Faculty and Staff Notes

On Tuesday August 2, 2022, Robert Klock OC ’21 and Xiaoyun Gong OC ’21 presented research papers coauthored by James F. Clark Professor of Mathematics Robert Bosch OC ’85 at the 2022 Bridges Math/Art Conference. Both papers are available at the Bridges Archive. Rob and Bob's paper, "Controlling Textures in TSP Art," can be viewed at this link, and Xiaoyun and Bob's paper, "Collaborative Gomoku Mosaics," is available for viewing here.

Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Sergio Gutierrez Negron has published the article "La impresión conservadora: los hermanos Uribe y Alcalde y el campo tipográfico del primer conservadurismo mexicano, 1828-1836” in Decimonónica: A Journal of Nineteenth Century Hispanic Cultural Production. Halfway between biographical reconstruction and cultural analysis, this article offers a joint profile of minor printers Tomás and José Uribe y Alcalde, who were active in Mexico between 1822 and 1836. This account allows the reader to observe the inner workings of the Mexican typographical field and its relationship to the nascent economy of conservative knowledge, as well as the possibility of social mobility it provided.

Annemarie Sammartino's new book Freedomland: Co-op City and the Story of New York (Cornell University Press, 2022) on the Bronx housing development and neighborhood Co-op City was featured on the "Bowery Boys Bookshelf." The Bowery Boys is a popular podcast about the history of New York City.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Shuming Chen has recently published a paper in ACS Catalysis: "Visible Light-Mediated, Highly Diastereoselective Epimerization of Lactams from the Most Accessible to the More Stable Stereoisomer." Co-authors include Cassie Davies '24 and collaborators from Yale University.

Assistant Deans Monique Burgdorf, Anna Brandt, and Brook Escobedo recently presented at the Student Success in Higher Education conference sponsored by NASPA on June 26-28 in Baltimore, MD. Brandt's presentation, "Taking a Holistic Approach to Student Success Through Credit-Bearing Courses," discussed the Learning Enhancement Across the Disciplines (LEAD) program. Burgdorf and Escobedo co-presented on the Brenda Grier Miller Scholars program in a session titled "Building Community and Supporting Retention Through a Low-Cost First-Generation Cohort Program." 

Catherine Oertel recently published an article, "(C₅H₆N)Pb₂X₅ (X = Cl, Br): Hybrid Lead Halides Based on Seven-Coordinate Pb(II)," in Inorganic Chemistry. Coauthors on this paper were Alyssa Chow ’20 and Xinyue (Joy) Zhong ’22 as well as collaborators from Purdue University and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany.

Visiting Assistant Professor of French Nathan H. Dize recently published an article in the academic journal Caribbean Quarterly entitled: "'Proof(s) of Memory' Massillon Coicou, Marie Chauvet, and Transgressive Mourning under Totalitarianism." It is the first article to consider the intertextual relationship between Haitian authors Marie Chauvet and Massillon Coicou.

Jan Miyake, associate professor of music theory and director for Oberlin Conservatory’s Music Theory Division, has been elected as the next president of the Society for Music Theory. The society promotes music theory as both a scholarly and a pedagogical discipline. Its members are scholars, teachers, and students of music theory, as well as performers, composers, and scholars in related areas such as musicology, ethnomusicology, philosophy, media studies, and cognitive science. 

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Allegra Hyde published a short humor piece in The New Yorker titled "Aphorisms for the Anthropocene." The piece offers a satirical take on climate change and the realities of our "new normal."

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Chanda Feldman publishes two poems, "[Independence Day]" and "Who Plays...," in the Southern Indiana Review.