This newsletter, prepared monthly, provides highlights of H&SS faculty and graduate student recent accomplishments including: grant awards, program and curricular initiatives, appointments, publications, performances, conference papers, and the like.

AWARDS

Faye Duchin, Prof. in Economics, received a $30,000 grant from NSF’s Program in Environmental Sustainability, Directorate of Engineering, as Principal Investigator for the "Gordon Research Conference in Industrial Ecology: Transforming the Use of Energy, Materials, Water, and Wastes, Colby-Sawyer College, August 17-22, 2008." In addition the GRC organization will provide $23,500.

Kim Fortun, Assoc. Prof. in STS, was awarded a $160,000, 15-month grant for a project titled "Strategizing Transdisciplinarity: From Exposure Assessment to Exposure Science" from the STS Directorate at NSF.

Linda Layne, Prof. in STS, received the 2007 Videographer Award of Excellence (highest honor) for “Protecting the Environment and Preventing Pregnancy Loss: A Conversation with Lois Gibbs, Executive Director of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice.”  She also received a 2007  Silver Davey Award for “Combating the Criminalization of Stillbirth and Miscarriage: A Conversation with Lynn Paltrow, J.D., Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women.”

Kenneth L. Simons, Asst. Prof. in Economics, received a grant of $49,063 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, to study “The Frequency and Nature of Technological Disruptions.”  The grant period is from Jan. 1, 2008 through July 30, 2010. 

APPOINTMENTS

John Gowdy, Prof. in Economics, was elected President-Elect of the International Society for Ecological Economics.

PUBLICATIONS, PERFORMANCE, & EXHIBITIONS

James Adams, Prof. in Economics, published “Recent Trends in U.S. Science and Engineering: Prospects, Challenges, and Implications,” in the 2007 RAND Conference Proceedings on Perspectives on U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology.

Nancy Campbell, Assoc. Prof. in STS, published Discovering Addiction: the Science and Politics of Substance Abuse Research (2007), University of Michigan Press.  She will discuss and sign her book at Troy’s Market Block Books on Friday, February 29 from 5 to 7 PM.

John Gowdy, Prof. in Economics, will publish “Behavioral Economics and Climate Change Policy” in the  Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

John P. Harrington, Dean of H&SS, published The Life of the Neighborhood Playhouse on Grand Street, 2007, Syracuse University Press.  He will discuss and sign his book at Troy’s Market Block Books on Friday, January 25, from 5 to 7 PM.

David Hess, Prof. in STS, published “Crosscurrents: Social Movements and the Anthropology of Science and Technology” in  American Anthropologist,109  (3):463-472.

Bill Puka, Prof. in Cognitive Science,  delivered two papers at the Association for Moral Education, conference on global citizenship at NYU in November. They concerned the undemocratic nature of the "Education for Democracy" curricula and "Civic Engagement" movement, as well as of the US Constitution and the AME governance structure itself.  He also contributed an essay to a book on dissent, published by Ashley Press.

Kenneth L. Simons, Asst. Prof. in Economics,  will publish “Ownership Change, Productivity, and Human Capital: New Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data in Swedish Manufacturing,” jointly with Donald S. Siegel and Tomas Lindstrom in Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, University of Chicago Press for the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Ron Sun, Prof. in Cognitive Science, published  “Hierarchical Approaches to Understanding Consciousness” with  L. A. Coward  in Neural Networks, Vol. 20, pp. 947-954. 2007.  He also published “Cognitive Social Simulation Incorporating Cognitive Architectures” in  IEEE Intelligent Systems, Vol.22, No.5, pp.33-39. September/October, 2007.

John Heim, Clinical Assoc. Prof. in Economics, published three papers:  “Do Friedman/Modigliani - Type Consumption Functions Explain Consumer Demand As Well As Keynesian Functions?” in the   Review of Business Research, Gale Group/Thomson Publishing, Vol.7(1) Oct. 2007;  “How Much Does the Prime Interest Rate Affect U.S. Investment?” in the Journal of the  Academy of Business and Economics, Gale Group/Thomson Publishing, Vol.VII(1) Oct. 2007; and “Does A Strong Dollar Increase Demand for Both Domestic and Imported Goods?” in the Journal of International Business and Economics, Gale Group/Thomson Publishing, Vol. VII (1)(Oct. 2007). 

John Gowdy, Prof. in Economics, delivered the opening keynote address, “Behavioral Research and Economic Policy”  at the Conference on Linking Behavioral Research to Energy-Related Decision-Making, Albany New York, December 5-6, 2007, sponsored by the New York State Energy Research Development Authority and the RPI Economics Department.

LECTURES & PANELS

Sharon Anderson-Gold, Prof. in STS, presented a paper “The Cosmopolitan Foundations of the (Kantian) State” at the European Consortium for Political Research hosted by the University of Pisa, Pisa.

Nancy Campbell, Assoc. Prof. in STS, presented   “Governing Mentalities: Harm Reduction Drug Policy as a Mode of Governance.” For the  Panel on “Hidden Histories of Harm Reduction.” at the Annual conference of the Drug Policy Alliance, New Orleans, Louisiana, December 6.

Ron Eglash, Assoc. Prof. in STS, and Jonathan Cluck co-presented "Epigenetics: How to be an Anti-Biological Determinist in the Age of Soft Inheritance" at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Washington DC.  His “TED Talk” video has been released online at http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/198.

David Hess, Prof. in STS, gave the guest lecture "Local First...But What Next? Globalization, Regional Development, and the Localist Movement" for a colloquium sponsored by Sociology, Center for Global Studies, Women and  Gender, and Geography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne.

Linda Layne, Prof. in STS,  gave a presentation on "Getting Pregnancy Loss on the Feminist Agenda" to the Albany Area National Organization of Women.

Kenneth L. Simons, Asst. Prof. in Economics, presented “Entrepreneurs Seeking Gains: Profit Motives and Risk Aversion in Inventors’ Commercialization Decisions” at the Seventh Annual Roundtable on Engineering Entrepreneurship Research, Atlanta, 10 November 2007.

Ron Sun, Prof. in Cognitive Science, was an invited colloquium speaker at the Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrueck, Osnabrueck, Germany. October 31, 2007.