Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Patrick Simen’s article “Scale (In)Variance in a Unified Diffusion Model of Decision Making and Timing” was published in Psychological Review. The article was written with student coauthors Ksenia Vlasov '13 and Samantha Papadakis '15.

The article derives behavioral predictions from a simplified mathematical model of neural activity, and it describes the results of human behavioral experiments carried out by students at Oberlin to test these predictions. Most of the predictions held up, suggesting that timing and perceptual decision making depend on a common process in which neural activity builds up over time at a constant rate.

Professor of Psychology Nancy Darling presented an invited workshop on dynamic systems modeling at the prestigious Theory Construction and Research Methodology pre-session of the National Council of Family Relations in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The three-hour session introduced dynamic systems modeling as a complement to more traditional statistical techniques in the study of human development and the family. The hands-on component of the workshop focused on using Nova, a software product developed by Richard Salter, professor of computer science, for dynamic systems, agent-based, and spacial modeling (novamodler.com).

Models of teacher-adolescent interactions and romantic attachment grew out of work done with students in Darling's upper-level course on advanced methods for the study of adolescent development. Additional models of longitudinal change in romantic pairings were developed with Ian Burns ’10. Other models presented include Excel models developed with Elizabeth Lockman ’12.

East Asian Studies professor Sheila Miyoshi Jager was the guest speaker at the Amherst, Ohio, Veterans Day ceremony on November 11. A mural honoring veterans of the Korean War was dedicated joining previous murals for World War II and the Vietnam War.

Jager remarked that the mural honors not only veterans who served in the war between 1950 and 1953, but also the millions who have served and are still serving today to defend South Korea in the "unending" war. She pointed out that the legacy of their service and sacrifice is the prosperous and vibrant democracy that is today's South Korea who plays a leading role in preserving peace and promoting prosperity in the world.

Jager's latest book, Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea, is a history of the fraternal conflict that has lasted for more than half a century. The book was recognized at the 2013 National Book Festival and was selected as one of the best books on Asia in 2013 by Foreign Affairs magazine.

See more information on the mural and the dedication ceremony from the Oberlin News Tribune, Amherst News-Times, and Cleveland.com.

Professor of Physics Stephen FitzGerald published the paper "Orientational ortho-H2 pair interactions in the microporous framework MOF-5” in the international journal Physical Review B. The paper was co-authored by Christopher Eckdahl '17, Cooper McDonald '15, Jocienne Nelson '14, Kai Shinbrough '17, Holden Lai '15, and the late Assistant Professor of Chemistry Jesse Rowsell.

Vice President and Dean of Students Eric Estes participated on a panel and helped facilitate a discussion on institutional responses to and support for student activists calling for greater access and inclusion for undocumented applicants and enrolled undocumented students at the 2015 COFHE Academic and Student Services Conference in November at Rice University.

Shelley Lee, associate professor of comparative American studies and history, was quoted in the article “‘April’s Way’ Captures Stories of Korean-American Merchants During L.A. Riots” that appeared on the NBC News website. Lee was interviewed by journalist Monica Luhar for the piece.

Professor of East Asian Studies Sheila Miyoshi Jager attended and presented at the Beijing Forum 2015, held November 6-8.

The Beijing Forum is an annual event that began in 2004 under the auspices of the Beijing Municipal Government and organized by Peking University. It is endorsed by the State Council and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and co-sponsored by Peking University, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, and the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. The forum is an international academic event that advocates civilizational harmony by bringing together the world’s most eminent thinkers in order to stimulate academic and cultural exchanges crucial for world peace and social progress.

This year's 3-day gathering brought together 300 scholars from more than 70 countries. Jager spoke on the panel Constructing a Road for Peace: Historical Responsibility and Multiple Memory and gave a presentation based on her current book project on the great power competition over Northeast Asia at the end of the 19th Century and its implications for peace in the region today.

Ruberta T. McCandless Professor of French Matthew Senior co-edited and contributed an essay to the spring 2015 issue of Yale French Studies. The special volume, Animots: Postanimality in French Thought, co-edited with Carla Freccero (University of California Santa Cruz) and David L. Clark (McMaster University), examines the role of real and figural animals in French philosophy, literature, and art, ranging from Georges Bataille’s writings on prehistoric art to medieval bestiaries, animals in Holocaust literature, and animals in contemporary cinema. Senior’s essay is "'L'animal que donc je suis': Self-Humaning in Descartes and Derrida.”

Tim Scholl, professor of Russian and comparative literature and director of the Oberlin Center for Languages and Cultures, presented the paper “Among Empires: Marius Petipa’s Responses to Late Nineteenth-Century Russian Nationalisms” at the international symposium From Bordeaux to St. Petersburg, Marius Petipa and the Russian Ballet, held October 21-23 in Bordeaux, France.

The conference was funded by French UNESCO and marked the first time an academic conference was held in France to celebrate the work of the French-Russian choreographer who created the basis of the ballet repertory now considered classic: Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and scores of other dances.

Brian Alegant, director of music theory and Barker Professor of music theory, published the article “Dallapiccola’s Second Thoughts: The Epilogue to the Concerto per la notte di Natale dell’anno 1956” in an early view version of Music Analysis.