CAMPUS CURRENT
FAC U LT Y N E WS
Getting the Wheels Turning Thanks to Harvey Mudd’s new Bicycle Revolution course, the city of La Verne now takes active transportation (pedestrian- and bike-friendly options) more seriously. “Last spring we convened a meeting involving citizen advocates and the mayor pro-tem, who met one another for the first time,” says course instructor Paul Steinberg, professor of political science and environmental policy and holder of the Malcolm Lewis Chair of Sustainability and Society. This gathering resulted in well-attended meetings of the Community Outreach Commission and the La Verne Planning Commission, which happens to be headed by a biking enthusiast. Spurred by the Harvey Mudd students, the city council is learning more from its citizens, who are advocating for better bicycle infrastructure.
Guacamole Shortage? Ran Libeskind-Hadas, R. Michael Shanahan Professor of Computer Science, co-authored “Invasive Asian Fusarium: Euwallacea ambrosia beetle mutualists pose a serious threat to forests, urban landscapes and the avocado industry,” which was accepted to the journal Phytoparacitica. The paper describes co-evolution between pairs of species, in this case, the Euwallacea ambrosia beetle and the fungus Fusarium. The researchers used a Harvey Mudd-developed software package called Jane to compare evolutionary trees of the two systems. The algorithm posits the most likely scenario by which the beetle and her best pal fungus developed their 21-million-year-old mutualistic relationship, helping researchers to better understand the pair’s co-evolutionary histories. Article link: bit.ly/RanBeetle16
Cloud Favorite “The bittersweet ways in which our perception frames the passing of life” served as the basis for the title He Watches the Clouds Pass the Window, the latest composition created by Bill Alves, professor of music. The work was performed this fall by Brightwork Newmusic ensemble during the HMC Concert Series. Last November, Alves released Guitars & Gamelan, a collection he composed with the Harvey Mudd College American Gamelan; it showcases a variety of electric and acoustic guitar work over a broad collective of instruments, offering a unique blend of Eastern and Western music that spans a wide array of soundscapes. Guitars & Gamelan was lauded by Robert Carl of Fanfare Magazine, who called Alves “an original and comprehensive musician,” and Carl named the collection on his 2016 recommendations list.
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HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE