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The Complex Legacy of Martha Graham
Full text linkSecond-generation modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham is, to this day, recognized as one of the art form\u27s most influential figures. Her distinctive technique, which has been applauded as a momentous innovation by critics throughout her life and after, is a dynamic mixture of elements Graham plucked from various experiences and aesthetics. Many, throughout history and to this day, mark Graham as a primary developer and architect of modern dance movement. She has continuously been labeled a pioneer of angular movement, dramatic contractions, asymmetrical posing, and the incorporation of ritualistic elements into her emotional compositions. However, such identifications fail to recognize that many of Graham\u27s profound choreographic aesthetics had already been founded and operated as fundamentals of the Africanist aesthetic. It is also often overlooked that the foundations of Graham\u27s dance training and style were steeped in a slew of cultural appropriation. In order to acknowledge Graham\u27s consequential legacy and its impact on our current dance world, it is essential to understand that its roots lie within the looting of cultural aesthetics and taking credit for components that existed long before
DataFest Philly 2025 Experience
No full textA lighthearted presentation of our experience at DataFest Philly 2025, specifically on what we did, with obfuscated data because of the NDA. Focusing primarily on our professional development that we gained during that experience and our sentiments towards the experience after going last year
Cooking Adventure
No full textPictured are Hannah Quinn, Ursinus College Class of \u2727, and new friend and roommate Sydney, presenting the Ravioli and Foccacia di Recco they handmade following the instruction of Italian professional chef Ilaria Castelli in Milan, Italy.
Submitted as part of the Fall 2025 Study Abroad Photo Contest.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/study_abroad_photos/1077/thumbnail.jp
Tanya Maute, Fresh Fix Supervisor
No full textDigital photograph of Tanya Maute at Ott\u27s Exotic Plants in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania. A printed version of this photograph was temporarily installed on the interior of the Floy Lewis Bakes Center on the Ursinus College campus as part of the Spring 2025 COSA celebration.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/art_envportraits/1042/thumbnail.jp
Shutdowns and Startups: How COVID-19 Policies Shaped Entrepreneurial Trends Across U.S. States
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on the US economy. Severe restrictions were placed on nearly every state, culminating with the declaration of a national emergency in March 2020. The intent of these restrictions was to safeguard public health, while unintentionally imposing operational burdens on businesses. This paper explores how heterogeneity in state level policy responses influenced entrepreneurial activity. Using the synthetic control method and data on mandated workplace closures, we estimate the impact of these actions on business applications per capita in the state of South Carolina, which was late to impose these measures. We find that if South Carolina had implemented more stringent workplace restrictions at the start of the pandemic, business applications would have fallen by 9.5%, translating to approximately 8,669 fewer filings in 2021 alone, and remained persistently lower over our period of analysis
Measuring the Hydrolytic Activity of DFsc Proteins Using Bis(4-nitrophenyl) Phosphate
No full textMetalloproteins are proteins that contain metals, often having catalytic activity. A metallohydrolase is a type of enzyme that can cleave chemical bonds using water and is responsible for important biological functions such as metabolism and detoxification. Synthetic model proteins in the Due Ferri single chain (DFsc) family were used to better understand the relationship between structure function of metallohydrolases. Originally designed to study diiron proteins, DFsc proteins can bind many 2+ transition metal ions and maintain hydrolytic abilities. Here, the catalytic activity of Zn2+-, Mn2+-, and Co2+-bound proteins were monitored using varying concentrations of bis-(4-nitrophenyl) phosphate (BNPP), which produces a product molecule that absorbs light around 405 nm when its phosphate bond is cleaved. The effects of different active-site mutations were studied by comparing the rates of G4, 3-His, 4-His, and DY DFsc proteins. Understanding the hydrolytic activity of DFsc family proteins will help explain natural metallohydrolase reactivity and aid in the production of new metallohydrolases that may be useful for the biotechnology as well as pharmaceutical fields
Cerium Bromide Detectors: Measuring Efficiencies for Gamma Ray Detection
No full textThis Summer we have had access to 9 Cerium Bromide Gamma Ray detectors, which we have conducted various tests on to ensure a smooth transition when they are integrated into the Cerium Bromide Array(CeBrA) at Florida State University. One of the goals we pursued was mapping out the Full Energy Peak Efficiency for each of the detectors, which is described below. While the results we have right now are not our final ones, we can describe the trends that we see in the detectors accurately. This work is supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. 2405485
From Monsters to Mothers and Daughters of the Macabre: Evolving Depictions of Black Girlhood, Womanhood, and Motherhood in Horror
No full textIn the early 1900s, Black filmmakers, actors, and writers began asserting themselves in the horror genre in greater numbers and employing horror films and literature as influential platforms to confront and subvert antiblack depictions. This subversion is apparent in films such as Get Out (2017), Us (2019), and Sinners (2025). The black characters in these films are beacons of survival and resilience in the face of racial slavery, sexual exploitation, and zombie invasion, among other horrors. In this paper, I employ Robin R. Means Coleman’s concepts “Blacks in Horror” and “Black Horror,” introduced in Horror Noire: A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s-present (2023), to investigate how Black creatives use the genre to disrupt harmful antiblack stereotypes and to offer cutting-edge ways of portraying the horrifying. Specifically, I focus on how filmic horror either reinforces or subverts the monstrosities of what Media and Communication Studies scholar Moya Bailey calls “Misogynoir”—“anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women [and Black girls] experience, particularly in US visual and digital culture” (Misogynoir Transformed, 1). I am especially interested in understanding how mothers and daughters in Jordan Peele’s Us appear as both victims and avengers of macabre misogynoir. This paper evaluates how protagonist Adelaide and her double Red in Us portray the horrors that ensue when Black mothers shoulder the burden of familial survival, how such burdens can transform Black mothers into monsters or force them to defeat monstrosities, and how female parents sometimes bequeath macabre inheritances to Black children
Quantum Memory
No full textIsolated quantum systems are almost always observed to achieve thermal equilibrium in experiments. Understanding cases where they do not thermalize, and therefore retain memory about the initial state, could lead to the development of a quantum memory. We excite atoms in a magneto-optical trap, where they are cold enough to treat as stationary. In our experiment, our atoms exchange energy via dipole-dipole interactions and fail to thermalize. We present a theoretical and computational analysis that suggests that our system starts in an exceptional initial state
Singing Our Story: Composing and Writing an Original Musical
No full textHow can we use music to deepen the emotions of the stories we tell? What is the effect of combining song and speech? Through an extensive independent project, I have composed several pieces of original music alongside a script to create an original musical. While it is still in its infancy, this project is the first full draft of this story, and will hopefully be fleshed out to be staged and performed one day in its entirety