North Shore Chapter, Sigma Xi Fall Newsletter 2012
MEMBER UPDATES
…from Michael Williamson (biology, Wheelock College):
I have continued my research on the Southern Right Whale and the Antarctic Humpback Whale populations in Australia during the months of August and September. Working with the girls at St. Mary's Anglican Girls School in Perth, Western Australia, we continue to add data/ID-photographs of these species (humpback whales, Southern Right Whales, Killer whales, bottlenose dolphins, and the giant manta) to the on-line catalog and data base. Additionally, more established organizations are now participating in the project. We have worked from Albany on the Southern Ocean to the Kimberly's on the north coast.
*** Visitors (you!) can help to match ID photographs at http://www.stmarys.wa.edu.au/st-marys-whale-watch Use "guest" as the username and the password to access the catalog.
The below images show the Southern Right Whale and surfers off Cape Naturaliste in Geographe Bay off of Dunsborough, Western Australia. We are in the process of developing professional development programs for student and educator participation with optional academic credit in both the United States and/or Australia.
And continuing with the marine theme:
Bram Lutton (health sciences and marine biology, Endicott College) has received an award from the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, in Salisbury Cove, ME, to continue research involving the physiology of sharks and their relatives with Endicott College undergraduate students. If this research is of interest to anyone in our chapter, please feel free to contact Dr. Lutton anytime to discuss it further (blutton@endicott.edu).
… an update from John Kelley (psychology, Endicott College):
Four recent publications in peer-reviewed journals are below. The first publication was co-authored by a former Endicott student, Rebecca Malouf, Class of 2011.
Kelley, J. M., & Malouf, R. A. (in press). Blind dates and mate preferences: An analysis of newspaper matchmaking columns. Evolutionary Psychology.
Phillips, M., Lorie, A., Kelley, J. M., Todd-Kraft, G., Gray, S. T., & Riess, H. (in press). Long-term effects of empathy training in surgery residents: A one year follow-up study. International Journal of Person Centered Medicine.
Kelley, J. M., Kaptchuk, T. J., Cusin, C., Lipin, S., & Fava, M. (2012). Open-label placebo for major depressive disorder: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 81, 312-314.
Riess, H, Kelley, J. M., Bailey, R. W., Dunn, E. J., & Phillips, M. (2012). Empathy training for resident physicians: A randomized controlled trial of a neuroscience-informed curriculum. Journal of General Internal Medicine. I also just gave an invited lecture entitled: “Placebos without Deception: Testing the Efficacy of Open-Label Placebo” at a conference entitled “Beyond the Placebo: Biomedical, Clinical, and Philosophical Aspects of the Placebo Effect” at the Centro Stefano Franscini in Ascona, Switzerland on August 22, 2012.
…from Suzanne Phillips (Psychology, Gordon College):
I have taken a year-long sabbatical from teaching at Gordon College. In August, I relocated to northern New Hampshire to do community-based research on access to higher education in rural areas. I plan to return to teaching full-time at Gordon in the fall of 2013.
OFFICER UPDATES: Suzanne Phillips will continue serving as our president while she on sabbatical, via the power of the internet! She is still at suzanne.phillips@gordon.edu Our other officers for this academic year are:
Vice President: Rory McFadden, geology, Salem State University
Secretary: Anne-Marie Scholer, biology, Endicott College
Treasurer: Lindley Hanson, geology, Salem State University
At-Large: Greg Keller, biology, Gordon College Bram Lutton, health sciences and marine biology, Endicott College
Bram Lutton attended the annual meeting and international research conference of Sigma Xi at the society’s headquarters in Raleigh, NC, in November of 2011. He served as a representative delegate for the North Shore Chapter. If anyone is interested, Bram Lutton is happy to provide minutes of the Northeast Regional Caucus. During the conference, an excellent ethics symposium was held (The Responsible Researcher: Conscience and Collaboration). For more on that, visit http://sigmaxi.org/about/news/2011AMIRC.shtml. Bram Lutton is also representing the Northeast region as a first year member of the society’s regional nomination committee. The job for this committee will be to find 3 candidates for the Northeast Regional Associate Director position by September. Please let Dr. Lutton know if you would like to be a candidate for this esteemed position (blutton@endicott.edu). Bram’s work has strengthened our chapter’s relationship with neighboring chapters (in particular, U. Mass. Lowell and Boston University) and the society as a whole. Our president Suzanne Phillips and our at-large member Bram Lutton attended UMass Lowell’s Sigma Xi Chapter banquet and lecture in May, along with Bill Waller, a science teacher at Rockport High School. Dr. Lutton brought along two students from his laboratory.
For photos, visit: http://www.sigmaxi.org/chapters/web/index.php?chapter_id=78&page_id=545
Lindley Hanson is leading a field trip for the New England Intercollegiate Geologic Conference (NEIGC) entilted 2005 flood impacts and subsequent recovery on the Cold River and Warren Brook, Alstead, NH, which will be published in the conference guidebook. The flood killed three people, destroyed over 30 houses, and catsotrophically widened the stream channels removing all surrounding vegetation, and killing most of the aquatic fauna. Efforts are still to restore the stream channels and aquatic habitats and still ongoing. Too see more images of the flood go the the Alstead Flood Page maintained by Heidi Quinn.
In preparation for next year's NEIGC, which will be jointly sponsored by Salem State University and The Maine Geological Survey, Lindley Hanson, Rory McFadden and Doug Allen from Salem State spent a week reviewing the geology in central Maine. I (Suzanne Phillips) came along for the opportunity to climb Katahdin.
Rory McFadden started field mapping this summer in the Bronson Hill Terrane of western New Hamsphire, where he is directing students in research and working with geologist from the United States Geological Survey.
2012-2013 NORTH SHORE CHAPTER CALENDAR:
Please mark your calendars for the following events:
- Thursday, October 25: Fall Lecture, Endicott College (+ sustainability dinner)
- Saturday, February 23: Annual Conference, Salem State University Thursday, April 25, 2013:
- Induction Ceremony, Gordon College As more details come available, they will be posted on the Chapter’s website: http://w3.salemstate.edu/~lhanson/NS_SigmaXi/
Let us know what YOU are doing! E-mail any contributions for the next newsletter to chapter secretary Anne-Marie Scholer: ascholer@endicott.edu