Friday October 3, 2025 at the Axinn Center for the Humanities
Panels will run for 60 minutes, with each presentation lasting no more than 15 minutes for 3-person panels with 5 minutes for questions.
11:00am, Axinn 100: Tiny Interactions
Chair: Paul Hess, Assistant Professor of Physics
Paul Hess, Assistant Professor of Physics
How to catch an atom
Grace Spatafora, Heinz-Given Professor in the Premedical Sciences
The Social Life of SloR
Clinton Cave, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
GDE6 Maintains Progenitor Identity During Embryonic Neurodevelopment
11:00am, Axinn 229: Positive Places and Spaces
Chair: Greg Pask, Associate Professor of Biology
Ashley Nicole Baptiste, Artist in Residence in Theatre
Building Confidence through the Art of Theater
Linus Owens, Associate Professor of Sociology
Not Just Punks & Recreation: Burlington’s Legendary 242 Main
Greg Pask, Associate Professor of Biology
Leveling Up our Science Outreach with Cosplay for Science
11:00am, Axinn 221: Humanity on Land and Sea
Chair: Chialan Sharon Wang, Assistant Professor of Chinese
Jon Isham, Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, and Frank Van Gansbeke, Executive Scholar in Residence
Whole Earth Finance: Beyond Bretton Woods recommendations for the 21st Century
Robyn Barrow, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art & Architectural History
Antler Chronologies: On Moose, Land Management and Cyclical Time in the European Middle Ages
Dan Brayton, Julian W. Abernethy Professor of Literature
The Blue Humanities Moment
11:00am-12:00pm, Davis Family Library 230:
Ego Tourism
Mark Saltveit, Davis Family Library
A comedic one-man show about philosophy as a way of life — specifically the ancient Chinese philosophy of Daoism. As performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year.
12:00-1:00 pm, Axinn 219: Lunch for presenters and moderators
1:15-2:15pm, MAC Dance Theater, Room 110: Movement Matters Workshop
Lida Winfield, Assistant Professor of Dance and Restorative Practice Partner
Join in a Fall Family Weekend movement workshop hosted by The Dance Department, led by Lida Winfield. Come move, think, and discover together. All bodies, abilities, and backgrounds welcome!
1:15pm, Axinn 221: Lasting Effects
Chair: Mike Dunham, Assistant Professor of Physics, David R. Mittelman ’76 Faculty Fellow in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Mark Spritzer, Professor of Biology
Is testosterone good for my brain? The effects of sex steroids on adult neurogenesis.
Sean Peters, Visiting Assistant Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences
Whodunit – lava or water?
Peter Nelson, Professor of Geography
Temporary or Permanent? Varied migration responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
1:15pm, Axinn 229: Oops! All Stats
Chair: Christian Stratton, Assistant Professor of Statistics
Meaghan Winder, Visiting Assistant Professor of Statistics
Finding a mussel in a lake-stack: using statistics to inform early detection monitoring efforts for aquatic invasive species
Christian Stratton, Assistant Professor of Statistics
A statistical assessment of the impact of White-nose syndrome on bats in Montana
Alex Lyford, Associate Professor of Statistics
Using statistics to improve infant health outcomes
1:15pm, Axinn 100: Evidence on Display
Chair: Caitlin Myers, John G. McCullough Professor of Economics
Caitlin Myers, John G. McCullough Professor of Economics
Abortion and crime: A new causal link
Pieter Broucke, Professor of History of Art and Associate Curator of Ancient Art, with Kyra Dybas ’28 and Jude Kuykendall ‘28
The Piranesi Curatorial Lab: from the Seminar Room to the Museum Gallery
Daniel Houghton, Makerspace Director
Running the Middlebury Makerspace at Full Tilt
2:30pm, Axinn 100: Exploring Language, Perspective, and Interaction in Conflict Transformation
Chair: Netta Avineri, Executive Director, Conflict Transformation Collaborative
Suzanne Gurland, Professor of Psychology
Perspective-taking in Conflict Transformation
Matthew Kimble, Professor of Psychology
Trigger Warnings: Empirical Data and Best Practices
Netta Avineri, Executive Director, Conflict Transformation Collaborative
Language, Conflict, and Social Change: The Role of Ideologies
2:30pm, Axinn 221: Who’s Thinking What?
Chair: Michael Olinick, John C. Baldwin Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy
Michael Olinick, John C. Baldwin Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy
Can Machines Think? 75 Years of the Turing Test
Will Pyle, Frederick C. Dirks Professor of International Economics
Russian Public Opinion, the War in Ukraine, and the Lingering Effects of the Soviet Collapse
Rose Morris-Wright, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Reflections in Geometry and Algebra
2:30pm, Axinn 229: Transforming Foundations
Chair: Daniel Brayton, Julian W. Abernethy Professor of Literature
Jennifer Strtak, Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Restless City: The Carriage and Urban Transformation in Paris, 1650-1789
James Calvin Davis, George Adams Ellis Professor of Liberal Arts & Religion
John Witherspoon and the Moral Foundations of the US
Timothy Billings, Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Tang-Dynasty Poetry in English: Lyric Form and Cultural Preconceptions
2:30pm, Axinn 232: Muskrats and Models
Chair: Amy Morsman, Professor of History
Alexis Mychajliw, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies
Muskrat Island: A 100-year experiment in island mammal evolution
Cameron de Wet, Visiting Assistant Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences
North American precipitation patterns during past warm climate states: A proxy compilation-model comparison
Mike Dunham, Assistant Professor of Physics, David R. Mittelman ’76 Faculty Fellow in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Modeling the Formation of Stars