Olivia DrakeBy looking at high-resolution images captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists are able to see gullies, which are argued to be geologically recent. Because they are most likely formed by water, it is believed that they can answer the question of whether or not there is still "active" water on Mars. As a summer Wesleyan McNair scholar, astronomy major Lavontria Aaron '14 used a hyperspectral instrument to determine if the gullies contained minerals (salts) which would be left behind by water brines. "By examining the spectrum of the brines, we'll be able to learn more about Mars' history and…
This fall, Wesleyan's Institute for Lifelong Learning will offer courses on 20th-Century Photography, the paintings of Paul Cezanne, ethical eating practices, Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, promoting healthy psychology, Scandinavian culture and more. The third year of courses begins Sept. 6 and most take place at the Susan B. and William Wasch Center for Retired Faculty at 51 Lawn Ave. in Middletown. "Our objective is to use the talents of retired faculty members and current members of the Wesleyan faculty, plus others in our community who are similarly qualified, to present a set of short, intellectually stimulating and lively courses to area residents,"…
Lauren RubensteinProfessor Stephen Devoto and his students have identified a gene that controls a critical step in the development of muscle stem cells in vertebrate embryos. This discovery will allow scientists to better understand the causes of birth defects and diseases affecting human musculature, such as Muscular Dystrophy, and opens doors for the development of effective stem cell therapies for such diseases. Devoto is professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior. The study, “Fss/ Tbx6 is required for central dermomyotome cell fate in zebra fish,” was published in July in Biology Open. Though the research was done on zebrafish, the gene,…
David PesciEllen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, has been awarded the Maurice Ewing Medal by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The medal is one of the AGU’s most prestigious awards and will be presented to Thomas during the organization’s annual meeting later this year. According to AGU, “Jointly sponsored with the United States Navy, the Ewing Medal is named in honor of Maurice Ewing, who made significant contributions to deep-sea exploration.” It is presented each year for significant original contributions to the scientific understanding of the processes in the ocean; for the advancement of oceanographic engineering, technology, and…
Last summer, Elsa Hardy '14 worked for a youth enrichment program in New York City. Several of the children came from the Frederick Douglass Academy, a middle school in Harlem where 75 percent of the students are black. "I asked the students who went there, 'Do you know who Frederick Douglass was?' None of them did. They had no idea," Hardy recalls. "I was shocked to learn that the students didn't know who the namesake of their school was." Hardy, who is majoring in African American studies and Hispanic literatures and cultures, became curious as to why the average middle…
“We’ve moved the meeting/truck forward.” “That was a long wait/ hotdog.” "We’re rapidly approaching the deadline/guardrail.” English speakers use a shared vocabulary to talk about space and time. And though it’s not something we’re necessarily conscious of, psychologists have found that the identical words we use to describe our wait in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles and the length of an especially impressive hotdog are not a fluke, but rather are telling of the cognitive processes involved in thinking about time. Past studies have shown that priming people with spatial information actually influences their perceptions of time. For example, people primed to imagine…
In this issue of The Wesleyan Connection, we ask "5 Questions" of Professor of Economics Richard Grossman. In July, Grossman spoke to the Canadian news magazine Maclean's about the Libor scandal rocking the global financial industry. Grossman's 2010 book, Unsettled Account: The Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World since 1800, reviews banking crises over the past 200 years in North America, Europe and other regions, and considers how they speak to today's financial crises around the world. He blogs at Unsettledaccount.com. Q: Professor Grossman, what is the Libor, and what is this scandal all about? A: “Libor” is the London InterBank…
Inspired by her students' passion for education reform, Assistant Professor of Psychology Anna Shusterman and several of her students launched an innovative five-week pilot program this summer to prepare children entering kindergarten at Macdonough School in Middletown. Fifteen children participated in this research-based program, with a curriculum designed by Shusterman, her students and a Macdonough teacher. According to Shusterman, children in low-income neighborhoods start kindergarten with academic skills up to two years behind their peers. Research shows that quality early childhood education makes a huge difference in helping to shrink this achievement gap. In fact, economists estimate a $7 return…
Bill HolderWesleyan University will undergo a comprehensive evaluation visit Sept. 30 through Oct. 3, 2012, by a team representing the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The Commission on Institutions of Higher Education is one of seven accrediting commissions in the United States that provide institutional accreditation on a regional basis. Accreditation is voluntary and applies to the institution as a whole. The Commission, which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, accredits approximately 240 institutions in the six-state New England region. Wesleyan has been accredited by the Commission since 1929…
On the morning of June 22, Matt Donahue '14 and and Pik-Tone Fung '14 learned that a Wesleyan chemistry professor had been shot in the basement of Hall-Atwater Laboratory. Public Safety taped off the area around Room 078 and removed the body, leaving behind a blood-stained lab coat, a gun, two shell casings, a hand-written note from "Greg Mulligan," a bloody bullet and an overturned chair. Small pools of blood collected under the victim and blood droplets freckled the nearby lab cabinets and counter. The professor did owe $20,000 to Greg Mulligan. Was he murdered for not returning the money?…
In the midst of the banking crisis affecting the euro, John Bonin found himself in June offering banking advice to two countries that are members of the European Union, but have yet to join the monetary union linked by the euro. Bonin, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science, professor of economics, gave the keynote address during the Annual Conference of the European Association for Banking and Financial History on June 7. The event was co-sponsored by National Bank of Romania in Bucharest, Romania. The address was titled “Two Decades of Foreign Banking in Emerging Europe: the Devil is in…
Mike Fries ’85, president and chief executive officer of Liberty Global, has made a gift of $2 million in support of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives Endowment Fund. The gift establishes the Charles W. Fries Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives, which Fries named in honor of his father. Chuck Fries is considered the “godfather” of the television movie for his role in producing or supervising more than 275 hours of television movies and mini-series. His films have won Emmy, Peabody, Humanitas and Christopher awards among others from film festivals. “Wesleyan’s Cinema Archives,” says President Michael S. Roth, “is a treasure…