Congratulations to Dr. Travis Marsico, associate professor of botany, whose research grant proposal for which he is principal investigator has been approved by the National Science Foundation. The $5.5 million grant will support the "Upper Delta Region Biodiversity Scholarship Program" through NSF's initiative called S-STEM. His project is closely interrelated with one led by Dr. Brook Fluker. Details are in the news release and video.

Dr. Brook Fluker, assistant professor of aquatic ecology, will lead development of the Arkansas Center for Biodiversity Collections, as envisioned in his successful proposal to the National Science Foundation's Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) program.  The $478,094 project will unify A-State's biodiversity collections, making them much more accessible. He also is a co-PI on Dr. Marsico's project. Details are in the release and video.

Dr. Gregory Hansen, professor of folklore and English, published "Intangible Heritage and the Better Angels of Folklore's Nature" in the International Journal of Heritage Studies. He also completed a grant project with Smithsonian staffers Dr. Betty Belanus, Dr. James Deutsch and Dr. Marjorie Hunt. Their work is described in "Museum Education and Public Folklore: Connecting with Heritage Studies," available on the American Folklore Society website.

Dr. Edward Salo (right), assistant professor of history, and Dr. Gregory Hansen, professor of folklore and English, were co-presenters at the International Country Music Conference in Nashville recently. Their presentation was titled "Historic Preservation and Cultural Conservation in Country Music: Case Studies of Johnny Cash's Boyhood Home  and KASU radio's 'Bluegrass Monday'." Historic Dyess Colony and Cash's home are part of A-State's Heritage Sites program.

Dr. Hilary Schloemer, a new assistant professor of management, recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. Her research interests include creativity and innovation, and more specifically how to facilitate creative idea generation, problem solving, and innovation. Her dissertation focused on how personality, time pressure and perceptions affect the characteristics of generated creative ideas, and how managers perceive and make decisions about these ideas.