Sheilah Britton

K-12 students are literally stepping into learning with ASU's interactive SMALLab. Through advanced technology, students manipulate a multidimensional, multisensory environment in order to learn about everything from physics to oceanography to language arts. --by Sheilah Britton

Clarinetist Robert Spring is quick to dispel the myth that musicians are born into their talent. During one of his early auditions the instructor actually stopped him and said, "Boy, you're not very good." But Spring was determined. Today he is an endowed professor of music who has performed on six continents. His audiences respond as if they are watching a rock star. --by Sheilah Britton

Composer Tom Peterson is not very interested in music that balances consonance and dissonance. He likes conflict in his compositions, and in one piece even asked his musicians to "play what makes you angry." (part 3 of 3) --by Sheilah Britton

Megan McGinnity has has studied child slavery in Ghana. She has studied the sex trade in Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia. The ASU honors student says that seeing these problems through the lens of economics helps explain peoples' incentives. She hopes that changing the incentive structure can help solve these and other daunting problems of human trafficking. (part 2 of 3) --by Sheilah Britton

Meet Sharon Cini, an ASU student who has worked with the Senate committee on Indian affairs studying health care, law enforcement and sexual assault in Indian country. Cini is one of a rapidly growing group of undergraduates getting hands-on research experience in their fields. Read about Cini and other student researchers in this three-part series. --by Sheilah Britton

"Beowulf is an existential poem. It offers insight into a whole social structure," explains Robert Bjork, director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. "But it also takes you into the existence of the individual. And it's a poem without real resolution." Bjork thinks the poem should be viewed as a retrospective nostalgic look at a pagan past through a sympathetic, Christian present. --by Sheilah Britton

Clear communication is the key to intercultural understanding. Poor translation can result in embarrassment or bigger problems. ASU sociology professor Victor Agadjanian studies HIV/AIDS in Africa. He also speaks 8 languages. --by Sheilah Britton

Kids who participate in ASU's Young Writers Program feel good about what they are doing. They enjoy their success and revel in the positive reinforcement they get for their ideas. They learn that their lives are worth writing about. --by Sheilah Britton

The worldwide HIV/AIDs epidemic doesn't generate much front page news anymore. But the disease has not gone away. And the story has many facets. AIDS is a story about human suffering, medical research, education, and social mores. In Mozambique, the story also involves organized religion. --by Sheilah Britton