The Academic Minute for 8.31 – 9.4

Catch up with The Academic Minute from 8.31 – 9.4

Monday, August 31
Chris Ferguson – Stetson University
Violent Videogames
Chris Ferguson is an associate professor and department chair of psychology at Stetson University. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Central Florida. He has clinical experience particularly in working with offender and juvenile justice populations as well as conducting evaluations for child protective services. In 2013 he was awarded a Distinguished Early Career Professional Award from Division 46 (media psychology and technology) of the American Psychological Association. In 2014 he was named a fellow of the American Psychological Association through Division 1 (General Psychology, effective January, 2015). In addition to his academic work he has published a historical mystery novel entitled Suicide Kings. He lives in Winter Springs with his wife and young son.

Tuesday, September 1
Pietro Ceccato – Columbia University
Battling Earthly Plagues from Space
Pietro Ceccato is a research scientist at Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). He originally trained as an agronomist and worked in the Central African Republic to improve agricultural practices. He has worked at the Natural Resources Institute in United Kingdom, where he developed remote-sensing products to monitor forest fires; at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (Italy) developing new products to monitor vegetation status; and at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome to develop early warning systems for desert locust outbreaks, which are now used by the governments of 21 countries in Africa and Asia. He obtained his PhD. from the University of Greenwich, UK. In 2004 he joined IRI, where he leads the Environmental Monitoring Program. His current research includes development of remote-sensing products for human health, agriculture, pest management and natural disasters.

Wednesday, September 2
Adam Gaffey – Black Hills State University
Campaign Rhetoric
Adam J. Gaffey is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Philosophy at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. He holds a Ph.D. in communication (emphasis in rhetoric and public affairs) from Texas A&M University. His research centers on public address and rhetorical theory. Published versions of his work have appeared in Southern Communication Journal, Western Journal of Communication, and the recent edited volume, The Effects of Rhetoric and the Rhetorics of Effect.

Thursday, September 3
Phillip Sponenberg – Virginia Tech
Navajo Churro Sheep
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.

Friday, September 4
Eddie Baron – University of Oklahoma
Type Ia Supernovae
Eddie Baron received his PhD in Nuclear Physics from Stony Brook University. He was a research associate at Steward Observatory and then a research associate at Stony Brook University. He has been on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma since 1990, where he is George Lynn Cross Research Professor of Physics & Astronomy.