faculty publications

Lori Gruen, professor and chair of philosophy, professor of environmental studies, and professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, is the author of a new book, Entangled Empathy: An Alternative Ethic for Our Relationships with Animals, published by Lantern Books on Feb. 15. In Entangled Empathy, Gruen argues that rather than focusing on animal rights, we ought to work to make our relationships with animals right by empathetically responding to their needs, interests, desires, vulnerabilities, hopes and unique perspectives. Pointing out that we are already entangled in complex and life-altering relationships with other animals, Gruen guides readers through a new way…

Bill Craighead, assistant professor of economics, is the co-author of "Current Account Reversals and Structural Change in Developing and Industrialized Countries," published in the February issue of The Journal of International Trade and Economic Development. The paper compares the experience of high-income and developing countries in adjusting current account deficits, which measure how much they are relying on external borrowing. In both types of country, construction is the most sensitive sector to the current account. On average, adjustments in developing countries are more severe, but that is mainly due to the effects of currency crises. When you take those out, they…

Mike Singer, associate professor of biology, associate professor of environmental studies, is the co-author of several recently-published papers. They include: “Thee struggle for safety: effectiveness of caterpillar defenses against bird predation,” is in press and will appear in the April 2015 issue of Oikos. This article shows how the camouflaged or bold appearance of a caterpillar can protect it from predatory birds in Connecticut forests. Former BA/MA student, Isaac Lichter-Marck '11, '12, is the first author of this article. “Defensive mixology: Combining acquired chemicals toward defense,” is published in Functional Ecology, 2015. This article proposes a conceptual framework to study the use of natural drug cocktails by animals…

Brian Northrop, assistant professor of chemistry, is the co-author of several new papers including: “Preparation and Analysis of Cyclodextrin-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks: Laboratory Experiments Adaptable for High School through Advanced Undergraduate Students,” published in Journal of Chemical Education 92, pages 368-372, 2015. Samantha Angle, a Middletown High School student working in Northrop’s lab, co-authored the paper. (See cover at left.) "Rational Synthesis of Bis(hexyloxy)-Tetra(hydroxy)-Triphenylenes and their Derivatives," published in RSC Advances 4, pages 38,281-392 in 2014; "Vibrational Properties of Boroxine Anhydride and Boronate Ester Materials: Model Systems for the Diagnostic Characterization of Covalent Organic Frameworks,” published in Chemistry of Materials 26, pages 3,781-95 in 2014; And “Allyl-Functionalized Dioxynaphthalene[38]Crown-10 Macrocycles: Synthesis, Self-Assembly,…

Stewart Novick, chair and professor of chemistry, is the co-author of several papers published in 2014. They include: "The microwave spectra and structure of the argon-cyclopentanone and neon-cyclopentanone van der Waals complexes," published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A 118, pages 856-861; "The shape of trifluoromethoxybenzene," published in the Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy 297, pages 32-34; "Fluorination effects on the shapes of complexes of water with ethers: a rotational study of trifluoroanisole-water," published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, A 118, pages 1,047-51; "Measurement of the J = 1 - 0 pure rotational transition in excited vibrational states of…

Michael Frisch, research professor of in chemistry, is the co-author of many articles published in 2014. They include: “Analytical harmonic vibrational frequencies for the green fluorescent protein computed with ONIOM: Chromophore mode character and its response to environment," published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 10, pages 751-766; “Quantum calculations in solution for large to very large molecules: A new linear scaling QM/continuum approach," published in the Journal of Physical Chemical Letters, 5, pages 953-958; “Density of states guided Møller-Plesset perturbation theory,” published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 10, pages 1,910-14; “Practical auxiliary basis implementation…

Lutz Huwel, professor of physics, and Thomas Morgan, the Foss Professor of Physics, are the co-authors of an article titled "Investigating the dynamics of laser induced sparks in atmospheric helium using Rayleigh and Thomson scattering," published in the Journal of Applied Physics, Volume 117 in January 2015. The paper describes the use of two laser systems to prepare and study a helium plasma, and draws on an extensive international collaboration. The electron density and temperature of the plasma are measure as a function of time and space with high precision. The work has important impact in the area of laser induced…

Norman Shapiro, professor of French, is the translator of Fables in a Modern Key (Fables dan l'air du Temps), published by Black Widow Press in 2015. Fables was written by by Pierre Coran (whose real name is Eugene Delaisse), a poet and novelist of the Belgian French-language. One of Begium's most renowned poets with some 45 poetry books published to date, he also is the author of 25 published novels, 24 books of fables, hundreds of comic book stories, and several albums which have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His children's stories and fables are published around…

Lauren Caldwell, assistant professor of classical studies, is the author of a new book titled Roman Girlhood and the Fashioning of Femininity, published by Cambridge University Press in December 2014. Elite women in the Roman world were often educated, socially prominent, and even relatively independent. Yet the social regime that ushered these same women into marriage and childbearing at an early age was remarkably restrictive. In the first book-length study of girlhood in the early Roman Empire, Caldwell investigates the reasons for this paradox. Through an examination of literary, legal, medical and epigraphic sources, she identifies the social pressures that tended…

Professor Peter Rutland is the author of an article titled "Petronation? Oil, gas and national identity in Russia," published in Post-Soviet Affairs, Volume 31, Issue 1, January 2015. Rutland is professor of government, the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, professor of Russian and Eastern European studies and tutor in the College of Social Studies. The article was written as part of the research project “Nation-Building and Nationalism in Today’s Russia (NEORUSS),” financed by the Norwegian Research Council. Based on survey research, elite interviews, and an analysis of media treatment, Rutland's article explores the place of oil and…

An article by Victoria Smolkin-Rothrock received honorable mention for the Distinguished Article Prize from the Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture. Smolkin-Rothrock is assistant professor of history, assistant professor of Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian studies and tutor in the College of Social Studies. Her article, titled "The Ticket to the Soviet Soul: Science, Religion and the Spiritual Crisis of Late Soviet Atheism," appeared in Volume 73, Issue 2 of The Russian Review and was selected from among 22 entries. The honor comes with a $200 award. Smolkin-Rothrock's article examines the confrontation of Soviet scientific atheism with religion as it played out on the pages and…

A chapter titled "Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)" by Charles Sanislow, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, was published in the Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology in January. Kevin Quinn of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Isaiah Sypher ’13 co-authored the chapter. Sypher worked in Sanislow’s lab at Wesleyan and then went on to a research position at the NIMH Intramural Program in Affective Neuroscience. He is currently in the process of applying to clinical science programs in psychology. Sanislow and Quinn are both charter members of the NIMH Working Group for the RDoC, a project that is developing…

Gruen’s New Book Explores Human-Animal Relationships

Craighead Co-Authors Paper on Account Reversals in Developing and Industrialized Countries

Singer’s Caterpillar Defense Studies Published in Ecology, Entomology Journals

Northrop Co-Authors Paper with Middletown Student

Novick’s Papers Focus on van der Walls Complex, Trifluoroanisole Water

Frisch Published in Multiple Chemistry Journals, Publications

Huwel, Morgan Investigate Dynamics of Laser-Induced Sparks in Helium

Shapiro Translates Fables in a Modern Key

In New Book, Caldwell Investigates Roman Girlhood and the Fashioning of Femininity

Rutland’s Paper Focuses on Oil, Gas and National Identity in Russia

Smolkin-Rothrock Receives Honorable Mention for Distinguished Article Prize

Sanislow, Sypher ’13 Published in Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology