Feuerbacher Helps Organize Prosper Town Hall to Help With Suicide Prevention

Dr. Sarah Feuerbacher, director of Simmons’ Center for Family Counseling, helped Prosper residents organize a town hall after two people killed themselves during a 24 hour period. Her concern hit close to home since of one of them was her neighbor.

According to comments she made to NBC5, she said, “We need to be able to learn, we need to be able to do something for the families who are hurting right now and to help those who are hurting out there.”

Feuerbacher asked student interns to participate and provide counseling services to attendees who requested assistance.

 

 

 

 

Bing Takes Virtual Reality Surgery Simulator to the World Cancer Congress

Professor Eric Bing traveled to the World Cancer Congress in Kuala Lumpur to present how virtual reality for surgical training can positively impact health care in underdeveloped countries.

By discussing the Virtual Reality Surgery Simulator, which is a project created by SMU’s Simmons School and Guildhall, Bing shows that the technology reduces costs and is easily accessible. This is particularly important for locations with poor access to training facilities and staff.

For his video interview with ecancer.org, click here.

Celebrating Upward Bound’s Success on Campus for Half a Century

Upward Bound, the federally funded college access program created in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson, has had significant impact on high school students aspiring to go to college. SMU and Simmons have hosted the program for 50 years, and now 98 percent of its students move on to earn their higher education degrees.  See media coverage.

Project ELVA Video Highlighted on 2018 STEM For All Website

Doris Baker, associate professor in Teaching and Learning, has one of her research projects featured in STEM for All, a National Science Foundation supported website. A video of her Project ELVA (English Language Vocabulary Acquisition) explains the benefits of using an intelligent design tutoring system to guide the instruction and provide prompts to support student language development in science.

Project ELVA was awarded $1,499,586 from the Institute of Education Science, 8/1/2014 to 7/31/2017. Baker’s co-principal investigators were Simmons Professor Stephanie Al Otaiba; Ron Cole and Wayne Ward (Boulder Language Technologies). Doctoral students Jillian Conry and Paul Polanco also assisted.

From Dispute Resolution: How to Apologize the Right Way

As of late, grievances are getting aired publicly, and so are apologies. But what goes into saying, “I’m sorry?” John Potter, clinical associate professor in dispute resolution, spoke with Dan Godwin @Fox4 about  how to construct an apology.

 

 

NYT Covers Locomotor Performance Lab’s Research on Usain Bolt

Simmons Professor Peter Weyand, director of the  Locomotor Performance Laboratory, and colleagues Andrew Udofa and Larry Ryan were featured by the New York Times for their recent research on Usain Bolt’s speed and stride.

Udofa reported  at a conference in June that Bolt may have an asymmetrical stride that influences  his speed. The existence of an unexpected and potentially significant asymmetry in the fastest human runner ever would help scientists better understand the basis of maximal running speeds.  Read more.

 

 

 

 

Simmons Faculty Highlights Math in Everyday Life

Three Simmons professors from the Department of Teaching and Learning participated in the launch of  walkSTEM, a program conducted in the Dallas Arts District during the Pi Day Math Festival on March 14.

Drs. Dara Rossi, Candace Walkington, and Annie Wilhelm helped students, teachers, and families from the Dallas-Fort Worth area understand real-life applications of mathematics. They were a part of the organizer’s efforts, talkStem, to make instruction relevant and engaging. Click here to view SMU’s Mustang Minute.

Testing Motion Capture Software for Teaching Math

Assistant Professor Candace Walkington in Teaching and Learning collaborates with SMU Guildhall summer school students to test how motion capture software may help teach math. Walkington is examining how abstract mathematical concepts can be grounded in students’ out-of-school interests, experiences and everyday reasoning practices.

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