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This summer, Abby Quirk ’16, Becca Rees ’16 and Rohan Arcot ’16, under the guidance of Associate Professor of Psychology Jen Borton, are researching defensive self-esteem and its effect on autobiographical memory.

Emerson project recipient Leigh Gialanella ’15 is examining the print culture of the 19th century Utopian religious community known as the Oneida Community and founded in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes.

This summer Arthur Williams ’16, with the support of the Joseph F. Anderson Fund, is interning at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, a nonprofit that offers workshops, courses, support services and financial networks to individuals looking to begin or expand small businesses. The Center, located in San Francisco, aims to provide these services to individuals who traditionally lack the resources and information necessary to pursue entrepreneurship as a means of financial self-sufficiency.

For her Levitt Summer Research Fellowship Grant, Sarah Izzo ’15 is working on a project with Professor of Philosophy Rick Werner titled “Brains on the Stand: The Implications of Emerging Neuroscience Research on our Judicial System.” Izzo is examining new neuroscience research on topics like decision-making and free will as well as associated technological advances (such as improved precision in lie detection). 

John DeGuardi ’16 and Allie Eckert ’15, both chemistry majors, are researching ‘organic radicals’ with Associate Professor of Chemistry Ian Rosenstein this summer. Generally, the students explain, electrons are paired within an atom and have opposing spins that help stabilize the atom. A radical, however, is an atom with an unpaired electron in its outer shell. Since the electron in the outer shell does not have a counterpart, the atom is unstable and highly reactive.

In 2011, during its 50th season, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra (SSO) declared bankruptcy. The SSO’s dissolution upset many members of the Central New York community, especially the musicians and patrons who for the last half-century had treasured the SSO’s talent and presence. Unfortunately, the SSO’s collapse is representative of a national decline in live orchestral performance.

Abigail Keim ’15, with support from the Dan Fielding ’07 Fund, is applying her interest in psychology by interning at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence this summer. The Center for Emotional Intelligence is a research laboratory at Yale University that examines, as Keim put it, “the extent to which emotional intelligence currently affects people’s actions, experiences, and relationships.”

Henry Rittenberg ’15 is examining the evolution of fashion photography since World War II for his Emerson Grant with Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies Lawrence Chua. Through his project, titled “From Penn to Richardson: A Study in Post World War II Fashion Photography,” Rittenberg said, “I hope to find why there has been a shift from the supremely beautiful compositions of Richard Penn and other post-war photographers to the amateurism of Terry Richardson and the desire for shock value among other contemporary photographers.”

Courtney Hobgood ’15 and Josh DeVinney ’15 are spending the summer researching ADHD symptomatology (the set of characteristics associated with ADHD) under the direction of Associate Professor of Psychology Tara McKee. Their research focuses on college students, using data collected by Professor McKee and Hamilton College.

Nejla Asimovic ’16 is spending her summer researching the accession of Serbia to the European Union (EU)  in an Emerson project under the guidance of Professor of Government Alan Cafruny. Early this year Serbia began formal membership discussions with the EU, bringing it one step closer to accession. Asimovic says the goal of her research is “to understand the remarkable transformation that Serbia has gone through over the last decade and to explore the remaining obstacles on Serbia’s path to EU accession.”