Research Highlights Podcast

Episode 1: Jeremy Bono (Click to listen)
Professor, MSc Program Advisor Department of Biology

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). I have worked with three insect study systems (fruit flies, ants, and thrips), each providing unique advantages for addressing questions at hierarchical levels ranging from genes to communities. My research approach combines field and laboratory work on the behavior and ecology of my study organisms, with molecular approaches that include methodologies from population genetics, molecular evolution, and genomics.

Episode 2: Colin McAllister (Click to listen)
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.

Recent publications include Music in the Apocalyptic Mode (Brill, 2023), Aeneas in the Underworld (MicroFest Records, 2023), the Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literature (2020) and the Cambridge Gloss on the Apocalypse, (Brepols, 2020). He has two works with Productions d’OZ: The Vanguard Guitar and Fourteenth Century Counterpoint: Music of the Chantilly Codex. The Vanguard Guitar was praised by Soundboard magazine as “a great success…not only a primer of modern techniques, but also a library of current performance practices.” His two guitar instructional courses: Learning to Play Guitar: Chords, Scales and Solos and Playing Guitar Like a Pro: Lead, Solo and Group Performance are produced by The Great Courses. Colin is endorsed by PRS Guitars and is an Artist Partner with Taylor Guitars.

Colin is the guitarist and conductor for the ensemble NOISE, and a co-founder of the SoundON Festival, held every January in La Jolla, California. He is a member of the Hennessy 6 jazz sextet and the Trilix Jazz Trio. He is the founder of "Through a Glass Darkly: Annual Symposium on Apocalyptica," a collaboration between UCCS, Concordia University Montréal, McGill University, and Colorado College.

Episode 3: Jennifer Kling (Click to listen)
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.

Jen grew up in Indiana and received a BA in English and Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA in Philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to Colorado Springs, she taught for three years at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan. In her spare time, she whitewater kayaks, does aerial silks, takes her husky on long hikes, and is hopelessly addicted to Skittles.

Episode 4: James Kovacs (Click to listen)

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.