Students in the Physics Department presented their summer research at last weekend's Physics Student Research Symposium. Back row (L-R): Rich Barber, Guy Ramon, Chris Weber, Geoff Fox, Isa Camancho '26 (Engineering Physics), Andrew Cates '26 (Physics), Leyand Ding '24 (Physics), Joey Vollert '25 (Engineering Physics), Ivar Rydstrom '24 (Physics), Betty Young, Bacha Lomsadze. Front row (L-R): Renee Chapla '26 (Physics), Ariana Riofrio '26 (Physics, Mathematics), Avery Minter '26 (Physics), Junghwa Yoo '25 (Biochemistry), Ben Bisconti '24 (Engineering Physics), Leo Illing '25 (Physics, Mathematics), Dani Gutierrez '24 (Engineering Physics), Riley Carpenter '25 (Engineering Physics). Not pictured: Allison Zone '25 (Engineering Physics, Mechanical Engineering).

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

I always love to hear what our alumni are doing and how they contribute to their community. And this week, we got great news in that realm! Jason Buenrostro ’09 (Biology, Bioengineering) has been named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, or as it’s colloquially known, he’s received a “Genius Grant!” An associate professor at Harvard now, his research focuses on developing methods and technologies that advance our understanding of the mechanisms regulating gene expression, and it all started here on campus.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the MacArthur Fellowships, these are a big deal, and Jason is SCU’s first MacArthur Fellow. The nomination and vetting process is complex and thorough (even nominators are, well, nominated to nominate!). Moreover, unlike, say, the Nobel Prize, the MacArthur Fellows are recognized for a combination of past achievement and future promise. We are so proud of Jason and look forward to his future accomplishments.

As you know, we welcomed a number of new faculty and staff at Convocation back in September. We have had another person join our ranks since then. Welcome to Joshua Frizzitta who is the new manager of the Machine and Electronics Shop in SCDI!

Sincerely,

Daniel

Highlights

Heather Noel Turner (English) received the 2023 Best Research Paper Award from the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication for her article “What do We Teach When We Say We Teach UX? A Study of the Practices of TPC Instructors.” In collaboration with Dr. Emma Rose at the University of Washington Tacoma, the article presents findings and evidence-based pedagogical practices from a mixed methods study with Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) instructors who teach User Experience (UX).

Future Teachers Project Summer Fellows Program 2023

The Future Teachers Project (FTP) recently hosted its inaugural Summer Fellows Program at Santa Clara University. This program seeks to recruit high-performing, rising seniors from Bay Area high schools, who wish to become teachers and have demonstrated community leadership and a commitment to social justice. Through a competitive application process, 10 students were selected to join us on campus. Summer Fellows had the opportunity to engage with SCU faculty members and students; conduct research studies; and present their findings.

Omar Davila Jr. (Child Studies) is currently serving as Director of the Future Teachers Project. Special acknowledgment is due to Mikaela Dacanay '24 (Psychology, Child Studies), Thalia Rodriguez '24 (English), Brianna Roberto '24 (Child Studies, Studio Art), Kiara Mariscal '23 (Child Studies), and Delilah Garza '23 (Psychology, Child Studies), all of whom are current and former FTP scholars, and served as Program Coordinators.

Tim Urdan (Psychology) and Daniel Teramoto '23 (Psychology) published an article about how college students define success in classes they like or dislike. The article was published in the journal Adolescents. They found that students' definitions of success are much more varied and complex for classes they liked but tend to focus on getting good grades and simply getting through classes they disliked. They also reported different sources for their definitions of success for liked and disliked classes. Adolescents is an open-source journal so access to the full article is free.

Justin Boren (Communication) published a journal article (co-authored with Alice Veksler, Christopher Newport University) in the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology. The article is titled "The stress of nursing: exploring communicatively restricted organizational stress (CROS), effort-reward imbalance, and organizational support among a sample of U.S. working nurses." The study utilized a nation-wide survey of nurses with follow-up member checking interviews to explore how communicatively restricted organizational stress impacts the express of nursing stress. The study expands the Effort-Reward Imbalance model to include a specific communication-related variable and presents some important considerations for improving the working experience for nurses.

Participants greet each other at one of the online summer workshops on integrating sustainability and justice across the curriculum.

After participating in SCU's Sustainability and Justice across the Curriculum workshops this summer, 19 SCU faculty members successfully integrated new material on sustainability and justice into their courses, which will reach hundreds of students per year in Economics, Mathematics & Computer Science, Modern Languages, Ethnic Studies, English, Philosophy, Environmental Studies & Sciences, Undergraduate Studies, as well as Business and Engineering. Faculty from the College were joined online by 40 paying participants from 18 other institutions across the country. The workshops are offered each summer by SCU's Center for Sustainability and SCU's Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative, and taught by Chad Raphael (Communication), Lindsey Kalkbrenner (Center for Sustainability), Leslie Gray (Environmental Studies and Sciences), and Veronica Johnson (Center for Sustainability). The workshops are also affiliated with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), which recognizes SCU's leadership as a national curriculum training center for other colleges and universities. Many participants completed multiple workshops, which focused on integrating sustainability and justice across the curriculum, teaching environmental justice and integral ecology, and effective pedagogy for sustainability and justice. Each workshop included two tracks: one for faculty to design new courses and modules, and one for sustainability officers to design training programs to offer at their own institutions.

Michael Brillman (History) will teach his second course for OLLI@SCU this Fall. He will discuss his specialty of India and the British Empire, concentrating on the history of modern India, from its colonization in the 17th century to its independence in the 20th. He will also debunk mythology surrounding the British colonial project on the subcontinent.

OLLI@SCU will be featuring notable instructors periodically in the College Notes. The average course ranges from 4 to 10 hours of instruction per quarter. We hope this will inspire you to stay updated on OLLI news and possibly teach a class for our members. OLLI instructors are compensated for their time and knowledge; to learn more about the joy of teaching adult learners, contact olli@scu.edu.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar