Students in the Spotlight

  • Dr. Julie-Ann Scott, I.Ph.D. Graduate Awarded 2012 Janet Mason Ellerby Women's and Gender Studies Scholarly Award

    Posted February 24, 2012

     

    Dr. Julie-Ann Scott, a May, 2010 graduate from the Interdisciplinary Doctor of Philosophy program at UMaine has been awarded the 2012 Janet Mason Ellerby Women's and Gender Studies Scholarly Award.  Dr. Scott is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.  The award is an annually funded award at UNC Wilmington, in recognition of Dr. Ellerby's significant contributions to feminist scholarship and activism. This year's award called for nominations for emerging scholars, a faculty member in her/his first 2 to 3 years of scholarship or one who has recently moved into the field of Women's and Gender Studies.

    Dr. Scott is in her second year as Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at UNCW. Her areas of interest include Performance and Storytelling, Disability and Gender, Gender and Media as Cultural Narrative. Her scholarship has been published in such peer-reviewed journals as Southern Communication Journal, Text and Performance Quarterly and Advertising and Society Review. She presents regularly at the National Communication Association and is the recipient of several honors and awards, most recently the Top Competitive Paper Panel, Disability Issues Caucus, National Communication Association, 2010. 

     Dr. Rick Olsen, Chair of Communication Studies at UNCW, wrote: "[Dr. Scott's] biggest impact beyond her prolific research agenda has been in the area of curriculum that also educates the community. Storytelling in the Community is a key applied learning and regional engagement course for us....She has been an exceptional addition to our faculty who has brought sensitivity and strength to her teaching and offered a role model to our students for how to live out a principled life informed by feminist thought."

  • Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Student, Anna Demeo Plans to Use Smart Energy Monitor in Schools

    Posted February 12, 2012

     

    Smart grid research by a University of Maine doctoral student is helping grade school educators learn about energy and how to conserve it in their schools and homes.

    Interdisciplinary Ph.D. candidate Anna Demeo, a physics instructor at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, helped develop the prototype of the Smart Energy monitor with funds from the Maine Space Grant Consortium. She and her COA colleague David Feldman received a $95,000 grant in 2010 for smart grid research and energy education. Demeo is completing her doctorate in ocean engineering at UMaine.

    A central focus of Demeo’s research is monitoring energy consumption and production on Roque Island in Washington County, Maine, where there are several year-round homes and a farm. Among other findings, the Smart Energy prototype there revealed a persistently high reading on one circuit, helping to identify a pump that was running continuously.  As the island moves toward using more renewable electricity, such as solar, Demeo will use the Savant Energy system to turn on and off appliances to reduce demand when production is low and increase demand when there is a surplus. The goal is for the island to decrease reliance on an underwater cable that carries electricity from the mainland and ultimately to become energy-independent.  For the full UMaine News story, please click here. 

  • Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Student, David Slagger First Maliseet Representative for M

    Posted January 5, 2012

    David Slagger, a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies student  was recently featured in a Maine Public Broadcasting Network story as the first Maliseet Tribal Representative in Maine history to be appointed to the Maine House of Representatives 125th Legislature. Slagger is a member of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians who also has connections to the Aroostook band of the Mi’kmaq Indian nation and the Woodstock First Nation (Maliseet) in Canada.  Slagger said as a new member of the legislature, he will initially be mostly watching, listening, and getting to know his colleagues.

    Slagger is seen at left shaking hands with Governor Paul LePage.  Photo courtesy of Joe Phelan of the Portland Press Herald.

  • Marine Biology Ph.D. Student, Dan DenDanto Featured in BDN - Reassembling Whale Bones

    Posted January 5, 2012

    A Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Biology student, Dan DenDanto was recently featured in a Bangor Daily News story for his work reassembling the skeleton of “Stumpy” an adult female Northern Right Whale who was struck by a large ship in 2004.  DenDanto works as a carpenter and whale researcher, who accumulates whale bones and then reassembles the skeletons for museums such as the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, where “Stumpy” is slated to be delivered sometime in mid-January.  DenDanto also works as a research assistant at the College of the Atlantic’s non-profit organization Allied Whale.

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