David Herring, JD mdash; Law and Behavioral Biology Research: Kinship Foster Care as a Case Study
David Herring, JD, presenting at the Ancestral Health Symposium 2012 (AHS12) Law and Behavioral Biology Research: Kinship Foster Care as a Case Study Abstract: This presentation begins with an overview of applied evolutionary psychology in the context of law and policy. The overview includes several concrete examples of legal scholars #39; use of behavioral biology research to explore law and policy related to subjects such as child maltreatment, rape, and employment discrimination. The presentation then moves to a detailed description of the use of behavioral biology research to examine kinship foster care law and policy. The focus is on grandparent investment research. Based on evolutionary theory, there have been several studies indicating that maternal grandparents tend to invest heavily in grandchildren, enhancing child nutrition and lowering the risk of mortality. In contrast, the presence of other grandparent types tends to increase the risk of child mortality. This latter effect seems to be especially pronounced for paternal grandmothers. The research in this area has implications for law and policy related to kinship foster care placements. Bio: David J. Herring is professor of law and former dean at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He has written extensively on child welfare law issues. His most recent work focuses on behavioral biology research and its implications for children placed in foster care.

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David Herring, JD — Law and Behavioral Biology Research: Kinship Foster Care as a Case Study - Video

UT Tyler Biology Department Faculty Awarded Nearly $70,000 to Study Endangered East Texas Species

The $69,113 Endangered Species Section 6 Grant was awarded to four biology faculty. They will assist TPWD, in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to identify fish hosts for East Texas freshwater mussels in the Neches, Sabine and Sulphur Rivers using genetic and ecological niche modeling methods.

Dr. John Placyk, assistant professor of biology, serves as principal investigator on the three-year project. Co-investigators are Dr. Neil Ford, professor of biology; Dr. Lance Williams, associate professor; Dr. Josh Banta, assistant professor and Marsha Williams, research associate.

Freshwater mussels have a very interesting life cycle. When they are born, they must live and feed off of a fishs gills before they can live on their own. Different mussel species rely on different fish hosts for their young, known as glochidia, but we do not know which fish are important for which mussel species, said Banta, whose research areas include genetic and ecological mapping. We are using DNA fingerprints of the different mussels to be able to determine which species are on which fish. We will then use this information to predict where different mussel species are found based on where their fish hosts are found. This work will improve the predictions of where particular mussel species are, which is important to land managers and conservation agencies.

Section 6 grants are funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for states to gain information about their endangered species.

Mussels are very important to us because they literally clean pollutants out of our rivers. Many of these species are federally listed as threatened or endangered because they are very rare; their habitats are declining. The state and federal government are very interested in understanding why this is happening and what can be done to protect these species, Banta added.

A UT Tyler faculty member since 2007, Placyk holds a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and a master of science in biology from Northern Michigan University. During his tenure at UT Tyler, Placyk already has received research grants totaling about $150,000. He also serves as a UT System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation faculty mentor at UT Tyler.

Bantas research focuses on the mechanisms of variation in the wild, using techniques such as genetic mapping, quantitative genetics and ecological niche modeling. He has been a faculty member since 2011.

Fords research expertise is in life-history evolution. He has been conducting mussel surveys in East Texas for more than 10 years.

Marsha Williams will oversee the projects computer modeling components. She is an expert in river geomorphology and Geographic Information System applications. Prior to serving UT Tyler, she worked for the Mississippi Extension Service and served as a researcher for Ohio State University. Lance Williams research expertise is in aquatic ecology.

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UT Tyler Biology Department Faculty Awarded Nearly $70,000 to Study Endangered East Texas Species

Biology majors in the Thomas Jefferson Scholars Program are unsure about their future due to changes to the undergraduate program.`

The N.C. State biology program is being moved from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to the College of Sciences.

The Thomas Jefferson Scholars Program provides money to students pursuing a dual degree between any College of Agricultural and Life Sciences program and any College of Humanities and Social Sciences program.

Members of the Thomas Jefferson Scholars Program sent a letter to the University asking to admit future College of Sciences students into the program. The University replied telling members to calm down, according to a source who wishes to remain anonymous.

Dana Moeller, fundraising chair for the Jefferson Scholars, said the program will no longer accept biology students.

Under the current structure, approximately half of the programs members major in biology.

Next year, biology students will not be allowed into the program since it will fall under College of Sciences instead of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Students who are moving into College of Sciences and are already in the program will be grandfathered into the program and will not lose their status as Thomas Jefferson Scholars, Moeller said.

Thomas Jefferson Scholars Service Co-chair Kaitlyn Rogers said if this had been implemented earlier, she herself would not have been able to join the program.

Im disappointed [because] about half of our members would not be included in the programand we couldnt work something out between COS and CALS, Rogers, a senior in biology and Spanish, said. Now we are just trying to make the best of the situation.

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Biology to leave Jefferson Scholars