In Focus: Faculty

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT
New Funding for Gordon Professor's Research

Michael Veatch, Ph.D., professor of mathematics at Gordon College, was awarded a highly competitive grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant will fund his research in creating mathematical tools that will help solve complex network control problems in manufacturing processes, supply chains, service operations and computer networks-enabling many industries to provide products and services more efficiently and cost-effectively.

The grant is from the engineering division of NSF, where the success rate for applicants is one in seven and funding for research at liberal arts colleges is rare. "It is gratifying that Gordon College can participate alongside larger universities in important scientific research at the undergraduate level that prepares more students to pursue careers in science and engineering," said Veatch. "The project will incorporate student researchers, providing them invaluable experience as they prepare for graduate school."

The NSF award comes as the College begins construction on its Ken Olsen Science Center, an 80,000-square-foot complex that will house the science, mathematics, psychology and computer science departments. The first phase of the facility is expected to be completed by early 2008.

TRILOGY LAUNCHED
Communication arts professor Jo Kadlecek, M.A., recently launched a fiction trilogy with NavPress. The first in the series, A Mile from Sunday, explores faith in a pluralistic society through the eyes of narrator Jonna Lightfoot McLaughlin, a young religion reporter. Kadlecek says, "Though this is a wonderfully diverse culture, it's often polarized. People too often point at others and say 'us versus them'--politically, spiritually and ideologically. Jonna's character wants to bridge that gap and bring people together." The second book in the trilogy, A Quarter after Tuesday, is expected to be released in spring 2007. Read an interview with Jo Kadlecek

BROOKS AND HERMAN AT C. S. LEWIS SUMMER INSTITUTE
In July 2006 the C. S. Lewis Summer Institute made its first appearance in North America since its beginnings in Oxford in the summer of 1988. The 10-day conference, held at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, was titled "Love among the Ruins: On the Renewal of Character and Culture." Thomas Brooks, M.M., professor of music, and Bruce Herman, M.F.A., professor of art, were presenters. The Summer Institute is an important biennial gathering comprising a wide range of Christian traditions. T. Grady Spires, Ph.D., professor of philosophy emeritus, has served on the Institute's Board of Directors since its beginnings.

SABBATICAL AT THE WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE
Craig Story, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, is doing sabbatical research at the prestigious Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is working with postdoctoral advisor, Hidde L. Ploegh, Ph.D., one of the world's leading researchers in immune system function. Dr. Story's current projects include investigating the involvement of viruses in the rare tropical disease podoconiosis and working on generating antibodies for diagnosis of malaria in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Science with a Mission, founded by Alynne MacLean '86.

Photos
1. Michael Veatch, Ph.D., professor of mathematics at Gordon College
2. Jo Kadlecek's new book A Mile from Sunday

<< BACK