Newswise — The 2016 Summer Olympic Games opening ceremony is Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, bringing together athletes and spectators from throughout the world.
Texas Tech University has experts who can discuss various aspects of the Games themselves as well as the country hosting them. Faculty members can speak on topics including sports ethics, exercise-induced fatigue, sports history, Brazilian history, climate and its effect on athletes, security and the spread of disease.
Sports and exerciseAngela Lumpkin is a professor and chairwoman of the Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management. She can speak on sports ethics, intercollegiate athletics, women in sports and sports history. She is the author of 23 books and more than 60 publications, and she has delivered over 200 professional presentations. She earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education, her master’s degree in sport administration and doctorate in sport history, and a master’s of business administration.Lumpkin can be reached at (806) 834-6935 or [email protected]
Joaquin Gonzales is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management. He can speak on exercise-induced fatigue. He is the author of more than 25 research publications and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. He earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, his master’s degree in exercise and sport sciences, his doctorate in exercise science and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Noll Laboratory at Penn State University.Gonzales can be reached at (806) 834-5944 or [email protected] HistoryJorge Iber is an associate dean in the College of Arts & Sciences and a professor of history. He can speak on sports history. He serves as a member of the editorial board for the International Journal for the History of Sport and as the series editor for the Sports in the American West Series for Texas Tech University Press, and he contributes to the “Sports in American History” blog. He teaches courses in U.S. sports and recreation. His research focus is on the social significance of the history of Latinos in U.S. sport. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business and his doctorate in history.Iber can be reached at (806) 834-5511 or [email protected]
Jeffrey Mosher is an associate professor of history. He can speak on the history of Brazil. He teaches courses on the history of Brazil, the history of modern Latin America and the emergence of new nations in Latin America. He has conducted research in Rio de Janeiro, Recife and São Paulo. He is the author of “Political Struggle, Ideology and State Building: Pernambuco and the Construction of Brazil, 1817-1850” as well as articles on the political history of Brazil. He is currently focused on religion in contemporary Brazil, preparing an ethnography of a Tibetan Buddhist temple in São Paulo. He has received funding from the Fulbright Commission and the National Science Foundation to conduct research in Brazil. He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy, his master’s in Latin American studies and a doctorate in history with a focus on Latin America.Mosher can be reached at (806) 549-4692 or [email protected]
ClimateJennifer Vanos is an assistant professor of atmospheric science. She can speak about the effects of climate on human health. She was on the Canadian national team for track and field, and she competed at the Pan American Games, after which she worked as a track coach for many years. She specializes in the study of human biometeorology and bioclimatology, connecting weather and climate to human health, with a specific focus on extreme heat, atmospheric radiation and air pollution exposure in urban areas. She co-manages the Texas Tech Atmospheric Science Instrumentation Lab at Reese Technology Center and works in Texas Tech’s Climate Science Center. She is a member of the American Meteorological Society’s Board of Environment and Health and serves as chair of the Students and New Professionals Group for the International Society of Biometeorology. She earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental science and her doctorate in atmospheric science and completed post-doctoral work with Health Canada’s Environmental Health Science Research Bureau.Vanos can be reached at (806) 834-3319 or [email protected]
Katharine Hayhoe is an associate professor in the public administration program and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech, part of the Department of the Interior’s South-Central Climate Science Center. She can speak about climate science, impacts and solutions.Her research focuses on developing and applying high-resolution climate projections to evaluate the future impacts of climate change on human society and the natural environment. She has served as lead author on key reports for the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the National Academy of Sciences, including the Second and Third U.S. National Climate Assessments. She serves on the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s President’s Advisory Committee on University Relations and the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR) Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory Advisory Panel, and on the author team for the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Climate Science Special Report, to be released in 2017. She also serves as a scientific adviser to the NCAR Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, the EcoAmerica MomentUS project, the Energy and Enterprise Initiative and the Evangelical Environmental Network. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy and her master’s and doctorate degrees in atmospheric science.Hayhoe can be reached at (806) 834-8665 or [email protected]
SecurityCol. David J. Lewis, USAF (Retired) is the director of the strategic studies graduate program at Texas Tech. He can speak on terrorism, intelligence and security. He was a career military officer with extensive operational and staff experience and served as a professor of strategy at the United States Naval War College. He teaches courses in strategy, intelligence, terrorism, counterinsurgency, national security, public sector strategy and Homeland Security. He founded the Texas Tech Military & Veterans Programs and operates a veterans program in Lubbock. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a master’s of business administration and a master’s degree with distinction in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.Lewis can be reached at (806) 787-9730 or [email protected]
Spread of diseaseLisa Gittner is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and has a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. She can speak on health policy, public health infrastructure and computer modeling of disease. Her work models effects of the entire environment including climate, weather, pollution, health care infrastructure and social deprivation on the development of obesity, cardiovascular diseases and poor health outcomes. She also models the early-life growth patterns and the development of diseases in infancy that affect later-life health. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biochemistry/toxicology and her doctorate in public administration and health policy. She completed post-doctoral work at Case Western Reserve University as a program director for a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities grant.Gittner can be reached at (440) 915-8831 or [email protected]
Steve Presley is a professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology and The Institute of Environmental and Human Health. He can speak on environmental threats, biological pathogens and zoonotic diseases. His research and teaching focus is on the risks, threats and potential effects of naturally or intentionally introduced biological pathogens into military and civilian populations and the agricultural industry. He serves as the research coordinator for the Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. National Program for Countermeasures to Biological and Chemical Threats at Texas Tech. He has completed various aspects of chemical, biological, radiological and environmental-related response and control training and practical experience. His operational and research experience has focused upon the surveillance, prevention and control of biological threats in the environment; specifically vector-borne infectious diseases in tropical and sub-tropical environments. He earned his bachelor’s degree in animal science, his master’s degree and doctorate in medical/veterinary entomology and a master’s degree from the U.S. Marine Corps University focused on domestic terrorism. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Kentucky and served in the United States Navy as a medical service corps officer.Presley can be reached at (806) 834-8260 or [email protected]
Find Texas Tech news, experts and story ideas at Texas Tech Today Media Resources or follow us on Twitter.
RSS