Olivia DrakeManju Hingorani, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, is the co-author of "MutL Traps MutS at a DNA Mismatch," published in the July 21 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Postdoctoral researcher Miho Sakato also co-authored the article. DNA mismatch repair is the process by which errors generated during DNA replication are corrected. Mutations in the proteins that initiate mismatch repair, MutS and MutL, are associated with greater than 80 percent of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer and many sporadic cancers. The assembly of MutS and MutL at a mismatch is an essential step for initiating repair; however,…
Ellen Thomas, the University Professor in the College of Integrative Sciences, received a grant in August from the National Science Foundation to support her research on “Evaluating Deep-Sea Ventilation and the Global Carbon Cycle during early Paleocene Hyperthemals.” The $105,000 award is part of a combined $619,000 grant shared with Yale University and the University of Texas at Arlington. Rapid, short-term global warming events in the Early Paleogene (~65-45 million years ago) were caused by massive greenhouse gas release into the ocean-atmosphere system. These warming events, called hyperthermals, had far-reaching effects on the evolution of life on Earth, ecosystems and…
This fall, Wesleyan welcomes 15 new faculty to the university. They are: Francesco Aresu, assistant professor of Italian; Joseph Coolon, assistant professor of biology; Daniel DiCenzo, adjunct associate professor of physical education and head coach of football; Candice Etson, assistant professor of physics; Anthony Hatch, assistant professor of Science in Society; Han Li, assistant professor of mathematics; Jeffrey Naecker, assistant professor of economics; Paula Park, assistant professor of Spanish; Michelle Personick, assistant professor of chemistry; Felipe Ramírez, assistant professor of mathematics; Ben Somera Jr., adjunct associate professor of physical education, head coach of volleyball; Ying Jia Tan, assistant professor of…
On July 15, the Petit Family Foundation awarded Wesleyan’s Physics Department with a $5,000 grant to support the 2016 Northeast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP). The three-day conference, scheduled for January 15-17, 2016, will showcase career opportunities available to physicists through plenary talks, panel discussions and a career fair. Attendees will have the opportunity to network and interact with more than 200 fellow undergraduate women physicists as well as a variety of industrial and academic leaders. Chris Othon, assistant professor of physics, and Meredith Hughes, assistant professor of astronomy, are co-organizing the conference with help from Nisha Grewal ’17 (physics/economics) and Julia…
Lauren RubensteinAssociate Professor of French Catherine Poisson recently participated in a radio series on the French writer and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir. The series aired the week of August 17-21 on the France Culture network; it can be heard online here. Taped in Paris, New York and Chicago, the Grande Traversée (the "great crossover") show sought to reveal another Simone de Beauvoir, considering every stage of her life--from the dutiful daughter to the independent and engaged woman to, finally, breaking the taboo of old age. It showed her as passionate and multi-voiced---intimate and political, unleashed in her youth diaries and love letters, audacious in her…
Professor of Theater Ron Jenkins writes in The Jakarta Post about Wayan Nardayana, a popular and provocative puppet master in Bali who "combines the political insight of a social activist with the spiritual wisdom of a priest and the comic instincts of a master entertainer." Jenkins describes the artist's recent performance at a celebration of the birthday of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno. "The dalang’s ability to make connections between sacred texts, Indonesian history and contemporary reality is at the core of his art," Jenkins writes. Nardayana tells the audience, "Indonesians today can also harness the power of their ancestors to inspire them to…
Two Wesleyan students and a former visiting professor have just wrapped up a seven-week-long research project on kangaroo behavior in Bathurst, Australia. Working with Liv Baker, an animal studies postdoctoral fellow in the College of the Environment in 2014-15, Angus McLean '16 and Mariel Becker '18 have collected "more than 600 pages of data recording kangaroo behavior in response to daily changes and threats in their environment," according to an article in Western Advocate.
The Wesleyan Mathematics and Science Scholars (WesMaSS) Program is a highly selective academic program designed to support students from traditionally underrepresented groups who are interested in pursuing study in mathematics and natural sciences. The program aims to foster community building and provides the scholars, who are all incoming first-year students, with mentoring and academic resources which encourage and facilitate their sustained involvement in these fields. Each scholar also receives a Wesleyan faculty mentor. From July 26-31, 10 of the 32 WesMaSS scholars participated in an intensive introduction to studying science at Wesleyan. Students toured the science departments, became familiar with the…
John Seamon, professor of psychology, emeritus, is the author of a new book, Memory and the Movies, published August 14 by The MIT Press. The book is an outgrowth of a Psychology course, "Memory in the Movies," which Seamon taught at Wesleyan for five years before his retirement in 2013. He is currently preparing a MOOC version of it to run on Coursera next winter. The book examines what films such as Slumdog Millionaire, Memento, and Away From Her can teach us about how human memory works. Seamon explains that memory is actually a diverse collection of independent systems, and uses examples from movies to to…
Writing for Inside Sources, President Michael Roth made the case for a broad, contextual education, in a counterpoint to an essay by Eastern Kentucky University President Michael Benson, arguing for education that provides "a transferable set of skills." Roth writes that the types of contentious debates currently raging over the value of a college education are as old as America itself, something he explores in-depth in his book, Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters. He writes: Several of the Founding Fathers saw education as the road to independence and liberty. A broad commitment to inquiry was part of their dedication…
The Office of Human Resources reported the following new hires, transitions and departures for July 2015: Newly hired Jake Bussani '14 was hired as defensive football intern on July 1. Jonathan Day '15 was hired as offensive football intern on July 1. Amanda Fairchild was hired as a library assistant on July 6. Sara Howard was hired as social science reference librarian on July 1. Meredith Nyser was hired as swimming and diving intern in athletics on July 1. Devin Ford was hired as public safety dispatcher on July 6. Jaclyn Wilson was hired as Wesleyan Press marketing manager on…
Cynthia RockwellPam Tatge ’84, MALS ’10, P’16, director of Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts (CFA), was appointed to the board of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). Noted for facilitating Liz Lerman’s "Ferocious Beauty: Genome" at the CFA, an exploration of repercussions of genetic research in 2006, Tatge received the 2010 William Dawson Award from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, given to an individual or organization in the presenting field for sustained leadership, innovation and vision in program design, audience building and community involvement efforts. Additionally, Tatge worked closely with former NEFA executive director Sam Miller ’75 to…