Students

Earth and Environmental Science Seniors Conduct Research in Hawaii

by Olivia Drake • March 23, 2020

Sixteen earth and environmental science majors from the Class of 2020 recently conducted field research in Hawaii as part of their Senior Field Research course.

The class, E&ES 498, is taught by Tim Ku, chair and associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, and Suzanne O’Connell, professor of earth and environmental sciences. The course is open to students who completed E&ES 497: Senior Seminar, and focuses on improving scientific research skills.

Past classes have conducted research in Death Valley, Calif., the main island of Puerto Rico, the Connecticut River Valley, and the Big Island of Hawaii. The field research took place on the Big Island of Hawaii on Jan. 5-12 and the course concluded with student group presentations on March 3 and 5 and written reports.

The trip was funded by the Lawrence H. Davis ’76 Fund.

The students and their project titles are below:

Shuo Wang, Haley Brumberger, Emmy Hughes,and Avery Kaplan worked on a project titled “Assessing Microplastic Accumulation and Distribution on Four Beaches in Hawaii.”

Emily Litz, Jackie Duckett, Katie Toner, Miles Brooks, and Allegra Grant worked together on a project titled “Coffee Soils: Carbon Source or Sink?”

by Olivia Drake • March 11, 2020

Katie Livingston ’21

Wesleyan English major Katie Livingston ’21 is one of 12 young writers around the world who will be honored at the 36th Annual L. Rob Hubbard Achievement Awards on April 3 in Hollywood, Calif.

She’s a finalist for the Writers of the Future Contest, which was initiated by Hubbard in 1983 to provide “a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged.” Based on its success, its sister contest, Illustrators of the Future, was created five years later to provide that same opportunity for aspiring artists.

The grand prize winners will each receive $5,000. Quarterly winners also receive cash prizes from $500 to $1,000. Their winning stories and illustrations will appear in the annual anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers and Illustrators of the Future Volume 36 (Galaxy Press, April 2020).

Oklahoma native Livingston spent her high school years tending chickens and writing speculative fiction novels. She’s a fan of Stephen King novels, ’80s horror flicks, rural living, and cats—all of which inspire her work. Her submission for the Writers of the Future Contest addresses the themes of rural living and religion.

At Wesleyan, she’s the assistant opinion editor for The Wesleyan Argus; a thesis mentor in the Shapiro Writing Center; a teaching assistant for the course, American Literature 1865-1945; the design editor for Sthoscope Press; an assistant in the Writing Certificate Program; and assists with grant-funded work in the writing center. On weekends, she works in the Usdan Café.

Livingston hopes to attend graduate school for American literature so that she can continue learning, reading, and writing.

Watch a video about Livingston online here.

Hockey Wins First-Ever NESCAC Championship

by Editorial Staff • March 9, 2020

On March 8, the men’s hockey team celebrated its first-ever NESCAC Championship with a 7-2 victory over Trinity College. Although the win secured the league’s automatic bid into the 2020 NCAA Tournament, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors decided to cancel all remaining winter championships as well as the spring sports season across all divisions (I, II, and III). Wesleyan had several winter sports scheduled to compete in their respective NCAA Championships, including men’s hockey, which are affected by this news.

The Cardinals scored seven goals in just over 30 minutes of action, erasing an early deficit to thunder past No. 8 Trinity at Lansing Chapman Rink on the campus of Williams College.

The victory was a resounding one as the fifth-seeded Cardinals scored four unanswered goals in a span of just 10:25 between the second and third periods to take a commanding 4–1 lead that proved enough in the end. Six different goal scorers lit the lamp for Wesleyan while Walker Harris ’20 finished with four points (one goal, three assists) to tie the NESCAC Championship game record for the highest point total by a single skater. One night removed from making 40 saves in the Cardinals’ semifinal win over the Ephs, Tim Sestak ’20 was tremendous once again, posting 38 saves on 40 shots-on-goal from Trinity as he continues to deliver in the postseason for Wesleyan throughout his career.

by Olivia Drake • March 2, 2020

Livia Cox ’22 and Nick Wells ’20 (pictured) are recipients of a $5,000 seed grant from the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship. They presented their project, Opioid Harm Reduction and Education Initiative, to a panel of judges on Feb. 28. “The rate of death due to opioid overdose in Connecticut is twice the national average,” Wells said. “We provide resources and education to combat opioid overdose in high-risk communities across Connecticut, and we’re starting right here in Middlesex County.” Both EMTs, Cox and Wells form partnerships with local community leaders and offer socioculturally-attuned training, naloxone (NARCAN) dissemination, and other grassroots prevention and rehabilitation measures.

On March 2, three student-run enterprises received $5,000 seed grants from the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship (PCSE). The unrestricted funding is accompanied with training, advising, mentoring, incubator workspace, and other resources from the Patricelli Center.

These $5,000 awards are intended to fund the launch or early-stage growth of a social enterprise, project, program, or venture. Projects or ventures must address a social problem; be sustainable, scalable, and/or replicable; and have a potential for impact. Entries can be for-profit, nonprofit, hybrid, or have no legal structure.

On Feb. 28, six finalists pitched their ventures to judges and members of the Board of Trustees.

The 2020 PCSE Seed Grant winners include:

Mental Wealth Consulting by Inayah Bashir ’20;
Opioid Harm Reduction and Education Initiative by Livia Cox ’22 and Nick Wells ’20; and
Narratio by Ahmed Badr ‘20, Edward Grattan, Brice Nordquist, and Gemma Cooper-Novack. (Read a Wesleyan University Magazine article on Narratio online here.)

Other finalists include:

ONA by Ona Hauert ’20;
Pather Education Development Initiative by Kyllian Pather ’20; and
Sustainable Surfing Products by William Huestis ’22 and Michael Eustace ’22.

Photos of the finalist pitches are below. (Photos by Olivia Drake)

Inayah Bashir ’20 pitched her venture, Mental Wealth Consulting. The organization aims to expand conversations about mental wellness and mindfulness by offering professional development, restorative workshops and community programming, and curricular resources such as activities and classes. “Our programming fosters resilience, wellness, and mental wealth,” Bashir explained. Grant funds would be used for hiring a mindfulness/yoga instructor, supporting program materials, and providing a stipend for student ambassadors.

by Olivia Drake • February 24, 2020

Several students took advantage of the 60-plus degree temperatures and warming sun rays Feb. 24 on campus. While some students enjoyed outdoor study time in solitude, others rode bikes and skateboards, played with flying discs, had lunch, and enjoyed socializing under the sun. (Photos by Olivia Drake)

by Olivia Drake • February 13, 2020

As part of Wesleyan’s Graduate Speaker Series, Marvin McNeill, a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology, spoke about “Structures of Feeling and the Significance of Affectivity in the Social and Cultural Survivals of the Black New Orleans Brass Band,” on Feb. 7 in Exley Science Center.

McNeill explained how the institution of the Black New Orleans brass band represents a genealogic continuum that extends back to the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the Louisiana Territory. “This continuum connects a violent past, marked by physical abuse of black bodies in the form of institutionalized slavery, to a violent present confounded by systemic poverty, social injustice, and police brutality,” he said. “In spite of extreme oppression, the brass band community continues to enrich and enliven both local communities through their iconic musical offerings.”

by Olivia Drake • February 13, 2020

Neuroscience and behavior major Eli Solomon ’20, pictured here presenting research at a poster session, recently co-authored a paper published in the journal Medical Care.

Lack of reliable transportation can prevent patients from making it to medical appointments or accessing other health care services.

In a recently published paper, lead author Eli Solomon ’20 explored and analyzed existing research on nonemergency medical transportation interventions. The article, titled “Impact of Transportation Interventions on Health Care Outcomes: A Systematic Review,” was published in the American Public Health Association journal Medical Care.

Solomon, a neuroscience and behavior major on a pre-med path, wrote the paper based on research he conducted in summer 2018 with peers at the University of California, San Francisco. While at UCSF, Solomon worked for San Francisco General Hospital, tackling social determinants of health with patients in the pediatric primary care clinic.

Solomon and his mentors searched three databases (Embase, PubMed, and Google) for studies of health care sector-sponsored programs that provided patients with assistance with nonemergency transportation, and directly assessed the impact of transportation assistance on health and health care utilization outcomes. Studies meeting inclusion criteria were graded for quality using standard grading criteria.

by Lauren Rubenstein • February 4, 2020

Fred Cohan

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” In this article, Fred Cohan, professor of biology, Huffington Foundation Professor in the College of the Environment, PhD student Kathleen Sagarin, and Kelly Mei ’20 explain how viruses like coronavirus—and several others over history—spread from animals to humans, what determines the size of the outbreak, and how behavioral modifications and technology can stop the spread.

A clue to stopping coronavirus: Knowing how viruses adapt from animals to humans

As the novel coronavirus death toll mounts, it is natural to worry. How far will this virus travel through humanity, and could another such virus arise seemingly from nowhere?

As microbial ecologists who study the origins of new microbial species, we would like to give some perspective.

As a result of continuing deforestation, “bushmeat” hunting of wild animals and caring for our domestic animals, the novel coronavirus will certainly not be the last deadly virus from wild animals to infect humans. Indeed, wild species of bats and primates abound in viruses closely related to SARS and HIV, respectively. When humans interact with wild animal species, pathogens that are resident in those animals can spill over to humans, sometimes with deadly effects.

by Lauren Rubenstein • January 30, 2020

Wesleyan in the News

Connecticut Public Radio: “The Struggle for Sleep: Why More School Districts Are Considering Later Starts”

Speaking as both a scholar and a mother, Associate Professor of Psychology Anna Shusterman comments in this story on the movement to push schools in the state to start later. “People ask me, as a developmental psychologist, ‘Oh, we have this mental health crisis in the state, what are we going to do, what should we be funding, what kind of resources do we need to build in?’ And I just think it’s so silly when we have such a straightforward solution that has such large, measurable impacts.”

2. The Washington Post: “For the Super Bowl, Bloomberg and Trump Are Each Spending $10 Million on Ads”

Associate Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler and her colleagues on the Wesleyan Media Project write about what makes political advertising in the 2020 election cycle look so different (hint: two self-funded billionaires are blowing up existing records) and the unusual decision by candidates Michael Bloomberg and President Donald Trump to spend $10 million each to reach nearly 100 million American viewers at the same time. Fowler was also recently interviewed on Marketplace about political advertising.

3. Transitions Online: “Russian Government Reshuffle: Plus ça Change”

Peter Rutland, the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, Professor of Government, analyzes the recent mass resignation of the Russian government following a surprise announcement from Russian President Vladamir Putin that he was rewriting the constitution. There is much unclear about the changes, including why Putin chose to make them at this time, and what the impact will be on Russia’s government. What is clear, Rutland writes, is that “Russia’s political system is broken” due to Putin’s constant tinkering with the country’s political institutions “to create the appearance of change while retaining power in his own hands.”

4. The Middletown Press: “Wesleyan Student Heading to Hollywood Among Writers of the Future Winners”

by Olivia Drake • January 29, 2020

On Jan. 25, Wesleyan Athletics held its fifth annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day Clinic. More than 130 local girls—from kindergarten to sixth grade—participated in this free event.

Several coaches from women’s teams and student-athletes taught the clinic and introduced the girls to softball, soccer, field hockey, rowing, track, tennis, and more.

“Our female student-athletes did a fantastic job in being role models for our local youths,” said Christine Kemp, head field hockey coach and assistant strength and conditioning coach. “The girls had a blast and had the opportunity to try out a number of sports all morning.”

The clinic was held in conjunction with the Annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. This celebration inspires girls and women to play and be active, build confidence and character, and become strong leaders in sports and life.

The event concluded with a pizza party.

Photos of the clinic are below: (Photos courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)

by Olivia Drake • January 29, 2020

On Jan. 26, the Athletics Department welcomed 25 alumnae back to campus for its annual Women’s Athletics Mentoring Workshop.

The alumnae met with female student-athletes to network and offer career advice.

The workshop was held in conjunction with the Annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. This celebration inspires girls and women to play and be active, build confidence and character, and become strong leaders in sports and life.

Photos of the Athletic Mentoring Workshop are below: (Photos courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)

by Editorial Staff • January 28, 2020

Daniel “Dani” Jewell-Tyrcha was a member of the Class of 2022. Jewell-Tyrcha died on Jan. 26 following a motor vehicle accident in Middletown. (Photo courtesy of wayup.com)

Daniel “Dani” Jewell-Tyrcha ’22 of Scituate, Mass., succumbed to injuries following a motor vehicle accident that occurred in Middletown on Jan. 25. Jewell-Tyrcha was 20 years old.

They were double majoring in American studies and African American studies.

In an all-campus email on Jan. 26, Wesleyan President Michael Roth and Vice President for Student Affairs Mike Whaley wrote: “It is with deep sadness that we write to inform you of the death of Wesleyan student Daniel Jewell-Tyrcha ’22. … We offer our condolences to Dani’s family, friends, and loved ones.”

According to Jewell-Tyrcha’s wayup profile, Jewell-Tyrcha’s interests were “creating progress and social change, traveling the world and learning about new cultures, helping end human rights abuses, and writing.”

Students struggling with this tragic event can contact the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), or a class dean. Faculty and staff who need support may contact the Employee Assistance Program at 800-854-1446.

“Wesleyan is a caring community. We are all here to help one another,” Roth wrote.

Expressions of condolence may be sent to Mike Whaley, who will collect and forward them to Jewell-Tyrcha’s family.