Abstracts 9:30–10:40am

Humanities States, the most financially successful, and and during specific times of ceremony. The bells arguably influential, black comedian of the announce special events and act as timekeepers, 1960s was Jackie “Moms” Mabley. She appeared but they also shape the campus environment The Way We Were on stage as a bedraggled, grandmother figure through their unique sound. As a student in an (short talks) Pendletont Hall East 239 that boldly asserted her sexual desires while ethnomusicology field methods class, I spent slyly critiquing segregation, the United States fall semester taking an in-depth look at the Harnessing Visibility: Creating government, and incongruous behavior within Guild’s culture and the function the bells fulfill Perspective in Narrative Film majority and minority populations. She used on campus. As a carillonneur myself, I already Lauren E. Chen ’14, English her privileged position to directly contribute had an “in” as a participant, but in taking on the Advisor: Luther Tyler, English to the civil rights movement while assuaging role of observer, I realized the Guild has a more Film is a medium in which realistic representa- the difficult process of achieving consensus integral role in the community and campus tion not only combines but also collides with within activist movements. Through a study environment than I originally understood, with fantasy, where these two contradictory elements of Jackie Mabley and the communities she a long history behind it; in fact, plays a crucial of storytelling both intertwine and coalesce created around her comedy, I found justification role in forming Wellesley’s soundscape. to create new perspectives. Film is a marriage to broaden our definitions for political action of the real and the fake, the building and and activism. (Research supported by a Chez les Vuillard: Paintings of Disease and Infirmity in Fin-de-Siècle Paris breaking down of illusion that helps to create Schiff Fellowship) cinematic perspective. The creation of cinematic Michaela R. Haffner ’14, Art History and perspective is manifested in filmic self-reflexivity, Oral Histories of Wellesley Alumnae of French African Descent from the Pre-Ethos Era which will be discussed through close analyses of Advisor: Margaret Carroll, Art Nora E. Mishanec ’14, Cognitive & Linguistic different films. From Billy Wilder’s noir, “Sunset The late nineteenth-century French Nabi artist, Sciences and Psychology Boulevard,” to Ben Affleck’s drama, “Argo,” the Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940), engages fin- idea of self-reflexivity in film is transcendent of Advisor: Brenna Greer, History de-siècle discourses of disease and degeneration all time periods and genres in Hollywood. In the fall of 1958, eight first-years of African in his series of intimiste domestic paintings descent enrolled at Wellesley as members of from 1891-95. These disquieting interiors not Shaping Femininity: Middle and the Class of 1962. It was a turning point for the only suggest the artist’s personal encounter with Working Class Girls’ Schooling in College, as previous classes had never graduated illness in his shared family home, but also the Victorian England more than three or four students of African general spirit of malaise and obsession with Daisy M. Dowdall ’14, History descent. With funding from the Office of the morbidity that pervaded turn-of-the-century Advisor: Lidwien Kapteijns, History Provost and the Pamela Daniels Fellowship, Paris. His portrayal of the invalid woman Girls’ education experienced major reform in I collected oral histories from alumnae of evokes the then-common practice of deathbed the Victorian period. The emergence of a African descent of the 1950s and early 1960s, photography, and his treatment of interior space national education system opened sustained who attended Wellesley before the founding suggests the dwelling as a polluted and diseased formal schooling to an unprecedented number of Ethos. The project was inspired by an environment. Vuillard subverts the conventional of working-class girls, while the creation of assignment in Professor Brenna Greer’s history bourgeois conception of the home as a haven, public girls’ schools allowed the majority of course titled ‘Modern Black Freedom Struggle.’ and through a “microbial” aesthetic and a middle-class girls to receive rigorous “grammar- This oral history collection--housed in the claustrophobic manipulation of space, imbues school” educations for the first time. But Archives--documents an important chapter in its very walls with the threat of contagion. how transformative were these changes, really? the College’s history, one that requires us to My re-historicization of Vuillard within the Despite the reform, both groups were still reexamine the typical narrative of students Parisian medical milieu offers a new trained to be, above all, good wives and mothers of African descent at Wellesley. (Research understanding of the uncanny reverberations who remained within the domestic sphere. supported by a Daniels Fellowship) in his deceivingly warm and intimate domestic This presentation examines the significance scenes. (Research supported by a Schiff of Victorian educational reform through a Bells, Ballet, Medicine Fellowship) case study of eight memoirs, including those & Museum of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Annie (short talks) Pendleton Hall West 212 Defining the American Vision: The Whitney Museum of American Art’s Besant. In so doing, it also briefly outlines the Role in Changing the Landscape process of locating these obscure and sometimes The Carillon, Ringing in the Community of American Art History unpublished texts, as well as the importance of Tiffany Chen ’15, Spanish Lauren M. Richmond ’14, Economics and the memoir as a historical source. Advisor: Tamar Barzel, Music Art History So You Want to Pursue a History The carillon, an instrument consisting of bells Advisor: Rebecca Bedell, Art Thesis? Real Talk About Studying played through manuals and a pedal-board, is an In the early twentieth-century United States, Comedy and the Modern Black oft-heard but little-known treasure on Wellesley’s Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney became one of the Freedom Struggle campus. Familiar to most as the “bell tower,” most important patrons of American art. Her Frances G. Leeson ’14, History students in the Wellesley Guild of Carillonneurs, a group of musicians with an enthusiasm for efforts to promote American artists, whom she Advisor: Brenna Greer, History bells, ascend the bell tower to play pieces ranging believed did not have enough support in the art Although women are often excluded in from baroque sarabandes all the way to the market, eventually culminated in the founding the popular memory of both the civil rights theme from “Game of Thrones” between classes of the Whitney Museum of American Art in movement and black comics in the United New York. It was one of the first institutions in

18 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 9:30–10:40am the country focusing exclusively on American will give a coherent historical view of how the Al-Ghareeb The Stranger art. Through the exhibitions, publications, and Japanese and Japanese Americans were treated (short performance) lectures it offered in its opening years (1931- by the US government during World War II. Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Alumnae Hall 1937), the Museum played a significant role in Sahar S. Ibrahim ’16, Undeclared, How to Find the Grownup defining the character, canon, and history of Amelia M. Redmond ’16, Cinema and American art, all while the country was reeling Secrets: A Collection of Poems Media Studies (literary reading) Pendleton Hall West 220 from the stock market crash of 1929. The story Advisor: Nora Hussey, Theatre Studies it was crafting was often at odds with the one Lisa A. Ventura ’14, Computer Science This piece was composed following the events being shaped just blocks away at the Museum Advisor: Frank Bidart, English of Modern Art. commonly referred to as the Arab Spring in This project probes the delicate or brash ways late 2010 to early 2011. It is an ethnodrama The Powerhouses of Parisian Society: a person formulates their own identity. Though comprised of the voices of students attending Effects of Female Patrons on the identity is often incorporated into poetry, this school abroad, away from their countries and Ballets Russes project differs because the focus rests more on their families, as they witness the tragedies and Emily K. Weddle ’14, Music and Art History conscious changes to the elusive self and the transformations of the places they call home. Advisor: Gurminder Bhogal, Music internal complexity of molding oneself. These These voices come from Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, poems explore the way a voice can be mutilated and Egypt, but may very well represent the The Ballet Russes dominated the avant-garde or empowered or silenced by the heightened voices of all those affected by such conflicts world of early twentieth century Paris with consciousness of its identity among other living from all parts of the world through time. ballets that brought together the greatest artistic participants. By investigating the speaker’s and musical minds of the time. Their ascent interactions and observations, we discover Science & Technology into stardom was realized through the hard changes in perspective and self-awareness. work of figures like Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Pablo Picasso, and their founder Serge Diaghilev. Human Masks Light Matters Alongside these figures, patronesses like the (exhibition) Jewett Arts Center Art Gallery (short talks) Founders Hall 120 Comtesse Greffulhe, the Princesse de Polignac, April P. Zhu ’14, Environmental Studies Misia Sert, and Coco Chanel contributed The Love-Hate Relationship between greatly to the ballet troupe in four different Advisor: Bunny Harvey, Art Plants and Light: Investigations on High Light Tolerance Mechanisms ways. Yet very few scholars have recognized Humans have covered their faces with masks in Arabidopsis thaliana these women for their significant contributions since early civilization, and throughout history, to the musical, artistic, and financial aspects of the mask has fulfilled many purposes—to­ hide, Andrea J. Bae ’14, Neuroscience the Ballets Russes. Their involvement included to protect, to sanctify, to frighten, to entertain. Advisor: Martina Koniger, Biological Sciences work on productions such as Parade, Les Noces Anthropologically and culturally, masks are Light is a taxing environmental challenge to and Le Train Bleu, and these four women’s roles artifacts ripe with human narrative, and there plants. Although it is necessary for photosyn- greatly affected the legacy of the Ballets Russes is much to be learned. But as an art object itself thesis, light in excess of what can be used for that remains today. (Research supported by the they offer a creatively fertile space for exploration photosynthesis can inflict cellular damage, Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship) of symbolism and emotion. Through masks, reduce photosynthetic ability, decrease growth, individuals create extensions of themselves by and strain fitness. Despite their immobility, The Enemy Race: Incarceration constructing an external object or image. To me, plants manage to tolerate an impressive range of Japanese Americans in this is fascinating; my painting series will explore of environmental light conditions through a World War II the psychological, cultural, socilogical, aesthetic, variety of sophisticated acclimation responses. (panel discussion) Founders Hall 126 and spiritual underpinnings of masks. One mechanism plants utilize to acclimate Emily F. Gamber ’14, Women’s & Gender to the drastically changing light variations of Book Arts Lab Demonstration Studies and American Studies, Eri R. Ichijo ’14, the natural world is chloroplast movement. Sociology, Erin S. Moy ’14, Media Arts and (interactive teaching presentation) Chloroplast movement involves the physical Sciences, Penny Wang ’14, Chemistry Clapp Library-Book Arts Lab rearrangement of chloroplasts within the cell Advisor: T. James Kodera, Religion Christine E. Campbell ’14, English, to either avoid or maximize light absorption. Elle D. Friedberg ’17, Undeclared, This Ruhlman presentation will be based In addition to chloroplast movement, plants Abigail M. Jones ’16, Mathematics, rely on non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), on American Studies seminar (318) called Mary J. Morse ’15, Undeclared (Olin), also known as heat dissipation, to minimize “Interning the “Enemy Race”: Japanese Kelsey M. Reiman ’15, Media Arts and Sciences light-induced damage through the conversion Americans in World War II. We studied and Advisor: Katherine Ruffin, Library Collections analyzed the rationale by the United States and subsequent dissipation of excess light into An artist’s book is a book created by an artist government for the incarceration of American heat. In the Königer lab, we evaluate the relative that examines the form of a book itself. citizens of Japanese ancestry, and Japanese importance of these fast acclimation responses Contemporary artists create books both digitally nationals living in the United States. Our toward the plant’s fitness by studying various and using traditional methods of letterpress research topics varied from Japan’s rise as a Arabidopsis thaliana mutants that exhibit genetic printing, printmaking, bookbinding and paper- colonial power, life in the internment camps, impairments related to chloroplast movement or making. We will look at examples of artists book the role of 442nd Regimental Combat Team, NPQ. In addition, we investigate how different and current student works. There will also be a and race and politics in post 9/11 America. light conditions during growth affect the degree hands-on interactive demonstration We will each discuss our research project, which to which plants rely on these mechanisms. of letterpress printing and bookbinding. Our current investigations have shown that

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 19 9:30–10:40am chloroplast movement and NPQ are sensitive Building a Confocal Microscope Social Sciences to environmental light conditions during for the Study of Nitrogen-Vacancy growth. In fact, plants grown under higher Centers in Diamond Nanocrystals Is the Price Right? light exhibit chloroplast movement to a lesser Catherine A. Matulis ’14, Physics (short talks) Science Center 278 degree than plants grown under lower light. Advisor: Robert Berg, Physics This may be attributed to differences in Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are atom-sized Generational Differences in Attitudes chloroplast arrangement between high light defects in diamond and have many potential Toward the Economy: The Case of plants and low light plants. Additionally, we applications, including storing bits of quantum China observed a trend where plants grown under information and acting as ultra-sensitive Fiona Fan ’17, Undeclared higher light exhibited greater NPQ abilities magnetic field sensors. In order to manipulate than plants grown under lower light. Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology the NV-centers and further investigate these Collectively, these findings suggest that a In a 2005 poll of Chinese public opinion, properties, it is necessary to be able to detect plant’s chloroplast movement and NPQ 74% of respondents agreed that “a free market single NV-centers. This can be achieved with mechanisms are flexible to environmental economy is the best system on which to base a confocal microscope. When excited with modulation. the future of the world”. Since the 1978 reform green light, NV-centers will emit red-orange movements in China, the concept of what Adam fluorescence. This fluorescence is strong enough The Detection of Photons from Smith called “the invisible hand” has gained that light originating from a single center can NV Centers in Diamond widespread acceptance in Chinese society. be detected. We are constructing a confocal Carina A. Belvin ’16, Physics Yet, this acceptance varies by generation. The microscope, using a collection of relatively Advisor: Robert Berg, Physics generation born during The Cultural Revolution common optical and electronic parts, which was nurtured by a planned economy where Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond will be able to scan a sample of diamond consumer values were widely based on the have recently attracted interest for their potential nanocrystals containing NV-centers and collect presence of a strong interventionist state that to act as single quantum bits for quantum images, then focus on and collect fluorescence provided extensive welfare benefits. The computers. When excited optically with green from a single center. (Research supported by motivations for their economic choices differ light, NV centers will exhibit photolumines- a Schiff Fellowship and the Center for significantly from more libertarian principles cence, emitting red photons. Since a single NV Integrated Quantum Materials) center can act as a single photon source, our that underlay the historical development of goal is to experimentally determine if a given On the Night Shift: Staking Out Western capitalist economies. This presentation focuses on the generational differences in sample contains a single NV center versus Three Koronis Family Asteroids attitudes toward the free market and their multiple centers using the Hanbury Brown (panel discussion) Science Center 277 and Twiss autocorrelation set up. Because of consequences for the future development Anicia Arredondo-Guerrero ’16, Astrophysics, the finite amount of time it takes to optically of Chinese society. Can these generational Anne-Marie M. Hartt ’16, Undeclared, differences be resolved as China increasingly excite an NV center, single centers can be Sormeh K. Yazdi ’16, Astrophysics identified by verifying that the probability of turns toward a more open economy? How Advisor: Stephen Slivan, Astronomy detecting the arrival of two photons at the will such differences affect future political same time approaches zero. I have worked on For more than a decade students have been developments? both modeling the autocorrelation data using using the 24-in Sawyer Telescope at Wellesley’s Whitin Observatory to study asteroids in the Optimal Product Design for MATLAB and setting up the photon detection a Linear Pricing Monopolist equipment for future experiments. (Research Koronis family, whose spins have been changed Sookyo Jeong ’14, Economics supported by the Center for Integrated over time by absorption and reemission of Quantum Materials) sunlight. In the 2014 spring semester we Advisor: Casey Rothschild, Economics learned how to make quantitative measurements This paper studies the optimal product design Quantum Effects in Nanoscale in the night sky using a modern astronomical for a linear pricing monopolist. I ask: what MOSFET Devices digital camera on the telescope, in the context is the profit maximizing strategy for a linear Alexandra L. Day ’15, Physics of planning and carrying out individual research pricing monopolist, while making sure that Advisor: Robert Berg, Physics projects to measure the spinning of three it is correctly targeting different types of Koronis members. Come learn the stories of MOSFET transistors are a key component consumers? I demonstrate that such an optimal enduring long nights of observing (and cloudy of virtually all modern electronic devices, and menu involves products that distort qualities for nights of non-observing), battling belligerent today’s advanced MOSFETs are small enough both types of consumers away from the first best computers, and the exhilarating rush of that quantum mechanical effects become allocations. I also show that while traditional achieving our own final results. relevant when considering their function and literatures indicate that second-degree price use. This project, completed at the National discrimination is deemed to be impossible in Institute of Standards and Technology as part a linear pricing market, this is no longer true of a Society of Physics Students internship, when products can be differentiated by presents a first step in describing the multiple attributes. theoretical behavior of nanoscale MOSFETs at low temperature.

20 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 9:30–10:40am

“Qipu Lu:” Who Really Has It Race, Identity, and Social 2013’s “Must Have”: Racial Cheapest? Examining Price Commentary Appropriation by Female Vocalists Discrimination in Shanghai’s (short talks) Science Center 104 Jessica L. Osman, Senior Davis Scholar, Clothing Markets” Women’s & Gender Studies Berit Paxson-Tarnai ’15, Mathematics “Who Decides What Art Is...? Lorraine Advisor: Elena Creef, Women’s & Advisor: Jianfeng Zhu, Department of O’Grady (’55) and the Democratization Gender Studies of Art in the Black Community “ Sociology, Fundan University, Shanghai What do Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Price discrimination refers to the socioeconomic Camylle J. Fleming ’14, Women’s & Gender and Selena Gomez have in common? They are Studies and Africana Studies phenomenon in which some customers are all female vocalists that were guilty of racial and charged different prices than others for the same Advisor: Nikki Greene, Art cultural appropriation in 2013. These artists or similar goods or services. While studying It was the presumption voiced by a non-artist tried to show their “appreciation” of cultures abroad in China this year I witnessed price acquaintance that “avant garde art does not have by exploiting them for their own benefit during discrimination toward foreigners firsthand in anything to do with black people”, that inspired performances and ignored public outcries calling purchases made at the Hualian Market and activist, artist and alumna, Lorraine O’Grady out their transgressions. Music industry insiders “Qipu Lu” in Shanghai. Based on my experi- (’55) to create her 1983 performance piece, Art and even fans themselves try to say people ences and observations, I decided to conduct Is... Carried out on the Adam Clayton Powell are being “too sensitive” and that no harm is a controlled study of the phenomenon. A Boulevard, during Harlem’s annual African intended by the performances. This presentation Chinese student and I conducted 50 trials of an American Day Parade, O’Grady and a team of will examine some of 2013 worst offenders and experiment to collect data about the prevalence artists, brandishing antiquated gold frames, ran their performances. I will also discuss examples and extent of price discrimination based on into the crowd of parade-goers to grant them of popular non-American music artists who also nationality and Chinese language ability. We an opportunity to respond. Frame me, make showcased cultures different to their own and were hoping to learn whether the nationality of me art! and That’s right, that’s what art is, we’re compare them to the American artists. the purchaser affected asking price and whether the art!: these were the resounding chants yelled speaking English or Chinese interacted with out from the sidelines; waves of smiling Black 21st Century Orientals: nationality to affect asking price. The findings faces, that have historically been obscured, com- The Displacement of Eastern Identities in the Contemporary were surprising and may have implications for modified and ’otherized,’ finally came into view. Hollywood Adaptation cultural and socioeconomic development in Though the 43 color photographs that chronicle modern Shanghai. (Research supported by her parade piece serve as one of O’Grady’s least Annie Wang ’14, Art History and a National Security Education Program known works, the remarkable manner in which Cinema & Media Studies David L. Boren Scholarship) she reclaims subjectivity, personhood, and the Advisor: Elena Creef, Women’s & sanguine liveliness of the black community Gender Studies What We Are Paying for: should not In an increasingly globalized world, contem- A Constant Quality Price Index go overlooked. porary Hollywood has capitalized on sustained for Laptop Microprocessors interest in Eastern cultures in the West by Liyang Sun ’14 Economics and Mathematics In Their Own Words: Documentary adapting several popular novels and television Theater as Social Commentary Advisor: Daniel Sichel, Economics shows into big budget, feature-length films with A microprocessor contains the central processing Vannessa K. Greenleaf ’14, Theatre Studies all-star casts headed by some of the world’s most unit and takes the role of the “brain” for a com- and English acclaimed directors. However, such adaptations puter. For the past decades, we have benefited Advisor: Diego Arciniegas, Theatre Studies have historically been mired in racially-charged greatly from its technological improvement. The Los Angeles riots. The murder of a gay teen stereotypes that displace and absent Asian To accurately measure the contribution of such in Laramie, Wyoming. Vaginas. Each of these bodies and voices from popular visual media technological improvement to the economic topics has been the subject of documentary in America. This thesis examines recent block- growth, we need a constant quality price index, plays, a genre of theater that is similar to that busters such as Memoirs of a Geisha (2005, which also helps us understand the quality of the documentary film. Documentary theater Rob Marshall), The Last Airbender (2010, trend in microprocessors. The quality trend in pieces are created by taking interviews, diaries, M. Night Shaymalan), and Cloud Atlas (2012, high-end microprocessors (server and desktop) and journal entries and crafting a theatrical piece Andy and Lana Wachowski; Tom Twyker) has been extensively studied. I focus on the to look at a subject from many different sides. through the lenses of post-structuralism, low-end microprocessors (laptop) for my senior By using the real words, gestures, and thoughts feminist theory, and critical race theory, and economics thesis. Using newly collected data on of people involved, documentary playwrights looks at the ways in which a film adapted from laptop microprocessor prices and performance strive to artistically and faithfully represent the an Eastern-centric source strengthens, reacts metrics, I construct the constant quality price experiences of those who helped to create the to, or criticizes mainstream portrayals of “the index over the past ten years. Across a range of play. We will discuss different tactics used by Orient” with the endgoal of contextualizing empirical specifications, I note a sharp decrease playwrights in creating their documentary plays, the roles of Asian Americans in our supposed in price but smaller in magnitude compared to how their choices affected the presentation of post-racial society. high-end microprocessors. These results suggest their subjects, and the choices made in the a slower technological improvement in the creation of the documentary theater piece laptop microprocessor industry. Women Who Will, People Who Do which focuses on the community and culture of Wellesley College.

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 21 9:30–10:40am

I Thought You Were My Friend Preschool Peer Pairs: Are We and assault. She is working on an article with (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 139 Friends or Are We Playmates? Nan Stein, on an examination of the highly Talia S. Schwartz ’14, Psychology gendered aspects of sexual assault and how Children’s Use of Iconic Gestures Advisor: Tracy Gleason, Psychology harassment/assaults are responded to in both During the Preschool Years the media in the legal system (if at all). Early peer relationships and interactions are Felicia M. Brown ’14, Psychology, crucial for socio-emotional development. Yet not Nikita Saladi (Class of ’67 Intern) will be Jenny Chen ’16, Psychology all peer relationships are the same; some dyads speaking about how the PATH study and the Advisor: Jennie Pyers, Psychology have strong and supportive characteristics and CATCH-IT intervention program is preventing Two categories of iconic gestures predominate in constitute true friendships, whereas other pairs adolescents with depression and identifying early development, namely handling and object are playmates, providing companionship but adolescents that conventionally not be identi- gestures. Whereas handling gestures convey little intimacy. I was interested in the extent to fied. She will also speak about how depression how an object is held, object gestures involve which children distinguish between friends and prevention is being increasingly prioritized with physically representing an object with the playmates. In addition, many peer relationships the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. hand. Because of a discrepancy in the literature, in preschool are unilateral, meaning that one Prioty Sarwar (Morse fellow) will present her we wanted to see if asking children to talk or child recognizes another as a friend, but that research on adolescent development and sexual pretend with their hands had any effect on the recognition is not reciprocated. These unilateral health in middle schools. She focuses on the types of gestures they produced. After testing relationships may be understood by children dynamics of family communication especially over 100 preschool aged children, we found a as playmates. I looked at whether preschool on a dyad between a teen and their parent/ developmental trend away from object gestures children understood the differences in peer guardian and what ultimately leads to effective and towards handling gestures, regardless of relationships using a story that featured communication between these dyads regarding condition. In a follow up study, we investigated characters that had a range of relationship levels sex and relationships. the extent to which noun usage within the with the protagonist. Subsequently, children instructions impacts children’s gesture produc- were interviewed about relationships with Design for Affordability: tion. Since we initially asked the children to real peers. I hypothesized that children would Engineering Social Justice show us actions (e.g. brushing teeth) with their distinguish between playmates and friends, that (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall West 116 hands, we wondered if phrasing the action as real friends would be associated with emotional Zak Barry ’14, Technology, Entrepreneurship a noun (e.g. show me toothbrush) would elicit support, and that playmates would provide and Design (Babson), Annie Buchenan ’14, a different type of gesture. companionship more than non-friends. Mechanical Engineering (Olin), Real and Imaginary Social Ian T. Daniher ’14, Electrical Engineering Wellesley Centers for Women (Olin), Sophia M. Garcia ’15, Environmental Relationships: Imagined Interactions Student Research Interns and Attachment Styles Studies, Dante Santos ’14, Mechanical (panel discussion) Jewett Arts Center 450 Engineering (Olin), Janna M. Zimmermann Janet W. Jeong ’14, Psychology Gabriella M. Andriulli ’14, French and ’14, Environmental Studies Advisor: Tracy Gleason, Psychology Women’s & Gender Studies, Bernice Y. Chan Advisor: Monica Higgins, Environmental Imagined interactions (IIs) are a form of ’16, Individual-Ethnic Studies, Nikita U. Studies Saladi ’16, Neuroscience, Prioty F. Sarwar ’16, intrapersonal communication in which Did you know that 11% of Massachusetts Biological Chemistry individuals recreate prior social encounters in residents are at risk for not getting consistent their minds as well as rehearse for anticipated Advisor: Layli Maparyan, Wellesley Centers access to ample safe and nutritious food? This encounters. For example, before a job interview, for Women problem of food insecurity has had many you might rehearse your presentation in your We are four student research interns from the solutions suggested for it, including bolstering head. Individual differences in IIs have emerged Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), each the local food supply through supporting small in terms of variables such as frequency, variety, conducting individual research with a research and urban farms. Serving Ourselves Farm (under and specificity. One factor that might influence scientist from WCW. Boston Department of Public Health) is one the kinds of IIs in which an individual engages Bernice Chan (Shirley R. Sherr Student of these; located on an island in the Boston is attachment style. Attachment styles describe Research Intern) is working on the Media & Harbor, this farm provides most of its 25K the quality of peoples’ orientation towards Identity Project, a nationwide research study pounds of produce per year to homeless shelters, relationships with others. My research question headed by Linda Charmaraman focused on how rehabilitation centers, and post-incarceration job investigates whether attachment styles and the media use affects youth identity development training programs. The New England weather various facets of IIs are correlated. I hypothesize and their psychological well-being, particularly makes for a very short growing season already that a person who is preoccupied by their for women of color. Bernice will present the and when the farm loses 90% of its seedlings, relationships with others might engage in a preliminary findings on TV media representa- like last spring, as a result of mold from an higher frequency of IIs than someone with a tions (or lack of) and its influence on young unregulated growing environment, their yield secure attachment style. On the other hand, women of color, highlighting the qualitative is further limited. The farm budget does not attachment style and specificity of IIs are not interview data. allow for the purchase of a $1000+ climate expected to relate to one another. The results control system to solve this problem. of this study will provide new insights into the Gabriella Andriulli (Linda Coyne Lloyd Our team’s year-long mission, working ways in which imagination and mental processes Research Intern) is conducting research on with Olin College’s Affordable Design and link to real social relationships. middle school and high school aged children and teens on the topic of sexual harassment Entrepreneurship class and Serving Ourselves,

22 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 9:30–10:40am is to develop an affordable climate control up the call to abolition by envisioning a future relies upon techniques of normalization that system that will allow small farms to monitor beyond incarceration, while critiquing the make increasing rights for certain historically and adjust their growing environments using Abolitionist Movement’s silence on the question marginalized groups and increasing exclusion, pre-existing heaters, lights, and watering systems, of how communities ought to respond to violent domination, and violence for others embedded thereby addressing the problems of control and harm. This paper concludes that as long as entire and coterminous conditions. Through the price for our client. Come hear our challenges, populations are consigned to death in the name constitution of biopolitical and necropolitical triumphs, and discoveries as we conduct our first of corporate profit and racism is entrenched subject populations, the system of mass round of on-site, real-time testing, and gain a in the very foundations of the American legal incarceration is fundamental to the ascendancy new perspective on the role of engineering and system, prison abolition must be at the forefront of the mainstream LGBT movement as a technology in the fight for just and stable of all broader movements for social justice. liberal civilizational project. social change. Commenting in Control Societies: To Educate a Nation: “Non-Queer” Matters: Queer Chelsea Manning and Online Media Students Advocating Inventions and Social Justice Allyson L. Pyers ’15, Political Science and Greater Access to Education (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall West 117 Women’s & Gender Studies for Congolese Women Advisor: Sima Shakhsari, Women’s & (film screening) Collins Cinema Sinvergüenzas sin documentos: Gender Studies Hanna G. Tenerowicz ’16, Comparative “Undocuqueer” & Homonationalism Former PFC Chelsea Manning was the subject Literature and Art History A. Bello ’14, Individual-Peace & Justice Studies of controversy and debate after releasing Advisor: Flavia Laviosa, Italian Studies Advisor: Sima Shakhsari, Women’s & classified documents to WikiLeaks in 2010. Sandra Bea is the founder of the Muanjadi Gender Studies After coming out as transgender following her Organization, which provides scholarships to sentencing for violation of the Espionage Act, Organizing in a temporality where the promising young students whose families can Manning sparked conversations about national racialized and gendered immigrant is conceived no longer afford their $75-a-year tuition at the normative sexuality as it relates to security and as criminal, undocuqueers are building a Muanjadi High School, an all-female institution terrorism. These discourses were particularly critique of the state through their construction in Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of Congo. of political subjectivity that contends the present in online comments, where users can complacency and complicit language of rearticulate and recode norms and discourses Gracia, Carine, and Serha are three inspired the mainstream immigration movement, conveyed in articles without the external editing Muanjadi scholars passionate about school and evident in the work of the DREAMers, who and revision of formally published work. In this dedicated to advocating women’s rights and present themselves as exemplary of neoliberal project, I analyze comments on online articles education. I created a documentary, To Educate democratic ethics and citizenry. Through addressing Manning in order to explore the a Nation, to give them a vehicle through which an exploration of the “Undocumented and ways in which online commenters decode and to share their narratives in support of greater Unafraid” campaign launched in May 2010, via recode discourses of normative sexualities, access to education for Congolese women with the DREAM Act 5 Letters to Obama and the normative bodies, and national security in a wider audience. The film also seeks to honor testimonios captured in Julio Salgado’s “I am disciplinary and control societies. the growth of Sandra’s organization from its undocuqueer,” Sinvergüenzas sin documentos start as an inkling in the mind of a young “Never Meant to Survive”: contextualizes these “coming out” testimonios in Congolese emigrant to its status today, five years Necropolitics, Civilizational Discourse, contention with what Jaspar Puar would ascribe after its establishment, as a source of hope not and Mass Incarceration in Liberal only for Muanjadi’s students, but for the entire “homonationalism.” The undocuqueer move- LGBT Justice Projects ment radicalizes discourses around immigration Mbuji-Mayi community. Heron E. Russell ’14, Individual-Peace & reform by calling to question the criminalization Justice Studies of the immigrant and challenging the very basis of citizenry and borders that legitimize Advisor: Sima Shakhsari, Women’s & Gender Studies a racialized, militarized, and carceral society, through testimonio. Mainstream contemporary LGBT politics center upon promoting liberal principles of tolerance, The Biopolitics of Imprisonment: legal rights, and equality, through projects such Insisting on Life, Abolishing the as marriage equality, military inclusion, and hate Prison Industrial Complex crimes legislation. By recapitulating these liberal Gabriella M. Fee ’15, Political Science ideological frames, building upon democratic Advisor: Sima Shakhsari, Women’s & visions of progress while enforcing regimes of Gender Studies individualism and the primacy of property, the This talk examines the myriad injustices that the mainstream LGBT movement fails to challenge Prison Industrial Complex inflicts upon queered and is thus fundamentally complicit in the and racialized bodies. It applies a Foucauldian maintenance of the racialized, classed, gendered, theoretical approach to understanding the role of and heterosexed system of mass incarceration. bio- and necropolitical control in strengthening The civilizational discourse inscribed in the Prison Industrial Complex. Finally, it takes narratives of democracy and modernity, upon which mainstream LGBT politics are founded,

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 23 11-12:10pm

Humanities voice of universal ideals. (Research supported by which Schumann drew inspiration, but also in Nathalie Buchet and Schiff Fellowships) understanding the ways in which he remodeled these elements creatively. Liberty, Egality, Identity Changing Spatial Discourses of (short talks) Pendleton Hall West 117 National Identity in Jordan Les Nuits D’été: Summer Nights Laura W. Yan ’14, History and with Berlioz, Piano The Legacy of Colonization in France: Middle Eastern Studies History, Memory and Republican Values and Orchestra Advisor: Lidwien Kapteijns, History (short performance) Oluwakemi L. Akin-Olugbade ’14, Psychology and French When Jordan was created as a British mandate Jewett Arts Center Auditorium in 1923, it was a state but not yet a nation. In Advisor: Venita Datta, French Katherine A. Siegel ’14, Music order to be seen as legitimate rulers of a ‘natural’ Advisor: Gurminder Bhogal, Music On February 23, 2005, the French parliament national community, the Hashemite monarchy passed a law to acknowledge repatriates of intertwined discourses of national identity and Berlioz composed the song cycle Les Nuits former French colonies and express gratitude legitimacy in the changing contexts of Arab- D’été in 1840-41 for voice and piano, and for their contribution to French colonial Israeli conflicts, radical pan-Arab nationalism, orchestrated the work fifteen years later. In the “exploits.” The legislation relates to the pieds and political Islam. The Jordanian government centuries following his death, the masterful noirs, Europeans who lived in North Africa expressed these discourses by making claims to orchestration of this later publication sent the during French colonial rule in the region, and holy spaces in Jerusalem and (re)constructing initially admired piano version into obscurity the harkis, Algerian soldiers who served in the various monuments, museums, plazas, and parks and propelled the orchestral version into the French army during the Algerian independence in the capital of Amman. However, competing limelight. The later version boasts all the riches war. Lawmakers also encouraged the French visions of the Jordanian nation also emerged, of the orchestra, but what of the original version, to engage in a more “positive” discourse on ranging from nationalist movements that composed as Berlioz originally intended the the effects of colonization and advocated were exclusively Transjordanian to those that music to be heard? Although it is less admired the creation of elementary school curricula identified as Arab nationalist and opposed to today, the intimate piano-voice version reflects emphasizing its “positive aspects.” The law was the monarchy. The struggle to create a unified the special partnership between singer and highly controversial in France and in its former Jordanian national identity has expressed itself pianist that Berlioz originally envisioned for colonies, particularly in Martinique and Algeria, in public spaces as different political and social the songs. In this lecture demonstration I will and a number of historians, philosophers and groups articulated their own versions of what discuss the unique aspects of each version and political figures condemned it. Nonetheless, the Jordanian nation should be. (Research perform excerpts accompanied on piano by polls indicated that 65% of the French public supported by a Schwarz Fellowship) David Collins. (Research supported by was favorable to the teaching of the “positive Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship.) aspects” of colonization in history classes. Influences of Late Beethoven Studies, in Various Media, Piano Sonatas on Schumann’s Defenders of French Republican of the Human Skeleton Solo Piano Work: Incorporation Ideals?: Violence’s Impact on the (exhibition) Jewett Arts Center Art Gallery Identity of Anti-Colonialist Intellectuals of Beethovenian Elements in Anna A. Blige ’16, Philosophy and French During the Algerian War Schumann’s Phantasie in C Cultural Studies, Lauren A. Bocknek (short performance) Sophia Mo ’14, French and International ’15, Undeclared, Orli C. Hakanoglu ’16; Relations-Economics Jewett Arts Center Auditorium Architecture, Catherine S. Harlow ’15, Advisor: Venita Datta, French Michiko O. Inouye ’14, Music Art Studio and Art History, Helena N. Maurer By the end of the nineteenth century, the term Advisor: Charles Fisk, Music ’17, Undeclared, Jayne Yan ’16, Undeclared “intellectual” was born in France and gradually Schumann’s Phantasie Op. 17 was initially Advisor: Bunny Harvey, Art became an established category referring to intended to raise funds for a Beethoven Students in Life Drawing, ARTS217, spend engaged thinkers who spoke on behalf of the monument in Bonn. It is therefore reasonable 6 weeks looking at, studying and responding nation in the name of French Republican values to assume that this piece would draw inspiration to the human skeleton. These homework celebrated as universal to mankind. Yet the from Beethoven’s distinctive compositional style. assignments supplement the semester-long escalating violence and use of torture on both Although certain conclusions have been drawn classroom study of living models. Exploration, sides during the Algerian War (1954-1962) for regarding Schumann’s references to Beethoven’s and experimentation with various media independence from French colonial rule forced music in the Phantasie, in particular the quota- and drawing techniques are encouraged. intellectuals to doubt their ability to fulfill this tion of the final song in Beethoven’s song cycle, role. Not only did the war deeply divide the An die ferne Geliebte, closer musical parallels in Quilombolas intellectual left, exposing its lack of a coherent harmony, key relationships and textural choices (film screening) Collins Cinema anti-colonial message, but it also challenged each between Phantasie and specific Beethoven works Maria C. Fernandes, Senior Davis Scholar, intellectual’s notions of what it meant to be an have yet to be demonstrated. I hope to explore Environmental Studies intellectual. In particular, the wartime writings the Beethovenian musical characteristics adopted Advisor: Winifred Wood, Writing Program of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Frantz in the Phantasie by Schumann through close Fanon highlight the anti-colonialist intellectuals’ comparison of this work with Beethoven’s late Brazil is experiencing a historic moment of rapid collective ambivalence toward the traditional sonatas Op. 109, 110 and 111. These analyses development and urbanization accompanied by role of the intellectual as the embodiment and can aid not only in identifying the specific the desire to protect rapidly vanishing natural characteristics of Beethoven’s music from environment. My film project bears witness to

24 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 11-12:10pm the ongoing transformation faced by one of are high risk and can recur (5% of cases), on our current understanding of the adaptive Brazil’s protected populations, the Quilombolas metastasize (4% of cases), or cause death immune response. Recently identified toll-like (descendants of Afro-Brazilian slaves), as they (1.5% of cases). Although treatments for receptors (TLRs) provide promising targets for confront the clash between environmental melanoma, a skin cancer that has higher novel vaccine delivery; however, free adjuvant legislation and the traditions of their agrarian rates of recurrence, metastasis, and death, can trigger systemic toxicity. We hypothesize society. My documentary film registers their are highly standardized, there are no precise that nanoparticles engineered to deliver a TLR reactions and records their way of life. nationwide guidelines in place for treating agonist and antigen in a controlled-release I aim not only to tell the Quilombolas’ story, high-risk CSCC. However, it is estimated that manner to antigen-presenting cells (APC) can but to reveal the tension that exists on the axis CSCC and melanoma cause a similar number utilize TLR targets for immunostimulation at of environmental protection and human rights. of deaths each year, which suggests a need a reduced risk. Our vaccines augment antigen As I enter the Quilombolas’ circle to share what for better characterization and evaluation of presentation and co-stimulatory DC molecule is essential to them, I also aim to illuminate the current CSCC treatments. For my senior thesis production for model protein ovalbumin interests of the management of the National project in the biological sciences, I evaluated and mount an antigen-specific CD8+ naïve Park of Chapada Diamantina as they attempt to the treatment of 136 high-risk CSCC tumors cell-proliferation in vitro. In vivo, our vaccines understand the complexities of these territories. that were diagnosed between 2000 and 2013 increase the antigen-specific adaptive immune I extend my gratitude to the Quilombolas, who at Boston’s Brigham and Women Hospital, response for both the cell-mediated and humoral responded in a dignified and graceful manner with the goal of characterizing recent treatment branches. Our findings demonstrate clinical to my proposal. strategies for high-risk CSCC and evaluating potential for safe delivery of novel TLR adju- treatment efficacy. (Research supported by a vants and polymeric nanoparticles towards the Science & Technology Schiff Fellowship.) development of effective and low-cost vaccines.

Neural Correlates of Attention for A New Approach to Medical Controlling the Human Body Correct Response Production and Treatment: Building Novel (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 139 Inhibition Drug-Delivery Systems Allyn V. Morris ’14, Neuroscience Exploring the Mechanism of Ovarian (panel discussion) Founders Hall 126 Steroid Hormone Action in the Brain Advisor: Michael Wiest, Neuroscience Young-Ah Lee ’14, Chemistry, Sarah D. Finkelstein ’14, Neuroscience, In order to investigate the neural basis of Yuka I. Milton ’14, Biological Chemistry and Hande C. Piristine ’14, Neuroscience response production and response inhibition, Sara N. Musetti ’15, Biological Chemistry Advisor: Marc Tetel, Neuroscience rats were trained with a Go/No-Go task. In Advisor: Nolan Flynn, Chemistry this task rats lick in response to target tones The ovarian steroid hormones, estradiol (E) and Current therapies lack the specificity and efficacy to receive a water reward and refrain from progesterone (P), act in brain to regulate female to treat diseases posing significant limitations producing a motor response on distractor tones. reproductive behavior and physiology. E and P for patients. We aim to engineer two novel Implanted microelectrodes in the medio-dorsal elicit these effects by binding to their respective devices that serve as drug-delivery vehicles with frontal and posterior parietal cortices were intracellular receptors, which are transcription the potential to improve treatment options for used to record local field potentials (LFPs), and factors. There are two forms of progestin recep- late-stage pancreatic cancer and diseases that frontal-parietal coherence was calculated for tors (PR): the full-length PR-B and the shorter are currently attributed to medication non- each trial. Coherence analysis is used to measure PR-A. These PR isoforms have distinct roles in adherence. One project, a the degree of synchronization between neural rodent reproductive behavior and physiology. collaborative effort, is creating a nano-vehicle signals in order to determine if the areas of However, how one isoform is selectively composed of an iron-oxide core coated with the brain are communicating or working with expressed is not known. Two steroid receptor a gold shell that provides targeted damageto each other. High levels of theta (4-7 Hz) and coactivators (SRC-1 and SRC-2) facilitate the cancer cells while being tracked in vivo with alpha (8-13 Hz) coherence between frontal and expression of PR. Using genetically engineered magnetic resonance imaging. Functionalization parietal were seen in both Go and No-Go trials. mice that express only PR-A or only PR-B, we of the gold shell relies upon a biomolecular Coherence data collection is still underway, investigated the function of these SRCs in the system anchored to the nano-vehicle through but our preliminary results suggest that greater expression of the specific PR isoforms in brain. “stealth” polymer linkers which also add stability coherence at low frequencies is associated with We also looked at how SRCs from brain interact to the nanovehicle. A second biomolecule that the act of licking and not necessarily correctly with different PR isoforms with pulldown assays. targets a cell surface receptor expressed by many responding. Overall, these results help us to Our results will further elucidate mechanisms pancreatic tumors, and the therapeutic agent for better understand attentional processing in t of PR action and function in the brain. boron-neutron capture therapy are also attached he rat, as well as its correspondence to to the gold shell through other species. The Management of High-Risk Cutaneous human attentional processing. second project is developing a Janus device that Squamous Cell Carcinoma Synthetic Polymeric Nanoparticle has unique capacity for extended gastrointestinal Victoria M. Hills ’14, History and Vaccines for Immunostimulation retention and release with an omniphobic side Biological Sciences and a mucosal adhesive side. Respectively, this Zoe E. Moyer ’15, Biological Chemistry Advisor: Heather Mattila, Biological Sciences dual layer will enable repulsion of the food Advisor: Robert S. Langer, Biological stream and allow attachment to the wall of the About 700,000 cases of cutaneous squamous Engineering (MIT) gastrointestinal tract. (Research supported by a cell carcinoma (CSCC), a type of skin cancer, While routine vaccination has helped raise Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship, NIH, and Stanley are diagnosed annually in the U.S. Most of juvenile life expectancy and eradicate diseases, Fund for Cancer Research) these cases are highly curable, but some tumors vaccine delivery systems have not capitalized

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 25 11am–12:10pm

Pushing the Limit: Localizing Like Magic: Novel Human- types that utilize sensors, microcontrollers, and the Source of Neuronal Stem Computer Interactions creative uses of conductive material to explore Cells Responsible for Adult (short talk and interactive teaching the Magicbox concept. http://magicbox2013. Neurogenesis presentation) Science Center E125 wordpress.com/ (panel discussion) Founders Hall 120 Haptic Interaction Using 3D Social Sciences Emily L. Cockey ’15, Neuroscience, Kristina Stereoscopic Display Technology A. Costa, Senior Davis Scholar, Neuroscience, Jingjing Li ’15, Neuroscience, Jody F. Platto Heather H. Petrow, Senior Davis Scholar, How You See Me, How I See Me Senior Davis Scholar, Neuroscience Media Arts and Sciences (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 339 Advisor: Barbara Beltz, Neuroscience Advisor: Orit Shaer, Computer Science Haptic feedback is an area of technology that Asian Representations in Adult neurogenesis - the birth of new neurons in American Advertising the adult brain - is common in both vertebrates utilizes the sense of touch, by providing tactile Vivian Y. Dai ’14, Psychology and and invertebrates. Investigations in mammalian interaction. It has been integrated into gaming American Studies models suggest that stem cells involved in adult consoles and mobile devices, and has been neurogenesis are self-renewing and produce researched for its potential in programs that Advisor: Markella Rutherford, Sociology lineages of neuronal precursor cells. Previous range from medical training simulations to In recent years, reports of increasing Asian- investigations in the crayfish,Procambarus collaborative workspaces. 3D is another growing American buying power and consumption have clarkii, have found that although the pool of facet of technology that is reexamining the sparked companies’ interest in and targeting first-generation neuronal precursors in the possibilities of the user experience. The zSpace of Asian American consumers. To understand neurogenic niche is never depleted, these cells platform is the first-generation of computing representations of Asian people and objects in are NOT self-renewing. Therefore, there must hardware that simulates realistic, holographic, American advertising today, hundreds of print be a source extrinsic to the niche. Our evidence 3D, stereoscopic vision. Using this system, advertisements from 15 top-circulating magazine suggests the innate immune system as a likely this research project aimed to study how haptic titles of the past three years are categorized and source. Current projects focus on elucidating feedback can enhance the user interface and examined, with attention to factors including the relationship between the immune system understanding of 3D virtual space, by applying gender and industry, as well as positioning of and the lineage of cells producing adult-born and exploring the effects of different types of models and other elements within the images. neurons, and the possible modulation by haptic interaction in two zSpace applications. This project explores advertising’s portrayals serotonin through the cytokine astakine. Evaluation included a comparative analysis of of Asian Americans, how they compare and user ability in haptic and non-haptic versions connect to research done in the past couple of Illuminating the of the programs, for problem-solving, spatial decades and to filmic representations, and the Invisible Universe reasoning, and recognition of physics and advertisements’ resulting social messages in an (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall West 116 materiality in the virtual environment. age when Asianness is increasingly associated with financial success and the ultramodern. Gillian D. Beltz-Mohrmann ’16, Finding Magic in Tangible Interactions (Research supported by a Student Multicultural Astrophysics, Kirsten N. Blancato ’15, with Everyday Objects Astrophysics, Hikari Murayama ’16, Research Grant) Annie L. Han ’14, Media Arts and Sciences, Undeclared, Lucia A. Perez ’14, Astrophysics, Yu Mei Lay He ’14, Economics, Camille C. Samulski ’16, Undeclared Go Ask Your Mother: Stephanie Lee ’14, Computer Science Self-Perceptions of Working Advisor: James Battat, Physics Advisor: Orit Shaer, Computer Science Mothers in a Gendered World As you read this abstract, millions of cosmic Nowadays, children use computers for every- Kelsey N. Heroux ’14, Sociology particles go undetected as they stream through thing. However, research shows that children Advisor: Smitha Radhakrishnan, Sociology your body. Some, like the muon, are well- often learn best when they are physically understood, while others, like dark matter, While scholarship on women in the workforce engaged. Body movements, the ability to touch, are more mysterious. Muons are similar to is abundant, women’s perspectives of their manipulate, and build sensory awareness of electrons, only more massive and unstable (they own lives are not adequately represented. This relationships in the physical world are crucial decay in a few microseconds). We are building study aims to fill that gap and utilizes data from to development. When a child is given a new a detector sensitive to the lifetime and flux interviews conducted with working mothers toy with many unique functions and features, of muons. By comparing the flux of muons who come from a variety of education and career they are often more fascinated by the cardboard at high elevations to that at sea level, we will backgrounds. The main themes of the research box it came in. With that observation, we demonstrate two of the strange consequences of include self-perceptions in gendered work e present Magicbox, the concept of a modular Special Relativity: that a moving object shrinks nvironments, expectations of motherhood, and toy kit that enhances the experience of playing and a moving clock ticks slowly. We will also the possibility of being both career professionals with cardboard boxes. Magicbox combines describe the effort at Wellesley to search for the and mothers. Analysis of the data reveals that elements of simple circuitry and electronics to signature of WIMP dark matter particles in the women commonly downplay their femininity augment creative possibilities for children to Milky Way galaxy. Although the presence of in an attempt to blend in with their male make playful environments with any cardboard dark matter in the halo of our galaxy has been colleagues, while some purposefully work to box. By abstracting circuitry to boxes, we allow inferred from its gravitational effects on ordinary assert the value of their feminine qualities. Most children to explore the systems without knowing matter, WIMPs have not yet been detected women reject the popular definition of “having exactly what to expect. This lends to learning by directly. Our experiment aims to take advantage it all” and instead offer alternative interpretations experimenting and could develop exploratory of the directional modulation of WIMP arrival that indicate that all women do not want to be learning skills. We wish to present three proto- direction as the Earth travels through the galaxy.

26 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 11am–12:10pm a perfect housewife with a high-powered career. Separate and Unequal mortality rates, and states with higher infant (Research supported by the Office of the Provost (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 239 mortality rates are more likely to have high and Dean of the College Research Grant) income inequality as well. I use infant birth and Social and Economic Disparities death certificate data from the U.S. to explore Stereotyping and Threatening Men: as Context for Poor Health in the whether income inequality has a causal effect on How Race Affects Stereotypes Latina Community infant mortality, or if the relationship between and Communal Priming Affects Rachel A. Fletcher-Slater ’16, Spanish the two occurs instead because of other state Self-Perceived Masculinity Advisor: Nancy Marshall, Wellesley characteristics correlated with both variables. Kayla N. Northrop ’14, Psychology, Centers for Women (Research supported by a Schiff Fellowship) Emily A. Sperbeck ’14, Psychology, Guangxin Wang ’14, Psychology and There is a growing recognition of the Health Insurance Coverage Individual-Peace & Justice Studies importance of understanding health disparities and Consumer Finances among different communities. As a result of the Advisor: Linda Carli, Psychology Wendy Wu ’14, Economics and Mathematics rise in medical statistics available for the Latina Men are seen as dominant, competent, but community, a certain pattern emerges among Advisor: Courtney Coile, Economics not communal--but does racial identity affect Latina women. While Latinas are less likely Young adults have the lowest rates of health these stereotypes? The interaction of race and to be diagnosed with breast cancer than other insurance, which exposes them to significant gender has not been widely researched. In women, they are more likely to die from it. This financial risk from negative medical shocks. our first study, we explored American’s beliefs same pattern has been found in other illnesses. Starting in the 1990s, states sought to address about whether men of various ethnic groups Research suggests gaps in communication this issue by passing laws allowing adult children are perceived to be agentic, dominant and between health care providers and the Latina to remain on their parents’ health insurance, communal, as well as how they ought to rate community, as well as limited accessibility and in 2010 the Affordable Care Act extended on these traits. In our second study, we focused to health care as a function of economic this coverage nationwide to dependents on stereotype threat--priming male participants inequalities. through age 26. with depictions of men of different ethnicities Recent evidence suggests these laws have doing traditionally feminine actions, such as Women and Public Health in Iran: increased the insurance rate among young parenting. We examined how men would react A Historical Perspective to threats to male masculinity, and whether this adults. However, did this increase in coverage Roxana Mir ’15, Neuroscience and lead to an increase in financial security? We effect was moderated by the race of the male Women’s & Gender Studies depicted in the primer. Stereotype threat has analyze this question using data from the Advisor: Sima Shakhsari, Women’s Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Surveys been widely studied in females and minority & Gender Studies groups, but there is little research on stereotype and multiple measures of financial health, This study aims to provide a preliminary threat of men. These two studies provide including debt and personal bankruptcy. overview of the state of women and public important insight on the intersections of racial health in Iran within the framework of Persian Spreading the Wealth and gender stereotypes. medical history and culture. Like all the peoples (short talks) Pendleton Hall West 212 Conscription and Gender Regimes of antiquity, the old Iranians shared a belief in in the Republic of Korea: Through the supernatural causes of sickness. But at the The Effects of Fiscal Stimulus: Reality TV Show “Real Manly Man” same time, they also believed that for every Evidence from China’s 2007-2013 ailment there is a cure and that there are plants “Appliances to the Countryside” Claire Yi ’15, Individual-Peace & Program Justice Studies and trees in nature whose properties can be Michelle S. Lam ’14, Economics Advisor: Catia Confortini, Peace Studies used to cure disease and to restore health. They further recognized from the earliest times that and Mathematics The Republic of Korea’s geopolitical conditions health conditions can be the result of physical Advisors: Akila Weerapana, Economics including the divide of the peninsula and the and natural causes, as well as, temperaments, The 2008 financial crisis sent shock waves ongoing disputes with the neighboring nations habits and old age. The study explores the throughout the world and spurred incredible have led to the tight control over the citizens historically evolved relationship between health reactions, one of which was China’s $4 trillion throughout the history. This paper argues that care, medicine and public health in Iran while RMB stimulus. In addition to stimulating such control extends, in the form of conscrip- focusing is on those society-wide practices, the economy in the short run, the package tion, to both those forced to serve in the military beliefs and conditions, including social divisions also aimed to increase living standards of those (healthy men) and those not subject to this and inequalities, that impacted the state of in rural areas and to jumpstart a culture of constitutional duty (women and disqualified public health and women’s wellbeing in the consumption. Starting with pilots run in 2007, men). In doing so, this paper analyzes the recent Iranian society. the Chinese government paid a 13% subsidy military reality TV show ‘Real Manly Man’ to rural households who purchased qualifying in order to examine how hegemonic gender Income Inequality and Infant domestically-produced household electric regimes are constructed and maintained in Mortality in the United States appliances. This program, “Appliances to the military borders and in reality TV show settings. Helen M. Willis ’14, Economics Countryside”, was eventually implemented Advisor: Phillip Levine, Economics nationwide in 2009. My research seeks to Both infant morality and income inequality in evaluate the impact of this program and its the United States are substantially higher than effect on purchases of home electric appliances in other developed countries. Within the U.S., and other outcomes of interest. there is a great deal of variation by state in infant

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 27 11am–12:10pm

Adverse Selection in the Great Irish environmental injustices in cities worldwide. Narratives of Illness and Healing Tontines of 1773, 1775, and 1777 Today, 8.4 million people crowd the city, 20% Alexandra M. Grzywna ’14, English Yikang Li ’14, Mathematics and Economics of whom are slum-dwellers who lack access to Advisors: Irene Mata, Women’s & Gender Advisor: Casey Rothschild, Economics safe and affordable housing, clean water, latrines, Studies and Jennifer Musto, Women’s & transportation networks and employment Adverse selection is an undesired market Gender Studies opportunities. Bangalore’s urban development outcome that occur when there is assymetric In surveying narratives written by a diverse plan is neither equitable nor sustainable and information between the buyers and sellers. group of young U.S. women diagnosed with it is leading to widespread environmental For example, in the insurance market, people anorexia nervosa, my research project is an degradation and injustices. I am specifically who know they have a higher risk of claiming analysis of the themes and patterns that emerge interested in how conventional paradigms of the than the average of the group are more likely at various stages of the illness. I begin by natural-built environment in an urban context to buy the insurance, hence raising the premium investigating how these women describe the establish environmental injustices in Bangalore. of the product for all other policyholders. contributing factors, the distortions they Using this framework to analyze the history of perceive in their thinking, and their realization My thesis studies the problem of adverse the city’s urban growth and current drivers of of a disorder. I examine how the illness evolves: selection in the late 18th century British life urban environmental degradation and inequality how it alters perceptions of mind and body, annuity market, in particular, the “Irish tontine” will provide a rich context for my study of relationships with family and friends, and issued in 1773, 1775 and 1777. Identifying and Ejipura Slum, the most widely recognized and interactions with healthcare practitioners. measuring adverse selection in today’s insurance contentious site of environmental injustice in I also inspect the triggers for relapse and what market has been proven difficult given the Bangalore. Studying urbanization and resulting ultimately makes for a successful recovery. market’s complexity. I hope to shed light on a environmental injustices in Bangalore can I further explore how this illness affects the challenging modern empirical question from serve as a useful case study for other emerging women’s conceptualizations of gender, becomes a new perspective - economic history. economies and inform development decisions part of their identities, and brings certain mean- in cities worldwide. A Decade Later: An Evaluation of the ings into their lives. Finally, I look at why these Longer-Term Impacts of a Honduran Bodies, Narratives, and stories are written down, and what they reflect Conditional Cash Transfer about modern day U.S. society. Performativity Emma L. Rackstraw ’14, International (panel discussion) Science Center 278 Leaders, Listeners, and Learners: Relations-Economics American Women Who Have Advisor: Patrick McEwan, Economics Cuerpo y raíz: Diálogos of Urban ‘Shattered the Glass Ceiling’ Mestizaje, Performance, and Healing The simplicity of giving money to the poor for Leah Sams ’14, Women’s & Gender Studies a specific and preapproved purpose appeals to A. Bello ’14, Peace & Justice Studies and and Public Policy Women’s & Gender Studies many stakeholders in the field of development, Advisors: Irene Mata, Women’s & Gender from policymakers to economists. In education Advisors: Irene Mata, Women’s & Gender Studies and Jennifer Musto, Women’s & policy, conditional cash transfers have been Studies and Jennifer Musto, Women’s & Gender Studies found effective in improving school attendance/ Gender Studies An analysis of twenty-two qualitative interviews enrollment and short-term learning, as well as The body carries the conocimiento, a knowing comparing significant difference in experience lowering child labor supply; however, the effects and remembering, of the lived experiences of and expectations of women in top academic have only been studied after a relatively short those that came before us. Border artists, such administrative and corporate executive leader- time period after the transfer. The ultimate goal as Las Mujeres de Maiz, a mujeres de color artist ship positions works to exhibit just how women of investment in education to get some return collective, work to (re)member their bodies in ‘shatter the glass ceiling’. Though personal and to that investment through an improvement in reclaiming personal and public terrains. My professional narratives determine reasons an children’s long-term well-being. My thesis cap- interests and explorations as an artist lie in individual might be tapped, personal narratives tures some of these longer-term effects (up to a the use of cultural forms to make visible our in the lives of corporate executives prove more decade later) for the recipients of the Honduran bodies and surrounding social structures. Urban indicative of an ultimate decision to take the CCT program, PRAF. The results not only mestizaje is a living alterNative to re-envisioning position. In light of the impact of the intersec- help answer questions about the effectiveness of Chicana and Latina histories in North America, tion of gender, race, sexuality, and social class on PRAF in the context of Honduras, but will also which straddle the worlds of nepantla, a Nahuatl one’s life story, demographics firmly demonstrate begin to fill a substantial void in our knowledge term connoting in between. I am interested in women of all backgrounds can make it to the of long-term poverty alleviation strategies. the ways urban mestizaje necessitates the use of top. As a majority of executives were raised in art, especially performance, and communidad Bangalore: Urban Development working to middle class households, these data to feed individual and communal processes of and Design for the Underclass seem illustrative of an important larger trend: healing from the open wound of colonial and Women leaders have managed to use factors Mayrah W. Udvardi ’14, Environmental neoliberal occupation. Studies and Architecture traditionally working against them as motivation to propel themselves to the top. (Research Advisor: James Turner, Environmental Studies supported by a WGST Department stipend.) Bangalore, a rapidly growing global city in Southern India, serves as a useful case study to examine the broader phenomenon of

28 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 11am-12:10

Wewepahtli: Health and Healing Postcards from the Border Perspectives from the Freedom in Santa Ana, CA Yesenia Trujillo '14, Women’s & Gender Project III: A Misrepresented Jannet G Sánchez ’14, Women’s & Studies and Computer Science Political Minority: The Gender Studies Advisors: Irene Mata, Women's & Gender Republican Party Advisors: Irene Mata, Women’s & Studies and Jennifer Musto, Women's & (panel discussion) Science Center 396 Gender Studies and Jennifer Musto, Gender Studies Lizamaria Arias ’17, Undelcared, Anna Page Women’s & Gender Studies “La frontera esta mas que sellada.” “Ya no vale ’17, Undeclared, Alexis Zhang ’17, Undeclared In 2004, a Rockefeller Institute study named la pena.” These are the phrases that stick with Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology Santa Ana, CA the ‘toughest place to live’ me as we are led out of the director’s office into As Adam Smith Fellows of The Freedom Project, in the United States. Santa Ana is home to the patio where about 10 of the migrant men we have discussed the importance of liberty unemployment, low education levels, crowded are sitting. Bienvenido a Tijuana. This past in human societies, particularly in terms of housing and poverty, and it is also a place I call Wintersession, I worked with Professor Gabriella freedom of speech. While we are in agreement home. With my interest in health and healing, Sanchez from Monash University on her that being able to freely share one’s views and I embarked on a quest to learn how Santa Ana research on women who had recently crossed the ideas is important to a functioning democracy, residents envision and create health for them- US-MX border. While we were there, we visited what happens when this freedom results in a selves in the face of this adversity. My research two shelters: one for men who had recently “tyranny of the majority”? This is what has explores Wewepahtli, the Great Medicine, the been deported from the US and the other for happened in the media representation of the concept that everything is medicine: food, art, women and their children who had recently Republican Party. It has been misrepresented by sound and includes therapies such as herbal attempted to cross the border or had recently the media, especially in the last two Presidential medicine, talk therapy, and exercise. The use been deported. In this presentation, I will share elections, and especially among American youth. of ancestral knowledge of holistic and herbal some of my experiences and photographs from We examine the ways in which the Republican medicine in community-based organizations Tijuana at an attempt to humanize a commonly Party has been misrepresented and the social is analyzed as a basis for achieving individual demonized group of people. stigmatization of those who consider themselves and community healing and health justice. Republicans. The topics of the panel include: So You Want to Invent the Republican Party and the youth generation; “Clothing the Pacific”: An Introduction a Language? media bias and its effects on audiences; and the of the Post-Colonial Body in Samoa (panel discussion) Jewett Arts Center 450 effects of misrepresentation on minority voting Elizabeth Torres ’14, Women’s & Gender Studies Samantha G. Burke ’14, Cognitive & patterns. Panelists will present strategies for Advisors: Irene Mata, Women’s & Gender Linguistic Sciences and German Studies, countering negative stereotypes and strategies Studies and Jennifer Musto, Women’s & Shirin Maani ’14, Cognitive & Linguistic for increasing Republican Party participation Gender Studies Sciences, Joanna Poget ’14, Cognitive & youth, minorities and in the media. In the 21st century the implications of Linguistic Sciences, Morvareed E. Rezaian Christianity continue to influence roles of dress ’14, Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences, and appearance in Samoa. In Samoa, dress Laura W. Rigge ’14, Russian and Cognitive and appearance abide by many codes that are & Linguistic Sciences, Sarah E. Vaughn ’15, shaped and policed by religion, your economic Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences standing, and the government. In this research Advisor: Angela Carpenter, Cognitive & contributing factors of dress and appearance Linguistic Sciences ideals are highlighted and analyzed across a While invented languages have been around timeline, which helps explain why Samoans for centuries, they have become more visible dress and appear the way they do now. For this in recent years through movies and television study fieldwork was collected through surveys, shows such as Avatar’s Na’vi and Game of observations, and personal interviews. In addi- Thrones’ Dothraki, along with video games tion, the study draws from women and gender and other media. What does it take to invent theories to explain the implications of patterns a linguistically-sound language? Members of and influences on Samoan dress and appearance LING 315 tackled that challenge with exciting in the 21st century. Themes of colonialism, results. Come along with us as we discuss the neocolonialism, the intersection of religion process, the problems and the end-result of and gender highlight the ways in which the building a language from the ground up. Each Samoan body has been colonized. of us has a completely different language with its accompanying culture. We will share with you how we created the culture and built the sounds, the words and the syntax of our languages. We hope you will be inspired by the possibilities!

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 29 1:30–2:40pm

Humanities Dania Wright: Most people would not Upstage, and Wellesley Summer Theatre compare bees to teddy bears. Heather Mattila is Company bring students and professionals not most people. Mattila, an Assistant Professor together on and off stage. This presentation Calderwood Seminars in Public of Biological Sciences at Wellesley College, demonstrates short scenes from each of the Writing: Engaging Interviews focuses her research on organization in social eclectic performances presented to the com- (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall East 139 insect colonies. She has studied how genetic munity throughout the year. Alyssa J. Kayser-Hirsh ’14, Music and American diversity in honeybee colonies impacts on hive Studies, Nora E. Mishanec ’14, Psychology, Jody productivity. In my culminating interview Chamber Music Society F. Platto, Senior Davis Scholar, Neuroscience, project for the Calderwood Seminar, Biology (long performance) Dania N. Wright ’14, Biological Sciences and in the News, I hoped to illuminate not only Jewett Arts Center Auditorium Anthropology the science behind Mattila’s work, but also the Kathleen R. Regovich ’16, Undeclared, Advisor: David Lindauer, Economics personal experiences that shaped her path as a Pallas C. Riedler ’17, Undeclared, Shanti E. Alyssa Kayser-Hirsh: Caroline Shaw may be a scientist and continue to drive her research. Van Vuuren ’17, Undeclared, Bridget M. Walsh Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer, ’17, Undeclared, Xi Zhang ’15, Music but more importantly she is an inspiring woman Engagement in Nature: Advisors: David Russell, Music and working in the field of new classical music. In A Visual Exploration of Jenny Tang, Music Wellesley Botanic Gardens addition to writing music, Caroline performs This presentation is a performance and discus- as a violinist with the American Contemporary (exhibition) Jewett Arts Center Art Gallery sion of two works being studied by members of Music Ensemble and as a vocalist with the a Zhengyang Yue ’14, Architecture Wellesley’s Chamber Music Society this semester, cappella vocal octet Roomful of Teeth. After Advisor: Daniela Rivera, Art Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D Roomful of Teeth’s weeklong residency at Minor, Op. 49 and A Birthday Hansel, Op. 92 Wellesley, I became interested in the field of new The exhibition, Engagement in Nature, leads the audience into the Wellesley College Botanic by Benjamin Britten. In addition to performing classical music and was fortunate to interview the pieces, the presenters will discuss aspects of Caroline about her work and experience as an Gardens to experience art works placed in a natural context. By creating art works with the works’ form and construction, give historical assignment for my Calderwood Seminar, Music context for their composition and provide in Public. My interview focused on women in logs, branches and other rustic materials from campus, I want to express my strong feeling of background information on the lives of these classical music, the role of publicity in the arts, two great composers. and the influence of musical education attachment for Wellesley’s landscape to viewers. on subsequent musical pursuits. Based on Wellesley Arboretum’s geographical and environmental characteristics, I will Science & Technology Nora Mishanec: For my Calderwood Seminar, choose specific areas to put these art works. Psychology in the Public Interest, I conducted The works will range from art structures to Moody Blues an interview with Dr. Stephenie Chaudoir, a outdoor furniture, in both two-dimensional and (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 239 professor at the College of the Holy Cross, who three-dimensional forms. With the addition of specializes in the psychology of concealable stig- these art works, the areas will be transformed Authenticity in Adolescents’ matized identities. Dr. Chaudoir’s research led into several sections including gathering spots, Relationships: The Roles of Emotion her to develop a model for disclosure now used safe spaces or meditation areas for the Wellesley Regulation and Perceived Parental widely by HIV-positive patients. Additionally, community. The exhibition will be presented as Feedback she studies predictors of psychological and a tour, lead by myself as the artist, experiencing Madelaine R. Abel ’14, Psychology health well-being in HIV/AIDS patients. My both the art works and the nature on campus. Advisor: Sally Theran, Psychology interview with Dr. Chaudoir centered on the (Research supported by a Pamela Daniels Authenticity in relationships, defined as the social justice element of her work, as well as Fellowship.) ability to be open and honest with others the changing nature of HIV/AIDS research. about one’s genuine thoughts and feelings, We discussed her methods for collecting data, Bounders to Boundaries has been found to be positively related to which require sensitivity and deference to the (long performance) interpersonal relationships. In contrast, lower needs of the participants. Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Alumnae Hall levels of authenticity, or speaking and acting Jody Platto: Gina Maranto is the Director Angela Bilkic ’15, Anthropology and Theatre in opposition to how one really feels, lead to of the Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Studies, Katherine M. Bussert ’16, Theatre internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and Ecosystem Science and Policy at the University Studies and English, J. Taylor D’Andrea ’16, depression. This study explores factors that of Miami. She is the author of Quest for English, Vannessa K. Greenleaf ’14, Theatre contribute to the development of authenticity. Perfection: The Drive to Breed Better Human Studies and English, Natalie J. Solomon ’16, Adolescents’ emotion regulation processes and Beings and has published widely on bioethics Theatre Studies, Katherine L. Suchyta ’15, perceptions of parental validation and support and reproductive medicine. I interviewed Theatre Studies, Elizabeth G. White ’15, are expected to predict authenticity in relation- Maranto for my Calderwood Seminar in Law, American Studies, Elisabeth A. Yancey ’16, ships with parents. Further, level of parental Undeclared Medicine and Ethics. Maranto gave an engaging support is expected to moderate the relation interview that included discussion of her career Advisor: Nora Hussey, Theatre Studies between emotion regulation and authenticity. path in science journalism and teaching, her Each academic year, there are nearly a dozen For example, adolescents who have difficulty interest in bioethics and reproductive technol- theatrical productions put on by students regulating their emotions, but who have ogy, the process of writing Quest for Perfection, across the campus. From large-scale comedy supportive parents, are more likely to be and the goals for her work. to intimate drama, Wellesley College Theatre, authentic in their relationships. This research

30 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 1:30–2:40pm will contribute to our understanding of the (Funding provided by a student research grant typically come from a single, distinct source area. development of authenticity. The findings will from the Dean’s Office and the Wellesley College These ramifications, and others, will be the topic have theoretical and practical implications for Psychology Department). of our presentation. adolescent mental health. (Research supported by the Psychology Department and the Office Harmful Footprints: Morphological Changes to the of the Dean of the College.) Pollution and the Earth Acehnese Coastline in Sumatra, (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 339 Indonesia, since the 2004 Indian Happy Today, Happy Tomorrow: Ocean Tsunami Associations between Mood and Searching for an Alternative to Wood Caroline K. Templeton ’14, Geoscience Future Thinking Charcoal for Cooking in Developing Advisor: Katrin Monecke, Geosciences Leila T. Elabbady ’16, Neuroscience, Countries: Environmental Analysis The western Acehnese coastline in northern Syeda M. Mahbub ’15, Mathematics and of Agricultural Waste Charcoal Sumatra, Indonesia, receded on average 134 m Psychology, Yeeji Sung ’14, Psychology Iglika B. Atanassova ’15, Physics due to subsidence and tsunami inundation in Advisor: Margaret Keane, Psychology Advisor: Amy Banzaert, Extradepartmental the course of the December 26, 2004 Sumatra- Previous studies have uncovered links between Nearly half of the developing world depends on Andaman earthquake and tsunami. Here, we remembering the past and imagining the future, biomass, including wood and wood charcoal, investigate the re-growth of the coast through suggesting shared mechanisms between memory for cooking. Burning biomass in kitchens creates field surveys, spatial imagery analysis, and and future thinking. Memory has been found indoor air pollution, leading to 1 million deaths numerical modeling. Three topographic surveys to be influenced by mood: when people are annually. While the use of wood charcoal (WC) were conducted in 2009, 2012, and 2013 over happy, they remember more positive memories, would cut these deaths in half, the environmen- a beach ridge plain in West Aceh. The coastline whereas when people are sad, they remember tal impact of switching from wood to wood change was quantified by digitizing the shoreline more negative memories. We examined whether charcoal would be devastating. This tension has on satellite and aerial images taken between future thinking is also influenced by mood in a inspired the search for an alternative cooking 2002 and 2013 and by computing the shoreline similar way: Do people imagine more positive fuel with health impacts comparable to wood change rates using the Digital Shoreline Analysis or more negative future events depending on charcoal but reduced environmental impact. System (DSAS) developed by the US Geological their mood? Furthermore, research suggests One proposal is agricultural waste charcoal Survey. In order to understand the complex that events further in the future are seen more (AWC), produced by the carbonization of agri- interaction of land level changes, sediment positively than those closer in time. Thus, we cultural wastes including sugarcane bagasse, a supply, and hydrodynamic parameters, we examined whether imagined future events were byproduct of the harvesting of sugar. A life cycle have applied the coastal model UNIBEST-TC further away in time when participants were in a assessment was created in order to quantitatively developed by Deltares to our data. A new positive mood than when they were in a negative evaluate the impacts of WC and AWC on the prominent beach ridge formed but the coastline mood. Our findings may provide insight on environment. Preliminary results suggest AWC never fully recovered to its pre-2004 position. how we imagine the future as a result of our may have comparable environmental impact to (Support from the Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship, emotional state of mind. WC. (Research supported by the Susan Todd Wellesley College Science Center Summer Horton Class of 1910 Internship Fund.) Research Program through the Priscilla C. Do Defensive Pessimists Show Patton Endowment Fund, and the Brachman Negative Mood Effects on Icebergs and Argon: Analyzing East Hoffman small grants program) Cognitive Tasks? Antarctic Glacial Transport in the Brigid E. Prayson ’14, Psychology Mid-Miocene Climate Transition Examining the Leaching Potential Advisor: Julie Norem, Psychology Charlotte H. Benishek ’16, Environmental of Lead and Other Metals from Artificial Turf Via Weathering Research suggests that negative mood is associ- Studies, Emma R. Howey ’16, Geosciences Janna M. Zimmermann ’14, ated with better performance on some cognitive Advisor: Elizabeth Pierce Davis, Geosciences Environmental Studies tasks. This thesis project was conducted to Glacial sediment deposits off the coast of Daniel Brabander, Geosciences examine whether defensive pessimists--a group Antarctica offer a window into past glacial Advisor: characterized by their tendency to set low activity. Studying these dynamics is especially In 2002, Wellesley installed a synthetic playing expectations for their performance and mentally important today, as conclusions can be applied field manufactured by the company NextTurf. simulate, in specific terms, what might go wrong to understanding ice sheet dynamics. Our From an environmental health perspective, there prior to an anxiety-arousing situation--exhibit research analyzes marine sediment deposited is a concern that the water-soluble lead chromate the same cognitive benefits that those in a nega- off of East Antarctica by icebergs, during a pigments used to enhance the greenness of the tive mood have demonstrated in the literature. period of ice sheet growth ~13.9 million years grass fibers may leach into the surrounding envi- Participants’ memory abilities were evaluated ago. We have focused on analyzing biotite and ronment. While prevous analysis of turf samples using an assessment created to test memory hornblende. By dating these minerals through from the Wellesley field indeed suggests increas- for previously presented images of everyday the 40Ar/39Ar method, we can learn where on ing levels of lead being detected in the rubber scenes. Memory accuracy and susceptibility to Antarctica the sediment originated, and how the infill of the turf (coinciding with decreasing social processing errors were compared between glaciers moved in the past. Although our core levels of lead in the turf blades the metals may defensive pessimists and controls. Defensive is located in Prydz Bay, preliminary data shows be leaching from), it is uncertain whether or not pessimists were expected to have more accurate that it contains material from two distinct source these metals can mobilize enough to leach into memories and to be less susceptible to social pro- areas, the local Prydz Bay region and Wilkes adjacent bodies of water. In this analysis, samples cessing errors than the other participants. Results Land, which is >1000 km away. This does of turf grass and rubber infill will be subjected to and potential implications will be discussed. not follow the pattern of nearby cores, which leaching experiments. Repeatedly, samples will

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 31 1:30–2:40pm be submerged in rainwater and dried, and the Science Center Special Collections: Investigating Protein-Lipid collected effluents will be analyzed to assess the The History of Science Instruction Interactions in the Elmore Lab mobility of metals contained in Wellesley’s turf. at Wellesey College (panel discussion) Founders Hall 120 The purpose of this experiment is to clarify the Elizabeth C. Kashinski ’15, English, Mwangala P. Akamandisa ’15, Biological impact of weathering on the leaching potential Claire I. Milldrum ’15, Art History Chemistry, Julia A. Klaips ’14, Biological of lead and and other metals as well as the Advisor: John Cameron, Biological Sciences Chemistry, Maria A. LaBouyer ’15, Biological long-term fate and transport of these elements. Since its founding, Wellesley College has taken Sciences, Jane E. Lodwick ’14, Chemistry, Sukin Sim ’16 Chemistry and Mathematics What’s Cooking? Experiments a “hands-on” approach to science education that Advisor: Donald Elmore, Chemistry in the Lab and the Class originally required large numbers of anatomical and other models, scientific instruments, (short talks) Pendleton Hall West 117 The Elmore lab is interested in understanding lithographed charts, biological specimens and the interactions between proteins and the lipid Cooking Chemistry more. As time passed and technology advanced, membranes of bacterial and eukaryotic cells. most of these objects fell into disuse. A number Alexandra Grzywna ’14, English An ongoing project in the lab involves studying of them were lost or discarded, but those that the structure-function relationships of histone Advisor: Didem Vardar-Ulu, Chemistry remain are important in understanding the derived antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which What molecular interactions cause dough to history of science pedagogy at the College selectively kill bacterial cells. A recent collabora- rise? How is milk transformed to cheese? While and science education overall. Our goal for tion with the Peterman lab seeks to determine cooking may be perceived as a process in which this project was to inventory, catalog, and if the relative importance of amino acid residues raw ingredients are magically transformed into necessary rehouse, important Science Center in the Sec14 protein domain, a lipid transfer a delicious food product, the magic becomes collections. While far from being complete, domain that is nearly ubiquitous in eukaryotes, not so mysterious when chemical concepts are we believe this information can only add to a for specifically binding lipids essential to cell applied. In my talk, I will share my experiences more complete understanding of our shared signaling. We will discuss the computational teaching the Molecular Gastronomy course campus. It is our hope that over time, with and experimental methods we use to address at the Explo school, where I explored how help from people across campus, these precious these questions and the insight we have manipulating variables such as pH and artifacts that tell Wellesley’s rich history will be gained into these systems. temperature cause physical and chemical changes shared both locally and globally. in food, and how transforming and combining POSTER SESSION states of matter create delicious textures. I’ll also Electron-Induced Reactions of Science Center Focus discuss how the polarity of lipids, saccharides, Ammonia of Astrochemical Interest and proteins affects texture, particularly focusing Katherine E. Shulenberger ’14, Chemistry Study of the Reduction of Horse on the denaturation and coagulation of proteins Advisor: Christopher Arumainayagam, Cytochrome C by Porcine Heart such as gluten and gelatin. Because the same Chemistry Ubiquinol-Cytochrome C Reductase Using ITC and UV-vis chemical principles in the laboratory govern Ammonia is the most abundant nitrogen- those in the kitchen, it turns out we can not containing compound within both high-mass Sebiha M. Abdullahi ’15, Biological Chemistry, Alice Liao ’15, Biological Chemistry only eat food, but learn chemistry from it too. and low-mass protostellar regions, which are known to contain high molecular diversity; Advisor: Elizabeth Oakes, Chemistry Ultravoilet Absorption Properties of Diatomic Sulfur including many prebiotic species. It has been The mitochondrion, the powerhouse of the proposed that silicate and carbonaceous dust cell, contains a series of complexes which form Hannah E. Herde ’14, Physics and Classical particles provide sites for the formation of ices of the electron transport chain where cellular Civilization various simple compounds, including ammonia. energy (ATP) is produced. Cytochrome bc1 Advisor: Glenn Stark, Physics These ices are then bombarded with high energy (cytochrome C reductase) is an example of such Diatomic Sulfur, S2, is a powerful absorber of photons and cosmic radiation (Emax ~ 10^20 a complex. Cytochrome bc1 transfers electrons ultraviolet light. It is present in the atmospheres eV). We propose that the low energy electrons from co-enzyme Q to cytochrome C when both of Jupiter and its moon, Io. It is very difficult to that originate when high-energy radiation inter- molecules are bound to it in specific locations. obtain an S2 spectrum in the laboratory; when acts with matter are the driving force behind the Ubiquinone is the fully oxidized form (lacking heated, elemental sulfur forms many different reactions occurring within these interstellar ices. the electrons) and ubiquinol is the fully reduced gaseous species including S2, S3, and S4. From temperature programmed desorption form (carrying the electrons) of coenzyme Q10. We use a two-temperature furnace and (TPD) experiments we have identified the for- Although there are two pairs of binding sites on absorption cell to create conditions of high mation of hydrazine (N2H4), diazene (N2H2), cytochrome bc1, to avoid electron leakage and temperature and low pressure, which favor pure and molecular hydrogen (H2) after irradiation to maximize reduction centers only one site of S2 formation. Using high resolution measure- with 1000 eV electrons for five seconds at each type is activated at a time (Covian et al., ments from the National Institute of Standards an incident current of 1.5 µA. We have also 2008). We studied the binding interaction of and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, we identified hydrazine and diazene after 150eV cytochrome bc1 to cytochrome C or ubiquinone quantified oscillator strengths for atmospheric electron irradiation consistently at high electron using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). modeling purposes. This work is generously flux (10 µA). Hydrogen has been identified at Secondly, we studied the kinetics of the supported by the Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship incident energies as low as 5 eV. This evidence reduction of cytochrome C and the oxidation and the NASA Planetary Atmospheres Program. can help us determine the mechanism by which of cytochrome bc1 using UV-Vis spectroscopy. ammonia dissociates by interacting with high Similar rates of reduction and oxidation and low-energy electrons. respectively may suggest that cytochrome C

32 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 1:30–2:40pm is reduced by cytochrome bc1 one at a time. to determine whether pomegranate polyphenols in finding out how local power generation will These experiments are essential to carry out work by scavenging for reactive oxygen species benefit the site. since ATP production is the basis of eukaryotic (ROS) or if they directly interact with enzymes life. Our experiments are designed to show the linked to the ROS and inflammatory pathway. An Analysis of East Antarctic ratio of the kinetic rate constants of electron Sediment Samples from the donors to carriers and to characterize the Where Do Introduced Populations Mid-Miocene Climate Transition thermodynamic stability of their interaction Learn Their Tricks? Searching for the Michaela A. Fendrock ’15, Geosciences, during electron transport. Geographical Source of a Species’ Celia M. Honigberg ’15, Geosciences, Introduction to the Galápagos Diana Lee ’15, Environmental Studies, The Antioxidative Potency of Archipelago Kaisa L. Wayrynen ’14 Biological Sciences Pomegranate Pulp and Peel Adrienne C. Cheng ’14, Biological Sciences, Advisor: Elizabeth Pierce Davis, Geosciences Jasmine N. Gums ’15, Women’s & Gender Alyssa F. Bacay ’14, Biological Chemistry, The Mid Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT), Studies Amanda T. Woo ’14, Biological Chemistry a period 14.2 to 13.8 million years ago, repre- Advisor: Elizabeth Oakes, Chemistry Advisor: Andrea Sequeira, Biological Sciences sents one of the major changes in the earth's Antioxidants are essential for biological processes The success of species introductions can be climate during the Cenozoic. Global average and maintenance of human health. Generation traced back to the interaction between their temperatures cooled, leading to major ice sheet of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free genome and the environment. The genetic rich- growth in East Antarctica. Evidence for this ice radicals occurs naturally in vivo. If ROS are ness underlying such success is either imprinted sheet growth includes proxies such as sea level created in excess, oxidative stress can result and in the genetic patterns at the source location, or records, sediment records and oxygen isotopes, subsequently cause disease (Wilcox et al., 2004). gained in situ through demographic expansion as presented in a variety of previous studies. In Pomegranate juice is a potential treatment to and multiple introduction pulses. The weevil order to further examine the variation in move- ease or prevent detrimental effects caused by Galapaganus howdenae, introduced to Galápagos ment of East Antarctica’s ice sheet growth, we oxidative stress. Antioxidants prevent oxidation from mainland Ecuador, is a prime example have measured the amount of ice rafted detritus of molecules thereby preventing damage to cells of an introduced species with an expanding (IRD) deposited in sediment in the Southern by ROS (Singh et al., 2001). Phenols are a type geographic range. Through microsatellite Ocean off the margin of East Antarctica. of antioxidant and have free radical scavenging genotyping, we aim to answer important Here we examined sediments from Integrated activity. They function by donating a hydrogen questions: Are the genetic patterns of island Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition atom to a free radical species, effectively populations a function of their introduction 318, Site U1356, (core 19R, sections 1-5), we interrupting the chain reaction. Phenols are history or already present in source populations? determined the clast count and examined the abundant in pomegranates (Scalbert et al., What are the geographic origins of the island lithic grains from the sediment deposited about 2005). Our experimental goal is to determine populations? High levels of genetic variability in 14 million years ago. We processed 41 samples the antioxidative potency of pomegranate pulp the introduced range might indicate that intro- by first drying the samples, then washing the and peel based on total phenolic content and duced populations have the genetic potential to samples through a 63 µm sieve. After drying total ferric reducing power. colonize other areas. The results could inform the >63µm portion of the sample, we further measures that attempt to control accidental sort the sample into three parts: 63-150µm, Pomegranate Antioxidants Scavenge inter-island transfer and provide insight into the 150µm-1mm and >1mm. We examined and Reactive Oxygen Species and Inhibit genetic background of biological invasions. classified the lithic grains in the >1mm portion Peroxidase En of our samples. These lithic grains are IRD. Shira E. Bleicher ’14, Biological Chemistry, Addressing Nima’s Challenges with Ava K. Mokhtari ’14, Biological Chemistry, the Implementation of a Rainwater Our data adds to the initial shipboard data. Both Raji R. Nagalla ’14, Biological Chemistry Management System and Local the shipboard data and our data indicate that Power Generation Advisor: Elizabeth Oakes, Chemistry there were several large pulses of IRD during Cindy E. Coffee ’16, Architecture the MMCT. Previous data from benthic oxygen Antioxidants are a large group of molecules Advisor: Abigail Mechtenberg, Energy Systems isotope records tell us that this was a dynamic known for their anti-inflammatory properties. time in the growth and retreat of the Antarctic Nima is a suburb of the capital of Ghana, Accra, Polyphenols are a specific type of antioxidant ice sheets, but this is the first time that we have with a very high density exceeding 250 persons found in a variety of phytochemical-bearing direct evidence from sediments derived by ice per hectare. It is one of the oldest areas in Accra substances. Due to its relatively high polyphenol rafting that confirms the benthic oxygen (in addition to Ussher Town, James Town content, pomegranate has been a primary focus isotope data. regarding the medicinal powers of antioxidants. and Accra New Town) mostly comprising of Dietary polyphenols have been shown to play immigrants from the three Northern Regions of CodeSync: A Collaborative a vital role in the prevention and treatment of the country. During the two main rainy seasons, Coding Environment for Novice cancer, aging and inflammation; however, the April to July and September to November, the Web Developers exact pathway and target through which they poorly planned narrow streets and even narrower Monica S. Feldman ’14, Computer Science inhibit sub-cellular pathways of inflammation walkways turn to mud and are inaccessible from Advisor: Scott Anderson, Computer Science the lack of a proper drainage system. In the is not yet known (Pervaiz and Clement, 2007; CodeSync is a collaborative coding tool geared Fall of 2013, while taking a class called Energy Bachoual et al., 2011). The goal of this project toward beginning web development students. Systems in Urban Design at the Olin College is to use a colorimetric assay to evaluate the It solves problems that Wellesley’s CS110 of Engineering, I chose Nima as my urban site efficacy and mechanism of action of antioxidants students face while trying to collaborate with in need of having its challenges addressed. The in the peel and meat of the pomegranate fruit one another. use of Homer Energy was also implemented

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 33 1:30–2:40pm

CS110 thrives on collaborative work; however, Optimization of a High Throughput Furthermore, green tea polyphenols (GTP) have the current tools used to write code and move Protein Kinase A Activity Assay to been shown to disrupt amyloid fibril formation files don’t properly support collaboration. Compare Inhibitor Efficacy and aid in fibril depolymerization. In order to In fact, these tools undercut it by allowing Lara N. Gechijian ’14, Biological Chemistry, characterize amyloid fibril formation and explore collaborators to overwrite each others’ code. Sara Martin ’14, Biological Chemistry, the therapeutic effects of GTPs in amyloidosis, Tools without these flaws exist, however Kendall R. Tada ’14, Biological Chemistry hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) aggregation they’re pitched for professional programmers. Advisor: Elizabeth Oakes, Chemistry was induced in the presence and absence of GTP. HEWL exhibits a characteristic secondary CodeSync works similarly to Google Docs, Protein kinase A (PKA) controls differentiation structural shift from alpha helix to beta sheet which enhances collaboration by allowing and proliferation pathways by phosphorylating during amyloid fibril formation. It has been documents to be edited by multiple people, proteins involved in these processes. PKA shown to form fibrils in vitro under various even simultaneously. In this environment, modulates these proteins by transferring a denaturing conditions such as extreme pH, users can easily create web-based coding phosphate group from ATP to serine or ion addition, and in the presence of alcohols projects that others can join and contribute threonine side chains on the protein target. (Chiti et al., 1999; Fujiwara et al., 2003; Tanaka to using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The phosphorylation activity is regulated by et al., 2001; Yonezawa et al., 2002). Optimal cyclic AMP (cAMP), an essential intracellular Through the introduction of CodeSync, a conditions for fibril formation were screened and signaling molecule. cAMP activates PKA collaborative coding tool specifically geared circular dichroism (CD) spectra were obtained by binding to and releasing the regulatory toward beginning web development students, to analyze secondary structural changes. subunits, rendering the catalytic subunits of students will find collaborative coursework to Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was used to PKA active. Deregulation of proliferative be easier, more reliable, and more enjoyable. measure macromolecular changes in the size cAMP-PKA pathways has been implicated in and homogeneity of the amyloid aggregates. To Help or Not to Help: Associations several cancers as constitutively activated PKA Results were ultimately employed to elucidate Between Socio-Emotional Language can lead to uncontrolled cell division (Caretta, structural changes in HEWL during aggregation and Prosocial Behavior in Preschool 2011; Chiaradonna, 2008). As a result, PKA and to explore the efficacy of polyphenols as Gabriella F. Freda ’14, Psychology, is being considered as a potential target in therapeutic treatment for amyloidogenesis. Talia S. Schwartz ’14, Psychology cancer therapies (Hochbaum et al., 2008). Advisor: Jennie Pyers, Psychology Currently there are many PKA inhibitors that Extending Blockly, a Visual This research investigated the relationship vary in efficacy. However, there is no standard Programming Framework procedure to evaluate these inhibitors. A between socio-emotional language and Xixi Lu ’15, Computer Science common measure of efficacy is the concentra- prosocial behavior among preschool children. Advisor: Franklyn Turbak, Computer Science We hypothesized that children who demon- tion of an inhibitor required to reach 50% strated prosocial behaviors, such as helping inhibition of enzyme activity (IC50). The IC50 MIT App Inventor is an online blocks-based pick up dropped paper clips, would use more value is extremely dependent on experimental programming environment that allows even socio-emotional words in their responses to conditions, and as a result, the IC50 of different users with little to no programming experience questions than children who did not help, inhibitors are not comparable unless they were to create Android apps. The blocks-based while controlling for general language ability. determined under the same conditions (Ward, environment is based on the Blockly framework, Participants were 34 preschoolers, ages 3-5-years 2012). In the current study, we aim to optimize a web-based graphical programming editor a high-throughput PKA activity assay in order where users drag blocks together to create old (18 boys, 14 girls, Mage = 50.41 months, to compare the efficacy of two PKA competitive computer programs. This past summer and SD = 6.20 months). Prosocial behavior was inhibitors, Staurosporine and H7. semester, I collaborated with the MIT App measured in terms of children’s demonstration Inventor Development team on extending of helping behavior by picking up spilled Induction and Structural Blockly and making App Inventor more user paper clips; the children who did not pick up Characterization of Hen Egg friendly. I worked on developing a number the paper clips were considered non-helpers. White Lysozyme Amyloid Fibrils of new features, which includes zooming Results from univariate analysis of variance and in the Presence and Absence of and scaling for the Blocks Editor workspace, Epicatechin Gallate t-tests showed no significant difference between designing a number of different block connector the socio-emotional language use of helpers Lelia G. Gessner ’14, Biological Chemistry, shapes that each indicate a different variable versus non-helpers. Although no significant Mengyu Wu ’14, Biological Chemistry type, implementing a way to allow these results were found to support our hypothesis, Advisor: Elizabeth Oakes, Chemistry different connector shapes co-exist in the same we did find that over half of all the children Amyloid fibrils have been implicated in many workspace, and creating a new block shape demonstrated helping behavior. Thus, prosocial diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 that can help visualize variable scoping. behavior may develop earlier than three or diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. They are four years old and further aspects of cognitive Grading Experimental Autoimmune formed by structured aggregation of misfolded development might mediate its relationship Uveitis in Mice with Spectral Domain precursor proteins and generally result in a to language. Optical Coherence Tomography loss of functionality but may induce cell death (Bellotti et al., 1999). Currently there are no Mehwish A. Mirza ’15, Neuroscience treatments for amyloidosis, only therapies to Advisor: Bevil Conway, Neuroscience treat complications. Elucidation of the process Experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) is a of amyloid fibril formation is integral towards rodent model of human autoimmune uveitis, a developing an overall understanding of proper- condition often caused by autoimmune ties related to protein conformation and stability.

34 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 1:30–2:40pm disorders that results in the inflammation of must assemble App Inventor blocks that solve potential to create an effective curriculum which the uvea. EAU provides a preclinical model for that task. It works by comparing the teacher- embraces, rather than avoids, personification in the assessment and therapeutic treatment of provided solution to the student’s solution in introductory chemistry education. autoimmune retinal inflammation and posterior one of three ways: exact block-for-block match, uveitis. EAU was induced in C57BL/6 mice by expression evaluation, or function definition. Stronger Communities, Stronger injection of interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding I extended the function definition category, Schools - The Creation and Evolution protein (IRBP. 1-20) combined with complete permitting the use of helper methods and global of a Transformative Partnership Freund’s adjuvant (CFA). High-resolution variables in teacher and student solutions. I also Loren S. Cahill ’14, African Studies, spectral domain optical coherence tomography added a fourth category, procedure definition, Katherine H. McCann ’15, Peace & (SD-OCT) was used as a clinical method for permitting the testing of procedures modifying Justice Studies fundus imaging and evaluating EAU outcomes global variables, and subsequently this category Advisor: Soo Hong, Education in mice overtime. Mice were sacrificed at was merged with the function definition We are studying the Wellesley College organiza- various time points, and eyes were frozen, category. (This material is based upon work tion, Stronger Communities, Stronger Schools cross-sectioned, and stained with hematoxilin supported by the National Science Foundation (SCSS), a student-run organization that partners and eosin (H&E) in order to match the histol- under Grant Number DUE-1226216.) with two Boston-based community organiza- ogy with the representative OCT image. At tions and a Boston public school to support Studies of the Metabolism of peak stages of EAU, images show retinal folds, students and families in and out of schools. We FDA Approved Drugs photoreceptor damage, and retinal detachment. explore the concept of critical service learning SD-OCT allows the user to define the represen- Erin C. Yang ’16, Chemistry and its impact on both college students and tative morphologic details of EAU in individuals Advisor: Adrian Huang, Chemistry local communities. We explore the experiences during disease progression. Additionally, these Drug metabolism is the biochemical modifica- of Wellesley student volunteers and the ways findings are closely correlated with underlying tion of pharmaceutical substances respectively their participation in SCSS influences their histologic changes at each time-point. by living organisms, usually through specialized perspectives on education and social change, shapes the continuing partnership with local Two-Choice Extinction: A Behavioral enzymatic systems. Drug metabolism often communities and informs their personal beliefs Assay for Cognitive Flexibility in the converts lipophilic chemical compounds into and experience. This study will be used to help Mouse Model of Fragile X more readily excreted hydrophilic products. The rate of metabolism determines the duration us to inform and perfect our organization’s Madison D. Taylor ’14, Neuroscience and intensity of a drug’s pharmacological action. mission and practice. We hope that our work Advisor: Virginia Quinan, Neuroscience Our goal is to find the trend of the metabolism can illuminate how other collegiate institutions Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the leading known of FDA approved drugs by cytochrome P450. can create a mutual and sustainable partnerships. cause of Autism spectrum disorder, is the most English Language Learners in Rural common form of inherited mental retardation. Social Sciences Alabama: Their Specific Needs and FXS is a single gene disorder caused by the loss the Future of an Increasing Population of an mRNA-binding protein, FMRP. Because Learning Differences there is a lack of regulation on the translational Sarah B. Hitchner ’15, Women’s & Gender or Learning Differently? process, there is increased protein synthesis Studies (short talks) Science Center 396 at synapses, thought to account for many Advisor: Wendy Robeson, Wellesley Centers for Women behavioral phenotypes in Fragile X. This project “Don’t Anthropomorphize Your uses a novel behavioral assay in Fmr1 KO Molecules. They Hate It When You English Language Learners (ELLs) are students, mice to test whether indirect pharmacological Do That.” Examining Personification both U.S.-born and foreign-born, who need down-regulation of mGluR5-mediated signaling and Narrative Technique in Chemistry support in learning English in addition to is sufficient to correct the phenotype. We are Education from a Feminist Perspective mastering the academic requirements of their measuring the cognitive flexibility of cross-mice Anna R. Blumfield ’17, Undeclared mainstream classrooms. When faced with the to determine if loss of FMRP can be corrected dual load of learning English and keeping up in Advisor: Noah Rubin, Education by targeting the mGluR5 pathway. We are their academic classes, many ELLs are at risk of interested in extinction of a learned behavior Personification and narrative techniques falling behind their peers. Through the Shirley because of noted cognitive flexibility issues in often surface when we try to grasp an abstract R. Sherr Student Research internship at the Fmr1 KO mice and believe that extinction is a concept for the first time. “So, oxygen is happy Wellesley Centers for Women, I explored the viable measure of cognitive flexibility. (Research when…” is not an unusual phrase in an intro- challenges faced by English Language Learners supported by HHMI, MIT, and SCSB Grant) ductory chemistry classroom. These techniques in rural Alabama. ELL students living in rural are also often looked down upon, especially on a Alabama face additional challenges when it Extending Quizly professional level. Interviews in high school and comes to access to support and resources such Bhargavi Ramanathan ’16, Undeclared college settings, as well as pedagogical theory and as low numbers of students speaking the same Advisor: Franklyn Turbak, Computer Science experimental science education research reveal language. With the Alabama State Department where and when these techniques are beneficial Quizly is a teaching tool for App Inventor of Education’s steps to further support to learners. The relationship between personifi- developed by Ralph Morelli (Trinity College). ELLs, recent growth in the number of ELLs cation and STEM education for women is also It is used to make quizzes that can be embedded nationwide, and the continuing growth and examined, based on feminist theory suggesting into web pages. In a Quizly quiz, the student is diversity of Alabama’s population, there is hope that women and men often learn differently. presented with a programming task, and for increased support for ELLs in rural The research concludes with questions about the Alabama in the future.

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 35 1:30–2:40pm

Status Inequalities: A Study of the The Right to Choose Privacy: An Behind every statistic of cancer incidence and Impact of Socioeconomic Disparities Exploration of the Legal, Social and cancer mortality in the world, there is dynamic on Educational Experience Cultural Ramifications of Legislating interplay including political struggles between a Morgan G. Johnstonbaugh ’14, Sociology the American Family Ideal in the population and a government towards seeking United States Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology healthcare, eliminating cancer risk factors, Katherine E. Leung ’14, Political Science silencing the cultural stigmas of cancer, and Can educational opportunity combat socio- and History even influencing an economy. In our panel economic disadvantage? In the United States Advisor: Brenna Greer, History presentation, we hope to present to you a today inclusionary policy is often perceived as sampling of the numbers we found, and the a valuable method for increasing educational American Law is demonstrative of the political compelling cancer narratives behind them. opportunity for students in underserved areas. and cultural environment in which it was Unfortunately, this technique often fails to meet created – whether passed through a state or Cancer and Anthropology: A Global the needs of students whom it is meant to assist. federal legislature, or as the result of a Supreme Glimpse at “The Dread Disease” Court decision. Between 1960 and 1973, a I gained greater insight into this problem by Suhayla Islam ’15, Neuroscience interviewing college students from a wide variety series of landmark Supreme Court cases forever Advisor: Anastasia Karakasidou, Anthropology of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. These altered the landscape of American privacy law interviews allowed me to identify the key social and the permissibility of Americans’ decisions According to the World Health Organization, resources that contribute to educational success about how to construct their families. These cancer incidence is the number of new cases and as well as the diverse barriers that students cases were decided by nine men, and influenced cancer mortality is the number of deaths due face when they experience economic hardships. by the men and women who challenged to cancer in a given period of time. Last year, Strong patterns in my data highlight the antimiscegenation laws, birth control bans I collected and analyzed cancer incidence and importance of social support as well as access to and abortion restrictions. This project explores mortality rates in multiple countries including educational and extracurricular opportunities the development of these cases and how they the United States, China, Greece, Macedonia in creating a positive educational experience. shaped the American family. and Turkey. Regions of the world with the Therefore, the development of effective highest incidences of cancer comprised much Legal and Ethical Issues Pertaining to educational policy relies on the construction of of the Western world, in contrast to the lowest the Ethical and Religious Directives a more comprehensive definition of educational incidences of cancer comprising many countries in Catholic Health Care opportunity. (Research Supported by The Office in Africa. Particular cancer types in specific Anna K. Tupper-Bridges ’14, Religion of the Provost and Dean of the College) countries were also examined, allowing me and Political Science to identify potential disparities such as high Equal Before the Law? Advisor: Sharon Elkins, Religion incidence of cancers in China related to the (short talks) Pendleton Hall West 212 One in six hospital patients in America are digestive tract, compared to that of neighboring treated at a Catholic hospital, and in the last countries, including Mongolia, Japan, and India. The Effect of Attorneys’ Gender, three years at least 20 Catholic hospitals have A case study of the “cancer village phenomenon” Age and Goal on Jury Bias merged with secular ones. Catholic-affiliated focused on environmental and economic Justyna D. Jakubaszek ’14, Political Science hospitals must abide by the United States conditions that contributed to the recent rise and Psychology Council of Bishops’ Ethical and Religious in cancer incidence in much of rural China. Advisor: Linda Carli, Psychology Directives, and merged hospitals are frequently (Research supported by the Barbara Peterson Ruhlman Endowed Fund for Summer Research This study examined the effects of a lawyer’s age, required to follow these directives. One of in the Social Sciences) gender, and goals on biases in jury decisions. the core set of directives, having to do with “the beginning of life,” do not allow any Participants listened to the legal arguments of a Narratives of Cancer in American Catholic-affiliated hospitals to offer a range lawyer in a case involving libel. Participants were and Chinese Social Media of reproductive services, including abortion, randomly assigned to hear either a male or a Jaymee Sheng ’16, Mathematics female attorney, who is either 30 or 50 years old. contraception, and sterilization. As a result of Advisor: Anastasia Karakasidou, Anthropology Additionally the participants were told that the mergers, formerly secular hospitals frequently attorney was working for compensation and thus have to adopt the directives. However, the direc- Cancer used to be a taboo in many societies, had an agentic goal (focused on the self), or was tives are often applied in an ad hoc manner, and and perhaps still is in certain parts of the world. working pro bono and thus had a communal hospital administrators and doctors sometimes The Chinese in general had cancer as a taboo goal (focused on the community). After listening attempt to circumvent them in confusing and and stigma. The personal experience of cancer to the legal arguments, participants evaluated roundabout ways. Ultimately, Catholic-secular at the physical, emotional, psychological, and the attorney and the attorney’s message. I hospital mergers lead to a variety of legal social level used to be shared at most with hypothesized that female attorneys would be challenges, most of which are successful on family and friends. Social media, however, less influential than male attorneys overall, the basis of medical malpractice laws. transforms the cancer experience by providing and especially in conditions where the attorney a new platform for the patient to instantly share is older and the goal is agentic. The Human Face of Cancer feelings and thoughts stemming from the illness (panel discussion) Founders Hall 126 both verbally and visually to a broad audience. In the time that each of us spent analyzing It also generates a new circle of support from various aspects of cancer epidemiology, we fellow Internet users and sometimes even realized that cancer is indeed multi-faceted and mass media attention for the patient. Various not simply a quantitative field of study. metaphors of battle and suffering used by cancer

36 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 1:30–2:40pm patients on the American social networking These findings have implications for policy, performances. The following project is an site, Twitter, and on the equivalent Chinese organization strategies and priorities, and further analytical look at the essential parts of a choir, micro-blogging site, Weibo, show similarities as political science research in the fields of political focusing on the choir’s contribution to the well as differences that reflect the fundamentally involvement and intersectional marginalization. musical development of the singers and the different structures and cultures of the two leadership development of the director. The societies. (Research supported by the Sophomore Archaeological Approaches to poster will explore techniques of ensemble Early Research Program) Understanding Socio-environmental instruction, findings on the effectiveness of Dynamics of the Anthropocene these techniques, and major takeaways from International Pink: A Study of Tenzin Choetso ’16 (Olin), the experience. International and Transnational Beatrice G. Denham ’14, Architecture, Breast Cancer Organizations Stephanie L. Gebhardt ’14, Environmental “It’s Gotta Be the Shoes”: Tinsa A. Harding ’16, Psychology Studies, Sumner M. Hanula ’17, Undeclared, A Sneaker Ethnography, Revisited Advisor: Catia Confortini, Peace & Heike H. Jacob ’17, Undeclared, Scarlett Kao Chanel G. Geter ’14, Sociology and Justice Studies ’16, International Relations and Economics, American Studies Sophia Liu ’14, Environmental Studies, Advisor: Yoon Lee, English Over recent years, the incidences of and deaths Kristen M. Oleskewicz ’17, Undeclared, from cancer are on the rise in resource-poor Sara Ro ’14, Economics, Emma D. Scalisi ’17, In today’s society, conspicuous consumption settings. Breast cancer alone is the second Undeclared, Sara A. Vannah ’17, Undeclared, discretely guides almost all of our purchasing leading cause of death among women. Kelly A. Zimmerhanzel ’17, Undeclared decisions, particularly when shopping for attire. Unfortunately, the rates of mortality are Advisor: Benjamin Vining, Anthropology For each cultural group, dressing for “success” disproportionately high in the Global South. has different implications, as varying racial Among the most pressing environmental issues Despite this, only a small portion of the groups have unique qualities to demonstrate today are concerns about human impacts on necessary resources are allocated to these most through their purchase of clothes and shoes. natural environments, and susceptibility of vulnerable populations. I am looking into how For young Black men, sneaker culture dictates socio-economic infrastructure to environmental different breast cancer organizations present a large majority of their fashion decisions, with change. These represent complex networks of themselves, and what their different missions, entire clothing lines being sculpted from the causal factors, which have developed over long initiatives, and images are, in order to better foundation of a popular gym shoe. For example, time spans. Yet, historical records and modern understand international and transnational the Air Jordans brand has proliferated urban instrumental data that can help us understand breast cancer activism. The comparison will fashion trends ever since its 1989 introduction environmental and climatic change typically aim to identify the different purposes of the into popular culture via a commercial entitled extend at most only a few centuries backwards organizations, and how each is inscribed in the “It’s Gotta Be the Shoes,” starring Michael in time. Here, we use data from archaeological larger world of breast cancer activism. My hope Jordan and Spike Lee. In my research, I question contexts to model and understand long-term is that this research will allow me to identify whether affinity for and identification with the socio-environmental impacts and responses to the views and postures of these organizations Air Jordans brand (specifically: the Jordan shoe climate change. We explore the cumulative towards the growing breast cancer burden in line) can be determined according to racial effects of land use, industrial activities, and resource-poor settings. (Research supported background and cultural tradition. Attend my natural resource exploitation on modern by the Sophomore Early Research Program) 2014 Ruhlman presentation to learn why “it’s ecosystem functioning, health, and climatic gotta’ be the Jordans!” (Supported by the Mellon patterns. We test paradigms that help explain POSTER SESSION Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program at socio-ecological interactions, and evaluate Science Center Focus Wellesley College) these against archaeological and modeled Sociopolitical Involvement Among systems. This work helps us understand LGBTQ People of Color the development of environmental systems Rachel P. Arrey ’16, Religion and Political dominated by anthropogenic agency—resulting Science, Allyson L. Pyers ’15, Political Science in the Anthropocene period of global change. and Women’s & Gender Studies Learning and Teaching through Advisor: Hahrie Han, Political Science the Wellesley Preparatory Chorus How does negotiating multiple marginalized Kendall A. Clites ’14, Music identities influence one’s involvement in social Advisor: Lisa Graham, Music and political life? Drawing from the 2010 Social Justice Sexuality Project, a national survey At the beginning of every school year, Wellesley of 4,953 people, roughly 3,000 of whom are students audition for numerous singing groups lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) on campus. Unfortunately, there are many who people of color, we examine LGBT people of love to sing in groups but do not yet have the color’s levels of sociopolitical involvement, or musical ability to qualify for the auditioned “connectedness to the social and political life of groups. To address this issue, a non-auditioned a community.” Based on the data, we suggest training choir was created. The purpose of the that LGBT people of color are more likely to group is to provide a singing opportunity to be involved in organizations specifically geared all who are interested, to develop vocal and towards LGBT people of color than in groups musicianship technique, and to bring music to targeting either identity category individually. the local community through service-oriented

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 37 3–4:10pm

Humanities Nicaraguans have configured and refigured Exclusionary Urbanism: events in order to manage and understand the Exploring Environmental transformations they lived through as individuals War, Then Peace Injustice in Bangalore and as a nation. (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 139 (exhibition) Jewett Arts Center Art Gallery Strategic and Tactical Decision-Making Mayrah W. Udvardi ’14, Environmental Rwanda’s Post-Genocide Gacaca of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Studies and Architecture Courts: Localizing Justice to Rebecca P. Lucas ’14, Political Science Advisor: Phyllis McGibbon, Art Advance National Reconciliation Advisor: Craig Murphy, Political Science Through these works, I explore the visual Charlotte J. Hulme ’14, Political Science components of my senior thesis topic, Focus on the use of violence by extra- Advisor: Stacie Goddard, Political Science “Bangalore: Urban Development and Design governmental groups is frequently concentrated for the Underclass”, which I am pursuing in During the Rwandan genocide, 800,000 Tutsis on outrage; while this may be an appropriate my Environmental Studies major. Here, I am were killed by extremist Hutus in less than reaction, it causes scholars to neglect the considering the complex relationship between 100 days. After the genocide, the government question if its efficacy as a strategic and tactical the natural environment and built infrastructure initiated “gacaca” courts, based on a traditional tool. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is of Bangalore. I am specifically interested in how community conflict resolution system, to handle one group that has used violence over the last historic paradigms of urban development have the overwhelming number of crime cases from three decades in the pursuit of ethno-nationalist established and protracted the presence of slums. the genocide. Gacaca has been controversial. goals. My senior thesis uses historical narrative For some, it represents the best possible method and statistical analysis to examine the ways in Encore? Encore? Julius of addressing impunity while advancing which they have utilized violent tactics and those Caesar and Romeo and Juliet, reconciliation in this exceptional context with factors that determine their strategy and tactics Back For One Day Only no “good” options. For others, gacaca represents over the last three decades, with a particular retributive justice by the Tutsi-dominated focus on ideology, public support, civil society, (long performance) Ruth Nagel Jones government, never destined for success in and resources. Theatre, Alumnae Hall bringing reconciliation to communities. Did Mara E. Palma ’15, Political Science, the gacaca process, as imagined by the state Mixture and Movement in the Catherine A. Piner ’16, English and implemented in communities nationwide, Indian Ocean World Advisor: Diego Arciniegas, Theatre Studies support reconciliation processes among survivors (panel discussion) Founders Hall 126 and perpetrators? Considering data gathered Missed either of The Wellesley College Mona I. Elminyawi ’14, Individual-Urban from interviews with Rwandans sharing their Shakespeare Society’s plays this year? Studies, Ashley J. Porras ’14, History, Fear not! Join them as they present scenes insights into the process and outcomes of gacaca Mariam Saifullah ’15, Economics in their communities, I argue that gacaca was and monologues from their fall production Advisors: Lidwien Kapteijns, History a remarkably successful experiment in finding of Romeo and Juliet directed by Vannessa and Nikhil Rao, History a delicate balance between addressing impunity Greenleaf. Wondering what the world will look and advancing reconciliation. (Research sup- Modern historical studies often take the nation- like in 2044? Come and get a glimpse of the ported by a Schiff Fellowship and a state as the unquestioned unit of study. In this future in excerpts from their spring production Barnette Miller Research Grant) history seminar, Port Cities of the Indian Ocean of Julius Caesar directed by Madeline Furlong. in Historical Perspective, we destabilized this Tres Ventanas sobre la Revolución assumption in order to look at society from the Opera: Not So Dead After All Sandinista de 1979: Discursos point of view of the coast. We learned about (long performance) Jewett Arts Center Políticos, Voces Poéticas y Testimonios the various elements of unity that constitute the Auditorium Orales de Ciudadanos Nicaragüenses Indian Ocean as its own world and coherent Victoria K. Brown ’15, Computer Science, de Hoy[Three Windows of the object of study. Among these, mixture and Maria A. Brusco ’14, Philosophy and Sandinista Revolution of 1979: Political movement was one common element of unity Economics, Chelsea S. Ennen ’14, English and Speeches, Poetic Voices, and Oral in port city societies. Our research touched Theatre Studies, Catherine A. Fromm ’16, Testimonies of Nicaraguan Citizens upon topics of networked and traveling cultures, Undeclared, Alexa P. Keegan ’14, Psychology from Today] diverse communities, cosmopolitanism, and and French, Cathleen J. McGovern ’16, Rebecca H. Kimball ’14, Economics and trade relations in the Indian Ocean region. Music, Katherine A. Siegel ’14, Music, Spanish While student research covered the history of Sophia P. Sokolowski ’16, Psychology and Advisor: Nancy Hall, Spanish cities situated on the littorals of the Red Sea, Biological Sciences, Julia T. Springer ’16, Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences, East Africa, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia, How is the 1979 Sandinista Revolution in Emily K. Weddle ’14, Music and Art History Nicaragua portrayed in selected official govern- this presentation will focus on the implications Advisor: Gale Fuller, Music ment speeches and works of poetry published of mixture and movement in India and the by key intellectuals between 1970 and 1990? port of Bombay. We will discuss how Bombay Opera combines many different art forms: voice, How do these representations square with became a major trading port, how a community movement, costuming and fashion, building or differ from the personal recollections of of Parsi traders became agents of social change sets, and learning performance techniques. Nicaraguan citizens today who lived through in British Bombay, and how the character Representing various composers and operas from that era? Through close readings of diverse of this port city influenced religious identity the past three centuries we wish to exemplify the cultural narratives, I hope to show that construction. relevance of opera in modern times. Within the performance of five operatic scenes we hope to

38 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 3–4:10pm present the audience with proof that opera was channels. During Summer 2013, we investigated tedious, and App Inventor’s current inability to made and continues to be meant for consump- information propagation on Twitter, a popular copy blocks between projects inhibits sharing. tion by the masses. Opera is not a dead form of social network that allows its users to “tweet” My thesis addresses these issues by creating a music and, in fact, remains relevant to modern statuses to their followers in 140 characters or textual language isomorphic to App Inventor’s society and can be interpreted in many different less. After analyzing historical Twitter data sets blocks language and a mechanism to convert fashions. This interdepartmental approach to and published academic research, we worked between them. This project aims to: (1) increase music allows us to look at the libretto and listen on developing a web-based system to track the App Inventor’s usability by providing an the pieces, themselves, to thinking about the credibility of a single tweet. Our algorithms efficient means for reading, constructing, and composer’s intentions at the time of composition collect huge amounts of related tweets, analyze sharing programs, and (2) ease users’ transitions and the historical relativity of the piece, allowing them based on desired keywords, and identify from blocks programming to traditional text us to see into the personality of the characters on the timeline of information spreading. We also programming. stage and also add our own instincts to develop built different interactive graphs to visualize this the character one step further. Opera: Not So data, allowing the user to examine the origins Effects of E-Readers on Children’s Dead After All. of the tweet as well as the independence and Recall of Mental State and Factual trustworthiness of the users who propagate it. Information: From a Socioeconomic Point of View Science & Technology Complexity of Index Sets of Rosa I. Guzman ’14, Psychology Various Computable Groups Advisor: Jennie Pyers, Psychology It’s Complex! Complexity Abigail J. Raz ’14, Mathematics in Groups, Networks and Children today grow up surrounded by Advisor: Karen Lange, Mathematics Societies technology. The term “21st century learning” (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 130 Computability theory is a branch of mathemati- has become a buzzword, as teachers and parents cal logic that explores issues of computation. A rush to incorporate technology into their chil- Structure vs Action: They Study of set is computable if there is a computer program dren’s daily activities to “enhance” their learning Quotient Groups in Comparison to that determines whether or not any element is experience. In particular, e-readers (electronic Their Action on Hyperbolic Space in the set. Tools from computability allow us to readers) have become a common tool found Anjali L. Kayal ’14, Mathematics examine the complexity of given mathematical in classrooms and at home. This study used an experimental design to investigate the effect of Advisor: Stanley Chang, Mathematics objects, such as graphs or groups, commonly studied objects in mathematics. We can think of e-readers on 3- to 5-year-olds’ comprehension My research studies quotient groups of a non- complexity as a measure of how non-computable of stories, specifically with relation to their recall abelian group, which is similar to studying the a given object is. The complexity of the form of factual and mental state information (e.g., result of a corrupted or hacked network. We are of a statement needed to describe an object emotions, thoughts) in the absence of an adult. studying the quotient groups of a specific type, can be used to determine the complexity of the The sample of participants included children of namely Z_2 * Z_3 / N(g). Here Z_2 * Z_3 object. I am studying specific groups that can be low and high socioeconomic status (SES) given means the free product group with a generator described in a computable way. The set of these children of low SES experience less shared book of order 2 and a generator of order 3 and N(g) descriptions is called the index set of the group. reading time than their high SES peers and may mean the smallest normal subgroup containing The main focus of my thesis is determining the be affected by e-readers differently. (Research g. Essentially, we are trying to understand these complexity of the index sets for groups with supported by Daniels Fellowship) quotients Z_2 * Z_3 / N(g) through three various additional properties. philosophies: algebraically, graph theoretically, Improving App Inventor User geometrically. The idea is to develop tools to What’s ’appening Debugging Tools connect these three arenas, so that you can (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 239 Johanna L. Okerlund ’14, Computer Science derive results in one realm by information Advisor: Franklyn Turbak, Computer Science from another. Improving the Usability of App App Inventor is a visual environment where Inventor through Conversion programs for Android mobile devices are I Saw It on Twitter, But Is It True? between Blocks and Text Developing a Semi-automated composed out of blocks resembling jigsaw puzzle System to Analyze Credibility of Karishma Chadha ’14, Computer Science pieces. Blocks languages like App Inventor Online Information Advisor: Franklyn Turbak, Computer Science lower barriers for novices by eliminating many Margaret A. O’Keefe ’16, Computer Science, In blocks programming environments, users common programming errors and by providing Lindsey L. Tang ’15, Computer Science, compose programs by combining visual program visual guidance for understanding program Susan Tang ’15, Computer Science, fragments shaped like jigsaw-puzzle pieces structures. There are now about 1.5 million Laura D. Zeng ’16, Undeclared (“blocks”). The shapes suggest how the blocks App Inventor users and 3.5 million projects. Advisor: Panagiotis Metaxas, fit together, eliminating syntactic frustrations My previous work studied the proficiency of Computer Science experienced by novices when learning textual App Inventor users by analyzing the structure of their programs and the runtime errors their The ubiquity of online social networks has led programming languages. MIT App Inventor, programs generate. While App Inventor reduces to an increased reliance on these platforms a popular online tool for Android app develop- the kinds of errors in user programs, it does not for real-time information. As more people ment, democratizes programming through its eliminate runtime errors entirely. Preliminary are relying on social media for news, we easy-to-use blocks language. Though simple analysis of the users’ runtime errors shows recognize the demand for a tool to examine the blocks programs are easy to read and write, that better debugging tools for App Inventor credibility of unverified information in these complex ones become overwhelming. Creating and navigating nontrivial blocks programs is are needed. I am implementing ways for users

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 39 3–4:10pm to pinpoint the source of runtime errors and measurements. This would make for a much The goal of this study is to use solution phase improving the collection of runtime error data more user-friendly app. peptide synthesis to make a non-hydrolyzable to track more fine-grained information about My hope is that this application will make it version of cFP (3): changing the oxygen of the how users deal with errors. just a bit easier and faster for women to find second alanine to a sulfur. The thioamide clothes that fit them better. version of the cFP inhibitor is expected to be tThe Right Fit App: Find Out What Size less susceptible to cleavage in vivo. It is expected You Are in Different Brands! Biological Chemistry Program that the thiopeptide may be a more specific Sophia A. Zachares ’15, Media Arts & Sciences Thesis Research Talks inhibitor to TOP than JA-2 as well. and Italian Studies (panel discussion) Jewett Arts Center 450 Advisor: Stella Kakavouli, Computer Science Members of the 2014 Biological Chemistry Over the summer I interned in the fashion class will present their thesis research projects, department of Redbook Magazine of the culminating their studies at Wellesley College. Hearst Corporation. There I worked both in Coming from labs both on and off campus, the Fashion closet assisting with “stories” and these students will present their ongoing work, on the website, creating online “flipbooks” cFP (1) ranging from organic synthesis to cancer such as trending swimwear, summer dresses, therapy research. handbags, and fall boots. During my many projects one of the things The Effect of a Novel Cytotoxic that kept coming up was how difficult it was for Agent on the Kinetics of women to find the right clothing size for them Phosphodiesterase 3A Lara N. Gechijian ’14, Biological Chemistry and that in fact many women wear the wrong JA-2 (2) size without even realizing it. To highlight this, Advisors: Didem Vardar-Ulu, Chemistry, in the October issue of Redbook we worked on Luc de Waal (Broad Institute) and a “best fit denim story.” We had 20 women Matthew Meyerson (PI) (Broad Institute) come to the office for a “Denim Bar party” Compound 1B is a small molecule with potent to help them find a good pair of jeans. We anticancer properties. Although the compound assembled 600 pairs of jeans from 20 different Figure 1. is lethal to 4% of cancer cell lines, the reason TOP competitive brands in sizes 00-24. Even in this situation for its lethality is unknown. This study Thioamide inhibitor (3) inhibitors. with so many different sizes and brands available represents an analysis of the interaction between it was difficult for the women to find even two Compound 1B and its predicted enzyme target, Monoclonal Antibody Targeted Delivery pairs of jeans that fit them well. phosphodiesterase 3A. The interaction was of Boron Loaded Gold Nanoparticles Based on this experience, I decided to design analyzed structurally, mechanistically and func- to Pancreatic Cancer Cells for Boron and create a mobile phone app to help women tionally. Ultimately, the understanding of the Neutron Capture Therapy find their right size in different brands. It will effect of Compound 1B on phosphodiesterase Sara K. Martin ’14, Biological Chemistry run on the android platform. 3A will provide insight into the mechanism of Advisor: Donald Elmore, Chemistry its cytotoxicity. Understanding the mechanism The user is asked to take three measurements Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is an aggressive of action of Compound 1B in sensitive cell lines of her body (bust, waist, hips) and enter them disease with an extremely high mortality rate. is essential for its potential as a treatment for in the app. Based on these measurements and New therapies are needed to treat this deadly human cancer. (Research support provided the sizing information provided by clothing disease. Gold nanoparticles (GNP) are attractive by the Schiff Fellowship) companies, the program decides the right size vehicles for cancer therapeutics. The chemistry for her in different clothing brands, and presents Solution Phase Peptide Synthesis of gold allows for easy attachment of therapies. the results. The app also gives her the option of Thioamide TOP Inhibitor In addition GNPs can also access tumors of setting up an account, where her data will be Melissa M. D’Andrea ’14, Biological through the leaky vasculature. Boron Neutron stored. She can use her login credentials to Chemistry and Spanish Capture Therapy (BNCT) involves localizing access that information any time in the future. Advisor: Donald Elmore, Chemistry non-toxic and non-radioactive Boron-10 to tumor cells. When a Boron-10 atom is hit In order to make this app, I had to introduce Synthesizing an inhibitor of Thimet with low thermal energy neutrons it decays myself to and learn how to use MIT’s app Oligopeptidase (TOP) may reveal more of into destructive high-energy Lithium ions and inventor. TOP’s function both in vitro and in vivo. A α particles. By loading boron onto GNPs the In the next few months I plan to extend my common TOP inhibitor, cFP, (1) is an effective therapeutic delivery to tumors can potentially application by incorporating source crowding. competitive inhibitor of TOP in vitro; however, be increased. The success of BNCT also relies on My plan is to use the working version of this in vivo, cFP, was hydrolyzed. Thus, cFP was not targeting the boron specifically to the tumor in app with Wellesley women, part of the intended a viable inhibitor. Another TOP inhibitor, JA-2 order to localize damage to the tumor. Through audience, to verify my algorithms and the (2), was synthesized. JA-2 is non-hydrolyzable attaching an antibody that recognizes a cell results they produce. in vivo. However, JA-2 resulted in unexpected surface protein on pancreatic adenocarcinoma secondary side effects. Thus, to find out if JA-2 In addition this might prove to be an alternative cells to the GNPs the boron can be directed inhibits other proteins besides TOP, another way of deciding one’s size in different brands, to the tumor. (Research supported by Schiff inhibitor must be synthesized. without even the need for taking one’s fellowship).

40 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 3–4:10pm

Demystifying Science that there is a serious lack of academic research and target audience. Utilizing Twitter, Facebook through the Power of Art on the Paralympic movement. So I did my own and YouTube, we are looking to see if gender is (panel discussion) Science Center 396 research. I conducted over two-dozen interviews an important or relevant variable in the use of Aisha L. M. Bornoe ’17, Undeclared, and had the opportunity to speak with a wide these particlar platforms. The analysis includes Kelsey B. Burhans ’17, Undeclared, array of people - from current Paralympians, measures of tone, topic, images and also user Jaclyn N. Burton ’17, Undeclared, to sports administrators, to a member of the comments. Clara Cotty ’17, Undeclared, Yujing Fan ’17, International Paralympic Committee. Although Navigating between the Cultures Undeclared, Ceallach B. Gibbons ’16, Political my Ruhlman talk will focus on my independent as Strategic Players: A Sociological Science, Jung Ryun Hong ’14, English, Diana study, I will also briefly discuss my internships Research on Chinese Oversea Thanh Nguyet Huynh ’15, Art History and with NBC Olympics, including during the Students’ Customized Self-Presentation Political Science, Alexandra S. Kaye ’17, 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. on Facebook and Renren Undeclared, Joanna S. Kim ’17, Undeclared, Eugene Lee ’15, Economics and East Asian Change-Magazine: Exploring Social Xinyue Wu ’14, Sociology Studies, Patricia L. Liu ’14, East Asian Change from a Student’s Perspective Advisor: Joseph Swingle, Sociology Studies, Isabel H. C. Noonan ’17, Undeclared, Mary Lou E. Ferguson ’16, Economics This project investigates how Chinese overseas Christina S. Pollalis ’16, Political Science, and English, Genevieve E. Rogers ’16, French students navigate between cultures by analyzing Colleen G. Royal, Senior Davis Scholar, and English their self-presentation strategies on Facebook Theatre Studies, Katherine A. Schwartz ’15, Advisor: Hahrie Han, Political Science Political Science and Renren (a popular Chinese social media site Change-Magazine is a new and different kind similar to Facebook). Key questions motivating Advisor: Didem Vardar-Ulu, Chemistry of student-reporting that explores the online my research were: Can slight changes in Most biological molecules on earth are made up forum as our medium of communication. website platforms impact social strategies? Do of the covalent combinations of the four chemi- Change-Magazine originated as a Wellesley self-presentations project new constructed selves? cal elements: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and & Harvard project in the spring of 2013, and Are we all social chameleons, shedding off and Nitrogen. Amino acids are one subset of these has since expanded to nine different schools putting on identities when needed? Students biomolecules. They can link together and form (and counting). in my study customized different self-images long chains that need to fold correctly to make The magazine is divided into three sections depending on the nationality of their primary functional proteins, or can be further processed aiming to provide a comprehensive analytical audience. Minor differences in website designs, to yield many of the brain chemicals that moti- look at grassroots activism: “Process Analysis,” combined with differences in national cultures vate, sedate, focus or frustrate us. Please join us, “Issue Awareness,” and “Profiles.” Change was triggered different patterns of self-presentations. as we use multiple forms of art to explain how completely put together by-- and continues to On Renren, the users posted ideological content four of the most talked about neurotransmitters, be solely run by-- students. This has provided while on Facebook they posted about their social dopamine, serotonin, adrenalin (epinephrine), many exciting challenges to learn from life. The hoped-for identities of users depended and noradrenalin (norepinephrine), are made including: coding the entire website, soliciting on cultural audience, and the two social media and how they function in our bodies. We will new writers at our own schools and at others, sites facilitated different kinds of self-expression. also share with you the mini-projects we created applying to be a nonprofit organization In addition to a content analysis of social media in the form of visual arts, music, creative writing, recognized by the state of Massachusetts, sites, this project also collected information via and movement that reflect our individual exploring social media platforms, and financing online surveys and interviews. understanding and insight of the intriguing ourselves without college or university assistance brain protein prion and how it can lead to the Mellon Mays Research which has ranged from working with advertisers, different prion diseases when it folds incorrectly. soliciting donations, and planning fundraisers. Imperatives Session One (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall East 339 Social Sciences Gender in Social Media: Analysis of Competitive 2012 U.S. Senate Races Donor Children: Analyzing the Unique Kinship Networks of Donor A Change is Gonna Come Emily F. Gamber ’14 Women’s & Gender Children and Their Perspective on (short talks) Science Center 278 Studies and American Studies, These Relationships Alessandra Saluti ’16, Political Science The History and Perception of Adaptive and French Cultural Studies Nicole L. Blansett ’15, Economics Sports and the Paralympic Games Advisor: Marion Just, Political Science Advisors: Tracey Cameron, Office of Alexandra K. Azzi ’15, American Studies Intercultural Education and Rosanna Hertz, Alessandra and Em are working with Marion Women’s & Gender Studies and Sociology Advisor: Jeannine Johnson, Writing Program Just on an ongoing research project that analysis Advances in modern technology have not only The Paralympic Games are filled with stories social media messages from 2012 US Senatorial grown the reproductive technology industry of overcoming obstacles, personal sacrifice, and Campaigns. Social media has become an but also raised serious questions about privacy inspiration. But are these the stories that should increasingly important aspect of both state-level and donor anonymity. In addition to the be told? This fall, I conducted an independent and national campaigns. The 2012 Senatorial opportunity to receive information on donors, study about the Paralympic movement and set races provided many nationally covered races, donor families are now able to connect with out to examine the perception of disability in and a number of split gender races. Previous other families who have conceived using the the adaptive sports community. I anticipated research has shown that women candidates tend same donor, expanding their possible kinship that I would conduct my study by reading a to campaign very similarly to men, but that circles. The rapid rate of growth and change variety of scholarly materials but quickly learned differences somtimes arise in tone, issue focus in this industry is exciting, but carries with it

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 41 3–4:10pm two fundamental concerns. The first is a lack Navigating Diaspora: The Trans-Atlantic Anarcho-Capitalism and the of research taking the perspective of donor Slave Trade and the Black Atlantic Preservation of Liberty in a children. The second is the failure of public World through the prints of Willie Cole Free Society policy and legislation to keep pace with the Imani C. Higginson ’14, Art History Evana Nabi ’17, Undeclared use of reproductive technologies. The solutions Advisors: Tracey Cameron, Office of Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology to both will have resounding implications Intercultural Education and Nikki Greene, Art Two powerful, wealth amassing institutions on questions as basic as how define family. This inquiry explores the work of contemporary -- government and capitalist enterprise -- (Research supported by the Mellon Mays artist Willie Cole. More specifically, it are viewed differently by the general public. Undergraduate Fellowship) investigates Cole’s use of iron scorches, which The conventional liberal view often regards Stronger Communities, Stronger recall abolitionist woodcuts of slave ships from government as the promoter of the common School- The Creation and Evolution the 16th century. Cole, however uses these iron interest, while capitalist enterprise is regarded of Transformative Partnership scorches more conceptually to create new shapes, as a promoter of selfishness and self-interest. Loren S. Cahill ’14, Africana Studies as a result questioning notions of domesticity as This is a false dichotomy, usually based on a lack related to African-American women as well as of understanding of the public goods that come Advisors: Tracey Cameron, Office of memory of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in the Intercultural Education and Soo Hong, from free-enterprise and a lack of knowledge Education 16th to 19th centuries. Findings will analyze, art about the limitations of democracy. I argue that historian Robert Farris Thompson’s Flash of the anarcho-capitalism is a better protector of liberty This project will enhance our understanding of Spirit, which traces the dispersal of West African than democracy and raise some central questions the Wellesley College-St. Stephen’s partnership, cosmologies throughout the Americans as a about how anarcho-capitalist principles might Stronger Community, Stronger Schools. result of slavery as well as Paul Gilroy’s The Black actually function in modern society. Do anar- We will be studying the relevance of critical Atlantic, which seeks to reconcile the liminal chists oppose all leadership and laws or simply a service learning to college students today and space through which Diaspora was created. In monopoly on the state’s use of force? How can the impact of social change within Boston connection with these ideas about memory a society without a government care for those in communities. We will explore what motivates and history, I hope use the texts that Cole may need of protection and aid? How is justice served students to join and continuing doing service. have been reading and is reading as a source of for those who commit crimes? We also hope to find how service can inform analysis to develop these concepts. (Research one’s understanding of social justice and their supported by the Mellon Mays Undergraduate The Fine Line between National overall career aspirations. (Research supported Fellowship) Security and Civil Liberties: National by the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship) Opinion Before and After 9/11 Perspectives from Zhou Wang ’16, Biological Sciences It’s Gotta be the Shoes The Freedom Project I: Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology Chanel Geter ’14, Sociology and Libertarian Themes American Studies Benjamin Franklin once wrote: “Those who (panel discussion) Science Center 277 Advisors: Tracey Cameron, Office of would give up essential liberty, to purchase a Intercultural Education and Michael Jeffries, little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty Bitcoin: The Capitalist nor safety”. In our modern era when technology American Studies Libertarian Ideal? and rapid advancements of national security In today’s society, conspicuous consumption Victoria M. Hills ’14, History and techniques are available, the solid line that discretely guides almost all of our purchasing Biological Sciences Franklin drew between national security and decisions, particularly when shopping for attire. Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology civil liberties are undeniably blurred in an For young men, sneaker culture dictates a By the time he was finally arrested in the fall age of Terrorism and Technology. After the large majority of their fashion decisions, with of 2013, the 20-something owner of Silk Road devastating 9/11 attacks, US citizens were faced entire clothing lines being sculpted from the -- “the eBay for drugs” -- had amassed a with numerous dilemmas regarding rights versus foundation of a popular gym shoe. For example, multi-million-dollar fortune in black market the needs of the national security state. After the Air Jordans brand has proliferated urban money. Why did it take the FBI so long to shut the leaks made by whistleblower Edward fashion trends ever since its 1989 introduction down the highly illicit drug-dealing website? The Snowden about the National Security into popular culture via a commercial entitled site’s transactions were made exclusively with Administration’s methods of collecting data “It’s Gotta Be the Shoes” starring Michael bitcoin, a digital currency whose unmoderated, on everyday Americans, these dilemmas have Jordan and Spike Lee. In my research, I question unlegislated nature makes it extremely difficult only intensified. This talk explores the evolution whether affinity for and identification with the to trace. Because bitcoin transactions are made of public opinion on surveillance programs Air Jordans brand (specifically: the Jordan shoe directly between individuals with no third-party before and after 9/11, and considers the role line) can be determined according to racial interventions or oversight, especially not by of whistleblowers in curbing the power of the background and cultural tradition. Attend my banks or governments, some hail the currency administrative state in American society. 2014 Ruhlman presentation to witness the as a libertarian ideal. Using bitcoin as a case results! (Research supported by the Mellon study, we will examine the benefits and deficits Mays Undergraduate Fellowship) of libertarianism. Is bitcoin, and libertarianism, “good” for the individual? Is it good for society?

42 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 3–4:10pm 4:30-5:40pm

Perspectives from the Freedom staff at the center to expand its options for Humanities Project II: The Problem of care and access for more people. We focused on marketing and branding to assist them in International Prostitution Heroes, Bulls, Keats and Woolf (panel discussion) Science Center 104 their fundraising, as well as refining the existing data management system to be more intuitive (short talks) Jewett Arts Center 450 Tiffany Chung ’17, Undeclard, and comprehensive. In addition, we created Adela Curtin ’17, Undeclared, Travels With Virginia Woolf a database of potential partners/donors and Marilis Dugas ’16, Political Science, Ava C. Bramson ’14, English Hailey Webster ’17, Middle Eastern Studies volunteers, including ourselves and our schools, who share HCF’s belief that all women deserve Advisor: Lisa Rodensky, English Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology access to high-quality fitness opportunities and Experiencing Virginia Woolf throughout four In the course of the Freedom Project health support. (Funded by the BOW Three years at Wellesley-- a retrospective. Supported Wintersession Seminar at Wellesley, we were College Collaborative) by the Pamela Daniels ’59 Fellowship. exposed to provocative interpretations of freedom and liberty as they relate to current Identity Unthroned: Fallen Sublimity domestic and international issues. Our panel in Keats’ Hyperion, Shakespeare’s focuses on international prostitution, an ongoing King Lear, and Milton’s Paradise Lost multilateral issue facing the world today, and Sydney S. Cusack ’14, English how it relates to classical liberal concepts of Advisor: : Alison Hickey, English freedom. Using the case study of the European The works of Keats, Shakespeare and Milton Union as a microcosm for the world, we attempt all contain figures fallen from power and grace: to understand the effect of open borders on Saturn in Hyperion, Lear in King Lear, and the legalization of prostitution. We will not Satan in Paradise Lost. After the fall, what attempt to judge the morality or “rightness” of remains? In this talk, I intend to examine the legalizing prostitution: this is merely a thought aftermath of each character’s fall from power, experiment as to the consequences, domestic including what happens to his sublimity, the and international, of global legalization of dissonance (or concord) between his self- prostitution. We will discuss themes of domestic perception and his perception by others, and regulation and corruption, global open borders the consequences of shifts in the locus of his as a measure of legalizing prostitution, and power. Despite their different circumstances, the role of international institutions in dealing Saturn, Lear, and Satan have much in common with an issue that clearly transcends individual as fallen powers, their unthroned identities lost, nation-states. “somewhere between the throne, and where Wintersession 2014: [they] sit” at present. Healthworks Community Heroes by Another Road: Fitness and Women’s Robin Hood and The Cid Empowerment Sara D. Del Balzo ’14, Spanish and (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall West 212 Medieval/Renaissance Studies Sarah E. Carlson ’17, Undeclared, Advisor: Elena Gascon-Vera, Spanish Sang Hyun Kim ’17, (Babson), Thieves and mercenaries are not typical inspira- Mitchell McKinnon ’14, (Babson), Dai Trang Nguyen Phan ’16, Economics, tion for national identity, and yet in England Alyssa Reisner ’17 (Babson), Taelyr Roberts ’15 and Spain, two such figures have been elevated (Babson), Wendy Sachs ’15, (Babson), through the passage of time to the position of Amy N. Wickett ’16, Economics, national hero. Robin Hood, as most of us know, Michelene Wilkerson ’16, (Babson), is traditionally known as an outlaw who hides Suh H. Yoon ’15, Religion, Janna Zimmerman in the forest and steals from rich passerby. The ’14, Environmental Studies Cid is known as a champion of Christian values, Advisor: Theodore Ducas, Physics though the real man was willing to fight for both Christians and Muslims alike. For my senior Healthworks Community Fitness (HCF) thesis, I chose to compare these two figures in is a non-profit organization operating two an attempt to see what makes a national hero, full-service fitness centers in Dorchester, MA. and how the legends surrounding these two men HCF is dedicated to promoting the health and have changed in order to allow them to remain empowerment of minority women and children sources of national identity and pride. who live in a neighborhood characterized by people with limited economic resources. Our 10-student team worked with feedback from

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 43 4:30–5:40pm

Bullfighting in Ernest Hemingway’s role in larval limb regeneration. Our findings Population Genetics of the Shortfin Fiction and Nonfiction further indicate that Hh plays a major role Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) Stephanie L. Gall ’14, English and Neuroscience in regulating growth and morphogenesis of Melaina A. Wright ’15, Biological Sciences Advisor: William Cain, English larval appendages. Advisor: Jocelyne Dolce, Biological Sciences Ernest Hemingway described, examined, and Regulation of Critical Weight in the The shortfin mako shark(Isurus oxyrinchus) returned to bullfighting in his life and work Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca sexta is listed as a highly migratory species under throughout his career, generating numerous Nicole E. Hatem ’14, Biological Sciences the 1995 United Nations Agreement on the journal articles, short stories, a novel and two Advisor: Yuichiro Suzuki, Biological Sciences Conservation and Management of Straddling nonfiction books on the subject. In his work, Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks the bullfight serves as a microcosm for his Manduca sexta, or the Tobacco Hornworm, goes (UNFSA). Because of its migratory status, exploration of tragedy, honor and artistry. through five molts before becoming a pupa. information regarding the population His final piece of nonfiction, The Dangerous The pupal molt is marked by a drop in Juvenile genetic structure of I. oxyrinchus is useful in Summer (1985), chronicles the rivalry of the Hormone (JH) in the hemolymph. JH levels identifying distinct population segments that Spanish matadors Antonio Ordóñez and Luis decrease in the hemolymph once the caterpillar can be managed regionally apart from the Miguel Dominguín during the summer of 1959. reaches a particular body size. If JH is removed global population. However, previous studies Scribner published the book posthumously, from the animal, the larvae pupate at a much on I. oxyrinchus have yielded conflicting results severely editing it. The published version of this smaller body size as long as their diet contains regarding the presence of genetic population text thus represents less than half of the original amino acids. Because amino acids activate the substructure within this species. Therefore, I typescript. The typescript reveals considerably Target of Rapamycin (TOR) signaling pathway, conducted an experiment with the aim of more of Hemingway’s psychology, thoughts and it was hypothesized that TOR signaling might assessing the population genetic structure of feelings, than Scribner’s edition. As he seeks regulate the timing of pupation in larvae that I. oxyrinchus both globally and regionally. This especially to experience and depict bullfighting have no JH. Inhibiting TOR signaling in black was accomplished by analyzing mtCO1 gene from the matador’s perspective, Hemingway mutant Manduca sexta that naturally have sequences and by performing RAD (Restriction broadens his conception of its tragedy to less JH produced significantly larger animals. Site Associated DNA) sequencing on North include the painful decline of the bull and man. Further analysis of the prothoracic gland size Carolinian I. oxyrinchus samples, making this (Research supported by JFK Library and compared to growth rate shows that without the first study to perform RAD sequencing on Wellesley College) JH pupal molts may be analogous to larval a shark species. (Research supported by a NSF molts. (Research supported by a grant from funded REU program) Science & Technology the National Science Foundation) Progress Towards the Investigating the Role of Vvl in Synthesis of Novel Therapeutic Growing Out of My Genes the Regulation of the Initiation (short talks) Pendleton Hall West 212 of Metamorphosis Anticancer Agents and a Gold Nanoparticle Amy Ko ’14, Biological Sciences Appendage Remodeling During (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall West 117 Advisor: Yuichiro Suzuki, Biological Sciences Metamorphosis and Growth Alyssa F. Bacay ’14, Biological Chemistry, Regeneration is Regulated by Metamorphosis and puberty are characterized Christine H. Chun ’15, Chemistry, Hedgehog Signaling Activity in the by dramatic morphological and behavioral Katherine W. Eyring ’14, Neuroscience, Flour Beetle, Tribolium castaneum. changes, and their regulation remains a puzzling Maria Jun ’14, Chemistry, Kellen M. Kartub Karin Darakananda ’14, Biological Sciences scientific enigma. In insects, the timing of ’14, Chemistry, Emily S. Lee ’16, Biological Advisor: Yuichiro Suzuki, Biological Sciences metamorphosis is regulated by the interaction Chemistry, Hong Zhang ’15, Chemistry between juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdyster- A key innovation in insect evolution is complete Advisor: Dora Carrico-Moniz, Chemistry oids. My research focuses on how the POU metamorphosis, which is characterized by the Research collaborators: Andrew Webb, transcription factor Ventral vein lacking (Vvl) development of specialized larval appendages. Biological Sciences and Nolan Flynn, Chemistry plays an important role in regulating the onset To gain insights into the origins of these The Carrico-Moniz laboratory seeks to develop of metamorphosis. Silencing Vvl expression larval appendages, the role of Hedgehog (Hh) novel anticancer therapies through the synthesis using RNAi interference (RNAi) resulted in signaling during regeneration and metamor- and biological evaluation of novel organic com- the induction of precocious metamorphosis in phosis was examined. Using the red flour beetle, pounds. Herein, we report on progress towards Tribolium castaneum and a reduction in the three ongoing research goals: the synthesis of Tribolium castaneum, Hh signaling was silenced expression of the JH-inducible gene kruppel two natural products and structurally related to determine its effects on cell proliferation. homolog 1 (kr-h1). In addition to inducing compounds with intrinsic cytotoxicity against Downregulation of Hh resulted in disrupted precocious metamorphosis, molting was also ovarian and pancreatic cancer cell lines, and cell proliferation during metamorphosis and inhibited in vvl RNAi animals. Since molting an organic molecular scaffold for the assembly inhibition of tissue growth during regeneration. is regulated by ecdysteroids, the activity of of gold nanoparticles. Recently, our laboratory In addition, interruption of Patched and Costal, ecdysteroid signaling pathway was examined published a novel asymmetric method towards which act as antagonists of the Hh signaling in vvl knockdown animals. Thus, I looked the synthesis of Spiroxin A, a natural product pathway, led to larval limb tissue overgrowth. at how vvl influences both JH and ecdysone with promising activity against ovarian cancer. Since Hh is not required for regenerative signaling and biosynthesis, potentially acting Current work in our laboratory is focused growth in insects that do not undergo complete as an integrator of both hormonal pathways on testing the versatility of this method. In metamorphosis, Hh appears to plays a distinct to regulate the metamorphic onset. addition, we are investigating the bioactivity of

44 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 4:30–5:40pm simplified coumarin derivatives (inspired On the eve of a major campus renovation, The Power of Protons: Solving by the natural product Angelmarin) against the Environmental Studies capstone class will Biomedical Problems Using pancreatic cancer cell lines. Concurrent with present sustainability-minded design frameworks Magnetic Resonance Imaging biological studies, spectroscopic investigations that align with the greater goals of the college. (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall West 116 to probe the underlying mechanisms of By examining the strategies of peer institutions, The Wellesley College MRI Lab has focused on cytotoxicity are currently underway. Lastly, consulting with diverse stakeholders, and three projects this year: 1) We are synthesizing we are working towards the synthesis of a performing quantitative analysis, we have silica-coated nanoparticles for the non-invasive soluble, organic scaffold for the electrochemical developed building guidelines that could magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and assembly of gold nanoparticles that can be used transform Wellesley into a leading sustainable targeted treatment of pancreatic cancer. 2) We for the delivery of therapeutic cancer agents. institution and community. The ideas we suggest use MRI, MR spectroscopy, and Diffusion seek to modernize Wellesley while preserving Tensor Imaging (DTI) to examine the GCPII/ MolecularMatch.com: its identity, as well as help shape future spaces Barnase + Barstar 4ever so that they are as reflective as the conversations AAV genetic and epigenetic mouse model of (panel discussion) Founders Hall 120 that will occur within them. Come learn the schizophrenia and evaluate whether the mice exhibit neurological and behavioral changes that Jacquelyn E. Blum ’14, Chemistry, nuts and bolts of holistic building design and mimic the disorder in schizophrenic patients. Connie Chen ’15, Mathematics and English, how it could transform our campus over the Daniele Evangelista Leite da Silva ’14, next decade. 3) We study the auditory system of songbirds, Chemistry, Helena W. Qi ’14, Chemistry a model for language acquisition, learning, and and Physics, Aiman Sherani ’15, Physics, Engineering for Humanity: memory in humans, using blood oxygen level Chemistry and East Asian Studies Helping Elders Age in Place dependent (BOLD) fMRI. Advisor: Mala Radhakrishnan, Chemistry through Partnerships for Assessing a GCPII/AAV Genetic Healthy Living Having problems with commitment? Proteins and Epigenetic Mouse Model of do too. Our lab tries to help proteins find (panel discussion) Science Center 104 Schizophrenia their perfect matches. Using computational Mafalda Borges ’17 (Olin), Naomi Dudley ’ Tamara Biary ’15, Chemistry techniques, the Radhakrishnan lab studies 15 (Olin), Susie Grimshaw ’17 (Olin), Advisor: Nancy H. Kolodny, Chemistry the electrostatic determinants of binding in Zach Homans ’15 (Olin), Anders Johnson ’17 biological systems. Our projects focus on (Olin), Aditi Joshi ’17 (Olin), Maire Keene ’17 Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder developing and improving methods of modeling (Olin), Meg McCauley ’17 (Olin), Michael that leads to abnormal behavior, cognition electrostatic interaction and probing the Ninh ’15 (Babson), Halley Pollock-Muskin ’17 and sociability. Although the exact cause of structural characteristics important to binding. (Olin), Toni Saylor ’17 (Olin), Celine Ta ’17 the disorder is still unknown, its onset has been (Olin), Meghan Tighe ’17 (Olin), Results of our studies can be used to improve linked to various environmental, genetic, and Jenny Vaccaro ’17 (Olin), Sarah Walters ’17 drugs, and increase the efficiency of binding epigenetic factors. Our study explores a genetic (Olin), Jiaying Wei ’17 (Olin), David Zhu ’16 and epigenetic mouse model of schizophrenia, free energy calculations. Overall, we hope (Olin), Hajin Youn ’15 (KAIST, Korea) that our work can provide insights into by examining GCPII/AAV-modified mice. This Advisor: Caitrin Lynch, Anthropology (Olin) molecular binding -- and help with the love/ model begins with a genetic mutation thought hate relationships between proteins. (Research Engineering for Humanity, an interdisciplinary to be implicated in the aberrant expression supported by the Roberta Day Staley and Karl engineering design and anthropology course, of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which is A. Staley Fund for Cancer-Related Research) is a semester-long partnership between hypothesized to be associated with schizophrenia Three-College students and the Natick Council in humans. We then introduce a virus, AAV, Making Wellesley College on Aging. Older community members were into newborn mice. This virus suppresses gene a LEEDer: Illuminating the recruited to partner with students in a series expression, resulting in epigenetic dysregulation. Holistic Benefits of Sustainable of discovery, design, and community-building Our model examines whether mice with the Building Design activities. Come hear Babson and Olin students GCPII/AAV mutation exhibit neurological and behavioral changes that mimic schizophrenia (panel discussion) Science Center 277 present results of the empathetic design process. During the semester, students and their elder in humans. We examine the animals using Leigh S. Barton ’14, Environmental Studies partners engaged in activities designed to create magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetic Traci A. Hamanaka ’14, Environmental community and understanding. Next, students Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) and Diffusion Studies, Sophia Liu ’14, Environmental Tensor Imaging (DTI) to determine the Studies, Nicole A. Lobodzinski ’14, Spanish synthesized what they learned into project structural and chemical changes in the brain. and Environmental Studies, Jenny R. ideas, refining briefs into robust, targeted, and Mittleman ’14, Environmental Studies, manageable projects through consultation with (Research supported by Wellesley College, the Mayrah W. Udvardi ’14, Environmental experts and co-design with elder partners. A George and Adelaide McCague Keller Science Studies and Architecture series of standard design stages -- specification, Fund, and the Roberta Dey Staley and Karl A. Staley Fund for Cancer-Related Research) Advisor: Monica Higgins, Environmental prototyping, testing, refinement -- was accom- Studies panied by visits with partners for feedback and continued learning and community building. Wellesley celebrates a rich history and traditions Shortly after the Ruhlman conference, partners that are inextricably linked with the aesthetical will receive custom-designed artifacts intended landscape. Today, the college must balance these to solve particular problems. (This Olin College values while addressing evident shortcomings class is supported by the Metrowest Health in the capacity and functionality of its campus. Foundation.)

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 45 4:30–5:40pm

Functional MRI for Vocal Learning and Social Sciences “That the World May Know:” Memory in the Zebra Finch Model The Responsibilities and Asha Albuquerque ’14, English and Cognitive Challenges of War Journalism Uncovering What We & Linguistic Sciences, Stela P. Petkova ’16, Mariana Zepeda ’14, English and Creative Neuroscience, Sarah K. Zemlok ’14, Chemistry, Try Not To See Writing History (short talks) Founders Hall 126 Advisors: Sharon Gobes, Neuroscience and Advisor: Lidwien Kapteijns, History Nancy H. Kolodny, Chemistry Uncovering Sexual Violence “In the noisy years of my twenties, I had Songbirds, such as zebra finches(Taeniopygia and Harassment in U.S. Schools become fascinated with all that was wrong with guttata), serve as a useful cognitive model for Gabriella M. Andriulli ’14, French the world,” writes Aidan Hartley, a Reuters war studying human language acquisition, learning and Women’s & Gender Studies correspondent who covered Africa during the and memory, because of their many develop- Advisor: Nan Stein, Wellesley Centers 1990s. In his memoir, The Zanzibar Chest, mental, genetic and anatomical similarities with for Women Hartley reflects on his experiences as a war humans. Unlike other methods, functional mag- journalist, examining the ethical dimensions of As the Linda Coyne Lloyd Research Fellow at netic resonance imaging (fMRI) non-invasively the job. War journalists like Hartley have the the Wellesley Centers for Women, I have been collects information from the whole brain in real skills, experience, and contacts to get a story out. conducting research on sexual violence and time, with regional specificity. While our project Yet they are often passing observers with limited harassment in school age children and teenagers goal is to conduct auditory studies on zebra understanding of the historical underpinnings of in the U.S. My advisor (senior researcher Nan finches, our current work focuses on optimizing a conflict. My research project examines how a Stein) and I are currently working on a paper sound delivery to the birds and utilizing statisti- number of well-known war journalists, includ- for publication in which we illuminate the cal parametric mapping to establish data analysis ing Hartley, Anne Nivat, and David Rieff, come different gendered aspects of sexual harassment/ methodology. to terms with their own roles within conflict violence using a variety of incidents from the and reflect on the question of what makes for Homing in on Personalized Medicine: past few years that have occurred throughout effective war journalism. Building Multifunctional Iron Oxide the U.S. We are interested in the ways in which Nanoparticles for Targeted Imaging institutions such as the schools themselves, Politics of Language and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer the media (including both traditional and (short talks) Science Center 278 Raji R. Nagalla ’14, Biological Chemistry non-traditional forms of journalism), and Advisors: Nancy H. Kolodny, Chemistry, the criminal justice system handle this often Accent Acquisition: Jamaican Nolan T. Flynn, Chemistry and ignored form of violence. It is our goal to Creole Speakers’ Pronunciation Andrew C. Webb, Biological Sciences highlight possible pathways to justice and of Standard American English critique existing approaches to the gendered Diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer Emily F. Anderson ’14, Cognitive & harassment and violence in U.S. schools. remains a challenge in the biomedical commu- Linguistic Sciences Angela Carpenter, Cognitive nity. While one of the rarest forms of cancer, this The Dialectical Method in Advisor: & Linguistic Sciences disease is the fourth most deadly. Our research International Human Rights Practice addresses the need for innovative therapies by Adeline S. Lee ’16, Undeclared When speakers of one dialect are exposed building multifunctional silica-coated iron-oxide to another, they acquire features of the new Advisor: Thomas Cushman, Sociology nanoparticles (NPs), each about 1/1000 the dialect and modify their existing dialect. This width of a human hair, to selectively image and Human rights work tends to be viewed as phenomenon of dialect change is common, treat pancreatic tumors. A teaspoon of these overwhelmingly good—linked to global but has not been widely researched. Jamaican particles contains the surface area of Wellesley’s development and the protection of vulnerable Creole, known also as Patwa, is spoken to some academic quad, providing “real estate” to attach human beings from depravity, illness, and extent by the majority of Jamaicans and has a large quantities of chemotherapy as well as suffering. Such thinking may actually work to close linguistic relationship with English due to targeting components to direct the therapy to foster the view that aid is intrinsically moral: its historical formation. Through interviews with cancerous tissue. We evaluate the detection of with good intentions and strong convictions, Jamaican immigrants, including elicitation of the iron oxide NP cores as a potential tracking individuals can definitively end human suffering target words and free-speech samples, this study and diagnostic tool using Magnetic Resonance by enthusiastically propelling themselves into examines how Jamaican immigrants who spoke/ Imaging (MRI). Recently, we have explored action. This progressive view is uplifting, yet speak Patwa have adapted the phonology of attaching multiple components to the silica often ignores the unintended consequences their dialect to reflect that of Standard American surface of the NPs and testing their targeting and moral dilemmas that well-intended actions English. This study hypothesizes that speakers capabilities towards cancerous cells using fluores- often cause. I propose a dialectical method for will demonstrate phonological shifts in some cent confocal microscopy. (Research supported human rights theory and practice that addresses aspects of their dialect, and that the degree of by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)). the tensions between central polarities in the change will vary based on length of residency in field: help vs. harm, universalism vs. relativism, the U.S., current Patwa use, and socioeconomic and positive vs. negative rights. This method status. (This thesis research has been made offers a more refined capacity to constructively possible by a Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship.) negotiate between diametrically opposed ideas and discover thoughtful, efficient solutions to disturbing problems.

46 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 4:30–5:40pm

Nationalism and the Centralization a good, bad, or neutral outcome was revealed. decision interacts with institutional norms to of Language: A Comparative Participants were then asked to explain why result in different levels of cooperation. I run Study of France and China they performed the action. Prosocial behavior a controlled laboratory experiment in which Susan D. Puente-Matos ’14, French was measured by allowing participants to participants are randomly exposed to either a and Chinese Language & Literature allocate resources to a puppet. We analyzed “strong” or “weak” institutional environment Advisor: Shiao Wei Tham, East Asian if the valence of an outcome played a role in and then asked to decide between a socially Languages & Cultures 1) explanation of the cause of the event, and optimal action and an action that maximizes 2) subsequent sharing behavior. Preliminary their individual payoff at the expense of others. Language reform and nationalist movements results indicate that children who experienced Using this data, I consider how understanding are intrinsically linked: The May 4th movement a bad outcome were more likely to blame the the factors contributing to the development of in China was accompanied by demands for a experimenter for the negative event and share cultural norms and behavioral nudges could nation-wide written vernacular form, and in more than children in the good or neutral be used to promote cooperation. (Research France the 1789 revolution was followed by outcome conditions. These findings suggest supported by a Wellesley College Faculty Award the promotion of the French language to instill that children are motivated to protect their Grant, Olga Shurchkov) a nation-state ideology across the country. self-concept through compensating for a prior Analyzing the various aspects of the two nations’ negative outcome with subsequent prosocial Mellon Mays Research language reform policies will shed light on the behavior (Research supported by Simons Imperatives Session Two ways in which centralizing language has shaped Center for the Social Brain funding). (panel discussion) Science Center 396 the nations’ current identities. Altruism: A Natural Thought History The Os Impurum in Invective A Review of the Effects of Mercury of an Idea Language in Ancient Rome Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification Caroline J. Golub ’14, Sociology and English in Baikal Seal (Pusa sibirica) Rebecca R. Straley ’14, Political Science and Classical Civilization Advisor: Jonathan Imber, Sociology Diana Lee ’15, Geosciences Advisors: Tracy Cameron, Office of What is altruism? It is a term most people have Advisor: Elizabeth Young, Classical Studies Intercultural Education and Marianne Moore, My research focuses on attacks of the os heard of, achieving the rare feat of academic Biological Sciences impurum in poems by Catullus. Accusing an jargon converted to popular vocabulary. But even so, there are a myriad of different interpre- Lake Baikal is the largest and deepest lake in the individual in ancient Rome of having an impure world. It is the home to world’s only freshwater mouth is one of the most effective ways to tations of the word. It seems that everyone has a sense of what it means, rather than a distinct, seal, Phoca sibirica. Although located in a question their masculinity. Catullus asserts his remote part of Russia, this unique lake and its own masculinity through sexualized language unifying definition. So how do we understand a word fully, a word that has come to mean so inhabitants face possible environmental threat with a distinct focus on mouth. Despite these in the form of mercury contamination. Mercury hyper-masculine poems, Catullus also wrote much for so many different disciplines? The answer is to start at its conception. By locating concentrations in Lake Baikal are lower than less sexually obscene poetry about romance that mercury concentrations of other lakes. Likewise, was considered effeminate by his contempo- the origin of the word altruism, we can begin to track its movement through history, through the average mercury content in the Baikal seal raries. This dichotomy of the hyper-masculine is also lower than the average mercury content and effeminate complicates conceptions of intellectual texts and ideas, along the diverging fault lines of different disciplines, up until the in other seals, such as the Caspian seal (Pusa Roman sexuality. My research ultimately focuses caspica). The purpose of this research inquiry on Catullus’s work to analyze the complex present, where it has come to represent so many different things. How has altruism come to be, was to explore factors that make the Baikal seal conception of masculinity in ancient Rome. as we see and understand it now? The purpose more vulnerable to mercury contamination, especially as the atmospheric temperature rises To Give Or To Take? of this thesis study is to find out. due to climate change. Join me for this session That is the Question To Give and Not to Take: The Influence to hear more about my findings. (Research (short talks) Pendleton Hall East 239 of Institutions and Framing on Behavior supported by the Mellon Mays Undergraduate in the Public Goods Game Fellowship) How Moral Outcome Contributes Prerana Nanda ’14, Economics to Sharing Behavior in Children The Interlocking Relationship of Advisor: Olga Shurchkov, Economics Mika F. Asaba ’14, Neuroscience Race and Discrimination among Advisor: Rebecca Saxe, Brain and A strong cooperative culture, where individuals African Indians in South Asia Cognitive Sciences (MIT) contribute to social causes and refrain from Fiona Almeida ’15, Anthropology and selfishly overusing existing common resources, is We examined the possibility that children are Maria Taha ’14, Peace & Justice Studies central to the well-being of any society. However, motivated to preserve a congruent representation Advisors: Tracy Cameron, Office of the degree of cooperation and the enforcement Intercultural Education and Pashington Obeng, of “the self” and act in accordance with that mechanisms in place to sustain cooperative Africana Studies representation. If children act in an inconsistent behaviors vary dramatically across countries. manner, even on accident, they might feel Many scholars have researched the Trans- My senior thesis investigates the impact of inclined to redeem themselves through future Atlantic Slave Trade to the Americas which institutions on social cooperation. Furthermore, actions. Four-, five-, and six-year olds were asked gave rise to the dispersal of Africans from c I explore the way in which the framing of a to perform a neutral action, after which either ontinental Africa. The African Diaspora includes

WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014 47 4:30–5:40pm the voluntary and involuntary migration of The Re-Use of Public Space Helicopter Parenting and the Africans throughout history. However, there in Medieval Cairo Effect on Emotional Well-being are still missing pieces to the history of the Michelle Al-Ferzly ’14, Art History of College-aged Students African Diaspora. This research focuses on the AdvisorS: Lamia Balafrej, Art and Tracy Katherine E. Limoncelli ’14, Psychology, interlocking relationship of ethnicity/race and Cameron, Office of Intercultural Education Sarah S. Roundy ’14, Psychology, discrimination among Siddis (African Indian) This inquiry focuses on the ways in which Zoe W. Sobel ’14, Psychology in South Asia. It complicates and challenges the public space is understood in the context Advisor: Sally Theran, Psychology Atlantic Diaspora model to create a broader and of the medieval Islamic city, Cairo. Bayn The current study investigated the effects more comprehensive understanding of different al-Qasrayn, or “Between the Two Palaces”, of helicopter parenting on college students’ African Diasporas. This analysis promises to fill a former parading ground and major thorough- emotional well-being and the moderating a major gap in how Diasporic Africans create fare initially constructed in 10th century Egypt, roles of ethnicity and parental narcissism. new knowledge and survival strategies in their presents an intriguing example of the re-use We hypothesized that helicopter parenting host societies. During the summer of 2013, and reconfiguration of a public square in light would correlate positively with anxiety and Almeida spent several weeks in Siddi villages in of the dynastic succession which occurs within depression and negatively with self-esteem, rural Karnataka, India conducting interviews the Egyptian capital between the 10th and autonomy, and competence. We further with the women and observing political and the 13th centuries. The consideration of Bayn hypothesized that students of Asian descent socio-economic injustices Siddi communities al-Qasrayn as “public”, therefore, is vastly would experience the highest levels of helicopter face because of their physical appearances and affected by the issues of political ideology and parenting compared to other racial groups, and the caste hierarchy of India. (Research supported the importance of political ceremony to the that parental maladaptive covert narcissism by Mellon Mays the Undergraduate Fellowship) imperial elite. (Research supported by the would be a significant predictor of helicopter Consider the Lily: Female Authors Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship) parenting. Correlational data analyses revealed Re-Appropriating the ’The Feminine’ that mothers demonstrated significantly higher At Home and at Large: How from the Middle Ages to the Present levels of helicopter parenting than fathers. Culture Affects Self-Esteem Thai Matthews ’14, English Mothers’ helicopter parenting behaviors were (panel discussion) Pendleton Hall Advisors: Tracy Cameron, Office of related to increased depressive symptoms Intercultural Education and Paul Fisher, East 139 and decreased self-esteem, autonomy, and American Studies and English competence in students. Fathers’ helicopter Beauty Today: The Impact of parenting behaviors were associated with The essence of scholarship is perhaps best Perceived Sociocultural Pressures decreased self-esteem and autonomy. The captured in the innovative ways scholars seek and Acculturation on Body Image findings provide insight into the negative to connect varying branches of research. By Carrie J. Perna ’14, Psychology, outcomes related to helicopter parenting and studying Medieval courtly love, contrasting Nikita K. Sedani ’14, Psychology can help academic institutions protect the Victorian heroines to their Byronic heroes, and Advisor: Sally Theran, Psychology mental health of students transitioning investigating the legacy of 2nd wave feminism through their college years. as it has been accepted or rejected in recent Culture plays an important role in shaping YA fiction, the common thread among these body image, as people from different cultures different literatures proves itself to be a study have varying opinions as to what is considered of ’the female’ as she has been perceived and the ideal body type. The study examined portrayed in terms of traditional, patriarchal, the influence of acculturation and perceived and heteronormative definitions of maleness. sociocultural pressure on body esteem and The female as not-male, possessing no inherent body dissatisfaction among 213 undergraduate identity that can be separated from the absence women of Asian, Asian American, Caucasian, of masculinity, is a societal paradigm that female Hispanic/Latina, and Black descent. Data was authors from Marie de France to Stephenie gathered through an online survey and results Meyer have grappled with, each author a study indicated that acculturation into American of her times and each female protagonist a society along with sociocultural pressure affect symbol of the work that remains to be done by the body images of women differently depend- scholars in terms of redefining perceptions of ing on their ethnicity. As acculturation increased, women’s fiction. (Research supported by the Asian American women experienced lower rates Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship) of body dissatisfaction whereas Asian women reported lower overall body esteem. Additionally, Hispanic/Latina women had the highest levels of body dissatisfaction compared to women of other ethnicities. The results of this study have societal implications for understanding how media and culture can change the way the female figure is viewed throughout the world

48 WELLESLEY COLLEGE RUHLMAN CONFERENCE 2014