Justin Horowitz ’05 is a graduate research assistant in bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He’s also the first author of a study that describes the development a of mathematical algorithm that can ascertain intention even when the act of carrying out that intention is interrupted.
The study article is titled “I Meant to Do That: Determining the Intentions of Action in the Face of Disturbances,” and it appears in the online journal PLOS ONE. The article’s co-author is James Patton, professor of bioengineering and principal investigator of the study, which occurred at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Horowitz and Patton call the discovery a “psychic robot” and its potential applications may turn out to be profound. Imagine a car diverted from its course that could restore the driver’s intended direction faster than the driver could do so. ““The computer has extra sensors and processes information so much faster than I can react,” Horowitz said in a UIC press release (October 6, 2015, by Jeanne Galatzer-Levy). “If the car can tell where I mean to go, it can drive itself there. But it has to know which movements of the wheel represent my intention, and which are responses to an environment that’s already changed.” The algorithm can make that distinction.
The algorithm also may have potential application in treatment of stroke patients. Imagine a prosthetic device that can restore a patient’s intended course of action before that intent was changed by after-effects of the stroke, such as interruptions in motor coordination. “If you know how someone is moving and what the disturbance is, you can tell the underlying intent,” said Horowitz, “which means we could use this algorithm to design machines that could correct the course of a swerving car or help a stroke patient with spasticity.”
Horowitz earned his bachelor’s degree at K in biology.
More than 1,500 works of art at 160+ venues across three square miles. Yep, we’re talking ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, and one of those works was created by Russell Cooper ’89, Help Desk administrator at Kalamazoo College.
ArtPrize is a radically open international art competition decided by public vote and expert jury that takes place each fall in Grand Rapids. The 2015 competition began September 23 and continues through October 11.
Russell’s entry is titled “Flat Iron at the Ledyard” and features a singular location made to look like a collage of viewpoints (just the opposite of 2014’s ArtPrize piece “For Your Amusement”, a collage of multiple locations made to look like one imaginary and fantastical place). It is an old-school method of cutting and pasting real prints, with little or no Photoshop involved. The subject location is at Ottawa and Monroe Center in the heart of Grand Rapids, site of the Flat Iron Building on the Ledyard Block. Originally constructed in 1860, it’s one of three of the oldest historical buildings in downtown GR, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “Flat Iron at the Ledyard” is photographed over several months, with many times of day, many kinds of weather, and many types of pedestrian and automobile traffic patterns. If a picture is worth a “thousand” words, how about one made up of a “thousand” pictures? You can see Russell’s piece at Palatte Coffee & Art (150 Fulton Street East), and you can vote for it online.
Kalamazoo College celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony the beginning of construction of its new fitness and wellness center. The ceremony took place at the building site at 4 p.m. (September 24). The approximately $9 million project is funded by gifts made to K’s recently completed fundraising drive, The Campaign for Kalamazoo College.
President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran said that the center is germane to the College’s liberal arts mission. “We focus on the whole student; we focus on the balance of mind, spirit and body.” The center, she added, would be “a common space in which the entire campus community–faculty, staff, students and retirees–can develop healthy life styles through participation in fitness and wellness programs.”
Grace Smith ’17 explains what the fitness and wellness center will mean to students.
The 30,000 square foot, two-story center will house the following:
– a weight room and cardio fitness area of sufficient capacity to meet the needs of all students and employees;
– five multi-purpose rooms, as flexible in function as the liberal arts to which they are dedicated;
– two racquetball courts;
– expanded lockers for both the Hornet tennis teams and for general use;
– an office and health assessment room for the campus wellness director; and
– space for the George Acker Tennis Hall of Champions.
The building provides an example of excellence in sustainability. “Our building is designed and will be constructed to the high standards of energy efficiency and resource conservation explicit in a LEED silver rating,” said Wilson-Oyelaran. “And our efforts in this area will be audited by two students who have been hired and trained in LEED certification.”
Pause to see and ponder “A Pause” …specifically the collaborative art show “A Pause in Flow: Reconsidering the Columbia River.” The project combines the work of Kalamazoo College alumnus Nick Conbere ’94 and John Holmgren and is on display in the Light Fine Arts Gallery through October 9. A public presentation by the artists will occur on Thursday, October 8, at 4 p.m.
“Using art as a visual and narrative critical tool, our project investigates the presence and impact of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River,” write the artists. The dams have been celebrated for their massive energy production and economic benefits, and they have also incurred environmental and related social costs as they reshape aspects of the river basin. “A Pause in Flow” explores ideas of environment, industry, time, and memory. “We ask how aesthetic relationship can offer compelling ways to consider human constructions that alter natural forces.”
The concerns are topical and consequential in the Pacific Northwest area of North America, as dam policies on the Columbia River are currently being negotiated in Canada and the United States and considerations of new dams are being discussed. “Central to our project is that the works be exhibited in locations along the Columbia River as well as in Pacific Northwest cities dependent on hydro-power,” the artists add. “Through our collaborative documentation and interpretation, we will aim to explore parallels among various places and histories along the river, suggest patterns and relationships, and facilitate documentary, metaphor, and allegory in considering the presence of the dams.”
The Campaign for Kalamazoo College raised $129,140,336!
Kalamazoo College made history today.
At a special celebratory gathering of students, faculty and staff, the College announced the completion of The Campaign for Kalamazoo College, which surpassed its $125 million goal by raising more than $129 million and, in so doing, became the most successful fundraising campaign in K’s history, generating more financial resources than the last two campaigns combined.
“We are grateful to the thousands of alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends who made contributions and volunteered time and talent to make this campaign a success,” said President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran.
“We also celebrate the deeper meaning of this campaign,” she added, “that a liberal arts education is the best education to enrich a life, in the fullest sense of that word, and the best education to provide lessons that go beyond just employment. There are centuries of evidence to support that notion and now a successful Kalamazoo College campaign to affirm it. And, by the way, a liberal arts education also happens to be the best education not for one job but for multiple jobs, which is likely to be the future for current students.”
President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran
Campaign participation was widespread. More than 17,000 donors have made gifts and pledges. Twelve donors committed to gifts of $1 million or more. Sixty-three percent of faculty and staff participated in the campaign.
The ultimate beneficiaries are K students, current and future, who do more in four years so they can do more in a lifetime. The campaign funded five capital projects and seven new endowed faculty positions. Capital projects include the renovations of the Weimar K. Hicks Center and the athletic fields complex and the construction of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership building. Ground has been broken on the new fitness and wellness center, and fundraising will continue for the planned renovation of the College’s natatorium.
The campaign created 30 new funds to support Senior Individualized Project research opportunities for students (the SIP is a graduation requirement at K) and created 35 new permanently funded student scholarships.
“This campaign is about much more than numbers,” said Wilson-Oyelaran. “This campaign is an affirmation of the liberal arts. This campaign is about alumni, parents, and friends who continue to give to Kalamazoo College so that others can benefit from the way that K practices the liberal arts.”
“It was during spring break of this year that I understood what made Kalamazoo College truly unique.”
So spoke newly-minted alumnus Vageesha Liyana-Gunawardana ’15 during his Baccalaureate address this past June. “I was in Colorado visiting a friend whom I had met during my study abroad in Japan,” he added. “Upon mentioning that I was from Kalamazoo College to my friend’s housemates, they got quite excited. It happens to be, that two of them knew one of my housemates at Kalamazoo this year. They had met while on study abroad in London. Just then I realized that K students are everywhere!”
Picking up on that theme is classmate Mallory Zink ’15, who wrote the following article on several members of the class of 2015 about to continue their international journeys.
Kalamazoo College is well known for being international, and a handful of recent graduates, me included, are continuing the tradition. My classmates are moving across the world, including Germany, France, and China. We are using fellowships, English teaching positions and grants. For most of us, this isn’t our first study abroad experience, but for many of us, it is our first time moving somewhere completely alone. We will face the same struggles of finding the grocery store, figuring out how to work the washing machine, and making friends with local residents. But the skills we learned at K and our time on study abroad are going to help us navigate our future, wherever in the world we go.
Aaron Bunker ’15 is moving to Wuxi, China, in the fall. He will be teaching pre-calculus and calculus at the Big Bridge Academy in the international department. He had not planned on
Aaron Bunker
living abroad, but is happy to have the opportunity. He had originally planned on working with an at-risk tutoring program in Boston, but questioned its long term financial feasibility. Aaron also wasn’t sure he was ready for a ‘real’ job, or, alternatively, ready for grad school, so China seemed like the best option. Aaron knows little about his new home, just enough to say hello and count to one hundred in Chinese. However, “I’m excited to be immersed in a place about which I know so little, and I’m excited about living completely by myself for the first time,” he said.
Natalie Cherne
Natalie Cherne ’15 is going back to back to Germany in the fall. She received a Fulbright to teach English for ten months at the Peter-Vischer Schule in Nuremberg, a short 10-minute train ride from where she studied as a junior at K. A Fulbright was Natalie’s post-graduation goal; she knew she wanted to go back after falling in love with Germany her junior year. “I am lucky enough to be going back to a support network,” said Natalie.
Unlike the majority of her classmates, Lyla Rothschild ’15did not study abroad, so she is excited to go to Europe for the first time! As a junior she had been accepted into the Clermont-Ferrand program, but had to take a year off due to a medical leave. She has been studying French since high school and will be teaching English to French students through a program called “Teach Abroad Program in France” (TAPIF). Lyla said she is anxious about the language barrier, because, “as much as you study a language, nothing compares to living in that country.” She is excited to have found this opportunity for a gap year before grad school.
Lyla Rothchild
Kelsey Donk ’15had two choices for her return to France. She was offered a job Langue et Nature au Chateau de la Mazure, a language center where she had completed an internship. And, for a time, she planned to work there and apply for French citizenship. Instead she chose the city of Laval for her post-graduation destination. There she will teach English in the French public schools through TAPIF. The job with TAPIF will allow her to work in schools where, she feels, her presence, is most needed. She plans on doing a lot of writing next year, getting to know Laval
Kelsey Donk
and exploring the north of France. “I’m so excited to get to know my primary school students,” Kelsey said. “I’ll be working in three primary schools and I think I’ll love my kids.”
Hannah Olsen
Hannah Olsen ’15 studied abroad in Strasbourg, France for three months and is moving back to study at the University of Strasbourg. She received the Jean and Marie-Louise Dufrenoy Grant through la Société de Professeurs Français et Francophone d’Amérique. She will mainly be taking classes in physics. The Dufrenoy Grant was her top post-graduation option; Hannah knew it was a unique opportunity that she couldn’t pass up! She is especially excited for the opportunity to integrate her knowledge of science and the French language; she has never been able to use French in a physics context and is excited to try! She is a little intimidated by the current social and political environment in France, but “right now, the excitement outweighs my worries,” she said.
Joseph Westerfield ’15is moving to Bourgoin-Jallieu, France, in September. He will be an English teaching assistant through the TAPIF program for three different schools. He has never lived in France, but has always wanted to! This was his original plan for after school, the perfect gap year before graduate school, where he hopes to focus his work on performance studies. His biggest worry? That his work schedule (a mere15 hours a week) will make it difficult to get into a routine…especially after the four years of demanding routine at K! Nevertheless, he is excited to teach children and work on his goal of
Joe Westerfield
sustainable living, for both next year and the future.
Haley Cartwright ’15is moving to Annecy, France. She, also, will serve as an English teaching assistant through the TAPIF program. Haley knew she wanted to do something outside of her intended career path and take a year off before she began pursuing her doctorate. Annecy will not her first time living in France; she lived there for two years when she was in middle school and was lucky enough to learn French through immersion both then and when she lived in Clermont during her junior year study abroad. Her goals for next year are to improve her French skills, meet international people, and learn some Spanish. Haley said, “I’m really committed to the experience, I know what to expect and am prepared to find a good balance between being a teaching assistant and having American and international friends.”
Haley Cartwright
Alyssa Walker ’15 is moving back to her study abroad site in Erlangen, Germany. She received a German Studies fellowship at Friedrich-Alexander University for a year, where she will study German, Spanish, and international studies. She hopes the classes she takes in Erlangen will help point her in a direction for further graduate study. Alyssa has some fun goals besides taking classes. She wants to meet new people, travel off the beaten path, and gain some work experience. She said, “I am not worried about anything next year. Kalamazoo College has prepared me for this, and I have the support of friends and family abroad.”
Alyssa Walker
And Mallory Zink ’15, the author, is moving to Bonn, Germany in October. “I had a few possibilities for after graduation, and going back to Germany was on the top. Funding that return through a fellowship, was really on the top, so I was very excited when I received one. I’ll be working on my German abilities this upcoming academic year at the University of Bonn, and then I’ll apply to grad school in Germany the following year (well, that is the plan currently). I’m nervous to be moving to a completely new city alone, but then again I am not too worried, I lived in Germany for a year during study abroad and know where to meet the Germans! First stop is the community kitchen in the apartment, second is the beer garden!”
Olivia Cares ’15 is a K summer intern in the Kalamazoo law office of Mike Ortega ’78.
Every summer, Kalamazoo College students fan out across the globe for summer internships. They gain workplace experience, acquire relevant skills and competencies, and test the academic theories they’ve studied in campus classrooms. The educational value of summer internships is increasingly recognized by employers, many of whom set greater store in a candidate’s internship experience than GPA or major.
K student interns also see the educational value of their summer experiences. We know this because we require students to submit written reflections to K’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) on their summer Field Experience Program.
Here are some insights shared by this summer’s crop of interns:
“It is incredibly gratifying to realize how far I’ve come in such a short time. While it was hard to notice while the internship was happening, I often felt like I was constantly lost. I can now look at what I was fumbling around with the first week and laugh about it, because now it seems so trivial and easy. And the great thing about this knowledge is that it can be immediately applicable to any other job within industry.”
– Michael Lindley ’16, product development analyst intern at NextGxDx, Franklin, Tennessee; supervised by Gillian Hooker ’00, Director of Clinical Development in Bioinformatics)
“[In] my internship, whenever I hit a roadblock I was able to clearly analyze the situation and develop a solution. This is one of the most useful skills I think I’ve acquired and honed at Kalamazoo College.”
– Minhkhang Truong ’16, teaching intern at the Olympia Schools, Hanoi, Vietnam; supervised by Christopher McDonald ’89, Head of Schools.
“I can take on almost any tasked assigned. Yes, sometimes I may have to ask extra questions to gain all of the background information necessary to fully complete a project, but the reality is that my K education has taught me how to ask those questions in a way that provides the needed answers. K has taught me how to ask important questions that leads to relevant answers, a skill that is beyond useful when I am being assigned such a variety of projects.”
– Amanda Johnson ’17, sales and marketing associate at Youngsoft, Inc., Wixom, Mich.; supervised by Amy Courter ’83, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing.
“[T]he law is a living thing that is constantly revised and changed. This makes research, clear understanding, and communication the most valuable tools in the trade.”
– Olivia Cares ’16, legal intern at Lewis, Reed & Allen, Kalamazoo; supervised by Michael Ortega ’78, attorney and shareholder.
The above experiences are among many that are funded each year through the CCPD’s Field Experience Program. Endowed funds provide $3,000 stipends to help defray the costs of unpaid summer internships. The CCPD recognizes with gratitude all the donors who have made these summer internship stipends possible, as well as all of the alumni who serve as internship supervisors for current K students.
Kalamazoo College alumni, Annie Gough ’15 and Eric Silverstein ’14 have been selected as two of 30 Fellows to participate in Challenge Detroit, an urban revitalization program focused on attracting and retaining talent in Detroit in an effort to spur revitalization. Gough and Silverstein were chosen from hundreds of applicants to collaborate with individuals from all over the country and live, work, play, give, and lead in Detroit.
Challenge Detroit is a one-year fellowship program that provides the opportunity for tomorrow’s leaders to work at top regional companies, while spending one day a week collaborating with area nonprofits to address regional challenges and opportunities, including multi-modal transportation, homelessness, and community development.
During their year with Challenge Detroit, Annie will work with partnering host company Beaumont Health System, while Eric will work with partnering host General Motors.
Annie graduated from Grosse Pointe (Mich.) South High School and earned a B.A. degree in English at K. During her time at K, she also studied abroad at University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
Eric Silverstein ’14
“Growing up right next door to the city, I have always fostered a fondness for Detroit’s complex culture and history,” said Annie. “Now, I am eager to understand and identify with the city on a more intimate level by being fully immersed through living, working, playing and giving here.”
Eric is a Troy (Mich.) High School grad who earned a B.A. degree in psychology from K. He studied abroad at Universidad Antonio de Nebrija in Spain during his time at K.
“I have always welcomed adversity, so I guess you could say we have mutual interests,” said Eric.
During their year in Detroit, Annie and Eric will share their stories through regular blogging, video logging, and social media updates. For more information on Challenge Detroit and see videos with Annie and Eric talking about their upcoming experiences, visit www.challengedetroit.org/the-fellows.
Three Friends Talking: (l-r) Kim Chapman ’77, Jim Armstrong, and Lad Hanka ’75 (photo by Susan Andress)
Kim Alan Chapman ’77 is co-author of “Nature, Culture, and Two Friends Talking,” a collection of essays addressing the complex relationships humans have with the natural world. The book is in part the story of a 30-year friendship between Kim, an ecologist living in St. Paul, Minn., and James Armstrong, a poet and English professor at Winona State University in Winona, Minn. Their story centers on love of nature and a shared quest to understand how to save what they love. At turns literary and scholarly, their essays, poems, and public presentations document the evolution of their ideas and expressions of this love. They also reflect American culture’s own dialogue about nature and conservation.
One section of the book, “From the Darkness, Light: What an Ecologist and Poet See in an Artist’s Work,” revolves around the two writers reacting via email to etchings of rural scenes set in southern Michigan by Kalamazoo-based artist Ladislav Hanka ’75, their longtime mutual friend. That exchange also led to a live—and lively—discussion at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts about how Lad’s work creates a dynamic confrontation between art and science, wildness and civilization, beauty and ugliness, darkness and light. All three friends joined in the conversation before a large audience at the KIA.
Kim has worked as a conservationist, consultant, teacher, and ecologist for 30 years. In addition to his B.A. degree in biology from Kalamazoo College, he holds a M.A. degree in biology (ecology) from WMU, and a Ph.D. degree in conservation biology from University of Minnesota. His other publications include “Valley of Grass” (North Star Press), winner of a Minnesota Book Award.
Joel Hutson ’02 with Ceratosaurus Carnotaurus at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum of Kenosha, Wisc.
Kalamazoo College alumnus Joel Hutson ’02 was quoted in the July 15, 2015 issue of popular scientific magazine Scientific American about dinosaur research that he and his wife, Kelda Hutson (Colgate University ’02), published in the March 2015 issue of Journal of Zoology.
Joel is a biologist who did research in the Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, in DeKalb, Ill. He and Kelda, a geologist in the Department of Earth Science, College of Lake County, in Grayslake, Ill., compared the forelimb mechanics of alligators with fossils from Postosuchus — a relative of early dinosaurs and present day alligators and crocodiles to learn more about joint mobility. All dinosaurs once pranced, strolled or lumbered about on two legs, but over time many evolved into quadrupeds. The Hutsons’ research illustrates how dinosaurs may have made the transition from two-legged to four-legged mobility.
Their journal article is titled “Inferring the prevalence and function of finger hyperextension in Archosauria from finger-joint range of motion in the American alligator.” Joel said: “I was inspired to study dinosaurs because of Jeff Wilson ’91 who was featured in Kalamazoo College news when I was a biology student at K.” Wilson is a paleontologist at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and has visited the K campus to speak to students and faculty about his work.
Joel said he hopes also to “inspire a future generation of paleontologists at Kalamazoo College.”
The Hutsons’ Journal of Zoology article and Scientific American interview will be available free online after an embargo.
Justin Horowitz ’05 is a graduate research assistant in bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He’s also the first author of a study that describes the development a of mathematical algorithm that can ascertain intention even when the act of carrying out that intention is interrupted.
