Faculty and Staff Notes

Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Lisa Ryno was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation, "Sugar-mediated remodeling of the E. coli transcriptome and its impact on biofilm growth and composition." This $534,002 grant will support student-faculty research on how monosaccharides influence both biofilm growth and composition. Because biofilms play a role in antibiotic resistance, better understanding of the biochemical pathways through which they form could have eventual applications in development of antibiotics or antibiofilm coatings.

Associate Professor of Music Theory Megan Kaes Long published an article, "Reassessing the Plagal Cadence in Byrd and Morley," in the most recent issue of Music Theory Online. The article unpacks the obscure history of the plagal cadence by looking at representative examples from Byrd's compositions and Morley's theory treatise.

Professor Milkova's book Storia delle prime volte is published this week in Italy by the Italian publisher Voland. Written in Italian, it is a book of ten short stories about characters who live between languages, continents, and cultures, negotiating their transnational and nomadic identities.

Emily Barton publishes an essay, "Spaceship," in Mothers Unearthed: The Aster(ix) Climate Issue. The essay is only available in the print edition.

Associate Professor of Economics Evan Kresch publishes an article for VoxDev titled "Targeting relief aid after natural disasters: Should donors work through governments or NGOs?".

John Gruber will perform George Walker's Trombone Concerto with the Akron Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, September 24.

KJ Cerankowski's book Suture: Trauma and Trans Becoming was shortlisted for the ASAP (Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present) 2022 Book Prize.

The journal Environmental Research: Climate, recently published the article “Conflicting outcomes of alternative energies: agricultural methane emissions and hydroelectricity, 1975–2015” coauthored by Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology Mauricio Betancourt.

Visiting Instructor of history Jiyul Kim was cited in a Washington Post article on the reunion of the "Chosin Few" veterans of the Korean War. Kim is writing a new history of the Korean War for Cambridge University Press in collaboration with East Asian Studies Professor Sheila Miyoshi Jager.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Shuming Chen recently published an article in ACS Catalysis, "Cyclometalated Chiral-at-Ruthenium Catalyst for Enantioselective Ring-Closing C(sp³)–H Carbene Insertion to Access Chiral Flavanones." Co-authors include Peter Choi '23 and collaborators in Marburg, Germany.