Class of 2020 – Page 5

In the economically disadvantaged Northern Region of Ghana, only 6 of 100 high school students enroll in college, leaving many otherwise bright students trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. As recipients of the 2019 Davis Projects for Peace Award, four Wesleyan students who make up the Young Achievers Foundation Ghana are helping low-income students in the region access and apply for scholarship programs within Ghana and beyond. The grassroots group is led by Cofounder and Executive Director Ferdinand Quayson '20 and members Afrah Boateng '20, Abdallah Salia '22, and Alvin Kibaara '22. The $10,000 Projects for Peace grant is awarded…

This summer the College of the Environment is funding 32 research opportunities here on campus, from coast to coast, and worldwide, from Connecticut and California to Costa Rica and Ghana. That’s more than $135K for undergrad research, regardless of major or class year. Students are studying forest fragmentation in Connecticut; volcanic lake ecosystems in Oregon; Lingzhi mushroom's influence on Chinese medicine; effects of mercury pollution on Eastern Blacknose Dace snakes; solar cell materials; and much more. (more…)

On May 8, the Office of Student Affairs hosted a reception honoring students who received academic or leadership prizes, fellowships, and scholarships in 2018–19. More than 315 students and recent alumni received one of the University's 180 prizes. (View the list below or on the Student Affairs website.) Scholarships, fellowships, and leadership prizes are granted to students and student organizations based on criteria established for each prize or award. Certain University prizes are administered by the Student Affairs/Deans’ Office, while others are administered by the Office of Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD). (more…)

In the Quantitative Analysis Center course, QAC 201: Applied Data Analysis, students are introduced to statistics and data collection through asking and answering statistical questions that they care about. Topics come from a large range of disciplines including psychology, sociology, government, and environmental science. Students generate hypotheses based on existing data, conduct a literature review, prepare data for analysis, and conduct descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. On May 3 in Beckham Hall, 115 students presented their projects at a poster session. Twenty-five guests evaluated the posters, including faculty from Wesleyan, Sacred Heart University, Quinnipiac University, City University of New York, Central Connecticut…

More than 110 Wesleyan students, faculty, alumni, and local guests participated in the second annual Power of Language Conference, April 26-27 at the Fries Center for Global Studies. The event was open to the entire Wesleyan community. The two-day event featured six panels that focused on: Creative Language Learning, Crossing Time and Border through Translation, Language and Society, Language in Curriculum, Arabic in the U.S., and Polyphony through Literature. "The presentations ranged from class final projects (such as a comic version of Dante’s Inferno, reimagined at Wesleyan) to senior theses (such as the challenges of translating early modern Spanish into…

Meera Joshi ’20 is the recipient of an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Undergraduate Research Award for her work on the DNA mismatch repair system. The $1,000 award will support her research titled "Exploring the Dynamics of Msh2-Msh6 Binding to Holliday Junction Through ATPase Activity. Her advisor is Ishita Mukerji, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry. Joshi's research focuses on a DNA mismatch repair protein called Msh2-Msh6 that initiates the repair of DNA mismatches after replication in eukaryotes. This is a highly conserved process from bacteria to humans and has implications for human health. "We are particularly interested in…

Nate Gillman ’20, a computer science and mathematics double major from Maryland, is the recipient of a 2019 Barry Goldwater Scholarship. He's one of 496 college students in the country to receive the award. The Goldwater Scholarship is awarded to sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming the next generation of research leaders in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering. The scholarship provides up to $7,500 a year to help cover costs associated with undergraduate tuition, mandatory fees, books, and room and board. Gillman knew he wanted to study math—specifically analytic number theory—after enrolling in a calculus…

On April 27, seven prominent thought leaders including Wesleyan alumni, two medical doctors, and local politicians shared their ideas during the second annual TEDxWesleyanU Conference held in Beckham Hall. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. (more…)

Two Wesleyan students are the recipients of the Friends of the Wesleyan Library's third annual Undergraduate Research Prize. Emma Leuchten '19, an anthropology and religion double major, received the first place prize for her senior essay, "Anthropology Beyond Belief: Navigating Dreams and Reality in the Burmese Weikza Tradition." Leuchten based the paper on fieldwork she conducted in Myanmar during a semester abroad. Her advisor was Elizabeth Traube, professor of anthropology. The essay explores quests for power and knowledge in a contemporary Burmese wizardry tradition. Drawing from personal interviews with weikza (wizard-saints), devotees, and skeptics, Leuchten examines the tensions that have arisen between this…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Wesleyan in the News 1. The Middletown Press: "Wesleyan Students Helping Former Prisoners to Gain Job Skills" Wesleyan Students for Ending Mass Incarceration (SEMI) is a group of students working to help formerly incarcerated individuals acclimate back into society by providing them with job skills. The goal, according to member Asiyah Herrero '22, is “making re-entry into the workforce a little bit easier. There are usually a lack of resources when people get out of prison, and starting to look for work,…

A Wesleyan team took the top award—“Best in Show”—during DataFest on April 7. DataFest is a data analysis competition where students are presented with a large, complex, surprise data set and work over the weekend to explore, analyze, and present their findings to a panel of judges. Teams of 3–5 students work together and compete against other teams. This year, students from Wesleyan University, Yale University, the University of Connecticut, and Bentley University participated. Under the auspices of the American Statistical Association, the event is organized by Wesleyan’s Quantitative Analysis Center The winning team was made up of Anna Zagoren '20,…

A paper by Zhaoyu Sun '20 was published in the April 2019 issue of The Yale Review of International Studies. The article, titled “Critical Comments Among Chinese Netizens – Before and After the Cyber Security Law" is based on a research paper he wrote for his CEAS 385/GOVT 391 Legacies of Authoritarian Politics course last fall. The class was taught by Joan Cho, assistant professor of East Asian studies; assistant professor, government. Sun, a College of East Asian Studies and government double major, explained that despite the growing availability of information within China and the country’s increased linkage to the West, the coercive actions…

YAF Ghana Wins 2019 Davis Projects for Peace Award

College of the Environment Supports 32 Student Researchers this Summer

Students Celebrate 2018-19 Leadership Prizes, Fellowships, Scholarships at Reception

115 Students Present Statistical Research at QAC Poster Session

Cultural Experiences Discussed at Power of Language Conference

Joshi ’20 Honored with Research Award to Study DNA Mismatch Repair

Gillman ’20 Wins Goldwater Scholarship to Pursue Education in Number Theory

7 Prominent Speakers Share Ideas at 2nd Annual TEDxWesleyanU

Students Receive Undergraduate Research Prizes from Friends of the Wesleyan Library

Wesleyan in the News

Wesleyan Wins “Best in Show” at 2019 DataFest

Paper by Sun ’20 Published in Yale Review of International Studies