Ides of August
Associate Professor of Rhetoric Sara A. Mehltretter Drury presented about her summer project working with Campus Compact and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation to took at civil discourse on campus and create guidance and resources for higher education institutions to better engage with civic issues such as war, race and anti-racism, campus issues, college governance, and other divisive topics.
Huei-Jyun Ye, assistant professor of political science, was the day's first presenter.
Her persentation, "Trade Negotiations and Cooperation of the Americas, 1980-2024," explained her work with The Trade Bargaining Dataset project.
The project aims to collect information on the trade negotiation process. This project presents a comprehensive picture of trade negotiations, including those ended with trade agreements and those discontinued.
This summer, Ye says the research team completed the data collections from 34 countries and based on the negotiation pattern in the dataset, they drew several research questions that deserve future exploration.
Alison Rosenblum, visiting assistant professor of mathematics, presented "Paper Snowflakes: Computational Bounds for Homology in Type B."
She says that paper snowflakes work because of symmetry. You cut holes in a folded piece of paper, and then unfold to view the snowflake-like design you have created. Here, instead of creating snowflakes, we would like to count how many holes they have. Can we make that task easier by counting while the snowflake is in its folded state?
Mathematically, this is precisely the approach recently taken for counting the "holes" of symmetric sets. An algorithm by Basu and Riener leverages one specific type of symmetry to accomplish the task in far fewer steps than the best known algorithms without symmetry. Now, we would like to see if this algorithm still works in the next major class of symmetry [this talk reflects joint work with Dr. Saugata Basu].
Rosenblum also gave attendees paper and scissors to make their own snowflakes.
Andrew Bowling, visiting assistant professor of mathematics, takes in Rosenblum's talk.
Brian Tucker, professor of German, enjoys a presentation.
Juliette Papadopoulos, visiting assistant professor of French and postdoctoral fellow, presented "Cognitive justice’ and intercultural awareness through comic books: Promoting a more diverse and decolonized French curriculum at the Elementary level."
Her presentation focused on the necessity to provide students of French, particularly at the elementary level, with activities that target the intercultural competence by using simple and accessible, yet authentic documents, which reflect the plurality and diversity of French-speaking countries and regions.
Considering the challenges of teaching load, reduced class time, and fabricated content in elementary-level commercial textbooks, she presented here a project that started as a graduate student: designing activities to teach about basic topics (family, school, daily environment) using comic books from different Francophone areas. By showing a sample activity based on an Ivorian comic book, I want to emphasize that it is possible to easily integrate a diversity of perspectives in the Elementary French classroom, thanks to open access resources that can complement or enrich the content of a classic textbook.
Joyce Burnette, professor of economics, listens to Papadopoulos' presentation.
Karen Gunther, professor of psychology, was one of many fellow professors to attend.
Dan Rogers, professor of Spanish, asks a question as Neil Schmitzer-Torbert, professor of psychology (left) and Amanda Ingram, professor of biology, look on. Interestingly, each of Wabash's three academic divisions are represented in this photo.
Before he presented to the group, Jorge Montiel, assistant professor of philosophy, was an avid listener.
In addition, her project would help elementary French instructors promote a more decolonized and less Eurocentric curriculum, one that values the coexistence of different forms of knowledge in the classroom.
Beth Daniel Lindsay, research and instructional librarian, presented "Evolving Student and Faculty Perceptions of (Open) Textbooks at Wabash."
Lindsay spoke of how the Lilly Library conducted surveys of faculty and staff in the SPring 2021 regarding textbooks. The surveys were repeated in Spring 2024 and some findings were presented.
According to Lindsaty, both students and faculty are much more aware of open textbooks than they were three years ago. Additionally, while faculty continue to consider cost when selecting course materials (among other factors), students are much more aware of this effort than they were in 2021 (3.57 vs 2.82 on a 4-point Likert scale with 4 meaning "strongly agree"). Students also rated the College’s attention towards textbook costs higher (3.47 vs 2.28 on a 4-point Likert scale).
She also shared ongoing opportunities for faculty to receive stipends for reviews and course (re)design grants. Support for the survey and these stipends is provided by PALSave, the affordable learning initiative of PALNI, the Private Academic Libraries Network of Indiana. PALSave soon will offer grants for engaging with open pedagogy.
Joe Scanlon '03, associate professor of chemistry, presented "Tethered Electron Donor Acceptor Complexes as Molecular Switches."
Molecular switches are molecules that can take two distinct states and have applications in molecular transistors, light activated catalysts, and drug delivery. Electron donor acceptor (EDA) complexes are comprised of two molecules, one with a partial positive charge and one with a partial negative charge.
According to Scanlonh, our experimental collaborator has synthesized the electron donor and electron acceptor molecules tethered together by chemical bonds. These act at molecular switches with the “closed” state when the EDA complex is formed and an “open” state when they are separate. Computational chemistry was used to determine that the closed state is energetically favored over the open state.
Scanlon also investigated how long the tether needed to be to not allow the EDA complex to form. The charge transfer was quantified in both the ground and excited state and it was found that almost a full electron was transferred in the excited state. Lastly, we found that wavelength of light to needed reach the excited state is 50-100 nanometers larger in the closed state versus the open state.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Jorge Montiel presented his work from the summer on translating a book by Leopoldo Zea.
Associate Professor of Physics Nathan Tompkins talked about his work in streamlining the creation of microfluidic devices.
Professor of Psychology Neil Schmitzer-Torbert talked about the Enduring Questions course.
Visiting Instructor of Chemistry Lynn Krushinski shared her work in introducing electrochemistry to students in elementary, middle, and high school.
Associate Professor of Economics Sujata Saha shared her initial reflections from her sabbatical research in the Dharavi Slum of Mumbai.
Scholar-in-Residence Aiala Levy presented "Escuchando: Centering Latine Voices in Wabash History," highlighting an oral history project that gathered narratives from Wabash alumni who identify as Latine.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Suzanne Delle talked about a project she created with theater students in the fall of 2020. They designed a choose-your-own-adventure style game to help first responders cope with PTSD.
Professor of Chemistry Walter Novak and Associate Professor of Biology Erika Sorensen-Kamakian presented "Experimenting with Opportunity: Best Practices for Increasing Student Success in a Diverse Student Body." They used mentor-mentee contracts, individual development plans, and collaborative agreements to foster a welcoming atmosphere in their combined labs.
Professor of Chemistry Walter Novak and Associate Professor of Biology Erika Sorensen-Kamakian presented "Experimenting with Opportunity: Best Practices for Increasing Student Success in a Diverse Student Body." They used mentor-mentee contracts, individual development plans, and collaborative agreements to foster a welcoming atmosphere in their combined labs.
Professor of Economics Frank M. Howland discussed his research on the relationship between education and wealth across different generations in the U.S. His research included the application of a long-term regression to determine the gap of wap for differing age groups and across cultural lines.
Professor of Psychology Karen Gunther presented on the relationship of sound frequency and color perception. Gunther's research included key elements from Wabash student-led research projects.
Scenic Designer & Technical Director David Vogel presented on his experience at a 2-week, intensive puppet program in Prague, Czechia. Vogel spoke of the many cultural differences between his home country (the United States) and the Czech Republic. Most notabley, Vogel highlighted the importance of puppet culture within the everyday life of Czechia.
Associate Professor of Political Science Lorraine Krall McCrary discussed her research on disability and the politics of community. McCrary's time on sabatical included travel to different disability intensive communities, including Geel, Belgium.
