People News, November 2017

Smith was well represented at a Women in Statistics and Data Science conference hosted by the American Statistical Association last month in San Diego, Calif. Participants included Subashini Sridhar ’18J,Angelica Estrada ’18, Marta Garcia ’19, Sakaiza Rasolofomanana Rajery ’20, Thealexa Becker ’13, Emily Dodwell ’11, Maria Terres, post-baccalaureate ’09, Christine Zhang ’09, Mine Dogucu ’09 and Elizabeth Stuart ’97. Ben Baumer, assistant professor of statistical and data sciences, and Amelia McNamara, Mass Mutual visiting assistant professor of statistical and data sciences, also attended the conference.

Katharina Geppert ’19 and Rachel LaFlamme ’20 won the first session of the Shark Tank and third place in the Idea Jam at the Grinspoon, Garvey & Young Entrepreneurship Conference held earlier this month at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. The Smith team won for “Survival of the Fitted,” an idea for a universal sizing guide Web browser extension for online shoppers.

Associate Professor of Art Laura Kalba spoke last month at the Greenwich, Conn., library about how artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec contributed to and challenged the myth of Paris as a city of beauty.

Jennifer Malkowski, assistant professor of film and media studies, moderated a November on-campus symposium, “Gaming Representation: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Video Games,” which explored the lack of diversity in the video game industry.

Steven Moga, assistant professor of landscape studies, was a commentator for “Drafting the Cape Cod Formula,” a recent event at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston about Cape Cod residents’ response to the National Park Service’s plans for a federal park on the Cape.

Ruth Ozeki ’80, professor of English language and literature, moderated an October panel at the Japan Society in New York on “Finding Zen: Uncovering Meaning in Art and Artifacts.” A video of the one-hour program is available online.

Paul Voss, associate professor of engineering, is the recipient of a $14,000 grant from the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute for “The offshore air mass journey and interaction with the Ross Sea surface: A process-based investigation of regional climate influenced by mesocyclones.”

Dennis Yasutomo, the Esther Cloudman Dunn Professor of Government at Smith, was a panelist at a November 15 forum hosted by the Northampton Democratic Committee titled “The North Korea Nuclear Threat and U.S. Policy: Is War Avoidable? What Can We Do?”

Andrea Schmid ’17 attended the 23rd United Nations Climate Change Conference held this month in Bonn, Germany. Schmid earned a degree in environmental science, served as a campus sustainability intern, and spent a summer as a PRAXIS intern analyzing the effects of foreign aid on a drought-affected area of Honduras.

Krystal Banzon ’07 is one of eight writers selected to participate in CBS’ Writers Mentoring Initiative, a program that pairs young writers with an executive mentor. Banzon, who majored in the study of women and gender at Smith, earned a master’s degree in new media from New York University.

Erika Klose ’97 is the recipient of a Milken Educator Award for her work as a middle school science teacher in West Virginia. Klose, who majored in geology at Smith, earned a master’s degree in geological sciences from Lehigh University and a master’s degree in teaching from Marshall University.

Nous, On Va Danser, a dance piece by Nancy Ellis ’93 about how art is an act of resistance, opened last month at the New Expressive Works in Portland, Ore. Ellis majored in French studies and theatre at Smith.

Dr. Deborah A. Driscoll ’77 received a Women’s Leadership Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges for her work advancing women’s roles in academic medicine and science. Driscoll—who is professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine—majored in biological sciences at Smith and earned an M.D. from New York University.

The Rev. Jeanette Stokes ’73 gave a reading earlier this month at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, N.C., to mark the 40th anniversary of the Resource Center for Women and Ministry of the South, a nonprofit she co-founded in 1977. Stokes, who majored in mathematics at Smith, earned a master of divinity degree from Duke University.