Research Notes

College of Arts and Humanities

PROFESSOR’S BOOK EXPLORES MARILYN MONROE’S FILM ROLES

Department of Literature Assistant Professor Amanda Konkle’s new book offers the first extended scholarly analysis of Marilyn Monroe’s film performances, Some Kind of Mirror: Creating Marilyn Monroe, examines how her performances united the contradictory discourses about women’s roles in 1950s America. Although she remains one of the all-time most recognizable Hollywood icons, critics have typically viewed Monroe’s film roles as extensions of her sexpot star persona. Yet this ignores both the subtle variations between these roles and the acting skill that went into the creation of Monroe’s public persona.

Konkle suggests that Monroe’s star persona resonated with audiences precisely because it engaged with the era’s critical debates regarding femininity, sexuality, marriage and political activism. Furthermore, she explores how Monroe drew from the techniques of Method acting and finely calibrated her

performances to better mirror her audience’s anxieties and desires. Some Kind of Mirror is about why 1950s America made Monroe a star, but it is also about how Marilyn defined an era.


College of Behavioral and Social  Sciences

DETERRENCE THEORY AND ITS IMPACT ON CYBERCRIME

Cybercrime or computer-related crime is growing at an alarming rate, but what actions are being taken to prevent these crimes? Professor Adam Bossler, Ph.D., addressed the issue at the First Annual Conference on the Human Factor in Cybercrime, hosted by Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, last October. He delivered a presentation titled, “Examining the impact of deterrence on the willingness to commit politically motivated cyber attacks.” His research found that students’ willingness to engage in attacks against online and offline critical infrastructure in their own country and foreign lands was not deterred by formal sanctions, such as threats of being apprehended and punished.

Instead, concerns about how family and friends would view the students (i.e. informal deterrence) was more relevant. Bossler, a professor of criminal justice and criminology, will continue this line of research over the next year by examining the relationship between willingness to attack critical infrastructure with peers and techniques of neutralization.


Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing

NEW CHAIR FOR IT DEPARTMENT

Yiming Ji, Ph.D., has been selected as the new chair of the Department of Information Technology. The professor and chair for the computer science department at the University of South Carolina Beaufort will start his new job July 1. Ji was trained as an aerospace engineer and worked in the aerospace industry before returning to school to study computer science. His areas of scholarly interest include wireless communications and computer networks, modeling and simulation, scientific computing, and digital signal processing. In 2016, he was presented with the South Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Research.


College of Science and Mathematics

DUALLY ACCREDITED BIOCHEMISTRY DEGREE EXPANDS

The College of Science and Mathematics has expanded its dually accredited Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry to both the Armstrong and Statesboro Campuses. Georgia Southern recently became the only public university in the State of Georgia to have its biochemistry degree program accredited by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), and students now have an opportunity to earn dual certification from both the ASBMB and the American Chemical Society.

The interdisciplinary biochemistry degree program utilizes chemical principles to understand biological systems, and prepares students for careers or continued graduate studies spanning biology, biochemistry and chemistry. The curriculum also provides students with the foundational content needed to sit for professional requisite exams, making it ideal for students interested in becoming dentists, optometrists, pharmacist or physicians.


Waters College of Health  Professions

UNIVERSITY WELL REPRESENTED AT 2019 SOUTHEAST ASCM ANNUAL MEETING

Georgia Southern University’s Waters College of Health Professions was well represented at the 2019 Southeast American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Annual Meeting. The meeting was held from Feb. 14-16, 2019, in Greenville, South Carolina. Faculty from the Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology along with graduate and undergraduate students from the Department spent three days presenting more than 40 different research topics to those in attendance. The Southeast Chapter of the ACSM consists of a diverse group of professionals and student members from 10 different states in the Southeast dedicated to the advancement of sports medicine and exercise science.


College of Education

STUDYING THE OKEFENOKEE SWAMP

College of Education faculty Lacey Huffling, Ph.D., Heather Scott, Ed.D., and Kania Greer, Ed.D., along  with College of Science and Mathematics colleagues Checo Colon-Gaud, Ph.D., and Shainaz Landge, Ph.D., were awarded a $763,897 grant from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The grant will fund the first two years of Okefenokee — Understanding Real-world Relevance through Suwannee Watershed Assessment and Monitoring Project. Created by Huffling and her colleagues, the project will offer a summer on-site learning experience at the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia as well as continued professional development for both in-service and pre-service teachers.

The project aims to increase Georgia middle and high school students’ understanding of the impact their local watersheds have on larger bodies of water. The project will focus on the causal relationships between the Okefenokee Swamp and the Gulf of Mexico, allowing teachers to integrate what they learn into their classrooms and promote community awareness of local waterways.


Parker College of Business

ECONOMETRICS STUDENTS ENGAGE IN RESEARCH

Jeffrey Schiman, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics, is working with applied econometrics students on conducting original research, providing another aspect of experiential learning in the classroom. One student is exploring how differences in personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion/ introversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) early in life affect college entry and college major choice. Going forward, students will be encouraged to attend conferences and present their research.


Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public  Health

PILOT GRANT FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY IN SOUTHEASTERN AGRICULTURE, FISHING AND FORESTRY

Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences Atin Adhikari, Ph.D., recently received a pilot/feasibility grant from the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS). The goals of this project are: (1) to collect preliminary data for a future large-scale study on dust exposure during cotton harvesting and associated allergic and inflammatory respiratory symptoms among cotton farmers in Georgia, and (2) field evaluation of three different models of N95 facepiece masks for protection against airborne respirable particles and microorganisms. SCCAHS  is part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Agricultural Health and Safety Initiative at the University of Florida. SCCAHS explores and addresses the occupational safety and health needs of people working in agriculture, fishing and forestry in southeastern states.