The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute (Picker ISI) announces this year’s grant awards supporting interdisciplinary approaches in innovative research. The grants bring together Colgate faculty and other researchers with complementary expertise to open new areas of study and to tackle existing problems in creative new ways.

This year there are four project awards:

Spencer D. Kelly, Professor of Psychology and Brain Sciences, and Yukari Hirata, Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures have received an award of $26,000 for their project “Accentuating the Positive: Can Co-Speech Hand Gestures Help Judgments of Accent in a Foreign Language?”. The project will investigate whether speakers of a foreign language can use culturally appropriate hand gestures to help make their accents easier to understand to native speakers. This work will also explore whether hand gestures can reduce some of the negative stigma associated with non-native accents during cross-cultural communication.

Erin Cooley, Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Lauren Philbrook, Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, William Cipolli, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, and collaborators Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi (University of Virginia), and Ryan Lei (Haverford College) have received a two-year award for $160,000 for their project “Why does rich = White and poor = Black in the minds of United States’ citizens? Race-based class assumptions and their consequences for increasing racial resentment and race-related health disparities in the United States.” Using a multi-method approach, they will investigate the psychological processes that link race with social class as well as the psychological and physical consequences of these associations. Such findings should advance the scientific understanding of why the macro-level race wealth gap exists, while also illuminating unique forms of discrimination that may be experienced by poor people of different races.

Frank M. Frey, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, Peter R. Scull, Professor of Geography, and their collaborators Birungi Mutahunga, Nkalubo Julius, Kuule Yusufu, Oloya Sam, Nahabwe Haven, and Isabirye Gideon (Bwindi Community Hospital, Uganda) have received a two-year award for $130,000 for their project “Prevalence and predictors of antimicrobial resistance in clinical- and community-acquired upper respiratory bacterial samples in children under 5 in southwestern Uganda”. They will study the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in pathogens causing upper respiratory illness in southwestern Uganda, and identify factors associated with this resistance profile through a consideration of socio-demographic factors, access to and distribution of antibiotic drugs in the community, and unprescribed antibiotic use.

Linda Y. Tseng, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Physics, and her collaborators Pitiporn Asvapathanagul (California State University, Long Beach) and Phillip B. Gedalanga, (California State University, Fullerton) have received a two-year award for $116,000 for their project “Investigating the fate and transport of microplastics and their ecological impacts in natural and engineered systems”. Microplastics are small plastic particles and are found ubiquitously in the environment. Despite concerns of microplastics in the environment, the connection between their transport and the impact of these microplastics is not well-known, and could have large influence on human and ecological systems. This project intends to explore the transport and impact of microplastics.

The mission of the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute at Colgate University is to foster the creation of new knowledge that is obtainable only through the development of sustained interdisciplinary research. The Institute supports internal and external collaborations among faculty who bring expertise from different disciplines to bear on current and emerging scientific problems that remain intractable to the methods used within a single discipline. The Institute also encourages interdisciplinary approaches to learning through innovative curricular and research opportunities for students that may arise from the pursuit of interdisciplinary research projects.

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The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute (Picker ISI) announces this year’s grant awards supporting interdisciplinary approaches in innovative research. The grants bring together Colgate faculty and other researchers with complementary expertise to open new areas of study and to tackle existing problems in creative new ways.

This year there is one project award:

Elodie Fourquet, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, and her collaborator Flip Phillips, Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Skidmore College, have received a two-year award of $101,262 from the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute for their project “Representing and Perceiving Depth in Digital Images”. Humans easily and reliably perceive relative depth in two-dimensional images, such as photographs, realistic paintings, and even sketches. We do this despite the inaccurate depiction or absence of many depth cues that exist in natural 3D environments. Can we understand and digitally reproduce the visual information that makes this possible?

To produce 2D images of 3D scenes, this project uses computer graphics algorithms based on the projective geometric calculations of Renaissance artist-mathematicians. Psychophysical methods measure observers’ perception of the 3D scenes as the 2D pictorial information varies, providing critical insight into the human visual system’s interpretation of 3D space. The results of these experiments will guide improvement of the depiction of 3D depth in 2D imagery. This, in turn, will facilitate richer content in computer-generated images for illustration and visualization — two important research areas in computer graphics.

The mission of the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute at Colgate University is to foster the creation of new knowledge that is obtainable only through the development of sustained interdisciplinary research. The Institute supports internal and external collaborations among faculty who bring expertise from different disciplines to bear on current and emerging scientific problems that remain intractable to the methods used within a single discipline. The Institute also encourages interdisciplinary approaches to learning through innovative curricular and research opportunities for students that may arise from the pursuit of interdisciplinary research projects.

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Wan-chun Liu

Wan-chun Liu, Assistant Professor of Psychology, along with collaborators Dmitriy Aronov (Columbia University) and Atsushi Miyanohara (UCSD) have received a two-year award of $155,000 for their project “Use of optogenetics to identify the effect of social interaction on the development of vocal learning circuits”. Optogenetics involves genetic manipulation which provides neurons with light sensitive activity. This project will create two lines of optogenetic songbirds allowing external control of gene expression related to learning of songs. In addition it will construct a computer tracking facility to monitor the social interaction of the birds as they learn songs from their parents. The research will explore the influence of social interaction on learning in songbirds.

Neil Albert, Krista Ingram, and Jenn Lutman

Neil Albert, Lecturer in Psychology and Neuroscience; Krista Ingram, Associate Professor of Biology, and Jenn Lutman, Director of the Writing and Speaking Center, have received a two year award of $24,342 for their project: “The Paradox of Peak Performance in Elite Scholar-Athletes: Disentangling Circadian and Sleep Effects on Effort and Performance.” This project explores the genetic basis of time-of-day variation and impacts of circadian rhythms on physical and cognitive performance. In particular, genetic variations which influence circadian rhythms predict that some people are naturally night-owls or morning larks. This work will quantify the associations between these genetic markers, sleep quality, and performance by time-of-day.

Enrique Galvez

Enrique Galvez, Charles A Dana Professor of Physics, and his collaborators Robert Alfano (City College of New York) and Linyan Shi (Columbia University) have received a two-year award of $82,000 for the project “Biomedical Diagnosis with Quantum Entanglement”. The project explores the diagnosis of medical tissue using quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement of twin photons allows monitoring photons going through tissue by measuring partner photons outside the tissue. This has promise as an alternative method to detect disease and to do noninvasive imaging.

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Ahmet Ay

Ahmet Ay (Biology and Mathematics) and his collaborator Ertugrul Ozbudak (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) have been awarded $107,392 for their project “Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Vertebral Segmentation Clock”. The gene regulatory network instructingdevelopment of the vertebral column has remained elusive. Expression of multiple genes display dynamic waves in the precursor cells, which are primed to differentiate into the vertebrae disks. This project will combine computational methods for modeling large-scale systems with molecular perturbation techniques in the laboratory to pin down the gene regulatory circuit controlling segmentation of the vertebrae disks during embryonic development.

Jessica Graybill

Jessica Graybill (Geography and Russian & Eurasian Studies) and her collaborators Andrey Petrov (University of Northern Iowa) and Gleb Kraev (Moscow State University) have received a one-year award of $37,430 for their project “Tundra Tracks: Mapping Community and Carbon Mobilities in the Russian Arctic”. Vehicle tracks have a long term impact on the tundra in Arctic Russia. Unused tracks remain recognizable from satellite images ~40 years after creation. The tracks damage plant cover, compact and disengage soil layers and change energy and matter fluxes. Their impact on large scale climate is unknown. They are also intertwined with human activity and community in these regions. This project will explore how carbon fluxes vary on or near tracks, how the tracks vary in density and distribution and how their presence interacts with nearby human communities.

Michael Loranty and Heather Kropp

Michael Loranty and Heather Kropp (Geography) and their collaborators Nick Rutter (Northumbria University, UK) and Chris Fletcher (University of Waterloo, CA) have received a two-year award of $136,545 for their project “Impacts of boreal climate feedbacks on climate change”. Boreal forests represent approximately one-fifth of the Northern Hemisphere land surface and strongly influence global climate. Declines in the duration and extent of seasonal snow cover across the boreal region increases the absorption of solar radiation, which amplifies climate warming. The strength of this positive feedback varies widely between climate models because it is difficult to represent complex snow-forest- climate interactions. This project will confront climate model representations with field measurements and satellite observations of boreal forest-snow energy dynamics. The researchers aim to improve the understanding and climate model representation of interactions between boreal forest structure, snow cover, and climate dynamics.

Tim McCay, Damhnait McHugh, and Ahmet Ay

Tim McCay and Damhnait McHugh (Biology) and Ahmet Ay (Biology and Mathematics) have received a two-year award of $152,907 for their project “An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding Ongoing Biological Invasions by Crazy Worms (Amynthas) in North America”. Earthworms of the genus Amynthas are rapidly invading North America from Asia. These large, lively worms (aka “Crazy Worms”) have large effects on the ecosystems they invade, but we know very little about their basic biology and potential for spread. This project will integrate fieldwork, lab experiments, molecular analyses, and mathematical modeling to reveal the life history and physiological tolerances of these earthworms, reconstruct their historical invasion of North America, and make predictive statements about their spread and impact. The goal is to learn enough about Amynthas to inform management strategies for these invasive species.

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A Colgate research team has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation for the project “CNH-­‐S: RUI: Understanding the effective processes by which communities manage tropical forests.”

The research team is studying the extent, status and conservation of Ethiopian sacred forests. Numbering in the thousands, these sites protect some of the last remaining native forest in the country’s northern region. In each case, a ring of forest surrounds a Christian Orthodox church. The forests stand out dramatically in a landscape otherwise dominated by agriculture and rangeland. The project’s main goals are to explain the mechanisms of sacred forest protection, and determine why some sacred forest communities are responding well to social change while others are witnessing severe forest degradation. The research team uses mixed methods, including ecological sampling, geographic information science, ethnography, interviews, and archival analysis.

Tropical deforestation is an important threat to livelihoods, biodiversity, and is a large contributor to anthropogenic global warming. Explaining how sacred forests function is both a celebration of what is likely centuries-­long protection as well as an opportunity to evaluate the system for lessons about sustainable land management – knowledge that is critically needed in a time of unprecedented land-­use change in the tropics.

Principle investigator, Catherine Cardelús (biology), first traveled to Ethiopia in 2009 with funding from Colgate University’s Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute. Subsequently, two years of additional funding from the Picker was awarded to Cardelús, Peter Scull (geography), Peter Klepeis (geography), Eliza Kent (religion), Carrie Woods (biology), Alemayehu Wassie (forestry), and Izabela Orlowska (history). This funding supported extensive fieldwork by Wassie and Orlowska as well as three research trips to Ethiopia to collect field data, which proved critical in the NSF proposal writing process.

Six Colgate students participated in the Ethiopia field work, and seven students have conducted class projects, independent research, or senior theses related to the project.

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A fragment of the La Paz Icefield 02205 meteorite, which comes from the Moon, is mounted for analysis with the prototype dating spectrometer, alongside a smaller piece of glass which serves as a standard. Levine and his colleagues are investigating this lunar specimen to learn how best to date lunar rocks in situ on the Moon.

The institute is awarding a second year of funding to Jonathan Levine (Physics and Astronomy) and his collaborators F. Scott Anderson and Tom J. Whittaker (Southwest Research Institute), for their project: “Mineral Identification with a Prototype Dating Spectrometer for Spaceflight.”

The history of the planets is recorded in extraterrestrial rocks. However, most extraterrestrial rocks with known absolute ages are meteorites, whose precise origins are difficult to ascertain. A major objective of planetary science is to date planetary specimens whose geologic contexts are known, so as to determine the timing of specific events in solar system history, such as the volcanic eruptions that caused the craters that cover much of the Earth-facing side of the Moon.

To this end, a team including Jonathan Levine is building a novel mass spectrometer capable of dating rocks on the basis of the rubidium and strontium isotope abundances in their constituent minerals. This instrument is novel in that its components are all miniaturizable for spaceflight: the aim is to one day land it on the Moon or a planet, and to date rocks in situ.

The funded research would allow Levine’s team to develop techniques for identifying the minerals that they are dating, so as to optimally interpret the age data they obtain.

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In November 2014, the Colgate Campus saw the installation of a sculpture by DeWitt Godfrey in the courtyard between Ho Science Center and Olin Hall. The sculpture is named Odin. It took about a week of work on the site just to move the sculpture into place. Framing to hold the pieces during assembly was constructed and then removed. A ceremony to celebrate the sculpture is planned for late April 2015.

This sculpture came out of a project funded by the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute lead by DeWitt Godfrey, Department of Art & Art History; Tom Tucker, Department of Mathematics; Tomaz Pisanski, University of Ljubljiana; and Daniel Bosia, Expedition Engineering, U.K. The work was described by the artist in an announcement to the campus as follows:

“Odin” is the culmination of a Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute funded project, Mathematical Methodologies for Art and Design. Our team of principal investigators– myself, artist; Thomas Tucker and Tomaz Pisanski, mathematicians; Daniel Bosia, architect and engineer (joined by students, alumni and community members) engaged mathematical, computational and structural questions with theoretical, virtual and practical components. Design concepts were prototyped and tested and the physical manifestations were fed back into the virtual models to model more accurately the physical realities of the prototypes. The resulting structure would be otherwise impossible to conceive and fabricate without this collaborative process and digital tools.

The sculpture consists of a surface of compound curvature, packed with approximately 240 individual weathering steel conical sections (frustums) When finished it will be 40’ in diameter and nearly 20’ tall, filling and bisecting the courtyard formed at the intersection of the Ho Science Center and Olin Hall.

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Colgate professor Jonathan Levine and his collaborators are designing a novel mass spectrometer to try to better determine the ages of rocks on Mars.

Two interdisciplinary science research projects featuring collaborations among faculty from Colgate University and around the world have been awarded funding from the Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute at Colgate.

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The Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute announces the award of grants supporting interdisciplinary approaches in innovative research. The grants bring together Colgate faculty and other researchers with complementary expertise to open new areas of study and to tackle existing problems in creative new ways. This year, the awards go to two research teams:

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