EMU Neuroscience Undergraduate Presidential Scholars Ravel Ray and Hind Al Khashali, in Hedeel Evans' research laboratory in the Chemistry Department, have been awarded the highly competitive and prestigious National Collegiate Honors Council's (NCHC) 2023 Portz Interdisciplinary Fellowship ($5,000) for their NIH-supported collaborative research project entitled: Effects of Nicotine on the Levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Amyloid Beta (Aβ) in Cell Lines Used as Models for Alzheimer's Disease and Lung Cancer.  

Hind and Ravel were selected as 2023 Portz Fellows from a pool of highly competitive honors students from across the country. The selection committee commented on their thoughtful and relevant purpose, clear research methods, and interdisciplinary approach and was impressed with their preparation, their engagement in honors, and their evident enthusiasm for their project. Each year, the NCHC awards six Portz Fellowships to individual students or teams of two students in a competition for the most creative and innovative research endeavors that cross interdisciplinary boundaries. Only one proposal per year from each member institution is permitted. 

Cancer and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been recently found to share several key pathophysiological features. Recent reports have shown that patients with AD, considered to be the most common type of dementia, might have a reduced cancer risk and some protection against tumor development. Conversely, relative to patients without a history of cancer, patients who had a cancer diagnosis exhibited a slower cognitive decline and were less likely to develop AD. Understanding the intersection of the mechanisms underlying these diseases is currently minimal and represents a lack in our knowledge. Using a highly interdisciplinary approach that combines biochemical methods, biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, chemistry, computer science, and statistics, this research will fill gaps in our understanding and knowledge of pathways, mechanisms, signaling cascades, and molecular links in common between AD and lung cancer. Results will serve as a crucial step toward future research directions in the field and the identification of new preventive and therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.  

This research is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R15GM131222 to Hedeel Guy Evans.

Undergraduate Symposium Scholarships have been awarded to fifteen students in recognition of their excellent presentations at the 43rd annual Undergraduate Symposium. These endowed scholarships have been established through the generosity of friends of the Symposium. The recipients selected by a faculty committee are:

Rana Aabed

Hind Al Khashali

Talal Ali

Merrick Breckler

Delani Creech

Makayla Edwards

Coreena Forstner

Cristece Green

Sean McCormick

Nicholas Mester

Tatianna Rice

Jason Rousell

Casey Schilling-Gray

Brianna Shepherd

Caleb Steiner

Hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences since 1981, the Undergraduate Symposium is EMU's premiere showcase of undergraduate research and creativity. At this year's event, which took place Friday, March 31 at the EMU Student Center, 192 students presented their work through talks, posters, exhibits, and performances. 

This summer, several student members of EMU APEX, a new student organization that aims to study the atmosphere using high-altitude weather balloons, have begun working towards their first balloon launch that will take place during the October 14, 2023 annular eclipse as part of NASA's Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP). One of the scientific goals of the NEBP is to make measurements of atmospheric gravity waves that are created during the eclipse. In preparation for the launch, senior physics student Rosie Friend attended a regional workshop at the University of Maine in Orono with Professors Dave Pawlowski and Tom Kovacs where they worked with other scientists and engineers to better understand and improve the subsystems that will fly as part of the balloon payloads.  Rosie tells us that the best part of the workshop was "…definitely the balloon launches! ...It was my first-ever balloon launch and I got to go to Canada [to retrieve the balloon]!"

Rosie and her fellow EMU students Miles Mercier, Hannah Popofski, Hamza Al Thani, Morgan Sturgis, and Nika Beridze have been building a payload that can make measurements of the atmosphere from ground level up to an altitude of around 100,000 ft. In addition to a suite of scientific instrumentation and a system to manage altitude and bring the balloon safely back to the ground, the students are building a GPS tracking system, a communications system, and a video system so that data and live video can be provided to the public during the eclipse.

The NEBP is supported by NASA and the Montana and Michigan Space Grant Consortia.

Professor Jeromy Hopgood of CMTA's Entertainment Design and Technology program been selected by the jury and curators of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) to have his projection art showcased as a National Designer in the US National Exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space this June. Hopgood is one of only 40 designers selected out of hundreds of applicants to represent the United States in the Prague Quadrennial, which is the most historic and globally recognized international festival of theatrical design and architecture.

Hopgood's portion will showcase the projection design created for AFTER ÜNICA, a solo performance piece written and performed by Ann Arbor theatre artist Malcolm Tulip. This work is deeply rooted in the life and art of Ünica Zurn, the German author and surrealist artist. It features video throughout, with scenery and projections combining to create a video enclosure performed in real-time alongside Tulip. 

The Southeast Michigan Criminal Justice Policy Research Project (SMART) at Eastern Michigan University is collaborating with the city of Chelsea to reimagine safety and security for community members in Washtenaw County.

SMART comprises criminal justice and public administration experts dedicated to mobilizing EMU's expertise in serving the broader community and regional needs in criminal justice reform and policy development. An outside audit of Chelsea's policing practices found that some of their high-risk policies such as training and use of force weren't aligned with national policing agencies. To help improve policing and collaboration between the department and the citizens of Chelsea, SMART faculty will provide training sessions, community engagement events, and strategic planning sessions.  

EMU Political Science Assistant Professor Shu Wang is the project lead and will help facilitate the communication between SMART and Chelsea and monitor the project's progress. 

"I hope this project can help Chelsea heal from the trauma in 2020 by starting a productive conversation between public safety officers and local residents," said Wang. "Through this project, I hope they can learn from each other, foster and solidify trust, and create a shared vision for public safety upheld by the community."

TESOL professor Zuzana Tomaš has spent nearly a quarter century living and working in Slovakia and the same amount of time living and working in the US. After working with students in both countries over the years, she discovered students enjoyed an international experience. This resulted in a virtual exchange program, an international preservice teacher virtual conference, and a new study abroad program in Slovakia.   

A Fulbright U.S. Scholar, Tomaš spent much of the 2021-2022 school year in Slovakia conducting research, teaching, and carrying out professionals projects – including working closely with the Anglistika and Amerikanistika (English and American) department at the Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej (Matej Bel University), a public research university in central Slovakia. 

After working with students in both countries over the years and taking two groups of EMU students abroad for study abroad programs, Tomaš said she "saw first-hand how much these international experiences mean to EMU students on so many levels." Hence the creation of a virtual exchange program with the help of her co-creator, Anna Slatinska,  professor at Matej Bel University (MBU) in Slovakia. 

Professor Jeffrey Bernstein was recently profiled in the American Political Science Association's Political Science Now newsletter. Dr. Bernstein has been a professor in the Department of Political Science since 1997, and in 2021 he became the Director of EMU's Faculty Development Center. This spring, Dr. Bernstein was awarded the William Fennel Symposium Faculty Mentor Award for 2023. 

Professor Bernstein said of EMU, "I am fortunate beyond words that I found a place that enabled me to be the kind of professor I wanted to be. It has made me effective in my job, and made me happy in my career. Having a happy career at an institution like Eastern Michigan University means finding a love for teaching, for working with students, and embracing the opportunity to make a difference in their lives."

Dominique Cooper, an April 2023 Music Performance graduate from the School of Music and Dance, has won the following placements and awards in the prestigious 2023 George Shirley Vocal Competition held at the University of Michigan recently:

• Women Composers Prize: $500 sponsored by Charise R. Sawyer

• Second Prize, College Division: $2,500 in honor of James and Carole Rose

"The George Shirley Vocal Competition is a three-day event consisting of rehearsals, master classes and recitals from competitors ranging from high school to pre-professional levels. The competition's aim is to shed light on African American areas and composers and carry on the tradition through the performance and composition of African American Classical music."

George Shirley received the 2023 Opera News Awards and the School of Music and Dance's Voice Area had the honor of having his presence at the Black Composers Concert, a year-long project in 2022-2023 held at EMU.

Two Master in Arts Administration alumnae, Kristin Danko and Sonimar Maldonado-Alvarado, were accepted into the Ph.D. in Arts Management Program at the University of Kentucky. One of only four programs in the country, Kentucky accepts only 4-6 candidates each year. Drawing candidates both from professionals in arts and culture, and from the academy, the University of Kentucky PhD in Arts Management is designed so students can maintain work in their home communities while applying new knowledge from classes to their local arts organizations and individual creative projects.  Graduates from this program move on to careers in government agencies, academic institutions, large and small arts organizations, and economic and community development organizations, among others. 

Danko is currently the artistic director and co-founder of the Neighborhood Theatre Group, a nonprofit theatre company in Ypsilanti that specializes in original works. She has performed with Water Works Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare in Detroit, the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Upstate Shakespeare Festival, Actor's Theatre Company, and the Jeff Award Winning Quest Theatre Ensemble and Polarity Theatre Ensemble. 

Maldonado-Alvarado is a Latin art administrator, teacher, researcher, and artist from Puerto Rico. Maldonado-Alvarado currently works as the Development and Communications Associate at the Ann Arbor Art Center. This spring her work can be seen at the 22 North Gallery in Ypsilanti, Michigan.