Mike Mavredakis

Immigration officials have detained students and others for protesting and for their speech. Our social media algorithms are flooded with disinformation and imagery created by artificial intelligence. The principles of the First Amendment are at risk. Is the answer more speech in opposition to threats to democracy? Or is it carefully crafted regulation like some European countries have created? These and other thorny topics were the subject of the 32nd annual Hugo L. Black Lecture, “The Fate of Free Speech in the Trump Era,” featuring Emily Bazelon, staff writer at New York Times Magazine, and President Michael S. Roth ’78…

The U.S. Supreme Court has the final say on any civil or criminal case that it hears, period. In the state systems, the high courts also make final determinations about law, but the way state supreme courts govern is not nearly as fixed as one might assume, said Associate Professor of Government Alyx Mark. In a new book, Mark set out to clarify the ways power is structured across state court systems. She undertook a significant investigation of each state’s civil court landscape and how they changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. She detailed her findings in Courts Unmasked: Civil Legal…

When Martha Gilmore, dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Joshua Boger University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, was in graduate school, she read a series of books detailing comprehensive knowledge of Venus. She recalled wondering how an individual gets to be the person writing that paper or that book chapter that serves as the scientific community’s foundational piece of knowledge on a particular topic. This year, she answered the question. The International Space Science Institute published Venus: Evolution Through Time, a collection of the preeminent papers on the current knowledge of how Venus formed, evolved, and reached its…

Copper is essential for many key bodily processes—breathing, forming red blood cells and collagen, and keeping the immune system healthy. The body only requires trace amounts of the mineral in its cells, but an imbalance of copper can lead to serious neurological, cognitive, and muscular disorders, according to a recent paper published in the Public Library of Science (PLOS) by Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Teresita (Tere) Padilla-Benavides and co-authors. Researchers have identified a copper-binding protein, mCrip2, that plays an important role in skeletal muscle growth regulation and maintaining homeostasis in muscular cells. The research expands the understanding…

A film adaptation of Associate Professor of Theater Edwin Sanchez’s play Unmerciful Good Fortune has begun production with Concord Studio. Actress Rosario Dawson will play a lead role and is a producer on the project, according to Deadline. “I think it's about the quality of life versus the quantity of life and who gets to decide that,” Sanchez said. “And how sometimes the people we love need more from us than maybe we're ready to give.” Unmerciful Good Fortune is a story about a high-profile lawyer, Maritza Cruz, who is pulled into a peculiar case of a young waitress, Fatima,…

The Africana Research Collective, a group of faculty, students, and recent alumni, journeyed to Southern Louisiana for a hands-on research experience focusing on the intellectual and cultural history of the African diaspora. This was the collective’s second ever trip after an inaugural research excursion to the Dominican Republic in 2022. This particular trip was organized around the theme of “agency,” which can be tentatively defined as “someone’s or something’s capacity to produce an intended or unintended effect,” said Assistant Professor of African American Studies Garry Bertholf. This four-day, cross-institutional research collaboration brought together undergraduate fellows from Wesleyan’s Bailey College of…

The Wesleyan community has demonstrated a commitment to the University’s sustainability goals. Undergraduate participation in sustainability in coursework, workshops, and research incorporating environmental justice is on the rise, as is the University’s engagement with Middletown on sustainability efforts. In 2023-24, 1,717 students, or 55 percent of undergraduates, engaged in one or more internships, courses, research projects, leadership experiences, workshops, or volunteer activities related to sustainability. This is an increase of 160 students from 2022-23, according to an annual progress report on the University’s Sustainability Strategic Plan. “It’s been exciting to see a continued increase in student engagement with sustainability both…

President Michael S. Roth ’78 called for wider access to higher education in a piece for The New York Times on anti-elitism. Roth highlighted Wesleyan’s partnership with the National Education Equity Lab, a nonprofit that offers free college classes to Title I high school students to increase educational opportunities for low-income students. “Education transforms lives; we just need to make it more widely available.” Roth’s piece was mentioned in a later Boston Globe article. Roth also wrote a piece on a collection of letters by neurologist Oliver Sacks for The Atlantic. “Writing would be his way of seeking recognition, of…

This fall season was full of excitement, and for some, championships, across the Cardinals’ athletic fields. Wesleyan’s student-athletes also performed academically as the University had 98 student-athletes named to 2024 NESCAC Fall All-Academic teams, including 42 members of the football program. Here is a quick look at this season’s athletic action: Football It was an historic, championship-winning season for the 8-1 Wesleyan football team, punctuated by several late-game wins. One of those wins came after a last-second diving touchdown reception by defensive back turned wide receiver Luke LaSaracina ’25, which secured Wesleyan a third straight Little Three Championship at Homecoming…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become ubiquitous in day-to-day life. From predictive text to virtual assistants to video games, AI is now embedded in most technologies we use. Its impact on research, though, is yet to be seen. Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society Tsampikos Kottos and researchers from five other universities aim to explore that impact. Researchers will attempt to create a physics-based generative AI platform, referred to colloquially as “Physics-GPT.” The purpose of the platform would be to control chaos by, paradoxically, introducing a bit of randomness to the systems. To develop Physics-GPT, Kottos and his collaborators…

Legendary director Charles Burnett paved the way for generations of African American filmmakers in his work, including director Shaka King who made the recent Academy Award-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah. Burnett and King spoke and screened their work at Wesleyan during the 2024 Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, titled “Black Voices and Visionaries in Cinema,” on Nov. 8 and 9. The two filmmakers were joined by international film producers Ama Ampadu and Tamara Dewit for presentations and a panel discussion. Endowed by James Shasha '50, P'82, the Shasha Seminar supports lifelong learning and encourages participants to expand their…

Three Wesleyan professors—Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, Associate Professor of Government Logan Dancey, and Assistant Professor of Government Justin Peck—made sense of this year’s election results and the potential path forward during a talk, “The 2024 Election: What Happened and What’s Next?” on Nov. 7. Fowler, co-director the Wesleyan Media Project, said that there would be careful analysis of the year’s election once all the votes are fully counted. Fowler also cautioned against reading too much into the results or focusing on identity politics until those analyses are completed. She said that many political scientists were able to predict…

Emily Bazelon on Fate of Free Speech During Hugo Black Lecture

New Faculty Book on Civil Courts Post-COVID

Book on Venus Features Studies from Gilmore Lab

Researcher Studies Role of Copper in Muscle Development

Film Adaptation of Sanchez Play in Production

Africana Research Collective Visits Louisiana

Campus Sustainability Work on the Rise

Wesleyan in the News: January 2025

Cardinal Athletes Soar to New Heights This Fall

Taming Chaos in Physical Systems Through Artificial Intelligence

Celebrated Filmmakers, Producers Share Insight into Black Cinema at Shasha Seminar

Wesleyan Faculty on Election Results, Path Forward