Author: Matthew

Critical evaluation and response of potential guest artists in dance (Prof. Jenny Davies )

3 students are sought for a project on “Critical evaluation and response of potential guest artists in dance ” with Prof. Jenny Davies that will begin on 7/1/24 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

Every year, W&L dance program brings 6-8 artists to campus to offer master classes, teach choreographic works, and complete residencies. The dance program strives for a breadth of perspectives, cultures, and identities in this series to create experiential opportunities for students and to highlight representation in dance. We seek three students to help research the artists’ backgrounds, view and read their works, and contribute input regarding their applications.

Prerequisites

Students should have some experience performing as dancers, as choreographers, and/or as avid dance audience members.

Special Comments

position can be remote

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 7/1/24

Estimated End Date: 8/23/24

Maximum number of students sought: 3

Contact Information: Prof. Jenny Davies (daviesj@wlu.edu)

Effective Altruism and Its Critics: Dignity, Ethics, and a More Just World (Prof. Howard Pickett)

2 more students are sought for a project on “Effective Altruism and Its Critics: Dignity, Ethics, and a More Just World” with Prof. Howard Pickett that will begin on 6/1/2024 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

“Effective Altruism and Its Critics” will give SRS participants an opportunity to read about, discuss, and research the main debates related to the increasingly popular effective altruism (EA) movement. We will examine the work of effective altruists and their critics (including Kantians, contractualists, and others) both charitably (looking for their best insights) and critically (looking for the limitations of their arguments). In other words, we will neither uncritically BASH nor uncritically PRAISE Effective Altruism. Each SRS student will be given the opportunity to research a particular philosophical issue related to EA and also apply our thinking about EA (and its alternative ethical frameworks) to a social problem that matters to YOU! By participating, you will gain a better understanding not only of EA but also, more broadly, of some of the most important debates in ethical theory and, last but not least, some of the most promising ways of adressing one of our world’s most pressing social problems.

Prerequisites

Ideally, applicants will have some familiarity with ethics and with addressing social problems in respectful ways (e.g., through courses in POV or PHIL). However, applicants with background in Effective Altruism or ethics, even without coursework in POV or PHIL, will also be considered.

Special Comments

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/1/2024

Estimated End Date: 7/26/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. Howard Pickett (Picketthy@wlu.edu)

Land Speculation, Finance, and Indigenous Dispossession in the Early U.S. (Prof. Franklin Sammons)

2 students are sought for a project on “Land Speculation, Finance, and Indigenous Dispossession in the Early U.S.” with Prof. Franklin Sammons that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

Students will work with Professor Sammons to help him conduct research for his book project on the Yazoo Land Sales. In collaboration with the professor, students will undertake a variety of research tasks, including: data entry from old land records; researching the biographies of land speculators; reading and taking notes on a range of primary sources, including digitized newspapers from Georgia in the 1790s and early 1800s, and digitized correspondence from officials in the US War Department. Students will gain experience in different kinds of historical research, learn more about Native American history and the political and economic history of the early US, and learn more about the variety of undertakings necessary to produce historical scholarship.

Prerequisites

Students should have some experience conducting primary source research. Other skills that could be helpful but are not required: Experience with data entry, and making charts and graphs, in Excel. Experience reading cursive Experience using ArcGIS Advanced Spanish reading comprehension (for some Spanish language documents)

Special Comments

It is ok if students perform some of this work remotely/away from campus.

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 7/26/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. Franklin Sammons (fsammons@wlu.edu)

Foundational book research: “For the lulz: Community through Antifandom.” (Prof. Jaime Roots)

1 student is sought for a project on “Foundational book research: “For the lulz: Community through Antifandom.” ” with Prof. Jaime Roots that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

The aspect of fandom is largely ignored when discussing cybermobbing behavior. Cybermobbers might not be fans, but in this project we will investigate those who can be defined as antifans or people who form fandoms around something “that they delightfully detest.” Even if the approach to the material might seem different, the types of behaviors fans and antifans engage in and their emotional investment is very often the same. This research is an important contribution to current discussions surrounding the spread of (mis)information, the role of social media companies in the protection of civil and human rights, and discussions of protections of freedom of speech. Researcher goals for the project: (1) aid in conducting primary research by investigating German-language websites and forums. (2) conduct secondary research in various interdisciplinary areas such as German, Folklore, Fan, and New Media Studies in both English and German. (3) further the researcher’s language development in reading, writing, and speaking

Prerequisites

Advanced German-language skills

Special Comments

Research can be conducted remotely throughout the summer

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 1

Contact Information: Prof. Jaime Roots (jroots@wlu.edu)

Structural analysis of mylonites from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado, using crystallographic preferred orientation analysis (Prof. Jeffrey Rahl)

1 student is sought for a project on “Structural analysis of mylonites from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado, using crystallographic preferred orientation analysis” with Prof. Jeffrey Rahl that will begin on 7/8/2024 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado expose mylonitic rocks that record a complex, multi-phase deformation history. In this project, we will use the distribution of the crystallographic orientations of quartz to assess deformation conditions, including the stress, temperature, and kinematic vorticity.

Prerequisites

Required coursework: Structural Geology Additional requirements: Training in operation of the Scanning Electron Microscopy and Electron Backscatter Diffraction; experience with Matlab

Special Comments

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 7/8/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/30/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 1

Contact Information: Prof. Jeffrey Rahl (rahlj@wlu.edu)

Translating German Text Produced in 19th Century Chile (Prof. Romina Green)

1 student is sought for a project on “Translating German Text Produced in 19th Century Chile” with Prof. Romina Green that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

This project will include reading and summarize 19th century German-language texts from Chile, and translating the most significant documents. The research will support the professor’s current book project.

Prerequisites

Advanced German language skills

Special Comments

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 1

Contact Information: Prof. Romina Green (rgreen@wlu.edu)

Modernizing Economics Education (Prof. Arthur Goldsmith)

2 students are sought for a project on “Modernizing Economics Education” with Prof. Arthur Goldsmith that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

Professor Casey and I plan to work on three papers, which are part of our research initiative – “Modernizing Economics Education” – during the summer of 2024. • “Rethinking Public Policy with an Eye Towards Meaningful Work” • “Modelling ESG: Opening the Door of Student Understanding for a Key Topic in Finance Education” • “Monetary Policy in the Age of AI: A Delicate Balancing Act” SRS will participate in virtually every aspect of the research process, which includes: • Development and articulation of research questions. • Collection of relevant literature. • Discussion and critique of current scholarly work. • Development of relevant formal models to address our research questions. • Analysis using the formal models constructed. • Collection and analysis of data to evaluate hypotheses derived from our analysis of various developments using the formal models we develop. • Create a manuscript outline covering; the importance of our work, how it is carried out, what we find, and how it alters the state of knowledge in this area. • Preparation of a slide show to facilitate presentation of the new scholarship. • Contributing to research talks using the slide show they construct. • Discussion of the feedback received, and how to revise work accordingly. • Assist in revision of the manuscript and the slide show – learning persistence. • How to submit research for review including cover letter preparation. • Strategically thinking about what research is next in light of what was learned.

Prerequisites

Economics 100 or the equivalent

Special Comments

None

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. Arthur Goldsmith (goldsmitha@wlu.edu)

NMT Applied to Software Security (Prof. Cody Watson)

1 student is sought for a project on “NMT Applied to Software Security” with Prof. Cody Watson that will begin on 6/1/2024 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

The rise of ChatGPT has led many to use this tool as a source code generation tool. In addition, tools like GitHub copilot, Code Llama and Alpha Code are used to create source code for developers. One issue is that the data these models are trained with can occasionally have security vulnerabilities due to outdated packages and unsecure function calls. My tool would focus on using neural machine translation (NMT) to automatically find these security vulnerabilities and fix them. This would then be integrated with developer tools such that code could be generated within a source code project, without potentially introducing security flaws.

Prerequisites

Machine Learning and Linear Algebra

Special Comments

N/A

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/1/2024

Estimated End Date: 7/26/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 1

Contact Information: Prof. Cody Watson (cwatson@wlu.edu)

Energy-Driven Pattern Formation (Prof. Chong Wang)

1 student is sought for a project on “Energy-Driven Pattern Formation” with Prof. Chong Wang that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 9 weeks

Project Description:

This project explores energy-driven pattern formation in complex physical and biological systems com- posed of multiple constituents. The total energy within these systems comprises two distinct parts. The first part, known as the local terms, promotes large regions with minimum interfaces. Conversely, the second part, referred to as the nonlocal terms, favors small regions. Exquisitely structured patterns arise as the balance of these two parts. These phenomena are observed in various instances such as the morphological phases seen in block copolymers, animal coats, and skin pigmentation.

Prerequisites

MATH 332 – Ordinary Differential Equations

Special Comments

No

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/2/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 1

Contact Information: Prof. Chong Wang (cwang@wlu.edu)

Journalistic Collaboration Book Project (Prof. Patrick Walters)

1 student is sought for a project on “Journalistic Collaboration Book Project” with Prof. Patrick Walters that will begin on 6/1/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

In this project, I am seeking a student researcher to assist me in putting together a book proposal on the ways that journalistic collaborations are reshaping the field of journalism as reporters work with new types of groups – from artistic groups, to nonprofits and universities, to public entities. I have been studying three collaborations for the past two years and produced two articles out of this research, all of which is building toward a book. The collaborations being studied include one in Charlottesville that is looking to refocus news coverage on race; one in Philadelphia that is looking to improve news coverage of gun violence; and a third in Dallas, Texas, that is working on news coverage of affordable housing. The student will be asked to help me look at public records and news content that could help illustrate the possible societal impact of these collaborations. The student would also be helping to transcribe interviews and put together the book proposal.

Prerequisites

The student should have completed at least JOUR 101.

Special Comments

The research will be able to be done remotely, with internet access. It will also require regular phone and Zoom meetings.

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/1/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 1

Contact Information: Prof. Patrick Walters (pwalters@wlu.edu)