Idaho State University honors school’s 2004 Outstanding Researchers

Five Idaho State University faculty members were recently honored as the University’s 2004 Outstanding Researchers.

Editor’s Note: This is the last in a series on the 15 Idaho State faculty members honored recently by the university.

http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2004/04/01/news/local/news08.txt

According to a press release, the five Outstanding Researchers are:

– Dr. Allen Christelow, professor and chair of history;

– Dr. Leslie Devaud, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences;

– Dr. Scott Hughes, professor and chair of geosciences;

– Dr. Bennett Palmer, assistant professor of mathematics;

– Dr. Beth Hudnall Stamm, research professor and director of the Institute of Rural Health at ISU.

From their ranks will be chosen the 2004 Distinguished ISU Researcher to be honored at Commencement ceremonies along with the 2004 Distinguished Teacher and 2004 Distinguished Public Service Award recipient.

Christelow’s scholarly work deals with Islam in North and West Africa, a region largely ignored in Islamic studies before his study. He focuses particularly on legal institutions and intellectual and cultural history from 1800 to the present. Working with archives of legal records, Christelow’s groundbreaking studies use court documents to "open windows on the mentalities and concerns of ordinary people and the values they held dear." Working primarily in Algeria and Nigeria, he is especially interested in the intersections of civilizations.

Devaud, after earning a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from Oregon State University in 1988, held a series of research positions before joining ISU 10 years later for the opportunity to teach as well as do research. She is doing groundbreaking work on gender differences in the neurophysiology of alcohol dependence. She has published eight papers during her time at ISU, given nearly two dozen presentations, and secured more than a million dollars in external research funds, with millions more pending.

Hughes earned his Ph.D. from Oregon State University, where he did a landmark study of the Three Sisters volcanic field in the Oregon Cascades and groundbreaking work on the evolution of the moon. Since coming to ISU, most of his research has focused on the eastern Snake River Plain. His work includes study of the potential volcanic hazards and groundwater aquifer processes for the INEEL and work on geochemical techniques and tectonism. Hughes considers chairing the 1999 Rocky Mountain Section conference of the Geological Society of America "one of my greatest contributions to scientific research in Idaho." The conference resulted in the Guidebook to the Geology of Idaho, which he edited.

Palmer is an established leader in the study of geometrical aspects of surfaces, studying the stability, uniqueness, and classification of surfaces with certain specific properties, like constant mean curvature surfaces and Willmore surfaces. Palmer’s work is especially impressive in light of his teaching load – courses ranging from elementary algebra for non-majors and mathematics for education and business majors to specialized graduate classes such as minimal submanifolds and the calculus of variations. He has been invited to present papers around the world and has published more than two dozen papers on differential geometry, mostly as a single author.

Stamm works in fields including traumatic stress, telehealth, and rural health. She is internationally known for her work in the measurement of stress, and in secondary (vicarious) traumatic stress, and has served as a consultant to numerous government agencies since Sept. 11.

Her concern for and work with underserved rural people, especially indigenous peoples, has inspired her pioneering work in telehealth services. She is chair of the Idaho Rural Health Association. She has been awarded a $4.5 million grant for developing telehealth services from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was also instrumental in ISU receiving a $2.4 million grant as the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Center for Rural, Frontier, and Tribal Stress.

Copyright © 2004 Pocatello Idaho State Journal