Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Leon Sun, Linda Hanes

International Faculty Researchers

Living and working in two countries provided a cultural contrast that has greatly inspired and influenced the art and design of Yuanliang (Leon) Sun, an associate professor of art at Western Michigan University.

Patrick Wilson, Christine Lena

International Faculty Researchers

New urban developments in the growing city of Chongqing, China have captured the imagination of Artist Patrick D. Wilson, a Western Michigan University assistant professor of sculpture and integrated media, whose art work is often influenced by architectural imagery.

Martha Councell-Vargas, Christine Lena

International Faculty Researchers

Travelling to Central America in college is all it took to inspire Martha Councell-Vargas to begin a career of teaching, researching, and performing flute music of the Americas.

Alexander Cannon, Carol Barber

International Faculty Researchers

A chance introduction to a largely unknown genre of Vietnamese royal court music that Dr. Alexander Cannon experienced while majoring in economics and music as an undergraduate forged an interest that changed the trajectory of his intended career path from analyzing economic trends to becoming an ethnomusicologist and an expert on don ca tai tu.

Ed Roth, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

Can listening to and making music be effectively used in the treatment of people diagnosed with neurologic and psychiatric disorders? This is the primary question Professor Ed Roth, director of WMU’s music therapy program, is attempting to answer in collaboration with colleagues from around the world to improve treatment for people experiencing post-traumatic stress and other acute anxiety disorders. He is a co-founder and director of WMU’s Laboratory for Brain Research and Interdisciplinary Neurosciences (BRAIN) (article) and a Fellow in the Academy of Neurologic Music Therapists, who specializes in the application of music in the treatment of neurologic disorders and …

Steve Durbin, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

For a researcher at a globally engaged university, international collaboration comes naturally. When Dr. Steve Durbin, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to explore the synthesis and characterization of a new semiconductor (ZnSnN2) comprised solely of earth-abundant elements, he and his students embarked on this project with partners in the United Kingdom, Finland, and New Zealand, as well as Colorado, Michigan and Florida.

Ala Al-Fuqaha, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

A wide range of road safety and driver assistive applications— Intelligent Transport Systems—could result from a collaborative research project that Dr. Ala Al-Fuqaha, WMU professor of computer science, is working on with Dr. Elyes Hamida at the Qatar Mobility Innovation Center and Dr. Bharat Bhargava at Purdue University.

Ann Miles, Jerry Malec

International Faculty Researchers

Touching saltwater marks at the waterline of a cargo ship in Lake Michigan when she was just nine years old planted the question in the mind of Dr. Ann Miles: Where has this ship been?

Jaqueline Eng, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

Evidence of what might be an ancient funerary defleshing ritual found in human-made caves in the Upper Mustang region of Nepal has been discovered by WMU bio-archaeologist Dr. Jacqueline Eng as a member of a research team that is funded in part by the National Geographic Society.

Jaqueline Eng's website

William W. Cobern, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

Dr. William W. Cobern, Distinguished University Professor of Science Education and Biological Sciences as well as director of the Mallinson Institute for Science Education, spent five months in Turkey beginning in September 2011 conducting research and giving lectures on methods for effective instruction for the teaching of science.

William W. Cobern's website

Jeffrey Angles, Nate Coe

International Faculty Researchers

Dr. Jeffrey Angles likes to describe himself as the accidental professor because, unlike many people he knows who planned to become teachers when they completed their educations, he was more focused on the immediate goal of studying Japanese literature and translating. In the process of reading so much, he says that he found himself with a Ph.D. almost before he knew it.

Jeffrey Angles' website

Blair Balden, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

A visiting professorship at the University of Passau in Passau, Germany for Dr. Blair Balden, a WMU associate professor of aviation, provided an excellent opportunity to share ideas and information about teaching aviation law with professors from Germany and Austria.

Susan Weinger, Nate Coe

International Faculty Researchers

Advancing the knowledge of rural Bangladeshi women about gardening and nutrition and increasing access to basic health care services and information for Cambodian school children was the foci of Dr. Susan Weinger’s research and volunteerism on a three-month overseas trip in summer 2010.

Susan Weinger's website

Ann Veeck, Nate Coe

International Faculty Researchers

Rapidly changing food consumption patterns in China has for the last 15 years captured the attention of Western Michigan University international researcher and marketing professor Dr. Ann Veeck. In nearly annual trips to China, Veeck examines how these patterns are changing parallel to the expansion of the Chinese economy and how marketing efforts affect consumers' lives in both positive and negative ways.

Ann Veeck's website

Victor Xiong, Julia Valentine

International Faculty Researchers

Dr. Victor Cunrui Xiong, Western Michigan University professor of Chinese and East Asian history, is a Chinese medievalist by training recognized internationally for his research and publications focused on Early Imperial China, especially the Sui-Tang period.

Victor Xiong's website

Jim Butterfield, Nate Coe

International Faculty Researchers

Post-Cold War Russia has provided WMU political science professor Dr. Jim Butterfield with an exceptional model for conducting research on transition environments and the role civic initiative plays in defining the public agenda and addressing collective action dilemmas.

Jim Butterfield's website

Todd Barkman, Julia Valentine

International Faculty Researchers

Dr. Todd Barkman grew up in Pinckney, Mich. and admits growing up in a rural area is what first inspired his interest in plants. While studying at Michigan State University, he had the opportunity to grow orchids for the botany department. "I fell in love with orchids," Barkman said. "I decided I wanted to work with and study orchids for the rest of my life."

Todd Barkman's website

Gregory Veeck, Margaret Von Steinen

International Faculty Researchers

Dr. Gregory Veeck, professor of geography, has completed extensive international research specializing in economic geography, agriculture, rural development and rural environmental/ecological issues in the United States, China, Japan, and Korea. Veeck has been conducting field research for 29 years.

Gregory Veeck's website