Frank Bidart reads from his work on April 23rd, 2015 in honor of National Poetry Month. The first poems are from Metaphysical Dog (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2013). Bidart finished by reading a few lyric poems from his forthcoming collection Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 (FSG 2016). This talk was held at Wellesley College's Tau Zeta Epsilon society house, and was sponsered by the Wellesley College English Department, The Wellesley Review, Tau Zeta Epsilon, and Zeta Alpha. Frank...

Adele Wolfson, Professor of Chemistry, discusses how in-depth interviews with students reveal information about their understanding of scientific concepts and their ability to integrate knowledge across disciplines. She presents results from two studies. One, from the NECASL longitudinal study of students at liberal arts colleges, examined the experiences of science majors, their pattern of enrollment, and connection of science to non-science courses. The second project explored concepts...

Adele Wolfson, Professor of Chemistry, discusses how in-depth interviews with students reveal information about their understanding of scientific concepts and their ability to integrate knowledge across disciplines. She presents results from two studies. One, from the NECASL longitudinal study of students at liberal arts colleges, examined the experiences of science majors, their pattern of enrollment, and connection of science to non-science courses. The second project explored concepts...

Psychologist Angela Bahns speaks on how the goal of fostering diverse friendships might best be realized. Research in support of the Contact Hypothesis suggests that exposure to people who are different from ourselves can be an effective strategy for reducing prejudice. And yet research on attraction demonstrates that people often prefer to form friendships with similar others. Using survey-based field methods and multilevel analysis, my lab investigated how individual-level factors such as...

Domestic Policy Issues in the U.S. Election: a discussion with Professors Tom Burke, Courtney Coile, and Dan Sichel. Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012. 12:30 - 1:20 Pendleton Atrium, Wellesley College

Jennie Pyers (Psychology) shows how the study of deaf signers can clarify our understanding of the ways in which language and cognition interact. These slides accompany the recording of her lecture, also available on iTunes U. Studies with speakers of spoken languages have demonstrated some relationship between Ianguage and cognitive ability. In this talk, Jennie presents studies with learners of an emerging sign language in Nicaragua, fluent signers of American Sign Language, and children...

Jennie Pyers (Psychology) shows how the study of deaf signers can clarify our understanding of the ways in which language and cognition interact. Please download the accompanying PDF (also on iTunes U) to see the slides of her presentation. Studies with speakers of spoken languages have demonstrated some relationship between Ianguage and cognitive ability. In this talk, Jennie presents studies with learners of an emerging sign language in Nicaragua, fluent signers of American Sign Language,...

Angela Carpenter discusses her linguistics research. Theories of linguistics differ on whether speakers have innate knowledge of linguistic universals or whether generalizations are the product of non-linguistic systems. By studying speakers' ability to learn patterns which occur in natural language versus those patterns which do not, Carpenter found a bias towards naturalness and argued that language learning utilizes an interaction between general and language-specific cognitive mechanisms.

Don Elmore discusses membrane proteins, which provide an essential link between the inside of cells and their surroundings. The function of these proteins is impacted by their interactions with the lipid molecules that make up membranes of cells. Elmore discusses how his lab combines computational and experimental approaches to investigate these critical protein-lipid interactions. In particular, the talk focuses on the role of lipid interactions in the gating of mechanosensitive ion channels...

Don Elmore discusses membrane proteins, which provide an essential link between the inside of cells and their surroundings. The function of these proteins is impacted by their interactions with the lipid molecules that make up membranes of cells. Elmore discusses how his lab combines computational and experimental approaches to investigate these critical protein-lipid interactions. In particular, the talk focuses on the role of lipid interactions in the gating of mechanosensitive ion channels...

Orit Shaer describes her research developing interaction techniques and software tools for next generation user interfaces. Over the past two decades, Human-Computer Interaction research has generated a broad range of interaction styles that move beyond the desktop into new physical and social contexts. Key areas of innovation in this respect include tabletops, tangible, and embodied user interfaces. These interaction styles leverage users' existing knowledge and skills of interaction with...

Jim Besancon and Kathy Moon explore causes, effects, and potential outcomes of the recent events in Japan. The clash of Earth's upheaval with human settlement calls for an analysis that crosses disciplines. Jim Besancon, associate professor of geosciences, and Katharine Moon, Edith Stix Wasserman Professor of Political Science and director of Wellesley's East Asian Studies Program, share their expertise on the subject briefly before the discussion is opened up for audience questions and...

Adam Van Arsdale discusses how genomes from extinct populations of archaic humans - “Neandertals” and “Denisovans” - have provided new complexity to our understanding of the origins of contemporary humans. The evolutionary processes that have shaped humans reflect a pattern that extends to the beginning of our genus, Homo, two million years ago. This talk examines the role of on-going research at the Lower Paleolithic site of Dmanisi, Georgia, for our understanding of Pleistocene human...

Nonnative plant invasions can present substantial environmental challenges that demand our attention, but they also offer tremendous opportunities to examine fundemental ecological questions. Why do some plants dominate here and not there? Why do most invasions fail while others become spectacularly successful? This research examines several aspects of the invasion ecology of Bromus tectorum ('cheatgrass') at different biological, spatial, and temporal scales.

Susan Reverby discusses her research on the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-72) and the immoral government medical study in Guatemala in the late 1940s where men and women were given syphilis. She explores the ways in which melodramatic responses both help us understand what happened and hinder our understandings.

Richard French is an instrument team leader for NASA's highly successful ongoing Cassini mission to Saturn. He takes you behind the scenes of modern rocket science. He presents some of the highlights of the mission and describes how he and his Team Cassini students are investigating the dynamics of Saturn's rings and the atmospheric structure of Saturn and its largest moon, Titan.

Alex Diesl, mathematics professor at Wellesley College, looks beyond the standard decimal representation and sees how mathematics can help us to best approximate our favorite numbers.

Marion Just and Tom Burke, two Political Science professors well-versed in American electoral politics, discuss the 2010 midterm election results and what it means for the 112th Congress and the Obama presidency.

Meg Thompson discusses Avalonia, the tectonic belt stretching from the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and through Atlantic Canada to southeastern New England. She speaks about how Avalonia was not part of North America when its rock sequences formed 600-700 million years ago. Magnetic signatures acquired when igneous rocks in these sequences cooled from molten magma provide the principal means for establishing Avalonia's original geographic position and its subsequent convergence with...

Jeremy Wilmer asks what are the strengths, weaknesses, and limits of what can be tested on the web?