Faculty and Staff Notes

Emeritus Professor of Biology and Neuroscience Catherine McCormick published the article, “Mechanosensory Lateral Line Nerve Projections to Auditory Neurons in the Dorsal Descending Octaval Nucleus in the Goldfish, Carassius auratus,” in Brain Behavior and Evolution, Vol. 88 August 2016 and Cover. McCormick and her co-authors, Shannon Gallagher ‘10, Evan Cantu-Hertzler ‘10, and Scarlet Woodrick ‘11, used confocal microscopy to reveal multi-sensory components of the primitive central scaffolding of the auditory system.

Janet Fiskio, associate professor of environmental studies and comparative American studies, published two articles, “Dancing at the End of the World: The Poetics of the Body in Indigenous Protest” in Ecocriticism and Indigenous Studies. Ed. Salma Monani and Joni Adamson. New York: Routledge.101-118 and “Building Paradise in the Classroom” in Teaching Climate Change in Literary and Cultural Studies.  Ed. Stephanie LeMenager, Shane Hall, and Stephen Siperstein. 101-109.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Crystal (Cal) Biruk presented a paper on March 31, 2017 at the American Ethnological Society's meetings at Stanford University.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Crystal (Cal) Biruk delivered an invited lecture on their forthcoming book, Cooking Data: Culture and Politics in an African Research World on April 2, 2017 at University of Cincinnati's Taft Research Center.

Marco Wilkinson, managing editor of Oberlin College Press and instructor in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition, has received a full scholarship to attend the Breadloaf Orion environmental writer's conference this summer.

Margaret Kamitsuka, associate professor of religion, presented “Abortion and the Maternal Authority to End Fetal Life” at the Duquesne Women in Philosophy 2017 Conference on March 24, 2017 at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

Greggor Mattson, associate professor of sociology, was interviewed about his research on Dutch prostitution politics by the Brazilian publication Veja, the largest weekly news magazine in Brazil and Latin America. The interview focused on a recent interpretation by government ministers that exchanging sex for driving lessons, while "undesirable," did not constitute prostitution.

Professor of Politics Stephen Crowley’s opinion piece “To Resist Trump, Divide His Supporters” appeared on Truthout.

Professor of Physics Stephen FitzGerald was awarded a three-year, $310,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support his project entitled "RUI: Probing adsorbate interactions in metal-organic frameworks using site selective spectroscopy."  This research examines hydrogen storage for fuel-cell applications and isotope separation for chemical labeling, medical tracing, and heavy water moderators.  The grant provides funds for on-going student participation and the acquisition of a specialized mass-spectrometer.  

Crystal Biruk, assistant professor of anthropology, delivered an invited lecture on her forthcoming book Cooking Data: Culture and Politics in an African Research World at Oxford College of Emory University on February 16, 2017.