Category: Research and Publications

Dr. Zelalem Demissie, assistant professor in the Department of Geology in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was recently interviewed by Kansas National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR), discussing his research on droughts.

Dr. Demissie received the Kansas NSF EPSCoR First Award in fall 2023 for his research in using radar imaging from satellites and AI to detect early warning signs of drought in Kansas. The First Awards recipients receive up to $50,000 to support their research.

Licensed clinical psychologists at a Wichita State developed the Suspenders4Hope Preventing Suicide Training with evidence-based suicide prevention strategies, offered online to multiple subgroups: university faculty, staff, students, health care workers and community members, as well as high school staff and students. A total of 865 participants provided retrospective pre/post responses, and the data were analyzed using paired samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA/Kruskal-Wallis tests.

Overall, participants in all subgroups, regardless of prior training, showed statistically significant pre/post increases across all measures. While no significant differences were found in learning between recruitment subgroups, variations were identified based on the number of previous trainings completed.

The findings support the effectiveness of a single suicide prevention training across diverse populations, suggesting important implications for targeting training efforts and optimizing resource allocation in high-need environments.

Dr. Scott Hill, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Philosophy of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, recently published his article “Where Are the Generalists?” in the journal, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective.

Dr. Hill argues in favor of the paper “Why We Should Stop Talking about Generalism and Particularism: Moving the Debate on Conspiracy Theories Forward” by Maarten Boudry and M. Giulia Napolitano, which makes the argument that the generalist/particularist distinction is not a fruitful one when used in the context of “conspiracy theories.” Dr. Hill offers counters to arguments made by M R.X Dentith and Melina Tsapos in their paper, “Why We Should Talk about Generalism and Particularism: A Reply to Boudry and Napolitano,” which offered critics of Boundy and Napolitano’s paper.

Dr. Chase Billingham, associate professor and graduate program coordinator in the Department of Sociology in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, recently published the article, “‘Kansas Women Are Awake’: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Journeys in Kansas and the Origins of Women and Economics” in the journal, Great Plains Quarterly.

The article, published Nov. 5, detailed Dr. Billingham’s research on Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of 1898’s influential “Women and Economics,” and the work she did in Kansas that led to her to publish her landmark book. Dr. Billingham’s research spans Gilman’s journey in Kansas in 1896 and 1897 by analyzing her letters, diaries and other archives to provide a detailed account of her ties to Kansas for the first time.

University Libraries has helped 20 faculty and 11 graduate students publish 22 open access articles this year through Read & Publish subscription agreements. Without the libraries’ subscription agreements, the authors would have paid a total of $66,210 to publish open access. With the fees waived by the libraries’ negotiated agreement, WSU researchers were able to make their research available free of charge.

University Libraries began participating in Read & Publish consortium subscription deals in 2024. A Read & Publish agreement includes both traditional right to read journals articles and a new component allowing affiliated authors to publish Open Access (OA) without paying an OA publishing fee. The OA fees are covered by the library’s subscription when the corresponding author is affiliated with Wichita State.

Dr. Jenny Pearson, professor of sociology, recently co-authored a research article, “Family Socioeconomic Status in Adolescence and Gender Identification in Emerging Adulthood,” in Sociological Perspectives.

Dr. Pearson, alongside Lindsey Wilkinson and Dara Shifrer, conducted research on the role one’s socioeconomic status has on gender identification later in life.

Abstract:

“This study contributes to research exploring social factors shaping gender identification. Informed by structural symbolic interactionism, social identity theory and Levitt’s psychosocial theory of gender, we explore how a key aspect of external social structure — adolescent family socioeconomic status — is associated with gender identification in emerging adulthood. We examine whether correlates of family socioeconomic status, including adolescent family and educational experiences and friend and high school characteristics, are associated with a cisgender, binary transgender, nonbinary or gender unsure identification. Using data from High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), we find a positive association between adolescent family socioeconomic status and a nonbinary gender identification. Analyses indicate that educational and family experiences account for the largest percentage of the association between adolescent family socioeconomic status and nonbinary gender identification, potentially representing higher SES youths’ heightened access to middle- and upper-class cultural schemas and resources.”

Rhonda Williams, DNP, RN, CNE, RN to BSN program coordinator and teaching professor in the School of Nursing; Donna Robinson, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, associate teaching professor of nursing; and Mary Faragher, MSN, FNP, APRN-BC, retired associate educator of nursing — alongside other researchers — recently had their research published in Clinical Simulation in Nursing.

The article, “Navigating the Virtual Frontier: A Virtual Patient Simulation Pilot Study in Pre-licensure Baccalaureate Nursing Education,” was published in September.

Abstract:

“Background – Clinical reasoning and effective communication are foundational to patient outcomes and therefore key concepts in nursing education. There is a growing body of evidence to support virtual patient simulation in nursing and other health professions, but to date none that focuses specifically on whether virtual simulation impacts clinical reasoning in on-campus baccalaureate nursing health assessment courses.
Sample – First semester pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students.
Methods – A quantitative, quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest methodology grounded in Experiential Learning Theory was used. The Student Performance Index score measured clinical reasoning and simulation software automatically calculated communication variables.
Results – In the sample of 19 students, a two-tailed paired samples t-test found statistically significant improved outcomes for most variables.
Conclusion – Virtual patient simulation positively impacts clinical reasoning and communication skills and is an appropriate pedagogical tool for nurse educators.”

Dr. Edil Torres Rivera, professor in Latinx studies in Intervention Services and Leadership in Education (ISLE) department, recently co-authored a research article, “Decolonization is liberation: Operationalization of decolonial model of counseling using liberation psychology principles with the Latine population(s),” in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development.

Abstract:

“The need for culturally affirming mental health interventions for Latine communities has been documented in the literature. Most of this literature centers around best practices, barriers to care and Latine cultural values. Although much of this literature calls for providing services that acknowledge the specific needs of these communities and value ancestral knowledge, there is a void in the literature when exploring liberatory mental health interventions. Therefore, the present manuscript aims to offer readers a five-stage counseling model centered on the decolonization process. The model integrates the principles of liberation psychology as interventions and outcomes, beginning with the stages of decolonization presented by Enriquez and further developed by Laenui. Furthermore, the model unpacks the principles of liberation psychology, such as deideologization, and provides bases to challenge the dominant social forces that shape realities. In addition, liberation psychology approaches imply Native counseling approaches, indicating that counselors must be familiar with precolonial cultures. The manuscript ends with recommendations for practitioners and implications for the counseling field, including the need to acknowledge trauma, given that colonization was a violent event.”

Dr. Matthew D. Howland, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, will be giving a lecture at the Museum of World Treasures at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oc. 17 titled “Digital Archaeology and the Biblical World.”

Howland’s lecture will focus on how the application of digital and scientific technologies to the Iron Age archaeology of southern Jordan has produced new discoveries and knowledge of the Biblical Kingdoms in southern Jordan during the time of Kings David and Solomon of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

Tickets for the event are free for museum members and $4 for non-members.

Dr. Yumi Suzuki, associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, recently published her research in the FBI: Law Enforcement Bulletin (LEB) on investigating money mules.

The article — “Insights on money mule cases,” published Sept. 9 — explores investigative challenges in money mule cases where money is moved from victims to other criminals who are often overseas. Based on a survey from financial crime investigators in law enforcement and financial institutions, the article discusses the role of cryptocurrency, shared databases and transnational organized crime on these investigations.