College of Arts and Sciences
Alcohol Consumption Increases During Pandemic
While it's no secret that many college students drink alcohol, how COVID-19 affected these behaviors and patterns is the focus of recent research published in the journal Addictive Behaviors by the collaboration of William Lechner from the Department of Psychological Sciences and Deric Kenne from the College of Public Health. The pair sought to study the effects that a major stressor such as the pandemic could have on addictive behaviors and how vulnerabilities such as anxiety and depression played a part in the coping process of college students.
Kent State’s Contributive Legacy to the Assessment of Psychopathology
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, MMPI, is a standardized psychometric test that was first published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1943 and quickly became the gold standard for assessing psychopathology. has played a key role throughout the history of this test and a Kent State faculty member led the revision for the recently published and updated 2020 MMPI-3.
Professor Awarded for Research on Flint’s Municipal Takeover
A policy of municipal takeover was implemented to help relieve Flint, Michigan, of financial and political hardships in response to the water crisis. Ashley Nickels, associate professor in the Department of Political Science, extensively researched Flint's municipal takeover for seven years, earning her three awards for her work.
Two Kent State Psychology Faculty Selected for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Leadership Program
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has selected two College of Arts and Sciences faculty members, along with two community clinicians, for , an initiative that will provide funding and leadership training to the four team members. Their plan is to implement a project that will help veterinary professionals in Northeast Ohio address mental health stigmas they experience in their lives and provide usable techniques that can be incorporated into their veterinary practices.
Anthropology Team Brings Home the 2020 Ig Nobel Award for Materials Science
In 2019, a team of researchers in Kent State’s Department of Anthropology published its “prize-winning” research article titled in the Journal of Archaeological Science. (Yes, the jokes are seemingly endless, but seriously folks, there is an important underlying message here about evidence-based research and fact-checking!)
Kent State’s New Undergraduate Neuroscience Major Thrives
introduced a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience in fall 2019, and since the launch, the major has had tremendous growth. Enrollment is projected to surpass majors that have been at Kent State for years.
Kent State Mathematicians Win NSF Grant to Study Complex But Important Geometry Problems
The National Science Foundation believes mathematicians Artem Zvavitch, Ph.D., and Dmitry Ryabogin, Ph.D., are having worthwhile conversations about some age-old unsolved problems, and it has provided support to keep the discussion going for another three years.
Graduate Student Creates Smart Glass for Privacy and Heat Applications
Yingfei Jiang, a College of Arts and Science graduate student in the Chemical Physics program and the Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute at , and his advisor Deng-Ke Yang, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Physics, have invented the first ever dual-mode smart glass technology that can control both radiant energy flow (heat) and privacy through a tinted material.
Study of a 1,000-Year-Old Tsunami in Indian Ocean Reveals Previously Unknown Hazards for East Africa
Dr. Joseph D. Ortiz, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Geology at , was part of an international team of researchers that co-authored an article about a deadly tsunami that occurred about 1,000 years ago in Tanzania. The study suggests that the tsunami risk in East Africa could be higher than previously thought.
Revised Look at Ancient Glaciers Predicts Faster Melting Rate in Antarctica
Joseph D. Ortiz, Ph.D., professor and assistant chair in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Geology at , recently authored a “News and Views” article in Nature Geoscience that discusses research carried out by another research team that reassessed the melt history and timing of the collapse of the Eurasian Ice Sheet Complex during the Last Deglaciation.