Valpo Faculty Members Awarded Wheat Ridge Ministries–O.P. Kretzmann Research Fund Grants

rot1Matthew Becker, Ph.D., professor of theology, and Alex Capaldi, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics and statistics, are recipients of 2018–2019 Wheat Ridge Ministries–O.P. Kretzmann Fund grants for Research in the Healing Arts and Sciences. The grants, $10,000 each, will afford Becker and Capaldi the opportunity to conduct advanced, innovative research and significantly contribute to the health care industry.

Using agent-based modeling, Capaldi seeks to decrease the incidence of vector-borne illnesses in the United States. A significant challenge to public health, vector-borne illnesses account for more than 17 percent of all infectious diseases and cause more than 700,000 deaths annually according to the World Health Organization.

Capaldi will build and analyze an agent-based model of the endangered giant air plant of Florida (T. utriculata) and its invasive predator, the “evil weevil” (M. callizona), with the aim to conserve the endangered species T. utriculata and reduce the presence of A. aegypti (an invasive disease vector), thus decreasing the prevalence of vector-borne illnesses in the United States.

According to Capaldi, this research has powerful implications for public health and conservation biology — as well as practical application to problems of physical health — and will support interdisciplinary collaboration as called for in the University’s Strategic Plan. Increased understanding of modeling vector-borne diseases and agent-based models by Capaldi could enhance research opportunities for students in both mathematics and biology and also strengthen current courses with additional content.

Becker, who has served the University since 2004, will be editing, translating, and annotating the second volume in a six-volume critical edition of Edmund Schlink’s writings, published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, the top German academic publisher. In this second volume, “Ecumenical Dogmatics,” Schlink creatively relates the Christian gospel of Jesus Christ to matters of spiritual and mental health and healing. “Ecumenical Dogmatics” directly addresses basic spiritual problems from a Lutheran theological perspective and also offers a way forward for healing the divisions among the main Christian groups today.

At Valparaiso University, Becker is the only instructor who teaches courses on 20th-century German Protestant theology, in which he devotes some attention to Schlink’s life and ecumenical work. Becker began studying the writings of Schlink when he was an undergraduate and continued in seminary and graduate school, learning German and beginning to read these works in their original language.

The Wheat Ridge Ministries–O.P. Kretzmann Memorial Fund for Research in the Healing Arts and Sciences supports research that has practical applicability to physical, spiritual, and mental health issues. Thus, to be eligible for this grant, research proposals must focus on the analysis, diagnosis, and/or cure of physical, spiritual, and mental health problems.