George Rhee (Physics and Astronomy) is the author of Cosmic Dawn: The Search for the First Stars and Galaxies (Springer 2013). The visible universe consists of stars and galaxies. One of the challenges of astronomy is to understand how galaxies and stars first came into existence more than 13 billion years ago. This book tells the story of our…

Dan Bubb (Academic Assessment), Gregory Schraw (Education), David James (Academic Programs), Barbara Brents (Sociology), Kyle Kaalberg (Teaching and Learning), Gwen Marchand (Educational Psychology), Penny Amy (Biology), and Ann Cammett (Law) recently published an article in Assessment Update, a publication that is widely read by assessment…

Pamela Burnley (Geoscience) wrote an article, "The Importance of Stress Percolation Patterns in Rocks and Other Polycrystalline Materials" that was published in the journal Nature Communications last month. She has discovered a new paradigm for understanding the deformation behavior of polycrystalline materials. Many familiar solid objects are…

Penny Amy and Diane Yost (both Life Sciences) had their work featured in the May issue of Microbe Magazine, the official newsletter of the American Microbiology Society. The article, "Pitting Microbes Against One Another," talks about how investigators are testing whether other microbes can help hold pathogens in check to quell infectious disease…

Kevin Kemner (Architecture), Jenifer Utz (Life Sciences), Louis Kavouras (Dance), Daniel Bubb (Academic Assessment), and Lindsay Couzens (Academic Assessment) recently made a presentation at the Association for the Assessment of Higher Learning Education's annual Assessment Conference in Lexington, Ky. The presentation demonstrated how a series of…

Satish Bhatnagar (Math) is the author of the book Via Bhatinda: A Braid of Reflected Memoirs, Volume I, which was published recently by Trafford Publishing. He also is the author of My Hindu Faith and Periscopes; Epsilons and Deltas of Life: Everyday Stories; Vectors in History: Main Foci -- India and USA; and Scattered Matherticles, Mathematical…

Adam Koebke (Math) and Chyna Miller (Academic Success Center) presented "Show Me the Data: Advancing Standards to Measure Success" at the 2013 Nevada ACT State Organization Educational Symposium, which took place at UNR in February. Their session, "Improving Remedial Math Outcomes with Adaptive Technology," explored the results of last year's…

Steve Rowland (Geoscience) recently published the first English translation of an 18th century Russian book by Mikhail Lomonosov. The book, titled On the Strata of the Earth, first was published in 1763. The book is historically significant because it presents new ideas about the history and age of the Earth, and it predates by 25 years a book…

Satish Bhatnagar (Math) is the author of the book My Hindu Faith and Periscope, which was published recently by Trafford Publishing. He also is the author of Epsilons and Deltas of Life: Everyday Stories, Vectors in History: Main Foci; India and USA, and Scattered Matherticles, Mathematical Reflections.

Ken Czerwinski (Chemistry) has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in the chemistry section. Election as an AAAS fellow is bestowed upon association members by their peers. He was elected because of his distinguished contributions to actinide and fission product chemistry and for building a world-…

Brenda Buck (Geoscience) and her research were the subject of an article, "Health Implications of Dust," which was the cover story for the December issue of CSA News. The publication is the official magazine for members of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

John Farley (Physics) gave a departmental colloquium at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly University of Missouri, Rolla) in October. Titled "Beyond the Lecture: What Have We Learned from Physics Education Research?," the colloquium examined how conventional lecture-based instruction is surprisingly ineffective in…