People in the news - September 17, 2015

Publication Date

David Hemmendinger, professor emeritus of computer science, has been appointed associate editor-in-chief of the IEEE Computer Society journal, Annals of the History of Computing.

Essays by Christine Henseler, professor of Spanish, were published in several outlets. “The Future of Hispanic Studies: An Interactive Conversation with Journal Editors,” was published in the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies. The essay titled, “Counting (on) Success: Does an Education in the Humanities Count in Today’s Day and Age?” was featured on the Huffington Post.

A book by Jennifer Matsue, associate professor of music and director of Interdisciplinary Programs, was recently published. “Focus: Music in Contemporary Japan” explores music performed in Japan today, from the songs of geisha to the screaming of underground rock. Matsue will also serve as the Founder’s Convocation speaker at Russell Sage College on Sept. 23.

Kristina Striegnitz, associate professor of computer science, has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to engage in a collaborative project with researchers from Stony Brook University. Researchers will develop a visualization system that can to help increase the ability of citizens to become more knowledgeable participants in an increasingly data-centric society.

Janet Grigsby, senior lecturer of sociology, was interviewed by WAMC about the College’s community service mini-term that travels to Louisiana each December.

An article by Patricia Wareh, assistant professor of English, was published in Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory. It’s titled “’Base Respects of Thrift’: Hamlet and Slings & Arrows.”

Stacie Raucci, associate professor of classics, co-organized a conference on “New Heroes on Screen” at the European Cultural Centre in Delphi, Greece. The full program can be found here.

Mary Carroll, professor of chemistry, Ann Anderson, the Agnes S. MacDonald Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Bradford Bruno, professor of mechanical engineering, along with co-authors Stephen Juhl '12, Nicholas Dunn '11, José Madero '12 and Michael Bono Jr. '09, have published a paper in the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids. "Epoxide-assisted alumina aerogels by rapid supercritical extraction," is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation, the College’s Faculty Research Fund, Student Research Grant and Presidential Green Grant programs. Juhl and Dunn are graduate students in the Chemistry Department at Penn State University. Madero is enrolled at Washington University St. Louis, and Bono recently earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.

Researchers from the Union College Aerogel Lab gave two presentations at the recent Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Aude Bechu '16 and Zachary Tobin '16 presented a poster, "Copper-alumina aerogels: Fabrication, characterization, and catalytic application," in the Undergraduate Materials Chemistry session. Isaac Ramphal '14 gave an oral presentation, "Catalytic testing of aerogels for applications in the after-treatment of automotive exhaust," in the Materials Chemistry session. Professors Carroll, Anderson and Bruno co-authored that presentation. Ramphal is beginning graduate studies in chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley this fall.

An essay collection co-edited by Andrew Burkett, assistant professor of English, will be out early next year. Romantic Circles Pedagogies will publish “William Blake and Pedagogy.” Burkett also co-authored the introduction with his collaborator, Roger Whitson of Washington State University.

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