Amarilis Francis ’07
Major: History
Advisor: John Cramsie, assistant professor of History
Victoria Leonard ’07
Major: French and Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Advisor: Michelle Chilcoat, associate professor of French
Jazmin Puicon ’07
Major: Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Advisor: Teresa Meade, History chair and the Florence B. Sherwood Professor of History and Culture
The three students in Union’s Future Professors Program joined together for a session on “Cultural Studies, Colonial Pasts and Questions of Race Today.”
Amarilis Francis, of New York City, offered her research on “Black Britons: Recollecting West Indian Identity and History in Post-World War II Britain.” She argued that because of two centuries of Imperialism and the end of World War II, the narratives of West Indians were lost and many hidden histories of “visible” communities in Britain have been left out of the standard historical narrative.
Victoria Leonard, of Guilderland, N.Y., spoke on “Persil or Perejil: A Study of the Concept of ‘Borders’ between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in their Literatures and Histories.” Life in the borderlands, she said, is marked by a history of struggle and racial tensions, which continue today, between the former French colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti), and the former Spanish colony of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
To understand the complex nature of race and identity in these neighboring nations, Leonard examined the works of such celebrated literary figures as Haitian author Edwidge Danticat, Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez and the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.
Jazmin Puicon, of Niskayuna N.Y., presented “A Cultural Study of the Rural People and Working Conditions throughout the Generations in Del Cauca, Colombia.”
“My family is Colombian, and I wanted to be able to document and research the oral histories of my own people since they are mostly forgotten or overshadowed by negative portrayals of the country in terms of drugs and political violence,” Puicon said. She spent five weeks in El Valle del Cauca, capturing the stories of the men and women in three small towns. Her research delves into how race and gender are reflected in politics and labor and the impact of multi-national corporations such as Nestlé and El Ingenio, the sugar mill, on daily life.
Union’s Future Professors Program, administered by Mary K. Carroll, director of Undergraduate Research, and Trish Williams, senior associate dean of students, encourages promising students to pursue an academic career through an active focus on research, teaching and professional development.
Colleen Donlan ’07
Major: History
Advisor: Andrea Foroughi
Schenectady used to boast of being the city that “lights and hauls the world.” The potent presence of General Electric and American Locomotive Co. created a bustling industrial city few could rival.
ALCO has long been a ghost, closing in 1969. GE is still here, as evidenced by the bright, fluorescent sign that rises over the southern end of Erie Boulevard. But only about 1,200 workers remain at the company that once employed upwards of 40,000 in its heyday. The relationship between the city and GE is something Colleen Donlan researched by poring through old newspaper clippings, city council minutes and other archives to present “The City that Lit Up the World: How General Electric Changed Schenectady.”
“GE gave the people of Schenectady a sense of pride,” said Donlan, of Westford, Mass. Donlan examined the tumultuous relationship from the time of the company’s founding by Thomas Edison right through the boom years headed by CEO icon Jack Welch.
To Donlan, who hopes to be a marketing executive or event planner, the turning point came in 1986 when the company shifted its gas turbine division to Greenville, S.C, shedding thousands of jobs. Since then, the city has struggled to wean itself from the GE legacy, though Donlan said there are signs of promise. Still, the landmark company sign carries a huge burden. “It reminds the people of what once was,” said Donlan.
Mark Angéloni ’07, Michael Guigli ’07 and Justin Molé ’07
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Frank Wicks
It’s no Lincoln Navigator. It looks more like Henry Ford’s prototypes.
But when you’re designing a car that gets nearly 10 times the fuel mileage as the popular SUV, things like DVD players, seat warmers and plush seating for eight tend to be left behind.
Just ask seniors Mark Angéloni, Michael Guigli and Justin Molé, who showed their three-wheeled, ultra-light fuel efficient prototype car.
The 95-pound frame is made of aircraft-grade chromoly steel, much more resilient than aluminum, Molé noted. The rear axle has independent suspension. It holds the driver and one passenger, who sits in a jump seat behind. Power comes from a 10-horse-power, one-cylinder engine, which operates half-speed at its most fuel efficient, Wicks said.
The car has a boxy look; aerodynamics are less important when top speed is around 40 miles per hour, said Molé.
Will it replace the conventional car? Not yet, the students say. “For now, this is a supplemental or alternative vehicle that someone would use for around-town driving,” Guigli said.
But Wicks, a specialist in fuel-efficient designs, warns that this car’s day is coming: “As we see more demand for oil and no other alternatives, we will see more cars like this.”
Joseph Ciaburri ‘08
Major: French and Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Michelle Chilcoat
This past winter term, Joseph Ciaburri wrote a paper for a class with Michelle Chilcoat that examined sexuality in French films. He developed the paper further for his Steinmetz presentation, “Shifting Dynamics of Power and Sexuality in French Film.”
Ciaburri’s research examined the oppression and portrayal of women in three French films spanning nearly four decades: “Les Bonnes Femmes” (Claude Chabrol, 1960), “Les Diaboliques” (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1954) and “Gazon Maudit” (Josiane Balasko, 1995). The women in “Les Bonnes Femmes” (“good women”) express heterosexual desires by flirting and gossiping with men, and by the time we get to “Gazon Maudit” (literally “cursed grass;” interpreted to mean “French twist”), women are engaging in overt, same-sex relationships and multiple love triangles.
“French cinema has conveyed an idea of dominance and submission in how women are treated,” said Ciaburri, who is from Hinsdale, Mass. “People don’t naturally want to surrender their balance of power without mediating circumstances. The films’ continuum shows that through the introduction of homosexuality and love triangles, the power dynamics between heterosexual couples tends to shift.”
Katie Lee ‘07
Major: Biology
Advisor: Brian Cohen
For Katie Lee, “The Effects of the Drug AFPep on the Rat Estrous Cycle” was an attempt to determine if the peptide (linear molecule of linked amino acids) would make a potential agent for the prevention of breast cancer in women. The project was a continuation of her summer research job at Albany Medical Center’s Andersen Lab.
“I’ve always been interested in clinical research and the importance of finding a cure for cancer,” said Lee, of Attleboro, Mass. “It was a natural extension to continue this study for my thesis.”
A correlation exists between pregnancy and reduced odds of developing breast cancer due to alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) produced by the fetal liver during pregnancy. AFPep mimics the AFP and inhibits the growth of human breast cancer xenographs in mice without demonstrating toxicity. Because AFPep is an estrogen antagonist, Lee examined its effects on the female reproductive system to determine its viability as a preventative drug.
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