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THE FUTURE OFRESEARCH

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DON KLUEMPERIS FRIENDSWITH FACEBOOK

‘IT’S ON US’ TO GETEDUCATED, INVOLVED

CHICAGO CUBS’ GOLDEN AGE ONWEST CAMPUS

BUSINESS CENTER SEES THE FUTURES (AND DERIVATIVES)

For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago

April 82015VOLUME 34 / NUMBER 27uicnews.uic.edu

INSIDE:CAMPUS NEWS 4CALENDAR 8STUDENT VOICE 9POLICE 10PEOPLE 11SPORTS 12

PUZZLES 10

more on page 9

2 uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS I APRIL 8, 2015

PROFILE

Facebook users show their faces. How they use the social network service re-veals their personalities.

Don Kluemper, assistant professor of management, decodes the clues.

In one study, Kluemper (rhymes with temper) and two students looked at Facebook profiles of 56 college students with jobs. They looked for these “Big 5” personality traits: Were the students con-scientious — and to what degree? Were they emotionally stable? Introverted? Disagreeable? Open to experience?

After spending about 10 minutes looking at each profile, including photos, wall posts, comments, education and hobbies, the researchers answered a series of personality-related questions, such as

“Is this person dependable?” and “How emotionally stable is this person?”

Six months later, they matched their ratings against employee valuations from each of the students’ supervisors.

Their findings show that Facebook can be used as a reliable job-screening tool, said Kluemper, especially since can-didates have a hard time faking their personalities in front of their friends.

They also found something else inter-esting. “Facebook ratings were a better predictor of GPA than other self-ratings and ratings on IQ tests put together,” he said.

News media picked up on the job performance part of the study and before they knew it, their work was on 1,500 media outlets. “The Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, and it exploded from that point,” Kluemper said.

He’s learned that employers turn to social media to get answers about pro-spective employees that they’re legally

forbidden to ask, such as queries about marital status or sexual orientation.

His students reported that after job interviews, they sometimes receive

“friend” requests from their interviewers. “It’s a very trendy recruitment source,”

he said.Among the most useful findings of

his research is evidence of deviant behav-ior by employees who harm others or steal from the company, for example.

“Incivility, a form of deviance, can be something subtle like giving cold looks, making others feel unwelcome, unwant-ed or uncomfortable,” Kluemper said.

People who are poorly treated are more likely to quit, and may reciprocate with deviant behavior of their own.

“Deviant workers cost companies bil-lions of dollars a year,” he said.

Kluemper grew up in southern Indi-ana. He earned a bachelor’s degree in management and a master’s in criminol-ogy, both from Indiana State University,

and a doctorate in organizational be-havior from Oklahoma State University.

Over the next nine years he taught at Oklahoma State, Louisiana State and Northern Illinois University before joining UIC in 2013.

Recently he was named co-director of the Institute for Leadership Excel-lence and Development (ILEAD) in the College of Business Administration.

Kluemper lives in Aurora with his wife, Maria, a challenge course facilita-tor who runs team-building courses for companies, and their sons, Nicholas, 10, and Alexander, 8.

A 30-year martial arts enthusiast, he participates several times a week in Sei-zan Ryu Kempo Jujitsu.

Professor, rate thyself:“I am highly conscientious, highly

emotionally stable, moderately introverted, moderately disagreeable and moderately open to experience,” Kluemper replied.

“If we’re not all united with this, it’s only going to show one face and it’s only going to show the experiences of one university. It’s a statewide issue, not just a UIC issue.”

Natalie Cruz, UIC student and president of the UIC group Fearless Undocumented Alliance, on the push by Illinois college students to allow undocumented residents access to financial aid, April 4 USAToday.com

“Most of all, they must possess the sense of duty, responsibility and compassion that go with managing and leading organizations that care for people at some of their most vulnerable moments.”

John DeNardo, director of the health care administration master’s degree program in the School of Public Health and former CEO of UI Health, on careers in health care administration, April 5 Chicago Tribune

By Gary Wisby — gwisby@uic.edu

He added parenthetically, “However, being high in conscientiousness and emotional stability is socially desirable, so even if I was low, I might report being high.”

To clarify, do you mean you might falsely report being high in conscien-tiousness and emotional stability, when you’re actually low, just to make your-self look better?

“You get it perfectly (though I was not implying that I am actually low in conscientiousness or emotional stabili-ty),” Kluemper said.

“I study personality test faking. Yes, some people fake personality tests and falsely report being high in socially desirable traits. So, if someone says they are conscientious, they are either conscientious OR not conscientious but giving you a socially desirable an-swer.

“Some of my work is in developing ways to tell the difference.”

“Our goal is, for patients with sickle cell disease, who now on the average don’t live until 50 years of age, we want them to have the same life expectancy as everyone else in the population and not have the severe pain episodes that they go through now.”

Victor Gordeuk, director of the Sickle Cell Center, on the effect of state budget cuts that would eliminate funding to the center, April 5 Fox 32 News

send profile ideas to Gary Wisby, gwisby@uic.edu

Facebook can be used as a reliable job-screening tool because candidates have a hard time faking their personalities on social media, says Don Kluemper, assistant professor of management. — Photo: Jenny Fontaine

Facebook profile as important as résumé?

DONKLUEMPER

3APRIL 8, 2015 I UIC NEWS I uicnews.uic.edu

STOPPING SEXUAL VIOLENCEBy Christy Levy — christyb@uic.edu

Get educated and get involved. Those are the goals of the It’s on

Us initiative, launched last fall as part of a national campaign to stop sexual violence on campus.

“We want to engage all members of the campus community to help prevent sexual assault,” said DuJuan Smith, assistant dean of students.

“We’re asking everyone to make a personal commitment to step off the sidelines and be part of the solu-tion.”

UIC’s ongoing campaign is high-lighted this month at events for Sexual Assault Awareness Month to

“shatter the silence” around sexual violence and start conversations on campus.

Events include a bystander inter-vention workshop, a talk on sexual harassment in the STEM fields, a dialogue on reimagining masculinity and more. View a complete list of events on the Campus Advocacy Network website, can.uic.edu. Partic-ipants can pick up a teal ribbon at any event to show their support.

“Students, faculty and staff can take the pledge saying they are committed to standing against sexual assault on college campuses,” Smith said.

Last fall, UIC launched a new website — sexualmisconduct.uic.edu — where students and employ-ees can learn how to report an incident, find support and

participate in campus safety programs.

“We provide some talking points if you’re a family member talking to someone you love, or a staff member talking to a student,” Smith said.

Sexual violence should be reported to the UIC Police. The Office for Access and Equity performs an investigation into inci-dents of sexual misconduct and the Office of the Dean of Students conducts a formal hearing if misconduct is found, Smith said.

At an April 30 program, mandated reporters will explain what happens during an investigation into

sexual misconduct, Smith said. “I hope people use these events as an opportunity to

really educate themselves,” he said. The nationwide It’s on Us tagline has been modified to

make it unique to UIC: “It’s on us to make a difference. Stop sexual violence.”

“We wanted to honor the national campaign, while still thinking about UIC and our population,” Smith said.

Based on the overall increase in lifespan, the age to receive full Social Security benefits should be closer to 70

— but increasing the retirement age would mean groups with lower life expectancy would suffer, says a UIC re-searcher on aging.

“We’re living longer and healthier than ever before, but the statutory age of retirement for receiving Social Securi-ty benefits doesn’t reflect that,” says S. Jay Olshansky, pro-fessor of epidemiology and lead author for a report published in Daedalus, the journal of the American Acad-emy of Arts and Sciences.

“But raising the age of retirement would further exacer-bate disparities in Social Security entitlements and place increased financial burdens on populations with lower life expectancies.”

When Social Security was enacted in 1935, the age of full retirement was set at 65. Back then, a 25-year-old had a 62.4 percent chance of living to retirement age, and a 65-year-old retiree lived, on average, for another 12.6 years.

“If we calculated retirement age using the same ratio of retired to working years present in 1935, the age of eligi-bility for full benefits today would be close to 70 years old, and the age for early retirement would be 66.5 years old,” Olshansky said.

Previous research has shown that level of education and longevity are linked. In 2008, only 74.4 percent of 25 year olds who had less than a high school education sur-vived to age 65, while 92.1 percent of their peers with a college degree or its equivalent years of education would do so.

Higher levels of education are associated with higher income, access to better health care and nutrition, better odds of survival to age 65 and longer post-retirement life expectancies.

If the retirement age went up, people in population groups with lower life expectancies would continue to pay into Social Security the same as anyone else, while becom-ing even less likely than they already are to live to see re-tirement. Those who do reach retirement would draw benefits for even fewer years, as compared to other groups.

Raising retirement age could widen disparities By Sharon Parmet — sparmet@uic.edu

The age to receive full Social Security benefits should be closer to 70, but increasing retirement age would cause groups with lower life expectancy to suffer, says epidemiology professor S. Jay Olshansky.

There's a can opener in the gift bags for Monday's Pop-Up Benefit: A Call to Action.

That's because the fundraising event, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Illinois Room of Student Center East, benefits the Pop-Up Pantry, which provides food to UIC students in need.

“This benefit will educate people on what is home-lessness, how it looks and how do you define it,” said Brandon Gaskew, co-founder and co-director of the Pop-Up Pantry, vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government and a senior in political science.

The idea for the benefit started with Gaskew and pharmacy student Myron Laban.

Laban's group Men of Dance will put on a perfor-mance at the benefit that includes singing, rap, dance and spoken word.

The event includes a silent auction and a showcase of art made by UIC students on the subject of home-lessness.

“Regardless of who you are, you deserve funda-mental needs of life," Laban said. "Everyone’s entitled to food, shelter and sleep.”

Tickets, $5 for students and $10 for others, can be purchased at the UIC Bookstore. Those who can’t afford tickets can bring canned goods to the event for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

“Homelessness is a large issue," Gaskew said. “We should help out city-wide.”

The next Pop-Up Pantry events will be April 16 and 23, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 604A Student Center East. Current i-card is required.

Benefit raises money for Pop-Up PantryBy Nicole Cardos — ncardo2@uic.edu

From the beginning of Social Security, the age of retire-ment was intended to be adjusted periodically as life expec-tancy increased. But, Olshansky said, the few adjustments that have been made have been “too little, too late.”

Olshansky says he and his co-authors do not recom-mend an adjustment in Social Security based solely on re-cent changes in longevity.

“Additional reforms would be needed to minimize dis-parities that would be worsened if the age of retirement were increased,” he said.

UIC’s initiative to stop sexual violence asks the campus community to “be part of the solution,” says DuJuan Smith.

4 uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS I APRIL 8, 2015

CAMPUS NEWSsend information about campus news to Sonya Booth, sobooth@uic.edu

‘A Matter of Life and Death’ with UIC TheatreBy Anne Brooks Ranallo — aranallo@uic.edu

Original music, dance, bicycles and pingpong — it’s all there in the season’s final production by UIC Theatre, a play based on the 1946 classic film “Stairway to Heaven.”

“A Matter of Life and Death” (the film’s alternate title) opens Friday and runs through April 19. It is directed by Heidi Stillman, Lookingglass Theatre artistic director of new works. The UIC Theatre production is the North Ameri-can premiere of an adaptation by Emma Rice and Tom Morris.

Set in World War II, the plot con-cerns a doomed British pilot (played by David Niven in the film) who contacts an American radio operator named

June (Kim Hunter) just before he’s about to jump without a parachute. He survives and finds himself before a celestial court of law, which must decide whether he lives or dies.

UIC’s production features original music by a band made up of six theatre students, with lyrics from the play. There’s a big dance number, characters riding bikes throughout the action, a magical ping-pong match and a 14-foot “stairway to heaven.”

“The set pieces will be manipulated to imply setting, location and specific war-time imagery,” said stage manager Dina Klahn. “The play bounces between the real and surreal, and between war and love.”

SINGING WORKSHOPUIC’s Chicago Institute for Voice Care

presents the workshop “Contemporary Commercial Singing Styles” this weekend with singing specialist Jeannette Lovetri and H. Steven Sims, associate professor of otolaryngology and specialist in voice care.

The workshop is open to professional and amateur singers, voice teachers, speech pathologists and others. It will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Eye and Ear Infirmary. Cost is $95 National Voice Foundation members, $150 nonmem- bers and $50 students. Register at openmindopenbody.com

CAREERS IN SCIENCE WRITINGA free conference on science writing,

aimed at students and professional writers, will be held April 17, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the Institute for the Humanities in Ste-venson Hall.

Sessions include how to correctly use statistics, with Robert Sloan, head of com-puter science, and Bill Burton, senior direc-tor of public affairs; an introduction to science writing as a career, with local writ-ers and authors; and innovations in science communications with writers and produc-ers from WBEZ’s “Curious City,” the

“Nerdette Podcast,” the Illinois Science Council and Argonne National Laboratory.

For more information, visit facebook.com/RewritingScience

WOMEN’S HEALTH RESEARCHMonica Gandhi, medical director of the

HIV/AIDS clinic at San Francisco Gener-al Hospital, will present “Women Living with HIV” April 21 at Women’s Health

Research Day.The free conference, 9 a.m. to 12:30

p.m. in the Thompson Room, Student Center West, highlights new develop-ments in women’s health and showcases research by faculty, staff and students.

The second annual event also includes research poster presentations and a lecture by Leah Rubin, assistant professor of psy-chiatry, “When Enough is Enough: Stress and Brain Functioning in HIV-infected Women.”

Sponsors include the colleges of Medi-cine and Nursing, School of Public Health and the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women.

Register at go.uic.edu/whrd_registration

JOB ANALYSIS UPDATEA town hall on the Human Resources

job analysis project, focusing on the ap-peals process, will be held April 21 and April 30.

The job analysis project is a review of positions categorized as academic profes-sional, to determine whether they should be converted to civil service.

The town hall will present an update by Robert Crouch, assistant vice president for human resources, and Ron Puskarits, director of compensation.

Sessions will be held 10 a.m. April 21, School of Public Health auditorium, and 10 a.m. April 30, 1-470 Daley Library.

The event, coordinated by the Academic Professional Advisory Committee, will be webcast at ustream.tv/channel/uic-apac

For more information, visit uicapac.blogspot.com

WORKING ON THE RAILROADPlans to construct the Great Lakes

Basin Railroad, a proposed privately fund-ed rail network serving connecting to short lines around metropolitan Chicago, will be discussed at a presentation April 29.

“Building the Great Lakes Basin Rail-road,” noon to 1:30 p.m. in Conference Room 217 at the Student Residence Hall, is hosted by the Urban Transportation Center.

The 275-mile railroad would operate between Janesville, Wisconsin, and Michi-gan City, Indiana, adding capacity to the Chicago Freight Rail Hub, the largest in the world.

Frank Patton, managing partner of the Great Lakes Basin Railroad, LLC, will lead the presentation.

For more information visit utc.uic.edu

CELEBRATE EARTH MONTHUIC celebrates Earth Month in April

with Bike to Campus Week, EcoJam, workshops and more.

Today, participate in 50-minute well-ness workshops including yoga for desk-workers and meditation and mindful-ness, 10 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. in 713 Student Center East.

The Conscious College Road Tour will visit UIC April 13 to talk about the bene-fits of a conscious, sustainable lifestyle.

From April 20 to 24, 12 Chicago area universities will compete for the title of Bike 2 Campus Week Champion. The April 22 EcoJam in the Quad offers free food, live performances, activities and more.

For more information on Earth Month, visit sustainability.uic.edu

WORLD HEALTH DAYUniversity President Bob Easter will

present “Global Food Safety: The Roles of Agriculture, Health and Biological Scienc-es in the 21st Century” for UIC’s com-memoration of World Health Day April 22.

Easter, former dean of the Urbana- Champaign campus College of Agricul-tural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, will speak at noon in the 227 College of Medicine West.

For more information, visit globalhealth.uic.edu

BENEFITS OF CLOSET-CLEANINGSorting through your closets for spring

cleaning? Donate men’s and women’s busi-ness apparel and accessories in good con-dition to a clothing drive for clients of Goldie’s Place, a nonprofit social service organization for people who are homeless.

Collection boxes are located in 104 College of Dentistry, first floor Disability, Health and Social Policy building, 1728 University Hall and 3343 Education, Theatre, Music and Social Work Building.

IT PRO FORUMFriday is the deadline to register for the

April 28 2015 IT Pro Forum, a day of presentations, exhibits and networking opportunities for campus IT professionals.

This year’s theme, “Informational Technology’s Interchangeable Role in a High Tech World,” will showcase collabo-rative IT projects at UIC.

On-site registration will be available.For more information, visit itproforum.uic.edu

UIC Theatre’s final production of the season includes original music and dance in a retelling of the 1946 classic film “Stairway to Heaven.”

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

SHOWS

April 10, 11, 16, 17, 18 at 7:30 p.m.

April 12, 15, 19 at 2 p.m.

TICKETS

$12 Students/Seniors

$10 Other attendees

go.uic.edu/theatre

UIC Box Office 312-996-2939

5APRIL 8, 2015 I UIC NEWS I uicnews.uic.edu

Book recounts Cubs’ golden age on West SideBy Justin Mendoza — jmendo28@uic.edu

The Chicago Cubs celebrated Opening Day at Wrigley Field Sunday, but the team didn’t always play at the North Side ball-park.

The last place the Cubs played before Wrigley Field was the West Side Grounds, where UIC’s College of Medicine stands today. The Cubs played in the block bordered by Wol-cott Avenue, Polk, Wood and Taylor streets from 1893 to 1915. They appeared in four World Series during that time, win-ning titles in 1907 and 1908.

The Cubs’ connec-tion to UIC is highlighted in the book Be-fore the Ivy: The Cubs’ Golden Age in Pre- Wrigley Chicago, written by UIC graduate Laurent Pernot.

“The book started as a chapter on the old ballpark near where UIC’s College of Medicine is today,” he said. “It was inter-esting finding out how much history re-

peated itself about 100 years ago. There was a court battle with rooftops as there still is today. It was fun to see very little is new.”

Pernot isn’t a native Chicagoan but his love for the city and its baseball history began when he spent a year at Elk Grove High School as a foreign exchange student. Instead of returning to his home-town of Montbeliard, France, Pernot enrolled at UIC, double-majoring in English and political sci-ence with an internship at UIC News.

“I liked Chicago and learning from smart peo-ple,” he said. “I got into the Honors College. I just

had a great time.”After he finished his undergraduate

studies in 1993, Pernot returned home to serve in the French army as an interpreter. He came back to UIC for graduate school in 1997 and became associate editor of UIC News, later working in media relations in the Office of Public Affairs.

The Cubs played at the West Side Grounds from 1893 to 1915. The College of Medicine stands there today. — Photo courtesy of Brian Bernardoni

He wrote an article for UIC News about the Cubs’ connection to campus, then a graduate paper that expanded into his book, published in February by the University of Illinois Press.

“It took about four or five years to turn it into a book,” Pernot said.

After working at UIC, Pernot worked at communications firms such as Hill & Knowlton Strategies.

Since 2011, he’s been at the City Col-leges of Chicago as executive director of communications, vice chancellor for insti-tutional advancement and now executive

vice chancellor. His responsibilities include overseeing marketing, student recruitment and external relations.

“It is very rewarding and fulfilling to work here,” he said. “Reminiscent of UIC.”

His advice to current students on find-ing success after graduation: network.

“It is the best way to connect with jobs,” he said. “Hands-on experience is a big part of networking.”

And if you want to write a book, pick a topic you truly enjoy.

“It was a fun and humbling process,” he said. “Touching history is a lot of fun.”

UIC alumnus Laurent Pernot. — Photo: Pascal Bailly

6 uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS I APRIL 8, 2015

From his office on the 24th floor of University Hall, Gilbert Bassett has a breathtaking view of downtown Chicago. More importantly, he can see the futures. And the derivatives.

Bassett, founding director of UIC’s International Cen-ter for Futures and Derivatives, likes gazing upon the Loop headquarters of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The CME Group Foundation provided initial funding to launch the UIC center in 2007, then $1 million in 2011 to establish its centerpiece: the CME Foundation Market Training Lab in Douglas Hall. The lab, a research center for faculty, prepares students for the rapidly evolving world of commodities and futures.

“Trading today is a different animal than 20 years ago,” says Bassett, professor emeritus of finance,0 who joined UIC in 1973. “It requires a completely different skill set.”

EXCHANGE FLOOR REINVENTED Not long ago, trading involved “open outcry.” Traders

down on the exchange floors shouted orders to buy and sell while waving their arms and motioning with their hands. To the uninitiated, the practice resembled con-trolled chaos. Today’s system is every bit as esoteric, but it relies on sophisticated high-speed software and instant access to real-time information from enormous volumes of data.

Negotiating new systems and protocols is what the International Center for Futures and Derivatives and its lab are all about. The lab harnesses software and propri-etary real-world data from Bloomberg Terminal, Tick Data and others to simulate a variety of real-world trading scenarios. Software program Xtrader, for instance, allows students to simulate trading in futures markets, and moni-tor profits and losses.

“We’re taking the math off the blackboard so that stu-dents not only have an understanding of theory, but how theory works in practice,” says John Miller, clinical assis-tant professor of finance who commandeers the complex process of constructing and customizing the lab’s digital infrastructure — a task that requires uploading state-of-the-art software and inputting large volumes of critical historical data.

“We’re populating the lab at the micro level,” he says. “In addition to trades and quotes coming directly off stock exchanges, we have a rich array of data from Bloomberg on collateralized mortgage obligations, futures contracts, all types of currencies — the type of data you really can’t access anywhere else.”

Miller and colleagues have begun adapting their cur-ricula to fully leverage the lab’s data and capabilities. Four lab-oriented courses were introduced for the fall 2014 semester.

For Miller’s classes in Fixed Income and Futures and Derivatives, students use the lab to learn both the me-chanics and application of financial practices. The former involves replication of analytics from Bloomberg “as a first step toward building a financial calculator” and the latter,

“a series of Q&As pertaining to how the analytics work,” he explains. “Financial markets need professionals who not only understand theory, but are capable of performing analysis.”

With 30 workstations, each with a computer terminal and two monitors, Miller says students can apply what

INSIDE TRADINGINSIDE TRADINGA new UIC Business lab immerses students in the world of high finance

By Paul Engleman — UIC Alumni magazine

The brain trust of UIC’s International Center for Futures and Derivatives (left to right): John Miller, clinical assistant professor of finance; Gilbert Bassett, professor emeritus of finance; and Dale Rosenthal, assistant professor of finance. — Photo: Jeff Dahlgren

they’re learning in an environment that simulates the trading room at a big investment firm.

“John is a ‘been-there, done-that,’” says Bassett, explain-ing that Miller enjoyed success on Wall Street and with Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund, before joining UIC.

“Most ‘been-there, done-thats’ still work downtown. We’re lucky to have him.”

ACADEMICS BASED IN REALITY Both graduate and undergraduate students began

using the lab for research projects last year.“What’s interesting is how much they’re already using it

to evaluate data independently,” says Dale Rosenthal, as-sistant professor of finance and another “been-there, done- that” who spent five years at a hedge fund and another three at an investment firm. “It’s blossoming right now, and it’s just going to get better.”

“The center provides us with a whole ecosystem — servers, data, software — the same tools and analysis packages you’d find at a trading firm,” he says.

The lab’s data system is supported by 20 terabytes of storage capacity and open-source R software, used for sta-tistical computation and graphics.

“Open-source is of huge benefit because it allows stu-dents to instantly download those programs,” Miller ex-plains. “Statistical R, for example, will allow them to manipulate data, create statistical models, perform esti-mates and plot results.”

Although students who use this program and others like it won’t necessarily pursue careers in finance, “the value is they’ll understand risk management and pricing of assets,” Miller says. Futures and derivatives, he notes, play significant roles in fields ranging from agriculture to pharmaceuticals to energy.

INTERNATIONAL PLAYER The lab supports the center’s broader mission as “a

global source for scholarship, collaboration, quality educa-tion, and cutting-edge, innovative research on futures, de-rivatives and financial markets,” Bassett says.

The center sponsors the International Symposium on Financial Engineering and Risk Management, an annual conference in China, with UIC’s U.S./Asian Executive Development Program, which has graduated thousands of MBA students from mainland China. “We may be better known in Shanghai than we are in Palatine,” Bassett says.

The center launched R/Finance in 2009. The two-day event on campus focuses on Statistical R, the premier, open-source software system for statistical computation and graphics, used to manage financial risk and construct portfolios. Besides attracting high-profile sponsors such as Google, Lemnica and Revolution Analytics, R/Finance has become an international event that draws some 300 researchers from business and academia.

Kassie Davis, executive director of the CME Group Foundation, says the organization views its financial sup-port of UIC not as a donation, but as an investment.

“We see education as the engine of economic develop-ment,” she says. “Our mission is to enhance economic op-portunity by supporting academic initiatives and activities that promote research, teaching and learning in financial markets, futures and derivatives.

“UIC is a trusted, long-term grant partner, one with whom we invest to achieve our mutual goals. It also is an important institution that enables many low-income stu-dents to achieve college success. We look forward to con-tinuing our support of the university.”

To Bassett, that means a bright future in futures, and another reason to sit back and enjoy the view.

7APRIL 8, 2015 I UIC NEWS I uicnews.uic.edu

It’s a far cry from Robocop. But UIC researchers have engineered a new nanobot — basically a robotic germ

— that could be used as a humidity sensor to prevent food spoilage or keep space travelers safe.

Called NERD, for Nano-Electro-Robotic Device, it’s an electromechanical device on a bacterial spore.

“We’ve taken a spore from a bacteria, and put graph-ene quantum dots on its surface — and then attached two electrodes on either side of the spore,” said Vikas Berry, associate professor of chemical engineering and principal investigator on the study.

“Then we change the humidity around the spore,” he said.

When the humidity drops, the spore shrinks as water is pushed out. As it shrinks, the quantum dots come closer together, increasing their conductivity, as mea-sured by the electrodes.

“We get a very clean response — a very sharp change the moment we change humidity,” Berry said. The response was 10 times faster, he said, than a sensor made with the most advanced man-made water-absorbing polymers.

There was also better sensitivity in extreme low- pressure, low-humidity situations. “We can go all the way down to a vacuum and see a response,” Berry said.

The device could be useful in applications where humidity must be kept low, for example, to prevent cor-rosion or food spoilage. “It’s also important in space applications, where any change in humidity could signal a leak,” he said.

Currently available sensors increase in sensitivity as humidity rises, Berry said. NERD’s sensitivity is actually

By Jeanne Galatzer-Levy — jgala@uic.edu

Researchers create tiny robotic germ to test humidity

higher at low humidity.“This is a fascinating device,” Berry said. “Here we have a

biological entity. We’ve made the sensor on the surface of these spores, with the spore a very active complement to this device. The biological complement is actually working towards responding to stimuli and providing information.”

The report is online at Scientific Reports, a Nature open

access journal.T. S. Sreeprasad and Phong Nguyen of UIC were lead

co-authors on the study. Sreeprasad, a postdoctoral fellow, is now at Rice University in Houston. Ahmed Alshogeathri, Luke Hibbeler, Fabian Martinez and Nolan McNeiland, undergraduate students from Kansas State University, were also co-authors on the paper.

The Nano-Electro-Robotic Device (NERD) can be used as a humidity sensor to prevent food spoilage and detect leaks in space applications, researchers say. — Illustration: Megan Strand

8 uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS I APRIL 8, 2015

THROUGH APRIL 11

The Uncanny Valley

MFA thesis exhibition featuring work by students Curt Miller, Ellen Nagel and John Szczepaniak on display at Gallery 400. Reception, 5–8 p.m. April 10; artists’ talks, 5 p.m. April 10

Hours: Tues.–Fri. 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Sat. noon–6 p.m.

Gallery 400, ADH

Send information about campus events to Christy Levy, christyb@uic.edu

EXHIBITS

ASIAN AMERICAN RESOURCE AND CULTURAL CENTER ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Retrospective on center¹s 10 years at UIC with personal tributes, video/slideshow and refreshments. Welcome for new director Mark Martell and performance by Ashley Ruano

3–5 p.m. / Conference Rooms B&C, SSB

go.uic.edu/aaamonth

APRIL 14

FOR MORE UIC EVENTS, VISIT EVENTS.UIC.EDU

CALENDAR

LECTURES

SPECIAL EVENTS

APRIL 9

Immigrant Inclusion in the Safety Net

Alexandra Filindra, assistant professor of polit-ical science, and Meghan Condon, Loyola Uni-versity, present research on policies that target immigrants. Sponsored by the Institute for the Humanities Immigration Working Group

Noon–2 p.m. / lower level, SH

APRIL 13

Call to Action

Cultural showcase raises money for UIC’s Pop-Up Pantry. Guest speak-ers on homelessness and food inse-curity, spoken word, performances

5:30–7:30 p.m. Illinois Room, SCE

Tickets: $5 for students; $10 for others

APRIL 10–12, 15–19A Matter of Life and Death

UIC Theatre’s production is the North American pre-miere of the classic film, originally released under the title “Stairway to Heaven.” Directed by Heidi Stillman of the Lookingglass Theatre

7:30 p.m. April 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18 2 p.m. April 12, 15 and 19 UIC Theatre, ETMSW

APRIL 14

Tuesdays-at-One: All-Faculty Concert

Contemporary concert, led by José Oliver Riojas, features the funky, vis-ceral compositions of Jacob TV and UIC’s Marc Mellits

1–1:50 p.m. L060 ETMSW

APRIL 8

Black Lives Matter Lecture Series

Reading and conversation with poet Claudia Ran-kine, author of “Citizen,” winner of 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award

Noon–2 p.m. / 613 SCE

APRIL 15

Social Justice as Professional Responsibility

Paul Brandt-Rauf, dean of the School of Public Health. University of Common Sense series sponsored by UIC Energy Initiative, Office of Sustainability and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences

4 p.m. / 1001 SPHPI

APRIL 8House of Cards: Rebuilding

Roberta Feldman, professor emerita of archi-tecture, opens an exhibition she curated with the National Public Housing Museum that features photos and videos on Chicagoans struggling with eviction, foreclosure and home- lessness, and the organizations that assist them.

6:25–9 p.m. Art Works Projects, 625 N. Kingsbury St.

Photo: Maren Wickwire

9APRIL 8, 2015 I UIC NEWS I uicnews.uic.edu

STUDENT VOICEWant to contribute a story? Email Christy Levy, christyb@uic.edu

STUDENTRESEARCH FORUM

I’ve never been much of an athlete, but I played the part Thursday.

The event? The Student Research Forum. The arena? Academia. The skill? Speaking proficiently and repeatedly about a year’s worth of research to judges and curious peo-ple passing by.

Nearly 300 students were at the UIC Forum Thursday, fighting for the No. 1 spot in their academic category. Being an English major, I was grouped with humanities and social sciences. The title of my project was “Represen-tations of Feminism on the Small Screen: From ‘Sex and the City’ to ‘Girls.’”

Pregame lasted between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., when my peers and I made our way to the Forum to sign in and hang our posters. I warmed up by anxiously practicing my speech.

Then it started. At 1 p.m., the judges began to roll in. The first few minutes were dreamlike for me; I couldn’t imagine myself speaking calmly to a judge. Yes, I was ner-vous, but even more so, I was excited to speak about the research I’ve done this past year, and the great points I’ve found on the two series.

The first judge came by, followed by two more. I quick-ly gave my speech and forgot to mention a few aspects of my research. Thankfully, the judges asked enough ques-tions to help me recount the information I missed.

By halftime I was in the zone, pointing out key aspects of my project. I made an effort to look people in the eye and be proud of my work.

The final quarter was the last judging period. Just when I thought I was done, a final judge came by. Worn out by explaining, I thought I’d lost my enthusiasm — until I realized: this could be one of the last times I’ll be present-ing, let alone researching, an academic topic. I persevered and made the final speech as impactful as possible.

I don’t know for sure, but I assume my peers felt the same way that day. Some were graduate students, already thinking about their careers. Others, like me, are about to finish our first round of higher education. Although I kept imagining the nostalgia I’ll feel for this day and event in the future, I told myself to be in the moment and proud of my work.

The day ended at 5 p.m. when awards for the top three in each category were handed out. Not everyone earned awards, but we all won the opportunity to present the work we’ve accomplished.

BY NICOLE CARDOSNCARDO2@UIC.EDU

STUDENT RESEARCH FORUM WINNERS

GRADUATE/PROFESSIONALNON-LIFE SCIENCESFirst: Vishal Varma, pathology, bioengineering and nephrology Faculty adviser Michael J. WalshSecond: Amanda Robinson, museum and exhibition studies Faculty adviser Therese QuinnThird: Modhi AlSobeihy, computer science Faculty adviser Lenore Zuck

LIFE SCIENCESFirst: Thao Pham, biopharmaceutical sciences Faculty adviser Debra TonettiSecond: Rand Akasheh, kinesiology and nutrition Faculty adviser Giamila FantuzziThird: Sandra Gomez-Peres, kinesiology and nutrition Faculty adviser Carol Braunschweig

UNDERGRADUATEART/DESIGN/HUMANITIES Mallery Lutey, anthropology, Faculty adviser Sloan Williams

BUSINESS/COMPUTER SCIENCE/ MATHEMATICS Michael Perlman, mathematics, statistics and computer science Faculty adviser Kevin Tucker

ENGINEERING/PHYSICAL SCIENCES Zubair Vhora, biological sciences Faculty adviser Randal Dull

LIFE SCIENCESFirst: Navika Shukla, biochemistry and molecular genetics, faculty adviser Karen ColleySecond: Kevin Li, physical therapy, faculty adviser Mark GrabinerThird: Ralph Griffiths, kinesiology and nutrition, faculty adviser Karrie Hamstra-Wright

SOCIAL SCIENCESFirst: Rhiday Pandy, psychology, faculty adviser Eric LeshikarSecond: Olivia Santiago, psychology, faculty adviser Omar JamilThird: Laura Cuevas, psychology, faculty adviser Michael Ragozzino

SUSTAINABILITY AWARD Palak Patel, Spanish Faculty adviser Diana Gonzalez-Cameron

Nicole Cardos presents her work at the Student Research Forum. “I persevered and made the final speech as impactful as possible,” says Cardos, a senior in English. — Photo: Joshua Clark

10 uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS I APRIL 8, 2015

CRIMES REPORTED TO UIC POLICETheft: 4Assault: 1Battery: 1

Public indecency: 1Harassment by electronic means: 1Criminal damage

UIC Police emergency: 312-355-5555Nonemergency: 312-996-2830TDD: 312-413-9323

Visit the UIC Police crime mapuiccrimemaps.org/mapand the Chicago Police CLEAR Mapgis.chicagopolice.org

POLICE

MARCH 30–APRIL 5

ARRESTS BY UIC POLICEApril 4: A man was arrested for public

indecency at 12:16 a.m. at 1421 S. Morgan St.

Editorial: . . . . . . . . . . (312) 996-7758 Advertising: . . . . . . . (312) 996-3456 Fax: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (312) 413-7607

Editor Sonya Booth . . . . . . sobooth@uic.edu Associate Editor Christy Levy . . . . . . . christyb@uic.edu Assistant Editor Gary Wisby . . . . . . . . gwisby@uic.edu Visual Communications & Design Anna Dworzecka . . . adworz1@uic.edu Associate Graphic Designer Megan Strand . . . . . mstran2@uic.edu

Editorial Interns Justin Mendoza, Matthew Pozo

Editorial Associates S. K. Vemmer . . . . . . svemme1@uic.edu Nicole Cardos . . . . . ncardo2@uic.edu

Advertising Coordinator Samella Wright . . . . uicnewsads@uic.edu

Advertising/Marketing Intern Vana Povrzenic, Emily Waas

Senior Director for Public Affairs Bill Burton. . . . . . . . . burton@uic.edu

Photography, UIC Photo Services Roberta Dupuis-Devlin & Joshua Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . uicphoto@uic.edu

Student Photography Contributors Timothy Nguyen, Joseph Horejs

Published on Wednesdays during the academic year (monthly during summer) by the Office of Public and Government Affairs of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

601 S. Morgan St. - 1320 University Hall (MC 288) - Chicago, IL 60607-7113

uicnews.uic.edu

UIC News Staff

WORD SEARCH: UIC SPORTS

— Puzzle: Vana Povrzenic

Hidden in this week’s puzzle are 11 sports in which our athletes compete. Do you know all of UIC’s sports?

FIND OUR FLAMES’ GAMES

SUDOKU: HARD

Find the answer to this week’s puzzle online at go.uic.edu/puzzle408

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Use logic and process of elimination to fill in the blank cells using the numbers 1 through 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and 3x3 block.

A $1 million donation to the College of Pharmacy will turn its old compound labo-ratory into something new.

The Foglia Family Foundation provided the gift to renovate the college’s aging laboratory, where students learn how to de- velop and test combinations of active pharmaceuticals and delivery systems for new formulations so that the ingredients are effective, stable, easy to use and acceptable to patients.

Construction is expected to begin in summer 2016.

The existing 7,000-square-foot lab is almost unchanged since the pharmacy building was built in 1953. The compound- ing lab has “required decades of effort and creativity to overcome its shortcom-ings,” said College of Pharmacy dean Jerry Bauman.

“We are extremely appreciative of the Foglia family’s gift, as it will not only allow

By Sam Hostettler — samhos@uic.edu

$1M gift to update pharmacy lab

us to bring the lab up to date, but it lays the groundwork for generations of new pharmacists,” he said.

Besides extensive infrastructure work, plans include compounding stations for 50 students, modular elements to encourage collaboration between students and faculty, and a complete overhaul of technology, including videoconferencing and digital recording for pharmacy students on the Rockford campus.

Vince Foglia, co-founder of Sage Prod-ucts and head of the foundation named for his family, has worked with UIC faculty since 1971. Since he started Sage Products, a health and personal care company in Cary, Foglia has collaborated with pharma-cy professors Angel Arambulo and Fred Siegel and former faculty member and UIC alumnus Dennis West.

“Now the Foglia name will formally be a part of our college forever,” Bauman said.

A donation to the College of Pharmacy will improve the compound laboratory, which has been almost unchanged since the building was constructed in 1953.

BEFORE AFTER

11APRIL 8, 2015 I UIC NEWS I uicnews.uic.edu

A trip to Uganda with a volunteer medical team that treated children with spinal conditions changed Kris Siemi-onow’s life.

It was 2007 and Siemionow was a

By Sharon Parmet — sparmet@uic.edu

surgical resident at the Cleveland Clinic. “That was my first trip with a medical mission, and I just became addicted,” said Siemionow, now chief of spine surgery at UI Health.

The eventual result: a nonprofit group, Global Spine Outreach (globalspineoutreach.org), founded in 2013 by Siemionow, 1996 College of Medicine graduate Tony Rinella and Washington University spine surgeon Lawrence Lenke. The organization’s mission is to surgically treat patients around the world who have complex spinal problems and train local spine surgeons on the advanced techniques needed for complex cases, including severe scoliosis, or curvature of the spine.

The volunteer surgeons and health spe-cialists worked with other organizations in Cali, Colombia, before founding Global Spine Outreach. The organization recently expanded its work to Siemionow’s home-town of Poznan, Poland.

They just returned from Dega Hospital in Poznan, where they evaluated and

treated children and adults with spinal defor-mities caused by fractures, scoliosis, congeni-tal defects and other conditions.

“The surgeries we performed involved correction of severe spinal deformities by removing the malformed bones and placing spinal implants to maintain those correc-tions,” Siemionow said.

“Local spine surgeons often don’t have access to new technologies and therefore have less experience with using these im-plants in the setting of advanced spinal de-

Siemionow (left) discusses plans with fellow surgeons to help a patient with a complex spinal deformity through Global Spine Outreach.

KRIS SIEMIONOWFixing spinal problems around the world

formities. Our team helped local surgeons gain experience in these kinds of advanced surgeries.”

Siemionow’s team provides the sur-gical expertise and equipment, including technology that allows surgeons to monitor neurological function in real- time during surgery.

Siemionow plans to visit Poland twice a year through Global Spine Out-reach and expand the organization’s work to Mexico and North Africa.

Max Brito has strong connections to his homeland, the Dominican Republic.

These connections, from work in HIV prevention to exchange programs in med-ical education, are supported in part by the Urban Global Health initiative, which fights health disparities worldwide.

The annual benefit to help the initia-tive will be held Friday at the Willis Tow-er’s Metropolitan Club. Tickets are $150 to $200 and available online at go.uic.edu/globalgala

As associate professor of medicine and vice chair for urban global health in the department of medicine, Brito takes med-ical students and UI Health residents to the Dominican Republic for two weeks every year as part of a course in tropical disease.

“The goals are to expose students to how medicine is practiced in resource- poor settings, and to give them a chance to learn about tropical infectious dise- ases that are relatively uncommon in the United States,” Brito said.

In return, Dominican medical resi-dents — 30 so far — come to UI Health for two-month rotations.

Brito recently completed a public

By Sharon Parmet — sparmet@uic.edu

health project that cir-cumcised 454 men in the Dominican Republic to help prevent the spread of HIV, modeled on re-search in Kenya by Rob-ert Bailey, professor of epidemiology.

UIC is working to establish a clinic in the Dominican Republic for the treatment of tropical diseases and sexually transmitted infections.

“The clinic will be multidisciplinary, and will welcome faculty and students from other UIC colleges who will bring their own perspectives to addressing clinical prob-lems affecting poor Do-minicans,” Brito said.

In addition to the benefit Friday, donations to the Urban Global Health initiative can be made online at go.uic.edu/globaldonate

PEOPLE

Kris Siemionow — Photo: Joshua Clark

Max Brito, with medical residents enrolled in the Dominican Republic tropical infectious disease elective, at Robert Reid Cabral Hospital in Santo Domingo. – Photo courtesy of Max Brito

Fighting health disparities across the globe

12 uicnews.uic.edu I UIC NEWS I APRIL 8, 2015

SPORTS

By Laura White — lwhite88@uic.edu

BASEBALL SECURES FIRST PLACE SPOTBy Mike Laninga — mlaninga@uic.edu

Tyler Detmer led the Flames with three RBIs in the second game of a doubleheader versus Wright State Saturday. — Photo: Steve Woltmann

The Flames remain in first place in the Horizon League after the team (13-11-1, 9-3 Horizon League) split its home doubleheader with Wright State (20-9, 8-3 Horizon League) Saturday afternoon at Curtis Granderson Stadium.

UIC begins a three-game series at Milwaukee Friday, with other games set for Saturday and Sunday.

UIC had 12 hits, including three doubles and a triple, en route to a 7-4 comeback victory in game one. UIC starter Ian Lewandowski (3-2) earned his third win while Trevor Lane and Ryan Hinchley provided three innings of scoreless relief.

Lewandowski lasted six innings and allowed four runs on seven hits. He walked four and struck out one batter.

Carl Sugihara and Jeff Boehm led the Flames with two RBIs. Sugihara, Cody Bohanek, Mickey McDonald and Alex Lee all had two hits for UIC.

Wright State jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first in-ning on two hits. The Raiders added three more runs on three hits in the fourth to take a 4-0 advantage.

The Flames tallied five hits and tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom half of the inning. Bohanek singled on a bunt and advanced to third on Tyler Detmer’s fifth dou-ble of the season. Boehm drove in both runners with his first triple and McDonald brought him home with a sin-gle up the middle. Lee drove in McDonald with a two-out double down the right field line, his sixth double of the season.

Gabe Dwyer’s leadoff single in the fifth inning turned into the winning run. Sugihara’s seventh double of the season advanced Dwyer to third and Bohanek walked to load the bases. Dwyer scored on Detmer’s fielder’s choice to give UIC a 5-4 lead.

UIC’s two-run sixth inning featured four more hits. Conor Philbin and Lee singled before two strike-outs brought Sugihara to the plate. Sugihara brought both runners home with a single to right field.

Lane relieved Lewandowski in the seventh inning and tossed two scoreless innings. Hinchley took over for Lane and earned his third save of the season.

Jack Andersen (3-3) got the starting nod for the

Flames in the second game and allowed seven runs on 11 hits over four innings. He struck out three and walked one batter.

Noah Masa relieved Andersen and tossed two scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and walked a batter in his sixth appearance of the season.

Lane was nearly spotless in re-lief of Masa as he only allowed one hit over three scoreless innings. He struck out three Raiders and threw 26 strikes in 34 overall pitches.

Detmer led the Flames with three RBIs while Bohanek, Phil-bin and Lee also drove in runs. Philbin had three hits while Bo-hanek and Lee tallied two hits apiece. UIC totaled 14 hits in game two and 26 hits during the doubleheader.

The first two innings featured 11 hits and seven runs between the two squads. The Raiders had five hits and three runs in the first in-ning before the Flames responded with six hits and four runs in the bottom half. A highlight of UIC’s half was Detmer’s three-run home run, his second of the season.

UIC took a 5-3 advantage in the third with a two-out rally. McDonald singled and stole sec-ond before Philbin drove him home with a single up the middle.

The Raiders tied the contest with two runs and two hits in the top of the fourth before the Flames regained the lead in the bottom half. Dwyer led off with a ground-rule double and was brought home by Bohanek’s single

through the left side.WSU took a 7-6 lead with two more runs and three

hits in the fifth inning. UIC put two runners on base in the fifth, three in the sixth, one in the seventh and two in the eighth but could not push across another run.

The softball team (13-14, 4-2 Horizon League) secured the series sweep by defeating Detroit (2-28, 0-6 Horizon League) in a doubleheader at Buysse Ballpark. The Flames picked up a 7-2 victory in game one before taking out the Titans, 11-6, in game two.

UIC out-hit Detroit by a combined margin of 20 to 14. The Flames tallied seven doubles, one triple and two home runs.

Tiana Mack-Miller led the Flames with four hits and Kaleigh Nagle, Eleni Polites and Paige Peterson contribut-ed three each. Mack-Miller also had six RBI.

The Flames head to Northwestern today for a 4 p.m. game, then travel to Valparaiso for a three-game series Fri-day and Saturday.

UIC came back from a 1-0 deficit against Detroit in the first game to score six runs in the sixth for the win. The Flames had seven walks and six hits, with Mack- Miller adding two doubles to increase her season total to 10.

Bridget Boyle pitched her fourth complete game of the

Softball sweeps series at Detroit

season and earned her fourth win. The thrower struck out seven, a season high, while allowing five hits and two runs.

In the top of the fourth, as Erica Hampton ripped her first homer of the season over the fence in right center.

The Flames broke away in the sixth with six runs. With the bases loaded and no outs, Savannah Soppet entered to pinch-hit and singled, scoring one. Dana Capocci picked up the eventual game-winning RBI as she was in to pinch-hit and hit a sacrifice fly. After Taylor Cairns walked to load the bases again, Polites and Mack-Miller hit back-to-back two-RBI doubles for the final runs of the inning.

UIC went back and forth with Detroit in the second game of the doubleheader before the Flames pulled out the win with a season-high 11 runs and 14 hits. Five play-ers had multi-hit outings, led by Nagle with a career-best three hit performance.

Elaine Heflin received the start and went five innings to receive the win while striking out six batters.

Boyle pitched the final two innings for her second save

of the season after holding Detroit to one hit and no runs.The Flames grabbed a 1-0 lead and the Titans re-

sponded with a run in the bottom of the second and the third.

In the fourth, UIC went up 3-2 after Mack-Miller hit a two-RBI single with two outs and the bases loaded, but Detroit came back to tie the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the inning.

The Flames reclaimed the lead in the fifth by scoring five runs with five hits. With two outs, Peterson scored on a wild pitch, then Cairns and Mack-Miller hit a two-RBI double and two-RBI single.

Three runs came across the plate for the Titans in the bottom of the fifth.

Amanda Mener led off the sixth by blasting her first career home run over the fence in right center to give UIC a 9-6 advantage.

Two more scored in the seventh as Nagle hit an RBI triple, the first of her career, and Peterson had an RBI double, her second of the game.