The Quad

Earlier this year, Daniel McIntosh (Physics) took three UMKC physics students –Jennifer Nielsen, Andrew Coo­per, and Cory Wagner – to present original research at the 217th American Astronomical Society (AAS) Conference in Seattle, Washington.

One of the students, Nielsen (shown in the photograph), re­ceived a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award medal for research on the chemical composition of merging galaxies completed with McIntosh during her senior year at UMKC as part of McIntosh’s Galaxy Evolution Group.

The Chambliss awards recognize exemplary research by un­dergraduate and graduate students who present posters at the semi-annual meetings of AAS. Students from around the world exhibit their posters at the Conference’s exhibit halls.

Nielsen, a recent physics graduate, became interested in gal­axy research while taking McIntosh’s Physics 499 Research, which is open to undergraduates of all disciplines who are interested in serious astronomical research while taking undergraduate classes.

“The education provided by the UMKC physics department and the research opportunities the department provides are truly stellar,” she says. “I could not have won the Cham­bliss award without the mentorship and guidance of Dr. McIntosh.”

As part of a commitment to let artistically-inclined high school sophomores “experience” college, the Department of Art and Art History again hosted a campus visit by area students in conjunction with Prep-KC. For more on this successful program (headed by UMKC Chancellor Morton) that endeavors to motivate students to get themselves ready for college, see: http://www.umkc.edu/news/feature.asp?id=199  and  http://www.prepkc.org/content/index.cfm/Who-We-Are

Marijana Kotlaja, a pre-law double major in Political Science and Criminal Justice has received word that she is one of nine students who have been chosen from among more than 700 student applicants to take part in this summer internship program.The selection process required her to travel to D.C. as one of the 45 finalists who were inter­viewed before the final nine were selected. Congratulations to Ms. Kotlaja!

Under the mentoring of A&S HSCP adjunct faculty member Haley Brueck (who teaches broadcast journalism courses at the Columbia Area Career Center that serves students in the Columbia Public High Schools), several of her students got big time opportunities as ESPN and ABC television came to Columbia last year and enlisted their help in generating footage for programming around the national Game Day Coverage of the MU-Oklahoma football game. These students are earning UMKC credit in Communications Studies 220 along with their high school credits.  See: http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/ 2010/dec/04/broadcast120410/

Barry Anderson (Art and Art History) was named by The Pitch as the 2010 winner of its Mastermind Award for the Visual Arts. The award was presented on April 3, 2010. See:
– www.pitch.com/2010-04-01/news/masterminds2010

Erik Olsen (Economics) has been awarded the Louis O. Kelso Fellowship from the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers to study the broadened ownership of capital in the U.S. The award of $12,500 will cover the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 will support his research and permit him to attend conferences and workshops at Rutgers. For more see:
– www.smlr.rutgers.edu/KelsoFellowships.pdf

Virginia Blanton (English) gave an invited lecture April 9 at Vassar College sponsored by its Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program based on her discovery of a 15th century manuscript at Cambridge University detailing the lives of 19 female saints. For more see:
– www.miscellanynews.com/2.1579/prof-blanton-to-deliver-lecture-on-new-medieval-lit-1.2214426
– http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2010/04/repackaging-female-saints-lives-for.html

Felicia Londre (Theatre) used her recent UMRB grant for research on the history of local and regional theatres. See the recent KC Stage Blog for more:
– http://kcstage.blogspot.com/2010/04/preserving-enchanted-years-of-stage-by.html

George Gale (Philosophy) has received word that a paper he co-authored in 1993 with John Urani (who was a member of the Physics Department Faculty) has been chosen as one of the leading papers of that decade by the retired editor of The American Journal of Physics. The paper was titled: “Philosophy Midwifery and the Birth Pangs of Modern Cosmology.”
– www.kzoo.edu/ajp

Anthony Ladesich, Brad Hodgson and Jordan Kerfeld, former Department of Communication Studies students, were recognized by Paste Magazine, a leading entertainment magazine in the U.S., in March 2010 when it included their works on its DVD music and film sampler for Spring 2010. Ladesich has won an Emmy for some of his film work while Hodgson and Kerfeld each has won a Missouri Broadcasters Association Best Short Film award in the last two years.

A&S Senior Wins National Phi Kappa Phi FellowshipRachel Waldener has just been awarded a $5,000 fellowship for graduate study in AY 2010-2011 by the national organization of this honor society. Rachel is graduating with three majors: biology, chemistry and Spanish.Student Affairs Honor Recipients NamedNine A&S students were among those named as UMKC Honor Recipients by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management for Spring 2010. Those honored are: Sadia Aslam, John Scott Beeler, James Gilmore, Ariel Green, Tara Kloeppel, Keren Lowenstein, LaDonna McCullough, Tyler Mustro and Jasmine Powell. Congratulations to all!

Under the leadership of Dana Tulodziecki and Kayla Sosa, its Honors Society, Phi Sigma Tau, won FOUR of this year’s UMKC Student Government awards.
The awards were: Best Adviser: Dana Tulodziecki; Best Professor: Jim Sheppard; Best Undergraduate Society: Phi Sigma Tau and Best New Student Group: Phi Sigma Tau.

Dr. D. V. S Muthu and Paul R. Scott in front of a Raman spectrometer

Paul R. Scott has returned to UMKC upon completion of this competitive internship awarded by the Research Internships in Science and Engineering sponsored by the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He did his internship in the area of spectroscopic condensed matter physics in which one research technique is called Raman spectroscopy. The unique nature of his internship was that he was employing the technique at the research center created by its developer, Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman. To see more go to:

• http://indousstf.org/pdf/January_2010.pdf and scroll to “Crossover Pursuits.”

We heard from many of the high school students who visited the Art and Art History Department in November 2009. They liked what they saw and did:

“I thought the whole day was pretty awesome. I was stunned by what UMKC looks like.”

“I had a great experience at UMKC and now I am going to consider going there.”

“The guest speakers were very kind and the students who already attend are really focused.”

“I liked everything about it, especially the teachers. There is nothing I didn’t enjoy.”

“I had a great time learning on campus and going into classes and experiencing this with the college students.”

Prep-KC’s Board is chaired by UMKC’s Chancellor Leo Morton. For more information, see: www.prepkc.org

These four students are among those being considered nationally for Student Fulbright Awards:

• Lynn Marie Alexander (History–Graduate Student)
• Nicole English (Sociology–Graduate Student)
• Rachel Waldemar (Biology, Chemistry, Spanish–Undergraduate)
• Maria Iliakova (Biology, Spanish, Chemistry– Undergraduate)

For more on the award program in which they are competing see: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html