Amherst STEM Network had the privilege of interviewing inaugural Presidential Scholar Harriet Washington. Washington has been a research fellow at Harvard Medical School, a senior research scholar at the National Center for Bioethics at Tuskegee University, a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute, and a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. As a…
A New Approach to Data Analysis: Chloe Wohlgemuth Thesis Spotlight
The following was adapted from an interview between Chloe Wohlgemuth ’22 and Max Hauschildt. Could tell us a bit about yourself? Why did you decide to do a senior thesis? I am a computer science and physics double-major. Aside from one AP class, I had never taken computer science before coming to Amherst. Coming to…
Following the Script: Kelly Huang Thesis Spotlight
Kelly Huang ’22 is a mathematics and psychology major from Arcadia, California. Her thesis explores the relationship between anger scripts and psychological adjustment, specifically looking at depression, anxiety, and stress. A script is an assumption or expectation that people have in their heads about how different kinds of interactions are supposed to go. These expectations…
Studying Four-Dimensional Manifolds: Audrey Rosevear Thesis Spotlight
Tell us a bit about yourself; what life experiences influenced you to write a senior thesis? I’ve always liked math. I think my parents did a good job of encouraging that when I was young, and I got lucky and had a number of good math teachers who were very encouraging. I had a kind…
Dr. Victoria Fang ‘11 on Starting Your Own JRNLclub
Like most fortuitous encounters in my Amherst College career, I met Dr. Victoria Fang ‘11 through Professor Sheila Jaswal. I noticed the LinkedIn message while switching between tabs, taking breaks from the Google slides page on which I prepared slides for my first journal club. Not only was this the first journal club I was…
The Beauty Behind Mathematics and Communities: An Interview with Professor Moore
Katherine Moore is a visiting assistant professor of mathematics who came to Amherst this year. She received a Ph.D. in mathematics at Dartmouth College and was a postdoc at Wake Forest University. This fall, she is teaching courses in Calculus and Linear Algebra. What did you do before you started teaching here at Amherst, and…
Biologically Blue: Lauren Simpson Thesis Spotlight
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What inspired you to write a senior thesis?I am a Senior Psychology major from New York. I had never taken a Psychology class before coming to Amherst. I took an Intro class and I loved it and I was particularly interested in abnormal psychology and that led to…
Picking Up Good Oscillations: Annika Lunstad Thesis Spotlight
The following was adapted from a Zoom interview between Sarah Lapean and Annika Lunstad. Annika is a physics and math double major. She came to Amherst wanting to study physics, but without a clear idea of where she wanted to go with it. The summer after her freshman year, she participated in the Summer Science…
From SURF Underdog to Thesis Expert: Lesley Zheng Thesis Spotlight
The following was adapted from an email interview between Sarah Lapean and Lesley Zheng. Tell us a bit about yourself; what life experiences influenced you to write a senior thesis? I am a computer science and mathematics double major. I was born in New York, but I grew up in Beijing, China. Growing up, my…
Protein Research and Being Human in STEM: Professor Jaswal wins 2021 Carl Branden Award
The Protein Society presents the Carl Brändén Award to an outstanding protein scientist who demonstrates dedication to service and education. Professor Sheila Jaswal received this year’s award for pioneering Being Human in STEM (HSTEM) at Amherst in addition to her research on protein structure and dynamics. I had a lovely discussion with Dr. J about…