Francis Wilkin, senior lecturer in physics and astronomy and observatory manager, and members of his scholars research team published two papers in the Minor Planet Bulletin in March, 2024. Jake Maier '24 was co-author and presented his senior thesis results in "Synodic Rotation Period for Koronis Family Object (452) Hamiltonia," while Eduardo Castro '27, Micaela Magno '27, Ryan Petrauskas '27 and Dimitrios Vasileios Zora '26 were co-authors on a second paper, "Lightcurves for Three Koronis Family Asteroids." The students used telescopic observations from the Union College Observatory as well as observatories in Australia, Chile, Spain, New Mexico and Utah to study the rotation of four fragments from a broken-up progenitor object in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Professor Daniel Mosquera attended an international conference on Circus cultures, Encuentro Internacional de circo y sus saberes-Achura Karpa, held in Bogotá, Colombia in Feb-March 2024. The international encounter included talks, performances, round table discussions, workshops, etc. and was co-organized by Prof. Charles Batson also from the Modern Languages and Literatures department. At the conference, Prof. Mosquera presented a paper on environmentalism and social circus.
Professor Daniel O. Mosquera also recently completed three documentary videos examining contemporary re-enactments of the Passion of Christ in three Central Mexico towns, Amecameca, Chimalhuacán, and Ozumba. The three videos are now available on Youtube but can also be viewed through the Passion Plays of Eighteenth Century Mexico NEH-sponsored website, which also houses multiple translations (from Nahuatl and Spanish into English), the 3 videos themselves, paleographic and modernized transcriptions, and analyses by diverse scholars.
Jennifer Fredricks, Professor of Psychology, delivered the keynote address at the NCESE annual conference, Building Engagement Through Quality Relationships in Melbourne, Australia. She also facilitated workshops for principals and school staff on how to create more engaging classrooms. She will also be facilitating a roundtable on positive youth development at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting in Philadelphia in April.
The Los Angeles Review of Books recently published an essay by Lori Marso, the Doris Zemurray Stone Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies. Marso's essay reviews novelist Christine Smallwood's book about a classic Chantal Akerman film, “La Captive.” Marso is a regular contributor to The Los Angeles Review of Books. To read Marso’s latest essay, visit the website.
Kaitlin Staudt, visiting assistant professor of english, has received an ACLS Project Development Grant. This grant will provide the funds to conduct archival research in Turkey this summer.
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