Voices

Sometimes, individual stories best relay what is special about Notre Dame. This feature, "Voices," allows you to learn about Notre Dame through those who live, work and learn here every day.

Crislyn D'Souza-Schorey surprised some of her colleagues when she selected Notre Dame as her research base.  Normally, scientists of her mettle and interest would have chosen research in a medical school or major research institution

"I was looking for a good research environment. One thing that drew me here is that there's a huge incentive to establish a cancer research center," says D'Souza-Schorey, who joined the University as Walther Cancer Institute Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences in 1998, D'Souza-Schorey's laboratory is a part of the Walther Cancer Research Center, a collaboration of Notre Dame and the Walther Cancer Institute of Indianapolis.

As she develops her own place in the world of cancer research leadership, D'Souza-Shorey expresses pleasure in the teaching that allows her to develop a new generation of researchers. "That's very important to me," she says.  "In addition to teaching in the classroom, I consider the laboratory training of graduate students and post-doctoral research fellows as well as undergraduate students as critical to my development as an academic and one of the most rewarding aspects of my career."

Peter Kogge, Ted H. McCourtney Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, has been breaking ground in computer architecture since before the first "Star Wars" movie was launched.

In 1994, Kogge left IBM's Federal Systems Division, where he had been appointed an IBM Fellow, to join Notre Dame's computer science and engineering program.  He also is Research Thrust Leader for Architecture in Notre Dame's Center for Nano Science and Technology, a consortium of engineers, physicists and chemists. They are refining new generations of computational devices whose "chips" are the size of molecules, whose "transistors" are electrons, and whose need for electrical current will be obsolete.

Kogge says  his work has thrived in the Notre Dame environment because of the collegiality and pollination of creative ideas across the sciences and engineering. When you're creating the new boundaries of science, it just makes sense to leave territorial definitions behind.

"The barriers are down here, between computer science, electrical engineering, chemistry, physics," Kogge says. "It's immaterial."

Susan Guise Sheridan began fostering undergraduate research experiences when she was herself only a graduate student, at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She has included undergraduates in research endeavors from the Nubians to the American Southwest, and she has involved over 100 students in her Middle East studies from 1995 to 2003.

Her student researchers have published more than two dozen articles, presented findings at professional meetings, and have been the recipients of dozens of grants.

Sheridan and her students perform biocultural analyses of diet and disease on ancient remains as a means of defining periods of change prompted by political and economic factors and/or significant ecological shifts. Their work has provided a portrait of childhood health and adaptability, female biological resiliency, and occupational stress for the ancient populations worldwide.

Sheridan, the Nancy O'Neill Associate Professor of Anthropology, also brings undergraduate students from across the country to Notre Dame during the summer for a research experience in biocultural anthropology funded by the National Science Foundation.

"We're jump starting students' research careers," says Sheridan, whose department - anthropology - has an overall goal of ensuring that every major has a summer hands-on, site-based research experience.