Research

According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 1,688,780 new cancer cases diagnosed and 600,920 cancer deaths in the U.S. in 2017.

These numbers are stark and sobering, and worse yet, we still do not know exactly why cancer develops in its victims or how to stop it.

An online publication in Nature Nanotechnology this week by Kent State University researchers and their colleagues at Kyoto University in Japan, however, may offer new understanding about what turns good cells bad.

Division of Research & Economic Development
Jacob Barkley (left), associate professor of exercise science in Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services, oversees research activities with several students in a classroom in the MAC Center Annex.

Division of Research & Economic Development
Jessica Barness (right), assistant professor of visual communication design at Kent State, reviews a student’s work in the Art Building.

Scholar of the Month
Jessica Barness
Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design
College of Communication and Information
2012-present

The word “communication” likely makes you think of language, but November’s Scholar of the Month has spent her entire career researching design as a language of its own.

Across various media, Jessica Barness, an assistant professor in Kent State University’s School of Visual Communication Design, creates her own design-based research model that merges the making of artifacts with critical inquiry.

READ MORE ABOUT JESSICA

VIEW PRIOR MONTHS' SCHOLARS

Division of Research & Economic Development
Jessica Barness (right), assistant professor of visual communication design at Kent State, reviews a student’s work in the Art Building.

Scholar of the Month
Jessica Barness
Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design
College of Communication and Information
2012-present

The word “communication” likely makes you think of language, but November’s Scholar of the Month has spent her entire career researching design as a language of its own.

Across various media, Jessica Barness, an assistant professor in Kent State University’s School of Visual Communication Design, creates her own design-based research model that merges the making of artifacts with critical inquiry.

“I’m interested in the multiple facets of design,” she said. “Design is social, and it’s a professional practice as well as a scholarly discipline. We’re designing artifacts and experiences, but we’re also building the new knowledge necessary to inform and lead those activities. Research through design can be used to better understand people, phenomena, theories or technologies. By approaching design as a sort of hybrid practice, our students learn how to adapt to future needs within our society.

READ MORE ABOUT JESSICA

VIEW PRIOR MONTHS' SCHOLARS