Ricardo Averbach, professor of Music and director of Orchestral Studies, is the author of a new book, “Villa-Lobos and Modernism: The Apotheosis of Cannibal Music,” published in August by Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield. "The book provides a new assessment of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos in terms of his contributions to the Modernist Movement of the twentieth century. Averbach elevates Cultural Cannibalism as a major manifestation of the Modernist aesthetics and Villa-Lobos as its top exponent in the music field," the editors said. 

• Averbach debuted his book and was a featured speaker at the U.S./Brazil Studies Conference,“The Road Ahead: Brazil 100/200 Reflections on the Legacies of the Week of Modern Art and the Bicentennial of Independence,” held at Yale University Sept. 23-24.

John Bailer, emeritus University Distinguished Professor of Statistics and an affiliate member of the departments of Biology; Media, Journalism and Film; and Sociology and Gerontology, and Rosemary Pennington, associate professor of Media, Journalism and Film, co-authored the book “Statistics Behind the Headlines” published in September by Chapman & Hall. It reflects a long-term collaboration between a statistician and a journalist to shed light on the statistics behind the stories and the stories behind the statistics.

Daniel Prior, professor of History, is the translator of the book “The Memorial Feast for Kökötöy Khan, a Kirghiz poem in the Manas tradition” by Saghïmbay Orozbaq uulu, published in Kyrgyzstan in July and in the United States in October by Penguin Classics. “Beautifully translated by Daniel Prior, The Memorial Feast allows the reader to get closer than any other source to a sense of the values, glamour and oddities of the peoples who shaped so much of Eurasia,” the editors said.  

Cristina Alcalde, vice president for institutional diversity and inclusion, is co-editor with Paula-Irene Villa of the book “#MeToo and Beyond: Perspectives on a Global Movement” published in July by The University Press of Kentucky.  The goal of “#MeToo and Beyond” is to examine both profoundly universal and specific experiences of sexual violence, as well as the collective effort to stop gender-based violence wherever it occurs. 

Robin Vealey, professor of Sport Leadership and Management, published a new edition of her book, “Coaching for the Inner Edge: Practical Sport Psychology for Coaches.” The book is lauded for its integration of research with experiential evidence of best practice in helping coaches use mental training and performance psychology with their athletes and teams.

Ganiva Reyes, associate professor of Teaching, Curriculum, and Educational Inquiry, was selected for the Francis P. Hunkins distinguished article award in the category of teaching for her article, Why Are You So Mean Ms.?!': When Gendered Classroom Dynamics Interfere with Teacher-Student Relationships, published in Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue.

Joyce Fernandes, director of Undergraduate Research and professor of Biology, and undergraduate students Cece Meinking and Maddie Webber, were selected to the Council on Undergraduate Research 2022-2023-Scholars Transforming Through Research (STR) Program. The STR Program is a competitive application-based professional development opportunity for teams consisting of a campus representative and one to two undergraduate students. These teams will participate in a six-month program aimed at developing their communication and advocacy skills which will empower them to convey the power of the high-impact practices of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry experience to diverse stakeholder groups.

Robbyn Abbitt, GIS coordinator and associate director of Miami’s Geospatial Analysis Center, and Hannah Wilson, a junior with a double major in Geographic Information Science and Zoology, won first place in the small format category for their map “Miami University Natural Areas” at the 2022 Ohio GIS Conference in Columbus.

Adam Beissel, assistant professor of Sport Leadership and Management, was the lead author of a new paper, The Empire Strikes Back: FIFA 2.0, global peacemaking, and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup United Bid, published in the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.

• Beissel was also the co-author of the paper, “The World Cup Trilogy: An analysis of Aotearoa New Zealand’s hosting of three women’s sport mega-events to leverage gender initiatives and programmes,” published in the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.

Dominik Konkolewicz, professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, received a grant for $427,996 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for the project ""Polymer-Lipid Particles Investigated by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy."

Katia Del Rio-Tsonis, professor of Biology, received a grant for $216,750 from the National Eye Institutefor a project entitled "Inflammation is a driver of newt lens regeneration." 

Craig Williamson, Ohio Eminent Scholar of Ecosystem Ecology, and Erin Overholt, research associate in Biology, received a grant for $193,932 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a project entitled "Identifying an emerging Lake Whitefish restoration barrier in the Great Lakes: habitat-mediated exposure to UV radiation."  

Sara Acevedo, assistant professor of Educational Psychology, received a grant for $50,000 from the Ford Foundation for the project entitled "Exploring the Way Forward for Neurodiversity Activism: Self-directed Cultural Spaces for Neurodivergent People." 

Elizabeth “Like” Lokon, director of Opening Minds through Art and adjunct assistant professor of Sociology and Gerontology, received a grant for $20,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for the project entitled "ScrippsAVID (Arts-based, Virtual, Intergenerational, Dementia Friendly) Web Application: A Platform to Provide People Living with Dementia with Meaningful, Creative and Social Engagement."  

Claire McLeod , associate professor of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, and  Aleksandra Gawronska, doctoral student, received a grant for $36,365 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for a project entitled "New Insights Into Extraterrestrial Magmatic Processes through a Textural and Chemical Investigation of Apollo 11 Group A Lunar Basalts."  

Jinjuan She, assistant professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, received a grant for $10,000 from the Ohio Space Grant Consortium for the project entitled "Changing the Perspective of Functional Analysis in Early Engineering Design Stage: Explore How to Incorporate Human-centered Design into Functional Modeling." 

Mehdi Zanjani, assistant professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,received a grant for $10,000 from the Ohio Space Grant Consortium for the project entitled "Deep Learning-based Study of Mechanical Properties of Architectured Polymer Networks."  

Kara Strass, director of Miami Tribe Relations, received a grant for $6,200 from the Greater Oxford Community Foundation for the project entitled "Neepwaantiinki Walking Tour."  

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