Rowe Researcher: Rat Models and Human Hearing

November 5, 2018

Rat Models and Human Hearing: The Categorical Perception of Species-Specific Rate Vocalization

Spring 2018

Principle Investigator: Heather Read

Contributors: Sharon Cherian, Caitlyn Cody, Mackenzie Zapata, Timothy Nolan, Peter Satonick

Several studies have shown that humans and rats are able to differentiate timing cues in sound sequences. The importance of timing cues for speech and word recognition in normal hearing of adults has been recognized by Shannon (1995) and Souza (2015) who outlined the significance of timing cues for speech recognition among the aging human population, that commonly encounter tone frequency hearing loss. Rats are able to communicate and recognize non-speech vocalizations, as do humans.

We will use the two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task to train rats to discriminate vocalizations (Gaese et al., 2006; Zarillow and Zador, 2014).  The rats will be placed in a sound proof training booth that have nose poke ports on the inside. In the first stage (early stage) of the task, the rats will be receiving a “direct reward” for learning to associate one vocalization with sound delivery with a reward from a port located on the right, and another with sound delivery and reward from a port on the left. First rats are trained incrementally to hold in the Central Nose Port for 150-600 milliseconds to initiate their trial. After holding and hearing the sound play for this duration, the rat needs to navigate to the correct port to receive their reward. The reward is in the form of strawberry or chocolate Ensure protein solution. Once the performance criterion reaches 70-100% for discriminating, the rats will be switched to the “Indirect” phase for the 2AFC paradigm. The sounds in this stage will all be delivered from a central speaker, removing the location cue indicating where the reward might be. Once the rats reach 70-100% correct for the “indirect phase,” they can now be tested in the 2AFC task for discrimination of sound sequences that vary in: timing cues only or timing plus tonal cues combined together.

My research project is essential to understanding more about the auditory system through the examination of interactions between tonal and timing perceptual cues. The results from this research project will allow us to have a more in-depth understanding about not only the auditory system, but how humans perceive specific vocalization sequences and discrimination abilities. Using these results, this will be able to provide valuable insight about human hearing and aging. Hearing aids are widely used by the elderly population, so the results will allow us to optimize hearing aids, as humans do rely heavily on temporal cues to speech. Thus, these results will not only add more to our general understanding about the auditory system, but also allow for improvement for hearing aid devices and other related advancements in clinical settings.

 

ENGL/AFRA 3213W-001: 18th & 19th Century African American Literature

October 5, 2018

Instructor: Shawn Salvant

Prerequisite: ENGL 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher. Sophomore Honors students should email Prof. Salvant for a permission number.

This course provides a survey of eighteenth and nineteenth-century African American literature. We will examine early African American literature, reading work by authors such as James Gronniosaw and Phillis Wheatley with emphasis on their transatlantic production, religious themes, and contributions to the development of the African American vernacular tradition. We will study the African American oral and rhetorical traditions as exemplified in anti-slavery speeches and essays by Sojourner Truth, David Walker, Frederick Douglass and others. In a unit on the slave narrative, we’ll discuss the literary and political dimensions of this genre so influential to the development of 20th and 21st Century African American literature. We’ll conclude by examining early African American novels and novels of the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction era by such figures as Charles Chesnutt. Students will become familiar with the development of African American literary history and the recurring themes of the period as well as the literary and cultural significance of each text and author. We will also track the forces shaping this period of African American literature—historical and political movements (slavery, emancipation, reconstruction), modes of expression and production (literacy and orality, authentication), and literary forms (imagery, symbolism, narrative, genre, style). Primary texts will be supplemented by scholarly secondary readings. Final grade will be based on quizzes, discussion question assignments, midterm exam, participation, 1-2 short essays, final paper and/or a final exam.

(CA 4)

ENGL 2413-001: The Graphic Novel

Instructor: Katharine Capshaw

Prerequisite: ENGL 1010 or 1011 or 2011 

This course explores the history and theory of the graphic novel.  We will explore a variety of approaches to the genre, from superhero narratives to graphic memoir, from manga to contemporary experimental texts.  While no single course can offer a comprehensive summation of such a vast and various body of work, our class will address the field’s major generic threads. We will also develop an understanding of the ‘grammar’ involved in reading a panel, page, and entire comics sequence. Alongside the narratives we will read secondary sources that explore aesthetic and theoretical debates within the field.  One of our objectives is to support each other as we engage the critical discourse around comics and graphic novels: we will share sources and insights and offer constructive feedback as we work together to produce informed and incisive term papers.

(CA 1)

ENGL 1701-003: Creative Writing I

Instructor: Sean Forbes

Prerequisite: ENGL 1010 or 1011 or 2011

The Speaker: The Eye of the Poem and the Short Story

According to Frances Mayes, “the poet ‘finds’ the right speaker and the right listener, usually by trying out several approaches.” In this introduction to creative writing class we will examine the different approaches that a writer can take when trying to establish a speaker in a poem or short story. We will look at exemplary works of poetry and fiction from writers like Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Hayden, Marilyn Nelson, and Justin Torres. Students will produce a final portfolio of their original work. Class participation is an essential component to this largely workshop-based course along with weekly writing prompts such as writing in iambic pentameter and challenging prose sketches.

ENGL 1701-002: Creative Writing I

Instructor: Sean Forbes

Prerequisite: ENGL 1010 or 1011 or 2011

The Speaker: The Eye of the Poem and the Short Story

According to Frances Mayes, “the poet ‘finds’ the right speaker and the right listener, usually by trying out several approaches.” In this introduction to creative writing class we will examine the different approaches that a writer can take when trying to establish a speaker in a poem or short story. We will look at exemplary works of poetry and fiction from writers like Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Hayden, Marilyn Nelson, and Justin Torres. Students will produce a final portfolio of their original work. Class participation is an essential component to this largely workshop-based course along with weekly writing prompts such as writing in iambic pentameter and challenging prose sketches.

Rowe Alumni Spotlight: Patrick Cooper

September 19, 2018

UConn Year of Graduation (Undergraduate): 2012
Undergraduate Major(s): Individualized
Currently Employed By: Children’s Dental Associates, Pediatric Dentist
Updates: I finished my pediatric dental residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard, and joined a private practice in pediatric dentistry outside of Boston.

Biomedical Entrepreneurship

July 6, 2018

BME 6086-020 / BADM 5894-011 / MGMT 5895-012
Biomedical Entrepreneurship Course

Graduate courses act as Honors courses, with Honors credit awarded for a grade of B- or higher. 

This Biomedical Entrepreneurship course is designed to train future life science entrepreneurs, and focuses on entrepreneurship in the medical device and biopharmaceutical space.  It is based on the premise that entrepreneurship is a critical mechanism to bring new technologies to market that will benefit society.  Moreover, entrepreneurship is particularly critical in the medical device industry, where product life cycles are typically very short and a firm’s innovativeness dictates competitive advantage. Biopharmaceutical startups face particular challenges given long development cycles.

Teams will be coached by industry experts who address fundamental topics in biomedical entrepreneurship.  Students will gain experience that will help them be entrepreneurs in startups or with established firms.  Projects will be presented to external experts and teams will be considered for subsequent awards/funding.

This course is designed for graduate students or very advanced undergraduates.  It represents a multi-disciplinary effort between the Schools of Engineering, Business, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Liberal Arts and Sciences and will be co-taught by expert faculty from these schools.  Interdisciplinary teams will tackle real clinical needs to offer technical solutions and business models that might enable future commercialization.

The course is cross-listed in the Schools of Engineering (BME 6086-020) and Business (BADM 5894-011 and MGMT 5895-012).  The course will be held Wednesdays, 3:00-6:00 p.m. at the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) space in downtown Hartford (100 Constitution Plaza) – a central location for students in Storrs, Hartford, and Farmington.

Apply for a permission number on the CCEI website.

BADM 5894: InsurTech Venturing

Graduate courses act as Honors courses, with Honors credit awarded for a grade of B- or higher. 

This brand new course is designed to grow the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators in the InsurTech space. Students will be provided with training specific to the needs of a rapidly changing insurance industry, as well as opportunities to assist both startups and established companies test and implement new technologies that will fuel growth through innovation. This course is open to all graduate students and advanced undergraduate students in all schools/colleges.

Course Overview:

  • Increase the understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation within the InsurTech space.
  • Compare and contrast insurance and InsurTech models.
  • Evaluate how InsurTech companies are being supported and financed to develop and test their business models.
  • Understanding of next generation cybersecurity exposures with InsurTech, including legal, regulatory, compliance and other insurance related issues.
  • Assess case studies and hear from industry experts on the support and disruption of the industry.

The InsurTech Initiative is provided through a grant from CTNext and coordinated by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UConn and the University of Hartford.

Apply for a permission number on the CCEI website.

SOCI 6805: Readings in Human Rights

SOCI 6805: Advanced Topics in Political Sociology
Readings in Human Rights

Instructor: Bandana Purkayastha

Graduate courses act as Honors courses, with Honors credit awarded for a grade of B- or higher. 

This course will offer a critical sociological perspective on human rights, with a specific emphasis on power, inequalities and people’s struggles to claim and access political, civil, economic, social and cultural human rights. We will pay attention to multiple actors–states, corporations, INGOs, NGOs, and activists–that are involved in shaping the terrain of human rights. Moving away from the dominant emphasis on scholarly work produced in the Global North, we will pay significant attention to the scholarship from the Global South. While I will add one or two other topics as/if these emerge as significant issues over the next few months, the current readings emphasize the following overlapping themes: violence (including routinized violence against minority groups, women and sexual minorities), local and global racisms, displacements and new tools of governance (focusing on migration and migrants, including those in camps and detention centers), control over and access to land and water resources (situating these discussions within larger questions related to environment, climate change and rights to science), cultural rights in an era of populism (including a focus on religions), and, questions of economic rights (including what is included and excluded under Sustainable Development Goals, and questions of human dignity in an era of precarity).

Students will develop a country-focused portfolio on a selected topic or develop a publishable quality paper on human rights.

Contact Dr. Purkayastha for a permission number to enroll.

Winners: 2018 Honors Core Course Grant Competition

May 1, 2018

Congratulations to the following faculty members, who will be receiving funds to develop new courses for the Honors Core.

  • Alexis Boylan (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies): “Gender, Sexuality, and the Power of Looking”
  • Annamaria Csizmadia (Human Development & Family Studies) and Matthew Worwood (Digital Media and Design): “Growing up in a Digital Culture: Children, Parents, and Technology”
  • Barbara Gurr (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies): “Imagining America: Race, Gender, Sexuality and Identity through Speculative Fiction”
  • James Magnuson (Psychological Sciences): “Science of Learning and the Art of Communication”
  • Eleanor Shoreman-Ouimet (Anthropology): “Culture and Conservation”
  • Alexia Smith (Anthropology): “Applied Research in Archaeobotany”
  • Jennifer Sterling-Folker (Political Science): “Excavating the International in Everyday Practices”

These seven courses are expected to span all four general education content areas as well as the W designation and the upcoming environmental literacy requirements. We look forward to seeing the results of our faculty’s creativity, expertise, and hard work!