Research Highlights Podcast

Episode 1: Jeremy Bono
Professor, MSc Program Advisor Department of Biology

About
I am fascinated by the extraordinary diversity that characterizes the natural world. Much of this diversity results from the process of adaptation, and thus a central focus of my research has been to determine how the adaptive process shapes patterns of diversification within and between populations, and ultimately how this can lead to the creation of new species (speciation).

Episode 2: Colin McAllister
Assistant Professor | Director of Humanities

About
Colin McAllister is Humanities Program Director, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He was a 2021-22 Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Fellow, and the 2020 recipient of the Letters, Arts, and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award. He engages deeply with cross-disciplinary ideas in the humanities, particularly the intersection between music and history, Classics, and theology. His performances as a guitarist have been hailed as “sparkling….delivered superbly” (San Francisco Chronicle), “ravishing” (San Diego Union Tribune) and “an amazing tour de force” (San Diego Story), and he has recorded on the Innova, Centaur, Naxos, Albany, Old King Cole, Vienna Modern Masters, Carrier and Tzadik labels. His research interests include contemporary music performance and pedagogy, musical modernism, and the apocalyptic paradigm as manifested in varying phenomena—literature, music, and art.

Episode 3: Jennifer Kling
Associate Professor and Director of Center for Legal Studies | Department of Philosophy

About
Jennifer Kling is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Legal Studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Her research focuses on social and political philosophy, particularly issues in war and peace, protest, feminism, and philosophy of race. She is the author of Can War Be Justified? A Debate (with Andrew Fiala, Routledge 2023), Racist, Not Racist, Antiracist: Language and the Dynamic Disaster of American Racism (with Leland Harper, Lexington 2022), The Philosophy of Protest: Fighting for Justice without Going to War (with Megan Mitchell, Rowman & Littlefield 2021), War Refugees: Risk, Justice, and Moral Responsibility (Lexington 2019), and numerous articles in academic journals and edited collections. She is the President (2024-2025) of Concerned Philosophers for Peace, the largest, most active organization of professional philosophers in North America involved in the analysis of the causes of war and prospects for peace. She is also the coach of the UCCS Ethics Bowl Team and the main organizer for Philosophy in the City.

Episode 4: James Kovacs
Assistant Professor | Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry

About
Dr. James Kovacs, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, studies various aspects of the immune system. The complement system of the immune system is a tightly regulated series of protein-protein interactions resulting in an immediate and lasting immune response regulated in part through complement receptor 2. The Kovacs laboratory focuses on complement receptor 2, and its role in cellular interactions important for a normal immune response and its involvement in viral infection and viral life cycles. Long term goals of the laboratory are to merge biochemical, biophysical and structural studies to create potential novel therapeutics and vaccines.

Episode 5: Maja Krakowiak
Co-Chair/Professor  | Department of Communication

About
Dr. Maja Krakowiak is a Professor in the Department of Communication. She teaches courses in mass media, advertising, research methods, and law. Her research interests include the psychological and social effects of media, with a focus on entertainment and morality. Specifically, her recent work has examined audience responses to morally ambiguous characters, such as Dexter Morgan on the television show "Dexter" and Walter White on "Breaking Bad." Her work has appeared in the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Mass Communication and Society, and Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research, among others. She serves on the editorial board of Mass Communication and Society, and is an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals in the field. She has also served as a Co-Chair of the Entertainment Studies Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

Episode 6: Leilani Feliciano
Professor, Clinical Psychology & Director of Clinical Training Psychology

About
Dr. Leilani Feliciano joined the faculty at UCCS in 2007. She is a Clinical Psychologist by training and specializes in both geropsychology and behavioral medicine.  Dr. Feliciano teaches undergraduate courses in abnormal psychology (senior seminar) and the psychology of diversity. She teaches graduate courses in the clinical skills laboratory, psychology of aging II, cultural and family diversity (professional development II), and she supervises a clinical practicum rotation through the UCCS Aging Center and Peak Vista Community Health Centers. Dr. Feliciano serves as the Director of Clinical Training for the Psychology Department.

Episode 7: Helen Davies
Assistant Professor and Co-Director for the Center for Research Fronteiers in the Digital Humanities English

About
My work exists at the intersection of digital humanities and medieval studies where I use multispectral imaging techniques to recover otherwise illegible texts.  Within medieval studies, I specialize in medieval cartography. My personal focus in MSI and in the UCCS DH Center is on figuring out low-cost and accessible technology solutions. I firmly believe that to be able to work with the digital object created through multispectral imaging, one must first understand the physial object. To that end, I teach classes on Digital humanities, book history, medieval manuscripts and literature.