ACADEMICS

Bates uses the Merit Pages service to publicize student achievements.

In the Catalog, courses noted as “W1,” “W2,” and “W3” attend to writing.

Head Strong

Professor of Sociology Emily Kane shares a moment with senior thesis advisee Ilana Zeilinger ’23 of Washington, D.C., outside the Gray Athletic Building during the annual Senior-Faculty Reception on May 22.

Zeilinger’s thesis, “Mothering in the Mama Sphere: Intensive Mothering in Contemporary Mommy Blogs,” won the sociology department’s thesis award, the Myhrman-Swett Award.

Out of This World Honors

Research achievements by Professor of Physics Nathan Lundblad, seen posing in his Carnegie Science lab with student researchers Elias Veilleux ’23 (left) of Orono, Maine, and Kona Lindsey ’23 of Colorado Springs, Colo., have earned major recognition by NASA.

The space administration awarded Lundblad a $1.89 million grant extension and its Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, a prestigious honor given to scientists who have made significant contributions to their field.

Lundblad’s successful, groundbreaking experiments in the Cold Atom Laboratory aboard the International Space Station involve creating bubbles of ultracold atoms, research that advances scientific understanding of quantum mechanics and atomic behavior.

All professors have profiles on the “Faculty Expertise” site, bates.edu/faculty-expertise.

The briefest 2023 honors thesis title is “Gardens of Oppression: In Search of Her Delight.”

Watson and Truman

Two seniors and a junior will use their important postgraduate honors to focus on healing and justice around the world.

Elizabeth LaCroix ’23 of Richmond, R.I., and Adilene Sandoval ’23 of Mattawa, Wash., earned Watson Fellowships, while Aaliyah Moore, a junior from Phoenix, has received a Truman Scholarship.

A double major in English and chemistry, LaCroix will travel to Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ecuador, China, and India for her project, “The Global Story of Menstrual Pain.” Drawing from personal experience, she will collect stories on the subject of menstrual pain from patients, doctors, and researchers to create a global perspective on the issue.

A double major in sociology and environmental studies, Sandoval will draw on her MexicanIndigenous heritage for her project, “Weaving Together Activism and Healing.” She will travel to Australia, Italy, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Colombia, and Guatemala to explore approaches that create healing and well-being for communities damaged by colonization.

Moore will use her Truman to pursue graduate studies in law and African American studies. “My upbringing as an African American woman living in subsidized housing and foster care shaped my determination to use advocacy, scholarship, and education” to tackle systematic disparities within the U.S. legal and foster-care systems.

Awarded to juniors with demonstrated leadership potential and a commitment to public service, Truman Scholarships are considered among the most important U.S. graduate fellowships.

Tip from a newly retired Bates professor: “Allow yourself to wander.”

This Just In

A sampling of recent faculty-authored articles

Who Persists and Who Desists? A Prospective Study of Prescription Stimulant Misuse in College Graduates

Publication: Journal of Drug Issues • Author: Su Langdon (psychology) and coauthors • What It Explains: How, though misuse of prescribed psychostimulants (e.g., Adderall) by college grads does appear to decline after graduation, further reduction might occur by improving skills in college to resist use and to correct misperceptions of others’ use.

Pirate and chill: The Effect of Netflix on Illegal Streaming

Publication: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization • Author: Austin Smith (economics) and coauthors

• What It Explains: How, when certain movies were removed from Netflix, piracy intent for remaining movies increased by 20%, indicating a substitution between legal streaming and piracy, which has implications for content owners in choosing the platform for their movies.

Evidence in Default: Rejecting Default Models of Animal Minds

Publication: The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science • Author: Mike Dacey (philosophy) • What It Explains: How, in psychology experiments, when scientists compare different theories, they often prefer simple explanations as their default choice, which can ignore the role of evidence and make it harder to evaluate ideas without bias.

Generalized Quasi-linear Approximation and Non-normality in Taylor-Couette Spiral Turbulence

Publication: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences • Author: Jeffrey Oishi (physics) and Morgan Baxter ’20

• What It Explains: How a special method in fluid dynamics to help understand a type of flow called Taylor-Couette, where a fluid is confined in a gap between an inner and outer rotating cylinder, works well when the flow is fast but not as well when slower.