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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 24

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

UNIVERSITY NEWS

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

Leah VanWey appointed RI group raises $100k for Ukraine Friends of Ukraine Dean of Faculty R.I. works to provide VanWey will oversee most academic departments beginning July 1

“In this role, she will lead a team of dedicated faculty and administrators in developing and implementing programs, initiatives and policies to support the recruitment, retention and development of Brown faculty in these departments,” Locke wrote. VanWey is “incredibly happy to have this chance to serve the University,” she told The Herald.

BY MIZUKI KAI SENIOR STAFF WRITER Leah VanWey, dean of the School of Professional Studies and professor of sociology, was appointed as the next dean of the faculty, according to a March 18 Today@Brown announcement from Provost Richard Locke P’18. Beginning July 1, VanWey will succeed Kevin McLaughlin, who has served in the role for 11 years. As dean of the faculty, VanWey will oversee academic departments in the humanities and social sciences, as well as physical and life sciences departments that are not part of the School of Engineering, School of Public Health or Division of Biology and Medicine, according to the announcement.

VanWey came to Brown as an associate professor in 2008, according to her LinkedIn. Since then, she has worked in the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Population Studies and Training Center and the Initiative in Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences, Locke wrote. Her academic interests lie in environmental change, demographic processes and human well-being in developing countries, especially Brazil. During her time at Brown, VanWey has also held academic leadership posi-

SEE DEAN PAGE 7

cash relief, medical supplies to Ukrainians BY ALEX NADIRASHVILI UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR On Feb. 24, Mariya Bachmaha MPH ’16 woke up at 6 a.m. in her hometown of Lviv — a city in Western Ukraine — to news of Russia’s invasion. Bachmaha was initially shocked by the news, as well as worried about her family’s safety and the possible consequences of such a conflict. But once the initial shock wore off, she immediately mobilized. “I was part of the volunteer movement collecting equipment for the army and medicines for hospitals” during the 2013-14 Euromaidan Revolution and 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Bachmaha wrote in an email to The Herald. Reviving these past connections “was more or less organic.” Bachmaha reached out to volunteer groups in Lviv and began identify-

UNIVERSITY NEWS

COURTESY OF MAYA DEHART

A Rhode Island volunteer flew to Warsaw, Poland to transfer supplies to Ukrainian citizens who transported them over the border. ing the immediate needs of Ukrainian citizens and collecting tactical medical supplies for the army and new recruits. She then called on her closest contacts in Rhode Island for help, emailing them a list of the most-needed medical

supplies. “I knew that all of my friends are a great resource — they have connections in health care — and I knew they

SEE UKRAINE PAGE 7

METRO

Former organizers reflect on Brown/ RI’s first LGBTQ-focused clinic celebrates 2 years RISD Sunrise dissolution U. doctors say Open

Protests, organizing surrounding climate slow after previous momentum

Door Health takes multifaceted approach to community care BY MAYA DAVIS STAFF WRITER

BY WILL KUBZANSKY UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR In September 2019, an estimated 1,000 people gathered in downtown Providence and at the Rhode Island State House as part of a global climate strike. The protest was locally organized in part by the Brown/Rhode Island School of Design and Providence hubs of Sunrise — a youth-focused activist group that calls for immediate climate action, The Herald previously reported. While organizers lamented the relative lack of University students in attendance, two Brown students spoke at the rally and a number of students came down College Hill to join the protests. “During the strike, it was so exciting,” said Olivia McClain ’22.5, who served as liaison at the time between the Brown/RISD and Providence hubs of Sunrise and as the group’s photographer on the day of the protest. “So

RHEA RASQUINHA / HERALD

many people came out. Any time Brown students can be rallied to get off College Hill and actually participate, that’s a huge win.” The strike was one event in a string of high-visibility climate change-focused protests from 2018 to 2020 organized in part by the Brown/RISD chapter of Sunrise, former organizers told The Herald. At their peak, general body meetings filled up the Urban Environmental Lab

and attracted anywhere from 20 to 50 students, according to Ilan Upfal ’22.5 and Zanagee Artis ’22, who were members of the Brown/RISD hub. Sunrise is now a major national political player. The Green New Deal, a proposed restructuring of the American economy to favor clean energy and reduce economic and racial inequality which Sunrise helped popularize, has

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Amy Nunn, professor of behavioral and social sciences and medicine, and Philip Chan, associate professor of medicine and behavioral and social sciences, co-founded Open Door Health in southwest Providence in March 2020 after the two began outlining ideas for a clinic to address the lack of health care specifically for the LGBTQ+ community in 2016. Today, the clinic has grown to offer primary care, gender-affirming care, STI care, COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. From its location at 7 Central St., Open Door Health has served over 3,500 patients to date, Nunn said. Open Door Health is a program under the Rhode Island Public Health Institute, a nonprofit focused on addressing public health challenges. Nunn is RIPHI’s executive director

Arts & Culture

Commentary

S&R

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” returns in stunning fourth season Page 3

Netflix’s “Tall Girl” sequel falls short because of bland premise Page 5

McGrath ’24: The “pickme” girl archetype perpetuates misogyny Page 6

Research Achievement Awards recognize faculty research Page 8

and Chan is its chief medical officer. The idea for the clinic “emerged out of hearing from patients about their need for affirming primary care services. A lot of people felt they didn’t have a resource to turn to in this area,” Nunn said. From the beginning, the clinic has focused on patient accessibility, Nunn and Chan said. Chan described the clinic as “intentionally placed” in order to cater to the state’s large Latinx and LGBTQ+ community. “Our goal here is to be non-judgemental, accessible and open to everyone. We want to be in the community. We are located in one of the highest-need areas of the city,” Chan said. Creating an open space in the clinic starts from the top down, Chan said. An initial priority was placed on hiring those — from front desk workers to physicians — who had a respectful and non-judgemental approach to patient care, he added. Warren Alpert Medical School student Fernando Ibanhes MD’22, who works at the clinic, described the space as “nothing like your typical

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RAPHAEL LI ’24 DESIGN CHIEF

ACTIVISM FROM PAGE 1 gone from a fringe idea to a mainstay on the platforms of progressive candidates, from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to Texas congressional candidate Jessica Cisneros. Sunrise’s founder Varshini Prakash sat on a task force that shaped President Biden’s 2020 platform, and Sunrise played a significant role in swinging the 2020 Democratic Senate primary in Massachusetts towards Sen. Ed Markey. But on College Hill, Sunrise has flamed out. According to Artis, Upfal and McClain, the group was last operational in late 2020. And no group that mirrors the aims of Sunrise — advocating explicitly for climate policy — has replaced it on campus, the former members said. “Sunrise was attracting so many people” In fall 2018 — Upfal, Artis, McClain and Peder Schaefer ’22.5’s first semester on campus — Sunrise opened its campus hub at the University, evolving out of the University’s chapter of the Rhode Island Student Climate Coalition, according to Artis. Artis, who had done climate organizing before college as co-founder of an organization called Zero Hour, joined Sunrise’s Brown/RISD hub immediately. Within months, he was writing letters and attending rallies at the State House. He traveled to Pennsylvania to canvas for Jess King, a Sunrise-backed Democrat who ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. The hub also sent protestors to Washington, D.C. as part of the national group’s effort to “demand (Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi step up with a real plan to address climate change,” Upfal said. “It was a really exciting opportunity to arrive on campus and immediately get plugged into organizing,” Upfal added. The experience of filling the halls of congressional offices and protesting in the street during a December 2018 climate protest proved “transformative,” McClain said. The whole group had a “rag-tag” element to it, she said:

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS Although Sunrise grew nationally, the day-to-day actions of the University group in large part came down to the students, McClain said. All the while, the Brown/RISD hub continued to expand. In spring 2019, a University student Sunrise organizer helped local high school students organize their own climate rally, and in the fall, over 100 Sunrise protestors, including University students, protested at the offices of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and former Gov. Gina Raimondo in an attempt to get the pair to officially sign on to the Green New Deal. And following September 2019’s climate strike, new members with new enthusiasm flooded into the group’s meetings, The Herald previously reported. “Sunrise was attracting so many people,” Artis said. “And not just people who were already involved in organizing.” “It felt like a huge difference,” McClain noted. “I was in a class studying environmental issues, and then to be out here with my body with my voice — … it’s going to have more direct impact than me writing some one-off essay about why the climate crisis is an issue.” “We were all doing it with a very personal sense of fear and empowerment to take action,” Upfal added, noting that frustration with the Trump administration also played a role. For the first time in his life, Upfal was “really participating in the political process.” In January 2020, about ten student protesters affiliated with Sunrise, including McClain, interrupted a fundraising dinner for then-Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Nicholas Mattiello. McClain served as the lead speaker, she said, leading a chant and asking Mattiello about his record of downplaying climate change in an effort to “sway potential donors and supporters” while picking up press coverage. “It feels really cool to actually directly engage the people who are making policy moves or funding moves that are directly impacting our generation,” McClain said. In the meantime, McClain said the group was aiming to move into “non-hierarchical organization” during

the spring semester in an effort to “democratize responsibility.” For Earth Day in April 2020, Sunrise Brown/RISD and Providence, among other environmental groups, planned a mass climate strike. “We had a ton of lead time, we were still coordinating in March and really solidifying plans,” Artis said. “And that was right when we all left campus.” When COVID-19 hit and students were sent home, “it all sort of fell apart,” he added. The groups organized a remote event, but Artis said that it felt like a disappointment. “We all felt like this was an opportunity missed to call attention to climate justice around the world,” he said. “Things died out” In the first weeks and months of the pandemic, McClain said that the Brown/ RISD hub met over Zoom. But motivation, she said, was hard to come by. Connection proved difficult, and the group had no sense of when they would be able to organize in-person again, she added. Finally, “like a lot of clubs at Brown, things died out,” she said. Today, Sunrise’s Brown/RISD hub is inactive, and no equivalent organization exists, she said. Schaefer, who spent summer 2020 organizing with Sunrise Providence for progressive candidates in Rhode Island, helped organize within the Brown/RISD hub for part of the fall semester, he said. In October 2020, the group’s Instagram page advertised a phone banking event for then-presidential candidate Joe Biden on the Main Green. Other students got heavily involved with phone banking and volunteering for progressive candidates through Sunrise, McClain said. On College Hill, the hub “heaved its last breath” that fall, McClain said. Key leaders graduated, while other students — especially students of color — moved away from a group that was “primarily led by white people” and engaged in “dangerous” protests that involved interacting with law enforcement, she added. While the group managed to preserve some elements of community through the first months of the pan-

demic, it “never really turned into more sustained COVID-era organizing,” Upfal added. “Within organizing, it’s important to have good leadership … that trains the next generation of leaders,” he said. “I think it’s how clubs are sustained: Leaders bring up new leaders. I think that kind of hereditary process kind of got broken.” Emma Bouton ’20 and Matthew Mellea ’23, two former organizers with Sunrise Providence who had leadership roles with the group from 2018 to 2020, declined to comment. Sunrise Providence did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Some leaders of the Brown/RISD hub, Schaefer said, transitioned into Rhode Island-based progressive movements or moved to Washington D.C. to work for Sunrise’s national organization. Members of the defunct group who remained on campus had conversations about what reviving the group might look like. But few of them had the “capacity to try and perform CPR on a club,” McClain said. “It’s tough when there doesn’t feel like there’s as strong of a campus community to be doing on-campus organizing,” Schaefer said. The group, Artis added, didn’t know “how to recollect” itself. “There was so much momentum before from people who had been leading that kind of work for a long time,” he said. “We have less experience … and less connection to the Sunrise Movement nationally.” “The way our generation feels has not changed” A handful of environmentally-focused student groups still exist at the University, such as the Outdoor Leadership and Environmental Education Program, a group aimed at helping high schoolers fight for environmental justice, and The Forager, a new environmental zine — but the University still lacks a group that advocates for specific climate policies, former Sunrise organizers said. Some former University Sunrise organizers, such as Upfal, have moved toward other groups such as Resource Generation, which is focused on wealth

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022 redistribution and class privilege, or Decolonization at Brown. And others, Artis said, have stopped organizing entirely to focus on their final semesters at the University. Artis noted that he attempted to transition the Sunrise hub on campus into a chapter of Zero Hour. But he ran into issues along the way due to Zero Hour’s status as a separate organization nationally from Sunrise, he said. Still, he hopes to help lead an event for Earth Day next month with local organizers across the city and state. Upfal added that his experiences with Sunrise have proven humbling. “Things can be much harder than we thought they are,” he said. Some students, including firstyears and sophomores who arrived on campus after Sunrise’s campus hub stopped functioning, have funneled their energy either into the city’s chapter, Sunrise Providence, or into organizing for progressive candidates in Rhode Island, Schaefer said. One example of such organizing came last fall, when a number of University students backed the Geena Pham campaign for state Senate District 3, which supported launching a Green New Deal, Schaefer said. “There’s a lot of energy going into the (Rhode Island Political) Cooperative,” he said. “There’s a lot of folks who got training from that summer via Sunrise Providence who are now involved in the Co-op in different capacities.” Schaefer noted that he planned to spend the summer organizing for progressive candidates in Rhode Island, and Artis said that he is currently working with the progressive campaign of former Rhode Island Secretary of State Matt Brown and state Senator Cynthia Mendes for governor and lieutenant governor. “I hope Sunrise Brown/RISD comes back to life,” McClain said. “But I don’t foresee it happening this semester. It’s going to take some new energy.” “The way our generation feels has not changed,” Upfal added. “We live with the reality that our country, our political system, our economy is very broken right now. I don’t think the feelings have gone anywhere. Organizing is the process.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

Agvanian ’25: Don’t just blame Putin for the Russian invasion As I walked the streets of my hometown of Mariupol, Ukraine this summer, I saw a poem painted on a wall. Part of it went like this: “Now every one of us has an empty piece of luggage in hand / In that luggage there are ashes gathered in the crosshairs.” Now, as Russian forces bombard the city as part of their invasion of Ukraine, this poem has become a harsh reality. Catastrophic destruction has left only ashes for inhabitants of Mariupol to collect before leaving, provided that they are even able to flee. My family is still in the city, with no internet connection and limited supplies of food and water, facing endless shelling of civilian property. Now, with war raging, many in the West have placed the blame squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin. But this war isn’t just Putin’s, and treating it as such only strengthens Russia’s position. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is brutal and inhumane, likened by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the siege of Leningrad in World War II. There have been countless casualties, many of them consequences of actions by the Russian military that diplomats have characterized as war crimes. The war has a cultural dimension as well. Putin has been continuously promoting a false narrative that the Russian and Ukrainian people are one and the same. He has twisted historical facts and falsely claimed that there is a genocide of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine

to justify his invasion. I call myself Ukrainian, even though I am half Russian and half Armenian by heritage, and I am deeply concerned that Putin may rewrite or erase my nation’s history. When I talk about this situation with others, after accepting their condolences, we usually agree that Putin is cruel and in the wrong. Un-

every Russian citizen, as I have many very supportive Russian friends. I am not advocating for interrogating Russian friends about their beliefs or, even worse, for hating them before figuring out where they stand. What bothers me more is people’s unwillingness to see the gray area between blaming solely Putin and blaming every Russian. Yes, not every Russian supports Putin,

“This war isn’t just Putin’s, and treating it as such only strengthens Russia’s position.”

fortunately, this is where the conversation often stops. Very few proceed to condemn anyone else as part of this evil. I see where these people are coming from. Blaming ordinary Russian citizens might feel unjustified, given Russian propaganda and restrictions on information. At the same time, we should not entirely deny the agency of ordinary Russians in changing or at least counterbalancing their own government — for example, thousands protested the invasion in major Russian cities, with many detained. I definitely wouldn’t go as far as to condemn

but we cannot turn a blind eye to the 71% of citizens who, according to independent Russian polling agency the Levada Center, do support him. This issue can be seen even at the highest levels of influence. Some Western leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz call Putin the sole perpetrator of the war. Multinational companies have continued selling “essential goods” — which happen to include lip gloss and ice cream — in the name of helping the Russian public. I believe that both of these statements

stem from the same sort of flawed reasoning I describe above. Attitudes like these from Western companies and politicians provide the Russian government with the necessary means to continue the war against Ukraine: They undermine sanctions by painting the Russian people as undeserving of blame. Wrongly treating Putin as the sole responsible party in this war leads to an incoherent and insufficient response by Western governments and companies. The ultimate cost comes in the form of regional and global instability, the setting of a dangerous precedent — that bullies like the Russian government and its accomplices can do whatever they want without consequence — and the lost lives of ordinary Ukrainian citizens. Hate toward a whole nation is precarious, mistaken and simply the wrong thing to do — I do not ask you to hate anyone at all. Rather, my point is that the people who are dropping bombs on unprotected civilians should be rightfully punished. The same goes for everyone who enables them, by their action or by their inaction.

Artem Agvanian ’25 can be reached at artem_agvanian@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

ARTS & CULTURE

Fourth season of ‘Mrs. Maisel’ is as marvelous as expected Show highlights beauty of imperfection, importance of perseverance BY MAGDALENA DEL VALLE SENIOR STAFF WRITER Eight episodes are simply not enough when it comes to season four of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which aired on Amazon Prime Video Feb. 18. The third season ended with an epic cliffhanger: The protagonist and stand-up virtuoso Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is fired from her largest gig yet — opening for world-famous singer Shy Baldwin (Leroy McClain) on his tour of the globe. As Shy’s entourage flies off, Midge remains stranded on an airport tarmac, disappointed and alone. “REVENGE. Revenge. I want it. Ugh, do I want it. I need it. I crave it. I am completely consumed by the need for it. Revenge,” Midge says solemnly into the mic during the first episode’s opening scene. Ever-chic, dressed in tight black pants and a sweater, Midge takes a drag from her cigarette and tells the audience of the Gaslight Cafe — her home turf for stand-up — of the humiliating experience that ensued on the tarmac when she found out she would no longer be going on tour with Shy Baldwin. But, throughout the season, revenge does not seem to be what Midge is seeking. Closure? Maybe. That’s what she gets after confronting Shy Baldwin in the powder room at his wedding. Love? Perhaps. Midge continues to navigate the turbid waters of being single in New York. Fans especially rejoiced at the return of fellow comedian and romantic interest Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby). Success, however, is what Midge strives for the most in this season. But

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The fourth season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” stuns with beautiful costumes and important lessons about imperfections and risk-taking. While revenge is the topic of this season’s opening scene, ultimately, Midge’s (Rachel Brosnahan) ultimate goal is success. that’s also where she faces her greatest challenges. She is determined not to let the Shy Baldwin fiasco end her career. Throughout the season, Midge tries again and again to get her career back on track. Yet audiences, both on- and off-screen, suffer as they witness her repeated mistakes and failures. Midge adopts a self-righteous philosophy where she turns down gigs in which she is merely the opening act. She refuses to be anything but the headliner. This leads her to a less-than-desirable performance before Jackie Kennedy, a humiliating

television appearance beside long-time nemesis Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch) and a regular nighttime gig as an MC at a strip club. Under the beautiful clothes, brilliant dialogue and breathtaking cinematography, the fourth season of the show conveys to audiences that what makes Midge so marvelous is that she is not marvelous at all. Despite her manager Susie Meyerson (Alex Borstein) admonishing her multiple times, Midge’s ego constantly gets in her way. She makes mistakes, both big and small. But regardless of the humiliation and

constant reality checks, Midge keeps pushing and pursuing her passion for stand-up. Likewise, the other characters in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” discover their purposes and develop deeper ambitions. Midge’s mother, Rose Weissman (Marin Hinkle ’88), turns her knack for matchmaking into a career. Abe Weissman (Tony Shalhoub), Midge’s father, uses his love of journalism to reconnect not only with himself but also his family. Susie expands her talent managing business and pledges to represent “the ones who walk by, the ones you don’t

see, the ones who never catch a break.” The latest season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” provides more than just aesthetically pleasing scenes and quippy one-liners — the stylistic flair for which creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has been known since “Gilmore Girls.” The season also challenges the characters and, in turn, the viewers, to embrace their imperfections and even use them as inspiration. Most importantly, the show reinforces the lesson that one must take risks — real risks where one inevitably fails — in order to truly succeed.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

CLINIC FROM PAGE 1 dated and sterile medical office.” The welcoming atmosphere “is a statement to the clinic’s mission to go above and beyond in providing a state-of-the-art facility for a community that has been historically forgotten,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. Open Door Health’s commitment to accessibility goes beyond its physical space — the clinic’s financial structure is designed to cover costs if patients cannot pay, Nunn said. This flexible system reflects a “strong belief in providing services to everyone, regardless of ability to pay,” Chan added. The clinic embodies the intersection of health care, public health, research and education, according to Chan and Nunn. Research conducted at the clinic not only focuses on LGBTQ+ issues such as HIV prevention, but also on how to reach more patients in need through advertising, Nunn and Chan said. Nunn oversees social research, while Chan oversees clinical research. The clinic focuses on conducting research in a clinical setting. For example, the clinic is actively researching how to implement recent innovations in sexual healthcare such as the “one-pill, oncea-day” treatment for HIV and point-ofcare testing for STDs, Nunn said. “STIs are exponentially increasing across the U.S., including here in Rhode Island,” Chan said. “It’s incredibly fulfilling to be able to offer direct services and make a difference in the community. Offering walk-in, same-day STI testing is important for patient accessibility at Open Door Health, according to Chan. Twenty to 25% of walk-ins test positive for an STI, he added. “We are reaching the population that needs it — those who may not oth-

COURTESY OF OPEN DOOR HEALTH

Amy Nunn (left), professor of behavioral and social sciences and medicine, and Philip Chan (right), associate professor of medicine and behavioral and social sciences, co-founded Open Door Health in 2020 after discussing the idea since 2016. erwise test,” Chan said. Beyond clinical research, Open Door Health has focused on social research to ensure their services are reaching vulnerable populations. The clinic has recently begun advertising on dating apps, Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram, Nunn said. “We want to understand what actually works to get vulnerable people in for care,” Nunn said. “How can we best enhance communications with those who we believe could be potential patients?” The clinic is the only “dedicated,

describing the staff as a “formidable team.” “Each (staff member) brings with them decades of proven contributions to the improvement of the health of LGBTQ+ individuals,” Ibanhes added. Nunn and Chan described the process of establishing and running the clinic as a team effort, citing the influence of operations and programs manager Cassie Sutton Coats, RIPHI Chief Financial Officer Lynne Malone and nurse practitioner Mary Dromgoole in bringing accessibility into practice. Nunn emphasized the impact the

One patient wrote they were afraid to walk into a clinic due to previous discrimination, but staff at Open Door Health such as Dromgoole “made them feel safe again,” according to Nunn. Experiences such as this, Nunn said, highlight the importance of culturally-tailored health services. “A lot of people may not get healthcare at all if they do not get care here. This really motivates me to keep going,” Nunn said. Staff at Open Door Health said standalone health care facilities can have unique relationships with the

of the community,” arguing that local clinics are more in touch with the trends within their communities. According to Dromgoole, when Open Doors first opened, predominantly local patients accessed the clinic because of location, accessibility and familiarity. But now people come in from all over Rhode Island and neighboring states, she said. “I believe and hope that the success of Open Door Health will prove to patients and health care providers that other models of health care are still possible. … Good health really starts

LGBTQ+ primary care clinic in Rhode Island,” Chan said. But beyond being the only health care provider of its kind in the state, Open Door Health is special because of the people, Ibanhes said,

clinic has had on patient lives, adding that physicians at the clinic have received positive notes from patients, especially those who identify as transgender.

community. “We live in times of big American healthcare,” Ibanhes wrote. Dromgoole described clinics such as Open Door Health as having a “finger on the pulse

in the communities and in small clinics that are genuinely attuned to real needs of its patients,” Ibanhes wrote. “This is what (Open Door Health) is all about.”

CA L E N DA R

COVID -19 AT BROWN MAR. 10 TO 16

MARCH S

Confirmed Positives

Students in On-Campus, Designated Off-Campus Quarantine Housing

24* MAR. 3 TO 9 Confirmed Positives

43 Students in On-Campus, Designated Off-Campus Quarantine Housing

31* *APPROXIMATE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

ARTS & CULTURE

Netflix’s coming-of-age story ‘Tall Girl 2’ ultimately falls short Sequel tries to grow but struggles to find substance despite new plot points BY LIVIA GIMENES STAFF WRITER Since 2018, Netflix has produced a consistent slate of rom-coms and teen coming-of-age movies, from “The Kissing Booth” to “Sierra Burgess is a Loser.” While some are more well-known than others, ultimately these films have come to be a new category of binge-worthy teen comfort films. One of the films in this genre, “Tall Girl,” follows a very tall girl and her struggles accepting her height — much as the title suggests. Now, like the “Kissing Booth” franchise, “Tall Girl” has returned with a new installment. In an unsurprising turn of events, Jodi Kreyman (Ava Michelle) — the eponymous tall girl — has not shrunk and is still struggling in the journey to accept herself. While the film still centers on Jodi’s issues with her height, she is now pursuing her dream of being the lead in the school’s musical. What is surprising is “Tall Girl 2”’s ability to build upon the first movie and offer more interesting content than its predecessor. The biggest issue with the first “Tall Girl” is that it stretches itself paper-thin by delivering the most one-dimensional take possible on an awkward girl who hates being tall. The second installment does not fall directly into that trap, mostly due to the musical theater plot. Jodi pursuing a hidden passion for musical theater while continuing to struggle with her height is not the most creative plot device, but it still creates an interesting conflict beyond mean encounters with classmates in the hallway. At least this plot line feels vaguely realistic and does not make viewers wonder why everyone is obsessed with one girl’s height. “Tall Girl 2” also offers more interesting points than its predecessor when it comes to Jodi’s dating life. When the movie starts, she is dating her childhood

COURTESY OF NETFLIX MEDIA

The Netflix teen coming-of-age movie, starring Ava Michelle as the eponymous tall girl, adds new plot points to accompany its protagonist’s struggles of being tall, yet fails to save the franchise from its original bland premise. friend Jack Dunkleman (Griffin Gluck). The story then follows the couple as they break up and face other relationship turmoil. In addition, this installment introduces a second love interest, Tommy Torres (Jan Luis Castellanos), Jodi’s dreamy musical theater partner who also faced issues with accepting his body when he was younger. He fills the role of the classic love interest who emerges in teen rom-com sequels — he almost seems like an off-brand version of Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez) from “Kissing Booth 2” or John Ambrose (Jordan Fisher) from “To All the Boys I Loved Before.” Still, his presence creates drama and progresses the plot in a way that’s more interesting than Stig Mohlin (Luke

Eisner) — the previous secondary love interest — did in the first movie. Tommy also has good chemistry with Jodi, which makes for interactions that are roughly entertaining to watch. One other advantage that the sequel has is that other characters like Fareeda (Anjelika Washington), Jodi’s best friend, and Kimmy (Clara Wilsey), Jodi’s primary bully, have already been introduced. This gives the film more room to expand beyond just Jodi’s story. Fareeda’s new relationship with Stig is fun to watch, and Kimmy’s redemption arc is not a textbook cliche. But all of these improvements in “Tall Girl 2” don’t really matter in the long run; the movie’s own premise is its biggest curse. The “Tall Girl” franchise is not

interesting enough when compared to “To All the Boys I Loved Before.” Plus, Sabrina Carpenter’s performance as Jodi’s older sister Harper Kreyman is not enough to attract audience interest like Jacob Elordi and Joey King appearing in “The Kissing Booth” or Noah Centineo appearing in “The Perfect Date.” It’s even funny to think about how little “Tall Girl’’ has to offer at its premise. The main conflict is the fact that Jodi is tall. While this is a struggle nonetheless, it just seems a bit trivial. After all, Jodi is a white middle-class woman who is more or less conventionally attractive. This doesn’t mean that teen movies can’t make stories about underdogs and wallflowers — just look at teen

movie classics like “Camp Rock” and “Lemonade Mouth.” They also suffer from seemingly low-stakes issues, but they succeed by introducing interesting characters and tangled relationships that provide entertaining watches. While the film targets a similar audience to the aforementioned movies, “Tall Girl 2” provides none of the factors that would make it great. It’s unclear whether the “Tall Girl” franchise will be getting a third installment. Interest in “Tall Girl 2” seems to stem more from the fact that it was actually created rather than from hopes for a high-quality movie. If “Tall Girl 3” does get produced, it’s very unlikely that it will be able to offer an entertaining watch without completely diverging from its main premise.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

McGrath ’24: The plight of the ‘pick me’ girl So-called “pick me” girls have quickly become the internet’s favorite punchline. The subject of countless TikTok parody videos, the now-viral “pick me” girl trend pokes fun at straight women who desperately want men to “pick” them. According to their critics, “pick me” girls allegedly compete for male attention by actively putting down other women. And while this definition is admittedly pretty broad, in practice, the “pick me” girl trend typically calls out two types of stereotypically female behavior. First, there’s the woman who goes out of her way to embody traditional gender roles. She might even spew blatantly anti-feminist opinions — making “pick me” girl the perfect insult to wield against conservative women like Kaitlin Bennett and Candace Owens. This hyper-feminine “pick me” girl goes back to the trend’s origins: Back in 2016, #TweetLikeAPickMe was used to mock women on Twitter who took pride in fulfilling a domestic role. Today on TikTok, however, the “pick me” girl label is more often applied to women who actively reject everything “girly” or traditionally feminine. In common internet parodies, this type of “pick me” girl often claims to prefer male friends because girls are “too much drama” or tells guys that she’s just too low maintenance to even bother wearing makeup. In fact, she might even claim to be just “one of the guys.” Or, perhaps even more unlikably, she might even claim that she’s “not like other girls.” However, as the “pick me” girl trend grew in popularity, the term started to be applied to women more liberally. Suddenly, the “pick me” girl label was being lobbed at women who simply expressed a personal preference or were otherwise engaging in entirely mundane behavior — essentially assuming that most of what women do (even wearing a leg brace) inherently stems from a desire to attract male attention.

call out in the first place. While some “pick me” girls might wish to separate themselves from stereotypical femininity, they haven’t exactly abandoned female archetypes all together. In fact, “pick me” girls are actively playing into the “cool girl” stereotype that is often depicted in literature, film and TV shows — for example, the laid back girl who doesn’t know she’s beautiful or the mysterious “manic pixie dream girl” that a male protagonist can’t help but fall in love with. After all, Elizabeth Bennet from “Pride and Prejudice” and Summer Finn from “(500) Days of Summer” were both desired by their male love interests

er women. Rather, they’re attempting to come across as a certain “type of woman” — the type of girl that “isn’t like other girls.” We might dislike the way “pick me” girls put down other women, but we’re also cringing at this perceived inauthenticity. At its worst, the term “pick me” girl is just another way to weaponize women’s sexualities against them. It’s like traditional slut-shaming masquerading as feminist criticism. While the ways that alleged “pick me” girls antagonize other women is certainly unhelpful, the impulse to view yourself as a character — to understand yourself through the classical

specifically because they defied traditional femininity in some way or another. The entire “Divergent” series quite literally revolves around the fact that Tris Prior is “not like other girls” — she’s “divergent.” To be clear, the “not like other girls” trope is reductive — not to mention that it inherently pits women against one another. However, instead of asking why this trope has remained

tropes of womanhood — is honestly relatable. Girly girls, tom-boys, “bruh” girls, “hii” girls, e-girls, “that girl”, material girls, girlbosses, “cool girls” — it seems that at every turn, we can’t seem to separate the language of female identity from the language of trope, especially on the internet. And while these modern-day archetypes might be more complex than the classic “girl

Ironically, the “pick me” girl trend — which began as an attempt to call out women for propping up sexist stereotypes — has actually created a new, equally harmful trope. The “pick me” girl trend has successfully rebranded female insecurity as yet another excuse for sexist ridicule, further ingraining the very same internalized misogyny that the trend was attempting to

so markedly successful, we’ve opted to blame straight women for conforming to the very templates of female desirability that popular media and culture promised would attract male attention. While people often attribute “pick me” girl behavior to internalized misogyny, it’s reductive to say that “pick me” girls simply hate oth-

next door” and other more traditional tropes, the motivation is the same: When you grow up seeing women represented almost solely through reductive archetypes, you can’t help but understand yourself through similar patterns. Not just as a girl, but as a type of girl. I’m not just feeling strong or uber-productive, I’m in my Hermione-Granger–Olivia-Pope–Elle-

“The ‘pick me’ girl trend has successfully rebranded female insecurity as yet another excuse for sexist ridicule.”

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Woods era. I’m not just a writer, I’m in my Carrie-Bradshaw–Jo-March–Rory-Gilmore era. We’re obsessed with proving our identities to others, distilling our quirks, interests and virtues into marketable, caricatured versions of ourselves. “Pick me” girls are merely acting out this same performative fantasy — the audience that they’re concerned with just happens to be male (or, at least, is assumed to be). However, instead of liberating women from these reductive (and incredibly nonrepresentative) archetypes as the trend allegedly intended to, “pick me” girl discourse has merely created a new trope to mock and discard. Ironically, weaponizing the “pick me” girl label against other women has become a way to separate ourselves from female behavior that we perceive as somehow cringey or embarrassing — arguably a form of “pick me” behavior in and of itself. I’m not like those other guy-obsessed girls. I’m real. I’m authentic. In our criticism of “pick me” girls, we’re arguably propping up the same woman-on-woman competition that we’re disparaging “pick me” girls for partaking in themselves. Ironically, even our attempts to chastise women for not “supporting women” still, inevitably, put down other women. The “pick me” girl trend was pointing toward a genuine problem — women are too often forced to cater to the misogynistic expectations of their male peers, whether it be in the search for romantic partners, navigating predominately male work environments or overcoming misogynistic stereotypes while running for political office. However, by mocking “pick me” girls for trying to do just that, we’re arguably placing the blame for these sexist expectations on the very same women struggling to navigate them. Ridiculing girls for their insecurities doesn’t actually empower women to rise above them.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

DEAN FROM PAGE 1 tions. As associate provost of academic space, she oversaw space allocation for faculty and researchers across campus, and as dean of the School of Professional Studies, she oversaw several master’s and short-form programs, according to Locke. “With her extensive experience advising, teaching and mentoring students, directing multiple academic units and conducting her own high-impact research, Leah’s deep understanding of Brown’s academic ecosystem positions her well to support faculty across a wide range of disciplines,” Locke wrote. “Brown has been such an amazing place to be a faculty member. It’s collaborative, it’s interdisciplinary, it lets you combine teaching and research and it lets you do really creative, meaningful things,” VanWey said. “I (am) so happy to be able to do my part to

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS continue that culture and to continue advocating for the faculty and making Brown the best place that it can be for faculty.” “I know a lot about environmental science research, but I have a lot to learn about what happens in the physical sciences, … computer science, humanities and the arts,” VanWey added. “I look forward to learning about that breadth and helping people see how they can work together.” VanWey also said that she looks forward to “supporting the career paths of diverse faculty.” “We’ve made a lot of progress in the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan and in both the recruitment and retention of faculty from historically underrepresented groups,” VanWey said. “There’s still more work to be done there, and we can create better communities and better structures to promote the success of historically underrepresented group faculty.”

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Since her appointment as a professor in 2008, Leah VanWey has served in various roles including provost of space and dean of professional studies.

COURTESY OF MAYA DEHART

Friends of Ukraine R.I. has raised over $104,000 toward emergency medical equipment to be sent to Ukraine in response to the conflict with Russia. The organization was founded after Mariya Bachmaha MPH ’16 began mobilizing in her hometown of Lviv, Ukraine.

UKRAINE FROM PAGE 7 (could) indeed help Ukraine,” Bachmaha wrote. “I knew (this) would be the most productive and effective way for my friends in the U.S. to collaborate and start helping rather than helplessly reading the news.” The initial group that received Bachmaha’s email included Natasha Rybak MD ’07, assistant professor of medicine; Anthony Levitas, senior fellow in international and public affairs; Maya DeHart, who had previously stayed with Bachmaha’s family in Ukraine as a part of the Rotary Youth Exchange program; and Michael Kennedy, professor of sociology and international and public affairs. The next day, the group founded Friends of Ukraine R.I. and set up a Fundly page to field donations from the local Rhode Island community. The campaign has raised $104,901 at the time of publication and has directed the donations “towards emergency medical equipment for the front lines, such as paramedic backpacks, medical

splints, antibiotics, sterile wipes, thermal blankets, tourniquets, IV systems, bandages and dressings and shields for evacuating the injured,” according to the Fundly page. Bachmaha “spurred us into action,” DeHart said. The day after receiving her email, “we had a name, we had a fundraising site and we were reaching out to all of our personal contacts.” While most “humanitarian aid is ultimately provided by governments, … the role for our kind of effort is to get aid to people who might not (normally) get it and can’t wait,” Levitas said. “We’re trying to plug the gaps.” One way the group provides aid is by working with Peace Corps volunteers like Andriy Chybisov MPH ’17, former program manager at Peace Corps Ukraine, to field direct cash relief requests from Ukrainian citizens. “Using a network of trusted former Peace Corps people, (we) have been calling into contacts all over Ukraine and asking ‘who needs what’ and ‘what can cash buy,’” Levitas said.

“We are trying to keep no more than one degree of separation between the requester and the beneficiary,” Chybisov said. These requesters include former co-workers of group members or people that run larger organizations in Ukraine that offer broader community support. “This cash relief opportunity is a lifeline” for many Ukrainians, Bachmaha wrote. While the group ensures that the people who need aid the most get it immediately, Chybisov explained that there are certain limits “about how much cash we can disperse in one sitting.” “It just needs to be an amount that makes a difference for an individual,” he added. Friends of Ukraine R.I. typically sends up to $500 to individual Ukrainians, but this limit can fluctuate based on specific exceptions, Levitas said. “We are trying to focus more on community groups — not necessarily organizations,” Chybisov said. “If you buy an electric generator for a com-

munity group, hundreds of people will benefit from it.” These groups can include those “that have emerged on the grassroots level, like the self-defense groups,” he added. “They are civilians. … They need to be fed, they need to have some warm clothing.” The organization is also collaborating with various medical groups around Rhode Island — including nurses, doctors and medical suppliers — to help source more difficult-to-acquire medical supplies such as wound care kits and mini ultrasound machines, an effort led by Rybak. Once these medical supplies are acquired, the group works with civilian networks to transport them to Ukrainian front lines, DeHart said. “We are finding that a lot of aid is getting backed up — there are these bottlenecks,” DeHart added. “I think civilian grassroots networks are the best way we found to get (supplies) … to the frontlines quickly and around these bottlenecks.”

Slavik Krishchuk, a Ukrainian American ICU nurse in Providence, is leading one such civilian network through the Second Baptist Church of East Providence. Through this network, a Rhode Island volunteer flew to Warsaw, Poland and transported emergency supplies through check-in bags, according to a newsletter sent out to Friends of Ukraine R.I. donors and reviewed by The Herald. Supplies were then transferred to Ukrainians who received “special permission to leave the country in order to transport aid to and from the border,” according to the newsletter. The supplies were then relocated to local churches in Lutsk, Ukraine and distributed by the territorial defense on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. Through Levitas’s connections with the Polish community around Rhode Island and close ties to the Association of Polish Cities, Friends of Ukraine R.I. is also “lining up with other couriers from the U.S. to Poland to Ukraine’s territorial defense,” DeHart wrote. DeHart encouraged Rhode Island community members to continue supporting Ukraine not only by donating to the campaign but also by “spreading the word” about the conflict. “A big part of (the group’s effort) is just keeping this in people’s consciousness,” DeHart said. “We live very far away, … so I think it’s just really important to keep this (conflict) in people’s hearts and minds.” “We need to keep this (momentum) going,” Chybisov said. “We need to make sure we don’t forget that one of the largest countries in Europe is at war right now and that atrocities are happening.” DeHart explained that the group’s reaction went “from shock to mobilization.” Now, she said, they’re “in campaign mode.” “We’re in this until we win this,” DeHart added. Bachmaha remains grateful for the efficiency with which Friends of Ukraine R.I. has managed to organize. “I think my friends in Rhode Island (have) that fighting spirit that Ukrainians had to adopt in 2013-2014 and are perfecting now,” she wrote. “They are busy with solving immediate problems and needs and are using their energy for that rather than staying worried or devastated.” “Having such an amazing group supporting us,” Bachmaha added, “makes this war far less hopeless.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2022

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

U. honors profs with Distinguished Research Achievement Awards Eight professors awarded for accomplishments in various fields BY KATHLEEN MEININGER SCIENCE & RESEARCH EDITOR The 2022 Research Achievement Awards were recently awarded to eight University researchers across multiple disciplines. Awardees will receive $5,000 in funding and be honored at the annual research celebration in the spring, according to the Office of the Vice President for Research. The Research Achievement Awards were established in 2017 by the Office of the Vice President for Research to recognize the research achievements of Brown faculty, Jill Pipher, vice president for research, wrote in an email to The Herald. Since then, the office has honored six to eight faculty each year. The office receives nominations from deans, department chairs, center directors and colleagues, in addition to self-nominations, Pipher continued. Nominations belong to two categories: Early Career Researcher Achievement and either Distinguished Researcher or Midcareer Researcher Achievement, which alternate each year. A faculty committee with subject matter expertise completes an initial review of each nomination, and an advisory committee made up of the vice presidents for research and associate deans for research makes the final selections. Pipher wrote that “the final selections of awardees is a difficult process, and especially in the category of ‘early career’ where we receive our largest number of nominations of truly excellent faculty.” Margaret Bublitz, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, assistant professor of medicine Margaret Bublitz was awarded an Early Career Research Achievement Award. In addition to her work as a practicing clinical psychologist, Bublitz conducts research on maternal and infant health, she explained. She studies the impact that childhood maltreatment and other risk factors have on mothers through the pregnancy and postpartum period. “Women who have been maltreated in their own childhoods are at increased risk to develop or have adverse outcomes of their pregnancy,” such as preterm birth and low birth weight, Bublitz said. How this biological stress response to maltreatment is activated in expecting mothers — often decades after the original trauma occurred — is what Bublitz is dedicated to uncovering. In a recently published study, Bublitz and her group analyzed differences in brain response between mothers who underwent childhood maltreatment and those who didn’t while looking at newborns with different facial positions. In another study, they examined the experiences of mothers who experienced sexual abuse prior to pregnancy. A new, recently funded project is focused on developing nonpharmacological interventions for women at risk of developing hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. “I am so honored and really flattered” to receive the award, Bublitz said,

emphasizing that she is grateful to her colleagues and mentors who have supported her throughout her career and nominated her for the award. Brenda Rubenstein ’07, associate professor of chemistry Associate Professor of Chemistry Brenda Rubenstein ’07 received an Early Career Research Award. Her lab conducts computational and theoretical science research to address “a wide range of problems throughout the physical and biological sciences,” including electronic structure in quantum theory and alternative computing technologies. “For a long time, people have used computers to understand molecules, but we actually do the opposite. We want molecules to compute things for us,” Rubenstein said. Recently, the group found a way to store data by using the presence or absence of certain molecules to code a type of binary. “That’s one set of fun work that is great for theorists because it makes you really think about what theory is going to connect things that seem completely unrelated to each other,” Rubenstein said. Her group is also interested in predicting “interesting behaviors of materials … that only occur at the super small quantum level of electrons.” Rubenstein added that her undergraduate experience at Brown has contributed to her success as a scientist. “I was able to take a wide range of science classes and mathematics classes and that was incredibly helpful,” she said. “Being able to understand lots of areas and to communicate among people who work in those different areas was incredibly important for me.” “I’m very pleased to receive the award. But I do want to say that it’s with the help of many others over the years,” Rubenstein said. “It’s really great to do science when you have collaborators who are fun people to work with, and who are optimistic and enthusiastic” about their work. Tara Nummendal, professor of history, professor of Italian Studies Tara Nummendal, a professor of history and Italian Studies, received an Early Career Research Achievement Award for her research on the history of science, medicine and alchemy in early modern Europe. In her 2019 book, “Anna Zieglerin and the Lion’s Blood: Alchemy and End Times in Reformation Germany,” Nummedal explores the intersection of gender, science and court policies in Reformation Europe. Zieglerin “was a practitioner of alchemy who linked her ideas about alchemy very closely to ideas about the Reformation and the apocalypse and her own role in it, … particularly the role of her own body and reproductive capacities augmented through alchemy,” Nummedal said. Recently, Nummedal co-published the first digital-native book under Brown’s Digital Publications Initiative, named “Furnace and Fugue: A Digital Edition of Michael Maier’s ‘Atalanta fugiens’ (1618) with Scholarly Commentary” in collaboration with Donna Bilak. “It has text, of course, but it also has images and music scores,” she said. “The book itself is very alinear, and it’s really meant to be kind of experimented with and read in different sorts of orders.” Readers can “choose their own adventure” via different methods of

interacting with the work, whether that is listening to recordings of the music scores or reading the essays. Nummedal is also starting a new project on affective magic, or “practices in 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century Europe that are designed to manipulate people’s will and their affection.” “It’s really nice to be recognized by an institution that I’ve spent my whole career at,” she said, adding that she appreciates the University’s commitment to recognizing researchers in diverse fields. The funding “also offers research support that will help me as I move into this new book project on affective magic … and get back to the archives in Germany and in Europe.” Andrew Zullo ScM’15 PhD’17, assistant professor of health services, policy and practice, assistant professor of epidemiology Andrew Zullo, assistant professor of health services, policy and practice and, assistant professor of epidemiology, received an Early Career Research Achievement Award. Zullo’s research focuses on optimizing medication and vaccine use among older adults to improve their physical state, cognitive state and overall quality of life. In a recent project, Zullo’s group looked at racial disparities in influenza vaccination between white and Black nursing home residents and found up to a 25% difference between white and Black residents. “We find that in the same place, only 65% of Black nursing home residents may receive influenza vaccination while 90% of white residents may receive it,” Zullo wrote in an email to The Herald. “We believe that those findings support the conclusion that interventions and policies must be developed at the state and local geographic levels, not just federally, to meaningfully improve vaccine uptake and promote health equity.” “I’m so incredibly grateful,” for the award, Zullo said. “All of my research is done with teams of people … more than anything else. I feel that the award reflects the sum of their hard work and important contributions to the shared research that we do together.” David Badre, professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences David Badre was awarded a Midcareer Research Achievement Award for his work on the neuroscience of cognitive control, or how the brain is able to plan and execute tasks. Cognitive control is “a really hard thing to do, and humans are remarkably good at it,” Badre said. “Not just in the sense of being able to do almost any task we can think of, but (how) we can learn very quickly and we can follow instruction(s) for a task we’ve never done before.” His lab is particularly interested in studying how the brain carries out hierarchical tasks, which involve completing mini-goals within an overarching one. “Imagine you’re making coffee, for example. Moment to moment, you’ll have little sub-goals that come up. … You’ll grind your beans, turn on the drip machine, add water, turn on the machine, … but there’s also an overarching plan to have a cup of coffee,” Badre said. How the brain manages that all at once “is a particularly interesting problem,” he added. Badre’s lab has identified circuits

JACK WALKER / HERALD

Established in 2017, the awards recognize outstanding research achievements of Brown faculty with a $5,000 research award. between the neocortex and basal ganglia in the brain that allow people to carry out these hierarchical tasks. These circuits originally evolved from motor control circuits to control not only movement, but memories we use to guide our behavior. “We’ve also been interested in how the brain organizes information,” Badre said. “Anything you’re doing — even something really simple — requires you to take in lots of information from your senses (and) information from memory, and the brain has to have a way of integrating all of that.” Regarding the Midcareer Research Achievement Award, Badre says that he is “very honored.” “I’ve been lucky to work with great people in my lab over the years,” Badre said. “So I should say that this award is as much about them as it is me.”

for elliptic and parabolic partial differential equations, as well as the field of fluid dynamics. His lab is now studying elliptic equations that model composite materials, which contain two materials with different physical and chemical properties. Dong wrote that he is “extremely delighted and honored,” to receive the Midcareer Research Achievement Award and thanked the University and Division of Applied Mathematics for “providing such a great work environment.” “I am very grateful to my collaborators, colleagues and students for their encouragement, support and help throughout the years,” Dong added.

Hongjie Dong, professor of applied mathematics Professor of Applied Mathematics Hongjie Dong received a Midcareer Research Achievement Award. Dong researches “regularity theory for both linear and nonlinear partial differential equations,” which “are used to mathematically formulate, and thus aid the solution of, … problems such as fluid flow, elasticity, electrostatics, electrodynamics, the propagation of

Gaurav Choudhary, professor of cardiology Professor of Cardiology Gaurav Choudhary also received a Midcareer Research Achievement Award. Choudhary’s research focus is on pulmonary hypertension, a condition of elevated blood pressure in the lungs. His lab employs a variety of clinical, epidemiological and basic science techniques to study disease mechanisms and prevalence, as well as to explore diagnostic and therapeutic tools, Choudhary said. Previously, his lab conducted research to show that a mean pulmonary artery pressure of 25 mmHg, the old cutoff for PH diagnosis, was in fact associated with negative outcomes. The definition of pulmonary hypertension has since been reduced from 25 mmHg to 20 mmHg. This way, physicians “can diagnose more people earlier rather than wait until (the condition) becomes more severe,” Choudhary said, allowing patients to receive treatment earlier. His lab has also identified a non-neuronal pathway that can lead to fibrosis, or hardening, of the heart, with important implications for right ventricular dysfunction, a condition related to PH. Choudhary will use the funding from the Research Achievement Award for several new projects. “One of the biggest challenges in treating pulmonary hypertension is identifying patients,” he said. Finding high blood pressure in the lungs isn’t as easy as attaching a blood pressure cuff to the patient — screening involves looking for nonspecific symptoms, confirming via ultrasound of echocardiogram and finally doing an invasive right heart catheterization, he explained. According to Choudhary, a new study will develop AI technology and machine learning to more efficiently identify PH. “I think it’s an incredible honor,” Choudhary said. “I’m humbled to re-

heat or sound,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. Previously, Dong made important contributions to the regularity theory

ceive it. But you know, it’s not really a Research Achievement Award for (just) me… it’s really recognition for everybody.”

Eric Nathan, associate professor of music Associate Professor of Music Eric Nathan received a Midcareer Research Achievement Award for his compositions for vocal and instrumental live performance. In January, Nathan released a cycle of pieces named “Missing Words” inspired by Ben Schott’s book “Schottenfreude,” which proposes 120 new German words. “These are words that describe everyday experiences that, in English, we have no synonyms for,” such as “Eisenbahnscheinbewegung, which is the feeling of movement you get when you’re seated in a stationary train, and it feels like you’re moving forward, but you’re not,” Nathan said. A culmination of eight years of work, “Missing Words” “speaks about all these little moments that make up our life in some way. Some of them are humorous, others of them are sad or mournful or joyous or unusual,” Nathan explained. “It’s a great honor to have this work recognized by Brown … and also to have the opportunity to continue to support projects that are dream projects with the funding that the award provides,” Nathan said.