Biomedical engineering students in the Curley lab presented their research at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting from October 8-12. Julia Squissato '26, Adam Hecker '26, Elizabeth Bias '26, Cagla Numanoglu '26, and William Dubois '26 each presented a poster on their research designing new vaccines for Lyme disease using outer membrane vesicles. Stephanie Curley, Mary H. and Richard K. Templeton Assistant Professor of electrical, computer & biomedical engineering, also presented a poster entitled "Evaluation of the Immune Response Generated by Lyme Disease Epitopes Expressed on Outer Membrane Vesicles."

Kristin Bidoshi, associate professor of Russian and director of the Russian and East European studies program presented “Women’s Agency in Albanian Engagement and Wedding Rituals” at the American Folklore Society Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The study, based on research Bidoshi conducted in Albania with women who were engaged between 1959 and 2010, reveals how women adapt tradition and use storytelling by navigating state ideology, familial expectation and cultural continuity to assert agency and reclaim personal narratives.

Francis Wilkin, senior lecturer in physics and astronomy and observatory manager has co-authored "ExoMiner++: Enhanced Transit Classification and a New Vetting Catalog for 2-Minute TESS Data," published in the Astronomical Journal with Valizadegan, H. et al. Professor Wilkin contributed many exoplanet analyses to the NASA TESS Follow-up Observers Program (TFOP) which were used to train the enhanced deep learning software.

Lindsay Bush, associate librarian and Jenna Pitera, assistant librarian II, published an article in The Journal of Academic Librarianship titled: “Faculty Expectations and Student Skills: The Research Instruction Gap.”

Ali Hamed, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and Emma Watson Day Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and department chair, has published an article in Experiments in Fluids. "Vortical structures past isolated and sheltered wall-mounted cylinders immersed in a turbulent boundary layer" is co-authored by mechanical engineering students Bailey McAtee ’24, Ian Spoor ’23, and Timothy Belin ’26.

Jordan Smith, Edward E. Hale Jr., Professor of English, recently published the essay "Listening" as a guest editorial in Live Encounters.

Lewis Davis, Thomas Armstrong Professor of Economics, and Claudia Williamson Kramer have published "Do Law and Culture Interact? Evidence from Business Regulation" in the Southern Economic Journal. The paper finds that businesses are less regulated in individualist countries and more heavily regulated in more collectivist countries, and that these relationships are stronger in common than civil law countries.

Union College students once again represented the College in The College Fed Challenge 2025, a national competition organized by the Federal Reserve that encourages undergraduates to analyze current economic and financial conditions and propose monetary policy recommendations.

This year’s team — Kshitij Agarwal ’27, Carter Curry ’26, Ryder Mollo ’26, Avital Nozic ’28, and Linnea Tix ’26, with Tala Aldaher ’28 as alternate — spent three months preparing under the guidance of Prateek Arora, assistant professor of economics.

The students’ participation culminated in a 15-minute video presentation that demonstrated their strong understanding of macroeconomic data, financial trends, and policy strategy.

“The students showed great initiative and dedication throughout the preparation process,” said Professor Arora. “Their ability to interpret data, think critically about monetary policy, and work collaboratively as a team was truly commendable.”

Professor Arora noted that this marks Union’s second consecutive year in the competition. “Engagement in this challenge has opened meaningful channels of dialogue between Union College and the Federal Reserve,” he said. “Our students have had the opportunity to meet Fed officials both on campus and during visits to the New York Fed, fostering an ongoing exchange of ideas that strengthens the connection between classroom learning and real-world policy discussions.”

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