Faculty and Staff Notes

Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy Jillian Scudder's recent book, Astroquizzical: The Illustrated Edition (MIT Press) was included in the longlist of eight candidates for the 2023 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Young Adult Science Book category.

Multiple students who worked in Professor Marta Laskowski's lab are coauthors on a paper that appeared in the journal Development. The paper uncovers a gene regulatory network that links the size and shape of the root system to expression of genes that are known to control the life cycle stage of the shoot system. The work was done in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana.

Stephen Crowley presented a talk entitled “Sanctions, Economic Hardship, and Social (In)stability in Russia” at the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute for Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies. He published an article with the same title on the website Riddle. He was interviewed by the BBC World Service about the impact of sanctions on Russian society and potential for social protest.

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Allegra Hyde published an essay in The Rumpus. Titled "Somewhere Over the Rainbow: A Search for Transcendence and Annihilation in New Zealand's Hippie Paradise," the essay explores how living in hippie communes shaped her identity as a person and as a writer.

Associate Professor of Computer Science Cynthia Taylor gave a talk and was on a panel for the "STEM in the Art Museum: Teaching Skills and Content through Art" Symposium at Yale University on October 14. The symposium was organized by Liliana Milkova, formerly the Curator of Academic Programs at the Allen Memorial Art Museum.

Peter Slowik gave the world premiere of four new compositions for solo viola in a concert at Old South Church in Boston on October 22. All told, twelve new compositions were premiered by three violists, Slowik was joined by his former student Daniel Orsen ’16 and Jordan Bak.

Scott Branson's new book Practical Anarchism: A Guide For Daily Life (Pluto Books) was launched at a live streamed event on October 24. Branson talked with Vicky Osterweil, the author of In Defense of Looting.

Visiting Associate Professor of Economics Udara Peiris was recently interviewed on NewslineSL, the prime political and economics discussion and analysis TV program, in Sri Lanka on the debt and economic crisis the country is facing.

Assistant Professor of Dance Al Evangelista participated and presented in two panels at the Dance Studies Association annual conference. The two panels titled, “Dancing in the Aftermath of Anti-Asian Hate” and “Acts of Tribute, Practices of Citation: Recognition as Resistance to Cultures of Individualism” took place October 13-16 in Vancouver, BC. On the panels, he discussed upcoming publications including one on dance and bystander intervention training. 

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Allegra Hyde visited SUNY Fredonia as an invited speaker for the Mary Louise White Visiting Writers Series. She discussed role of climate fiction in environmental activism and read from her novel Eleutheria.