“There is a positive correlation between unpopular first names and juvenile delinquency,” said Daniel Lee, professor of economics, speaking of his recently published study. The study is the first to examine the link between crime and names. The study compiled a list of first names for all males born in a certain U.S. state from 1987 to 1991, and calculated the popularity of each name or PNI (popularity name index). Next the study compared this data to the names of youth in the juvenile justice system from 1997 to 2005. Lee and co-author David Kalist, assistant professor of economics, found that regardless of race, the more rare, unique, and unpopular the name is, the more likely it shows up in crime files ten to eighteen years later. For every ten percent increase in the popularity of a name there is a 3.7 decrease in the number of trouble-making youth with that name. Research also showed other factors are associated with the PNI of a juvenile’s name. Names like Ivan, Ernest, and Malcolm are more likely to spell trouble than popular names like Michael, Matthew, or Christopher.

Kathryn Newton, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and College Student Personnel was awarded the Make a Difference research grant for 2007 for her dissertation, “African American Women’s Perceptions and Experiences of Mandated Substance Abuse Treatment: Implications for Counselors.” The award came from the Counseling Association of Humanistic Education and Development, a division of the American Counseling Association.

Doing one better is what Carol Wellington, professor of computer science, and two students hope to accomplish with their $10,000 Innovation Transfer Network grant. The group plans to take an existing device that measures human skin color in a very basic manner and make enhancements that will increase the number of descriptors that can be calculated. In addition the project will work on creating a companion application that converts the raw data and modify the device so data streams continuously to the host computer providing a dynamic display of skin color. Dermatologists, skin researchers, anthropologists, sociologists, photobiologists, pharmacologists, and other researchers who have a need for skin color analysis can use the modified instrument.