In a forthcoming book, BU researcher Rebecca Copeland will explore how Gospel writers’ relationships with the land and environment shaped their biblical parables. Photo via Unsplash/James Ahlberg

Research News

Brink Bites: Prescribing Cheaper Energy Bills and the Bible’s Agricultural Connections

Other research news, stories, and tidbits from around BU, including a program to cut hospital patients’ energy costs, the environmental context of biblical parables, and lots of awards

The Brink’s latest collection of news nuggets, short stories, and other thought-provoking snippets from the world of Boston University research—including fresh looks at biblical parables, aging and voting behavior, and reducing energy bills of Boston patients in need, as well as a big new federal grant for training physician-scientists.

BU Receives Major NIH Grant to Train Physician-Scientists

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine researchers a five-year, $1.6 million grant to train physician-scientists. The funding will help recruit four students a year, giving them research and clinical training at BU and Boston Medical Center, the University’s primary teaching hospital. According to Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, a professor of biochemistry and cell biology and of ophthalmology, the BU Medical Scientist Training Program will back trainees “with an extensive mentoring network, support infrastructure and an innovative mental health literacy program, [and help them] develop skills that allow the pursuit of long-term careers that dually conduct rigorous research and clinical practice to improve human health.” Trinkaus-Randall will colead the program with Steven Borkan, an associate professor of medicine.

One key element of the program will be a new course on resilience taught by mental health counseling faculty. According to a BU medical school press release, Trinkaus-Randall and Borkan hope the course will help participants “sustain a healthy work-life balance that allows students to thrive through the stress of long training with multiple transitions and avoid burnout.” Students will graduate with an MD/PhD.

Studying Farming’s Influence on Biblical Parables

What can ancient farming techniques teach us about the Bible? How did Gospel writers’ relationships with the land and environment shape their parables? These are questions Rebecca Copeland, a BU School of Theology associate professor of theology, will explore in a forthcoming book, tentatively titled, Replanting the Uprooted: A Social-Ecological Approach to the Agricultural Parables. An expert on the connections between theology and ecology, Copeland has been awarded a Louisville Institute Grant for Researchers to support her work on the book. According to an STH news release, Copeland’s project “offers a novel approach to biblical interpretation by reconstructing agricultural and ecological contexts shared by Jesus, the Gospel writers, and their earliest audiences.” Copeland said her aim with the book is “to provide preachers, scholars, and other readers of scripture with resources for understanding the meanings these parables would have conveyed to their earliest audiences. This is both significant for historical studies and provides new insights for interpretation and application of these parables today.”

How Aging Impacts Voting Behavior

Every new election cycle, speculation heats up on how different generations of Americans will vote—and whether some will bother casting a ballot at all. In a policy analysis paper, “Historical Perspectives on Older Americans’ Voting and Political Influence,” published in Public Policy & Aging Report, BU researcher Judith Gonyea warns that “we must strive to avoid oversimplifying and stereotyping and recognize that the generations are not monolithic.” The paper examines voting rate trends by age group, how aging and life cycle events shape electoral participation, and how perceptions of older voters’ political influence are shifting. “With greater longevity, successive generations are increasingly demographically, socially, and technologically different than prior ones,” writes the BU School of Social Work professor of social research. “The rising Millennial generation is more left-leaning than older generations at the same time that the oldest generations have moved to the right.” Gonyea concludes the paper by recommending improved voting access for all and “not only lifting up differences but also highlighting areas of political consensus across age groups.”

Reducing Patients’ Energy Bills—While Fighting Climate Change

At Boston Medical Center, the Clean Power Prescription program allows clinicians to give patients a break on their energy bills—allocating energy credits earned by the hospital’s rooftop solar panels to households of patients in need. The panels have helped BMC significantly reduce its power bills, and the credit program has saved 80 participating households hundreds of dollars on energy costs. Speaking at the recent Boston Globe Sustainability Summit, hosted by BU, project cofounder Anna Goldman said asking patients if they have trouble paying their bills is a key part of screening for social determinants of health. A BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine assistant professor of medicine, Goldman spoke on a panel focused on reducing climate change’s impact on Boston, along with fellow BU researchers, Lucy Hutyra, a College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor and chair of Earth and environment, who talked about an urban cooling project, and Madeleine Scammell, a School of Public Health professor of environmental health, who discussed an effort to document city hot spots. All three are affiliated with the BU Institute for Global Sustainability, which has a full report on the summit.

BU Religion Scholar Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Nancy T. Ammerman, a BU professor emerita of sociology of religion, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. A former College of Arts & Sciences sociology department chair and associate dean of the faculty for the social sciences, Ammerman spent 15 years on the BU faculty. Other notable inductees this year include broadcaster Anderson Cooper, actor Danny Glover, journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, and novelist Amy Tan. “These new members’ accomplishments speak volumes about the human capacity for discovery, creativity, leadership, and persistence,” said Laurie L. Patton, the academy’s president, in an announcement. “They are a stellar testament to the power of knowledge to broaden our horizons and deepen our understanding.”

More Awards and Accolades

Wilson Wong, a BU College of Engineering professor of biomedical engineering, has been inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows, one of his field’s highest honors. There were two big accolades for BU’s high-ranking economics department: Masao Fukui, a CAS assistant professor of economics, was named a National Bureau of Economic Research Faculty Research Fellow, and Raymond Fisman, the CAS Slater Family Professor in Behavioral Economics, has been appointed editor of the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Christina Lee, a School of Social Work associate professor, won the Dora Goldstein Diversity in the Sciences Award from the Research Society of Alcohol; the award is given to investigators who’ve “demonstrated excellence and creativity in alcohol research, and a commitment to diversity and mentoring throughout their career.”

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