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Olivia DrakeApril 5, 202025min
A number of Wesleyan alumni act in, write, direct, and produce popular TV programs. We've compiled a list of those alumni and their shows below, as part of our "Best of Wes" series. (Do you have a favorite that's not listed? Email your idea to newsletter@wesleyan.edu, and we'll add it in! You can also view previous "Best of Wes" pieces.) The alumni and their roles on various TV shows are listed below: Phillip Abraham '82, P'20 has directed, produced, or directed the photography of episodes of Most Dangerous Game, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Glow, Orange Is the New Black, Daredevil, Ozark,…

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Olivia DrakeApril 5, 20202min
Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry, is honored for being among the "Top 35 Women in Higher Education" in the March 20 issue of Diverse. Taylor joined the Wesleyan faculty in 2007 and teaches courses in the areas of organic chemistry, biochemistry, environmental chemistry, and bio-medicinal chemistry, among others. She's also associate professor, environmental studies, and associate professor, integrative sciences, and takes a multidisciplinary approach to investigating problems at the biological chemistry interface. Diverse acknowledged Taylor for "striv(ing) to find ways to exploit enzymes found in nature to perform reactions that can help advance the fields of chemistry and medicine."…

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Lauren RubensteinApril 5, 20202min
Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies Scott Aalgaard studies modern and contemporary Japan, including the experiences of Japanese-Americans during World War II, when approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forced into internment camps. We spoke to him about the echoes of that history in the surge in racist incidents against Asian-Americans since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Aalgaard, as we think about the increase in racist acts against people of Asian descent in the United States today, can you please offer a brief history of racism faced by Asian-Americans? The first thing that I want to argue…

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Lauren RubensteinApril 5, 20203min
Frederick Cohan, the Huffington Foundation Professor in the College of the Environment, professor of biology, is a microbial ecologist whose course “Global Change and Infectious Disease” examines how human disturbance of the environment contributes to infectious disease outbreaks. He also researches the origins of diversity among both bacteria and viruses. In early February, as the novel coronavirus was beginning to spread, Cohan wrote an article in The Conversation, co-authored with PhD candidate Kathleen Sagarin and Kelly Mei ’20, titled, “A Clue to Stopping Coronavirus: Knowing How Viruses Adapt From Animals to Humans.” Cohan also was interviewed recently by The Wesleyan…

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Katie AberbachMarch 30, 20202min
A lack of fast, reliable diagnostic testing has played a major role in the rapid proliferation of cases of COVID-19. Rahul Dhanda ’95 and his team at Sherlock Biosciences are working furiously to change that, potentially shortening the testing’s time horizon to a matter of minutes. Dhanda is co-founder, CEO, and president of the engineering biology startup based in Cambridge, Mass., which is creating two different diagnostic tests for COVID-19—one rooted in CRISPR technology, the other in synthetic biology. The hope is that the tests can be released during the course of the current pandemic, Dhanda said, each with its…

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Cynthia RockwellMarch 30, 20202min
Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith, together P’22 and founders of Firelight Media, joined the Wesleyan Documentary Project co-directors Tracy Strain and Randall MacLowry ’86 for an online forum with the Wesleyan community to discuss Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, for which Nelson was director/producer and Smith was consulting producer. (more…)

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Olivia DrakeMarch 30, 20202min
Starting April 1, Matthew Arkin '82 will read from his suspense thriller In the Country of the Blind (2013) on YouTube Live. "I'll be reading in an effort to fight the strain and isolation [of the COVID-19 pandemic] and perhaps provide a little entertainment," he said. This is Arkin's first attempt at livestreaming, which he's calling "social distance storytime." "It's an idea I had because we're all under quarantine right now, we're social distancing, stuck at home, and like many of you, I wonder how I can fill fill my time, what I can do to help others fill their…

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Olivia DrakeMarch 30, 20202min
A new film produced and edited by Joel Viertel '97 centers on revolutionary entrepreneurs Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie) and Joe Morris (Samuel L. Jackson), who devise a risky plan to purchase buildings in "white only" neighborhoods during the 1960s, to help black families pursue the American dream. Inspired by true events, The Banker premiered at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., on March 2, and is now available for viewing on on Apple TV Plus. The New York Times featured The Banker in a March 20 article. Viertel, a film studies major at Wesleyan, also produced Birth of the…

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Lauren RubensteinMarch 29, 20203min
Professor of Government James McGuire is a political scientist with expertise in the association between democracy and public health. You study the relationship between democracy and population health. Does the literature find that democracy is good for population health? As a political scientist I've long been interested in democracy, and especially in its possible impact on other aspects of well-being. Many other political scientists have studied democracy's impact on economic growth and income inequality. My interest has been in democracy's impact on the risk of early death, and particularly on child mortality in developing countries. For Amartya Sen and Martha…

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Lauren RubensteinMarch 29, 20202min
Associate Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler is an expert on political communication. When she’s not analyzing campaign advertising with the Wesleyan Media Project, she investigates how media, including ads and news, influence opinions and attitudes in a variety of health-related policy areas. Her past studies, many of which are co-authored with Sarah Gollust ’01, have examined media around the Affordable Care Act, mammography screening and the HPV vaccine. “I’m drawn to research on messaging at the intersection of health and politics because it has such important—sometimes life-saving—consequences for citizens, and there are practical actions we can all take to…