Faculty and Staff Notes

Danforth-Lewis Professor of Economics John V. Duca spoke on January 9, 2019 at the MIT Enterprise Forum about the outlook for the national economy.

Danforth-Lewis Professor of Economics John V. Duca talked to the National Association of Credit Managers in Phoenix on February 20, 2019. Duca discussed the outlook for the national economy and consumer credit. 

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Cal Biruk gave an invited book talk on February 14, 2019 at Michigan State University's African Studies Center. 

Visiting Assistant Professor of History Jiyul Kim was quoted in the Wall Street Journal article "Old Enemies Meet Again on the Battlefield, This Time to Recover the Dead" on a story about the recovery of Korean War remains from the Korean DMZ.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager, professor of East Asian studies, received an International Security & Foreign Policy grant ($121,311) from the Smith Richardson Foundation to complete her book, The Other Great Game: The "Opening" of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia, which is under contract with Harvard University Press. The book provides a major new "big picture" narrative of the geopolitical context surrounding Korea’s “opening” in the late 19th century that will provide a deep historical context for understanding Northeast Asia's present situation, as well as over the long term.

Professor of Physics Yumi Ijiri was interviewed for a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, where Ijiri discussed the effects of the government shutdown on science, specifically at the NIST Center for Neutron Research.

Robert S. Danforth Professor of History Renee Romano gave two presentations in January related to her new edited collection, Historians on Hamilton: How a Blockbuster Musical is Restaging America's Past. On January 14, she participated in a panel on "The Legacy of Hamilton" sponsored by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and held at the Hyundai Room at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. On January 27, she spoke on "The Hamilton Phenomenon: How a Blockbuster Musical is Reenergizing American History" at the Dunham Tavern Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Professor of Mathematics Jim Walsh's invited paper appeared in a Special Issue of the CODEE Journal (Consortium for Ordinary Differential Equations Educators), titled "Linking Differential Equations to Social Justice and Environmental Concerns." Walsh's article concerns a conceptual model of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which is an important component of the ocean circulation that has been linked to climate change.

Professor of Dance Ann Cooper Albright's spring 2018 Varsity Contact class writings have been published in Contact Quarterly Vol.44 #1. For the program of their performance “One Breath: an evening of stillness and motion,” the students each came up with a word that captured an essential element of Contact for them. 

Associate Professor of Classics Drew Wilburn was awarded a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society to support research in the United Kingdom on his project, "Architectural Magic and Social Space in the Roman Mediterranean." The project analyzes the myriad and overlapping methods that individuals and communities employed to control risk and protect themselves, their children, and property from seen and unseen dangers, including physical barriers, architectural elements, gestures, objects worn on the body, and images built into living spaces. Wilburn will be conducting research at the Wellcome Library, the British Museum, and the Senate House Library.