Janean Dilworth-Bart, UW-Madison
Sandra Jones, UW-Milwaukee
Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu, UW-Milwaukee
Alfonso Morales, UW-Milwaukee
Markeda Newell, UW-Milwaukee
Kathryn Perez, UW-La Crosse
Janean Dilworth-Bart, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, UW-Madison - "Contextual and Intraindividual Predictors of Preschoolers' Emerging Neurocognitive Skills"
Executive functions (EFs) are neurocognitive skills that are necessary for socially appropriate behavior. Specific skills include behavioral inhibition, interference control and cognitive set maintenance, planning and problem solving, and working memory. Impaired executive abilities are linked to negative outcomes across the lifespan. Although EFs emerge, in part, as a result of brain maturation, researchers are beginning to examine potential impacts of the early context on skill development. Yet, there is no systematic review of the literature in this area. Further, little is known about associations between household chaos, home environment quality, parenting behaviors, and children's executive function skills. Dilworth-Bart's review paper and research manuscripts will address these significant gaps in the knowledge.
Mark Greenberg, Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, will serve as mentor.
Sandra Jones, Department of Africology, UW-Milwaukee - "Research in African American Literacies"
Within the context of new literacy theories that posit literacy as a product of social and cultural constructions, Jones' research focuses on the multiplicity of literacies evident within African American culture. She will explore how oral traditions serve as a foundation for both knowledge production and communication systems, as well as investigate the relationships between African American culture and textual literacy. Her desire is to challenge the rhetorical binary that is seen by many to exist between orality and textuality, thus enabling an examination of how each relates to African American intellectual and cultural traditions.
Doreatha Mbalia, Department of Africology, UW-Milwaukee, will serve as mentor.
Lucy Mkandawire-Vahlmu, College of Nursing, UW-Milwaukee - "Violence in the Lives of HIV-Infected Women: A Critical Ethnography"
Malawi has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates worldwide, with 14 percent of the population infected. For those between the ages of 15 and 24, the prevalence rate is four times higher for women than men. Malawi is also marked by stark gender inequalities. Mkandawire-Valhmu's program of research focuses on the intersection of gender-based violence and HIV with the goal of contributing knowledge to facilitate the development of interventions to reduce women's HIV risk. Institute funding will enable the completion of two data-based articles addressing this issue. Her long-term goal is to continue to systematically detail these women's lives and how this violence may have contributed not only to their contraction of the disease, but also to their ability to receive a diagnosis, reduce further risks, and access treatment and support to stave off disease progression.
Patricia Stevens, College of Nursing, UW-Milwaukee, will serve as mentor.
Alfonso Morales, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, UW-Madison - "Public Markets Capacitating People, Cities and Regions"
The outcome of this research will show how public markets have been and can be utilized as a multifaceted bridging strategy for urban development. The comparative examination of contemporary markets in the U.S. has two purposes: (i) to help different audiences understand how markets work and ways to create them; and (ii) to describe uses markets have for stimulating community economic development, creating livable public places, and enhancing the socioeconomic prospects of diverse populations. The article will illustrate historical uses and purposes of markets as well as describe the contemporary dynamics that make markets important for a variety of individual and public purposes.
Jack Huddleston, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, UW-Madison, will serve as mentor.
Markeda Newall, Department of Educational Psychology, UW-Milwaukee - "Analyzing the Implementation of Problem-Solving Consultation in a Computer-Simulated, Diverse School Setting"
This research focuses on analyzing and evaluating how pre-service school psychologists engage in problem-solving consultation with diverse populations in school-based settings. Stoiber has designed a 3-dimensional, computer model of a school. In the school, there are teachers, classrooms, and students. The pre-service psychologists can enter the simulated school environment to complete three student referrals for problem behavior among African American and European American students. By using the computer-simulation, the actions of the pre-service school psychologists when problem-solving with teachers can be observed and analyzed. The pre-service psychologists are instructed to work with the teachers to identify the problem and design an intervention plan to address the problem. After they complete the referrals, the pre-service psycholoists are interviewed about their decision-making process during the completion of the cases.
Karen Stoiber, Department of Educational Psychology, UW-Milwaukee, will serve as mentor.
Kathryn Perez, Department of Biology, UW-La Crosse - "An Initial Estimate of Population Genetic Structure of the Invasive Faucet Snail, Bithynia Tentaculata"
The genetic diversity of a population may greatly impact its role in the community by affecting: (i) the maintenance of local populations of the species; and/or (ii) its potential to transmit parasites. This research will focus on genetic diversity in an invasive freshwater snail, Bithynia tentaculata, whose populations are impacting natural communities in Wisconsin lakes and rivers. Gene flow between snail population will be examined using DNA barcoding and analysis of short DNA fragments (AFLP analysis). The research will determine the genetic diversity of invasive Bithynia populations and if levels of snail genetic diversity correlate with infection by exotic trematodes.
Roger Haro, Department of Biology, UW-La Crosse, will serve as mentor.
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