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News Release

Last modified: Thursday, February 14, 2013

IU presence prominent at 2013 AAAS with presenters, conveners and record new fellows recognized

Boston hosting annual meeting of world's largest general scientific society

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 14, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University faculty members and graduate students will take part in the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, taking place Feb. 14 to 18 in at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

Ten IU Bloomington researchers will present results at AAAS symposia, panel discussions and poster sessions. Also, a record dozen Indiana University faculty members -- 10 from the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences and two from the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis -- will become fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

On Saturday, IU Rudy Professor of Statistics Karen Kafadar will present in a session that follows up on a 2009 National Academies of Science report she co-authored that found that published studies of the accuracy and reliability of most forensic methods failed to meet the stringent criteria seen in other scientific disciplines.

The presentation, "Critical Role of Statistics in Development and Validation of Forensic Methods," will identify continuing needs and challenges facing forensic science and outline a research agenda for designing better studies of forensics. It will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Room 310 at the Hynes Convention Center, and a closer look at Kafadar's upcoming presentation is also available.

A symposium on the economic costs of crime was organized and will be moderated by William Alex Pridemore, professor of criminal justice and founder and director of IU's Workshop in Methods. Researchers will present findings on the benefits of reducing youth crime, the role of private incentives in crime prevention and the relative costs of street and white-collar crime. Pridemore organized the panel in his role as the American Society of Criminology's liaison to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It will take place from 8 to 9:30 a.m. in Room 308 at the Hynes Convention Center, and a closer look at the panel's work is also available.

Shiri Noy, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences, will join Rashawn Ray of the University of Maryland for a presentation on graduate students' perceptions of disadvantage in mentorships. Their research finds that nonwhite women face a "double disadvantage" and report having less respectful and sometimes less instrumental primary advisers than other students. The presentation is part of a panel on "Overcoming Dualisms and Promoting Minority Inclusion in Science Networks and Pipelines." It will take place from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday in Room 300 at the Hynes Convention Center.

Several faculty members and graduate students will present research findings in AAAS poster sessions. They include:

Graduate student Joseph Harsh and assistant professor Adam Maltese of the IU School of Education in Bloomington will present findings Saturday of a study of the role undergraduate research experience plays in preparing students for careers in chemistry and physics. The researchers surveyed undergraduates, faculty members, graduate students and administrators at five colleges and universities about their experiences. They found that, for many students, undergraduate experience reinforced and refined their interest in research careers.

Maltese and Joshua Danish, assistant professor in the IU School of Education in Bloomington, and doctoral students Harsh, Branden Bryan and William Liao will present research Sunday titled "What Are Students Doing While You are Trying to Teach?" They will report on research that monitored student attention and note-taking during introductory biology and organic chemistry classes.

Maltese, IU education doctoral student Heidi Wiebke and Anna Kuchment of Scientific American will report Sunday on research into what triggers and maintains student interest in pursuing careers in science, mathematics and engineering. The researchers surveyed students about their experiences and compared responses from women with those from men.

Maltese, Harsh and Jennifer Warner of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte will report Sunday on a study of the development of data analysis skills among scientists and students. Their research involved recording the thought processes and actions of subjects with various levels of skill and experience as they produced graphs from sets of data.

IU's AAAS fellows for 2013 are James Bever, Yves Brun, Gregory Demas, William "Clay" Fuqua, James Goodson from the Department of Biology, David Giedroc and Dennis Peters from the Department of Chemistry, Eliot Smith from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Julia Heiman from the Kinsey Institute and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Karen Kafadar from the Department of Statistics, all from the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences; and Hal Edward Broxmeyer and G. David Roodman from the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

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