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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018
VOLUME CLII, ISSUE #
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EQUiSat to launch into space May 9 R.I. bill proposes stricter Uber,
COURTESY OF HUNTER RAY
Hunter Ray ’18 serves as the co-leader and team manger for a project centered around the construction and deployment of a satellite.
NASA-funded student group constructs satellite, hopes to inspire interest in space among youth By CHRIS SCHUTTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Since its conception nearly seven years ago, a continuously revolving group of University undergraduates has been diligently working to
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
send a satellite into space. Now, as May 9 draws closer, the group of over 200 past and current students and faculty can find catharsis as the EQUiSat will finally launch into orbit. The project, funded by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, will send a small cube satellite to the International Space Station to then launch into orbit. The EQUiSat will test lithium iron phosphate batteries, which are used in machines such as lawn mowers, but find limited applications in spacecrafts. Due to its low cost and the fact that its latitude will coincide
with that of Providence, which allows its LED flashes to be seen from the ground, the satellite will also serve as a symbol for the accessibility of space. “A big part of the goal is proving the accessibility of space. … We kind of want to show people that space is right there,” said Hunter Ray ’18, the project’s co-leader and team manager. The project could have costed upwards of tens of thousands of dollars, but the team has kept its cost to just $3,776.61, Ray added. The project’s relatively low cost and mantra to “build it from the ground up” speak to the feasibility and accessibility of space. The EQUiSat will be equipped with powerful LED lights, a small radio and multiple sensors to keep track of its trajectory and control steering. “Anyone with a hand radio can pick up its frequency. … We will be relying on the community of amateur radio (groups) around the world to help collect EQUiSat’s data,” Ray said. He described the construction process as his favorite part of the project. “It’s like a Lego set. You build it and you’re like ‘great, now what do I do,’ … but the mission will keep going.” Ray has been a part of the project since he arrived on campus. “I started » See SPACE, page 2
Lyft driver background checks MA, CA background checks revealed criminal history for many Uber, Lyft drivers By COLLEEN CRONIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A bill that would require Uber, Lyft and taxi drivers to undergo a national background check before being allowed to work in the state went before the Rhode Island State Legislature’s House Committee on Corporations Tuesday night. Assistant Attorney General Joee Lindbeck, who spoke for the bill in front of the committee, feels that current background checks for the transportation services are inadequate. Uber’s background check policies state that, in order to become a driver, a person may not have “a conviction for a felony, violent crime or sexual offense within the last seven years, among other things such as a registration on the U.S. Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public website.” Uber’s website also says that the company uses the
METRO
background check company Checkr, which is “accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners.” But Lindbeck believes these third party background checks are not thorough enough to ensure rider safety. “We think actually (that the background checks) may be illusory because your statute says they can only go back seven years,” Lindbeck said, adding that, for example, someone convicted 10 years ago of a first degree robbery and released recently would pass a private background check. “We think that’s very scary, especially when we have many colleges campuses in the neighborhood,” she said. Legal processes in other states have shown the inadequacy of private background checks, Lindbeck added. Once Massachusetts passed a 2017 law requiring state background checks for transportation network company operators, such as Uber and Lyft drivers, the state discovered that 11 percent of the state’s Uber drivers had “disqualifying information” on their records, including incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation. Additionally, California missed about 30,000 registered » See CHECKS, page 3
Study shows ‘Over, Under, Through’ exhibit thrills Hillel half of patients Artist’s multi-medium added that in an effort to connect with her heritage, she began researching of RussianRussian ornamentation and design forget doctors’ examination Jewish heritage on display over hundreds of years. She sees “Over, Under, Through” as the incorporation at Brown-RISD Hillel instructions of traditional motifs with her loose Researchers suggest use of appointment agenda, encourage physicianpatient communication By CHRIS SCHUTTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
In the ever-evolving realm of health care in the United States, advancements in patient education have illuminated the need to change the structure of doctor-patient interactions. Research conducted by Michael Barton Laws, assistant professor of health services, policy and practice, Ira Wilson, professor of health services, policy and practice and others revealed that nearly 49 percent of patients fail to recall recommendations and treatments given by their doctors due to a lack of patient participation during visits and ineffective written » See PATIENTS, page 4
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
INSIDE
By JACOB ALABAB-MOSER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
“Over, Under, Through,” a multimedia exhibit by Rebecca Volynsky, draws on styles of Russian ornamentation to weave a symbolic thread that invites viewers to explore her family’s Russian and Jewish heritage. The installation, which opened last week in the Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design Hillel Gallery, is emblematic of Volynsky’s greater practice of self-exploration and community-making that inspire interdisciplinary experimentation. “This work is really in honor and in celebration of my cultural identity and heritage, which is really important to me as a first-generation American,” Volynsky said. Volynsky’s family emigrated from Russia to the United States immediately before the fall of the Soviet Union through the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, she said. Volynsky
ART & CULTURE
and abstract style. The exhibit features around 10 works accentuated by bold, graphic lines and vibrant use of color. Some of the smaller pieces combine painting with newspaper collage, while larger paintings make use of dynamic textures, ranging from sleek finishes of lacquer and iridescent glitter to thick globs of paint. “It’s good to have contemporary art on the (walls of Hillel), especially from somebody nearby so it connects with the greater community,” said Program Associate for Hillel Ruchel Playe. While Hillel has hosted work by professional artists before, the majority of the art on its walls is by students, she added. Playe originally reached out to Volynsky over Facebook about organizing an exhibition after she followed the artist on Instagram, Volynsky added. She initially became acquainted with Volynsky’s art through “Cultivate, then Bloom,” a temporary mixed media public art installation inspired by botanical
COURTESY OF BROWN-RISD HILLEL
Rebecca Volynsky’s family emigrated from Russia before the fall of the Soviet Union.The exhibit displays about 10 of her works. illustration and Russian folk art that appeared at four sites across the city as part of last June’s PVDFest, according to Volynsky’s website. “(The installation) had a great impact on the community and really engaged a lot of people. It started a lot for my creative practice,” Volynsky
said. She will be creating a similar large-scale, permanent mural for the new location of Knead Donuts that is opening soon, she added. An opening reception for “Over, Under, Through” took place last Thursday, which was well attended by both » See HILLEL, page 3
WEATHER
THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018
NEWS Faculty across many departments receive University Seed Awards for early stages of research
SCIENCE & RESEARCH New methods of measuring adhesion have implications in microelectromechanical systems
COMMENTARY Flynn ’20: Research suggests happiness is a combination of genetics, wellness factors
COMMENTARY Thomas ’21: College students should enjoy the present, worry less about the future
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NEWS
PAGE 2 • THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
UCS, administrators discuss food security, textbook costs Working group would increase support for lowincome students, mandate substantial meal plan By MELANIE PINCUS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
S everal administrators attended the Undergraduate Council of Students’ general body meeting Wednesday to discuss a working group proposal that would increase support for students whose financial aid packages include no expected “parent contribution,” according to text of the revised draft distributed at the meeting. The proposal, which was also discussed at yesterday’s Brown University Community Council meeting, aims to address two issues: “food insecurity” and “insufficient funds for books,” according to the draft. The University is “in a period of gathering feedback,” and expects to announce a plan for the 2018-19 academic year “that encompasses these proposals” soon, Director of News and Editorial Development Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “We were thinking about our values as an institution and what (we can) really do within the law, within our means as a university that’s also sustainable,” said Vernicia Elie, assistant dean for financial advising. “We don’t want students to worry about food, we don’t want students to worry about books or supplies, but
» SPACE, from page 1 freshman year, first week … (I decided that) I want to build a spacecraft,” he said. “I ended up taking over for the power system development, … (and then) I was elected as part of the project’s manager and co-leader of the team,” he added. He hopes to see similar projections come together in the future following the EQUiSat’s launch. “The fact that as undergraduates we have been able to build an entire spacecraft from scratch … (it shows where) we are going with the space program, as humanity is progressing into the final frontier,” he said. Ray will be delivering the EQUiSat to Houston this week in order to facilitate preparations for the launch. Anand Lalwani ’18 leads the power team, the group of 17 team members in charge of the EQUiSat’s solar power
we’re starting with books.” These measures would first be implemented for students in the lowest income group “knowing that (the issue) is probably broader,” Provost Richard Locke P’18 said, adding that the University would look to expand these programs to other students on financial aid after evaluating their effectiveness. Locke assembled a working group to address the challenges that low-income students face at the University after he received input from students, including UCS President Chelse-Amoy Steele ’18 and Jonathan Jaramillo ’18, in fall 2017. The University has yet to finalize the details for a textbook purchasing program, but would like to “have sort of a card that people could swipe (to) make sure that everyone has the books that they need for their classes,” Locke said. “We’re prioritizing a system that doesn’t really force anyone to out themselves,” Jaramillo said. “But also there is a return policy that comes with this, so that (these students) can take full advantage during shopping period.” Another element of the working group proposal that was discussed would require all first-year students to be on one of the two most substantial meal plans: the 20 meals per week plan or the Flex 460 meal plan, Elie said. The University would make this a requirement for all first-years regardless of socio-economic background “to try to prevent stigma” against low-income students, Locke said. To further evaluate the question of
and battery construction. “We are a group of incredibly motivated, but incredibly fun people. Yes, we have had our arguments and fights, but we still work very well with each other,” he said. The power team not only constructed solar panels from scratch, but also ensured that they would survive a launch. Eventually finding a coating and the means to apply it to protect the delicate panels was a grueling process, Lalwani said. “We tried (different protocols) for about 12 months, … and we failed consistently,” he said. Finding a solution “was probably (Brown Space Engineering’s) biggest achievement,” as no other satellite group in the country had done this, he said. The project also serves as an outreach symbol, Lalwani said. By talking to both middle school and high school students and teaching them about different aspects of engineering, the team
MELANIE PINCUS / HERALD
The Undergraduate Council of Students held a general body meeting Wednesday on the subject of food security and book funding for low-income students. The meeting precedes Thursday’s UCS election decision. food security among undergraduates, the proposal submits that the University establish an additional working group, which would consider issues that include whether to create a system for students with extra meal swipes to donate them to students in need, said Chief of Staff to the Provost Marisa Quinn. Quinn, Locke, Elie and Dean of
Financial Aid Jim Tilton emphasized that this proposal is insufficient in terms of addressing all of the obstacles that lowincome students at the University may face, and said they would continue to seek new ways to support these students. “If you’re a student here, you shouldn’t have to worry about where your next meal is coming (from),” Locke
said. “If you’re a student here, you should have access to the books that you need to excel here.” Voting for positions on the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Undergraduate Finance Board closes today at noon. Results will be announced at 10 p.m. on the steps of the Stephen Roberts ’62 Campus Center.
hopes to show children that space is not as far-fetched as it may seem. “What we had pitched to NASA in our original mission was that ‘We are going to make space cool again,’” Lalwani said. He hopes to see BSE continue its work with new satellites being constructed in under two years. “For BSE, our future is very bright. … All our future applications for launches such as this will be very likely granted. … We expect all the sophomores in our team to have a satellite they would have designed and built and launched before they graduate from Brown,” he added. Max Monn GS, one of founders of the initial project, has worked on the project since its initial creation in 2011. “Since the manned space missions to the moon … (the public) had a declining interest for space” due to the lack of human connection, Monn said. The
origin for the project began as a means for creating an idea in Adjunct Associate Professor of Engineering Rick Fleeter’s class, which has since evolved into ENGN1760: “Design of Space Systems,” Monn described. While other projects leaned toward theoretical concepts or plans such as the colonization of Mars, Monn and the other founders decided to plan something which was “down to Earth” and did not need a large corporation to complete, Monn said. The EQUiSat’s LED lights flashing down toward Earth show the accessibility of space, one of the project’s main purposes. This element was inspired by Monn’s interest in photography. Following the initial work, the project expanded from a four-person class project to a student group. “We weren’t really sure how it would be received,” he said. At the first information session, 15 to 20 people showed up. Seeing the growth
of the group has been one of Monn’s favorite memories of the project. “It feels like a legacy,” he said. Serving as founder, member and mentor, Monn has seen the project evolve from “wires spread out on a table” to its eventual launch. “We had these visions of what it could be and to have left the project in such shambles … (and) having it become more and more real… (it’s) a pleasant surprise,” he said. “You don’t need to be a multimillionaire, you do not have to be a rocket scientist, and space is not that far,” Lalwani said. The satellite will serve as a realization that the final frontier is truly not as far as it seems, he added. “EQUiSat is reaching down to everyone on the Earth and showing them that space is right there, and I hope that, in a sense, it helps unite everyone together,” Ray said.
NEWS
THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Faculty spanning many departments receive Seed awards Seed money from University targets early research, sets up potential future funding By CATE RYAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Faculty from a variety of departments representing diverse projects received the 2018 Research Seed Awards. Since 2003, The Office of the Vice President for Research has been distributing these awards to faculty members with promising new ideas, said Amy Carroll, director of research development. The process of awarding this year’s Seed funds started at the beginning of the academic year when a call for applicants was released. Proposals were then reviewed by Brown faculty, with the final decision resting in the hands of Vice President for Research and Professor of Mathematics Jill Pipher, Carroll explained. The Seed Awards are designed to serve as a gateway to further funding, which is why they target research at its earliest stages. “External funding organizations want to see … proof of concept before they will invest a lot of money in
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
a new idea,” Carroll said. From 2006 to 2016, the OVPR awarded roughly $5.1 million through its internal research funding; this money helped researchers get $70 million worth of external grants, Carroll said, adding that this is a “13:1 return on investment for the University.” Karl Kelsey, professor of epidemiology and pathology and laboratory medicine, received a 2018 Seed Award for epigenetics research that could eventually help analyze treatment outcomes for diseases like head and neck cancers. “The Seed Award … will help us generate additional pilot data that will help make it … more competitive for additional funding,” Kelsey said. Daniel Bjorkegren, assistant professor of economics, also received a Seed Award for a new project related to his previous research surrounding digital credit scoring for people in developing countries. His work addresses questions raised by the fact that “increasingly, many decisions are made automatically, using algorithms trained on data on human behavior,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. Bjorkegren’s research will seek to create a framework for when decisionmaking processes are made transparent, addressing the problem that people might want to change their behavior in order to gain an advantage once the inner workings of the system are revealed.
COLLEEN CRONIN / HERALD
A bill that would mandate national background checks for R.I. Uber and Lyft drivers went before the House Committee on Corporations.
Research funded by past Seed Awards has gone on to find success at the University and beyond. A $100,000 grant given in 2006 to Elizabeth Brainerd, professor of biology and medical science, helped create an imaging system known as Xray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology, an imaging system which allows researchers to get a 3-D view of an animal’s skeleton in motion. This technology “could help to inform future medical applications and new basic understandings of animal motion that we haven’t had before,” Carroll explained, adding that it has garnered interest from other scientists across the nation who have traveled to campus and worked with Brainerd to gain a functional understanding of the system. Students may be familiar with another product of the Seed Award program — the Rockefeller Library’s Digital Scholarship Lab, which was inspired by research completed by Professor of Engineering and Computer Science Gabriel Taubin after he received a Seed grant in 2010, Carroll added. This year’s winners, and those of years past, represent a large scope of research interests among University faculty. “It’s really exciting to see the variety of ideas … and novel approaches to all sorts of societal issues, … whether looking back at history to learn something for today, (or) developing a new technology to help humankind,” Carroll said.
Karl Kelsey, professor of epidemiology and pathology and laboratory medicine, received a 2018 Seed Award for epigenetics research.
» CHECKS, from page 1
» HILLEL, from page 1
sex offenders in the third-party background checks, she said. If the bill were to pass, drivers in the state would be required to undergonational background checks completed through the FBI prior to their employment. Convictions, not arrests, revealed on the national background check could affect a person’s ability to obtain a permit or license to drive in the state. Thomas Kogut, associate administrator at the Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, also spoke in favor of the bill at the House hearing. Neither Uber nor Lyft elected to present spoken testimony at Tuesday’s hearing. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard the bill Feb. 13 and held it “for further study,” according to the R.I. Legislative Status Report. During the state Senate hearing, Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence, expressed concern that requiring national background checks would prevent individuals who “had turned their lives around” from working and supporting their families. In response, Lindbeck said that the law would allow TNCs or taxi companies to have the discretion to keep the person employed. If the law passes, an individual would not be able to obtain a Hackney Operator’s License, necessary for taxi drivers, or transportation network operator permit, which applies to Uber and Lyft drivers, without the in-depth background check. The American Civil Liberties Union expressed opposition to this legislation with written and spoken testimony at the Senate hearing. According to Steve Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU chapter, the expansion of background checks hurts ex-offenders. The House committee recommended the bill be held for further study.
students and members of the greater Providence community. Volynsky served bagels as part of Ripka, a culinary venture of two years also influenced by her Russian and Jewish heritage. She added that she hopes that the venture, which derives its name from the Russian word for “food,” will eventually become an Eastern European-inspired eatery and curated gallery.
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
“I definitely see cooking and baking as ways of creative expression. It’s sort of a similar … to creating artwork and sharing that with other people,” Volynsky said. Volynsky’s practice is inspiring to students “as she’s a young woman … discovering herself through art (to launch herself) into this new phase of adulthood,” Playe added. Volynsky’s exhibit will be on display until April 12.
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SCIENCE & RESEARCH PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018
» PATIENTS, from page 1 communications presented to the patient afterwards. In a pilot project funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the team recorded meetings between physicians and patients and later asked them to recall the interaction, Laws said. Although some patients could recall a good portion of the visit once prompted, the majority could remember only one to two thirds of the doctor’s recommendations from the same visit, he added. Renee Shield, clinical professor of health services, policy and practice who is unaffiliated with the study, feels that this research has even more salient results for the elderly. Shield, whose work examines health care for the elderly and general health practices, believes that the PCORI study shows that “the provision of health care is increasingly complex, … especially for older patients,” she added. “Any patient might have factors that prevent or inhibit their understanding of what the doctors tell them,” Shield said. The conversational gap between patient and physician has led to a disconnect and necessitates this type of research, she added. “It’s a truism at this point that much of what happens in the doctorpatient interaction does not get either understood by the patient or recalled by the patient.” The study identified two major issues in doctor-patient communication. First, consultations were usually
disorganized — doctors have many visits to get through and delegated only about 15 minutes per patient, leaving visits at times rushed and scattered, Laws said. Further, the researchers saw a lack of shared decision-making in the consultation process. Wilson said doctors do not spend enough time listening to patients; if they did, doctors would make more informed decisions. “The problem is it’s very difficult to get doctors to change their behavior,” Laws said. The researchers suggested the use of an agenda and a checklist of important topics for the visit to ensure that all items are discussed. Additionally, encouraging open questions throughout the consultation and finishing with a wrap-up between physician and patient could promote a more organized and thorough dialogue. The teach-back method — which encourages questions and dialogue between patient and physician — is vital to conversation and understanding, Wilson said. “People can’t be said to have shared in the decisions about their medical treatment if they don’t know and understand what happened in the visit,” Laws said. Improvement in patient-to-physician dialogue to increase shared decision-making is critical to patient education, the co-authors said. “It’s probably the most important thing that happens in medicine: doctors and patients talking with each other,” Laws concluded.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Grad students research adhesion Engineers develop new methods for minimizing adhesion, innovation to improve microdevices By GLORIA NASHED STAFF WRITER
In the field of engineering, there are several forces that scientists have to deal with when building structures or creati ng d e v i c e s . One such force, adhesion— the attraction between two surfaces that can lead them to stick together — is particularly important on the microscale level. Because surfaces can be extremely small, engineers are often faced with the issue of these surfaces unintentionally adhering to one another. To try to alleviate this adhesion problem, University researchers conducted experiments to measure the work of adhesion, which is essentially the amount of energy required to separate a unit area of two surfaces stuck together. When an object is next to a surface, forces act between this object and the surface, said Joyce Mok GS, who is studying solid mechanics in the School of Engineering. But if this object is large enough, gravity overpowers these other forces. “When you get to the point where (the object) is so small, however, this force of gravity is not going to matter as much… and (the other forces) do start to matter. And so that same principle is the reason why adhesion … is such a big issue for (microelectromechanical devices).” Microelectromechanical systems are essentially systems consisting of microscaled, moving devices, Mok said. “You can use it in a lot of different fields,” she added, listing biology research and electronics as examples. Because many of these devices are so small, they require surfaces that are close together for efficient operation. “But then naturally, of course, this makes the problem (of adhesion) bigger,” she added. The most common method that has been used to measure the work of adhesion involves the use of a
SCIENCE & RESEARCH
microbeam, an extremely narrow beam of radiation, and its tendency to stick to a surface when placed near it. “Previous research related the work of adhesion for an adhered microbeam to the beam’s unadhered length, and as such, interferometric techniques were developed to measure that length,” wrote Mok and Wenqiang Fang GS, who is also studying solid mechanics, in a jointly-written article. But directly finding that critical length at which the beam sticks to the surface is not easy, Mok said. What could be easier is using the natural frequency property of the beam, which would help determine this critical length and ultimately relate to the work of adhesion.
Mok and Fang modified this system by removing the needle tip of the beam. Instead, the microbeam is now lowered onto the test surface and then raised back up to result in part of it becoming stuck to the surface. The remaining unstuck portion slightly vibrates. By measuring the vibration, scientists are able to find the work of adhesion more easily. “The main advantage of our technique is that it is simpler to implement than the old methods,” Fang said. With older techniques based in interferometry, a large number of different samples are needed to gather many data points, which the new technique does not require. Their vibration-based technique is
COURTESY OF SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
Graduate students Joyce Mok and Wenqiang Fang are implementing new vibration-based techniques to better mitigate the effects of adhesion. “Every structure has a frequency that it vibrates at when it’s resting,” Mok said. Finding that frequency can be done by shining a laser at one point on the structure with something like an atomic force microscope, she added. In a standard AFM system, a microbeam with a sharp needle tip moves across a surface, and a laser within that beam measures its small movements. The beam’s movements across the surface could then be used to determine the surface’s properties.
also “known to have high sensitivity and repeatability and is easy to use on a MEMS chip,” he added. Determining a material’s work of adhesion has large implications in the field of MEMS, Fang said. “This new capability … will help alleviate the stiction failure of MEMS devices, (ultimately aiding) in the development of the MEMS field.” Development of more reliable microdevices, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, “will improve our lives in many different ways,” he added.
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TODAY
THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018 • PAGE 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
s i t , t r av e l e r s
menu SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS
Pizza: Cheese, Pepperoni, Mary Jane, BBQ Bam Bam Make Your Own Pasta JOSIAH’S
BLUE ROOM
Nacho Bar, Quesadilla Station The Jo’s Burger
Turkey Chili, Mango and Mint Chicken Curry, Aloo Saag
DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH
DINNER
Cachupa, Steamed White Rice, Rotissere Style Chicken, Roasted Yams
Bratwurst with Mustardy Potatoes and Cabbage, Apple Raisin Sauce, Kugel Noodle
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
DINNER
Beef Pot Pie, Vegetable Pot Pie, French Fried Potatoes, Garlicky Green Beans
Country Wedding Soup, Italian Chicken Parmesan, Butternut and Steel Cut Oat Risotto
sudoku
KAITLYN LEW / HERALD
Benches around campus beckon students to sit down and reflect on the first half of their spring semester. Students will enjoy a week-long respite as spring break begins Friday afternoon.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“It just feels good to be able to win.”
— Matthew Owen ’18, Ivy League Chess Champion
See chess on back.
crossword
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How Many Ways Can You Plagiarize? 1:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library
Mini Lesson Workshop for Aspiring Teachers 1:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 403
Biomedical Engineering Seminar 3:00 P.M. Barus and Holley, 190
Black Panther: Shaping Dynamic Futures 6:30 P.M. MacMillan Hall, 117
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EEB Brown Bag Series 12:00 P.M. Biomed Center, 291
Philosophy Colloquium 3:30 P.M. Petteruti Lounge
Chemistry Colloquium 4:00 P.M. MacMillan Hall, 115
Muslim Women of Color Movie Night 5:30 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 411
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
EDITORIAL
Disability cultural center makes us stronger together
In support of #FullDisclosure
To the Editor: I am writing in response to the March 20 op-ed “Against the disability identity center” by Krista Stapleford ’21. I am a physically disabled student with fibromyalgia who is serving on the board of the disability cultural center. I was disheartened to hear that a fellow student was against our efforts, but I believe we have had a misfire of messaging. I am writing to clarify and hopefully excite other students — physically disabled and not — about the center. Disability is a unique identity because while I am unlikely to wake up a different race tomorrow, practically everyone will become disabled at some point in their lives. Whether it’s falling down and breaking a leg, or living a long time and having agerelated dementia, we all must live with the reality of disability. Hence, the disability center is not, as the author alleges, meant to segregate disabled students but rather to be an inclusive center that recognizes disability as a broad category that most of us will fall into in some way. The center is meant as a resource, rather than an exclusive club. The author also identifies many issues that disabled students face on campus. We on the board of the disability center are well aware of these issues. From visually impaired students being unable to see the board because the professor doesn’t know to write in black marker, to wheelchair and mobility scooter users being unable to traverse campus because the pavement is not fixed in a timely manner, to professors not following Student and Employee Accessibility Services accommodations — these
are all issues we have heard about and personally experienced. However, change is possible. Student activism caused Wilson Hall, one of the biggest classroom buildings, to be renovated for accessibility. With a center, we can band together and demand accessible changes, like prioritizing snow removal for dorms where students with mobility impairments live or providing professors with workshops on universal design for learning. One student is not that powerful. Together, we are the most powerful group on campus. Finally, many students struggle with navigating Brown’s systems for students with disabilities. Together, we can provide a knowledge base and support one another. We can serve as a clearinghouse for directing students to resources that are currently spread across many offices on campus, including Counseling and Psychological Services, SEAS, BWell Health Promotion and the Office of the Dean of the College. The author points to the sad legacy of discrimination and education segregation of disabled students in this country. I would like the center to build on a happier legacy of disability rights activism and people coming together. With a space and formal as well as informal meetings, we can do great things. I would invite anyone with comments and suggestions for the disability identity and cultural center or who would like to get involved to email me directly. I would love to hear your thoughts — everyone is welcome, disabled or not.
On Feb. 14, the #FullDisclosure campaign — a coalition of student organizations from 12 colleges across the country that has been significantly influenced by former Undergraduate Council of Students president Viet Nguyen ’17 — issued a letter asking universities to release their internal data on policies regarding legacy status consideration. In its letter, the campaign also suggested that universities create committees of administrators, students and alums to critically evaluate the influence of legacy status in admission. We commend the national campaign’s efforts to bring increased transparency to the admission process with respect to legacy applicants and hope that the University moves to enact its recommendations. A close examination of legacy status consideration is necessary. A 2004 study found that legacy status provides the same boost as an additional 160 points on the SAT, providing a specific group of applicants with a substantial advantage in the admission process. As a 2014 Herald editorial argued, legacy status consideration has historically been used to exclude students of underrepresented backgrounds from higher education. Today, many students assert that the policy discriminates against those whose parents may not have had the opportunity to attend an elite university. University administrators claim that they consider legacy status only as a tie-breaking attribute — of equivalent value to, for example, athletic or artistic achievement — and
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termination of legacy status consideration. Rather, its proponents simply seek a transparent and publicly accountable analysis of a potentially discriminatory admission policy. If its admission policies are fair, then the University has good reason to publish its data. In any case, the University should not ground its decision to prefer a certain group of applicants in a highly selective admission process in factually dubious claims. Students have already taken major steps to realize the vision of #FullDisclosure here at Brown. On March 14, UCS approved a proposal to hold a referendum on the policy reforms recommended by the #FullDisclosure campaign. We urge students, both those for and against the use of legacy status in admission, to vote in support of the reforms. While the non-binding referendum cannot directly force the University to release internal information about admissions — should the results be in favor of the #FullDisclosure campaign — a campus-wide, transparent re-evaluation of legacy status consideration will empower all students with the facts they need to make educated judgments about Brown admission. This editorial was written by members of The Herald’s editorial page board: Anuj Krishnamurthy ’19, Mili Mitra ’18 and Grace Layer ’20. Rhaime Kim ’20, also a member of the editorial page board, was not involved in the drafting of this editorial. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@ browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Lena Bohman ’18 Board member, disability cultural center
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that they do not maintain explicit policies about legacy status consideration. But without actual data, it is difficult to assess the validity of these claims or reach informed conclusions about the effect that legacy status has in the admission process. In a March 5 op-ed published in The Herald, Dean of Admission Logan Powell defended the practice of legacy status consideration, arguing that legacy students “grew up immersed in the values of Brown,” serve as mentors for their peers, give back with internship opportunities on BrownConnect and support Brown financially. But these justifications for the use of legacy status in admission are problematic in their own right. First, applicants’ future giving should not be considered, even slightly, in the admission process. Second, there is little evidence to suggest that eliminating legacy preferences will reduce donations from alums in the short term. And thirdly, that the University would want to admit only students with extensive exposure to the “values of Brown” seems to undermine its purported commitments to diversity and the full inclusion of students from all communities — including those that are different from Brown. The recommendations set forth by the #FullDisclosure campaign can dispel misinformation about legacy status consideration, clarify the terms of the debate and democratize the conversation to include more members of the Brown community. Notably, the campaign is not advocating for the immediate and unequivocal
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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
The pursuit of happiness JAMES FLYNN staff columnist “Happiness, then, is apparently something complete and self-sufficient, since it is the end of the things achievable in action,” Aristotle said. Writing in the fourth century B.C.E., he believed that happiness was distinct among humans’ goals in that “we always choose it because of itself, never because of something else.” His understanding of happiness — here a translation of the Greek word eudaimonia, a state obtained in large part through virtuous action — may differ greatly from ours, but on a basic level Aristotle was right: All our other goals are subsidiary to the ultimate goal of well-being. Happiness traditionally has been confined to the domain of philosophy, but recently the science of positive psychology has brought a new rigor to addressing some of life’s bigger questions. Fully understanding the complexities of happiness is paramount for Brown students and college students in general as we begin for the first time to confront major life decisions, such as those pertaining to our careers. Happiness is hard to define, but researchers often use it interchangeably with the term “subjective well-being,” a “broad concept that includes experiencing pleasant emotions, low levels of negative moods, and high life satisfaction,” according to “Subjective Well-Being: The Science of Happiness and Life Satisfaction” by Ed Diener, Shigehiro Oishi and Richard Lucas. Many psychologists are skeptical that we can even
affect our own happiness and they have good reasons for their pessimism. Happiness is a highly genetic trait. A largescale study, for instance, of 837 nationally representative pairs of identical and fraternal twins recommended a model of five distinct genetic determinants of well-being. The depressing concept of hedonic adaptation, furthermore, dictates that we eventually adapt to all good and all bad events in life to return to a stable set point. In one oft-cited study, winners of the lottery, after a period of time, were no happier than the paralyzed victims of accidents (though it is important to note that this concept
in our control. Different models have proposed various determinants of happiness. One such model breaks down happiness with these (albeit somewhat arbitrary) approximations: 50 percent of one’s happiness is due to a genetically determined set point; 10 percent to life circumstances, such as socioeconomic status, health and physical attractiveness; and 40 percent to “intentional activity,” certain behaviors, practices and mental habits that are conducive to well-being. Anecdotally, at least, Brown students, who generally aim to be highachieving, can devote a disproportion-
“intrinsic” goals such as deep and lasting relationships was much more associated with happiness than was the pursuit of “extrinsic goals” such as fame. That money cannot buy happiness sounds like a platitude at which the pessimists among us are likely to scoff as mere wishful thinking, but there is some truth to it. There is, of course, a correlation between the wealth of a country and the reported life satisfaction of its citizens, but within the developed world, money matters generally less than we might suppose. An individual’s money correlates with emotional well-being, but, as one famous study
Fully understanding the complexities of happiness is paramount for Brown students and college students in general as we begin for the first time to confront major life decisions, such as those pertaining to our careers. has recently been subjected to greater nuance). A related concept is affective forecasting: We are in general poor judges at predicting how happy good events will make us and how unhappy bad events will make us. Participating in a study on affective forecasting, 571 undergraduates — who either were in romantic relationships or had recently ended one — were asked to predict their future emotional states and were evaluated thereafter. Those who had broken up soon became, contrary to their predictions, just as happy as those who were still in relationships. So far the picture I have painted is bleak: that happiness seems to be in large part genetic and therefore in large part immutable. But researchers recognize that at least some of its factors are
ate amount of time to academic and professional success as measured by status or by money. To some extent, we are not misguided in doing so. There are, according to a variety of studies, correlations between happiness and a sense of achievement, both academic and social. But also of importance is the substance of the goals that one sets for oneself. One study, for example, concludes that “non-zero sum goals, which include commitment to family, friends and social and political involvement, promote life satisfaction” whereas “zero sum goals, including commitment to career success and material gains, appear detrimental to life satisfaction.” Another study, which closely followed recent college graduates, found that, among these graduates, the pursuit of
has found, only up to a certain point — roughly an annual income of $75,000 — beyond which the line plateaus. Recent research has added nuance, highlighting the importance of the way in which people spend their money. For example, people who spend money on experiences rather than on material objects, or who donate it philanthropically, are more likely to be happy. Some of the most effective ways of enhancing happiness are not difficult, though they do require intention and effort. One way is to prioritize sleep, which is associated with positive benefits to emotional as well as physical health. Another way is to exercise. Physical exercise is linked to many psychological benefits and provides exercisers with a feeling of satisfaction as
they reach the athletic goals they set for themselves. Major contributors to happiness are the quality of connections with others, prosocial emotions such as compassion and kindness and practices such as reconciliation and cooperation. Personal practices include gratitude and self-compassion. Mindfulness-based stress reduction, a program of secular meditation with its roots in traditional Buddhist practices, has produced a tremendous body of literature on its efficacy in, for example, enhancing positive emotions, mitigating anxiety and improving cognitive function. This variety of meditation also has been shown to alter the structure and the function of various regions of the brain. All of these positive traits are not merely characteristics of one’s personality, but can actually be cultivated. In order to do so, try out the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley’s free online course, The Science of Happiness — which, in keeping with Aristotle’s view, could be just as important as any Brown course — or come to a meeting of the Brown Meditation Community, of which I am a part. Though everyone is different and enjoys different things, such steps are empirically more reliable ways of pursuing happiness than chasing elite jobs. Why stress yourself out so much over such relatively marginal sources of happiness when there are other, more actionable steps you can take?
James Flynn ’20 can be reached at james_flynn1@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Being present for the future QUENTIN THOMAS staff columnist Course offerings for fall 2018 were released a few weeks ago on Courses@Brown. As I searched through the classes each department will offer next semester, I got excited thinking of all the various combinations of classes that I could take. The next day, I shared my excitement with a friend of mine, but they offered a different perspective. The way they saw it, right now, we’re taking the classes we got so excited about taking last semester. We were so eager to register for the classes we’re enrolled in at the moment but that excitement has moved away from the present and toward our future course load. My friend’s simple observation underscores a larger problem: Young people, especially college students, overlook the value of the present. We’re constantly thinking about the next step on our journey to somewhere else. Whereas for me, as a second-semester student, looking ahead is exemplified by course selections, I’ve seen my older peers get swept up in the search for summer jobs, full-time jobs in the “real world” or broadly anything outside of Brown. While it’s good to think about the future — as college is in a lot of ways another stepping stone on our path forward — it’s also important to be present, absorbing all of the knowledge we can and enjoying every moment of college. Now is the perfect time to turn being present into a practice that will sustain us for the rest of our lives.
Considering the future is not inherently harmful. It would be a bit unrealistic to imagine a college experience without thinking about what your degree will get you down the line. One of the main reasons people go to college is because of its implications for their future. A bachelor’s degree, for example, is necessary to find employment and enter the middle class in the modern economy. Couple the economic imperative of a college education and college students’ relentless ambition, and we have the perfect recipe for an all-consuming, future-oriented approach to life. But what’s to come should be in the back of our minds, not the forefront. We should remember
Specifically, a future-oriented outlook runs counter to one of the major perks of college: the freedom to be uncertain. Students should take full advantage of the opportunity to explore things not immediately linked to their predetermined future career paths, especially at a place like Brown that prides itself on the open curriculum. To enter one’s first year of college with a hard plan of what one’s next four years and beyond will look like is fine, but there’s more to college than checking off the boxes to get where you want to go. If your heart is set on becoming a lawyer, not everything that you do on campus need be related to law. Instead of setting your sights exclusively on joining a pre-law
Now is the perfect time to turn being present into a practice that will sustain us for the rest of our lives. that, while our time at Brown is short, we shouldn’t discount the tools we gain here that will greatly assist us in our future endeavors. We have an incredible opportunity to be surrounded by some of the brightest minds in the world and are constantly presented with opportunities to acquire more knowledge. We should make sure that, in thinking about what lies ahead, we don’t forget about what the present provides us. Constantly looking ahead means just going through the motions and not fully making the mostof the experiences available here. Indeed, being present might be the best thing we can do in our journey toward our future.
society, branch out and try something you’re not so sure about. Broadening your scope and trying out things not directly linked to your future not only exposes you to new possibilities, but can also reinforce what you may have already known about your interests. What’s more, venturing outside of our traditional comfort zones will help us acquire more knowledge and experiences to draw from in our lives. But the benefits of such exploration are only obtained by striking a balance between thinking about the future and being present. This balance is important as it has implications for our health. I wrote a column earlier this semes-
ter about how the pursuit of perfection can prove detrimental to the health of students. Staying in a future-oriented mindset has similar impacts. Psychologist Matt Killingsworth, whose work is primarily concerned with happiness, conducted a study related to wandering minds. He found that when people focused on the present, they self-reported being 10 percent happier than when they were mind-wandering. At Brown — and in college, more generally — we have a tremendous opportunity to turn being present into a sustained practice. As adulthood and life beyond Brown approach, now is the time to practice being present so that we have a handle on it before entering the chaotic real world, which places too large an emphasis on constant progress and multitasking. And as it turns out, being present is a valuable skill in the workplace. The benefits of being present include better business interactions, better problemsolving skills and increased productivity. There’s no problem with pondering what the future has in store, but letting this inhibit our ability to actively engage with what’s happening now is a problem. Staying in the moment, in fact, will serve us once we make it to our destination. But so long as we continue to exclusively think about what lies ahead, we’ll never be happy. Instead, we must find a balance between the here and now and the future.
Quentin Thomas ’21 can be reached at quentin_thomas@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018
U. chess team brings home second Ivy League Championship Ivy Championship hosted at Columbia, features teams from Yale, Penn, Columbia By BONNEE NIE STAFF WRITER
COURTESY OF BROWN CHESS TEAM
Members of the championship team are selected from the Brown Chess Club and are chosen based on their United States Chess Federation ratings.
Last month the Brown University Chess Team won the Inter-Ivy League Chess Championship for the second year in a row. The tournament, which was held at Columbia, featured teams from Yale, Columbia and Penn. “We were well-practiced and confident in our abilities,” said Ariel Shusterman ’18, a member of the team, noting that the team tends to place first or second at the event every year. Another player, Matthew Owen ’18 said he felt that the team’s second win at the tournament confirmed its hard work over the course of the season, adding that “it just feels good to be able to win.” The chess team consists of select members from the Brown Chess Club, who are chosen based on their United
States Chess Federation ratings, Shusterman said. “The guys who are on the team, before they get here, are already strong players. These guys have played at nationals,” said Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, the team’s coach. Both Shusterman and Owen said they have played chess for 15 years, while their teammate Daniel Kostovetsky ’21 said he has been playing since the age of five. The chess community at Brown tends to be self-forming, Owen said. “When people who are interested in playing chess competitively go to (the Student Activities Fair), they will usually seek (the club) out,” he said. The most challenging part of playing competitive chess while in college is finding the time to practice, said Amador Delamerced ’18. “Chess requires a lot of preparation time as well as preparing tactics, studying endgame and playing in tournaments, which are at least a one-day commitment,” Shusterman added. While the team practices every week, players also compete in local tournaments to challenge themselves.
Given the group’s collaborative nature, there is no captain for the chess team, Shusterman said. But the team’s seniors help organize events for the rest of the members, Owen added. Members of the chess team enjoy spending time competing against and practicing with each other, Kostovetsky said. Even after the tournament, team members still want to continue playing chess. “I want to … keep having fun and keep using my brain,” Kostovetsky said. “Chess is a lifelong sport, I’ll be playing this when I’m very old — like 80. … I just want to keep improving throughout my life,” Owen said. By playing chess at Brown and being a member of the chess team, Delamerced said he felt like he found a second family for himself. “I really love the community here — I just want to spend our last semester enjoying our time together.” After winning the Inter-Ivy League Championship, Delamerced added that the moment for senior members of the team was a “great way to cap off (their) experience with chess at Brown.”
New cameras catch speeding violations Haffenreffer combines enCameras have caught tertainment, education over 16,600 violators, raised over $735,000 since installation in January
Educational escape room allows students to explore, engage with museum’s collections
By JACK BROOK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Providence drivers have paid over $735,000 for traffic violations since the City installed five portable camera units around school zones Jan. 16, according to Billy Kepner, press secretary for the Providence City Council. The amount paid to the City from the over 16,600 violations already exceeds the projected net revenue of $500,000 for the camera units for fiscal year 2018, Victor Morente, press secretary for the Mayor’s Office, said. Each camera is installed within a quarter mile of a school, and vehicles traveling more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit automatically receive violations, according to a City press release. Fifteen cameras will eventually be installed. Violations are reviewed by both the Providence Police Department and Conduent, a private company which operates and manages the cameras. An additional six cameras were activated March 5, Morente said. After two weeks of facing only warnings for speeding in those locations, speeding drivers are now receiving violations, he added. All camera violations result in $95 fines to the owner of the vehicle, Morente said. Signs are posted in each location to warn drivers that the cameras are in place, he added. State Rep. Bob Craven, D-North Kingstown, originally introduced the legislation requiring speed cameras within a quarter mile of schools. While the House voted overwhelmingly to pass the bill in 2016, Craven now has second thoughts about the heavy fines for initial violations, Craven wrote in an email to The Herald. On March 14, Craven introduced a bill to amend the original law to only
By LIYAAN MASKATI SENIOR STAFF WRITER
METRO
While the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology stands at the edge of the Main Green, it remains relatively unexplored by most students. But last weekend, the museum transformed into an escape room, attracting flocks of students from across campus. “It was honestly a lot of fun,” said Clara Choate ’20, who participated in the escape room with a group of her friends. “I had never been in the Haffenreffer before and had no idea what was really even in there,” she continued, adding that the escape room provided her with the opportunity to visit the museum for the first time and discover what was inside. “Escape the Haffenreffer” was built and created by Bryn Pernot GS. Last semester, Pernot took a class on informal education in the public humanities department and grew increasingly interested in the emerging practice of escape rooms in museums, she said. “I ended up writing my final paper (for the class) on escape rooms in museums, … and began thinking about what an escape room in a museum would look like.” The framework of “Escape the Haffenreffer” is novel: it is the year 2118 and the participants are interns at the Haffenreffer, explained Emily Jackson, museum operations and communications coordinator. The director
ART & CULTURE
JUSTIN HAN / HERALD
issue warnings for a first offense and a $50 fine for the second offense. After the third violation, drivers would begin to receive the $95 fine. The thousands of tickets issued and hundreds of thousands of dollars the cameras have raised so far have proved exorbitant, Craven wrote. Craven initially hoped that the bill would reduce traffic while lowering city costs by not requiring police officers on the scene, he wrote. “Safety comes first, but safety can be achieved by using the cameras and better signage to create a ‘chilling effect’ on speeder’s behavior,” Craven added. State Rep. Anthony Giarrusso, REast Greenwich, introduced a bill to ban speed cameras from the state. Giarrusso said that the camera units are a “government cash grab” by the City, according to the Associated Press. “I stand by my statement that this is more about revenue than school safety,” Giarrusso wrote in an email to The Herald. “Look no further than … the dollar amount of the fine and that there is no penalty to the driver but only the registered owner of the vehicle,” Giarrusso wrote.
Giarrusso also noted a Conduent lobbyist’s “connection to the (Elorza) administration,” he wrote. Elorza’s former chief of staff Tony Simon now serves as a “$5,000 a month lobbyist for Conduent at the Rhode Island State House,” GoLocalProv.com reported. Conduent earns $2,978 per month for each camera and $7.50 for every violation it processes, WPRI reported. However, the City has continued to stand by the value of the speed cameras in maintaining public safety. “While the City remains committed to the cameras as a way to keep our kids safe, the City is open to reasonable changes to the state law,” Morente wrote in an email to The Herald. Mayor Jorge Elorza and Public Safety Commissioner Stephen Paré initially lauded the program for its ability to protect school zones from reckless drivers. “Ultimately this is about keeping families safe, especially in areas with many children around,” Elorza said in a press release announcing the cameras. “Tragedies can be prevented with innovative solutions and that’s exactly what these cameras do.”
in the story has discovered a strange, mysterious box in storage with a note that only says that the box was from the year 2018. The participants are made to travel back in time to the previous century to discover how to unlock this mysterious box and figure out what is inside. Ensuring that “Escape the Haffenreffer” achieved the right balance of entertainment and education was a key challenge, Pernot said. “The primary aim of a lot of escape rooms is just to be an entertainment space,” she explained, adding that museums face the unique challenge of making sure that fun does not come at the expense of education. In creating “Escape the Haffenreffer,” Pernot needed to make a conscious effort to integrate educational content into all the puzzles that she built, she added. “It was a really cool idea to bring (an escape room) to Brown and make it part-educational,” said Parisa Thepmankorn ’20. The puzzles, which were adapted to the museum space, had “a good balance of being difficult, but also possible,” Thepmankorn added. “We finished with only a couple of minutes left on the clock, which is an ideal target for all escape rooms.” While the quality of the riddles and puzzles in the escape room was impressive, the culmination of the participants’ experience was “less exciting than we had hoped,” Thepmankorn said. Unlike in traditional escape rooms, the participants in “Escape the Haffenreffer” do not actually escape a room, she explained. “You just unlock a box, which is a lot less climatic.” Yet, the process leading up to this finale was exciting, she said, adding that “overall, it was a great experience.”