Accomplishments - December, 2025
The School of Aviation is mentioned prominently in an Experimental Aircraft Association “Willing and Able” video that features Able Flight 2025 class students; Charles Stites, Able Flight executive director, and David Nelson, SIU Aviation assistant instructor.
Dr. Takushi Miyoshi, assistant professor, biomedical sciences, School of Medicine-Carbondale, was recently awarded a $50,000 Discovery Grant from the American Hearing Research Foundation and a $15,000 Richard Muench Chairman Grant for his research proposal “Novel nanoscale single-molecule microscopy and optogenetic approaches reveal regulatory mechanisms of MYO7A-mediated active cargo transport in live hair cell stereocilia.”
Julia Rendleman, assistant professor, Charlotte Thompson Suhler School of Journalism and Advertising, contributed photographs for a Dec. 7 story in The New York Times, “A small city at the center of a seismic shift in abortion access.”
William Cernota, assistant lecturer in the School of Music, and SIU Carbondale zoology and music sophomore Vincent Jones will perform in the City of Carbondale’s inaugural “Civic Sessions,” at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, in the city hall lobby. The brief, acoustic performances by Carbondale musicians will be prior to each city council meeting.
Kofi Akamani, professor and director of graduate studies, School of Forestry and Horticulture, recently served as a lead author of the Western Europe and Others Group chapter of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Environment Outlook Seven scientific assessment report. The report, which will be launched on Tuesday, Dec. 9, analyzes the drivers and interlinkages among key planetary crises, including pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change.
Julia Rendleman, assistant professor, Charlotte Thompson Suhler School of Journalism and Advertising, has been heavily involved with the African American Heritage Trail and Oral History Project, which highlights Cairo, Illinois. Rendleman has helped organize, conduct oral history interviews, take photographs and work behind-the-scenes with the project, which will help people discover the history that defines the city’s vibrant Black community. A free, public kickoff is set for 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, in the Cairo High and Junior High School cafeteria, 4201 Sycamore St.
“A Review on Climate Change Impacts on Freshwater Systems and Ecosystem Resilience,” co-authored by Ajay Kalra, associate professor, School of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering, was recently published as the cover story in the November MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) Water journal. Other co-authors from SIU are master’s students Dewasis Dahal, Bishal Poudel and Sujan Shrestha. The study provides a comprehensive review of how changing precipitation patterns, altered snowmelt timing and intensifying hydrologic extremes affect freshwater systems and ecosystem stability, and it proposes ecosystem-based adaptation and a water-energy-food-ecosystem (WEFE) framework to enhance resilience.
