激情快播

Summer 2019 | By Laura J. Cole

Adventure is about more than traveling to new聽places. It鈥檚 about meeting new people, taking on聽new experiences and learning new things. At its聽core, it鈥檚 about being curious.

Over the years, various studies have shown the聽benefit of curiosity 鈥� from improving memory and聽overcoming anxiety to strengthening relationships.聽But what does it mean for researchers, whose work聽is driven by big questions that impact every level of聽our lives? We asked four professors how exploring聽new possibilities has impacted their work, their聽disciplines and their lives.

Jascinth Lindo

Associate Professor of Nursing

While working as a registered nurse in her native聽Jamaica, Jascinth Lindo realized the importance聽of taking a public health approach to nursing. 鈥淭he聽patients had a number of social and economic聽problems that affected their care, and I felt that聽I could affect the lives of more people with a more聽holistic population-based approach,鈥� Lindo says.聽She has since earned a Ph.D. in public health, worked聽with Jamaica鈥檚 Ministry of Health and Wellness,聽and published numerous articles on fetal infant聽mortality, workplace health, nursing education and聽nursing practice.

Spark of Curiosity

鈥淢y interest in learning was kindled in high聽school when I realized that I enjoyed the sciences聽beyond the career opportunities that they offered.聽In particular, I was fascinated with how the body聽worked and how it failed. I found myself reading聽college texts on anatomy and physiology.鈥�

Inspiration

鈥淢y experience teaching research methods to聽graduate students in Jamaica afforded me an聽opportunity to address practical issues in the聽community by mentoring nursing students in the聽field of research. This fueled my desire to build聽research capacity among nurses in the Caribbean,聽addressing issues related to nursing education and聽practice issues such as nursing documentation.鈥�

Role of Curiosity in Nursing

鈥淐uriosity is constantly questioning how we practice聽nursing, regardless of specialization. It鈥檚 being aware聽of current evidence, applying knowledge to practice聽and understanding how policies directly affect聽patients.鈥�

Importance of Intellectual Adventures

鈥淏oth intellectual and physical adventures are聽rewarding because of the pleasure of discovery.聽Intellectual adventures open new pathways聽with rewards and new challenges. These are聽often refreshing and renewing and are essential聽for intellectual growth and discourse, but we聽need both.鈥�

Valerie Sims

Associate Professor of Psychology

Since childhood, Valerie Sims has questioned聽why people choose to behave certain ways 鈥斅爎egardless of popular opinion. As an undergrad,聽she studied video games. 鈥淣o one was doing it,聽and people thought it was a silly topic,鈥� Sims聽says. 鈥淭oday, people are very interested in聽the effects of video games and whether or not聽games can be used effectively for training.鈥� Her聽unbounded curiosity has fueled her research聽in topics ranging from the cognitive abilities聽of video game experts to how humans interact聽with computers and animals.

Spark of Curiosity

鈥淎lthough I did not know it at the time, I started聽in this field with a seventh-grade science聽project on why people chose specific fast-food聽restaurants. It was the first time that it had聽occurred to me that things I was interested in聽studying were studied by others, and that there聽was a field called behavioral and social sciences.鈥�

Inspiration

鈥淢y family has been my biggest inspiration.聽Since I study developmental and cognitive聽psychology, I am often inspired by things聽happening at different stages of the family life聽cycle. For instance, when my daughter was in聽elementary school, I became interested in how聽children understand computers and how they聽anthropomorphize them. As my mother gets聽older, I wonder how interfaces can change to聽accommodate age-related barriers.鈥�

Role of Curiosity in Psychology

鈥淚 am interested in how humans think, and how聽to make the world a better place for them. I am聽particularly interested in how people apply their聽knowledge of humans to understand nonhuman聽entities, such as machines and animals.鈥�

Importance of Intellectual Adventures

鈥淭hinking creatively is truly a luxury, even for聽academics. In a society that constantly requires聽concrete evidence of work, thinking can go by聽the wayside. Yet thinking and mentally arguing聽with ourselves may be our most human trait.鈥�

Michael Strawser

Professor of Philosophy and Department Chair

As a philosophy professor and coach of the 激情快播 Ethics Bowl team for more than a decade,聽Michael Strawser helps students explore聽and answer life鈥檚 most challenging questions.聽鈥淎nswering difficult questions is about more than聽a desire to understand,鈥� Strawser says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about聽learning to do the detailed research necessary to聽understand the complexities in every particular聽situation.鈥� That approach has led 激情快播 teams to聽qualify for national ethics bowl competitions for聽the past two years and win a national title in 2011.聽It also guides the approach to his own research in聽topics ranging from ethics to the philosophy of love聽and religion.

Spark of Curiosity

鈥淢y curiosity was sparked by an exceptionally聽dynamic and knowledgeable philosophy professor聽in an Introduction to Philosophy course. I then聽discovered my passion for the kinds of questions聽philosophers ask, the first of which I encountered聽being 鈥榃hy do we suffer?鈥� 鈥�

Inspiration

鈥淩eading great writers inspires me. There鈥檚聽something very alluring and somewhat mysterious聽about the quest for new meanings and the聽possibility of deepening oneself in relation聽to the written word, especially as it informs聽one鈥檚 life view.鈥�

Role of Curiosity in Philosophy

鈥淧hilosophy is a discipline that places paramount聽significance on questioning, such that it is arguably聽more important to generate new questions than聽it is to provide final answers. Curiosity in ethics,聽for example, is connected to openness and being聽willing to accept new ideas brought about through聽research and discussion.鈥�

Importance of Intellectual Adventures

鈥淭here鈥檚 great value in taking risks in both asking聽new questions and asking anew the all-important聽questions about ourselves and our world, and then聽trying to develop new ways of thinking to respond聽to these questions. This pursuit provides a context聽for living a meaningful life.鈥�

Tingting Zhang

Assistant Professer of Hospitality Management

Tingting Zhang is no stranger to customer聽experience. After gaining degrees in tourism聽marketing and consumer science, she taught at聽Beijing International Studies University while聽working in various departments 鈥� from front desk聽and food and beverage to the executive lounge聽鈥� as part of Marriott鈥檚 faculty trainee program.聽鈥淗ospitality is a practical subject, which reacts聽closely to industry practices and people鈥檚 daily聽lives,鈥� she says. This is especially true for areas she聽studies, which are customer engagement, mobile聽and smart technology, and value co-creation.

Spark of Curiosity

鈥淎s a graduate student, my graduate advisor聽asked me to write a case study on Starbucks for聽his book. After studying their business model聽for MyStarbucksIdea.com 鈥� one of the most聽representative value co-creation business practices聽in the hospitality industry 鈥� I found it fascinating聽and useful to solve real-life problems, particularly聽in people-intensive businesses.鈥�

Inspiration

鈥淚 am most interested in the evolving nature of聽what encourages customers to move from a passive聽to proactive role.鈥�

Role of聽Curiosity in Customer Engagement

鈥淥ne of my research focuses is technological聽innovation, which is rapidly changing and聽progressing over time. Staying open to new ideas聽and new innovations is a necessity for me to keep聽up with my research work.鈥�

Importance of Intellectual Adventures

鈥淚 believe researchers are explorers 鈥� mostly聽intellectually, but sometimes physically. My聽ethnographic research projects, for example,聽require firsthand observations and findings.聽Intellectual adventures are necessary for聽researchers to explore the world of their academic聽field. As my advisor told me, every piece of research聽I do should propose or find something new that聽contributes to the existing body of knowledge.鈥�