that resells Google products for businesses. He also is finishing his PhD in Earth Systems and GeoInformation

Gigi Marino

By Marcella Tortorici ’16

CON N ECT Sciences from George Mason University. As part of his PhD research, he is a science collaborator at NASA Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, where he works in the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division with the High-End Computing Capability Project. His research interests entail the “impacts of climate change on human population and also understanding how human population distribution is driving certain indices of climate change.”

“ I WANT A LIFESTYLE WHERE I CAN FOCUS ON RESEARCH ALL DAY. I’M NOT TOO CONCERNED ABOUT MAKING MONEY. I JUST WANT TO DO SOMETHING WHERE I CAN CHALLENGE MYSELF INTELLECTUALLY AND TRY TO DO GOOD THINGS FOR THE WORLD.” In October, he entered basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, as part of his enlistment with the United States Air Force for the 129th Rescue Wing, an Air National Guard unit. In his position as a guardsman at the 129th, he plans on supporting the Pararescue mission, which is the only US Department of Defense combat force specifically organized and equipped to conduct full-spectrum personnel recovery. Having developed a sense of conviction from his studies of philosophy, he hopes to pursue life-saving endeavors that reflect his healthcare-mapping research in UF’s Geography program. “Pararescue units in their nature have to go against all odds ensure that the preservation of life is to ensure, and to be able to support that in some capacity is an absolute honor,” he says.

Patel’s goal for the coming year is to work as a civil servant at NASA with an emphasis on earth science and aerospace engineering. “I want a lifestyle where I can focus on research all day,” he says. “I’m not too concerned about making money. I just want to do something where I can challenge myself intellectually and try to do good things for the world.”

Patel handles his full plate with a level head, thanks to two influential classes taught by Greg Ray, UF professor of philosophy. The courses, Symbolic Logic and Metaphysics, “really helped me to be the Jedi that I feel I sometimes am when I’m working,” says Patel. “Because of his classes, nothing intimidates me anymore.” He sees the Jedi practice of mental focus embodied in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “It fosters the sense that if you can dream it, you can do it, and that’s exactly the path I am on today.”

Gator Good

FIRST-GEN GIVING This alumna is inspired to give back.

“I

By Gigi Marino

was just composing an email,” says MICHELLE PIAZZA ’87, M’96, “and thought again how thankful I am for the linguistics class I took in college. I use what I learned there every day.”

Piazza is so grateful to the Department of Linguistics that she has willed half of her entire estate to it.

“I majored in mathematics,” she says, “and, of course, math has nothing to do with linguistics, but I found it to be the most helpful class I have ever taken in my life. Word choice, the order of the words, all have a different connotation and meaning. Math taught me to think logically, and linguistics taught me how to communicate effectively.”

Piazza works as a database administrator for the Airlines Reporting Corporation and communicates daily with people from around the world. “Especially in the multicultural world we live in, you have to make sure that you are very clear in your communications with other people,” she says. “I’ve found it makes a huge difference in being understood, particularly now that most of our communication is electronic. We spend more time on email than we do on the phone.”

The other half of her estate is earmarked for the Machen Florida Opportunities Scholars program, which provides support to students who are the first in their family to attend college. The majority of students in this program are in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. As a first-generation college student herself, Piazza empathizes with the challenges these students have. Never having had a mentor in college and being in a predominantly male field, she is glad to be able to offer that opportunity to others.

She says the decision to donate her estate has been cathartic. “Once the paperwork was finished, I felt a big load off my shoulders. Just knowing that if anything happens to me, everything will be taken care of, and some good will come of it is a huge relief,” says Piazza.

“I have no children, and my brother has no children,” she says. “With all the charities out there, I think the University of Florida can do the most with my money. It’s important to invest in people, and I really like the idea of paying it forward.”

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 47

Entrepreneurs and Innovators

Garry Nonog

COREY SOUZA PHD’15 ANTHROPOLOGY

O

wner/Operator, S-Connection LLC, which offers: S-Connection Aerial Arts, a dance school and studio emphasizing aerial dance and circus arts; performance groups AscenDance and Flores do Samba; costumes for circus and aerial performers; the band Maca Reggae Samba; and a cultural tour experience called Make Your History in Bahia.

HOW HAS YOUR STUDY OF ANTHROPOLOGY INFLUENCED YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER? Anthropology has provided me with a global perspective and drive to seek ways in which my professional projects can positively impact my community and/or support other agencies or individuals in bettering theirs. I am particularly concerned with conservation and social equality/human rights, and have a number of ongoing projects that speak directly to those issues.

WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT GAINESVILLE TO YOU AND FOR YOUR BUSINESS? I’ve lived in a number of major urban areas — NYC, Oakland, San Diego, Salvador, and Rio de Janeiro — • On Sept. 3, 2016, the New York Times featured climate scientist ANDREA DUTTON on tidal flooding caused by global warming. Dutton also had the Quote of the Day on Sept. 4.

48 | LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

and despite all of the culture that a big city has to offer, it cannot compare with the serenity of a smaller city like ours. Gainesville is somewhat of a paradox in that it possesses a strong international community, making it culturally dynamic, but is small enough that you don’t feel the anxiety — some would say pulse — of a big city. I literally breathe easier in Gainesville. There is no shortage of green spaces and waterways to connect with nature. It is worth noting that our green spaces and springs are in constant threat of development, so there is an ongoing struggle here to manage growth without destroying those things about Gainesville that make it so special. As for running my business here, I’ve experienced a warm reception from both local and student residents. I have also developed solid working relationships with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Santa Fe College, the University of Florida, and the media. For that, I am grateful.

Many of our innovative alumni have used their degrees from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as a launching pad for beginning their own business. In each issue, we will focus on self-starting alumni. Our inaugural issue includes a Gator from Gainesville. If you have suggestions for future inclusions, contact gigimarino@ufl.edu.

• Political science professor and creator of ElectProject.org MICHAEL MCDONALD has regularly been interviewed for articles on voter turnout in publications such as NPR, MSNBC, and CNN.

• The Emerging Pathogens Institute’s DEREK CUMMINGS, biologist, and SADIE RYAN, geographer, appeared on CNN and PBS in September, commenting on Zika and dengue viruses.

CON N ECT

Newsworthy

Front row, L to R: Alan Secor, Armand Kapllani, Anita Walsh. Back row: Daniel Wagner, Shubhi Agarwal, Jeehoon Paik, Jeongwoo Lee, Michael Teeple, Jieon Shim, Zachary Jones, Urbashi Mookerjee

The Economics PhD Returns

UF Photography — Bernard Brzezinski

UF Professor Brings the Light of Diwali to the Stamps of the World Vasudha Narayanan, distinguished professor of religion, played an instrumental role as a consultant in bringing a new Forever stamp to the United States Postal Services’ selection: the Diwali commemoration stamp. Diwali (from Sanskrit Deepavali, or “necklace of lights”) is a five-day festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhists that honors the triumph of good over evil. The festival, which marks the beginning of the new year for some practitioners, occurs on the new moon between mid-October and mid-November. This year, the main day occurred on October 29 for South Indians and October 30 for North Indians. The stamp shows a diya, a clay lamp with a wick soaked in ghee (clarified butter) or vegetable oil. The stamp was released on October 5 and officially dedicated at the Indian embassy in New York City. The stamp, Narayanan says, “clearly articulated ideas of joy, dignity, and hope — all in one image.” — Rachel Wayne • Anthropologist PAULETTE MCFADDEN explained the archaeological research showing how ancient Floridians dealt with rising sea levels 2,000 years ago for NPR on April 16, 2016.

The Department of Economics, once housed in the College of Business, found a new home in the College of Liberal Arts in 2014. Professor of Economics and graduate coordinator Steven Slutsky says economics departments moving from business to liberal arts colleges is a national trend and that it’s a natural fit as there are several intersections of economics with both the social and natural sciences, such as political science, geography, and mathematics.

This year, after a five-year hiatus of not having a graduate program, UF economics admitted 11 new PhD students. “We were worried that students would be reticent about applying,” says Slutsky, “but we got a very strong applicant pool.”

Department chair Roger Blair says he’s pleased that the new class is geographically and ethnically diverse. He says, “They are all strong in mathematics, which is what you need to succeed in economics.” Ideally, Blair says, the program aims to admit 12 to 15 PhD students each year.

“We are very happy,” says Slutsky, “that the restart of the PhD program did not hurt our ability to attract solid candidates.” — Gigi Marino

• Geographer and gerontologist STEPHEN GOLANT’S work on the housing needs and practices of senior citizens was featured in U.S. News & World Report and the Wall Street Journal.

• Bullying expert and educational psychologist DOROTHY ESPELAGE was featured in Science Daily on Sept. 1. Bullying, she says, inflicts the same trauma as sexual or physical abuse.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES | 49

UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA COLLEGE of LIBERAL ARTS and SCIENCES

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Ytori Magazine FALL 2016 VOL. 1, ISSUE 1 Ytori is published twice a year in the Fall and Spring by the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The name Ytori means alligator in the language of the Timucua, the native inhabitants of north-central and northeastern Florida.

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