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D. Tyler McQuade, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University College of Engineering, is principal investigator of a multi-university project seeking to use artificial intelligence to help scientists come up with the perfect molecule for everything from a better shampoo to coatings on advanced microchips. The project is one of the first in the U.S. to be selected for $994,433 in funding as part of a new pilot project of the National Science Foundation (NSF) called the Convergence Accelerator (C-Accel). McQuade and his collaborators will pitch their prototype in March 2020 in a bid for additional funding of up to $5 million over five years. Adam Luxon, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering who has been involved from the beginning, explained it this way: “We want to essentially make the Alexa of chemistry.” Just as Amazon, Google and Netflix use data algorithms to suggest customized predictions, the team plans to build a platform and open knowledge network that can combine and help users make sense of molecular sciences data pulled from a wide range of sources including academia, industry and government. The idea is right in line with the goal of the NSF program: to speed up the transition of convergence research into practice in nationally critical areas such as “Harnessing the Data Revolution.” The team itself reflects expertise across several specialties. Working with McQuade are James K. Ferri, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering; Carol A. Parish, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and the Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Chair in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Richmond; and Adrian E. Roitberg, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemistry at University of Florida. Two companies are also involved with the project: Two Six Labs, based in Arlington, Virginia, and Fathom Information Design, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Currently, there is no shared network or central portal where molecular scientists and engineers can harness artificial intelligence and data science tools to build models to support their needs. What’s more, while scientists have been able to depict what elements make up a molecule, how the atoms are arranged in space and what the properties of that molecule are (such as its melting point), there is no standard way to represent — or predict — molecular performance. The team aims to fill these gaps by advancing the concept of a “molecular imprint.” The collaborators will create a new system that represents molecules by combining line-drawing, geometry and quantum chemical calculations into a single, machine-learnable format. They will develop a central platform for collecting data, creating these molecular imprints and developing algorithms for mining the data, and will develop machine learning tools to create performance prediction models. Parish said, “The ability to compute molecular properties using computational techniques, and to dovetail that data with experimental measurements, will generate databases that will produce the most comprehensive results in the molecular sciences. “There are many laboratories around the world working in this space; however, there are few organizational structures available that encourage open sharing of these data for the benefit of the community and the common good. We seek to collaborate with others to provide this structure; an open knowledge network or repository where scientists can deposit their molecular-level experimental and computational data in exchange for user-friendly tools to help manage and query the data.” The initial response to their idea has been strong from potential partners. Ferri and the others have already collected more than a dozen letters from major corporations such as Dow and Merck expressing interest in participating. Also on board are Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, as well as national chemical engineering and chemistry organizations. McQuade said that chemical engineers in major industries including consumer products and oil and gas producers expend a lot of effort running experiments to determine the molecule they want to use, such as finding the best shampoo additive that doesn’t make babies cry. “The ability to design the properties you want is still more art than science.” The team also plans to develop a toolkit for processing and visualizing the data. Roitberg, whose research focuses include advanced visualization, said this could take the form of a virtual reality realm in which a user could find materials that are soluble in water but not oil, for instance, and then be able to browse for similar materials nearby. “We envision a very interactive platform where the user can explore relations between data and desired material properties,” he said.
Making Children's Mental Health and School Safety a Priority
The U.S. Department of Education announced $71.6 million in grant awards to enhance safety in schools and improve student access to mental health resources. The grants will allow local leaders to tailor their approach to school safety and mental health in ways that meet their students' individual needs and their particular school's unique challenges. "This is a strong step towards helping children across the U.S. who have experienced traumatic events. We know from previous research that traumatic experiences, even those in early childhood, affect an individual at any time in their life," says Elizabeth Dowdell, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor at Villanova's M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing. "In healthcare, assessing, identifying and treating trauma has become a major public health challenge since trauma exposures frequently go unrecognized and unaddressed." The same is true in the educational system. For many children, adolescents, and adults, trauma results from an event, series of events or set of circumstances which are perceived or experienced to be physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening. The landmark Adverse Childhood Experience study (1998) found that, in a population of 17,377 adult participants, 63% experienced at least one trauma exposure as a child and 20% experienced more than three trauma exposures. The experience of repeated trauma is sometimes referred to as toxic stress, which can have damaging effects on learning, behavior and health across the life span. These exposures included physical and sexual abuse, neglect and household dysfunction. Increased stress from family violence and chaos is trauma and, when combined with injury, is the leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. The lasting adverse effects from the trauma can affect a child's functioning and well-being, specifically mental and physical health, social, emotional and spiritual well-being as they age and develop. "Healthcare is shifting to a trauma-informed framework that focuses on what happened to the person rather than what is wrong with them and recognizes that individual's strengths and resilience. Schools are ideal locations for identification of traumatized children and the implementation of services to help them," says Dr. Dowdell. "School districts have to create physical safety and psychological safe places where all children can learn."
Responding to increased pressure, Facebook has "doubled down" on identifying and removing posts by online extremists and the groups they use to share content. As noted in a recent NBC News article, these increased efforts include using artificial intelligence and machine learning to proactively identify and remove posts and groups that break the rules, and promoting tools that would hold group administrators more accountable for posted content." Megan Squire is a professor of computer science who has conducted extensive research tracking connections between online hate groups and how they leverage social media platforms to recruit new members and spread propaganda. Squire told NBC News that she's skeptical that even these more high-tech efforts will meaningfully curtail the activity of online extremists. “Same stuff, different day,” Squire told NBC News. “Just in the past month, I reported groups calling for a global purge of Islam, extermination of people based on religion, and calling for violence through a race war, and Facebook’s response was that none of these groups was a violation of community standards.” If Dr. Squire can assist with your reporting about social media and online extremism, please reach out to Owen Covington, director of the Elon University News Bureau, at ocovington@elon.edu or (336) 278-7413. Dr. Squire is available for phone, email and broadcast interviews.
Baylor Faculty Member Earns $5 Million Grant to Study Meal Deliveries for Rural Students
Baylor University’s Texas Hunger Initiative has taken an important step this week in helping move the University towards its Research 1/Tier 1 aspirations with the announcement of a $5 million grant to expand access to food for students living in rural Texas communities. Kathy Krey, Ph.D., assistant research professor and director of research and administration for Baylor’s Texas Hunger Initiative, has been awarded the three-year grant from the United States Department of Agriculture for a research project aimed at testing a novel approach to distributing food during the summer to rural students age 18 and under. The grant is from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 3 million children in Texas receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year. During the summer when schools are not in session, food is available to eligible families through federal and state programs, but some students – particularly those who live in rural areas – may have difficulty accessing the food programs, leaving them without consistent access to nutrition. “The current solution to this problem, the federal Summer Food Service Program, doesn’t fit every scenario, because it requires that students congregate at a summer feeding site, often at a school or other central location,” Krey said. “Especially in rural areas, which Texas has a lot of, those meal sites can be less effective because there are transportation, cost or awareness barriers for students who are more broadly dispersed from schools and other potential meal sites.” Improving access to summer meals through mail delivery Krey and her colleagues at THI will be testing a program where families in selected areas of the state who don’t have access to a summer meal site can receive food deliveries through the mail. Grant funding will be used to purchase shelf-stable, nutritionally complete meals, including fruits and vegetables, which are packaged and delivered directly to families. The goal in designing this program, Krey said, is not to eliminate site-based summer feeding programs, but to supplement them with other mechanisms that can be more effective for Texas students whose food needs may not be met by the current system. “We envision a future in which summer feeding sites still exist. In communities where populations are centrally located, the site-based model can make a lot of sense, but we know that it’s going to take a lot of innovative solutions to meet the diversity of the problem especially in a state like Texas that has so many different geographies and different realities in terms of population density,” Krey said. The dual problems of hunger and poverty are closely related since students who don’t have access to healthy meals are at greater risk of low academic achievement and disciplinary problems. A failure to address nutritional deficiencies, Krey said, can contribute to a cycle of poverty that continues from generation to generation. “Research has proven that students need consistent access to healthy food to perform optimally in school,” she said. “If we think about generational poverty, education is such a key factor in students’ being able to break that cycle, and one way they can be equipped to do that learning is by having regular access to nutritious food. “In the summer, there aren’t as many resources and opportunities to get food, which is why it’s so important that we figure out innovative ways to use public and private resources to make sure that low-income kids have access to food during the summer,” she said. The grant also will provide research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Andrea Skipor, graduate student in Baylor’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, said her work with the project provides important experiences in application of the concepts taught in class. “In social work, evidence-based practice is a huge part of what we do,” Skipor said. “We learn so much in a classroom, but we don’t always get the opportunity to use it. This project has really given me a way to use my social work and community research skills in a way that has sparked an interest in research for my future practice.” Krey credits students like Skipor with providing invaluable assistance in carrying out important research. “We’ve been really honored with the student researchers and student workers who have come alongside us and acquired great experience in designing a pilot research project. We’ve been so impressed with the Baylor University students’ talent and commitment and we’re really honored to have them as part of this project,” Krey said. The Texas Hunger Initiative is a multi-disciplinary project dedicated to ending hunger through research and innovation and committed to strengthening public policy to address domestic food insecurity. Jeremy Everett, founder and executive director of THI, said the organization was founded on a realization that complex societal problems like hunger and poverty need solutions that leverage the resources of the public and private sectors, faith-based organizations and university researchers. The initiative’s broad-based approach includes a widely-dispersed staff that can observe problems first-hand to come up with evidence-based solutions. “We have field staff throughout the state working in a learning-lab capacity. The average researcher might have their own laboratory. Our laboratory is the state of Texas,” Everett said. It’s a strategy that Everett said is fundamental to Baylor’s mission to positively impact the lives of people in need. “We want to leave society better than we found it,” Everett said. “Our faculty and students want to be engaged in research and evaluation, but they also want to see how that makes a difference in a young child getting access to food who previously wouldn’t have had it without that engagement.” ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT THE TEXAS HUNGER INITIATIVE AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY The Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) at Baylor University is a capacity-building and collaborative project, which develops and implements strategies to end hunger through policy, education, research, community organizing and community development. THI works to make the state food secure by ensuring that every individual has access to three healthy meals a day, seven days a week. THI convenes federal, state and local government stakeholders with non-profits, faith communities and business leaders to create an efficient system of accountability that increases food security in Texas. THI’s work is supported by the Walmart Foundation, No Kid Hungry, and PepsiCo’s Food for Good. Along with its office located within the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor, THI has offices located in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen and San Angelo. For more information, visit www.baylor.edu/texashunger.
Multicultural Millennials Respond Positively to Health ‘Edutainment,’ Baylor Marketing Research Says
One-on-one interviews reveal which health issues concern millennials and their longing for optimal health Storytelling that educates and entertains – aka “edutainment” – is a powerful communications tool that can lead to positive health-related changes among multicultural millennials, according to a new marketing study from Baylor University. Tyrha Lindsey-Warren, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of marketing in Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, led the study, “Making multicultural millennials healthy: The influence of health ‘edutainment’ and other drivers on health-oriented diet change,” which is published in the Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy. Charlene A. Dadzie, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Alabama, coauthored the research. The research sought to determine which health issues most concerned multicultural millennials and to gauge how effective media can be as a tool to address those issues and drive change. “This study finds that by bolstering self-identity and employing health ‘edutainment,’ it is possible to have a positive impact on the health intentions and behaviors of the millennial generation,” the researchers wrote. There are more than 92 million millennials (ages 20-34) in the United States today, the researchers observed. More than 9 million of those are identified as being overweight, and much of that can be attributed to a sedentary lifestyle and media consumption. White Americans watch an average of 140 hours of television per month (35 hours per week); African Americans watch 213 hours of television per month; and Latino Americans watch 33 hours of television per week and stream more than six hours of video per month. “Millennials are tech-savvy, they love social media, they’re actually more health conscious than previous generations, and they have significant economic power,” Lindsey-Warren said. “With so many millennials – in the scope of this study, multicultural millennials – watching so many screens, there is great opportunity to generate information and increase products and services geared towards health-oriented behavior.” But to take advantage of this opportunity, public and private organizations need to understand what drives millennials’ health choices and communicate accordingly, the researchers wrote. A total of 265 people participated in two components of the study – a health survey of 245 undergraduate students and one-on-one, in-depth interviews of 20 multicultural millennials. ‘I’m old-young and it’s getting real.’ For the second part of the study, the researchers interviewed 20 people – 10 women and 10 men – from two organizations, a large northeastern U.S. university and a mid-sized nonprofit organization in Harlem, New York. The subjects represented cultural, socioeconomic and educational diversity. The interviews were used to better understand the health status of these millennials as well as their relation to storytelling in the media, the researchers said. Participants answered health and wellness questions regarding their own health and personal network (example: “What is your ideal health?”) and questions about their personal media usage (example: “What are the top five health and wellness issues you see regularly portrayed in the media?”). One of the strongest themes to emerge from those interviews was that multicultural millennials “long to be healthy in mind, body and spirit” and are open to “seeing authentic and relevant storytelling regarding health issues in the media that is meaningful.” “They would definitely respond to health messages when they truly see themselves in storytelling that meets them where they are in life,” the researchers wrote. Some of the health-related topics addressed by those being interviewed included healthy eating, asthma, sexual health, mental health and fitness. One interviewee, a 21-year-old woman said she gets “out of breath” when she runs up the stairs and her knees “crack and hurt.” “I would love to have ideal health again. I really would. I would love it. I’m old-young, and it’s getting real,” she said. ‘More involved in the narrative’ In addition to the one-on-one interviews, each of the 20 interviewees watched media clips from two television programs – ABC’s “Private Practice” and the nationally syndicated health show, “The Doctors.” Each show highlighted the accurate health information concerning attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). “Private Practice” told its story via fictional characters in an episodic dramatic storytelling format. In this format, health issues were not directly promoted and there was no direct-to-camera discussion of those issues. “The Doctors,” on the other hand, utilized the format of real doctors conveying accurate health information in real-life situations, directly to the camera and in front of a studio audience. “From the interviews, it was apparent that the storytelling in the health edutainment stimuli worked because the participants enjoyed and were more involved in the narrative conveyed in ‘Private Practice’ versus ‘The Doctors,’” the researchers wrote. “For example, the ‘Private Practice’ segment told the story of a young boy and his parents who desperately asked their doctor to give them a prescription for ADHD medicine for their son, even though the son did not want the medicine and the doctor felt that the prescription might not have been needed.” The “Private Practice” story resonated better with those watching and scored high across genders, according to the study. One 21-year-old male university student said he was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and saw himself and his parents in the “Private Practice” clip. He said he took ADHD medicine for a while. “I didn’t like it and I stopped taking it, and that was it. My parents were, ‘OK – if you don’t like it, that’s the way it is – you’re going to study harder, though. And, that was it,” he told the interviewers. A 28-year-old female from the nonprofit program said she saw the “Private Practice” clip and could relate to the situation as a parent. “I felt I could relate because I felt that my son had ADHD, and I really, I kind of diagnosed him myself, and said that, so I was really interested in this topic,” she told the researchers. Marketing and advertising implications Given the constant barrage of media in the lives of millennials, it is only reasonable to question the effect of this environment on their health and well-being, Lindsey-Warren said. The findings of the study are useful for practitioners in marketing, advertising, public relations, digital and branded entertainment. “Ultimately, the key to making a difference in the lives of multicultural millennials and their health, both now and into the future, may be achieving the right balance of educating and entertaining them,” the researchers wrote. “For millennials, Gen Z and alpha – the newest generation – ‘edutainment’ is and will continue to be a primary way to educate them,” Lindsey-Warren said. “It’s through the stories we tell on digital, on streaming, on gaming – that’s the way those generations are learning.” ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY At Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, integrity stands shoulder-to-shoulder with analytic and strategic strengths. The School’s top-ranked programs combine rigorous classroom learning, hands-on experience in the real world, a solid foundation in Christian values and a global outlook. Making up approximately 25 percent of the University’s total enrollment, undergraduate students choose from 16 major areas of study. Graduate students choose from full-time, executive or online MBA or other specialized master’s programs, and Ph.D. programs in Information Systems, Entrepreneurship or Health Services Research. The Business School also has campuses located in Austin and Dallas, Texas. Visit www.baylor.edu/business and follow on Twitter at twitter.com/Baylor_Business.
Fair Play: Sexual Violence and College Athletes
Since the 1990s, we have seen multiple high-profile, even fatal, cases of violence against women at the hands of male intercollegiate athletes. These events and others prompted the Office of Civil Rights to call upon universities to more appropriately investigate and sanction perpetrators of sexual assault. In April 2011, using Title IX as an imperative, the Office for Civil Rights issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) as a call for universities to more swiftly and adequately address incidences of sexual violence by students. As universities started implementing or revamping programs to reduce sexual violence on campus, it became obvious there was a lack of current research on college athletics to inform their decisions. This led me to conduct my own research on sexual assault within intercollegiate athletics. I wanted to understand the ways in which former college athletes understand sexual assault, as well as their perceptions of their athletic department’s response to occurrences and prevention. My research on sexual violence was first published in 2015 and again in 2018. Based on this research, in 2017-2018, I implemented a sexual violence prevention program with athletes from a variety of sports: men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling, softball, football, and women’s golf and tennis. That program, Fair Play: Sexual Violence Prevention for Athletes, was created because many athletes are leaders on their campuses and in their communities. While some research shows that some male athletes may be at higher rates for perpetrating sexual assault, we know that the vast majority of athletes are good students who want to help keep their fellow teammates, students, and community members safe. Fair Play teaches athletes about sexual assault, consent, and rape culture in sports, helps them re-examine traditional gender norms and roles, and gives them tools and skills to intervene and stop sexual violence before it happens. With grant funding from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, we collaborated with Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio (SARNCO) to facilitate Fair Play. Research done to assess the efficacy of the program is forthcoming in two journals. However, data indicates that, after participating in Fair Play, athletes are less likely to believe in rape myths, have a better understand of consent, and are able to identify and stop the spread of rape culture. In addition, Fair Play participants reported increased knowledge and ability to engage in bystander intervention, which is aimed at preventing violence before it happens. Fair Play is effective in its depth and breadth – participants attend 10 hours of programming – as well as the unique and active learning environment targeted specifically for athletes. Kristy McCray, Ph.D., is an Otterbein assistant professor in sport management and a former rape crisis center executive director. McCray’s program focuses on college athletes as some research indicates that male intercollegiate athletes are more likely to hold sexually aggressive attitudes and behaviors. Click on her icon at the top to get in touch with Kristy.
Privilege Creates a Different Starting Line in “Race to the Jobs”
College is a unique microcosm of society where students from a variety of backgrounds come together in one place. Many times, students have not been exposed to people from backgrounds that differ from their own. I consider this an opportunity to teach my students at Otterbein University about social inequality and privilege. In my Sociology of Sport course, I illustrate to students that the societal “playing field” isn’t always equal for everyone in visible or obvious ways. I use athletics as an entry point to teach them about the different privileges – or disadvantages – each of us have. I take students to the football field, where everyone starts at the 25 yard line facing the end zone. Standing in the end zone, I represent each student’s dream job or career path. Then I proceed to read statements out loud – and if that statement applies to them, students take a step forward or step back, depending on the directions given. My statements range from “if you have immediate family members who are doctors, lawyers, or other professionals, take one step forward” to “if you were ever called names or ridiculed because of your race, ethnicity, or social class background, take one step backward.” Each of the statements read are beyond the students’ control. Once I’m through reading all of the statements, I ask students to look around, noticing who is in front of them, who is behind them. Then they sprint to my position, and the first one to reach me is the winner of the race, representing the competition to the dream job.. However, through this activity, it’s clearly seen that not everyone had the same advantages as the others. Before they begin the race to me in the end zone, ready to run toward their dream job, students are already noticing the advantages some have over others. It really begins to sink in once they look around and see how everyone is staggered across the field. There is no even starting line – we all start from positions on the field. This Race to the Jobs activity, originally conceived by social justice activist Paul Kivel, becomes a springboard in our class for a better understanding of our own privilege and how we can all help create more opportunities for those who need help to overcome an obstacle. Doing this active learning makes it that much more impactful and poignant. Taking a different approach to showing these issues can make a big difference in student’s perceptions. They open their minds up to new – and sometimes difficult or challenging concepts of privilege and oppression – becoming more self-aware. The students begin to see that, just as in our classroom discussions and course readings, not everyone can be a LeBron James, born into a relatively difficult situation, and rise to his level of success on luck or talent alone. We need to examine our own privilege because if we don’t know who we are, we will never see our blind spots. Kristy McCray, Ph.D., is an Otterbein assistant professor in sport management. Contact her if you have any questions or wish to arrange an interview by clicking on her icon at the top.
Couples Who Tailgate Together Stay Together, Says New Baylor Research
Marketing researcher and husband team up to study tailgating’s impact on relationships For millions of football fans across the United States, fall is the time to break out the grills, load vehicles with coolers and food and games, and gather with friends for the time-honored tradition of tailgating. It’s a tradition that Baylor University’s Meredith David, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing, and her husband, Luke Lorick, have been enjoying since their undergraduate years at the University of South Carolina. The couple partnered on a recent research project to better understand tailgating’s impact on relationships and well-being. David is known nationally for her studies of phone snubbing – “phubbing” – and smartphone addiction. Lorick owns and operates Tailgating Challenge, a website devoted to testing and reviewing tailgating equipment, and he launched National Tailgating Day, which is celebrated annually on the first Saturday of September. “I noticed how at tailgates people actually interact with each other and are not glued to their phones like we see in restaurants and many other settings,” David said. “This led us to combine our expertise to study the impact of tailgating together on well-being.” The researchers surveyed 143 tailgating adults (44 percent were female) who answered questions about their partners and their respect toward that person. The results show that individuals who tailgate with their significant other report higher levels of respect and relationship satisfaction, David said. The results of the study will be presented later this month at the Atlantic Marketing Association Conference. “Tailgating fosters the human-to-human, face-to-face interactions and connections that we as humans need but yet find hard to come by as a result of cellphones and ‘phubbing’ tendencies,” David said. With over 70 million people tailgating annually, spending on average $150 on each occasion, David said this research offers important guidance for marketers, particularly in terms of positioning strategies in marketing communications for tailgating-related products and events. “For example, in advertisements, marketers should focus on portraying couples, or even friends, tailgating together as this may resonate more and help build bonds with the products they sell and the markets they are reaching out to,” David said. David said she and her husband knew that tailgating strengthened their relationship, but they wanted to dig in to see if it was – or could be – helpful to others. “We have lived and experienced these effects ourselves, so we wanted to determine if this impacted others the same way,” she said. “We found that tailgating helps strengthen relationships, in part, by helping people escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. They disconnect from their TVs, laptops and cellphones and make real connections with loved ones and friends.” ABOUT MEREDITH DAVID, PH.D. Meredith David, Ph.D., serves as assistant professor of marketing in Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business. Her research focuses on marketing strategies with an emphasis on consumer behavior and well-being. Recently, her research has explored how new media technologies, including smartphones, impact personal and workplace relationships. She has also published research related to customized pricing tactics, interpersonal attachment styles and the pursuit of health goals. Her research appears in numerous professional and academic journals and she has been interviewed and quoted for her research in national and international news outlets, including ABC News, Fox News, Oprah.com, Redbook, Consumer Reports and Health magazine. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY At Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, integrity stands shoulder-to-shoulder with analytic and strategic strengths. The School’s top-ranked programs combine rigorous classroom learning, hands-on experience in the real world, a solid foundation in Christian values and a global outlook. Making up approximately 25 percent of the University’s total enrollment, undergraduate students choose from 16 major areas of study. Graduate students choose from full-time, executive or online MBA or other specialized master’s programs, and Ph.D. programs in Information Systems, Entrepreneurship or Health Services Research. The Business School also has campuses located in Austin and Dallas, Texas. Visit www.baylor.edu/business and follow on Twitter at twitter.com/Baylor_Business.
Meet Your Newest Job Recruiter, the Algorithm – let our experts explain
Equal employment opportunities may not be part of a computer’s calculations, but one engineer from is trying to change that. When you apply for a job, chances are your resume has been through numerous automated screening processes powered by hiring algorithms before it lands in a recruiter’s hands. These algorithms look at things like work history, job title progression and education to weed out resumes. There are pros and cons to this – employers are eager to harness the artificial intelligence (AI) and big data captured by the algorithms to speed up the hiring process. But depending on the data used, automated hiring decisions can be very biased. “Algorithms learn based on data sets, but the data is generated by humans who often exhibit implicit bias,” explains Swati Gupta, an industrial engineering researcher at Georgia Tech who’s work focuses on algorithmic fairness. “Our hope is that we can use machine learning with rigorous mathematical analysis to fix the bias in areas like hiring, lending and school admissions.” But as algorithms harness speed and efficiency – how can they be adjusted to include and consider race, gender and other human factors? It’s an area Dr. Gupta has been researching and refining. If you are a reporter or journalist looking to cover this topic – that’s where our experts can help. Dr. Swati Gupta is an Assistant Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. Dr. Gupta is an expert in the areas of optimization, machine learning, and bias and fairness within the AI sphere. She is available to speak with media regarding this topic - simply click on her icon to arrange an interview.
The Spencer Foundation recently awarded Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work a $50,000 grant to study if and how accredited Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) programs incorporate curricula around religion and spirituality (RS) into social work education as well as assessing faculty views around the topic and how universities’ religious affiliations impact M.S.W. education. The School of Social Work’s Edward C. Polson, Ph.D., assistant professor, and Holly Oxhandler, Ph.D., assistant professor and associate dean for research and faculty development, are co-principal investigators for the study, “Graduate Social Work Faculty Views on Preparing Students to Ethically Integrate Clients’ Religion/Spirituality in Practice: A National Survey.” As of spring 2019, there were 290 M.S.W. programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), but little is known about how or if RS content is delivered within these colleges and universities. “Given that social workers provide the largest proportion of mental healthcare services in the U.S. [according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration], and clients have expressed a preference for integrating their RS in previous research, this is especially important to consider,” Oxhandler said. “In addition, no study has examined the potential impact religiously-affiliated colleges or universities have on M.S.W. education, including preparing students to ethically integrate clients' RS.” The research team, which will include a graduate assistant from the School of Social Work, will survey the approximately 5,000 full-time faculty across all of the CSWE-accredited M.S.W. programs to answer three questions: 1) How do M.S.W. programs prepare students to ethically integrate clients' RS in practice (if at all)? 2) What are M.S.W. faculty members' views and behaviors related to educating students on RS in social work? 3) In what ways, if any, do colleges' /universities' religious affiliation impact training on CSWE competencies in M.S.W. programs? Over the last few decades, research has shown a growing awareness that RS plays an important role in Americans' lives and the ethical integration of clients' RS in mental health treatment often contributes to positive outcomes. A previous study by Oxhandler revealed social workers held overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward integrating RS into treatment, but few were engaged in the practice. The study indicated only two practitioner characteristics that could predict their orientation toward integrating clients' RS into treatment: intrinsic religiosity (degree to which practitioners are internally motivated by RS) and prior training. This lack of training was reflected through surveys showing only 13 percent of social workers had taken a course in their M.S.W. program. Further, in another study by Oxhandler and Baylor alumna, Kelsey Moffatt, the team found a mere 78 of 257 programs mentioned a course on RS on their school websites in 2018. “We look forward to learning more about how M.S.W. faculty across the US integrate religion and spirituality content into their M.S.W. curricula as an element of clients’ culture and coping skills,” Oxhandler said. “Recognizing that clients tend to prefer their therapist assess and discuss the client’s spirituality as it relates to treatment, coupled with the fact that very few mental health care providers are trained in this area, we saw a need to better understand what's happening within M.S.W. programs.” The Spencer Foundation has been funding education research since 1971 and is the only national foundation focused exclusively on supporting education research. Their Small Research Grants on Education program supports research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, and their goal is “to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research.” “I am truly grateful for the Spencer Foundation’s support for Dr. Polson and I to carry out this exciting project,” Oxhandler said. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT THE DIANA R. GARLAND SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work is home to one of the leading graduate social work programs in the nation with a research agenda focused on the integration of faith and practice. Upholding its mission of preparing social workers in a Christian context for worldwide service and leadership, the School offers a baccalaureate degree (B.S.W.);a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree available on the Waco or Houston campuses or online; three joint-degree options, M.S.W./M.B.A., M.S.W./M.Div. and M.S.W./M.T.S., through a partnership with Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business and George W. Truett Theological Seminary; and an online Ph.D. program. Visit www.baylor.edu/social_workto learn more.
