EMU paleontologist wins grant to analyze new species of fossil macroalgae—
Eastern Michigan University paleontologist Steven LoDuca and Virginia Tech geobiology professor Shuhai Xiao have been awarded a $160,000 National Science Foundation grant. The grant will benefit a three-year research project to analyze early marine plant life in North America.
The two researchers will focus on fossils like macroalgae, which was the first plant large enough to be seen by the naked eye.
The grant will help to document the diversity of macroalgae that lived at different times and places on Earth.
EMU alumna receives Foreign Affairs Fellowship—
EMU alumna Katie Collins was awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
The award will provide financial support towards a two-year full-time master’s degree program in fields such as public policy, international affairs and public administration.
Collins graduated summa cum laude from EMU in 2010, where she earned a bachelor’s of science in international affairs, and a minor in economics.
As an undergraduate, Collins interned for the State Department at the Consulate General in Frankfurt, Germany. She also joined the Peace Corps and served as an English teacher in Ukraine.
For more information, visit the foundation’s website at woodrow.org.
Education writer to speak at Eastern Michigan University—
Social rights activist Jonathan Kozol will be the first guest speaker in the 2013-14 John W. Porter Distinguished Chair in Urban Education Speaker Series at EMU.
Kozol became an advocate for equality for inner-city students in public schools and is also a non-fiction public education writer.
Kozol graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude in 1958 with a degree in English literature, and was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University.
Kozol’s talk is on Wednesday, June 26 at 1:30 p.m. in the EMU Student Center ballroom. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture. The event is free and open to the public.
For more information, visit the series’ website at emich.edu/coe/porterchair.
EMU raises more than $115,000 from new donors—
Eastern Michigan University surpassed its 100 Grand in 100 Days challenge set by an anonymous donor.
The goal was to raise $100,000 in donations from new donors over 100 days. EMU raised more than $115,000 from more than 760 new donors.
EMU will receive many benefits from the donations including scholarships and department funds, student priorities and athletic teams.
Eastern Michigan University senior Andrew Abad’s “Virtual Watercooler” project at EMU explores how shows affect students’ political ideals—
EMU senior Andrew Abad created a capstone project, “The Virtual Watercooler: Influences of political comedy on social media discussion,” that explores how people use social media in a political context, and how people are using political comedy shows to do the exact same thing.
Abad is working with groups of students to determine their preferences and thoughts about traditional political news shows and political comedy news shows, like “The Colbert Report.”
Abad intends for the research to show that the comedy shows still deliver the daily news, even though they are not labeled news programs. He also seeks to show that these programs have been educational and influential to some viewers.
