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About 28 percent of American adults qualify as scientifically literate, according to Jon Miller’s studies. The number is up from about 10 percent in early 1990 and puts Americans slightly ahead of European and Japanese adults. Required college science courses, science magazines, and the Internet contribute to adults’ relatively good showing. U.S. high school students don’t stack up as well in international testing.

A project to develop a tool to give a class of 92 physics students personalized problem sets, quizzes, and exams led to the LearningOnline Network With Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach, or LON-CAPA, a Web-based service allowing educators to create and share course material. Gerd Kortemeyer led its expansion to an online library of more than 275,000 shareable resources used by more than 100 institutions and 40,000 students each semester. 

When William Terrill and colleagues explored whether education and experience affect police use of verbal or physical coercion, they found that both advanced education and experience tended to result in less use of force. Officers with any education beyond high school were less likely to rely on verbal force, while encounters involving police with four-year degrees resulted in less physical force. In addition, greater experience reduced both verbal and physical coercion.

In an effort to stem attrition that is as high as 50 percent in some doctoral programs, Karen Klomparens and Judith Stoddart lead a program that assesses interventions and strategies for advising and mentoring doctoral students. With eleven partner departments at MSU, they study the complex doctoral education system with its dynamic processes and multiple inputs and outcomes, exploring questions like how to predict which students will earn their Ph.D.s.

Vending machines can help teach kids about good nutrition. Michael Kasavana documents technologies that can track a student’s purchases, provide nutritional information about them, and allow parents to regulate choices. Machines can require a student creating a meal to select an item from each of several groups of foods. Some vendors offer curriculum materials about healthy food choices along with their apples and bananas.

Michael Kasavana, NAMA Professor of hospitality business, 517-353-9211

Karen Klomparens, Dean, Graduate School, 517-353-3220

Gerd Kortemeyer, assistant professor, Lyman Briggs College, 517-282-6446

Jon Miller, Hannah Professor of science and mathematics education, 517-432-4286

Judith Stoddart, associate professor of English, 517-432-2524

William Terrill, associate professor of criminal justice, 517-353-9752