People News, June 2017

Emma Becker ’18, Asmita Gautam ’20, Susannah Howard ’19, Anastasia Konefal ’17, Jasmine Pacheco-Ramos ’19, Emily Wert ’20 and co-instructor Alexandra Widstrand ’17 traveled to St. Catherines Island, Ga., this spring for a research trip that used drones to map sea turtle nesting sites and tortoise burrows. Students’ participation in the project was supported with funding from Smith’s Spatial Analysis Lab; Office of International Studies; Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability; Students’ Aid Society; Environmental Science and Policy program; and the offices of the Provost, Dean of the College and International Studies.

Claudia Yun ’17, Margaret Gao ’19 and Sifan Jiang ’18 earned top scores in the Mathematical Association of America’s prestigious Putnam mathematical competition for undergraduates. Yixin Vera Bao ’17, Maria Xu ’17, Lucy Li ’17, Rebecca Rohrlich ’19, and Elizabeth Freeman ’19 earned honorable mentions for their teams’ performance in the competition; Ji Won Chung ’18, Erina Fukuda ’18 and Yixuan Monica Zhang ’18 earned Meritorious designations.

Artworks by Antonia DaSilva ’20 are on view through June 25 at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum as part of an exhibition of work by four emerging artists from Cape Cod. DaSilva, who grew up in Chatham, Mass., is a painter, printmaker and graphic artist.

Michael Barresi, associate professor of biological sciences, has been awarded a $600,000 four-year grant from the National Science Foundation for his ongoing research “investigating astroglial development in the zebrafish forebrain.”

John M. Brady, the Mary Elizabeth Moses Professor of Geosciences, received the 2017 Honored Professor Award at Smith’s 139th Commencement. President Kathleen McCartney described Brady as a storyteller “whose characters are petrology and mineralogy” with a unique ability to prepare his students “to look at the world around them with wonder and inquiry.”

Andrea Hairston ’74, Louise Wolff Kahn ’31 Professor of Theatre and Professor of Africana Studies, gave a reading last month at the University Bookstore in Seattle from her 2016 book Will Do Magic for Small Change.

Elizabeth Meyersohn ’80, a lecturer in art at Smith, will represent the United States at the Venice Art Biennale this summer. Meyersohn’s painting “Dark Woods” will be part of the “Meadows, Personal Structures” exhibition at the Palazzo Mora that includes works by 44 artists from 30 countries. (PHOTO)

A fund co-founded by Peter Pufall, professor emeritus of psychology, recently awarded scholarships to six students at White Street Elementary School in Springfield, Mass. Now in its seventh year, the Young Scholars Fund has provided 37 students with college scholarship aid, mentoring support and exposure to cultural and community service activities.

Steven Williams, Gates Professor of Biological Sciences, has been awarded a $75,980 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a project in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of London. The project—the second of Williams’ to be funded this year by the Gates Foundation—aims to develop an improved polymerase chain reaction test to screen patients for the presence of neglected tropical diseases—including hookworm, roundworm and whipworm—that infect more than 2 billion people around the globe.

Ally Einbinder ’10 recently performed with her band Potty Mouth on the Last Call with Carson Daly show. Einbinder, who majored in sociology and the study of women and gender at Smith, is a former program coordinator for the college’s Wurtele Center for Work & Life.

Sonora Miller ’04 is the new director of the Youngstown Free Library in Youngstown, Ohio. Miller, who earned a degree in English language and literature from Smith, holds a master’s degree in library and information science from Drexel University.

Rebecca Polan ’99 has been appointed chief executive officer of REO Logistics in Huntington, W.Va. Polan, who joined the company in 2004 and served as president of the transportation division, majored in psychology at Smith. She earned a master of public administration degree from American University and an MBA from the College of William and Mary.

Tracey Coates ’96 has been promoted to a principal of Paley Rothman law firm in Bethesda, Md. Coates, who is a member of the firm’s family law and litigation divisions, graduated with a degree in psychology from Smith and earned a law degree from Hamline University.

Young Huh ’91 was a judge for the 2017 Connecticut Cottages & Gardens Innovation in Design Awards. Huh, who majored in English language and literature at Smith, is founder of Young Huh Interiors, a full service design firm specializing in residential and commercial interiors.

Preeti Simran Sethi ’92 has been named a Food First Fellow by the Institute for Food and Development Policy. Sethi, a journalist, author and educator focused on food sustainability, majored in sociology and women’s studies at Smith. She earned an MBA in sustainable business from the Presidio Graduate School and received a Smith College Medal in 2009.

Linda Caron ’76 is the new dean of Wright State University’s College of Liberal Arts. Associate dean at the college since 2009, Caron first came to Wright State in 1998 as an assistant professor. She majored in art at Smith and earned a doctorate in art history from Bryn Mawr College.

Susan Snively ’67 is the author of Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson (2016, MoonDance Press), a book that introduces children to 35 poems by Dickinson. Snively, who majored in English language and literature at Smith, earned a master of arts degree and a Ph.D. from Boston University.