Class of 2017 – Page 4

Assistant Professor of Psychology Psyche Loui and Rachel Guetta ’17 are the authors of a new paper exploring how people form associations between sound and taste. The article, titled, “When Music is Salty: The Crossmodal Associations Between Sound and Taste,” was published March 29 in the journal PLoS One. Scientists know that music can be evaluated as sweet, sour, salty or bitter, depending on features in its composition such as pitch, articulation, or brightness. For example, higher pitches are often thought of as sweet or sour, and lower pitches associated with bitterness. While previous research has studied this general area,…

A group of Wesleyan faculty, students and alumni attended the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodland, Texas March 20-24. The annual conference unites 2,000 international specialists in petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, geology and astronomy to present their latest research in planetary science over the course of several days. Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the George I. Seney Professor of Geology Martha Gilmore coordinated Wesleyan's group. While at the event, she presented her work on the oldest rocks on Venus and Mars gully analogues on Earth. A number of her current graduate and undergraduate students attended and several…

Hilary Brumberg ’17, who volunteers at Wesleyan's Long Lane Farm, recently received a Princeton in Latin America Fellowship to develop an environmental education program in Costa Rica. As a Princeton in Latin America Fellow (PiLA), Hilary Brumberg ’17 will spend next year working at Osa Conservation in Costa Rica developing a river conservation and environmental education program. Brumberg is double majoring in earth and environmental sciences (E&ES) and Hispanic literatures and cultures. She's also working on the environmental studies certificate. PiLA matches highly qualified and motivated recent college graduates with partner organizations engaged in socially responsible development projects in Latin America and the…

On March 4, members of the student activist organization Sophia traveled to New York City to attend the Community Party USA Unity Rally and discussion against racism, sexism and all forms of bigotry with special guest and keynote speaker Angela Davis. Inspired by the rising necessity for constructive solidarity and community, Sophia founder and president, Posse veteran scholar Gabe Hurlock '20 created the organization to promote inclusion, multiculturalism, and personhood on the Wesleyan campus and in the Middletown community. The organization focuses on critical philosophy and conceptualization of social justice issues through community organization. The rally featured Jamaican author and poet Staceyann…

MindScope Health, an organization led by Siri McGuire ’17 and Taiga Araki ’17 has won the $10,000 Connecticut College Aetna Foundation seed stage grant—a branch of InnovateHealth Yale and the Aetna Foundation. MindScope works to improve the quality of life for patients with brain diseases and mental illnesses. Founded by patients of brain diseases and mental illnesses, MindScope Health aims to transform the way that invisible diseases and symptoms are communicated and treated. By allowing patients to alternatively communicate their symptoms to their doctors through the use of an app, symptoms can be recorded overtime, as patients rate the severity…

Dual-sport athlete and Middletown native, Devon Carrillo '17, has been named Connecticut's 2017 Male Athlete of the Year, as voted on by the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance (CSWA). Carrillo will be honored at the CSWA 76th Annual Gold Key Dinner on April 30 in Southington, Conn. The senior has excelled on both the football field and the wrestling mat for the Cardinals. Carrillo is the first Wesleyan athlete to receive the prestigious award, which began in 1973 and includes past winners Dick Jauron (Yale football, 1973); Rick Diana (Yale football, 1982); Steve Young (NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, 1985); Craig…

Associate Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler and Sarah Gollust '01, associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, are authors of a new paper published Feb. 16 in the American Journal of Public Health examining local TV news coverage of the Affordable Care Act rollout in 2013 and 2014. Though television news played a key role in providing information about the ACA when Americans were first learning about the details of new insurance options open to them, this is the first analysis of public health-relevant content of this coverage during the ACA's first open enrollment period. In an…

Two members of the Class of 2017 and the Wesleyan athletic community have committed to join Teach For America after graduation: Michael Weinstein ’17 of Brookline, Mass. and Katie Scruggs ’17 of Vail, Colo. Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals to make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to end educational inequity. Weinstein, who is the captain for both the men’s rugby team and ski team, will teach middle school special education in Milwaukee, Wis. This will be his first experience…

Wesleyan Associate Professor of Astronomy Seth Redfield and astronomy student Julia Zachary '17 recently reported at the 229th meeting of the American Astronomical Society on their research using data from the Hubble Space Telescope combined with two Voyager spacecraft probes, both very long-lived and successful NASA missions. The findings were shared in dozens of news outlets from the U.S. to India to Afghanistan. According to Nature.com, "The work is a rare marriage of two of the most famous space missions — and an unprecedented glimpse at the realm between the stars." “If the Voyager spacecraft and the Google Street View car are going…

Student-athlete Jordan Stone '17 not only ended the Cardinal football season as tri-captain of the team, he also scored a professional career thanks to Wesleyan's Athletic Advantage Program (A+). Head Coach Dan DiCenzo says he was not surprised with the decision his team made to elect Stone as a captain. "Jordan is a special kid and has a presence about him. He works hard and leads by example. He is everything we are looking for in a student athlete." A 255-pound, 6'4" athlete, Stone was named 1st Team All NESCAC in 2015 and 2016 and contributed to the team's defense being in the top…

Four Wesleyan undergraduate students have received grants from NASA's Connecticut Space Grant Consortium. Astronomy major Hannah Fritze '18 was awarded $5,000 for an Undergraduate Research Fellowship Grant titled, “Searching for Intermediate Mass Black Holes in Ultraluminous X-ray Binaries.” This grant will support her research this coming semester on black holes with Roy Kilgard, support astronomer and research associate professor of astronomy. Avi Stein '17, who is majoring in astronomy, was awarded $1,000 for a Student Travel Grant. He will be presenting his research on Venus—conducted with Martha Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology, professor of earth and environmental sciences—at…

Next spring, May Treuhaft-Ali '17 will graduate from Wesleyan with a degree in theater, but that won't be her final curtain call. As a Mitchell Scholar, Treuhaft-Ali will have the opportunity to advance her studies on theater and performance at Trinity College in Dublin. The George J. Mitchell Scholarship Program is a nationally competitive award for U.S. citizens sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance. Named in honor of the former U.S. Senator's pivotal contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process, the Mitchell Scholarship is designed to introduce and connect future American leaders to the island of Ireland, while recognizing and fostering…

Loui, Guetta ’17 Author Paper on Brain Connections Between Sound, Taste

Faculty, Students, Alumni Attend the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

Brumberg ’17 Wins Princeton in Latin America Fellowship

Students Attend Discussion on Racism, Sexism, Bigotry in NYC

McGuire ’17, Araki ’17 Receive Seed Grant to Spearhead MindScope Health

Carrillo ’17 Named Connecticut’s Male Athlete of the Year

Fowler, Gollust ’01 Author Paper on News Coverage of Obamacare

Weinstein ’17, Scruggs ’17 to Join Teach For America Following Graduation

Research by Redfield, Zachary ’17 Using Hubble, Voyager Probes Widely Reported

Stone ’17 Ends Wesleyan Football Career; Takes Advantage of Athletics Advantage Program

4 Students Awarded NASA Connecticut Space Grants

Mitchell Scholar Treuhaft-Ali ’17 Will Continue Theater Studies in Ireland