Nada Hosking
Research related to prehistoric image-making is constructed around a patriarchal scientific tradition of discourse. In 2007, archaeologists once more imposed vulva symbolism on an abstract engraving on a rock at Abri Castanet, perpetuating the assumption that Upper Palaeolithic societies perceived the world through a similar cultural screen to our own. Using the so-called vulva engravings as an example, my project asks: How can contemporary patriarchal values that have been dominating the interpretation of pre-historic imagery be re-evaluated? My project culminates in a senior honors thesis that aims at re-examining the […]
Tiffany Ku
If as many theorists of the genre argue, authenticity is essential to autobiography, what place, if any, does the literary occupy in it? By literary I mean all of the subjective qualities that interpretation introduces to any verbal description of reality. On the one hand, it seems impossible to depict a complete life without recourse to interpretation; on the other, the various effects of interpretation might be said to amount to distortions of the life depicted, rendering it inauthentic. At the core of Nietzsches philosophy is the “”famous insistence that […]
Rachel Agoglia
Understanding the genetic mechanisms that underlie morphological evolution is a long-standing goal in biology. The threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is an emerging model organism with features ideal for studying the molecular basis of morphological evolution. Several stickleback populations display evolved differences in tooth number, likely adaptive to match different diets. These differences in tooth number are largely controlled by a Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL), a genomic region controlling a quantitative trait. This QTL is located on chromosome 21 and contains an excellent candidate gene: Bone Morphogenetic Protein 6 (Bmp6). I […]
Nicole Lang
My project explores the ways in which 3D, digital technology can assist in analyzing and teaching about lithic technologies, e.g. stone tools. Over the summer of 2013, I will experiment with different methods that allow me to reproduce accurate 3D models that will be included in an online digital reference dictionary. The methods I will be using are photography of Jordanian lithic material and computerized 3D modeling from the photographs to reproduce the models digitally. I will be working closely with my mentor, Lisa Maher, a Jordanian lithics expert, to […]
Mathilde Bonvalot
The reassertion of Catholicism’s essential principles after the Council of Trent had a major impact on religious art production in 16th century Italy. Consciously putting together reliques from the early years of Christianity with Rinascimento painting techniques, the new visual programs created within Roman churches became the place where sacred space and ideas could be rebuilt, generating a new meaning for the Catholic community. I will travel to Rome to investigate the emergence of the discipline of Archaeology as the crucial event that allowed early Christian antiquities discovered in the […]
Robynne Lindsey
Washington, D.C. is arguably the nation’s largest hotspot for young adults seeking professional careers. College students who aspire to these positions are typically advised to develop their professional networks. My research question asks how young college-affiliated adults ages 18-25 perceive networking relationships, how they develop and maintain networking ties, and how effective those networks truly are in their career trajectory. First, I will investigate how college students interning in the city view and participate in social and/or digital networking. Next, I will interview Cal in the Capital Alumni in D.C. […]
Joshua Moller-Mara
My research involves various aspects of decision making in social situations. When making decisions, people generally don’t have all the information necessary to make an informed decision. So, to make up for this lack of information, people rely on the behavior and decisions of others. This occurs in many everyday situations, for example, in choosing a restaurant to dine in based on the number of patrons. In certain situations, this behavior can be rational. In what are called “”information cascades”” people rationally follow the actions of others, even when their […]
YeeAnn Chen
Cancer is a potent disease that occurs when cells acquire certain mutations that cause uncontrollable cell growth. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that have been associated in cancer development. In our research, we specifically study the tumor suppressive effects of miRNAs on B cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer in the lymph nodes. We have determined that the deletion of mir-34a or mir-34bc (tumor suppressive miRNAs) accelerate lyphomagenesis. More recently, it has been shown that there is a homologous cluster of miRNAs, the mir-449 family, suggesting similar functions. […]
Nader Morshed
Construction of protein structures from X-ray crystallography data is a difficult, time consuming, and error-prone process. With of 90,000 protein structures currently deposited in online data banks, tools to automatically construct, analyze, and fix models is essential for correct scientific analysis. My research is to apply techniques from the machine learning field to identify elementary ions, such as zinc and calcium, in available data. These atoms are often essential to enzyme function, but their identification requires knowledge of esoteric rules, making it great ground for computational automation.
April Choi
Nor-1 is a protein that can promote death of CD4+ CD8+ double positive thymocytes, cells in the process of maturing into T cells. In the thymus, these double positive thymocytes undergo a process called negative selection, in which any thymocytes that recognize self-molecules that our own body produces are killed. This makes sure that our body mounts an immune response when it encounters a foreign pathogen. Failure during this negative process results in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (the go-to disease whenever someone is sick in the episodes […]