The Humanities Center is pleased to announce the recipients of winter break Student Research Partnerships awards*. Congratulations to all!

Diane Nemec Ignashev (German and Russian) and Kiri Salij’24 (Computer Science) will redesign the algorithm underlying the verb conjugator for the Russian department’s online language textbook, and revise the code at its core.

Seth Peabody (German and Russian) and Nadia McPherson’23 (Cinema and Media Studies) will work on revisions to the book project Environmental Fantasies: German Film History for the Anthropocene.

Thabiti Willis (History) and Oliver Jacobs’22 (History) will organize and analyze data for an archive of records on runaway slaves in the Persian Gulf region.

Victoria Morse (History) and Dingyun (Michael) Cui’24 (Political Science/International Relations) will work on an article on a set of maps of 14th century Genoa that will explore themes of urban identity and self-representation in 14th century northern Italy.

Alex Knodell (Classics, Archaeology) and Sophie Rast’24 (Undeclared) will go to Paros and Syros, two islands in the central Aegean, to study and illustrate finds collected during the 2020-2021 summer field season.

Brooke McCorkle (Music) and Cass Adams’23 (Computer Science) will collaborate on a three-part project that will result in a presentation, guest lecture, and experiential workshop on modifying Nintendo Game Boys and original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) hardware into musical instruments to create chiptune music. The proposed project will support the upcoming Winter Seminar MUSC 313 “Video Game Music: History, Interpretation, Technology” but its participatory components will be open to the entire campus community.

Jenna Conklin (Linguistics), Elliot Stork’22 (Linguistics & German), Ruken Bastimar’22 (Cognitive Science & Music) and Sue He’22 (Linguistics & Computer Science) will consider a specific sound process, sibilant harmony, and attempt to understand why one particular iteration of it is notably absent in natural language, while three other varieties flourish in unrelated languages across the globe.

Cecilia Cornejo (Cinema and Media Studies), Chisomnazu Oguh’23 (Computer Science), and Valentina Guerrero Chala’24 (Undeclared) will develop a digital version of the Northfield Community Quilt which is based on audio testimonies recorded by Northfield residents in the summer of 2019. These audio fragments responded to the prompt “I know I’m home when…” and were subsequently embroidered by 60 community members between September and December of 2020.

Cecilia Cornejo (Cinema and Media Studies) and Ceile Kronick’22 (Cinema and Media Studies) will work on “Sonic Landscapes of Rural Minnesota,” a sound-mapping website designed to explore notions of home and belonging from a small-town perspective.

Sarah Kennedy (Archaeology) and Mathew Zappa’22 (Biology) will initiate and grow the CARCAS Laboratory (Carleton Archaeological Research Collection of Animal Specimens) which will provide a large, scientific osteological comparative collection for teaching, training, and analysis.

Rob Hardy (Classics), MJ Fielder-Jellsey’22 (Classics), Emma MacArthur-Warner’23 (Classics), Sam Wege’22 (Classics) and Sam Zimmerman’24 (Undeclared) will work on an online student commentary on Books 9-12 of Homer’s Odyssey for Dickinson College Commentaries (https://dcc.dickinson.edu).

*Awards made possible by a generous gift from Alison von Klemperer ’82, support from the Dean of the College and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.