3D Magazine :: 2018 November

DARTMOUTH IN ALL ITS DIMENSIONS NO. 4 | NOV 2018

ADMISSIONS.DARTMOUTH.EDU

Defying the Political Divide

Dartmouth College is defined by its people, and 3D is a magazine that tells their stories. It’s not meant to be comprehensive, but an evolving snapshot as vibrant and prismatic as the school itself. 3D is Dartmouth in all its dimensions.

On the cover: Victor Cabrera ‘19 in Pine Park, a 90-acre forest on the north end of campus Cover photograph by Don Hamerman

Admissions Editorial Board

Student Writers

Hayden Lizotte Editor

Caroline Cook ’21 Newark, DE

Topher Bordeau Contributing Editor

Brian Drisdelle ’21 Burlington, CT

Sara D. Morin Production Editor

Sarah LeHan ’20 Darien, CT

Isabel Bober ‘04 Senior Associate Director of Admissions

Jimmy Nguyen ’21 Mesa, AZ Sofía Carbonell Realme ’20 Mexico City, Mexico

PHOTOGRAPH BY ELI BURAKIAN ’00

NOVEMBER 2018 // ISSUE 04

02

10

26

43

First Hand

LIVE @ Dartmouth

Oh, the places you’ll go!

Courses of Study

03

12

32

44

It’s a Fact

Degrees of Freedom

On Course

Points of Departure

06

18

34

48

Hanover Hot Spots

Walking the Walk

Onward & Upward

Threads

07

22

Humans of Hanover

Living the Green Life

Lee A. Coffin Vice Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid 2 | admissions.dartmouth.edu

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT GILL

“New questions will be posed that someone must answer.

That ‘someone’ could be you.”

You were born in the early moments of a new century, an embryonically digital moment before smart phones and social media enveloped so many aspects of our existence and interactions.

And as you earn your undergraduate degrees in 2023, ’24, and ’25, you will be poised for an exciting moment: the careers you lead, the relationships you forge, and the votes you cast will shape the middle part of the 21st century.

“Gen Z,” as you have been collectively dubbed by demographers, this is your moment. What principles will guide you?

What ideas and conversations will emerge? What challenges will you confront—and from where, from whom, about what? None of us can predict those answers, but a few things seem assured.

The world you will inhabit—and ultimately inherit—will be fast paced, highly digitalized, multilingual, and inescapably global.

Borders and identities will be fluid (they already are). Norms will evolve. Unimagined fields of study will emerge. New questions will be posed that someone must answer. That “someone” could be you.

How will you tap your intellect to make a difference? Our newest class—the 22s, in Big Green speak—showered us with evidence of imaginations at work as they introduced themselves in their applications. An improv actor and robotics instructor from suburban Boston designed and constructed a custom house for his sheepdog by using the lessons from AP Calculus and Physics to predict patterns of snow accumulation on the slope of its atypical roof. Others wondered about moral epistemology, carnivorous plants, rap music in China, rainwater harvesting, the Allied invasion of Normandy, asteroid detection, gene editing, and Jamaica’s coffee industry—to cite just a few of the rich topics that dance across the liberal arts. A photographer from Kansas City created an artistic rendering of a girl’s journey through Dante’s nine circles of hell: “Bold poems call forth bold art.” Indeed. A Thayer-bound inventor who fabricates prosthetic hands from a 3D printer reported nearly electrocuting himself during an experiment at the age of 12.“The shock,” he said, “was an invitation; I knew there was something to uncover.”

For almost 250 years, Dartmouth has prepared students like these for a lifetime of learning and responsible leadership. Your life will require flexibility and a sense of adventure. Your life will be enhanced by creativity and a collaborative impulse, a nuanced familiarity with the lessons of our shared history, as well as an optimistic perspective about what awaits us. The world needs dreamers and leaders and doers and strategists like the 22s I just referenced. Those engaged, creative thinkers need a faculty like the ones profiled in this issue of 3D—scholars who teach and researchers who include undergraduates in their work.

The 21st century will reward those with an interdisciplinary perspective and a global sensibility. Gen Z’s imprint on history will be defined and enhanced by those who imagine new pathways through multifaceted conundrums, who have an ability to guide and inspire others, who can lead with head as well as heart. And this is well confirmed: the breadth and depth of a liberal arts education offers those skills to everyone who engages in it as a course of study. Our faculty and alumni are proof points. The enduring wisdoms of the liberal arts are timeless and powerful.

It’s a fact.

ENROLLED CLASS OF 2022

BASIC FACTS

4,410 % 96 % 100

Number of Undergraduate Students

Region of Origin

50

6-Year Graduation Rate

US States Represented

56

Demonstrated Financial Need Met

11% / Midwest

21% / Mid-Atlantic

18% / New England

18% / West

19% / South

13% / Outside the US

Countries Represented

33

Languages Spoken at Home

5 381

Fall Term Classes with More Than 100 Students

Type of School Attended

10

vs.

Fall Term Classes with Fewer Than 20 Students

55

30%

15%

INDEPENDENT

7:1

13

%

Student-toFaculty Ratio

US Military Veterans

%

First Generation to College

PUBLIC

8.7

%

Acceptance Rate

RELIGIOUS

50

%

51K+

$

Receiving Need-Based Aid

Average Need-Based Grant

WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW

D-PLAN

The D-Plan is Dartmouth’s distinctive quarter system—and your personal enrollment plan. You can choose when you’re on and off campus without compromising your ideal learning, research, and work experiences.

90%

55% study abroad

complete an internship 30% study

58

abroad twice

% will do

research

2 full years

before you have to declare a major

Studying Abroad?

10% study

abroad three or more times

admissions.dartmouth.edu | 3

Art

CHARLOTTE GRÜSSING ’19 MAJOR: STUDIO ART AND ASIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES HOMETOWN: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

PHOTOGRAPH HAMERMAN PHOTOGRAPH BY

BY DON NAME

and Soul

Pictured: In the lobby of the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts

Charlotte Grüssing ’19 always knew that she would study studio art, but surprised even herself by choosing Dartmouth over a traditional art school in her home city of London. Driven to enhance the arts at Dartmouth, Charlotte has dedicated her time to both her artistic endeavors and a wide-ranging intellectual adventure in the liberal arts.

Though Dartmouth’s Hood Museum has been undergoing refurbishment for Charlotte’s last few years on campus, the museum remains a thread through her experience. As a first-year student, she was already showing work from her architecture class at the Hood before renovations began. Later, for an assignment in her Japanese printmaking class, Charlotte submitted a proposal to the Hood suggesting prints that they should purchase.

“They acquired some of them,” Charlotte says. “Having the Hood actually buy pieces you love is incredible.” Now she works as an intern at the museum, leading campus engagement initiatives for its reopening in January of 2019.

Charlotte also brings art to new spaces on campus. Last spring, she curated a show called Big Girls Do Cry, featuring 20 or so female undergraduate artists. The show, she says, “celebrated womanhood and the struggles that come with it.” Recognizing art’s power to make challenging conversations about womanhood and mental illness more accessible, Charlotte curated the show in KDE, a sorority on Webster Avenue. “Bringing a largescale student art show to a social environment is one of my proudest achievements at Dartmouth,” she says.

After an off-term in Hong Kong, where she concentrated on honing her photography skills, Charlotte returned to Dartmouth and to curating. She collaborated with the Coalition for Israel-Palestine to bring artist Yasmeen Mjalli and her work The Typewriter Project to campus. Mjalli had been traveling the world transcribing women’s stories about womanhood and sexual assault on a portable typewriter. Charlotte turned those written works into a visual and auditory experience at the Black Family Visual Arts Center at Dartmouth; “I basically live there,” Charlotte says with a laugh. Titled Not Your Habitbi, meaning Not Your Baby, the show is another example of Charlotte’s use of art as a vehicle for honest and difficult conversation. “Yasmeen Mjalli gave our community an opportunity to affirm so many individuals and the resulting work is inspirational. I hope through my curation, I have done justice to her words and the Dartmouth students who so bravely shared.”

Charlotte has leveraged her passion for art to inspire powerful dialogue in her community. “I’m thinking for myself,” she says.

“I’m becoming a better person.” Her art helps others do that, too.

—Caroline Cook ‘21

admissions.dartmouth.edu | 5

HANOVER

HOT SPOTS

No matter the season, students spill from the library to walk loops around Occom Pond, enjoying the scenery, talking on the phone, or even studying flashcards. Ask a friend to join and it becomes a “Walccom,” a hallowed campus tradition (and example of pervasive campus slang…in fact, phones on campus have started autocorrecting to “Walccom”). But the magic isn’t exclusive to warm weather. In wintertime, the pond is wrapped in ethereal white as skaters glide across the ice. Each year during the Polar Bear Plunge, a (totally optional) rite of passage, students doff their clothes, attach safety ropes, and race—first across the pool, then to the Roth Jewish Center for cookies and cocoa. More-anticipated hot chocolate has never been seen this side of The Polar Express.

—Sarah LeHan ’20

PHOTOGRAPH BY ELI BURAKIAN ’00

Occom Pond

HUMANS OF HANOVER ^ THE SNOWY MONTHS AT DARTMOUTH ARE A TIME OF CELEBRATION AND HANDS AROUND MUGS OF CIOCCOLATA CALDA. THESE DARTMOUTH STUDENTS SHARE WHAT THEY TREASURE MOST ABOUT THE WONDERLAND THAT IS DARTMOUTH IN WINTER.

Julianna “Jul” Thomson ’20, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada I firmly believe that winter is one of the most beautiful times on campus. While it’s busy for track and field athletes like me, I try to make time to enjoy all the winter activities Dartmouth has to offer. Nothing tops skating on Occom Pond, and many Sunday afternoons have been spent putting off homework in favor of sledding with friends. Cold? Hanover winters are actually not as harsh as what I’m used to in Canada!

Isabel Burgess ’20, Tucson, AZ Hanover snow is magical. One of my good friends and I decided to have a photoshoot one Friday afternoon because it was absolutely gorgeous. I’m standing next to the Christmas tree that the town of Hanover puts up every year in the center of the Green. Where I’m from, we very rarely get snow, but when we do, it melts away in a couple of hours, so Hanover winter has helped me perfect the winter aesthetic. That’s certainly worth the low temperatures!

Manny Howze-Warkie ’18, Cleveland, MS Being from a small town in Mississippi, snow was in short supply growing up. While my impending first winter at Dartmouth was somewhat daunting, I was also incredibly excited for what was in store. Thankfully, it did not disappoint. I embraced winter and took figure skating as an elective. Although I had to learn that stopping doesn’t work quite like it does on roller blades, it was a fun and rewarding experience. Also, I can attest that all your snow-less friends will be envious when they see your Instagram feed (see my model face above).

Benny Adapon ’19, Manila, Philippines Last winter was ... chilly. For a kid from a place that never gets below 70 degrees, the puffy coats and late sunrises were an adjustment! Friends told me to enjoy winter by embracing it, so I did it my way. That meant skiing classes, ice sculpting, and winter hiking—a little intense for me, but I loved it—plus cozy interiors and more hot drinks from King Arthur Flour, Dirt Cowboy, and Morano Gelato than my quickly tightening winter clothes might’ve appreciated! Pro Tip: Morano’s cioccolata calda is the best in New England.

Simon Ellis, ’20, Holualoa, HI Winter in Hanover is beautiful and exciting. My first winter I learned how to ski and ice skate and spent a lot of time around fires with my friends warming up and watching the snow! I love the Baker Tower tours where you can look out over the campus all covered in white. I spent my sophomore winter at home interning in a law office, so I did winter activities at the end of fall term and beginning of spring, but could still structure my time so I’m happiest and healthiest.

Rachel Kent ’21, Indianapolis, IN I had almost no experience in the outdoors before coming to Dartmouth, but I knew I was excited to get involved in the Dartmouth Outing Club. In the DOC, we lead hikes every weekend—even with two feet of snow on the ground! While I was a little bit nervous for my first New England winter, having incredible opportunities to explore the beautiful mountains and trails around campus made it one of my favorite terms, and now I can’t wait for this year’s first snowfall.

admissions.dartmouth.edu | 7

Making

VICTOR CABRERA ’19 MAJOR: EARTH SCIENCES HOMETOWN: MIAMI, FL

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

Change Pictured: In the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center, home to Dartmouth’s biological sciences department

Victor Cabrera ’19 has followed his interests to the ends of the earth—literally. From working at the Chilean Antarctic Institute, to conducting research on the South Westerly Winds in Alaska, to participating in a Matariki Global Citizen meeting in Sweden, his engagement with earth sciences has been as intensive as it has been global. Victor concluded his third year at Dartmouth continuing the cold-regions geology research that he envisions shaping into his senior thesis, a project that, for now, will have to wait. “As much as I love geology, there are so many other ideas, subjects, and disciplines I want to investigate, he says.” Victor will be taking six months off his senior year, choosing to graduate late, so he can travel to the Middle East and explore something new: journalism—an opportunity made possible by funding from both Dartmouth and independent organizations.

Fast-changing and based in volatile regions, Victor’s job will be a far cry from the study of glaciers millions of years in the making. “I have no background in communications or international relations,” he says. “I’m jumping into this field because it excites me, and because it opens up so many possibilities.”

Though Victor claims he’ll be pursuing this on a whim, it’s actually not that random. It fits into a larger pattern of pushing himself to embrace new challenges.

In addition to globetrotting in pursuit of academic challenges, Victor has been working to transform the Dartmouth Council on Climate Change from a conference-based club into a publication with important ideas to offer in the environmental arena. While the process is challenging and still unfinished, he hopes that the reimagined club will give students the opportunity to contribute ideas they generate in class to a larger cause. “The papers we write in class that end up in a storage file on our laptops are actual knowledge,” Victor says. “We are perhaps more capable than we think we are. We are learning real things, and we will end up in places where this information matters.”

Victor has developed a keen awareness of his own growth and how it has been fueled by Dartmouth’s wealth of resources, opportunities, and, above all, people. “The best environments I’ve been in at Dartmouth have been composed of people you’d never imagine coming together having a wonderful discussion. That’s what an academic environment—in my opinion—is supposed to be,” he says.

—Sofía Carbonell Realme ’20

admissions.dartmouth.edu | 9

LIVE @ DARTMOUTH DARTMOUTH’S CAMPUS IS VIBRANT IN ANY SEASON, THANKS IN NO SMALL PART TO MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY WHO INVEST IN EVENTS AND TRADITIONS THAT KEEP IT THAT WAY! HERE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE ON-CAMPUS HAPPENINGS FROM RECENT TERMS, AS SHARED THROUGH THE VOICES OF OUR STUDENTS.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Since joining Sigma Delta, I’ve volunteered every year at the CHaD HERO fundraising race to help fund families and children receiving care from the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. By collecting money, racing, or volunteering, members of many of the fraternities and sororities on campus help make this event possible. I love the opportunity to give back to the community while bonding with my house.

Dartmouth Organic Farm

Fall on the Organic Farm The O-Farm is always a nice place to visit, whether it’s for a hands-on activity in class or just for fun. It truly becomes a social space in the fall when students all over campus are invited to drink local cider while carving pumpkins and listening to live music. It’s an event that brings back memories of the summer Farmers’ Market on the Green, while celebrating fall in the gorgeous Upper Valley. Even those of us without cars are able to participate with free rides leaving from campus.

The Green

First Snowball Fight It is no surprise that Hanover acquires large amounts of snow over the winter. The real surprise arrives with the first snowfall. That evening, an email claiming to be from Dr. Suess (one of our favorite alums) arrives in your inbox inviting you to a snowball fight on the Green at midnight, in the rhyming language of Dr. Suess of course.

It’s a whimsical tradition that brings students together to enjoy the snow.

Hopkins Center for the Arts

Leslie Odom Jr. Performs at the Hop I was in the room where it happened! This past spring, Dartmouth students and community members alike were delighted to spend an evening listening to the music of Leslie Odom Jr., a former cast member of the Tony award-winning musical Hamilton.

Odom originated the role of Aaron Burr alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda on Broadway.

As a Hamilton fanatic, I had goosebumps listening to a variety of his own songs mixed in with my Hamilton favorites like “The Room Where it Happens.”

—Alexis Colbert ‘19 and Colleen O’Connor ‘19

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PHOTOGRAPHY: (TOP TO BOTTOM) ROBERT GILL, MAPLE LEAF PHOTOS, GETTY IMAGES, CHRISTOPHER BOUDEWYNS (COURTESY OF HOPKINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS)

CHaD HERO

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN AND MATT RISLEY

Burnham Field

Men’s Soccer Championship In the 74th minute of the championship game, the sea of green- and white-wearing Dartmouth fans watched with joy as the varsity men’s soccer team scored the game-winning goal against Cornell. Scored by Eduvie Ikoba ’19, the goal marked the fourth consecutive Ivy League Championship for the Big Green, making the graduating class of seniors the first ever in Dartmouth history to win four Ivy League titles.

Degrees

of

ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES YANG

e Fre dom Forget about fences.

Dartmouth students pursue their ideas across disciplinary and geographic boundaries.

It’s one of the common denominators of a Dartmouth education.

Dartmouth’s curricular invention, the D-Plan, makes it possible for students to burrow deep into an area of interest, pulling in support from every relevant discipline and investigating any village, boardroom, or glacier around the world that can add to their knowledge. But flexibility doesn’t mean lack of rigor. It’s a point of honor for Dartmouth students to take that intellectual freedom and turn it into something profound.

Take Lindsey Reitinger. She convened faculty experts from several disciplines to help her create a major that addresses the many and disparate elements that contribute to environmental crises— and human resistance to addressing those crises. Alexis Colbert crisscrossed the globe on an interdisciplinary mission to uncover the black experience. And Herbert Chang tailored the D-Plan to integrate music, math, literature, and computer science into a work of socially relevant fiction.

“I found that Paris was no longer the city that embraced Josephine Baker.”

Alexis Colbert ’19 Hometown: St. Louis, MO Major: Anthropology Minor: Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Diversion: Making cakes that remind her of home For anthropology major Alexis Colbert, the D-Plan was a four-year challenge to investigate the world, to examine cultures through illuminating lenses—lenses crucial to the education of an anthropologist. Alexis worked at American University in Kuwait for ten weeks to see the Middle East from a fresh vantage point. “Living in the United States,” she says, “we have a sense that there’s one entity ‘the Middle East,’ but the Middle East of Kuwait is not the Middle East of Cairo or the Middle East of Tel Aviv. I now try to read as much international news as I can so as not to be guilty of tunnel vision.”

Tunnel vision is probably not something Alexis needs to guard against.

After she had returned from Kuwait, she was off to Auckland, New Zealand as part of a ten week anthropology and linguistics Foreign Study Program that immersed students in issues of colonialism. Then she spent several weeks in Barcelona studying Spanish history, art, and culture, living with a host family, and speaking her newly acquired Spanish almost exclusively.

But perhaps the most revelatory anthropological odyssey of Alexis’ Dartmouth life has been her project, Transnational Blackness. The goal: to research the black experience in four cities across Europe—London, Paris, Geneva, and Munich. With funding from Dartmouth’s Student Experiential Learning Fund, she set off with preconceived notions that were soon upended. “I found that Paris was no longer the city that embraced Josephine Baker, and in Munich—also contrary to my presumptions—Germans asked frank questions, truly wanting to learn more about my black experience.”

Anthropology professor Sienna Craig checked in with Alexis via email throughout her journey, sometimes sending readings to enrich her experience. “While I was in Geneva, Professor Craig sent me pieces that James Baldwin had written about being an African American in Switzerland. She always tried to add depth to my journey, and she always succeeded.”

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“What happens when we cede control of our artistic selves to robots?”

Herbert Chang ’18 Hometown: Kaohsiung, Taiwan Major: Math, Quantitative Social Sciences, and Senior Fellowship Minor: English Diversion: Creating music technology

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAMES YANG

For his senior fellowship, Herbert Chang undertook a very personal investigation into what it means to be human in the contemporary world, integrating his interests in music, math, and literature into a novel called A Dance without Bodies. It’s a work of science fiction set in 2048 with a large cast of AI (artificially intelligent) characters, some of whom believe they are human.

“The idea began to take shape when I was in my second year at Dartmouth,” Herbert says. “It grew out of everything that I was experiencing in math, music, and the social sciences—and it all came together into one interdisciplinary work. What happens when we cede control of our artistic selves to robots, delegating to machines the pursuits that make us most human? And what will a world be like where humanity’s last bastion—creativity—has been claimed by machines?”

AI was launched at Dartmouth in 1956, he notes, and there’s a scene in his novel that flashes back to those beginnings. Herbert developed his sophisticated technical knowledge at Dartmouth’s Bregman Media Lab, where he has been studying new interfaces in musical expression. He’s published three papers on the subject, has a patent pending for an acoustic synthesis innovation he developed with Professor Spencer Topel, and has been inventing new musical instruments in the digital/electroacoustic realm. He has been invited to present his innovations at conferences from Copenhagen to Brisbane.

Herbert credits Dartmouth’s culture of proximity as a key driver for his creation of A Dance without Bodies. “The first thing I noticed when I arrived at Dartmouth was the power of proximity. We have no boundaries between science and the humanities—or anywhere else. Ideas spill over to encompass vastly different disciplines. That’s just the natural order of things here. Lots of professors collaborate, merging subjects that don’t traditionally work together.” Herbert is following suit. The senior thesis he produced for his math major—yes, that’s two senior theses—was just published in a special issue of The New Journal of Physics. “The Co-diffusion of Social Contagions” integrates math, quantitative social sciences, and artificial societies.

Herbert intends to follow in the footsteps of his hero Isaac Asimov— attend graduate school to dig deeper into AI as he continues to channel his technical knowledge into more and more probing works of fiction.

“How do you motivate people to switch to renewable energy sources?”

Lindsey Reitinger ’20 Hometown: Mercer Island, WA Major: Social Ecological Systems Diversion: Skiing and hiking Lindsey Reitinger developed an intense fascination for several markedly different subjects when she arrived at Dartmouth. “I took courses in engineering, design, applied math, system dynamics, policy design, geography, and environmental studies and was drawn to concepts in each of them. I couldn’t wait to dig in. I didn’t consider it work.”

Lindsey has long been passionate about environmental issues, and every course she took seemed to have a component she could use to advance solutions. That gave her an idea. Working with a team of advisors from different disciplines—Steven Peterson in system dynamics, Richard Howarth and Michael Cox in environmental studies, and Scott Pauls in mathematics—she created the cross-disciplinary major social ecological systems. “Dartmouth understands that the real world doesn’t fit into one particular box,” Lindsey says. “My faculty advisors have helped me create a demanding major that is packed with rigor and relevance, will give me a competitive edge in the professional world and, most importantly, will provide me with the tools I need to make a significant impact.”

Lindsey is intrigued by the social side of environmental problems and believes this customized major will be key to preparing her for the challenges ahead—challenges she knows don’t have simple solutions. “How do you motivate people to recycle or to switch to more renewable energy sources? How can I introduce efficient, resilient solutions that really get to the root of the problem, solutions that can be quickly adapted to a specific environment?”

Lindsey is spending fall term in South Africa and neighboring Namibia to work with communities and NGOs on community resilience as it relates to disaster preparedness, but not before flying to Iceland to give a system dynamics presentation at an international conference with a team from Dartmouth. “Towards Environmental Justice: Balancing Greenspace and Gentrification” probes the dynamics of urban greenspace.

“When I chose Dartmouth, I chose it because I wanted new adventures.”

Lindsey says. “Every day, it fulfills that goal. Boredom is not an issue here!”

admissions.dartmouth.edu | 15

SONIA ROWLEY ’19 MAJOR: PSYCHOLOGY HOMETOWN: LEXINGTON, MA

& JONATHAN LICHTENSTEIN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY AND PEDIATRICS; ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, THE DARTMOUTH INSTITUTE, GEISEL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE; DIRECTOR, PEDIATRIC NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES, DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK MEDICAL CENTER

SONIA ROWLEY ’19 AND PSYCHIATRY PROFESSOR JONATHAN LICHTENSTEIN ARE SHEDDING NEW LIGHT ON THE TREATMENT OF CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS—PROVING THAT WITH DEDICATED FACULTY SUPPORT, UNDERGRADUATES CAN MAKE TRANSFORMATIONAL ADVANCES IN RESEARCH.

Sonia: I am working my way toward a PhD in clinical psychology, and I’m particularly interested in the challenge of treating children with behavioral disorders. Over the winter, I had the chance to observe such kids interacting with peers at a local elementary school, thanks to funding from the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact. I was able to see them in their social milieu and thought it would be incredibly helpful to spend the summer observing them in a clinical setting. I wanted to be able to compare the effects of psychiatric intervention and pharmaceutical intervention.

Jonathan: Sonia approached me with a project that I thought addressed an important gap in the neuropsychological understanding of psychotropic drugs in children. She then developed a funding proposal and submitted it to Dartmouth’s Undergraduate Advising and Research office so that she could spend the entire summer shadowing doctors in a hospital environment.

Having to prepare a professional proposal is an education in itself. She did a terrific job and the funding was approved.

The title of your research project “Pediatric polypharmacy: prevalence in a mixed clinical sample” sounds daunting, but it’s a pretty compelling topic.

Sonia: We’re studying the medical histories of children at the Pediatric Neuropsychology clinic at Dartmouth-Hitchcock who have been prescribed psychotropic medications. We’re looking for evidence of overmedication, in light of what the research already shows about adverse side effects and the potential interactions of multiple drugs.

16 | admissions.dartmouth.edu

Jonathan: We want to raise awareness about the efficacy of these medications. Only a few psychotropic medications—and only in the treatment of certain disorders—are effective in reducing irritability and aggression. For the general population, there is no evidence-base for managing behavior with a prescription.

Sonia: Yes, what should be the first line of defense? Psychotropic or psychosocial? We want to find out if clinicians and parents are relying too heavily on the hope that a magic pill will immediately eradicate behavioral problems, perhaps bypassing psychosocial interventions that are more gradual and arguably more effective and sustainable.

Apart from your research findings, what have you learned from this collaboration?

Jonathan: After I gave Sonia a broad directive, she flew with the project, developed her own systems, collected meticulous data, then carefully cleaned and processed that data. She continually asked invaluable questions that, as a seasoned clinician, I might have taken for granted. I think it was a rewarding mentoring experience for both of us. And in the end, we’ve opened an important conversation about pediatric pharmacology.

Sonia: Professor Lichtenstein made my learning a priority. Even as I was absorbed in the massive project of cleaning the data we’d gathered, he was suggesting related side projects that added new layers to my learning experience. He was always invested and available to answer questions and talk through ideas, no matter how hectic his schedule. Now, we’re looking at writing up the research for a scholarly journal. I realize that this experience was an unusual opportunity for an undergraduate, but Dartmouth is unusual.

Extraordinary opportunities for learning and mentorship are always just an email away.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

What inspired you to take on this project?

Pictured: At Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where Sonia’s research project took place

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

Walking the Walk B EN S Z UH A J

BEN SZUHAJ ’19 IS A VARSITY CROSS COUNTRY AND TRACK RUNNER AND AN ENGLISH MAJOR AND HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN MINOR FROM PHILADELPHIA, PA. HE HAS PUBLISHED A BOOK OF POETRY, HAS A NOVEL IN PROGRESS, AND PLANS TO WORK AS A CONSULTANT AFTER GRADUATION. HERE HE REFLECTS ON HIS PASSION FOR LEARNING AND HOW THAT HAS EVOLVED AT DARTMOUTH.

I’ve always been a “why” kid. You know the type: always asking, “But why is the sky blue?” or “Why is it hailing in July?” or “Why do you and Dad get to stay up when I have to go to sleep? You’ve had so much more time to be awake to begin with.”

The injustice of early bedtimes aside, my tendency to ask why usually comes from a good place: I earnestly want to understand the things I don’t understand. This is the process of learning and it’s something I love.

The opportunity to learn was what drove me to Dartmouth. Sure, there were beautiful trails for running, interesting and diverse people to befriend, and a phenomenal alumni network. Not to mention the strong sense of community, slew of long-held eccentric traditions, and rich array of opportunities for extra-curricular involvement. Sure, there was all of that. But there was also this rare, endangered thing—the liberal arts—in which I desperately wanted to immerse myself.

Consider my first year. I took French, despite having no background in the language, and studied the link between divinity and currency in the fabulously titled course “God and Money.” I learned about the profound effect bipedalism has had on our species and traced the rise of mass publication and

digital media, two forces that have arguably done more to change the way we think and communicate than anything else in recent history (you wouldn’t be reading this article without them)!

Despite having fantastic professors and a seemingly limitless catalogue of courses, I began to realize something frightening near the end of my first year: I could never fully understand anything.

Though troubled by this at first, I soon learned that the phenomenon was nothing new. It had been written about, discussed, and named by novelist Henry Miller: “In expanding the field of knowledge, we but increase the ‘horizon of ignorance.’” Essentially, the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.

This powerful idea changed the way I approached my education. Now, as I enter my final year at Dartmouth, I find myself deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to expand my horizon. I am thankful that I have a better sense of the boundaries of my understanding and, strangely enough, I am comforted by my ignorance. Because of it, I can proudly say that I still have much to learn.

Indicates location on the Dartmouth Green where Ben is standing.

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ERICA NG ’19 MAJOR: ANTHROPOLOGY MODIFIED WITH HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN, MINOR IN PUBLIC POLICY HOMETOWN: SEATTLE, WA

“I didn’t think I would come out of college a two-time national champion in anything,” says Erica Ng ’19. Her championships came as a member of the Dartmouth women’s ultimate team, which won its second national title in 2018. Erica’s curiosity has led her to many opportunities she couldn’t possibly have foreseen.

Dartmouth is one of those opportunities. Erica was hesitant about even applying. “I just thought that Ivy League schools weren’t a thing for me,” she says. But her curiosity won out. She applied, was accepted, and enrolled at Dartmouth, learning in the process to expect the unexpected. Erica spent the summer after her first year interning with a Dartmouth alum in the Center for Perinatal Advocacy at Providence Hospital. Working with predominantly low-income women and women of color, Erica conducted patient training on sudden infant death syndrome.

Erica had another unanticipated adventure during the fall of her sophomore year: a fully-funded program in South Africa as part of her anthropology class. At an excavation in Malapa, Erica’s classmates found an early hominid hip fossil. “When I got back, my parents asked, ‘Are you doing archaeology? Are you Indiana Jones?’” she says. Her curiosity piqued, Erica logged two more study abroad experiences, first to Buenos Aires for an immersive Spanish program, then to New Zealand for more anthropological work, and will soon embark on a trip to Colombia with her public policy class.

Erica’s academic wanderlust led her to a major in anthropology modified with human-centered design and a minor in public policy. “I haven’t counted all the syllables in my degree, but it’s way too many,” she laughs. “The way I make sense of it is that all the disciplines are about people. I want to understand how to design and advocate for solutions that meet people’s needs.”

To Erica, navigating her way through courses and opportunities is just a matter of doing what she loves. “My advice is to spend time getting to know yourself and trying out different things that you might like. Set aside thoughts of ‘I’ve got to get rolling on this life plan.’ I think falling down the rabbit hole of what I find interesting—instead of forcing myself to follow a particular path with steps that are already clearly defined—has really paid off for me.”

—Jimmy Nguyen ‘21

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Embracing

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

the Unforeseen

Pictured: On the staircase in Robinson Hall, home to several of Dartmouth’s adventurous clubs

HOMETOWN: BEND, OR MAJOR: NEUROSCIENCE

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

RESIDENT: MAX FARRENS ’20

Living the Green

Undergraduate Advisors (UGAs) live in residence halls alongside their peers and host floor meetings, plan social events, and serve as invaluable resources to other students. 3D sat down with Max Farrens ’20, a UGA for first-year students, to find out what it’s like to hold this challenging and multifaceted role.

What inspired you to be a UGA? Max: It was actually because of my first-year UGA. He was the perfect mix of interested, sympathetic, and hands-off. He knew we didn’t need our hands held, but he made it clear that he was always available to listen. I could go to him, but he was also one of my friends. So, I felt like I should try to pay that forward.

What else are you involved with on campus?

Max: I work in the Social Neuroscience Lab doing research on how the brain handles social situations and information. I also have co-led the Dog Day Players improv comedy group and run with Dartmouth Endurance Racing Team (Dert).

Did anything surprise you about being a UGA? Max: Yeah—UGAs have a sticker on the back of their IDs that allows them to get free dessert at Morano Gelato if you bring your residents along. It wound up growing into this de facto social group.

And I ended up becoming really good friends with the members of ‘The Gelato Club.’ I came to realize that even though you might live with people who don’t share any of your interests, you can still find them pretty cool.

Clearly it was something that you enjoyed, since you’re doing it for a second year.

Max: I was super nervous at first! Last year I was a sophomore, and as a first-year UGA, I was just one year older than the residents I was advising, but it actually worked out great. I shared my own experiences and hoped they would learn from my mistakes. I helped my residents choose their next classes as I was choosing my own. I found I could give them incredibly up-to-date advice and advise them on things like declaring a major because

I’d just dealt with the same things myself. Also, it’s a nice way to bond with underclassmen (I’ll have the chance to get to know at least 30 of you who are reading this!)

Do your residents take your advice?

Max: It’s a two-way street—as I try to advise my residents, they continually give me new ideas and help me hone my own thinking. That’s one of the things that makes the position so rewarding—and I love talking about classes I’ve taken and things I’ve loved at Dartmouth. If I can help someone else enjoy Dartmouth in the same way, that’s pretty cool.

One of the residents I was closest to decided he wanted to apply to be a UGA, and I guided him through the process just as my first-year UGA had guided me. I’m hoping we’ll keep passing the torch.

—Caroline Cook ‘21

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DEVIN SINGH ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF RELIGION

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Good PHOTOGRAPH BY NAME

At a glance, Professor Devin Singh’s life and work are woven from unlikely connections. Art, religion, economics, and even martial arts converge in his research and teaching. These interests—and the connections between them—piqued his curiosity from an early age. Having grown up in a multifaith, multinational family in Cameroon and Morocco, questions about cross-cultural and interreligious issues arose naturally for him: Why do people have certain ideas about God? What is the “good life”? What is ultimate meaning?

“I did my undergrad in a liberal arts context similar to Dartmouth’s, very much open to exploring big questions of meaning and significance,” he says. Today, Professor Singh studies connections among religion, politics, and economics—particularly links between God and money. His most recent work focuses on how the language of debt has blended with ideas of guilt and sin in different religious traditions, and how it’s been used to describe humans’ relationships to deities. These connections, Professor Singh suggests, could account for the power of debt in modern society.

Much like his research, his classes draw from multiple disciplines, including his own personal interests like the visual arts, guitar, and kung fu. Creative expression, kinesthetic approaches, and interaction are all part of his teaching. Whether they’re performing scenes from The Merchant of Venice that explore ideas of debt and lending or analyzing capitalism and commodification in Beyoncé lyrics (listen closely to “Irreplaceable”), Professor Singh’s students engage broadly.

Classroom discussion encompasses everything that matters most to him about teaching: fostering and deepening a sense of empathy in his students. Dialogue and debate challenge us to inhabit perspectives that might not necessarily align with our own. “I’ve appreciated Dartmouth students’ willingness to be down-to-earth, open, and transparent about their concerns,” he says. “They’re willing to be real rather than maintaining a front of having everything together.”

Ten minutes into our conversation, Professor Singh offered me the same advice that shaped his own career: explore. “Maybe there’s something in biology or astronomy that could be really interesting for you,” he told me (an English major), “so don’t shut that out.” Committed to furthering a legacy of investigating what matters, he integrates the existential and the practical, the personal, the academic, and the esoteric into his teaching. He empowers his students to dig deep into what matters most to them and to find and forge their own enriching connections, however unlikely they may seem.

—Sofía Carbonell Realme ’20

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON NAMEHAMERMAN

Life Lessons

Pictured: In the Tower Room in Baker-Berry Library

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was a Dartmouth alum who helps inspire our adventuresome spirit.

oh, the places you’ll

go!

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Fifteen Dartmouth students spent their spring terms riding camels in the Sahara Desert, practicing Arabic with Moroccan shopkeepers, and climbing the tallest mountain in North Africa. Offered by Dartmouth’s Middle Eastern Studies Program (MES), the Foreign Study Program (FSP) to Fez, Morocco is all about learning in multiple dimensions.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT GILL

“The most profound experience was living with a Moroccan family,” says Jonas Stakeliunas ’20. His hosts were his introduction to a new culture. He observed Ramadan with them, cheered for soccer teams with them, and even participated in their neighbor’s wedding. Cultural immersion supplements a rigorous academic program: four hours a day practicing Arabic at the American Language Center in Fez in addition to a course taught by a Dartmouth professor. Though most students on the trip had no prior Arabic experience, they learned quickly. “After two months, I was very comfortable with the language on a conversational level.

You really have every opportunity to get better,” Jonas says.

Students spent one week in the middle of their experience traveling as a class, visiting the Sahara Desert, and staying overnight in tents with the local Amazigh people. The following weekend, when they had the option to explore the country on their own, they headed off in many different directions— for example to Chefchaouen, also known as the “Blue City,” or Meknes, one of the ancient capitals of Morocco. “Our director made it clear that he was trying to get us out every weekend to see and learn more about the country,” Marlene Arias ‘19 says.

Study abroad programs aren’t limited to students majoring in that discipline. While Marlene is studying Middle Eastern studies and government, Jonas is a history major. “I never thought I’d have

a chance to go to Morocco,” he says. “In fact, I didn’t have any conception about all the different places you could go to study abroad.” Both Marlene and Jonas were on their second Dartmouth trips.

Marlene spent time in Kuwait through an internship program while Jonas traveled to China earlier in his sophomore year through another FSP. “I think it helped me transform,” he says. “I came back to Dartmouth and looked at things through different eyes with a more open outlook to the world.”

—Caroline Cook ‘21

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

MARY FLANAGAN SHERMAN FAIRCHILD DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR IN DIGITAL HUMANITIES

MARY FLANAGAN HAS PRODUCED PIONEERING GAMES, MIND-EXPANDING PERFORMANCE ART, AND CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ARTICLES AND BOOKS. THE EPICENTER OF ALL THIS WORK IS HER INTERDISCIPLINARY GAME RESEARCH LABORATORY TILTFACTOR, WHERE SHE AND HER TEAM CREATE GAMES THAT REINFORCE HUMANISTIC PRINCIPLES WHILE MAXIMIZING THE ELEMENT OF FUN. FLANAGAN WAS RECOGNIZED THIS YEAR WITH THE CLASS OF ’64 OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AWARD FOR THE DEEP EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND SOCIAL CHANGE SHE MAKES POSSIBLE THROUGH TILTFACTOR.

You are melding so many frontiers as a game designer, a futurist, an educator, a scholar, a poet, and a writer. And you addressed the World Economic Forum this year, too. What did you talk about?

Your interest in games runs the gamut from technical invention to social intervention to scholarly investigation. You have a book in the works with a colleague at MIT—but also an exhibition of poems?

My WEF talk was called “Game Changers: Playing Games for Good.” I talked about using games as vehicles for social and behavioral transformation. When people play, they feel free. They’re more open to rethinking assumptions and trying new things. My students learn about the power—and the ethics—of technology. And they’re learning how to use games to advance a cultural overhaul.

Yes, an exhibition of poems—digital poems that computationally morph into new pieces of literature. The book that I’m working on with Mikael Jakobsson from MIT looks at how board games over the centuries shaped opinions that led to colonialism. They’re both—very different—works in progress.

We heard an interview you gave on NPR’s Weekend Edition. You were talking about the astonishing impact of your card game “Buffalo.”

Yes, “Buffalo: The Name Dropping Game.” The idea is to shift people’s thinking about biases and stereotypes. After just 20 minutes of play, the study participants we observed scored better on a standard psychological test for tolerance. The goal is to create games that sway people toward positive social attitudes and behaviors but to be purposeful with a light touch. People don’t like to be told what to think.

In the courses you teach and in your research lab Tiltfactor, your students get to create prototypes of games. What is it about the creation of games that makes it so powerful as a learning tool?

Games are broadly interdisciplinary. They encompass computer science, psychology, sociology, music, art, neuroscience, and more. That’s what the liberal arts is all about. We teach our students to think across disciplines. They develop the ability to attack problems, ask productive questions, and invent fresh solutions. And they learn to be learners, because in the 21st century, the world—and the workplace—are changing at a meteoric rate. Sixty percent of the jobs out there now will alter significantly or vanish altogether. Dartmouth students leave here very much prepared for a high level of uncertainty.

Your students often say they find your courses, your research, and your mentoring transformational. What is your teaching philosophy?

To be effective, teachers must share their enthusiasm. When we’re inspired, we inspire others. It’s contagious. But more than that, Dartmouth is a special place. The students here are mature, creative thinkers. They’ve come here for intellectual exploration. We investigate things together, succeeding and failing and discovering together. I get to know them very well, and that matters.

Congratulations on winning the Award of Distinction at the PrixArts Electronica in Austria. Tell us about the work you presented.

The prize was for an art installation called [Help Me Know the Truth]. As visitors enter the gallery, they snap selfies in a small photo booth. After I apply noise algorithms to generate two slightly different versions of their faces, their images are then immediately viewable by exhibition-goers, who are tasked with matching photos with text labels. The exercise reveals unconscious responses to certain facial features. Do we rate certain faces more trustworthy than others, for example? The intent behind the work is to question how accurately computational neuroscience techniques can uncover the categorizing systems of the mind and whether they are subject to socially constructed fears and values. We don’t always know the answers, but uncertainty is an exciting invitation to look for them.

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RAFAEL ROSAS ’20 MAJOR: ENGINEERING SCIENCES, MINORS IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND EARTH SCIENCES HOMETOWN: SAN DIEGO, CA

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

Free-Range Inspirations

Pictured: In Mink Brook Nature Preserve just off campus

Rafael “Rafa” Rosas ’20 took the earth science class “Evolution of Earth and Life” last winter—and it has taken hold of his imagination. Some people might have finished the course when they submitted the final exam, but not Rafa. “Every time I fly,” he says, “I want to sit in the window seat to spot the features we studied in the landscape below and identify how they were formed.”

The same goes for solid ground. “Whenever I drive around New England,” says the Californian, “I can spot rock and know how and when it formed. The class conceptually changed me and taught me what I now consider essential everyday skills.”

Along with skills came inspiration. The course encouraged him to apply for an undergraduate fellowship designing what he describes as a “remote sensor system that will map water pollutants anytime, anywhere.” The project combined two academic disciplines. “Environmental science showed me where to look, and engineering instructed me how to build,” he explains. Rafa’s system—inspired by a visit to relatives in Mexico—will help officials worldwide to monitor their local water quality.

Rafa’s social interests range as wide as his academic ones.

“Latin American Student Association meetings are among my happiest times here,” he says. “Whenever I run into friends from the group—in the dining hall, in the library, or crossing the Green—we speak to each other in Spanish. It’s a powerful way for us to occupy space.” His fraternity offers another community.

“Most of my best friends are people I met through the house. I didn’t know them my first year and might not have interacted with them as deeply had I not joined. The experience has taught me a lot about how to approach people at Dartmouth. Basically, everyone has the capacity to surprise you.”

Rafa is adamant that popular perceptions of fraternities and sororities are incomplete. “I’ve learned a lot about debate, discussion, compromise, camaraderie, and self-governance,” he says.

“Houses have budgets to balance, events to organize, communities to build, and physical space to maintain.” Whether it’s about how to promote healthy sexual relations or how to make the best nachos, civil disagreement abounds—which wouldn’t be possible without the care his community members have for one another.

“Everyone is super supportive, and I’m very thankful for having ended up here,” says Rafa. His social and academic approaches run parallel: people or ideas, he runs toward what he loves.

—Sarah Lehan ‘20

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ON

COURSE

What are Dartmouth students studying?

In every issue, we feature a class plucked somewhat randomly from a deep reservoir of fascinating courses.

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SPAN 2: Introductory Spanish

Learning a new language can be uncomfortable. Professor John Rassias knew it when he created his eponymous Rassias Method during his time at Dartmouth. Originally designed to train members of the Peace Corps, it integrates rhythm, sound, and movement into exercises aimed at mitigating inhibitions and accelerating the learning process. Trained students—often native speakers—known as drill instructors lead exercises and happily engage in conversation. I should know; I’m one of them.

Yes, drill consists of fixed exercises, and yes, repetition and conjugation are important elements, but, ultimately, these sessions are meant to get you talking—and they do. The introductory Spanish courses that I support focus increasingly on culture—including pop culture—and songs and music videos often form part of drill sessions. Different games do too, depending on the instructor. Personally, I like to treat my drillees to a highly academic Power Point presentation on the Spanish slang that I happen to be familiar with. It’s part of the language too, after all—and knowing those expressions might come in handy some day when traveling to a Spanish-speaking corner of the world.

The best thing about drill? It works. After completing as few as two courses, students are prepared for Language Study Abroad (LSA) programs around the world. Since drill instructors are often international students and native speakers like me, language students are likely to meet people from across the world before they travel there themselves. Intensive and informal, drill confirms the power of close connections to enhance learning.

—Sofía Carbonell Realme ’20

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DON HAMERMAN

ALUMNI WHO CARRY DARTMOUTH INTO THE WORLD

upward

onward &

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ACTOR, AUTHOR, AND COMEDIAN MINDY KALING ’01 RETURNED TO DARTMOUTH FOR THE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS IN 2018. BELOW IS AN EXCERPT OF HER ADVICE TO THE GRADUATING CLASS.

My point is, you have to have insane confidence in yourself, even if it’s not real. You need to be your own cheerleader now, because there isn’t a room full of people waiting with pom poms to tell you, “You did it! We’ve been waiting all this time for you to succeed!”

So, I’m giving you permission to root for yourself. And while you’re at it, root for those around you, too. It took me a long time to realize that success isn’t a zero-sum game. Which leads me to the next part of my remarks.

I thought I might take a second to speak to the ladies in the audience. Guys, take a break; you don’t have to pay attention during this part.

Maybe spend the next 30 seconds thinking about all the extra money you’ll make in your life for doing the same job as a woman. Pretty sweet.

Hey girls, we need to do a better job of supporting each other. I know that I am guilty of it too. We live in a world where it seems like there’s only room for one of us at the table. So when another woman shows up, we think, “Oh my God, she’s going to take the one woman spot!

That was supposed to be mine!”

But that’s just what certain people want us to do! Wouldn’t it be better if we worked together to dismantle a system that makes us feel like there’s limited room for us? Because when women work together, we can accomplish anything. Even stealing the world’s most expensive diamond necklace from the Met Gala, like in Ocean’s 8, a

movie starring me, which opens in theaters June 8th. And to that end, women, don’t be ashamed to toot your own horn like I just did.

Okay, guys, you can listen again. You didn’t miss much. Just remember to see Ocean’s 8, now playing in theaters nationwide. Ocean’s 8: Every con has its pros.

I’ve covered a lot of ground today, not all of it was serious, but I wanted to leave you with this: I was not someone who should have the life I have now, and yet I do. I was sitting in the chair you are literally sitting in right now, and I just whispered, “Why not me?” And I kept whispering it for seventeen years; and here I am, someone that this school deemed worthy enough to speak to you at your commencement.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, but especially not yourself. Go conquer the world. Just remember this: Why not you? You made it this far.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGES

ALEXANDER COTNOIR ’19 MAJOR: BIOLOGY HOMETOWN: NEWPORT, VT

& MATTHEW AYRES PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND CHAIR OF GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, ECOSYSTEMS & SOCIETY; ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF ARCTIC STUDIES

ALEXANDER COTNOIR ’19 SPENT HIS SUMMER LIVING IN THE WOODS, PUTTING THE BREADTH OF HIS LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION TO USE, AND MAKING HIS MARK ON A GENERATIONS-LONG ECOLOGICAL STUDY AT DARTMOUTH—ALL MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE SUPPORT OF PROFESSOR MATTHEW AYRES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE ADVISING AND RESEARCH OFFICE.

How did you two start working together?

Why study science at a liberal arts school?

Alexander: During my first spring at Dartmouth, I took Matt’s introductory ecology course. I was planning to be a history major, but thanks to that class, I’m now integrating environmental studies, biology, and geography. I realized that ecology was not just a personal passion, but something extremely valuable for understanding the natural world and how the planet is changing.

Alexander: Science is all about having a balanced perspective. I’m focusing on vegetation, parental care, and predation on these warblers, but I cannot capture everything with this one snapshot of the natural world. That has a lot of parallels with a liberal arts education: you have your concentration, but you can’t lose sight of the whole. To be a good scientist, you need to be a good storyteller, you need to have an eye for art, you need to be a good writer, you need to be good at presenting your ideas. At Dartmouth, you get to practice all those things.

Alexander: Matt told me about Dartmouth’s collaboration with the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. There was an opportunity to work with Black-throated Blue Warblers, and that’s where it all started.

A profound bird, it sounds like?

Matt: These warblers are a model for how we understand migratory birds, but we know essentially nothing about what happens after they leave the nest. The fledge period, just after they have left the nest but have not started migration, is a time of great peril and almost certainly important for determining warbler abundance.

Alexander: They’re just learning to fly and feed themselves, so they’re pretty vulnerable to predators. I followed fledge nests on a GPS map and recorded what tree species and height in the canopy they foraged, what they consumed, and how the parents interacted with them. We wanted to understand how parental care extending beyond the nestling state might improve their survival.

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At a lot of larger institutions, research like this would be done mostly with graduate students.

Matt: We have people at all levels working together. The research I’m working on almost always emerges from a question that came from students working with me. Some years later, I find myself working on exactly that question with a new batch of students who are now inspiring the next level of questions.

You have plenty of friends who are doing stuff like this, don’t you, Alexander?

Alexander: I have quite a few—I can think of at least eight or nine of my friends who are doing projects like this, in very different realms.

Matt: They’re authentic members of serious research groups, something that would be really tough at a larger institution, and here—here it’s just natural.

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

Matt: Dartmouth has always been “the place in the forest”—it’s part of our culture here, and that’s why we have such a great ecology program, because people like Alexander participate.

Pictured: In College Park, a 35-acre green space in the middle of campus

HANOVER VALE ’20 MAJOR: GEOGRAPHY, MINOR IN ENGINEERING SCIENCES HOMETOWN: WILMINGTON, MA

Hanover “Han” Vale ’20 proves that at least some college students can cook. After high school, she worked at a high-end restaurant and deferred enrolling at Dartmouth to attend Tante Marie, a culinary institution outside London that mixes a French focus with sessions on international cuisines.

The intercultural experience reflected Han’s culinary philosophy. “I don’t have a favorite cuisine,” she says. “I cook whatever I feel at the time. My grandmother is from the Philippines, so I still find it comforting to cook adobo or other Filipino dishes. But for the most part, I respect the merits of all cuisines. I love a good deli sandwich for the road.”

Tante Marie sharpened Han’s knife skills and her curiosity, too.

“What does it mean to be using so much butter, so much red meat, so much salt?” she wondered. “What are the implications of these ingredients, both for the environment that produces them and the populace that consumes them?” Han has found answers to these questions—but also more questions—in her classes, library trips, and coffee dates with professors at Dartmouth. “If you’re curious about something here, you have all the agency in the world to find answers independently,” she says. From books on sustainable fisheries and indigenous seed-saving to classes in resource management, equitable resource distribution, and food insecurity, Han pursues topics fundamental to her mission.

Outside of class, she explores ideas more casually. She founded the Thirdspace Project to combine food systems, sustainability, and fine dining in an accessible way. Students discuss topics like the local food movement: how it’s defined, whether it’s accessible or imaginary, and how it impacts their own lives. They do so over dishes like beets with apple cider vinegar or maple dill white bean puree on sprouternickel—all made by Han. The meals are high-end, but the conversations are universal. “Fine dining feeds only individuals who can afford it,” Han says, “but everybody deserves a great, out-of-the-ordinary meal.”

This fall, Han will travel to Kosovo with the United Nations to study post-conflict food infrastructure. During winter break, thanks to a Mellon Mays fellowship, she will visit the Philippines to start her thesis research on the Green Revolution’s impact on Filipino cuisine—and how that change in cuisine affected culture and health. No matter what she discovers there, one detail is certain. “My culinary education isn’t over,” she says. “It’s just begun.”

—Sarah Lehan ‘20

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Food

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

for Thought Pictured: In the kitchen at Dartmouth’s newly renovated Moosilauke Ravine Lodge

Application Deadlines & Financial Aid November 1 January 2 February 1 March 1

Early Decision Application and Financial Aid Regular Decision Application Regular Decision Financial Aid Transfer Application and Financial Aid

With an average grant of more than $51,000, Dartmouth is committed to meeting the full demonstrated need of all students—regardless of who you are or where you’re from.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ELI BURAKIAN ’00

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

Courses of Study The liberal arts shape the Dartmouth experience, creating an academic culture imbued with critical thinking and creativity. One that promotes experimentation, reflection, learning, and leadership.

A curriculum where poetry and neuroscience are natural partners and collaboration across disciplines happens organically. A course of study without boundaries. Forget the intellectual lines people draw. You won’t find them here.

African and African American Studies Ancient History Anthropology Applied Mathematics for Biological and Social Sciences m Applied Mathematics for Physical and Engineering Sciences m Art History Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages Astronomy Biological Chemistry M Biology Biomedical Engineering Sciences M Biophysical Chemistry M Chemistry Classical Archaeology Classical Languages and Literatures Classical Studies Cognitive Science M Comparative Literature M Complex Systems m Computational Methods m Computer Science Digital Arts m

Though the digital arts minor has its home in computer science, the program is a vibrant and interdisciplinary combination of computer science, film studies, psychological and brain sciences, studio art, music, and theater.

Even if you have no background in computer science, you’ll be using digital software to create three-dimensional rooms or designing your own animated films in just a few terms.

Earth Sciences Economics Education m Engineering Physics M Engineering Sciences English Environmental Earth Sciences Environmental Science m Environmental Studies Film and Media Studies French French Studies M Geography German Studies Global Health m Government History Human-Centered Design m International Studies m Italian Italian Studies M Jewish Studies m Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies Linguistics Markets, Management, and the Economy m Materials Science m Mathematical Biology m Mathematical Finance m Mathematical Logic m Mathematical Physics m Mathematical Data Science M Mathematics Medieval and Renassiance Studies m Middle Eastern Studies Music Native American Studies Neuroscience Operations Research m

Philosophy Portuguese (Lusophone Studies) Physics Psychology Public Policy m Quantitative Social Science Religion Romance Languages M Romance Studies M Russian Russian Area Studies Social Inequalities m Sociology Spanish (Hispanic Studies) Statistics m Studio Art Sustainability m Theater Urban Studies m Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies m = minor only M = major only

Can’t decide what to study? It’s not uncommon for Dartmouth students to double major or modify their major.

A modified major consists of 10 courses, six in one field and four in a second— or even third—field. For example, you could modify your biology major with anthropology, public policy, or mathematics, among others.

Financial aid can be confusing.

We’re working to make it less so.

The MyinTuition Quick College Cost Estimator asks only six questions to provide an early estimate of what a year at Dartmouth could cost for your family. Go to dartgo.org/quickcost to get help anticipating your college costs.

admissions.dartmouth.edu | 43

ILLUSTRATION BY MENGXIN LI

POINTS

OF

MUSINGS ON THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PROCESS

DEPARTURE

Now You’re Talking!

You click submit, think “Phew,” and reflect on how glad you are to have the application process behind you. But later, you receive an email asking if you’d like to be interviewed by a Dartmouth alum.

New questions flood your mind: “Do I have to?

What will it be like? Who will interview me? And what are they really looking for?”

We reached out to four of the thousands of Dartmouth alumni who volunteer their time to interview applicants: Kamni Vijay ’95, Sean Anthony ’06, Michelle Dorion ’83, and Margo Miller ’89. Their experiences at Dartmouth and beyond are as diverse as the places they now call home—Kamni in San Francisco is almost half a world away from Michelle and Margo in London, with Sean in between in Ohio—but the advice they offer has several common threads.

The interview is optional for Dartmouth, but if you are offered one, there’s no reason not to take advantage of the opportunity. The interviewer is there to share your voice and story with the admissions office and to answer any questions you might have about the College. Sean points out that “interviewers want to see someone from their area attend Dartmouth” and that their first inclination is to seek reasons to advocate for you.

Your interview may happen in a coffee shop, office, or other public space. Or it might happen wherever you are—some applicants interview via Skype, for example. If you’re one of them,

ensure you have connected with your interviewer and traded at least one message on the platform before the interview day. If you interview in person, don’t be surprised if the setting feels a bit like a job interview. Margo and her team interview at an office in London, and many students get to know each other as they arrive for their interviews. One difference between Margo’s setup and an actual job interview: an alum on the team serves as a host in the waiting area, making sure students are comfortable.

Don’t be put off if your interviewer is scribbling as you talk. It’s likely that they’ll interview more than one applicant, and they want to make sure that they remember your voice and vibe as accurately as possible. The questions your interviewer asks will help them get a sense of what you’re passionate about and how you might contribute to the Dartmouth community. We’ll already have some sense of that from your application and from your recommendations, of course, but the interview gives us a chance to see you through the eyes of someone who may be meeting you for the first time. Our interviewers know Dartmouth well and want to understand how your voice might shape this place.

Your interviewer might also expect you to have questions, but don’t feel constrained by expectations of what you should ask. “Questions don’t even have to be about Dartmouth,” says Michelle.

“They can be about life, career choices, or subject matter. Anything that improves the conversation and leaves the interviewer wanting to root for the student is a good question.” After reflecting on the conversation, your interviewer will consolidate any notes and share them with the admissions office.

As for the people on the other side of the conversation, remember that they were once in your shoes. Your interviewer applied to Dartmouth, too, and likely had an interview as part of the application process. Dartmouth alumni are busy people, often with professional and family obligations, but they’re people, first and foremost. They run late for things occasionally and will understand if you do, too—just call or text…or come as you are. One of Kamni’s interviewees, racing to the meeting from a school talent show, arrived in full costume and makeup.

More than anything else, your interviewers are looking for reasons to support your candidacy for admission to Dartmouth. That’s why they volunteer. They love connecting with people and sharing the Dartmouth experience that shaped their lives. And they’re not just advocating for you on the condition that you love Dartmouth: all remarked that they leave their interviews feeling energized by their conversations with applicants and excited about their futures, whether they end up at Dartmouth or not.

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ROBYN MILLAN MARGARET ANNE AND EDWARD LEEDE ‘49 DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORSHIP IN PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

“First-year students come in thinking they know physics pretty well, then a whole new world opens,” says Professor Robyn Millan.

And that, I can confirm—I’m a veteran of her mind-boggling intro physics course. An experimental space physicist, Professor Millan focuses on the Van Allen Belts in the outermost reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. But her work is as wide-ranging as it is collaborative. She pioneers the future of small satellites with COSPAR (the Committee on Space Research), leads a project called BARREL (an effort to launch balloons into near-space to study high energy particles that enter Earth’s atmosphere), and has been recognized for her contributions to space research by NASA. Along the way, Professor Millan makes every effort to get undergraduates involved in her work. “We’ve brought students to Sweden and Antarctica,” she says. “Even when they work in the lab here at Dartmouth, they are part of a significant collaboration.” Oftentimes, it’s her students’ curiosity that sparks her involvement in new projects. One undergraduate tried to create nuclear fusion in a lab and ended up with a pulsating ball of purple plasma. “Although I studied plasma physics,” she notes, “I’d never actually made one.”

Professor Millan sees herself as a mentor and counts watching students morph from nervous first-years into fully-fledged research colleagues as among the most rewarding aspects of being a Dartmouth professor. “I get to see the excitement in students develop,” she comments, “and it’s great for them, too, because they get to see what it’s like to do real science.” One former student worked on balloon prototypes during her time at Dartmouth and went on to become a mission manager at SpaceX. “I was able to Skype her into my Physics 13 class last year,” Professor Millan recalls, “and she told me that the hands-on experience at Dartmouth is what helped her get her job.”

Not all of Professor Millan’s work is in the upper atmosphere.

When she’s not studying the ways of the universe, she’s involved with local search and rescue and has a canine companion that assists in her efforts. In fact, she often invites her Labrador Finnegan into her office hours, giving students an additional incentive to consult with her often—and make a furry new friend.

—Brian Drisdelle ‘21

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Wide Pictured: In front of Wilder Hall, home of the physics department

PHOTOGRAPH BY DON HAMERMAN

Open Space

: May the (Frozen) Force Be with You

Note: The officers of the College believe that the information contained herein is accurate as of the date of publication, and they know of no significant changes to be made at the College in the near future. However, Dartmouth reserves the right to make, from time to time, such changes in its operations, programs, and activities as the Trustees, faculty, and officers consider appropriate and in the best interests of the Dartmouth community.

Equal Opportunity: Dartmouth is committed to the principle of equal opportunity for all its students, faculty, staff, and applicants for admission and employment. For that reason, Dartmouth prohibits any form of discrimination against any person on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, national origin, citizenship, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other legally protected status in the administration of and access to the College’s programs and activities, and in conditions of admission and employment. Dartmouth adheres to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations.

48 | admissions.dartmouth.edu

Produced by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions of Dartmouth College Editor: Hayden Lizotte Production Editor: Sara D. Morin Contributing Editor: Topher Bordeau Writing/Editing: Thurston-Lighty, Ltd. Design: Hecht/Horton Partners

PHOTOGRAPH BY ELI BURAKIAN ‘00

Five friends and I climbed the hilly golf course on a blustery day in February. Plastic saucers in hand—and a little embarrassed by how out of breath we were—we eagerly pushed on to a high point. My friend from California, who’d only seen snow fall for the first time a few months earlier, sailed down the tallest hill, joy shining across her face. I followed suit, wearing a Yoda onesie without shame. The theme of the Winter Carnival was Snow Wars, after all.

We’d spent the past 36 hours looking at the ice sculpture contest entries and cheering on brave friends as they jumped in the frozen waters of Occom Pond for the Polar Plunge. We’d watched tutu- and pajama-decked classmates run human dogsled races across the Green and found lots of excuses to drink hot chocolate. It felt appropriate to cap off our Winter Carnival weekend with sledding down the tallest hill in Hanover.

Winter Carnival is among the oldest traditions at dear old Dartmouth. It’s a weekend during the winter term spent reveling in winter sports and all things cold. Students covet the annual posters, which can be seen hanging in dorm rooms for years to come. Though the tradition has evolved—the College no longer crowns a Snow Queen, for example—it remains as important to the students of 2018 Dartmouth as it was to students of 1940 Dartmouth.

The weekend always has a theme, and past ones have paid homage to Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and every Dartmouth student’s new old best friend, Dr. Seuss. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and have fond memories of watching the movies with my father as a kid. I texted him when the theme was announced, and he said, “I’ll send your Yoda onesie.” It felt like fate—my first Winter Carnival, and I’d be here to witness a giant snow sculpture of Darth Vader’s head looming over the Green.

—Caroline Cook ’21

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ELI BURAKIAN ‘00