2017 – Page 6

(By K Alshanetsky '17) As a woman of color in STEM, Najwa Anasse ’18 represents a minority in a field known for its lack of gender and racial diversity. Recognizing that the low interest among women and youth of color is largely the result of barriers to access, an increasing number of organizations and programs have been created to direct underrepresented youth towards science, technology, engineering and math fields. Anasse, who is double majoring in Neuroscience & Behavior and Biology, credits one such program, the University of California San Francisco’s Science Camp, for sparking her interest in STEM and inspiring her…

Michaelle Biddle, collections conservator and head of preservation services, is the author of a chapter titled “New strategies in using watermarks to date sub-Saharan Islamic manuscripts” published in The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Andrea Brigaglia and Mauro Nobili (De Gruyter, 2017). As a specialist of paper making, Biddle provides a comprehensive history of the Galvani Italian paper mills whose various qualities of paper widely circulated in West and East Africa, as well as Indonesia and Malaysia, from the 1730s well into the 20th century.

Writing in The Conversation, Roy Kilgard, research associate professor of astronomy, explains the significance of an exciting new discovery in astronomy. For the first time, astrophysicists have observed merging neutron stars using LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and the Virgo interferometer. Kilgard writes: This news may confirm a longstanding theory: that some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs for short), which are among the most energetic, luminous events in the universe, are the result of merging neutron stars. And it is in the crucible of these mergers that most heavy elements may be forged. Researchers can’t produce anything like the temperatures or pressures of…

When CNN en Español journalist Maria Santana arrived on the island of Puerto Rico on Sept. 25, five days after category 4 Hurricane Maria tore over the land, she was eager to do her work—tell the stories of those in the center of the devastation and report on the efforts to support the victims and rebuild. But the situation was not what she expected, and—though her job has taken her to many places in the United States that had been ravaged by natural disasters—this was nothing like what she’d seen before. While she and the crew stayed at a hotel…

The College of the Environment hosted its 13th Annual Pumpkin Festival Oct. 14 at Wesleyan's Long Lane Farm to celebrate the fall harvest. The Pumpkin Festival provides an opportunity for the Wesleyan and local communities to learn about local organic farming and the politics of food. The event included farm tours, a farmer's market, a bake sale, live music, face and pumpkin painting, free veggie burgers, arts and crafts, bulb planting, and more. Pumpkin Fest was held in conjunction with Campus Sustainability Week. Photos of the event are below: (Photos by Caroline Kravitz '19 and Will Barr '18) (more…)

A new $1.3 million grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education over five years to Wesleyan’s Upward Bound Math-Science program has brought federal funding for an important collaborative initiative in Middletown that will help provide low-income, historically underrepresented high school students with pathways to success in science and math. The grant is the latest in a growing list of initiatives that are bringing Middletown and Wesleyan together in projects large and small. “We don’t often pause to appreciate the full scope of collaborations between Wesleyan and Middletown,” said Wesleyan President Michael Roth, “but when we do, the many ways…

Francis Starr, professor of physics, was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society in October. This honor is bestowed upon only 0.5 percent of physicists nation wide. The criterion for election is "exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise including outstanding physics research, important applications of physics, leadership in or service to physics, or significant contributions to physics education. Starr received the APS fellowship for his simulation studies elucidating fundamental aspects of glass formation in bulk and ultra-thin film polymer materials. At Wesleyan, the Starr group focuses on soft matter physics and biophysics. Starr and his graduate and undergraduate students combine computational and theoretical…

Lisa Dierker, the Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences, professor of psychology, is the author of a new article, "Falling in Love with Statistics: Shaping Students' Relationships With Data." It was published in October in Scientia, a site that seeks to open a dialogue between science and society. Dierker writes about the novel approach, called Passion-Driven Statistics, that she and her team at Wesleyan developed to teach statistics and data analysis to students from diverse backgrounds. According to the article, it is a "multidisciplinary, project-based approach that is both supportive and engaging for students at all levels of statistical mastery and those coming from diverse educational…

Psyche Loui, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, assistant professor of integrative sciences, co-authored a new article published in the December 2017 issue of Brain and Cognition. The paper is titled, "Jazz Musicians Reveal Role of Expectancy in Human Creativity." Loui and her colleagues found that within one second of hearing an unexpected chord, there is a world of differences in brain responses between classical and jazz musicians. (more…)

Students enrolled in the Oceans and Climate service-learning course recently traveled to Washington, D.C., where they had the opportunity to learn how legislation related to climate change is moved through Congress. The trip, held Sept. 25-26, was led by Suzanne O'Connell, professor of earth and environmental sciences, faculty director of the McNair Program. After a day of travel and overnight stay, the group took an early Metro ride to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where they met with representatives of the Congressional Research Service. Later that morning, the class traveled to the Dirksen Senate Building, which houses the U.S. Senate…

Dar Williams ’89 read, sang and signed copies of her new book, What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities—One Coffee Shop, Dog Run & Open-Mike Night at a Time (Basic Book, 2017), for an appreciative audience made up of members of both the Wesleyan and Middletown communities during an appearance at the Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore on Oct. 10. The book is a journey through America’s small towns, where the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter has toured over the past 20 years, (more…)

“My sister’s cancer might have been diagnosed sooner — if doctors could have seen beyond her weight,” wrote Laura Fraser ’82, in an article that detailed how medical personnel ignored her sister Jan's serious symptoms as the whinings of “a fat, complaining older woman.” The article, published on Statnews, a site focused on medicine, health, and science journalism and produced by the Boston Globe Media, received more social media shares, Fraser said, than anything else she has written. Fraser’s first book Losing It: America’s Obsession with Weight and the Industry that Feeds on It (Random House, 1997) had given her a background knowledge of the biases that work against those with obesity and…

Anasse ’18 Reflects on Impact of UCSF Science Camp

Biddle Authors Chapter on Using Watermarks to Date Islamic Manuscripts

Kilgard Explains Why Scientists Are So Excited About Observing Merging Neutron Stars

CNN’s Santana ’98 Reports from Puerto Rico: Desperate Shortages, Little Relief

Fall Harvest Celebrated at Pumpkin Festival

Wesleyan-Middletown Collaborations Strengthen Community

Starr Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society

Dierker Authors Article on ‘Passion-Driven’ Approach to Teaching Statistics, Data Analysis

Loui Co-Authors Article on Human Creativity and the Brain

Oceans and Climate Class Visits D.C. to Learn about Legislation

Williams ’89 Reads, Sings, Signs at Bookstore Event

Fraser ’82: When Fat-Shaming Precludes Medical Care