Two University professors have been awarded fellowships by the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, while another has been awarded the Fulbright Senior Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. The awards will help these professors to conduct research abroad.
The fellowships were awarded to Environmental Sciences Prof. Deborah Lawrence and Architecture Prof. John Quale. In a project that builds upon her current research in Mexico, Costa Rica and Indonesia, Lawrence will work with Chiang Mai University in Thailand to study the ecological effects of land use in the area's tropical forests.
Quale, meanwhile, will study the relationship between the affordable housing and prefabricated housing industries in Japan. His project will also relate to his ongoing work, as he is the director of the University's ecoMOD project, an initiative that seeks to develop affordable prefabricated housing.
Pediatrics Prof. James Blackman will use his senior scholarship to study a gene that may protect brain development in children with cerebral palsy. He will travel to the University of Queensland to collaborate on a more general Australian study of the condition.
Land use can have several effects on the global environment, Lawrence said.
"Whenever you cut down a forest, it really changes the way water, energy and nutrients flow through the system," she said. For example, the type of crops planted affects the flow of water. In addition, the clearing of tropical forests is highly relevant to ongoing discussions on climate change because the loss of those forests seems to increase carbon dioxide levels, Lawrence said.
She will research this topic not only by studying soil and biomass but also by collaborating with social scientists to see what factors influence people's use of land.
"I measure the actual ecological results of [people's] actions and I also try to look at what the drivers are, and those drivers are often socioeconomic," Lawrence said.
In Japan, Quale will interview and observe the work of people such as architects and members of prefabricated housing companies and affordable housing organizations. Eventually, he will publish his findings in a series of articles, some of which will be in peer-reviewed journals, while others will be in more readily accessible publications.
"The primary intent ... is really to help affordable housing manufacturers understand the value of sustainable design and understand the value of prefabrication as something that can support that," Quale said. "The second goal is to help prefab manufacturers understand how sustainable design works in other cultures."
Japan itself is an ideal place to conduct this research, he added, because sophisticated prefabricated housing has existed there for about 40 years, and the industry there has developed "very differently" from its American counterpart.
Blackman will study the genetics of childhood cerebral palsy, particularly focusing on the Apolipoprotein E, or APOE, gene, which may protect the brains of children who have suffered brain injury, according to a University press release on Blackman's research.
In a previous study, Blackman found that individuals with APOE4 - a particular variant of the gene - had less severe cases of the condition than people with other versions of the gene. Because cerebral palsy is caused by a brain injury suffered around the time of birth, it is possible that the different outcome is caused by a protective effect from the gene. Nevertheless, adults with the same APOE4 gene variant may fare worse after suffering a head injury.
"A gene that would help you survive and be healthy during your childhood years is designed to get you to reproductive years, and the gene doesn't care what happens after this," Blackman stated in the press release, explaining a possible reason why the gene could affect different age groups differently. "Most people didn't live as long as we do now, and the genes haven't evolved as quickly as our life expectancy has grown."
Overall, these scholarships are seen as an opportunity for faculty to explore their interests further.
"It's a great honor and it's a great opportunity to expand the geographic scope of my work," Lawrence said. "I'm not only adding colleagues in a different field, but I'm also adding colleagues in a whole new part of the world"
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