The Academic Minute for 2024.11.11-2024.11.15

The Academic Minute from 11.11 – 11.15

Monday
Ian Afflerbach – University of North Georgia
How “Selling Out” Started With Political Corruption
Ian Afflerbach is an Associate Professor at the University of North Georgia. He teaches courses on Modern American Fiction, African American Literature, and Popular Genres like Science Fiction. He’s currently working on his second book, “Sellouts! The Story of an American Insult.” His first book, Making Liberalism New (2021) was shortlisted for the Modernist Studies Association’s Best First Book prize. He has written for Public Books and The Conversation, and his articles have appeared in journals like PMLA, African American Review, and Novel.

Tuesday
Michael Bertrand – Tennessee State University
Why Southern Music Matters
Michael T. Bertrand is a historian of the American South and the modern United States and teaches at Tennessee State University. He has taught at the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University, and the University of Mississippi, where he worked in the Center for the Study of Southern Culture.

Professor Bertrand’s teaching and scholarship focus on the interrelationships between race, class, gender, region, and generation, particularly as they have evolved within the dynamics of popular music, popular culture, memory, and social change from the late 19th through the 20th and 21st centuries.

Wednesday
Laura Melissa Guzman – University of Southern California Dornsife
Pretty Butterflies Can Be A Problem of Scientists
Professor Guzman is a computational ecologist, originally from Bogotá, Colombia. She uses quantitative and computational tools to learn about patterns and processes in biodiversity to inform conservation actions. Guzman was a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow focusing on estimating changes in pollinator distributions to prioritize areas for conservation. She was also awarded the Early Career Award from the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution, and the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Naturalists.

Thursday
Dae Hee Kwak – University of Michigan
Athletes with Mental Health Problems No Longer Need to Suffer in Silence
Dae Hee Kwak is an Associate Professor of Sport Management in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan and the Director of the Center for Sport Marketing Research. With a research focus on sport consumer behavior, he examines how cognitive and emotional factors influence sport consumers’ decision-making and behaviors.

Friday
Alexandra Jamieson – University of Texas at Arlington
Disability Community Needs Better Access to Exercise
Jamieson received her BS in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2018. She has been working as a full-time research staff member with the Biomedical Technologies Division at UTARI since 2018. Her work in silicone actuator designs and molding methods has led to the production of several soft robotic prototypes such as exoskeletons for rehabilitation of the hand, wrist, and elbow. She is also leading research to gamify UTARI technology, including the REHAB glove and Adaptive Exergame Machine. Her major interests are in rehabilitation and assistive technology, adaptive exercise technology, serious games, bio-inspired and soft robotics, and human-computer interaction.