Research Highlights
This page offers a brief sampling of recent research, scholarly, and creative achievements at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. A link to past years' highlights is at the bottom of the page. For more on faculty and student accomplishments, see Perspectives Magazine and Graduate Highlights. For an overview of SIUC research and external funding, see the SIUC Research Profile.
Innovator
In February 2008, mechanical engineer Ajay Mahajan's (right) ultrasonic 3-D navigation system for image-guided brain surgery beat out more than 1,000 entries to win first prize in the medical category in the international Create the Future Contest sponsored by NASA Tech Briefs, Hewlett-Packard, Solidworks, and Comsol. Mahajan's invention will be featured in a Discovery Channel segment and in a NASA Tech Briefs article.
Water in the works
Civil engineer Rolando Bravo was named executive director of the American Institute of Hydrology in January 2008, and the international organization is making SIUC its new headquarters. The initial length of the arrangement is five years, meaning that the University will be a focus of the hydrology and water resources field at least through 2012. Bravo also won diplomat status in late 2007 from the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.
Pushcart Prize
Fiction writer Pinckney Benedict (right) of SIUC's English Department won a 2008 Pushcart Prize—his third such award—for "Mercy," a story published in the Ontario Review. Pushcart Prizes honor the best literary works that appear in small-press publications.
Safeguarding infrastructure
A $1 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration's Intelligent Transportation Systems program will allow SIUC engineers and scientists to create a network of Internet-based wireless sensors and databases that can provide near-real-time data and analysis on the structural soundness of transportation infrastructure, such as bridges. The idea is to pinpoint problems before they can deteriorate to catastrophic proportions, to schedule inspections more efficiently, and ultimately to design structures with such technology in place. The team is headed by Max Yen, director of SIUC's Materials Technology Center.
Recent faculty Fulbrights
Two radio/television professors received Fulbright Awards for 2008. Lisa Brooten will study newly emerging media reform efforts in Thailand and the Philippines, and Leo Gher will teach international mass media and assist with curriculum development in Azerbaijan. Also, journalism professor William Recktenwald received a selective Fulbright Senior Specialists Award to teach six weeks of journalism classes in Uganda.
King of coal
Geologist Jack Crelling (right) received the 2007 Reinhardt Thiessen Medal from the International Committee for Coals and Organic Petrology. Crelling is one of only a handful of Americans to receive this award, a top honor in the study of fossil fuels, during its 50-year history. Crelling is an expert in coal characterization.
Goes to figure
By invitation of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, mathematician Salah Mohammed served as a scientist in residence at the prestigious Mittag-Leffler Institute in Stockholm during fall semester 2007. Mohammed's area of expertise is in stochastic differential equations. He was named SIUC's Outstanding Scholar for 2006.
Publication impact
Two papers by finance expert Wallace "Dave" Davidson are among the most downloaded articles on the Social Science Research Network. One of them, on corporate governance and earnings management, had been downloaded more than 3,300 times as of October 2007.
Recently named fellows
In 2007, psychology professors Peggy Stockdale (right) and Kathie Chwalisz were named fellows of the American Psychological Association for contributions to the field that have had national impact. Fellow psychology professor Lisabeth DiLalla was named a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. Electrical engineering professor Ramanarayanan Viswanathan was named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; less than 0.1 percent of IEEE members are so honored. And physics professor emeritus F. Bary Malik was named a fellow of the American Physical Society.
Renaissance woman
Historian Holly Hurlburt, whose research concerns women and political power during the Renaissance, was awarded a 2007-08 Villa I Tatti Fellowship in Florence, Italy, through the Harvard University Center for Renaissance Studies. Hurlburt's first book, published in 2006, examined the private and public identities of the dogaresse, wives of the elected doges of medieval and early modern Venice.
Philosopher's reward
Larry Hickman (right), philosophy professor and director of the Center for (John) Dewey Studies at SIUC, was honored as the national 2007 Phi Kappa Phi Scholar, an award given only once every three years. Hickman has written or edited many critically accaimed books, has overseen the editing of Dewey's correspondence, and has helped establish Dewey centers in several other countries. SIUC is the only university with more than one Phi Kappa Phi Scholar; physiologist Andrzej Bartke received the honor in 2001. [more] [Perspectives cover story, Fall 2002]
Big finance
The Journal of Banking and Finance, a highly respected international research publication, has announced that Ike Mathur, Henry J. Rehn professor of finance, will become its managing editor beginning January 1, 2008. And in May 2007, an article co-authored by Mathur was named the Journal of Financial Research's Outstanding Article of 2006. Mathur is an expert on international finance and international bank expansions.
All ears
The National Institutes of Health has awarded neuropharmacologist Donald Caspary a $1.5 million grant to study the impact of aging on changes in the brain related to tinnitus (ringing in the ears), a condition that plagues many people. This is Caspary's 25th year of support by NIH to study the biochemical and neural mechanisms of age-related hearing loss and tinnitus, working toward the development of new therapies.
Award-winning poetry
English professor Rodney Jones (right) has won the 2007 Kingsley Tufts Award for his most recent collection, Salvation Blues: One Hundred Poems, 1985-2005, published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The Kingsley Tufts Award, which carries a $100,000 purse, is one of the most prestigious in the world for poetry and is the largest monetary prize in the nation for a mid-career poet. Last year it was won by Lucia Perillo, who has been on leave from SIUC for several years. [more]
Guggenheim award
Multimedia artist Bruce Charlesworth, a lecturer in SIUC's Cinema and Photography Department, won a 2007 fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation—one of 189 recipients from nearly 2,800 applicants. Charlesworth is internationally known as a photographer, filmmaker, and media artist and has had exhibits in many venues. The foundation helps underwrite research and artistic creation. [more]
Ms. Reardon goes to Washington
Sara Reardon (right), a senior in microbiology, was chosen in spring 2007 as one of only 60 students across the country to participate in "Posters on the Hill." This research exhibit at Capitol Hill, sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research, allows students to discuss their work with lawmakers. Reardon won an SIUC undergraduate research grant to support her project, which concerns genetic links to infertility and cancer.
Rehab leaders
Faculty with SIUC's Rehabilitation Institute are serving as editors of three national peer-reviewed journals: the Journal of Rehabilitation Administration, the Journal of Teaching in the Addictions, and The Psychological Record. In addition, associate professor Carl Flowers currently heads the National Rehabilitation Association. The Rehabilitation Institute itself was honored by the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Education, with its 2006 Commissioner's Award for innovation and effectiveness.
Nanowires for security
Chemist Ling Zang (right, with two of his graduate students) is the latest SIUC researcher to win a prestigious five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. The $592,000 grant will allow him to continue work on developing nano-sized "threads" to act as super-fine filters that can capture single molecules from explosives or poisonous substances. His research focuses on both the building blocks and the geometry of these nanowires. [more]
Global physics
The American Physical Society named physicist F. Bary Malik (professor emeritus) the recipient of its 2007 John Wheatley Award. The award honors scientists who have contributed to the development of the field in Third World countries. Malik has collaborated on research projects with physicists from Argentina, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Jordan, and many other countries and has organized countless international conferences. He was named SIUC's Outstanding Scholar in 1996. [more]
Seeing STARs
Three SIUC graduate students hold coveted STAR Fellowships from the Environmental Protection Agency. Andrew Trimble and Amanda Harwood (right), who hold three-year and two-year awards respectively, work with zoologist Michael Lydy to investigate the effects of pollutants such as pesticides on aquatic organisms. [see Perspectives feature] Brian Benscoter, who holds a three-year award and who won SIUC's inaugural Outstanding Graduate Student Researcher award in 2006, works with plant biologist Dale Vitt to study carbon storage in peatland ecosystems, research that relates to global warming. [see Perspectives feature] The fellowships provide between $60,000 and $100,000 in total support for each student.
Diamonds are (nearly) forever
With $342,221 from the Illinois Clean Coal Institute, mechanical engineers Dale Wittmer and Peter Filip are optimizing and demonstrating prototype mining tools using drill bits made of a new composite material they have developed and are patenting. The material, a mix of nickel, aluminum, and metal carbide bonded with industrial diamond powder, is 800 times more wear-resistant than the toughest carbides now used for drilling. [Perspectives feature]
Cultural treasure
An archaeological team directed by anthropologist Izumi Shimada (right) recently made international news for its excavation of 1,000-year-old tombs in northern Peru. Finds include the first "tumi" ceremonial knives discovered by researchers rather than by looters. This will allow study of the knives (Peru's national symbol) and other artifacts, which predate the Inca empire, in their original context. In December 2006 Shimada was awarded Peru's Congressional Distinguished Service Medal for 30 years of scientific contribution to Peruvian archaeology, and he was named SIUC's 2007 Outstanding Scholar. [more] [Perspectives cover story, Spring 2002 ]
English lit coup
Anglo-Irish literature expert Kevin Dettmar received a prestigious $118,892 award from the National Endowment for the Humanities to lead a Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers in Dublin in 2007. The six-week seminar focused on novelist James Joyce's masterpiece, Ulysses. [more]
