 |
WWW.MARQUETTE.EDU CAMPUS CONTACTS SITE INDEX 
|
       |
|
Newly honored with Way Klingler awards, three esteemed Marquette faculty have set their sights on researching spinal cord injuries, business decisions affecting nature, and RNA conversion.
The Way Klingler Fellowships, made possible through an $18 million donation announced in May 2004, are given annually to full-time associate or full professors who demonstrate significant scholarship potential. Dr. Brian Schmit, associate professor of biomedical engineering, will receive $50,000 annually for three years as the recipient of the Way Klingler Faculty Fellowship Award in science. Dr. Kevin Gibson, associate professor of philosophy, was awarded the Way Klingler Faculty Fellowship in the humanities and will receive $20,000 annually for three years. Dr. James Anderson, associate professor of biological sciences, received the Way Klingler Sabbatical Fellowship Award.
A selection committee decides the award recipients from nominations from each school and college. “The fellowship awards are given to faculty members who have proven themselves to be leaders in their fields and with the help of additional funding could make exceptional additional contributions,” said Dr. William Wiener, vice provost for research and dean of the graduate school.
Dr. Brian Schmit
Schmit and his assistants are researching new imaging techniques to better predict how people recover after a spinal cord injury. Following a spinal cord injury, it is very difficult for medical professionals to predict whether patients will ever walk, stand or even wiggle their toes again. In fact, individuals who have some sensation in their legs even 72 hours after an injury are only 50 percent likely to walk again.
“That prediction is as good as flipping a coin,” Schmit pointed out. “We are developing the use of a new imaging process called ‘diffusion tensor imaging’ to get better predictions.” The fellowship award will enable Schmit to obtain the first images of their kind within days of injury and further develop the imaging technique. Improving the information for doctors and patients will lead directly to improved patient care, according to Schmit.
Dr. Kevin Gibson
Gibson’s award will allow him to dedicate time to research primary and secondary sources for his Priceless Profits monograph. He is addressing how society has very sophisticated ways of putting value on commodities and services, but is not as proficient at studying the total impact of business decisions on communities and the natural world. “For example, our taste for tiger shrimp has led to industrial fishing practices that are economically successful but leave behind a wrecked environment and displaced villagers deprived of their livelihood,” said Gibson.
According to Gibson, society needs to make sound policy decisions by assessing the total impact of consumer choices. “In many ways the starting point for all my work is the realization that as women and men for others we have to acknowledge the worth and interdependence of everyone and find ways to negotiate our competing interests,” he said.
Dr. James Anderson
Anderson will use his sabbatical, July 2008 to June 2009, to learn a new technique, protein crystallography, to understand the mechanism by which a protein converts RNA to a more functional molecule. RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a messenger, converting the genetic information stored in DNA into functional molecules — protein.
“Knowing the structure of this protein will make it possible for me to conduct more directed genetic experiments to further our knowledge about the workings of this enzyme,” said Anderson. “I am also interested in the consequences to the RNA if this enzyme fails to do its job.” Anderson will conduct research at a laboratory in Umeå, Sweden, that specializes in protein crystallization.
“This work provides another piece of a complex puzzle our genetic material,” said Anderson. “Understanding the consequences that apply when an RNA fails to reach maturity will tell us a lot about defective components of the cellular machinery.”
PÈRE MARQUETTE
DISCOVERY AWARD
HONORARY DEGREES
- Nominations for Honorary Degrees
- Listed by Year - Honorary Degree Recipients 1980 to present
- Listed by Name - Honorary Degree Recipients 1980 to present
FACULTY AWARDS FOR
TEACHING EXCELLENCE
- 2007 Recipients of the Faculty Awards for Teaching Excellence
- Past Recipients of the Faculty Awards for Teaching Excellence
LAWRENCE G. HAGGERTY AWARD
FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCES
WAY KLINGLER FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Quick Facts About Marquette
| Identity: | Catholic, Jesuit, private |
| Established: | 1881 |
| Location: | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Undergraduate: | 8,048 |
| Postgraduate: | 3,500 |
| Campus: | Urban, 80 acres |
| Athletics: | 14 NCAA Division I teams (Big East Conference) |
| Colors: | Blue and Gold |
