External Posts

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Stacy-ann Robinson has been invited to join the Climate Social Science Network (CSSN). The CSSN is an international network of social science scholars focused on understanding the cultural and institutional dynamics of the political conflict over climate change. There are currently more than 110 scholars from 25 countries in the network. Brown University's Institute for Environment and Society coordinates CSSN activities and serves as the institutional hub.

Associate Professor of Economics Daniel LaFave was the lead author of the paper "Impacts of improved biomass cookstoves on child and adult health: Experimental evidence from rural Ethiopia," published in volume 140 of the journal World Development. The paper reports on the three-year impact of the introduction of the Mirt stove on households in rural Ethiopia. Their project found that a "treatment status is associated with a precisely estimated 0.3–0.4 standard deviation improvement in height-for-age of young children exposed to the stoves during their first years of life—a substantial effect with implications for greater health and well-being throughout the life course."

Vicki Lynn Ferrini '95, a senior research scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has been named to the Explorers Club inaugural EC50 Program, Forbes reported. The program recognizes 50 explorers, including 21 women. Ferrini's "research interests lie at the intersection of ocean exploration, seabed mapping, and characterization. She has participated in more than 30 expeditions using ships and submersibles in remote unexplored parts of the ocean," according to Forbes. 

Vicki Lynn Ferrini '95, a senior research scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has been named to the Explorers Club inaugural EC50 Program, Forbes reported. The program recognizes 50 explorers, including 21 women. Ferrini's "research interests lie at the intersection of ocean exploration, seabed mapping, and characterization. She has participated in more than 30 expeditions using ships and submersibles in remote unexplored parts of the ocean," according to Forbes. 

An Associated Press story on Colby’s dynamic new Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence was picked up by a wide range of media, including U.S. News & World Report, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Houston Chronicle, Washington Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, to name a few.

On Jan. 25, 2021, Professor of Art Véronique Plesch delivered a lecture, “The Jesup Memorial Library’s Roundels in Context," at a virtual evening organized by the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, Maine, on “Medallion Mystery Talk." Her presentation discussed the bronze medallions depicting early printers' devices that grace the library's façade and considered them within the context of library architecture and of the Gilded Age elite's interest in book collecting. A publication is planned.

Assistant Professor of Art Marta Ameri was awarded a prestigious fellowship at the Rare Book School. The M. C. Lang Fellowship in Book History, Bibliography, and Humanities Teaching with Historical Sources will allow Ameri, who teaches courses on Islamic art, to augment her teaching of the art of the book in the Islamic world. The fellowship is "a two-year program designed to animate humanities teaching and equip educators to enlarge their students’ historical sensibilities through bibliographically informed instruction with original historical sources," according to the Rare Book School's website.

President David A. Greene told the Boston Globe that “we need to have a democratization of AI" in its article covering Colby's announcement of the establishment of the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Even though AI and machine learning programs are based at large engineering schools, the field needs the contributions of those educated in the liberal arts. "It needs to be moved to different types of colleges,” Greene said. 

The Art Newspaper wrote an extensive article about William Tsiaras ’68, P’03, a photography collector who recently donated the Tsiaras Family Photography Collection to the Colby College Museum Art. As a member of the Colby Museum Board of Governors and a former chair, Tsiaras "really put the idea on the table that the museum needed to have a collection of photography,” Colby Museum’s director Jacqueline Terrassa told the Art Newspaper.

An extensive article by the Morning Sentinel highlighted Colby projects in downtown Waterville. The opening of the Lockwood Hotel and its restaurant, Front & Main, the completion of the Arts Collaborative, new retail businesses, and planning for the Paul J. Schupf Arts Center are among the projects slated for 2021. “Waterville’s moving while a lot of other places are holding steady,” said Brian Clark, Colby's vice president of planning.