Faculty and students present research at national physics teacher conference

Three Randolph College students and one faculty member recently presented research at the American Association of Physics Teachers national meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Tim Slesinger '14, Chris Holingsworth '15, physics professor Peter Sheldon, and Jim Kwon '14

Chris Hollingsworth ’15 presented research he conducted with Zahra Adahman ’14, Alex Kwakye ’15, and physics professor Katrin Schenk. Their work delved into understanding communication deficits in mice as a way of understanding human communication disorders.

Jim Kwon ’14 presented research done with professor Evan Goulding at Northwestern University, in conjunction with a project involving other Randolph students and Schenk. His presentation, "Behavioral Analysis Techniques for Mobile Phone Collected Data," explores ways of using cell phone accelerometer data to determine the physical activity level of the person carrying the phone.

Kwon also presented research done by students Sydney Henson ’14 and Katherine Lesnak ’15, along with physics professor Peter Sheldon, education professor Peggy Schimmoeller, and biology instructor Amanda Rumore, "Science and Math Links: Research-Based Teaching Institute," is an annual project that looks at the impact of hands-on science teaching on learning.

Tim Slesinger ’14 presented "Investigating Traditional Methods of Inertial Navigation versus Using a Smartphone," research he conducted with Alex Tran '15, Kacey Meaker '08, and Sheldon.

Sheldon gave a presentation about Step Up to Physical Science and Engineering at Randolph (SUPER), a Randolph program that is helping to increase enrollment of students committed to careers in science, mathematics, and engineering. Funded with a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, SUPER provides some scholarships and additional educational activities for Randolph science students.

Randolph hosts communication studies academic conference

Topics ranging from the British Monarchy to Harry Potter to breast cancer awareness campaigns were discussed this past Saturday when Randolph College hosted the Student Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF) Conference. In its 11th year, SURF brings together communication studies students from area colleges to present about a variety of field related topics.

Ryan Blackwell '13 explains the role that cultural citizenship
plays in the popular NBC television show Community.

In addition to sharing knowledge about communication studies, the conference offers a unique opportunity for networking among students, professors, as well as the general community.

Three Randolph College students presented at the conference:

Ryan Blackwell ’13, discussed the role of cultural citizenship in the NBC show Community.

Kaitlyn Kolster ’15 talked about her analysis of Hollywood’s portrayal of C.S Lewis’ series The Chronicles of Narnia.

Samantha Wittie ’13 recounted her research about the Bravo television network and it’s presentation of the gay and LGBT community through the lens of the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

Jennifer Gauthier, a communications studies professor who helped in organizing the conference, praised the Randolph students’ use of theory and the relevancy to important issues such as race, class, gender, and sexuality. “Our students presented high quality research that represented our department’s expertise in critical media studies,” she said.

Kaitlin Kolster '15 analyzes the portrayal of the Chronicles of Narnia in film.