Professional Notes

Dr.  Michael Andregg, College of Arts and Sciences (Justice and Peace Studies Department), gave a presentation, “Dialogue and Forgiveness,” at the fifth annual Iftar dinner sponsored Sept. 10 by the Northern Lights Society, a Turkish goodwill and support group, at the University of Minnesota. He also is author of a long review of “A Symposium on Intelligence Ethics,” published in the June issue of Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 24, No. 3. 

Dr. Corrine Carvalho, College of Arts and Sciences (Theology Department), is co-author of Primer on Biblical Methods (Anselm Academic, 2009).

Dr. Mary Anne Chalkley, College of Arts and Sciences (Psychology Department), presented her collaborative study with former UST student Erin Droege, “Head Start’s Short-Term and Long-Term Impact on Maternal Attitudes,” at the annual meeting in May of the Association for Psychological Science in San Francisco.

UST student Annie Gatto is first author on a paper, “As Parents Age: A Qualitative Examination of Communication in Healthy Families,” written with Dr. Mary Anne Chalkley, College of Arts and Sciences (Psychology Department), and Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, School of Engineering. Gattao presented the paper the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science last May in San Francisco.

Dr. Kathryn Combs, Opus College of Business (Finance Department), presented “Casino Taxation: A Preliminary Analysis of the Effects of Illinois 2003-2005 Tax Rates on Illinois Casino AGR” at the Western Economic Association International’s 84th annual conference June 29-July 3 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Co-authors of the paper were Jim Landers, Indiana Legislative Services Agency, and Dr. John Spry, Opus College of Business (Finance Department).

Dr. John D. Holst, College of Applied Professional Studies, is the author of  "Conceptualizing Training in the Radical Adult Education Tradition,” published in the peer-reviewed journal Adult Education Quarterly.

Dr. Ann Johnson, College of Arts and Sciences (Psychology Department), was an invited member of a symposium panel on the “History of Women in Psychology” and presented a paper, “Women in the History of Psychology: The Classic History” at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science last May in San Francisco. Johnson also is co-author (with Dr. Elizabeth Johnston of Sarah Lawrence College) of "Searching for the Second Generation of American Women Psychologists," published in History of Psychology. The article was selected by APA Division 26, the Society for the History of Psychology, as the best article to appear in that journal in 2008.

Father Jan Michael Joncas, Center for Catholic Studies, gave the following presentations at various venues this summer:

  • “A Hovda Lecture “Sing to the Lord: A Theological Perspective” and three breakout sessions (“Wellsprings of Worship,” “Living Waters” and “Future Streams”) at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians convention July 6-10 in Chicago
  • “Roman Catholic English-Language Hymnwriters Since Vatican II” at the annual convention of the Hymn Society July 13 at St. Olaf College in Northfield
  • “Four Cohorts of United States Roman Catholics and Their Implications for Worship,” “Texts and Tunes: Issues in Judging Catholic Worship Music” and “Recent Repertoire for Roman Catholic Sung Worship: Analysis and Critique” at the Liturgical Music Symposium July 21-22 at St. John’s University in Collegeville
  • Two presentations on the new English translations of the Roman Missal and a question-and-answer session with student participants at Music Ministry Alive July 28 and July 30 at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul
  • “New Music for Advent and Christmas,” “History, Mystery, and Majesty: the Liturgies of Christmas and Advent” and  “Coming Soon to an Altar Near You: The New English Translation of the Roman Missal” at the Archdiocesan Liturgical Conference Aug. 27-28 in Orlando, Fla. Joncas also presided and preached at an Evening Vespers Service and a Service of Lessons and Carols at the conference.

Dr. William Ojala, College of Arts and Sciences (Chemistry Department), presented a poster, “Nitrogenous Monosaccharide Derivatives:  Isostructuralism in the N-(monofluorophenyl)mannopyranosylamine Series,” at the annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association July 25-30 in Toronto. The presentation focused on intermolecular interactions significant in the design and preparation of new solid materials. Co-authors of the presentation were UST chemistry students Thomas Skrypek and Brianna MacQueen as well as Ojala’s brother Charles Ojala, a member of the chemistry faculty of Normandale Community College.

Dr. Mary Reichardt, College of Arts and Sciences (Catholic Studies Department), gave the keynote address on Catholic literature at the Catholicism and Public Culture conference June 17-19 in Dublin, Ireland. The interdisciplinary conference was sponsored by the Centre for Public Culture Studies at IADT, Dun Laoghaire; the National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies at ITT, Tallaght, Dublin; and the Kucera Center for Catholic Thought at Loras College in Iowa. Also, Reichardt's edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, a volume in the Ignatius Critical Editions Series, was published by Ignatius Press in August. 

Dr. John Tauer, College of Arts and Sciences (Psychology Department), Dr. Steve Laumakis, College of Arts and Sciences (Philosophy Department), former UST student John Kingsbury and UST student Sara Padley presented their study, “The Effects of Inquiry-Based Learning and Achievement Goals on Student Motivation and Performance,” at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science last May in San Francisco.

Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, School of Engineering; engineering undergraduate student John Gorman and engineering lab manager John Angeli were awarded “Design Distinction” by ID (International Design Magazine) in the 2009 Annual Design Review. The University of St. Thomas project, “a.i.r.: airport information relay,” was a conceptual design of an airport communication device for individuals with special needs. Their project can be found in the July/August issue of the magazine. Thomas also led a session on the “Role of Engineering and Making in the PK-12 Classroom” at the 2009 FOO (Friends of O’Reilley) Camp at the headquarters of O’Reilley Media. The camp invites approximately 300 people from “fields such as mobile, big data, cloud computing, open government, gaming … and all manner of emerging technologies to share their works-in-progress … and tackle challenging problems together.”

Dr. John Wendt, Opus College of Business (Ethics and Business Law Department) is the author of an article, “The Crisis of Doping in Equestrian Sport,” accepted for publication by Entertainment and Sports Lawyer, a publication of the Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries of the American Bar Association.

Students from the Chemistry Department made an exceptionally strong showing in presenting their summer research on Aug. 6 at the MRSEC Summer Undergraduate Research Expo held at the McNamara Alumni Center of the University of Minnesota and sponsored by the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology. UST chemistry students accounted for nearly half of the 58 posters presented in the chemistry division by students from across the United States, and won two won the top three chemistry awards. Melissa Joyce, student of Dr. Joseph Brom, won first place for her poster, “A Computational Study of TiH5+ and CH5+.” Gregory Crane, student of Dr. Katherine Olson, place third for his poster, “Real-Time qPCR Analysis of mRNA Concentrations in Alzheimer’s Infected Mice Brain Cells.” Additional participating UST chemistry students, their advisers and the titles of their posters follow.

Students of Dr. Tony Borgerding:

  • Logan Bodnia, “Analysis of Algal Toxins in Minnesota Waters Using LC-MS-MS"
  • Megan Brown, “Improving the Sensitivity of Measurements Made Using Microdialysis and Gas Chromatography"
  • Heather Gagnon, “Analysis of Phytoremediation Processes in Poplar Saplings with the Use of Microdialysis Probes and Gas Chromatography"
  • Mary Hammer, “Analysis of Atrazine Using LC-MS-MS"
  • Jaryd Heyer, “Analysis of Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) in Water, Plants, and Crayfish in an Aquatic Food Chain Study of Lake Johanna
  • Matthew Humbert, “Gas Phase Microdialysis Extraction:  A Versatile Tool for the Extraction of Volatile Compounds into the Gas Phase
  • Godino Kalungi, “Analysis of PFCs in Fish Samples from Lake Johanna as Part of an Aquatic Food Chain Study”
  • Albert Kertho, “Analysis of Perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in Sediment Samples from Lake Johanna

Students of Dr. Joseph Brom:

  • Ashley Patraw, “A Computational Study of ‘Bridge-Flipped Isomers’”
  • Daniel Sjolund, “Photo-Induced Electron Transfer and Reduction of Pyrromethene with Quencher Molecules in Transient Absorption Spectroscopy"

Students of Dr. J. Thomas Ippoliti:

  • Andrew Michel, “The Synthesis of a Thiadiazole Functionalized Oxazolidinone”
  • Vladimir Vinnik, “A Novel bis-Sulfide en Route to the Synthesis of 4,4-Bipyrazolyl”

Students of Dr. Gary Mabbott:

  • Caitlin Dado and Maivboon Vang, “Development of a Method for Microscopic Titration
  • Luke Kassekert, “Development of a Nanopore for Protein Characterization”
  • Emily Kawesa-Bass, “Identifying Fabric Dyes Using Negative Ion Mode ESI Mass Spectrometry (QTOF2) for Forensic Science Purposes"

Student of Dr. Thomas Marsh:

  • Katie Miller, “Nitrogen Homeostasis in the Invasive Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile” 

Students of Dr. William Ojala:

  •  Sarah Fink, “Solid-State Hydrogen Bonding and Molecular Packing: Two ‘Bridge-Flipped’ Isomeric Carboxylic Acids,”
  • Anthony Gerten, “Solid-State Conformation and Molecular Packing: Two bis-Schiff Bases Related by Dual Imino-Group Reversals”
  • Leah Streitman, “Hydrogen Bonding in Carbohydrate Derivatives: Crystal Structure of a Glucose Cyanophenylhydrazine,”

Students of Dr. Kris Wammer:

  • Aaron Gronseth (with JoJo Nemec and Abby Schutt), “Triclosan Resistance within Bacterial Communities in Natural Waters: Microbial Diversity and Community Composition”
  • JoJo Nemec (with Aaron Gronseth and Abby Schutt), “Triclosan Resistance within Bacterial Communities in Natural Waters:  A Survey of Existing Resistance Levels”
  • Abby Schutt (with Aaron Gronseth and JoJo Nemec), “Triclosan Resistance within Bacterial Communities In Natural Waters: Selection for Resistant Bacteria Due to Long-Term Exposure"
  • Matthew Slattery (with Amanda Stemig), “Analysis of the Antibacterial Properties of Tetracycline and its Photoproducts"
  • Amanda Stemig (with Lanhua Hu and Timothy Strathmann), “Antibacterial Activity of Pharmaceuticals Treated with Potassium Permanganate”
  • Jacob Sundberg, “Enrofloxacin and the Antibacterial Activity of its Photoproducts."