Miami University geology research has far reach, local implications

November 6, 2020

For most faculty, getting their research published in peer-reviewed journals is career gold. It's safe to say in 2020 alone, Miami University Regionals Associate Professor of Geology Dr. Mark Krekeler has the golden touch. Working alongside his students and colleagues from Miami University's Oxford campus, Krekeler had 8 papers published or accepted into noted environmental journals in 2020 …

Psychology students push forward their research despite the pandemic to present at a major national conference

October 30, 2020

Two undergraduate psychology students, who since last May have been working in professor of psychology Christopher Wolfe's Medical Decision Making lab, have been selected to present their research at the 50th annual meeting of the Society for Computation in Psychology on November 19. Three other Miami undergraduate and a graduate student are co-authors on a third presentation …

Stats+Stories podcast honored with national award for mathematics communications

October 28, 2020

Miami University's John Bailer, Richard Campbell and Rosemary Pennington have been honored with the 2021 Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) Communications Award for their "engaging, entertaining and enlightening" Stats + Stories podcast. The annual award is designed to reward and encourage communicators who, on a sustained basis, bring mathematical ideas and information to non-mathematical audiences …

Miami is a Top 100 Sierra Club Cool School and a Princeton Review Green College

October 22, 2020

Miami University ranked 71st among the Sierra Club's "Coolest Schools" 2020 for the greenest colleges. Miami is the top Ohio public university on the list of 312 schools ranked based on food, energy, waste, research, transportation and curriculum. Miami is also again listed in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition, one of 416 schools selected for being environmentally responsible …

Miami's public health program engineers a new contact tracing program for Butler County to fight COVID-19

October 7, 2020

Early this summer, after the COVID-19 pandemic had already swept across the country and shut down college campuses and businesses around the world, Miami's public health program began to put together a plan to help track the virus's rampant spread throughout the local community. …

Miami fire scientist: "Zombie fires" one of new features driving Arctic fires

October 6, 2020

"Zombie fires" and burning of fire-resistant vegetation are new features driving Arctic fires—with strong consequences for the global climate—warn international fire scientists in a commentary published last week in Nature Geoscience. Fire scientist Jessica McCarty, assistant professor of geography at Miami University, and her team found that "Arctic fires are burning earlier and farther north, in landscapes previously thought to be fire resistant" …

Miami commits to carbon neutrality and climate resilience: Virtual PCLC signing ceremony

September 15, 2020

Join Miami University President Greg Crawford as he signs the Second Nature's Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments (PCLC) Climate Commitment in a virtual ceremony at noon Tuesday, September 22. Second Nature president Tim Carter, members of Miami's new Climate Action Task Force executive steering committee, the office of sustainability, and Oxford Mayor Mike Smith will give brief remarks during the ceremony …

Don't let COVID be an excuse to marginalize older Americans

September 9, 2020

Kate de Medeiros, O'Toole Professor of gerontology and a research fellow at the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University, discusses perhaps the most quietly pervasive, and therefore most insidious, negative effects of the coronavirus — the casual dismissal of "the elderly" …

Carolyn S. Craig joins CAS as director of diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging

September 8, 2020

The College of Arts and Science is excited to welcome Carolyn S. Craig to the dean's staff as their new director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Craig has worked at Miami University since 2015 and is credentialed as both a certified diversity professional (CDP) and an advanced certified cultural intelligence professional (ACCQP) …

Instituting a healthier perspective on food: Miami's community supported agriculture program swings into fall

September 2, 2020

Food options in Oxford, Ohio aren't just limited to Bagel and Deli, campus dining halls, or Mac & Joe's. The Institute for Food, founded in 2015, engages the Miami University community around issues of food, health, and sustainable agriculture …

Search for the "wings" of a crustacean sheds light on origins of insect wings

August 26, 2020

Genes from a tiny shrimp-like crustacean could help in the search for the origin of insect wings, a new study finds. To be clear, there is no evidence that any crustaceans ever evolved to fly, according to evolutionary biologist Yoshi Tomoyasu, associate professor of biology at Miami University and senior author of the study recently published in Nature Ecology and Evolution …

Miami's Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation honored with STEM award

August 17, 2020

Miami University's Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) has been named a recipient of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine's 2020 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award. The Inspiring Programs in STEM Award honors colleges and universities that encourage and assist students from underrepresented groups to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) …

Opening Minds through Art masks feature designs made by elders with dementia

August 5, 2020

Since May, Opening Minds through Art (OMA) has been selling cloth masks featuring 29 different artistic designs created by participants in Miami University's award-winning intergenerational art program for people with dementia. "This is how we honor the creativity of people living with dementia. We happily and with pride wear their artwork on our faces," said Elizabeth 'Like' Lokon, director and founder of OMA, which is based in the Scripps Gerontology Center …

Miami chemists' breakthrough technique enables design at the interface of chemistry and biology

July 20, 2020

A technique developed by Miami University associate professors of chemistry and biochemistry Dominik Konkolewicz and Rick Page may help enable more rapid and efficient development of new materials for use in pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and other applications. Konkolewicz and Page's technique uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology to illuminate how proteins and synthetic polymers interact in chemical substances known as bioconjugates …

Psychology department chair discusses the connection between pets and wellness on latest Stats and Stories podcast

July 10, 2020

Miami's long-running Stats and Stories podcast, now in its 8th year, recently interviewed University Distinguished Professor and chair of psychology Allen McConnell about his research on the well-being benefits of socially constructed relationships with family and pets …

Miamians help local landowner in the fight against emerald ash borer

June 25, 2020

Miamians are helping with a program that hopes to greatly reduce the number of emerald ash borer beetles, which have killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America since its detection in 2002. The biological control program involves releasing Asian wasps — parasitoids — on ash trees …

Miami's Scripps researchers find no link between nursing home residents with COVID-19 and facility quality

June 22, 2020

A new study by Miami University's Scripps Gerontology Center found no link between nursing home residents with COVID-19 and facility quality. In recently published research, John Bowblis, professor of economics and Scripps Research Fellow, and Robert Applebaum, professor of gerontology and sociology and director of the Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project, examined resident cases of COVID-19 in Ohio nursing homes and whether the presence of COVID-19 among residents is associated with facility quality …

Generation COVID: Film studies students turn their quarantine experiences into a documentary

June 8, 2020

In mid-March when Miami students were informed that all spring classes would be taught remotely and they would have to move off campus, students in Andy Rice's documentary film production class agreed to work collaboratively on a film about the impact of COVID-19 on the students' lives …

Lei Kerr is inventor on Miami's newest patent

June 3, 2020

A respiratory simulation device, complete with an artificial nose made from a 3D printer, is the subject of Miami University's newest patent and a potential breakthrough in researching, diagnosing and treating breathing disorders. Lei Kerr, professor of chemical, paper and biomedical engineering, is the inventor on the patent along with co-inventors at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base …

Miami receives 5th Beckman Institutional Award for undergraduate research

June 3, 2020

Camaryn Bennett and Hope Kirby are 2020-2021 Beckman Scholars. Miami University is one of 12 institutions nationwide to receive the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation's 2020 -2023 Beckman Scholars Program Institutional Award. The award supports undergraduate research and faculty mentoring for select students in chemistry, biochemistry and the biological sciences …

Lexie Adams awarded Astronaut Scholarship

May 28, 2020

Miami University junior, Alexandra "Lexie" Adams, has been awarded a scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). She is one of 56 students from 41 universities to receive the award for the 2020-2021 academic year. The Astronaut Scholarship is among the most significant merit-based monetary scholarships awarded to undergraduate STEM juniors and seniors who intend to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degree …

First online Undergraduate Research Forum feedback: "Fantastic"

May 28, 2020

Miami University's annual Undergraduate Research Forum (URF) was held April 29, in an online event format for the first time in its 26 years. The traditional poster sessions and oral presentations were hosted on Webex, allowing for attendees join in remotely from across the country. Students appreciated the effort to transform the forum to an online event, according to feedback collected by Joyce Fernandes, director of undergraduate research and professor of biology …

Miami U. research provides new foundation for future environmental studies

May 27, 2020

A 5-year research project driven by students at Miami University is the first of its kind in the Midwest, providing a new foundation for environmental studies throughout the region and serving as a vital resource for future environmental pollution studies in Butler County and beyond …

The Humanities Center presents Laptop Lectures

May 21, 2020

Pepper Stetler, associate professor of art history and associate director of the Humanities Center at Miami University, recently organized the Laptop Lectures series to keep people engaged in the humanities during this pandemic …