WRP 2003-04 Opportunities
LIFE Magazine African-American Images Archive Project
John Grady, Sociology & Anthropology
The goal of LIFE Magazine African-American Images Archive Project is to create a database that includes every single advertising image with a black figure in it that appeared in LIFE Magazine since its inception. LIFE was published from 1938 to 2000 (with an interruption from 1973 to late 1978). This project was started project three years ago and, with the assistance of a WRP assistant have identified and scanned all of the images in 40 of the 63 years in the sample. I plan to do two more years this summer and to have my students in Visual Sociology, which I will teach next spring, to complete another three years (they will be doing small installments as part of an exercise showing them how to collect, scan and interpret media images). I would, therefore, need a student assistant who could do the remaining 18 years -- some of which I have started but not completed -- over the course of both semesters. If that student wanted to use any of this material in the archive for their own research purposes, I would provide them with any help and guidance that they might need. I have begun to present talks and papers based on this material (Wheaton College, last April; the Laboratory of Visual Sociology at the University of Bologna; and the 2003 Conference of the International Visual Sociology Association at the University of Southampton [UK] in July). The archive, when completed, will be first that a representative sample of advertising images has ever been collected in a form that can be used by scholars to formulate and test hypotheses. Preliminary analysis of the sample suggests that advertising images can be used as social indicators -- measuring prevailing social psychological preoccupations -- that are as reliable as those produced by national attitude surveys for beliefs and the US Census for behaviors.
The student assistant will be trained in the skills needed to identify, count, inventory and scan images. They will also be shown how to enter them into a file maker pro database.
La dolce vita Book Project
David Vogler, Political Science
The project is a book on the quality of life in Italy, entitled La dolce vita. Most of the first two chapters are in draft form and there are extensive notes, bibliographies, and material for the remaining ones. The book consists of the following chapters and topics (with relevant city):
26. The Lure of Italy (Ravello)
27. La Dolce Vita (Rome)
28. Time: (Venice)
29. Family: (Todi)
30. Food: (Ferrara, Emiglio Romana)
31. Piazzas (Florence) (Passeggiata, friends)
32. Arrangiarsi: Naples
33. Art and Architecture: Siena (Lorenzetti)
34. Cities: Urbino ("ideal city") Milan
35. Epilogue (salimmo): Florence
The student researcher will be asked to obtain information on particular topics, such as the history and current state of the cities listed above, research on the family in Italy, and other specific topics as they come up in the course of writing the book. The research will consist of library and on-line searches and perhaps some analysis of scholarly literature. Some knowledge of the Italian language would be helpful, but it is not required. The research student will work closely with the professor to develop specific topics to be completed within limited time frames throughout the term.
Medieval European Stained Glass in American Collections and Abroad
Evelyn Lane, Art
This Partnership will involve in several projects concerning the study of medieval European stained glass in American Collections and abroad. I am one of several authors working on a Corpus Vitrearum collaborative volume on stained glass in New York collections. A student will assist in the researching of three English panels in Riverside Church and six panels in St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Staatsburg-on-Hudson, New York. I have also recently become editor and author of a Corpus Volume on the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum stained glass. Preliminary work on those panels will begin this year. For the third project, I am working on a 13th century Last Judgment window in Notre-Dame de Donnemarie-en-Montois to be included as a chapter in a book I am co-editing that will feature different approaches to medieval art. Although the student hired will work primarily on issues related to stained glass, I also study 13th century sculpture and architecture. The most qualified student for this position will be one who has a background in art history, is attentive to details, has a reading knowledge of French, and truly believes that medieval art is cool.
Proteins and Genes of Cell Motility
Bob Morris, Biology
Cells are beautiful and dynamic machines that can generate force along their own skeletons to move and to divide. We investigate cell division and differentiation by imaging sea urchin embryos using cutting-edge light microscopic techniques at Wheaton and Woods Hole, and then visualize the molecules that drive cell movements using 2-D and 3-D movies. Examples of our work are available at http://acunix.wheatonma.edu/~rmorris/. In addition, because the sea urchin genome will be fully sequenced by fall 2003, my lab has begun genomics research to understand the regulation of gene expression in this invertebrate relative. Members of my research lab meet together for weekly lab meetings to discuss results and discuss published literature, and meet one-on-one with me to discuss details of individual research projects. The WRP student in my lab can do microscopy and/or genomics of animal development. Microscopy would utilize Wheaton's new NSF-sponsored digital Imaging Center. Genomics will be done collaboratively with Wheaton's Genomics Research Group. We will continue to present our results at Academic Festival, at national meetings in Woods Hole and in San Francisco, and publish our results in leading scientific journals.
Chaos on Europa
Geoffrey Collins, Physics & Astronomy
Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is covered with water ice. For the past few years, evidence has been pointing to a giant ocean of liquid water lurking beneath the ice of Europa. There are features on the surface of Europa called "chaotic terrain" which are reminiscent of broken fragments of terrestrial sea ice. The mechanism of chaotic terrain formation is under scrutiny within the planetary science community, as it may have implications for the thickness of the ice shell on Europa and the possibility of extraterrestrial life in the ocean. However, there are several basic measurements of chaotic terrain that have not yet been satisfactorily performed. The WRP student will undertake some of these measurements, through compiling a GIS database of chaotic terrain features on Europa. The work will involve interpretation of spacecraft images, digitizing features in these images on the computer screen, assisting in the analysis of the resulting numerical data, and pondering the implications of this data for the various hypotheses for chaotic terrain formation.
Laboratory & Field Study of the Diamondback Terrapin
Barbara Brennessel, Biology
Responsibilities for this WRP will include library and laboratory research on the biology and ecology of the Diamondback terrapin, a brackish water turtle found along the Eastern and Gulf coastlines of the U.S. Hatchling turtles will be brought to Wheaton from Cape Cod in early Fall. Their growth and behavior will be monitored and charted. The WRP will be trained to set up aquaria and will be invited to participate in one or two weekend field trips. Additional duties will include compilation and organization of records and data about terrapin studies in the biological literature which should result in an outline for a book project on the Natural History of the Diamondback Terrapin.
J.R.R. Tolkien Research Group
Mike Drout, English
This 2003-2004 WRP student will assist in putting out the second issue of Tolkien Studies. He or she will be responsible for assembling bibliography, editing materials submitted by authors, laying out the issue of the journal and proofreading. He or she will also work on several other related projects, including the Tolkien TEI initiative and the web-based Tolkien bibliography. My WRP student will also help to coordinate the various volunteer students who will be helping on the various projects.
Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Wheaton's Vernal Pool
Kathy Morgan, Psychobiology
This Research Partnership will assist with the continuation of a project we began this summer, monitoring water quality and diversity in benthic macroinvertebrates in Wheaton's vernal pool. To date, nothing has been published on seasonal changes in macroinvertebrate diversity in ephemeral pools. The data we have gathered thus far are unique, and the data gathering will need to continue into the fall in order for the picture to be complete. This project is part of an ongoing long-term series of studies on the ecology of ephemeral waterbodies in New England.
The student will assist with weekly water testing and collection and identification of benthic macroinvertebrates. He or she will also be primarily responsible for designing, editing, and updating a ne on-line version of Wheaton's spotted salamander database. To date, we have cataloged about 250 individual animals in this database. However, its current paper format makes it difficult to use. The WRP student will help to streamline the use of this database by putting it into a searchable web-based format. Such a format will allow the import of photographs as well as drawings of these animals, and also easy entry of genetic data by other members of the vernal pool research team. The student employed will have a chance to brush up on web design, as well as on water quality measurements and field and lab identification of macroinvertebrates.
Angiogenesis Studies Using Zebra Fish Embryos
Ed Tong, Biology
Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, is crucial in tumor growth and metastasis. The new anti-cancer drugs produce their effects by inhibiting angiogenesis. Angiogenesis research at Wheaton has been performed using chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM), bovine endothelial cells (BEC) as well as human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). More recently, researchers have developed a new method using zebra fish embryos to study angiogenesis, which is supposed to be easier, faster and cheaper. The WRP assistant will help me in setting up and perfecting this new method of studying angiogenesis. While optimizing the protocol, we will also be testing the possible angiogenic actions of certain herbal medicine such as ginkgo extract.
Africana Studies Visual Image Archive
Donna Kerner, Sociology/Anthropology
Professors Kerner and Standing are currently developing a visual image archive for connected courses in Africana Studies. The first stage of this process entails updating and enhancing the Africana website with visual images. The instructors have begun some of this work, but the student collaborator would continue this phase of project by working with staff in the Center for Global Education to create an interactive map of Africa with hot buttons to students currently enrolled in JYA courses on the continent. The second stage of the project entails scanning several hundred African art slides currently owned by the Anthropology program into a visual studies database. The student collaborator would receive training in slide scanning techniques and then also be responsible for library research to insure correct attribution for the slide sources. A final stage in this year long project would entail working with both instructors to compose visual image databases for two courses: African Literature and African Cultures in Transition. This would entail scanning and downloading images into Blackboard for each course.
Genomic Analysis of Geminate Fishes
Shawn McCafferty, Biology
A little over three million years ago, complex tectonic forces deep in the Earth's crust resulted in the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. This rising land bridge not only acted as a corridor between North and South America, it severed an historic connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Where once marine organisms could quite readily migrate between these two great oceans, now a barrier existed, preventing the exchange of genetic material between populations isolated on either side of the Isthmus. This rising of the Isthmus of Panama represents one of the most unique natural history experiments available in which to study the formation of new species and the rates and processes by which speciation occurs. Geminate species were originally defined as closely related species that were formed by the rising of the Isthmus of Panama. There are a number of geminate fish pairs (ca. 35), all demonstrating various levels of differentiation across the Isthmus. In this study we will characterize the rate of molecular evolution in a subset of geminate pairs using modern genomic approaches. Our goal is to sequence a number of nuclear gene regions in addition to the entire mitochondrial genome from each species of a geminate pair. The resulting data will then be used to infer rates and patterns of molecular evolution. Work will initially focus on the mitochondrial genome, though eventually we will be designing primers for nuclear genes based on the zebrafish and Fugu genome databases. Students will be working in the laboratory under close supervision. They will learn techniques such as DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, cloning, sequencing, and bioinformatics in a modern molecular facility. This long term project is a great opportunity for a student who is interested in learning molecular techniques and developing the skills needed for graduate level research. In addition there is the possibility of this work leading to their own research project and assisting me in Panama over the long term.
Genomics Research Associates
Mark LeBlanc, Mathmatics & Computer Science, and Betsey Dyer, Biology
Positions are available for two students with experience in programming in C++ and/or Perl, who would like to apply those skills to the analysis of DNA sequences. The students would be assigned to work on one or more software modules of the "DNA Motif Lexicon". Go to http://genomics.wheatonma.edu/ for examples of software modules written by students as well as information about the Genomics Research group at Wheaton.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth
Bianca Murphy, Psychology
Professor Murphy is looking for a Wheaton Research partner to work with her on a project on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth. She is preparing a "train the trainer curriculum" for school counselors and others with LGBTQ youth. The research partner would assist in library and web research, would evaluate materials and would be responsible developing resources that can be given to workshop participants. The Wheaton Research Partner may be able to attend the first 2 day training in Pennsylvania In February. Applicants should have familiarity with both library and web research, be a good writer, have good computer skills and be well organized.
The Role of Divalent Metal Ions in the Folding of Alkaline Phosphatase
Elita Pastra-Landis, Chemistry
Our work would continue with the investigation of the role of divalent metal ions in the strength of the folding of the enzyme Alkaline Phosphatase. After work in the early months of my sabbatical in the spring of 2003 we now have a good and reproducible method for the preparation of metal free APase. This will allow us to create the enzyme containing other native or non-native metal ions. Both the enzymatic activity and the urea unfolding transition of the new enzymes will be studied in 2003-04.
A Collaboration in the Creation of a New Intermediate-Level Greek Textbook
Joel Relihan, Classics
I recently received approval to have a new course of mine, a third semester Greek course in Euclid, qualify for the new Quantitative Analysis requirement. This course will be offered first in the Fall of 2004. As there are no textbooks that teach Euclid as a third-semester Greek author, I need to create the textbook myself over the coming year. I propose to engage the services of a current third-semester Greek student to help me. The student, by an understanding of what he/she knows and needs to know about Greek, and what he/she knows and needs to know about geometry, will be able to assist me in constructing an efficient set of grammatical exercises, Greek readings, and geometrical explanations that will both teach geometry and extend the student's knowledge of Greek. The student will assist me in acquiring materials, both in the form of web resources and old books; in reading and annotating certain basic Greek geometrical texts; compiling vocabularies, etc. I will be able to take advantage as well of the expertise of the new assistant for Quantitative Analysis in the learning center; by the way, I also have a daughter in high school who will be taking geometry this year from whose experience I can learn. I hope that this will prove to be the first in a series of "Wheaton Intermediate Classics Texts." In short, I hope to meet the challenge of the new curriculum by writing a new sort of textbook that seeks the interdisciplinary goal of teaching Greek through teaching geometry.
Army Wives on the Borders: Women and the U.S. Army during American Expansion, 1865-1941
Anni Baker, History
In this project, my research partner and I will collaborate on a study of the experiences of officersí wives as they accompanied the U.S. Army outside the United States. Using letters, diaries, memoirs, and other sources, the study will analyze the role of these women in unfamiliar environments such as the Philippines, Panama, Europe, and Northeast Asia. My research partner will be involved in collecting background and supporting material on the U.S. Army, as well as organizing, assessing, and interpreting it. In addition, we will continue to search for fruitful sources of information on officersí wives, so the job will involve correspondence with archives and archival research. The student will be working with sources in feminist theory as well, to integrate the archival material with current scholarship. My research partner will have input into the organization and methodology of the book, as well as helping with the writing and editing.
Sweet Disaster, a Multimedia Theatre Project
Charlotte Meehan, English
This project will culminate in a series of staged readings and, ultimately, a *Sleeping Weazel production incorporating film and live music, directed by David Hopkins. Excerpts of an early draft were shown in October 2002 at HERE Arts Center in NYC as part of a 2002-03 artist residency.
A student research assistant would continue gathering source material on a wide variety of disasters, from the large and horrific results of war and natural disaster to the relatively small and subjective disturbances in our individual lives. Together, we would sift through the material and highlight the most compelling and contradictory details to create a tapestry of moments between all kinds of explosions. Once the script reaches a first draft, the student would be involved in the rehearsal and revision process as well as grant writing and public relations outreach. This project is ideal for a student who wants hands-on experience from beginning to end of a theatre project: the artistic process of researching and developing a piece, as well as immersion in fundraising and grant writing necessary for staging an independent production.
*my non-profit theatre production company
Optical Properties of Ferroelectric Materials & Laser Crystals
Xuesheng Chen, Physics & Astronomy
The student will participate in the research to investigate optical properties of cutting-edge electro-optical ferroelectric materials and laser crystals and try to figure out the corresponding physical mechanisms. This research will provide valuable information on designing efficient solid-state lasers and other new important devices out of these materials. Most of the work in this research involves measurements of luminescence spectra and absorption spectra at different temperatures from liquid nitrogen to room temperature. Lasers or white light sources are used to excite the materials. Measurement equipment includes monochromators, spectrographs, light detectors, electronics, and computer data acquisition system.
First-Year Writing
Lisa Lebduska, English
I seek a student research assistant who will be able to continue the longitudinal study of First-Year Writing (FYS) that my Mars Research Assistant and I began this summer. Initially, this study focuses on a single complex question: what did the last group of first- year- seminar students under the old curriculum write? Understanding the "what" aspect of this research question means finding answers to a series of related questions. For example, did students write papers that were specific to the discipline of the instructor teaching the class? Did they produce papers of differing levels of complexity? What were the subjects of these papers? To a much more limited extent, I think that my analysis may also provide some insights into how the students wrote. Did they, for example, produce multiple drafts of those papers, and if they did, how did those drafts change? Were they linear in their development or recursive? Ultimately I hope to track some of these students throughout their careers at Wheaton to gain further insights into their development as writers and possibly into FYS as well.
Mercury Cycling in Boston Harbor
Jani Benoit, Chemistry
In the summer of 2003, I began work on a project investigating mercury contamination in Boston Harbor. This study is aimed at understanding the relationship between the population density of organisms that live in the Harbor sediments and the rate of methyl mercury production. This form of mercury is highly toxic, and it is bioaccumulated in marine food webs. The results will have ramification for properly managing the Harbor ecosystem. Position: I'm looking for a student who would like to be involved in this project. The student will be responsible for running total and methyl mercury analyses on samples that were collected from a variety of Harbor sites over the summer. The work requires a background in chemistry basics and some familiarity with laboratory techniques. The student might take on other aspects of the project (e.g., field sampling, data analysis and interpretation) depending on time and interest.
The Fluorescence Behavior of Mixtures of Pyrene and Ethanol in Sol-Gel Pores
Laura Muller, Chemistry
While research exists on the properties of liquids in microscopic pores, very few studies are available which describe the behavior of confined liquid mixtures. The structure and dynamics of neat liquids confined in nanoscale containers differ greatly from bulk liquids in large containers. In our laboratory, the nanocontainers in which binary liquid mixtures are confined for these experiments are the pores of silicate sol-gel glasses. In examining the fluorescence behavior of mixtures of pyrene and ethanol confined within these porous sol-gels, we have observed that both the amount of pyrene excimer emission and the effective polarity of these confined ethanol solutions is pore-size dependent: higher excimer emission and lower solvent polarities are seen in solutions confined within smaller pores than from those confined in larger pores. This fall we will be examining the fluorescence behavior of mixtures of pyrene and ethanol which have been contained in sol-gel pores that have been modified so as to be nonpolar as we continue to develop a detailed experimental picture of the separation of binary liquid mixtures such as organic pollutants and groundwater in soils using laser-induced fluorescence. This research will conclude with a poster presentation at Academic Festival and also at the Northeast Chemistry Student Research Symposium.
Problem of HIV/AIDS in Russia
David E. Powell, Russian Studies
This is a request for a student to work with me: The project involves the problem of HIV/AIDS in Russia. I am writing a book on the topic and would like someone to help me track down sources, use the Web, and chat with me about developments relating to this subject. The student need not know Russian, but he/she should be knowledgeable about the use of computers for research purposes. We will take the year to explore the relevant issues and, if possible, present our findings in newspaper articles, a joint research paper, campus talks and an academic article.
Mapping Cinematic L.A.
Josh Stenger, English
This project will facilitate in a substantive manner revisions and additions to a book-length manuscript on the relationship between Hollywood film and the cultural geography of Los Angeles. A student research assistant will work primarily to collect and annotate electronic, paper and visual resources relating to this relationship. Specifically, the research assistant will be involved in extensive online and library research to collect and analyze mainstream news coverage of the city and the film industry, looking for perceived or material connections between the two. In addition, the student research assistant will review the last several years of scholarly journals in cinema studies, cultural studies, cultural geography and urban studies to catalogue recent scholarship on related subjects. I will work closely with the student throughout the research, working to develop a common set of research practices and expectations regarding identifying useful sources. The student should be comfortable using basic online and library research tools, though part of the research project will be to train the student in more advanced research methods and data collection and analysis.