Studying Stress During a Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic—and the personal and financial emergencies that accompany it—are causing heightened levels of stress and anxiety across all demographics. In the U.S. alone, the pandemic has touched the lives of millions, and the economic halt has led to record-high unemployment.

To study the effect these stressful events are having on the people living through them, Professor of Psychological Science Patricia Smiley has received a $164,138 research grant from the National Science Foundation. Her study will explore the changes in stress response in adults and children brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The one-year study titled “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Changes in the Stress Response: Identifying Risk and Resilience in Adults and Children” is a collaboration with Professors Stacey Doan of Claremont McKenna College and Cindy Liu of Harvard Medical School. The researchers will focus on acute and chronic stress, the transmission of stress between caregivers and their children, and risk and resilience factors associated with exacerbating or reducing stress.

The research team will capitalize on an ongoing longitudinal study of stress and adaptation of 150 families with young children in Los Angeles County. “The pandemic will allow us to address fundamental questions about the effects of chronic stress that we would not otherwise be able to answer,” says Smiley. “Uncertainty is something our brains dislike and that’s when we see increased cortisol production, a stress hormone, in our study participants. In our original study, we saw heightened cortisol levels in those participants who are not able to quickly adapt to stressful situations, so in the time of the current pandemic, they may be more susceptible to chronic stressors, showing higher cortisol levels and poorer psychological health.”

Gaze Sharing and Remote Work Collaboration

During the coronavirus pandemic, working remotely has become, in some cases, the only way for many workplaces to continue to function. That has added a new urgency to a line of research that Alexandra Papoutsaki, assistant professor of computer science, was already pursuing before the pandemic began. To continue her work, she recently was awarded a $105,572 National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant, which she will use to study gaze sharing in support of more effective remote work collaboration.

Gaze sharing, in which collaborators can see where each other’s gaze is directed on a shared screen, has been shown to have a positive effect in various visual tasks such as writing and programming.

Studying a person’s gaze is significant because it is a sign of human attention and intention and has a central role in workplace coordination and communication. Through eye tracking, researchers can assess eye movements to determine where a person is looking, what they are looking at and for how long they look at a screen.

Researchers like Papoutsaki have been developing tools to lessen some of the problems encountered in remote collaborations.

Papoutsaki’s two-year study aims to better understand gaze sharing and examine previously overlooked dimensions of remote collaboration. First, she will investigate the effect of the choice of the communication channel—either audio or video-based communication that is used in conjunction to gaze sharing in the screen collaboration process. Second, she will seek to understand how the awareness of someone else’s gaze affects groups of up to six remote collaborators that go beyond the traditionally studied pairs.

Modeling the Next Gravitational Wave Detector

“Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in space and time that Einstein himself thought people would not be able to measure,” Professor of Physics Thomas A. Moore explains. “But now they have been measured, and that promises a lot of interesting astronomy to be done in the future.”

Moore has received a $145,223 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop, test and share a computer application that simulates how future gravitational wave detectors would react to binary star systems. Moore’s three-year project, “Adding Spin to a Gravitational Wave Detector Simulator,” will create undergraduate summer research opportunities beginning in 2021 that expand on his work with Yijun “Ali” Wang ’19, now a graduate student in physics at Caltech. The project was “partly inspired by the interest that a lot of my students have because of the recent detection of gravitational waves,” Moore says, referring to the historic 2015 observation that led to the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne.

The 2015 observation of waves created by a collision between two black holes was accomplished through the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, which consists of two U.S.-based facilities, one in Hanford, Washington, and the other in Livingston, Louisiana. Each facility has two arms that stretch 2½ miles in different directions and use vacuum systems, lasers and mirrors to detect gravitational waves.

Moore, who has taught physics at Pomona since 1987, has been particularly interested in a planned space-based gravitational wave detector known as LISA, for Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, and notes that a detector built of satellites would have certain advantages over those on Earth. Computer modeling would allow scientists to evaluate potential designs before undertaking such massive projects.

Developing New Chemical Reac­tions for Drug Discovery

Nitrogen-based sulfur compounds such as sulfonamides, sulfamides and sulfamates are important compounds that have therapeutic applications against cancer, HIV and microbial infections. But existing approaches to making these compounds are limited by the commercial availability of the starting materials and by harsh chemical reactions that prevent late-stage functionality of the compounds.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Nicholas Ball has received a $394,145 research enhancement grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to focus on the development of new chemical reactions that can facilitate drug target discovery using sulfur (VI) fluorides. For this three-year grant, Ball will work with an industry collaborator, Pfizer’s Christopher am Ende, and Chapman University’s Maduka Ogba. This collaboration will expand opportunities for Pomona College students to gain research experiences at Pfizer and in computational chemistry.

Ball’s lab has been working on sulfur-fluoride exchange chemistry, which is a promising new pathway to synthesize sulfur-based compounds by using easy-to-handle starting materials such as inexpensive Lewis acid salts and organic-based catalysts. The successful implementation of the research proposed for this grant will represent a considerable advance over current methods that rely on starting materials that are challenging to synthesize or isolate.

Equally important is the industry research experience that undergraduate students will gain from this research. The work in this proposal will expose them to biomedical research with significant focus on synthesis and medicinal chemistry.

Exploring the History of Environmental Law

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s highly competitive New Directions Fellowships are awarded annually to exceptional faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who seek to acquire systematic training that pushes the edges of their own disciplinary background. One of the recipients this year is Aimee Bahng, assistant professor of gender and women’s studies.

Through this $285,000 grant, Bahng will explore where property law and environmental law overlap or diverge, a path of inquiry which has taken her into legal terrain that is straining her disciplinary training in literary studies and feminist theory.

Working at the interstices of environmental justice, feminist science studies, and Indigenous Pacific and transnational Asian American studies, Bahng proposes to study the history of environmental law around oceanic bodies of water. She plans to analyze how human governance of the environment emerged out of Western liberal humanistic concepts of property. It questions whether the property-based origin of our existing legal framework can be an effective lens through which to legislate the oceanic commons; it will also explore historical determinations of who and what is able to bear rights.

Bahng hopes to spend at least part of her fellowship time pursuing coursework in environmental law at Lewis and Clark Law School, native Hawaiian law at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Ma-noa, and indigenous law at the University of Victoria in Canada.

From top: Aimee Bahng, Tom Le, Jane Liu, Jorge Moreno, Gilda Ochoa and Alexandra Papoutsaki

Six professors have been selected to receive the 2020 Wig Distinguished Professor Award for excellence in teaching. The award is the highest honor bestowed on Pomona College faculty, recognizing exceptional teaching, concern for students and service to the College and community. Here’s a list of this year’s recipients, along with anonymously written nomination comments from their students:

Aimee Bahng
Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies

“Professor Bahng is one of the most intellectually generous people I have ever met. Her courses are fascinating, excellent discussions that I feel have contributed to my growth as a person. She masters the difficult dance of encouraging rigorous intellectual work while recognizing the strangeness of academia as an elite space (particularly in the context of Gender and Women’s Studies).”

Tom Le
Assistant Professor of Politics

“I met Professor Le my sophomore year in an upper division international relations class. At first, I was intimidated by his candor and overwhelming expertise on the subject of East Asian politics. However, in the span of a few weeks, I realized how lucky I was to have the chance to take one of his classes. Professor Le has always pushed me to be better, work harder and care more. His leadership style is inspiring, and Pomona is lucky to have him as faculty. Thank you, Professor Le, for always encouraging me to be a better scholar, student and friend.”

Jane Liu
Associate Professor of Chemistry

“It’s amazing how a professor can make such a big difference in your academic experience, even if you only see them once a week for lab. Professor Liu is not only extremely knowledgeable and a talented scientist, but she is also one of the kindest human beings I have ever met.”

Jorge Moreno
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy

“Professor Moreno has completely reimagined the possibilities of the STEM classroom. His teaching style and commitment to students—particularly students that have been historically excluded from STEM spaces—makes him one of the most beloved professors at Pomona. In his short time at the College, Professor Moreno has made an impactful impression on students from all disciplines. He is truly an advocate for his students.”

Gilda Ochoa
Professor of Chicana/o Latina/o Studies

“Gilda Ochoa is the most deserving faculty member for this award because she is always available for students regardless of their major or background. Gilda Ochoa is the person to ask you how you are feeling rather than how you are doing. She will listen to you and make you feel heard and cared for. Her research advances social justice by centering underrepresented voices.”

Alexandra Papoutsaki
Assistant Professor of Computer Science

“I was not the best computer science student and was never going to end up going very far in it, but Professor Papoutsaki still worked hard to make sure I understood things. Some people who are as evidently smart as she is in a given field aren’t able to make things accessible to those who don’t share their knowledge, but she can. I think it shows not just her talent for teaching, but what a genuinely great person she is.”

Miriam Merrill

Innovative and accomplished athletics administrator Miriam Merrill will lead Pomona-Pitzer Athletics into its next era after being selected as director of athletics following a national search.

Merrill, previously the associate director of athletics at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, also served as interim director of Hamilton’s NCAA Division III program for four months in 2019. She starts at Pomona-Pitzer on July 1, and also will be professor and chair of the Department of Physical Education at Pomona College, overseeing the joint athletic department’s activity classes, faculty/staff fitness and wellness program, intramural/club sport and recreation programs and academic offerings.

“Miriam is a collaborative and inspiring leader, and I’m confident she has both the vision and the experience to help take Pomona-Pitzer athletics to the next level,” said Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr.

Merrill brings broad experience in athletics and academia to Claremont. She earned a Ph.D. in the psychology of human movement at Temple University in 2019, and previously has served as an athletics director at Richard J. Daley College, a Chicago community college, and as head coach of women’s track and field at Robert Morris University in Chicago. As an athlete, she was an NCAA Division I All-American in track and field for the University of Cincinnati in 2001 and was inducted into the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

Lawrence Chen ’20 knows how to raise the barre. A ballet dancer since the age of 13, Chen is able to balance his professional dancing career while also being a full-time student majoring in chemistry. This April, Chen saw his first co-authored academic article published in a prestigious chemistry journal—a major achievement for any undergraduate student. The publication of the article is the grand finale for Chen, who spent two years doing research with Professor of Chemistry Roberto Garza-López. To understand how Chen is able to rehearse for 15-plus hours (sometimes up to 40 hours a week during performance season) and do graduate-level computational chemistry research, put yourself in his ballet slippers…

Grow up listening to your mother share stories of studying ballet in Hong Kong—and how she had to give up a career in dance to support her family.

Own a DVD of the American Ballet Theatre’s 1977 production of “The Nutcracker” starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland and watch it over and over.

Begin to study ballet at age 13—an “extremely late” start. Decide to be home-schooled for high school courses in order to allow time to study ballet intensely at a small ballet academy.

In addition to home-schooling, attend your local community college part time and take almost enough math classes to get an associate’s degree in the subject.

Participate in large competitions, like the International Ballet Competition and Prix de Lausanne, to have a chance at scholarships to ballet companies with international prestige. Learn from both your successes and your losses to work even harder.

Get accepted to a number of colleges—including the University of Southern California for its dance program—but choose Pomona for its small classes and close-knit community.

In your first year, enroll in a ballet class taught by Victoria Koenig, director of the Inland Pacific Ballet dance company. Get invited to audition and dance in productions of “The Nutcracker” two years in a row.

Take general chemistry courses and find a supportive mentor in Professor of Chemistry Roberto Garza-López, who attends a performance of “The Nutcracker” to see you dance.

Spend your first two summers on campus, thanks to grants from Pomona and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), conducting computational chemistry research for Garza-López.

As a co-author, see your data published in Chemical Physics Letters: X, a peer-reviewed chemistry journal, during your junior year while starting rehearsals for a production of “The Little Mermaid.”

—Photo by Siggul/VAM

Leanchoiliid fossil from the Qingjiang biota —Photo by X. Zhang

Geology: Back to the Cambrian

These days, whenever there’s a truly earthshaking development in the world of Cambrian fossils, Professor of Geology Robert Gaines seems to find himself squarely in the middle of it. Last year, it was an article in Science called “Cracking the Cambrian,” about the latest discoveries in the fossil-rich sites that Gaines and his team unearthed in Canada’s Kootenay National Park back in 2012—considered one of the most important geological finds in recent history. This year, it’s something that may be even bigger: a 518-million-year-old fossil site unearthed in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China that may turn out to be even more important, according to a new article, also published in Science.

The new site—dubbed the Qingjiang  biota—was discovered by a team of Chinese researchers in South China. It’s home to a nearly pristine and diverse 500-million-year-old fossil record that has not been impacted by metamorphosis or weathering. The diversity of its fossils may rival that of the Burgess Shale of British Columbia and the Chengjiang fossil site in China’s Yunnan province, which are considered two of the most important fossil finds of the 20th century, according to Gaines, the only American on the team that is studying the site. The new site is more than 600 miles from Chengjiang.

In addition to their high taxonomic diversity, Qingjiang fossils are characterized by near-pristine preservation of soft-bodied organisms—including juvenile or larval forms, arthropod and worm cuticles and jellyfishes—and soft-tissue features that are rarely seen in the fossil record. More than 4,000 specimens have already been collected, with 101 species identified. Of these species, 53 are so new to science that names have to yet to be assigned to them.

“This finding enriches our view of the early animal world and offers us really remarkable views of the simplest animals,” says Gaines. “One of the most incredible things about this finding is the pristine condition of many of these specimens—fossils that haven’t been substantially affected by impacts of time, and in them you can clearly see soft tissues like eyes, tentacles and gills.”

Biology: Olson Wins NSF Grant for Nematode Research

Pomona College Biology Professor Sara Olson has been awarded a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore the process of embryo development in roundworms. The five-year award of $827,962 will fund her study, as well as research opportunities for Pomona College biology and molecular biology students and rising high school seniors in the Pomona College Academy for Youth Success (PAYS) program.

Using fluorescence microscopy, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetic approaches, Olson’s research focuses on the nematode worm C. elegans, a roundworm, as a model organism to explore how protective barriers form around embryos. Findings from this study could shed light on early embryonic development in other species, including mammals.

“The idea of building a protective barrier around an embryo is common throughout the animal kingdom,” says Olson. “From worms to flies to fish to mammals, all of these animals build protective barriers around their embryos. We study how that barrier forms over the egg during early development. Before fertilization, it has to be porous so the egg is accessible to the sperm, but after fertilization it has to get remodeled and be closed off for protection.”

Another goal is to identify new drug targets to fight parasitic roundworm infection in humans, plants and animals. “These parasitic worms affect people in developing countries in Africa, Central and South America and Southeast Asia,” says Olson. “Parasitic nematode infections are a major burden that cause loss in agriculture, sickness in humans and loss of productivity. If we can figure out how the worm’s eggshell is built, we can also figure out how to destroy it in the parasitic worms.”