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Northern Illinois University will celebrate Women’s History Month in March with a variety of events based on the theme of “Women’s Migration and Immigration.”

The events, organized by the NIU Women’s Studies Program and many other sponsors, will examine the gendered nature of migration and immigration from various perspectives.Women's History Month sticker

 “Migration and immigration are critical topics in the news at this time, so we thought this would be an excellent year for public programming around the issues,” said Amy Levin, director of the Women’s Studies Program.

A complete schedule of lectures, exhibits, performances and other activities can be found online.

Events include the following.

Tuesday, March 1

  • The day marks the sixth annual celebration of “This is What a Feminist Looks Like” Sticker Day. Stop by Room 103 in Reavis Hall to pick up a free sticker and wear it with pride. Buttons are also available for $1. 
  • The month kicks off, quite literally, with a women’s self-defense workshop, led by geography professor Lesley Rigg, who holds a black belt in karate. The workshop begins at 6 p.m. in Room 20 of Founders Memorial Library.

 Wednesday, March 2

  • An informational session will be held on the efforts of Women in Black, an international network of women committed to peace and justice, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center’s Heritage Room. The presentation, which will include student presenters, will answer such questions as “Who are the women in black?” and “What do they do?” It also will apply the Women in Black’s philosophy to the global issue of human trafficking. 

Thursday, March 3

  • A panel on “Nationality, Gender, and the Transgressive Potential of the Narrative of (Im)Migration” will interrogate how the experiences of female immigrants and gender migrants achieve expression through works that combine genres. The panel will take place at 2 p.m. in Reavis Hall, Room 211.

Friday, March 4

  • A vigil inspired by the Women in Black will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in the King Memorial Commons. All are welcome; those planning to attend are asked to wear black to this event. The students plan to spend and hour in silence in solidarity with the vigils that are held by Women in Black groups across the world each week. The vigil will take a stand against the cycle of violence perpetuated against women and raise awareness about human trafficking.

Tuesday, March 8

  • Katharine Donato, professor and chair of sociology at Vanderbilt University, will discuss the gender balance and gendered consequences of international migration in her presentation, “How Many Women? How Many Men? Gender in International Migration.” The presentation begins at noon in the Holmes Student Center’s Illinois Room.

Wednesday, March 23

  • Geography professor Sarah Blue will present “Gendered Labor and Gendered Labor Recruitment: Latino Migrant Experiences in New Orleans,” at noon in Holmes Student Center’s Blackhawk Annex.
  • NIU’s College of Education, in partnership with the Alumni Association, will host “Transformational Leaders: Inspiring Change,” a panel discussion featuring notable NIU alumnae who hold significant leadership positions in their fields. A reception with hors d’oeuvres will begin at 5 p.m. in the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, with the panel discussion starting at 6 p.m. RSVP to Gail Hayenga at (815) 753-8370 or ghayenga@niu.edu.

Monday, March 28

  • NIU history professor Aaron Fogleman will present “Gender and Marriage in the Lives of an 18th Century Couple Adventuring the Atlantic World.” The presentation will begin at noon in Holmes Student Center’s Blackhawk Annex

Tuesday, March 29

  • History professor Ismael Montana, an expert in African history, will lead a screening and discussion of “Mama Benz: An African Market Woman,” a film about the critical transnational role female entrepreneurs play in the import of goods to Africa. The screening begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Center for Black Studies.

Thursday, March 31

  • The third annual Women’s Networking Night, “Health Issues Affecting Women Today,” an installment in the Alumni Association’s Chicago Speaker Series, brings two notable alumnae to the NIU Chicago Office for a discussion on women’s health from 6 to 8:30 p.m. A full appetizer buffet will be provided and a cash bar will be available. Registration is required. The featured alumnae are Linda Deering, ’98, M.S. ’92, executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at Sherman Health; and Laura Ferrio, ’86, vice president of patient care services and chief nurse executive at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Call (815) 753-1452 for more information.

 All events are open to the public and, unless otherwise noted, are free. Sign language interpreters will be provided upon request; call (815) 753-6515. One week’s notice is preferred.

In addition to the Women’s Studies Program, event sponsors include the NIU Graduate Colloquium Committee; Graduate School; Women’s Resource Center; Center for Black Studies; Founders Memorial Library; Women’s Rights Alliance; Women’s and Gender Studies Graduate Student Association; Advocates for Choice; Latino and Latin American Studies Program; Latino Resource Center; Division of International Programs; College of Education; Alumni Association; and departments of geography, history, sociology and political science.

For more information, e-mail womenst@niu.edu or call the Women’s Studies Program at (815) 753-1038.

Date posted: February 24, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Women on the move

Categories: Campus Highlights Community Communiversity Events Faculty & Staff On Campus Students

A documentary directed by NIU communication professor Laura Vazquez has taken top honors in the prestigious 2011 Broadcast Education Association’s (BEA) Festival of Media Arts.

Diane Nilan and Laura Vazquez

Diane Nilan (left) and Laura Vazquez spent four years making the documentary "on the edge."

Vazquez spent four years working with Diane Nilan, a nationally known advocate for the homeless, to tell the stories of seven women and their children struggling to escape homelessness. The one-hour documentary, titled “on the edge,” debuted this past fall.

Fifteen faculty and student works were chosen to receive the BEA Best of Festival King Foundation awards, with “on the edge” selected in the faculty documentary category. Best of Festival winners will be honored at an April 11 awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

During the ceremony, each recipient will be recognized with a high-definition screening of clips and interviews related to his or her winning project, a cash award of $1,000 from the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation and a gift of Media Composer film and video editing software from Avid Technologies.

The BEA is the professional association for professors, industry professionals and graduate students who are interested in teaching and research related to electronic media and multimedia enterprises.

Its Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student work. The Best of Festival winners were selected from a pool of 913 entries from 143 colleges and universities.  

Vazquez’s documentary will be screened on the NIU campus at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, in the Cavan Auditorium of Gabel Hall. The screening, held in conjunction with the Latino Film Festival, is free and open to the public.

Making “on the edge” was an eye-opening experience for Vazquez, a veteran documentary maker and professor who teaches courses at NIU in media production. She traveled the country with Nilan while filming interviews, spent hundreds of hours editing and even lived for a week in an Opelousas, La., shelter.

“It feels strange to gain success telling such difficult stories, but it is important to shed light on the issue of homeless women and children,” Vazquez said. “We as a society need to stop blaming the victim. These women do want a better life — I am sure of it — but they need stronger networks, better support and affordable housing.

“It is my hope that this award will move the film to a larger stage so we can begin to open minds and change policies,” she added.

Nilan, a former Aurora shelter director, has spent 25 years advocating for the homeless. In 2005, she founded the non-profit Hear Us, a Naperville-based organization that aims to raise awareness.

That same year, she sold her home, took out a mortgage on an RV and embarked on an eight-month, cross-country odyssey, logging more than 20,000 miles. Along the way, she videotaped interviews with homeless children, teens and their parents.

Upon her return, Nilan first met Vazquez, and the pair partnered to produce a series of short documentaries on the rights of homeless children in public schools. They knew a larger story was in the making.

“Without a doubt, ‘on the edge’ profoundly affects every single audience,” Nilan says. “It hits all the issues affecting women and children in such a poignant and honest way that people with little or no understanding of the intricacies of homelessness walk away with both open minds and open hearts.”

The documentary is beginning to reach important audiences.

“Perhaps the best indication of the film’s potential to create understanding was when Congresswoman Judy Biggert insisted on setting up an “on the edge” screening at the Capitol,” Nilan said. That screening is scheduled for late March.

The work of the filmmakers in “on the edge” was endorsed and encouraged by each of the seven women portrayed in the documentary. DVDs are now available for purchase online and at other outlets.

More information on the new documentary, including trailers and short biographies of the women featured in the film, is available online.

Related:
NIU professor, student hope to help raise voice of homeless children, teens
NIU student creates educational video to help inmates keep their kids in school
Professor writes curriculum to enable future teachers to recognize, assist homeless children in their classrooms

Date posted: February 21, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Documentary by NIU’s Laura Vazquez wins top honors from Broadcast Education Association

Categories: Arts Awards Centerpiece Community Communiversity Faculty & Staff Liberal Arts and Sciences Visual

Rosie Rios, treasurer of the United States

Rosie Rios, treasurer of the United States

Rosie Rios, treasurer of the United States, will visit NIU next month to deliver a public talk on the importance of Latinos taking on leadership roles in public service. 

The lecture will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium. 

“It is vitally important that we continue to expose our community to positive Latina role models, and we can think of none better than Rosie Rios,” said Emily Prieto, director of the NIU Latino Resource Center. “Her leadership sends a strong statement to the community about the value of Latina leaders.” 

Prieto said Rios, a first-generation Mexican-American, will talk about her background and her work and give advice to students who are seeking public service. 

“Her life story and accomplishments are inspiring,” Prieto said. 

Rios serves as the 43rd treasurer of the United States. She has direct oversight over the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and Fort Knox, and is a key liaison with the Federal Reserve. 

In addition, the treasurer serves as a senior adviser in the areas of community development and public engagement. She is especially passionate about supporting women in finance and issues of Main Street in the economic recovery. 

Prior to her confirmation as treasurer, Rios worked at MacFarlane Partners, where she was managing director of investments. Working with MacFarlane Partners’ development and global capital partners, Rios played a central role in facilitating equity transactions for large mixed-use development projects in major urban areas. 

Rios is a graduate of Harvard University. 

For more information, call (815) 753-1986.

Date posted: February 21, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Treasurer of the United States to speak at NIU

Categories: Communiversity Events Faculty & Staff Global

As the dust starts to settle following the Egyptian Revolution, talk has quickly turned to which Middle Eastern autocracy will be the next to fall to the demands of domestic protests for more democratic government.

Mazen Nagi

Mazen Nagi

Many have offered that Iran’s Green Movement of 2009 has been reawakened by events in Egypt, which have, ironically, been loudly applauded by the Iranian government and state media. But is it reasonable to assume that the Iranian government will collapse Egyptian-style under the weight of protests?

While the demands of Iranian demonstrators are nearly identical to those that Egyptians have voiced, Iran’s government is an altogether different animal.

The Egyptian government was essentially devoid of ideology in a practical, day-to-day sense. Thus, at its core, the government was an institutionalized patron-client system. It functioned mainly to facilitate kleptocracy by steering the vast bulk of wealth to the political and societal elite, while keeping the masses at bay.

As a result, few people in Egypt’s political establishment are inclined to defend the regime in an ideologically zealous manner. The elites’ defense of the regime was largely motivated by protecting individual wealth, and covering up its crimes. In practice, little ideology is needed for this system to continuously function and sustain itself.

The Iranian system, on the other hand, is undergirded by a strong religious ideology, enforced by supporters that are zealous in nature.

While this is not to say that Iranian leaders are not worried about protecting their positions and power, there is a religious ideology that is ingrained in the members of the various branches of the security services, including those used for crowd control: the Revolutionary Guard and the Basiij militia.

Indeed these two institutions recruit and rely on religiously dogmatic individuals to stock their ranks. They will use all means at their disposal to preserve the current political order. This is simply an element that was absent in Egyptian politics.

So what then are the implications for Iranians of this basic difference between the governments? The most immediate and visible implication of this defense of the system by zealots is the rapid resort to and much higher level of violence with which protest movements, and demonstrations in general, have been met.

While government-perpetrated violence may eventually be the issue that pushes Iran ultimately to successful revolution, such as happened with the Shah in the late 1970s, its immediate effect oftentimes is to slow down opposition until it is able to adapt to the repression of the state. Violent repression also can push anti-government movements underground where they are more difficult to monitor, such as has happened with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, thereby making events even more difficult to predict.

So while the Iranian people have very similar grievances to Egyptians, the path of any Iranian revolution is likely to be much more violently contested, requiring a much longer sustained effort to overturn the current religiously infused political system.

The Voices section of NIU Today features opinions and perspectives from across campus. Mazen Nagi is an Egyptian-American and graduate of American University in Cairo, Egypt. He is an academic adviser at NIU, where he is working toward his doctoral degree in political science. He teaches courses in international relations and Middle East politics. 
Date posted: February 21, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Nagi: Will Iran follow in the footsteps of Egypt?

Categories: Community Communiversity Faculty & Staff Global Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences Voices

Lisa Freeman

Lisa Freeman

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has named Lisa Freeman, Northern Illinois University’s vice president for research and graduate studies, to the newly created Illinois Innovation Council.

The governor announced the council’s creation during his 2012 budget address to the Illinois General Assembly. Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell will lead the effort.

“By harnessing our resources and coordinating our efforts, by putting scientists and inventors in touch with businesses and investors, and by placing significant private-sector investment behind the best ideas in our state, we will create the jobs of today and tomorrow right here in Illinois,” Quinn said.

The council will promote the role and importance of innovation in economic development and quality of life; convene and partner with academic, business and governments to evaluate and recommend initiatives to improve support for innovation; and align public and private resources.

Freeman, who joined NIU in July 2010, has focused her academic career on bringing people and resources together to solve complex problems.

“I believe the governor recognizes the important role strong regional universities can play in innovation, and NIU has a well-earned reputation for the strength of its applied research programs,” Freeman said.

“We are, in fact, an important part of a vibrant global region,” she added. “We need to be at the table helping to develop a better future for our students, faculty and staff. We need to do what we can to support innovation and to work with other universities, national laboratories, government and the private sector to help set and achieve common goals.”

NIU is a member of the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC), the only organization representing the full range of science and technology activity in Illinois. Its mission is to foster public-private partnerships to develop and execute research and development projects, advocate for funding and collaborate with partners to attract and retain resources and talent in Illinois. The Illinois Innovation Council will complement the work of the ISTC.

Freeman noted that Illinois’ rich history of innovation includes such notable corporate names as Sears and Caterpillar, manufacturing giants Cyrus McCormick, John Deere and George Pullman and architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. 

“The list can go on and on,” Freeman said. “While looking to the future, we need to recreate the dynamic environment that allowed such innovators to thrive. I believe that we have most of the pieces in place. We just need to look at ways in which we can better align our interests and resources. The Innovation Council will help to provide the leadership and direction to make this happen.”

Among the Innovation Council’s first tasks, Freeman said, will be a thorough assessment of the state’s current culture of innovation, examining such things as legal or regulatory barriers and human and capital resources.

“We have world-class universities and national laboratories, but are we making full use of these resources?” Freeman said. “Once we understand the current culture, we can work to maximize opportunities and overcome obstacles. I think the leadership that a statewide Innovation Council can provide will go a long way in bringing the appropriate players to the table.”

Freeman added that she looks forward to meeting Groupon’s Keywell and other colleagues on the new panel. “Mr. Keywell is a good example of the type of innovators we are looking to support and champion.”

A full listing of Illinois Innovation Council members is available online.

Date posted: February 17, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Gov. Quinn names NIU’s Lisa Freeman to serve on newly created Illinois Innovation Council

Categories: Community Communiversity Did You Know? Engineering Faculty & Staff Latest News Research Science and Technology

NIU anthropologist Susan Russell (center) was honored in the Philippines by being made a member of the indigenous Manobo tribe.

NIU anthropologist Susan Russell (center) was honored in the Philippines by being made a member of the indigenous Manobo tribe.

NIU’s Susan Russell, a cultural anthropologist and former director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, has a new title: member of the indigenous Manobo tribe of the Philippines.

For the past eight years, Russell has directed a U.S. Department of State-funded initiative to bring peace to a conflict-torn region of the Philippines.

Each year, she and Lina Ong, co-director of the project and director of NIU’s International Training Office, have run month-long institutes on campus in DeKalb for adult leaders and youth activists from the Mindanao region of the southern Philippines.

The institutes aim to promote partnerships between U.S. and Filipino groups, strengthen understanding of democratic values, develop an appreciation for American government and cultural diversity, and strengthen participant skills in methods of citizen participation. Last year, of 24 Filipino participants, 12 came from indigenous tribes in the country.

A contingent of NIU representatives visited Mindanao in January as part of a State Department-supported “follow-on” program. The NIU representatives heard how each institute participant’s community project was progressing and offered advice on communicating their messages, working with other communities and working to resolve conflicts.

At the closing event, Russell was caught by surprise when she was called up on stage to be honored for her work in promoting peace. She was given a blessing by a shaman and inducted into the ancient Manobo tribe, the only non-Filipino ever granted such a privilege.

A group of NIU faculty members visited the Philippines in January to conduct workshops and provide feedback to young activists who had previously attended institutes at NIU.

A group of NIU faculty members visited the Philippines in January to conduct workshops and provide feedback to young activists who had previously attended institutes at NIU.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Russell says. “I was called forward and suddenly realized I was going to be the center of this ritual. I had no idea what was going to take place. I was stunned.”

Russell was presented with gifts and given the title of “bai,” meaning female tribal leader. Manobo leaders also gave her a new name, roughly Borje Manunggud, which translates to provider.

“It was a huge honor,” Russell said. “There’s an emotional connection with these people. It’s hard to explain.”

Also present during the ceremony were members of the group from NIU who, as part of the follow-on program, presented lectures and workshops during the trip.

They included sociology professor Kay Forest, Center for Black Studies Director LaVerne Gyant, Center for P–20 Engagement Executive Director Lemuel Watson and anthropology professors Winifred Creamer, Katharine Wiegele and Giovanni Bennardo.

“It was a very impressive honor for Sue,” Creamer said. “This was a carefully planned and organized ceremony.

“Participants from the NIU program took leadership positions, deciding that this was how they wanted to show Dr. Sue their appreciation,” Creamer added. “The NIU program teaches young people to take charge. It was deeply gratifying to see those lessons put into practice and witness a ceremony celebrating such a strong bond of friendship.”

Related:

NIU working to develop Filipino peacemakers

Anthropologist Susan Russell wins national award for contributions to international education

Date posted: February 8, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Filipinos honor NIU’s Susan Russell

Categories: Did You Know? Engagement Faculty & Staff Global Latest News Liberal Arts and Sciences

Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune

Theater critic Chris Jones

The Friends of NIU Libraries invite the public to attend a free  presentation by Chicago Tribune chief theater critic Chris Jones.

The presentation, titled “How Chicago Became America’s Hottest Theater City,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, in the Rare Books and Special Collections department on the fourth floor of NIU’s Founders Memorial Library. 

Jones has reviewed and commented on culture, the arts, politics and entertainment for the Tribune for 15 years. Along with being the paper’s chief voice on local and national theatrical productions, he also writes a weekly column on culture and the arts. Jones also appears each week on the CBS-2 morning news in Chicago.

He was a faculty member of the NIU School of Theatre and Dance from 1990 to 2000 and was assistant chair for a time.

Free parking for the event is available after 7 p.m. in the Visitor’s Parking Lot located on Carroll Avenue.  This lot is located just west of Founders Memorial Library. A campus map is available online

For more information, call (815) 753-8091.

Date posted: February 4, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Chicago Tribune theater critic will give Feb. 15 talk on how Chicago became hot spot for stage

Categories: Arts Community Communiversity Events Theatre What's Going On

NIU professors and Cambodia specialists Kenton Clymer (history) and Judy Ledgerwood (anthropology) were at the proceedings last July in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when the first verdict against a senior Khmer Rouge leader was handed down by an United Nations-backed international war crimes tribunal currently underway in that country.

Cambodia tribunal

The public gallery at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh is crowded with onlookers July 26, 2010, when the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal handed down its first guilty verdict against a senior Khmer Rouge figure. NIU faculty members Kenton Clymer (history) and Judy Ledgerwood (anthropology) were there. (Courtesy of Reuters)

Clymer and Ledgerwood will discuss the verdict against Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies’ weekly lunchtime lecture from noon to 12:50 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4, in Room 110 in the Campus Life Building.

As director of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison during the 1975–79 Khmer Rouge regime, Duch was responsible for the deaths and torture of more than 14,000 Cambodians imprisoned there. His guilty verdict and 35-year sentence marked the first verdict by an internationally recognized court against the Khmer Rouge, who are estimated to have caused the deaths of more than 1.7 million Cambodians during their brutal regime.

Clymer and Ledgerwood, who were in Cambodia on separate projects over the summer, were seated in the public gallery at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia directly in front of Vann Nath, a famous painter and one of the dozen or so survivors of Tuol Sleng.

“It took an hour to read the verdict. It was very long and very complicated,” Ledgerwood said.

During the reading, there was emotional reaction in the crowd when the names of the victims were read and when the 35-year sentence was handed down, then reduced by five years because of Duch’s illegal incarceration by the Cambodian Military Court from 1999 t0 2007. With credit given for time already served, the 69-year-old Duch will serve 19 more years in prison.

“Many Cambodians were very upset that the sentence seemed short,” Ledgerwood said. “I felt it was OK because, given his age, it means he is likely to die in prison.”

Cambodia does not have the death penalty.

Duch was successfully prosecuted, Ledgerwood said, because authorities had the cooperation of the former math teacher. “Duch is the only one [of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders] who has said that ‘I did this, it was wrong, and I’m sorry,’ ” she said. “[Khmer Rouge leader] Pol Pot went to his grave saying he’d done nothing wrong.”

Ledgerwood and Clymer went to the court proceedings with Cambodian villagers to witness the verdict. These villagers were brought to Phnom Penh by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a nonprofit group originally affiliated with Yale University’s Cambodia genocide research program.  Four surviving and now elderly Khmer Rouge leaders are still awaiting trial, expected to begin later this year.

Date posted: February 3, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Witnesses to history: NIU professors recall day first Khmer Rouge verdict handed down

Categories: Campus Highlights Events Faculty & Staff Liberal Arts and Sciences On Campus

Screen capture of Justin Brenneman's Schwebel's videoThe video created by Justin Brenneman isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is sliced bread, with a creative twist.

The NIU communication major from Naperville is a finalist in a video contest sponsored by the Youngstown, Ohio-based Schwebel Baking Company, more commonly known as Schwebel’s.

As part of a course last fall teaching motion animation, Brenneman was encouraged to enter a competition. He chose the “We Want Schwebel’s” video contest, creating a clever one-minute animation of a singing slice of bread to go along with the company’s jingle.

Judges selected the Top 10 entries on the basis of originality, creativity and technical quality. Each finalist is assured of winning at least $200. Now it’s up to online voters to select the top prizewinners, including one first-place winner who will take home $5,000.

Justin Brenneman

Justin Brenneman

Fans can view and vote for Brenneman’s video online through Friday, Feb. 4.

“It just kind of came to me,” Brenneman says of the singing slice of bread. “I wanted to use the character for sure, but I wasn’t’ sure how.”

He says it took about 20 hours, including an all-nighter, to put the video together. He credits the class taught by Communication Professor Laura Vazquez with providing him with the needed skills.

“If it wasn’t for the animation class, I wouldn’t have been able to learn the application and even produce a video,” he says.

Vazquez says Brenneman was a top student and gives his latest project an “A.”

“I think he did an excellent job of using what he was taught and adding his own creative ideas,” she says.

“He had to use their jingle, but everything else is original. I am very proud of his work and would have been shocked if it were not selected as a finalist. Who ever heard of a singing slice of bread?”

Related:

NIU students win Foot Locker video contest

Team of NIU students grabs top prize in Chipotle advertising contest

Date posted: January 27, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Senior Justin Brenneman’s creative video hopes to butter up fans, win nice slice of contest dough

Categories: Faculty & Staff Liberal Arts and Sciences Students

Peace Corps founder and director Sargent Shriver visits NIU on April 10, 1962.

Peace Corps founder and director Sargent Shriver visits NIU on April 10, 1962.

History graduate student Maria ‘Rai’ Hancock will explore NIU’s rich Peace Corps heritage during a public lecture from noon to 12:50 p.m. Friday in Room 110 of the Campus Life Building.

The presentation, titled “Connecting Globally, Locally: NIU, Southeast Asia, and the Peace Corps,” honors the memory of the late R. Sargent Shriver, founder and first director of the Peace Corps, who died Jan. 18.

NIU’s Peace Corps heritage is a relatively little-known postscript to local and campus history.

Yet the university had the distinction of being the third training site in the Midwest for the now 50-year-old Peace Corps program, established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Shriver himself visited DeKalb in April 1962.

Hancock will discuss how and why the Corps’ training program first came to NIU, recruiting busloads of volunteers headed for Malaya (now Malaysia), and later the Philippines and Thailand.

The NIU Peace Corps training program was relocated in1968 to Hawaii and then to Southeast Asia. Still, about 1,200 volunteers had trained in DeKalb for service in the Peace Corps. It became a life-changing experience for many and laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS).

Maria Hancock

Maria Hancock

Today, a number of former Southeast Asia Peace Corps volunteers can be counted among current and retired faculty affiliated with the center, including Jim and Patricia Henry, John Hartmann, Grant Olson, CSEAS Director Jim Collins and Clark and Arlene Neher.

Hancock’s talk is part of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies’ weekly lecture series.

This year marks the 50th anniversary for the Peace Corps, which is working to increase its volunteer numbers and is currently recruiting on campus.

Peace Corps information and applications are available online and must be submitted by Wednesday, Feb. 9, for those wishing to set up an interview at NIU later in the month.

Peace Corps representatives will be on hand at the Spring Job Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, at the NIU Convocation Center. They also will conduct an information session from 6 to 7 p.m. that same day in Room 406 of the Holmes Student Center. Interviews with potential Corps candidates will be held Thursday, Feb. 24.

For more information, contact Peace Corps representative Rok Teasley at (312) 353-1128 or rteasley@peacecorps.gov.

Date posted: January 25, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Graduate student to explore early connection between Peace Corps, NIU at Friday lecture

Categories: Alumni Communiversity Events Faculty & Staff Global Liberal Arts and Sciences Students

by Suzanne E. Willis, NIU Department of Physics

Suzanne E. Willis

Suzanne E. Willis

In class one day, I was discussing pseudoscience and the fact that it can be a waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned money, when a student asked, “Why do you care if we waste our money?”

Well, I do care. We all should. If society wastes money on junk science, we all lose. The public is fed misleading information, or worse, misinformation. Scientific projects with great potential might go untested in favor of the false promises of junk science. And sometimes pseudoscience can actually be harmful.

I was reminded of all this recently after reading a widely reported story on a 1998 study purporting to find a relationship between the MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine and autism. Turns out, the study was not only fatally flawed, it was actually fraudulent. But some parents took it to heart and did not vaccinate their children to protect them from sometimes fatal childhood diseases such as measles and whooping cough, which have seen a resurgence.

In the media nowadays, we’re hit with a constant barrage of scientific studies, and the case of the MMR vaccine underscores the importance of training students to be critical thinkers who can recognize the real thing from a fake.

So, how can a non-scientist figure out what’s what? It’s good to first remember that science usually follows a process:

  • Get curious.
  • Ask a question.
  • Decide how to figure out an answer.
  • Do an experiment. Make sure you understand what you are doing.
  • Figure out what the results of the experiment mean. Have you answered your question? If you made a hypothesis, was it confirmed or refuted?
  • Share your results with other people. Can they replicate your experiment? Do they get the same results?
  • Keep on going.

Pseudoscience, on the other hand, often sounds “scientific” but is missing one or more key ingredients, such as thoughtful testing by experienced scientists, peer review by other experienced scientists, or consistency with known scientific laws and facts. The more missing ingredients, the more skeptical one should become—and the tighter you should grasp your wallet.

Robert L. Park, a physics professor and author of “Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud,” wrote of the seven “warning signs of bogus science” in The Chronicle of Higher Education. I adapt his warning signs here:

  • The discoverer pitches his or her claim directly to the media, bypassing scientific review. Particularly beware of paid infomercials.
  • A powerful establishment is supposedly trying to suppress the work.
  • The scientific effect is at the limit of detection (and stays there despite decades of improvement in scientific methods).
  • Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal. The plural of “anecdote” is not “data”; data need to be collected in a thoughtful, reproducible way.
  • The discoverer claims a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries.
  • The claim requires new laws of nature, often in serious contradiction to well-established knowledge.
  • The person making the claim is trying to sell you something.

I’ll add a few recommendations of my own as well. First, see what other scientists are saying. Go to original sources as much as possible. When conducting research on the Internet, .gov and .edu sites are the most trustworthy sources of information, followed by .info and .net.

Second, if someone makes a claim, ask “How do you know?” Learn how to evaluate the response.

Third, beware of “scientifical” or “sciency” arguments. Especially beware of anything that invokes vibrations, frequencies or energy flow, as well as anything with “quantum” in the title that doesn’t involve partial differential equations.

And, finally, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. A number of useful web sites that specialize in debunking bunk are listed below.

Dr. Suzanne E. Willis is a professor and assistant chair in the NIU Department of Physics.

Related: Useful web sites

Health
Quackwatch
Information is Beautiful

Energy
Popsci.com
Wired Science

General
Mythbusters

Blogs
Respectful Insolence 
Bad Astronomy  
Pharyngula 
Scientopia blogs
Science blogs

Date posted: January 18, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on Science or bunk: How to tell the difference

Categories: Faculty & Staff Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Voices

A team of NIU scientists, with a major role played by NIU Ph.D. students, has discovered a new, convenient and inexpensive way to make high performance hydrogen sensors using palladium nanowires.

Xiaoqiao (Vivian) Zeng

Xiaoqiao (Vivian) Zeng

The technology could help enable a scale-up for potential industrial applications, such as safety monitors in future hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Highly flammable hydrogen gas cannot be odorized like natural gas. The new technology produces nanoscale sensors that work extremely fast and would allow for closing of safety valves before dangerous concentrations of the gas could be reached.

Scientists have known that palladium nanowires demonstrated promise as hydrogen gas sensors in speed, sensitivity and ultra-low power consumption. But the utilization of single palladium nanowires faced challenges in several areas, including nanofabrication.

“We report on hydrogen sensors that take advantage of single palladium nanowires in high speed and sensitivity and that can be easily and cheaply made,” said lead author Xiaoqiao (Vivian) Zeng, a Ph.D. student in chemistry and biochemistry at NIU.  The new research is published in the January edition of the American Chemical Society‘s prestigious journal Nano Letters.

“The new types of hydrogen sensors are based on networks of ultra-small (< 10 nanometers) palladium nanowires achieved by sputter-depositing palladium onto the surface of a commercially available and inexpensive filtration membrane,” Zeng said.

The research was conducted at both Northern Illinois University and Argonne National Laboratory. The scientists also found that the speed of the sensors increases with decreasing thicknesses of the palladium nanowires. The sensors are 10 to 100 times faster than their counterparts made of a continuous palladium film of the same thickness.

“The superior performance of the ultra-small palladium nanowire network-based sensors demonstrates the novelty of the fabrication approach, which can be used to fabricate high-performance sensors for other gases,” said NIU Presidential Research Professor of Physics Zhili Xiao, leader of the research team and co-adviser to Zeng.

Zhili Xiao

Zhili Xiao

Xiao noted that Zeng’s exceptional contribution to the research is particularly impressive for a Ph.D. candidate. Zeng came to NIU in the fall of 2008 after earning her master’s degree from the University of Science and Technology Beijing. She is now a recipient of the NIU Nanoscience Fellowship, jointly supported by the university and Argonne.

“It is extremely competitive to publish an article in Nano Letters, which has a very high impact factor that is better even than the traditionally prestigious chemical and physical journals,” Xiao said. “We’re proud of Vivian’s achievements and grateful for her creativity and diligence.

“Nanoresearch is truly interdisciplinary,” Xiao added. “Chemists have undoubtedly demonstrated advantages in nanofabrication by utilizing methods of chemical synthesis to obtain extreme nanostructures, while physicists have strengths in exploration of new physical properties at the nanoscale. This research benefitted tremendously from Vivian’s expertise in chemistry. In fact, the substrates used to form the novel networks of palladium nanowires are common filtration members known to chemists.”

 Other members of the research team included NIU Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Tao Xu; NIU physics Ph.D. candidate Michael Latimer; NIU physics graduate student SriHarsha Panuganti; and physicist Ulrich Welp and senior physicist Wai-Kwong Kwok of Argonne’s Materials Science Division.

by Tom Parisi

Date posted: January 12, 2011 | Author: | Comments Off on NIU scientists, Ph.D. students find fast, easy, inexpensive way to make hydrogen nanosensors

Categories: Centerpiece Faculty & Staff Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Science and Technology