A University of Missouri–St. Louis staff member and three alumni are among the young professionals being honored in the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2013 “30 Under 30” class.

The annual list recognizes individuals in the St. Louis area for their accomplishments on the job and their efforts in the community.

The UMSL staff honoree is:

• Karl Guenther, community development specialist at the Public Policy Research Center at UMSL

Guenther, 29, joined the Public Policy Research Center in June 2011 to facilitate and staff a network of community development organizations in the St. Louis region. Guenther co-wrote the report “Creating Whole Communities,” which examined the role of nonprofits in community development.

The UMSL alumni honorees are:

• Brandon Dempsey (BA communication 2006)
• Mohit Patel (BS 2011, MA 2012, biochemistry and biotechnology)
• Alison Zeidler  (BA English 2006 )

Dempsey, 29, is partner and owner at goBRANDgo!, a St. Louis-based full-service marketing agency for entrepreneurs. After helming several companies for nearly a decade, Dempsey joined forces with goBRANDgo! President Derek Weber in 2010 to have some fun with marketing.

Patel, 25, is executive vice president at Genetix Fusion, a biotechnology company that provides superior, nontoxic transfection kits for pharmaceutical and academic researchers. He’s also a research associate in UMSL’s Center for Nanoscience.

Alison Zeidler, 28, is a project manager and analyst for the St. Louis County Economic Council. She is responsible for connecting businesses with the tools needed to grow in St. Louis County, as well as managing Foreign-Trade Zone #102 on behalf of St. Louis County Port Authority.

Visit the St. Louis Business Journal for a complete list of honorees. All 30 recipients will be honored at a cocktail reception July 18.

(Photo by August Jennewein)

Teresa Balestreri, director of career services at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, said in a recent West (St. Louis County) Newsmagazine article that upcoming and recent graduates should plan ahead, gain experience and take a targeted approach.

“If they’re too broad, their resumes won’t make the cut,” she told the publication. “Putting together a degree program in relation to your interests, your skills and your values is the best approach to your degree.”

In addition, Balestreri highly recommended students take on an internship or gain work experience since theoretical knowledge alone will not easily land students a job. She reported positive news with UMSL experiencing a recent uptick in job and internship leads. 

“That is promising,” she told West Newsmagazine. “Phones aren’t ringing off the hook, but it’s certainly going in that direction. 2013 grads are going to be in a better place than they were back in 2011.”

Visit the West Newsmagazine website to read the full article.

Matthew Diamond, a senior anthropology major at UMSL, sifts through dirt looking for artifacts while excavating the former homestead of Daniel Boone Hays, grandson of the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone. (Photo by Myra Lopez)

Equipped with trowels, brushes and plenty of mosquito spray, a group of University of Missouri–St. Louis students recently worked to unearth St. Louis history.

The students, led by Patti Wright, associate professor of anthropology at UMSL, spent about two weeks excavating a cabin and out building at the former homestead of Daniel Boone Hays, grandson of the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone in rural St. Charles County near Defiance, Mo. The cabin dates back to 1812.

“It’s been really great,” said Matthew Diamond, a senior anthropology student from Lemay, Mo.

He was excited to get his first field-work course under his belt.

“I’m really glad to be out here and learning how things happen in the field,” he said. “It’s really cool to be finding something that no one has seen for so long. That’s really neat.”

The students cordoned off areas in the dirt and meticulously dug straight down 10 centimeters at a time. The dirt they collected was then sifted. Items unearthed by students included animal bones, old nails, ceramic pieces and bottles.

Last year, students excavated remains of the cabin as well as several units placed outside the main house on the property, built in 1830. The 2012 dig yielded nearly a thousand items including a $10 gold piece from 1879.

St. Charles County owns the property and plans on developing the area into a park and converting the main house into a museum. The items recovered by the students will be exhibited in the museum.

The students who took part in the dig were enrolled in ANTHRO 4100, Field Methods in Archaeology, a course offered by the anthropology program through the School of Professional & Continuing Studies at UMSL.

Hannah Perryman is a pitcher on the UMSL softball team. (Photo by Danny Reise)

Freshman pitcher Hannah Perryman of the University of Missouri–St. Louis softball team has been named a 2013 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Softball All-American. Perryman was selected to the third team and is just the fourth player in program history to be named a NCAA Division II All-American. She was also named a Third Team All-American by Daktronics, Inc.

Allyson DeFosset was the last player to earn All-American status, doing so in 2009, while Lisa Houska was tabbed to the second team in 1989 and was a first-team all-American pick in 1991. Laurie Aldy was a second-team all-American in 1987, becoming the program’s first player to earn the honor.

Perryman, who was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year and earned NFCA and Daktronics, Inc., First Team All-Midwest Region honors, led NCAA Division II in strikeouts with 352. Her 12.2 strikeouts per seven innings also topped the national rankings. Additionally, Perryman ranks fifth nationally in hits per seven innings, allowing just 3.78 and is eighth with nine shutouts.

The young hurler posted a 24-6 record in the circle with a 1.55 ERA.

Perryman twice recorded a career-best 18 strikeouts in a single game this season, including once in a seven-inning 6-1 win over Drury University (Springfield, Mo.), which ties the third best total in any seven-inning game in NCAA Division II history. Her 12.3 strikeouts per seven innings this season also ranks sixth all-time in NCAA Division II history.

Perryman is a criminology and criminal justice major.

Current research by Williams Rogers, associate professor of economics at UMSL, includes the impact homeowner associations have on the housing market and the effects public homeownership programs have on neighborhood development. (Photo by August Jennewein)

As economic conditions improve and interest rates remain low, more people are looking to buy homes, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But William Rogers, associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, cautioned that prospective homeowners shouldn’t overestimate the return on investment for owning a house.

“Real estate is not one of the best investments; labor markets are the best deal,” Rogers told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

He further discussed in the article the scenarios that make the most sense for renting and owning.

Rogers is an expert in regional economics, urban economics and public economics. His current research focuses on the impact homeowner associations have on the housing market and the effects public home ownership programs have on neighborhood development.

Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website to read the full article by business reporter Lisa Brown.

The website Composers Circle spotlighted Barbara Harbach‘s orchestral music in its June 6 blog post. (Photo by Stephanie Zettl)

Each day, the website Composers Circle profiles one composer and one piece of music.

On June 6, the site featured composer Barbara Harbach, professor of music at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and her extraordinary orchestral music, specifically highlighting her piece “One of Ours – a Cather Symphony” performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Harbach has a large catalog of works, including symphonies, operas, string orchestras, musicals, works for chamber ensembles, film scores, modern ballets, pieces for organ, harpsichord and piano; choral anthems; and many arrangements for brass and organ of various Baroque works. She is also involved in the research, editing, publication and recording of manuscripts of 18thcentury keyboard composers, as well as historical and contemporary women composers.

Harbach serves as editor of the WomenArts Quarterly Journal.

Véronique LaCapra, science reporter at St. Louis Public Radio, will travel with two UMSL graduate students to the Galapagos Islands for radio features produced through the PRX STEM Story Project. (Photo by August Jennewein)

St. Louis Public Radio | 90.7 KWMU science reporter Véronique LaCapra is one of the winners of a competition sponsored by the Public Radio Exchange, or PRX, to fund public radio stories about science, technology, engineering and math.

LaCapra’s project, “Following in Darwin’s Footsteps,” was among those chosen from over 100 proposals that were submitted to PRX. For the story, LaCapra will travel to the Galapagos Islands with two graduate students studying ecology and evolution at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Her feature will weave together their research — on a type of malaria that affects birds — with a profile of the two young women scientists, one from Ecuador, the other from Papua New Guinea.

“I think the story will highlight some interesting science, but as importantly, it will show the changing face of who is doing scientific research, and why,” LaCapra said. “The Galapagos Islands, which were Darwin’s inspiration and a touchstone in the history of evolutionary biology, will serve as a sound-rich backdrop.”

The radio features produced through the PRX STEM Story Project will be distributed by PRX and are being funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

UMSL student Hung Nguyen received a College of Arts and Sciences Research Grant to study molecules. (Photo by Alicia Hottle-Sippy)

While $1,000 in research funding might not sound like a significant amount, to Hung Nguyen, a senior at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, it’s practically a windfall.

“In the grand scheme of things it’s not a lot of money. But it’s a lot to me,” said Nguyen, a double major studying English and chemistry and a student in the Pierre Laclede Honors College at UMSL. “It shows that what I do actually matters. I felt really happy that the university and the College of Arts and Sciences believed enough in my research to put their money on it.”

Nguyen was one of six undergraduates to receive a $1,000 College of Arts and Sciences Research Grant. The college created the grant program last year in order to promote undergraduate research. A faculty and student review committee selected six undergraduates to receive funds to help them complete their research activities.

Nguyen’s project, “Systematic Study of Photoresponsive Structure-Behavior Relationships in Cyanometalates,” deals with manipulating particular features of a molecular system to adjust the temperature or wavelength of light at which certain magnetic properties of the system switch on or off. The goal is to assemble a library of structures which correlates particular structural features with observed behaviors. It’s hoped that the information gained from this study would enable researchers to design materials with more control and efficiency than is currently possible.

Nguyen said having a university that supports student research is a big pat on the back and a big morale booster.

“I hope the College of Arts and Sciences continues to give out these awards,” he said, “not because we’re going to cure cancer or make some big breakthrough this summer with the money, but because we’re going to make some progress and further the field for all of us.”

Nguyen’s project adviser is Stephen Holmes, associate professor of chemistry at UMSL. The two first collaborated when Nguyen, at the time a recent high school graduate, worked as a research scientist in Holmes lab through the SEED project, which gives disadvantaged high school students the opportunity to do hands-on chemistry research at UMSL. The program is sponsored by the American Chemical Society, Sigma Aldrich and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMSL. Juniors and seniors who have completed basic chemistry work alongside their scientist-mentors on research projects, learning about the process of science as well as possible ­­­‑‑‑career paths in the field.

In addition the College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Award, Nguyen was awarded the Outstanding Junior Chemistry Student award in April by the St. Louis section of the American Chemical Society. The award is given annually to one outstanding student on each of several university campuses in the St. Louis area, according to a story published in The Current.

Five other students in the College of Arts and Sciences won research grants: Sean Cristea for “Investigation of Methods to Predict DNA Curvature in Viral Genomes,” Serene Darwish for “Identifying contact zones in Guyana for great kiskadee populations through differences in unlearned loud songs,” Eleni Goranitis for “The Effects of the Alzheimer’s Amyloid-Beta Protein on the Inflammatory Response,” Bojana Opacic for “Overexpressing IAA biosynthesis rescues mutants with low IAA phenotypes” and Matthew Queensen for “New Chiral Organometallic Iron Catalysys for C-C and C-Si Bond Forming Reactions.”

John-Mark Scott, a sophomore accounting major at UMSL, is a scholarship recipient. UMSL donors have created 19 scholarships that will be offered for the first time this fall. (Photo by August Jennewein)

University of Missouri–St. Louis students will have 19 new scholarship options to help pay for school this fall thanks to university donors and a program established by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and implemented by the University of Missouri System.

The Need-Based Endowed Scholarship Matching Program was created last year when the governor released $1.1 million from state lottery proceeds to the UM System. The money would help establish 55 endowed, need-based scholarships for undergraduate students at the system’s four campuses.

In order to capture the scholarship dollars from the state, the individual campuses had to secure matching private funds. In the end, each endowed scholarship would total $40,000 – $20,000 from the state and $20,000 from private donors.

Based on the financial needs of its student body, UMSL was allotted 19 of the 55 scholarships from the UM System, and throughout the 2012-13 academic year, fundraisers in UMSL’s Division of University Advancement successfully cultivated matching donations, raising $380,000 in all.

“We did it, thanks to our amazing donors,” said Brenda McPhail, associate vice chancellor for development at UMSL. “We found donors for each of our 19 scholarships, which will be awarded annually in perpetuity to eligible students starting in the fall.”

And earlier this spring, McPhail learned the scholarship program would be expanded. The UM System announced that UMSL has up to 35 new scholarships to endow by April 30, 2014. McPhail said funding more than 30 additional endowed scholarships in one year will be challenging but she believes the university can do it.

“This match program is an amazing opportunity for donors to create a named scholarship and double their money,” she said. “It’s yet another way for someone to give back to UMSL, while helping a student in need.”

Just like the first round of 19 scholarships, donors must contribute increments of $20,000 to be eligible for the $20,000 matching funds.

For Terry and Stan Freerks, the Need-Based Endowed Scholarship Matching Program was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up. After learning about the first round of the program, the Freerks created two scholarships in honor of the educations they received at UMSL. Terry Freerks earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1977, and Stan Freerks earned a master’s degree in business administration in 1992.

Both scholarships are housed in the Pierre Laclede Honors College. The first is designated for an undergraduate majoring in history. The second is for a business major.

And the Freerks aren’t stopping there. When the 35 new scholarship opportunities became available to endow this year, the couple agreed to contribute an additional $120,000 to create a full-ride scholarship in the honors college.

“This is a terrific opportunity to have your money make a significant impact on a student,” Terry Freerks said. “We feel very strongly that the honors college speaks to the academic excellence of the student.”

For more information on the Need-Based Endowed Scholarship Matching Program, please contact Brenda McPhail at 314-516-6503 or bmcphail@umsl.edu.

The 2012-2013 Need-Based Endowed Scholarship Matching Program scholarships are:

• Akerson Nursing Scholarship created by Dorothy and Alan Akerson

• Branahl Family Scholarship created by Erwin and Adeline Branahl

• College of Education Leadership Scholarship created by Friends of the College of Education

•  Davis-Johnson Family Scholarhsip in Political Science II created by Patrick Gadell and Marietta Abele

• Fine Arts and Communication Matching Scholarship created by Friends, Faculty and Staff of the College of Fine Arts and Communication

• Glen Hahn Cope Scholarship in Nursing created by Mary E. Walker

• International Business Studies Matching Scholarship created by Friends of International Business

• Lyle and Charlene Brizendine College of Business Administration Scholarship created by Lyle and Charlene Brizendine

• Marie Morheuser Casey Scholarship created by Marie Casey and Kenn Entringer

• Mark Burkhart College of Business Administration Scholarship created by Mark Burkhart

• Maureen Hoffman Nursing Scholarship created by Charlie and Maureen Hoffman

• Nidec Motor Corporation Engineering Scholarship created by Nidec Motor Corporation

• Pierre Laclede Honors College Leadership Council Endowed Scholarship Fund created by the Pierre Laclede Honors College Leadership Council

• Pre-Law Advisory Council Scholarship created by Friends of the Pre-Law Advisory Council

• Richard Earl “Dick” Davis Family Memorial Scholarship created by Davis Family

• Shirley A. Martin Nursing Scholarship created by Friends and Alumni of the College of Nursing

• Stanley and Terry Freerks Honors College Business Administration Scholarship created by Stan and Terry Freerks

• Stanley and  Terry Freerks Honors College of Arts and Sciences Scholarship created by Stan and Terry Freerks

• UMSL Alumni Association “Show Me Success” Endowed Scholarship created by UMSL Alumni Association

The signing of the U.S. Constitution at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was depicted in this 1856 painting by Junius Brutus Stearns. The painting is also used for the cover of “The Original Compromise,” a book by UMSL political scientist David Robertson. (Image via Wikimedia Commons).

“The Federalist Papers,” 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, form the lens through which the U.S. Constitution is typically viewed. But doing so is wrong, says University of Missouri–St. Louis political scientist David Robertson in his book “The Original Compromise: What the Constitution’s Framers Were Really Thinking” (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Robertson will discuss and sign copies of his new book at 7 p.m. June 6 in the auditorium of the University City (Mo.) Public Library, 6701 Delmar Blvd. Missouri Rep. Rory Ellinger will introduce Robertson. Don Marsh, host of “St. Louis on the Air” on St. Louis Public Radio | 90.7 KWMU, will interview Robertson, who will also take questions from the audience. The event is free and open to the public.

In “The Original Compromise” Robertson presents a provocative new account of the framing of the Constitution with the “The Federalist Papers” representing only one side of a fierce argument ultimately settled by multiple compromises. On one side of the argument, leaders from large states pursued an ambitious vision of a robust government with broad power. On the flip side, leaders from smaller states wanted a weaker central government so as to avoid threatening the governing systems within their own states.

In the book, Robertson examines each contentious debate between the two sides over the course of three arduous months as the Constitution emerged piece by piece. The book explores the arguments over the balance of power between the federal states, slavery, war and peace and more.

“’The Original Compromise’ combines profound scholarship with remarkably accessible writing to make more clear than ever before just how and why the Constitution emerged in the form that it did,” said Rogers M. Smith, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. “Robertson is attentive to the framers’ ideas and their intertwined interests, and he traces persuasively the initiatives, negotiations and compromises that led to their imperfect but enduring achievement.”

Robertson, Curators’ Teaching Professor of Political Science at UMSL, has written extensively on national politics and policy, political history, federalism and public policy. In addition to “The Original Compromise,” his books include “The Constitution and America’s Destiny” and “Federalism and the Making of America.”

The University City Public Library and University City-based Subterranean Books are sponsoring Robertson’s discussion and book signing. Books will be available for $30 each.

Media coverage:
St. Louis Public Radio | 90.7 KWMU