SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 6
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
UNIVERSITY NEWS
ARTS & CULTURE
Professor appointed chair of World Meteorogical Organization Research Board
Kow Kow’s expands from food truck to store front
Lynch aims to have a positive impact utilizing application of social sciences
Dessert shop brings bubble waffles, unique ice cream specials to Ives Street BY ASHLEY GUO SENIOR STAFF WRITER
BY HALEY SANDLOW SENIOR STAFF WRITER For Amanda Lynch, professor of earth, environment and planetary sciences at the Institute of Brown for Environment and Society, January 2022 brought the beginning of her new position as chair of the Research Board on Weather, Climate, Water and the Environment for the World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency. Lynch will continue to teach at the University in addition to taking on her new role at the WMO. “A lot of what motivates me in my research is the fact that the work that I do can have a positive impact on people’s lives,” Lynch said.
On even the coldest winter nights, when the ground is slick with ice and snow banks bury the sidewalk, Kow Kow provides eager crowds of customers with ice cream and bubble waffle cones. With its Instagram-worthy ice cream cones and rich flavors drizzled in sauce, Kow Kow has become a spot for date nights or hanging out with friends and family. To owner Vilada Khammahavong, known to everyone as “Vi,” the store’s opening in April 2021 was like a birthday present. Kow Kow’s storefront opening on 120 Ives St. was not just on Khammahavong’s birthday, but it was also a milestone in the growth of
COURTESY OF AMANDA LYNCH
Lynch hopes to guide the Board’s decisions with expertise of other board members and her own theoretical approach. According to Celeste Saulo, vice president of the WMO, the main goal of the organization is to exchange information, data practices, forecasts and coordination among its 193 member countries in three areas of expertise: weather, climate and water.
The WMO Research Board is comprised of international researchers and supports the activities and planning of the WMO research programs: the World Climate Research Programme, the Weather Research Pro-
her business. Khammahavong launched Kow Kow as a food truck on Waterman St. three and a half years ago, during her gap year between undergraduate and graduate school; but she ended up finding her calling while running the business. “It was really just supposed to be a passion project, but I ended up really loving it and it was taking off,” Khammahavong said. “So I continued to grow and go down that path of the business.” Although Khammahavong initially wanted to serve noodles from the truck, she found that it wasn’t very feasible given the truck’s limited space. Instead, she pivoted to making bubble waffles and combined them with her favorite treat — ice cream. The result is a unique but satisfyingly sweet combo, she said. “I switched gears to something else that was really close to me, and that was the bubble waffles,” Khammahavong said.
SEE PROFESSOR PAGE 3
UNIVERSITY NEWS
SEE KOW KOW PAGE 2
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
U. surpasses 100 student COVID-19 cases
How COVID-19 prediction models have adjusted for new conditions of pandemic
Positive cases remain “manageable,” U. not yet ready to loosen restrictions
Researchers adjust models for greater susceptibility to reinfection
BY HALEY SANDLOW SENIOR STAFF WRITER During the week of Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, 117 students and 31 employees tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Feb. 4 Today@Brown announcement. Although positive cases among students increased by 50 from the previous week, it “feels very manageable,” said Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06. During the previous week, 67 students and 45 employees reported positive tests, The Herald previously reported. The University distributed 15,840 testing kits — which include two rapid antigen tests per kit — to the community as of Feb. 2, according to the announcement. Carey emphasized that individuals who reported positive tests continue to show no or mild symptoms and there have been no instances of severe illnesses or hospitalization.
There is also no indication of widespread transmission and no spikes in a particular area on campus, such as a residence hall or athletic team, he added. The University is “cautiously optimistic,” though “not ready” yet to loosen restrictions regarding testing and masking, and plans to reassess in mid-February, Carey said. “We want to ease a little bit further into this semester before making any of those changes,” he added. “It’s a little bit early now.” Carey said that the University may eventually loosen masking restrictions in the Nelson Fitness Center, theatre performances and even classes as positive case numbers improve on campus and in Rhode Island. In response to recent remarks from President Christina Paxson P’19, where she spoke about ending indoor mask mandates on campus, Carey said, “We would love to (loosen restrictions) as soon as we can, but … we know mask wearing is highly effective, and is absolutely contributing to what we’re seeing on campus (in terms of positive case
SEE CAREY PAGE 7
BY CLAIRE LIU SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR As cases of the Omicron variant started to appear in the U.S. in December, researchers at the University began work on making significant readjustments to their epidemiological models — which help predict COVID-19 curves and inform policy-makers — to reflect the pandemic’s new conditions. Omicron calls for greater predictors of infection, reinfection Compared to previous variants, Omicron is more infectious and remains the first variant with substantial evidence of immune escape — meaning people who were previously infected with other variants remain susceptible to reinfection, according to John Fulton ’71 MA’74 MA’75 PhD’78, a clinical associate professor of behavioral and social sciences and former associate director at the Rhode Island Depart-
SARAH WOO / HERALD
ment of Health. For example, if roughly 250,000 people in R.I. were considered susceptible to the Delta variant at the begin-
Crossword
Commentary
Arts & Culture
Science & Research
Need a break during shopping period? Try out our crossword. Page 5
Editorial Page Board: The S/NC deadline should be extended. Page 6
RISD’s “Striking Chords” highlights Japanese culture. Page 7
Five professors elected as AAAS Fellows for contributions to STEM. Page 8
ning of December, that same 250,000 and around an additional 250,000
SEE COVID PAGE 2
TODAY TOMORROW
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LENA HE ’24 DESIGN EDITOR
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
COVID FROM PAGE 1 would also be considered susceptible to Omicron, Fulton explained. His predictive model factors in the new variable of reinfection with around 25% of those previously infected still counted as susceptible to Omicron. The model also assigns a higher R-naught value — the average number of people one person can infect while contagious — to reflect Omicron’s greater infectiousness. Fulton is part of a team of University and outside researchers that has built predictive models since the beginning of the pandemic. He has now developed Susceptible, Infected and Recovered epidemiological models with a competing approach to account for both Delta and Omicron variants. The competing SIR model works by alternating between running a Delta model to infect an estimated group of people susceptible, and then moving a portion of that group that is still susceptible to an Omicron model to be infected. How COVID-19 models help University, state officials COVID-19 projections for the University’s spring 2021 semester successfully predicted the actual number of cases documented, according to Professor of Emergency Medicine Adam Levine, who helped build predictive models as part of the University’s Healthy Task Force. The actual number of cases per 1000 students landed around the middle of the low and high projected cases, based on University data he was provided with. The projections helped inform the University during the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters about logistics such as the number of isolation beds, quarantine rooms and Student Health services expected to be needed by students, Levine said. The fall 2020 projections underestimated the actual number of cases because the researchers did not know to account for weekly asymptomatic testing at the time, he said. The spring model
adjusted for this based on the student compliance to testing observed from the fall semester. Predictive models likewise have served as tools for state officials to “make decisions around critical resources such as hospital capacity, as well as to prioritize staff time to what will be most important in the coming months,” Kevin Wilson, head of data science at the University’s Policy Lab, wrote in an email to The Herald. The models also support other raw data sources that “indicate that the best way to quell this pandemic is for wider vaccinations, including booster shots for those who are eligible,” he added. Currently, the Policy Lab continues to model the total number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, as well as ICU and ventilator capacity. Models can also provide insights into how well people are following safe practices that mitigate or prevent spread of the virus. After noticing the model projected a faster wave of cases than what was actually predicted, Fulton factored in a percentage of mitigation to account for people’s behaviors decreasing susceptibility, he said. He found that using around 25% mitigation, or 25% less spread than should have happened given transmissibility, best matched projections with observed data. This percentage was adjusted lower during the holiday season, when less mitigation was expected. On the whole, Fulton’s team observed a “sine wave of risk and mitigation,” where people tend to exercise less safe behavior when cases dip, which then contributes partly to more cases. This supports a known phenomenon that “people vary their behavior on the basis of their perception of risk.” Need for better data moving forward While data modeling continues to provide value during the pandemic, some researchers stress the importance of the quality of data that goes into
these models. “At the end of the day, they’re only as good as the data that we have and the more complex the human interactions become, the less well the models perform,” Levine said. The U.S., unlike countries such as Singapore and South Korea, lacks the same quality and extent of data around contact tracing, he said. Data from those countries demonstrate that symptomatic people and people living in close proximity were much more likely to infect other people, he added. “We (spent) a lot of time worrying about things like public transportation, etc., where the risk of transmission goes much lower, and didn’t spend as much time worrying about the rates of transmission in places where it was higher,” Levine explained. “For the field of data science as a whole, I think the pandemic has highlighted deep and long standing issues in administrative data,” Wilson wrote, such as questions on “how data is collected, how specific outcomes are defined and who the data is leaving out.” He hopes that data science education starts to incorporate tools that “ask data users to explicitly consider these concerns when using data” and develop “a better vocabulary to discuss these limitations with policy makers and the broader public.” While the methodology of predictive modeling has not changed much over the pandemic, researchers have learned much about the COVID-19 virus and how the population has responded to policy changes, and they have accumulated evidence of immune escape for Omicron, Fulton said. Researchers have also developed more accurate parameters based on scientific literature to run these predictive models, he added, describing models from a year ago as “run crudely on guesstimates.” “Now that we’ve solved for more parameters,” Fulton said, “it’s easier to solve for the ones that are left.”
KOW KOW FROM PAGE 2 Through Kow Kow, Khammahavong not only shares her childhood memories but also her cultural heritage. As Khammahavong shared, the word “kow” has a double meaning in Lao, her family’s native language. Kow, which literally means rice, can also mean “food” or “come eat,” since rice is a staple with every meal. “I wanted to integrate some of my culture into the business, and when we emphasize things in our language, we say things twice, so that’s why I said ‘Kow Kow,’” Khammahavong said. “Also, it’s just easy to say,” she added with a laugh. Opening a food truck wasn’t as simple as she anticipated, but she found her footing over time. As the Kow Kow truck became increasingly busy, Khammahavong felt the business “hit a ceiling” of what they could accomplish with just a truck. While thinking about opening a store, Khammahavong stumbled upon a sign advertising a location for rent on Ives St. “That location opened up maybe a month after I made that decision that we should grow the business,” Khammahavong said. “I think it was just meant to be.” Since then, Kow Kow has shared ice cream flavors ranging from matcha to s’mores to strawberry shortcake, all encased in a pillowy bubble waffle drizzled in chocolate, hazelnut or condensed milk sauces.
“I like Kow Kow because there’s similar places back home in NYC in Flushing and Manhattan, and … it’s hard to find Asian desserts other than Ceremony in Providence,” wrote Jackie Cho ’24 in a message to The Herald. “I appreciate how close to campus it is. I used to go occasionally in the summer whenever I’m craving an egg waffle or just as a hangout spot with friends.” According to Leiyana Pereira, who has worked at Kow Kow since the summer of 2019, Kow Kow serves many Brown and RISD students as well as local residents. Pereira, who was among the first hired outside of Khammahavong’s friends and family, found the work environment very friendly. “It seems like a very intimate workplace,” Pereira said. “Feels more like family than just coworkers.” Looking forward, Khammahavong hopes to grow her business even further. “I hope to open a second store in Rhode Island soon, probably in South County,” Khammahavong said. “We do have some customers down there that I’m sure would appreciate not having to truck up to Providence to have Kow Kow.” “A longer term goal is to, if possible, have at least one Kow Kow in each state in New England,” Khammahavong said. “Hopefully we can have that come to fruition.”
ROSLYN CORIZ / HERALD
The combination of Kow Kow’s ice cream specials and pillowy bubble waffles drizzled in sauce makes for a delicious treat.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
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SPORTS
Men’s basketball falls to Harvard, beats Dartmouth in second half Bears move to sixth place in Ivy League with weekend split of games BY GABRIELLA SARTORI SENIOR STAFF WRITER The men’s basketball team (11-13, 3-6 Ivy) fell to Harvard (11-8, 3-3) Friday by a score of 65-50. Kino Lilly Jr. ’25 led Brown with 14 points and three assists. Forward Jaylan Gainey ’22 posted his second double-double of the season with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Captain Tamenang Choh GS had six points and a game-high six assists. The Bears got off to a slow start, shooting 1-16 in the first half. Paxson Wojcik ’23 scored the first basket of the game for either side — a jumper just inside the three-point line — but Harvard went on to score the next 19 points to hold a 19-2 lead with five minutes remaining in the half. Brown was scoreless for 15-minutes until Choh broke the scoring drought with a pair of free throws. Brown ended the first half down 29-8, which was just one point away from being the least amount of points Harvard coach Tommy Amamaker’s team has given up in the first half during his 14 seasons. The Bears went on a 10-3 run to open the second half. Brown scored more points in the first 2:43 of the
PROFESSOR FROM PAGE 1 gramme and the Global Atmosphere Watch, Lynch said. Two technical commissions — service and infrastructure — along with the Research Board make up the WMO. The Research Board, according to Saulo, feeds into the two commissions, supplying knowledge from the research community to not only improve understanding of the earth system, but also to work on policy-relevant science that will impact policymakers. “You are not just (researching) to prepare a better paper or … a better project,” Saulo said. “You are doing research with the aim to improve the services and infrastructure that the
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
The Bear’s win against Dartmouth put them in sixth place in the Ivy League tournament. The win came on the tail of a loss against Harvard. second half than they did in all of the first half, reducing the deficit to 14 with a score of 32-18. They continued trading baskets with the Crimson and outscored them 42-36 on the half, but it was not enough to overcome the first half deficit, resulting in a 65-50 defeat. “They were locked in on T (Choh) and made it difficult on Kino,” said head coach Mike Martin ’04. “We’re going through some adversity right now. It’s going to make us stronger, but we’re going through it. I told them, ‘Let’s embrace it.’ We’ve got another
opportunity and let’s see what we can do tomorrow.” The men’s basketball team had a quick turnaround, returning to the Pizzitola Sports Center Saturday to face Dartmouth (5-14, 2-6 Ivy) in a must-win game. Trailing by six with three minutes remaining, the Bears finished the game on an 11-3 run to claim the 62-60 victory. It was a balanced offensive effort on the night for the Bears with four players scoring in double figures. Lilly led the way with 14, while Gainey had a strong all-around performance of 12
points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. “I feel good on the court,” said Gainey. “T (Choh) got me going and with being down six after being up 14, it was important to finish strong.” Wojcik added 11 points and Choh contributed 10 points with a gamehigh six assists. Both of them came up big when it mattered most, completing the Bears’ late second half comeback at the charity stripe. Trailing by six with under two minutes remaining, Kino Lilly’s three-pointer cut the deficit to three and was followed by a pair of free throws by Wojcik to make it a
meteorological and hydrological services need, so this is a very different kind of research because it’s reasoned by its usage.” Lynch also pointed out the problem of research often not being used effectively in guiding sustainable decision making. “I feel very strongly that I’m in this position for a reason, and it is to really engage with that problem,” Lynch said. “How do we make sure that research gets used to make better decisions?” Dov Sax, interim director of IBES and professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, worked closely with Lynch while she was the founding director of IBES. “We’re in a climate change crisis, and having someone … as com-
petent as (Lynch) appointed to lead (the WMO Research Board) makes me feel a little bit better about our future,” Sax said. Currently, there is an international search for the new director of IBES. The search committee has selected four candidates who will come to visit campus in February and March, Sax said. While serving as founding director of IBES, Lynch’s research focused on the many factors that “drive human responses to climate change” in the Arctic, including development, mining, oil and gas exploitation, shipping and collapse of buildings from melting permafrost. Lynch also previously studied Indigenous livelihood in the Arctic in
order to better understand Indigenous people’s situations, perspectives and values. “Making a space for their knowledge … requires packing your ego, which can be hard for some scientists because we’re used to knowing everything about the thing we’re studying,” Lynch said. “I’m prepared to listen to people to make space for conversations that maybe take us outside of our comfort zone.” Lynch’s unique background in social sciences, as well as the experience she gained from helping create IBES, provide the foundation to her approach in the position on the Research Board. Lynch said she hopes to combine the expertise of other board members
one-point game with 1:46 left on the clock. The two sides then traded 1-for2 trips to the free throw line before Choh hit both of his free throws to give the Bears a 59-58 lead. “There was definitely a momentum shift,” said Wojcik. “We rallied as a team and, like coach said, we came out there believing we were gonna win that game.” The biggest defensive possession of the game for the Bears followed Choh’s clutch free throws, with key defensive plays by Kimo Ferrari ’24, David Mitchell ’22 and Wojcik playing lockdown perimeter defense to force the Big Green into a desperation three. The shot fell well short of the rim and bounced out of bounds with just 20 seconds to play. Choh was fouled on the next possession, hitting two more free throws to take a three-point lead at 61-59. After a free throw by each side, a long pass to Noah Meren ’22 drained the final few seconds off the clock as the Bears escaped with the victory. “I’m just really pleased with our players,” said Martin. “They found a way to win this one and I’m really proud of them for coming out strong.” The win puts Brown at sixth place in the Ivy League, battling for a spot in the Ivy League tournament, where the top four teams of the conference advance. Keeping their must-win mentality, the Bears will travel to Cornell Saturday for an important contest.
with her own theoretical approaches to help guide the board’s decisions. Looking forward, the Research Board is working towards organizing an Open Science Conference, which will be tentatively held in 2025, according to Lynch. The conference will be centered around the theme of “science in service to humanity,” she said. Lynch also developed an organizing committee that will “craft what the conference will look like.” For this group, Lynch emphasized the need for diversity on the committee — encompassing a variety of countries, ages and perspectives. “It’s just wonderful to interact with people who share your passion but who are coming at it from such different places,” Lynch said.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
Ohman GS, Ortiz-Alvarez GS, Hutfilz GS: Brown’s COVID-19 response is lacking amid Omicron variant On Jan. 12, Brown University updated COVID-19 policies for the spring semester. With two days’ notice, the PCR testing program for vaccinated community members was replaced by self-administered rapid antigen tests. The University discontinued the “Healthy Brown’’ dashboard, which had been showing campus asymptomatic test result data since Aug. 2020, at a time where it hit a record-high campus positivity rate of 7%. By the time of these decisions, local hospitals had reached a state of crisis: Rhode Island would go on to become one of the first six of twenty states to which the federal government is providing military medical support in response to a rise in COVID-19 cases, and deaths in Rhode Island are projected to rise over the next month. Brown’s modified COVID-19 policies are insufficient within this context, and as a result, the Graduate Labor Organization — our graduate student union — has demanded Brown restore PCR testing, publicize test data and allow grads to work remotely if they choose. Rapid antigen tests do not detect SARSCoV-2 infection as well as PCR tests, correctly giving positive results for asymptomatic people 58.1% of the time and for symptomatic people 72% of the time, according to a review of 48 studies. CDC guidance says that antigen tests are “generally less sensitive,” and FDA guidance states they are “less likely to pick up very early infections compared to molecular tests” and “may have reduced sensitivity” against Omicron. While the University has cited a single preprint to defend antigen test sensitivity, this study only assessed one brand of test which is not among those we have seen being provided by Brown; a senior author reports a conflict of interest with the test manufacturer; the study examines a population that does not reflect Brown’s demographics; and 39.8% of participants sought out a test because of symptoms or a suspected COVID-19 exposure, while Brown directs any symptomatic students to contact Health Services to seek symptomatic testing. The shift from PCR tests to rapid antigen tests also contradicts the University’s stated priority to identify when individuals are actively contagious. A peer-reviewed study of both types of tests concluded that “RT-qPCR tests are more effective than rapid antigen tests at identifying infected individuals prior to or early during the infectious period and thus for minimizing
forward transmission.” Health experts and preprint studies report that “most Omicron cases (are) infectious for several days before being detectable by rapid antigen tests,” making rapid tests potentially unfit for “routine workplace screening to prevent asymptomatic spread.” Reporting from this winter also provides real-world evidence of antigen tests creating “a false sense of security” prior to gatherings that
cus on “serious illness and hospitalization,” this downplays a variety of risks to the Brown community. Several scientific studies have found that anywhere from 10 to 20%, 30% or more than 50% of people have medical problems extending beyond their original infection, dubbed “long COVID.” Recovered patients can develop long COVID even after experiencing mild or no symptoms. The School of Public Health
“When lives are on the line, it is better to be safe than sorry.”
led to infection. Unpublished data from Emory University using live Omicron virus reported by the Wall Street Journal showed that “rapid tests produced false negatives for two days following a positive PCR test, even though most people had high-enough levels of virus to infect other people,” and that “people transmitted the virus to others during the three days it took to yield a positive result on a rapid test.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the University is currently detecting an unexpectedly low level of cases compared to other institutions (though positives have almost doubled in the last week). This change in testing methodology is likely to create a scenario where community members are in classes, labs, libraries, dorms and dining areas for multiple days in an infectious state prior to triggering a positive test, and we personally know multiple graduate students who have reported this exact situation on campus. Given this data, many peer institutions are continuing with PCR testing — for example, Harvard, where undergraduates took a rapid test followed by three PCR tests weekly at the beginning of this semester. While Brown has intentionally shifted away from identifying COVID-19 cases in order to fo-
has launched an initiative to study this condition which they state “affects millions of people around the world but remains poorly understood.” While vaccinations have been stated by Brown to be “very effective at preventing Omicron infections from developing into serious illness,” studies indicate that, for breakthrough cases, “vaccination might only halve the risk of long COVID-19 — or have no effect on it at all.” Allowing COVID-19 to spread more readily on campus is also inconsistent with Brown’s commitment to equity. COVID-19 disproportionately affects marginalized groups due to medical, social and economic barriers which predate the pandemic, as well as potential genetic risk factors which can make those in certain ethnic groups more susceptible to infection. There are students, faculty and staff at Brown who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for severe outcomes in the case of infection. Brown’s focus on acute outcomes in healthy individuals suggests a lack of consideration for the safety and well-being of at-risk communities on-campus and in Providence. Dean of the School of Public Health Ashish Jha stated in a faculty and staff town hall that
CA L E N DA R
“we’re obviously in the middle of a surge” and are experiencing “an astronomical level of infection.” In such an environment, it is not safe to alter the testing protocol to one that has been documented to be less sensitive in detecting the most communicable variant so far. If cases are indeed about to rapidly decline, as Jha has suggested, this is all the more reason to delay in-person operations until case numbers are low. Unfortunately, Brown has mandated that courses originally planned to be in-person “will be taught in-person from the start of the semester, including shopping period,” despite also acknowledging that “we will likely see a high number of students test positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19.” This decision was said to be due to accreditation and federal reporting obligations — however, subsequent messaging announced that “instructors may also choose to teach their class sessions remotely for the first week,” and asked for “all instructors to take steps to ensure that students are able to access course materials online.” This is an admission that flexibility is possible for instruction modality, especially when community infections are so high. Students and faculty have expressed concerns in town hall meetings and through more than 500 signatures of GLO’s Open Letter. Despite our mutual hope that the end of the pandemic will come soon, reducing vigilance now could bring us further from that goal. Regular surveillance testing should include PCR tests to ensure the earliest possible detection of cases. The testing dashboard should be restored to communicate on-campus risks. Instructors should be given the flexibility to instruct remotely, with additional precautions during the first weeks of the semester. When lives are on the line, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Anders Ohman GS can be reached at anders_ohman@brown.edu, Melanie Ortiz-Alvarez GS can be reached at melanie_ortiz@ brown.edu and Corinne Hutfilz GS can be reached at corinne_hutfilz@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
COVID -19 AT BROWN JAN. 27 TO FEB. 2
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36* *APPROXIMATE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | PUZZLES
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CROSSWORD
Shopping Period BY HENRY BLOCK PUZZLES EDITOR
Across 1. Stem clipping? 5. Happy pills 10. Paths 14. Et ____ (and others) 15. “Pa’ dentro!” may end one 16. Soothing succulent 17. PHYS 1210: “Putting Aerodynamics” 19. Latvian Capital 20. Darjeeling or Masala Chai 21. Competition round 22. Lowest passing letter grade at 37-Across 23. Arts Agcy. 24. BMP premiere venue 26. ECON 2300: “Topics in Labor Economics” 31. 37-Across hosts the biggest Hutchings-Votey one 34. Stench, in Surrey 35. Halter, e.g. 36. Deck of a ship 37. See 5-Down, 22-Across, 31-Across and 39-Across 38. Awkward “Juno” costar 39. Feb. time zone at 37-Across 40. First-years, typically 41. Acids’ antonyms
42. ENGN 1750: “Applied Fudge Analytics and Research” 45. “Pa’ dentro!” may precede one 46. Lip egg 47. Something an eagle will better 50. Aria, say 52. Learned 55. Hydrox competitor 56. HIAA 0150: “Intro to Cerulean Studies” 57. Takes drugs 58. Bizarre 59. Yearn 60. Jude Law was once a young one 61. Mystery for a mutt 62. Bruno’s species Down 1. Prestidigitator’s practice 2. Penultimate track on Doja Cat’s “Planet Her” 3. Spanish squiggle 4. Minimal distortion 5. 37-Across student, stereotypically 6. Country whose language is written in Hangul 7. Unwell? 8. Insecure’s Rae 9. Sault ___. Marie
10. 50-Down is a common subject of his 11. Turns off 12. It’s a bit of a stretch? 13. One of two on a tandem bike 18. Pachelbel’s is in D 24. Son of ____! 25. DVD predecessor 26. It requires a bucket and a mop 27. Two thirds of IDK 28. “You listen to me, bub!” 29. In need of a Theragun 30. “Treat yourself ” destinations 31. Crude cartel 32. Head, at Hillel 33. Retire 37. Sun, Rust or Bible 38. Tool used for the title of this puzzle 40. Word with little and late 41. Third-largest Swiss city 43. Finish shopping 44. Like a TikTok or Vine 47. $7.50 for a Blue Room sandwich, say 48. Hi in HI 49. “Stranger Things” star Winona _____ 50. Gorgeous, gorgeous girls love it 51. Thereabouts 52. What a drunk person might do to their words 53. A snack, maybe 54. Like many countries in 31-Down 56. Haircut for which Nicki Minaj is known The answers to this crossword will appear in Wednesday’s paper.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
EDITORIAL
The S/NC deadline is not satisfactory The deadline to opt for the Satisfactory/No Credit grading option is fast approaching, and as shopping period comes to a close, students are doing their best to make the right call. Taking a class S/NC can help alleviate students’ stress about grades when taking a course, allowing them to focus on learning; it’s just one example of the academic flexibility Brown is known for. Currently, the University allows students roughly four weeks to decide whether or not to take a class for a grade.
There is no clear reason for the grade option deadline to be as early as it is right now. Four weeks might sound like plenty of time to make a decision, but in reality — between Brown’s two-week-long shopping period and the scarcity of graded assignments at the start of the semester — the deadline doesn’t make much sense. In fact, it seems arbitrary. So why not push it back by just a week, or even more? A later deadline would provide greater flexibility to students and professors alike.
But many students cannot make a meaningful decision in that timeframe. Brown should consider extending the unnecessarily early S/NC deadline to offer more time for students to make well-informed decisions. And professors should be more
Meanwhile, professors should be more mindful of the current deadline. This doesn’t require scheduling a midterm for the fourth week of the semester. But even one meaningfully graded assignment would go a long way, giving individuals a stron-
mindful of students’ rushed choices and give them a clear sense of how they are performing early on.
ger sense of the class and how they might perform. Professors could also offer other forms of feedback to students, meeting with them to discuss course expectations, future assignments or grading policies — anything they can do to help students make an informed decision.
In theory, S/NC gives students the freedom to explore classes they might have otherwise shied away from for fear of receiving a less-than-stellar grade. But in practice, students often lack necessary information to utilize S/NC effectively. Professors often fail to provide meaningful feedback on assessments within the first few weeks. Although a student on the fence could simply opt to take any class S/NC, shouldn’t that decision be based on more than a hunch? It’s not hard to find students who hastily opted for S/NC in an unfamiliar class only to find that they excelled in it over the course of the semester. There are also students who choose to take a class for a grade and end up surprised by tough papers, tests and projects late in the semester. Some of these cases are inevitable, but Brown should still do as much as it can to help students achieve a clear sense of their prospective performance before the deadline. Within an extended timeframe, a student who may have felt anxious about a class could opt out of S/NC after receiving positive feedback and gaining confidence. Students shouldn’t have to feel pressured to choose the safest grade option simply because there hasn’t been sufficient time to get assessments back from professors.
At a school that emphasizes learning for learning’s sake (and notably does not calculate GPA), concerns about our transcripts may seem superficial. But beyond College Hill, the reality is that academic success continues to be judged by letter grades. S/NC empowers students not by dismissing grades as irrelevant, but precisely by acknowledging that they matter, especially for those applying for the most competitive jobs, fellowships and graduate programs. The S/NC option encourages students to explore challenging coursework without fear. That focus on exploration is a cornerstone of the Brown experience. But in order to take full advantage of it each semester, students need more information and more time.
—Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. This editorial was written by its editor Johnny Ren ‘23, and members Catherine Healy ‘22, Caroline Nash ‘22, Augustus Bayard ‘24, Devan Paul ‘24 and Kate Waisel ‘24.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
7
ARTS & CULTURE
‘Striking Chords’: subtle, intriguing, captivating 15 Japanese woodblock prints highlight music, culture of Edo-period Japan
Tucked inside the Rockefeller Gallery for Asian Art on the fourth floor of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, a dimly lit room reveals 15 small Japanese woodblock prints. Opening last Friday and on view until July 31, “Striking Chords” offers a window into the lives of those living in Edo-period Japan (1603-1868), highlighting music as an integral part of their everyday leisures and cultural celebrations.
Japanese theater known for ornate costumes and lively acting, landscapes of Mt. Fuji and the burgeoning urban life in Edo, which is now modern-day Tokyo. As viewers walk through the gallery, they can resonate with the artists’ excitement while illustrating their subjects within the contemporaneous cultural environments of Edo-Japan. Between images of blossoming spring gardens and musicians in quiet contemplation, placards provide viewers with a broader knowledge of Japanese spiritual, cultural and feudal histories. In “The Broom Tree,” the artist Utagawa Kunisada recalls the Tale of Genji, the classic 11th-century Heian period (794-1185) novel and presents music as an expression of
Students in the RISD Theory of Art and Design class titled “Ukiyo-e Prints” curated the show during the fall semester. Flipping through the exhibition pamphlet and its exhaustively researched essays, it felt like a glimpse into the laborious process of curation carried out by the students in the course. Stressing details such as the order of display, their analyses of the prints’ subjects demonstrate a nuanced perspective into the exhibited materials. According to an article from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the history of Japanese woodblock prints began in the eighth century. But it was not until the 18th century that Japanese printmaking evolved to depict kabuki actors — a form of classical
love and desire. One of the larger prints, “Enjoying Flowers in the Inner Garden,” is arguably the most dynamic piece with vibrant blues and warm orange tints. It depicts three women preparing to celebrate the “Hanami” Festival, or the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. In the center, the image of a woman seen carrying a shamisen — a threestringed Japanese lute often associated with kabuki theater — allows the viewer to consider how music offers a medium to form self-conceptions and navigate experiences. Even with only a small number of pieces, the prints offer a wealth of symbols and themes to uncover. Nonetheless, a recurrent theme remains — the ponderance on the human connection with nature
BY RYAN SMITH STAFF WRITER
ELSA CHOI-HAUSMAN / HERALD
“Enjoying Flowers in the Inner Garden” is one of the larger prints which depicts three women who are preparing to celebrate the “Hanami Festival.” through musical expression. In addition to “Enjoying Flowers in the Inner Garden,” each print reflects on the value of music differently. “Cockerel, Ivy, and Drum,” the only print focusing on an animal instead of a human subject, depicts a rooster sitting poised on a barrel drum — an allusion to peaceful, prosperous times. Nestled on the back wall, “Futakawa: Monkey Plateau” offers a subtle presence that strongly contrasts with the loud, vibrant pieces like “Enjoying Flowers in the Inner Garden” and “Cockerel, Ivy, and Drum.” The piece
depicts three goze — blind female musicians who entertained travelers — heading toward a tea house. The piece offers an intriguing illusion of depth through its rich, blue atmosphere, representing how Japanese prints collapse perspective. The woodblock print recalls the phenomenon of Japonisme, the fascination of 19th-century European artists with decorative portrayals of everyday subjects depicted in Ukiyo-e prints. Ultimately, this exhibition emphasizes the perennial influence of Japanese printmaking techniques. For
instance, a Georges Seurat drawing archived at the RISD Museum, “At the Gaîté Rochechouart,” adopts the technique of collapsed perspective. “Striking Chords” is a thrilling journey through scenes from Edo-period Japan. Weaving through each print’s rhythmic details and vivid hues, the viewer might feel compelled to look back again and again, relishing the captivating complexity of everyday lives.
CAREY FROM PAGE 1 numbers) so we’re … not quite there.” Andrews Commons, which was previously designated as a meal and essential items pickup location for COVID-19 positive students, returned to normal operation on Feb. 4, The Herald previously reported. Josiah’s also returned to its normal 6 p.m. - 2 a.m. operating hours. “Because the numbers have been much lower than we planned for … dining is able to resume normal operations,” Carey said.
LEON JIANG / HERALD
During the week of Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, the University logged positive COVID-19 cases among 117 students and 31 employees, a number that Carey said remains “manageable.”
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS
8
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
Five University professors elected as 2021 AAAS fellows Professors nominated for lifelong honor due to achievements in science, math BY ANNA KIM SENIOR STAFF WRITER Five University professors were elected as 2021 fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The AAAS is the “world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals,” according to the AAAS website. The 2021 class of AAAS fellows consists of “564 scientists, engineers and innovators from around the world.” Fellows are awarded in recognition of their “scientifically and socially distinguished achievements in the scientific enterprise,” according to the AAAS website. AAAS members are nominated by colleagues and peers. These nominations are first reviewed by the association’s subject-specific steering groups and then ultimately voted on by the AAAS Council, according to the website. Recipients of the AAAS Fellowship are expected to maintain “commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity” as this fellowship is a “lifetime honor.” Ming Xian, professor of chemistry The AAAS recognized Xian for his “distinguished contribution to the chemistry and chemical biology of reactive sulfur species,” he said. “I feel very honored (and) very humbled to join this group of scientists,” Xian said. He added that many of his past role models, like his former PhD and postdoctoral supervisors, were also named as AAAS fellows, so joining them is “a really great honor.” Xian will continue to focus his research on these reactive sulfur species — molecules that have “lots of potential in the biomedical field” for “disease treatment and diagnostic purposes” according to Xian. In regards to his long-standing interest in chemistry, Xian said “I think it’s fun to discover new things (and) to solve unsolved problems.” He hopes his election as a AAAS fellow will “inspire students to (go) into science fields,” he added.
the next generation of mathematicians … is something I’m really proud of.” Walter Atwood, professor of medical science Over the past 30 years, Atwood’s scientific achievements have focused on “understanding how the John Cunningham virus — a human polyomavirus — invades susceptible cells to cause disease,” he said.
way,” Atwood said, thanking the postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate students and research staff for their contributions to his success. Anne Church Hart, professor of neuroscience Hart was recognized for her “contributions using genetic approaches in C. elegans, a roundworm, to try and understand mechanisms underlying
COURTESY OF ANNE CHURCH HART
Hart was elected as an AAAS fellow due to her work with C. elegans to understand neurogenerative diseases.
COURTESY OF JILL PIPHER
Pipher has applied her work in mathematics to solving University-wide problems such as how to safely return to labs in-person.
COURTESY OF WALTER ATWOOD
AAAS chose Atwood as a 2021 fellow for his work towards understanding the John Cunningham virus.
COURTESY OF MING XIAN
Xing was nominated to be an AAAS fellow because of his research on the chemical biology of reactive sulfur species.
Dan Abramovich, professor of mathematics Abramovich was recognized for his “contributions to algebra, arithmetic geometry” and his mentoring of graduate students, he said. “Whenever one gets some recognition, … it gives encouragement to continue doing things you have been doing and redouble your efforts,” Abramovich said. Abramovich’s research contributes to the theory of singularities. A singularity, or a point of a mathematical function that cannot be defined, can be thought of as a corner in your room where three planes meet, Abramovich explained. Specifically, Abramovich studies the resolution of singularities in order to better understand them. A singu-
Though the JC virus is commonly contracted and does not normally result in disease, it can be harmful to “specific populations of immunosuppressed people such as HIV/AIDS patients or patients with varying autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis that are being treated with immunomodulatory drugs,” Atwood said. In these immunosuppressed people, the virus can invade the central nervous system and cause a fatal disease known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, he added. “When I first learned of my election as a fellow, I was very humbled to hear that it’s the largest general science society in the world and it’s very competitive to be elected,” Atwood said. He
neurodegenerative diseases” and her “contributions to the field of sleep and behavior,” she said. Being elected as a fellow of the AAAS is an “honor, especially because it comes from my colleagues and peers in the field,” Hart said. Currently, Hart uses genetic approaches to work on “ALS, frontotemporal dementia … and Huntington’s disease.” She also studies sleep and fatigue using C. elegans, which have a “sleep-like state that, in the very basic level, (is) very similar to that of other animals, including us,” she said. “All the science we have done is a group and community effort,” Hart said. “It’s a real pleasure to be part of the C. elegans community.” Hart also acknowledged the work of the fellows,
larity is “something that one tries to avoid,” he said. “What makes me proud is the achievements of my students,” Abramovich said. “My contribution to
also expressed gratitude towards his colleagues who had nominated him for election to the academy. “I’ve been very fortunate to have had numerous people help along the
graduate students and undergraduate students in her lab. Jill Pipher, professor of mathematics Pipher, vice president for research
COURTESY OF DAN ABRAMOVICH
Abramovich’s selection has been contributed to his work in algebra and arithmetic geometry alongside his mentoring of grad students. and founding director of Brown’s National Science Foundation Mathematics Institute, has used her training in mathematical sciences to “pull together the right university-wide team to solve a problem no one had seen before in my lifetime: how to safely resume lab-based research in a coronavirus pandemic,” she wrote in an email to
Some of Pipher’s current research “lies at the intersection of Fourier analysis and partial differential equations: a theoretical study of solutions to a variety of equations that model physical phenomena,” she wrote. Though Pipher’s job in senior administration demands a lot of time, she makes sure to “reserve some time and
The Herald. “I’m very honored to be recognized for my contributions to mathematics and for my leadership in various capacities,” Pipher added.
energy to think about mathematics and to work with (her) students,” she added.