Faculty and Staff Notes

Alicia Smith-Tran published an article in the Journal of Autoethnography titled, "Expecting in Unexpected Times: Navigating a Pandemic Pregnancy."

Professor Emily Barton, along with seniors Dora Neiden and Helenor Harris-Evans, visited the Westlake fourth-grade classroom of Ms. Erin Vanek to observe and respond to student presentations on which element of storytelling is most important. Each student had chosen an element of craft (such as character, plot, or point of view) and prepared a PowerPoint presentation to argue their point, using specific examples from source texts. Professor Barton, Neiden, and Harris-Evans were amazed at the nuance of the students' arguments and their passion in arguing them.

Joshua Harrington Davidson's coauthored study "Identifying community-level disparities in access to driver education and training: Toward a definition of driver training deserts" has just appeared in Traffic Injury Prevention.

Professor of Hispanic Studies Sebastiaan Faber has published a short book about Spain's international image, Leyendas negras, marcas blancas. La malsana obsesión con la imagen de España en el mundo, in a series edited by the magazine Contexto. He has also contributed an article to a thematic issue of the Journal of Academic Freedom, published by the AAUP, on recent political challenges to academic freedom in history teaching and research. In October, he interviewed Astra Taylor about student debt relief in the United States and spoke in a podcast with Jacobin's Eoghan Gilmartin about the Spanish novelist Javier Marías, who died in September.   

Assistant Professor of Writing and Communication Cortney Smith's co-authored essay, "The Communication Discipline and Peace Education: A Valuable Intersection for Disrupting Violence in Communication Centers," was recently published in the Journal of Communication Pedagogy.

Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy Jillian Scudder's new popular science book, The Milky Way Smells of Rum & Raspberries was published in the UK on November 3 by Icon Books. It will be released in the US/Global market on February 14, 2023.

Associate Professor Ross Karre coproduced and performed in a concert featuring composers from the Iranian Female Composers Association. The works were performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble conducted by Steven Schick. Among the musicians were Oberlin alumni, Hannah Levinson, Rebekah Heller, and Joshua Rubin. The program included the world premiere performance of Inexorable Passage by Nina Barzegar, the US premiere of within the Hadal and Epi by Anahita Abbasi, the NYC premiere of Crystalline Trees by Aida Shirazi, and additional works by Golfam Khayam, Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, Nasim Khorassani, and Bahar Royaee. Niloufar Shiri performed solo kamancheh interludes throughout the evening. (New York Times subscription needed to view article.)

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Shuming Chen has been awarded a $55,000 grant by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for her project, "Probing Complex Post-Transition State Bifurcations in Reactions Between Boroles and Unsaturated Hydrocarbons". Professor Chen and her undergraduate research students will use both experimental and computational approaches to study mechanisms in this family of organic reactions.

Associate Professor of Physics Jillian Scudder coauthored a publication in the Astrophysical Journal on galaxies which have undergone a recent burst of star formation, examining the frequency of mergers in combination with where within a galaxy star formation is suppressed.

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.