October 2008
Law alum Kim McCoy featured on Animal Planet series
Kim McCoy , a 2007 alumna of the law school, is the Executive Director of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and one of the subjects in the upcoming television series “Whale Wars” on Animal Planet.
Deeply committed to the defense and conservation of animals worldwide, McCoy served as editor-in-chief of the internationally acclaimed Animal Law Review while she was a law student. She also interned with the International Environmental Law Project and worked on animal rights issues.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, research, and enforce laws, treaties, resolutions, and regulations established to protect ocean wildlife and their habitats worldwide.
“Whale Wars,” a controversial mini-series that worked with Sea Shepherd, showcases the group’s interference with a Japanese whaling expedition in order to protect the greatest treasure of the seas: the great whales.
“Whale Wars” begins November 7 at 9 p.m. on Animal Planet. Learn more about Kim online.
Video: Alum vies for national animation prize; voting closes Tuesday, Oct. 28
Adan Vielma CAS ’08 is a finalist in a national animation competition, and viewers can vote for his film from 8:00 p.m. Monday, October 27 through 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 28.
Vielma’s short, “Go Nuts Animation,” was named one of 29 finalists in the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, which features the best animated shorts films from around the globe.
Each day in October, the Nicktoons website features a different short for which visitors can vote. At the end of the month, the video with the most votes will win the Viewer’s Choice Award. To vote for Vielma’s video, visit the Nicktoons website by Tuesday, October 28.
Vielma, who won a different national video competition last year, put more than 30 hours of work into the two-minute submission. “Go Nuts Animation” takes a fun look at college life, following a student who spends a fortune decking out his dorm room.
“What differentiates my work, and what probably made it stand out to the contest judges, has to be its complexity,” Vielma said. “Each minute of my animation is filled with ten minutes of entertainment; one view is just not enough. I added so many details and filled even the smallest of corners. It has to be that attention to detail and sense of humor that the judges appreciated.”
Currently in its fifth year, the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival is the largest event of its kind in North America. The Festival gives finalists like Vielma exciting opportunities to present their work on a national stage, giving animators access to television and Internet audiences and offering cash and prizes for winners.
“Having just graduated from Lewis & Clark, I’m finding so many directions to take my education,” Vielma said. “Animation and video work are two directions I’m pursuing right now, and they’ve brought me personal enjoyment and public recognition. I’m really happy with what I’ve been doing, but I’m always looking forward to new challenges and projects.”
Education Professor Zaher Wahab contributes expertise to Winter Soldier forum
Zaher Wahab, professor of education:
Wahab contributed his expertise on the situation in Afghanistan as part of the Winter Soldier Northwest forum this month, an event held at First Unitarian Church in Portland. Winter Soldier hearings have been convened across the country to give U.S. veterans an opportunity to testify about their military service. In addition, panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists give context to the testimony.
The panel discussion in which Wahab participated was titled, “Eyewitness Accounts of War: Local Soldiers, their Families, Iraqis and Afghans Testify on the Human Cost of War.”
“The average family [in Afghanistan] lives on one dollar per day,” Wahab said at the forum. “Two million people are seriously mentally ill, 70 percent of Afghanis are traumatized.”
Wahab splits his time between Lewis & Clark and Afghanistan, devoting six months of service each year to the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education. He is dedicated to helping normalize conditions in Afghanistan, and he believes “quality, equal and universal education is the key to establishing peace, security, democracy, harmony, and a healthy, stable economy in Afghanistan.”
Read more about Wahab and the Winter Soldier event online.
Animal law experts from around the world convene at law school
Close to 250 animal law experts and advocates from around the world convened at Lewis & Clark Law School on Oct. 17-19 for the 16th Annual Animal Law Conference to discuss the interconnections between animal law and a broad array of issues such as religion, farming, environmentalism, and homeland security. The event was sponsored by the Center for Animal Law Studies in collaboration with the Animal League Defense Fund.
Mark Hawthorne, animal rights advocate, blogger, and author of Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism, writes: The panel that made the biggest impression on me had to do with the state of animal law in China, which is to say none at all. Presented by Paul Littlefair of RSPCA International and Amanda Whitfort, who teaches law at the University of Hong Kong, the session covered the legal and cultural hurdles animal advocates must overcome in Asia….
Autumn’s gecko research extends its global reach
Kellar Autumn, associate professor of biology:
With coverage this month in Scientific American and New Scientist, as well as several international newspapers, Autumn’s research has extended its global reach. On Saturday, October 25, Autumn will be featured on an episode of Weird Connections on The Science Channel.
Autumn’s research has already crisscrossed the globe, appearing on five continents in hundreds of newspapers, journals, books, television programs, and Internet articles. Recently, Autumn’s research has been used as a stepping stone in the invention of a strong and sticky adhesive similar to a gecko’s feet, discovered by researchers at U.C. Berkeley. Explore this interactive map of some major media placements from recent years to discover the international impact of Autumn’s work.
Lochner and Scalettar publish work on neuromodulators
Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr., Professor of Science and Biochemistry Janis Lochner and Professor of Physics Bethe Scalettar:
Lochner and Scalettar coauthored a study on the postsynaptic colocalization of neuromodulatory proteins with five undergraduate students (Conor Jacobs ‘09, Mariya Chavarha ‘08, Kevin McAllister ‘08, Erika Spangler ‘07, Linnaea Schuttner ‘06) that was featured on the cover of the September issue of Developmental Neurobiology. Titled “Efficient Copackaging and Cotransport Yields Postsynaptic Colocalization of Neuromodulators Associated with Synaptic Plasticity,” their collaborative work shows how the proteins studied are known to enhance synaptic communication in the hippocampus. This research was supported by grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health and by the Rogers Summer Research Program.
Developmental Neurobiology publishes research primarily on development and plasticity in the nervous system, with an emphasis on experimental work.
Read more about Lochner and Scalettar’s collaborative research in The Chronicle.
Associate Dean Janet Bixby publishes book on her qualitative research
Janet Bixby, associate dean of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling:
“Educating Democratic Citizens in Troubled Times: Qualitative Studies of Current Efforts” (SUNY Press, 2008), a new book by Bixby, will be published in November. This book offers a groundbreaking examination of citizenship education programs that serve contemporary youth in schools and communities across the United States. These programs include social studies classes and curricula, school governance, and community-based education perspectives of educators and youth involved in these civic education efforts. The contributors offer rich analyses of how mainstream and alternative programs are envisioned and enacted, and the most important factors that shape them. A variety of theoretical lenses and qualitative methodologies are used, including ethnography, focus group interviews, and content analyses of textbooks.
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