They may not have drawn tens of thousands of fans to watch their efforts, but eight West Virginia University professors traveled to Big 12 athletic conference schools this past year – and four from other Big 12 members were in Morgantown – to help build academic collaboration, innovation and intellectual give-and-take throughout the conference.

The professors received awards under the Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program, an initiative created in 1996 by the provosts of the member institutions to encourage scholarly collaboration among faculty researchers at different schools.

“The Big XII faculty fellowship is a tremendously exciting piece of evidence that the Big 12 conference is far more than an athletic organization,” said Provost Joyce McConnell. “The intellectual exchange that happens when faculty at different institutions commit to working together produces innovative, creative work – and encourages more exchange and collaboration as a result.”

The WVU professors who received the $2,500 Fellowships in 2014-2015 are:

Joshua Hall, Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics.
Michael Ibrahim, School of Music, College of Creative Arts.
Mark Koepke, Department of Physics, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
Melissa Latimer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Eberly.
Mikylah McTeer, School of Music.
David Taddie, School of Music.
Matthew Valenti, Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
Amy Weislogel, Department of Geology, Eberly.

Applications for the 2015-2016 Fellowships are due in the Office of the Provost by June 15. More information and the application form are available at http://wvufaculty.wvu.edu/opportunities.

Hall, who spent a week at the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech, described the trip as “extremely productive.” He listed numerous concrete outcomes of the trip, from a paper presentation at Texas Tech and a recorded appearance on the FMI’s public television program to plans set in motion for several new research papers and projects in collaboration with researchers and students at the FMI.

Perhaps most significantly, Hall noted, the trip “started relationships that will continue in the future.”

The same can certainly be said of the residencies that WVU music professors McTeer and Taddie held at both Baylor and the University of Texas at Austin as part of their fellowships, which they applied for in conjunction with colleagues at those institutions, as part of an extensive collaborative project centered around the composition, performance, and recording of new work.

McTeer, a renowned violinist, rehearsed, performed, and offered a masterclass, which Taddie composed, taught and performed some of his own work. The culmination of what McTeer describes as a “multi-tiered collaborative research effort” is a CD that will be released on the major classical music label Parma this fall.

“The fellowship made possible a project that would have been otherwise logistically complicated and financially prohibitive,” McTeer said. “That the work will now be released on a major record label, supported by a WVU Faculty Senate Grant, means that we can share this amazing music globally, through world-wide distribution of the recordings. This two-week fellowship has turned into one of the most exciting and fulfilling musical projects of my professional life.”

Saxophone professor Ibrahim also put his fellowship to use for an ambitious musical project, touring not one or two but six Big 12 universities: University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Christian University, Baylor University, UT-Austin, and Texas Tech. Ibrahim performed contemporary works for saxophone and piano (with Ron Stabinsky of Wilkes University), including a new work that they premiered on this tour.

Latimer spent her fellowship at Iowa State, while Weislogel, Koepke and Valenti visited UT-Austin.

Valenti collaborated with UT-Austin Professor Robert Heath to explore complicated technological problem with significant real-world implications. The two researchers focused on the “millimeter wave communications” of the new wearable devices like Fitbit and the Apple Watch, and specifically looked at how the devices deal with interference in confined areas like subway cars, where many people may be wearing such devices.

“The fellowship gave me an opportunity to glimpse how a world-class research group operates,” Valenti said. “I’ve begun to adopt some of the practices I observed in Texas, in particular how I work with my own graduate students. I anticipate continuing this collaboration for years to come.”

Koepke also found the experience beneficial for both himself and his graduate students. He took a graduate student with him when he traveled to UT-Austin and also worked closely with graduate students onsite. Witnessing and participating in the cross-institutional collaboration was beneficial for all the students involved, he said, “enriching their research experience, expanding their knowledge of possible career paths, and improving their employability.”

From his own standpoint, Koepke viewed his fellowship trip a success and noted that the results of the joint work will be presented as a poster at the upcoming European Physical Society plasma physics conference in Lisbon, Portugal. “Our results will also be part of a joint grant application to be submitted this coming summer to the US Department of Energy,” he said.

This year, WVU also welcomed a number of researchers from fellow Big 12 institutions, who sought out scholarly collaborations at WVU and with WVU faculty members as part of the fellowship opportunity provided by their home institution. These scholars included:

• Francesca Arnone, assistant professor of flute, Baylor University.
• Michael Krueger, professor of art, University of Kansas.
• Chris Petr, professor of social welfare, University of Kansas.
• Russell Pinkston, professor of composition, University of Texas-Austin.

Arnone, a flutist and former WVU faculty member, and Pinskton, a composer and computer music researcher, worked with WVU’s McTeer and Taddie. Petr worked with the School of Social Work at WVU, exploring ways to improve the social work curriculum at both institutions as well as potential research collaborations in children’s mental health.

Krueger, who visited WVU to work with Associate Professor of Art Joe Lupo, gave a lecture in Morgantown on his creative work and collaborated with Lupo and some WVU students to produce two original works of art. His trip to WVU was actually a follow-up to work begun last year, when Lupo traveled to Kansas on his own Big 12 Fellowship.

“One of the most rewarding parts of this fellowship is building relationships with faculty at other institutions,” Krueger said. “We all face challenges in our fields, and feeling like there is a greater network of like-minded colleagues out there to lean on is vital.”

In 2013-2014, the first year that WVU faculty members were eligible to participate in the fellowship program, the university awarded seven fellowships. On-campus interest in the program has been significant, however, prompting the Office of the Provost to increase funding. While eight researchers were supported in 2014-2015, 12 fellowships will be available in 2015-2016.

The Office of the Provost is currently accepting applications from faculty who are interested in participating in the program in 2015-16. With the stipend provided, faculty may work on collaborative research, consult with faculty and students, offer a series of lectures or symposia, acquire new skills or take advantage of a unique archive or laboratory.

Of the 12 fellowships available, four will be reserved to support faculty working/conducting research in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

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CONTACT: Ann Claycomb; Office of the Provost
304.293.5701; Ann.Claycomb@mail.wvu.edu
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