research – Page 2 – Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

How SMU computer science professors are using their resources to help find a coronavirus vaccine

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: April 24, 2020 Frederick R. Chang is a cyber security professor, chair of the Department of Computer Science at Southern Methodist University and the founding director of the SMU AI Lab. Jo Guldi is an associate professor of history at SMU, where she teaches text mining and is a founding member of the SMU AI Lab. They wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News. What if university computer scientists, biologists and historians collaborated to use modern artificial intelligence and machine learning to examine a massive trove of infectious disease research papers, text mining for abstract patterns, elusive insights and hard-to-spot trends related to COVID-19 and the coronavirus family of viruses? Imagine the energy such a group could generate if their students, [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-04-24T12:39:24-07:00 April 24th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, History|Comments Off

Scott-Hawkins Lecture Fund Now Accepting Applications for Fall 2020

DCII Originally Posted: April 15, 2020 The DCII welcomes proposals for support from the Scott-Hawkins lecture fund. The DCII is particularly interested in proposals for speakers that appeal to an interdisciplinary audience. Email dcinterdisciplinaryinstitute@smu.edu for info on applying. Link for more information: https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Research/Institutes-and-Centers/DCII/Programs/ScottHawkins

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-04-15T08:08:39-07:00 April 15th, 2020|DCII, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News|Comments Off

Q & A with Robert Harrod, Expert Virologist and SMU Professor of Biological Sciences

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-19T11:35:57-07:00 March 19th, 2020|Biology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News|Comments Off

Professor Amy Kohout Awarded Fellowship for Work on Book

Colorado College Originally Posted: March 11, 2020 Assistant Professor of History Amy Kohout has been awarded a David J. Weber Fellowship for the Study of Southwestern America at the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University. This prestigious award will allow her to complete work on her first book, tentatively titled “Taking the Field: Soldiers, Nature, and Empire on American Frontiers.” The book explores the intersection of ideas about nature and empire through an examination of the experiences of American soldiers in the U.S. West and the Philippines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-26T13:41:07-07:00 March 10th, 2020|SW Center|Comments Off

Mayer Fellow Proposals Due April 1

The DCII is now soliciting proposals for 2020-21 undergraduate Mayer Fellows. Fellows will have access to $2000 to use for research travel or for other research related expenses. Email dcinterdisciplinaryinstitute@smu.edu for application information. Link for more information: https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Research/Institutes-and-Centers/DCII/Scholarship/Mayer

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-05T11:36:23-08:00 March 5th, 2020|DCII, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, Undergraduate News|Comments Off

Genetics Magazine Highlights Research from Department of Biological Science

GENETICS MAGAZINE Originally Posted: March 2020 issue Differential Contributions of DNA-Binding Proteins to Polycomb Response Element Activity at theDrosophila giant Gene ABSTRACT Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins are evolutionarily conserved epigenetic regulators whose primary function is to maintain the transcriptional repression of target genes. Recruitment of Drosophila melanogaster PcG proteins to target genes requires the presence of one or more Polycomb Response Elements (PREs). The functions or necessity for more than one PRE at a gene are not clear and individual PREs at some loci may have distinct regulatory roles. Various combinations of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins are present at a given PRE, but only Pleiohomeotic (Pho) is present at all strong PREs. The giant (gt) locus has two PREs, a proximal PRE1 and a distal PRE2. During [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-05T08:21:38-08:00 March 5th, 2020|Biology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News|Comments Off

VR is making medical training cheaper, better, and more accessible than ever

Digital Trends Originally Posted: March 1, 2020 Sometimes, location is everything. When Dr. Eric Bing started working at Dallas’ Southern Methodist University (SMU), the person in the office next to his would give him a new perspective on how virtual reality can be instrumental in teaching medical students. SMU happens to have one of the world’s best graduate schools for video game design and Bing’s office neighbor, Professor Anthony Cuevas, helps create the curriculum for it. Surgery and first person shooters may seem worlds apart, but over the course of several months, the professors’ neighborly chitchat gave rise to a low-cost VR training system that can be implemented in locations where medical schools are limited, such as sub-saharan Africa. READ MORE

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-03T08:24:57-08:00 March 3rd, 2020|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News|Comments Off

Do women scientists need to wear fake beards to be taken seriously?

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: Feb. 24, 2020 At first glance, the black-and-white photos look like classic images of 19th century scientists. One wears a dark beard and carries a pickax. Another, with a fluffy white handlebar mustache, poses in front of a museum diorama. A third, with a long brown beard, sits at a desk surrounded by an overstuffed bookcase, a safari hat and a giant pine cone. But wait. Something in that last image looks amiss. The cheekbones are smooth, pale. And is that an elegant pashmina scarf wrapped around the scientist’s narrow shoulders? Hmmmm ... The 38 large-format photographs that hang in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., are part of “The Bearded Lady Project,” a tongue-in-cheek traveling [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-03-03T08:27:58-08:00 March 1st, 2020|Anthropology, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Earth Sciences, Faculty News|Comments Off

How does it make any sense to click away our right to privacy?

The Hill Originally Posted: February 27, 2020 Robert J. Howell is the chair of the Philosophy Department at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and is head of the SMU Technology, Society and Value Project. There is little doubt that privacy clauses and terms of service agreements don’t support the moral burden they are meant to carry. All too often they are designed to provide political cover rather than to generate informed consent. Not only does no one read them, but even if someone did and had the attention span and intelligence to follow them, it’s doubtful that they would find all the policies hidden in documents several clicks deep. Interesting fact: If the average American actually read all the policies they encountered, they would lose 76 [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-02-27T11:06:19-08:00 February 27th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, Philosophy|Comments Off

Geologist James Quick named Dean of SMU Graduate School

Dallas Weekly Originally Posted: Feb. 18, 2020 Distinguished geoscientist James Quick will open the doors to a new era of research and interdisciplinary collaboration as Inaugural Dean of SMU’s newly created Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. SMU announced the creation of the Moody School in November 2019, made possible by a landmark $100 million gift from the Moody Foundation. The investment in graduate-level education is fueling SMU’s move to join the finest universities in the country in its development of research with impact, delivered by top-notch faculty and graduate students. Quick, a volcanologist of international stature, joined SMU in 2007 as the University’s first Associate Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies, with the responsibilities of supporting increases in research activity and the [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2020-02-18T08:09:37-08:00 February 18th, 2020|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Earth Sciences, Faculty News, Graduate News|Comments Off