Faculty and Staff Notes

Assistant Professor of Physics Jillian Scudder has released a new, fully illustrated edition of her book, Astroquizzical: Solving the Cosmic Puzzles of our Planets, Stars, and Galaxies—The Illustrated Edition (MIT Press). The book was released in the United States and Canada on February 2.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian Vladimir Ivantsov has published a chapter in the book Goncharov in the Twenty-First Century (Academic Studies Press, 2021) dedicated to the prominent 19th-century Russian writer Ivan Goncharov. In his chapter, Ivantsov explores themes of Plato’s philosophy in Goncharov’s most famous novel Oblomov (1859), offering a new interpretation of the Russian classic. 

The Society of Women Organists in London has selected three organ works by Visiting Professor of Organ Christa Rakich for inclusion in their Anthology of Women Composers for Organ. The Royal College of Organists and the American Guild of Organists will join in the SWO's celebration of Play-a-Woman-Composer Sunday on March 6. Church organists are encouraged to play works by women, record, and upload to social media with the hashtags #WomanComposerSunday and #SWomenOrganists. Rakich's works are available here.

Associate Professor of Geology Amanda Schmidt is coauthor of a blog post, "Living IN the Greenland ice sheet: The story of Sites I and II, Camp Century’s older, smaller siblings," on the European Geophysical Union website.

Assistant Professor of East Asian Religions Andrew Macomber published two book reviews, one on a Korean deity in Japanese Buddhism for Monumenta Nipponica, and another on Buddhism and medicine in premodern in Japan for Asian Medicine.

Professor of Economics Ron Cheung gave expert advice for two articles on credit cards published by MoneyGeek.com: one on credit ratings, and another on credit card rewards points.  

The Journal of the American Viola Society (AVS) celebrates "Fifty Extraordinary Leaders in Fifty Years" with an article that features Oberlin Professor of Viola Peter Slowik, former AVS President and host of International Viola Congress and Associate Professor of Community Engagement and former secretary of AVS Louise Zeitlin.

Professor of Economics Ron Cheung published the article, "Homeowner Associations and City Cohesion," in Regional Science and Urban Economics.

Frederick B. Artz Professor of History Leonard V. Smith has been awarded a three-month, Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship at the European University Institute. The institute is located in a villa just outside Florence, Italy. He will begin work on a project comparing law, liberalism, and racial exclusion in 19th century Texas and French Algeria.

Danforth-Lewis Professor of Economics John Duca remotely presented "What Drives House Prices: Lessons from the Literature," to the Federal Housing Finance Agency on December 1. Duca also remotely presented the paper, "How New Fed Corporate Bond Programs Cushioned the Covid-19 Recession," at the World Banking and Finance Symposium on December 17.