Top left: James E. Rothman with Brian Bayless (Biology), Q&A moderator. Watch the video.
Bottom (L-R): Rushil Vasant '23 (Biochemistry) and McKenzie Himes '23 (Neuroscience) discuss their research with Dr. Rothman at the annual Sigma Xi Poster Session. View more photos.

The College of Arts and Sciences welcomed Nobel Laureate James E. Rothman to campus on April 25. Rothman met students and presented the 2023 DeNardo Lectureship, "Why do we need basic science?"

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

Last fall, we hired our very first Director of Internships, Sarah Hays, to support all CAS students in their search for experiential learning opportunities and career exploration. If you haven’t interacted with her since she started in this role, you may recognize her name as she has been with the Public Health department for nine years and at the University for over 15. 

She has been hard at work this year developing our internship program in partnership with our departments and the REAL Program. This week, we hit a big milestone with the launch of the new Career Exploration and Experiential Learning at SCU website. This site will be a resource for our students, faculty, and community partners for everything related to internships and experiential learning opportunities. It will continue to grow as Sarah builds out resources for our community and will eventually be a place where students can find information about successful placements of other students, contacts in different industries who have previously worked with Santa Clara students, tips and tricks for resume building, information about internships in their home departments, and so much more. 

Experiential learning is hugely important as students are discerning their path after college and exploring future careers. That’s why I’ve built a focus on engaged, experiential learning into the College’s strategic goals and why I am extremely excited that we are able to provide support to our students in this way. 

I encourage all faculty and staff in the College to consider how each of us can help students acquire meaningful, academically-valuable experiences outside of the classroom—my “moonshot” goal is for all students in the College to have an internship before they graduate!

Sincerely,

Daniel

Highlights

Recently, Katy Bruchmann (Psychology), Subbu Vincent (Markkula Center) and Alexandra Folks '20 (Psychology, Political Science) published an article in a special issue of Frontiers in Psychology focused on the Psychology of Fake News. Their project examined whether and how browser extensions and apps that indicate political bias in the news articles change people's perceptions of news. Creators of these political bias indicators (e.g., No Bias, The Factual, Media Bias/Fact Check, etc.) seem to assume that bias-indicators will help readers correct their own biases or view news articles more critically; however, no research has formally tested this. This paper includes two studies funded by NoBias that tested how political bias indicators influence people's perceptions of news stories that have or do not have actual political bias. Overall, the findings did not suggest that political bias indicators make people more critical readers or less biased—including bias indicators on news articles did not consistently change people's perceptions of credibility or bias in the articles. This data sheds light on the (in)effectiveness of the newest interventions against biased news consumption.

Image: Sample bias indicators from NoBias.com used in the research to indicate political bias on news articles.

Michelle Bezanson (Anthropology) invited herself and 19 other biological anthropologists to present in a symposium titled: "Unpresentations: Translating Anthropological Research via Creative Expression" at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists meeting in Reno. Many professors are using creative pedagogical methods including ungrading, the unessay, and other nontraditional assessment instruments. These tools allow flexibility and can increase student engagement. As professionals we can effectively communicate our research following this same unessay paradigm. If we assign it, we should model it. If we publish, we should make our work accessible to more audiences using various tools. One cool thing (of many) about the symposium was the diversity of research presented. Presenters shared new fossils (3-d printed) from the Rising Star cave system, information about the microbiome (a game), early hominin diet/isotopes (Haiku/Haiga), sensory ecology (comic strip), immune function (large cloth dolls), early technology (collage activity), cave paintings (VR), & how to avoid perpetuating racism in paleoanthropology (cartoon video). Michelle presented a nonfiction graphic novel titled Eat to Move and Move to Eat about primate locomotion. Her poster can be found on the East wall of third floor of O'Connor. Michelle encourages everyone in the sciences and beyond to consider proposing an Unsymposium to their professional conference. It was a big hit and we need more!

Image: Michelle created this poster to advertise the symposium on social media and at the conference.

As a fellow for the New Visions in Theological Anthropology at the University of St. Andrews for this academic year, Eric Yang (Philosophy) used his fellowship funds to host an interdisciplinary workshop on May 6 that brought psychologists, theologians, and philosophers to Santa Clara, focusing on the theme of exemplarism and the practice of imitation in moral and spiritual formation. The expected output of the fellowship will be an edited volume entitled Exemplarism, Imitation, and Character Formation: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry.

On April 27, sixteen members of the SCU Society of Physics Students (SPS) enjoyed a private tour of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Ivar Rydstrom '24 (Physics) coordinated the trip with help from SPS advisor Prof. Betty Young (Physics). During their 2-hour tour, students learned about the history of the lab and its many contributions to science. They also toured active research laboratories where physicists are working on state-of-the-art experiments in particle and accelerator physics, detector physics, materials science, quantum information, dark matter and more.

Image: Members of the SCU Society of Physics Students (SPS) tour SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Ivar Rydstrom is at the far left.

Brita A. Bookser (Child Studies) coauthored and presented two posters at the Climate and Environmental Justice Conference at SCU in April. The first poster, "Storytelling for Climate and Environmental Justice: Fostering Imagination and Action with Children's Literature," was led by Michelle Benavente '25 (Child Studies, Spanish Studies) and Katie Dalpino '25 (Psychology, Child Studies). This project examines the content and qualities of children's literature as a tool for social justice imagination, advocacy, and action toward relationality, protection, and thriving in community. The second poster, "Street-Level Climate Science: Decolonial Experiential Learning Opportunities for Young Children in Metropolitan Contexts," was led by Mikaela Dacanay '24 (Psychology, Child Studies) and Sofie Fernandez '25 (Psychology, Child Studies). Weaving developmental science with the curricular and decolonial potentials of "restorying," this project addresses the implementation of children’s literature and inclusion of children’s lives in relation to climate and environmental justice. Both projects study the story, I Am Sausal Creek/Soy El Arroyo Sausal, written by Melissa Reyes, illustrated by Robert Trujillo, and translated by Cinthia Muñoz. Notably, Sausal Creek is a culturally relevant waterway that travels through unceded Lisjan Ohlone Territory in what is currently Oakland, California.

Image L-R: Mikaela Dacanay, Sofie Fernandez, Michelle Benavente, Katie Dalpino, Brita A. Bookser.

Tom Plante (Psychology) published an article, "Measuring God´s Mysticism: New results of the short version of the God Mysticism Scale" in Pastoral Psychology, with collaborators and co-authors from Peru: T. Caycho-Rodríguez, L. W. Vilca, C. Carbajal-León, M. Reyes-Bossio, M. H. Palomino, R. C. Esteban, M. Noe-Grijalva, D. Vaca-Quintana, and R. Moreta-Herrera. 

Abbreviated abstract:
The brief God Mysticism Scale (GMS-B) is a 12-item scale that assesses the perception of God mysticism. The study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the GMS-B. The sample consisted of 421 young Peruvians from the city of Lima with a mean age of 26.76 years. After testing a set of factorial models, it was determined that a brief model of five items written in a positive manner (GMS-5) presented the best fit. The resulting GMS-5 is a unidimensional, reliable, and invariant instrument to assess mysticism among young men and women in Peru.

Jim McKenna (right) receiving the Boas Award at the 2023 Human Biology Association meetings in Reno.

Jim McKenna (Anthropology) was recently announced as the winner of the 2023 Franz Boas Distinguished Achievement Award from the Human Biology Association. The Boas Award is the HBA's lifetime achievement award, and is given for exemplary contributions to human biology in science, scholarship, and professional service. Jim is a world-renowned expert on the biological anthropology of mother and infant sleep. He has published over 165 scientific articles and numerous books on the topic, including his most recent: Safe Infant Sleep: Expert Answers to Your Cosleeping Questions (2020).

Jesica S. Fernandez (Ethnic Studies), in community, relational care, and creative co-authored collaboration with Meghan Adams '21 (Ethnic Studies, Environmental Science), Chloe Gentile-Montgomery '21 (Ethnic Studies, Environmental Science), and T. Montes '20 (Ethnic Studies) published an article entitled "Healing heartburns and radically dreaming the new university into being: Retrospective auto-ethnographic poetries." The article was published in Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, and features a retrospective auto-ethnographic methodology that encompasses poetry and critical reflexivity. The research that informed their writing is anchored in decolonial feminist theories to cultivate radical hope and healing while imagining the "new University." One where, as the authors write, "affirms our humanity by cultivating communities of care and decentering of power in knowledge production." The work featured is part of the Sociopolitical Citizenship Participatory Action Research (SC-PAR) project that Jesica has been leading with students of color and students of marginalized genders since 2016 to document and support student activisms at SCU via action research and cultural production (poetry, photovoice).

Image: Meghan Adams, Chloe Gentile-Montgomery, and T. Montes

The Halladay lab presented research at the International Conference on Learning and Memory in Huntington Beach, CA. (L-R): Michael Nguyen, Janet Ronquillo, Lindsay Halladay, Linnea Rothi, Kerri Lyons.

Lindsay Halladay (Psychology, Neuroscience) traveled to Huntington Beach, CA with her lab to present their work at the International Conference on Learning and Memory. Kerri Lyons '23 (Neuroscience, Biology) and Michael Nguyen '24 (Neuroscience, Music) presented a poster on the neural mechanisms of aversive learning. They used cell-specific chemogenetics and immunohistochemistry to identify two cell types in the extended amygdala that promote arousal and attention during initial stages of associative learning (e.g., pairing a cue with an aversive outcome); these systems may be dysfunctional in individuals with anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder. Janet Ronquillo '23 (Neuroscience) and Linnea Rothi '23 (Biology, Neuroscience) presented a poster exploring the neural and behavioral consequences of early life neglect. Using a mouse model and high-tech tools to record and manipulate neurons during behavior, they found evidence implicating a neural pathway that normally regulates the body’s stress response system in the lifelong social behavioral deficits seen following exposure to postnatal stress, which has implications for understanding how childhood neglect and maltreatment can lead to a multitude of psychological disorders. The students’ research and travel were funded by a De Novo fellowship (Kerri), DeNardo Science Scholar awards (Linnea and Janet), an SCU Undergraduate Travel Award, and funding from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

In conjunction with the Spring production of and carry what lingers, directed by Brian Thorstenson (Theatre and Dance), we built a wind phone for our community. You can find it in the Arts Plaza between O’Connor and Dowd until the end of the quarter. We hope you’ll visit and let some of your words be carried by the wind.

Read the story of the original wind phone at www.mywindphone.com.

Maura Tarnoff (English) is teaching her first course for OLLI@SCU this spring quarter, focusing on Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello. She will attend to how Shakespeare's mingling of the resources of tragedy and comedy produces powerful explorations of identity, love, revenge, and racism.

OLLI@SCU will be featuring notable instructors periodically in the College Notes. The average course ranges from 4 to 10 hours of instruction per quarter. We hope this will inspire you to stay updated on OLLI news and possibly teach a class for our members. OLLI instructors are compensated for their time and knowledge; to learn more about the joy of teaching adult learners, contact olliatscu@gmail.com.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar