2006-2007 Sabbatical Recipients

Jackie Brittingham
The goals of my project were to contribute to the Division of Natural Science's vision of effectively incorporating project-based laboratories in the curriculum and provide opportunities for students to grow through independent research projects in the area of human physiology and developmental biology. I worked with colleagues at Northern Arizona University, Knox College and Iowa State University to learn the tools and technologies necessary to implement such curricular changes. A $4969 grant from the Iowa Science Foundation supported acquisition of human physiological recording accessories and salary for a team of Simpson College undergraduates to work throughout the fall semester to develop innovative laboratory activities and an outreach program for elementary school students.

Eduardo Magalhaes
During my sabbatical, I developed a course on Women & Politics in the US. This course will cover historical developments, such as the Seneca Falls Resolution, the Suffrage Movement, and the ERA. It will also cover milestones in Congress, the White House and the Executive Branch, as well as the experience of women running for office. Finally, policy issues such as workplace equity, and affirmative action will be covered.

Marilyn Mueller
My sabbatical was spent at the Des Moines offices of Iowans for Social and Economic Development (ISED) at 1111 9th Street in the United Way Building. I was immersed in the world of small and micro-enterprise businesses, helping a variety of people from many different backgrounds take a step closer to realizing their dreams and hopes. My work involved reading and analyzing business plans, giving feedback on those plans and helping strategize ways to make businesses stronger. I assisted with the business planning class, helped re-write and update the curriculum and training resources for the class and performed a number of other tasks which will help ISED serve their clients more comprehensively. At ISED I worked with many remarkable people who are dedicated and devoted to serving their clients, who are part of a powerful and effective team and who find joy in serving others. The small business sector is the engine of the U.S. economy and it was an extraordinary experience to be part of such a dynamic and positive organization which serves small business and micro-enterprise clients. I also prepared for and visited Argentina and Uruguay to establish a May Term 2009 course and investigate a semester abroad opportunity for Simpson College.

David Richmond
The main project that I worked on during my sabbatical is an artistic experimentation of Chaos Theory combined with a conceptual experimentation of written communication. Written communication is a combination of symbols that represent sounds that we use to represent abstract thought. In written communication the letters, "w" "a" "t" "e" "r", refers to a liquid chemical compound of 2 parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. What if I changed the symbols that we use in written communication to colored squares? Each letter symbol would be changed to a specific color square so that the word water would be represented by 5 color squares arranged in the same manner that our western culture uses to arrange letters in written communication. To further develop this idea, what if we used a number of letters in organized sentence structure to see what a piece of written communication would look like if converted to color squares?
I have worked with a computer programmer who wrote a custom software program to convert letters into colored squares. I have worked on a series of art pieces during my sabbatical in the spring 2008 semester in which I used classical literature and my own poetry and converted the letters of these written pieces in to colored art pieces. Another major project that I worked on was a celebrative work with Professor Camwell. This is related to the first part of the project in that letters also represent the symbols of musical notes and those letter and musical note symbols are translated into a color. This gives another dimension to the perceptions used in interpreting this artistic communication. The colors that are used in the movie change according to the composed symbols written in the composition. They appear to flash as they change.
I traveled to Australia during my sabbatical in January and February of 2008. The reason that I traveled to Australia was to better understand the artwork that is currently produced by Australian Aboriginal artists and to interact with the artists themselves.

Steve Rose
Steve Rose surveyed teacher prep programs across the nation to see how they explicitly teach and promote effective pre-service teacher dispositions. His findings will be placed in article form and submitted to publications aimed at teacher educators.

Lydia Sinapova
The purpose of the sabbatical work was to examine opportunities for enhancing experiential learning and collaborative academic research through interdisciplinary projects in Bioinformatics. I examined several books on molecular genetics, written for researchers in Computer Science. I involved in my work three students majoring in Computer Science, Mathematics and Environmental Sciences. Together we studied and implemented several algorithms on finding regulatory motifs in DNA sequences, local and global DNA sequence alignment, and hierarchical clustering of gene expression data.
We also got acquainted with several graph algorithms applied in solving Bioinformatics problems, and some available software tools for processing DNA and protein sequences. In October 2008 I attended a one-day symposium on Bioinformatics at the University of Urbana-Champaign. Finally, I examined the undergraduate program in Bioinformatics offered by Iowa State University as well as what some other Iowa based colleges do to incorporate Bioinformatics in their Computer Science and/or Biology programs.

Pat Singer
I spent my sabbatical at Des Moines University working in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Henry, assistant professor of Physiology and Pharmacology. In planning the sabbatical, we established 3 goals: (1) to move along one of Matt's on-going research projects, (2) to learn how to use the real time PCR thermal cycler that Simpson purchased with funds from the Roy J. Charitable Trust, and (3) to establish a collaboration between DMU and Simpson College. I brought Simpson's real time PCR thermal cycler with me up to Matt's lab at DMU. I thought the best way to become proficient with the instrument was to apply it to Matt's research project that I was working on rather than just learn how to operate the instrument. And that decision really paid off because I was forced to learn how to perfect data analysis and experimental design. I also took a course on real time PCR analysis at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I had two undergraduate research students continue Matt's research project through this fall semester, so we did, in fact, establish a collaboration.
The project I worked on in Matt's lab was to explore the anti-tumor properties of statins, which are normally taken to lower serum cholesterol. I used the drug simvastatin or Zocor. In very high doses (higher than normal, clinical doses) simvastatin inhibits cell division and stimulates cells to commit suicide. Cell suicide is a normal event that keeps the total number of cells in our body fairly constant over time and provides a way to eliminate cells that might be harmful to the whole organism. Cancer cells exhibit unregulated cell divisions and are resistant to signals that tell them to commit suicide. My project was to explore the mechanism by which simvastatin stimulates cellular suicide. I used the real-time PCR thermal cycler to look at changes in the expression of suicide genes when cells are exposed to simvastatin. I discovered some unsurprising candidate genes that are turned off in the presence of simvastatin, but also discovered some genes that we would not have predicted to be impacted by simvastatin. Simpson students are exploring changes in gene expression that surprised us.

Ron Warnet
This sabbatical leave involved the study of a new technique in chemistry called Atomic Force Microscopy or AFM, at Emory University and at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. AFM is a technique that allows chemists to see molecules on a nanoscale. When done carefully one can also image at the atomic level and effectively see individual atoms. At Emory I imaged the proteins responsible for Alzheimer's Disease and was able to see first had evidence about how they aggregated under different conditions. Curtin University has an extensive AFM lab headed by Tom Beckett who has his PhD in AFM. This allowed me access to about 8 different instruments and to expertise on the whole range of AFM capabilities. Tom shared his expertise with me, both theoretical and practical, so that I was able to image a wide range of materials both dry and in solution. In addition I was able to move individual atoms into a pattern, attach my probe to a protein and pull on it so that it unraveled and measure the force needed to break the intermolecular forces. AFM also allowed me to do chemical reactions on materials at the nanoscale.

Ruth Weatherly J.D., MBA
My sabbatical leave (Fall 2007) pursued a research and survey project with the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board in Des Moines. The objective was to develop and administer a survey that would seek specific health care information from the 1170 plus public sector bargaining units in Iowa. The data would seek to determine: "What health insurance programs and provisions exist in public sector bargaining agreements, and what methods have union and employer bargainers used to seek to meet the challenges of ever-increasing cost of health care and health insurance?"
With the assistance of Kyle Shelley, Simpson senior, we accomplished:
• Development of a survey vetted by interested parties and constituents: the survey can be viewed at www.iowaperb.iowa.gov
• Establishment of mechanisms for submission of survey response by affected parties, in phases, with data maintained and available to bargainers through PERB website
• Publicizing the project, including to a biennial statewide labor conference and through a newly-initiated PERB newsletter.

David Wolf
I worked primarily on the next sections of my long poem Sablier, though I left the proposal open to write other poems as well. I made significant progress drafting and polishing new sections of Sablier. I also wrote new poems in the vein of my collection The Moment Forever and worked on revising several earlier poems (pre Open Season). I have arranged the new Sablier material into shorter manuscripts for upcoming journal and magazine submission. As I have been invited to read at DMACC's Festival of Literary Arts this coming April, I plan to read mostly new work generated/revised this past summer and fall.
Also of note: "Maneuvers," a poem from my first collection Open Season, appeared in Appleseeds: an Anthology of Americana Poetry, which was published in October 2008 by Sacred Fools Press. The poem has also been nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize. I read with other poets in celebration of the anthology's publication at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge, MA, on December 8. The evening was a featured event in the long-running Stone Soup Poetry Series.
I also used the time to edit student work from last spring's service-learning creative writing course in preparation for posting the essays, short stories and poems to the Simpson College Web site. I look forward to offering the course again in the spring of 2010.


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Recent Sabbatical Recipients (through Fall 2008) Jackie Brittingham The goals of my project were to contribute to the Division of Natural Science's vision of effectively incorporating project-based laboratories in the curriculum and provide opportunities for students to grow through independent research projects in the area of human physiology and developmental biology. I worked with colleagues at Northern Arizona University, Knox College and Iowa State University to learn the tools and technologies necessary to implement such curricular changes. A $4969 grant from the Iowa Science Foundation supported acquisition of human physiological recording accessories and salary for a team of Simpson College undergraduates to work throughout the fall semester to develop innovative laboratory activities and an outreach program for elementary school students. Eduardo Magalhaes During my sabbatical, I developed a course on Women & Politics in the US. This course will cover historical developments, such as the Seneca Falls Resolution, the Suffrage Movement, and the ERA. It will also cover milestones in Congress, the White House and the Executive Branch, as well as the experience of women running for office. Finally, policy issues such as workplace equity, and affirmative action will be covered. Marilyn Mueller My sabbatical was spent at the Des Moines offices of Iowans for Social and Economic Development (ISED) at 1111 9th Street in the United Way Building. I was immersed in the world of small and micro-enterprise businesses, helping a variety of people from many different backgrounds take a step closer to realizing their dreams and hopes. My work involved reading and analyzing business plans, giving feedback on those plans and helping strategize ways to make businesses stronger. I assisted with the business planning class, helped re-write and update the curriculum and training resources for the class and performed a number of other tasks which will help ISED serve their clients more comprehensively. At ISED I worked with many remarkable people who are dedicated and devoted to serving their clients, who are part of a powerful and effective team and who find joy in serving others. The small business sector is the engine of the U.S. economy and it was an extraordinary experience to be part of such a dynamic and positive organization which serves small business and micro-enterprise clients. I also prepared for and visited Argentina and Uruguay to establish a May Term 2009 course and investigate a semester abroad opportunity for Simpson College. David Richmond The main project that I worked on during my sabbatical is an artistic experimentation of Chaos Theory combined with a conceptual experimentation of written communication. Written communication is a combination of symbols that represent sounds that we use to represent abstract thought. In written communication the letters, "w" "a" "t" "e" "r", refers to a liquid chemical compound of 2 parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. What if I changed the symbols that we use in written communication to colored squares? Each letter symbol would be changed to a specific color square so that the word water would be represented by 5 color squares arranged in the same manner that our western culture uses to arrange letters in written communication. To further develop this idea, what if we used a number of letters in organized sentence structure to see what a piece of written communication would look like if converted to color squares? I have worked with a computer programmer who wrote a custom software program to convert letters into colored squares. I have worked on a series of art pieces during my sabbatical in the spring 2008 semester in which I used classical literature and my own poetry and converted the letters of these written pieces in to colored art pieces. Another major project that I worked on was a celebrative work with Professor Camwell. This is related to the first part of the project in that letters also represent the symbols of musical notes and those letter and musical note symbols are translated into a color. This gives another dimension to the perceptions used in interpreting this artistic communication. The colors that are used in the movie change according to the composed symbols written in the composition. They appear to flash as they change. I traveled to Australia during my sabbatical in January and February of 2008. The reason that I traveled to Australia was to better understand the artwork that is currently produced by Australian Aboriginal artists and to interact with the artists themselves. Steve Rose Steve Rose surveyed teacher prep programs across the nation to see how they explicitly teach and promote effective pre-service teacher dispositions. His findings will be placed in article form and submitted to publications aimed at teacher educators. Lydia Sinapova The purpose of the sabbatical work was to examine opportunities for enhancing experiential learning and collaborative academic research through interdisciplinary projects in Bioinformatics. I examined several books on molecular genetics, written for researchers in Computer Science. I involved in my work three students majoring in Computer Science, Mathematics and Environmental Sciences. Together we studied and implemented several algorithms on finding regulatory motifs in DNA sequences, local and global DNA sequence alignment, and hierarchical clustering of gene expression data. We also got acquainted with several graph algorithms applied in solving Bioinformatics problems, and some available software tools for processing DNA and protein sequences. In October 2008 I attended a one-day symposium on Bioinformatics at the University of Urbana-Champaign. Finally, I examined the undergraduate program in Bioinformatics offered by Iowa State University as well as what some other Iowa based colleges do to incorporate Bioinformatics in their Computer Science and/or Biology programs. Pat Singer I spent my sabbatical at Des Moines University working in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Henry, assistant professor of Physiology and Pharmacology. In planning the sabbatical, we established 3 goals: (1) to move along one of Matt's on-going research projects, (2) to learn how to use the real time PCR thermal cycler that Simpson purchased with funds from the Roy J. Charitable Trust, and (3) to establish a collaboration between DMU and Simpson College. I brought Simpson's real time PCR thermal cycler with me up to Matt's lab at DMU. I thought the best way to become proficient with the instrument was to apply it to Matt's research project that I was working on rather than just learn how to operate the instrument. And that decision really paid off because I was forced to learn how to perfect data analysis and experimental design. I also took a course on real time PCR analysis at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I had two undergraduate research students continue Matt's research project through this fall semester, so we did, in fact, establish a collaboration. The project I worked on in Matt's lab was to explore the anti-tumor properties of statins, which are normally taken to lower serum cholesterol. I used the drug simvastatin or Zocor. In very high doses (higher than normal, clinical doses) simvastatin inhibits cell division and stimulates cells to commit suicide. Cell suicide is a normal event that keeps the total number of cells in our body fairly constant over time and provides a way to eliminate cells that might be harmful to the whole organism. Cancer cells exhibit unregulated cell divisions and are resistant to signals that tell them to commit suicide. My project was to explore the mechanism by which simvastatin stimulates cellular suicide. I used the real-time PCR thermal cycler to look at changes in the expression of suicide genes when cells are exposed to simvastatin. I discovered some unsurprising candidate genes that are turned off in the presence of simvastatin, but also discovered some genes that we would not have predicted to be impacted by simvastatin. Simpson students are exploring changes in gene expression that surprised us. Ron Warnet This sabbatical leave involved the study of a new technique in chemistry called Atomic Force Microscopy or AFM, at Emory University and at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. AFM is a technique that allows chemists to see molecules on a nanoscale. When done carefully one can also image at the atomic level and effectively see individual atoms. At Emory I imaged the proteins responsible for Alzheimer's Disease and was able to see first had evidence about how they aggregated under different conditions. Curtin University has an extensive AFM lab headed by Tom Beckett who has his PhD in AFM. This allowed me access to about 8 different instruments and to expertise on the whole range of AFM capabilities. Tom shared his expertise with me, both theoretical and practical, so that I was able to image a wide range of materials both dry and in solution. In addition I was able to move individual atoms into a pattern, attach my probe to a protein and pull on it so that it unraveled and measure the force needed to break the intermolecular forces. AFM also allowed me to do chemical reactions on materials at the nanoscale. Ruth Weatherly J.D., MBA My sabbatical leave (Fall 2007) pursued a research and survey project with the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board in Des Moines. The objective was to develop and administer a survey that would seek specific health care information from the 1170 plus public sector bargaining units in Iowa. The data would seek to determine: "What health insurance programs and provisions exist in public sector bargaining agreements, and what methods have union and employer bargainers used to seek to meet the challenges of ever-increasing cost of health care and health insurance?" With the assistance of Kyle Shelley, Simpson senior, we accomplished: • Development of a survey vetted by interested parties and constituents: the survey can be viewed at www.iowaperb.iowa.gov • Establishment of mechanisms for submission of survey response by affected parties, in phases, with data maintained and available to bargainers through PERB website • Publicizing the project, including to a biennial statewide labor conference and through a newly-initiated PERB newsletter. David Wolf I worked primarily on the next sections of my long poem Sablier, though I left the proposal open to write other poems as well. I made significant progress drafting and polishing new sections of Sablier. I also wrote new poems in the vein of my collection The Moment Forever and worked on revising several earlier poems (pre Open Season). I have arranged the new Sablier material into shorter manuscripts for upcoming journal and magazine submission. As I have been invited to read at DMACC's Festival of Literary Arts this coming April, I plan to read mostly new work generated/revised this past summer and fall. Also of note: "Maneuvers," a poem from my first collection Open Season, appeared in Appleseeds: an Anthology of Americana Poetry, which was published in October 2008 by Sacred Fools Press. The poem has also been nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize. I read with other poets in celebration of the anthology's publication at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge, MA, on December 8. The evening was a featured event in the long-running Stone Soup Poetry Series. I also used the time to edit student work from last spring's service-learning creative writing course in preparation for posting the essays, short stories and poems to the Simpson College Web site. I look forward to offering the course again in the spring of 2010.
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