The Academic Minute for 2018.03.12-03.16

Academic Minute from 3.12 – 3.16

Monday, March 12th
Raymond Boisvert – Siena College
200th Publication Anniversary of Frankenstein
Educated in Rhode Island, Switzerland, the University of Toronto and Emory University in Atlanta, Raymond Boisvert made his academic reputation with two books on the American philosopher John Dewey. Hired at Siena in 1984, he has taught a variety of courses including Classical American Philosophy, Asian Philosophy, the Philosophy of Religion and many sections of philosophy and the human being. For many years he was head of the college core, teaching in the first year course then known as the Foundations Sequence. Recently he has joined the teaching team for the new first year course, the First Year Seminar. The theme for that course, “Food, Values, Culture” reflects his new interest in the area of philosophy and food. Two of his books on that topic will be published in the next several years.

Tuesday, March 13th
Jennifer Francis – Rutgers University
Extreme Winter Weather and Climate Change
Jennifer Francis earned a B.S. in Meteorology from San Jose State University in 1988 and a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington in 1994. As a professor at Rutgers University since 1994, she has taught courses in satellite remote sensing and climate-change issues, and also co-founded and co-directed the Rutgers Climate and Environmental Change Initiative. Presently she is a Research Professor with the Rutgers Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences where she studies connections between climate change and extreme weather.

Wednesday, March 14th
Jennifer LeMesurier – Colgate University
Knitting as Protest
Jennifer Lin LeMesurier, an Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Colgate University, received her PhD in English with a specialization in Language and Rhetoric from the University of Washington. Her areas of expertise include rhetorical theory, composition pedagogy, and performance studies. Her main research focuses on how embodiment and movement practices influence the creation and reception of rhetoric, and she is currently exploring how this intersects with innovations in translingual practices. Her work can be found in such publications as College Composition and Communication, POROI, Rhetoric Review, and Rhetoric Society Quarterly.

Thursday, March 15th
Scott Shackelford – Indiana University
Guarding Against the Possible Security Vulnerabilities in our Devices
Scott J. Shackelford is an associate professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, where he teaches cybersecurity law and policy, sustainability, and international business law. He is a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Program on Science and International Affairs, and Director of the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance at Indiana University. He is also an Affiliate Scholar with Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, and a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Shackelford has written more than 100 books, articles, and essays for diverse outlets including the American Business Law Journal, University of Illinois Law Review, and the Wisconsin Law Review, which have been covered by National Public Radio, The Atlantic Wire, Politico, and Newsweek. He is also the author of Managing Cyber Attacks in International Law, Business, and Relations: In Search of Cyber Peace (Cambridge University Press, 2014), and has written op-eds for the Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Washington Times. Both Professor Shackelford’s academic work and teaching have been recognized with numerous awards, including a Hoover Institution National Fellowship, a Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study Distinguished Fellowship, the 2014 Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, and the 2015 Elinor Ostrom Award. Professor Shackelford has presented his research on cybersecurity at diverse forums including universities such as Harvard, Notre Dame, the University of Michigan, University of Texas-Austin, and Stanford, as well as for the Prime Minister and Cabinet Office of the Government of Australia, NATO, and the Harvard Business Review.

Friday, March 16th
Sadie Witkowski – Northwestern University
Sleep and Memory
Sadie is in her third year of graduate school at Northwestern University in the Brain Behavior and Cognition area of the Psychology department. Her research focuses on sleep and memory – particularly how memories can be strengthened during sleep. In her spare time, she has started a podcast called PhDrinking in which she interviews grad students about their research for a non-peer audience.