Faculty Notes, May 14, 2012

John Benitz, assistant professor, Department of Theatre, College of Performing Arts, has been invited to give a Spring 2012 Distinguished Guest Lecture for the Saddleback College Emeritus Institute in Laguna Woods Friday, May 11, on the subject “On the Day: An Actor’s Revelation,” a discussion about the actor’s process from script to performance.

Lori Cox Han, Ph.D., professor, Department of Political Science, Wilkinson College, was interviewed by KJZZ Public Radio in Phoenix about women’s issues during the 2012 presidential campaign. Also, on Friday, April 17, Dr. Han gave a Spring 2012 Distinguished Guest Lecture for the Saddleback College Emeritus Institute in Laguna Woods. Her topic was the presidential campaign.

John C. Eastman, Ph.D., professor, School of Law, published an opinion piece in Bloomberg View titled “Arizona Leads U.S. in Real Immigration Reform.” The article may be read online.

Hesham El-Askary, Ph.D., associate professor, Earth System Science and Remote Sensing and Director Graduate Programs Hazards, Global and Environmental change, Schmid College of Science and Technology, has just returned from Vienna where he was a presenter at the international gathering of the European Geophysical Union (EGU), attended by more than 15,000 scientists. The EGU General Assembly 2012 brought together geoscientists from all over the world into one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences.  Dr. El-Askary presented the paper: “Studying and analyzing the formation and dynamics of the black cloud over Cairo, Egypt, using a multi sensor approach.”

Donald Guy, assistant professor, Department of Theatre, College of Performing Arts, recently served as the lighting designer for Saint Louis Ballet’s production of Swan Lake at the 1,625-seat Touhill Performing Arts Center in St. Louis, Mo. The production was choreographed by artistic director and former New York City Ballet soloist Gen Horiuchi. Guy has also been commissioned to design the lighting for the Saint Louis Ballet’s full-length presentation of Romeo and Juliet in February, 2013, and the Contemporary Choreographer’s Series in May, 2013. The Contemporary Choreographer’s Series production will feature world premieres by renowned artist Christopher d’Amboise and artistic director Gen Horiuchi. The program will also feature choreography by Michael Uthoff and The Joffrey Ballet co-founder Gerald Arpino.

Scott Martelle, adjunct faculty, Department of English, Wilkinson College, received a good review in The Los Angeles Times for his new book, Detroit: A Biography.

Tibor Machan, Ph.D., Ph.D., professor and holder of the R.C. Hoiles Chair in Business Ethics and Free Enterprise at the Argyros School of Business and Economics, has a new paper forthcoming: (with Rainer Ebert) “Innocent Threats and the Moral Problem of Carnivorous Animals,” Journal of Applied Philosophy.

Professor Machan debated Professor Bernie Black of the Northwestern University School of Law at the Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business’ Symposium on April 12 on the topic of the shareholder versus stakeholder theory of corporate management.

Anup K. Prasad, Ph.D., assistant professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, was invited by the University of Alabama in Huntsville for the Special NASA/UAH Atmospheric Science Seminar Program on March 27, 2012. Dr. Prasad presented a talk on one of his recent work on the “Retreat of Himalayan Glaciers: impact of anthropogenic pollution and dust storms on the regional climate.”

The talk focused on the satellite observed signs of melting over the Himalayan and Tibetan Glaciers which are one of the largest bodies of ice and fresh water resources outside of the polar ice caps. The increasing influence of anthropogenic emissions such as soot (black carbon), NOx, SOx, and natural (desert dust) pollutants on the snow cover, albedo, reflectance, energy budget, and long term decadal changes in precipitation and tropospheric temperatures were discussed. The role played by the mix of strongly absorbing aerosols (black carbon) and dust in stimulating net atmospheric heating due to the trapping of solar radiation especially in the lower and middle troposphere and results from the MSU data (1979-2012) over Himalaya and Indo-Gangetic plains were discussed.

Ramesh Singh, Ph.D., professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, has been invited to be the part of the Advisory Scientific Committee of the 8th International Conference on Geo-information for Disaster Management (8th Gi4DM 2012)  (http://www.gi4dm.net/2012), which will take place 13-15 December, 2012, at Enschede, the Netherlands. Gi4DM has been organized annually since 2005 and coordinated by the Joint Board of Geospatial Information Societies (JB GIS) since 2008. The Gi4DM 2012 Advisory Scientific Committee represents the JB GIS ad hoc Committee on Risk and Disaster Management and the international organizations supporting the Value of Geo-Information for Disaster and Risk Management (VALID) project.  The aim of the VALID project is to study the economic, humanitarian, operational and organizational benefits, which can be realized by applying geo-information to disaster management.

Lisa Sparks, Ph.D., professor, Crean School of Health Sciences, Schmid college of Science and Technology, has been awarded a $1.35 million grant from the ASCO-Koman-Conquer Cancer Foundation of Care Grant Award. The grant is entitled: An intervention trial of text messaging to improve patient adherence to adjuvant hormonal therapy. Sparks is a co-investigator on this project with Columbia University School of Medicine, New York, N.Y.

Bart J. Wilson, Ph.D., professor, Argyros School of Business and the School of Law, has co-published the article “Old World Monkeys are More Similar to Humans than New World Monkeys When Playing a Coordination Game,” has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  April 22, 2012.

Dr. Wilson’s article “Contra Private Fairness,” has also been punished in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, April, 2012 issue.

Dr. Wilson co-published the article, “Anarchy, Groups, and Conflict: An Experiment on the Emergence of Protective Associations,” in Social Choice and Welfare, February, 2012 issue.