Dr. Aaron M. Shew, assistant professor and R.E.L. Wilson Chair of Agricultural Economics, is directing a three-year federally funded project involving four higher education institutions. The researchers' goal is determining better management techniques for burning crop residues in the Arkansas Delta region. The $571,940 grant was awarded through the Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Details are online.

A paper co-authored by Dr. Katie Hill, assistant professor of marketing and director, Wood Family Sales Leadership Center, and Dr. Matt Hill, associate professor of finance, has been published in the journal of Business Research. The paper continues a recent trend of applying marketing theories within the shareholder value paradigm that forms the basis of corporate finance. Their inter-departmental work is available online.

Congratulations to Dr. Hideya Koizumi, associate professor of chemistry, who is author of an article that has been published in Chemical Physical Letters. Koizumi re-examined electronegativity introduced in the general chemistry course, using modern quantum mechanical methods.  He concluded the power of an atom to attract electrons from hydrogen atoms to itself is quantified by direct computations. The article also is available online.

Dr. Than Boves, associate professor of wildlife ecology, is co-author of an article published in Conservation Biology. Researchers in three countries analyzed bird collisions into buildings, estimating almost a billion birds die annually as a result of flying into windows. Assisted by several A-State students, Boves and associates in Canada, Mexico and the United States gathered data to identify the species most at risk, along with habitat variables.

Two short stories by Dr. Khem Aryal, assistant professor of English, have been published recently in literary journals. “Election, 2017” has been published in the 2020 annual issue of Literary Studies. His other story, “His Grandma Blues,” has been published in Pangyrus, and can be accessed online. Aryal, who joined the faculty in 2017, teaches creative writing and other writing courses.