Amy Bishop joined the UAH faculty in 2003. With her husband, Jim Anderson, Bishop created a portable cell-incubator called "InQ" which won the couple an award in a state competition and won $25,000 of seed money in a business competition, money they could use to start a company around the invention.
Amy Bishop
A search for the name "Amy Bishop" revealed a web page that had this text, instead of Bishop's profile:
There has been a shooting on campus. The shooter has been apprehended. The campus is closed tonight. Everyone is encouraged to go home. Classes are cancelled for tonight. Any additional cancellations or changes will be announced as they become available. There is a Command Center set up at Madison Hall Room 109. Counselors are available in University Center Rooms 125, 126 and 127 for anyone who wishes to speak with a counselor.
Dr. Bishop was also working on a cybernetics project called The Neuristor, using neurons as we use integrated circuits in a living computer. Bishop wrote:
Neuroengineering
My laboratory's goal will be to continue in our effort to develop a neural computer, the Neuristor™, using living neurons. This computer will exploit all of the advantages of neurons. Specifically, neurons rich with the nitric oxide NO dependent learning receptor, N Methyl D Aspartate receptor NMDAR, will be utilized. These have previously been studied in the context of induced adaptive resistance to NO IAR. For the Neuristor™ we will take advantage of the IAR phenomena since it has been demonstrated that IAR neurons express more learning and memory receptors NMDAR as well as increased neurite outgrowth. The neurons that we are currently using are mammalian motor neurons. We are exploring the possibility of using neurons derived from adult stem cells, and from bony fishes provided by Bruce Stallsmith Ph.D. This laboratory has created a portable cell culture incubator, the Cell Drive™ that is an ideal support structure for the Neuristor".
Amy Bishop was reportedly denied tenure. What happened after that, a hypothesis, may be that Bishop went off when she perceived the University as trying to take and profit off of an idea she developed, just as they were getting rid of her. At that point, Bishop may have went berserk.
Stay tuned.
If you run a medline/pubmed search on her, you'd see that she has a very weak publication record. "Publish or perish" exists for a reason: published peer-reviewed research is a strong, objective indication that an academic scientist has been productive and successful. Amy Bishop's weak record would have easily resulted in her denial of tenure at most universities in which research is a major criterion for tenure evaluation.
ReplyDeleteI think you hypothesis is very interesting and just may be close to why...we will see. Her student comments on ratemyprofessor are mostly positive until the fall of 08. She changed her curriculum then a 180. I wonder if this was her idea or the schools. Something happened between her and the administrators. She just may have been too smart for the school and they wanted her out and keep her knowledge for themselves.
ReplyDeleteWell I suppose they add the Harvard-trained to show her background. It is relevant because it looks like our so-called "best and brightest" are going bat you-know-what crazy. Look at that astronaut who traveled three states wearing adult diapers to confront a romantic rival. I find it disturbing that she alleged fired because she was denied tenure. She may be "Harvard-educated" but she's not very smart. With all the advantages and opportunities she's had throwing everything away like that in a brutal act is utter foolishness. She should be punished to the fullest extent that the law will allow. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the slain.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that people lost their lives and three were wounded. It is also unfortunate that Professor Bishop probably will not have the opportunity to make such great contributions to society. Later, she will realize there were so many alternatives to her behavior. Her options were far beyond "sweet Alabama." My sympathy goes out to all of the families.
ReplyDeleteI want to know the content of the Faculty meeting, not what has happened before or afterwards. that is where the real story lives.
ReplyDeleteAs a retired professor I have to say that you have no idea the soul crushing politics that goes on in the name of higher education. If you read the NYTimes account www.NYTimes.com/2010/02/14/us/14alabama.html you will find much of the back story. I have been in her shoes. Many have. Many turn their anger inward and get physically ill or depressed. Among the many reasons why she was denied tenure is the complaints of students about her teaching. That speaks to a cavernous divide in our educational system beween students who are prepared for the rigors of college education and those who are not. During my years of teaching my student evaluations mirrored hers. Students who knew how to study and who came from high schools without grade inflation loved me, those who wanted me to teach to the test did not. Students who are ill-prepared always win out.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised this sort of thing does not happen more often. I myself had my career ruined by a mob on faculty at a university and know of other PhD candidates and PhDs on faculty at various university that get destroyed by a more powerful group in a department. there is NO recourse - you get shafted by those holding power over you. It happens WAY too often to grad students who are isolated and it is their word against those who have ultimate power over the grad student's career. Likewise, faculty members can be singled out to lose tenure and have intellectual license stolen for work they alone produced. The WHOLE story needs to come out.
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