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<div class="style7" align="right">
<div class="style3" align="left"> IN FOCUS: May 9, 2008</div>
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<div align="left"><b> TOP NEWS </b></div>
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<td bordercolor="#FFFFFF" border-weight="1px" bgcolor="#000000"
height="15" width="117"><b><span class="style7"><font color="#ffffff">CALENDAR</font></span></b></td>
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<th class="style6" scope="row" align="left" valign="top">FIVE
SUMMER RESEARCH PROJECTS RECEIVE FUNDING</th>
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<td rowspan="20" bordercolor="#000000" valign="top" width="117"><b>CAMPUS
CALENDAR </b><br>
<br>
To view upcoming events at Southwestern by day, week or month, click <a
href="http://www.southwestern.edu/sucalendar/main.php">here</a>.</td>
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<p>Southwestern faculty members will collaborate with students
this summer on research projects covering subjects from artificial
intelligence to theatre, thanks to awards from the Fleming
Collaborative Research and Creative Activity Program.</p>
<p>The program enables faculty members and students to engage in
projects that go beyond the scope of regular coursework. Five different
projects totaling $113,000 were funded for 2008. The projects involve a
total of 13 faculty members and 35 students:</p>
<p>• <strong>Steve Alexander</strong>, associate professor of
physics, and Walt Potter, professor of math and computer science,
received $22,000 for a project that will use artificial intelligence
techniques to find organic molecules that interact with light in a very
precisely defined manner. These molecules could potentially be used in
a variety of industrial applications. Five students will be involved
with this project. Part of this project involves developing a computer
“cluster” that will be available after the project to anyone on campus
who needs large amounts of computer time for their research.</p>
<p>• The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry received
$68,000 that will enable all of its faculty members to work with
student researchers over the summer. Thirteen students will be funded
through this grant. </p>
<p>• <strong>Sergio Costola</strong>, assistant professor of
theatre, received $3,900 that will enable English major and Brown
Scholar <strong>Delilah Dominguez</strong> to attend the Rhodopi
International Theatre Collective in Smolyan, Bulgaria. Dominguez and
three other students are helping Costola write the text for a
multimedia performance piece that will be presented Aug. 11.</p>
<p>• <strong>Kathleen Juhl</strong>, associate professor of
theatre, received $12,000 to develop a Theatre for Social Change
production that will become part of Southwestern’s First-Year Student
Orientation Program. Sixteen students, including senior theatre major <strong>Lindsey
Smith</strong>, will be involved with the production, which is
scheduled to be presented Aug. 23. </p>
<p>• <strong>Sandi Nenga</strong>, assistant professor of
sociology, received $6,500 to conduct a study of how youth use media,
technology and language to organize their peer culture. The study will
be conducted on sixth, seventh and eighth graders attending a middle
school summer camp in Georgetown. Sociology major <strong>Tristine
Baccam</strong> will assist Nenga with her research.</p>
<p>John McCann, assistant dean for faculty development and
sponsored programs, says these eight-week collaborative projects help
students learn teamwork, problem solving and the techniques necessary
to progress to more advanced work in professional and graduate schools.
</p>
<p>“Undergraduate research experiences have become an essential
part of student education, particularly in the sciences,” McCann says.<br>
</p>
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<th class="style6" scope="row" align="left" valign="top">FIVE
SOUTHWESTERN STUDENTS SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN SUMMER RESEARCH
PROJECTS SPONSORED BY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION</th>
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<p>Five Southwestern students have been selected to participate
in summer research programs sponsored by the National Science
Foundation. </p>
<p>The programs are all part of the NSF’s Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) program. Students selected for the program receive
travel expenses, room and board, and a stipend of up to $4,000.</p>
<p>To read the rest of this story, click <a
href="http://www.southwestern.edu/cgi-bin/newsroom/article.cgi?id=82">here</a>.
<br>
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<td class="style6" scope="row" align="left" valign="top"><strong>TWO
SOUTHWESTERN STUDENTS RECEIVE FULBRIGHT TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS </strong></td>
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<p>Two seniors graduating from Southwestern this month have been
awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships in Germany.</p>
<p><strong>Chelsea Edge</strong> and <strong>Amy Tanguay</strong>
will spend nine months teaching English to students in Germany. </p>
<p>To read the rest of this story, click <a
href="http://www.southwestern.edu/cgi-bin/newsroom/article.cgi?id=83">here</a>.</p>
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<div align="left">EVENTS</div>
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ALDERSGATE DAY CELEBRATION MAY 22</th>
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<p>Southwestern will host an Aldersgate Day celebration on
Thursday, May 22. The event observes the 270th anniversary of John
Wesley’s “heart-warming” experience at Aldersgate Street in London,
which became the basis for the Methodist faith. </p>
<p>The program will begin at 10 a.m. in the Lois Perkins Chapel
with the singing of Wesleyan hymns led by Southwestern alumnus Henry
Holloway. This will be followed by a talk on “Christian Community” by
Rev. Debra Crumpton, senior pastor at Georgetown’s Wellspring United
Methodist Church.</p>
<p>From noon to 1 p.m., a buffet lunch will be available for
purchase in the Red & Charline McCombs Campus Center for $6.50 per
person. After lunch, participants will visit a special library exhibit
at Southwestern featuring antique Wesleyan music publications. At 1
p.m., Ellsworth Peterson, professor emeritus of music at Southwestern,
will offer a multimedia presentation on the topic of “The Wesleys and
English Cathedral Music.” The day will conclude with the singing of
additional Wesleyan hymns.</p>
<p>The event is open to the public. To attend the event, call
800-960-6363 or write <a href="alumni@southwestern.edu">alumni@southwestern.edu</a>.</p>
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<div class="style8" align="left">MEDIA COVERAGE </div>
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<p align="left">• The<em> Williamson County Sun</em> ran a
feature story about Laura Hobgood Oster’s new book on animals in
religious tradition.</p>
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<div class="style8" align="left">NOTABLES</div>
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<p align="left">Seniors <strong>Lindsey Albracht</strong> and <strong>Rory
Aguirre</strong> have been accepted into the French Teaching
Assistantship program sponsored by the French Ministry of Education.
Albracht will spend seven months teaching in the Toulouse region and
Aguirre will teach in Nancy/Metz.</p>
<p><strong>Maria Cuevas</strong>, assistant professor of biology,
has had an article accepted for publication by Oncology Reports. The
research for the paper, titled “In vitro: cytoxic activity of
anthrapyrazole analogues in human prostate DU-145 and testicular
NETRA-2 carcinoma cells,” was conducted with Kurt Seilheimer ’07 during
the Biology Summer Research Program in 2006 and the 2006-07 academic
year. It was partially funded by the Fleming Fund awarded to the
Biology Department.</p>
<p>Senior <strong>Jessica Hager</strong> will be staying at
Southwestern next year as an AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteer working out of
the Office of Civic Engagement.</p>
<p><strong>Sarah Holifield</strong> has been selected to have a
“This I Believe” essay aired on Houston’s Public Radio station, KUHF.
She will visit the studio to record her essay this summer. </p>
<p>Sophomore physics major <strong>Pelham Keahy</strong> has
been selected to participate in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory
Internships program (SULI) sponsored by the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center (SLAC). He will spend eight weeks this summer working with
researchers at the center, which is operated by Stanford for the U.S.
Department of Energy.<br>
<br>
Sophomore physics major <strong>Sean Smith</strong> has been selected
to participate in the Research Internships in Science and Engineering
program (RISE) sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service. The
program gives students in biology, chemistry, earth sciences,
engineering and physics the chance to spend a summer working with
German doctoral students on their research projects. Smith will spend
the summer conducting theoretical physics research with a doctoral
student at the University of Geissen.</p>
<p></p>
<p><em>Have a submission for “Notables”? Send it to<a
href="infocus@southwestern.edu"> infocus@southwestern.edu</a>.</em></p>
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<div class="style8" align="left">LAST ISSUE OF IN FOCUS FOR THIS
YEAR</div>
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<td class="style6" scope="row" height="333" valign="top"><em>This
is the last issue of </em>In Focus<em> for the 2007-08 academic year.
The</em> In Focus<em> staff wishes you a wonderful summer. We will
resume publication Aug. 15. For the latest news from Southwestern
during the summer, visit the Southwestern home page at
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.southwestern.edu">www.southwestern.edu</a>. If you have news of interest over the summer,
please contact Ellen Davis, director of communications, at 512-863-1570
or <a href="davise@southwestern.edu">davise@southwestern.edu</a>.</em></td>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ellen Davis
Director of Communications
Southwestern University
1001 E. University Ave.
Georgetown TX 78626
512-863-1570
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.southwestern.edu">www.southwestern.edu</a>
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