Olivia Drake – Page 31

More than 50 students attended an alumni conversation on "Careers in Public Policy and Criminal Justice Reform" Nov. 13 at the Gordon Career Center. Each of the panelists: Sarah Cassel '13, James Jeter (who earned his degree in 2016 while incarcerated through Wesleyan's Center for Prison Education), Lexi Jones '17, Aaron Stagoff-Belfort '18, and Nina Stender '16 are working in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York, analyzing and impacting policies dealing with inhumane jail conditions, policing, housing inequality, and issues around incarceration. Stagoff-Belfort and Jim Kubat, associate director for job and internship development at the Gordon Career Center teamed up to…

John Robert Kirn, professor of biology, died on Nov. 10 at the age of 67. Kirn was born in Columbus, Ohio, and received his BA from the University of Denver, his MA from Bucknell University, and his PhD from Cornell University. Arriving at Wesleyan in 1994, he went on to teach courses on animal behavior, hormonal systems, and the neurobiology of learning and memory for the next 25 years. Kirn was a vital member of the biology department and a pillar of the neuroscience and behavior program (NS&B). He served as the director of graduate studies from 2005–2010, as the…

Human rights advocate Christopher Swain '90 returned to Middletown last week, carrying an Olympic-style torch during what will be a nearly 5,000-mile journey to the spot where the US-Mexico border begins at the Gulf of Mexico, and then on through the border states to San Diego. Swain, a parent of two, is participating in a March for the Kids, honoring the memory of the six children known to have died in federal custody. He is hoping to bring awareness of the children who have been separated from their families and imprisoned and lost at the border; to advocate for all…

At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Wesleyan received a gold seal for achieving a student rate between 40% and 49%. A full list of seal awardees can be viewed here. "Wesleyan University is proud to receive this national recognition for our efforts," said Rob Rosenthal, interim provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs. "It is a core part of our educational mission to develop bold and rigorous practical idealists, thoughtful and brave participants in the public sphere. Our faculty, staff, administrators, and students are…

Hilary Barth, professor of psychology; Andrea Patalano, professor of psychology; Joanna Paul '18; and former postdoctoral fellow Chenmu (Julia) Xing are co-authors of a paper titled "Probability range and probability distortion in a gambling task," published in Acta Psychologica in June 2019. Barth and Emily Slusser, a former postdoctoral fellow, are the co-authors of a paper titled "Spontaneous partitioning and proportion estimation in children’s numerical judgments," published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology in September 2019. Barth; Patalano; Slusser; Alexandra Zax, visiting scholar in psychology; and Katherine Williams, lab coordinator; are the co-authors of a paper titled "What Do…

(By Kayleigh Schweiker '22) As scientific study regarding the mass extinction of marine life during the Cretaceous era has progressed, theories including extraterrestrial impact and intense volcanism have surfaced. However, a recent study co-authored by Ellen Thomas, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Integrative Sciences, suggests that carbon impact—not volcanism—was key in driving the Cretaceous mass extinction. In a paper titled "Rapid ocean acidification and protracted Earth system recovery followed the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact," which was published in the Oct. 21 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Thomas and her colleagues discuss how increases in ocean…

On Nov. 1, neuroscience and biology BA/MA graduate student Helen Karimi presented a Graduate Speaker Series talk titled "All good things come in pairs: Uncovering the activity of BcnI through co-localization microscopy." Karimi's talk focused on restriction endonucleases (REases), a large family of enzymes that make sequence-specific cuts in DNA. As her abstract details, type IIP REases usually cleave sequences as homodimers. However, BcnI, an enzyme belonging to this subtype, acts in a different way. Karimi's work aims to observe the fine details of BcnI’s cleavage mechanism by using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, an imaging technique in which…

Wesleyan celebrated Homecoming/Family Weekend Nov. 1–3. The Wesleyan Cardinals won their 2019 Homecoming game 27 to 21 against Williams College on Nov. 2. Attendees attended WESeminars, tailgating festivities, music and art events, multiple athletic contests, the 27th Annual Dwight L. Greene Symposium, the annual parents' assembly, and much more. View the entire Homecoming/Family Weekend photo album online here. View video highlights below:

In honor of Halloween, several offices created or carved decorative pumpkins. Usdan University Center hosted its 11th annual Usdan Pumpkin Contest with Public Safety, Residential Life, Events and Conferences, Cardinal Tech, Usdan Operations, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, and Student Leadership and Development (SALD) and Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Office participating. SALD/WSA Office won the contest with its Dia de los muertos pumpkin. The Office of University Communications carved and painted pumpkins and displayed them in offices in South College and Exley Science Center. Photos below: (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)

More than 40 Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholars gathered for their annual group photos and dinner on Oct. 27. The Freeman Asian Scholarship Program provides expenses for a four-year course of study toward a bachelor’s degree for up to 11 exceptionally able students annually from these countries and regions: the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The program was established in 1994–95 and supported scholars for 20 years through the generosity of the Freeman family—Mansfield Freeman ’16, P’43, Hon. ’79; Houghton Freeman ’43, P’77, Hon. ’93; Doreen Freeman P’77,…

Students taking the CCIV/ARCP 153: Single Combat in the Ancient World course learned how to cast their own bronze sword and arrowhead during class on Oct. 24. The process is a modern-day method of how weapons would have been crafted during the Late Bronze Age (3000 to 1200 BC). The two-hour workshop was taught by Connecticut bladesmiths Barbara Wechter of Wechter Arms and Matt Berry of Hopkins Forge. Berry is a former contestant on History Channel's "Forged in Fire." While Berry heated molten bronze (copper and tin) to 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit, Wechter demonstrated how to build a mold from oil-based…

A paper written by Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Rich Olson and his former students was designated as an "Editor's Pick" by the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Only 2% of the approximately 6,600 papers published each year in the journal receive this designation. Titled "The 1.9 Å crystal structure of the extracellular matrix protein Bap1 from Vibrio cholerae provides insights into bacterial biofilm adhesion," the paper, published on Oct. 4, explores how bacteria "glues" itself to surfaces in the environment. The co-authors include Alison Biester '19, Ethan Chupp '18, Jianyi Lu '17, Charlie Visudharomn '17 and Katherine Kaus PhD…

Alumni Speak with Students about Careers in Public Policy, Criminal Justice Reform

Professor Kirn Remembered for Neurobiology Research, Gentle Demeanor

Swain ’90 Passes through Middletown, Honoring Children who Died in Federal Custody

Wesleyan Earns Gold Seal for Student Voting Rates

Papers by Barth, Patalano, Others Published in Psychology Journals

Thomas: Carbon Impact—Not Volcanism—Key in Driving the Cretaceous Mass Extinction

Karimi Shares Enzyme Research during Graduate Speaker Series

Football Victory Highlight of Homecoming/Family Weekend

Halloween Celebrated with Parade, Decorative Pumpkin Displays

Freeman Scholars Gather for Group Photos, Dinner

Classics/Archaeology Class Learns about Ancient Bronze Casting from Local Bladesmiths

Paper on Bacteria Adhesion Named “Editor’s Pick” by Journal of Biological Chemistry