Elyn Saks: My Journey Through Madness

Elyn Saks, a law professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, will speak via live video feed at the University of Wyoming on Wednesday, January 29^th. Professor Saks will discuss her experiences living with schizophrenia and her 2007 breakout book, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.

Scott Miller of WyCEHG discusses
Elyn Saks' book, The Center Cannot Hold: My
Journey Through Madness

Prior to the live video conference, Wyoming EPSCoR and the Ellbogen Center for Learning and Teaching (ECTL) sponsored a book club to read and discuss Professor Saks’ book. Members of the book club came from various departments on campus, including Geology and Geophysics, Counseling, the College of Law and more.

The live video feed will take place in the Business Auditorium at 12:30 p.m. on January 29^th. To view Professor Saks’ TED talk, click here. For more information regarding this event, please contact Sarah Konrad at skonrad@uwyo.edu.

By Robin Rasmussen

Photos by Robin Rasmussen

WyCEHG's Newest Team Member: Andy Parsekian

WyCEHG welcomes its newest member to the team, Dr. Andrew(Andy) Parsekian! Andy is a new Assistant Professor in the Department ofGeology and Geophysics, and will be adding to WyCEHG’s research power in the area of Hydrogeophysics.

Andy conducting research in the field!

Originally from New Jersey, Andy received his PhD from Rutgers University. He comes to the University of Wyoming via California where held a position as a postdoc at Stanford University.

Andy’s research in the past has focused on environmental geophysics and hydrogeophysics, and he is looking forward to working with other WyCEHG scientists.

 “I’m excited to be able to work with experts in different fields,” says Andy.

Andy is also looking forward to the opportunity to use WyCEHG instruments to conduct research in collaboration with other WyCEHG team members.

“We have a huge instrument facility here,” says Andy. “I’ll be available to help people who might want to use a certain measurement method to think conceptually about how to integrate that into their research projects.”

Most importantly, Andy is excited to be in Laramie and is taking advantage of all that it has to offer.

“Snow sports are definitely the key sort of thing I like to do. Here in Laramie, we’re in the mountains, we’re almost on top of them,” says Andy. “I’ve always loved the mountains, so one of the things I’m most excited about is to be right here, only minutes away from a place to go skiing, only minutes away from a place to go hiking.” 

Welcome to the team, Andy!

By Robin Rasmussen

Photo courtesy of Andy Parsekian

Wyoming Women in Science and Engineering Travel Award

Each semester, as a part of Wyoming Women in Science and Engineering (WWISE), Wyoming EPSCoR supports travel of women from the University of Wyoming to attend various conferences to present their research at national conferences.

 “By supporting travel to conferences through WWISE Travel Awards, EPSCoR is able to support outstanding researchers, and increase the visibility of Wyoming women researchers around the country,” says Education, Outreach and Diversity Coordinator, Liz Nysson.

Last semester, eleven females, ranging from faculty, postdocs, and graduate students traveled to various conferences and events to present their research.

Dr. Ye Zhang, from the department of Geology and Geophysics traveled to San Francisco to attend the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting to present her research to the academic community.  

Along with presenting her latest research, Dr. Zhang got a lot out of the conference.

 “I learned new research techniques, familiarized myself with the most recent 'hot topics', networked with other scientists, and introduced my own students’ and postdocs’ work to peer researchers,” says Dr. Zhang.

Dr. Zhang’s experience is something she recommends to others.

“WWISE is an excellent venue to support female scientists like myself,” she says. “In the future I will encourage female students I supervise to apply to WWISE and participate in attending these meetings.”

This semester, EPSCoR will again be supporting female faculty, postdocs and graduate students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields from the University of Wyoming to travel to conferences and present their research. The deadline for spring and summer submissions is January 21^st at 5 p.m. If you would like to present your research at a national conference and are interested in applying for a WWISE Travel Award, please contact Wyoming EPSCoR's Associate Project Director, Sarah Konrad at 766-2295 or skonrad@uwyo.edu.

By Robin Rasmussen