Jumbo Magazine - Summer 2016

THE TUFTS ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE ADMISSIONS.TUFTS.EDU

DANIELLE FEERST ’16 HOW HER AWARD-WINNING APP CHANGES LIVES

INTERNATIONAL LITERARY AND VISUAL STUDIES

THE MOST EYE-OPENING MAJOR YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF

TOP TEN

TUFTS STUDENTS’ COOL SIDE PROJECTS

THE SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS AT TUFTS AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR ARTISTS AT TUFTS

DORM LIFE

A DECORATOR’S GUIDE TO DORM LIVING

ISSUE 15 / SUMMER 2016

JUMBO 15

SUMMER ’16 INFOGRAPHIC | 3 LIVING | 7 CLASS HIGHLIGHT | 12 ARTS | 18 ATHLETICS | 19 AROUND TOWN | 26 ADMISSIONS ADVICE | 28 FEATURES

20 INTERNATIONAL LITERARY AND VISUAL STUDIES THE MOST EYE-OPENING major you’ve

PHOTO BY ALONSO NICHOLS/TUFTS UNIVERSITY

never heard of

ON THE COVER IMOGEN BROWDER ‘16 answer ON COVER your THE pressing questions lorem DANIELLE ipsum etcFEERST more ’16 text coming from

Learn about her award-winning app, Mere.

Podium, on page 17.

COVER PHOTOS BY KATHLEEN DOOHER (FRONT), KELVIN MA/TUFTS UNIVERSITY (BACK)

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GREETINGS

FROM THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE I’VE BEEN THINKING about approachability lately, especially as it relates to my job in college admissions. You’ll notice as you begin your college search that admissions professionals are people-people; we are friendly, chatty, and yes, approachable. The very nature of our work demands this, but I have a hard time ignoring the irony of it. What we represent is very much at odds with our open personas—highly selective admissions, ivory towers, and testing requirements hardly scream: “Come talk to us!”

It’s a problem that frustrates me sometimes. But there are other times when it makes me feel empowered, because I know that my colleagues and I are in a position to change the fact that the college application process is so utterly unapproachable. We are able to make this more about kindness, openness, and individuality. By focusing on people—at every step of the process—I know that we are slowly but surely propping open a door that was once closed.

I am grateful for the amount of time my colleagues and I discuss individual perspectives and personalities. When you meet us on the road or on our campus, you’ll notice we often tell stories rather than quote statistics. We introduce the Tufts vibe and stress the importance of fit. As we document the important parts of each application to Tufts, I assure you that we take far more notes about tone and voice than we do about GPA; we quote your funniest quips, relay your most significant stories, and speculate on what kind of teammate, friend, and roommate you’ll be. And come March, as we deliberate in committee, we talk about ambitions, ideas, and experiences for much longer than we talk about test scores. We discuss how insightful or goofy each applicant is; we emphasize each sense of humor and each sense of justice.

I can see the difference this approach makes in our community. By focusing on individuals, my colleagues and I are able to craft incoming classes full of people who are collaborative, engaged, and just plain nice.

I hope you see this individuality in each JUMBO Magazine you receive throughout this process. As you flip through this issue, you will be introduced to people—real people—who learn, teach, and live at Tufts. Do you see yourself—or a future friend or mentor—in any of them? I hope that you do. When you’re done reading, visit our blogs and meet more Tufts community members, including those who work with me in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

After that, visit campus if you can, and listen not for the statistics that always seem to blend together but for stories about those who occupy our classrooms, dining halls, and dorm rooms.

I hope that with each page of JUMBO, you meet someone engaging, friendly, and yes, approachable.

Meredith Reynolds Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions Editor of JUMBO Magazine

Most of what you’re about to read was written by these Tufts students. Keep an eye out for their voices as they introduce you to the Tufts community.

THE TUFTS ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE

KRISKA DESIR ’19 from Orange, NJ

CAMERON HARRIS ’18 from Shelburne, VT

CHARLOTTE GILLILAND ’16 from Birmingham, AL

BENYA KRAUS ’18 from Bangkok, Thailand HANNAH STEINBERG ’17 from Scarsdale, NY

DYLAN HONG ’19 from Phoenix, AZ

OFFICE OF UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS Tufts University / Bendetson Hall 2 The Green / Medford, MA 02155 617 627.3170 / admissions.tufts.edu / jumboeditor@tufts.edu

Produced by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Edited by Meredith Reynolds, Associate Director of Admissions Design by Hecht/Horton Partners

PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

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The number of clubs and organizations that Jumbos can join and lead is in the 300-range. This diagram of the Tufts club scene is just a taste.

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INS & OUTS

SNAPSHOTS FROM THE HILL

SPRING FLING TO CELEBRATE the end of the spring semester, Tufts hosts an annual campus-wide all day

concert on the President’s Lawn featuring three acts: two openers and one exciting headliner.

Students enjoy the spring weather and have some fun before finals begin. This year, Shaggy and BØRNS opened for Matt & Kim. Kim crowd surfed… standing up.

DON’T BLINK. YOU’LL MISS HIM. MITCHELL BLACK ’16 runs circles around us… literally. A

three time national champion in the 800 meters and 2015 Academic All-American, Mitchell was one of the two athletes in the country to receive the NCAA’s 2016 Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship. He’s the first NESCAC athlete ever selected for this prestigious scholarship. Off the track, Mitchell is a double major in mechanical engineering and astrophysics who plans to be an astronaut.

SHEER A CAPPELLA

@MONACOANTHONY TWEETS: FOLLOWING TUFTS PRESIDENT TONY MONACO

on Twitter often gives us FOMO. Like the time he let us know Kristin Chenoweth was just on campus…

Fantastic evening with @KChenoweth @TuftsMusic Granoff Center! Thanks to the 15 students who sang with her & Mary-Mitchell Campbell on piano

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SHIR APPEAL is not your typical a cappella group.

In the past two years, the co-ed Jewish group (one third of which is not Jewish) sang in 6 languages, produced an album that was nominated for 2 CARAs (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards), and toured California and Florida.

Oh, and the name “Shir Appeal?” It’s a bilingual pun; not only does the group have sheer appeal, but “Shir Ha’Peal” means song of the elephant in Hebrew.

JUMBO CHEF: BREAKFAST BURRITO AS MADE BY

Hannah Steinberg ’17 in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center INGREDIENTS

Tortilla, Eggs, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, and Cheddar Cheese DIRECTIONS

Grab a tortilla and put some scrambled eggs on it. Then, layer on some pico de gallo and guacamole. Throw some cheddar cheese on the top and wrap it all up to put in the panini press.

This will be the perfect breakfast burrito to eat in Dewick for Sunday brunch or take on the go to study in Tisch.

GOING THE EX EXTRA MILE AP PILOT ILOT PROGRAM developed by Lisa Gualtieri, an Assistant

KRISTIN CHENOWETH PHOTO BY FEATUREFLASH PHOTO AGENCY/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, ANDERSON COOPER PHOTO BY ALONSO NICHOLS/TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Professor P rofessor of Public Publ Health and Community Medicine at Tufts School S chool of Medicine, Medicin is working towards helping underserved populations get h po healthier. RecycleHealth, created in 2015, cconnects onnects people who need help leading healthier lives with ttrackers rackers to keep them t active. The target population—those suffering from obe obesity, rebounding from surgery, or managing their Diabetes—are Diabetes— using recycled Jawbones and Fitbits provided by Recyc RecycleHealth in the pilot program.

MUNCHIN’ WITH A MISSION PICTURE TEAMS OF 2 devouring a plate of 30 munchkins in less than 2 minutes. This spring,

a dynamic sorority/fraternity duo—Alpha Phi and Pi Delta—co-sponsored their second annual Munchkin Munchoff, and it was just as gross as you’re imagining! All proceeds went to the Jimmy Fund, which supports the fight against cancer at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

EXCOLLEGE CLASS HIGHLIGHT: BASEBALL ANALYTICS IF YOU’RE LOOKING to find a class off the beaten path at Tufts,

look no further than the ExCollege. And if you’ve ever wondered about Big Papi’s Wins Above Replacement or how good by the numbers Clayton Kershaw really is, this course on Baseball Analytics, taught by two Tufts seniors, is perfect for you. Matthew Yaspan and Morris Greenberg both worked as statistical analytics interns for the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals respectively, and shared their realworld knowledge g of statistical modeling and data science skills s with fellow students b by teaching an ExCollege class this his past semester.

MEET THE MEDIA THE SPRING SEMESTER brought some incredible voices to campus, especially for those

interested in journalism and the media. Television journalist and former moderator of NBC News’ Meet the Press David Gregory visited Tufts as part of the Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series. Two months later, Anderson Cooper, anchor of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, discussed contemporary media issues to a full house at the 11th annual Edward R. Murrow Forum.

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Dira is a perfect example of self-directed study; through independent studies, in-depth research, and the creation of a new academic program on campus, she’s been able to study colonialism, economics, and international relations from many angles.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS MAJOR AND ECONOMICS AND COLONIALISM STUDIES MINOR FROM ROCKVILLE, MD AND JAKARTA, INDONESIA 6

PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

DIRA DJAYA

’16

Within minutes of meeting and talking with Dira, it was clear that she has made the most of her four years at Tufts. Dira has not only helped to create the Colonialism Studies minor, but she also took three independent studies, got heavily involved in independent research projects, and recently finished her senior thesis.

During her freshman year, Dira explored classes in many different academic programs, including linguistics, urban studies, and history. It wasn’t until she took a class called History of Modern European Intellectual Thought, however, that she knew she wanted to major in International Relations. This class, taught by Associate Professor of History Kris Manjapra, was one of the first times that Dira was able to deeply explore ideas about race and colonialism, and she began to learn how the education system in the United States very narrowly focused on the western perspective.

After talking with her advisor and realizing that she had very specific interests, Dira shaped curricula for three independent studies. Her face noticeably brightens when she speaks about them. “I [designed] one on post-colonial ontologies,” she explained. “I [looked] at how the studies of ‘self’ differ in colonial and anti-colonial environments.” In another independent study, Critical Political Economy, Dira worked with three different Tufts professors. She used this class as a way to combine her interests in international relations and economics.

For Dira, the beauty of these independent studies was in the fact that they allowed her to hone in on a specific interest while also building very close relationships with the professors. She felt herself growing from their student into their peer. “For me, what made Tufts so life-changing was really my relationship with specific professors…some of my professors have become life mentors for me.”

In my opinion, these impactful relationships are easy to build at Tufts, and Dira agreed with me.

“Looking back, I’ve realized that at Tufts, everyone becomes a better, nicer, more open-minded person.

Everyone here engages in different conversations, because they want to learn each other’s stories.”

—HANNAH STEINBERG ’17

LIVING

THE DECORATORS’ GUIDE TO DORM LIVING

Paige Spangenthal and Samantha Crozier ’19 took their standard Tufts double and turned it into the dorm room envy of all of their hallmates. Here, they’re sharing their top five secrets for a beautifully decorated dorm room. ) Get creative on your walls.

) Coordinate.

) Organization is the key to inner calm in

Covering your walls with pictures of family and friends will remind you of home during your first year away. But always leave space for pictures with your new friends at Tufts. Also mix it up with posters (we love old covers of The New Yorker and impressionist paintings) and a colorful tapestry for some pop. For a vintage touch, we recommend mounting old records on your wall.

You’re able to get in touch with your roommate before you come to Tufts—take advantage of this.

Choose bedspreads that complement each other; do a Target run after you move in to buy a few items together for your walls or desks; maybe even choose a communal wall space that’s reserved for photos of you together!

your dorm room.

Tufts’ beds are adjustable in height, so bring underbed storage units—like drawers or plastic bins—to keep yourself organized. A fold-up chair or floor mat can also be a good thing to have on hand for impromptu visitors and sleepovers! Colorful sticky notes keep you sane during busy times and a fun calendar can both brighten up your room and make finals more manageable. Surround yourself with things that keep you calm, organized, and happy.

) Items from home are great conversation

PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

) String lights are essential.

We got ours from Target and they are shaped like roses and paper lanterns! It’s a great alternative to the bright overhead lights in the room and it adds a cozy touch.

starters.

Paige is from Buffalo, NY and Samantha is from Hawaii. We brought a few interesting and sentimental items from home, like our favorite books, potted plants, and small collections. They’re great conversation-starters for people who visit our room.

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doors, Kofi took it in stride and was ultimately successful in his venture. “My longtime mentor has always said, ‘If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.’ I’ve been rejected in the worst ways and have also been accepted in the best ways. I think it’s just a matter of figuring out how to develop a thick enough skin.”

Kofi credits the Tufts community for allowing him to thrive as a proactive entrepreneur. “There’s no more supportive community when it comes to doing what you want to do,” he said. “The ecosystem for entrepreneurs here is amazing.” The Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies (ELS) program is part of what drew Kofi to apply Early Decision to Tufts. “I fell in love with [two aspects] of Tufts when I came to visit: diplomacy and entrepreneurship.” Kofi’s professors have also played a large part in fostering his entrepreneurial interests: “Gavin Finn [at The Gordon Institute] is unbelievable. He would sit with us during the hardest periods of our startup and give us support.”

I was impressed not only by Kofi’s success in entrepreneurial endeavors, but also by the way he

found the intersection between that aspect of his coursework and his political science major. Kofi says, “For me, political science is about learning to think and sharpening your mind. I’m taking a Poverty and Policy class right now, and there is a lot of overlap [between that and my] Social Innovation class in ELS. For example, you find an issue in society that you want to solve, like lack of clean water.

All of a sudden, you have an idea for a startup that can combat that social issue.” Above all, he’s been challenged and inspired by his classes in both programs. “The [courses at Tufts] just push you, sharpen your thoughts, make you better able to articulate those thoughts, and get you to make sense of difficult information in a concise way.”

“Tufts has given me a lot of love,” Kofi told me.

“I want people to know that when you come to Tufts [everyone is] beautifully talented and ambitious, but they’ll always look to you and cheer you on the most.”

—KRISKA DESIR ’19

PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

Most people wouldn’t know where to begin with starting a business, but Kofi Asante makes it sound easy. “You start with a problem,” he told me. “[You choose] something that you really care about, and you try to find a solution. The solution to that problem is your business. The way your solution runs is your business model. The people whose problem you’re solving are your market. The companies that are already doing what you’re doing are your competition.” And Kofi speaks from experience... a lot of it. He began to gain invaluable experience working with Boston businesses when he was just a sophomore.

Kofi spent his sophomore year building a userbase in Boston for TabbedOut, an app that allows users to pay bar tabs or restaurant checks from their phones. He started from the bottom up: “I went from business to business and negotiated with owners.” To get users, TabbedOut used different marketing strategies: in-app promotions, a referral code model, and raffles. Though walking into Boston businesses as a college sophomore and asking for trust inevitably led to some closed

“There is no more supportive community when it comes to doing what you want to do. The ecosystem for entrepreneurs [at Tufts] is amazing.”

KOFI ASANTE

’17

POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJOR AND ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP STUDIES MINOR FROM PFLUGERVILLE, TEXAS 9

TUFTS’

TOP 10 SIDE PROJECTS

TO CALL A TUFTS STUDENT BUSY WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. ON TOP OF DOUBLE MAJORS, VARSITY PRACTICES, STUDY ABROAD, AND VOLUNTEER COMMITMENTS, JUMBOS ALL SEEM TO HAVE SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON—A SIDE PROJECT THAT REVEALS A DIFFERENT PASSION OR SKILL. HERE ARE SOME OF OUR FAVORITE EXAMPLES:

VYNL “We created an app that provides an easy way for people to listen to music together.

Users can join a virtual room, and seamlessly suggest and vote on [which song they want to hear] next. Vynl is currently connected to Youtube for music playback, with future plans to also connect to SoundCloud, Spotify, and iTunes.”

—Eric Z Chen ’19

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY ACTIVISM “I intern at Somerville Community Corporation (SCC), a [corporation aiming] to sustain affordability and livability in the city. I’ve been working with their community organizing team to work with tenants in the city concerned with displacement, and [I regularly attend] meetings at City Hall to better understand how city officials are dealing with issues such as housing affordability.”

—Rebecca Sinai ’16

SALT WATER, A SHORT FILM

TUFTS MARATHON TEAM

“Max Ribbans ’17 and I wrote, shot, and edited Salt Water over the span of about a week. We screened it as part of the Tufts University Television’s HorrorFest for Halloween, and now we are taking it to local, national, and international festivals.”

—Sofia Adams ’16

This past year, eleven undergraduates took on marathon training as their “side project.”

They trained with the Tufts Marathon Team throughout the winter—going on morning runs with other Tufts students, faculty, and staff—and completed the notoriously difficult race in April wearing their yellow Tufts singlets. Go Jumbos!

SWEET THYME

WHO’S AFRAID OF CANCER?

“Sweet Thyme is a startup baking delivery service that started as a project for my Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies class.

[We ship] quality baking ingredients, premeasured and packaged separately in order to create an authentic baking experience without the hassle of having to buy all of the ingredients in bulk.”

—Olivia Jones ’18

“This booklet is… a humble attempt to spread some hope, faith, and awareness about [cancer] treatment, to let those suffering know that they aren’t alone in this battle, and to instill the idea that there’s life during—as much as after—cancer.”

—Sanya Pradhan ’19

HUJAMBO GROUP

UGLY FOODS JAM COMPANY

TUFTS BANDS

COUPONING FOR A CAUSE

“We believe that cheap access to information [and smart devices] can improve the lives of billions of individuals through education, health care, and commercial services.

We have created our own tablet using lowcost hardware [in addition to] our own Operating System that is lightweight and can provide users with a smooth and reliable experience.”

—Shehryar Malik ’19

“I’ve worked on a project with two friends to address food waste. Ugly Foods seeks to transform aesthetically unappealing fruits and vegetables into jams, jellies, and sauces. Eventually we hope to use exclusively foods that were destined to be wasted to create products that can be sold online and in stores.”

—Chris Wingard ’19

With alums like Timeflies and Guster, it’s no surprise that Tufts is a musical place.

This year, five student bands competed in Battle of the Bands to open for Matt & Kim at our Spring Fling concert.

Through her registered charity, Hannah Steinberg ’17 has donated over $100,000 worth of household items, canned goods, and electronics to homeless shelters and hospitals using her own hidden talent: couponing! “This has become something so much bigger than I would have imagined,” she told The Boston Globe.

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PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

Erica Kemmerling uses mechanical engineering to examine a different kind of machine—the human body.

I’ll be honest: when I think of mechanical engineering, I usually think about things like car or airplane manufacturers. But as I sat down to speak with Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Erica Kemmerling, I began to realize that this field of engineering can extend far beyond man-made machinery to another type of machine entirely: the human body.

Professor Kemmerling’s team researches the human circulatory system and creates models of the body to accurately reproduce blood flow with the goal of advancing health care. By knowing more about the “proper” flow rate of the body, she told me, medical professionals can build better devices to aid the human circulatory system.

Medical devices are constantly changing and developing, and Professor Kemmerling’s research can provide the data for exactly how these devices should evolve. Her research could lead to better stents, for example, which are designed to hold open arteries that are occluded. She also used the example of aneurysm clips and coils, which treat the bulging of vessels that occurs during an aneurysm.

“There are new generations of these products every year. We’re trying to figure out how to make them better, and possibly how to make new devices that solve the same problems but in better ways,” she said.

For instance, one of Professor Kemmerling’s students extracted the geometry of an aorta, the biggest artery in your body, to study its flow. “[With our 3-D printer], we were able to make a model that looks just like a human aorta,” she said.

“It’s okay to take any measurement on that. [For example], we can puncture holes in it for pressure measurements or take any sort of velocity measurements without worrying about hurting the patient.”

Professor Kemmerling chose this area of research because she wanted to work in an area where she felt she could make the most difference.

“I’ve always been interested in fluid mechanics,” she told me. “I wanted to pick an area of fluid mechanics where I could have the greatest impact on people. I thought that health was a good way to do that.”

Professor Kemmerling made it clear that she didn’t want to leave any part of the body unstudied.

“Ultimately, I’d want to develop a complete synthetic model of a person,” she said. “So, the entire circulatory system, and maybe some synthetic lungs, and then [I’d] take really detailed measurements of every aspect of the flow in that person.”

I suppose the connection between mechanical engineering and health should have been more intuitive for me. After all, mechanical engineering is about designing and manufacturing mechanical systems, and what machine is more complex than the human body?

—CHARLOTTE GILLILAND ’16

ERICA KEMMERLING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

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CLASS HIGHLIGHT

MICROBIOLOGY One of the most exciting parts about college is the ability to build a class schedule each semester that you find engaging, challenging, and fun. All Tufts classes fit this description, and we highlight one in each issue of JUMBO to prove it to you.

Imagine making lab sauerkraut as a class project.

Imagine a class field trip titled “The Vermont Cheesetreat.” Imagine working with petri dishes full of in vitro kombucha for your lab credit. Assistant Professor of Biology Benjamin Wolfe’s Microbiology class does all of these things and more as they explore microbes and their importance in farming, food processing, and digestion. It’s a farm-to-gut journey of the microbes in foods like cheese, salami, kombucha, and kimchi.

At the beginning of the semester, Professor Wolfe’s students choose a fermented product that contains a microbiome (a collection of microbes).

They then run experiments on that product for the whole semester. In each lab, students identify, isolate, and characterize a variety of traits for each microbe in his or her fermented food microbiome, while learning about the structure and functions of different cells in class. Students mess around with sauerkraut, examining how ecology impacts fermentation. They stain the roots of leek plants harvested from Professor Wolfe’s garden to observe fungi. They sample cheese, dissect cheese rinds, and study the microbes in things like edamame, pork chops, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. They even look at Swiss cheese and the carbon dioxide in propionic acid bacteria that gives it its characteristic holes.

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Professor Wolfe is passionate about educating the community at large about microbes and their importance in the food we eat and how we digest it. In his spare time, he has contributed to Lucky Peach and Boston Magazine’s blog Chefology, explaining the science behind miso soup and “demystifying” truffles. He was featured on the Netflix series Cooked, discussing how microbial communities that create fermented foods are great model systems of research. He makes appearances at Boston’s Fermentation Festival (yes, that’s a thing), participates in live shows at Boston’s Museum of Science, sets up tents at local farmer’s markets, and organizes a booth at Tufts’ Community Fair for residents of Medford and Somerville. Since this information is about the food we eat every day, Professor Wolfe is adamant that it shouldn’t only live in labs—outreach is a huge part of his work and the class he teaches.

So if you’re wondering why your rotting food smells, or why your Gruyere cheese tastes so good— the answer probably has something to do with microbes. They’re everywhere. Just take Professor Wolfe’s Microbiology class if you don’t believe me… the proof is in the pudding (literally).

—Charlotte Gilliland ’16

ILLUSTRATION BY ©2016 BRIAN STAUFFER C/O THEISPOT.COM

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PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

“As long as students have a lot of imagination and want to build cool things, we can do it here.”

USMAN KHAN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

What would happen if autonomous computers communicated with each other to create extremely detailed data sets of information? Professor Usman Khan is answering this question through his study of distributed intelligence. If a robot with many arms and wheels were controlled by many individual computers, he explained, it could be more efficient, more secure, and more comprehensive in its data gathering. Most robotic devices operate with a central computer that controls everything, but Professor Khan has more ambitious ideas. “[If I] give separate computer[s] to the camera, the microphone, the temperature sensor, and whatever else the robot has on board,” he explained. “All of these computers or controllers [could] collaborate and coordinate, allowing the robot to do more meaningful work. That’s the idea behind distributed or ‘group’ intelligence.” This approach could actually lead to technological advances in security; with various computers doing an assortment of tasks, autonomous computers aren’t vulnerable to harm even if a hacker gains control of one of the computers. With distributed intelligence, we are removing the single point of failure from a system.

Group intelligence, I learned from Professor Khan, can also be applied to a set of multiple machines. Having large groups of robots roaming and collecting information leads to quick and efficient data. After being given a central task, the robots could communicate to determine which areas each will explore. They can then pool the information into a central database.

Why could this be useful? Well, imagine dispersed robots helping firefighters safely gather information about layouts and structures of burning buildings. Imagine the ability to take thousands of small, high resolution images of an object as large as the Statue of Liberty to create a tremendously encapsulating and detailed picture. Imagine quickly assessing damage after a natural disaster or emergency using information gathered simultaneously all over a city or even nation.

All of this amazing research has been done in Professor Khan’s Signal Processing and RoboTic Networks (SPARTN) Lab. Undergraduates in the SPARTN Lab often take very large and visionary ideas—such as distributed intelligence—and try to create them on a smaller scale. Professor Khan

enjoys working with undergraduate students on research, bringing even first semester freshmen into his lab! This summer, Professor Khan is working on projects in collaboration with undergraduates that include image tracking, inverted pendulums, and more.

The opportunities within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are limitless.

“We are pretty much able to do whatever you can imagine,” he said. “As long as students have a lot of imagination and want to build fancy, cool things, we can do it here.” Professor Khan attributes the department’s ability to produce such incredible research to its small size. “I have personally gone to electrical hardware stores with my students in order to pick equipment. The time that we can devote to our students [is huge]. It’s one of the best that I have seen in my own academic career.”

—DYLAN HONG ’19

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HOT ITEMS

FROM A TUFTS ENGINEER EER

We tasked one of our favorite enginerds—Dylan Hong ’19—with choosing seven items that define him and his life at Tufts. Here’s what he came up with:

CAPS

HEADPHONES HEADPH

DOTTI PIXEL ART

Hats are my new obsession!

My favorites are my “The Flash” cap and Tufts cap.

All the style with none of the work!

I didn’t really appreciate great sounding audio as much until I came to Tufts. Walking to classes is the perfect time to explore my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist. Also, these headphones are made out of real wood which is a unique and fun look!

I have this really cool little ttle device that is programmmable through my phone. e. I spent a bit of time doing ing some pixel art, and now the device flashes the pixelated ted emblems of my favorite em superheroes. sup

LAMP I got this lamp that came unassembled. It looks cool on its own but I thought I could still improve it a little bit. I got a colorchanging LED that fits into a regular bulb socket. It’s remote controlled and can slowly transition ansition through colors. It It’s s a great source of ambient light to make my room feel more full.

Did I m make it clear that I really like s superheroes? I have some Funko Pop figures and other little knickknacks to make mak my room feel more fun. TThe little heroes are accompanied by a 3D printed accom elephant and a block ninja elepha gifted to me by one of my high school sc teachers.

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TICKETS

BLUETOOTH BEANIE

Within the last semester I’ve seen a Tufts University musical, multiple movies at the local Somerville Theatre, a play out in Boston, and a Red Sox game. I’ve kept a lot of the ticket stubs because they remind me of some pretty awesome times on campus and in the city.

Winters are definitely cold here and earbuds don’t always work well when I want to keep my ears warm. These beanies have a bluetooth headset built in to keep my ears warm while I’m listening to music!

PHOTOS BY ALONSO NICHOLS/TUFTS UNIVERSITY, TICKET PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK

FUNKO POP FUNK

PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

My friend and roommate Danielle Feerst is one of those people who flawlessly balances everything at once and always manages to smile while doing it.

An Engineering Psychology major, Danielle is the founder and CEO of Podium, a patented application designed to help individuals with autism develop professional and social skills. The app, designed originally for the iPad, provides visual and audio feedback to help the user practice public speaking, presentation skills, vocabulary, and eye contact.

Danielle came to Tufts from South Carolina considering engineering or medicine, but neither quite fit. It was in a final paper for a community health class that she began to research solutions in technology for young adults with higher cognitive autism.

However, she found that almost no commercialized technology existed for young adults with autism, despite research which demonstrated the connection between learning and technology in young adults.

At the same time, Danielle had just joined a social entrepreneurial group on campus that inspired her to develop something she was passionate about. The idea for Podium was born.

“One of the highest unemployment rates exists within the autistic community, due to anxiety and social segregation,” Danielle said. “In a society where we all feel driven to perform, this can cause deep harm for people with special needs or learning disabilities.”

From her desire to design and code the application, Danielle said she chose Engineering Psychology as her major because she could learn about usability testing and end-user research as well as the hard technical skills that app-development requires.

Clearly it worked; Danielle’s company—under its original name, AustimSees—won the Tufts $100K New Ventures Competition in 2014. From there, Danielle went on to work in MassChallenge, a non-profit startup accelerator to further develop the app. Podium also won the Tisch Grant for Civic

Engagement, the $30K Tufts Montle Prize for Entrepreneurial Achievement, and a spot in the semi-finals of Stanford’s BASES product design competition.

Danielle admits success in the startup world isn’t without its challenges. “For me,” she said, “the difficulty is that the competition is sort of thrown at you, especially in accelerators or other funding competitions. I’m not a competitive person. I’m more inwardly competitive—I focus on setting goals for myself and achieving them.”

For the future, Danielle sees herself on a different path. Planning to attain her Master’s in Occupational Therapy at Tufts over the next two years, she hopes to continue bridging the gap between the human experience and technology. I’m constantly inspired by her passion for combining therapeutic services with applications like Podium, and the way she’s empowering people one app at a time.

—CHARLOTTE GILLILAND ’16

Danielle’s award-winning app, Podium, provides visual and audio feedback to help individuals with autism develop professional and social skills.

DANIELLE FEERST

’16

ENGINEERING PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR IN THE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES FROM MT. PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA

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ARTS HIGHLIGHT

ATTENTION ARTISTS!

Our campus is usually pretty quiet in July and August, but this year Tufts saw a good deal of summer excitement. On July 1st, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) officially became part of Tufts University. This new relationship adds a BFA to our undergraduate offerings and a Fenway campus to the Tufts map, but it also gives all of our students access to art classes at the highest level.

With incredible studio space and practicing artists now available to the Tufts community, our faculty are at the ready to build connections between disciplines in areas like architecture, art history, and graphic design.

The July 1st announcement marks a new stage of a seventy-year partnership between the two institutions, which share a mutual respect for interdisciplinary education and faculty-student relationships.

SMFA students find their way as artists by exploring an idea through various areas of study, including but not limited to painting, sculpture, printmaking,

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metal work, and photography. This philosophy, as well as the SMFA’s commitment to faculty accessibility, was the perfect fit for Tufts.

This summer’s new development has also strengthened Tufts’ relationship with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, one of the most comprehensive art museums in the world. The MFA’s collection includes nearly 500,000 pieces, providing inspiration around every corner for Tufts students conducting research, supplementing coursework, or just wandering through gallery space… did we mention the MFA is free for all Tufts students? SMFA students have also had the chance to show their art at the MFA Boston and work with museum curators on innovative exhibits.

There are still so many developments on the horizon. So stay tuned… we can’t wait to see how our students and faculty take advantage of this new undergraduate program, and how the arts permeate other corners of campus life in the years to come.

PHOTOS BY TONY RINALDO

THE SMFA AND THE FUTURE OF THE ARTS AT TUFTS

ATHLETICS

JUMBO HOOPS

PHOTO BY ALONSO NICHOLS/TUFTS UNIVERSITY

In the 2015–2016 season, the Tufts women’s basketball team made an incredible playoff run and came in second in the NCAA Division III National Championship tournament. This tremendous postseason performance was nothing new for the Tufts women; Coach Carla Berube (the 2015 NCAA DIII National Coach of the Year as named by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association) has led her team—including All-American Michela North ’17—to the NCAA Final Four for three consecutive seasons. This year, their strong performance against Wartburg College ended in a 63–50 victory and secured their first ever trip to the NCAA Championship Final. Although the undefeated Thomas More Saints were the heavy favorite going into the final game as the #1 seed (Tufts was seeded 7th), the Jumbos put up an incredible fight managing to close a once 42–32 score deficit all the way down to a 49–49 tie halfway through the fourth quarter. While Thomas More pulled away in the final minutes, ending the game at a score of 63–51, this game couldn’t possibly overshadow the Jumbos’ amazing 23–3 season. The Jumbos’ record since 2013–2014 is 88–6. They entered the national championship game as the second-best team in the country for scoring defense, allowing 44.8 points per game. With outstanding postseason results for the past three years and a strong cohort of underclassmen, Tufts women are confident that they will see continued success in the NCAA Division III tournament in the years to come.

Go ‘Bos! —Cameron Harris ’18

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INTERNATIONAL LITERA THE MOST EYE-OPENING MAJOR YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF

BY ABBY MCFEE ’17

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID BONAZZI: SALZMANART

RY AND VISUAL STUDIES

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I

sat in a professor’s office while he piled bound books onto the desk in front of me: theses, written by Tufts students, with topics ranging from public toilet systems to the origins of the novel to Sephardic cuisine.

It’s not surprising that a liberal arts college would allow room for all of those interests, across its many departments. What might be surprising, however, is that all of these theses—the sanitary, the literary, and the culinary—were written for the same major at Tufts: International Literary and Visual Studies (ILVS).

The office belongs to Charles Inouye, a professor of Japanese and the co-director of ILVS. In 1998, a group of language professors at Tufts teamed up to establish a comparative literature program. What they ended up creating was something far more unique: a major that allows students with intellectual drive and an interest in global issues to study film, literature, and visual arts across two cultures and languages. “The people who come to the major like [that] it’s very flexible, and it speaks to their interests,” Professor Inouye said. Often described as a humanities counterpart to International Relations, ILVS is a rigorous but rewarding major: students take twelve courses, gain proficiency in at least one foreign language, choose two cultural areas of focus, and declare an emphasis in literature, film, or visual studies.

Throughout this process, students are guided not by a rigid list of requirements but by their own questions. They may explore courses in travel literature, gender and politics, war stories, or comparative cinema; they may explore women, children, or the LGBT community in film or study civilizations steeped in religious history. As Professor Inouye explained, “We ask sophomores: well, what do you really want to learn? And a lot of sophomores don’t know.” But to the co-director of ILVS, that’s a good sign— it’s the process of asking questions and indulging their innate curiosity that allows ILVS majors to select courses that fascinate them and, eventually, to choose a topic for their required thesis or senior project.

ILVS IS A RIGOROUS BUT REWARDING MAJOR: STUDENTS TAKE TWELVE COURSES, GAIN PROFICIENCY IN AT LEAST ONE FOREIGN LANGUAGE, CHOOSE TWO CULTURAL AREAS OF FOCUS, AND DECLARE AN EMPHASIS IN LITERATURE, FILM, OR VISUAL STUDIES.

Enter Alison Graham ’16, an ILVS major who chose to explore the concept of the ordinary, and what makes it interesting. Although she has declared a literature emphasis within the major, Alison has a passion for photography. During a week-long trip to Russia with Tufts’ Institute for Global Leadership and a semester studying abroad in Paris, she found herself photographing the same kinds of moments she would have captured at home or at Tufts: a man walking his dogs on the street, a couple lying in the grass in a park, flowers growing on a sidewalk.

“If you take it out of context, it’s pretty ordinary,” Alison told me. “But if you frame it in a certain way, then it can become an almost cinematic moment on the streets.” When it came time to declare her senior project, Alison decided to self-publish a book of photography paired with writing. The title, Quotidien— a French word for the everyday that finds its counterpart in the English “quotidian”—speaks to the intersection of cultures, and the commonalities found between them.

While many ILVS majors write traditional theses, artistic projects are equally encouraged: both are acknowledged as acts of creativity, which is one of the objectives of the major.

ILVS asks its students to take two hands-on courses, in subjects like painting, photography, writing, and dance. As Professor Inouye explained, “We hold the position that, in order to understand art, it pays to be involved in the artistic process: to see it from the inside. The way that we’re different from philosophy, for example, is that we hold the expression of the idea to be as important as the idea itself.”

Alison, like Professor Inouye, cares about expression. Each photo in her book is accompanied by two phrases: one in English and the other in French. She was careful to explain that this isn’t an exercise in translation: rather than conveying the same idea in two languages, she is trying to genuinely express herself in each language separately. Describing one page of the book, she told me: “On the sand when the tide comes in and leaves marks, I called it sand silt strokes. And it was maybe a little bit excessive, but that’s how I think in English: my mind works in terms of sound. I have no idea how to say that in French off the top of my head. For the same photo, I had written in French capillaires de la mer, or ‘capillaries of the sea.’”

One gets the sense that language acquisition, although a strong component of the major, is not the sole point of ILVS: rather, it is a lens through which other interests can be explored and ideas can be expressed. When I met with Professor of French Isabelle Naginski, co-director of ILVS with Professor Inouye, she gave the example of one particular thesis that illustrated this perfectly. “This student was reading original texts in German, French, English, and Spanish around the topic of war,” she explained. “She was interested in the implications for civilians, and she looked at that through different cultures and languages.” This is exactly what ILVS allows for: an education that is at once specific and expansive, ambitious and intuitive—a major that takes on the shape of the students who undertake it.

Professor Inouye is excited about the new opportunities being created for ILVS majors as the university itself expands.

The addition of the Film and Media Studies program in 2015 and Tufts’ acquisition of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2016 will strengthen two of ILVS’s main pillars through their courses, faculty, and resources. He explained, “Institutionally,

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID BONAZZI: SALZMANART

ILVS is a place where the connections can be made.” The flexibility of the major, by allowing students to draw on diverse areas of focus, serves as a model for the conversations that can take place across the university’s departments. ILVS already incorporates classes in Art History, International Relations, Philosophy, English, Drama and Dance, and foreign languages, just to name a few, but both co-directors see room for new relationships to be forged. “It’s a major that can grow,” Professor Naginski said. “Not only in terms of students, but in terms of what it encompasses.”

Professor Inouye cited the School of Engineering as a potential bridge. “I just talked to the Dean of the School of Engineering, Jianmin Qu, and he very much wants to take our art students and put them in the engineering lab. The idea [is], how do you make something collaborative, where artists and techies come together? What they would make together would be better than anything they made on their own. He thinks that that’s the future. And I think he’s right.”

And where do they end up—these impassioned scholars of haiku and French impressionist painting, the students who haul homemade Sephardic dishes to their thesis defenses and write comparative theses on New York and Parisian toilet systems? What do they go on to do?

According to Professors Inouye and Naginski, they do almost anything. ILVS majors have become architects, lawyers, and veterinarians, won Fulbright scholarships and started their own fashion labels and record companies. One of Professor Inouye’s most memorable students wrote her thesis on using art as a mode of education; she now works as a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. One of Professor Naginski’s favorite theses explored images of prostitution in the French novel and 19th century French painting; the writer

moved to Paris after graduation, where she got a Master’s in French literature.

“When it comes to the non-simple,” Professor Inouye said, “I think that people like ILVS students have an advantage because they’re used to being confused. They’re used to being in a world where there’s always too much to process. And they’re good at that.”

One course that Professor Inouye teaches, alongside Professor of Philosophy Stephen White, is entitled “Nothingness.” The class explored Phenomenology and Existentialism, the philosophy of Wittgenstein, and the nonsymbolic orders of animism and Zen. Both professors had initially expected the course to under-enroll—what undergraduate would want to learn about nothingness?—but it filled immediately. Although their conceptual focuses and course schedules vary greatly, ILVS majors have at least one thing in common: they aren’t afraid to delve into perceived “nothingness”—whether it’s the architectural underbelly of New York sewage, haikus written about the atomic bombings, or ordinary moments taken for granted by passersby—and to create something out of it.

When I asked Alison if there had been a common thread throughout her major, she stopped to think for a moment. “I guess it’s only this year that I put it together, how my foreign language learning—being able to write and read in another language—was similar to how I express myself with a camera.”

She paused and smiled bashfully. “That’s the most concrete thing I can think of, and it’s not very concrete.”

But maybe this is ILVS’s intellectual blessing: that one’s course of study does not need to be concrete. It can be more impressionable, flexible, and evolving. How did someone put it? Like sand silt strokes.

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VOXJUMBO PAXTON CRYSTAL ’17 DRAMA AND ECONOMICS DOUBLE MAJOR FROM WILSONVILLE, OR

On campus, you could find Paxton performing in a play for our oldest student theater organization, 3P’s, or singing in the Tufts Opera Ensemble. You could also find him at our Loj in New Hampshire with the Mountain Club or working at our Music Library. Here, he offers his answers to the Tufts supplemental questions so you can get to know him, Tufts, and our application all at the same time!

INTRODUCING THE TUFTS COMMUNITY THROUGH OUR SUPPLEMENT …

ONE PERSON AT A TIME.

Why Tufts? (50–100 words) Back when I was first applying to colleges, I placed a lot of importance on finding a school that fully fit my personal interests. I wanted to study economics and practice theater, and many of the other schools I looked at didn’t seem to allow for that kind of combination—they didn’t have the flexibility. But the huge student theatre presence at Tufts and the ability to actively study both topics made for a perfect match.

There is a Quaker saying: “Let your life speak.” Describe the environment in which you were raised—your family, home, neighborhood, or community—and how it influenced the person you are today. (200–250 words) I grew up in a suburban town called Wilsonville, located about twenty minutes south of Portland, Oregon. Up until heading off to Tufts, I lived in the same house for eighteen years with my parents, two sisters, two brothers, two dogs, three cats, and (for a tragically brief time) a hedgehog. As you can imagine, family is an incredibly important aspect of my life. I try my best to stay close with my siblings and parents when I’m all the way out in Boston, and the importance of family translates to my community on campus as well. I care a lot about feeling at home and comfortable with my surroundings, and especially with the people with whom I spend time. In many ways, I think of the communities and friends I know on campus as my “home away from home:” people around whom I feel comfortable and honest.

The constant activity of my big family and my love for spending time in the city molded me into a very active person. I’m always finding things to work on or have fun with, ranging from theatre rehearsals to planning movie nights with my friends. It really isn’t that surprising that I ended up so close to a major city like Boston—or at such a driven and passionate school like Tufts!

Of six options, Paxton chose the following for the final supplemental question: C) Science and society are filled with rules, theories, and laws such as the First Amendment, PV=nRT, Occam’s Razor, and The Law of Diminishing Returns.

In baseball, three strikes and you’re out. A green light on a roadway means “go.”

Pick any law and explain its significance to you. (200–250 words)*

PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

The theatre world is home to a wide variety of strange and respected traditions, such as not speaking about “The Scottish Play” while in a playhouse or that one tongue twister that everyone seems to know (“to sit in solemn silence on a dull dark dock”). However, the act of wishing someone good luck by saying “Break a Leg!” is by far the most widely known of these theatre rules, and one that has been in my life for as long as I can remember. I’ve always enjoyed this phrase; the whole concept of it is bizarre, and yet it remains an incredibly heartfelt saying.

Think about it: by saying “break a leg” to someone, you are so dedicated to wishing them good luck that you purposefully avoid actually wishing them good luck in case it backfires and actually brings them bad luck. It’s an entirely convoluted idea that I find hilarious, but it is also a tradition full of kindness and respect. I’ve been in many situations where “break a leg” comes across as a friendlier gesture than actually wishing the person good luck could accomplish, regardless of whether or not it is being used theatrically. It may be a silly and superstitious rule, but it’s one that I have always found heartwarming.

*To see the other options for the third supplemental question, visit admissions.tufts.edu/apply/essay-questions 25

Handmade fresh pasta, cheeses, chocolates, and sandwiches... try the prosciutto and fig, you’ll thank us later. Ask any Tufts student where you should get lunch after a tour. They’ll send you to Dave’s.

The Somerville Theatre plays first run movies at the best price you’ll find anywhere in Boston. And the establishment often transforms into a pretty intimate concert venue, too.

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This local Irish pub and restaurant is famous for its live music every night of the week. Its Wednesday night Backroom Series is one of the premiere series focusing on traditional Irish music in the world.

The BBQ joint with the most dangerous fried pickles and corn bread you’ll ever encounter (in a good way). It’s got a hip vibe, crazy wall art (think lots of skulls and an excessive use of color) and friendly waiters who’ll quickly become your new best friends.

ILLUSTRATION BY MARTIN HAAKE

A bowling alley and handcrafted pizza joint. At Sacco’s, you’ll experience traditional New England “candlepin” bowling and enjoy your Punctuated Equilibrium or Kalua Pork Pi pizza (yup, those are on the menu) right there in your lane.

AROUND TOWN

DAVIS SQUARE Davis Square is a quick ten minute walk—or, in case of cold weather or temporary laziness, a 5-minute free shuttle ride—from the Tufts campus. A vibrant center of food, shopping, and music, Davis is a stop along Boston’s Red Line, the T (subway) line that takes passengers right into downtown Boston. But you’ll find you don’t really need to go further than Davis for a delicious meal, a fun shopping trip, or an evening of entertainment.

This streamlined model diner has been serving Davis Square patrons since 1941. It’s currently on the National Register of Historic Places.

Authentic Mexican street food a quick walk away from campus, also named one of Boston’s best new restaurants of 2015 by The Boston Globe. We recommend the Torta Campechana.

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ADVICE

A TOUR GUIDE’S GUIDE TO TOU

As a Tufts tour guide, I have 1 noticed that the questions I’m asked can actually make the difference between a good tour and a bad tour. Too often, visitors ask me questions that they could Google just as easily (think: student-faculty ratio). I get it—it’s hard to come up with questions that will give you the clarifying, honest answers you’re looking for.

But your time is valuable when you have a real live student in front of you. So I’m here to help! Here are five questions to help you get the most out of your college tour.

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DESCRIBE YOUR FAVORITE CLASS SO FAR. I love this question so much more than questions about the class requirements, format, or sizes, because it gets at the heart of the intellectual life on campus. Does your tour guide say something unexpected? Not within their major? That signifies a campus of explorers, people pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. Pay attention to the way your guide describes the discussion in the class, the group or hands-on projects, the accessibility of the professor. Did their answer get you excited about taking a class at this college? That’s a good sign!

2 WHAT DID YOU DO OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKENDS? This is a great alternative to the question: “What is the social scene at X College?” It’s more specific, and it allows you to picture yourself on a “typical” weekend on campus. Is your tour guide going to their friend’s a cappella shows? Studying all weekend? Going to parties? Knowing what goes on at nights and during the weekends will help you picture your life on campus beyond academics.

RS

ILLUSTRATION BY SAM FALCONER

3 TELL ME ABOUT A DIFFICULTY YOU’VE EXPERIENCED AT X COLLEGE. It’s important to hear about the good/fun/exciting experiences (and trust me, we talk about those a lot as tour guides), but it is equally important to find a community where you will feel supported and find meaning even when things get really hard. So while the tour guide’s answer to this question may not be unique (homesickness and stress are things you might hear from many college students, for example), listen for clues about how the tour guide’s community supported them through this difficult experience. Does the one they describe sound like a community you want to be part of during highs and lows?

BY HANNAH STEINBERG ’17

4 TELL ME ABOUT THE LAST THREE TIMES YOU’VE GONE OFF CAMPUS. I often get the question, “How often do you go into Boston?” Rewording the question, in my opinion, gives you far more examples to grab onto and a better sense of vibe. If your tour guide talks about using the movie theater in town for the last three off-campus excursions, you may learn that there’s really not an offcampus “hub” that students utilize beyond that. If the answer includes museums, restaurants, concerts, and more, you’re talking about a far more accessible cultural hub for students off campus.

5 TELL ME ABOUT THE COOLEST THING YOUR ROOMMATE IS DOING. Listen, tour guides are a self-selecting crew of involved people, right? So giving us a specific but random other person to tell you about is sometimes eye-opening. Is your tour guide’s roommate also active and involved? That’s a good sign. Is he or she very similar to your tour guide? If not, that indicates a group of students who make friends across stereotypical “cliques.” If your interests don’t overlap with your tour guide’s activities, this question might also open the door to learn about something that does represent a better fit for you.

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PROGRAMS With nearly 150 majors and minors, 30 interdisciplinary programs, and the courses of the ExCollege, Tufts’ offerings require more than a brief skimming, so you can find an expansion of this quick list on our website. But in the meantime, skim away.

Just note that Tufts undergraduate programs are offered in three schools: Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. Students may take classes across schools and many students do.

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES MAJORS *available only as a second major

International Literary and Visual Studies

Africana Studies

Italian Studies

American Studies

Japanese

Anthropology

Judaic Studies

Applied Mathematics

Latin

Applied Physics

Latin American Studies

Arabic

Mathematics

Archaeology

Middle Eastern Studies

Architectural Studies

Music

Art History

Peace and Justice Studies

Astrophysics

Philosophy

Biochemistry

Physics

Biology

Political Science

Biomedical Engineering Sciences*

Psychology

Biopsychology

Psychology/Clinical Concentration

Biotechnology*

Quantitative Economics

Chemical Physics

Religion

Chemistry

Russian and Eastern European Studies

Child Study and Human Development

International Relations

Russian Language and Literature

Engineering Science

Engineering Education

Environmental Health

Engineering Management

SMFA AT TUFTS AREAS OF STUDY

English Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies

The SMFA at Tufts’ curriculum is interdisciplinary. All students explore many of the following areas of study:

Film and Media Studies

Ceramics

Food Systems and Nutrition

Drawing

French

Film & Animation

Geology

Graphic Arts

Geoscience

Metals

Geosystems/Earth and Ocean Sciences

Painting Performance Photography Print & Paper Sculpture Sound Video

Finance

German Greek Greek Archaeology Greek Civilization Hebrew History Italian

FIVE-YEAR COMBINED DEGREE PROGRAMS

Japanese Judaic Studies

Tufts/New England Conservatory: BA or BS and Bachelor of Music

Latin

Chinese

Science, Technology, and Society*

Classical Studies

Sociology

Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Spanish

Tufts/SMFA (School of the Museum of Fine Arts): BA or BS and Bachelor of Fine Arts

Community Health

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

MINORS

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING MAJORS

Africana Studies

Music

Arabic

Music Engineering

Education*

PROFESSIONAL DEGREES

Architectural Engineering

Philosophy

Engineering Psychology/ Human Factors

Biomedical Engineering

Architectural Studies

Physics

Chemical Engineering

Art History

Political Science

English

Civil Engineering

Asian American Studies

Religion

Environmental Studies*

Computer Engineering

Astrophysics

Roman Archaeology

Film and Media Studies

Computer Science

Biotechnology Engineering

Roman Civilization

French

Electrical Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Russian

Geological Sciences/Earth and Ocean Sciences

Environmental Engineering

Child Study and Human Development

Science, Technology, and Society

Computer Science Drama Economics

Mechanical Engineering

Geology/Earth and Ocean Sciences ADDITIONAL DEGREE OPTIONS

German Studies

Architectural Studies

Greek

Engineering

Greek and Latin

Engineering Physics

History

Engineering Psychology/ Human Factors

Interdisciplinary Studies 30

Latino Studies Leadership Studies Mathematics Medieval Studies

Chinese

German Language and Literature

Latin American Studies

Colonialism Studies Computer Science Dance Drama Economics Education

Sociology Spanish Studio Art Urban Studies Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

CLASS HIGHLIGHTS SOCIOLOGY The Department of Sociology at Tufts is strong in areas of media, culture, and society; social inequalities and social change; and immigration, transnational communities, and globalization. Here are just some of the many classes being offered in the Department of Sociology this coming semester.

MUSIC ENGINEERING The following classes, all of which can count toward the Music Engineering minor at Tufts, are offered from the music department, the mechanical and electrical engineering departments, and even the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts.

Racial and Ethnic Minorities

Medical Sociology

Computer Tools for Musicians

Intermediate Electronics with Lab

Family and Intimate Relationships

Deviant Behavior

Music Recording and Production

Digital Signal Processing

Social Movements

Crime, Justice, and the Media

Media and Society

The Politics of Knowledge

Electronic Musical Instrument Design and Manufacture

The Science and Engineering of Music

Social Inequalities and Social Justice

Urban Sociology

Electronic Music Ensemble

Musical Applications for the iPad

The Masculine Mystique

Academically Adrift? The Sociology of Higher Education

Epidemics: Plagues, Peoples, and Politics

Music, Technology, and Digital Culture

Guitar and Dulcimer: Design and Construction

Principles of Tonal Theory

Installation

Acoustics

History of Sonic Art

Advanced Dynamics and Vibrations

Site-SpeciďŹ c Performance

Youth Culture

PHOTO BY ALONSO NICHOLS/TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Sociology of War and Peace

Immigration: Public Opinion, Politics, and Media

31

DAVID WALT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY

PHOTO BY KATHLEEN DOOHER

Professor Walt’s lab is developing methods of detecting neurological diseases with single molecule array technology.

There are 1.03 x 1018 molecules of NaCl in just one tiny grain of table salt. It’s pretty difficult to comprehend just how small that is. So it’s crazy to me that Professor David Walt and his team of researchers in the chemistry department at Tufts have developed a method to analyze individual molecules. The method is called single molecule array technology, and it allows scientists to quantify proteins by accounting for every individual molecule within a protein. “It’s being used for research by about 100 universities at this point,” Professor Walt told me. The amazing implication of this technology is that it allows researchers to establish “biomarkers,” which act as a method of indication for life science research.

“My lab is pursuing a number of projects in the areas of cancer, infectious diseases, and neurological diseases,” Professor Walt said. “[For example, we are] using our technology to develop a blood test that can detect early stage breast cancer.” If the specific biomarker indicative of breast cancer were present in a patient’s blood sample, he explained, a diagnosis could be determined with this blood test.

“The hope is that we can move towards something less invasive that doesn’t require radiation. A simple blood test should achieve this,” he said. This method would have the capability of detecting breast cancer far earlier than mammograms, and ultimately, we could use more preventative and minor treatments than would be necessary at more advanced stages of the disease.

Professor Walt’s lab is also developing methods of detecting neurological diseases with single molecule array technology. Since many common neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s only begin to show symptoms in the later stages of life, “it would be amazing to establish markers [so] it can be known that neurological diseases are present long before symptoms manifest,” Professor Walt explained. This technology could potentially move treatment away from the existing methods of slowing the advancement of these diseases, towards preventing them completely.

Although Professor Walt dedicates a significant amount of work towards his federally funded research in biochemistry, he is also the lead professor on an interdisciplinary undergraduate science course: From the Big Bang to Human Kind. The course is taught by five different professors; an astrophysicist, a geologist, a chemist (Professor Walt), a biologist, and an anthropologist. It covers a broad range of the scientific concepts and theories in order to offer an overlying context of how humans came to be. The course begins by covering theories of the universe, matter and energy, and the Big Bang. Professor Walt’s section of the course covers Earth’s prebiotic chemistry (before life) and the beginning of life and evolution of organisms.

The course culminates with the evolution of the human race. One of the coolest things about this course, Professor Walt explained is that it’s geared toward non-science majors. It has no pre-requisites and the professors build understanding from the ground up, assuming no prior knowledge. Professor Walt is overjoyed when students who aren’t typically inclined towards science begin to see the world differently through a single course. And after even a short time with him, it was easy to see that if anyone can get even non-science majors interested in chemistry, it’s Professor Walt.

—CAMERON HARRIS ’18

JUMBO SIGHTINGS

PHOTOS BY STUDENTS, PARENTS, AND ADMINISTRATION

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Admissions Counselor These carvings mark ancient temples carved into solid rock in the 7th century on the east coast of South India.

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