SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018
VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 27
WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
Bears finish second on Senior Day Students plan birding Gymnastics team honors buddies program five seniors during its final competition at home meet
Program will use bilingual birding guide, pair schoolchildren with college students
By TESS DEMEYER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Coming off an unexpected fourth-place finish at the Ivy Classics last weekend, the gymnastics team bounced back with a second-place finish in its final home meet of the season Sunday. The Bears tallied a 193.150 team score to beat Southern Connecticut State University and the College at Brockport but fall to the University of Bridgeport. “This was a complete 180 from Ivies,” said co-captain Maggie McAvoy ’18. “We came in with the mindset of having fun because at Ivies we got a little nervous, got a little ahead of ourselves and rushed everything, but this time we were just taking it slow, having fun and enjoying ourselves. We were on for all four events.” For the team’s five seniors, the quad meet was their last time performing in the Pizzitola Sports Center. After the competition, the veterans were recognized for their dedication and contributions to the program.
By SABRINA CHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ELI WHITE / HERALD
In its last home meet of the season, the gymnastics team posted a 193.150 team score to finish behind the University of Bridgeport. “It’s very bittersweet,” said co-captain Claire Ryan ’18. “I remember my freshman year Senior Day and thinking it was forever away, but now it’s here. It’s been such a special experience the last four years, and I couldn’t have asked for a more positive time here.” Brown kicked off the meet on vault,
where the Bears made some lineup changes from their last showing. Kate Nelson ’21 made her first appearance on the event, notching a 9.500 in the leadoff spot while Gabrielle Hechtman ’19 and Anne Christman ’20 followed with matching scores of 9.575. In the » See GYMNASTICS, page 3
Students have begun preparations to pilot a birding program that will become an optional part of HIST 1977B: “Feathery Things: An Avian Introduction to Animal Studies,” taught by Nancy Jacobs, professor of history. The program is expected to fully launch Fall 2019 and will use a bilingual Spanish-English bird guide entitled AVES/BIRDS written by Adam Moreno ’18. The program will pair University students with children at a local elementary school in Providence to birdwatch together using Moreno’s guide. Moreno hopes that his bilingual book will help increase participation in nature from underrepresented communities. “When I would go home to my Colombian family, there wasn’t such a strong connection with nature,” Moreno said.
Moreno said that there is a lack of birdwatching resources written in Spanish and hopes that his field-guide “can help break through that barrier and provide more resources to Spanish speakers, along with opportunities to learn and to engage between nature.” This program is based on a model designed by Trish O’Kane, a lecturer at the University of Vermont, when she was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I lived in a lowerincome neighborhood with a great park, great kids and great birds,” O’Kane said in an email to the Herald. “There was no environmental programming in the park and a lot of latch-key kids who needed something positive to do after school.” She then trained college students to work with schoolchildren and help http://www.browndailyherald.com/ wp-admin/admin.php?page=wpzoom_ options them birdwatch. O’Kane has since brought her program to the University of Vermont. Jacobs’ class is part of the Engaged Scholars Program, which connects “students, faculty and community partners through community engagement, » See BIRDING, page 2
Youth addiction recovery New U. tech detects ancient mutations center receives $50,000 grant SWIF(r) can identify New center will use peerbased recovery services to treat substance use disorder among youth By DYLAN CLARK STAFF WRITER
The court-ordered payment from an individual who pleaded guilty to growing marijuana will be used to support a new recovery center for teens struggling with addiction, according to a press release from the Attorney General Peter Kilmartin’s office. The $50,000 grant from the criminal restitution case was awarded to The Providence Center — which helps individuals suffering from addiction — to provide support for the new Jim Gillen Anchor Youth Recovery Community Center, according to the press release. The state seized up to $900,000 in assets from the illegal operation, said Amy Kemp, spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office. The Jim Gillen Center is the first institute in Rhode Island that “provides peer-based recovery services” for youth, said Owen Heleen, chief strategy officer of TPC. It serves as a
genetic mutations that occurred more than 30,000 years ago By JEFF DEMANCHE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A new tool developed by University researchers, dubbed SWIF(r), can identify certain genes in humans — ones that result from “adaptive mutations,” genetic differences which have spread amongst a population over time to become more common. The researchers applied their technology to genomic data from the ‡Khomani San people of southern Africa to identify adaptive mutations among the population associated with immunity and metabolism. The name SWIF(r) stands for “sweep inference framework correlation,” where ‘r’ is the statistical notation used for denoting correlation, said Lauren Alpert Sugden, a postdoctoral fellow and member of the Ramachandran Lab, who led the study. The name alludes to the process of an adaptive mutation spreading across a population, known as a “selective sweep.” “The idea is to be able to look at genomic data from people around the
ANH-LISE GILBERT / HERALD
world today and to sort of infer the past: what mutations have been really beneficial for populations in adapting to different environments, different diets,
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MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018
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different pathogens, that kind of thing,” Alpert Sugden said. SWIF(r) offers a way of doing just » See MUTATION, page 2
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new addition to the Anchor Recovery Community Center programs, which are run through TPC, he said, adding that the idea for the new youth center came from a similar program in Houston. Most of the state’s previous efforts to combat substance abuse have targetted the ongoing opioid crisis, but “youth substance use disorders most often start out with teens using marijuana and alcohol, which can lead to using other illicit drugs as adults,” Kilmartin said in the press release. A 2015 report from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that Rhode Islanders ages 12 to 17 were 28 percent more likely to use illicit drugs than than the average American. “Clearly there is a need for target recovery programs for youth,” Kemp said. Teens are often most susceptible to relapse after school, Heleen added. “For young people with substance use disorder, they may get treatment … and go back to their home high school where it doesn’t take very long before they’re offered substances,” he said. The Gillen Center uses a new approach to help individuals recover » See GRANT, page 2