Bryce Carlson
Dissertation: Reconstructing diet from the ground up: Isotopic dietary ecology of chimpanzees at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda
Adviser: John Kingston, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
The growing prevalence of obesity and related diseases of civilization are often discussed in the context of how far we've strayed from the dietary practices of our hunting and gathering ancestors. Yet, what our pre-agricultural ancestors ate is still largely unknown. My work seeks to address this problem by using wild chimpanzees as a model for how chemical properties of the diet (stable isotopic abundances) are consumed, metabolized and represented in tissues (e.g. hair, bone and teeth). These properties can be measured from fossil material, and therefore improve the assessment of dietary behavior from the distant past.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
This work carries significance for the study of human origins and evolution, primate ecology and conservation, and human nutritional and metabolic trials. Quantifying dietary behavior in the absence of observation is critical for unobservable events, including those in the distant past or among unhabituated primate communities. It is also critical in contexts where intake is observable (or recordable) but where traditional means of assessment are inadequate. For example, the application of stable isotopic analyses may allow researchers to independently and quantitatively validate self–reported intake among subjects of nutritional clinical trials and other health interventions.
What I'm doing after graduation
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Purdue University
Rachel Foulk
Dissertation: Politics of Place: Landscape Painting in Imperial Rome
Adviser: Eric R. Varner, Associate Professor, Art History
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
The ancient Romans arguably invented landscape painting, one of the major genres in the history of art. The residences of Rome's emperors and elite citizens were frescoed with colorful views of rustic shrines, serene harbors, quiet gardens and bustling cities. My dissertation investigates the development and meaning of landscape paintings in the city of Rome from the first century B.C. to the third century A.D. By analyzing the iconography, style and context of these paintings, I argue that landscape imagery expressed the power of influential patrons and helped to communicate the capital's relation to the expanding empire.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
My contribution is in showing how Roman landscape painting expresses imperial power and politics. Whereas scholarly attention has focused predominantly on wall-painting from Pompeii and Herculaneum, my focus is Rome, the capital of the ancient world. Rome is a city whose identity is bound up in the representation of territory, and I assert that the depiction of place contributes to the propagandistic construction of empire. Much like the Roman Triumph, which displayed the spoils of foreign campaigns and the incorporation of conquered regions, landscape imagery displayed the ownership of land and the careful cultivation of the natural environment.
What I'm doing after graduation
Assistant Professor of Art History, Ferris State University
Jade Caines
Dissertation: Using Rasch Measurement Theory to Validate the Student Performance Character and Student Moral Character Scales
Adviser: Yuk Fai Cheong, Associate Professor, Educational Studies
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
Using data collected on 239 middle school students through a character education evaluation, I investigated the validity of two character scales (Student Performance and Student Moral Character scales). Results suggest that scale revisions are necessary.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
Validation for a newer theory regarding Student Performance Character was provided. This influences the character education field by expanding traditional notions of character (typically limited to morality) to encompass psychological attributes such as perseverance and diligence.
What I'm doing after graduation
Postdoctoral fellowship at University of Pennsylvania
Lynn Maxwell
Dissertation: Wax Figures and Forms in Early Modern Literature
Adviser: Jonathan Goldberg, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor, English
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
My research investigates the circulation of wax imagery and actual wax forms in early modern literary and philosophical texts, and cultural spaces such as the stage and the art studio. Just as the wax seal on a letter acts as a piece of writing and narrates a story – so too the shape wax takes both within texts and in the real world signifies in multiple ways. Through Shakespeare, Donne, Cavendish, Webster, and Spenser, I explore how wax is deployed to conceptualize relationships between gendered subjects, the self and the world, and the self and God.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
My work is invested in revealing connections across disciplines by showing how literature, philosophy, and science combine to create meaning through shared metaphors and models. Being attentive to such connections reveals both the power and malleability of language, in addition to illuminating the specific texts and cultural practices under examination.
What I'm doing after graduation
Lecturer, Spelman College
Kerry Higgins Wendt
Dissertation: The Epigraphic Character: Fiction and Metafiction in the Twentieth-Century Novel
Adviser: William M. Chace, Professor and President Emeritus
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
My dissertation identifies what I call the epigraphic character -- a character who overtly voices ideas about fiction, writing, or literature. I've defined the term and explored the different ways authors use such characters. Readers know that an author is doing more than letting a character speak when the character talks about literature. My dissertation shows how epigraphic characters work so that readers can untangle those "epigraphic statements" better.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
We tend to think of metafiction as something entirely different from conventional fiction, but this isn't an accurate perception. My research shows that metafictional moments and metafictional devices -- like the epigraphic character -- are normal parts of fiction that we often don't notice, if the story's exciting enough. It changes the way we understand both fiction and metafiction. I also found out some new things about how Graham Greene refers to Bloomsday and Flann O'Brien uses Bertolt Brecht's Alienation Effect -- very exciting stuff!
What I'm doing after graduation
Postdoctoral Research Assistant for The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Laney Graduate School
Rachel Patzer
Dissertation: Poverty and Racial Disparities in Access to Kidney Transplantation in Pediatric and Adult End Stage Renal Disease Patients
Adviser: William M. McClellan, Professor, School of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
Racial disparities in access to kidney transplantation are evident, where minority patients are less likely to receive a kidney transplant than white patients, and poverty may play a role. The purpose of my research was to explore the role of poverty and race in access to transplantation among adult and pediatric kidney disease patients and to evaluate the effectiveness of a patient education program at the start of the kidney transplant evaluation process.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
Our findings suggest that earlier access to care may mitigate some racial disparities, but that much of the racial disparity remains unexplained. We did find that an interactive patient education program for kidney transplant candidates reduced racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to transplant. We advise that other transplant centers implement similar changes to their program to ensure patients receive adequate education to best prepare themselves for the kidney transplant process.
What I'm doing after graduation
Tenure-track faculty member at the Emory University School of Medicine in the Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation
Eva Yampolsky
Dissertation: Identity Trouble: Fragmentation and Disillusionment in the Works of Guy de Maupassant
Adviser: Elissa Marder, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of French and Italian
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
This dissertation explores the various forms of fragmentation and disillusionment in the representation of identity in Guy de Maupassant's oeuvre. His works reveal the fragmented and conflicting nature of identity. I have analyzed this question from the literary perspective, while searching for further insight into this subject through works in psychoanalysis and sociology.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
With this research, I have sought to continue in the reading of Maupassant's works by directing my analysis toward a transdisciplinary approach. While it remains a literary study, I hope it will create further links between literature and other disciplines. It is this experience of reading and analyzing Maupassant's works that have led me to discover new and unexpected research projects.
What I'm doing after graduation
Independent research and PhD studies in Comparative Literature at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Amanda G. Madden
Dissertation: Vendetta Politics and State Formation in Early Modern Modena: A Case Study of the Bellencini-Fontana Vendetta, 1547-1562
Adviser: Sharon T. Strocchia, Professor, Department of History
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
My research began with an unexpected find in a sixteenth-century Modenese nun's diary -- an extensive account of several violent, concurrent bombings commissioned by one Lanfranco Fontana. Curious, I followed this story through the archives and uncovered decades of reciprocal violence between two politically prominent Modenese families -- the Fontana and Bellencini. Pouring through chronicles, letters, family papers, governmental records and convent archives, I discovered that vendetta violence shaped every part of the life of the city and greatly impacted politics, religion and social practices. Ultimately, studying this vendetta revealed narratives of both resistance to and cooperation with state reform and centralization.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
Beyond uncovering what was a really interesting story of vengeance and two families, this case study takes a slightly different approach to the extent scholarship in two ways. One, it looks at an understudied polity during an important period on the Italian peninsula; a polity whose political practices during this time could modify extant models. Two, it utilizes historical sources in new ways to complicate the relationship between violence and state formation.
What I'm doing after graduation
Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology
Eileen Sawyer
Dissertation: Neuroadaptive Changes in the Serotonin System Associated with Chronic SSRI Treatment in the Context of Cocaine Use
Adviser: Leonard L. Howell, Division Chief, Neuropharmacology and Neurologic Diseases; Director, Yerkes Imaging Center; Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
More than 1 million Americans abuse cocaine, yet there is no effective pharmacotherapy available and many candidate medications have abuse potential. I examined the effects of chronic treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), which are used to treat depression and are not abused, on cocaine-related behavior and neurochemistry in an animal model. SSRIs can cause neurobiological changes, but these effects are poorly understood in the context of cocaine use, so I also examined possible neurobiological mechanisms by which chronic SSRI treatment could affect cocaine-related behavior using neurochemistry and brain imaging.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
My results suggest that chronic SSRI treatment can reduce the likelihood of relapse but not ongoing cocaine use, possibly through desensitization of a particular serotonin receptor (5HT2A) in the brain. This suggests that SSRI treatment could be most effective if used during the transition between inpatient and outpatient treatment programs, not as a direct intervention in current cocaine abusers as has been previously examined. Also, addition of a 5HT2A antagonist to SSRI treatment may increase its efficacy for cocaine abuse.
What I'm doing after graduation
Post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School
John P. Berg
Dissertation: Implementation of Stimulus Control in a Computational Model
Adviser: Jack J. McDowell, Professor, Department of Psychology
Simplifying the abstract: How I'd explain my research
Previous versions of a computational model based on selection by consequences (i.e., priniciples of evolution) have had limited ability to react to different stimuli. My dissertation extended the model so that it can react to more stimulus conditions.
Making a difference: How my research is having an impact
Computational models of behavior can be used to evaluate theories of behavior. My research showed that a computation model of behavior following simple rules based on evolution can produce simulated behavior similar to live animals. Eventually, this work could be extented to produce highly realistic models of behavior based on theory and potentially develop more effective treatments for behavior problems.
What I'm doing after graduation
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Emory School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
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