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The 26th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium of the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium (KNAC) was held at Williams College on Oct. 17. Five students presented results of their summer research: Julian Dann '17, Aylin Garcia Soto '18, and Girish Duvvuri '17 delivered oral presentations while Rachel Aronow '17 and Avi Stein '17 presented a poster. Several other students came along to enjoy the weekend, which featured a dinner and social event on Friday night, the seminar on Saturday and breakout sessions on such topics as Inclusive Astronomy and how/why to program in Python. More than 100 students and faculty from KNAC attended the event (pictured…

President Michael Roth is the author of an op-ed in The Hartford Courant about the debate raging at Wesleyan over questions of race, oppression and free speech. The controversy was sparked by an op-ed written by a sophomore and published in The Wesleyan Argus in September, which raised questions critical of the Black Lives Matter movement. Many students were upset by the op-ed and called for boycotting the Argus. Roth writes: They made the important point that opinion pieces like these facilitate the ongoing marginalization of a sector of our student population; and they angrily accused the Argus of contributing to that marginalization. I'm very glad these important…

Tom Morgan, Foss Professor of Physics, recently attended the 68th Gaseous Electronics Conference of the American Physical Society in Honolulu, Hawaii and presented a poster dealing with the behavior of giant atoms with an electron far from the nucleus in phase space. Andrew Murphy '11 and Jace Haestad '11 contributed to the study. Phase space is a momentum-velocity space that provides a different perspective on atomic behavior. Looking at atoms from this viewpoint provides a mechanism to uncover new insight into their quantum nature. Morgan also took the opportunity to reconnect with a Japanese colleague, Professor Tomoyuki Murakami, at Seikei University, Tokyo,…

Richard Grossman, professor of economics, and Masami Imai, professor and chair of economics, professor of East Asian studies, are the authors of an op-ed published in The Guardian about House Speaker John Boehner's likely next move when he retires from Congress. The op-ed is titled "Whoever hires John Boehner post-Congress will make a terrible investment." They anticipate that, like most former members of Congress and high ranking members of the executive branch, Boehner is likely to have his pick of lucrative job offers—to become an investment banker, lobbyist or corporate adviser. "But for any of these companies, John Boehner would be…

This election cycle, those presidential candidates who use the simplest language are performing best in the polls, an analysis by The Boston Globe found. "There's no time to explain in modern politics," Elvin Lim, associate professor of government, told the Globe. On the Republican side, front-runner Donald Trump's speeches, with short, simple words and sentence, could be understood by a fourth grader, according to the Flesch-Kincaid readability test. In comparison, Mike Huckabee and Jim Gilmore, who are struggling in the polls, communicate with voters at a 10th grade level. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's speeches are "just right for eighth graders," while Bernie Sanders…

The entire Wesleyan community is invited to Homecoming/Family Weekend Nov. 6-8 to experience life at Wesleyan and reunite with friends and family. Events include campus tours, WESeminars, multiple art exhibitions, a Career Center open house and Summer Experience Showcase, a family swim, "Mass Incarceration: Feminist Responses" symposium, an Asian American Arts Festival, the annual Homecoming/Family Weekend Dinner, the 12th annual Schumann Symposium "Where on Earth Are We Going?," a Friends of the Wesleyan Library book sale, a president's reception honoring leadership donors and volunteers, a West African Drumming performance, an A Capella concert and much more. A special celebration honoring Wesleyan's recently-retired…

During the Society for Neuroscience's (SfN) annual meeting Oct. 17-21, Janice Naegele, professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior, received the Louise Hansen Marshall Special Recognition Award. The Louise Hanson Marshall Special Recognition Award honors individuals who have significantly promoted the professional development of women in neuroscience through teaching, organizational leadership, public advocacy and more. Naegele shares the 2015 Louise Hansen Marshall award with Paul Greengard P'77, P'79, GP '08, the Vincent Astor Professor at The Rockefeller University in New York. Naegele began her career studying the characteristics of cortical neurons and more recently has performed pioneering studies of transplantation of inhibitory…

Several students are celebrating the fall season at Wesleyan's Long Lane Farm. Farm interns are still harvesting pumpkins, peppers, beets, tomatoes, fresh flowers, thyme and other herbs this October. The student-run organic farm is devoted to allowing students a place to experiment and learn about sustainable agriculture. Long Lane students also seek to foster good relationships with local farmers. On Oct. 17, the College of the Environment hosted its annual Pumpkin Fest at the farm. Participants received farm tours, free veggie burgers, craft opportunities, face paintings and live music performances. Pumpkins, along with other produce, were sold at the festival. View photos of Pumpkin…

For seven weeks last summer, James Forster '18 learned how to transform a female classmate into a bat and mold an older gentleman into a pointy-eared creature named “Zerbei.” As one of six selected students enrolled in a "Make-Up FX and Prosthetics Creation" course at Groton Studios in the United Kingdom, Forster learned ways to work behind the scenes as a creative, workshop-based prosthetics artist. From concept designing through sculpting, moulding, casting and finishing, the curriculum focused on producing industry-ready craftspeople. Forster, a potential English major with an interest in drawing and photo manipulation, got a taste for character creation while working…

Wesleyan employees are once again being encouraged to participate in the annual Middlesex United Way campaign. The university's goal this year is to raise $120,000 in donations and 50 percent participation. For the first time this year, all donations can be made online through employees' portfolios. The campaign is being co-chaired by Gloster Aaron, associate professor of biology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, and Joyce Jacobsen, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, Andrews Professor of Economics. (more…)

NPR's "Hidden Brain" program took a look at the science of compassion in a program featuring Professor of Psychology Scott Plous and the "Day of Compassion" exercise that he leads in his social psychology courses at Wesleyan and in his Social Psychology MOOC on Coursera. "Scott radiates kindness," said host and science correspondent Shankar Vedantam in introducing Plous. More than 250,000 students from around the world signed up for the first run of Plous' MOOC. The course capstone was the Day of Compassion exercise in which "students had to spend one day being deliberately kind and generous toward others. Scott asked them to notice how these actions…

More than 20 Wesleyan students volunteer to be teaching assistants and writing tutors at Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education (CPE). The program offers Wesleyan classes and credits to inmates.

Astronomy Students Present Research at KNAC Symposium

Michael Roth Writes About Argus Controversy in Hartford Courant

Morgan Presents Phase Space Research at Gaseous Electronics Conference

Grossman, Imai Write About Boehner’s Next Move

Elvin Lim Talks to Globe About Presidential Candidate Rhetoric

Homecoming/Family Weekend is Nov. 6-8

Naegele Honored by Society for Neuroscience

Students Celebrate Fall with Pumpkin Fest, Long Lane Farm Harvest

Forster ’18 Studies Makeup Effects, Prosthetics

Wesleyan Seeks to Raise $120K for Middlesex United Way

Plous and the Science of Compassion Featured on NPR

Students Volunteer at Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education