Category: Alumni Junior Fellows

Lydia Beaudrot, alumni fellow (2015-18) and assistant professor of biosciences at Rice University, co-authored an article that examined whether community-level activity patterns differ among biogeographic regions, and explored the roles of top-down versus bottom-up processes and thermoregulatory (i.e. temperature influenced) constraints. The study showed that patterns exhibited by tropical forest mammals are consistent across tropical regions. The analysis also showed that herbivore and insect activity appears to be shaped by temperature influences whereas predator-prey interactions appear to be influenced by temporal behavior of their community members. Read the full paper in Nature Communications.

Abstract: An animal’s daily use of time (their “diel activity”) reflects their adaptations, requirements, and interactions, yet we know little about the underlying processes governing diel activity within and among communities. Here we examine whether community-level activity patterns differ among biogeographic regions, and explore the roles of top-down versus bottom-up processes and thermoregulatory constraints. Using data from systematic camera-trap networks in 16 protected forests across the tropics, we examine the relationships of mammals’ diel activity to body mass and trophic guild. Also, we assess the activity relationships within and among guilds. Apart from Neotropical insectivores, guilds exhibited consistent cross-regional activity in relation to body mass. Results indicate that thermoregulation constrains herbivore and insectivore activity (e.g., larger Afrotropical herbivores are ~7 times more likely to be nocturnal than smaller herbivores), while bottom-up processes constrain the activity of carnivores in relation to herbivores, and top-down processes constrain the activity of small omnivores and insectivores in relation to large carnivores’ activity. Overall, diel activity of tropical mammal communities appears shaped by similar processes and constraints among regions reflecting body mass and trophic guilds.

Citation: Vallejo-Vargas, A.F., Sheil, D., Semper-Pascual, A. et al. Consistent diel activity patterns of forest mammals among tropical regions. Nat Commun 13, 7102 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34825-1

Sungwon Park, research fellow and assistant professor of nursing, co-authored an article in the International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances comparing and contrasting nurses’ experiences working in hospitals at the onset of COVID-19 in South Korea and the United States. The study concluded that the overlapping similarities of nurses’ experiences highlight the need for national and global policies for a safe work environment and psychological well-being. The differences between the two countries also emphasize that specific policies and practice implications for the local contexts are needed in addition to global policies. Read the full article. (Citation: International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances 4 (2022) 100107)

Abstract:

Background
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, governmental responses varied worldwide, which resulted in healthcare professionals and organizations having different experiences. As threats of global infectious disease and disasters increase, it is important to examine the collective experiences of nurses to leverage support across international settings and systems and to tailor specific policies to their local nursing workforce.
Objective
To compare and contrast nurses’ experiences working in hospitals at the onset of COVID-19 in South Korea and the United States
Method
This was a qualitative descriptive study. Nurses in South Korea and the United States were recruited through social media using snowball sampling between April and May 2020. Semi-structured telephone interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated as needed. The transcripts were analyzed thematically, and each theme was compared and synthesized using NVivo 12.
Results
A total of 43 nurses from South Korea (n = 21) and the United States (n = 22) participated in the study. The majority of the participants were female and working as staff nurses in both countries. The work settings were similar between the participants from two countries. However, the participants in South Korea provided less direct care to patients with COVID-19 compared to the participants in the United States. Despite cultural and infrastructure differences, the nurses shared similar experiences.
Conclusion
The overlapping similarities of nurses’ experience highlight the need for national and global policies for a safe work environment and psychological well-being. The differences between the two countries also emphasize that specific policies and practice implications for the local contexts are needed in addition to global policies.

Citation: Jin Jun, Sungwon Park, Marie-Anne Rosemberg. Cross-cultural differences and similarities in nurses’ experiences during the early stages of COVID-19 in Korea and the United States: A qualitative descriptive study. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, Vol 4, 2022, 100107, ISSN 2666-142X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2022.100107.

Stella Nair, alumni fellow (2003-06) and associate professor of art history and American Indian studies at UCLA, co-organized The Forgotten Canopy, a conference convening scholars on the topics of “Ecology,” “Ephemeral Architecture,” and “Imperialism.” The first summit was held at UCLA where scholars engaged with community-based workshops and panels to analyze the interconnectivity of adaptive architecture, the environment, and creativity across the Atlantic region during the 16th to 19th centuries. “It (ephemeral architecture) is not something that architecture scholarship tends to emphasize; it emphasizes the monumental and the permanent,” Nair said. “These things are deeply embedded in ecological practices and change and also very much impacted by imperial practices.” Read on for additional event recap details from the conference, which was covered by the Daily Bruin.

Eric Plemons, alumni fellow (2012-15), medical anthropologist, and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona-Tucson, discusses the politics and policies of trans medicine with VICE as they investigate a new trend of trans people seeking nonbinary bottom surgery. Read on to learn more.

Elizabeth Hinton, alumni fellow (2012-14) and associate professor history and African American studies as well as professor of law at Yale University, was named the Myers Distinguished Visiting Fellow at University of Scranton. On October 20, 2022, she spoke to at the Slattery Center for Ignatian Humanities about her research which focuses on the persistence of poverty, racial inequality and urban violence in the 20th century United States entitled “Riot or Rebellion?: The Meaning of Violent Protest from the 1960s to George Floyd.”

Lecture abstract: The decades since the civil rights movement are considered by many to be a story of progress toward equal rights and greater inclusiveness. Elizabeth Hinton uncovers an altogether different history, taking us on a troubling journey from Detroit in 1967 and Miami in 1980 to Los Angeles in 1992 and beyond to chart the persistence of structural racism and one of its primary consequences, the so-called urban riot. Dr. Hinton offers a critical corrective: the word riot was nothing less than a racist trope applied to events that can only be properly understood as rebellions–explosions of collective resistance to an unequal and violent order. Challenging the optimistic story of the post-Jim Crow United States, Hinton’s discussion will present a new framework for understanding our nation’s enduring racial strife. As her history suggests, rebellions will likely continue until police are no longer called on to manage the consequences of dismal conditions beyond their control, and until an oppressive system is finally remade on the principle of justice and equality. 

Oliver Zunz, alumni fellow (1973-76), James Madison Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Virginia, published a definitive biography of the French aristocrat who became one of democracy’s greatest champions entitled The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville (Princeton University Press). Read more about this publication.

Julio Frenk, alumni fellow (1982-84) and President of the University of Miami, co-authored an article in The Lancet that assessed changes to the education of health professionals and how the COVID-19 pandemic altered the education process.

Article summary: The education of health professionals substantially changed before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2010 Lancet Commission examined the 100-year history of health-professional education, beginning with the 1910 Flexner report. Since the publication of the Lancet Commission, several transformative developments have happened, including in competency-based education, interprofessional education, and the large-scale application of information technology to education. Although the COVID-19 pandemic did not initiate these developments, it increased their implementation, and they are likely to have a long-term effect on health-professional education. They converge with other societal changes, such as globalisation of health care and increasing concerns of health disparities across the world, that were exacerbated by the pandemic. In this Health Policy, we list institutional and instructional reforms to assess what has happened to health-professional education since the publication of the Lancet Commission and how the COVID-19 pandemic altered the education process. Read the full Lancet article.

Citation: Frenk, Julio, Lincoln C. Chen, Latha Chandran, Elizabeth O. H. Groff, Roderick King, Afaf Meleis, and Harvey V. Fineberg. “Challenges and Opportunities for Educating Health Professionals After the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The Lancet 400, no. 10362 (October 29, 2022): 1539-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02092-X.

Hirschl & Adler Modern is pleased to present an exhibition of works by alumni fellow Lily Cox-Richard (2010-13). This selection of works explores commodification, material agency, reuse, and activism, particularly through the framework of natural elements and processes. See these works on Artsy.

Lauren Gutterman, alumni fellow (2013-15) and associate professor of American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, reviews the Amazon series reboot of the 1992 film “A League of Their Own,” about the Rockford Peaches, one of 15 teams in the World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Gutterman discusses how the series centers queerness and the racism that structured the league and era in ways the original film did not. Read more about the series.

Deidre De La Cruz, alumni fellow (2006-09) and associate professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of History at U-M, discusses a new project she’s leading entitled ReConnect/ReCollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections at the University of Michigan. She discusses this work with WKAR’s Megan Schellong. Listen to the interview or read the highlights.