The 2008 Faculty Exposition will be held from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5 in the Commons. The Expo provides an opportunity for faculty to share the results of their research and scholarly activities with their colleagues,
staff and students, and with the community at large. This event is open to all.
The faculty and a brief summary of their recent work includes:
IMPORTANCE OF MARITAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MARITAL SATISFACTION: A COMPARISON OF ASIAN INDIANS IN ARRANGED MARRIAGES AND AMERICANS IN MARRIAGES OF CHOICE - Jayamala Madathil, Counseling - This study compared factors contributing to marital satisfaction and examined correlations between importance of these factors and level of satisfaction for 229 Asian Indians in arranged marriages living in India, 185 Asian Indians in arranged marriages living in the United States, and 173 American Individuals in marriages of choice. Results indicated significant
differences between the three groups for both importance and satisfaction. Implications for multicultural marriage counseling are discussed.
CONTESTED IDENTITIES: HOLOCAUST MEMOIRS OF HIDDEN CHILDREN - Barbara Lesch McCaffry, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies - There is an ever-deepening pool of memoirs being written by children who were hidden during the Holocaust - for many by passing as non-Jewish. This work attempts to explore many questions related to identity including: what does it mean to be safer being someone who you are not and how does one, after the war, reintegrate into one's original "identity" -- or can one? What are the gendered differences reflected in these experiences? are children credible witnesses or should their voices be discounted due to the age at which they had these experiences?
THE CONTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT HABITAT TYPES TO REGIONAL LARVAL SUPPLY: IMPLICATIONS FOR MARINE RESERVES - Karina Nielsen, Megan E. Wood (SSU) and Megan J. Donahue (HSU), Biology - Global fisheries are in steep decline and species losses have led to negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. In response, marine reserves are being implemented to help safeguard ecosystem health and provide spillover of larvae, juveniles and adults into non-reserve areas. Consequently, the reproductive output of local species in potential reserve areas is an important consideration for reserve spatial planning. We are examining the associations among coastal features and habitat type on reproduction and recruitment of the keystone predator, Pisaster ochraceus, and its preferred prey, Mytilus californianus.
THE HISTORY OF METAPHORS OF NATURE IN SCIENCE AND LITERATURE - Stephen Norwick, Environmental Studies & Planning - This is a history of the metaphors of the whole of nature and their use in natural science. It is a contribution to the new field called "environmental history." Each chapter is a parallel history of one of the metaphors which represent the whole of nature such as Mother Nature, the celestial harmony, the great chain of being, and the book of nature, starting with Homer and the Hebrew scriptures.
HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE MEMORIAL SCULPTURE - Jann Nunn, Studio Art - Jann Nunn will present the scale model and a DVD about the Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Sculpture that she has designed and is fabricating for Sonoma State University. The Memorial Grove Sculpture consists of two 40' railroad tracks that converge at the base of a 10" tall internally illuminated glass tower. Rows of ivory colored bricks inscribed with the names of victims of genocides will be in the place of railroad ties. Anticipated completion date is fall 2008.
RECENT RESEARCH AT THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES CENTER - Adrian Praetzellis, Anthropological Studies Center - Since 1974 ASC has given hundreds of SSU students opportunities to participate in scholarly research that are unparalleled in the CSU - and to get paid or internship units while doing it. ASC staff members solicit grants and contracts in the fields of archaeology and historic preservation, and carry out the work with the aid of SSU students. This presentation focuses on student research that had its genesis in ASC projects.
ESTABLISHING A STATE OF THE ART MATERIALS SCIENCE RESEARCH FACILITY - Jeremy Qualls, Physics & Astronomy - In the field of material science new and exciting materials are discovered daily which display unusual
properties. These properties help to realize new frontiers of science as well as pave the way for future technology. The SSU department of Physics and Astronomy is currently developing a new state of the art research facility for this purpose. Qualls will outline many of the capabilities of the new lab as well as current and future research to be carried out.
TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT PHENOTYPIC VARIATION AMONG PHYTOPHTHORA RAMORUM ISOLATES FROM EASTERN SONOMA COUNTY - Nathan Rank, Michael Cohen, and Valerie Sherron, Biology (Additional authors: Brian Anacker, UC Davis; Ross Meentemeyer, Geography, University of No Carolina-Charlotte) - Growth rate and other phenotypic properties of plant pathogens in the laboratory can be useful to develop predictions about the rates of spread and disease consequences of those pathogens under natural conditions. The purpose of this study is to examine phenotypic variation in isolates of Phytophthora ramorum collected from a host plant, Umbellularia californica (California Bay Laurel).
PEN-BASED COMPUTING - Bala Ravikumar, Computer Science- A new milestone in pen-based computing is the introduction of Tablet PC's. We explore a number of uses of tablet PC's ranging from computer games to lecture presentation to recognition of shapes, letters by patterns by a computer.
HIGH POWER LASERS AND NONLINEAR OPTICS RESEARCH AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY - Shailendhar Saraf, Engineering Science -Dr. Shailendhar Saraf will showcase some of his research activities in high power laser development and quantum optics. He will show how laser slabs can be configured to maximize energy extraction and simultaneously lower the quantum noise penalty from amplification. He will also show the application of nonlinear optics in precision measurements below the quantum limit.
GLOBAL LINKS IN LANGUAGE & CULTURE: SWEDISH FACTORS IN THE EMERGENCE OF A NICARAGUAN DEAF COMMUNITY - Richard Senghas, Linguistics/Anthropology - Swedish factors have played key roles in the development of a Deaf community in Nicaragua. A new sign language emerged after 1977, when a special education program brought deaf students together in Barrio SanJudas, Managua. Based on fieldwork conducted in Stockholm, Sweden during a sabbatical during 2006-2007, this presentation offers evidence suggesting that significant political and sociocultural links exist between the Nicaraguan and Swedish Deaf communities, and are part of a larger set of connections involving these two countries.
EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AT SSU - Heather Smith, Psychology - This April, psychology undergraduates and Smith will present the results from three separate research projects at the Western Psychological Association annual meeting. The first project summarizes the results from an experimental investigation of students' reactions to the unfair treatment of another student. The second project summarizes SSU sorority members' reactions to information about their sorority sisters' beliefs about appropriate drinking behavior and the third project summarizes the evaluations of older participants (average age=80) who read and evaluated a short description of a first visit to a doctor.
SURFACE EFFECTS OF MYOGLOBIN ADSORPTION TO FUSED - Nicole M. Litzie, Dr. Meng-Chih Su - This project seeks to characterize the surface adsorption of myoglobin, a protein whose molecular structure in solution has been well studied. Using the absorbance of the heme group as an optical probe, its absorbance activities on a fused silica glass surface will be compared to those of the protein in solution. This research has implications in the field of criminalistics for development of a novel or improved method for identification and analysis of forensic evidence.
EXPLORATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL MORAL AGENCY - John Sullins, Philosophy - Sullins explores the role artificial moral agents play in the field of technoethics. Technoethics is the study of ethics and morality using the tools and techniques of philosophy as it applies to science and technology. Artificial agents that are created or synthesized by technologies such as artificial life (ALife), artificial intelligence (AI), and in robotics present unique challenges to the traditional notion of moral agency and that any successful technoethics must seriously consider that these artificial agents may indeed be artificial moral agents (AMA), worthy of moral concern. Smith will offer some suggestions on the possible ethical concern that these agents should be given.
INPUT COMPLEXITY AND INFORMATION PROCESSING IN GSS-BASED DISCUSSION TASKS INVOLVING VIRTUAL WORK GROUPS: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION - Janejira Sutanonpaiboon, Business Administration - With the globalization of business and an increasing dynamic nature of the business environment, electronic collaboration among the members of work groups to generate ideas, solve problems, and make decisions has become a necessity. A particular type of electronic collaboration is electronic brainstorming, which can be useful for group members engaged in idea generation. Input complexity can influence the level of information processing in electronic brainstorming, and hence affect the outcome of group work. In this research, we report the findings of a laboratory experiment that involved electronic brainstorming in a discussion task.
SURFING THE EVIDENCE AND MAKING IT REAL - Raye Lynn Thomas, Library; Deb Kindy, Jeanette Koshar, and Melissa Vandeveer, Nursing - A collaborative effort between Nursing faculty and a University librarian to develop a comprehensive, hands-on student orientation for finding best practice evidence in nursing; to generate student competency in, and motivate excitement about the research process.
CONSUMER BEHAVIORS OF ADOLESCENT HISPANICS: MARKETING AND BRANDING IMPLICATIONS - Ricardo Villarreal de Silva, Business Administration- The present study examines the roles of ethnic identity, familism, and gender in consumer behaviors of 254 Hispanic adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17. Factor analysis assessed the psychometric properties of Attitudinal Ethnic Identity (AEI), Pan-Hispanic Familism (PHF), and Preference for Branded Products (PBP) scales. Implications for marketing and branding are discussed.
AN INNOVATIVE CURRICULUM ENHANCEMENT FOR FNPS: RURAL AND COMMUNITY CLINIC MANAGEMENT (RCCM) CERTIFICATE/COURSEWORK - Mary Ellen Wilkosz APRN, BC FNP. PhD Student UCSF. Director of the RCCM Program and Wendy Smith APRN, BC FNP. DNS. Sonoma State University FNP Program Director - The poster presentation will present an overview and preliminary evaluation data of newly developed and implemented coursework at Sonoma State University that includes content in Systems and Organizational Integrity, Fiscal Stewardship/Budgeting and Personnel Management and that is applied in a final directed mentorship course. This coursework is designed to provide new and experienced FNPs with additional administrative tools to assure the best, most cost-effective primary care, is accessible to clients.
PUNISHMENT AND SOCIAL DEATH IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA - Tryon Woods, Criminology and Criminal Justice - This project considers the centrality of the African diaspora for grasping the meaning of punishment in the modern world. He explores the connections between the global prison industrial complex (criminal justice and its moorings in the political, economic, and cultural realms) and the structural adjustment policies that have captured black communities and nation-states within the "social incarceration" of debt and dislocation.
PHOTOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF IRON-ONLY HYDROGENASE MODEL COMPOUNDS - Carmen Works, Jessie McDonald, and Marci Peralto - FTIR studies of the photochemical reaction of Fe2(SCH2CH2CH2S)(CO)6 (1) in both acetonitrile and toluene are described. Photochemical and thermal reactivity was studied under air, nitrogen and CO, and results are consistent with the loss of CO from 1 upon photolysis and the generation of a solvento species in both coordinating and non-coordinating solvents.
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES - Jingxian Wu, Engineering Science - This presentation gives an overview of the research and education activities in the area of wireless communications in the Engineering Science department. The research activities cover both theoretical analysis and practical implementation of wireless communications. New enabling technologies have been developed to improve the performance of wireless communications, and a wireless communication test bed is implemented to test the new technologies in practical wireless environment. The research results have been integrated in communication related courses in both undergraduate level and graduate level.
This event is sponsored by the Faculty Subcommittee on Sponsored Programs, the Professional Development Subcommittee, and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, with support from the Office of the Provost.
For more information, contact Carol Hall
