...Emmons, who teaches creative writing at Grinnell, says “'The Interrogative Mood'” demands to be read deliberately, for it is courageous and entertaining and interested in the essential mysteries of self and society." Emmons’s most recent novel is “Prescription for a Superior Existence.” ...

...Cech won the Nobel Prize in chemistry while at CU in 1989 for his work on RNA. He left CU at the end of 1999 to become president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a leading scientific and philanthropic organization. Two years ago, he bowed out of Harvard University's presidential search, and he agreed to return to Colorado full time. ...

...IF you are of the view that nurture trumps nature, you might not have predicted a career as a professional comic for Kumail Nanjiani. He grew up in Pakistan — “Not necessarily a very funny place,” he says — and had never seen a moment of stand-up comedy until he came to Iowa for college and watched a Jerry Seinfeld HBO special. ...

...The Archaeological Institute of America has awarded Millsaps anthropology professor Michael Galaty its 2010 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. He will be presented with the award at the AIA annual meeting in January....

...Sebring is the co-founder and co-director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), an organization that aims to improve educational opportunities for children around the city. CCSR’s research and findings over the years have been adopted by Chicago’s elementary schools and have been very valuable to the reform of Chicago Public Schools. Sebring’s findings, along with her colleagues, are laid out in their new book, “Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago.” She is a senior research associate at the University of Chicago and a member of Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy’s Board of Advisors....

...Anna McCoy, a Grinnell College senior in physics and French, presented her summer research at the third joint meeting of the Nuclear Physics Divisions of the American Physical Society and the Physical Society of Japan in Hawaii. Her research was in nuclear structure theory, conducted at the University of Notre Dame under professor Mark Caprio....

...Dennis Maulsby, a member of the local Ames poetry society Third Stanza, has received a 2009 second place book award in the Branson Stars and Flags contest for his book of Vietnam War poetry, “Remembering Willie, and all the others.” ...

...Grinnell College beat Knox College in three straight sets to improve to 5-4 in Midwest Conference play and gain a leg up on claiming the fourth and final spot in next month's conference tournament. The Prairie Fire finish 0-9 in league play....