College of Letters & Science
IN FOCUS
October 2020, Vol. 10, No.10
Lilliann Paine
L&S alum addresses public health in Milwaukee through an anti-racist lens
For updates on UWM’s pandemic response, visit https://uwm.edu/coronavirus
Little insects, big br
Contents
Biology PhD student studies treeh
Feature Stories Little insects, big brains? Math, music and technology: Anthropology and museum partnership Handwritten class notes lead to better grades Psychology alumna a leader in public health Massive gravitational-wave source detected
p.2 p.4 p.6 p.7 p.8 p.10
Columns Upcoming Events Laurels and Accolades In the Media and Around the Community People in Print Alumni Accomplishments Passings
p.12 p.13 p.14 p.15 p.16 p.16
Female treehoppers like a good pick-up line as much as the next insect. But, says Bretta Speck, treehoppers’ discerning taste in mates is not only about how good a signal sounds — treehoppers have rules about what factors into such a signal. Speck is a PhD student in UWM’s Biological Sciences department studying combinatorial signal processing in insects. In essence, she’s researching whether treehoppers can process signals with some of the same rules humans use in language. “If we’re talking about human language … there are certain rules for how we put sounds together. If I said ‘ih’ and ‘nnn,’ those sounds come together to form the syllable ‘in.’ You can start combining from there – ‘in’ plus ‘sect’ forms ‘insect’. But ‘sectin’ is not an acceptable word in English. You can go from forming syllables to words, phrases, sentences, and so on,” Speck explained. “There have been a lot of studies on the rules that birds, whales, primates, and some other mammals use to process the combinations of elements in their songs. It’s been studied in frogs too. I wanted to ask whether insects also use combinatorial rules in communication.”
Published College the
the first
Tuesday
of Letters and
University
Contact
of
of each month by the
Science
at
Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
us at let-sci@uwm.edu or
(414) 229-2923.
L&S Dean: Scott Gronert In Focus Editor: Deanna Alba
Find us at UWMLetSci
2 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
Biological sciences PhD student Bretta Speck shows off a tiny treehopper insect. Speck studies how these insects use combinatorial signal processing to communicate. Photo courtesy of Bretta Speck.
rains?
hopper “language” Treehopper dating and mating To test that question, Speck is working with a treehopper species called Enchenopa binotata. These insects, native to Wisconsin, live on nannyberry trees and can spend their entire life on one tree, where they feed on the sap that flows through the smaller branches. Speck describes them as looking like tiny dinosaurs in silhouette – brontosauruses, to be exact. But she’s most interested in their mating calls. Those calls aren’t audible; instead, the treehoppers send vibrations up and down the stem of the plant to communicate. Speck said, those vibrations are sound, just sound transmitted through solids, and you can detect them by monitoring the tiny movements of the stems. “The males’ mating signal is a ‘whine’ followed by pulses. Using a laser vibrometer and an audio program on our computer, we are able to listen to them calling,” Speck explained. “If the female likes what she hears, then she’ll respond back with a signal of her own, a sort of hum. They’ll just go back and forth duetting.” Sending out a mating call But, Speck wondered, do the insects actually pay attention to the structure of the signal? To test that, Speck and her team created a vibrational playback stimulus that mimics the ‘whine-pulse’ of the male’s mating call. She placed tiny devices on the stem of a plant to play the vibrations through the stem, just like the insects do, and then placed a female treehopper at the top of the plant. The team then pointed a laser vibrometer at the plant to record the females’ vibrational responses to the playbacks. Speck made five different stimulus calls: The correct ‘whine-pulse’ signal; a single ‘pulse’; a single ‘whine’; a reversed ‘pulse-whine’ call; and a ‘pulse-whine-pulse’ call, which contained the correct mating call, albeit with an incorrect pulse at the beginning. “We were listening for whether or not the female would give a positive signal – so whether or not she responded to the male,” Speck said. “If we gave the wrong signal, like the reverse signal, where it was the pulses followed by the whine, she would not respond to that.” In fact, in some instances, the female treehopper seemed to get frustrated or angry by the wrong signals. She would flap her wings or even try to jump off of the plant. But, Speck noted, the treehoppers did respond positively to two stimuli: The natural ‘whine-pulse’ mating call, and to the ‘pulse-whine-pulse’ mating call. That treehoppers responded well to these two stimuli tells Speck that the
Speck aims a laser vibrometer at a nannyberry tree to detect the vibrations that treehopper insects send through the plant when they perform mating calls. Photo courtesy of Bretta Speck.
insects process signals with a rule about the specific ‘whine-pulse’ combination, rather than having no rules or mainly attending to how a signal begins. Little bugs, big brains? That seems to be an indication that treehoppers can process the structure of complex signals. “It’s not stringing sentences together, but it is some evidence that they are able to process ‘This is a right mating call, and this a wrong mating call.’” And that, she added, means that these insects, and possibly many other species of bugs, are smarter than we humans give them credit for. Speck’s research will be published in the American Naturalist journal later this month. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 3
A sound equation: UWM mathematician works at the intersection of music and technology
Georg Essl (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Think about a rubber band and the many ways it can be twisted or contorted. Now, think about stretching it and plucking it with a finger, and the slight “boing” noise the action makes. This is the creation of sound, which is the basis of Georg Essl’s work. But exactly how the UWM mathematical sciences research professor creates sound might stretch the imagination. Essl’s work can involve complex algorithms and monitors displaying oscillating waves that look like they’re straight out of an old sci-fi TV series. It can also involve musical instruments, everything from electric guitars and keyboards to a simple Tibetan singing bowl, a belllike instrument played with a mallet to produce a deep, reverberating sound. He works in sound synthesis, a field within music technology at the intersection of music-making and computer science, math and engineering. The outcome is sound that has many possible applications, from being incorporated into a piece of music to serving as a sound effect for movies or video games. A recording artist might 4 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
want to sample a synthesized sound for new music. A bigbudget sci-fi movie director might need a new “whoosh” for a flying spaceship. “I see my role more as an instrument builder,” Essl says. “I’m the one who builds the capability that others can use. I would rather have those ideas spread out and flourish.” Essl earned a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship in computer science. The Guggenheim is a prestigious award that recognizes prior achievement and exceptional promise of scholars, artists and writers. He was one of 168 fellows chosen from a field of nearly 3,000 applicants. The Guggenheim project focuses on using topology, which is related to geometry, to create algorithms for producing sounds, such as those heard when using electronic keyboards or synthesizers. Essl’s work has broad reach in popular culture, especially in the increasingly lucrative field of online video gaming with its countless virtual worlds. The Entertainment Software Association says the United States video game industry generated a record $43.4 billion in revenue in 2018, up 18 percent from the previous year.
The field seems ideal for a man whose father was a physicist and whose mother made sure the family was exposed to music education. As a child, Essl would play on early home computers provided by his father. Essl also learned to play the recorder and piano, and he became interested in music composition. Today, his work is largely centered around crafting new instruments and making new sounds that can be used in interactive music compositions or other audio applications. It’s resulted in some intriguing, if unorthodox, projects. For example, before he arrived at UWM’s College of Letters & Science in 2016, Essl taught at the University of Michigan, where he founded and directed the Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble. Yes, a nontraditional symphony of cell phones creating sounds via information received over each device’s sensors, including the touch screen, GPS and microphone. His work keeps him on the lookout for new ways to produce new sounds, and even a rubber band can be a source of inspiration. A tiny variation in the distance or shape of a stretched rubber band will alter the sound, however slight, and the combinations resulting from twisting and turning the material might be endless. “So imagine sound synthesis behaves like deforming rubber bands,” Essl says. He can research the possibilities further by plugging the rubber band’s dimensions into a computer program. He writes his own software, which allows him to explore new
sounds without worrying about the rubber band’s physical constraints. What kind of sounds are possible if it could be stretched with no concerns about it breaking? And instead of spending hours contorting the rubber band into different shapes, the task can be accomplished with just a couple of keystrokes. Another type of sound synthesis involves using mathematical equations to devise ways of creating sounds that otherwise may not physically exist. For example, what kind of sound would an object with the dimensions of a Tibetan singing bowl make if the bowl was dented in one spot versus another? What if that bowl was wavy instead of cylindrical in shape? “We can then go from that object and start doing things that maybe are not so physical, that we can’t easily do in the physical world, and modify the sound,” Essl says. Not all of the sounds he creates require complex computer algorithms. He is, after all, a classically trained pianist who dabbles in string instruments, so he can harness his research to create his own music. But he’s mainly interested in the process of creating the sounds themselves instead of sewing them together into a work of art. Essl is happy to have others incorporate his work. “I’m going to give you a new way to create a lot of noise,” Essl says. “We’re going to do a lot of math to do that.” By Genaro C. Armas, University Relations
Video Story Georg Essl’s work combines music and mathematics to produce sounds that are heard in anything from interactive music compositions to video games to movies https://youtu.be/ fQur3eN4JyI
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 5
A Natural Symbiosis and Partnership: UWM Anthropology and the Milwaukee Public Museum The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) and the Department of Anthropology have been linked in a fruitful symbiotic relationship for almost 60 years. MPM Anthropology curator Robert Ritzenthaler, who taught the first UWM Anthropology class in 1946, and Director Stephan Borhegyi established the Museum Studies Graduate Certificate as a joint program in 1963, now one of the oldest in the country. Several current faculty members serve as Adjunct Curators and over 50 graduate student thesis and dissertation projects have been completed on MPM collections since the Program’s inception.
In 1985, Nancy Lurie, past President of the American Anthropological Association and one of the preeminent anthropologists of her generation, who was a faculty member in the Anthropology Department before becoming MPM Head of Anthropology in 1972, stated: Until very recently, all museum professionals were selftrained, but the picture is changing rapidly. Most of the new museums are relatively small and if they are to survive and prosper they cannot afford to spend their limited dollars on personnel who learn on the job …Besides having to know about environmental conditions…and specialized storage systems, the modern curator must be computer-wise, informed on a host of laws and treaties... legal and ethical considerations in accepting donations, deaccessioning specimens, identifying specimens for the public, and loaning and borrowing specimens. (Letter from MPM Curator Lurie to UWM Anthropology Professors James and Goldstein dated 31, October, 1985, p. 2). Another shift occurred between 1996 and 2007; the program professionalized through the creation of a webpage, a new brochure, an internship contract, and an official listing as a transcript-designated program. Recently, the program expanded further and continues to attract students from around the country to Milwaukee.
Original Museum Studies graduate Certificate Brochure
In 1981, students from other departments were allowed to enroll in the Program as part of a new interdisciplinary certificate. Over 450 students from Anthropology, Art History, Biology, Geology, History, Art, Library and Information Science, Education, and Psychology have obtained the certificate along with their primary graduate degree, with many working in museums and related institutions around the country.
Applied learning is a critical component for training 21st century emerging professionals. In the last 30 years, the MPM has had over 1,200 UWM students as interns, the majority from the Anthropology Department. Their contributions to exhibits, research, documentation, and public programs have impacted the MPM in small and large ways. This symbiotic relationship has been a source of strength and resilience for both institutions and they continue to thrive because of it. By Bettina Arnold, Professor, Dept. of Anthropology
The emphasis was, and still is, on hands-on training: “Students absolutely require first-hand experience in curatorial and exhibit work. It is not sufficient to read about theory; one must have practical experience in application. There are literally hundreds [sic] of museum studies programs in the U.S., almost all of them consisting of a few courses taught by history or anthropology professors with very few including any work-related experience… experience is the key to obtaining employment” (Proposal Draft Summer 1981:2, 7).
6 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
Anthropology and Museum Studies student Emma Eisner working on the Chajul site, Guatemala collection for her thesis project
The
writing on the wall:
Communication
professor’s analysis shows handwritten notes lead to better grades
For best results in your college classes, leave your laptop closed. Overall, better grades are correlated with taking class notes by hand, according to a new paper by communication professor Mike Allen. His research analyzed the results of several studies that compared college student performance when they took notes by hand versus typing them up on a laptop or cell phone. Consistently, the writing was on the wall: Handwritten notes translate to better test scores and grades. “Probably, you’re looking at a GPA difference across the course-load of somewhere around maybe .33, .34. The research indicates that it is a big grade difference,” Allen said. Allen’s paper is a meta-analysis of 14 existing studies on the effectiveness of students handwriting versus typing their notes in class. A meta-analysis statistically summarizes the results of several experiments to find consistent averages across the range of data sets. This method helps eliminate false positives or negatives that might be found in an individual study. And, the mathematics give a solid number to show overall how much better students fare when they favor a pen over a keyboard. “There’s about a 25 percent increase in the number of people scoring past the mean when they use handwritten as opposed to electronic notes,” Allen said. Why does handwriting make such a difference? It all comes down to neuropsychology. Typing carries a higher “cognitive load” than writing, so the act itself requires more concentration. That might mean that students are paying more attention to typing itself compared to the content that they’re typing. Not to mention, said Allen, that computers and cell phones add another host of distractions. It’s much harder to browse the internet or check your email during class when you’re writing in a spiral-bound notebook than when you’re typing on your notebook computer. There is a caveat, he warned. “The argument has been, by some, that if we were to redesign our courses so that, for example, students were going to a website and working in class on a website, then perhaps the impact would not be so severe – if you can diminish distractions,” Allen said.
While it has long been a debate in individual classrooms, Allen hopes that his results will help educators and students create rules about electronic devices during class time. “There’s a lot of stuff in education where the science indicates that there are improvements we could do, but it’s a question of whether or not people are interested in following those,” he added. Allen allows his teaching assistants to decide if they will permit cell phones and laptops in the classroom, and he’s observed that notetaking methods vary a lot at UWM, based on students’ preferences. All of that could be put to the test this semester. As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the vast majority of college classes online, including at UWM, students will be forced to rely on their computers and other electronic devices more than ever. “It depends on the nature of the course delivery,” Allen said. “If the course delivery is synchronous (students watch online as their instructor teaches) and they’re taking notes by hand, of course they don’t have that issue. If they’re taking notes by electronic device, then it could be an issue.” So, for better grades this semester, students should resist the urge to type – even if their classroom is on a computer screen. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 7
A personal journey in public health: UWM alum is Health Department’s chief of staff You can’t talk about public health or COVID-19 in Milwaukee without talking about race or racism. Few people know that better than Lilliann Paine – and she’s often the person leading those discussions. Paine is the chief of staff of the Milwaukee Health Department, responsible for representing the City of Milwaukee Health Commissioner, serving as a liaison between the Health Department and external agencies, and handling much of the Department’s public relations efforts. She’s currently helping the city navigate its response to the coronavirus pandemic, but Paine and the Health Department are taking a unique approach: They’re looking at the POC (people of color) communities. “By initially focusing on racial inequity, I believe that we can address Milwaukee’s most persistent disparities while developing a permanent shift toward fairer practices and institutions that benefit all,” Paine said. Public health crises In March, Milwaukee County issued a public health emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because the county does not have a dedicated Health Department, the city of Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik was placed in charge of coordinating the county’s response. Paine was at her side, helping to inform citizens about the threat of the virus and how to slow its spread. But soon, Paine and others in the Health Department noticed a disturbing trend. “Early in our outbreak response, we detected that the African American community was being impacted the most,” she said. Paine began to craft pointed messaging and awareness campaigns that specifically targeted those most at-risk. “I frame our public health issues and solutions with a racial equity lens with the goal to de-mystify and educate about the public health system,” Paine said. “It’s important that we acknowledge that systemic and institutional racism in our city has compounded the impact of COVID-19 for African American and Latinx communities. It’s making it more challenging to stop the spread from the start.” Earlier this summer, Lilliann Paine received awards, including a presidential citation, from the Wisconsin Public Health Association for her work in bridging racial disparities in public health. Photo courtesy of Lilliann Paine.
8 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
There, at least, Paine and the Health Department had a leg up: The city of Milwaukee declared racism to be a public health crisis last year, which helped the Health Department find some unique ways of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic that other cities around the country have since replicated. For example, “Milwaukee County was the first jurisdiction to create a (COVID-19) dashboard that was explicit about racial and ethnic data,” Paine noted. “(We were able to) galvanize resources and call for increased outreach to decrease the spread of the coronavirus. We received resources to prevent COVID-19 among African American, Latinx, First Nation and southeast Asian communities.” A personal public health journey It was actually thanks to Paine’s efforts that Milwaukee declared racism a public health crisis to begin with. Before she began her job with the Health Department, Paine worked as a Health and Well-Being Educator for the Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension, and was the founding member of the Wisconsin Public Health Association (WPHA) Racial Equity Workgroup. Her group was one of the driving forces behind the declaration. Paine grew up in Milwaukee. As a child with asthma, she spent much of her time in the pediatrician’s office, where her interest in health care and public health began. Initially, Paine had her heart set on being a pediatrician too – but after going a couple of rounds with a collegelevel organic chemistry class, she decided her talents might lie elsewhere. Instead, she majored in psychology at UWM, hoping to be an advocate for youth in the health care system, and graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in 2005. She briefly contemplated a career in clinical psychology, but that field was not a correct fit either. Instead, Paine found herself drawn to health on a larger scale. “Instead of doing one-on-one support, I can change policies that can touch environments,” Paine said. “My primary work is that of implementing strategies that have led to long-term involvement of community institutions, organizations, and individuals (to) ensure healthier outcomes for families.” After a few years of work, she returned to UWM for a certificate in Public Health. She was working through the requirements when the university announced it would offer a Master’s degree in Public Health. Paine was among the first graduates of that degree program in 2013. Since then, Paine has co-led community health research programs, developed and maintained health databases with various institutions, conducted community health surveys, and served with the Milwaukee Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families, which examines fetal and maternal health outcomes, especially for Black families.
In each job, she’s found herself working with a lot of data – data that tells a story. “I knew who held the data, and I knew who told the story,” Paine said. “I did my best to give tools to those who were most impacted to help tell the story from their perspective, and if that wasn’t respected or received, I tried to amplify the voices of those who weren’t being heard.” An uphill climb Paine’s efforts have been appreciated – mostly. Like anyone trying to effect large-scale, institutional changes, she’s received pushback in several jobs where she tried to lead her bosses and coworkers to focus on racial equity. “Unfortunately, at times, I was expected to be the barometer of racism,” Paine said. “As a result, I felt like there was unspoken fear of conflict, absence of trust, and avoidance of accountability. I was routinely accused of being hostile, aggressive, difficult, or angry, and at times I felt ostracized in that particular work environment. “Moving forward, I knew that teams must practice mindfulness and empathy when trying to declare something like racism a public health crisis. I think it’s crucial to approach the work of eliminating disparities as learners, and not experts on the experience of our priority populations.” It’s a tall order, but a challenge that Paine has risen to time and again. Her work has garnered her recognition; in 2016, the Wisconsin Public Health Association presented her with an Excellence in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention award, and she received Presidential Citation Awards from the WPHA in 2019 and 2020. Late this summer, Paine accepted the nomination to become the WPHA board’s President-Elect. To compound that, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik announced her resignation from her position in August, so Paine will also contend with the loss of her boss and colleague as she moves forward in her job as the Health Department chief of staff. But so many of those challenges are worth it to make Milwaukee a healthier city for those most impacted by disparity. “The change I want to see, I may not see it in my lifetime,” she acknowledged. “I have to ground myself with the goal to demand systemic change. I think addressing models of health care and promoting anti-racist models of care help. The changes that I’m seeing and would like to see are around making investments in social determinants of health.” By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 9
LIGO and Virgo detect most massive gravitational-wave source yet
This artist’s impression shows binary black holes about to collide. (Mark Myers, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery - OzGrav)
Researchers have detected a signal from what may be the most massive black hole merger yet observed in gravitational waves, an event that created a behemoth 142 times that of the sun.
Scientists think that these black holes may have themselves formed from the earlier mergers of two smaller black holes, as indicated in the illustration. (LIGO/ Caltech/MIT/R. Hurt – IPAC)
Produced by extreme events in the universe and first detected by the National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in 2015, gravitational waves reverberate through the fabric of space-time, like the clang of a cosmic bell.
Almost every confirmed gravitational-wave signal to date has been from a binary merger, either between two black holes or two neutron stars. This newest merger appears to be the most massive yet, involving two black holes with masses about 85 and 65 times the mass of the sun.
This signal, which scientists have labeled GW190521, was detected on May 21, 2019, by LIGO and Virgo, a 3-kilometer-long detector in Italy.
Their collision released an enormous amount of energy, equivalent to around eight solar masses – or eight times the mass of our sun – that spread across the universe in the form of gravitational waves.
Using a suite of state-of-the-art computational and modeling tools, scientists think that GW190521 was most likely generated by a binary black hole merger with unusual properties, said Patrick Brady, UWM professor of physics and spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), the international group representing 1,300 scientists – including those at UWM – that is engaged in gravitational wave research with data from the LIGO observatories.
10 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
“This [signal] doesn’t look much like a chirp, which is what we typically detect,” said Virgo member Nelson Christensen, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “This is more like something that goes ‘bang,’ and it’s the most massive signal LIGO and Virgo have seen.”
Half a universe away From what the researchers can tell, GW190521 was generated by a source that is roughly 5 gigaparsecs away, when the universe was about half its age, making it one of the most distant gravitational-wave sources detected so far. The LSC and the Virgo Collaboration have reported their findings in two papers published today. One, appearing in Physical Review Letters, details the discovery, and the other, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, discusses the signal’s physical properties and astrophysical implications. “It’s a really exciting discovery that also brings new questions about how stars live and die and how these binaries form,” Brady said. First of its kind All of the black holes observed to date fit within one of two categories. They are either stellar-mass black holes, which measure from a few solar masses up to tens of solar masses and are thought to form when massive stars die; or supermassive black holes, such as the one at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, that are from hundreds of thousands to billions of times that of our sun. However, the final 142-solar-mass black hole produced by the GW190521 merger lies within an intermediate mass range between the two categories — the first of its kind ever detected. The two progenitor black holes that produced the final black hole also seem to be unique in their size. They’re so massive that scientists suspect one or both of them may not have formed from a collapsing star, as most stellarmass black holes do. Where did they come from?
Spotlight on the Planetarium Students began a school year like no other in September. To celebrate Fall Welcome, the Planetarium hosted guided Full Moon walks along the Milwaukee lakefront on Sept. 2 and 3 as part of Fall Welcome Week activities. Groups of 10-15 masked, socially-distanced UWM students walked from the Lubar Welcome Center to the Milwaukee Lakefront with Planetarium director Jean Creighton as their guide. This was a strong departure from the Planetarium’s usual Fall Welcome event, the popular “Stars ‘n’ Smores” gathering that draws some of the planetarium’s biggest crowds every year. The Full Moon walks were engaging in a different, more personal way. Students chatted and kindled friendships as they witnessed the moon rising over Lake Michigan, with the guide pointing out other night time objects like the Summer Triangle and the planet Jupiter. The yellow glow of the moon – called the Corn Moon in September – is in fact related to the Earth’s atmosphere scattering light when objects (such as the moon or the sun) are low on the horizon.
So how did the two merging black holes observed by LIGO and Virgo originate? One possibility, which the researchers consider in their second paper, is of a hierarchical merger, in which the two progenitor black holes themselves may have formed from the merging of two smaller black holes. The GW190521 merger raises more questions than it answers, said LIGO member Alan Weinstein, professor of physics at Caltech. “Although this event is consistent with being from an exceptionally massive binary black hole merger, and alternative explanations are disfavored, it is pushing the boundaries of our confidence,” said Weinstein. This research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. By Laura Otto, University Relations
Full Moon rising along the Milwaukee Lakefront. Captured by UWM student and supply chain management major Kieran Arnold. College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 11
Upcoming Events October 8
Lessons from a Life of Discovery - a webinar with Dr. Jim Cook 11:30 am. Dr. Cook will talk about his career in drug discovery research for epilepsy/convulsant disorders, asthma, and anxiety/panic disorders. Register at http://www.give.uwm.edu/lifeofdiscovery
October 9
Geography Colloquium: Urban Spatial Structure and Travel in China 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ONLINE) Presented by Ivy Hu, Professor and Chair, Department of Urban Planning, UWM. This event will occur over Microsoft Teams. Contact xuz@uwm.edu for the link to join the Teams virtual talk.This event is free.
October 16
Geography Colloquium: Ecosystem processes at the watershed scale-Linking vegetation dynamics with watershed-scale hydrologic behavior 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ONLINE) Presented by Taehee Hwang, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Indiana University Bloomington. This event will occur over Microsoft Teams. Contact xuz@uwm.edu for the link to join the Teams virtual talk.This event is free.
October 16 - October 24
Planetarium Event: Fantastic Beasts in the Sky 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm (ONLINE) Compete to win the planetarium cup in this virtual Harry Potter and astronomy themed trivia tournament. Use your wizarding wisdom and interstellar intellect to represent your house and become a champion! Shows run Thursdays and Fridays through October 24. Register at: https://uwm.universitytickets.com/?cid=195
Video Story UWM faculty give advice to new students, including building relationships, asking for help and writing your own stories. https://youtu.be/1ubdVOY3a0o
12 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
Sun
October 2020 Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
October 23
Geography Colloquium: Understanding and Building Disaster Resilience Capacity through Social Media 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ONLINE) Presented by Lei Zou, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University. This event will occur over Microsoft Teams. Contact xuz@uwm.edu for the link to join the Teams virtual talk.This event is free.
October 30
Geography Colloquium: Measuring segregation – Is Geography a “curse” or leverage? 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (ONLINE) Presented by David Wong, Professor, Department of Geography &Geoinformation Science, George Mason University. This event will occur over Microsoft Teams. Contact xuz@uwm.edu for the link to join the Teams virtual talk.This event is free.
Laurels and Accolades Erica Young (Biological Sciences), along with collaborators at Boise State University, the University of Florida, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received a $1.26 million National Science Foundation grant. This project builds on understanding different strategies used by microbes to survive and compete for resources, and applies this framework to microbiomes of the carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. Using biogeographical sampling, experiments and modeling, researchers will examine microbiomes’ diversity and functions and how the host plant and the microbiome interact. To generalize ‘rules’ of microbiomes, the researchers will compare other aquatic, plant- and soil-associated microbiomes across ecosystems. Y oung will collaborate with researchers across the US, Canada and Switzerland, engaging undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers. The ‘Girls Who Code’ club within UWM’s Computer Science department will help develop an interactive website.
Sarracenia purpurea photo by Jamie Smith
Kimberly Blaeser (English and American Indian Studies) was among the poets featured in the “One Poem: A Protest Reading in Support of Black Lives.” The virtual reading, sponsored by the national Poetry Coalition in association with the Academy of American Poets, was designed to support organizations working against racial injustice, including three organizations in Milwaukee. Blaeser’s reading begins at 17:54. https://youtu.be/uEUZjUL-5QI
Blaeser also served as a contributing editor for the justreleased When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. She worked with U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and other editors to gather the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations, and wrote the introductory essay for the Northeast/ Midwest Section, “Writing A Poetry of Continuance.” Selections of her own poetry are also included in the anthology. https://bit.ly/2RcKKAZ Over the Edge is the literary organization of the City of Galway, Ireland. Molly Harris (‘17 BA English) is their New Writer of the Year and read from her works at a recent virtual author reading. Neal Pease (History) was selected as the Wacław Jedrzejewicz History Medal recipient for his achievements in Polish History as well as his contributions to Polish organizations by the Pilsudski Institute of America. Karyn Frick (Psychology) was recently elected President of the Pavlovian Society for a 2021-2022 term, which will include hosting the society’s annual meeting in Milwaukee.
Christine Larson (Psychology) and her team, including Krista Lisdahl (Psychology) and collaborators at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, were awarded a $3.5 million National Institute of Health grant titled, “Acute predictors of longterm post-trauma outcomes in youth victims of violence.” Mauricio Kilwein Guevara (English) has accepted an invitation to serve on the Board of Directors of Write On, Door County. https://writeondoorcounty.org/ Aneesh Aneesh (Sociology) has been named a 202021 fellow of the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles. He will use his fellowship to explore an alternative framework for citizenship in a stateless world society. Amanda Seligman (History) was named member of the week for the Urban History Association for the week of September 14. https://bit.ly/36sHeuY
Stephen Dornbos (adjunct, Geosciences) serves as a science and technology policy fellow in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment and has worked on a recently published Army directive that provides uniform instruction to help safeguard assets, improve readiness, and build resilience to natural hazards.
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 13
In the Media and Around the Community The U.S. government and the free market should work together to address the COVID-19 pandemic, William Holahan (emeritus Economics) argued in a piece for the The Cap Times. https://bit.ly/3hU3pNC Faculty and staff from UWM’s African and African Diaspora Studies Department, including Gladys Mitchell-Walthour, Peter Akubeze, Abera Gelan, Nolan Kopkin, Jeffrey Sommers, Erin Winkler, and Anika Wilson signed an open letter in The Cap Times condemning the shooting of Jacob Blake and advocating for more diversity in higher education. https://bit.ly/3jBtEc0
Leading Brazilianist scholars, including Gladys MitchellWalthour (African and African Diaspora Studies), were interviewed about Brazil’s image after the pandemic for an article appearing in the Portuguese language publication “The Nexo.” https://bit.ly/2ZFdJSA
Jeffrey Sommers (African and African Diaspora Studies) was interviewed on Riverwest Radio – WXRW, about the protests in Belarus on September 4th. https://bit.ly/3mqkeT6
Gladys Mitchell-Walthour
Nancy Bird-Soto (Spanish and Portuguese) participated virtually in the “100 Years of Women Voting Symposium Series,” hosted by the Library of Congress’ Kluge Center and the United States Capitol Historical Society on Sept. 10. https://vimeo.com/456737881
Lake Michigan had a record-breaking year, especially as water levels are concerned. Paul Roebber (Atmospheric Science) explained the role of climate change in the lake’s depths for Milwaukee Magazine. https://bit.ly/35q8hGH
Michael Mirer (Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies) went on WUWM’s Lake Effect show to discuss the Milwaukee Bucks’ boycot of a playoff game in August to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake. https://bit.ly/2YUx3uJ
Scott Adams (Economics) commented on the rising number of Americans relying on unemployment insurance in an article published in Urban Milwaukee. https://bit.ly/3mhbdMb
14 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
William Keith (English) suggested practicing “radical civility” when confronting racism in an opinion piece published on The Conservation and reprinted in outlets around the country. (https://bit.ly/3m8z1Bw) He also spoke at a book club discussion at Penn State University on Oct. 5, about his new book, “Beyond Civility: The Competing Obligations of Citizenship.” (https://bit.ly/36aQq7p) When reporting on racial protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, CNN relied on data from a report by Marc Levine (emeritus History) highlighting the dire circumstances of black citizens in the city. (https://cnn.it/339vtGs) The New York Times relied on the same research in an article exploring black residents’ likelihood of voting in the presidential election (https://nyti.ms/3bI2NbJ), which was reprinted on several platforms, including Yahoo! News (https://yhoo.it/32ildMQ). NPR also cited his study in a piece detailing Kenosha’s extreme racial economic and social disparities (https://n.pr/3bITmsx). Cameras have changed the fight for social justice by capturing incidents of police misconduct, Marc Tasman (Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) said in a television interview broadcast across the region. https://bit.ly/2GFCYNQ
The COVID-19 MKE archive, a digital repository of videos, essays, photographs, and social media posts documenting Milwaukee citizens’ experiences during the pandemic, was featured in Milwaukee Magazine along with its creator, Christopher Cantwell (History). (https://bit.ly/2FsMIdC) The archive also received mention in Urban Milwaukee. (https://bit.ly/3iWt3Sg) Randy Gosa (’06, BA Celtic Studies) is one half of a musical duo called The Lost Forty, who revive old Irish songs from the Midwest for performances. The group performed a concert on Facebook Live in September. https://bit.ly/3hl5aSO
Lawmakers are trying to strike a balance between pleasing Randy Gosa (left) their base and being seen as effective and cooperative during legislation as the November election approaches, Hong Min Park (Political Science) said in a piece by the Sinclair Broadcast Group https://bit.ly/2ZoHFSO
Woonsup Choi (Geography) was interviewed by Voice of America for an article printed with their Korean affiliate on the topic of deforestation and the resulting flooding in North Korea. Jeb Willenbring (Mathematics) was a member of the advisory committee that helped to bring Aria, an app to assist blind and visually impaired people in navigating campus, to UWM. https://bit.ly/3jibPiv
Ruth Page Jones (’15, MA History) presented “A Century Celebration: Woman Suffrage in South Dakota 1868-1918,” celebrating the women’s suffrage movement. Genevieve McBride (Emerita History) also spoke on the anniversary Ruth Page Jones of the 19th Amendment as part of a panel discussion sponsored by the Center for Politics and the People at Ripon College and the League of Women Voters of the Ripon Area. Tonit Calaway (’89, BA Political Science) was appointed to the board of directors at the net lease real estate investment trust W.P. Carey Inc. Bryce Lord, (Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management) spoke on UWM Today about the economic impact of COVID-19 on Wisconsin in the nonprofit sector. https://bit.ly/36qNmUN Sara Benesh (Political Science) was quoted in U.S. News and World Reports about an upcoming Supreme Court case that could have consequences for the Affordable Care Act. https://bit.ly/36jRHZD Kathy Dolan (Political Science) spoke to TMJ4 about the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals continuing a stay on absentee ballot extensions until the court can decide the case. https://bit.ly/2HLBQsL She also talked with Bloomberg News about women and the Republican Party. https://bloom.bg/33qWgQd. She also took part in a panel discussion on the 2020 election being hosted by the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.
People in Print Natasha Sugiyama (Political Science) & Wendy Hunter. 2020. Do CCTs Empower Women? Lessons from Brazil’s Bolsa Família. Latin American Politics and Society, 62(2), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.1017/lap.2019.60 Richard Grusin (English). 2020. Once More with Feeling: Trump, Premeditation, and 21st-Century Terrorism. in Threat Communication and the US Order after 9/11: Medial Reflections (Vanessa Ossa, David Scheu, Lukas R.A. Wilde, Eds.). Routledge. https://amzn.to/3iyaovd Richard Grusin (English). 2020. No Future: The Study of Culture in the Twenty-first Century. in Futures of the Study of Culture (Doris Bachmann-Medick, Jens Kugele, and Ansgar Nünning Eds.) DeGruyter. https://bit.ly/2Gq46k8
Stuart A. Moulthrop (English). Spring 2020. Stromatolite. The New River - A Journal of Digital Art And Literature. http://thenewriver.us/stromatolite/ Rajdeep S. Virdi, Robert V. Bavisotto, Nicholas C. Hopper, Nemanja Vuksanovic, Trevor R. Melkonian, Nicholas R. Silvaggi, David N. Frick (all Chemistry & Biochemistry). Discovery of Drug-Like Ligands for the Mac1 Domain of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp3. SLAS Discovery (the journal of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening). OnLineFirst. https://bit.ly/30uSHGD William Keith (English) and Robert Danisch. 2020. Beyond Civility: The Competing Obligations of Citizenship. Penn State University Press. https://amzn.to/3nmPzqi Caroline Seymour-Jorn (French, Italian and Comparative Literature). 2020. Creating Spaces of Hope: Young Artists and the New Imagination in Egypt. American University in Cairo Press. https://amzn.to/3cYZoWv
Susan Richardson, (’09, MA Language, Literature and Translation) was named the 2021 Wisconsin representative for the National Teacher of the Year program by the Department of Public Instruction. https://bit.ly/3nfLVyq
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 15
Passings Patricia Anne “Pat” Touchett, a former UW-Milwaukee academic staff member, passed away on August 30, 2020. Pat received her bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and her master’s degree from Missouri University, both in Mathematics. She joined UW-Milwaukee in 1982, beginning as a Math instructor. She then became a coordinator in what was, at the time, the Tutoring and Academic Resource Center and later, Panther Academic Support Services. Pat retired from UWM in 2003. Pat was a lifelong volunteer, both at UWM and for many community organizations. A colleague shared that Pat leaves behind a great legacy of service and of friendship. For additional information, please see Pat’s obituary online. Our condolences to Pat’s family and to the many others whose lives she touched. https://www.heritagefuneral.com/obituary/patricia-anne-touchett/
Alumni Accomplishments Robert Harrison (‘94, Masters of Public Administration) is the new city administrator of Yakima, Washington. Harrison has a long career in public service, starting as the assistant to the city administrator of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Paul Hemmer (‘85, BS Biological Sciences) was selected for the Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award, presented by the Association for American Medical Colleges and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. The award recognizes gifted medical academicians for their outstanding contributions to educating the next generation of healthcare professionals. Dr. Hemmer is a professor in the Department of Medicine at Uniformed Services University. https://bit.ly/2GnhRjv
Sarah Blaskey (’15, BA History) is among the authors of the newly-released book The Grifter’s Club, an investigative look at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. https://bit.ly/3k2N8qj
Emmanuel O. Asante-Asamani (’16, PhD Mathematics) has been appointed to the faculty of Clarkson University as an assistant professor in mathematics. Matt Sullivan, (‘90 BA Psychology and Sociology) has joined the New London School District as a school psychologist. Ruhongeka Ntabala (‘20, BA Economics) is the founder of a new technology startup, Okayge, based in West Allis. The company released its Sarah Blaskey first app, Dityer, that intends to be a marketplace and delivery service for local businesses to help them compete with global companies like Amazon and Walmart. https://bit.ly/3cB3wMi Emmanuel O. Asante-Asamani
Tabula Investment Management, a European based fixed income ETF provider, has hired David Schnautz (‘05 MA Economics) to lead its client development in the German-speaking market.
Wendy Parks (‘93 BA Mass Communication) was promoted to Vice President for Public Relations, Marketing and Communications at the College of DuPage. Amber Krueger (‘03 BA English) joined Ultimus as Assistant Vice President - Shareholder Service following thirteen years at U.S. Bank Global Fund Services. Ultimus is an independent provider of full-service fund administration, accounting, transfer agency and investor solutions. 16 • IN FOCUS • October, 2020
