Olivia DrakeThe Department of Romance Languages and Literatures is hosting the 2014 Hispanic Film Series March 27 to April 24 at the Center for Film Studies. "For the second year in a row, we’re showcasing recent award-winning films from Latin America and Spain," said María Ospina, assistant professor of romance languages and literatures. "Last year, we had hundreds of students attend the screenings, and we’re hoping that this year the event is equally successful." All films start at 8 p.m. in the Goldsmith Family Cinema. Screenings are free of charge and are open to the public. Films have English subtitles. March…
Several graduate students and faculty from the Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Department, Chemistry Department, and the Molecular Biophysics Program presented their research at the 2014 Annual Biophysical Society meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Feb. 15-19. The Biophysical Society encourages development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics through meetings, publications and committee outreach activities. Every year, the society holds an annual meeting that brings together more than 6,000 research scientists in different fields representing biophysics. (more…)
J. Kehaulani Kauanui, associate professor of American studies, associate professor of anthropology, was a distinguished guest panelist at the 2014 Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in the Humanities Conference at the University of California - Los Angles on March 7. She spoke on “Hawaiian Indigeneity, (Same-Sex) Marriage, and the Racial Politics of Colonial Modernity." She also spoke on “Till death Do Us Part? Settler Colonialism and (Same Sex) Marriage in Hawaii,” at the Women’s Studies and Consortium for Critical Interdisciplinary Studies on Feb. 20 and “New Directions in American Studies: Settler Colonialism and Critical Indigenous Studies,” at the Circuits of Influence: U.S. Israel, and Palestine Symposium…
Psyche Loui, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, presented a talk at a symposium held March 6-8 at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Schmitt Program on Integrative Brain Research (SPIBR). Her talk, titled, "Action and Perception in the Musical Brain," described current research from her lab and others that related to the structure and function of the brain to music perception and production, with examples from tone-deafness, absolute pitch, music learning and strong emotional responses to music.
Eirene Visvardi, assistant professor of classical studies, gave three talks in 2013 including “Afraid, They Judge. Afraid, They Act: Collective Fear in Greek Tragedy and Democratic Politics," at Texas Tech University on May 6; "Emotional Acts: The Case of Pity," at Yale University on Sept. 28; and "Teaching Euripides' Medea," at Columbia University on Oct. 13.
Michael Roberts, chair and professor of classical studies, spoke about “Pompatic Poetics: Claudian’s Epithalamium for Honorius and Maria and Some Features of Late Latin Poetry," at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign on March 21. He also presented a paper titled “Venantius Fortunatus on Poetry and Song,” at the annual meeting of the International Society for Late Antique Literary Studies at Brown University, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2013. Roberts also is the Robert Rich Professor of Latin and professor of medieval studies.
Bill Firshein, the Daniel Ayers Professor of Biology, emeritus, is the author of the book, The Infectious Microbe, published by Oxford University Press in January 2014. Firshein is the founding faculty member of the Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Department. In The Infectious Microbe, Firshein uses six different critical diseases to illustrate how viruses and bacteria are spread. He discusses the relationship between man and virus, and how to defeat viruses. The book will help non-scientific readers better understand the issues surrounding the spread of disease. Thomas Broker '66, professor of biochemistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, described the book as an “engaging journey…
John Finn, professor of government, is the author of Peopling the Constitution (Constitutional Thinking), published by the University Press of Kansas on Feb. 24. According to the University Press of Kansas, Peopling the Constitution outlines a very different view of the Constitution as a moral and philosophical statement about who we are as a nation. This "Civic Constitution" constitutes us as a civic body politic, transforming "the people" into a singular political entity. Juxtaposing this view with the legal model, the "Juridic Constitution," Finn offers a comprehensive account of the Civic Constitution as a public affirmation of the shared principles of…
Meredith Hughes, assistant professor of astronomy, is the co-author of a paper titled "Molecular Gas Clumps from the Destruction of Icy Bodies in the β Pictoris Debris Disk," published in the journal Science on March 6. Read more about Hughes study in this Wesleyan Connection article.
Ron Jenkins, professor of theater, is the author of an article titled, "African-American Step Dancing meets Balinese "kecak'" published in the March 6 edition of The Jakarta Post. The article highlights a cross-cultural theater collaboration that brought together African-American step-dancers and Balinese "kecak" performers who create interlocking rhythms with choral chants. Jenkins wrote the article while in Pengosekan Village, Indonesia doing sabbatical research. Read the article here. Jenkins also wrote a book review titled, "Illuminating: The Enigma of Time," which appeared in the Feb. 24 edition of The Jakarta Post. The book, Time, Rites and Festivals in Bali, is written by Gusti Nyoman Darta, Jean…
Tsampikos Kottos, the Douglas J. and Midge Bowen Bennet Associate Professor of Physics, received a $575,000 grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research's Multidisciplinary University Research Program (MURI). MURI is a basic research program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. The award will support Kottos' study on “PT-Summetric Optical Materials" through April 2017. During this time, Kottos will develop a theoretical framework for Parity-Time (PT) Symmetric Optics using mainly polymetric platforms. Additionally, efforts will be made towards identifying other platforms/areas where PT-Symmetric ideas can be applied. Kottos will be coordinating his research with faculty at the University of…
Robert Borman, athletic facilities maintainer, was recently presented with a Cardinal Achievement Award for his extraordinary efforts during the snowstorm on Feb. 13. The storm dropped 9.5 inches of snow on campus so quickly that snow was piling up in front of critical building entrances and creating dangerously slippery conditions on campus. The Stonehedge landscaping crew could not keep up with the rapidly accumulating snow so Borman stepped up and walked across campus shoveling every building entrance and stairway on central campus at least once. “This was not a normal or typical work assignment for Rob Borman by any account,”…