RadioEd

In the six years that Chancellor Jeremy Haefner has helmed the University of Denver, much has changed—and research at DU has truly blossomed.

DU was awarded R1 research status in 2021, making it the fourth university in Colorado and the only private institution in the Rocky Mountain Region to have achieved the classification. Since then, the research being done by faculty and students across DU has only gotten more exciting.

As we head into the 2024 school year, with more to come from DU’s stellar researchers, we sat down with Chancellor Haefner to chat about why research is such an integral part of the DU identity.

Women make up just 34% of the workforce in professional STEM fields. In college, too, women are underrepresented: about 21% of engineering majors are women and around 19% of computer and information science majors are women. 

So, the question is: Why does this happen? Are women just less interested in these fields? 

Jennifer Hoffman, Shannon Murphy and Robin Tinghitella, all faculty in the University of Denver’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, answer that question with a resounding “NO.” 

Together at DU, Shannon, Jennifer and Robin co-host science summer camps for middle-school girls. And they are not only providing opportunities for girls to become acquainted with STEM fields, they’re also studying the campers’ relationships to science.   

In a recently published paper, the trio, along with outside colleagues, examine the effects of these science summer camps on girls’ relationship with science and their scientific self-efficacy by asking the girls a series of questions before and after their camp experiences. 

In this episode, Emma chats with the three female scientists about their experiences as women in STEM and why it’s so important to get girls interested in the sciences early in life. 

Jennifer Hoffman is a professor of physics and astronomy in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Denver. She holds the Womble Chair of Astronomy and directs DU's historic Chamberlin Observatory. Her research interests focus on the late stages of massive stellar evolution, in particular on the role of binary stars in shaping supernova explosions. Hoffman uses a combination of observational spectropolarimetry and 3-D computational modeling to explore these research questions. She sees her roles as an educator and mentor as a vital part of her scholarship. In all these arenas, Hoffman works to expand opportunities and remove barriers to participation in physics and astronomy for people from historically underrepresented groups. 

Robin Tinghitella is an associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Denver. As a behavioral ecologist, she works to understand how rapidly changing environments alter animal communication, particularly interactions between males and females. Researchers in her animal behavior lab use both insect and fish model systems and are supported by the National Science Foundation, the Morris Animal Foundation, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Animal Behavior Society (amongst others).  

Shannon Murphy is a professor of biological sciences in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Denver. She studies the ecology and evolution of interactions between plants and insects. Murphy works side by side with students to investigate how these plant-insect interactions are affected by global change. She works closely with undergraduate and graduate students to both teach them about and study the ecology and evolution of interactions between plants and insects, and together they investigate how these interactions are affected by global change. 

More Information: 

“STEM Summer Camp for Girls Positively Affects Self-Efficacy" by E. Dale Broder, Kirsten J. Fetrow, Shannon M. Murphy, Jennifer L. Hoffman, Robin M. Tinghitella 

AAUW: “The STEM Gap: Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics” 

Much of sports is a gamble. There’s a saying: “Any team can win any game on any given day.” Almost nothing, no outcome, is guaranteed in sports—and that’s part of the fun of watching and playing. 

But players and coaches want to eliminate as many variables as possible, trying to leave less up to chance. And that is where statistics come in. 

It might seem like a good idea to call a timeout in the NBA when the opposing team is on a scoring run—it could slow their momentum, change the energy of the game, right?  

Research from a University of Denver data analytics professor indicates otherwise. 

In this episode, Emma chats with Daniels College of Business professor Ryan Elmore about his work in sports analytics—and why taking a timeout in the midst of an NBA game might not be the solution to slowing an opposing team’s momentum.  

Ryan Elmore is an associate professor in the Department of Business Information and Analytics at the Daniels College of Business. Prior to Daniels, he worked as a senior scientist in the Computational Sciences Center at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado. He has also held positions at the Australian National University, Colorado State University and Slide, Inc. 

Elmore’s research interests include statistics in sports, nonparametric statistical methods, and energy efficient high-performance computing. His work in sports statistics has led to the position of Associate Editor for the Journal of Quantitative Analysis of Sports (2015–present) and consultant to the Denver Nuggets professional basketball team. 

More Information: 

“The causal effect of a timeout at stopping an opposing run in the NBA”  

“Bang the Can Slowly: An Investigation into the 2017 Houston Astros” 

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This episode of RadioEd is about suicide and how people can help those they love who might be experiencing suicidal thoughts. 

We know it’s a heavy topic. In many cultures, suicide is taboo—and in some countries it’s illegal. People don’t like to talk about it. 

But, as University of Denver associate professor of social work Stacey Freedenthal says, asking a friend or family member if they’re experiencing suicidal thoughts is really, really important.  

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among adults in the United States, with nearly 50,000 dying by suicide in 2021. In that same year, 12.3 million adults seriously thought about suicide.  

And it’s not just adults. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 15 and 24 and the eighth leading cause of death among children aged 5 to 11.  

So why should we ask our at-risk loved ones about potential thoughts of suicide? Freedenthal says she's often heard a slogan: “Prevent suicide with your ears.” And while it’s not quite as simple as that, Freedenthal says listening to those we love is a good first step in stopping someone from taking their own life. 

In this episode, Freedenthal draws on her personal and professional experiences to share how best to support the people we love when they may be experiencing suicidal thoughts.  

Stacey Freedenthal is an associate professor of social work at the University of Denver. A licensed clinical social worker, Freedenthal has a small psychotherapy and consulting practice in Denver. She also provides training and consultation to social workers and other professionals who treat clients at risk for suicide. 

Freedenthal has worked in the field of suicide prevention since 1994, when she volunteered at a suicide hotline. Subsequently, she earned a master's degree in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. She held clinical positions in psychiatric emergency settings before returning to school to earn a PhD in social work from Washington University in St. Louis. Before she became a social worker, she worked as a journalist for The Dallas Morning News. 

She coordinates the mental health concentration at the Graduate School of Social Work. The courses that she teaches include Suicide Assessment and Interventions, Assessment of Mental Health in Adults, Clinical Social Work Theory and Practice, and Social Justice Challenges in Mental Health Practice. 

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 

“A Suicide Therapist’s Secret Past” by Stacey Freedenthal for the New York Times 

CDC Suicide Data and Statistics 

AACAP Suicide in Children and Teens 

“Loving Someone with Suicidal Thoughts: What Family, Friends, and Partners Can Say and Do” by Stacey Freedenthal  

Stacey Freedenthal website 

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An anonymous quote claims that “war does not determine who is right—only who is left.” 

And in many cases, women are the ones who are left to pick up the pieces after war. They must deal with changing power dynamics, laws and norms while simultaneously trying to recover from the trauma of armed conflict—even if they weren’t the ones on the battlefield. 

So where do women stand after war? 

University of Denver professor Marie Berry, who teaches in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, is working to answer that question, examining the rights of women after war in countries around the world. 

More information 

Marie Berry is the director of the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy and an associate professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. She is also the co-founder and convener of the Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative (IGLI), an effort to elevate and amplify the work that women activists are doing at the grassroots to advance peace, justice, and human rights across the world.  

Her award-winning book, “War, Women, and Power: From Violence to Mobilization in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina,” examined the impact of mass violence on women’s political mobilization in Rwanda and Bosnia. Together with Dr. Milli Lake (LSE), she runs the Women’s Rights After War Project.  

If you’ve hiked above the tree line of a mountain in Colorado, you’ve likely come across a couple fuzzy little critters making their homes among the rocks. Deer mice, in particular, are native to North America and are often found at the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. 

As you stand there at the summit, gasping for air after a long hike, you might have realized that the little mice don't look tired or breathless at all. They scurry around between the rocks, little balls of energy. 

So why is it that, at one of the highest elevations humans can reach, you’re so worn out, while the mouse is fine? 

In this episode, Emma speaks with Jon Velotta, assistant professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Denver, who studies how these mice have adapted to the high altitudes at which they live.  

Jon Velotta is an assistant professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Denver, where he studies how animals adapt to extreme environments. Velotta’s research blends evolution with the fields of physiology and genomics. His ongoing work includes how mice have adapted to the extreme cold and low oxygen conditions of high-altitude, and how fish have made the evolutionary transition from saltwater to freshwater. 

More Information: 

Jonathan Velotta’s Google Scholar webpage 

“Physiological and genomic evidence that selection on the transcription factor Epas1 has altered cardiovascular function in high-altitude deer mice,” Jonathan Velotta et al 

“Elephants have evolved to be tuskless because of ivory poaching, a study finds,” NPR 

“The Genetic Basis of Chronic Mountain Sickness,” Roy Ronen, Dan Zhou, Vineet Bafna and Gabriel G. Haddad 

Hosted by writer Emma Atkinson, RadioEd is a triweekly podcast created by the DU Newsroom that taps into the University of Denver’s deep pool of bright brains to explore the most compelling and interesting research coming out of DU. See below for a transcript of this episode.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office says the Art Institute of Chicago demonstrated “willful blindness” when it purchased “Russian War Prisoner,” a drawing by Austrian Artist Egon Schiele. The museum insists it came by the piece legally.  

Why all the drama? Well, the drawing was stolen by the Nazis during World War II.  

We’ll let the courts decide what happens in Chicago. But right here in Colorado, University of Denver professor of history Ellizabeth Campbell is leading a national conversation about what happened to art looted by the Nazis in World War II—and why the rehoming, or restitution, process isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. 

Elizabeth Campbell is a history professor at the University of Denver. She also serves as director of the Center for Art Collection Ethics (ACE). Campbell teaches courses in modern European and French history, including the French Revolution, Europe during the World Wars, Nazi art looting and seminars on the history and memory of World War II in France and the Algerian war of independence. 

Her latest book, “Museum Worthy: Nazi-Era Art in Postwar Western Europe,” focuses on the Allied recovery of plundered art, comparing restitution practices in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In all three cases, postwar governments held unclaimed works for display in state-run museums, setting the stage for controversy and litigation in the 1990s and ongoing cultural property disputes. (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) 

In the spring of 2017, Campbell began developing plans for ACE in consultation with DU faculty and staff in related programs. ACE promotes ethical art collection stewardship through social media and on-campus training programs. 

"Museum Worthy: Nazi-Era Art in Postwar Western Europe” by Elizabeth Campbell 

“Art Institute showed ‘willful blindness’ in buying Nazi-looted art, New York prosecutors say” Chicago Sun-Times 

“Russian War Prisoner” Art Institute of Chicago 

“An Art Critic’s Secret Critique Of Hitler’s Paintings Shown Uncanny Insight” History Daily 

Center for Art Collection Ethics  

The time that K-12 students spend with teachers is formative. It’s important. Some might say that a teacher can make or break a kid, especially kids from marginalized communities. There are systems in place to educate and evaluate teachers on best practices in the classroom—but are we doing enough to make sure teacher training is equitable and culturally sensitive?  

On this episode on RadioEd, Emma speaks with María del Carmen Salazar, associate dean of the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education, about her work with culturally responsive teacher evaluation.  

María del Carmen Salazar is associate dean for faculty affairs and DEIJ as well as a professor of curriculum & instruction and teacher education in the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver. Salazar has authored 38 publications and given 155 scholarly local, national, and international presentations on a humanizing pedagogy, equitable teaching and culturally responsive teacher evaluation, and college access and success for Latinx youth. She is the author of “Teacher Evaluation as Culture: A Framework for Equitable and Excellent Teaching.”   

University of Denver Sturm College of Law associate professor Govind Persad’s newest paper, “Defining Health Affordability,” looks into the phenomenon of how Americans avoid seeking healthcare because of the cost. The meat of his latest research, however, comes down to investigating why we don’t have a universal definition for the idea of healthcare affordability.

In this episode, Emma chats with Persad, who offers his own definition of health affordability and examines today’s American healthcare landscape.

Govind Persad’s research applies bioethical and distributive justice frameworks to law in order to address longstanding and new problems at the interface of health law and policy.

Persad’s current projects evaluate potential definitions of health affordability, consider how to integrate health justice and equity into frameworks for the allocation of scarce medical resources, and propose new frameworks for international pandemic response. His research has most recently been supported by a Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholars Award. He is participating in the Colorado National Wastewater Surveillance System Center of Excellence at DU and serves on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy.

"Defining Health Affordability" by Govind Persad

“Sue Lowden Stands by Chicken Health Care Barter Plan” CBS News

“Pricing Drugs Fairly” by Govind Persad

“Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs” by Lunna Lopes, Marley Presiado and Liz Hamel

RadioEd is a biweekly podcast created by the DU Newsroom that taps into the University of Denver’s deep pool of bright brains to explore new takes on today’s top stories. See below for a transcript of this episode.

I want you to think about who did most of the work in your household growing up. Was it your mom, your grandma? Chances are, it was likely someone who identified as a woman doing the dishes, cooking the food and folding the laundry. 

Now, this obviously isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. There are countless family dynamics out there, some of which include men doing a large share of the work that it takes to keep a home and household running smoothly. But historically, and even today, that work is known as women’s work—and it’s often overlooked.

On this episode, we’re talking all about invisible labor, the home and caring work often left to women to coordinate and carry out, with University of Denver economics professor Paula Cole.

Show Notes:

Paula Cole is an economist at the University of Denver where she teaches on gender, care, and inequality. With more than 15 years of experience studying the gendered dimensions of the economy, Cole’s expertise centers on valuing caregiving in the home and the market, the gendered impact of economic policy, the feminization of poverty, and the intersections of gender, race, and class within economic lives. Cole is a passionate advocate for improving the economic lives of women from analyzing the economic impact of a paid family in Colorado, organizing women to run for public office with Colorado 50-50, or helping students to understand the value and importance of care in the economy through community engagement.

More Information:

“Invisible labor is real, and it hurts: What you need to know”

“Invisible Household Labor and Ramifications for Adjustment: Mothers as Captains of Households”

“Invisible Labor: The Cost of Invisible Work”