The Academic Minute for 2015.8.3 – 8.7

Catch up with The Academic Minute from 8.3- 8.7

Monday, August 3
Chris Pires – University of Missouri
Evolving Together
Dr. Chris Pires studies the evolution of plants. He does this by comparing the genetic material of plants that are known to regularly duplicate their chromosomes. This process, known as whole genome duplication, can give rise to new plant types and traits. He creates the equivalent of a “family tree” for these plant species, which he then uses to discover how this duplication influenced their evolutions. Pires works with plants in the genus Brassica, which includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and canola, and Asparagales, which includes onions, asparagus, irises and orchids. He recently discovered that chromosomes within canola can rearrange themselves in unexpected ways during meiosis, a stage during which cells divide to form pollen or eggs. In addition to shedding light on plant evolution, his research may be used to develop new or more valuable crops.

Tuesday, August 4
Phillip Sponenberg – Va-Md Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
Choctaw Hogs
Dr. Phillip Sponenberg is a professor of pathology and genetics in the Department of Biomedical Sciences & Pathobiology in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. Sponenberg received his DVM from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. in veterinary medicine from Cornell University in 1979. He joined the faculty of the college in 1981. Sponenberg’s research interests are genetics of domesticated animals, coat color genetics, conservation of rare breeds of livestock, diagnostic pathology, and reproductive pathology. Sponenberg is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association. Sponenberg also serves as the technical programs director of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

Wednesday, August 5
Michael Kofler – Florida State University
Insights into ADHD
Dr. Kofler’s primary research interests center on improving long-term outcomes for children with ADHD. This research follows two interrelated pathways: a) identifying internal and contextual strengths/assets that contribute to resiliency and positive outcomes for some youth with ADHD within a positive youth development framework, and b) understanding neurocognitive factors that contribute to ADHD behavioral symptoms and functional impairments. The long-term goal of these interrelated lines of investigation is to further our understanding of relationship between underlying neurocognitive factors and associated behavioral and functional outcomes, and translating this knowledge into effective, efficacious, and strengths-based interventions for children with ADHD. His recent experimental work suggests that underdevelopment in key components of working memory appear to underlie many of the hallmark features of ADHD, including inattentive behavior, hyperactivity, impulsivity, response variability, social problems, and behavioral disinhibition. He is currently working to translate these findings into a novel, non-pharmacological intervention with the potential for sustained, generalized improvements in functioning across settings.

Thursday, August 6
Philipp Ruprecht – Columbia University
Volcanology Studies
Philipp Ruprecht is an assistant research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, where he studied magma mixing, both by observing natural systems and through numerical modeling. He arrived at Lamont-Doherty as a postdoctoral researcher, and was a Feodor-Lynen Fellow from the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation. In his research, Philipp combines fieldwork with petrologic and geochemical studies to understand the workings of the inner earth-especially the forces that create volcanoes.

Friday, August 7
Gokcen Coskuner-Balli – Chapman University
Yoga Culture
Dr. Coskuner-Balli is an assistant professor at The George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University. She earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Coskuner-Balli’s main research interest includes cultural and ideological shaping of consumer-market relationships. Her current research examines the context of emergent lifestyle segments in which new social roles, cultural identities, and brand relationships are being forged through innovative interactions with the commercial marketplace. Within this context her research explores the role of consumption in creation and legitimization of non-traditional social identities in the marketplace. Coskuner-Balli’s work has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Culture and Association of Consumer Research.