Science in Society

Wesleyan’s faculty has been hard-at-work in 2023 sharing their scholarship with the world. Here are some of the books written by Wesleyan’s faculty over the past year. Homesick Blues: Politics, Protest, and Musical Storytelling in Modern Japan by Scott Aalgaard Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies Scott Aalgaard explores how people in Japan have used “musical storytelling” as a means of expressing themselves in their everyday life and as a political practice from the late 1940s to 2018. Within the book, he challenges assertions that political upheavals in the 1960s and 70s in Japan were the climax and end of…

A patient sits on a cold, hard table under fluorescent lights while a doctor prepares to do their work. Acknowledging that there are limits to what medical practitioners can do, Isabel Koral ’23 said the experience of an in-clinic abortion often seems impersonal. Intentional or not, there’s always a barrier between the medical professional and patient, she said. Koral, a Science in Society and Hispanic Literatures and Cultures double-major, has held a longstanding interest in Reproductive Justice, and during a study abroad experience in Mérida, México, Koral learned a new approach. There is a thriving culture of collectives and caretaker…

Thomas J. Watson Fellow Jocelyn Velasquez Baez ’23 will travel to at least six countries in a year’s time to explore how the integration, adaptation, and practice of traditional medicine is perceived in diverse Indigenous and ethnic communities around the world. The Watson Fellowship, sponsored by the Watson Foundation, allows recent graduates from 41 partner institutions to do year-long independent exploration projects outside of the United States. Velasquez Baez will travel to the Philippines, Ecuador, Nepal, Ghana, New Zealand, and Canada—with the hope of more—to visit and learn from various Indigenous and ethnic communities in each country over the course…

When Frances Ostensen ’24 set sail aboard the SSV Robert C. Seamans this fall, she knew she was in for an adventure. Ostensen, a biology and Science in Society Program double major who spent the semester abroad with the Sea Education Association (SEA), learned more about the environment, human civilizations, and their endless connections than she ever expected. Her chosen program, called Sustainability in Pacific Island Communities and Ecosystems, began in Woods Hole, Mass. in October. After flying to the South Pacific in November, Ostensen set sail in a loop around Polynesia alongside seven other students, professors, and crew members…

With pride in their accomplishments and hopes for a bright future, fifteen students celebrated their initiation into the Connecticut Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at a ceremony held on December 7 in the McKelvey Room at the Office of Admission. In order to be inducted into the nation’s oldest scholastic honor society, students must be nominated by the department of their major, have completed their general education expectations, and must have a grade point average of 93 or above. “For students elected in the fall, it is an especially exacting selection process because admittance is based on a student’s…

Tsampikos Kottos, the Lauren B. Dachs Endowed Professor of Science and Society, is passionate about the importance of sensors in our everyday lives and believes his most recent efforts will improve safety in fields as varied as aviation, biology, and food safety. “Nothing in this universe can work without sensing. The human body is an amazing sensor, starting from the brain all the way down to the toes,” Kottos said. “We are trying to learn from what nature has created.” Kottos, along with Rodion Kononchuk, postdoctoral physics research associate in Wesleyan’s Wave Transport in Complex Systems Laboratory, Professor of Physics…

Associate professor of Science in Society Anthony Ryan Hatch specializes in health systems, medical technology, and social inequalities. His recent paper, titled “The data will not save us: Afropessimism and racial antimatter in the COVID-19 pandemic,” published in Big Data and Society on Feb. 23, combines his areas of expertise in an analysis of disparities in racial health exacerbated by the pandemic. The paper begins with a staggering statistic: “According to the CDC Covid Data Tracker, 89,713 Black people have died from complications due to COVID-19, about 13.7% of total deaths (as of 2/11/22, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,…

For his efforts in creating a public understanding of complex ethical issues in health, health care, science, and technology, Anthony Ryan Hatch has been awarded a Hastings Center Fellowship. He's among only 24 new fellows elected this year from six countries and a range of disciplines, including medicine, nursing, philosophy, law, American studies, and theater. The Hastings Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization created from multiple disciplines, including philosophy, law, political science, and education. It's the oldest, independent, nonpartisan, interdisciplinary research institute in the world. Hatch, associate professor and chair of the science and society program, teaches, conducts research, and lectures…

Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, is the author and co-author of several new publications. They include: "A View of the Ocean, Between the Tropics (1765–1800),” published in Britain in the World: Highlights from the Yale Center for British Art by Yale University Press, 2019. “Popularizing the Cosmos: Pedagogies of Science and Society in Anton Pannekoek’s Life and Work,” published in Anton Pannekoek: Ways of Viewing Science and Society by Amsterdam University Press, 2019. (more…)

Anthony Ryan Hatch, chair and associate professor of science in society, is the author of Silent Cells: The Secret Drugging of Captive America, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2019. The book offers a critical investigation into the use of psychotropic drugs to pacify and control inmates and other captives in the vast US prison, military, and welfare systems. According to the publisher: Anthony Ryan Hatch demonstrates that the pervasive use of psychotropic drugs has not only defined and enabled mass incarceration but has also become central to other forms of captivity, including foster homes, military and immigrant…

Associate Professor of Science in Society Anthony Ryan Hatch is the author of a new book, Silent Cells: The Secret Drugging of Captive America, published on April 30 by University of Minnesota Press. The book is a critical investigation into the use of psychotropic drugs to pacify and control inmates and other captives in the vast U.S. prison, military, and welfare systems. According to the publisher: "For at least four decades, U.S. prisons and jails have aggressively turned to psychotropic drugs—antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedatives, and tranquilizers—to silence inmates, whether or not they have been diagnosed with mental illnesses. In Silent Cells, Anthony Ryan…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” In a new article, Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker explores our ongoing romance with the gas lamp in connection with the new Mary Poppins film. Tucker is also associate professor and chair, feminist, gender, and sexuality studies; associate professor, science in society; and associate professor, environmental studies. In 'Mary Poppins Returns,' an ode to the gas lamp “Mary Poppins Returns” transports audiences back to 1930s London. The beloved nanny at the center of the original 1964…

Wesleyan Faculty Publications 2023

Senior Thesis: Koral ’23 Highlights Community Abortion Care Network in México

Watson Fellow Jocelyn Velasquez Baez to Explore Ethical Understandings of Traditional Medicine in 6 Countries

Exploring Sustainability, Building Community, and Fostering Connections: Frances Ostensen ’24 and Her SEA Semester

New Phi Beta Kappa Inductees Named

New Sensor Will Help Improve Safety in Aviation, Biology, and More

Hatch Examines Racial Health Disparities, COVID-19, and Data in New Paper

Hatch Named Hastings Center Fellow for His Efforts with Health Inequality

Tucker Authors Several New Papers on Science in Society, Modern Science

Hatch Pens Book on the Secret Use of Drugs to Control Captives

Hatch Authors New Book on “The Secret Drugging of Captive America”

Tucker in The Conversation: In ‘Mary Poppins Returns,’ an Ode to the Gas Lamp