Melissa Homestead, professor of English, earned a $6,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her research project, “The Creative Partnership of American Novelist Willa Cather and Editor Edith Lewis.”
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Rupal Mehta, assistant professor of political science, presented findings from her research about the benefits and detriments of nuclear latency during April 7 events at the Bureau of International Security at the State Department and at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. Nuclear latency is described as possessing the technology to build nuclear weapons, without having yet done so. Its benefits may include serving as a deterrent against potential aggressors and providing a bargaining chip in international negotiations. It also could be problematic, spurring international sanctions and preventive strikes. In a research article forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly, Mehta and a co-author compared latency measures with military and bargaining outcomes. Their findings suggest that the drawbacks of acquiring latent nuclear capabilities outweigh its advantages as a deterrent. Mehta received funding for her research through a $96,000 award from the Defense Threat Deduction Agency.
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Jolene Smyth, associate professor of sociology and director of the Bureau of Sociological Research, was a member of the team that earned the 2017 Warren J. Mitofsky Innovators Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Smyth and her team of collaborators were honored for their work on developing a web-push data collection methodology. The methodology is now being using by the United States Census Bureau, as well as many other organizations around the world to conduct major surveys relevant to public policy decisions.
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Mark van Roojen, professor of philosophy, earned a $6,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his research project, “Moral Rationalism: Making Sense of the Reasons that Justify and Explain Morally Right Action.”
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A team led by Xiao Cheng Zeng, the Chancellor’s University Professor of Chemistry, published the cover article of the April 5 issue of Advanced Energy Materials. The cover illustration shows the molecular structure of a new material that holds potential for the generation of solar energy. The material is an organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite based on calculations that Zeng’s team performed at the university's Holland Computing Center. To make the material more environmentally friendly while maintaining its energy-conversion efficiency, the team substituted tin and germanium for lead. The work grew out of collaboration with Jinsong Huang, the Susan Rosowski Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, with support from Nebraska’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the National Science Foundation.
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The Office of Graduate Studies presented 10 awards for outstanding graduate education at its annual Graduate Studies Awards Luncheon April 5. Award winners are:
- Katherine Kidwell, psychology,
2017 Outstanding Graduate Research and Creative Activities Award - Raeda Anderson, sociology, and Kaylee Barber, Modern Languages and Literatures,
2017 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award - Grace Bauer, English, Melanie Simpson, biochemistry, and Matthew Van Den Broeke, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,
2017 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education
