Olivia Drake – Page 29

Takeshi Watanabe, assistant professor of East Asian studies, is the author of Flowering Tales: Women Exorcising History in Heian Japan, published by Harvard University Press in January 2020. The book is the first extensive literary study of A Tale of Flowering Fortunes (Eiga monogatari), a historical tale that covers about 150 years of births, deaths, and happenings in late Heian society, a golden age of court literature in women’s hands. According to the publisher: Takeshi Watanabe contends that the blossoming of tales, marked by The Tale of Genji, inspired Eiga’s new affective history: an exorcism of embittered spirits whose stories needed to be…

Martha "Marty" Gilmore, George I. Seney Professor of Geology, professor of earth and environmental sciences, is the author of a research article titled "Present-day volcanism on Venus as evidenced from weathering rates of olivine," published in Science Advances Vol. 6 on Jan. 3, 2020. According to the paper's abstract: At least some of Venus’ lava flows are thought to be <2.5 million years old based on visible to near-infrared (VNIR) emissivity measured by the Venus Express spacecraft. However, the exact ages of these flows are poorly constrained because the rate at which olivine alters at Venus surface conditions, and how that…

Art enthusiasts can now enjoy Wesleyan's Davison Art Center (DAC) collections on their own living room walls. The DAC has partnered with Art Authority and 1000 Museums to offer the public high-quality reproductions of select holdings from the DAC collection. Currently, the DAC store includes works by Albrecht Dürer, Paul Gauguin, and all 80 prints in Francisco de Goya’s series, Los Caprichos. Each reproduction is made using a professionally photographed digital image and printed on archival fine art paper. A variety of sizes and framing options are available for each print. The DAC is working to make reproductions of additional…

Ellen Thomas, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Integrative Sciences, Smith Curator of Paleontology of the Joe Webb Peoples Museum of Natural History and University Professor in the College of Integrative Sciences, is the co-author of five new publications. They include: "On impact and volcanism across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary," published in Science, Jan. 17, 2020. Also, see this research in The New York Times and National Geographic. "Stable isotope constraints on marine productivity across the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction," published in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, Volume 34, June 2019. "Refining the planktonic foraminifera I/Ca proxy: results from the Southeast Atlantic Ocean," published in Geochimica…

Tsampikos Kottos, Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society and professor of physics, is the co-author of several new publications. They include: "Constant Intensity Conical Diffraction in Discrete One-Dimensional Lattices with Charge-Conjugation Symmetry," published in Optics Letters, Vol. 45, Issue 1, January 2020. "Enhanced Sensing and Nondegraded Thermal Noise Performance Based on PT-Symmetric Electronic Circuits with a Sixth-Order Exceptional Point," published in Physical Review Letters, Vol. 123, Issue 21, November 2019. "Adiabatic Thermal Radiation Pumps for Thermal Photonics," published in Physical Review Letters, Vol. 123, Issue 16, October 2019. Fred Ellis, professor of physics, co-authored this piece. "Effects of…

An audiobook featuring Gayle Pemberton's memoir/essays, The Hottest Water in Chicago: Notes of a Native Daughter and other essays has been released on iTunes and Audible. Pemberton is professor of English and African American studies, emerita. The Hottest Water in Chicago was published in 1998 by Wesleyan University Press. In the book, Pemberton interweaves her own history with reflections on American literature, art, music, and film through 16 autobiographical essays.

Fifteen Wesleyan students who were enrolled in the Introduction to GIS course this fall learned how to apply GIS concepts and skills to solve local problems in environmental sciences. Kim Diver, associate professor of the practice of environmental sciences, taught the class and an accompanying service-learning lab component. After learning about the basic theory of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), data collection, data management, spatial analysis, visualization, and map preparation, the students were paired with a community partner or organization to assist them with an issue. On Dec. 5, the students presented the results of their projects to their community partners…

Hari Krishnan, associate professor of dance, is the author of a new book, Celluloid Classicism: Early Tamil Cinema and the Making of Modern Bharatanatyam, published by Wesleyan University Press in August 2019. According to the publisher: Celluloid Classicism provides a rich and detailed history of two important modern South Indian cultural forms: Tamil Cinema and Bharatanatyam dance. It addresses representations of dance in the cinema from an interdisciplinary, critical-historical perspective. The intertwined and symbiotic histories of these forms have never received serious scholarly attention. For the most part, historians of South Indian cinema have noted the presence of song and…

Sarah Schechter '17 is exhibiting her first solo show, "Kasual Bagel," at the Shrine Gallery in New York City. Her paintings will be on display through Jan. 5. Shrine is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and is located at 179 East Broadway. Schechter, who majored in history at Wesleyan, lives and works in Harlem, and is completing an art education certification program at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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Wesleyan's community-based radio station, WESU 88.1 FM, celebrated its 80th anniversary on Dec. 8 with a Free Form Jubilee. The event, held in the Daniel Family Commons, featured special musical performances and talks by local dignitaries. Established in 1939, WESU began as one of the first student-owned and -operated radio stations in the country. That fall, Wesleyan freshman Arch Doty Jr. began broadcasting his homemade 1-watt AM transmitter from his Clark Hall dorm room. Eighty years later, WESU is among the largest student groups on Wesleyan’s campus, uniting nearly 150 student and community volunteer broadcasters. The event featured Noah Baerman,…

As part of the Introduction to Environmental Studies class, six students embedded themselves into the work lives of Wesleyan's Physical Plant employees to learn the inner workings of campus. Leila Henry '23, Serena Aimen '22, Tanvi Punja '22, Molly Scotti '22, Nina Criswell '22, and Mikaela Marcotullio '23 shadowed the Physical Plant workers for three-hour shifts every week throughout the fall semester. The experience concluded with performances on Dec. 5 that represented the culmination of that work. The class was taught by Helen Poulos, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies, and the performances were curated with the help of Allison…

Watanabe Explores Japanese Historical Tale in New Book

Gilmore’s Paper on Venus’s Volcanoes Published in Science Advances

Davison Art Center Offers Museum-Quality Art Reproductions

Thomas Co-Authors 5 New Publications

Kottos Co-Authors Several Publications

Pemberton’s Essays Released as Audiobook

Students Use GIS Skills to Help Solve Environmental Problems

Krishnan Authors New Book on Tamil Cinema, Bharatanatyam Dance

Paintings by Schechter ’17 on Exhibit in NYC

Early Morning Snow Blankets Campus on Dec. 11

WESU 88.1 FM Celebrates 80th Anniversary with Free Form Jubilee

Students Create Performances Based on Shadowing Physical Plant Employees