People News, September 2017

Aissah Kaba ’19 was one of 10 students selected this summer for a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates award. Kaba, who is an engineering major at Smith and one of the college’s first Posse Foundation scholars, spent the summer in a biomedical engineering lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham making three-dimensional thermoplastic polymer scaffolds for bone repair.

Government major Emelie Chace-Donahue ’18 is the author of an op-ed about reconstruction in Syria, published last month by the Atlantic Council, a think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Ariel Martinez ’19 was awarded a Hispanic Access Foundation Fellowship for college students interested in outdoor conservation. An environmental science major, Martinez worked this summer at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York.

The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. 1: 1940-1956, co-edited by Karen Kukil, associate curator of special collections, was one of New York magazine’s “44 New Books to Read This Fall.” Kukil’s book will be published in October by Faber and Faber in London and HarperCollins in New York.

Professor of chemistry Elizabeth Jamieson is a member of a team of undergraduate faculty members participating in a $1.1 million National Science Foundation-funded project, “Collaborative research improving inorganic chemistry education through a community-developed, student-centered curriculum.” The 11 team members are all members of the Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists, a community dedicated to advancing inorganic chemistry education.

Robert Newton, director of Smith’s Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability, spoke to members of the Green Mountain Conservation Group in Chocorua, N.H., last month about that state’s Ossipee Aquifer. His talk was titled “What Exactly Is an Aquifer, and How Do We Protect It?”

Miles Ott, assistant professor of statistical and data sciences, is the recipient of an $18,258 grant from the National Institutes of Health for “Using Systems Science Methods to Study Cardiac Risk in the Somali Community.”

Monica Wilson ’17 and Sydney Ramirez ’16 have been awarded competitive scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service, which supports international academic cooperation between Germany and North America. Wilson graduated from Smith with a degree in biological sciences and German studies, and Ramirez earned a degree in German studies.

Set designer Claire DeLiso ’12 is the inaugural recipient of the Burry Fredrik Foundation’s $15,000 annual design fellowship. DeLiso, who majored in theatre at Smith, earned her MFA in May from the Yale School of Drama.

Lisa Vinikoor ’98 is the new rabbi for Beth Israel Congregation in Bath, Maine. Vinikoor, who majored in history at Smith, earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a degree in rabbinical studies from Hebrew Union College in New York City.

Michelle Elligott ’93 is the new chief of archives, library and research collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. An art history major at Smith, Elligott earned a master of arts degree in art history from Hunter College and has more than two decades of experience in museum archives.

Carolina A. Miranda ’93 is one of eight inaugural recipients of the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation’s new $50,000 prize for art journalism. A culture writer at the Los Angeles Times, Miranda graduated from Smith with a degree in Latin American studies.

Lori Morris ’82 is the new executive director of LifeTies, Inc., a Ewing Township, N.J., nonprofit that provides care and services to youth in crisis. Morris graduated from Smith with a degree in sociology and earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from Northwestern University.

Carolyn Wirth ’78 served this summer as artist-in-residence at the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, N.Y. As part of her residency, she led an all-ages coloring project using the work of sculptor Sally James Farnham, a contemporary of Frederic Remington. An artist and sculptor, Wirth graduated from Smith with a degree in art.