houck2040/artisci huggingface dataset:
catie kaylor was a freshman oceanography student excited to get hands-on lab experience during her second semester at texas a&m university when the pandemic brought in-person classes to a halt in spring 2020 instructors in the department of oceanography made the best of online learning and engaging students as much as possible but kaylor looked forward to getting back into the lab and onto the ocean at the advice of a professor prior to the pandemic kaylor had applied to many research experiences for undergraduates (reu) sites around the country funded by the national science foundation reu sites support summer research opportunities across a range of topics and at numerous universities she was soon accepted to the coastal ecosystems reu site at florida international university (fiu) in miami which was hosted by the universitys institute of environment although kaylors original 2020 summer opportunity was delayed by a year due to the pandemic in may of 2021 she was thrilled at the chance to study in miami i was learning from home for all of 2020 to 2021 so i missed out on a lot of hands-on chemistry and biology labs she said going into the reu i felt worried and behind because i had not been in the lab setting for a while but it turned out that this reu was the perfect opportunity to jump back into lab work my mentors were amazing about helping me and were very supportive as i learned new techniques i'd never used before when it came time to choose her research topic from the available areas of study at the reu kaylor chose a study researching forever compounds in oysters a choice that put her on a distinct new path a life-changing research opportunity per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as pfas are commonly used long-lasting chemical compounds found in cookware firefighting foam personal care products contaminated soil and water and many other sources pfas do not break down easily and that's why they're known asforever compounds kaylor explained they bioaccumulate and don't break down the project kaylor chose that summer was investigating pfas levels in oysters in biscayne bay working with assistant professor natalia quinete and distinguished postdoctoral associate leila lemos both researchers in fius institute of environment and college of arts sciences and education
oysters are so cool to study because they are sessile which means they stay in one place and theyre filter feeders so as they eat they are also filtering the water she said they are also bio-indicators for ecosystems which means you can study oysters and their tissues to see what they have been exposed to in the water because anything thats in the water will also be in their tissues the oyster samples had already been collected as part of a larger study of three locations kaylors oysters were all collected from one of those locations the shore of fius biscayne bay campus my mentors for the most part already had the project planned out so they taught me how to collect and analyze the data and that made it an ideal first project for me she said i learned how to work with the oysters cleaning measuring sampling extracting and analyzing to analyze the oysters pfas levels we ran them through the liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry instrument from conducting hands-on research to riding across the everglades in an airboat and spotting manatees in biscayne bay kaylors reu summer made a lasting impression on her my summer in miami is probably the best summer ill ever have she recalled fondly at the end of the summer kaylor presented her research in a poster and final presentation and she also went on to present her findings at the fluoros global conference in rhode island in october 2021
i was nervous to go to a conference on my own as an undergraduate but it was a great experience and everyone was so encouraging she said in august 2022 the research teams findings were published in science of the total environment and kaylor was a co-author on the news-making paper the research was discussed by hundreds of media outlets across the country scientists sample 156 florida oysters find dangerousforever chemicals in each cbs national news reported at the time im pursuing a career in science because i want to help answer questions and find solutions to current problems kaylor said the day i got the email about how our paper was going viral i was overjoyed it was crazy to see that as an undergraduate i was already starting to make a difference pursuing research experience at texas a&m as kaylor returned to texas a&m she was anxious to continue gaining research experience and skills i had started working in jessica fitzsimmons lab as a bottle-cleaner [in fall 2021] which was a great next step and good lab experience she said after a semester of working hard at that job i applied to be the seawater intern for the texas a&m oceanography summer 2022 reu and was accepted as the intern in fitzsimmons lab the texas a&m oceanography reu program hosts 10 students each summer and kaylor supported their work by serving as a local peer-mentor while also conducting her own research this fall she is working with nate lanning phd student in the fitzsimmons lab conducting research on colloidal trace metals in the central pacific ocean analyzing samples collected on the gp15 geotraces research cruise colloidal trace metals are tiny particles that are considered dissolved and they are micronutrients used by phytoplankton for important processes like photosynthesis although im no longer working with oysters i am still getting to use intense chemistry which is exciting and interesting she said looking forward toward graduation in may 2023 she is currently applying to graduate schools and looking for opportunities to continue pursuing research i feel like ive learned and grown so much as a young scientist and a student from my courses here and from the two reus kaylor said coming to texas a&m really has been one of the best decisions ive ever made
as the nation honors its heroes on veterans day texas a&m university history phd student tristan krause is preparing for a trip to germany krause is working as the historian on teams commissioned by the us militarys defense pow/mia accounting agency (dpaa) helping to locate and bring home the remains of missing american soldiers lost in conflict according to records compiled by the defense pow/mia accounting agency (dpaa) almost 82 000 american soldiers from world war ii the vietnam war the korean war the cold war and the gulf wars are still missing or unaccounted for finding and bringing these missing soldiers home is at the core of the militarys no soldier left behind code
yet it is also a daunting challenge complicated by the passage of time to take on that challenge the dpaa assembles interdisciplinary teams of historians archaeologists geneticists anthropologists geologists and others each of whom has expertise in a field essential to the process of finding and identifying missing soldiers historians krause says play an important role the first step in finding someone krause said is to thoroughly understand the context for what is essentially their worst day ever which requires poring over an inordinate amount of historical sources that helps us pinpoint the site for the dig once were on site the historian is there to identify artifacts and continue piecing the story together its work krause finds incredibly gratifying its a tangible tactile form of history thats fulfilling an important commitment he said this past summer krause was able to travel and participate in two dpaa digs in sicily and belgium using his skills as a historian to help find missing soldiers and bring them home its both personally and professionally important that im able to work on these digs in the summer krause said if i want to launch a career with the dpaa i need to get as much experience as i can working with other specialists in the field education and public service roots a picture of how history and service could intersect began to take shape for krause in an undergraduate course at the university of wisconsin-madison on the process of recovering and identifying the remains of us soldiers killed in world war ii in new guinea we learned that in order to find these bodies you have to understand the history of the campaigns krause said thats how you find clues about where to find the bodies give them a name and bring them back to their families i thoughtok this is what i want to do krause got his first opportunity to be part of a field research team that traveled to france to find a missing soldier from wwii after weeks of work the team was able to locate and identify the remains of walter buster stone from andalucia alabama who died when he crashed his single-engine plane its a really powerful feeling for the whole team when you succeed exciting but somber at the same time krause said you just stop take your hats off and reflect on the fact that this guy has been lost for almost 75 years and youve found him you figure he would want some company after all that time and you know his family is going to get some closure
joining texas a&m after being a part of that successful mission krause knew grad school was the next step in acquiring the knowledge and experience he would need to make a career out of the work he was so passionate about he chose texas a&m because of the universitys military ties and emphasis on public service in researching graduate programs krause had also made a strong connection with history professor and mentor adam seipp i spoke to dr seipp on the phone when i was researching grad schools krause said we clicked right away he is familiar with the dpaas work and was an instant supporter he explained to me that texas a&m has a lot of ties to federal internships with the branches of the military and sends a lot of graduates to work at the dpaa it felt like the right place for me and it has worked out great seipp who is now the associate dean for graduate studies in the college of arts and sciences as well as a professor in the department of history is equally impressed with krause and sees the work he does as a potential track for other humanities graduate students tristans field work demonstrates some of ways that the study of the humanities can make a valuable contribution to public service seipp said his training as a historian and his work in the field complement each other seipp has long been interested in connecting humanities phd graduates with careers outside academia he oversees texas a&ms membership in the humanities coalition a group of 17 universities devoted to finding innovative ways to expand career paths for humanities phds in government non-profit and public service the coalition provided funding for krauses trip to sicily and belgium students who earn humanities phds are terrific researchers communicators and analysts seipp said krause also appreciates the efforts of the humanities coalition to connect students with opportunities in public service its consistent with the idea that the university should be beneficial and serve the wider state he said this story was originally published by texas a&m today
the texas a&m university college of arts and sciences has dedicated $600 000 in seed funding to support college-wide interdisciplinary research activities and encourage novel collaborations among faculty within its 18 academic departments and dozens of centers and institutes the initiative known as the merger grants program was unveiled this past spring in anticipation of the sept 1 consolidation of the former colleges of geosciences liberal arts and science jointly funded by the college of arts and sciences and the division of research the program's initial call for proposals resulted in dozens of submissions and nearly 50 collective awards across two project categories in addition to a joint symposium to be organized by three departments (anthropology biology and geology and geophysics) "thanks to the forethought of ping yang maria escobar-lemmon and darren depoy the research deans of the three legacy colleges 47 collaborative projects have been funded through the college merger grants program " said interim dean of arts and sciences dr josé luis bermúdez professor of philosophy and the samuel rhea gammon professor of liberal arts at texas a&m "i am encouraged and intrigued by the depth and breadth of the collaborations that are underway and already starting to produce results" faculty teams representing two or more of the former colleges were invited to apply for two types of grants one intended to help them become better acquainted as they explore their potential for future collaboration and another to support preliminary work leading to transformative research projects suitable for eventual submission to external funding sources selected projects span the gamut of topical areas including novel methods of imaging data exercise timing and psychiatric wellbeing analysis of food insecurity and accessibility the ethics of urban wildlife management potential therapeutics for spinal cord injury climate change mitigation strategies and the economic impact of quantum technologies "the merger grants program is designed to help our faculty build relationships as they test new concepts and ideas while engaging in new research directions with potential new funding steams " bermúdez said "by encouraging and seeding the discovery process we are enhancing the competitiveness of texas a&m researchers and expanding the frontiers of scholarship from the physical and social sciences to languages and the humanities" see the complete listing of funded projects or learn more about research in the college of arts and sciences
have you ever wondered why thanksgiving revolves around turkey and not ham chicken venison beef or corn almost 9 in 10 americans eat turkey during this festive meal whether its roasted deep-fried grilled or cooked in any other way for the occasion you might believe its because of what the pilgrims a year after they landed in whats now the state of massachusetts and their indigenous wampanoag guests ate during their first thanksgiving feast in 1621 or that its because turkey is originally from the americas but it has more to do with how americans observed the holiday in the late 1800s than which poultry the pilgrims ate while celebrating their bounty in 1621 did they or didnt they eat it the only firsthand record of what the pilgrims ate at the first thanksgiving feast comes from edward winslow he noted that the wampanoag leader massasoit arrived with 90 men and the two communities feasted together for three days winslow wrote little about the menu aside from mentioning five deer that the wampanoag brought and that the meal included fowle which could have been any number of wild birds found in the area including ducks geese and turkeys historians do know that important ingredients of todays traditional dishes were not available during that first thanksgiving that includes potatoes and green beans the likely absence of wheat flour and the scarcity of sugar in new england at the time ruled out pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce some sort of squash a staple of native american diets was almost certainly served along with corn and shellfish
a resurrected tradition historians like me who have studied the history of food have found that most modern thanksgiving traditions began in the mid-19th century more than two centuries after the pilgrims first harvest celebration the reinvention of the pilgrims celebration as a national holiday was largely the work of sarah hale born in new hampshire in 1784 as a young widow she published poetry to earn a living most notably she wrote the nursery rhyme mary had a little lamb in 1837 hale became the editor of the popular magazine godeys ladys book fiercely religious and family-focused it crusaded for the creation of an annual national holiday of thanksgiving and praise commemorating the pilgrims thanksgiving feast hale and her colleagues leaned on 1621 lore for historical justification like many of her contemporaries she assumed the pilgrims ate turkey at their first feast because of the abundance of edible wild turkeys in new england this campaign took decades partly due to a lack of enthusiasm among white southerners many of them considered an earlier celebration among virginia colonists in honor of supply ships that arrived at jamestown in 1610 to be the more important precedent the absence of southerners serving in congress during the civil war enabled president abraham lincoln to declare thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863
turkey marketing campaign godeys along with other media embraced the holiday packing their pages with recipes from new england and menus that prominently featured turkey we dare say most of the thanksgiving will take the form of gastronomic pleasure georgias augusta chronicle predicted in 1882 every person who can afford turkey or procure it will sacrifice the noble american fowl to-day one reason for this: a roasted turkey makes a perfect celebratory centerpiece a second one is that turkey is also practical for serving to a large crowd turkeys are bigger than other birds raised or hunted for their meat and its cheaper to produce a turkey than a cow or pig the birds attributes led europeans to incorporate turkeys into their diets following their colonization of the americas in england king henry viii regularly enjoyed turkey on christmas day a century before the pilgrims feast christmas connection the bird cemented its position as the favored christmas dish in england in the mid-19th century one reason for this was that ebenezer scrooge in charles dickens a christmas carol sought redemption by replacing the impoverished cratchit familys meager goose with an enormous turkey published in 1843 dickens instantly best-selling depiction of the prayerful family meal would soon inspire hales idealized thanksgiving although the historical record is hazy i do think its possible that the pilgrims ate turkey in 1621 it certainly was served at celebrations in new england throughout the colonial period this story was originally published by the conversation
josh byerly99 was awed and maybe slightly overwhelmed when he stepped into his first biology class at texas a&m university that classroom held more people than his entire high school class back in tyler texas now because of his time in aggieland byerly has filled positions within organizations such as nasa and currently works at slb the world's largest oil and gas services company though byerly graduated with a bachelors degree in journalism he was actually planning on going to law school being a book and story fanatic throughout his childhood byerly began researching the journalism program and knew what he wanted to do ive always been a writer and storyteller so i looked at the journalism program with an eye on law school byerly explained randomly during my junior year i ended up getting an internship at kbtx i didnt realize it at the time but that one decision and opportunity took me down a completely different road in my life and my career and its one ive never forgotten growing up with a mom who was an elementary teacher and later having a high school teacher with a passion for english byerly learned just how much he cared about telling a good story when i was a freshman in high school my english teacher taught me language arts and writing fundamentals on a level ive never seen byerly said he taught us how to appreciate the written word and the mechanics behind what makes good writing i realize now thats when i started to become who i am now journalism was a natural fit for me
after his time at texas a&m byerly got the opportunity to work for many important organizations one of his most notable jobs though was as the public affairs officer and spokesman for nasa (2007-2014) where he was the voice of nasa for a number of space shuttle and international space station missions including the final launch of space shuttle discovery in 2011 you can hear this former voice of nasa in the smithsonian's national air and space museum as part of the space shuttle discovery exhibit my time at nasa is something that i will always hold close to my heart byerly shared to this day i still cant believe the kid from east texas ended up in that job i will be forever grateful for all of those days and nights working in mission control with the smartest people on the planet being able to go inside the space shuttles to be the voice of mission control for space shuttle discoverys last flight and getting to know dozens of astronauts including neil armstrong buzz aldrin and john young nasa truly represents the best of who we are as humans and it has an incredible story im just lucky to have been a small part of that story through the years and its something i miss every single day currently byerly is vice president and chief communications officer for schlumberger which just underwent a major rebranding effort including changing its name to slb byerly leads a global team of communicators for the technology company which is focused on driving energy innovation in his role just as he has done his whole life byerly and his team of communicators are working on telling a story this time hes traded space exploration for something a little more earth-bound: the ongoing energy transition
when i was at nasa i was fortunate to be part of the story of humanitys greatest adventure byerly said this is similar in some ways because were telling the story of humanitys greatest balancing act: how do we provide affordable secure and sustainable energy for our generation and the ones that will come after us its an enormous challenge that the company is working on and its an honor to be part of the team and lead a world-class staff that is helping tell the story of our journey as byerly continues on his professional journey he attributes much of his success as a communicator to the department of communications and journalism as well as his overall experience within journalism while in aggieland being in aggieland was one of the best parts of my life byerly added you get to really learn who you are and what you want to become aggieland is one of the few places that feels like home to me when i go back so its something i deeply appreciate on a practical level journalism taught me an appreciation for deadlines and working at a fast pace but on a higher level journalism taught me to appreciate being curious and being able to use words to take the audience on a journey i always remind people that weve been telling stories since the beginning of time so go find a cool story to tell
in addition to the thanksgiving holiday texas a&m university distinguished professor of chemistry john a gladysz is celebrating a milestone this weekend an invited editorial in the world-leading academic journal science gladysz's editorial in which he addresses differences in premedical education and preparation across the world as well as possible solutions to the global doctor shortage is published today (nov 25) in the prestigious publication's current issue prior to joining the texas a&m department of chemistry faculty in 2007 as a tenured professor and inaugural holder of the dow chair in chemical innovation gladysz spent 10 years at the university of erlangen-nuremberg where he served as chair of organic chemistry and had specific responsibility for the premedical chemistry curriculum he also held previous faculty positions at the university of utah (1982-1998) and ucla (1974-1982) after earning his phd from stanford university in 1974 gladysz says he was asked by science editor-in-chief holden thorp to write about pre-medicine education in germany and abroad based on his experience in that realm and the recent avalanche of news stories opinion pieces and letters analyzing undergraduate introductory science education at us colleges and universities "texas a&m faculty have written occasional op-eds in the new york times and such but science has never called upon anyone in college station to my knowledge " gladysz said "they publish only weekly with an average of one editorial per issue sometimes two sometimes zero three weeks ago al gore authored the editorial so this is good company"