This summer College of Charleston students and faculty are going on an oceanographic research expedition, performing a study on athletic mouthguards, and hosting an international Buddhist conference. They are studying abroad and studying down the street. Just don’t call summer a vacation – they see it as an opportunity!
Health and human performance professors Bill Barfield and Miriam Klous will continue work with a group of recent graduates on a study of the biomechanics of Skechers Shape-ups toning shoes. On May 16, 2012, Skechers reached a $40 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for making unwarranted claims about the effects of the shoes. During spring 2012, Barfield’s research group found many differences in how subjects walked barefoot versus when wearing the Shape-ups. This summer, they will expand their study group to include males, older adults, and a closer look at subjects with ankle instability. Barfield can be reached at barfieldw@cofc.edu.
Philosophy professor Christian Coseru is hosting a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute entitled “Investigating Consciousness: Buddhist and Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives.” The Institute has assembled a faculty comprising some of the world’s foremost philosophers of mind, phenomenologists, philosophers of cognitive science, and specialists in Buddhist philosophy for a two weeks long exploration of such key issues in the philosophical study of consciousness as the nature and function of phenomenal consciousness and self-awareness, the relation between consciousness and intentionality, the interplay between the biological, psychological, social and linguistic dimensions of conscious experience, neuroscience, meditation, and consciousness, and methodological issues in the cross-cultural investigation of consciousness. The Institute runs from May 21 through June 2, 2012. For more information, contact Christian Coseru at coseruc@cofc.edu or visit http://coseruc.people.cofc.edu/investigatingconsciousness/
Classics professor Jim Newhard will be developing a web-based database system for the Avkat Archaeological Project (conducted between 2007 and 2009 in the Republic of Turkey). The project will provide a geographic and text-based system for exploring the data collected by the project, as well as integrating archaeological, visual, textual, geographic, and environmental information. The Avkat Project will be a test case for a flexible data system that could hold broader applications in the humane, social, and natural sciences. Based within the Santee-Cooper GIS Laboratory, Newhard spearheads the project that includes geology professor Norm Levine and alumni John Wall and Kurt Goldstein. Newhard can be reached at newhardj@cofc.edu or http://blogs.cofc.edu/thearchaeoinformant. Watch a video from the Avkat site.
Biology Professor Jack DiTullio and two students will embark on an oceanographic research expedition in the North Atlantic this summer aboard the R/V Knorr. They leave Ponta Delgada, Azores on June 15 and arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland on July 15, 2012. Accompanying DiTullio is marine biology graduate student Jacob Kendrick and undergraduate marine biology major Rachel Stevens. This expidition will be the first use of the College’s state-of-the-art mobile laboratory facility that was purchased with a $1.27 million NSF grant. The mobile lab is a multi-user, seagoing, cell-sorting laboratory facility to support research, training, and education in the field of biogeochemical oceanography. Rapid advances now occurring in molecular biology, marine microbial ecology, and flow cytometric technology make this an especially opportune time for such an at-sea cell-sorting laboratory.DiTullio can be reached at ditullioj@cofc.edu.
Health and human performance professor Tim Scheetts is collaborating with a colleague (Wesley Dudgeon, The Citadel) and several College of Charleston graduates to study the impact of a performance mouthpiece (mouthguard) on athletic high intensity exercise. Early results, presented at a conference in April, show that a customized device which rests on the lower jaw can decrease levels of serum cortisol following exercise, which can provide a more rapid recovery. This study on serum hormone levels with a performance mouthpiece is believed to be the first of its kind and will provide new information about how hormones are stimulated. Scheett can be reached at scheettt@cofc.edu. Read more about the research.
This summer, student Diversity Advocates will work with several community groups who have missions focused on diversity and inclusiveness. Some Diversity Advocates will work with Girls Rock Charleston, a camp to empower girls through music and self-esteem workshops, and SONG (Southerners On New Ground), founded to are going to advance Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer multi-racial, multi-issued education and organizing. Others will work with Studio PS, a community center that provides mentoring, art classes and physical fitness actitives for youth. Diversity Advocates are a group of 12 dynamic student leaders genuinely interested in promoting and inspiring greater diversity on campus and in Charleston. For more information, contact Kristi Brian at briankj@cofc.edu.
Historic preservation and community planning professor Barry Stiefel and student assistant Emily Ford are writing a book on the Jewish history of Louisiana. The manuscript will be completed in August with a book release date scheduled during the Fall 2012 semester. The preliminary title of the book is The Jews of the Bayou: Life and Community in New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta Region.
Ten undergraduate students from universities across the country will participate in the NSF Fort Johnson Undergraduate Summer Research Program (REU). The 10-week internship will begin on Wednesday, May 20 and end on August 8, 2012. Participants will investigate impacts of climate change, natural disasters, pollution, and coastal development on the health of marine organisms as individuals, communities, populations and species, using a wide variety of laboratory and field techniques. For more information, contact Karen Burnett at burnettk@cofc.edu.
