<< Front page News March 5, 2004

Wage growth and grapes – new faculty expertise

Zinser, Laushman return from sabbatical

By Sarah Robertson

Two of nine professors have returned from sabbatical this semester, according to Dean of Studies Clayton Koppes. James Zinser, Professor of Economics and Roger Laushman, Professor of Biology, have returned to Oberlin this semester.

Economics professor James Zinser spent last semester doing research on the U.S. Social Security system.

“I love teaching, but it was nice having the time to do research,” he said.

Zinser had been concentrating on two topics of research. The first project involved evaluation of projections of wage growth and inflation, dating back 30 years. Zinser used this data to assess the efficacy of using wage projections. As with most economic studies, a great deal of statistical analysis was needed to determine the results.

The second topic Zinser researched was pre-judgment interest in legal disputes. He explained that a plaintiff is entitled to pre-judgment interest covering the time period between the event and the trial outcome. This interest can be very limited or fairly substantial, depending on the case.

In a recent case, a group of retirees disputed the entitlement given to them by a company. The judge ruled that the company’s appraisal of the amount of interest the retirees were entitled to was inaccurate and the company was forced to return their extra earnings to the retirees. Zinser was interested in finding out if there are any other circumstances in which plaintiffs would be entitled to such a favorable interest rate.

Zinser is now teaching Introductory Economics, International Finance, and Macroeconomic Theory.

Biology professor Roger Laushman spent last semester beginning research on the genetic distribution of wild grapes. This is a new project for Laushman that should continue for several years. His specialty is population genetics and he has taught about preservation of the wild ancestors of domesticated species such as tomatoes, potatoes, corn, wheat and barley in his Conservation Biology seminar.
The grape project began when Laushman told a biology student that wild ancestors of grapes existed around Oberlin. He and the student hit the books, expecting mounds of research to have been recorded about wild grapes, which are ancestors to prevalent crops in North America and many other countries.

However, they found that very little research exists regarding the genetic distribution of wild grapes. Hybridization, or genetic exchange between species, can occur between wild grapes in nature and how often this type of hybridization occurs is not known.

Researching wild ancestors of domesticated crops can be especially useful for perennial plants. Because these plants are not replanted every year, disease resistance is very important. Thus, finding or creating a type of grape that is more disease resistant is valuable. Hybridization can occur naturally but can also be created in the laboratory. If the genetics research of wild grapes is completed, new useful traits may be bred into domesticated grapes.

Laushman began the project by traveling to the United States Department of Agriculture Research Center in Geneva, New York to study what was known about wild grapes.

He also performed research in several herbaria, which are museums of modern and antiquated records of plant distributions as well as collections of different plants. This helped Laushman figure out where and how long ago these collections were found so a plan could be made for later collection of the wild grapes. Laushman plans to begin collection this summer.

Laushman and Jane Vorburger (OC ‘03) researched the genetics of three types of wild grapes from the genus Vitus, which contains several different species. Each species that Laushman is studying is native to the eastern United States, and each species grows in slightly different but overlapping parts of this area. The fox grape, for instance, grows from Georgia to southern Maine, and Ohio is near its western limit. However, these three species of grape are only a few of many species.

“Grapes are grown on every continent except Antarctica,” Laushman said.

Mr. Laushman has only scratched the surface of grape genetics research, as indicated by the dictionary-sized book of grape species on his bookshelf.

The book indicates that many of the grapes commonly consumed and used today in wines began as hybrids of two or more species of wild grapes.

Since returning from sabbatical, Laushman has resumed teaching genetics, evolution and ecology with two other faculty members. He will also teach population ecology in the fall.


 
 
   

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