The Academic Minute for 2025.02.03-2025.02.07

The Academic Minute from 2.03 – 2.07

Monday
Jill Barton – University of Miami
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Casual Writing Style
Jill Barton is the author of three books on legal writing. Her latest, The Supreme Guide to Writing (Oxford University Press 2024), analyzed 10,000 pages of U.S. Supreme Court opinions to pinpoint grammar and writing style rules. She also has coauthored The Handbook for the New Legal Writer (Aspen 2023), a popular law school textbook now in its third edition, that aims to demystify the process of legal writing and inspire beginning and experienced legal writers.

Tuesday
Han Xiao – Rice University
Sticky Microorganisms Enhancing Plastic Degradation
Han Xiao serves as the Director of the SynthX Center and holds the position of Associate Professor within the Department of Chemistry, Biosciences, and Bioengineering at Rice University. Han obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) where he graduated with a B.S. in chemistry and an honors degree in physical science. After graduating from USTC in 2010, Han joined the Ph.D. program at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). His thesis work with Prof. Peter G. Schultz focused on expanding the technique of genetically incorporating unnatural amino acids in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms and applying this technique for better cancer therapeutics. In 2015, Han joined the laboratory of Prof. Carolyn R. Bertozzi as a Good Ventures Postdoctoral Fellow of the Life Science Research Foundation at Stanford University. In his postdoctoral work, he was engaged in the development of novel cancer immune therapy targeting the cell-surface glycans axis of immune modulation. In July 2017, Han started his independent research at Rice University. The focus of his research is the development of various chemical biological tools allowing us to understand complex biological systems as well as develop novel therapeutic strategies. His awards include Level 2 Breast Cancer Research Program Breakthrough Award (DoD), Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigators (NIH), Norman Hackerman – Welch Young Investigator Award, and CPRIT Faculty Recruitment Award.

Wednesday
Gunnar Babcock – Cornell University
The Fields That Direct Us
Gunnar Babcock (he/him) received a PhD in philosophy from the University at Albany, SUNY and he has taught courses in applied ethics, philosophy of biology, evolutionary biology, bioethics, and environmental philosophy. Before coming to Cornell University, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Dept. of Biology at Duke University for four years where he taught and worked on developing a theory of how goal directed systems work in biology. His work appears in journals such as the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Synthese, and Philosophy of Science. Before pursuing an academic career, Gunnar oversaw a domestication project in Alaska for six years.

Thursday
Sally Harris – University of Tennessee Knoxville
Teaching the Detectives
Sally C. Harris is a Teaching Professor in the English Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Harris teaches workplace writing, technical writing, British literature, detective & crime literature, and drama.

Friday
Jared del Rosso –University of Denver
Waiting for Whip-poor-wills
Jared Del Rosso is a cultural sociologist in the Department of Sociology & Criminology at the University of Denver. He is currently writing a book, tentatively titled The Lonesome Whip-poor-will: Untold Stories of America’s Most Iconic Bird, for NYU Press’s “Animals in Context” series. He has written on Whip-poor-wills and their relatives for Audubon, The Conversation, and the Center for Humans and Nature..