{"id":85,"date":"2012-03-30T13:53:11","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T18:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/?p=85"},"modified":"2020-09-18T14:09:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T19:09:02","slug":"scholarship","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"

…and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist…
\n–Acts 17:26-28a
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Scripture is full of pictures of “seeking.” Just saying the word brings a multitude of verses to mind. Our God, Himself, seeks. The Spirit seeks. The church seeks. One may argue an aspect of what it is to be a Christian is to be a seeker. In this sense, I believe ACU provides a unique context to see research and scholarship as outgrowths of our identity as children of God. In my specific discipline, researching nuclear physics, I seek to understand the universe at its most elementary levels. Yet, by pursuing deeper understanding of this world, I gain deeper perspectives on the mind and wisdom of the Creator. I am grateful for the opportunity to live this out in an environment that affirms and encourages scholarship through the eyes of faith.<\/p>\n

Research Program<\/h1>\n
\"\"

The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, NY.<\/p><\/div>\n

I engage an active research program in nuclear physics as a part of the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) collaboration. I began working with STAR as a graduate student. I continued with STAR as a postdoc and visiting assistant professor at Valparaiso University, where I began to take on leadership roles in the collaboration. Valparaiso also gave me my first opportunity to supervise and mentor undergraduate student researchers. At Lamar University, I expanded my leadership efforts with the collaboration and my mentorship of undergraduates. My initial attempts to secure external funding through the National Science Foundation were unsuccessful, however, I made use of locally available funding through programs such as McNair Scholars. Joining the faculty at ACU has proven to be a tremendous opportunity for growing and expanding my scholarship. The “Atom Smashers” research group has been a perfect and mutually beneficial fit. Through our work, we have been able to expand our existing external funding and the range of research projects in which we can engage our students. I have grown as a scholar through the support of outstanding research partners such as Donald Isenhower and Michael Daugherity, a luxury I did not have at Lamar.<\/p>\n

In the following sections, I will provide more detail and reflection on my research and scholarship activities, as well as outline specifics of how I satisfy the department scholarship criteria for tenure.<\/p>\n

Letters of Support<\/h1>\n

Helen Caines, Yale University, STAR Spokesperson<\/h2>\n
Letter_Caines_Helen<\/a><\/div>\n

Michael Daugherity, ACU, Atom Smashers Co-Principal Investigator<\/h2>\n
Letter_Daugherity_Mike<\/a><\/div>\n

Donald Isenhower, ACU, Atom Smashers Co-Principal Investigator<\/h2>\n
Letter_Isenhower_Donald<\/a><\/div>\n

Rusty Towell, ACU, NEXT Lab Director<\/h2>\n
Letter_Towell_Rusty<\/a><\/div>\n

<<< Student Evaluations<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Department Criteria for Scholarship >>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1505,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-85","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1505"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1233,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}