IC
The Curricular Resource Center
Brown University Independent Concentration Commencement Ceremony May 26, 2019 Brown-RISD Hillel Social Hall
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Program Welcome Awarding of May 2019 Degrees Maryam Ahmad
Sarah W. Marion
Jacob Roth Cader
Zuriel Mbonde
Penmai Chongtoua
Charlotte Brown Senders
Ebube William Shola Chuba
Chloe Yun Ming So
Maksymilian Dąbkowski ’19.5
Curtis Stiles
Ruth Foster
Angela Yang
Julian Darius Jacobs
Yema Yang
Dorothy Jiang
Zak Ziebell
Noa Machover ’19.5 3
Maryam Ahmad ’19 IC Advisor: Arnold Weinstein Honors Thesis Advisors: Kate Schapira, Adam Golaski, Mary-Kim Arnold
Na rra tive Hea lth (A.B.) is the study of the stories people create to make meaning out of illness, bodily betrayal, and loss. "how we got sick" is a lyric nonfiction book exploring my family's intertwined illness narratives. It draws upon many of the same themes I have studied as part of my IC––storytelling as a process of identity formation, the illness experience as communal–– but it also explores the points when narratives begin to fail us; how stories have the capacity to disorient and destabilize.
Thank you to my parents, my brother, Bibi and Tariq Khalu, and my favorite family: Mohsin, Asma, Zia, and Rami. Thank you to all of the professors who have supported me through this concentration— Arnold Weinstein, Kate Schapira, Adam Golaski, Brad Brockmann, and Mary-Kim Arnold. Finally, thank you to Andy Pham, Emily Sun, Nana Adu, and Nawal Yessuf for your friendship, and always keeping me company in the Rock.
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Jacob Roth Cader ’19 IC Advisor: Kym Moore Capstone Advisors: Paul Myoda, Kim Moore, Ian Gonsher
Huma n-Centered Design for Digita l Media (A.B.) explores how we can refine creative practices such as writing, image production, and digital content creation through a fundamental questioning of how users consume and interact with media. My capstone is a series of creative interventions and experiments investigating possible applications of human-centered design. The projects I worked on pull from many different points along the thread unifying my academic experience. I explored physical interfaces, microcontrollers, graphic design, fabrication techniques, and learned more about the role of design at Brown.
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Penmai Chongtoua ’19 IC Advisor: John Tomasi Capstone Advisor: Timmons Roberts
Environmenta l Ethics a nd Politics (A.B.) addresses contemporary environmental issues through the development of moral and political thought. For my capstone, “A Green New Deal in Rhode Island,” I worked with the Rhode Island Green New Deal Research Council to influence legislation to adopt a Green New Deal by 2020. Acknowledgements: Professor Timmons Roberts, Peggy Chang, Mom and Dad
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Ebube William Shola Chuba ’19 IC Advisors: Michael Littman, Thomas Serre, Adam Payton Capstone Advisor: R. Iris Bahar
Computer Science, Ra tiona lity, a nd Thought (Sc.B.) addresses the theory and praxis of understanding rational behavior. Capstone: "Rationality and Robustness: Using Adversarial Machine Learning for Pose Estimation"
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Maksymilian Dąbkowski ’19.5 IC Advisor: Joshua Schechter
Logic (Sc.B.), once among the seven Medieval liberal arts, has come to include the classification of arguments, the systematic exposition of the form common to valid reasoning, the study of inference, including fallacies, the study of semantics, including paradoxes, and the study of formal rule-based languages. Acknowledgements: Joshua Schechter
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Acknowledgements: My mom! My friends, family, and faculty mentors.
Ruth Foster ’19 IC Advisor: Jeffrey Poland Capstone Advisor: Adaner Usmani
Bioethics (A.B.) lies at the
how to approach the process of
intersection of philosophy, science,
caring for our selves and others.
and the humanities. It invites us to
For my capstone, I interned at RI
formulate and apply ethical
Legal Services in their Housing
principles to questions about health,
Division. If we take social
healthcare, and biomedicine. In the
determinants of health—including
study of bioethics, it becomes clear
the social and physical
that no single discipline holds all the
environment—seriously, I argue
answers to these questions. A variety
bioethics is no longer restricted to
of disciplines—Philosophy, History,
the lab or hospital. The provision of
Religious Studies, Anthropology,
safe, stable housing is a bioethics
and Biology—all provide insight into
issue worthy of our consideration. 9
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Julian Darius Jacobs ’19 IC Advisor: John Tomasi Honors Thesis Advisors: Mark Blyth, John Tomasi, Daniel D’Amico
Philosophy, Politics, a nd Economics (A.B.) is an interdisciplinary concentration blending three important lenses in the social sciences. Thesis Title: “Is This Time Different? Artificial Intelligence, Inequality, and the Future of Work” My thesis analyzes the effects of AI on economic inequality and the 10
U.S. labor market. Acknowledgements: Mom, Dad, Tootie, Baba
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INTERSECTIONALITY Kimberle Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” while examining the complex and interacting identities of Black women and others of multiply marginalized identities (1989). Using intersectionality as a framework to view mental health intentionally includes people on the margins of our communities.
INTERSECTIONAL suicide prevention
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Dorothy Jiang ’19 IC Advisor & Capstone Advisor: Brian Hayden
I ntersectiona l Menta l Hea lth
addition to having concrete crisis
(A.B.) examines the way identity (i.e.
intervention and active listening
race, class, gender) and mental
techniques, and opportunities for
health interact with one another,
practice, it focuses on community
exploring individual experiences,
values, assets, and methods of
social contexts, and public systems.
fostering cohesion and feelings of
For my capstone project, I created
belonging.
“Intersectional Suicide Prevention,”
Acknowledgements: Professor Brian
a two-day suicide prevention
Hayden, Professor Nic Ramos, Dr. Erin
training model framed explicitly in the theory of intersectionality. In
Lane-Aaronian, and family, both given and chosen.
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Noa Machover ’19.5 IC Advisor: Kurt Teichert Thesis Advisors: Kurt Teichert, Kai Bosworth, Lorena Bello
Urba n Design (A.B.) is the practice of observing, representing, and transforming the urban built environment. Urban Designers seek to design livable, sustainable, and equitable places. Thesis Title: “Design Strategies Towards
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Liberatory Urban
Acknowledgements:
Political Ecologies”
My parents, Peggy, Kurt, Hana
Zuriel Mbonde ’19 IC Advisor & Capstone Advisor: Todd Winkler
Multimedia Storytelling (A.B.) is an interdisciplinary study that combines the knowledge and skills from music, computer animation/ graphics, theatre arts, creative writing, and film to construct narratives about the human experience.
Is Home?� is a multimedia performance incorporating original music with live band, visuals and video.
Acknowledgements: Jim Moses, Martim Galvao, Nadia Mbonde
My capstone “Where
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Sarah W. Marion ’19 IC Advisor: Patricia Sobral Capstone Advisor: Hannah Bansil, M.D.
Na rra tive-ba sed Medicine (A.B.) is the study of narratives in the context of health and illness to better understand and bring meaning to patients’ experiences. “Six Women: The Conditional Narratives of Women with Breast Cancer” is a book that details the experiences of six breast cancer patients. It contains themes of suffering, coping, healing, and spirituality. 14
Acknowledgements: My parents, my friends, and my entire support system over the past four years.
Charlotte Brown Senders ‘19 IC Advisor: Elizabeth Hoover Capstone Advisors: Elizabeth Hoover, Ross Cheit
Ecology of Food (A.B.) studies the intersection of food and human ecology; my concentration examines the ways in which what we eat affects and is affected by our environmental, biological, and social systems. My capstone explores, through a series of personal essays, interviews and research, how domestic livestock animals and meat can be a part of our sustainable future.
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my advisors, formal and informal: Fred Jackson, Erika Edwards, Elizabeth Hoover, Ross Cheit, Emily Contois, and Peggy Chang. I'd like to thank my mentors: Ron Cesario, Fran Romasco, Jen Irwin, and Rachel Ostlund. I'd like to thank my mom and dad (Liz Brown and Stefan Senders), and my brother Owen.
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Chloe Yun Ming So ’19 IC Advisor: Chris Bull Capstone Advisor: Bill Warren
Everything we see affects how we think and act. Design a nd Cognition (A.B.) explores the relationship between psychology and design. It investigates how visual perception can inform product design decisions, and studies how design principles and visual stimuli relate and interact together. 16
Acknowledgements: Chris Bull, Bill Warren, Mom and Dad, Ash + Dei, the rest of my family and friends
My two-semester long Capstone project investigates the relationship between visual perception and design principles.
CNC machining of aluminum blocks into custom iPhone case molds followed, which silicone was then poured into and left to cure.
The project is split into two main parts: Designing the backs of iPhone 6+ cases and carrying out an experiment. Through varying different visual perception elements, I have chosen to explore how texture, contours and closure affect product appeal. The designing involved varying these elements on the backs of iPhone cases—matte and glossy to test texture, rounded and sharp edges for contours, and a cow graphic with different levels of closure.
A two-part experiment involving side-by-side comparison tests of various iPhone case designs was conducted on over 150 Brown undergraduates. Participants were given 3 seconds to make a choice between two cases, and with the data collected, I was able to use the participants’ gut instincts, and affect and valence scales, to analyze the various elements that might influence product appeal.
Curtis Stiles ’19 IC Advisor: Chris Bull Capstone Advisor: Jordan Branch
Globa l Entrepreneurship (A.B.) is the study of how globalization affects entrepreneurship, and how entrepreneurship affects globalization. For my capstone project, I wrote a research paper analyzing the impacts of the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and how they impact entrepreneurial ventures in the EU.
Acknowledgements: Christopher Bull; Jordan Branch; Jim Amspacher; Jonas Clark; Danny Warshay; Peggy Chang 17
Angela Yang ’19 IC Advisor & Capstone Advisor: Elena Shih
care in conversation and connection Angela Yang ‘19 Humanitarian Studies
Acknowledgements All my gratitude and love goes to Prof. Elena Shih, Peggy Chang, and to all the youths at BRYTE, who are brilliant, strong, and vibrant.
Huma nita ria n Studies (A.B.) explores the genealogy of humanitarianism, focusing on the intersectional layers of race and gender, and highlighting the role of the media, in humanitarian projects of care. This concentration takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the history of care, the global aid system, and its effects.
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My capstone project, “care in conversation and connection,” explores the concept and practice of care, attempting to flip the narrative on those typically designated by others and by systems as "victims to Acknowledgements: I'd like to be cared for." thank my advisor, Professor Shih, for changing my world, Peggy, for sticking with me throughout the capstone process, and my family, for being here today.
Yema Yang ’19 IC Advisor & Capstone Advisor: Debbie Weinstein ’93…and Nic J. Ramos (Africana studies), Will Meek (CAPS), Rachael Wise (SAO), Jayden Thai (CAPS)
Rooted in Critical Disability
Capstone: “(Re)Centering
Studies, Critica l Menta l
Collective Resistance and
Hea lth Studies ( A.B.) is an Healing: A Critical Narrative interdisciplinary investigation Webcomic” of mental illness or psychiatric disability as a social experience or marginalized identity, in addition to having medical meaning and public health context. By looking at mental illness in relation to societal systems and its intersections with other identities, it examines and reimagines how mental illness / psychiatric disability can be approached to facilitate collective care, agency, and liberated ways of existing.
Acknowledgements: My family; my partner, Lin Hein; my best friend and complementary opposite, Renuka Diwan; the loving activist communities of Project LETS and Disability Justice at Brown; my WOC activist sister, Malana Krongelb; and all my personal, academic, and activism advisors (Debbie Weinstein, Nic Ramos, Will Meek, Rachael Wise, Jayden Thai). 19
Zak Ziebell ’19 IC Advisor: Riki Heck Capstone Advisors: Riki Heck, Samuel Yates
Symbolic Systems (A.B.) is the study of systems of meaning and representation at the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science, and computer science. Capstone Project: 3D Printing and the Status of Objects – I wrote an essay on the impact of 3D printing on the nature, social valuation, and lives of material aesthetic objects. Acknowledgements: Riki Heck, Samuel Yates
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IC Class of 2019
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Acknowledgements
2018-2019 Independent Concentration subcommittee of the College Curriculum Council: Vlad Barbulica ’20, Product Design & Development Ruth Foster ’19, Bioethics Ann Garth ’20, Systems Change & Environmental Policy Dorothy Jiang ’19, Intersectional Mental Health M. Dawn King, Senior Lecturer of Environmental Studies & Sciences Poom Pipatjarasgit ’21, Anthropology, Latin American & Caribbean Studies Besenia Rodriguez ’00, Senior Associate Dean of the College for Curriculum John J. Stein, Senior Lecturer of Neuroscience Peggy Chang ’93, ’13 A.M., Chair, Associate Dean of the College, Director of the Curricular Resource Center for Peer Advising
IC Coordinators @ the CRC: Vlad Barbulica ’20, Product Design & Development Ruth Foster ’19, Bioethics Ann Garth ’20, Systems Change & Environmental Policy Dorothy Jiang ’19, Intersectional Mental Health
CRC Digital Archives & Media Coordinator: 22
Hana Estice ’19
the CRC
The Curricular Resource Center for Peer Advising (CRC) is a place where student advisors help their peers engage with the Open Curriculum and effectively utilize Brown's academic resources. Founded in 1976 to support the fullest use of the New Curriculum, today the CRC's Director, student advisers and volunteers coordinate information sessions, community-building events, and individual meetings with students for advising about independent studies and concentrations, fellowships and research opportunities, taking time off from college, issues related to the sophomore year and more. The CRC staff collaborates with various groups, centers and deans to provide the best possible advice about the wealth of academic resources at Brown and beyond. The CRC is part of the Office of the Dean of the College.
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