New Frontiers RESEARCH and CREATIVE ACTIVITY at the UNIVERSITY of NEBRASKA KEARNEY
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Office of Graduate Studies and Research | Volume V New Frontiers RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA KEARNEY Performing Passion PAGE 12 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Code Breaker Teaching Teachers Going Global Real Virtuality Living the Fantasy Corporate Coach New Frontiers 2 0 1 2 | 2 0 1 3 omentum at the ence that includes universities in University of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and MNebraska at Kearney Nebraska. The Lopers will find new continues to build, and the competition in the MIAA as they hard work of our faculty and continue their outstanding record staff are evident throughout of success. And with athletic campus. As we watch the competition, we look forward progress taking place before to building new research and our eyes, it is clear that every academic collaborations. step forward increases UNK’s In the midst of these new devel- impact on students, the commu- opments, our focus on excellence in nity, the state and the region. education and original scholarship Few things are as important remains the same. Our faculty to our future, or more critical to rural Nebraska, than devote considerable time to research and creative activity, quality health care, and last spring, we were very pleased and are experts in their disciplines. But professors also to announce an exciting partnership with the University create opportunities for students to engage in their own of Nebraska Medical Center to increase education and research outside of course requirements. Across campus, training in nursing and the allied health professions. A new 25 percent of our students conduct original research and $19 million facility will be created adjacent to Bruner Hall are involved in creative projects, with the College of of Science to house the programs and will include a clinical Natural and Social Sciences leading the way at more than simulation laboratory, anatomy and physiology laboratories, 60 percent. Students in Fine Arts and Humanities are close and technology for state-of-the-art distance education. All behind at 35 percent. Such opportunities are powerful will be dedicated to enhancing and expanding four-year learning experiences for students as they prepare for their and graduate nursing opportunities, and delivering new futures, and our growing enrollment numbers reflect that programs in the fields of clinical laboratory science, they understand the value of the UNK experience. diagnostic medical sonography, physician assistant, physical Every year we attract talented new faculty to join the therapy and radiography. ranks of scholars who lead the institution. This issue of UNK is also an important part of the arts community New Frontiers focuses on some of the contributions they in Nebraska, and we were pleased to hire Dr. Deborah are already making. We hope you enjoy reading about Freedman last year. Dr. Freedman is the first to hold the them, and we invite you to visit UNK and see for yourself Ronald J. Crocker Chair in Orchestra and is the new the strides we are making. director of the Kearney Symphony Orchestra. KSO enriches the cultural landscape in central and western Nebraska with performances throughout the fall and spring seasons. This summer, UNK joined the Mid-America Intercol- DOUGLAS A. KRISTENSEN, J.D. legiate Athletics Association (MIAA), an athletic confer- Chancellor Rated Topm 10 you can at 1 New Frontiers RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA KEARNEY V O L U M E V New Frontiers 2012-2013 is published by the Office of Graduate FEATURES Studies and Research at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. This publication is designed to highlight research, scholarship and creative activity in and across disciplines. Any use of trade names in the articles does not imply endorsement by the university. Further, opinions expressed in this publication do not represent the official 4 Code Breaker Welcome to the fifth issue of New Frontiers! view of the university. Dawn Simon Articles appearing in New Frontiers may be reprinted provided At the University of Nebraska at Seventy-seven percent of our classroom faculty have endorsement by the university of a commercial product is not stated 7 Teaching Teachers terminal degrees, and they not only teach students but they or implied. Please credit the researchers involved and the University Jane Strawhecker Kearney, we view our mission as a are also contributing to their fields of study. Our faculty, such of Nebraska at Kearney. commitment to be one of the nation’s as those featured in this issue of New Frontiers, work in commu- OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH nities of experts to expand the body of knowledge. This quest for Dr. Kenya Taylor, Dean 10 Going Global premier undergraduate institutions, Satoshi Machida knowledge and the passion for their subjects brings energy and SPONSORED PROGRAMS with excellent graduate education, expertise to the learning environment. Dr. John Falconer, Director 12 Performing Passion scholarship and public service. This issue highlights the accomplishments of several faculty at relatively early stages of their careers. Each came to MANAGING EDITOR Ting-Lan Chen Along with our legacy of strong teaching, a commit- Glennis Nagel ment for faculty members to engage in meaningful UNK with a passion to teach, and a demonstrated interest in 16 Real Virtuality scholarship has evolved. Our strength lies in combining and training for conducting scholarship. We consider this CREATIVE/ART DIRECTOR Randy Mattley Brenda Eschenbrenner teaching with research and creative activity to create combination a high priority in recruiting new faculty. The scholars featured in this issue of New Frontiers provide a glimpse innovative classroom experiences. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS at just some of the important work being done at UNK. These Faculty accomplishments in research and creative activ- Jan Treffer Thompson 19 Living the Fantasy Lori Potter ity serve as the foundation for involving students in research faculty illustrate UNK’s growth in research and creative activity, John Stanko and demonstrate the university’s commitment to scholarship in opportunities outside of class. This is one of our priorities. PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS Students publish in the Undergraduate Research Journal, the arts and humanities, education, business, basic and applied Melenbacker Photography, iStock Photography 22 Corporate Coach present at UNK’s Student Research Day and present at the science, and social sciences. All photographs are property of UNK Creative Services Jake Messersmith As you read, you will see UNK researchers can be found and were taken exclusively for use by the University National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) of Nebraska at Kearney. and other professional conferences. More than 25 percent of working in the lab, the classroom, the community and through- our students do original scholarly projects under the super- out the world. I hope you enjoy reading about some of their Postmaster: research and the global impact it has. Please send address changes to: vision of faculty mentors. Two years in a row, UNK students New Frontiers Magazine have been selected to participate in the prestigious Posters 905 West 25th Street on the Hill event in Washington, D.C. 1000 Founders Hall University of Nebraska at Kearney KENYA S. TAYLOR, Ed.D. Kearney, Nebraska 68849 Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Or you may call: 308.865.8208 Dean for Graduate Studies and Research email: [email protected] unk.edu The University of Nebraska is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. Individuals needing accommodation under ADA should contact the ADA Coordinator at UNK, 308.865.8655. Designed and produced by UNK Creative Services. 2 3 New Frontiers New Frontiers undergraduate at the University of Iowa, Simon said, the gradu- an University on a project that will build more sequence analysis ate students who worked in the laboratory would sequence a training into biology curricula. Titled “Integrating Bioinformat- handful of genes per year. Now, there are thousands of sequences ics Into the Life Sciences,” the project has researchers at each available to scientists. institution creating laboratory units for all curriculum levels. Sequence analysis remains a highly specialized field, how- Simon said she and Letitia Reichart, a UNK assistant professor of ever, and even fewer scientists share Simon’s focus on a particular biology, have developed one lab thus far, and will eventually have type of sequence, called an intron. From that group, perhaps 20. The idea, she said, is to introduce more students to more only a handful of scientists share her specialty—Group I and research training, earlier. Group II intron evolution. “For me, my favorite thing to do is research, and I think you Her intense focus has led Simon to publish 10 articles on don’t know if you like research until you try it,” she said. intron-related research, including the results of a 2009 broad-scale It’s the hunt for answers within a mass of data that first at- study of Group II introns in bacteria that is the most compre- tracted Simon to molecular evolution and to science in general. hensive treatment of the subject to date. Since coming to UNK, Growing up in Cascade, Iowa, she said she first became serious Simon has participated in projects funded by almost $1.5 mil- about studying science after she tackled genetics problems in a lion in grants and has collaborated with specialists in many other sophomore biology class. subfields of biology. As colleague Kim Carlson explained, Simon’s As an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, Simon found expertise and passion for bioinformatics put her in high demand. a question that has kept her searching for answers. “Ever since “She brings a very unique part of biology that (UNK) hadn’t someone told me what (introns) were, I started thinking, ‘Why, had, and many other places have started to have, and we needed why do they exist?’” to have,” said Carlson, who was also on the search committee for Introns are nucleotide sequences – small bits of an organism’s Simon’s position.