91�ֿ�

How long does a single traumatic event affect a person’s mental health? 91�ֿ� graduate student Emily Rabinowitz’s research on this topic was recently published in the peer-reviewed Stress & Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress. Her paper “The 50th Anniversary of May 4, 1970, Is Associated With Elevations of Distress but No Increase in Mental Health Symptoms” was published in the November 2021 issue.

The National Science Foundation recently awarded a two-year $198,978 grant to Tao Shen, assistant professor in the College of Aeronautics & Engineering, for the development of a compact, cable-driven serial robot that can be used in medical settings. Shen aims to build a robot with his students that will address the critical limitations that most current medical robots have.

91�ֿ� is a new charter member of SEA Change, an initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in which universities commit to their systemic transformation into more diverse, equitable and inclusive spaces where a full range of talent can succeed in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

91�ֿ� Professor Will Kalkhoff is studying the brain waves and heart rates of police officers during training exercises to help to improve police performance and increase safety. See the research in action.

Chirality, or the absence of mirror symmetry in a molecule, is a complex topic that Material Sciences Professor Torsten Hegmann is determined to know more about. Hegmann, director of the Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, and other 91�ֿ� collaborators led an international collaborative research project with contributions from a global team whose paper about the efficacy of chirality transfer in Science Advances may provide insights to make better materials or pharmaceuticals.

Moira Armstrong, undergraduate in the College of Arts and Sciences and research assistant on the Queer Pandemic Project, collaborated with Molly Merryman, associate professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, to compile digital, video-based oral interviews for the Queer Pandemic Project in a partnership between 91�ֿ�, Goldsmith’s University of London and Queer Britain. These interviews feature people in queer communities across the United Kingdom, discussing the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has impacted their lives as queer people.

91�ֿ� has opened its newest research center, the IC Touch Lab, that will revolutionize the way medical students practice and patients rehabilitate. Headed by Kwangtaek Kim, assistant professor of Computer Science, the lab conducts various research projects involving haptic technology to expand the possibilities of medical and rehabilitation practices. 

91�ֿ� alumnus Earl K. Miller, Ph.D., and his wife, Marlene M. Wicherski, have pledged $2 million to support research programs and students in 91�ֿ�’s Brain Health Research Institute. The Brain Health Research Institute is a recently established, cross-disciplinary institute that focuses on research and education of brain health across the lifespan.

During a summer research project at 91�ֿ� Geauga, nursing student Lauren Petrick succeeded in isolating a bacterial virus that shows promise as an alternative to antibiotics in fighting off intestinal bacterial infections such as urinary tract infections, GI tract infections and even pneumonia. By teaming up with 91�ֿ� Geauga Associate Professor Sanhita Gupta, Petrick tackled this problem through 91�ֿ�’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) last summer.

Students across the nation were challenged as the pandemic swept the world. Healing Stanzas, a collaboration between the Wick Poetry Center, the Healthy Communities Research Institute and the Brain Health Research Institute, seeks to combine the science of brain health and public health with the creative energy of the humanities to provide 91�ֿ� students, staff and faculty with an opportunity to improve wellness through reflective poetry.