CIC Traveling Scholar Studying at IU-Bloomington

The Traveling Scholar Program allows doctoral students to spend up to a full academic year pursuing specialized courses of study, researching unique library collections, and working in advanced laboratories and facilities at other CIC institutions—with no change in registration procedures from their home university or additional tuition.

The last issue of the University Education News discussed this program and now we are featuring Hilary Brady Morris, a student from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who discusses her experience with this program.  She is currently studying at Indiana University this year.  Below is a discussion of her experiences.

Hilary Brady Morris writes: “As a PhD student in the Musicology division at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, I am preparing for ethnographic research of Tibetan secular traditional music in exile, particularly in Kathmandu, Nepal. I intend to use music as a lens through which to understand the ways that Tibetans may articulate their Tibetan-ness, further engendering opportunities to study how they might use music (or silence) to negotiate conflict and conflict resolution.

“Though my home university's courses in Ethnomusicology have done much to prepare me with the theoretical background necessary to undertake such a project, one of the greatest obstacles I have faced is learning the Tibetan language, as it is not offered at UIUC. I was able to complete my Beginner and Intermediate coursework in the last two summers, via intensive courses at UW Madison and the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in

Kathmandu. I was then extremely fortunate enough to be awarded a FLAS fellowship from my home university, in conjunction with the CIC Traveling Scholar program, which has allowed me to move to Bloomington for this entire academic year to study Advanced Tibetan.

“As opposed to my intensive summer language courses, my enrollment here, at IU, has allowed me to take courses in area studies, as well as translation courses that facilitate conducting primary research in the Tibetan language. As I am finishing the first of my two semesters here, I am already sure of what an unparalleled opportunity it is to be able to study with and learn from the professors and students within IU's Department of Central and Eurasian Studies, especially in Tibetan Studies. I anticipate that participating in the CIC Traveling Scholar Program will have a far-reaching and significant impact, not only on my doctoral research, but also on my continued development as a scholar of Tibetan Studies. For that, I am immensely grateful.

“Hilary Brady Morris
PhD Student, Musicology
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
CIC Traveling Scholar (2012-2013)
Tibetan Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington”

For more information on the CIC Traveling Scholar Program visit the CIC website.

February 2013 Graduate Student of the Month Teresa Hancock-Parmer

The Indiana University Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSO) and University Graduate School (UGS) congratulate our February student of the month, Teresa Hancock-Parmer!

Teresa is a doctoral student in Spanish and Portuguese and she studies Hispanic literature, specifically early modern nuns' mystical writings.  “I was named after St. Teresa of Avila, who is perhaps the quintessential early modern mystic,” she explains.  “I read some of her writings for my senior undergraduate thesis, so when I came to graduate school I decided to study them, as well as other religious texts from that time period, in greater depth.” Teresa previously studied Spanish at Ball State and spent three years teaching English with the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan.  “My ties to Kazakhstan are still an important part of my identity; I keep in touch with my Kazakh friends, and I participate in Kazakh language and cultural activities here at IU,” she says.  Teresa also runs Grupo de Teatro VIDA, the Spanish-language theatre group in her department, in which she previously also acted.  She reports her accomplishment of which she is most proud is her family.  Her husband, Michael, is a graduate student in Central Eurasian Studies and History, and their daughter, Jansamal (pictured), celebrates her first birthday today.  “Jansamal is Kazakh for ‘soul breeze’,” Teresa explains.  Happy birthday, Jansamal!  In addition to her role as Jansamal’s mother, Teresa helps others’ children in her role of Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children who have suffered from abuse or neglect.  She feels that it is important to maintain a balance while in graduate school, “to incorporate one's academic work into one's life in a way that makes both the work and everything else enjoyable.”  Teresa devotes at least a few hours per day of focused work on her dissertation so she can enjoy other activities such as spending time with her daughter, hiking with her family in state parks, and playing board games.  When asked to break the GPSO Graduate Student of the Month Cake or Pie tie, she declined to take a position, describing herself as “not a dessert person.”  Teresa does enjoy chocolate, however, so she votes for “whichever one has richer, creamier chocolate.”

December 2012 Graduate Student of the Month Rachel Bailey

The Indiana University Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSO) and University Graduate School (UGS) congratulate our December student of the month, Rachel Bailey!  Rachel is a doctoral student in telecommunications and her research uses experimental, computational and psychophysiological methods to study the dynamics of complex human – media interactions. “My research program seeks to discover and explicate the complex interactions among relevant individual, environmental and media characteristics during media use that have significant downstream media effects on important human behaviors (e.g. learning, behavior change, enjoyment),” she explains.  Rachel discovered her inner scientist while attending the Missouri School of Journalism and went on to earn undergraduate degrees in psychology and strategic communication.  “I was curious about what it was about certain strategic media messages that made them more successful and psychologically affective than others,” she recalls.  Rachel earned a master’s degree focused on psychological processing of mediated information and worked for Disney Media before starting her doctorate at IU.  Regarding this small-town Missouri girl’s proudest accomplishment, she says, “I think the most important thing I’ve done is to earn the respect of my peers and colleagues while doing good, interesting work.  I’m sure a lot of my successes are due to having wonderful mentors and friends that support me.”  Rachel likes to read fiction, cook, play golf, and travel.  “I have three dachshunds: Penny, Petey, and Willie, that I spoil absolutely rotten,” she also reports.  When asked the all-important question: cake or pie? Rachel demurs, explaining that she does not eat grains, and adds, “But before seeing the light, I would have chosen cake.  Something about the texture, I think.”

November 2012 Graduate Student of the Month Erkin Kuru

The Indiana University Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSO) and University Graduate School (UGS) congratulate our November student of the month, Erkin Kuru. Erkin is part of the Biochemistry Interdisciplinary Graduate Program.  His research interests focus on analyzing bacterial cell walls in order to design much needed antibiotics.   Erkin was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey.  He recalls “I was constantly at the heart of one of the most sophisticated cities in the world, but I also realized early on, that I needed to become an experimental biologist, who would combine the analytical thinking of an engineer with biological sciences. Thus, I went on studying the biological sciences and bioengineering program at the Sabanci University. During my time in college, it became clear that I would not be able to fully contemplate biological systems without a fair intuition about the chemistry of their macromolecular components.”  Erkin’s academic interests always had a biological component to them, but he found biological systems too complex and unpredictable. Therefore, he has sought ways to simplify biological systems in order to increase our understanding and our control on them.   “This 'obsession' about increasing control was probably founded very early on, when me and my colleagues reinvented and discussed overly simplified versions of chaos theory and mechanistic determinism on a philosophical level,” he explains.  “Much more recently, I have discovered that this approach to biology is shared by many great minds, whose vision can now be classified within the scope of a fairly popular field: synthetic biology.  I think my whole academic interest can perfectly be summed up by one of the last entries that the great physicist Richard Feynman had on his black board: ‘What I cannot create, I do not understand.’” 

When asked about his accomplishments of which he is most proud, Erkin offered this fascinating mini-lesson in his field:  “When came to IU, I joined to Prof. Michael VanNieuwenhze's organic chemistry group, mostly because Mike posed a great biological problem for me to solve: Developing universal chemical tags to label the cell walls of bacteria, namely their peptidoglycan. Peptidoglycan is an essential megamolecule that is also specific to bacteria; therefore most of the antibiotics we currently rely on target the peptidolgycan assembly. However, the resistance of bacteria to these antibiotics is on the rise and we need to increase our understanding of peptidoglycan biosynthesis in order to be a few steps ahead of these dangerous multi-drug resistant bacteria. Unfortunately, until now we had only a limited set of tools to probe peptidoglycan in vivo. Basically, I have developed the first non-toxic and universal methods to probe the peptidoglycan synthesis real-time and in live bacteria. In the process of design, I have looked at molecular signatures of peptidoglycans,that are common to all bacterial species and noticed from the literature that some of these molecules can readily be exchanged by seemingly bizarre but natural derivatives in diverse bacteria. Recognizing this inherent tolerance, I have designed a variety of unnatural and modular derivatives, which allowed us to probe cell walls of virtually all bacteria without perturbing their growth. In other words, we have discovered the Achilles' heel of the bacteria! Therefore, this concept definitely carries the potential to facilitate countless experiments involving basic peptidoglycan research. On the other hand, since peptidoglycan biosynthesis is an essential process and is tightly related to the bacterial growth, we are currently designing new probes that may directly have diagnostic and/or antimicrobial applications.” 

Erkin identifies art as a key component of his life.  “I cannot read, write or do lab work if I don’t listen to good music, preferably jazz or classical music,” he reflects.  But his chief artistic passion is photographic, a craft he learned while assisting Nazif Topcuoglu, a renowned Turkish art photographer, in Istanbul.  Erkin finds any excuse to take pictures, and recently used his talents to photograph his friends in their Halloween costume in his studio.   

           Taking a moment to reflect upon his graduate school experience thus far, Erkin explains “Graduate school is an amazing place to learn how to cope with failure! Graduate school, similar to any other ambitious endeavors in life, is full of failures. And there is no doubt that this is very depressing.  Thus, although considering to give up is sometimes inevitable, I believe my example tells that persistence and stubbornness about your project can pay off. The trick is in taking the right attitude in order to keep yourself constantly motivated.”  He also pointed out that “thinking widely and interdisciplinary was definitely a must for [his] case.”

            On that inspirational note, we ask the final, most important question that faces all graduate students: cake or pie?  Erkin responds: “Unless it is cheesecake, I would definitely choose pie! I usually hate cake, because I am not a big fan of frosting. There is a lot of sugar and foamy cream to get though until reaching to the core of a cake.  Obviously, cheesecake is an exception and therefore I love it!  Pie is another story. I don’t think I have ever eaten a real pie until I got to States. Surprisingly, the pie concept as a desert does not exist in the Turkish cuisine. I love the substance that its crust gives to a pie. I also like my fruits in a desert!”

October 2012 Graduate Student of the Month Cara Maffini

The Indiana University Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSO) and University Graduate School (UGS) congratulate our October student of the month, Cara Maffini. Cara is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology.  Her research interests focus on the intersections of ethnicity, culture, and mental health. In particular, she is interested in Asian Americans and understanding psychosocial and developmental protective and risk factors related to negative experiences such as violence, delinquency, and victimization. “My research evolved out of my passion to bring attention to and amplify voices that are often over-looked in society,” she explains. “I focus on factors that may exacerbate or reduce participation in at-risk behaviors as well as psychosocial strengths that can reduce the deleterious consequences of negative experiences such as violence and victimization.  I am passionate about the experience, role, and complexities of identity, which comes out in my research, teaching, and counseling. I also enjoy exploring and discussing strategies to create culturally-inclusive classrooms and counseling environments.”  Cara feels she has gotten valuable guidance from her mentor, Dr. Joel Wong, in that he has encouraged her to seek out a variety of different opportunities.  “Coming into grad school, I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but I tried to keep an open-mind and tried different experiences that I thought I would hate. I have struggled through experiences when I didn’t like the material or the situation, but tried to focus on the skills I was getting out of the experience. Throughout grad school, I have volunteered for seemingly benign opportunities that helped me develop skills that were appealing in other realms. I have noticed that having a lot of different experiences and skills has made me more marketable. I never imagined how nicely it would all come together. In the process, I was able to hone in on what I am passionate about. Finding what I really enjoy makes my work much easier. I look forward to doing my research. I look forward to teaching my students and discussing topics I love, such as multiculturalism and counseling. I look forward to working with clients through their challenges and watching them grow.”

Cara is also an avid reader and traveler who volunteers at a youth camp each summer in her native California.  She completed her BAS in psychology and dance at UC Davis and her MA in psychology at CSU Sacramento.  Cara experienced quite a bit of culture shock upon her relocation to Indiana, and shared some of the lessons she learned with us:

10. There is A LOT of corn and soy beans. One should not run through the corn fields (I was schooled on that by a 13-year-old). There is a difference between a tractor and a plow – not sure what it is though.
9.  People tend to move slower and I need to be patient.
8.  When the lightening is green, take cover. DO NOT sit and watch the tornado approach,
7.  Horse drawn buggies, camels, tractors, obscene amounts of road kill, deer walking through traffic: just another day in Indiana.
6.  Adults can play bean bag toss too (they used to call it “corn hole”). Apparently, here is skill involved in this bean bag toss situation.
5.  The weather is unbelievably unpredictable and intense. Always carry extra shoes, an umbrella, and a sweater/coat.
4.  Four seasons exist. Fall is beautiful!  Snow isn't just something you drive to see.
3.  Sports are taken very seriously. Go all in or hide.
2.  G-chat is awesome and helps make it easier to maintain friendships across the country.
1.  Talking about how awesome California is all the time does not help one make friends. However, finding fellow Californians does.

Despite missing her beloved home state, Cara reflects that she has enjoyed her experience, both for the educational opportunities and the connections she has made.  “I’ve had so many opportunities here and have made awesome friends here. They have been willing to explore Brown County and sit through a weird bonfire/hay ride, though we were the only folks from out-of-state. Others willing to take a day off from research to go through the beautiful woods nearby.  Friends that host annual luaus to help make winter suck less. Friends that sit and watch lightning storms and even a tornado come at us; friends hide out in the locker room of the SRSC during a tornado; friends that send texts to make sure I’m safe, offer refuge, or ware willing to do an informal Rorschach during power outages.  Friends that sit and watch as a monsoon-like rainstorm flood the backyard during my birthday party. All in all, friends who are supportive and encouraging.” On that touching note, we turned the interview to more serious matters: does Cara prefer cake or pie?  “Well, I LOVE fruit, so cake or pie is good with me as long as there is fruit involved. Maybe some chocolate in there too. Or carrot cake; I love good carrot cake -- without raisins. I really love dessert. Especially Vietnamese desserts with avocado. But I don’t like ice cream. Well, except if it’s mochi ice cream. Wait, what was the question again?”