Celebrating Scholarship

Jenny Magnes, Professor of Physics, and Juan Merlo-Ramírez, Associate Professor of Physics, recently published a new book, Optical Interference and Dynamic Diffraction: Research methods for undergraduates. Their book introduces Dynamic Optical Diffraction (DOD), developed by Professor Magnes, and draws on both authors’ pedagogical experience to “fill in the elementary material often omitted from the literature on diffraction and Fourier transforms,” mathematical tools that help analyze signal frequencies.

Kelli Duncan, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Academic Resources and Professor of Biology on the Patricia Shoer Goldman-Rakic ’59 Professorship Chair, is serving as the scientific mentor for Daniel Tobiansky’s Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) Proposal Development Grant. She is providing hands-on mentorship for a project examining the spatial distribution of unique woodpecker tau (MAPT) transcript variants in woodpecker and songbird brains.

Amitava Kumar, Professor of English, is author of the recently published The Social Life of Indian Trains (Aleph Book Company, 2025), part of Aleph’s “Essential India” series.

In What We Mourn: Child Death and the Politics of Grief in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Lydia captures an unfolding public reckoning, one where the scale of child mortality and human grief leads to a new culture of bereavement that shapes views about the role of the state as protector of rights, of children and others.

Paul Kane, Professor Emeritus of English, recently released “Intimations” (Modern Sounds, 2025), a music and poetry recording with the avant-garde jazz ensemble The String Trio of New York, led by guitarist James Emery.

Colette Salyk, Associate Professor of Astronomy, secured funding through the Space Telescope Science Institute for the study of planet formation with collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Carl Elsaesser, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Film, was awarded a 2026 Creative Capital Award for his feature-length, untitled film project that uses footage from the past decade to shape a coming-of-age narrative. Blending video diaries, ethnography and fiction, Carl’s film follows Ellis, a queer boy documenting his family’s frustrations and emerging sense of self.

Terrence Cullen, Visiting Assistant Professor, and Rupinder Kaur, Assistant Professor—both from French and Francophone Studies—received an Albertine Cinémathèque Festival Grant for Vassar’s 2025–2026 French film festival. Organized around the theme of “art and artifice,” the festival will introduce students and the community to French cinema and create opportunities for intellectual exchange.

Elizabeth Bradley , President and Professor of Political Science and Science, Technology and Society, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . This tremendous honor recognizes Betsy’s pioneering public health efforts, extensive publications, higher education research, and innovative international partnerships.